After a very close call, it seemed Machop was still able to stand up to Sneasel. But with the cat having been such a pain and the girl covered in blood, could she take full advantage of this new opportunity or was she only delaying the inevitable? Whatever the case, she could not give up. She was the last line of defence preventing Tokyo from being taken over.

Seeing just how serious Machop looked about all of this made Meloetta once again wonder if this really was all an act. All of her emotions during this match combined with her and Torchic paying tribute to their fallen allies with their entrances seemed far too convincing.

"The next time I knock you down, you will stay down, got it!?" Sneasel snapped as she rushed at Machop, sending her claws out rapidly and shouting, "FELINE FRENZY!"

But just as Machop was about to succumb to another barrage of slashes, she lifted her arms up, pointed her elbows toward the mat and sent them inward. This managed to trap Sneasel's arms in place as she gasped, trying her best to pry them out.

However, Machop would not allow her to escape as she fell backward, pulling the cat up while doing so. She then planted her feet hard into her gut and sent her flying high into the air. With that, the girl leapt up to her level and latched her hands onto her ankles, spreading her legs out and latching her ankles onto her neck.

Sneasel's eyes were wide with terror as Machop spat, "METEOR WARHEAD!" sending her skull hard into the canvas as she coughed up blood, the crowd going wild as Yuki exclaimed, "And after taking in all that punishment, Machop makes up for all of it with the same devastating finisher that defeated Lilligant! Let's see if this is enough to take Sneasel down!"

Tentacruel narrowed her eyelids and thought, 'Oh well. Even if she loses, that just means I can finally have my match with Machop.'

All went silent as Isamu grinned and thought, 'Yes, that has to be it. No opponent has ever gotten up from one of those techniques,' Eiko and Garchomp beaming bright.

But just as it truly seemed like the match was over, the crowd gasped as Sneasel's body twitched. Machop's eyes widened as she trembled and uttered, "No, it can't be," the cat planting her claws against the mat and slowly pushing herself up.

Her arms were trembling all over as she breathed heavily, growling, "No, I want to be the second villain to defeat you! I want my name in the history books!" Meloetta uttering, "Villain?"

"She's just referring to the label given to her by the public," Tentacruel replied with a nervous laugh only for Sneasel to add, "Your family has been nothing but a burden to us ever since your grandpa, Machamp entered the scene! Imagine how many of us could have taken over Tokyo if it hadn't been for him! And Machoke was even worse, defeating every single villain he ever fought! At least Machamp actually lost every now and then! And even whenever that happened, his stupid friends would come and ruin everything!"

'So this has been going on for a long time?' Meloetta thought with her eyes wide open, Sneasel grunting, "As if that's not enough, they've always had this annoying tendency to turn our allies against us! Seriously, how many villains did Machoke and his friends bring to the side of good!? It was at least ten, I'm sure! Hell, Machamp convinced Bouffalant, one of the greatest villains of all time, to join his side! It makes me sick just talking about it!"

Isamu blinked and uttered, "Wow, Machop's family is even more incredible than I first thought," Garchomp nodding and saying, "That's part of why they have such a stellar reputation."

"And to think Torchic actually got Vigoroth to join your side, but I heard you played a part in that!" Sneasel added, "And I even heard that Gyarados joined Hero School just so she could fight alongside you!"

"Really?" Machop uttered, "When she said she had something she needed to do, I didn't think it was something like that."

"Hero School?" Meloetta uttered, "But I thought you were all being controlled by the government!" the people all staring as she added, "You have chips inside your brains that are set to electrocute you if you turn against them, right!? They bought you so they could force you to fight to protect them from us, creatures just looking for acceptance!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Machop retorted as the others talked amongst themselves as well, Tentacruel growling and thinking, 'Shit. It's too late now. Sneasel, you said way too much! Why couldn't you keep your trap shut, you moron!?'

"You are oppressed by most humans, right?" Meloetta whimpered, staring into Machop's eyes, "That's what happened to me. Hundreds of years ago, I tried to make friends with them. Because I wasn't human, they chased me out of town and had a wizard seal me in stone. They trapped me in Nippara Limestone Cave all because I was born different."

"I was just about to ask you about that, but holy shit, you really have been living under a rock for a long time," Machop uttered as Venipede and Rinko stared in shock at the screen.

Torchic had regained enough consciousness to hear this as she thought, 'I knew it. I knew she had a different reason for serving Tentacruel. I could tell before my match that she wasn't really evil.'

