With the start of the match signalled, Incineroar wasted no time as he raced toward Orbeetle with his arm out. The ladybug was unable to respond, thus he took a strong clothesline to the area below his head and gasped in pain. However, Incineroar did not allow him to fall on his back and instead kept his arm there, shifting beside Orbeetle thus catching him in a choke hold. He would have gone behind him, but his shell was far too long for that.

The Indian crowd along with his friends went wild while Shaymin stated, "And already, Incineroar has Orbeetle in a tight spot! Let's see if the ladybird caves in this early into the match!"

However, after a few seconds, many audience members noticed something off. And this was made clear when one member of the Norwegian crowd laughed, "Does that stupid cat really think he's hurting him? Does he not even realize Orbeetle doesn't have a neck?"

Once the tiger heard this, his eyes went wide as he uttered, "Wait, what?" Orbeetle chuckling, "He's right. While your clothesline dealt some pain, this is nothing to me."

With that in mind, he lifted up his foot and shouted, "HORNET STOMP!" planting his stinger into Incineroar's foot. The tiger let out a loud cry of pain and released his hold just in time for the ladybug to shift his body sideways and ram the side of his shell hard into his cheek.

The crowd gasped when Incineroar reeled his head to the side and struggled to maintain balance. And of course, Orbeetle took full advantage of this and knelt down, shouting, "HORNET SWEEP!" sliding his foot sideways thus putting a cut in Incineroar's ankle.

The crowd stared in stunned silence when the tiger let out a loud meow in response to this and fell on his side. But while he clutched onto his ankle, his cheeks turned bright pink while he thought, 'Oh shit, did I just mew in public?'

Even his own friends could not help but stare at this. Ben and Allie both had blank looks on their faces while they just happened to think in unison, 'Oh my god, that's adorable,' while Scorbunny and Vaporeon tried their hardest not to chuckle. Even Morgrem and Rolycoly found this funny.

Either way, this was just the distraction Orbeetle needed, thus he hovered a good distance into the air and cupped his feet together, exclaiming, "HORNET DIVE BOMBER!" He then descended toward his downed opponent and planted his stingers into his gut, thus the tiger cried out in pain while a bit of blood squirted out of him.

It did not end there when Orbeetle removed his stingers and flipped Incineroar onto his belly. He then planted the stingers into his back and knelt down, gripping onto his chin and pulling up while shouting, "HORNET CAMEL CLUTCH!"

While Incineroar cried out in more pain, Tori exclaimed, "This is truly brutal, folks! While the match started favourably for Incineroar, it was simply not meant to last as Orbeetle already has him in what appears to be the most deadly camel clutch ever conceived! Can it really be over already!?"

The Indian crowd started to cheer for Incineroar while the Norwegian fans simply sat there with smiles on their faces and their arms crossed. As it so happened, Orbeetle was known to end matches with this one technique, so as far as they saw it, this was already over.

Wurmple stared at this and uttered, "Oh no. Rockruff's gonna be so disappointed," Ben narrowing his eyelids and thinking, 'Come on, Incineroar. You can get out of this easily, can't you?'

It looked as if it might not be as easy as it seemed for when the tiger attempted to pry Orbeetle's hands off of his chin, he found it surprisingly difficult. But how could someone with arms this skinny be this physically strong? It made no sense.

"I hate to end this so soon, but you might as well tap out," the ladybug said tauntingly, "This move has been known to shatter an opponent's spine."

Incineroar gritted his teeth and thought hard while his tail waved up and down. It was at that exact moment that he realized what he could do. As such, he whipped his tail toward Orbeetle and wrapped it around his waist.

The ladybug's eyes widened as he gasped, "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" the tiger retorting, "What I should have done from the start."

He then started to pull upward with his tail while Orbeetle continued to hold onto his chin. And while this did cause Incineroar a tad more pain, this did not last when he pried the ladybug's feet out of his back. He then swung his tail backward and sent Orbeetle's back into the turnbuckle, the Indian crowd cheering wildly.

Vaporeon blinked and uttered, "Why didn't I think of that?" before she looked at her own tail, Drizzile uttering, "Now that you mention it, yeah, that should have been obvious."

"What a counter, folks!" Shaymin squealed, "Just as it looked like Orbeetle had this match in the bag, Incineroar fights back with his mighty tail! This fierce feline isn't gonna go down that easily, that's for sure!"

With Orbeetle now vulnerable, Incineroar leapt toward him and landed a flying two-legged kick to his gut. He then latched onto his shoulders and lifted him up, leaning backward and aiming his head toward the canvas.

Unfortunately for the tiger, Orbeetle was prepared for this. Thus he lowered his shell just in time for it to make contact with the canvas. Many stared silently at this before he pushed the shell up, propelling himself and his opponent into the air. Finally, he slipped right out of Incineroar's grasp and flipped himself one hundred and eighty degrees.

