Hello everyone. My name is Cory of PRIVATE Corp on here, and this is my first actual fan-fiction/crossover ever posted on here. It's one of those "what if?" situations if the Eds were to do battle in the gladiator show, DreadZone, from Ratchet: Deadlocked. So, this will tell that tale about the Eds' survival, and hopefully their escape from the deathtrap that is DreadZone.

Legal Stuff: I DO NOT own Ed, Edd n Eddy or Ratchet & Clank. Ed, Edd n Eddy is copyrighted by Danny Antonucci and Ratchet & Clank is copyrighted by Insomniac Games. I do, however, own any original content mention in this story.

Chapter One – The Preliminary Round, pt. 1

OOO

A knocking rings out across the small bedroom.

The pounding is loud enough for a moan to be let out from a giant circular blue bed. Underneath the blanket, an arm extends itself from its cover and place itself onto an end table. It places itself on different spots on the table, trying to find the alarm clock placed right in front towards the bed, while knocking over other knick-knacks. By the time it found the clock, the hand forms into a fist and begins pounding the snooze button, but no matter how many it hits the button, the noise won't be quiet.

After giving up on the clock, a body rises up from the top of the mattress, still covered by the blanket. The cloth slowly drift down off the body, revealing a drowsy boy in a egg beater, a pair of boxers and fishnet hairnet with three hair strands poking out. His drooping eyes slowly begin to get focus in the dim room that he calls his own. He turns his head very slowly to the left of his room, seeing where the knocking is coming from. He scan the whole room, seeing a door that goes to a hallway, a dresser with a record player on top, a door to a closet, an armoire, and a sliding door that leads to the outside. He got out of bed and slowly makes his way to the sliding door. The knocking got louder as he got closer to the door, yet he didn't realize that on the outside, the sunlight was a lot brighter than normal.

When he got to the sliding door, he swings it open, casting all the light into the dark room and blinding the boy. It took a few minutes for him to adjust his eyes and when got to see, all he notice are three tall people, but due to the light emitting from behind, he could not tell who or what these people are. Instead, all he could care about is sleeping in at this time of day.

"Hey, what's the big idea waking me..."

Before he could finish his sentence, the person in front reaches out its right arm and snatches the boy away.

How did I get myself into this mess, he thought to himself.

OOO

Everything is black. There is nothing to see past beyond the darkness. All there is are sounds of drilling, welding, electricity, metal clanking against each other, and voices of two people. One of the voices said something, but it was unclear on what he is saying, until a screen appears in the darkness. By this time, a face appears within the screen, but it doesn't look like anyone, or anything, familiar. It said something, but it spoke in a language unknown to whoever is seeing through the screen, but whoever is listening to whatever this creature is saying, he could understand some bits.

That is when the screen lowered itself down to find a torso being suited up with metal plates and electrical wires. The boy begins to shake violently and a click is heard from the right side of the screen. Burst of shouts and curses ring out in the room, scaring the two beings that are working on whoever is in the suit. As the boy continue to shake, a metal pole comes shooting down and shoots two prongs into the boy, releasing electrical burst good enough to numb the nerves, calming the body to its former state of relaxation.

The beings spoke to each other, talking about the body that they are working on, until the boy within the suit got a message from the being that turn on his visor:

"We can't allow these humans to get too wound up before the competition."

The next thing the boy could remember is that his visor was shut off and he could feel the final pieces of armor being place on him. Then the table that he is on begins to lift up from the room. As soon as the table comes to stop, it swiftly swings forward, launching the boy from the table and into a chute, leading through a line of pipes before dumping the body onto solid concrete below.

After a few seconds on lying on the ground, the visor turns itself on and the boy begins to look around the room that he landed in. In every direction he could see is nothing but a tall building with a red stripe going along the top edge of the ceiling, a couple of stone pillars, a few metal crates, a few circular things, two other armor beings.

There are two other beings in the same armor like the boy, but each one is designed differently. The one on the boy's right haves his tall helmet to be built to have no chin, and the sides of the helmet have been chipped away to reveal sharp edges to cut through the strongest of materials. His body armor is painted green with two white stripes going down both of his arms.