"Times have changed," Machop stated with a warm smile, "The truth is, our kind has been accepted by humans for at least two-hundred years. It all started way back when the first hero, Pikachu defeated the evil Horsea."

Meloetta was truly shocked as Machop added, "Not only are we accepted by humans, but as of one-hundred-and-fifty-three years ago, we can even mate with them. Heck, my grandma is a human. One of Rinko's mamas is an insect. Torchic's daddy is a human."

"My mom was a human too," Garchomp said with a grin as Isamu was truly amazed by all of this.

"This is the reality I was trying to achieve," Meloetta uttered, "Only much better," a big open-mouth smile forming on her face.

With that, she turned to Tentacruel and squealed, "Did you hear that!? We don't have to do this anymore!" Machop and her friends face-palming as Sneasel groaned, "Did you forget everything I just revealed?" Tentacruel glaring at her as she gulped nervously.

"That brings me to the reason we fight beings like Tentacruel!" Machop stated, "See, she and her friends fight for the side of evil! They want nothing but control over all of mankind! My friends and I, we trained in a school for heroes on Hero Planet to ready ourselves for this! We fight to make sure the citizens of Earth don't have to cave into the demands of evil!"

Meloetta was truly shocked as she uttered, "Is that true?" staring at Tentacruel with fear as the jellyfish shrugged her shoulders and sighed, "Guess there's no use hiding it. Yes, everything you just heard is the truth."

The green-haired girl gasped and backed away from her, breathing heavily as Machop grinned and said, "Don't worry about it. I fully intend to take her down once I'm finished with Sneasel. They'll be behind bars soon enough."

Sneasel gritted her teeth in irritation and retorted, "THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!" as her dark aura formed again. She then charged at Machop and exclaimed, "KITTY SHADOW!" sending a slash powered by darkness into the girl's side.

Machop's eyes and mouth were wide open as blood trickled down from that spot. And yet despite all of the damage she had taken in up to this point, she continued to stand as she bit her lower lip and placed her hand against her side.

"Machop, you don't have to do this," Meloetta uttered, "I can finish what you started," Sneasel glaring at her and retorting, "You want a piece of me too!?"

"Don't worry about it," Machop replied with a grin, ignoring all pain dealt to her, "As long as I can still fight and my opponent is still evil, I won't give in!"

"SHUT UP!" Sneasel retorted before going down on all fours, her ear feather glowing once more as she charged toward Machop, shouting, "FEATHER SWORD!"

But just as she was about to land another hit, Machop leapt up a bit earlier than she had the last couple of times. And sure enough, this seemed like the perfect moment as she landed just in time to plant her feet into the cat's back. Thus Sneasel had been stopped in her tracks as she coughed up blood, her legs and arms spread out as she fell hard on her belly.

The crowd cheered wildly as Garchomp clapped, saying, "I wish Lairon could have been here to see that," Isamu nodding and exclaiming, "Yeah! Finish her off, Machop!"

"You don't need to tell me twice!" Machop replied with a smirk before taking hold of Sneasel's wrists and ankles, propelling herself high above the ring while spinning and flipping herself one-hundred-and-eighty degrees.

The crowd was even more excited as Nori exclaimed, "And it would seem Machop has set up Sneasel for that infamous family technique!" Machop applying extra pressure to Sneasel's back as she cried out in pain.

With that, the cat was unable to respond as her head soon made contact with the canvas, Machop shouting, "MUSCLE TORNADO!"

Sneasel's eyes rolled to the back of her head as Machop released her hold, leaping away from her and landing on her feet. She then turned as the cat's body collapsed, all going silent as Meloetta cupped her hands together, hoping this was truly the end of the match now. She wanted this all to end as soon as possible so at least one more villain would be out of commission and sent to prison.

And after ten seconds, Yuki nodded and rang the bell, exclaiming, "After a very close match, our winner is Machop!" the crowd cheering wildly as the girl lifted her arms in the air, forming peace signs with a big grin on her face.

Tentacruel frowned as Meloetta breathed a sigh of relief. She then distanced herself from the jellyfish, not wanting anything to do with her anymore.

However, Machop's celebration ended as quickly as it started as she winced and knelt down, groaning, "Dammit, that Sneasel was persistent."

Seeing this, Isamu and Eiko immediately raced toward the ring as Garchomp got up and pulled out her cellphone, calling up Lairon. Luckily, he was on break right now as she gave him the good news. Needless to say, he was very happy to hear that Machop had won without any advice.

