Edge was bleeding quietly on the floor. He wasn't dead, just experiencing the usual horrendous pain that happened whenever a High Godlike got their hands on him. Everyone else had long since left the arena, leaving Edge to spend a good deal of time staring at the ceiling and the back of his eyelids. Worse luck for him, not a single person watching the fight was an ally.
In spite of Edge's cool demeanor he had no bloody (Literally, with his head split open from Ghaleon's Hell Wave) idea on how to top this. Well.. no. He had an idea, he just had to *get up* and carry it out. A heavy glass bottle smashed against Edge's forehead, breaking up his train of thought. Feeling refreshed but not completely better gave Edge a pretty good idea on who had tossed the potion on him. Edge gingerly got to his feet and had his idea confirmed by a Nanten Chemist, resplendent in a clean uniform emblazoned with the Black Lion and the Orlandu family crest. The chemist nodded at the rising edge, then tossed a tightly wrapped note in Edge's direction and walked off. The prince wasted no time with the flunky and instead read the note.
"Boy,
I've contacted Serge and everyone else that Zidane messed with this week. They'll handle him in due time. Relm and Nina the third are preparing to battle in a nearly empty Light Arena. I will be judging the fight- whatever you're planning had best not interfere with the actual match. Shadow and Ryu are not in good moods after hearing what happened to Melfice, Emelious, and Xorn. Fou-Lu was amused by your request but assented to it. Let's see if you can actually win this silly bet without getting torn to ribbons.
Cid."
Edge's snort echoed loudly through the now empty Godlike arena. "Oh, even the geezer's going to like this one." He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a Wyvern's wing- after all, he had to get to the arena before Zidane.
---------
Relm and Nina weren't evenly matched at all. Relm could heal in a fashion and had gravity rod beats at worst, and resisted Nina's magic. Hitting like a little girl kept her 'offense' in check, but not not nearly enough to prevent her from crushing Nina the third. Relm left the arena with her granddad while Ryu3 tried his best to cheer Nina up. Zidane hadn't even bothered to directly come to the arena, instead stopping to eat some lunch and listen to reports of several pissed off Godlikes that he had crossed in his mad plan. There was no way Edge was going to top him. To Zidane's amusement, the fight was already over. Ryu was gesturing rapidly to Nina, and.. there wasn't much of anyone else left in the arena. All the hangers on who had watched Zidane's blaze of glory earlier had left after they got assurances from Zidane that he had a TimeRecord spell going in the Light arena to catch whatever happened. So what if he had to sell the pendant Garnet's father gave to him for the scroll? She'd forgive him after hearing what a MAN he had been during this adventure. Eiko had read the scroll (She did know the basics of time magic after all) and cast the spell. Edge had beat him to the arena.. and it was utterly peaceful. To his tremendous shock, Edge was there- but wasn't fighting or doing anything wild, but instead playing chess with Fou-Lu (and losing, no great shock there). Zidane ambled over, sure that victory was in hand. He didn't bother to keep his voice down and began bragging about all he had accomplished.
---
The sound of Zidane ranting pulled Edge's focus away from the brutal beating he was getting in Chess. He looked up, giving Zidane his time to rant.
"Look at all I did. Melfice and Xorn? Crushed. I bribed Ghaleon to interfere in a battle between two demonic demigods. I hired the entire Chrono Cross cast to interfere in that fight and paid them off with Alexandria's treasury. Bwaaaaaaaahahahaha Haschel and Emelious. What did -you- do, huh?!?!?! NOTHING. You can't match me here!"
Edge shrugged. "You win. You certainly caused enough trouble with all that, and summoning the Infinity Dragon and all.." Edge lept to his feet with nothing else said, and ran over to Ryu's direction. One quick shove nudged Nina into Cid's grasp, who lifted the princess up into his arms and took off as soon as he saw Edge pushing Ryu towards Fou-Lu. Another shove from Edge pushed Ryu towards Fou, who was waiting and looking slightly bored by all this. Edge whispered into Ryu's ear, earning a shrug from the Brood's strongest fighter. All Zidane heard was "It's worth a shot." Apparently it worth a shot, as, Ryu held out his hand towards Fou-Lu who silently got up and took Ryu's hand. A blinding flash of light filled the arena, along with a rumbling sound that seemed to make the entire universe shake.
Edge shook his head in wonder at the sight before him. While Ryu the fourth was insanely powerful beyond all words and reason, he still was no match for the Ryu the third, owner of the Brood genes. The Infinity Dragon reared up and roared, his head brushing the top of the arena. Only one comment seemed to be appropriate here.
"Huh. It worked."
Edge then shrugged at Zidane. "I was going to just beat you up and say that all of your trouble was self inflicted and didn't count, but then you sicced Ghaleon on me. Not nice. Anywho, enjoy dealing with the Infinity Dragon+5 and Ghaleon and.. well whoever else you crossed during all... huh?" The rumbling had stopped. Edge spun around and saw Ryu and Fou-Lu on the ground, out cold.
"Maybe it wasn't stable.. definitely was worth a shot. Though... damnit.. this means that you won Zidane. Congratulations are in order. You are in fact better at causing trouble than I am. Even if it was self inflicted and you pretty much pissed everyone else off in the DLverse, you won." Edge walked out, not noticing that Zidane had not in fact responded.
===
It took several weeks and an army of healers to snap him out of his trance state, and he still had to 'pay' Ghaleon back. Zidane of course remembered nothing, but hey, apparently he had beat Edge at something! He would've been happier if he hadn't spent the entire rest of the season taking beatings from everyone he annoyed, but no one said victory came at a small price!
