Everyone was buzzing around, curious about what the next event would be now that they were down to two members.
"Attention everyone," Rachel began. "We have had contests of luck, contests of skill, and now we will have a contest of strength. I do not relish the idea of such barbaric contests, but seeing as it is appropriate, we will now engage in tag team wrestling matches."
Azrael laughed. "FINALLY! Something I can sink my teeth into!" he said happily.
"The remaining two members of your team will randomly square off against another team. First team to win by pinfall or submission will earn their team 3 points."
"Hey Rabbit, if we're wrestling, where the hell is the ring?" Ragna questioned.
"I was just getting to that fool, do you think me daft?" Rachel said. "Now, if you will all be so kind as to follow me into the recreational room, we may begin." Her and her butler led everyone down into the basement into a room of the mansion that not even Ragna has known about, despite being forced to be here on multiple occasions. It was painted red with a lot of floodlights hanging from the ceiling as well as lights from the walls. There was a cage full of different sports balls and a basketball court in the middle of it all, with isolated walls to protect from the workout equipment on the other side.
"Dang Rachel, I didn't know you worked out!" Makoto said.
"Seriously? We have this giant rec room and the first thing you noticed is that she works out?" Eddy said. Makoto just shrugged.
"Why of course, how else would Valkenhayn and I manage to keep our forms intact?" Rachel answered. "Nago? Gii? Did you construct the wrestling ring I had told you to do earlier?"
Her cat and bat familiars appeared before her. "Yes Princess," they both said in unison.
"Your ring is over there inside of the basketball court Princess," Nago said.
"We included tea and pastries too!" Gii added.
"Wonderful, I am pleased to know you fools did not disappoint me for once," Rachel "complimented." The group all went into the court to see where the matches would be taking place. It was about the size of a normal professional wrestling ring that included benches for the spectators and a bell. Everyone took their seats and waited for Rachel to announce the first match.
"Ladies and gentlemen, the first bout will take place between the team of Azrael and Tager and the team of Sarah and Nirvana," she announced. "Will both teams go to their corners and await the bell. Valkenhayn will provide the refereeing services."
"You can't be serious," Sarah muttered. "Me and this hunk of metal have to face those two meatheads?"
"Hey, don't call my sister a hunk of metal!" Carl snapped.
"Shut it Houdini! I have a match to fight in." Sarah snapped back as her and Nirvana entered the ring and Azrael and Tager took the other side.
"WAIT!" Ed shouted from the stands. "Don't let my baby sister fight these two! Take me instead!"
"Oh ho ho, this is interesting," Rachel said. "You wish to fight the Mad Dog and Red Devil in place of Sarah and Nirvana, Ed?"
"Yep! If Sarah gets hurt, she'll tell Mom and I'll get grounded from TV for a month! TV's good for Ed!"
"And just when I thought you actually cared about my safety," Sarah said under her breath.
"Wait Dork," Kevin piped up, grabbing Ed's shirt collar. "You realize then that WE have to face King Kong and Godzilla over there, don't you?"
"Don't care, in you go!" Ed said as he threw Kevin into the ring and got in himself while Sarah and Nirvana climbed out.
"Very well then, if you insist, then the match shall be between Team Cul-De-Sac and Sector Seven!" Rachel decided.
"One way or another, I'm gonna devour you all!" Azrael said with delight. "Bring it, Viking-boy!"
Valkenhayn, in a referee outfit, ushered the fighters to their corners and decided that Kevin and Tager were going to start. He instructed Rachel to ring the bell and then the match was underway.
"Prepare for a lumping you overgrown cherry with arms!" Kevin said, trying to sound tough despite his nervousness.
Tager chuckled. "I see you are trying to mask your nervousness. I suppose I would be too if I had to face off against two giants such as us. Very well, give us your best shot!"
"Clobber him, Shovel-Chin!" Eddy shouted from the sidelines.
"Pound that dweeb, Tager!" Kokonoe also shouted from the sidelines. "That's an order!" Tager nodded at her and started to slowly creep up to Kevin. Kevin had a nervous look on his face, but then he quickly changed into a smirk as he got down on his hand in a crouched position.
"Blue 44!" the football player shouted. "Hut!" Kevin charged at Tager, completely throwing the Red Devil by surprise. Tager isn't an easy one to take down, but Kevin made the all-state football team this year and he actually managed to tackle Tager to the ground.
"What? How did you-" Tager, completely shocked, started to say.
"Shut it, Hellboy. I'm not that easy to scare," Kevin said, turning into a considerably more confident person at his move. "These dweebs know I'm one of the school's best football players, no way I can't take you losers." Kevin started to throw a punch at him, but Tager grabbed the boy's fist in his oversized hand and literally threw him off of of him.
Tager got up. "Very well then, I guess I shouldn't go easy on either of you after all." Tager once again started to move towards the jock, knowing that Kevin could go for another tackle at any point. Tager opened up his hands and then Kevin started to gravitate towards him. Now it was Kevin's turn to be surprised.
