The following morning, Machop and her friends had woken up extra early to ready themselves for their matches. Needless to say, today would not be an easy one, but there was no way they would lose. Machop and Torchic had both come very far while Venipede and Mantima had worked hard to overcome their biggest weaknesses. They were ready for this.

All the while, the villains had all prepared themselves for the day and were waiting in their respective rings for ten o'clock to roll around. They had all been looking forward to facing their respective heroes, though a part of Tentacruel could not help but wish for Machop to defeat Lilligant. After all, she wanted to fight her just as much as the flower girl did.

Since Meloetta did not have an opponent, she was told to sit back and watch Tentacruel's match. After all, the jellyfish wanted to make sure she would not switch sides.

Big televisions had been set up to show footage from the other matches. That way, if one match ended sooner than the others, the audience would have something to watch.

Seeing this made Meloetta mad. While in theory, it sounded fair, to her, all this did was further emphasize how much people treated these fights like sporting events. It was like they did not take it seriously in the slightest.

Even so, while she had not yet seen her companions in combat, she had full confidence that they could win their matches. There was just no way their opponents could be that much of a threat, right?

Just like they had promised, Isamu and Eiko had arrived at the park for Machop's match along with their parents. Their mother, Hana, was a slender woman with long brown hair while their father, Noboru, was a slightly muscular man with messy pink hair.

"I have to admit, son," Noboru said with a big smile, "I never thought you would take interest in this sort of thing," Isamu nodding and replying, "Yeah. I never knew what I was missing."

"Still, why specifically did you choose this match to watch?" Hana asked as Eiko grinned and said menacingly, "I know why. It's cause he only cares about Machop's match," the boy retorting, "DO NOT!" his cheeks flushed pink as he folded his arms, his family laughing in response.

He then took a deep breath and thought, 'Come on, Machop, show me more miracles today. I know you can do it.'

Lilligant was standing nearby as she thought, 'I know Tentacruel would love to face you, Machop, but unfortunately for her, I'm gonna be the one to end you today. Voltorb may have done an okay job, but his victory was nowhere near as impressive as mine will be.'

Gigalith waited by a mountainous region with his arms folded. Though while he looked confident, a part of him was nervous about fighting Torchic. But why? Surely she could not have been strong enough to deal massive damage to a being made of stone, right?

Sneasel was beyond excited as she grinned and scratched her claws up against a girder in order to sharpen them. After seeing Mantima's match with Voltorb online, she just knew this was the opponent for her.

Tentacruel, all the while, folded her tentacles and thought, 'This Venipede better be worth my time. The only thing I know about him is that he apparently lost to Gyarados. I don't know how close he came or anything like that because no one caught that on film.'

Even so, she would have to see this as just a new challenge, an opponent she knew nothing about. When she became a villain, she knew she would have to face adversaries like this, so she would view this as a chance to really show her skills.

Meloetta noticed many people arrive to watch the event as she frowned, thinking, 'It's like they don't even know they're going to lose their power over us today,' before giving Tentacruel a light smile and saying, "Do your best."

The jellyfish gave her a light nod and a smile as she looked at a nearby clock, thinking, 'Just one more hour. It's good to know these kind people are just as excited to see their heroes lose as I am.'

And sure enough, the heroes were on their way right now. Machop was being driven by Garchomp with Lairon unfortunately being too busy to give her advice during the match. But as much as Garchomp wished his boss could be more lenient, Machop was fine with this.

It was just as Lairon said. As long as she remembered her lessons, she would be fine.

Torchic used her incredible speed to sprint all the way to the mountainous region. She saw this as a good way to exercise her feet before the match, and she knew she would need as much strength in that area as possible to defeat someone made of stone.

Venipede had taken the bus to the pond he would fight at. After all, he felt that he would need all of his energy for this.

Mantima had booked a cab so she would be there as soon as possible. It was not so much that she wanted to preserve energy as much as she wanted to be there early. She would get all the training she needed after arriving at the construction site.

