A whole month had passed since the Hero Olympics had been announced, and as such, it was finally time for the preliminary tournaments to decide who would compete. Only five from each country would be accepted, so the pressure was on.

As it so happened, all six heroes of Edmonton had won the first round of each of their respective tournaments. This left them along with the friends they had made with one more match.

In Blyth, a woman sat behind a desk in an arena that was jam packed. Cinderace and Lilly were both in the crowd cheering while Scorbunny was face-to-face with her final opponent, a brown and white corgi with a thick yellow collar of fur and a stubby tail shaped like a lightning bolt named Yamper.

"And Scorbunny is on the top of her game as she delivers a fierce kick to Yamper!" the announcer exclaimed after Scorbunny bounced off the ropes and sent a hard flying kick to the corgi's face.

Yamper rolled backward into the turnbuckle and growled in pain while the crowd cheered wildly. As such, Scorbunny smiled and thought, 'All that training was worth it. I'll win this easily then become world champion.'

However, Yamper smirked and thought, 'Enjoy this moment while you can. It won't last,' rising back to her feet as if the pain dealt earlier meant nothing.

Scorbunny knew better than to rush in for another hit, thus she waited for the corgi to go down on all fours and race toward her. But just as it looked like the rabbit was prepared, Yamper smirked and tucked herself into a ball. She then covered herself in electricity and rolled around while an electric sphere formed around her and grew bigger and bigger the more she moved along the surface.

Scorbunny panicked and leapt to the right only for Yamper to see this coming and swerve in that direction herself. She barked, "THUNDERBALL!" and rammed herself into Scorbunny, sending her flying sideways as she coughed up a bit of blood.

Cinderace gasped, "Come on, sweetie, you can do it!" Lilly pumping her fist in the air and chanting, "Go, Scorbunny, go!"

"Fat chance!" retorted a yellow, white and black greyhound, "My little girl's got this one in the bag," lowering his eyelid and sticking his tongue out, Cinderace standing up and pointing at him, shouting, "You wanna go, prick!?"

Lilly took a hold of his arm and sighed, "Honey, do you want us to get kicked out?" before the taller rabbit folded his arms and grumbled, "Fine," the greyhound's wife scoffing, "Oh, wow, that poor bastard is whipped!"

A vein formed on Lilly's head as she held up her fist threateningly. Cinderace chuckled nervously before he pointed at the ring and exclaimed, "Hey, look!"

Sure enough, Scorbunny ignored the pain she took in earlier and performed a back flip into the ropes. She pressed her back against them and bounced off with her foot out and shouted, "BURNING ROCKET!"

Her foot burst into flame while Yamper was unable to respond in time. Thus she took the heel kick to her cheek and coughed up blood of her own. Afterwards, she flew into the ropes while Scorbunny's heel was still pressed up against her. And in a matter of seconds, the material snapped open, thus the corgi careened into the wall and passed out, a crater left in her wake while her eyes were stuck open and her tongue hung sideways out of her mouth.

After twenty seconds, the announcer rang the bell and exclaimed, "And after a very intense match, Scorbunny is our winner and therefor will represent England in the Hero Olympics!" the crowd going wild while Cinderace and Lilly held each other in a tight embrace. They then turned toward Yamper's parents and laughed at them before lowering their eyelids and sticking their tongues out.

Scorbunny held her fist in the air and thought, 'I did it. I'm on my way to the top.'

Meanwhile, in Nairobi, Rillaboom was up against what appeared to be a troll made of wood. A shaggy white mane covered most of his head and went all the way down his back. He had long pointy ears, a long pointed nose, feet that resembled tengu-geta and leaves for hands. His name was Shiftry and currently, he seemed to be dominating as he delivered an onslaught of palm punches to the gorilla.

Rillaboom held up her arms to block the incoming blows only for Shiftry to smirk and shout, "PINOCCHIO SPEAR!" sending his nose forward and ramming it into her gut.

The crowd stared while the gorilla grunted in pain. Thwackey and Obasi both winced at the sight of this, though their reactions got worse when they saw blood trickle out of the wound the nose had created.

And it did not end there as Shiftry held his arms out and started to spin his hands around like propellers. This allowed him to rise off of the ground and fly toward the turnbuckle, and when he rammed Rillaboom's back into the object, his nose pushed in deeper while he exclaimed, "HELICOPTER LANCE!"

Thwackey frowned and barked, "Come on, Rillaboom, you can take it!" many members of the crowd chanting her name.

This was all Rillaboom needed, thus she ignored the pain to her gut and placed a firm grip against Shiftry's arms. His eyes widened and sweat poured down his face while he uttered, "Hey, what are you doing? You can't possibly win at this point."