The tiger was in too much shock to respond when Orbeetle wrapped his legs around his, grabbing onto his ankles with his hands and shouting, "UFO DRIVER!" The Norwegian fans cheered while the two descended and the tiger's skull hit the canvas hard.

Incineroar coughed up blood, his eyes wide with shock. And when Orbeetle released him and allowed him to collapse, he lay there motionless while the crowd stared in shock save for the Norwegian fans who were beyond thrilled. And it only looked worse when Tori started the ten count.

"Oh my god," Drizzile uttered, "It's can't be over already, can it?" Rillaboom shaking her head and remarking, "No way. He's gotta get up from that. Someone that tough doesn't go down that easily."

"Damn straight," Ben grunted, "Come on, Incineroar, get up!"

And sure enough, when Tori reached seven seconds, Incineroar gritted his teeth, placed his hands firmly against the canvas and flipped himself upright. He breathed heavily while the Indian crowd cheered. While it seemed as if he should not have even risen back to his feet at first, he simply shook his head and patted his cheeks before straightening himself up.

Wurmple wiped sweat off of his forehead and sighed, "Oh, thank god. That was terrifying," Drizzile nodding his head with a smile. And just like before the match had begun, that filled the tiger with more fighting spirit than he already had while Orbeetle narrowed his eyelids.

"Don't look so confident," he grunted, "I came into this match expecting a challenge, but honestly, I'm not impressed. You may have physical strength on your side, but when you're this easy to take advantage of, that hardly matters."

"Shut it!" Incineroar retorted, "I'll admit, I underestimated you greatly! You got some impressive moves, but that's not gonna stop me! I haven't lost a match yet and that's not gonna change today!"

Orbeetle let out a sigh and hovered in place. He then pointed his shell up toward the sky and shouted, "UFO ROCKET!" releasing a large shock wave and launching himself forward.

However, Incineroar was ready this time. Thus he leapt to the side and sent a roundhouse into the ladybug's waist. Orbeetle's eyes widened before the tiger delivered a fierce elbow to his cheek followed by a sideways high kick to his chin.

The Indian fans, his friends and the Japanese crowd all went wild when Orbeetle fell on his back. And it did not end there when Incineroar leapt onto his gut and spat, "Let's see you get out of this!"

But just as he lashed out his claws and lit them on fire, Wurmple gasped, "Wait, Incineroar, get off of him, now!" Unfortunately, it was too late when Orbeetle once again pushed his shell back and took to the sky, sighing, "I would have thought even you would have learned your lesson by now."

However, he stared with confusion when Incineroar smirked and retorted, "I was prepared for this!" wrapping his feet around the ladybug's thus binding them in place. He then wrapped his arms around his head and planted his flaming claws into the back of it, drawing green blood. Then after latching his tail around Orbeetle's stingers, he let out a fierce battle cry and flipped himself over until both of their faces were directed toward the canvas and descended.

'This is fine,' Orbeetle thought, 'I'll just use my floatation to stop the collission,' only for a stream of flames to shoot out of Incineroar's belt and circle around the two. The tiger than proceeded to spin like a drill, thus the ladybug was too dizzy to do anything about the situation.

"PYRO HURRICANE MACH TWO!" Incineroar barked when Orbeetle's face made contact with the canvas. And sure enough, green blood escaped from his mouth and splashed on the tiger's face, but this hardly mattered to him. Thus he released his hold and stood upright, allowing Orbeetle to collapse while his fans all stared in awe.

"What an incredible turnaround!" Shaymin exclaimed with her own look of shock, "Things have not been going well for Incineroar, but it seems as if that one move might have ended the match!" Tori already having counted to three while Vaporeon and Wurmple breathed a sigh of relief.

After a while, Tori reached ten seconds and rang the bell before she exclaimed, "And with that, Orbeetle has lost and Incineroar will move onto round two!"

All of Incineroar's supporters went wild as the Norwegian crowd looked at their fallen hero with concern. Incineroar rose his arms in the air and turned toward Vaporeon and Ben with a grin. He and the human boy both gave each other a thumb up while Drizzile smiled lightly. Sure, the tiger was still just as scary of an opponent as he remembered, but he still wanted that rematch.

Either way, Incineroar took a deep breath and headed toward the bleachers for a good rest. Drizzile noticed this and waved before asking, "Hey, you wanna take my seat?"

The tiger blinked and said, "Oh yeah, that's right, you're up next," a grin on his face, "I'm looking forward to it. I wanna see just how much you really have improved."

The chameleon nodded and rose up from his seat just before Shaymin stated, "And with the first match out of the way, the next two fighters will have ten minutes to prepare themselves. Let's see if this match will be anywhere near as exciting as the one we just witnessed."