The other one on the boy's left haves a different type of color armor, in which it is red in color. What sets him from the other is that his helmet has been modified to have a flexible part to what looks like a ski hat of some sort, and there is an interesting headpiece that surrounds his visor. This being doesn't have a lot of armor like the one on the right, due to his frail state of him being too weak of lifting any heavy material, but there is enough to cover every inch of him.

The boy took glances at each armor beings and soon realizes who they resemble. He tries to say something, but his voice didn't go through his microphone so the others could hear him. He tries pounding his helmet to see that he could get the microphone to work, and after five hits, he finally speaks his first words.

"...stupid thing, work!" he said angrily.

"Eddy?" the being in red said.

"Double D?" the boy said, looking at the red being.

"Eddy!" the green being said, jumping right up from its spot.

"Ed!" the boy said nervously, stepping back from the green being can tackle him and hug him.

The three of them stood there, looking around the room that they are in, and begin to question to why be they here and why are they in the armor suits.

"Does anyone know where we are?" Eddy asked his friends.

"I'm not sure, Eddy," Double D replied, "but by the looks of it, it appears that we're inside of a warehouse of some sort."

A crash, an "Oh cool," and Eddy going "Ed, what are you doing?" later, Ed got his hands on two strange looking weapons.

"What are these things?" Eddy asked his dumbfounded friends.

"They appear to be guns of some sort," Double D said.

They are orange in color, built thin and large in size for your typical hand-held gun. Looking at it, and there doesn't seem to have an opening to put rounds in or for them to come out, well in fact, the gun itself looks like it can't hold a magazine of bullets.

"Well, how do you work these...?" Eddy was cut off when he pulls the trigger on one of the guns. A round went out of both guns, then ricochet off the wall and back at the boys. Eddy looks at the guns and smiles widely. He runs over to the box that Ed found the guns and began excavating through to see what else they could get their hands on. Eddy then pulls out a weapon that caught the eyes of the other two armor boys.

"It a walrus," Ed stated.

"No, that looks like a wrench," Double D said.

The wrench itself is larger than standard toolbox wrenches, and is much more designed to be used as a melee weapon. The handle has a dark, blood red tape running around the grip and a thin hand guard to protect with. The head have three pistons to extend the head to various states of grabbing. Eddy decided to take the wrench a spin by leaping into the air and slamming it into the ground, causing a shock wave to trip over Double D, and break the box into pieces.

When the box broke, two other weapons appear and land next to the other Eds. Double D picks up a rifle that have its barrel cut open to reveal the inside of it: a clear tube. Ed picks up a large gun that is yellow for the front end of the gun and haves a chamber for rounds to go in. Double D looks at Ed's gun to see what type of gun it was, until Ed pulls the trigger on the gun, firing a burst of energy at Eddy. Eddy did manage to dodge the blast, only having part of his suit damage by parts of the shot. After arguing to Ed for shooting at him, Eddy is motion over by Double D to a farther point away from Ed.

"Eddy, I really think that we should find a way out of here," Double D said, a bit worried.

"Why?" Eddy asked.

"Because I'm getting a strange feeling that this place isn't what it appears to be."

"Oh relax," Eddy said, slapping Double D on the back, "I'm sure that we'll get outta here in no time."

"Hey guys, take a look at what I found," Ed shouted, pointed to where Eddy broke the box. The other two run other to Ed and what they found is scatter pieces of screws and nuts across the floor. Double D picks up one of the screws, and points out something different from what they normally see for screws. The screw is glowing brightly gold and is floating around in Double D's palm. Just as Double D pick up that one screw, the other screws and nuts begin to move, aiming at Eddy. He assumes the fetal position, but after a few seconds, he sees Double D awe-struck and Ed with his plain look, even through their helmets.

"What?" asked Eddy.

"The screws..." Double D began to say, but lost his words.

"What about them?" Eddy is losing his temper.

"They disappear into you, Eddy," Ed said.

Eddy looks around at himself and wonders how could screws and nuts could get into that air-sealed armor suit of his. Then he notices a counter on the upper-left corner of his screen. In the counter, there is a number and a symbol of a screw, which resembles the amount of screws and nuts he collected.

His bolt counter.

After seeing that they collected 37 bolts, a static noise rings out in the boys' helmets. It didn't last long, until a familiar voice comes on.

"Hi-ya guys!"

"Jonny? Is that you?" Double D asked.

"Yep," the voice replied. "And Plank's here, too."

