So far, the Hero Olympics tournament had been very intense and full of close calls, but now it was finally time for Vaporeon's match with Melmetal. While the fox was sure she would win, something about the cyborg rubbed her the wrong way, but she could not put her finger on it. After all, he seemed far more reasonable than many of the other contestants.
Either way, she took a deep breath and thought, 'Watch me, Mommy and Daddy. I'll show you just how great I really am,' her eyes wide when she heard a familiar voice ask, "So, what kind of entrance were you thinking of?"
Vaporeon turned and blinked when she saw Scorbunny right there. She then gasped, "Oh, that's right! You agreed to help me with my entrance!" before chuckling, "You don't really have to do it, though. I know we made a deal and all, but-"
"It's fine," Scorbunny replied with a sweet smile, "I wanna help you out with this," Vaporeon about to question this further. But when she saw the sincerity in the rabbit's eyes, she took a deep breath and beamed bright. After all, this was her big chance to finally make a grand entrance before a match.
All the while, Melmetal was hard at work. He had asked the staff to bring him a whole bunch of metal parts before he spun his big hexagonal nuts like saw blades and scraped them against the material. This allowed him to not only set up his entrance but also improve his strength, a serious look in his eye as he thought, 'This couldn't be more perfect. I might actually get to take down all of Edmonton's heroes. I've already dealt with two of them. If I can beat the other four, that will work even more in my favour.'
Once ten minutes were up, Shaymin grinned and squealed, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, I hope you're all ready for the final match of round one! I know I certainly am!" Tori adding, "This one's probably been the most anticipated so far as this one involves the first hero stationed here in Edmonton! I can't wait to see how this plays out!"
And she was not just saying that like Shaymin likely was. After all, she had been there to witness Vaporeon's first victory on Earth. She was already happy that the other heroes had advanced to round two, but deep down, she had been a fan of Vaporeon from the start and saw her losses to Obstagoon and Furfrou as mere flukes.
Back in Bangkok, Eevee was glued to the TV as she yelled, "Come on, Popplio, hurry!" the seal entering the room with two plates of homemade Fish Pad Thai in his flippers while he rolled his eyes and chuckled. He then placed the brown fox's plate on her lap, thus she squealed, "Aw, thank you so much, darling!" kissing him on the cheek.
Of course, Incineroar, Ben and Wurmple were all ready to cheer for their friend with Yanma far in the back row. She gazed intently at the ring and thought, 'I know you can do it, Vaporeon. You were awesome in our match and I just know you can kick Melmetal's butt.'
But most of all, Drizzile, Rillaboom and the others were more than ready to cheer for their friend. Rolycoly had created another banner for the fox in advance, everyone once again impressed by just how amazing it was.
"In the red corner, all the way from Thailand is a ferocious fox with impeccable skills!" Tori exclaimed, She has thwarted two major threats to Edmonton's safety and has worked her way to the finals with her father's skills! The niece of the thirtieth Olympic champion, Vaporeon!"
The crowd watched in amazement when Vaporeon entered the area on a small float with flames shooting up from sides. All the while, Scorbunny held up a boombox and a microphone and played an upbeat melody. Once the fox was halfway toward the ring, she curled her tail and launched herself high into the air, twirling before landing perfectly against the surface with her arms spread out and a grin on her face.
The crowd was truly ecstatic while Rillaboom stared wide-eyed and uttered, "Where did she get a float from?" Allie replying, "From what I can gather, this sort of thing used to be super common for entrances. Not sure why so few heroes use them now."
Vaporeon turned toward the entrance and winked at Scorbunny who gave her a thumb up. She then turned off the boombox and headed toward the bleachers while Tori resisted the urge to applaud the fox. After all, it was her job as an announcer to be neutral.
Once the crowd calmed down, Shaymin had a wide grin and squealed, "That was the most awesome entrance so far! I almost wish I didn't have to announce the next one," Tori nodding before saying, "Nevertheless, we have a job to do."
With that in mind, the hedgehog stated, "In the red corner is a cybernetic warrior all the way from Russia! Just from the sporting events alone, he has proven himself quite the force to be reckoned with, but he has also been shown to be a rather good sport if I say so myself. With power and skill, everyone welcome Melmetal!"
The Russian crowd cheered when the cyborg entered the area, though everyone else was unsure how to react to his entrance. While he also headed toward the ring on a float, it barely qualified as one. It was simply made up of broken metal parts with wheels that seemed unnecessarily big. However, it seemed he had more in mind when he stepped backward onto a loose sheet of metal hanging off the back and launched himself off of it like a catapult. He then flipped vertically with his arms and legs tucked in and landed firmly against the ring with his arms out.
