Just a little under five hundred contestants remained. A few had relocated to the audience while most either left the arena or headed to the medical bay to receive treatment. While the spikes were too small to possibly be fatal, they were still sharp enough to show an effect.

"Just from one event, I can already tell these will be the most exciting Olympics yet!" Shaymin squealed, "I could just feel my heart pounding during all of that!" Tori uttering, "You're telling me."

Either way, the heroes were all ready to hear what the next event was. Even those who had initially been opposed to the first event at first had to admit that the added risk factor made their victories all the more satisfying. As such, they were now pumped up for whatever else Shaymin had planned.

Shaymin could see this, thus she grinned and squealed, "Time to reveal our second event! This is another one that has never been seen before!" once again pointing at the jumbotron. Everyone looked up to see the words 'Avoid the Falling Objects'.

"What the hell kind of event is that?" one contestant uttered before many others started to question it as well. But sure enough, this would all be made clear soon when Shaymin explained, "It's quite simple. Large objects will be dropped from above!" directing everyone's attention to a squadron of helicopters overhead. Sure enough, each one had a large, heavy, metal object attached to it, including but not limited to boulders, statues and even anvils.

"Oh my god," Drizzile uttered, Wurmple staring at this and thinking, 'Maybe it's a good thing I didn't advance to this one.'

"Your task is to keep dodging these objects," Shaymin explained, "And just so you know, we have over a thousand on standby! Don't ask where we're keeping them," narrowing her eyelids before perking up and adding, "Now, if you think you're strong enough to destroy any of these objects, you can certainly try that method, but I wouldn't recommend it. Once half of you remain, the event will be over."

Even Rillaboom felt nervous about this. After all, while she may have been the most physically strong hero in Edmonton, she was also the slowest.

Even so, she really wanted to compete with her friends, and the others felt the same. Thus she was absolutely certain she would not allow herself to lose. But just as many heroes started to feel like they could pull this off, Shaymin added, "And by the way, you can make things easier by knocking your opponents into an area where an object is about to fall, but be careful. You could end up screwing yourself by trying something like that."

"Oh my god," Allie uttered, "This is supposed to be survivable, right?" Wendy nodding and replying, "Yep, and for heroes, this kind of stuff is. You've seen the sorts of torment your friends have sustained in battle, right?"

The girl nodded in understanding but still hoped that none of her friends would get crushed. Even if they could live through it, she could only imagine the amount of pain they would feel from this.

And soon enough, the first object, specifically a massive anvil, was dropped and thus the event began. As such, those standing where it was headed immediately leapt out of its way right before it landed.

More and more objects started to fall, and while the heroes focused on dodging at first, some of them figured it might be a good idea to take advantage of the privilege Shaymin had given them. With that in mind, a chubby black rat sent a roundhouse toward a blue tortoise with a shell and horn made entirely out of stone.

The tortoise saw this coming and blocked it with her arm. As it so happened, her arms had sharp stone spikes growing out of them, so when the rat's foot made contact, it split open before he cried out in pain and fell on his back. With that in mind, the tortoise dove forward just in time to avoid an incoming statue, the object crushing the rat underneath.

However, her eyes widened when she looked up and noticed a rock descending toward her. As such, she braced herself and prepared for the worst only for the object to crack open down the middle when it made contact with her shell. Both halves of the object fell sideways and crushed two other contestants as the tortoise blinked, not sure how to feel about that.

Drizzile did rather well as he dodged many objects himself. However, he would certainly need to watch himself when a short blue crocodile with red spikes on her head that resembled a Mohawk appeared behind him and leapt at him, shouting, "CROCODILE JAW!"

The chameleon gasped and instinctively sent his tail into her gut, shouting, "CHAMELEON LANCE!" Thus the crocodile cried out in pain and fell on her back, falling victim to an anvil.

Rillaboom, all the while, barely managed to dodge an incoming iron ball before noticing a boulder headed straight for her. She also noticed a dog-like creature with a red nose and large pink veins on various parts of his body rushing in to grapple her. As such, she took a deep breath and lifted her arms up.

