Birthday Cup: Edgar/Locke vs. Cloud/Marlene

Edgar was rather pleased knowing that they had won the first round. He had taken quite a beating to be honest. Though, the people here were quite good with their magics that he felt as good as new. He had had only a few moments to speak with the two clad in red before they'd been whisked off for the second round of matches.

The King stepped onto the field and pushed his hair back out of his face. It was the same arena that they'd been in the last time. At least they already knew the layout of the field and could work with it from there. They had gained a special type of recognition having beaten two of the defending champions. He simply wished that he'd of had more time to speak with all the beautiful women that had been cheering them on. "Mmm. They certainly do not. I'm feeling pretty good about all this." He smiled softly at his comrade in arms.

The roar of the crowd brought his attention from his 'treasure hunting' friend over to the opponents. The first had rather blonde and spiky hair. He wondered for a moment if this might be the Sora Kairi was looking for. But, he recalled the boy had brown spiky hair, not blonde. So, this was not the boy she was looking for. That's when his eye caught the little girl that followed the blonde, hand in hand. They could NOT be serious. The King was right!!!

Gilgamesh and Rojo had won before because they were fighting CHILDREN!

"No way I plan to clash blades with a child! This is ridiculous. She's Relm's age." He commented allowed, quite flustered by this revelation as he faced Locke. "What do they expect us to do? Harm a child!? I call a foul. Isn't there some sort of age restriction on these things?" He demanded of the announcers. This was a match that they could not win. If they won, they beat up a little girl. If they lost, well... they got beat up by a little girl! This was a lose lose situation. "What kind of man enters a child into one of these! You certainly are not deserving to be called a father or guardian..." He insulted, shaking his head in frustration more toward himself than anything. He wasn't even sure anyone could hear over the sound of the crowd. "Any idea on what we should be doing? Because, I'm fresh out of ideas outside of having a coloring contest..." He looked to Locke for an idea.

Edgar was a tad worked up about the whole ordeal. What sort of man brought a child here? The king did not think very highly of Cloud at this moment. How dare he subject a child to this sort of situation! It was simply wrong. There were no other words for it. When Marlene spoke up, rather quiet with her tone, she explained that this was all her idea. "Simply because you asked does not mean that he should have. He is the adult. He should have said no... or taken you to a safer world. This is too hazardous for you. It's shameful that the organizers of such an event would allow a child as well. Mice or not..." He was not happy about this scenario. It was wrong to subject a child to this scenario. He would have told Gau and Relm no in a heartbeat.

The King was not quite sure how they should handle a situation like this. He had not really been in this position where he needed to fight a child. Yes, he had fought a clown with the mentality of a child. But, not an actual child. His eyes flickered to Locke as he agreed about their current position. He could allow some fighting if the child had even a flicker of the raw talent Relm and Gau did. However, with the excitement she seemed to gain at the thought of a coloring contest... he doubted that there was much of a fight in her. Edgar let out a sigh as he rubbed the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes, tilting his head back as if looking toward the sky. He finally lowered his arms and shook his head. "This is ridiculous... Fine. We'll need the tools to do this... and something to do it on like a table... or a piece of wood. Sand isn't quite a good medium for it. I can attest to that." Edgar HAD grown up in the desert. He'd failed many a time in his attempt to color in the sand when escaping the castle with his brother as children.

His eyes moved to Locke as the chipmunks went to work to get things situated for the change of tone to this match. "Would you like to start the coloring contest? Or deal with the neglectful father? I don't see why we can't tag team here. Keep the man on his toes..." He asked his partner in this match.

Edgar was faintly relieved that they planned to have a 'coloring' contest for the child. It meant that they could keep her out of the way for their fight. He would not have been able to forgive himself for harming the young girl if she'd ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The hard part was going to be making sure to use only certain abilities and tools so not to harm or hinder Marlene. His eyes shifted to Locke as he commented about teaching the man a lesson. But, instead of replying he nodded in agreement. That is exactly what he planned to do. No self respecting man would bring a child to this. It was bad enough there were children in the audience watching the violence. It was a whole different story to be bring a child willingly into the middle of things.

"You certainly will see the best I can offer. It's a reckless thing bringing a child here. It extremely unlikely that she'll make it out of this tournament unscathed if you win this match. What's the point? You should be doing things a normal girl wants to do at this age like coloring. Not combat. It's bad enough that I've had to fight alongside children as young as her... but at least they had abilities and wisdom beyond their years. That they had to because the world was in jeopardy. This? This is foolish... Hopefully Locke and myself can end your tournament here. That way at least someone is looking out for the child." Edgar was quite frustrated with Cloud at this moment. He simply didn't understand how Cloud could allow Marlene to enter match such as this. They could have met someone less caring that Locke and Edgar to face. Someone that might not have taken into account the fact that Marlene was just a child. A risk such as that was simply not acceptable.

Edgar drew his lance and shifted away from Locke and Marlene. He certainly did not want the girl to get swept up in the fight. That did, sadly, rule out some of his tools and abilities. 'No use using my air anchor with Locke stuck with the kid. I can't use the Bio Blaster or my crossbow. I don't want her getting caught up in the crossfire. That just leaves having to focus on basic hand to hand. Great.' He told himself as he held his stance and prepared for whatever was going to come next. His lance would hopefully give him the advantage over a blade. Even one as long as Cloud's. Hm. Maybe he was overcompensating for something...