While Drizzile had recovered from Sandaconda's powerful slam, the match was not over yet. As such, he knew he would need to be careful in case she had something even worse up her sleeve.

After a few seconds, she breathed in heavily through her snout before Scorbunny frowned and grunted, "Is she seriously gonna use that cheap ass sandstorm technique again?"

"I hope not," Vaporeon groaned, "Even after seeing it once, I'm not really sure how anyone could dodge that."

It seemed this might be the case when Sandaconda released more sand from her nostrils. However, this time, she sent the wind toward Drizzile and shouted, "SAND BLASTER!" pelting Drizzile with large clumps of the substance.

Not only did this put light bruises on him, but things only got worse when two clumps struck his eyes. This caused him to groan in pain and fly backward, falling on his back while even the Egyptian fans could not help but wince. After all, they knew how it felt to have sand in one's eyes.

"Oh my god, that's awful!" Ben gasped, "The sandstorm was bad enough, but that's just cruel!" Incineroar grunting, "Yeah, and it's about to get a lot worse. Look."

Just as Drizzile rose to his feet and reached up to wipe the sand off, Sandaconda smirked and spat a considerable amount of saliva toward him. And when it splashed his face, the audience groaned in disgust. However, Rillaboom was less disgusted and more concerned as she uttered, "Oh no, she really did make things much worse."

Sure enough, that small wad of spit had hardened the sand by a lot. As such, Drizzile tried desperately to pry it off but to no avail, grunting, "Oh, come on! This is unfair!"

"That poor, helpless reptile," Shaymin whimpered with tears in her eyes, Tori staring at her and uttering, "Are you crying?" the hedgehog nodding and sniffing, "To have his eyesight stripped away just like that! I wouldn't wish that kind of fate on anyone!"

"I'm sure we can fix that when the match is over," Tori said reassuringly, "Though it is nice to see you show concern, even if it is our job to be neutral."

Of course, it did not end there as Sandaconda bounced high into the air and descended toward Drizzile. Once close enough, her tail struck him hard in the forehead and caused him to back up while he bit his lower lip and tried his hardest to figure out where that attack had come from. He tried covering his hands in water and rubbing on the sand, but all this did was make it harder as Sandaconda smirked.

"You moron, don't you know how sand works?" she asked tauntingly, "When sand gets wet, it hardens! You're only making it worse!"

She then launched herself toward him with her arm out and rammed it into his neck, knocking him on his back. After that, she bounced into the air and leaned backward with her arms crossed in front of her. And sure enough, the chameleon was unable to respond, thus she rammed them both into his gut and caused him to cough up more blood.

Once again, Drizzile was barely able to stand, but by this point, he had no idea what he could possibly do. At least in the sandstorm, he was able to make out a few things. But with the sand completely blocking his eyesight, what could he possibly do?

Just as Sandaconda leapt backward into the ropes to set up her Spring Bullet, though, Rillaboom's eyes widened as she gasped, "Wait a minute!" turning to Vaporeon and asking, "Hey, is it against the rules for audience members to help fighters during an official match?"

The fox blinked and gasped, "No, it isn't!" and thus she smiled and exclaimed, "Hey, Drizzile, she's about to use her Spring Bullet again! Leap into the air and set up an axe kick!" Rillaboom adding, "But make sure to wait three seconds!"

The others were confused by this, but since the gorilla was at least good at strategizing, they figured she knew what she was talking about. And sure enough, when Sandaconda launched herself forward, Drizzile did exactly as instructed and jumped high into the air after three seconds passed. He then sent his leg downward just in time for his foot to land hard into the snake's back.

Sandaconda cried out in pain and fell hard on her belly while the Irish crowd cheered, some of them giving Rillaboom and Vaporeon looks of gratitude. Both of them blushed before they noticed Sandaconda slowly rise back to her feet.

With that in mind, they nodded at one-another before Rillaboom barked, "Hey, Drizzile, strike her while she's recovering!" and since the chameleon now knew she was in front of him, he formed water around his hands and morphed it into a pair of blades, shouting, "AQUATIC DAGGERS!" leaping over her and striking her in the back with both of them.

