It had been about an hour since Drizzile's training with Inteleon had started and while it took longer than expected, he had finally figured out how to close his ear holes. But of course, this was only the first step, and he knew he was in for something truly painful when Inteleon leapt over to a stone and picked it up with her tail.

"Now, son, this is your last chance," she stated, "Are you absolutely sure you want to go through with this? It's not too late to back out."

While she may have said this twice, to Drizzile, it was too late. He had already gotten this far, he had used the ability once. There was no way he would just accept the idea that he would never be able to harness such power again.

With that in mind, he took a deep breath, gave his mother a serious look and said, "Yes, I'm sure. Now hurl that rock at me."

Inteleon nodded and said, "Remember, try not to think too hard about it. Just let it happen. Otherwise, it won't work," the chameleon taking a deep breath and closing his eyes and ear holes. But when the tall chameleon threw the stone at him, he sensed nothing and took a hard blow to his gut.

Inteleon clasped her hands over her mouth only for the chameleon to rise to his feet and grunt, "Let's try that again!" the tall chameleon staring at her son with her eyes wide open and thinking, 'Son...'

Soon, a big childlike smile formed before she placed her hands against her cheeks and thought, 'I'm so proud!' Drizzile tilting his head to the side and uttering, "Hello? Are you gonna throw another stone?"

All the while, Scorbunny sparred with Rolycoly and Morgrem at the same time while Geneva watched and cheered her on. But while the rabbit had managed to defeat the golem by himself, this time she found herself having a lot more trouble now that the duo was fighting together.

The goblin was currently mounted on Rolycoly's back while he sped toward the rabbit like a motorcycle. The rabbit leapt up into the air only for the golem to use his hands to propel himself and Morgrem into the air. The goblin then sharpened her hair before she and Rolycoly shouted, "GRIZZLY CHOPPER!"

Both of them spun like a twister and put a big gash in Scorbunny's belly. Thus she cried out in pain while blood flew from that very spot and fell hard on her back. And when the other two landed, they gasped at the sight of her covered in cuts and bruises.

"Oh my god!" Morgrem gasped, "Are you okay!?" Geneva blinking and uttering, "I think you guys might have gone a little overboard."

Scorbunny slowly pushed herself up and sighed, "No, it's fine. I'm a hero. We can handle stuff like this." She then looked down and groaned, "Though now I'm not so sure if I'm ready to face Melmetal."

"Hey, don't say that," Rolycoly remarked as he waved his hands in front of his face, "You just fought both of us at the same time. It's amazing you lasted as long as you did," Morgrem nodding and replying, "Believe you me, if you had fought me by myself, you would have won even more easily than you did when we first fought."

Scorbunny nodded with a light smile and replied, "Yeah, you're right," springing back to her feet as if all the pain dealt earlier meant nothing, "I'll just need to keep training!"

With that in mind, she got ready for another match only to breathe heavily and gasp, "After a little break," Morgrem and Rolycoly nodding in agreement.

During this time, Melmetal was at a construction site where he got ready for his match. He had a nearby worker use a crane to heave girders and other such things toward him. And whenever they got close, he would use his hexagonal nuts to leave huge dents in them. However, he did not feel as if this was enough, thinking, 'I hate to admit it, but Rillaboom came really close to overpowering me there! If I hadn't exhausted her so much earlier, she probably would have won! I can't let that happen! Don't worry, Dad, I'll make sure the whole world fears and respects us!'

Back at the mountains, Inteleon hurled another rock at Drizzile, this one striking him in the forehead. But once again, he got back up. After all, he dealt with far worse torment from Sandaconda before the ability worked. He was certain he could get this.

Unfortunately, Inteleon did not seem to think so anymore. She had expected faster results than this, much faster. As such, even Drizzile's strong spirit was no longer enough to convince her that this routine was worth it.

However, her eyes widened when she suddenly remembered back when she attempted the skill. When her father, Sobble, trained her, he did not use projectiles. He came at her himself and used his own attacks, figuring that was the only way to truly master the skill.

She then bit her lower lip as Drizzile uttered, "Mom, is something wrong? Did you run out of stones to throw?" the tall chameleon taking a deep breath and leaping backwards toward a big rock formation. She then covered her body in water and thought, 'Forgive me, son, but if you know what's coming, it won't come naturally.'

Finally, she boosted herself forward while the water morphed into a giant bullet. And when she got close, she shouted, "SNIPE SHOT!" Drizzile gasping and leaping to the side. And while he had taken a little too long, resulting in his side being grazed, he had still avoided a full frontal assault before tumbling along the ground and using his hand to screech to a halt.

