Something ominous hung in the air. Edge stood at the gorilla position, Brock Lesnar was already out there, along with Paul Heyman at ringside. He growled, he had no idea who he was going up against or what he would be facing. He and Eddie never saw eye to eye, but now he had to rely on him to help take down this monster, then they could have their real match. He just wondered if he'd persuaded Flair in making the right decision. Everyone was watching from the back main locker room, Edge told everyone to stay away, but Shane McMahon and Chris Jericho were ready to go out there, as were any of the others. Chris Benoit, Crash, Jeff Hardy, Christian, even Vince McMahon would be ready and willing. Edge's music hit, followed by the fog machine. He took a deep breath and pushed it out with a sigh.
He opened his eyes, "Here it is, time to go." And ran out.
Eddie Guerrero approached the position moments after and soon his music hit. He smirked and got outside, doing his shimmy dance, he was in no mood to come down to the ring in one of his low riders and risk that beast destroying one of his precious babies, one of his expensive precious babies. Soon the trio was in the ring and Paul Heyman stood along the apron with a smirk. Right as they were about to begin, Brock got out of the ring and ran off, confusing both superstars and the fans. The gang in the back was also confused, but Shane and Jericho growled, ready, they knew what was going on.
"I'll be right back!" Jericho stood up and rushed the door, but Benoit blocked him.
"You're going after him, I know."
Jericho frowned, "I'm the champ, it's up to me to fight and protect everyone."
"Enough of that." Benoit smirked. "You need our help and you know it."
Jericho smirked back, "Yea. So come on."
Chris Benoit, Chris Jericho, Shane McMahon and Crash ran out the door. Vince stood up, Jeff Hardy and Christian on each side of him, "You ready bodyguards?"
"Ready." They nodded, and followed Vince along with the rest.
Flair looked at the remaining superstars, "Hey, hey now, don't you guys leave, I need some protection too."
Brock Lesnar soon found what he was looking for, he smiled at all of the opposing superstars. This was all going according to Paul Heyman's plan. Crash and Chris Benoit were the closest to him, but just then they were ambushed by Charlie Hass and Shelton Benjamin.
Jericho gasped, "You're mine!" He tackled Brock and they began to fight.
"Careful Chris." Shane coached.
"You guys need help?" Vince asked Crash and Benoit.
"No, we're fine." Crash struggled.
"Just keep back you three!" Benoit ordered.
But before the trio could move or even think, all four men were bulldozed down in the blink of an eye. They gasped when they saw it was Brock. They looked over and saw Jericho being helped up by Shane.
"Stay back." He advised. "You're not strong enough."
"Screw that! AH!" Jericho tackled Brock down again.
Shane tensed, "He's gonna kill himself out there!"
Vince walked over to Crash and Benoit, "Hey, are you guys ok?"
Christian nudged Charlie and Shelton, "They're all out like dead rocks."
"Hey." Jeff looked on the monitor. "What's going on out there?" They all turned from Brock and Jericho's fighting and saw Edge and Eddie standing in the ring facing off.
"Whoa, this is it." Shane turned to the television. "Finally they get their chance, to fight."
In the ring, Edge and Eddie stared the other down. Nothing seemed to move in the air, even the fans were in awe. Edge began to walk, as did Eddie, they were both circling each other very slowly. By the steel steps, Paul Heyman watched and smiled. Finally they both stopped and Edge crouched down, Eddie got into battle position. The crowd's roar fell silent, the battle was about to begin. Just then Eddie smiled, throwing Edge off his guard, and attacked, causing Edge to go on the defensive. The fans cheered madly as the two superstars fought in the ring. They weren't using their powers, they were fighting with their own true strength, but they were evenly matched, so they stopped.
"I say it's time we turn it up a notch." Eddie went Super Star.
Edge nodded, "As do I." And did the same, then the battle continued.
Paul laughed to himself, "This is all going so according to plan."
Finally they stopped, panting already. It had been a while since both of them had used their super powers, Eddie had been only fighting in the ring, and being out with an injury, Edge hadn't had that much time to train, considering before he left he was a considerable amount stronger than Eddie. Finally when they both caught their breaths, Eddie spoke up.
"My, my, it appears as if my predicted calculations were accurate."
"What do you mean?"
