Things were not looking good. Sure, Blaziken may have recovered from Onix's assault on her, but she could not possibly have much left in her. After all, one hit from the towering behemoth was enough to make her bleed. It was a miracle she was still standing.

Machoke decided to give his tactic one more try as he started making swimming motions with his arms, Onix rolling his eyes and stating, "Sign language isn't gonna work either, boy," Machoke grumbling curses under his breath as Aipom patted the boy on the shoulder, saying, "Hey, I thought you did a good job."

Onix figured Blaziken was likely too weak to dodge his stone jaws this time as he proceeded to lunge at her once more, Blaziken dodging to the right and barely avoiding him. Unfortunately, she did not have the strength to jump or counterattack like last time.

"You should have just stayed down and accepted your defeat," Onix stated, "You're almost out of breath, and you wanna know what the best part is? I don't think my attacks earlier are the complete cause of this."

"What are you insinuating?" Blaziken remarked with a cold stare, the snake shrugging his shoulders and replying, "I'm referring to that Asteroid Suplex of yours," everyone rather curious as he added, "Something else worth note about not just Combusken but your entire family is that they were never cut out for using advanced moves. In fact, it was recorded that your mom only used one move like that in her entire life, a brain buster, and I'm sure you're fully aware of what happened when she did that."

Blaziken's eyes went wide as she nodded, taking a deep breath and adding, "Yes, it's true. She told me this story when I attempted to use a regular Suplex on a practice dummy. I found myself unable to lift the thing and my mom told me it was because I'd expelled too much energy with my other training."

"What does this have to do with the brain buster?" Machoke asked, Aipom replying, "Everything," Blaziken explaining, "She told me of her first time trying an advanced move, that brain buster you mentioned. She ended up straining herself just to pull it off and while she was able to use it in the end, it took a lot out of her and she ended up losing."

"Exactly, and you know why that is?" Onix asked with a smirk, Blaziken giving him a cold stare as he stated, "It's because your bodies are not meant to handle moves like that! You can spend your whole lives training your upper body and it would never work entirely in your favour!"

"Well, it didn't take too much out of me!" Blaziken retorted with a grimace, "I still took a good number of hits from you and was even able to counter your stupid dive technique a second time!" the chicken then dashing behind Onix and grabbing him by the tail before shouting, "And you know why that is!? Because I'm better than my mother could ever be!"

With that, the chicken tightened her grip on the tail, Machoke asking, "Is she doing what I think she's doing?" the crowd cheering wildly as Aipom got up, barking, "BLAZIKEN, DON'T DO IT! HE'S RIGHT! YOU CAN'T HANDLE IT!" Blaziken retorting, "SHUT UP! I CAN HANDLE THIS AND I'LL PROVE IT!"

With that, Blaziken proceeded to lift the tail up slightly. However, when she did so, she found herself really exhausted as she dropped the tail, panting heavily while Onix lifted his tail, saying, "I told you so," ramming the tip into her face and knocking the bird on her back.

"Again, you've proven yourself a great adversary, so I'll make this as quick as possible," Onix said, wrapping his tail around Blaziken and lifting her up, the audience now restless as the snake proceeded to send a hard punch to Blaziken's face.

The chicken simply closed her eyes after taking in the blow, thinking, 'I'm sorry, Mom. I've spent so much of my life obsessed with being better than you that I forgot what really mattered. I thought I'd learned my lesson on Hero Planet, but getting into this ring made me forget all of that.'

Onix sent another punch to her face while she thought, 'I thought the most important thing was outdoing the Mach family, something you could never accomplish, but the lives of the people I'm to protect are so much more important. I guess this is punishment for realizing that too late.'

"Alright, one more oughta do it," Onix said, preparing one last punch as Blaziken's eyes went wide open, the chicken shouting, "The lives of the people are more important than upstaging my mother!" the chicken freeing her arms from the tail just like Sawk had and blocking the incoming fist before sighing, "There is no way I'm letting you harm more innocent lives!"

Machoke and Aipom stared silently for a second before cheering wildly, Machoke wrapping an arm around Aipom's neck and squeezing it. The rest of the crowd went wild as well as Blaziken said, "I may have strained myself, but that doesn't mean I can't continue!"