Rillaboom smirked and retorted, "Of course I can," pushing hard on his arms and prying his nose out of her. She then shoved him back and focused hard until her wrist leaves spun and transformed into wood. She then formed hammerheads around her fists and shouted, "WOOD HAMMER!" swinging both arms upward and ramming the hammerheads into the troll's chin.

This caused him to back up and lower his guard before Rillaboom wrapped her arms around him. She then gritted her teeth as spikes formed on the barrels that now covered her wrists. As they dug into Shiftry's back, he cried out in pain while a bit of blood squirted out.

The crowd went wild as she leapt into the air and leaned backward, shouting, "THORN BARREL SUPLEX!" ramming the back of Shiftry's head into the canvas before his eyes and mouth went wide.

When she let go and allowed him to collapse, he lay there for exactly ten seconds. Thus a man seated behind a desk rang the bell and stated, "And on that note, Rillaboom wins the match, thus securing herself a spot in the Olympics!" the crowd cheering wildly while Obasi and Thwackey rose their hands in the air and applauded their daughter.

The gorilla rose her own arms in the air in triumph with a grin on her face. There was no doubt she could become champion, especially now that she knew how to use her wood powers to their full potential.

In Dublin, Drizzile was up against a blue cormorant bird with white feathers over her chest named Cramorant. Currently, he was at a disadvantage as the bird flapped in midair and sent an onslaught of rapid kicks into his face while a woman stated, "It's not looking good for Drizzile, folks! The chameleon who surprised us all not too long ago is yet to land a single hit after having taken nothing but torment throughout this entire match!"

Inteleon frowned from the crowd and thought, 'Come on, son, you can counter this easily,' while Kevin, Sean, Tiffany and Shannon all held up a banner that said 'Drizzile rocks', shouting, "Come on, Drizzile! Beat that overstuffed turkey!"

After a while, the chameleon saw an opening. As such, he held up his arms and grabbed hold of Cramorant's ankles only for her to squawk in panic and send her long beak down into his skull. She kept at this only for Drizzile to ignore the pain and grunt, "Sorry, but you're grounded!"

He then threw his arms downward and planted her back into the canvas while the crowd cheered. The announcer watched this and exclaimed, "And after nothing but abuse, Drizzile finally lands a hit as he slams his opponent into the mat!"

Inteleon smiled and thought, 'Good job,' before Drizzile leapt into the air and delivered an axe kick to Cramorant's gut. But while this caused her some pain, she seemed to get over it quickly before latching onto his ankle with her feet.

She flapped her wings and rose up into the air, slamming Drizzile's back into the canvas before flying forward toward the turnbuckle. However, Drizzile knew better than to allow himself to ram into it, thus he formed water around his hands and lathered his leg, allowing himself to squeeze out of the hold.

Cramorant blinked and looked down, but forgot to slow down. Thus she subconsciously rammed into the turnbuckle and left herself wide open while Drizzile formed more water around his hands. This time, he morphed it into pair of shuriken, leapt onto Cramorant's back and wrapped his arms around her waist. This allowed him to plant the stars into her upper body before spinning them like saw blades and shouting, "AQUATIC SHURIKEN!"

He then leapt backward and planted the back of Cramorant's head into the canvas while the shuriken continued to spin. As if the blood flying from her chest was not bad enough, the liquid that escaped her mouth certainly guaranteed Drizzile's victory. As such, her head tilted sideways and her tongue stuck out before Drizzile released his hold and allowed the rest of her body to collapse.

The announcer rang the bell and stated, "Drizzile wins the Dublin tournament and will now represent Ireland in the Hero Olympics!" the crowd cheering wildly while the chameleon breathed a sigh of relief. His human friends could not have been happier while Inteleon folded her arms and nodded her head in approval.

Allie saw this from home and squealed with excitement. She felt so proud of Drizzile right now, and of course Brian and Wendy could not help but cheer for him even though they were not there in person for him to hear them.

There was also plenty of excitement in the Bangkok tournament as Vaporeon just happened to be up against Yanma. Currently, things seemed to be in the fox's favour when she whipped the dragonfly hard with her tail and sent her toward the turnbuckle.

Just as Yanma was about to make contact, though, she flapped her wings just hard enough for a gust of wind to pick up behind her. This was more than strong enough to stop her from making contact as she breathed a sigh of relief. However, her eyes widened when she noticed Vaporeon flip vertically toward her with the tip of her tail covered in a ball of ice.

