After what felt like a couple of long days, it was time for the second round of the Hero Olympics to begin. Shaymin had sent the remaining participants a message through every method available that they were to arrive at a place called the Edmonton Expo Centre. Specifically, everyone was to gather in a big hallway, but only part of it would be used for the match.

The entrance leading up to it, though, was treated more like a common setup for a convention. Many vendors had put up stands with merchandise for sale, all of it connected to the Olympic finalists. And since everyone had until noon until the first match started, they figured they may as well enjoy themselves.

Of course, Drizzile had already headed off to prepare for his match. Allie was about to join him until he reminded her that she had agreed to join her new friends in the crowd. As such, she waited outside of the entrance until they arrived and grinned when she saw them.

Meanwhile, everyone else decided to browse the vendor's hall, figuring they may as well enjoy themselves to a certain degree. Scorbunny noticed an entire display of plush toys based off of her, her eyes sparkling when she saw just how many people were shopping from it. Although she also noticed a few action figures of Hatterene, each one designed to have her real body pop out of it when someone pushed a small button on the back of it.

Rillaboom spotted plenty of merchandise based off of her as well, though unlike Scorbunny, she simply smiled and nodded. After all, she knew this sort of thing was common for heroes. It was not as if having merchandise based off of her made her more special than anyone else.

Of course, Allie and her new friends walked along the hall as well, Geneva holding up a Drizzile figure that was designed to shoot water from its mouth. Bailey let out a sigh and groaned, "Tell me you're not gonna splash your brother with that," the redhead gasping, "Perish the thought!"

Morgrem and Rolycoly looked around and sighed, the goblin groaning, "Just think, if we'd made it to the finals, our merch would be here," the golem grumbling, "I know. I wish I could see one action figure of me here. I could be like a race car. Kids like race cars, right?"

The duo soon spotted Allie and waved to her before they approached her. She turned with a smile and said, "Hey, guys," Geneva and Bailey turning to face them. As if Allie being friends with Drizzile was not enough, they could not believe that she could just casually talk to two other heroes as if it was not a big deal.

"Have you seen the others?" Allie enquired only for Morgrem to shrug and reply, "No, we just got here," Rolycoly holding the same figure Bailey had purchased before squeezing it as it sprayed water in his face. His eyes narrowed before he turned and spotted Bailey and Geneva staring at him.

"Um, hi?" he uttered before Morgrem turned to face them. Soon enough, all thoughts they had about the lack of items related to them vanished when Geneva approached the golem and gasped, "I know you! You're the one who beat Duraludon and almost beat Rillaboom!"

"Oh, yeah, that's me," Rolycoly uttered with a chuckle and pink cheeks before the redhead added, "You know, after the way you beat that dragon, I've always thought you were so cool. Could I take a selfie with you?"

The golem's eyes sparkled and his jaw dropped. This was easily the best moment of his entire life. And of course, Morgrem grinned and said, "Well, well, well, look at Mister Popular over here. I'm surprised it took this long, honestly."

Bailey smiled and whispered to Allie, "You are so cool," the tall girl confused by this comment. Though she said nothing in response. After all, Drizzile had been the only one to ever tell her that up until this point, so to hear this from someone else, let alone another human was nice.

While this went on, Drizzile got in a little bit of last-minute training with a punching bag. Luckily for him, the staff had set up stations for him and Incineroar, and this was just fine with him.

He sent a variety of palm punches into the bag and formed dents in it. He then delivered a hard strike to it and caused it to swing back. After that, he closed his eyes and blocked out all sound only for the bag to smack him in the face.

When he backed away from it and rubbed his snout, he took a deep breath and thought, 'Yeah, guess I can't rely on that in this match. Oh well, I should be fine without it. Even if I lose, I made it this far."

Once only a few minutes remained, the bleachers were soon filled in part of the hall reserved for the match. Ben and Wurmple sat among the Indian crowd with anticipation, ready to cheer for their friend. While they no longer had anything against Drizzile, they still felt loyal to Incineroar.

