The day-and-a-half following the end of round one went by quickly. During this time, Venipede had been training with Rinko for the upcoming match with Gallador. After all, just because the brunette was no longer competing did not mean she would stop helping her boyfriend ready himself. If anything, this gave her more of a reason to do so.
Torchic, meanwhile, was still in the hospital as Slurpuff had dealt a lot more damage to her than expected. And every now and then, Vigoroth and Meloetta would stop by for a visit, but since the chicken was out cold, they could not have a conversation with her.
With less than a day to go before the next round, Machop was hard at work preparing herself. She had done all the standard training exercises and was currently working on ways to counter Chesnaught's Giga Impact as that was so far the only finisher he had shown off.
Garchomp flew toward Machop with her body covered in a bright orange flame, shouting, "DRAGON RAGE!" Machop was just about to dodge when suddenly, she tensed up and gasped, attempting to block the move with her hands.
Unfortunately, Garchomp's attack was far too strong and thus she wound up forced backwards into the fence. Lairon rose an eyebrow and sighed, "Machop, this is the tenth time you've messed this up. Seriously, compared to those other finishing moves you've prepared yourself for, this is probably the easiest to avoid."
"I know," Machop uttered with a sigh, "And in all honesty, I know exactly how to avoid this one."
"Really," Lairon replied with his arms folded, "Alright, how do you do it?" the girl explaining, "I wait for him to get close enough and then jump to the side, thus causing him to make contact with whatever's behind me instead."
Garchomp shrugged her shoulders as Lairon grinned and replied, "Guess you do know after all. Sorry for doubting you. It just seemed to me like you weren't really prepared for this."
Machop took a deep breath and replied, "Well, I'm not really sure if I am. It's complicated," as the dinosaur blinked and asked, "Do you wanna talk about it?"
The girl bit her lower lip as Garchomp gave her a look of concern. As much as she would have rather kept this private, she could not hide such a thing from the two who helped shape her into the hero she was now.
"Well, remember how after the final match the other day, Isamu and I had a conversation before heading home?" Machop asked as Lairon nodded and replied, "Oh, yes. I didn't bother asking because I thought it didn't matter, but what did he talk to you about?"
"He told me that he really likes me," Machop uttered as Garchomp gasped, a big grin forming on her face as she nudged her husband. However, her positive attitude left when Machop sighed, "As flattering as it is, I'm just not sure if I share his feelings or not. In fact, I actually kinda have a thing for Jackalu."
Garchomp and Lairon stared in stunned silence as the dinosaur shrugged and replied, "Huh. I didn't think someone like that would be your type."
Garchomp had no clue what to say to this. After all, she and Lairon had never had more than one person fall for them, so they could not fully grasp the situation.
"Did you tell Isamu about your feelings for Jackalu?" Garchomp enquired as the girl nodded and replied, "Yeah, and he said he understood, but I don't know. He hasn't tried to make contact with me since then, so I'm not sure if he's really okay with it."
Lairon folded his arms and sighed, "Well, I can see how this would be a problem. If you continue to reject him, you'll feel like you're breaking his heart, but if you decide to go out with him, it could potentially shoot any chance you have with Jackalu, right?"
Machop nodded with a sigh as the dinosaur suggested, "Look, try going for a walk and clearing your head. If you spend too much time dwelling on this, it'll definitely throw you off during your match with Chesnaught and we can't have that."
The girl ultimately decided he was right as she took a deep breath and headed out of the back yard. And once inside the house, she walked toward the exit only to stop when she noticed Eri looking up at her with her eyes wide and her tail swishing back and forth.
Machop gave the collie a sweet smile and a gentle pat on the head, saying, "You guard the place while I'm gone, alright?" before heading out the door.
During this time, Isamu was in his room, watching Machop's matches on his computer and sighing. At that moment, Hana knocked on his already-open door as he looked up and asked, "Yeah?"
"Hey, son, I was just wondering how you're feeling right now," the woman explained with a light smile as he replied, "I'm fine, I guess," before staring at the screen again only for the woman to tense up, wondering what to do.
"Don't stress yourself, honey," Noboru said as he entered the area, "I'll deal with this."
Hana breathed a sigh of relief and headed off to do her own thing as the man walked over to Isamu, patting him on the shoulder and asking, "Hey, son, wanna go for a walk?"