This got a few more members of the audience interested as they clapped for him, but this did not change the fact that Vaporeon was still the fan favourite. Much like Drizzile, Scorbunny and Rillaboom, she was one of Edmonton's heroes, so of course everyone living there wanted to see her win and the Thai crowd was slightly bigger than the Russian crowd.
However, everyone's respect for him rose even more when he approached Vaporeon and held his hand out, saying, "Here's to a good match," the fox blinking and shaking it, a nervous smile on her face.
As if she had not been intimidated by him enough, she could not help but shiver briefly when he gazed deep into her eyes and added, "I've been looking forward to this," releasing her hand and heading to his side of the ring.
"What an incredible display of sportsmanship!" Shaymin squealed, "Just as we thought, Melmetal is quite the role model! We could all learn a thing or two from him!" Tori uttering, "Yeah, we sure could," staring at the hedgehog with her eyelids lowered.
However, Rillaboom had seen Vaporeon's reaction as she uttered, "Did anyone else just see that?" Scorbunny nodding and replying, "Yeah. I've never seen her this nervous before a match."
Rolycoly blinked and uttered, "Now that you mention it, she did look a little tense," before Morgrem scratched her head and said, "He doesn't seem like that bad of a guy. Still, he is the one responsible for us losing the race, so I definitely wanna see him get his ass kicked."
And so, both stood on their respective sides of the ring while Vaporeon took a deep breath and remembered what Corviknight had told her. With that, Shaymin smiled and rang the bell thus signalling the start of the match.
Vaporeon immediately sprinted toward Melmetal while he held up his arms defensively. But it seemed as if she had anticipated this, thus she sped behind him and covered the tip of her tail in a sphere of ice. She then spun sideways and rammed it into the cyborg's back, shouting, "ICE FLAIL ROUNDHOUSE!"
Melmetal's eye seemed to expand in size for a few seconds until he swung his arm backward only for Vaporeon to crouch under him. She then latched her tail onto his ankle and pulled back as hard as she could. This proved just enough for him to lose his balance and fall on his belly while all but the Russian fans cheered wildly.
Vaporeon then leapt into the air with her tail still wrapped around his ankle and planted her feet hard into his back. And now that she on top of that very spot, she lay flat on her belly and wrapped her arms around the bottom of his head and pulled up on while doing the same to his leg with her tail.
The crowd was truly ecstatic as Allie squealed, "Way to go, Vaporeon! That was awesome!" Rolycoly uttering, "She was more prepared for this than I thought."
Of course, the others were just as happy to see her get such an early lead, Incineroar laughing, "Oh, yeah! Sock it to him!" Ben saying, "That there Melmetal doesn't stand a chance. Vaporeon's got this in the bag."
Sure enough, this seemed to be the case. Melmetal struggled to free himself but was unable to while Shaymin exclaimed, "And it seems like this final match might already be over! Vaporeon has Melmetal trapped in what I can only describe as a combination of a Boston crab and a camel clutch! What can he possibly do!?"
However, it seemed as if Melmetal had something in his arsenal when he narrowed his eye and said, "Not bad, Vaporeon. You are certainly a worthy opponent. You've already given me a reason to reveal this ability!"
The Russian crowd looked excited while everyone else was confused. But it was not long until they noticed his liquid metal body start to vibrate and gurgle. And before anyone could figure out what he was doing, part of it seeped into the metal nut in his midsection and shot out of his back, forming a spike that went into Vaporeon's flesh before he spat, "LIQUID METAL STALAGMITE!"
All went silent while the force caused the fox to release her hold on Melmetal. She lay right on the spike's tip with here eyes and mouth wide open while blood seeped out of her.
As soon as Shaymin saw this, she got up from her seat and snapped, "Hey, Melmetal, what the hell!? Killing your opponent is against tournament rules!" only for the cyborg to reply, "Oh, she's not dead. I aimed away from the heart for a reason, and I even chose not to use full force. If I had gone all the way, her entire body would have been pierced, but I don't wanna go that far."
As such, he stood upright and retracted his spike so Vaporeon could fall onto the canvas, Scorbunny uttering, "She can still move, right? She's taken in worse," turning to the others and reiterating, "Right!?"
Rillaboom nodded and replied, "Yes, she's fine. Look," while she pointed at the ring. And sure enough, Vaporeon had managed to recover as she sprang back to her feet and breathed heavily, thinking, 'Why did it never occur to me that he might be able to do something like that?'
Either way, she took a deep breath and ignored the wound on her gut. It was just as Scorbunny said. She had dealt with far worse up to this point. But even so, Melmetal seemed even more frightening now. As if his physical strength was not bad enough, now he had this ability to worry about.