"Where is all this energy coming from!?" Onix spat, a look of terror in his eyes. Sure, he knew that from a logical standpoint, Blaziken should not have been able to do more than just block his punch, but on the other hand, she should not have had enough energy to even pull that off.

As if that was not enough, Blaziken tightened her grip on the fist as she proceeded to push downward on it, prying her legs out of the hold. With that, a grin crossed her face as she exclaimed, "Now to finish you off, not with some fancy grappling technique but with an old-fashioned family favourite!"

With that, the chicken sent a kick to Onix's face in order to boost herself toward the ropes. Just before making contact, she flipped her body around so her feet hit them, pushing them back before applying just enough force to push them downward, allowing her to aim for Onix's chin.

Onix could have fought back but right now he was simply too spellbound by her sudden recovery. With that, Blaziken launched herself off the ropes, holding one fist out as it caught flame, the chicken shouting, "SKY UPPERCUT!" sending a hard punch into the snake's chin, his eyes wide open as he fell hard on his back, Blaziken spinning in the air just to show off a bit before landing firmly against the mat.

There was no doubt about it. Onix was down for the count. With that in mind, Hito rang the bell and shouted, "It looked really doubtful, but after coming so close to failure, Blaziken has won the match!" the crowd going wild as the chicken rose one fist in the air, Machoke and Aipom clapping with big smiles on their faces.

Suddenly, Blaziken fell on her back, Machoke and Aipom now worried when they heard laughing, Blaziken sighing, "Well, mother, it took me a while to figure everything out, but I did it," the bird then closing her eyes and deciding to take a nap.

"Can someone remove the bodies from the ring?" Hito asked as Bisharp nodded, leaping into the ring and saying, "Gladly," picking up Onix by the tail and dragging him off, everyone staring in absolute shock, Machoke even more terrified of the knight now.

Bisharp took a deep breath, allowing Onix to rest as he climbed back into the ring, saying, "Get up, Blaziken. You're not done yet."

All went silent until Blaziken opened her eyes and grumbled, "What are you talking about?" the chicken rising back to her feet as Bisharp sighed, "You remember the rules, right? The winner of this match takes on the last member of the loser's team, and that's me."

Machoke then got up and barked, "Wait a minute! Blaziken is clearly in no condition to continue!" Aipom nodding and thinking, 'He has a good point. She barely made it out of that one alive.'

Bisharp simply shook his head and remarked, "Yes, but the rules very clearly stated that the next match would happen right after the first one, or are you willing to violate the rules?"

Machoke went silent until Aipom tapped him on the shoulder, saying, "You know the answer," Machoke nodding and stating, "You never specified that the match had to take place right away!" Bisharp folding his arms and remarking, "That is true, but I never said it didn't," Machoke's jaw dropped as he groaned, "I got nothing!"

All went silent as Hito asked, "So, do I signal the next match now or not?" Bisharp about to confirm this when Blaziken asked, "What kind of knight doesn't give his opponent a fair chance? I thought you were all about honour and good sportsmanship up to this point."

All went silent as the audience applauded Blaziken, Bisharp taking a deep breath and replying, "You make a valid argument," the knight closing his eyes and saying, "It would be disgraceful for me to pick on one who cannot defend herself. As such, I shall grant you an hour to rest up before we fight."

Machoke was just about to object again when Aipom sighed, "I think this is as good as we're gonna get," Machoke trembling and whimpering, "But there's no way Blaziken will have enough strength after a mere hour."

"It's okay," Aipom replied with a big smile, "We still got a plan B, remember?" Machoke staring in confusion as the monkey sighed, "I mean you," Machoke lowering his head and groaning, "I was trying to block that out of my mind."

Still, Blaziken seemed okay with this arrangement. It could have just been due to her stubbornness and pride, but it seemed like both fighters had agreed that an hour was a reasonable amount of time.

Blaziken decided to rest up good, knowing she was in no condition to be training. She had a feeling she would lose. In fact, she was almost one-hundred percent certain of it. So why had she even requested the extra time instead of giving up and handing Bisharp over to Machoke? Was it a matter of pride or was there more to it?