The snake hissed in pain and turned to see blood fly from the wounds Drizzile had created. As such, she could tell she needed to take this a step further. She had come so close and she did not wish to completely lose the upper hand.

All the while, Allie breathed a sigh of relief and said, "That was quick thinking," Rillaboom nodding and saying, "Well, to be fair, Sandaconda's moves aren't too difficult to figure out, especially since most of them are spring based."

Sandaconda took a deep breath and grunted, "I have to admit, you're much more of a pest than I figured you'd be. You've already forced me to use two moves that I'd hoped to save for later, but I guess I have to reveal all of my tactics now! I hope you're ready for this!"

With that in mind, she proceeded to release more sand and wind from her nostrils. However, she plugged up the sides closest to the middle of her snout with her fingers, shouting, "SAND BLASTER!"

This allowed the wind to shoot sideways and curve inward. Scorbunny blinked and uttered, "What's that supposed to accomplish?" only for Vaporeon to squeak, "Oh no, I know exactly what she's doing!"

And sure enough, when the sand reached the curved part, it headed straight into the sides of Drizzile's head. What shocked everyone the most, though, was that it actually went inside of those very spots, Shaymin blinking and asking, "Wait, where's that sand going?"

"Hey, Drizzile, are you okay?" Allie asked only for the chameleon to gasp, "OH MY GOD, I CAN'T HEAR ANYTHING! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME!?"

Even the Egyptian crowd could not help but feel bad for Drizzile right now. None of them could even imagine how awful it must have been to have that much sand lodged deep inside their ears. But either way, with this hindrance, Sandaconda knew he could no longer take advice.

"So now he's been blinded and deafened," Rillaboom groaned, "That's just cruel," Allie whimpering, "I don't even care if he wins. I just hope that's not permanent."

Sure enough, Drizzile no longer had any idea what was going on. He felt as if he had been trapped in a dark room with no way to contact the outside world. And things were about to get much worse when Sandaconda bounced into the air and planted her tail into his skull, knocking him on his back. She then lifted him up and spun around like a top, exclaiming, "DREIDEL TOSS!" hurling him hard into the turnbuckle.

Drizzile groaned and felt around to see what he had just hit with blood dripping down his forehead. But of course, Sandaconda would not allow him to get any sort of advantage again, thus she approached him and lifted him up by his shoulders. She bounced into the air and flipped one hundred and eighty degrees, shouting, "SPRING WARHEAD!"

Sure enough, Drizzile's skull hit the canvas once more before he coughed up blood, the snake allowing him to collapse and leaping away from him. The Egyptian crowd blinked and shrugged before cheering for her, everyone else mortified by this.

"My god!" Shaymin whimpered, "I wanted excitement, but this might be too far!" Tori nodding in agreement, once again not even caring about the fact that they were supposed to neutral.

But just as the woman was about to start the ten count once more, everyone gasped when Drizzile suddenly pushed himself back up and shook the pain off of his head. Rillaboom blinked before Incineroar uttered, "Since when could he take that kind of abuse?"

However, this did not seem to mean much. At this point, his body was twitching all over while he struggled to maintain his footing. And of course, Sandaconda would not let him get to her again, thus she jumped into the ropes and squished her body inward once more. All the while everyone stared in horror and wished they could warn Drizzile.

"SPRING BULLET!" she exclaimed before she launched herself toward the chameleon. However, just as it seemed like he was about to take in the blow, everyone gasped when he stepped to the side just in time to avoid it.

'What!?' Sandaconda thought as she was too distracted to stop herself from bouncing back and forth between the ropes. Drizzile stood still while this happened and thought, 'I can feel it. I can feel her presence. I didn't know I could do that.'

Inteleon, who had watched all of this at home, went wide-eyed and thought, 'Did he just do what I think he did?'

Drizzile continued to stand for a few more seconds before lifting up his hand and forming water around it. He then morphed it into a katana while the crowd stared in awe before he shouted, "AQUATIC ASSASSINATION!" and swung his hand downward just in time to strike Sandaconda's side.

