With the first part of the Olympics out of the way, Brian and Wendy took the heroes out for a nice fancy dinner. While Vaporeon sat around the table in her nicest dress, she uttered, "You know we can pay for our own food, right? You really don't need to spend money on all of us."
"Nonsense," Brian replied, "You all worked hard today and earned this," Drizzile grinning and replying, "You're too kind."
"Yeah, but he's right," Allie said with a sweet smile, "It was really close, but you all pulled through. Granted, I wouldn't have been too upset if you lost, but I'm really glad I get to see you partake in the fighting tournament."
"Fighting tournament?" Rillaboom remarked before Vaporeon explained, "Oh yeah, that's right. The final event of the Hero Olympics is a tournament between all sixteen finalists. The one to make it to the final round and win becomes world champion."
Scorbunny nodded and replied, "That makes sense. I'm kinda surprised I didn't know that considering how big a deal this is," Rillaboom and Drizzile equally embarrassed.
Morgrem all the while chewed on a dinner roll and said, "Whatever the case, I wouldn't be surprised if all four of you made it to the semis," Rolycoly nodding and adding, "Yeah, wouldn't that be cool if all of you faced each other?"
"Yeah, it would," Vaporeon replied with a light smile, "But even so, there's no real guarantee. We'll just have to do the best we can."
"I have to admit, though, I find it kinda weird we have to go back to the stadium tomorrow just to learn the order that we'll have to fight in," Scorbunny stated only for Vaporeon to explain, "According to Mommy, everything in the Olympics is a huge event. Even just simply deciding who will fight who is a much bigger deal than just randomly drawing names out of a hat."
Drizzile blinked as Brian nodded and said, "She's right. Why, I remember when Wendy and I attended this for the first time. I believe it was the time your parents competed, Vaporeon," Wendy adding, "They used a giant pinball machine to decide the order. I wonder what they'll use this year."
"Wow," Scorbunny uttered while her eyes sparkled, "A pinball machine. That is so cool." Now she felt much more excited than she did before, Morgrem and Rolycoly intrigued as well.
Once they received their food, they greatly enjoyed their meal, though right now, they could not help but wonder who they would face. Perhaps they would face each other in the first round. The odds of that were not exactly high, but it was possible.
Either way, once dinner was finished and Allie's parents paid, they were all brought back to their houses with their excitement at its peak. Even though they would not have to fight tomorrow, they still hoped they could sleep with everything coming up.
When Morgrem and Rolycoly were dropped off at their own house, they entered to see Dhelmise already there along with Grimmsnarl. The green goblin grinned and asked, "So, how was dinner?"
"It was great," Rolycoly replied before Morgrem took a seat on the couch and said, "You guys really should have come along."
"I wanted to, but Mom insisted we not ruin your bonding time," Grimmsnarl replied as the blue spirit shrugged and said, "Besides, there were already so many of you. I didn't want to make it seem too crowded."
"It really wouldn't have been that bad," Morgrem replied, "Besides, I'm sure Allie's folks would have loved to meet you, Mom," Dhelmise chuckling, "Alright, I'll consider coming along next time."
She then walked over to Morgrem's fridge and added, "Although not coming along allowed me to surprise you all with this," taking out a chocolate cake with vanilla icing that said 'At least you tried' on top. And while most would not have been quite as flattered by this, both goblins and Rolycoly appreciated the gesture regardless.
Rillaboom, meanwhile, had not been dropped off at Vaporeon's house. Instead, she decided to spend the night with her parents in their hotel room. And since she was one of Edmonton's heroes, the owner was happy to let her stay for free.
And she had a nice rest and chat with her folks while they enjoyed a nice banana flambe that Thwackey made. The only downside was that they had only been permitted a few days of vacation time and thus they would only be able to stay long enough to see Rillaboom's first couple of matches before they had to return to Kenya, assuming she made it to round two. And of course the gorilla would take full advantage of this while also making sure to train for the first round.
Vaporeon, Scorbunny and Drizzile, on the other hand, called up their parents after they arrived home. Eevee and Popplio could not have been more proud of their daughter, both of them wishing her the best. And of course Cinderace was not the least bit surprised that Scorbunny had made it this far, Inteleon giving Drizzile as much encouragement as she could without coming off as too motherly.