The crowd gasped when the boulder landed atop her hands, her eyes closed while she feared the worst. But after a few seconds, she noticed that she had not been crushed and opened her eyes. And when she looked up and saw the boulder perfectly in her hands, her eyes sparkled before she turned toward the one who had tried to attack her.

As it so happened, he was now frozen in fear, and this was all she needed as she shouted, "BOULDER BASH!" leaping into the air and throwing her arms down, crushing him with the boulder.

Vaporeon, Morgrem and Rolycoly had no trouble, though. They were all so quick and agile that this was nothing to them, and the same went for Scorbunny. She easily dodged every incoming rock, anvil, statue and whatever else that came her way. However, when she and Vaporeon leapt away from a projectile each, they both flew into one-another.

"Sorry," Scorbunny said with a grin before Vaporeon chuckled, "Not a problem," both going wide-eyed when they noticed a green dinosaur that resembled a barnacle flying toward them with the petal-like tentacles around her neck spinning while she exclaimed, "BARNACLE BUZZ SAW!"

Scorbunny and Vaporeon both smiled at one-another before leaping away from each other. They then turned around, Scorbunny lighting her foot on fire and delivering a roundhouse to the dinosaur's cheek while Vaporeon formed her ice ball on the tip of her tail and rammed it into the other one. Both yelled, "FIRE AND ICE ROUNDHOUSE!" before blood flew out of the opening where the dinosaur's eyes actually were.

This left her unable to move in time to avoid an incoming block of ice, many staring in stunned silence. Most of them could not help but wonder how they had kept that as big as it was for that long.

Either way, things seemed to go well for the heroes of Edmonton while Grimmsnarl and Samurott watched each other's backs to make sure neither one was taken out. But just as a rock was seconds away from crushing Grimmsnarl, the sea lion pulled out his seamitar and barked, "RAZOR SHELL!" slashing the rock down the middle, the two halves crushing a girl with a golden bell for a head and a teal cat-like being.

Grimmsnarl noticed this, grinned and gave Samurott a thumb up, the sea lion returning the gesture. There was no way either one would lose, not yet.

Corviknight, meanwhile, dealt with a blue frog by soaring into his gut and shouting, "RAVEN JOUST!" This caused the frog to fly backwards just in time for an anvil to fall on him.

However, he then noticed that Melmetal was so far the only hero not to move from his spot. It seemed the large nuts on his fists were more than powerful enough to deal with every object that came toward him. As such, the raven could tell that this cyborg would be a major threat.

'I just need to distract him long enough,' he thought before flying toward him with his beak out, exclaiming, "RAVEN JOUST!"

However, it seemed that Melmetal was more than prepared for this when he leapt away from an incoming object. His nuts then started to spin like gears before he shouted, "DOUBLE IRON CRUSH!" and sent both arms inward when Corviknight was close enough. Sure enough, both nuts rammed into his cheeks and scraped them while the raven cried out in agonizing pain.

After a few seconds, Corviknight coughed up blood, thus the cyborg released him and allowed him to collapse. He then leapt away just in time to avoid an incoming boulder that hit the raven hard in the back, knocking him out for good.

This kept up for a few more minutes while Shaymin held a monitor that showed her exactly how many fighters were left standing. And soon enough, the number had gone all the way down to two hundred and forty four, thus she rang the bell and squealed, "And that is it for the second event! Those who weren't crushed will advance to the third round while those who were shall do as they please!"

Everyone stared at her in confusion, but just as they were about to question why none of the losers were to receive medical treatment, they noticed all of them rise back to their feet as if they had not been flattened at all. Many of them even looked over themselves to see no bruises whatsoever.

"You didn't think I was sadistic enough to hospitalize the competitors myself, did you?" the hedgehog asked with a grin, "Even though these objects are big, I also had them made out of slightly lighter materials. In fact, those boulders and rocks aren't even made out of real stone. They still hurt, but none of that was deadly."

However, this did not mean none of the heroes would receive medical treatment. After all, some were knocked out by other heroes, and the one in the worst condition right now was Corviknight. It seemed Melmetal's attack had been more than enough to leave him battered and bruised.

