The next day of the tournament soon began as crowds of people flooded the seats as they waited in anticipation for the next match of the tournament to begin.

In the locker rooms, Knuckles was doing some practice punches as the others watch him do so. "You sure you don't wanna just throw in the towel?" Jim asked. "Yeah. The money isn't that important, and you did take a huge beating from Machamp yesterday. And you're fighting against Hitmonchan, one of the top ranked fighters in the tourney." Vector said. "No way. I've come to far to turn back now. I'm seeing this through to the very end." Knuckles said as he then left the locker room to approach the ring.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Welcome to the next round of the tournament! Now that we are limited to only eight fighters, things are really heating up now! And let's just hope today's match doesn't end up like the one yesterday. Now then, from the blue corner, you know him well as the red fury, the echidna with anger and attitude as well as the spiky fisted boxer...Knuckles!" he shouted as the echinda approached the stadium with a smile on his face. "Even after the onslaught yesterday, he is still going strong. Now, in the red corner, one of the top three competitors raring to have a go at our continously rising underdog, the punch master of Pugulis as well as one of the three hit brothers...Hitmonchan!" he shouted as Hitmonchan approached and then entered the ring with a huge grin as he bumped his fists together. "Ready...fight!" the ref shouted as the crowd cheered.

"This should be over pretty quick." Hitmonchan said rushing over to Knuckles with a punch reeled back. "Mach Punch!" A super fast punch was then fired, only for Knuckles to dodge it as it whoosed by his cheek. "That was too close." Knuckles said. "I'm not done yet." Hitmonchan said. "Mach Punch!" he shotued nailing Knuckles in the face and knocking him into the turnbuckles. "Not so tough now are you? I wouldn't be after taking all those hits yesterday." he said approaching the echidna. "Well, guess I better get some spring back into my step." Knuckles said grinning as his fists began to glow green as he started punching Hitmonchan, who blocked his attacks. "Heh. That all you got?" he asked as he reeled back his fist and began to punch, only to find them weaker than earlier. "What the? Why are my punches weaker?" he asked the echidna. "New move. Courtesy of my new coach, Makuhita. He taught me some new punches. One that can regain my health and stamina and become stronger: Drain Punch!" he said as he began to punch more. "This is bad. If he keeps this up, I'll fall in no time. Looks like its time for the ace in the hole." he said jumping back and raising a fist as it glowed brighter and brighter. "Mega Punch!" he shouted letting loose a giant punch towards the echidna. Knuckles then quickly pulled back his fist and countered the attack. "Sorry, but there's only room for one punching machine on this stadium, and it isn't you!" he shouted as he delivered a large punch to Hitmonchan's face, launching him out of the ring and through a nearby wall.

"Well, that wraps up our round here. The winner here is...Knuckles!" the ref shouted as the crowd cheered. "So tune in tomorrow for...hold on! I'm getting a message from our crew backstage. Okay folks. Apparently the punch sending Hitmonchan through the wall also took out Mr. Sandman and Soda Popinski. Meaning this is now the semi final round. So, come tomorrow for the finals where we see Knuckles fight off against our other top contendor, Heracross!" he shouted as the crowd cheered.

Back behind the stage, Heracross and Grav sparred against each other. "All right, buddy. We've made it this far. We can take down that red punk and get you the title." Grav said. "Yeah. I'm ready for this. I've gotten this far. I wanna win." Heracross said. "And we haven't even had to use our ace in the hole yet." Grav said pointing to the stone in his gautlet.