And of course, the others arrived, Geneva seated between Bailey and Rolycoly. However, as soon as both girls saw Scorbunny and Rillaboom take a seat next to Allie, their excitement was through the roof. And when Allie introduced them, they could not help but feel tense.

However, they soon calmed down when Shaymin stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's finally time to begin round two of the Hero Olympics tournament! And I gotta say, what a fantastic turnout! Now, for those unaware, this round works differently from the first."

Tori nodded and added, "That's right. This time around, we will change our location after each match as opposed to every two matches, so we will be in a new spot after this one. Also, since there are only four today, the wait between each match has been extended by a half hour, meaning the contestants will have even more time to prepare themselves."

The audience nodded before Shaymin squealed, "In the red corner, hailing from India is a feisty feline with a fiery spirit! He has so far bested Orbeetle in combat and is most likely going to shock and amaze us again today! Everyone, give a round of applause for Incineroar!"

The crowd went wild when the tiger performed a series of back flips toward the ring. But unlike before, he had a Thai flag tied to his tail. And then he landed in the ring, he released it and allowed it to blow away from the ring with the help of a big fan he had hired the staff to place nearby. He then had them turn it off, flashed two peace signs and barked, "I'M GONNA DO MY BEST FOR VAPOREON!"

This amazed the crowd even more while Tori stated, "And as we can see, Incineroar's all fired up! Even though his opponent is also good friends with Vaporeon, he's not gonna hold back!"

"Oh yeah, that's right, you guys are Vaporeon's allies," Bailey uttered, "I forgot all about that," Rillaboom nodding and replying, "Yep, and I'm gonna make Melmetal pay for what he did to her."

"In the blue corner, coming to us from Ireland is a reptile with far more strength and skill than one would expect," Tori stated, "Despite so much going against him, he has managed to overcome Sandaconda and has even fought Incineroar once before! But let's see if he can actually claim victory this time! Give it up for Drizzile!"

The Irish and Edmontonian fans cheered while the chameleon skated toward the ring with his feet covered in water. Once he was close enough, he took hold of the edge of the ring and propelled himself high into the air, landing in front of Incineroar with a serious look in his eyes. All the while, Allie beamed bright in approval.

Incineroar grinned and said, "That was a good entrance. Not great, but effective," Drizzile smiling and replying, "Well, wait'll you see how much I've improved."

And so, both fighters bowed to one-another and headed to their own separate sides of the ring. Tori smiled at this and said, "It's always great to see fighters show respect before an epic battle," Shaymin nodding and replying, "Yeah. I can't wait to see them beat the shit out of each other."

Tori made a neck-slitting motion and whispered, "You know you can't use language like that in front of children here, right?" the hedgehog remarking, "Oh, come on, the fighters have been talking like that since the beginning. Why can't I?"

The human woman opened her mouth to retort but blinked and scratched her head. As much as it pained her to admit it, Shaymin had a good point. Now the human just hoped there would be no parent complaints about this.

Either way, the crowd was ready, thus Shaymin grinned and exclaimed, "Alright, folks, without further ado, let's begin!" and rang the bell.

Incineroar immediately raced toward Drizzile with his claws at the ready. But just as he was about to send them forward, the chameleon easily dodged to the right and knelt down to deliver a sweep kick. The tiger's eyes were wide with shock as this proved enough to make him lose his balance and fall on his side, Drizzile leaping into the air and planting his elbow into his ribcage.

While Incineroar yowled in pain, all but the Irish fans cheered wildly. While the citizens of Edmonton had nothing but respect for the tiger, Drizzile was the favourite to win the match, especially since many of them found his rise from underdog to potential champion inspiring.

And things only seemed to look better when he leapt behind Incineroar's head and wrapped his legs around his neck for a figure four headlock. All the while, Tori stated, "And sure enough, Drizzile has certainly proven himself much better than he was the first time around! While he was barely able to do a thing to Incineroar before, now he's actually able to inflict legitimate pain, which I think we all wanted to see!"