"BOUNCING ICE BALL!" she barked only for the dragonfly to send her tail forward, extending the spikes on the tip and sending them inward like scissors.

The crowd cheered for her when this not only slashed open the ice but also managed to catch Vaporeon's tail. The fox cried out in pain while Eevee squeaked, "Come on, Vaporeon, that's nothing! I was once pierced by arrows, literal arrows!"

Popplio nodded and added, "Not to mention I was once slashed and stabbed multiple times by what might as well have been a samurai sword!" Eevee uttering, "Now that you mention it, that was worse."

However, Yanma was not about to give Vaporeon a chance to retaliate. Thus she threw her tail downward and shouted, "TAIL SCISSOR SLAM!" the blue fox's back making contact with the canvas as she winced in pain.

But while this hurt, this was nowhere near as bad as the pain Corviknight had put her through. As such, she ignored this and propelled herself upward before Yanma could break the hold on her tail. With that, Vaporeon rammed her forehead into the dragonfly's, causing her to groan in pain and release her.

Popplio grinned and shouted, "Tres magnifique! You got her right you want her!" before Eevee squealed, "Finish her off!"

Vaporeon was just about to use her Trampoline Suplex. However, she figured with her parents watching and this being the final round of a tournament, perhaps it would be best to use something different. With that in mind, she smirked and leapt backward, performing a handstand.

Before anyone could figure out what she had planned, Yanma gasped when the fox wrapped her tail around her neck. She then formed her ice ball on the tip of her tail again, the dragonfly's eyes wide open while she cried out in agonizing pain.

Vaporeon then leaned backward, pulling Yanma over her and rammed her skull into the canvas, shouting, "ICE FRANKENSTEINER!"

Yanma coughed up green blood and closed her eyes, Vaporeon releasing her hold and allowing her to collapse. And once ten seconds passed, a man rang the bell and stated, "And there you have it, folks! Vaporeon is our winner and will represent Thailand in the Hero Olympics!" the crowd cheering wildly.

"Wow!" Eevee gasped with her jaw dropped, "Not only did she win, but she invented a new signature move," Popplio chuckling, "She definitely takes after moi," the brown fox about to protest before uttering, "Oh yeah, I only ever came up with two original moves."

In Baia Mare, Morgrem was up against a pale purple bat with big teardrop-shaped ears that resembled loudspeakers. He also had fluffy black fur around his chest and hips and small hands on the middle joints of his wings. His name was Noibat and he was currently dominating the match as he flew toward the goblin and rammed his wing into her neck, shouting, "BAT WING SICKLE!"

A tall black bat named Noivern smirked and shouted, "Good job, son! Now, while she's distracted!" Impidimp and Dhelmise both biting their lips nervously.

Sure enough, things looked worse for Morgrem when Noibat picked her up by her shoulders and flapped high above the ring. He then shifted his feet and flipped the goblin over until he was clasping onto her ankles. With that, he descended toward the mat and shouted, "MOONLIGHT DROP!"

But just as Morgrem's skull was seconds away from making contact with the surface, a smirk crossed her face as she sharpened her hair. She then shifted her head around and caused the hair to bend backward, and sure enough, Noibat's eyes were wide with shock when the blade was lodged into the canvas thus keeping Morgrem safe from harm.

Before the bat could even respond, Morgrem bent her legs backward and rammed his back into the mat while her parents cheered, Impidimp shouting, "Way to go, Morgrem! That was quick thinking!"

However, Morgrem could not help but feel alarmed when Noibat continued to hold onto her ankles as if the pain to his back meant nothing. He then let out a loud cry and threw his legs upward until he managed to pry her hair out of the canvas. He then hurled her high into the air and shouted, "BOOMBURST!" releasing two big sound waves from his ears.

Once they reached the goblin's height, an explosion formed around her as she coughed up smoke and fell hard on her back. And while she lay there, a male announcer exclaimed, "And Noibat gets the upper hand with his father's infamous Boomburst!" starting the ten count while the bat's fans and father went wild.

Noivern grinned and thought, 'Wait'll I tell Candace about this. It's such a shame she had to work today,' but right when the announcer reached seven seconds, Morgrem opened her eyes, placed her hands against the mat and pushed herself into the air, landing perfectly on her feet with a look of terror in her eyes.

The crowd gasped while she shook the soot off her face and quipped, "You're gonna have to try harder than that!" Noibat flying toward her again only for the goblin to leap over him and sharpen her hair. She then sent it downward into his back and shouted, "GRIZZLY SPEAR!"

Blood flew from Noibat as he cried out in pain. The crowd stared in shock as she proceeded to spin her body horizontally and shout, "GRIZZLY FLAIL!"