Allie breathed a sigh of relief and said, "I have to admit, that was kinda scary," her parents nodding in agreement, although deep down, she knew that her friends would come out of that okay.

Vaporeon bit her lower lip while she watched Corviknight get taken away on a stretcher, sighing, "I hope he's okay," Rillaboom patting her on the shoulder and replying, "I'm sure he'll be fine."

It seemed as if she was right when the raven coughed up a bit more blood and breathed heavily. One of the medics carrying him gasped and said, "Sir, you probably shouldn't talk right now," only for the raven to utter, "You're too kind."

Vaporeon ran over to him with a look of concern only for the raven to smile lightly and say, "Worry not, Vaporeon. I shall recover soon. Go and advance to the finals," before narrowing his eyelids and adding, "Though be careful about that Melmetal. He doesn't strike me as a bad fellow, but he has remarkable power."

With all said and done, he closed his eyes and went to sleep, knowing he had just put quite a bit of strain on himself by saying all of that. Vaporeon bit her lower lip and turned to face the cyborg. She had not seen how he had survived the round, but she could at least tell he had something to do with Corviknight's loss.

"Now that we're down to two hundred and forty four heroes, it's time for the event that will determine our finalists!" Shaymin exclaimed, "While I have done things differently so far, there is one tradition even I cannot bring myself to break, and that is the ever popular and always exciting race to the finish!"

Sure enough, the title in question formed on the jumbotron along with an image of various past heroes running. Scorbunny beamed and squealed, "This couldn't be more perfect! No one's better at track than me!"

And she was not exactly blowing smoke, either. As it so happened, Scorbunny used to be on her school's track team and was top of the class.

Even Rolycoly looked much more confidence as he said, "Oh, thank god. If there's one thing I'm always good at, it's speed," Morgrem nodding and replying, "Damn straight. We're gonna cross that finish line first for sure, if you catch my drift," winking as the golem directed his eyes toward his back and knew exactly what she meant.

Vaporeon took a deep breath and said, "Keep in mind this won't be as easy as simply making it to the final round. Just like in every other event up to this point, heroes are allowed to attack their opponents to hinder their performance. I know because I've watched old footage of when Mommy and Daddy competed in this same event."

And sure enough, she was right, and this was confirmed when Shaymin explained, "Just like in the previous event, heroes can rely on any means necessary to make it past the finish line first, and you'd all better take full advantage of this because only the first sixteen will advance to the final event," Drizzile tensing up and uttering, "Sixteen? Oh god, this might be harder than I thought."

Scorbunny patted him on the back and said, "Come on, you got this," the chameleon nodding and replying, "Yeah. I mean, I just avoided being crushed by large objects for five minutes. I can handle this."

With that, Shaymin grinned and stated, "Now, while this stadium is pretty big, I feel like we can go bigger! Instead, I've set up my own course for this!" more helicopters entering the area, each holding part of a racetrack.

It did not take them long to set up all of them, forming a ramp that moved in various different directions. The starting line was located on the eastern side of the stadium and went thirty stories high.

The very top of the track lined up perfectly with the middle of the stadium where it went down in the opposite direction, the finish line located on the west side. And sure enough, most of the heroes immediately figured out exactly what this meant.

"Of course, the racetrack going high above the ground is the least of your worries," Shaymin explained, "In classic Hero Olympics tradition, we have added special gimmicks to make things a little more difficult, so on top of avoiding being knocked back by your opponents, you also have to evade multiple traps."

While quite a few participants were not surprised by this, Rolycoly, Drizzile and even Morgrem were a tad alarmed by this. As if the threat of being sent off the ledge by another hero was not bad enough, they also had this to worry about.

However, the chameleon and red goblin calmed down when Rillaboom folded her arms and said, "That doesn't sound too much different from the last event. This should be interesting," Scorbunny feeling even more pumped now.

And with all said and done, all of the remaining heroes lined up in front of the starting line. Allie watched with intent as did Rillaboom's parents and Dhelmise. And once Shaymin was certain all of the heroes were prepared, she held up her gavel only for Tori to cut in and add, "One last thing, everyone!"