Of course, with only two announcers, it would be rather difficult for all four matches to have someone narrate the events to the audience. As such, Nori and Yuki had decided to draw straws to decide which match they would commentate. Nori ended up with Mantima's match while Yuki got Machop's, the older woman feeling a tad envious.

But even so, they could not back out of their selected matches as Yuki sat behind a desk in the park while Nori sat behind one at the construction site. She personally would have chosen the mountainous region over this as at least that would be a more pleasant place to be in, but she had a job to do and she was not yet ready for retirement.

And sure enough, the heroes arrived. Machop made it fifty minutes ahead of schedule, Garchomp purposely choosing such an early time. As it so happened, Lairon had mapped out an entire entrance for his wife to set up, Machop really wishing he had not.

Mantima arrived with forty-five minutes to spare, and this suited her just fine. It gave her more than enough time to practice her skills, and she would use this opportunity to build her muscles.

Venipede, having taken a mode of transportation with a schedule, arrived thirty minutes early, much later than the other two. But he was fine with this. If anything, a longer wait would only increase the odds of him getting cold feet and that was the last thing he wanted.

And since Torchic had to travel the longest distance and had chosen the slowest mode of transportation, she arrived with only fifteen minutes to spare. This hardly mattered as she saw her run as perfect training for this match, Gigalith turning to face her as she gave him a cold stare.

The time seemed to pass by quickly with each hero preparing in his or her own way. Though the villains refused to relax during this time either. They had heard stories of villains so full of themselves, they refused to train before a match and more often than not, this ended in failure. Tentacruel, at the very least, was much smarter than that, not to mention she knew Meloetta would likely view her as a bad influence if she did not at least try to ready herself.

And once ten o'clock finally rolled around, the construction site was full of excitement as Nori exclaimed, "Alright, everyone, it's finally time for the main event! Will Mantima surprise us again or will this be her first official loss on Earth? We'll just have to wait and find out!"

Meloetta noticed this on the TV and read the subtitles, scowling. It really did seem like the humans did not care at all about the lives of these creatures who were fighting for them.

Yuki, meanwhile, looked over the crowd in the park and exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's finally time for Machop's forth match on Earth! Will she continue to impress us like when she fought Gyarados or will today mark her second loss!?"

"Second loss?" Isamu uttered as Eiko replied, "I thought you watched all of her matches. You know she lost her first match, right?" the boy genuinely surprised as he uttered, "I must not have found that one."

After having seen her fight with Crawdaunt, this certainly surprised him. As it just so happened, he had only watched the matches involving heroes winning. Now that he knew failure was possible, all he could do was hope that Machop could win this match.

All the while, Venipede and Tentacruel were already in the ring as there was no one there to announce either one's presence. The centipede glared at the jellyfish and thought, 'I'm not gonna be afraid this time. My fear and paranoia got the best of me when I fought Gyarados. Never again!'

It was a similar deal with Torchic and Gigalith as the two seemed more than ready to go, Torchic especially. For whatever reason, she was feeling really confident about this, more so than ever before.

Meanwhile, at the construction site, Nori pointed at the Western side and exclaimed, "In the red corner, representing the villains is a ferocious feline with mustelidae DNA! With her razor sharp claws, she is certain to be a major threat! Introducing Sneasel!"

The cat got down on all fours and sprinted toward the ring. Once close enough, she dug her claws into the ground and used them to propel herself into the air, performing a vertical flip onto the ring. And like felines were known for, she landed perfectly on her feet as she spread her arms out, waving to the boos and hisses of the crowd.

Meloetta watched this on the screen and frowned, thinking, 'Soon they'll be cheering for her and everyone else. They'll see just how wrong they were.'

"And in the blue corner," Nori exclaimed, "we got us a surprising fighter who didn't show much promise at first but proved herself capable of so much more! While she's unable to jump as high as most heroes and doesn't quite have the physical strength that her friends possess, she makes up for it with incredible speed and resistance! It is my pleasure to welcome Mantima!"