Isamu took hold of Machop's right arm and asked, "You okay?" Machop nodding and replying, "I'll be fine, especially now that we got us a new ally, right?"

Meloetta stared wide-eyed and uttered, "You'd actually let me be your friend after everything I've done?" Machop nodding and explaining, "Something Daddy has always believed in is giving people second chances, and I respect him for that."

"I should still probably serve time for all that I did," Meloetta uttered, "Or at the very least, apologize to Vigoroth and Torchic," Machop nodding and saying, "You'll have plenty of time to make up with them. Trust me, I'm sure the world will accept you."

The green-haired girl's eyes sparkled as Tentacruel growled, "You were supposed to be my key to world conquest! After Tokyo, we would go across the entire planet and spread chaos wherever we went! I should have known it wouldn't last!"

Meloetta frowned as the jellyfish was just about set up a time and location for her match with Machop. But before she could do so, the green-haired girl said, "I'll fight you right here, right now."

"What?" Tentacruel remarked as Meloetta nodded and said, "You heard me. I may not like fighting, but as long as it's for the innocent, I will. Besides, defeating you will be my first step in paying back all of Tokyo for helping you defeat four of their heroes."

The crowd's interest increased as Nori stated, "Just as we thought today's matches had come to a close, Meloetta has challenged her former boss to a fight. But will she accept?"

Tentacruel smirked and said, "I was trying to avoid this, but alright, if you insist."

With that, the jellyfish charged at Meloetta, the green-haired girl squeaking, "Aren't you going to-" only to be cut off when Tentacruel's tentacles bound her in place.

"Now that you know I'm evil, I have no reason to play fair," Tentacruel said with a smirk before leaping high into the air and leaning backward, planting the green-haired girl's skull against the mat.

Machop's eyes and mouth were wide open as Isamu and Eiko immediately helped her exit the ring. They would have come back to Sneasel if Tentacruel had not released her hold on Meloetta and lifted the cat up.

"You were a good ally, Sneasel, but you're getting in my way," the jellyfish said before hurling her out of the ring.

Eiko gasped and released her hold on Machop, running over with her arms out and catching the cat mid-fall. She then breathed a sigh of relief and scowled, Tentacruel laughing at the sight of this.

"Why would you help her like that?" she asked, "Are you stupid or something? She tried to kill your friend there," as Eiko scowled and said, "If Machop's gonna give her opponents a second chance, I will too."

"God, it's like something out of a Saturday Morning cartoon," Tentacruel groaned as Meloetta scowled and whipped her hair out, binding it around the jellyfish and saying, "I have no idea what that is, but I don't care. I'm going to make you pay for leading me on like that."

With that, she swung her hair around and sent the jellyfish flying into the turnbuckle, the crowd cheering as Yuki stated, "And Meloetta takes full advantage of Tentacruel's lack of attention."

The jellyfish scowled and said, "I thought you were too good to take advantage of me like that. Guess I can't risk letting my guard down after all."

Right now, Meloetta was too angry at the jellyfish to care about fairness as she let out a soothing melody. Everyone was confused until small lines travelled toward Tentacruel, her eyes sagging before closing as she snored.

"Surprised she didn't try that on Vigoroth," Machop uttered as Meloetta raced toward Tentacruel with both arms back and spat, "WAKE-UP SLAP!" ramming her palms into her face.

Just as the name implied, this was more than enough to wake the jellyfish up while also dealing an incredible amount of damage in the process. Needless to say, Tentacruel was shocked to see a bit of blood coming from her face. It seemed that somehow, using this move after putting her to sleep with a lullaby doubled its power.

Even so, there was no way Tentacruel would allow herself to lose as when Meloetta sent her hair out again, the jellyfish lashed her tentacles out. The green-haired girl's eyes widened as they managed to bind to her hair, Tentacruel leaning backward and lifting her up. Machop and the others winced as her skull was slammed against the canvas.

However, Meloetta scowled and ignored the pain, propelling herself back up. Tentacruel had to admit that she was impressed as she thought, 'I see, now that I've managed to anger her, she's become much more aggressive and stronger. However, she seems to lack variety when it comes to her abilities. I can take advantage of that.'

With that in mind, she waited for the green-haired girl to attack again as she once again whipped her hair out. Tentacruel smirked and leapt over it, saying, "Is this really the best you can do? You are so predictable."

'Predictable?' Meloetta thought as that very word seemed to distract her. This left her wide open as Tentacruel unleashed an onslaught of rapid kicks into her skull, shouting, "JELLYFISH BOMBARDMENT!"