"Damn!" Ben exclaimed with his eyes wide open, "I know Drizzile's gotten better, but I didn't think he'd do this well so soon!" Wurmple nodding and uttering, "Still, it is pretty early in the match. I'm sure Incineroar can turn things around like he always does."

All the while, Bailey gasped, "So cool!" Allie nodding and thinking, 'Good job, Drizzile. Keep it up. I just know you'll win.'

Incineroar smirked and chuckled, "I gotta hand it to you, Drizz, I'm impressed. I expected something like this after your match with Sandaconda, but this is still pretty amazing. It'll make my victory all the more satisfying."

He then lifted his arms and latched onto Drizzile's legs before lashing out his claws, lighting them on fire and shouting, "INFERNO STAB!" jabbing the claws into the parts he had latched onto.

The crowd gasped when blood squirted out, Drizzile trying his absolute hardest to ignore the pain coursing through him. However, he could barely handle it, thus he loosened his hold so Incineroar could rise to his feet without causing himself additional pain. And after that, the tiger leapt into the air, leaned backward and rammed Drizzile's back into the canvas.

The Indian fans cheered wildly while the chameleon cried out in pain and released his hold. This was all Incineroar needed before he lit his tail on fire and rammed it hard into his opponent's gut, barking, "PYRO WHIP!"

He then wrapped his tail around Drizzile's neck and lifted him up before he spun around and released his hold. This sent the chameleon head-first into the turnbuckle while Allie and the others all watched in horror.

Rolycoly and Geneva both groaned only for Morgrem to grin and say, "Don't worry. He's been in worse situations," the golem blinking and uttering, "Oh yeah. Sandaconda did more damage than that."

Even so, Drizzile would certainly need to act fast when Incineroar raced toward him with his arm out and covered in black flames. The chameleon bit his lower lip and attempted to dodge only for the tiger to pick up the pace and ram his arm into his neck, shouting, "DARKEST LARIAT!"

Drizzile coughed up blood but remained upright. After all, he was still up against the turnbuckle, meaning this move could not knock him down. But Incineroar already knew this, thus he leapt onto the turnbuckle, turned himself around and rested his hand against the chameleon's head. Afterwards, he planted his knee up against the back of Drizzile's neck and leapt off the pole, ramming his face into the canvas.

"Drizzile had a great start, but Incineroar makes up for it with a terrible onslaught!" Shaymin exclaimed, "How can Drizzile make up for this!?" Allie gasping, "Oh no!"

Tori noticed Drizzile just lying there, thus she started the count while Incineroar folded his arms and sighed, "Don't take it personally, Drizz. You've really impressed me with your improvements. It's because of that very fact that I resolved to take this fight far more seriously than when we first fought. But even so, I have a funny feeling you're not really done for, are you?"

Sure enough, the tiger was right. Once Tori reached five seconds, Drizzile placed his hands firmly against the mat and pushed himself up. He took a deep breath and turned toward Incineroar, saying, "You're as tough as ever, I see."

The Irish fans along with the chameleon's friends were all relieved as Rillaboom grinned, folded her arms and said, "I knew it. There's no way Drizzile would go down that quickly."

"True that," Morgrem replied, "Even back when he was weak, he took in all sorts of punishment before losing to me," Bailey uttering, "I forgot that you two fought at one point."

But while Incineroar was glad that Drizzile had risen to his feet, he still had no intention of losing. As such, he sent a punch forward only for the chameleon to dodge and take hold of his wrist. Before the tiger could even respond, Drizzile sped behind him while still holding the wrist and locked it behind his back.

Incineroar yowled in pain before Drizzile lifted him up, leaned backward and planted the back of his head into the mat. The crowd went wild while Shaymin squealed, "And Drizzile has made the comeback, combining a submission hold with a suplex! And just think, he used to be unable to pull off anything like that!"

"Well, it wasn't so much that he was unable to do that," Tori replied, "It was more that he barely dealt any damage with, well, anything before."