"Jonny?" Eddy echoing Double D. "Man, I'm glad to hear you."

"How are you doing, Jonny?" Ed asked.

"I'm doing well from where I am," Jonny said, "but I'm not sure about you three."

"What are you talking about?" Eddy said.

"Well, Plank said that you three are doing a preliminary course, and you guys better get your butts moving, because the tournament's about to end."

"Tournament?" Double D said, worried. "What tournament?"

"Plank said 'Oh, nothing but to test your skills on the battlefield,'" Jonny said, interpreting for his silent buddy

"Battlefield?" Double D echoed.

"What are you, a parrot?" Eddy asked angrily. "C'mon, we better get moving!"

"Not so fast Eddy," Jonny said, stopping the Eds in their tracks.

"What is it, Jonny?" Eddy asked impatiently about the hold-back.

"Plank said that 'Rules state that you must get acquainted with using your weapons before moving on to the next round in the preliminaries.' He's saying that only two of you used the weapons that you guys already have."

"Then that leaves..." Eddy said, counting him and Ed before pointing his finger at Double D.

"Oh no, I'm not going to fire any gun of any kind," Double D said, backing away from the others.

"You have to," Jonny said, "otherwise; it's going to cost all of your life."

"Say what?" Double D said.

"Say what? Eddy repeated.

"What?" Ed replied.

"Said so right here in the rules," Jonny answered.

"Well, I must rather die than firing some gun," protested Double D.

"Oh, you're going to use this gun," Eddy said, putting the rifle in Double D's hands, "and you're going to compete with us so that way we could get outta this mess!"

Double D resisted at first, but he comes to the decision to join Ed and Eddy in the tournament, since they all want to live. Soon, a hologram of a robotic enemy appears behind the Eds, and Double D preps his rifle. It took a full minute for Double D to find a weak spot on the hologram, and fires the rifle. The rifle fires a compressed energy beam good enough to destroy the hologram in one shot, and the kickback knocks Double D off his feet and on the ground. As soon Ed helps his fallen friend, a door opens up, and in the room there is a circular floor that resembles like an elevator of sorts.

"Take the elevator up to the next floor, and good luck," Jonny said, before cutting transmission to the Eds.

"Well, we somehow in this mess," Double D said, hoisting his rifle to his shoulder, "and we're the only one that are going to get out."

"You said that right," Eddy replied, stepping onto the platform.

"Gravy," Ed answered.

"Shut up, Ed," Eddy said before the door closed.

OOO

After a few minutes of traveling up in the elevator, the doors swing open, and the Eds step off the circular platform onto a solid piece of concrete in a warehouse-sized room. The doors closed behind them, and Ed and Double D snicker at their small friend in front of them.

"What's so funny?" Eddy asked, ticked by the fact that they're making fun of him.

Double D waves his right hand at Ed to stop snickering, and he relaxs himself from the laughing. "It's nothing Eddy," Double D stated.

What the two were laughing at was not from Eddy's armor, which is painted yellow and haves a red stripe going down the right side of his torso, but what's on top of his helmet. Eddy's helmet haves been made to have three strands of hair to stick out of his helmet, too obvious for anyone to notice and laugh at.

After venting out his anger, Eddy decides to walk to the edge of what they are standing on. He notices that there is yellow acid surrounding the platform, so he take his right index finger into the acid. After a millisecond, the boy went backwards and screams at the top of his lungs from the burn of the acid, though it wasn't strong enough to eat away through his tough armor. Then he notices something else on his screen in the uppermost point, something red. By looking at it, he notes that it is a red bar with a white line going around the edge of the bar, and two numbers and a dash at the bottom of the bars. The numbers read out to be nine out of tem, and if that took one point out of ten, then who knows will happen if he gets hurt badly. So he comes to the conclusion that the bar represents his health, and tries not to think of anything that results in 0/10.

After getting up, a television monitor comes down from the ceiling and perches at eye level with the Eds. The monitor turns itself on and a being appears on the screen. The Eds wonder why the being they are seeing is mostly hidden in the shadows, but they could see the being's hair to be a baby blue with navy blue tiger stripes going down, and a metallic left arm with only two skinny fingers and a thumb. It was quiet at first, until the being begins to talk without moving his mouth.