The crowd went wild as the mantis performed a somersault toward the ring. She then leapt high into the air and landed on one hand, holding the other out while the cheers got louder. As serious as she was about this match, her older mother had always told her to open up with a spectacle. It often helped to relieve stress.

Sneasel grinned and said, "Not bad," as Mantima took a deep breath and thought, 'At least this one worked,' her eyes widening as her mind added, 'That's right, I actually jumped over the rope this time! I'm starting to jump higher! This is great!'

All the while, the crowd was pumped up in the park as Yuki exclaimed, "In the red corner, a lovely flower who is probably not as delicate as she seems! No one knows what to expect, but I'm sure her opponent will need to watch out for Lilligant!"

The crowd was about to give her the same reaction the other audience members gave Sneasel, but it was hard to bring themselves to boo the flower girl as she slowly and elegantly made her way toward the ring. She swayed her hips back and forth with one hand on the side of her head and another on her waist. At the very least, this was certainly unexpected for a fight entrance.

She then winked to the crowd as some of the boys had trouble looking away, the flower then climbing into the ring and resting against the turnbuckle. To end her entrance, she humped her arms over the ropes and pointed her chin up with her eyes closed.

"Well, that was quite the spectacle," Yuki uttered before clearing her throat and exclaiming, "Anyway, in the blue corner comes the hero who saved us from Gyarados and was recently caught beating the daylights out of Crawdaunt by our trusty news crew! While her career had a rough start, it seems to have picked up, and therefor it is my pleasure to announce the presence of Machop!"

With that, her eyes sparkled as she thought, 'I sounded just like a professional!' Isamu and Eiko both cheering louder than the rest of the crowd.

However, all but Eiko's cheers came to a halt when Machop entered with hedge clippers strapped to her back and an angry look in her eyes. She also had a Mohawk wig and tribal markings on the sides of her face.

As she entered the ring, she pulled out her trimmers and clamped them twice, saying, "This is gonna be you," in the most threatening voice she could muster.

While one would have expected a living plant to be intimidated by this, Lilligant held her arm up to her mouth and stifled a laugh, asking, "I'm sorry, was that supposed to be scary? Because you look like you're trying too hard!"

Machop's eyes and mouth widened as the rest of the crowd laughed save for Eiko and Isamu. The boy face-palmed while the pink-haired girl folded her arms with a sour look in her eyes, grumbling, "Well, I think she looks awesome."

Isamu simply shook his head and groaned, "Oh god, don't encourage that! She looks ridiculous!"

Machop gritted her teeth and pried her wig and sheath off, tossing them out of the ring and using her spit to wipe the markings off. She then took a deep breath and sighed, "Fine, whatever! All that matters is that I'm gonna wipe the floor with your smug face!" Lilligant nodding and saying, "Right. I just about forgot we had a match right now."

Meloetta stared at this and thought, 'Maybe she did this on purpose to relieve Lilligant of any tension. And because it looked like she was trying to intimidate her, the government can't view this as a form of treason. It's good to know one of them is trying to make things easier,' a light smile on her face.

However, with Tentacruel's match just about to begin, she shifted her attention back to the ring. Right now, she wanted to make sure the jellyfish defeated her opponent.

And with that, neither hesitated any longer as Tentacruel raced toward Venipede, the centipede preparing himself. The jellyfish folded all of her arms and was prepared to send them into his face when he saw this coming and leapt high above her head.

Tentacruel's eyes widened as the centipede sent a kick into her skull. The crowd cheered as he landed behind her, binding her in place and leaping backward, planting her head into the mat as her eyes widened with shock.

Meloetta watched in horror, looking around at the cheering crowd and gritting her teeth, thinking, 'This is horrible! I can only imagine how much it pained that poor centipede to do that!'

However, the green-haired girl could not have been more wrong as Venipede released his hold on Tentacruel, allowing her to collapse. He had a serious look in his eyes as he thought, 'Yeah, today, I become a true winner! Sorry, Tentacruel, but you're not taking control of Tokyo!'