Sandaconda rose up from his seat as well before slithering off to the same store Incineroar had prepared himself in. Drizzile took a deep breath as Allie rubbed his shoulders and said, "You'll be awesome, I just know it."

"Yeah," the chameleon replied with a nod, "I'm sure I will be," and headed off toward the place Orbeetle had gone to for his own preparation.

Incineroar sat down next to Rillaboom and Allie before he turned to Ben and pounded his fist against his. Vaporeon held out her own fist so he could do the same for her.

But while Rillaboom and Scorbunny seemed fine around him, Morgrem and Rolycoly looked a tad nervous. Sure, Incineroar was clearly nicer and more understanding than his appearance suggested, but he still intimidated them to a certain degree.

Drizzile took a deep breath and thought, 'Alright, Mom, I know you're watching and I'm gonna make you even more proud than you are now. But first...' looking at a few items within the store.

Once ten minutes passed, Tori exclaimed, "It's now about time to begin the second match of round one! That first match was great, but this one is sure to be even better!"

Shaymin nodded and stated, "In the red corner is a tough chameleon from Ireland! He started off with a rather pathetic track record but has since climbed his way to the top! Everyone, give a round of applause for Drizzile!"

The crowd cheered while Drizzile exited the store with war markings on his face. Sure, he had used black lipstick for it, but the audience did not need to know that. And it certainly had an effect as everyone seemed impressed.

He then lathered his feet and skated toward the ring before leaping into the air and landing firmly against the surface. Needless to say, the crowd loved every second of this, Incineroar whistling and saying, "Not bad."

Once the crowd calmed down a bit, Shaymin exclaimed, "In the blue corner is a fierce fighter from Egypt! With speed and skill and a rather interesting build, she is Sandaconda!"

Everyone watched the snake bounce into the area like a spring, and it made sense. For some strange reason, her entire body was naturally curled to resemble the object in question. She had intimidating green eyes and two fang-like protrusions under her rather big snout. And around her neck was a large green ring with two brown spots on it and beefy arms attached to the sides.

Once she was close enough, she bounced high into the air and flipped herself upside down before she performed a handstand. The Egyptian crowd cheered and clapped while Drizzile sported a serious look. While she may have looked strange, he could tell that he could not afford to underestimate her.

And so, after a few seconds, Shaymin smiled and squealed, "Well, folks, the combatants are set! Let us begin!" ringing the bell thus signalling the start of the match.

Drizzile narrowed his eyelids and held his ground. After all, much like Rillaboom, he knew better than to just barrel into danger without thinking. And sure enough, Sandaconda was more than eager to make the first move, thus she leapt backward into the ropes and stretched them back while she squeezed her body inward like an actual spring.

After a few seconds, she exclaimed, "SPRING BULLET!" launching herself toward the chameleon at rapid speed. Luckily, Drizzile had seen such a move coming and thus he leapt to the side just in time to avoid it.

Sandaconda's eyes were wide with horror when her snout made contact with the opposing ropes. She then started to ricochet back and forth between both sides while Incineroar blinked and uttered, "Damn, that was a good opening strategy. She'll tire herself out easily doing that."

Even the Egyptian fans were not so sure about this. As hard as it was to believe, Drizzile was the first fighter to actually dodge this move and thus they had no idea how long the snake could keep this up. And sure enough, she took this into consideration as well, thus she frowned when she closed in on the ropes one more time and held out her arms, grabbing hold of them and stopping herself.

But just as it seemed like she was safe, Drizzile took full advantage of this and sprinted over to her from behind. The Irish crowd watched in amazement while he took hold of her tail and used all his might to pry her hands off of the ropes. He then leaned backward and planted her back into the canvas while all of his supporters cheered wildly.

However, his eyes went wide when Sandaconda pushed her tail in and sent it forward into his face. This caused him to release her before she flipped upright and took a deep breath, saying, "That was an impressive strategy, but not good enough. While that suplex did hurt to a certain degree, I can handle that with ease. Orbeetle isn't the only one who can cushion blows like that."

Everyone stared until Rillaboom gasped, "Of course! That ring around her neck must be really tough!" the snake nodding and explaining, "Very perceptive. You see, my skin is already pretty tough, but this ring is twice as strong as the rest of me. As such, any attack dealt to it only deals half the damage it would deal to any other part of me."

However, as soon as she said this, her eyes widened when Drizzile raced toward her and delivered a karate chop to her face. The crowd gasped as he spat, "Fine! I just won't hit that spot again!" unloading an onslaught of palm punches to that same spot while the Irish fans shrugged and cheered wildly.

"Way to go, Drizzile!" Scorbunny squealed before the chameleon wrapped his arms around Sandaconda and leapt into the air. He then leaned back far enough to plant her face into the canvas, her snout pushed inward while a light tear fell from her eye.