Even so, there was no way she would give up, thus she rushed toward the cyborg again. While he may have had some unexpected skills, she remembered that he was not exactly the fastest of opponents. But just as she sped sideways, Melmetal started to spin the nut on his left arm while his body gurgled again. All but the Russian crowd were startled when he extended his arm and swung it toward Vaporeon, struck her cheek hard with the object in question and spat, "HARD BUZZ SAW!"
Vaporeon could not believe this. From just one hit to her face, she had already coughed up blood while she flew sideways into the ropes. Then when she bounced off, Melmetal stood in front of her with his nuts rotating again and rammed them into her sides, shouting, "DOUBLE IRON CRUSH!"
The Russian fans all cheered while everyone else watched in horror. Eevee and Popplio both stared at this with their jaws dropped until the brown fox uttered, "Um, Vaporeon will be okay, right? Lord knows I've been in situations like this more times than I can count."
Popplio nodded and replied, "Oui. I'm certain she can recover from this. She is our fille, after all."
The others were equally concerned when something even more unexpected happened. Melmetal's body once again churned before small fingers emerged from his hands and latched onto the very spots he had just hit. He then pulled her inward and leaned backward, planting the back of her head into the canvas.
Vaporeon once again coughed up blood before Melmetal released her and stood upright. The Russian fans continued to cheer while Vaporeon struggled to rise back to her feet. She could not believe this. Corviknight and Furfrou had dealt far more hits before she had started to feel this weak. And yet just four blows from Melmetal had almost broken her spirits.
All of her friends stared at this as Morgrem uttered, "She can still win, right?" Scorbunny nodding with a serious look in her eyes before she grunted, "Of course she can! This is nothing!" Rillaboom all the while frozen with fear.
While it was not like her to feel this way before a match, something about the thought of facing Melmetal in the second round sent shivers up her spine. Logically, she should have had nothing to worry about. After all, the cyborg was a fellow hero, so it was not as if anything major was at stake. But even so, she had now started to feel that same sense of dread Vaporeon felt before the match began.
With that in mind, she slammed her fists against the railing in front of her and grunted, "Come on, Vaporeon! You started the match strong! I know you can win!" Drizzile nodding and barking, "Yeah, come on! If I could win a match while blind and deaf, you can beat this hunk of scrap any day!"
Allie smiled and chuckled, "You're getting pretty good at smack talk," the chameleon uttering, "Am I?" his cheeks now a light shade of pink.
Even so, Vaporeon blinked when she heard this, and her spirit seemed to build more when Incineroar exclaimed, "They're right, Vaporeon! You're awesome! Now show that slimy mound of bolts why your family dominated the Hero Olympics back in the day!"
Wurmple nodded and chanted, "Vaporeon! Vaporeon!" Ben joining in followed by Incineroar. And it was not long until all of Vaporeon's friends joined in, the citizens of Edmonton and Thailand hollering her name as loud as they could.
This was all the fox needed, thus a light smile formed on her face as she released tears and thought, 'Thank you all so much.'
She then turned back toward Melmetal who implied a smile with his eye and said, "You've got some great friends. I have to say, I'm a little jealous," his eye returning to its normal shape before he added in a much more quiet tone, "It's just such a shame I have to render their words meaningless."
Vaporeon blinked and uttered, "What was that last part?" only for him to reply, "Nothing important. Best not to dwell on it. After all, we have a match to finish."
The fox nodded and decided to go for a more defensive approach. After all, her technique before was what ultimately caused her to take in so much damage in the first place. But unfortunately, it seemed as if Melmetal was ready for this when he once again stretched his arms forward like rubber and spun his hexagonal nuts.
Luckily, though, Vaporeon had seen this coming. As such, she jumped up just in time to avoid the incoming attack and landed on top of the cyborg's arms. Just as she suspected, she was able to stand on them without crushing them under her weight, thus she took full advantage of this and formed her ball of ice once again.
She then leapt forward and spun vertically while she barked, "BOUNCING ICE BALL!" striking the middle of Melmetal's arms with the ice. This caused him to wince in pain before she bounced off and flew farther forward, ramming the tip of her tail hard into his face.
The majority of the crowd cheered wildly as Melmetal grunted in pain and fell hard on his back, Shaymin squealing, "Things were not looking good for Vaporeon, but she gets a second wind with her infamous Bouncing Ice Ball! It seems like she might just win this match after all!"
When Melmetal started to rise back to his feet, Vaporeon wasted no time and dashed behind him. She wrapped her tail around the bottom of his head and lifted him up, the ice sphere still there. She leaned backward and shouted, "ICE FRANKENSTEINER!" ramming his upper back hard into the canvas.