During this time, Machoke was buying himself a hot dog when Aipom noticed him, running over to the boy and asking, "How can you think of food at a time like this?" Machoke remarking, "Hey, as long as I'm outside of the ring, I should be allowed to enjoy every moment of it!"

Aipom groaned and rubbed her temple, Machoke remarking, "Hey, you bought yourself banana pudding right before Blaziken's match, so this makes you a hypocrite," the monkey retorting, "But that's different!" Machoke shaking his head and sighing, "No it's not," Aipom groaning, "Darn, you're right."

Machoke then noticed his hot dog was prepared as he reached into his speedo, his eyes going wide as he gulped, "Um, I don't have any-" Aipom holding up a finger with her tail hand and digging into a handbag she had hanging from her shoulder and pulling out the cash he needed.

"Say, where do you get your money from?" Machoke asked, Aipom replying, "Weekly allowance. Every week, Hero Planet graduates and representatives receive whatever currency is necessary for paying rent among other things. Since we're stationed in Japan, we get five-thousand yen each. In fact, at the end of this week, you get an extra thousand since it's your first month in Japan and the government wants to make sure you can buy groceries until rent comes around."

"Wait, I don't get it," Machoke replied, "Why do we have to pay rent when the government pays for our housing?" Aipom replying, "It's government money, so they still pay for it. It's just they've already paid for the house itself. It's easier for me for live off of five-thousand a week than most others because our house is not official property and therefore does not require rent."

"How is our house not official property?" Machoke asked, the monkey replying, "It's cause your daddy had a bunch of his friends build it for him," the boy thinking, 'That explains why it looks exactly like him.'

Machoke then shrugged and said, "Still sounds like a great deal. With none of us paying rent, we could be rich!" Aipom nodding before stating, "And best of all, since I am clearly more responsible with money than you are, your allowance goes to me!"

Machoke narrowed his eyelids and said nothing as a part of him knew Aipom was going to say that. Either way, it still sounded like a good deal.

Once the hour had passed, it was finally time for the match as the seats were filled up again. However, the audience was on the fence about who they thought would win. On one hand, they certainly wanted Blaziken to win and knew how fierce she could be in battle, but on the other hand, it was just as Machoke had said. One hour was hardly enough for even a hero to recover from such extensive damage.

Hito cleared his throat and exclaimed, "It is now time for the second match of the day! In the red corner, weighing at seventy kilograms, a knight honourable enough to let his opponent recover, Bisharp!" Machoke muttering, "He's giving that jerk too much credit."

Bisharp simply walked toward the ring, no flashy entrance or anything. After all, he was a knight and did not care about looking 'cool' for audiences. But this was hardly working against him as the strong silent approach actually did send chills down the audience members' spines.

"In the blue corner..." Hito added, "once again weighing at fifty-two kilograms, having just defeated Onix and yet is still ready for more, Blaziken!" the crowd cheering for Blaziken, but mostly out of loyalty. They still were not sure whether or not she would win.

Things seemed to look up, though, when Blaziken ended up sprinting toward the ring, still in her cowgirl top as she leaped toward the ropes, performing a handstand with only one hand on the top rope. The crowd applauded her performance as she propelled herself off the rope, landing perfectly on her feet, no one even noticing that she was already breathing rather heavily after the routine was over.

"That looked like it took a lot of energy to pull off," Bisharp said while folding his arms, "Perhaps you should have taken a more simple approach like I did," Blaziken remarking, "Nah, I'm perfectly fine."

Although she did her best to hide her exhaustion, Bisharp could sense that she was still tired. The reason was because she had stopped to take a breath after 'I'm', only she made it quick enough that the audience could not hear it.

"Still, I must say I am impressed with how much energy you're showing," Bisharp replied, "After all, you looked like you would not last more than a second before and after only a mere hour, you're performing acrobatics before the match despite you still being covered in wounds. You've got spirit and I admire that."

"Yeah, yeah, save your flattery for someone on your side," Blaziken remarked, Bisharp nodding as the bell was rung, Bisharp holding a defensive stance, everyone expecting Blaziken to make the first move again. Yet strangely enough, she did not.