All of the heroes just about lost their footing when they glared at her, the woman laughing nervously only for Shaymin to nod and state, "Oh yeah, she's right. Flying heroes must remain on the path! That means you can't use your wings to rise up to the top before everyone else, got it!?"

Most of the fliers had already expected as much, but there were a few who felt a touch disappointed. Nevertheless, everyone was ready now as Shaymin squealed, "Well, now that that's out of the way, let the final sporting event begin!" ringing the bell.

And with that, everyone took off at incredible speed. And just as she had hinted at, Morgrem wasted no time and leapt on top of Rolycoly. The golem spread his arms out and pointed the forearms upward. And when the red goblin took hold of his hands, both shouted, "GARGOYLE MOTORCYCLE!"

This proved amazingly effective as the two wound up in first place within mere seconds, and of course, this garnered the attention of many heroes who were on their tail. Though they would have to find a way to catch up before truly taking advantage of them, but they were certainly mentally prepared.

Scorbunny also got an early lead, having quickly made her way into seventh. Although she was certain she would be within the top three by the time she reached the end. And while Rillaboom was not quite as fast, she seemed to do alright as well, feeling rather content in fourteenth while Drizzile was surprised to already be in eleventh.

And of course, Vaporeon did rather well too as she was in eighth. Though part of that could easily be attributed to the fact that she was currently down on all fours. Grimmsnarl, however, was just barely in a good enough spot, he and Samurott in sixteenth and fifteenth respectively while the sea lion groaned, "Wow, your sister's doing way better than us."

"Yeah, I noticed," the green goblin replied with a grin, "That's good. I want another chance to face her in front of an audience."

But while the duo had started off strong, they quickly lost the upper hand when a mine suddenly went off under Rolycoly. His and Morgrem's eyes were wide with terror as they flew into the air. But as much as those behind them wanted to take advantage of this, they were more alarmed by the fact that the mine had created a pretty big gap in the racetrack.

"And with that, Rolycoly and Morgrem fall victim to the first of many traps!" Shaymin squealed with a grin on her face, "Let's see how the others manage!"

The heroes closest to the front focused hard and managed to leap over the pit formed by the mine while Rolycoly and Morgrem slowly pushed themselves up. They breathed heavily when suddenly, a fish with colourful scales and large jaws dove toward them with her mouth open wide.

"PSYCHIC FANGS!" she exclaimed while her jaws had a violet glow around them. However, Morgrem and Rolycoly noticed this just in time, thus they spun around before the golem struck the fish's neck with his arm while Morgrem sent her leg into her chest.

This was enough to knock her on her back while both took full advantage of this and propelled themselves forward toward the gap. While quite a few had managed to pass them, they were certain they could catch up with ease. However, that thought quickly came to a close when Melmetal just happened to leap over the pit right behind them, and when he saw them both completely vulnerable, he spread out his arms and rammed them into the back of Morgrem's neck and Rolycoly's backside.

Both cried out in terror when they realized they were still over the gap when they were struck. Luckily, they were not too high up off the ground, but nevertheless, they still fell onto the ground below as Shaymin exclaimed, "And with that, Morgrem and Rolycoly have both been knocked out of the race!"

Grimmsnarl's eyes widened as he spat, "WHAT!?" Samurott turning and noticing a screen that showed a replay of their defeat. Thus he frowned and growled, "Let's teach that slime thing a lesson."

"I'd rather get my revenge in the ring," the green goblin grunted, "Still, though, that is certainly tempting," both carrying on.

Of course, Scorbunny was disappointed to hear this, thus she frowned and thought, 'Alright, I'll make sure to make it in the top three for both of you!" picking up the pace while her feet caught flame. And of course, the others felt the same and also picked up the pace.

"Wow, not even three minutes in and the same number of heroes have already been knocked out of the race," Shaymin said with a squeal, "That's a new record," Tori blinking and saying, "Now that you mention it, it did take longer for that to happen in the past."

The heroes carried on while a few who were closer to the back had trouble leaping over the pit despite it being rather small. But of course, those closer to the front knew they would have to watch themselves now. After all, who knew what other sorts of traps covered this racetrack? If that mine was only the beginning, just how much worse could it get?