Sure enough, this allowed her to spin Noibat along with her before planting his side into the canvas. This caused him to cough up more blood before his eyes rolled to the back of his head. And when Morgrem released him, he was out cold, thus the announcer reached ten seconds and rang the bell.

The area went silent while Noivern stared with his eyes and mouth wide open. Even Morgrem's parents were genuinely shocked by this. However, once the announcer made the red goblin's victory official, they both rose their arms in the air and cheered wildly, many other members of the crowd joining in. After all, with Morgrem's poor track record up to this point, this was a pretty big deal to say the least.

She rose her fist in the air before looking down at Noibat and noticing that he was still able to move his body. Thus she knelt down and held out her hand, saying, "Here's to an awesome match," the bat releasing tears and shaking her hand with the tip of his wing, replying, "Yeah. You were amazing."

"Oh, wow!" the announcer sniffed with tears in his eyes, "It's always so beautiful when a match ends in friendship!" holding his arm over his eyes and releasing large waterworks.

All the while, the people of Athens were in high spirits during the final bout. Rolycoly was currently face-to-face with an orange fox with black fur covering the tip of his tail, his legs, ears, back and eyes, the latter resembling a bandit mask. He had white fur on his belly and a curly moustache and was known as Thievul.

Things did not look particularly good for the golem. He had his arms up defensively while Thievul sped around him and delivered a roundhouse each time he stopped. All the while, he smirked, twirled his moustache and tauntingly quipped, "Just back down, foul cur! You do not belong in this competition of strength and wits!"

"Rolycoly is truly at Thievul's mercy!" a young woman seated behind a desk exclaimed, "And the crowd is loving it! While Thievul may have started his days here as a criminal, he has become a majorly popular hero, having defeated three villains in Wisconsin! Meanwhile, Rolycoly only has one victory on his record, and it especially doesn't help that he lucked his way into the finals!"

And unfortunately for Rolycoly, this was true. He had been so hyped to win the first round, but after he entered the ring, it was revealed that his opponent had sprained her ankle and would be unable to partake. And while the golem was used to luck repeatedly throwing him a bone, this instance left him dissatisfied.

With that in mind, he narrowed his eyelids and thought, 'No, I will win and show these people just how worthy I am of representing Greece!' And when Thievul stopped moving to attack again, Rolycoly grabbed his ankle and lifted him into the air, slamming his belly into the canvas.

The crowd gasped when Rolycoly propelled himself into the air and landed hard against the fox's back. He then started up his wheel and shouted, "MEDIEVAL SHARPENER!" scraping the wheel against the spot he had landed on.

The crowd gasped as Thievul cried out in pain. And it only got worse for him when Rolycoly grabbed onto his wrists and pulled up on his arms. This caused the fox's back to bend while the golem exclaimed, "MEDIEVAL TORTURE DEVICE!"

After a while, the crowd gasped when they heard Thievul's backbone crack. Thus Rolycoly released his hold and leapt off of him, breathing heavily. Sure enough, twenty seconds passed and the bell was rung, the announcer exclaiming, "And in a shocking turn, Rolycoly comes out on top and moves on to represent Greece in the Hero Olympics!"

As it so happened, some of the kids he had grown up with in the orphanage cheered for him while one pointed and shouted, "Hey, I recognize that guy!" another one nodding and replying, "I can't believe I didn't notice until now!"

When Rolycoly heard this, he smiled and thought, 'Well, now I can truly say I've earned myself respect from the public. I'm moving on up in the world.'

But of course, the heroes of Edmonton were not the only ones gaining positive attention. All over the world, many other heroes had come out on top. Corviknight, for instance, had defeated a blue serpent dragon named Dratini with his Steel Claw Tombstone.

He stood tall and proud with his arms and wings folded while his opponent lay battered and bruised on the mat. He bowed his head in respect before helping her up and holding up her arm, exclaiming, "Cheer not only for me but for my most worthy adversary!"

Dratini gazed upon the raven with sparkling eyes and pink cheeks while the crowd went wild, the announcer exclaiming, "It warms my heart to see sportsmanship this good! I'm certainly looking forward to seeing how Corviknight represents England!"

Corviknight let down a light tear and thought, 'This feeling is simply remarkable. Thank you, Vaporeon, for giving me this chance,' Dratini now a touch confused.

In Alba Iulia, Grimmsnarl was in the middle of a fight with a mummy ghost named Dusknoir. The ghost covered his fists in a black aura and sent an onslaught of punches into the green goblin's face, shouting, "SHADOW PUNCH!"