She cried out in pain while a bit of blood flew out and finally stopped her flight. She then skidded across the canvas until she came to a stop, her arms spread out and her eyes closed. All went silent among the crowd, all of Drizzile's friends in disbelief. While he had become a very good fighter, none of them had expected him to pull off something like this.

"And in a stunning display, Drizzile has struck his opponent in midair despite having no way of knowing she was there," Shaymin stated while Tori gasped and started the ten count.

Allie blinked and uttered, "Wow, that was so cool," before she turned to Scorbunny and Rillaboom and asked, "Did you know he could do that?"

Both of them shrugged and shook their heads as Incineroar grinned and hoped that really had been enough to end the match. Now he wanted to face Drizzile even more, Ben truly stunned by this.

Despite having been delayed a bit, Tori managed to reach ten seconds just as Sandaconda had finally regained focus. Thus the snake was beyond disappointed when she heard the bell ring followed by the woman exclaiming, "And on that note, Drizzile has won the match and will continue to represent Ireland in round two!"

The Irish crowd broke out into heavy cheers and applause while Drizzile still had no idea what was going on. And it seemed as if his troubles were not yet over when Sandaconda pushed herself up and gazed upon him with a blank expression in her eyes.

"Hey, Sandaconda, you've already lost!" Shaymin barked, "If you attack him, we'll have to eject you from the area!" her eyes wide with shock when the snake leaned in and breathed hot air from her mouth onto the sand that covered Drizzile's eyes.

Everyone else stared as the substance dried completely. This allowed the snake to wipe it off of his face before everyone could see the sand in his head fall out of the sides. As such, the chameleon blinked and gasped, "Oh my god, I can see!" sticking his thumbs into the sides of his head and adding, "And there's no more sand there. Thank god."

Sandaconda nodded and held out her hand, saying, "That was a good match. You were an incredible opponent," the chameleon holding out his hand before noticing the big gash in her side while he thought, 'Oh my god, I really did hit her with that.'

While he shook her hand with a look of confusion, he turned to face his friends before Allie beamed brightly and squealed, "Drizzile, you did it! You won the match!"

Drizzile's eyes were wide with shock as Sandaconda let go of his hand and said, "Yes, you got me good. I don't know how you managed to do that while blind and deaf, but it was the most impressive thing I've ever seen."

The chameleon wanted to explain what he had felt, but even he had no idea how to really describe it. With that in mind, he simply smiled and bowed his head to Sandaconda who bowed back. And so, both exited the ring while their fanbases cheered and applauded. Sure, the Egyptians were disappointed that their representative had lost the first match, but they were happy to see none of it end in bitterness.

Drizzile returned to the others before Allie held him in a tight embrace, Incineroar laughing, "That was awesome! I really thought you were screwed there!" Ben nodding and uttering, "I'd love to learn how to fight like that."

"Honestly, I'm not even entirely sure what I did," Drizzile replied with a light chuckle, Rillaboom sighing, "Oh well. I doubt you'll have to deal with that again, anyway."

Just as they were about to sit back down, Shaymin stated, "And with the first two matches out of the way, it is time for our first location change! For our next two matches, we will move to the Edmonton Convention Centre! Staff will be there to point you where you need to go once you arrive, though hurry. The next match begins in only one hour."

Allie blinked and uttered, "That's quite a ways from here. We'd better hurry," Scorbunny nodding as they all headed outside to see multiple buses lined up. But just as the heroes were about to enter, the driver stated, "Oh, you guys don't need to take the bus. You all get to ride in style," directing them toward a pair of fairly big limos.

All six stared with their jaws dropped, Morgrem uttering, "We actually get to ride in a limo," only for the driver to reply, "No, only the remaining contestants ride in the limos. Everyone else takes these government funded buses."

Allie shrugged and said, "At least we get a free ride," before she gave Drizzile, Scorbunny, Rillaboom and Vaporeon a wave.

The four of them returned the gesture and headed toward the limos as the drivers informed them that a red one had been reserved for those partaking in the first half of round one while a blue one was for the second half. And while it took a while, Drizzile realized this meant he could not ride with his friends.

As such, he smiled at them and said, "I'll see you guys at the centre, I guess," before Scorbunny nodded and replied, "Well, it'll be less than an hour. I'm sure you'll manage."