He released his hold and distanced himself from her with a smile on his face and said, "While that was unexpected, it wasn't quite as bad as Orbeetle's defence. At least that suplex still hurt you, even if it was just a little bit. But it's easy enough to exploit."

Ben stared at this with his jaw dropped and uttered, "Damn, he really has gotten better," Vaporeon uttering, "Oh yeah, we didn't actually see his match with Centiskorch. This is our first time really seeing this side of him," Allie beaming bright and shouting, "Keep it up, Drizzile!"

"So far, Drizzile has been dominating this match!" Shaymin exclaimed, "This fighter who was once seen as Edmonton's weak link has truly proven himself a force to be reckoned with in only a little over a minute! Can Sandaconda possibly get the upper hand in this fight?"

As soon as Sandaconda heard that question she frowned and placed her hands against the mat. She then pushed herself up before her snout popped back to its normal length. She then flipped herself back upright and said, "I have a bit of a confession to make, Drizzile. See, I have heard that of all the heroes stationed in Tokyo, you were not to be taken seriously. As such, I decided to hold back a bit and save my best abilities for someone who was worthy."

"Oh god, Mommy's friends used to deal with this sort of thing a lot," Vaporeon groaned, "The worst part is that those who made claims like this weren't exactly blowing smoke. Drizzile might need to be careful."

The chameleon realized this and readied himself. However, he could not have predicted what happened next when Sandaconda released sand and wind from her nostrils. She then spun around like a twister and shouted, "DESERT DUST DEVIL!"

Some of the security staff gasped at the sight of the sand covering the entire area surrounding the ring. Luckily, Sandaconda had made sure not to spread it all the way to the bleachers, but even so, they knew this would likely take a while to clean up.

Drizzile shielded his face and started a coughing fit, tears forming on his eyes while Shaymin spat, "Well, folks, I can just barely make out what's going on! It seemed like Sandaconda has created a massive sandstorm around the fight area! Let's see if Drizzile can get around this!"

"Oh, come on!" Scorbunny snapped, "That's cheating!" Rillaboom sighing, "Well, it is certainly a cheap tactic, but it's not against the rules. As long as it's a natural power and not a weapon, it's perfectly legal."

Sure enough, Drizzile could barely make out a thing now, and Sandaconda planned to take full advantage of this. As such, she jumped backward toward the ropes and stretched them back, once again squishing her body inward. And once she was ready, she exclaimed, "SPRING BULLET!" and launched herself toward the chameleon.

Unlike before, Drizzile was unable to defend himself, thus he took her skull to his gut and coughed up blood. He was pushed back into the ropes and trapped up against them while the material started to give way. However, Sandaconda had too much pride to win via ring out and thus she wrapped her arms around him and bounced away from the ropes, landing perfectly on her tail.

"That didn't sound good," Rillaboom uttered, "Do any of you know what's happening?" Vaporeon gritting her teeth and growling, "From what I could make out, it looks like Drizzile's been hit."

It only got worse for him when Sandaconda squished her body inward and bounced high above the ring. She then flipped herself one hundred and eighty degrees and descended toward the canvas, shouting, "SPRING WARHEAD!"

When Drizzile's skull was rammed into the canvas, he coughed up even more blood and closed his eyes just in time for the sandstorm to fade. The Egyptian fans cheered while everyone else gasped in horror at the sight of his body just lying there, his head tilted sideways.

Shaymin blinked and uttered, "And after such an impressive start, it looks as if Drizzile has lost. Whatever Sandaconda did must have really been something," Tori starting the ten count as Rillaboom and Scorbunny's jaws dropped, Vaporeon biting her lower lip.

Morgrem and Rolycoly embraced one-another and trembled while Incineroar sighed, "Man, that sucks. And I was looking forward to that rematch, too."

But just as Tori was about to reach six seconds, Allie stood up and spat, "COME ON, DRIZZILE!" many turning toward her, "You took in far worse punishment from Runerigus! I know you can handle this! Now get up and win!"

The Irish crowd blinked before they nodded and started to chant his name. Sandaconda let out a sigh and rolled her eyes when Tori reached nine. But just as she was about to point forward one last time, Drizzile's eyes widened before he flipped back to his feet.

He breathed heavily while the area erupted with cheers and applause, Sandaconda turning to face him with terror in her expression. Sure, she had only dealt three hits to him, but even so, she figured a fall from that height had to have been enough to finish him off.

Either way, the chameleon took a deep breath and grunted, "The old me would have fallen to that easily, but you're dealing with the new me now. I can handle pain like this," everyone truly impressed.

Even so, Sandaconda frowned and thought, 'Guess I'll have to kick things up another notch. Very well. I'll still come out on top, mark my words.'