More cheers sounded through the area while Vaporeon breathed heavily and looked down at her opponent. Tori started the ten count as it seemed like she had finally won. The others had big smiles on their faces until Rillaboom uttered, "Wait, it might be too early to celebrate."
"What do you mean?" Morgrem remarked when Tori reached six, the gorilla grunting, "I don't know. I just feel like he shouldn't have gone down that quickly."
Sure enough, it seemed she was right when Melmetal's body once again vibrated and gurgled. His liquid metal then seeped into his belly nut once again as he exclaimed, "LIQUID METAL STALACTITE!" a spike protruding from his back and allowing him to bolt upright.
He then spun the nuts on his hands once again and exclaimed, "HARD BUZZ SAW!" spinning his body around before Vaporeon even had a chance to react. As such, she took another hard blow to her cheek and stumbled sideways. However, this time she tried her hardest not to let it get to her, pressing her tail up against the mat to stop her from falling over.
Unfortunately, this was not enough as Melmetal extended his arms once more and spat, "STEEL KNUCKLES!" ramming the nuts hard into her gut.
Once again, Vaporeon coughed up blood, and with her guard once again lowered, Melmetal raced toward her and spun the nuts on his shoulders. Once he was close enough, he rammed the right one hard into her face and sent her tumbling backwards into the ropes.
The Russian fans all chanted Melmetal's name while everyone else stared in horror. Sure enough, Vaporeon was no longer able to fight back. After such a beating, she felt far too weak to continue, thus she let down a tear and thought, 'No. I was supposed to win the first match.'
Rillaboom was even more terrified now when Melmetal climbed on top of the ropes and held his arm in the air, shouting, "You put up a great fight, Vaporeon, but this ends here!" He then bounced high into the air while his body vibrated once more.
His entire torso expanded until it covered his shoulders. It then grew bigger and bigger until even his arms and legs could no longer be seen. Finally, he descended toward Vaporeon and shouted, "LIQUID IRON PRESS!" his body hitting the fox's gut hard.
Vaporeon spewed one last bit of blood before her eyes rolled to the back of her head. All went silent among the crowd while she lay there and Melmetal reverted to normal, stepping off of her. Shaymin nodded at Tori who bit her lower lip and started the ten count. As much as she hated to admit it, she could tell the fox would not be able to get up from that.
Scorbunny breathed heavily and shook her head while Yanma stared wide-eyed. And of course, the others could not help but gaze upon their ally with horrified expressions. As if Vaporeon losing was not bad enough, the fact that her loss was this harsh was hard to take in.
Eevee and Popplio both looked at one-another with concern and hoped she would at least be okay. After all, that was far worse than any of Eevee's losses had been in the past.
Once ten seconds passed, Tori rang the bell before Shaymin exclaimed, "And after quite possibly the longest and most intense match so far, Vaporeon is down for the count! As such, Melmetal is our winner and the last one to advance to the second round! All eight remaining contestants will have three days to recover and prepare themselves!"
The Russian fans all cheered wildly and clapped with big smiles on their faces while everyone else looked at Vaporeon with concern. Rillaboom breathed heavily and thought, 'Oh my god. I have to fight that thing,' trying her hardest not to let this get to her. However, she could tell that he was far worse than Dracovish.
Incineroar gritted his teeth and growled, "If that guy makes it to the finals, I'll make him pay for this!" pounding his fist against his palm as Ben nodded and grunted, "I have no doubt about that!"
While medics rushed in to load Vaporeon up onto a stretcher, Scorbunny and the others all got up from their seats and rushed toward the area. The rabbit bit her lower lip and asked, "Will she be okay?" one medic nodding and replying, "Yeah. Everyone knows heroes can handle this sort of thing. Even so, she'll definitely be out for at least a week."
As soon as Melmetal heard this, his eye doubled in size until he turned and gasped, "For real!?" the others turning toward him as he uttered, "Oh no, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to apply that much pressure. Sometimes, I underestimate my own strength."
Rolycoly blinked and sighed, "Okay, so he really is just a strong hero. For a second there, I thought he might be some sort of sadist," Morgrem shushing him and pointing at the cyborg standing mere inches away from them.
Luckily, it seemed as if he had not heard this as Rillaboom still got really bad vibes from him but said nothing. The others decided it might be best not to question this right now. At the very least, they needed to go to the hospital with their unconscious friend to make sure she really was okay.
As such, they all exited the area and climbed into the back of the ambulance, Melmetal watching them leave with his arms folded. But while his expression looked sympathetic, there was something about it that also felt off, like deep down, he wished he could have dealt even more damage without being disqualified. Even so, Rillaboom certainly had her work cut out for her in the second round.