And so, everyone headed into their respective vehicles before they took off. Drizzile felt at least a tad comfortable since he was seated next to Incineroar, though he tensed up when he could feel Unown gazing upon him as if he was somehow a prime target for the odd being.

Although odd barely scratched the surface when it came to this thing's design. He was entirely black and had a very human-like structure, but every part of him was made up of what looked like some sort of oddly designed letter of the alphabet, thus his body had exactly twenty six parts to it. But the most intimidating of all was his head, which resembled the letter O with an eyeball in the middle of it.

Monferno, all the while, simply smirked at him. She was fully confident that she would come out on top, especially against someone so skinny.

Once the vehicles arrived, everyone headed inside where they were led to one of three halls, specifically A. Sure enough, many bleachers had been set up and a ring was right in the middle. There were also cambros full of water set up with plastic cups next to them.

Scorbunny, all the while, looked around and said, "I have to admit, after West Edmonton, this is kind of a letdown," Vaporeon sighing, "Well, to be fair, this isn't a big shopping mall."

Either way, Allie shrugged and said, "Well, at least we got something fun to look forward to," Rillaboom adding, "Not to mention none of these matches involve any of our close friends. That takes a huge load off my back."

Drizzile, however, had a serious look in his eyes. While it was true that he no longer had a reason to pick a side, he still needed to pay attention. After all, he could have very well wound up facing the winner of this match in the semi-finals.

Shaymin and Tori were once again seated, only this time they were behind two podiums. The hedgehog smiled and exclaimed, "Attention, citizens of Edmonton! It's just about time for the third match to begin!"

Everyone gave their undivided attention while Tori added, "It's been really exciting so far! I swear, that last match was such a rush! But I'm certain these next two will likely be just as good if not better!"

"After such a close call, I doubt it," Morgrem said with a shrug, "Seriously, that was intense," Drizzile laughing nervously and thinking, 'Once this round is over, I'll have to call Mom and ask her about that. She might know how I pulled that off.'

"In the red corner, coming to us from China is a fierce monkey with a powerful fighting spirit!" Tori stated, "Her family has quite the impressive legacy and she's here to carry on that legacy today! Everyone, give a round of applause for Monferno!"

The Chinese crowd clapped and cheered when Monferno performed a somersault toward the ring and propelled herself into the air. She then performed a handstand on the turnbuckle with one finger and flipped off of it, landing on her tail with her arms and legs folded. Needless to say, the crowd was truly astounded by this while Scorbunny gasped, "So cool!"

Rolycoly blinked and uttered, "I can see why her family's so famous, especially if they could all pull off moves like that," only for Rillaboom to stroke her chin and say, "I may need to ask her for advice on my entrance. I was just gonna march toward the ring."

Shaymin waited for the cheers to die down a bit before she exclaimed, "And in the blue corner is a mysterious figure from Mexico! While he apparently has a good reputation, not much is known about him! Hard as it is to believe, today marks the first time he has ever allowed anyone to record any of his matches! Apparently, he's been saving his skills for this event, and thus none of us have any idea what to expect from him! Give it up for Unown!"

Unown entered the area and made his way toward the ring. Since he was saving his abilities for this match, he saw no need to show them off right now. Thus when he got close to the ring, he grabbed hold of the rope and pulled himself up over it. And of course, the Mexican fans went wild, all of them more than ready to see him in action.

Monferno smirked and struck a pose, saying, "Shaymin says you refused to let anyone record you because you want to surprise us, but I think it's because deep down, you suck and you're too afraid to show it. Your mistake was entering the Olympics in the first place. I'm willing to bet you only got this far because of pure dumb luck. You probably had no intention of making it this far."

The Mexican crowd glared angrily, but just as one member was about to speak up, Unown held up his hand and asked, "Are you just going to stand there making assumptions or are you actually going to fight me?"

The monkey narrowed her eyelids and grunted, "You're right. I'm wasting valuable time that I could spend kicking your ass."

Once both were ready, Shaymin nodded and said, "Well, now that the smack talk is over, let's begin." And thus she rang the bell before Monferno lit the tip of her tail on fire.