While Machoke had started to improve thanks to Hawlucha's help, he would really need to pick up the pace if he was to even get a spot in the tournament. After all, most of the teams were half-way to the top already while the boy and parrot were only a third of the way.

Machoke looked up and groaned, "There's gotta be a faster way to do this," Hawlucha replying, "If you're comfortable climbing faster, then that will be the key to our success," the boy sighing, "You make it sound so easy."

The parrot then thought hard about this while the two continued to climb. After a few seconds, he blinked and said, "Hold on. I have something that could help us," Machoke blinking and asking, "What?"

During this time, Gardevoir and Blaziken continued their ascent when Gardevoir's hand slipped off of one of the rock formations, her eyes widening as she started to fall. Luckily for her, though, Blaziken was right next to her as she held her hand out, taking a hold of the girl's wrist and saying, "Hey, come on, girl, I can't save you all the time," a grin on her face.

Gardevoir breathed a sigh of relief and gave the chicken a light smile, squeaking, "Thanks, Blaziken!" the two resuming their climb.

One team that seemed to be struggling was Gallade and Hitmonchan. Gallade was doing fine, but due to the fact that his girlfriend always wore boxing gloves, this was a major challenge for her. Seeing her struggling, Gallade let out a sigh and gave her a warm smile, asking, "You wanna ride on my back?"

The girl turned to him and blushed, uttering, "But won't that make it harder?" Gallade sighing, "Nonsense. I can handle it."

However, he very quickly regretted it almost as soon as suggested it when Hitmonchan wound up heavier than he thought she would be, the boy gritting his teeth as sweat poured down his face. Hitmonchan could feel his body trembling as she blinked and uttered, "You okay, Sweetie?" the green boy gulping and fibbing, "Yeah, I'm perfectly fine!"

Meanwhile, Hitmontop and Hitmonlee were doing an incredible job with the younger sister hanging to her brother's legs while he did most of the climbing. And unlike Gallade, he was perfectly fine with this as the two had actually planned this from the get-go, Hitmontop having never been particularly good at rock climbing.

"You managing down there, sis?" Hitmonlee asked as the girl nodded and replied, "Yep. I'm all good, bro."

'Not for long,' Hoopa thought with a smirk as they just happened to be a few feet from him, Diancie looking around and saying, "Now."

With that, the genie proceeded to fling his horn ring again while exclaiming, "DEMONIC RING!" only this time, the ring encased itself in stone as it ran into Hitmonlee's hands at an incredible speed.

The boy's eyes widened as he winced in pain. But just as he was about to fall, Hitmontop jammed her tail spike into the side of the mountain, using it to hold herself in place while preventing Hitmonlee from falling, both hanging upside-down now.

Hitmontop let out a sigh of relief as she asked, "You okay?" Hitmonlee groaning, "Aside from the blood rushing to my head, I'm fine. Thanks, sis."

However, his tune would change soon enough. Naturally, Hoopa's ring had a boomerang effect and as such, it had to return to its owner. With that in mind, the ring flew back and struck Hitmontop's tail, the girl crying out in pain as her spike was removed from the rocky material, both siblings falling onto a trampoline thus losing the race.

Reika stared at this with her eyes wide open as Aipom uttered, "I really hope Machoke's being extra careful right now," only for one of the cameras to focus primarily on him and Hawlucha as Nori exclaimed, "Oh my god, what are those two doing up there!?"

And this was certainly a good question as Hawlucha was currently balancing on two rock formations while doing the splits, Machoke standing atop his shoulders and clinging to the side of the mountain, shouting, "OH MY GOD, ARE YOU INSANE!?"

Aipom and the others were thinking the same thing right now as Aipom squealed, "OH MY GOD, MACHOKE, WHATEVER YOU DO, DON'T LET GO!" the others too shocked to point out the fact that the boy could not hear what she had said from all the way up there.

However, Hawlucha had a different plan as he sighed, "Machoke, if you want to make up for lost time, you will have to trust me," the parrot taking hold of his ankles and adding, "I will propel you up a long distance and you will throw you arms up when I tell you to."

Machoke still looked frightened as he retorted, "I should have known this couldn't really work," only for Hawlucha to sigh, "Look, I know I am not Aipom or one of your other good amigos, but I know what I'm doing. Let go of the side."

Something about the tone in the parrot's voice seemed to sooth Machoke's nerves, but only by a little bit. Luckily, though, this was enough to convince him to let go as Hawlucha threw his arms up, shouting, "SKY-HIGH TOSS!" Machoke beyond terrified as he was flung twenty feet into the air.