No, the chicken was actually holding her position, Hito saying, "Perhaps Blaziken is not as full of energy as she first seemed. She is not moving an inch," Machoke gulping, "I knew there was no way," Aipom shaking her head and replying, "I'm sure she's still lacking energy, but I see another reason for her lack of movement."

Bisharp simply looked at this and said, "I am a man of honour, therefore I offer you the first hit," Blaziken gritting her teeth. The truth was that she wanted him to attack first, but why? That was far from her style.

Then she got an idea to get him to start moving as she simply replied, "Oh no, Bisharp, you were kind enough to allow me an hour to recover. Villain or not, such an act deserves a reward, so you may go first."

Bisharp rose an eyebrow as the chicken spread out her arms, adding, "Look, I won't even budge. Give me all you got," the crowd gasping as Hito exclaimed, "It would seem I was wrong! Blaziken is so full of energy, she's literally giving Bisharp permission to injure her further!"

"I think all those blows from Onix made her go crazy," Machoke said, Aipom shaking her head and replying, "Just wait. If this goes in the direction I think it will, we're going to see Blaziken at her most strategic."

Bisharp detected something suspicious about this, but on the other hand, he had already learned all he needed to know about Blaziken from the previous fight. She was hard-headed and reckless and as such would not have hesitated to attack first, and inviting the knight to do just that could very well be some bone-headed attempt to prove how tough she was.

With that in mind, the knight decided to start with something simple as he held his wrist blade-side forward, charging toward the bird. Blaziken smirked, waiting for him to get close as she leaned forward, placing her hands firmly against the mat and lifting her legs up. After that, she sent her right leg into the left side of the knight's helmet, Bisharp's eyes going wide.

However, thanks to his armour, this dealt minimal damage as simply ignored the pain and sent his spike into Blaziken's gut. The chicken cried out in pain as she rolled back, now having trouble standing up as blood dripped from the spot that he been stabbed.

"I must admit, I did not expect something so clever from a firebrand such as yourself," Bisharp said, "Clearly I should be more careful," Machoke saying, "Oh, so that's what she was planning," Aipom sighing, "It was clever by her standards, but it still didn't work all that well."

And this was true. Due to the fact that she was bleeding now, Blaziken was losing energy more quickly by the second. Whatever her plan was, she would certainly need to last a little longer for it to work.

With that in mind, Blaziken was on the offensive as she knew Bisharp would not fall for such a stunt a second time. After all, he already seemed like a more intelligent fighter than the others despite having not revealed too many fighting moves to the world just yet.

Bisharp was on the defensive now as he watched Blaziken's movements, the chicken coming at him with her leg ready for a roundhouse. Bisharp readied his wrist spike to block the attack only for Blaziken to exclaim, "Psyche!" before sending a punch to his face.

The crowd went wild as Bisharp backed up, rubbing the spot and saying, "I was planning on holding back due to your condition for the sake of fairness, but clearly I have underestimated you."

'That stab earlier was holding back?' Machoke thought with a look of terror on his face, Bisharp rushing at Blaziken with one arm out and the other in front of his face with its palm facing forward.

It did not take long for people to realize what he was doing. The arm sticking out clearly represented a sword while the arm in front of his face represented a shield. It looked strange, but it was a good way to ensure that he would have a good defence and a good offence at the same time.

Seeing this, Blaziken took a deep breath thinking, 'Hopefully I'll have enough energy to pull this off,' lighting her left leg on fire and shouting, "BLAZE KICK JUNIOR!" sending the foot toward the sword arm, Bisharp blocking the foot and saying, "I see. You know my shield would block any attack, so you've raised your power in an attempt to knock my sword out of my hand, in a matter of speaking."

"You catch on quick," Blaziken replied, continuing to apply force to his arm only for Bisharp to smirk, saying, "Unfortunately, my arms are not real knight weapons, so I can just shift my shield into a second sword whenever I want," the chicken's eyes going wide as if this was not an obvious factor to take into consideration, Bisharp turning his shield arm around so the spike was sticking out.

"WRIST SWORD!" the knight shouted before swinging his blade across Blaziken's gut, now making the gash the shape of a cross as more blood came out, the chicken backing up and clutching onto the wound, taking many deep breaths.