Meanwhile, Machop was walking along when she noticed Gallador having a stroll of his own. Suddenly, all of her troubles seemed to vanish from her mind as she gave him a wide smile and waved, squealing, "Hi, Gallador!"
The white boy turned with a grin and approached her, saying, "Hey there, Machop. Feeling ready for your match tomorrow?"
"Come on, think about who you're talking to," she remarked with a smirk before letting out a sigh and uttering, "Actually, I'm not really sure if I'm ready."
Gallador was about to ask why she was not training if that was the case, but he soon realized the match was not the issue. As such, he shifted his head toward a nearby bench as Machop nodded and walked over to it, taking a seat. And it was not long until the white boy joined her.
"So, what's on your mind?" he asked as Machop sighed, "Well, you know that human I hang out with, Isamu?" Gallador blinking as she added, "He's the guy with the scar on his cheek."
"Oh yeah," Gallador replied with a nod of his head, "What about him?"
"Well, he told me recently that he has feelings for me," Machop uttered as Gallador stared in stunned silence. Back in the day, Machop had never been interested in romance, so if anything, he figured that might have been the issue.
"Look, Machop, if you really like him, maybe it's high time you finally decide to give the dating scene a chance," the white boy suggested as Machop sighed, "That's not it. The problem is that, well, I really do like Isamu, but I have actual feelings for Jackalu."
"Wait, what?" Gallador remarked as he gave her a blank stare, the girl adding, "But even then, I'm confused about whether I love him or it's just infatuation. I've never felt this way before, so-"
"Stop right there," Gallador said before taking a deep breath, "You're telling me that weirdo who breaks out into song when he wins is your type?" as Machop sighed, "I know it's weird, but, well, he's so sweet. He almost sacrificed his spot in the tournament for me."
Gallador let out a sigh and said, "Well, I'm not really sure about this. On one hand, you've known this Isamu guy a lot longer. Do you enjoy being around him?" Machop nodding as the white boy added, "But still, the odds of Jackalu sticking around long enough for you to confess your feelings for him are pretty slim."
Machop nodded again as Gallador sighed, "Look, I'm gonna give you the most obvious advice you could get, because this is the correct advice. Do what your heart tells you, what you think is right."
Machop took a deep breath and rose from the bench, saying, "You may be right. Thanks for the advice," the two giving each other a quick goodbye and heading off their own ways. Even so, Machop still did not completely feel at ease as she was not completely sure what her heart wanted.
Meanwhile, Isamu had explained everything to Noboru. The man nodded and said, "Well, son, the fact that you mustered up the courage to admit your feelings now before it was too late is definitely a good thing. But, well, I'm almost certain this is going to mess Machop up tomorrow if you don't deal with it quickly."
"But what can I do?" Isamu asked, "If anything, it seems like I told her this stuff too early, like I should have waited until the end of the tournament."
Noboru nodded and replied, "Just respect her choice," the boy blinking as he continued, "From what you've told me, all you said was that you understood. Machop is a very good friend and if you were to get upset over her choosing Jackalu over you, that would be immature, don't you think?"
"Yeah, you're right," Isamu said with a deep breath, "I feel like I should have a word with Machop right now," Noboru nodding and giving his son a thumb up.
With that in mind, the boy went off on his own before pulling out his cellphone. But just as he was about to dial up Machop, his eyes widened when he noticed her passing by. Both teens stopped in their tracks and slowly turned to face one-another, their bodies tensing up. As ready for this as Isamu felt before, he was still afraid of what might happen if he gave Machop reassurance. And all the while, Machop was scared of hurting Isamu's feelings.
Even so, Isamu had to make sure the girl could focus on her upcoming match with Chesnaught and thus approached her with a light smile, saying, "Hey, Machop. How's it going? Training going well?"
Machop nodded and replied, "Yeah, everything's awesome," biting her lower lip as her cheeks were flushed pink.
The two stood silently for half-a-minute until Isamu said, "Machop, I need to tell you something," the girl tensing up and uttering, "Okay. What is it?"
"Look, I'm sorry to drop such a big bombshell on you like that," Isamu stated, "The truth is, I sort of knew about your feelings for Jackalu and I was afraid that if I didn't speak up, I wouldn't get a chance to tell you."