After a while, though, Grimmsnarl ignored the pain and grabbed hold of his fists. While the aura allowed his palms to take in some pain, he was able to easily ignore this and bite into Dusknoir's shoulder. He then leapt backwards and leaned far enough for the back of the ghost's neck to hit the canvas, shouting through clenched teeth, "FANG SUPLEX!"

The crowd cheered wildly when he released his hold and allowed Dusknoir to collapse. After ten seconds, his victory was confirmed, thus he flashed a peace sign in the air and shouted, "TAKE A LOOK AT YOUR NEW CHAMPION!"

Needless to say, the cheers he received gave him an incredible feeling. Perhaps some day this would not be as big a deal to him, but for the time being, he could not help but feel grateful to Morgrem for showing him the light. Much like Corviknight, he just knew he would have never been able to enjoy this otherwise.

In Warsaw, Samurott had struck down a blue walrus named Walrein with his Razor Shell. He rose his fist in the air while the crowd cheered for him, a grin of pride of his face.

In Bangalore, Copperajah and Incineroar were both up against one-another with each one pushing on the other's shoulders. However, when the tiger started to dominate, the elephant frowned and shouted, "ELEPHANT PUNCH!" curling up his trunk into a fist and sending it hard into Incineroar's gut.

Incineroar easily ignored the pain and planted his claws into the sides of the trunk. Small bits of blood dripped out while Copperajah ignored the pain and lifted the tiger over his head, leaning backward and planting the back of his neck into the canvas.

The crowd cheered while a young woman exclaimed, "It looks as if Incineroar might have met his match! This fierce feline has enjoyed a perfect winning streak up until now, but perhaps today is the day that comes to an end!"

However, Incineroar had anticipated this, and it showed when he continued to latch onto the trunk. Copperajah's eyes widened while he attempted to pry it loose only for Incineroar to position himself upright and yank as hard as he could, causing the elephant to slip and fall on his back.

With that, he released the trunk and leapt onto Copperajah's gut. He then lifted him up by his hind legs and wrapped his arms around him with a smirk on his face, grunting, "You should be proud. You're the first legitimately good opponent I've had, but that can only get you so far!"

Thus he leapt into the air and wrapped his legs around the elephant's neck. He then spun like a twister while flames surrounded both fighters courtesy of his belt, shouting, "PYRO HURRICANE!" And when Copperajah's skull hit the canvas, blood flew out of his trunk before he passed out, Incineroar's victory confirmed while the crowd went wild.

In Texas, Ben defeated a chunky squirrel named Greedent by kicking him in the back of the head and knocking him unconscious. This was the human equivalent to a move called Blaze Kick, but since he could not light his feet on fire, he called it Cowboy Kick.

And in Tokyo, a red caterpillar named Wurmple was up against Rockruff. Currently, the dog was dominating with an onslaught of palm punches before latching onto the caterpillar's arms and planting her claws into them. She then leapt into the air and leaned backward, shouting, "SUNRISE SUPLEX!" while a fierce brown aura surrounded her.

However, Wurmple was prepared for this as he took a deep breath and stated, "You truly are as formidable as I feared, but this ends here!" He then shot a rope made of silk out of his mouth, latched it to the turnbuckle right behind Rockruff and shouted, "STRINGSHOT GRAPPLING HOOK!"

Rockruff's eyes and mouth widened with terror when he reeled them both toward it. And sure enough, her back made contact with the pole as she coughed up blood and released her hold on Wurmple. With her now wide open, the caterpillar released his string one last time and bound it to her, lifting her up over his head and leaning backward, shouting, "STRINGSHOT SUPLEX!"

Sure enough, Rockruff's skull hit the canvas hard and she passed out for exactly ten seconds, the bell ringing and Wurmple's victory confirmed. He blinked and uttered, "Wait, I actually won?" as Rockruff slowly sat upright and rubbed her skull with a grin on her face and said, "Yeah. Good job, bro."

The crowd cheered even louder when the dog held out her fist, Wurmple pounding it with the tip of his arm. As soon as that happened, a green caterpillar named Caterpie and Lycanroc both ran from the bleachers and climbed into the ring before approaching the two fighters. The red wolf grinned and squealed, "Great job! You were both amazing!" Caterpie asking, "Who wants gyudon?"

Rockruff and Wurmple both nodded with enthusiasm before all four exited the arena, a woman named Yukiko exclaiming, "What a remarkable match! Despite both finalists being brother and sister, they both went all-out! I can only imagine how well Wurmple will perform in the Olympics, but I'm certainly excited to see it!"

And soon enough, every contestant had been chosen, but who would come out on top? The world would just have to wait and see.