All the while, Torchic raced toward Gigalith as the golem rose his arm and sent his right fist toward her. The chicken smirked and leapt into the air, throwing her legs forward and latching them onto the golem's arm. His eyes widened as she proceeded to lean her head forward, biting his finger and pulling back thus causing the arm even more pain.

The crowd went wild as Gigalith winced in response to this, Torchic thinking, 'My mother's first opponent on Earth was a giant snake made of rocks named Onix. Despite the odds constantly stacked against her, she still won! You're a lot smaller than Onix, so I'm certain I can beat you!'

However, her tune would soon change when Gigalith spread out his right leg, Torchic too caught up in the moment to notice. And soon enough, the crowd gasped when Gigalith lowered his arm, ramming her back into his knee as she released her hold, crying out in pain. She then rolled off of his knee and fell on her belly, the golem lifting up his foot and planting it into her back, shifting it back and forth like he was squishing a fly.

Torchic cried even louder as Meloetta watched this, thinking, 'I'm sure deep down, she's happy to be losing. It's a shame we have to do this, but it's necessary.'

During this time, Mantima and Sneasel's match started up as the cat wasted no time racing toward the mantis. Her eyes widened as the cat shifted back and forth during her run, moving so quickly that it looked like she was teleporting. And once she was close enough, she proceeded to latch onto the mantis' shoulders, leaping backward and planting the back of her head into the turnbuckle.

The crowd winced as Nori stated, "And in no time at all, Sneasel catches Mantima off-guard and sets her up for a powerful suplex!" and it did not end there as the cat leaned forward, planting her claws against the mat before propelling herself into the air just like she had leapt off the ground earlier.

The only difference was that this time, she had more than just an entrance in mind as she planted both of her feet into Mantima's face, the mantis gritting her teeth and thinking, 'No!'

And with that, she lifted her arms up and took hold of Sneasel's ankles, the cat's eyes and mouth wide open as Mantima lifted her up briefly. She then swung her arms downward, slamming the cat's back into the canvas. The mantis then took many deep breaths, thinking, 'Today, I will finally earn a victory on Earth! When I beat Voltorb, that was a fluke! Not this time!'

All the while, Machop and Lilligant stared each other down as Yuki said, "Well, the combatants are set! Let's begin!" ringing the bell as Machop held up a defensive stance, waiting for her opponent to make the first move just like she knew Lairon would want.

Unfortunately, Lilligant saw right through this as she smirked and thought, 'Oh, like I'm gonna fall for such an amateurish move. My patience in battle outweighs that of most heroes. But if there's one thing I know about your family, it's that they lack patience. Let's see you try to resist getting in the first move without your beloved trainer telling you otherwise.'

The flower girl then gave Machop a sweet smile and said, "I am a woman of honour, therefor I will give you the first hit," winking at the girl as she shuddered and remarked, "What are you playing at?"

"Nothing," Lilligant replied as she placed her arms up against her sides, "See? I will let you hit me first and I won't even bother trying to fight back," Yuki unsure how to react to this as Isamu growled, "Don't take her offer."

However, Eiko did not seem to detect anything wrong as she squealed, "Come on, Machop, she's giving you a perfect opportunity! Take it!" Isamu retorting, "NO, DON'T!" Noboru and Hana not sure who to side with or whether or not they should take sides.

Unfortunately, Machop saw a great deal of sincerity in Lilligant's eyes as she smirked and said, "Oh well, if you go down in one hit, it's totally your fault!" as she raced forward, Garchomp's eyes widening as she spat, "WAIT, THE BOY IS RIGHT!"

Unfortunately, it was too late as when Machop was close enough, Lilligant stood on the tips of her toes and twirled gracefully to the side. Machop's eyes widened as the flower girl held her arms out, continuing to twirl as Machop took a slap to her cheek.