"You've been hurt and haven't been able to train, I've been fighting in the ring. You were stronger than me and now, despite our differences in training, you still continue to match and surpass me in every way." He frowned. "I tried thinking long and hard about where I went wrong, when we first met, I could've killed you if I'd wanted, and yet I didn't. I was soft." Paul smiled. "Look at who I am now back to when we first met, I got engaged, I've got an apprentice, and they've done nothing for me but hold me back. Friends, Champ, that's what made me soft. You're already like that and happy with it, but I am not." In the back, Jeff was the only one watching the television and not Jericho fighting Brock, and he frowned sadly. "I've come to a decision, Edge." Edge tensed, he didn't call him Champ. Eddie began to cry out as his power level rose dramatically. Edge gasped as Eddie exploded into a golden light, and yet something seemed demonic about his aura. "What do you think of me now, Champ?" Eddie growled coldly.
Edge gulped, "What's happened to you? Your power, I sense darkness within you."
"Hmm, that is correct. I talked to Paul earlier and I came to these realizations. I realized I must start over from the beginning, return to what and who I was, I was bad, I was stronger, and I didn't have these soft things holding me back. Now Paul has used his powers to turn me back to my old evil ways, I've got to do anything to be stronger than you."
"Even sell your soul to the devil!? Come on Eddie! I know you better than that, you never listen or take orders to anyone, why start now, why with Paul?"
"Now? Because I came to these realizations just now. Why Paul? No reason, I just needed to use him for my purpose."
"What!" Paul jumped onto the ropes. "I gave you this power, you must obey me, we made a deal!"
"Oh contrare, dearest Heyman." Eddie's tone caused him to freeze in terror. "Remember what Edge just suggested. Never sell your soul to the devil." He punched him, causing him to fall back and get knocked out. He turned back to Edge. "So what do you say? How about trying out my new power? We can finally have the match we always wanted, and I can finally have the victory, that I always deserved."
Edge thought to himself, "What's wrong here, this isn't the Eddie I know. But I'd better play along, I don't know how strong he is just by looking, he could go after my friends if I don't cooperate. Besides, we've got a fight for these fans tonight, and if I do beat him, maybe that will be the end of all this." He nodded. "Alright Eddie, let's do this."
"He heh, I thought you'd never ask. AH!" He charged at him and began to wail on him. Edge cried out, he was a lot stronger than he'd anticipated, what was Paul's power?
Meanwhile in the back, Shane tried to help Crash and Benoit, not noticing that Shelton and Charlie had slunk away. Christian and Vince were watching as Jericho was being brutally beaten by Brock, but Jeff kept his eyes on the television, something was wrong out there with Eddie.
"Ah!" Jericho cried out as he was thrown back first against the brick wall. His body crumpled into a limp heap on the floor, he panted deeply, his ribs felt broken, he was cut and bleeding, his battered body starting to look bruised. He opened one eye and looked up. "I don't know how much longer I can keep this up, my attacks aren't inflicting any damage. But…" He groaned as Brock picked him up by his collar, he wasn't even trying to kill him or even pin him, he was just having fun torturing him.
"We have to do something." Christian growled.
"No, you aren't strong enough" Vince replied.
"Well, what about you?" Christian looked him up and down.
"Me?" Vince began to sweat. "I'm, ah, too… important."
Christian rolled his eyes, "Feh, yea right."
In the ring, Eddie finally stopped the assault on Edge, "Tell me, why aren't you fighting back? I want you at your fullest, and yet all you do is defend yourself."
"Eddie, can't you feel that energy? It's Brock, he's attacking all our friends in the back, you can't say you don't want to do anything about it. Come on Eddie!"
Eddie sighed and closed his eyes, "I can see your mind wont rest until this is all taken care of, then you can focus on our match."
"Yes."
"Very well then, we'll take care of him, then fight our fight."
Edge smiled and nodded, "Great, let's go." He turned but then his world went black.
Eddie stood above him, he'd knocked him out from behind, "I'll take care of this." He ate one of Kurt's beans that he snuck out. He walked out of the ring and the fans booed, they expected him to cover him, not go after Brock. Paul Heyman finally woke up and gulped, running out scared through the crowd. In the back, Jeff watched Eddie go up the ramp, he realized he was coming up to fight Brock. He turned to see Jericho's life slowly being beaten away, and he refused to let something like that happen to his mentor, Eddie.