Luckily, Hawlucha managed to leap up to his level just as quickly as one would expect as he exclaimed, "NOW, MACHOKE!"

With that, the boy lifted his arms up, grabbing onto two rock formations thus preventing himself from falling back down, the parrot standing atop two other rock formations right above the boy with his arms folded, nodding his head in approval. Seeing all of this on-screen, the crowd could not help but be impressed as they cheered wildly, Machoke smiling wide and taking hold of Hawlucha's hand when he stretched it out, the two resuming a more steady climb.

Even the other heroes stopped what they were doing to stare at this in total awe. What the two had just done was incredibly dangerous and yet it had worked out so swimmingly. Then again, only Machoke could possibly pull off a miracle like that.

Reika wiped sweat off of her forehead and sighed, "Who else but Machoke?" Aipom uttering, "Wow, Hawlucha's a genius."

Hoopa seemed rather pleased by this, but was alarmed when the other heroes started to climb faster in response. It was then that the genie noticed one team climbing at an alarming rate, specifically Sandslash and her partner, a dinosaur-like being with a head like a horseshoe crab named Kabutops.

Since Sandslash had claws and Kabutops had sickles for hands, not to mention each one's incredible speed, both had the potential to make the number one spot. And while Hoopa knew full well that Machoke and Hawlucha would only need to take number sixteen at least to make it into the tournament, these two just happened to be close enough to be considered worthy of elimination.

With that in mind, Hoopa turned to Diancie and said, "I don't think I can hit those two with my ring. You'll need to intervene."

Diancie bit her lower lip and said, "We already eliminated the team we set out to take care of. Isn't that good enough?" Hoopa sighing, "Diancie, we've been through this before. I'm the leader, so I know what I'm doing."

The sylph nodded and replied, "Oh, of course. Sorry, sir," her cheeks turning light pink as she held tightly onto a rock formation and quietly said, "Gem growth."

With that, four small gems formed in the holes that each hero had just formed with their respective sharp body parts. As such, both sets were forced away from the wall as the two started to fall. However, they would not let this keep them down as Sandslash was just about to plant her claws back into the side of the mountain with Kabutops planning the same thing.

But just as they were about to do so, Hoopa saw this as a perfect opportunity now that they were no longer moving too quickly for him and sent his ring into each one's arms, only this time small flames were shooting out of small holes that formed around it. As such, both cried out in pain before falling hard into a trampoline below, both letting out sighs of disappointment.

While Kabutops was beating himself up over this, Sandslash asked, "Hey, did you feel something hit your hand?" the crab dinosaur replying, "Now that you mention it, yeah, but I didn't see anything."

Masquerain frowned upon hearing this as she thought, 'I knew it. There is fowl play,' Florges sighing, "Three teams in a row. I'm amazed no one else has fallen yet."

As it so happened, a few teams soon followed, but not due to Hoopa's actions. Some heroes got tired after a while and others were simply not cut out for mountain climbing. Some teams did not work as well as one would have expected, and their constant bickering and inability to work together cost them a spot in the tournament. One flying type had even tried to remove his shackles and was soon disqualified when a staff member spotted him doing it.

But despite all of this, there were still forty teams left, so it was anyone's game. And as it so happened, one team doing exceedingly well was the combination of Beedrill and Butterfree. In truth, neither had expected to perform so well, but Beedrill had used his arm stingers to great effect while Butterfree's stubby arms actually proved more useful than she should have imagined.

"You hanging in there okay?" Beedrill asked as Butterfree smirked and remarked, "I'd ask you the same thing," both carrying on.

One team that had made an impressive comeback since their insane tactic used earlier was Machoke and Hawlucha. Both had managed to make their way to fourteenth as Machoke beamed and exclaimed, "Hey, look! We're doing great!" Hawlucha nodding and replying, "Si! We're gonna make it!"

Shockingly enough, even Smeargle and Vespiquen were doing an amazing job. It seemed ever since the beagle's confidence rose and he started climbing without the bee's help, both had really picked up the pace, a big smile on Smeargle's face.

"Wow!" the beagle exclaimed, "You might just be right about me, Vespiquen! I'm doing better than I could have ever imagined!" the bee nodding and implying a smile with her eyes, saying, "I can't argue with you there. You're doing an amazing job."

Gardevoir and Blaziken had also improved immensely. After a while, Gardevoir had started to gain a bit more confidence in herself and thus was moving at a much faster pace. It also helped that Blaziken seemed made for this sort of thing and thus was able to move on ahead as well.