Machop's eyes widened as she retorted, "Wait, what!? You already knew!?" a slight hint of anger in her tone as the boy blinked, terror filling his eyes. Was it wrong for him to admit to this?
But just as Machop was about ready to snap at him, she took a deep breath and sighed, "No, no, I shouldn't get mad. You wouldn't do something like this to hurt me, right?" Isamu breathing a sigh of relief and replying, "Of course not. If anything, I kind of regret telling you before the tournament ended. It must be eating away at you."
Machop nodded and gave him a light smile, saying, "Thank you for saying that. I was afraid you weren't even aware of it," as the boy chuckled, the two soon sharing a big laugh.
After a while, Isamu took a deep breath and said, "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that if you decide that Jackalu is right for you, I'll support you all the way," before resting a hand on her shoulder as she let out a light gasp, her cheeks once again flushed pink, "Whoever you spend your life with is your decision to make."
Machop's heart raced as a big smile formed on her face. She then held Isamu in a tight embrace, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as she squealed, "THANK YOU SO MUCH! YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I WANTED TO HEAR YOU SAY THAT!"
Isamu chuckled nervously and patted the girl on the back as she released her hold on him and said, "Well, that takes a major load off my back. Now I really can focus completely on tomorrow's match. Again, thank you so much for understanding."
"Of course," Isamu replied before holding out his right fist, "What are friends for?"
And thus Machop pounded her fist against his as the two decided to walk toward Lairon's house. After all, the girl still needed to get some extra training in whereas Isamu had plenty of time to spend outside of the house.
During this time, Rinko and Venipede felt that they had done enough training for the day and decided to go out for dinner. After all, who was to say after his match, Venipede would still be in good enough condition to go on a date with the brunette?
Along the way, they passed by an area where Delphox was practising her magic. She had bags full of cake batter set up and was using her pyrokinesis to burn them. But while destroying the bags themselves was easy, she found that all her fire did was cook the batter slightly.
'Damn,' she thought, 'Slurpuff showed a lot of resistance to Torchic's flames. The only reason he took in pain was because of her feet and nothing else. But my body's not as strong.'
"Hey, you know Slurpuff's not an actual cake, right?" Venipede asked as the fox gasped and turned to them with her hands on fire. But upon seeing who they were, she breathed of a sigh of relief as the fire vanished.
"Hey, you're the two who fought in the first round, right?" the fox asked as Venipede nodded and replied, "Yeah. I have to say, you were pretty awesome against Shuckle. The way you turned that huge advantage of hers against her was brilliant."
"Danke," the fox replied with a sigh, "but I can't accept your praise. I feel like I should have caught onto that sooner, but at least I've seen my new opponent in action. The only problem is I'm not really sure if I can get around his weird tactics."
Rinko shrugged and asked, "What makes you say that? It's not like he has a shell to protect him from your magic," as the fox sighed, "True, but you saw how much trouble Torchic had. Even after she decided to ignore the crowd, she still had trouble fighting him. Her kicks dealt pain, but I don't think her fire added to the damage."
The brunette gave her a supportive smile and said, "Look, if it helps, we could help you train," Venipede nodding and replying, "Yeah. We are planning on having dinner, but it's only five right now. We have plenty of time to spare."
Delphox was about to refuse but soon realized moving targets could make for better practise than lifeless dummies. Not only that, but she had never been offered help before. And to top it all off, she could tell by looking at the duo that she could trust them.
With that, all three trained for roughly an hour, Delphox performing especially well while Venipede felt like he had improved quite a bit. Needless to say, this was beneficial to all of them.
Shortly after training ended, the trio had a conversation, though Delphox did feel rather nervous during the whole thing. While she often kept up a calm and collective demeanour, one thing she had never done was make friends. Needless to say, this was a big deal for her.
"So you both confessed your love after your first victory on Earth," Delphox said with a light smile, "That sounds so romantic. I never had much interest in love before, but it sounds so intriguing now."
"Yeah, meeting Rinko was the best thing that ever happened to me," Venipede stated as he rested an arm on her shoulder, the brunette kissing him on the cheek and adding, "Same here. If it hadn't been for him, I probably would have never found my true potential."
She then looked at her watch and said, "Well, I think we've trained enough. What say we finally have that dinner, eh?" Venipede nodding and replying, "Oh yeah, we left the house for a reason."