"Blaze Kick Junior," Bisharp said, shocking everyone by pulling out a cloth and wiping off the blood on his wrist before adding, "And you have the nerve to call Rockin' Roller stupid," Blaziken remarking, "Hey, I'll have you know that attack name is totally cool!"

Unfortunately, just shouting that seemed to take a bit out of Blaziken as she tightened her grip on the bleeding spot, taking more deep breaths. No, she had to last a bit longer. She felt like she had at least gotten close, but close to what?

With that in mind, the bird ignored the wound and sprinted toward Bisharp with her arm out. Bisharp once again blocked it, this time using his palm as a shield and placing a firm grip against it.

"And of course since my shield is not a real one, I can change it into a glove," the knight said, Blaziken remarking, "But it was already a glove to begin with!" the knight ignoring these words and hurling the chicken high into the air.

When he noticed Blaziken descend, clearly too weak to counter or anything like that, the knight proceeded to lean back, striking a bridge formation. The crowd was now in full panic while Hito exclaimed, "Lord only knows what Bisharp has planned with his rib blades sticking upward like that!"

With that, Blaziken's back fell hard against the blades, her eyes and beak wide open as Bisharp shouted, "REVERSE GUILLOTINE!" Blaziken now seeming to be stuck against his blades.

"NO, BLAZIKEN!" Machoke belted, Aipom also filled with terror as Bisharp wrapped his arms around the bird, holding on tight and exclaiming, "RIBCAGE OF TORMENT!"

The knight leapt high above the ring, leaning backwards and flipping over one-hundred-and-eighty degrees. Everyone knew what was coming next as he had finished off Throh with this exact same technique, and it went just as they suspected with Blaziken's head slammed hard against the canvas.

All went silent as Bisharp released his hold on Blaziken, allowing her to collapse. Hito stared at this for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and ringing the bell, exclaiming, "THE WINNER IS BISHARP!" the crowd crying out in horror.

Machoke's eyes were wide open as he forgot how scared he was of fighting Bisharp. As such, he got up and sprinted to the side of the ring, placing his hands against the canvas and breathing heavily, hoping Blaziken was alright.

The chicken managed to find the strength to open one eye, a light smirk on her face as she uttered, "How-how did I do?" coughing a bit as more blood came from her mouth.

Machoke continued to stare in silence until the chicken asked, "Did you s-s-see enough of his..." coughing some more before adding, "s-skills?"

"Wait," Machoke remarked, "Are you telling me you knew you would lose?" Blaziken snickering before coughing again and uttering, "E-Even I-I-I know when I'm in no c-condition to f-f-fight. I j-just needed to l-l-last long enough for Bisharp to show off h-his abilities."

Aipom had come to the side of the ring as well, the monkey hearing this loud and clear as her eyes sparkled, the monkey thinking, 'I see now. She took in more pain so Machoke would know how to defeat Bisharp.'

"I hate to break up your touching conversation," Bisharp stated, walking over to Blaziken before adding, "This valiant warrior has been badly wounded and needs medical treatment right away," Machoke nodding and turning to the crowd, exclaiming, "Someone call a doctor!" Aipom quickly pulling a cellphone out of her handbag as Machoke narrowed his eyelids thinking, 'She has a cellphone too?'

Blaziken had expelled the last of her energy telling Machoke all that stuff earlier, so she was out like a light when a group of medics rushed in, putting her on a stretcher. Machoke trembled all over. Sure, he was more than up to facing Bisharp for Blaziken's sake before, but after seeing him show enough kindness to even suggest medical treatment was unnerving for some reason.

"Sir Machoke," Bisharp said, Machoke's eyes widening as Bisharp said, "I propose we postpone our duel until dawn tomorrow. That is just a tad past seven o'clock, in case you were wondering."

'Oh sure, when he takes in damage before the next match, he's allowed to take a break,' Machoke thought with a grimace but figured this would give him some time to prepare himself. Sure, waking up early was far from his cup of tea, but for Blaziken and Osaka's sake, he would have to do this. After all, Blaziken had exposed Bisharp's abilities so he could use them to his advantage. There was no way he was going to lose.