But just as it seemed like smooth sailing, one other team had the same plan as Hoopa. These specifically were two snakes, Serperior and Arbok.

Serperior had a rather lovely look to her with dark-green skin along her back and a lighter shade of green down her front. However, the skin was peeled open around the neck area to reveal a light shade of green on her head and white on her front side. She had narrow red eyes and two pointed yellow extensions on the back of her head that resembled ears. And on the end of her tail were three leaves.

Arbok, on the other hand, was a purple cobra with what looked like a face with a coal-black mouth and big red eyes on his hood. Either way, both were eyeing Machoke with sinister looks as Arbok asked, "So, is this the one who ruined your chance at making it to the Olympic finals?"

Serperior nodded and replied, "The same," as Arbok said, "Well, we can't attack them otherwise we'll be disqualified, so let's aim for something else."

With that in mind, both winked at one-another and leaped up to a rather big rock formation, slamming their tails into it like they were kicking it. However, to the untrained eye, it looked like they had used it for leverage and thus it appeared to be a complete accident when the formation started to crack along the area holding it in place.

Machoke was the first to notice this as he started to panic, Hawlucha exclaimed, "DODGE TO THE RIGHT!" but it was too late. As the parrot did just as he had suggested, Machoke was too late as the rock hit him hard in the skull, causing him to let go as he started to fall.

The audience could see this from the distance as many panicked, Aipom shouting, "NO!" Nori exclaiming, "And due to what appears to be an unfortunate circumstance, Machoke is falling! Will he save himself from disqualification?"

Hawlucha would surely help him with that as he leapt down to Machoke's level, digging his claws into the side of the mountain so he would not fall and taking hold of the boy's hand. Machoke slowly opened his eyes as he looked down with panic. However, that fear left him when he looked up and gave a light smile to his saviour, Hawlucha breathing a sigh of relief and saying, "Come on, let's show them that we won't be pushed around, eh?"

"Are you sure we can do that?" Machoke remarked, and his question was sound.

Even with the miraculous save, both had lost their advantage. Not only had they been bumped down to twenty-fifth, but almost every team was dangerously close to the top, so much so that the two would need a miracle just to place twentieth.

Though as was already established earlier, Hawlucha seemed to be that miracle as he smirked and said, "Well, you ready to try our tactic again?" Machoke biting his lower lip.

However, after coming so close, he could not throw this chance away and thus, he took a deep breath and nodded, saying, "Yeah, let's do it."

All the while, Hoopa glared down at this, growling, "Dammit, I'm gonna make sure those two pay for ruining my plans," Diancie gasping, "Come on, you've already eliminated enough teams! Please, just leave well enough-" only for the genie to glare at her, the sylph nodding and sighing, "Right, sorry."

And with that, Hoopa once again sent his ring, this time having it change into stone again. However, just as it was about to hit the snakes, Arbok slipped when a rock formation broke open under his tail, Serperior catching him. As a result, the ring, which had been aimed at where they were heading, passed right over their heads and returned to Hoopa, the genie growling, "Dammit. I guess we have no choice," he and Diancie resuming their climb up the mountain.

The rock collapsing did seem to at least distract the snake duo long enough for them to lose fourteenth place to fifteenth, but even so, that still meant they had a chance, which Hoopa wanted them to lose. Not so much that he honestly believed it would help Machoke and Hawlucha's chances but that he wanted vengeance on the snakes for ruining his plan.

Meanwhile, unlike before when Gardevoir was the one most concerned about Machoke, Blaziken was the one wincing this time as she uttered, "Let's just keep climbing. I can't look at this," Gardevoir actually smiling as she replied, "Actually, I think they'll be okay. Look."

Blaziken slowly turned her head and gazed upon where the girl was pointing and sure enough, Machoke was once again standing atop Hawlucha's shoulders while the parrot performed the splits on two rock formations. Seeing the two attempting this again with Machoke more competent made it seem like the two might just stand a chance after all, and thus Blaziken could not help but smile.

The same went for Machoke's other friends. Though they did not let themselves get distracted from their climb up the mountain, they still wanted more than ever for their friend to make it to the tournament, so right now, they prayed that this method would work a second time.

And much like before, Hawlucha hurled Machoke high into the air, the boy now confident as Scyther and Talonflame turned to see this, both smirking. Talonflame wanted a rematch with Machoke ever since the two fought over a year ago while Scyther had always wanted a chance to face him, what with him being the former champion's son.

Lopunny and Heracross, meanwhile, gave him a quick cheer while Scrafty grinned, exclaiming, "Attaboy, Machoke!"