"Wha-what are you doing to me?" Kevin shouted, struggling to get free from whatever Tager was doing to him.
"It seems you're new to the concept of magnetism, are you?" Tager observed. "You're going to get a first-hand experience of it, no pun intended." As soon as Kevin was within grabbing range, Tager grabbed him and threw him to the floor, hard.
Eddy looked over at Rachel. "Hey are you blind!? How the heck can he get away with that!?"
Rachel cocked an eyebrow. "Did I imply that there would be disqualifications in these match-ups?" she said rhetorically. "What fun would it be if the match-ups could not involve abilities or weapons? This is not that horrid wrestling company known as the WWE, this is real."
"That means Kevin's a gone-" Eddy said before a lightbulb popped up above his head. "Wait, that's it! Sock Head, you still have those notes on Tager from last year?"
Double Dee pulled his notes about Tager's schematics from the time he worked on him out of hammerspace and started to go through them profusely. "Kevin!" he started. "Look for a battery or a control panel somewhere! That might be able to deactivate some of his abilities!"
Kokonoe immediately got worried. "Tager! Double Dee knows about your control panels! You have to keep these two at a distance or you're literally going to be toast!" Upon hearing that, Tager deactivated his magnets and Kevin made a mad dash towards Ed.
As soon as he got tagged in, Ed pulled his spatula out of hammerspace. "Prepare to meet your plumber!" Ed yelled as a war cry, confusing the Red Devil. Tager just walked to his corner and tagged in the Mad Dog.
"At long last, I can finally feast!" Azrael said with delight. "Come at me if you dare, boy!" A second later, Ed yelled out of fear and then Azrael started to chase him around the ring in a circle. "Get over here and fight like a man, coward!" Azrael said out of frustration. Ed looked back to see his chaser still coming at him. Not paying attention, Ed accidentally ran into the ring ropes and sprung right back into the Mad Dog's arms. Azrael twisted Ed into a rope and started to play jump-rope with him.
"Double Dee! Quick! Think of something or Ed's doomed!" Eddy said frantically while Ed was suplexed.
"Drat! I can't think of any way we can physically assist him in any way," Double Dee confessed while Ed was now put into a frying pan Azrael had and was literally getting turned into a flapjack. "Wait, I got it! Ed needs some kind of motivation from us! We need to tell him something that will get him moving."
As if right on cue, Eddy took out his megaphone and shouted to Ed "Hey Monobrow! I heard Azrael hates vikings, chickens, and butter toast with gravy!"
Ed, who was currently in a bearhug from Azrael, heard Eddy's announcement. "He hates vikings?" Ed said, all the terror draining from his face, and slowly rising into anger. "And chickens? And BUTTER TOAST AND GRAVY!?" Ed immediately broke out of the Mad Dog's grasp, bringing instant shock to the latter's face. Ed drew his spatula and pointed it at him. "Luthor is angered at the sound of your hatred! By the power of Odin the chicken lord, I shall smite you!" Ed yelled, charging him at ridiculously fast speed. Azrael didn't even have time to react as Ed smacked him hard in the face with the spatula and he flew in the corner.
Azrael started to smirk. "So that's all it took to give me a fight, huh? This is gonna be good after all." Azrael stood up and got into a fighting stance. "Bring it on! I'm not done yet!" Azrael ran at him for a clothesline, but Ed dodged and jumped on his back, riding him like a horse.
"Giddy up!" Ed yelled, riding Azrael like they were in a rodeo, earning him laughs from the crowd, including the latter's own teammates.
"Azrael, quick! Tag me in!" Tager shouted.
"Don't interfere Red Devil! I can handle this!" Azrael rejected. Unfortunately, he didn't realize Ed rode him right into his corner.
"Tag me in Dork! We can finish him off!" Kevin told him. Ed gave Kevin the tag and Kevin took out the Mad Dog's legs while Ed landed right on top of him, putting him on his back. Kevin covered him and Valkenhayn started the count. Just then Tager started to come into the ring to stop it.
"You're not going to stop us from defeating the evil chicken, toast, and gravy-hater!" Ed yelled, tackling Tager to the ground. Valkenhayn ended the three count.
"And the winners of the match are Team Cul-De-Sac!" Valkenhayn announced, holding up Kevin and Ed's arms. The crowd, except for Sector Seven cheered, pissed that a cyborg and a psychopath had lost to two kids.
Eddy, Double Dee, and Marie ran into the ring and held their teammates up in celebration. "That was amazing Lumpy! I didn't know you and Kevin had it in ya!" Eddy congratulated. "You too Kev, way to go!" The team had all exited the ring and went back to the stands with giant smiles on their faces.
"Well there goes my bet," Terumi muttered to himself at the crazy upset that the kids just pulled.
"Well done boys, I am quite impressed that you managed to compete against people born and built for battle. Therefore you have all earned your team 3 points, also putting you in the lead," Rachel said, making Team Cul-De-Sac cheer again. "Now, shall we move on to the next bout?"