The rest of the evening passed by and once noon came around on the following day, everyone was once again gathered at Commonwealth Stadium. Although there was one major difference. All sixteen heroes had been directed elsewhere upon their arrival. Of course, everyone could not help but wonder where they had been taken.
When the citizens and various other heroes no longer competing took their seats, they were all curious about a large object covered by a white cloth located behind Shaymin and Tori. And it would not be long until they got an explanation when Shaymin exclaimed, "Welcome, one and all, back to Commonwealth Stadium! Today's a big day! While we're not exactly starting the first round of the Olympic finals, we are doing something that's almost as exciting! Today's the day we all find out the order in which our finalists will face each other three days from now!"
Tori nodded and added, "I assume many of you are wondering what we have covered up! Well, long time viewers are probably more than aware of the fact that we can't just pick names! No, even the match-ups are a huge event for us!"
She then pointed up into the air to signal a nearby helicopter pilot to remove the cloth. Everyone stared in awe at the sight of a giant slot machine with sixteen transparent slots next to each other. Allie stared at this as she noticed the image of a hero concealed within each one.
After a while, Wendy blinked and uttered, "Wait a minute, are the heroes actually inside of it?" the others seeing what she meant when they noticed nervous sweat pouring down Drizzile's face.
And sure enough, many people were curious about this as Shaymin nodded and explained, "As you can see, our finalists are actually inside the slots right now, hence why we made them transparent. Unlike normal slots, these ones will turn horizontally thus moving the heroes from one slot to the next. This will go on until they stop spinning, and by the time it's finished, the order will be determined based off of which hero winds up inside of which slot."
"Allow me to explain further," Tori added, "It's about as straight forward as it looks. Whoever lands in the far left hand slot will face the hero who lands in the one next to it in the first match. This will continue in that order until we reach the last two heroes in the far right hand slots."
And with that, Shaymin could no longer contain herself. As such, she leapt from her seat, the audience staring in shock when she suddenly changed form. She had gone from a hedgehog to what looked like a reindeer with a green Mohawk and her flower pedal taking on the role of a scarf as opposed to a hairpin. But the most noteworthy change was that her ears had elongated and now looked more like antlers. What was especially odd about this was that they now allowed her to fly.
Soon enough, she reached the lever and took hold of it, shouting, "LET THE SLOTS ROLL!" pulling it down, thus the slots started to spin. While a few heroes braced themselves for an uncomfortable experience, they were surprised by how smooth it was. Strangely enough, they were able to move from slot to slot without feeling any pain or dizziness.
Shaymin returned to her seat, reverted to normal and took a deep breath before Tori stared at her. She then blinked and uttered, "What the hell is that?" the hedgehog replying, "Oh, that's my sky form. It gives me wings!" forming her ears again and flapping them up and down while the human woman continued to stare.
After a while, the far left slot came to a halt. As it so happened, the first one chosen was the ladybug, Orbeetle. And it was not long until his opponent, Incineroar, was revealed. The tiger folded his arms with a smirk, glad that he had a chance to avenge Ben's loss.
Drizzile was the next to stop as he breathed a sigh of relief and thought, 'That wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be,' Allie glad to know she would see him fight soon. When the slot next to him stopped, he turned and noticed he would fight the white and brown anaconda, Sandaconda.
Next up were the odd mix of ancient letters, Unown and the orange monkey, Monferno. Magnezone wound up in the next slot followed by the tortoise, Drednaw. And of course, all of them were dead serious about this as they turned to face one-another.
Scorbunny landed in the first slot to the right, pumped up to see who she would face next. Since none of her other friends had landed yet, she figured perhaps it would be one of them, but in the end, she wound up with the alien, Hatterene, who turned to her and bowed her head. The rabbit beamed and returned the gesture, glad that her first opponent seemed like a good sport.
The apple dragon, Flapple, was next and it was soon revealed that she would fight the unicorn, Rapidight. And after that, Wooloo was revealed to be up against Rillaboom, the gorilla folding her arms with a smirk while the sheep turned to face her with a neutral look.