However, just as he and Hawlucha were about to make their way into tenth place, their eyes widened when they noticed no rock formations to hold onto. The parrot gulped and uttered, "Non, I miscalculated," Machoke turning to him and barking, "WHAT!?"

However, just as it seemed helpless, four gems suddenly stuck out of the side of the mountain as both heroes immediately took advantage of this, taking hold of the protrusions. They dared not question where these came from as this was a true miracle to take advantage of.

And seeing this once again given a lot of focus from the cameras, the crowd could not help but applaud this as Reika sighed, "It's just one close call after the other with him, isn't it?" Aipom nodding and saying, "I could have sworn I didn't see those formations there before, but who cares? This is awesome!" her black-haired friend ruffling the hair atop her head and replying, "Now you get it. Not everything has to be questioned."

"Thanks," Hoopa said to Diancie with a grin as the sylph sighed and replied, "I knew you wanted them to make it."

Machoke and Hawlucha were both handing in stunned silence until it suddenly dawned on them that the other heroes were picking up the pace now, one team passing them as they nodded and resumed their climb. Though Arbok and Serperior also did so, the green snake glaring at Machoke.

"Calm down," Arbok said with a smirk, "We can get our revenge in the tournament," Serperior blinking and nodding, saying, "You're right," a grin forming on her face.

And soon enough, the teams finally started to reach the top starting with Hoopa and Diancie. Despite all of their meddling, they had managed to avoid slowing down and thus managed to place first.

"And we have our first qualifiers!" Nori exclaimed as the crowd went wild, Lucario and Clauncher almost immediately following them, the two grinning at one-another while the lobster leapt up to the dog's height so the two could share a high five.

Following close behind in third were Scyther and Talonflame, the two smirking as their wing shackles were removed. And Bisharp and Scrafty were not far behind, Scrafty blinking and uttering, "I can't believe we actually managed forth," his knight friend nodding and replying, "Yes, I would have been happy with tenth, but this is something else."

Gallade and Hitmonchan, despite their disadvantage earlier, had actually managed fifth place as it seemed carrying his girlfriend long enough had improved Gallade's strength quite a bit. Needless to say, he actually felt more prepared for the tournament now as he smiled lightly and said, "Wow, honey, we did it."

Hitmonchan nodded and gave him a kiss on the cheek while Lopunny and Heracross came in sixth. Naturally, Lopunny was extremely excited about this as she bounced up and down with her arms in the air, Heracross raising his arms and making peace signs with his tiny claws.

Octillery and Kecleon, having been one of the few teams not to struggle too much throughout, had managed seventh with the chameleon smiling and thinking, 'I hope you're watching, family. I want you all to see that I've finally mastered the camouflage technique.'

Throh and Sawk quickly followed the two in eighth, both giving each-other a high five as now Gallade was a tad worried. He could not help but wonder if his sister would make it as Hitmonchan patted him on the shoulder, saying, "Come on, have a little faith."

Gothitelle and Mawile, despite both seeming unfit for this sort of thing, had actually made it. Mawile's hair, or rather her mother had helped her a lot, what with her ability to tolerate the feel of stone against her powerful jaws while Gothitelle had used her powers of darkness to help strengthen her grip on the material. Needless to say, Mawile was happy to have a spot in the tournament while Gothitelle was just glad she could have her chance. She had still barely gotten used to being out in the sun without an umbrella to cover herself.

Metang and Starmie had come in tenth, the cyborg looking down at his ally and saying, "Good job," Starmie nodding and replying, "We're gonna kick some ass, right?"

And just as Gallade was starting to worry more, his mind was put at ease when Blaziken and Gardevoir finally reached the top, taking eleventh place. The chicken grinned at her partner and said, "Good job, Gardevoir. You were more ready for this than you thought," the girl taking a deep breath and replying, "Well, you did help me a lot."

However, she was cut off when Gallade ran over to her and gave her a tight embrace, exclaiming, "SIS, YOU MADE IT!" Gardevoir smiling sweetly as the group then peered over the edge, hoping Machoke and Hawlucha could still make it.

At that moment, Vespiquen and Smeargle had emerged in twelfth as the bee breathed a sigh of relief, turning to her partner and saying, "Good job, Smeargle. You really impressed me," the beagle nodding and replying, "Oui. I never thought I was capable of such a thing."

Following close behind were Beedrill and Butterfree, the wasp noticing this as he exclaimed, "Sweet! We're actually gonna compete!" his butterfly partner sighing, "You act like thirteenth is a major accomplishment."