More followed quickly enough as while the first slap showed little effect, the fifth one started to reveal results as her cheek had already turned red, Isamu barking, "HEY, STOP LETTING HER HIT YOU!"

Machop gritted her teeth and took hold of Lilligant's wrist only for her to continue twirling, the crowd gasping as she managed to overpower the girl. No one could believe this was even possible as Lilligant released her hold, sending Machop flying face-first into the turnbuckle.

"Well, it would seem Lilligant is a lot tougher than she looks," Yuki stated, "Not only were those slaps of hers very effective, but she has even managed to overpower Machop's grip and send her flying. Not sure how she pulled that off, but one thing's for certain. We can't take her lightly."

Machop's eyes swirled as Eiko uttered, "How did she pull that off? She really doesn't look that strong," Noboru nodding and replying, "It was because of her momentum."

Eiko and Hana stared at the man as Isamu explained, "I could see that. Because she was already twirling at an incredible speed, Machop was unable to stop her from moving. Thus she was unable to prevent herself from being picked up and thrown like that," Noboru nodding and saying, "That's my boy."

Garchomp stared at the male humans in admiration and thought, 'Wow, they could see Lilligant's counter coming a mile away. From what Machop told me, the boy wasn't interested in fights before, so I wonder how he knew that would happen.'

Whatever the case, Machop would certainly need to think as she rubbed her face, growling, "You'll pay for that!" Lilligant laughing and exclaiming, "Oh my god, this is just precious!"

Unfortunately, Meloetta was now completely focused on Tentacruel's match and thus did not see how angry Machop was to have taken in that blow to the head. And it seemed Tentacruel might just get the upper hand after all as she had her top eight tentacles locked against Venipede's arms, using all her might to force him back.

But just as it seemed like she would overpower him, Venipede implied a smirk with his eyes and thought, 'Unfortunately for you, I know how to get out of this,' before allowing the jellyfish to force him onto his back. He then planted his feet into her gut and flipped backward, forcing her off of him and onto her belly.

The crowd went wild as Venipede's eyes sparkled, the centipede unable to believe he had just pulled that off. However, he then realized he could not give his opponent the time to recover and thus jumped onto her back, latching his arms and legs around her, pulling on her chin while shouting, "CENTIPEDE BACKBREAKER!"

Meloetta's eyes widened as she thought, 'Oh no, Tentacruel hasn't hit him once. He's been trained too well, and he has to pretend that he's enjoying it too. This is just awful.'

"Today, everyone's gonna see a new Venipede," the centipede growled as Tentacruel chuckled and replied, "So this is the infamous Centipede Backbreaker your mother was known for. I have to admit, it's effective, but not against someone like me."

Venipede's eyes widened as the jellyfish shifted her tentacles, binding them to his arms. It was at this moment he suddenly realized he had not managed to bind them, and since Tentacruel still had six free tentacles to use as legs, she used them to lift herself up. The crowd gasped as the jellyfish proceeded to pry the centipede's arms off of her, keeping his legs attached so she could lean backward and plant his back into the mat.

Meloetta's eyes lit up as Venipede grunted in pain. But it would not end there as Tentacruel leapt over him, sending an onslaught of rapid kicks into his gut while shouting, "JELLYFISH BOMBARDMENT!"

The centipede took in a few hits before folding his arms in an attempt to block her tentacles. However, Tentacruel saw this coming as she wrapped her legs around six of his arms, leaning backward and placing her arm tentacles against the mat. She then pushed herself up, lifting Venipede with her and leaned backward, planting his skull into the canvas with a frankensteiner, the crowd in deep panic now.

Despite his hard exoskeleton, this hit had still drawn a bit of green blood from Venipede's head as he rolled away from the jellyfish. His eyes were wide with shock as he breathed heavily, thinking, 'Okay, I need to be more careful! Why didn't I see that coming!?'

Meloetta, all the while, figured he was only pretending to look scared. Deep down, she still believed that he and all of his friends secretly wanted to be defeated, and if Venipede did not think of something else soon, that might very well happen.