The shorter chameleon breathed heavily with his eyes still closed. He could not believe that. He had felt it, and Inteleon could not have been more proud when she looked at him. But she also noticed his eyes were still closed. This combined with the fact that he had not completely avoided the move told her it was not yet time to end this.

With that in mind, she launched herself toward him, once again forming a bullet made of water around herself. Drizzile managed to leap over her this time, but he was still too late as he took in the blow to his feet and flipped forward. But when his face hit the ground, he pushed himself back up, thus Inteleon came at him one last time, and while he avoided the full attack again, he still took in pain to his side.

At that moment, Inteleon took a deep breath and approached him before tapping him on the shoulder. As such, he opened his eyes and opened his ear holes, the tall chameleon smiling and saying, "Well, it's not perfect, but you're able to pull it off. I am so proud of you right now."

Drizzile had the biggest smile on his face as he held his mother in a tight embrace. Even though he had not done quite as well as he had against Sandaconda, he had still managed to use the ability. Now all he needed was to practice a little bit more and he would be ready.

And so, Scorbunny and Drizzile trained even longer. The rabbit had another sparring match with Morgrem and Rolycoly, and while this one ended with all three tiring themselves out, she had put up a much better fight. And Drizzile continued to improve until he was able to dodge at least a couple of strikes from Inteleon.

After enough time passed, both chameleons sat cross-legged on the tip of a rock formation and looked out into the horizon. Inteleon smiled and rubbed her son's head before explaining, "There is one last thing you need to know before your match with Unown. While this ability is very good, it's not something you want to use for a long period of time. In fact, I can only recommend using it once for two minutes tops."

Drizzile blinked and enquired, "Does it require extra energy to use or something?" only for the tall chameleon to shake her head and reply, "Not quite. See, I don't really know why this is, but I've found that after a couple of minutes, this ability stops working for at least an hour's time. But not only does it stop working, but if you keep trying to use it, it can leave you feeling disoriented. I know because one time, I tried to use this move for three minutes and it caused me to lose the fight."

She looked back to when she had just mastered the skill. Her first fight after that was against a sentient seed dressed in a cloak made of leaves named Swadloon. Inteleon had started strong as she decided to use her evasive tactic right off the bat.

But sure enough, two minutes into the fight, she found herself unable to detect his movement. This allowed him to boost himself off the ropes and ram skull-first into her back with a move called Bullet Seed. This kept up for a while with Inteleon unable to dodge him. And sure enough, after three minutes, she could no longer keep her eyes and ear holes closed.

When she opened them up, she could feel her head spin while her eyes swirled. And this was all the seed needed to finish her off with the same move he had used before. As such, one of her allies had to finish what she started, but all that really mattered to her was how humiliating the whole experience had been.

Back in present time, Inteleon sighed, "No matter how tempting it is to try and exploit such an amazing skill, you must always save it as a last-minute resort when things get too tough. If you think there's no way you could win otherwise, that's when you dish it out."

Drizzile nodded and replied, "Alright. That's simple enough. I've done a fine job without it, so if things go well enough against Unown, I might not even need it."

Inteleon nodded with a big smile and latched onto his neck with her arm. She then gave him a noogie and squealed, "Oh, you are just the best son a mother could ask for!"

Another day passed by until it was time for the semi-finals to begin. As it so happened, Shaymin had liked the coliseum so much that she decided to use the location again. But while walking down the hall along with Tori, she grinned and giggled, "Oh, I can't wait until everyone sees what I have planned for these two matches."

"Oh my god, are you going to do something sadistic?" Tori groaned, Shaymin nodding before saying, "Apparently, they did this for the twenty second Hero Olympics, create a dangerous gimmick for each match to raise the stakes. For some reason, they haven't done that since, and I'm gonna rectify that."

Tori was about to object before she blinked and uttered, "Wait, you say they've done this sort of thing before?" Shaymin nodding and replying, "Yep. In fact, I'm even reusing a gimmick that was used for a different tournament back in the day. It intrigues me."

The human woman tapped her chin and said, "Well, okay, if Hero Planet's old chairman approved of such things, I guess it could be alright. Besides, it's not like heroes can't handle this sort of thing."

"Now you're getting it," Shaymin replied with a grin before the two entered the fight area and took a seat behind a podium. As much as Tori hated to admit it, Shaymin's sadistic gimmicks for the sporting events had made them more entertaining, so perhaps this would make the matches more exciting.