Meloetta tried her best not to let this get to her when suddenly, all the pain Torchic dealt to her head earlier returned. And it made perfect sense. She only had a little bit more than thirty minutes to rest up from that match. That was hardly enough time to recover, even if the fight itself was short.

Tentacruel could see this right away as she thought, 'Hook, line and sinker,' before wrapping all of her tentacles around the green-haired girl.

Now Meloetta felt light-headed as Machop spat, "HEY, FIGHT BACK!" as Isamu gulped and uttered, "I don't think she can. Something tells me Tentacruel had the exact same plan for her that she had for Torchic."

"Oh no, she's doomed, isn't she?" Eiko whimpered as Isamu sighed, "Sadly, yes."

Hearing this, Garchomp gritted her teeth as Tentacruel leapt high above the ring with Meloetta still in her clutches. She then tucked her lower body in and shifted the green-haired girl underneath her so her belly was facing the mat. Then to top it all off, she proceeded to plant her beak-like formations into her back as she winced.

"If you had decided to face me tomorrow, you might have stood a chance," Tentacruel said before descending toward the mat and shouting, "TUSK BUSTER!"

Everyone stared in horror as Meloetta uttered, "I'm sorry, Machop. I guess you'll still have to fight her," but just as she was about to make contact with the canvas, the crowd gasped when Garchomp flew into the ring and positioned herself below her, the green-haired girl's belly running into her back right above the dorsal fin as she winced from the pain.

Yuki stared wide-eyed as Nori stated, "Just as it seemed Meloetta was going to succumb to a very powerful finisher, Garchomp has selflessly risked her own well-being to save her."

The dragon remembered a time many years ago during the twenty-second Hero Olympics, specifically the semi-finals. After Lucario defeated her, since he was not quite himself at the time, he lifted her up and hurled her out of the ring, which at the time had been risen two stories off the ground.

Just as she was about to land and have her injuries increased, Machoke's trainer, Aipom, selflessly dashed toward her and caught her. She wound up breaking her legs in the process, but she had also saved Garchomp from possibly being crippled.

The dragon was glad to have done the same for Meloetta until she felt some kind of liquid land on her head. And sure enough, this was blood that the green-haired girl had just coughed up, her eyes having rolled to the back of her head.

Tentacruel released her hold on the girl and said, "So much for being Meloetta's saviour. You got yourself hurt for nothing."

This did seem to be the case as Meloetta fell sideways off of the dragon's back. As if that was not enough, she could no longer move as Nori rang the bell, saying, "And despite Garchomp's best efforts, the winner of this match is Tentacruel."

However, Garchomp did not look as distraught as she should have been when she noticed Meloetta was still breathing. As such, she grinned and slowly pushed herself back up, uttering, "At least she's not dead."

Tentacruel folded her tentacles and growled. She had wanted to break as many spirits today as possible, but it hardly mattered. At least with Meloetta and Sneasel taken care of, she would finally have her match with Machop, but unlike with Torchic, she wanted to fight her at her fullest, prove that she could defeat her when she was not suffering massive injuries.

With that in mind, the jellyfish smiled and said, "Machop, we will have our final match in three days. But to make it interesting, not only will we fight in the local arena, but we will have our match at ten PM as opposed to AM."

"So you'd rather face me at night," Machop said with a smirk, "Bring it. I'm ready for that," Isamu nodding and saying, "Yeah, I'm sure you can do it."

"Well, you heard it yourself," Nori stated, "The big event will take place in the evening just three days from now. Be there."

And with all said and done, Garchomp lifted up Meloetta and smiled warmly, saying, "Don't feel too bad. You did the best you could. I'm sure Machop can finish what you started."

With that, she carried Meloetta toward the exit to the park, planning to take her to the hospital like she had done for Vigoroth. But just as the group was about to head off, Eiko lifted up Sneasel, who she had resting on a nearby bench and said, "We should get her medical treatment too."

Isamu nodded and replied, "Yeah, good thinking, sis," as the group carried her off. And unbeknownst to them, Sneasel had enough consciousness to hear everything they had said. As such, she was really starting to wonder if she had chosen the right path.

Either way, despite all the hardships, today had mostly been successful. Machop had won her match and Meloetta learned the truth, thus the group had likely gained themselves a new ally. All Machop would have to do was defeat Tentacruel three days from now and everything would be okay in Tokyo once more.