"Greetings competitors," the man said behind the shadows. "I welcome you all to my grand gladiator tournament. As you can see, you three are the last contestants in the preliminaries, and if you want to move on, you better get going and put on a good show."

With that, he salutes the boys and the monitor disappears. The Eds look at each other, a bit confuse on how a television like that disappears into thin air. They felt something moving underneath their feet, and they notice a metal bridge leading to the main platform in the room. Slowly, the Eds cross the bridge to meet their destinies.

"I'm not sure that we should be doing this," Double D said worried.

"Stop complaining," Eddy snapped back. "If anyone stop now, especially you Double D, it's dead meat for us."

"I'm in my happy place guys," Ed said.

"Good for you Ed," Double D replied.

As soon all three step off the bridge, the metal platform retracts back, and the Eds got themselves ready for battle. Four metal barrels dropped from the ceiling and lands a few feet away from the boys. The barrels burst open, and inside are these creatures that haves a rat body, but green in color and spikes running down their backs, and they had no eyes. They begin to sniff around the ground, trying to pick up any unusual smells that are new to them, until they pick up the aroma coming from Ed's armor suit. All of those creatures got the whiff and begin to charge at the Eds.

"Oh dear," Double D said.

"Oh my," Eddy said.

Ed lets out a yell and begins running towards the rat creatures. Double D tries to call Ed back, but Eddy uses his wrench to stop him from pursuit of their friend. Ed and the rat creatures kept their paces, running at full speed, until Ed crash through every last one of the creatures, knocking them to their sides. Eddy and Double look at each other, not surprise by how heavy Ed is to possibly kill anyone that stands in his charging way, but the creatures got themselves back up, shaking off whatever Ed gave them. Eddy decides to go and take on the creatures, one at a time with his wrench, while Double D stands back, shaking at the knees.

"Don't just stand there," shouted Eddy, "do something!"

Double D remembers the rifle that he got and positions it to take a shot. He carefully pinpoints one creature so that when he takes a shot, he doesn't hit either Ed or Eddy. Eddy got Double D set with hitting not one, but five rat creatures in the cross-hairs, so he pulls the trigger and shoots those five creatures. Again, the kick-back knocks Double D down, but this time his hat lands in the acid behind him, which caught on fire, and got the boy panicking and running around. Eddy notices his friend running around with his head on fire, so he takes the wrench and beat Double D on the head until the flames went out.

"Thank you Eddy," Double D said, rubbing the top of his helmet.

"All done, guys," Ed said, walking over to his friends.

"Done?" Eddy asked, a bit confused. "How could we..."

He stops his sentence to see that there is not one of those rat creatures left on the field. All that remains is scatter screws and nuts, just like when Eddy broke the crate in the other room.

"How did you do all of this?" asked Double D.

"Use my gun, Double D," Ed said, hoisting his yellow gun up.

"Well, at least we're done here," Eddy said, before a monitor comes in front of Eddy and stopping him from moving. On screen is the same man from before, still hiding in the shadows.

"Congratulation gentlemen," the man spoke. "Now before you're sent to your quarters, notice the collars around your necks."

The Eds take a second to feel a bulky collar wrapped around their necks. They could barely see their collar (except for Ed, due to lack of a chin), but they could tell that these things aren't good news.

"Allow me to demonstrate on how these collars work," the man said, pointing over to two test dummies. "As you know, if you refuse to obey any rules, you may feel a bit of a shock."

The man push a button on his robotic arm, and the dummy on the right got a heaping of electricity throughout its lifeless body, powerful enough to knock it off its podium that was holding it up.

"Now, if you try to tamper with these collars..." the man said before directing the Eds' attention back to the dummy.

The dummy on the left looked unharmed, thinking to itself I hate my job, and its head blows off. Double D got a shock look on his face now, terrified by the idea that if they refuse to fight, that may happen to them.

"Keep this in mind and we may never have to deal with this issue," the man said, before saluting off and the monitor turning off.

And with that, the Eds are teleported to their quarters.

That's it for now. I was going to type more, but I figure to do split this into two parts, but I got everything laid out. Who knows what will happen next? Only I will know.

So I have written about the Eds getting their first weapons and putting them into battle armor, and I have introduced the main antagonist in this story. Who is it? You just have to keep reading to find out.

Please continue on, the story has only just begun! Oh, and don't forget to review, thank you very much.