During this time, Drizzile and Unown were getting ready for their matches, Inteleon having taken a plane to head back home. She trusted her son to win this match without her there to give him advice. After all, he had pulled it off against three very powerful opponents prior.

Allie sat with the others in the front row and looked around with a sigh. Morgrem looked with concern and asked, "What's wrong?" the tall girl replying, "It feels weird not having Rillaboom and Vaporeon here to cheer with us. It just feels like our numbers are dropping."

"Hey, don't worry about it," Scorbunny replied with her hands folded behind her head, "I'm sure they wouldn't want us to stress out over something like that. You act like they're dead or something."

Bailey nodded and added, "Yeah. They'll be all better soon enough. We just have to be patient," Allie sighing, "Right," a light smile forming on her face, "Besides, Scorbunny, I know you'll kick the crap out of Melmetal."

The rabbit grinned with confidence while Melmetal stared blankly at her from the other side of the bleachers. He had a feeling he could overcome her. After all, she was weakest of the trio.

Once enough time had passed, Shaymin exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's time for the semi-finals to begin! And unlike the first two rounds, we will not be changing locations! Not only that, but the second match will take place a mere five minutes after the first one!"

While this was confusing, what with the lower number of matches, the crowd's excitement grew when they heard this. Scorbunny, however, blinked and uttered, "Oh, maybe I should have gone off to prepare too."

Morgrem shrugged and replied, "After the last couple of days, I think you'll be fine," Allie hoping she was right. After all, Melmetal kept revealing more and more abilities as the tournament went along. Who knew what else he had in store?

Either way, it was time for the match to begin as Shaymin exclaimed, "In the red corner, once again coming to us from Ireland is that surprisingly tough chameleon who has truly proven himself! He's bested Sandaconda and Incineroar and comes to wow us even more!"

Incineroar sat amongst the crowd with his arms folded and a grin on his face, saying, "If anyone can put that Unown in his place, it's him," Wurmple nodding. Ben would have been there too, but he had decided to watch with Rapidight from the hospital.

"With speed, strength and skill, give it up for Drizzile!" Shaymin squealed. The crowd cheered wildly when he entered the area on all fours and crawled toward the ring. A spy theme played in the background while he was dressed in a ninja garb, and once he entered the ring, he removed the clothing and pointed his hand toward the Irish crowd like a pistol, saying, "Bang."

Since he had only two fingers, the illusion was difficult to pull off, but it still worked as the crowd's excitement grew, Allie saying, "Wow, that's not what I expected at all," her heart skipping a beat as she blushed and thought, 'What was that about?'

Drizzile took a deep breath and smiled at the camera while he thought, 'I hope you're already watching this, Mom. I'm gonna win this, just you wait.'

"And in the blue corner is the Mexican fighter with an unpredictable power!" Tori exclaimed, "He has proven himself quite the force against Monferno and Drednaw and now he comes to amaze us some more! Give a round of applause for Unown!"

The Mexican crowd cheered wildly when the odd being flew into the ring in his falcon form. Once he was high above the ring, he shifted into his kabuto state and landed hard against the mat. He then took on the form of a gorilla and let out a loud cry, beating his chest hard enough for the area to vibrate.

The crowd had no idea how he had pulled that off, but his fans were even more excited as he shifted into his regular form and said, "I've been looking forward to this, Drizzile. Out of all the fighters in this tournament, you're by far the most fascinating to me. You don't seem all that special and yet I hear you've managed to show off some very impressive skills. I haven't seen them since, again, I like to be surprised by my opponents, but I've heard some amazing things."

Drizzile frowned and thought, 'Yeah, and I'm gonna use those skills to wipe the surface with you,' but just as they were about to begin, Shaymin stated, "Hold on! Before the match can start, I need to introduce the gimmick for this! You see, each match will have its own special gimmick to make things more interesting! Everyone, take a look at the ropes!"

It was at this moment that everyone noticed something different. Not only were the ropes blue as opposed to the traditional red but the turnbuckles looked more like lightning rods. The hedgehog then had a staff member insert a large plug into a giant outlet, a wavy sound filling the air while the tops of the turnbuckles lit up like light bulbs.

"For those who haven't figured it out yet, this is an electric ring death match!" Shaymin explained, "Basically, the ropes this time around are actually wires, and electricity is flowing through them as I speak! Basically, whoever comes in contact with them will be electrocuted!"