"Oh nein," Delphox uttered, "Did I interrupt your date?" as Rinko chuckled and replied, "Don't worry about it. If we didn't want to help you, we wouldn't have volunteered in the first place."
Delphox still could not believe it. After all this time, she had others who actually cared about her and wanted her to succeed. As if that was not surprising enough, even she could not believe how open she was to it after having gone so long without relying on anyone but herself. But either way, she was looking forward to having their support when she fought Slurpuff in the second round.
The rest of the night went by well. Now that things had been cleared up between Machop and Isamu, the girl was sure to rest a lot more easily. She also felt so much more confident about facing Chesnaught and was certain she would win.
And sure enough, the night was nice and peaceful as everyone slept soundly. However, something strange happened at Isamu and Eiko's residence.
While Kelani slept, the hexagons on his chest glowed briefly. But just like the last time, nothing seemed to happen as a result. But why did it happen in the first place, let alone twice? Was this something to worry about?
It seemed that this was not the case and thus the rest of the night went by perfectly. And soon enough, everyone was ready for the second round of the tournament with the first match scheduled to take place in the middle of a forest. No one was sure why Beedrill would pick such a location, but this was far from the strangest place to hold a match during the Hero Olympics.
In order to make sure he was extra prepared for the event, Gallador raced toward the area while leaping from tree to tree, using his arm blades to lob off a few branches. All the while, he had a big grin on his face while thinking, 'Sorry, Machop. I know I'm fighting another friend of yours, but there's no way I'm gonna lose.'
Venipede, meanwhile, had already arrived an hour in advance while Rinko sparred with him just a little bit in preparation. The centipede felt more than ready for this as he implied a smile with his eyes, saying, "Thanks for all the help. I just know I can win this."
Rinko nodded and replied, "Still, try to be careful. Don't forget, you're fighting Machop's cousin."
The centipede nodded and gave the brunette a hug, saying, "I know. Even if I lose, I'm just really glad I made it this far. The old me certainly wouldn't have pulled this off."
The two then shared a brief kiss as it was finally time for the match to begin, the people all seated as Beedrill exclaimed, "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's finally time for the second round to begin!"
The crowd cheered wildly as Jackalu sat in the middle row. He looked at Machop with big, sad eyes and his ears drooped as Clawitzer rolled her eyes and sighed, "I told you we should have come sooner."
Machop was currently seated next to Isamu, but thanks to what he had told her yesterday, it did not feel as awkward as it should have. She felt perfectly calm as she turned to face Jackalu briefly and gave him a light wave. The dog's eyes sparkled as he waved back, his shrimp partner sighing and shaking her head.
"Round one was certainly exciting, but it can only get better from here," Nori stated, "So without further ado, let's introduce our first contestants."
Yuki nodded and exclaimed, "In the red corner, a powerful centipede representing Hungary! He started off as the laughing stock of his team here in Tokyo but has risen his way up and become a real winner! With amazing strength made more impressive by his multiple arms, Venipede!"
The crowd, especially the Hungarian fans went wild as the centipede rolled toward the ring like a wheel. He then leapt into the air and bounced off the ground like a ball high into the air. And once close enough, he retracted from his ball-like state and performed a handstand on the canvas, his friends giving him a round of applause.
His parents, especially, were pleased to see this as Attila said, "He's so cool, isn't he, honey?" Scolipede nodding and replying, "I'm so proud of him."
"And in the blue corner," Nori stated, "the first contestant representing France is certainly a fierce fighter. While his father may have had a questionable reputation, he is certainly no slouch as he has certainly proven himself a force to be reckoned with against the mighty Gyarados. With amazing speed and mighty blades, Gallador!"
The French fans cheered wildly as Gallador performed a somersault toward the ring. He then leapt high into the air and spun with his arms folded like a hand propeller. He then landed perfectly on the tips of his feet, spreading his arms out and shouting, "HELLO, TOKYO!"
Venipede took a deep breath when the white boy gave him a light smile and said, "Sweet. I get to face another friend of Machop's. Here's to a good match," giving him a thumb up as Venipede nodded and bowed his head.
The crowd clapped some more as Yuki said, "It's always nice to see opponents show good sportsmanship, eh?" Nori nodding as Venipede and Gallador walked to separate sides of the ring.
Would Venipede earn himself another victory and impress the world even more or would Gallador get his chance to face Machop in the semi-finals? Only time would tell.