Drizzile removed his hold on Incineroar and allowed him to collapse before leaping onto the top rope. He knew full well this match was not over, and thus he covered his hands in water and leapt off of the rope, morphing the water into a pair of blades. He then aimed them straight for Incineroar's gut and shouted, "AQUATIC DAGGERS!"

Wurmple and Ben were shocked when the tiger took in the strike, blood dripping from the wounds that formed. They had expected him to counter that for sure. But it seemed as if their concern was meaningless when the tiger smirked and said, "Nice hit, but I knew that wouldn't be good enough."

"Wait, he let himself get hit?" Rillaboom uttered, the others equally shocked while Incineroar grabbed hold of Drizzile's sides and pried the blades out of his gut. He then flipped the chameleon upside-down and said, "I hate to end this, but I gotta hand it to you. You've really impressed me today."

The tiger leapt backward onto the top rope and bounced off of it high into the air while the crowd went silent. He then proceeded to wrap his legs around Drizzile's neck while his belt glowed and released a stream of fire that circled around both fighters. And sure enough, the chameleon's skull soon made contact with the canvas as he coughed up blood, Incineroar roaring, "PYRO HURRICANE!"

The Indian fans cheered while everyone else stared with their mouths agape. When Incineroar released his hold and allowed Drizzile to collapse, Allie bit her lower lip and whimpered, "I know this is between friends, but I really hope Drizzile can recover again."

The others nodded as Scorbunny said, "Come on, Drizzile, you can get up from that, right?" Tori starting the ten count.

Bailey and Geneva both stared in horror while Incineroar took a deep breath and looked down at his opponent. He then nodded his head in approval, thinking, 'I wasn't lying, Drizzile. I'm impressed you've managed to come this far. But even so, I'm not gonna let you get in my way of becoming champion. Besides, it's like I said. If that Melmetal makes his way into the finals, I wanna be the one to pay him back for what he did to Vaporeon.'

But while he thought this, Drizzile managed to regain enough strength to latch his tail onto Incineroar's ankle. He then yanked back and caused the tiger to fall on his back, most of the crowd cheering as he rose to his feet and breathed heavily. He also made sure to distance himself since he knew that would not be enough to keep Incineroar down.

Sure enough, the tiger flipped himself back onto his feet and stared in a mix of shock and admiration. A big grin then formed on his face before he broke out into heavy laughter, everyone confused by all of this. Bailey blinked and uttered, "Did he just snap?" Geneva shrugging as Allie nodded and said, "I think I see what's going on, here."

Ben and Wurmple could see it as well while Incineroar exclaimed, "Oh yeah, now this is a match!" racing toward Drizzile who leapt to the side only for the tiger to hold out his arm and cover in in black fire. But just as it seemed like the chameleon would take in another hit, he leaned backward and held his hands back, placing them against the canvas to keep himself from falling.

The crowd cheered as Shaymin spat, "Wow, what incredible reflexes! Drizzile has managed to dodge both of Incineroar's moves despite having very little time to do so!"

Things only got better for the chameleon when he wrapped his legs around Incineroar's left leg. This caused him to trip and fall on his back before Drizzile rose to his feet and formed water around his hands, morphing it into a pair of shuriken.

But just as he was about to send them downward, Incineroar smirked and held his hands up to block them. The shuriken jabbed his flesh, blood trickling from his hands, but he ignored this and placed a tight, firm grip on the parts he had just blocked. He then used his tail to propel himself into the air, leaned backward and planted Drizzile's head into the canvas.

The Indian crowd cheered until the chameleon rose to his feet and formed water around his hands again. This time, he morphed it into a pair of large hands and barked, "AQUATIC POWER MITTS!" aiming a punch toward Incineroar.

Once again, the tiger was prepared for this as he lit his claws on fire and exclaimed, "INFERNO SLASH!" swinging the claws into the incoming fist. Both started to swing their arms forward at a rapid pace, Drizzile's fists and Incineroar's claws clashing every time. A cloud of steam formed around the two as a result, thus the audience could no longer see what was going on.

