"All other software minus after effects is garbage" Editing pretty much summed up in a sentence. As for you. I'm just saying what is it that you want to edit. Is it that you only want to edit like a commentary or something simple? If yes then go with Sony Vegas, if you want to step it up a level and actually want to make edits and things like that then I say go straight to After Effects. I spent two weeks only with experimenting on Sony Vegas and felt that it didn't really give me enough freedom, and I noticed the effects I wanted to do were easier to do in After Effects than in Sony Vegas. I'm no expert but I do love trying to get more people from RF into the editing. More people to collab. Possibly.
I can't even remember the one I used if I'm honest, to crack the program is actually very easy. Any tutorial on how to crack it should do the trick. If your PC is (somehow) 32 bit then go for After Effects CS4 as that is the latest version 32 bit PCs could sustain. As for 64 bit, people say that you should obtain After Effects CC, but I personally would recommend CS6 instead as the CS series are more reliable with preventing bugs from happening when other Plug-Ins that are downloaded (cracked for free of course) than After Effects CC. To make a half decent edit you need Twixtor and Magic Bullet looks. The rest of the third party plug ins are of your choice depending on how creative you want to be a long with your understanding of the program.
You want premiere pro? Well damn. Yeah there's ways it should be easy to find a crack. I personally would say go to after effects but it's your preference