This only left two more for the final slots, Melmetal and Vaporeon. The fox turned to face her opponent and sported a serious look. After all, Corviknight had warned her about his power. She needed to be careful around him, even though he seemed like a nice enough guy.
Whatever the case, the crowd cheered when they saw the match-ups, Allie saying, "I just know they'll all advance to the second round," Brian replying, "I don't doubt that for a second."
"Show that sheep who rules the roost!" Obasi exclaimed with a big grin before Thwackey shouted, "Give her Hell, sweetie!"
Morgrem, all the while, frowned and grunted, "I can't wait to see Vaporeon kick that metal thing's ass," Rolycoly nodding and hoping she could pull it off. Just from that one hit, he could tell Melmetal was not someone they could underestimate.
"Now, remember, folks," Shaymin stated, "The first round will take place in just three days! Everyone who wishes to see the first match must come to this location if they wish to see the first match up close!"
She then brought up a map of Edmonton and pointed to West Edmonton Mall. Morgrem and Rolycoly stared and their eyes sparkled. Even if it was to watch a match, they were beyond happy to have a reason to return there.
With all said and done, every citizen of Edmonton was ready to return home while the foreigners were headed to their hotel rooms. Either way, the excitement could not have been higher.
For the next three days, everyone was hard at work. Rillaboom trained with Thwackey as she felt like this would make for a good bonding experience while Scorbunny and Vaporeon hit the gym. Drizzile, all the while, went with Allie to a secluded area where he could practice his speed and skills without any interruptions.
However, the one currently working the hardest was Melmetal who had gone to a construction site to use various discarded materials as weights and practice dummies. All the while, he had a serious look in his eye. Even though he knew his fight would be against a fellow hero, he was just as determined as everyone else to win.
Although somewhere in the middle of his training, he started to spin the hexagonal nut on his right hand and rammed it into a girder, breaking the material open thus causing its upper half to fall hard against the ground. He took a deep breath and thought, 'Yeah, I'm ready for this. Vaporeon, you'd better watch yourself.'
Once all three days passed, many were assembled inside of West Edmonton Mall. Allie and the others had been dropped off by Brian and Wendy. For some strange reason, they had assured the group that they were content watching the tournament at home. Allie had a feeling this was their way of showing that they trusted her to be at a live event on her own, and as much as she wanted to tell them this was unnecessary, a part of her also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity.
Grimmsnarl had also returned to Romania as he figured it might be a good idea to make sure nothing went wrong there, Samurott joining him. And seeing as her friends were no longer in the competition, Yanma heavily considered going with them. However, in the end, she wanted to see the tournament in person, and thankfully, the others did not feel the need to object to any of this.
Luckily, those who went to the southern parking lot, or more specifically the transit station, did not need to walk far as the location of the first match was just a few feet from the door. It was mainly in a big area in the middle of the first floor called the Mayfield Toyota Ice Palace, named after the fact that people generally went there for ice skating.
Though on some days, there would be no ice around the area and something else would be set up instead. Luckily, this was one of those days as there were bleachers set up along with a ring right in the center of the area. Though since there were no change rooms or anything along those lines, Incineroar and Orbeetle had gone to the stores closest to their sides to prepare their entrances, the owners only allowing this because Shaymin had paid them a handsome sum to do so.
Allie sat with her friends near the front, Drizzile uttering, "Wow, I just realized something. This is my first time actually watching a match instead of partaking in one."
Vaporeon blinked and said, "Yeah, not counting old footage, this is my first time too," Scorbunny and Rillaboom tapping their chins before nodding in understanding.
"Either way, this is so cool!" Allie squealed, "I don't even know the two competing and I'm still looking forward to this!" turning to Vaporeon and adding, "Though I will certainly cheer for Incineroar. You two are friends, right?"
The fox nodded and replied, "Yeah, though I'm surprised you haven't seen him in action. He was the one who beat D-" her eyes wide as she slowly turned to face the chameleon. She then grinned nervously and uttered, "Sorry about that."
Drizzile let out a sigh and said, "Well, to be honest, I wanna see him win too. At the very least, it'll give us a chance at a rematch. I wanna see if I can actually beat him this time."