The crowd stared at the hedgehog then back at the ring. While most found it intriguing, Allie gulped, "Oh no, that'll make things much more difficult. What if Drizzile needs to use the ropes for one of his moves?" Bailey groaning, "You're right. This is bullshit."

But while Drizzile was terrified at first, he took a deep breath and put on a more serious face. There was no way he would allow this to intimidate him. As far as he was concerned, this was just another challenge for him to overcome.

Unown, meanwhile, folded his arms with an implied smirk and thought, 'I did want to win this more fairly, but this is too perfect. Even if he somehow knocks me into the ropes, it won't make a lick of difference.'

A few seconds passed until Shaymin could tell both fighters were ready. Thus she smirked and squealed, "Well, folks, without further ado, let us begin!" before she rang the bell.

Drizzile held his ground and thought, 'That's right, Unown hasn't seen any of my matches. That means he'll want me to attack him first so he can learn my abilities. Drednaw thought she could just take him out if she beat away at him enough, but I know better.'

As such, he took a deep breath and said, "You know what? You're a very impressive fighter yourself. As such, I find it a tad unfair that you've never gotten the first move."

The others stared as Scorbunny uttered, "He's seriously trying that? Would that even work?" Rolycoly replying, "That's a good question. Unown doesn't seem the type to actually fall for that."

Drizzile spread out his arms and said, "Go on, hit me with your best shot. I may look weak, but trust me, I can handle it," Unown staring at him for a few seconds while he thought, 'I see. He's trying to get me to lower my guard. Well, it doesn't matter, because I can still hit him no matter what he tries.'

With that in mind, the odd being shouted, "ANCIENT POWER!" and morphed into his kabuto form again, even the Mexican crowd shocked when he barked, "Just know that you brought this upon yourself!"

He then spread out a pair of artificial wings and flew toward Drizzile at a fairly good speed. He held his arms out and lowered his legs while raising his horn. No matter which direction Drizzile chose to move, he would take in a strike for sure.

However, since he had avoided Drizzile's matches, he was completely unaware of his water power. Thus, his eyes widened when the chameleon formed the liquid around his hands and morphed it into a pair of giant mittens, barking, "AQUATIC POWER MITTS!"

The crowd went wild when he threw his fists forward and struck Unown's shoulders. And sure enough, this proved just powerful enough to stop his flight, thus Drizzile was able to grab onto the spots he had hit before he leapt into the air. He then leaned backward and planted Unown's back into the top rope, the crowd going wild as electricity coursed through the odd being's body.

"And Drizzile is off to an amazing start!" Shaymin squealed, "Not only has he blocked Unown's move, but he has already managed to take full advantage of the match's gimmick! I was not expecting that so soon!"

However, before Drizzile could remove his hands, his eyes widened when Unown wrapped his arms around him and held him in place. He then propelled himself off of the ropes high into the air and flipped the chameleon upside-down. Afterwards, he wrapped his legs around the chameleon's neck and slammed his skull hard into the canvas.

Once again, even the Mexican crowd was genuinely shocked. Normally, Unown would allow himself to take in far more damage before fighting back, and yet here he was taking the initiative against an opponent he had known very little about. And to make things even more confusing, the electricity seemed to have no effect on him whatsoever.

Unown released his hold and allowed Drizzile to collapse before he pushed himself up and stared in shock. The odd being implied a smirk with his eye and quipped, "Surprised? I guess I can't blame you. I know it's probably hard to believe, what with me being a psychic type, but electricity doesn't hurt me. Sure, I'd be lying if I said that didn't deal any damage to me, but it's nothing but a minor inconvenience."

He then transformed into a falcon and flew toward the chameleon before he could respond, gripping his shoulders and adding, "Now let's see how you handle it!" hurling him into the ropes while most of the crowd stared in horror.

Drizzile let out a loud cry before bouncing off and hobbling forward. He breathed heavily and felt lucky he had only been pressed up against the ropes for a few seconds. But even so, just that one shock made him feel slightly weak while he tried his best to regain focus.

"I'll admit, it was clever of you to come up with a different strategy," Unown stated before separating his letters again, "You knew I wanted you to attack first, and I'll admit, that technique of yours really threw me off. But it also made me realize just how easy it would be to defeat you. I don't even need to see your other skills. The fact that your power conducts electricity is good enough for me!"

Drizzile's eyes widened when he said that. All of his strongest moves required the use of water, but if he were to be sent into the ropes while using any of them, the results could be even worse. He had entered the match full of confidence but now he could not help but wonder if he ever stood a chance. Could it be that Shaymin's gimmick had cemented his failure?