However, they could certainly hear the attacks still clashing. Although at this point, both fighters were starting to lose energy. Once Drizzile noticed this, his eyes went wide and thus he stopped his assault. While this did result in Incineroar clawing open his belly, he simply ignored the pain and backed up, now evading the incoming slashes.

Sure enough, it seemed as if his change in tactics had worked when Incineroar started to slow down. It was at this exact moment that the fog started to fade just in time for Drizzile to send a palm punch hard into the tiger's chin with his hands still covered in his big watery mittens.

Wurmple and Ben both stared in shock as Incineroar coughed up blood, Rockruff having seen this all on TV back in Spain. All the while, Scorbunny, Rillaboom and Allie all watched with open-mouth smiles, Bailey and Geneva's eyes sparkling. And of course, Morgrem grinned while Rolycoly breathed a sigh of relief.

Although deep down, no one expected this move alone to end the match. There was no way a palm punch, even one with added force, would be enough to take down Incineroar for good. And yet the tiger lay there without any movement while Tori started the ten count.

"After a very intense back and forth, Drizzile has managed to knock Incineroar down with his Aquatic Power Mitts!" Shaymin exclaimed, "Or, rather, power mitt, but you get the point. Can Incineroar get up from this?"

The truth was that Incineroar could have very well gotten up. Sure, the blow had been a hard one, but at this point, he felt that Drizzile was much more worthy of advancing to the finals than he was. As such, he simply lay there and allowed Tori to reach ten seconds, thus she rang the bell while the crowd stared silently.

"And after a very, very intense match, Drizzile has won!" Tori stated, "Therefor he will advance to the semi-finals!"

The crowd continued to stare, many with their eyes wide open. But after twenty seconds, the area erupted with cheers and applause, Drizzile gazing upon Incineroar with his own look of disbelief. Was this real? Had he actually won with that?

"WAY TO GO, DRIZZILE!" Allie squealed, "That was amazing!" Scorbunny and Rillaboom giving him thumbs up. And all the while, Ben and Wurmple both stared at one-another, each one pinching the other to make sure they were not dreaming.

At that exact moment, Incineroar grinned and opened his eyes. However, he did not wish for Drizzile to know that he had essentially taken a dive. After all, if he revealed that, it would surely lower the chameleon's spirits. As such, he pretended to struggle while he rose back to his feet, Drizzile turning to face him.

"Good job, Drizz," Incineroar said with a grin and his fist held out, "You really are something else."

Drizzile blinked before a smile crossed his face. As such, he held out his own fist and pounded it against Incineroar's, the crowd once again cheering. However, this time, even the Indian fans joined in while Tori sniffed, "It's always so beautiful when two opponents show such amazing sportsmanship!"

All the while, Wendy and Brian both watched this at home with big smiles on their faces. The woman grinned and said, "I knew he'd win," the man replying, "Yeah, I have no doubt he could very well become the world champion."

With all said and done, Incineroar and Drizzile both bowed to each other and headed out of the ring. But since they knew they would have to relocate soon, they decided not to go to the bleachers, and this was certainly the right call when Shaymin stated, "With the first match out of the way, it's time for a change in venue. Therefor, we will hold the second match at the Downtown Community Arena!"

Sure enough, there were already vehicles set up to take everyone there, but before Drizzile could head off to take his own ride, the others ran up to him and gave him a big group hug. Allie grinned and squealed, "I knew you could do it!"

Drizzile nodded with a light smile and replied, "Well, it was really intense, but yeah, I can't believe I actually made it this far."

Rillaboom grinned and replied, "Well, you did. And if you make it to the finals, just know that I'll be ready," Scorbunny retorting, "Assuming I don't qualify instead!"

Both laughed while the others gave their own words of encouragement. But all the while, Drednaw simply eyed the chameleon and nodded her head, thinking, 'He'll make for a good third opponent once I take down Unown.'

Though when she looked around the area, she could see that Unown was nowhere to be seen. In fact, he had not even been there to see Drizzile's match at all, but why? Whatever the case, she was ready for him.