"It's a shame Ben couldn't have advanced as well," Rillaboom sighed, "You and Scorbunny actually have a chance to face the heroes who bested you. I don't," her eyes wide with shock when she heard a boy with a southern accent reply, "Yeah, that was bullshit right there. I can't wait to see him take that ladybug bastard down a couple of pegs."
The gorilla turned to see Ben right behind her as he grinned and said, "Howdy." A smile crossed Rillaboom's face before she said, "Hey, looks like we get to watch this together."
At that moment, Thwackey and Obasi just happened to arrive with three to-go boxes from a Thai stand at the food court. Rillaboom had specifically saved two seats for them, thus they sat down before the monkey handed her daughter one box, saying, "I got you the spicy shrimp Pad Thai like you wanted, though they were out of the fried bananas. I really wanted to try one of those, too."
Of course, Wurmple sat among the crowd with his phone out to confirm that Rockruff would tune in for the match. She was grateful he called since she had somehow forgotten about it. Either way, both looked forward to seeing their friend come out on top.
Morgrem and Rolycoly, meanwhile, both grinned as the red goblin said, "I just know that cat's gonna win. After the beating he gave us, how can he not?" Rolycoly nodding and uttering, "Seriously, that guy's terrifying."
"You fought him before?" Vaporeon enquired, Morgrem nodding and saying, "Yep. He beat me in ten seconds flat."
After ten more minutes, Shaymin and Tori took their seats behind a nearby desk before the hedgehog exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, old bags and old hags-" Tori shaking her head and making a neck-slitting motion while quite a few elderly citizens narrowed their eyelids.
Shaymin quickly noticed this and blinked before clearing her throat and uttering, "Forget I said that last one," before continuing, "We are all gathered here to today to see the first two matches of the Hero Olympics!"
Some people were confused by this until she explained, "That's right. Only the first two matches will take place in this location. Afterwards, we will all have an hour to move to another one for the next couple of matches and we will keep this up until the final match."
"Oh, that's cool," Scorbunny said before she turned to Drizzile and added, "That means we'll get to see your match here, too," the chameleon nodding and replying, "You know, I hadn't even thought about that."
It was at this moment that Rillaboom noticed that on the other side of the bleachers, the people from India and those from Norway were separated by a barricade. She blinked and asked, "Hey, what's with that?" Wendy explaining, "That's to make sure the fans of Incineroar and the fans of that ladybug don't start a brawl with each other. Trust me, that really is necessary for any sporting event."
Once the audience had calmed down for good, Shaymin turned to Tori who nodded and pointed toward the left hand side, exclaiming, "In the red corner, hailing from Norway is a strong bug with a large shell! He has already proven himself quite the threat and comes to us today to show us more of his strength! Give it up for Orbeetle!"
The Norwegian fans cheered and applauded while Orbeetle flew toward the ring and performed a three hundred and sixty degree flip in the air. He then landed firmly against his feet and folded his arms.
He truly was a scary specimen. Just like Tori said, his shell was four times the size of his upper body and was located above his shoulders. His midsection was very thin and his arms were skinny as twigs, though his hands were slightly bigger and resembled long gloves. His ankles were big and pointy and his feet looked like yellow stingers. His eyeballs were light blue with slightly darker rings and dots to represent the eyes themselves and his eyebrows were long and looked more like yellow clothespins.
"And in the blue corner," Shaymin exclaimed, "coming to us from India is a powerful feline who helped save Edmonton a few months ago! He is just as strong and fearsome as he looks! Give a round of applause for Incineroar!"
The Indian fans went wild when Incineroar performed a somersault toward the ring. He then propelled himself into the air, flipped over and landed perfectly on his feet with his arms spread out and a grin on his face.
Vaporeon smiled wide and clapped, squealing, "Alright! Looking good, Incineroar!" the tiger grinning at her and giving her a thumb up. He then turned to Drizzile who gave him the same gesture. And while he did not show it, deep down, Incineroar was grateful to receive support from someone he had once bested in combat.
He and Orbeetle stared each other down and struck a fighting pose each with their eyes narrowed. With all said and done, Shaymin nodded and squealed, "Without further ado, let the match begin!" ringing the bell.