Magnemite and Squirtle were in fourteenth as the turtle grinned at her partner. With that, both pounded their fists together, both of them surprisingly the least exhausted of all the heroes. This was mostly due to Magnemite having come up with a tactic to get them into the tournament without them having to move too quickly or strain themselves.

Serperior and Arbok had come in fifteenth while Machoke and Hawlucha were close behind in sixteenth, the snake glaring at the lizard-like boy. However, before Machoke could notice, Gardevoir immediately gave him a big hug, planting a kiss on his lips as his cheeks flushed pink, the boy wrapping his arms around her.

"Whoa, Senior Machoke, you are quite the player," Hawlucha said with a grin as Blaziken rolled her eyes and jokingly said, "Get a room, you two," patting Machoke on the shoulder and adding, "But seriously, good job, man. I was hoping I'd get to compete with you."

And seeing this on-screen, Aipom and the girls cheered heavily, Aipom sighing, "Of course he made it. He always pulls off miracles like this," Reika nodding and adding, "But seriously, Hawlucha's a much better ally than I would have expected."

Hoopa, meanwhile, grinned at the sight of this. He cared not about who else had made it, just that he had a chance to face Machoke. And of course, Diancie was just glad to see him happy, and the fact that she had helped with that made her feel better.

Soon enough, the other teams made it to the top as well, all of them disappointed not to have placed within the top sixteen after all of their hard work. But either way, it was finally time to figure out the order of which the matches would take place.

With that in mind, Beedrill nodded as the cameras were now focused on him, the wasp standing before the other teams and stating, "Everyone, you've all put up a great struggle, but we have now determined who will face off in the tournament. As you all probably remember, the order in which the teams fought in the Olympics was chosen at random."

"Yeah, I remember that," Machoke groaned, reminiscing of the time he had been launched into a slot that would decide his place thanks to an arrow with a plastic ball attached to the end. His was the only one that broke and thus he was the only one to take in pain from it.

"Well, that's not the case this time," Beedrill added as everyone was much more interested now, the wasp explaining, "The fights will take place in descending order based off of what place everyone was in. This means Machoke and Hawlucha will face Serperior and Arbok in the first round, Squirtle and Magnemite will take us on in the second round," nodding at Butterfree before adding, "and so on and so forth."

He then brought up a chart with the orders as Lucario turned to Hoopa and Diancie, Clauncher grinning and saying, "We can take these two, right?" the dog nodding and replying, "Of course."

Scrafty and Bisharp grinned at their opponents, Scyther and Talonflame both smirking at them with their arms folded. Sure, they had no ill will toward one-another, but they were still serious about their upcoming match.

Meanwhile, Hitmonchan eyed Lopunny and Heracross and nudged Gallade, the boy nodding. After all, he had lost to Scyther in the next gen tournament and he figured a chance to take on her allies would be a good way to gauge whether or not he was worthy of a rematch with the insect.

Octillery waved at Throh and Sawk as both smiled nervously, waving back as Sawk sighed, "This brings back painful memories," Throh chuckling and replying, "Come on, you looked amazing," the blue boy remembering when Machoke had him and the octopus dress in female dancer outfits just so he could make a grand entrance at the Olympics opening ceremony.

Metang seemed rather disappointed that he could not get his rematch with Lucario, but he still intended to defeat Gothitelle and Mawile, Starmie beyond excited just to have a chance at the spotlight again, especially now that her skills had improved. And of course, Gardevoir gave Smeargle a sweet smile, bowing her head to him.

The beagle grinned nervously and gave her a light wave. Unbeknownst to Vespiquen, him facing Gardevoir would be much more detrimental than if he had faced Florges in the tournament. Florges may have been a great friend and ally to him, but Gardevoir was his best friend. The two had known each-other since childhood, so to face her, and in the first round no less left him beyond nervous.

Beedrill and Butterfree eyed their opponents, Beedrill saying, "Careful with these two. Magnemite is known for his great strategies," Butterfree sighing, "I saw them take on Absol and Blitzle. They both lost in a matter of minutes. Trust me, I'm not the least bit scared of them."

And while Serperior gave Machoke a menacing look, making a neck-slitting motion with her finger, Machoke stared in confusion. It was just like when he faced Barbaracle and Golduck in the Olympics. Both had it out for him for personal reasons, but what was Serperior's?

Either way, the matches would take place in the Tokyo Dome in three days, so all heroes were to head home and prepare themselves. Needless to say, this was exciting and the audience could not wait for the first round.