Scorbunny had very little time to prepare for her match with Melmetal. As such, she knew she would truly need to make this count. But most of all, she wanted to defeat the cyborg. While he always seemed like such a good sport, much like Rillaboom and Vaporeon, she could tell there was something off about him.

All the while, Melmetal was hard at work on his own entrance, thinking, 'This is perfect. After I beat Scorbunny, I'll take down Drizzile. With all six of Edmonton's heroes taken down by me, these people will have no choice but to make me their new leader.'

During all of this, the electric ropes were powered down and removed by staff members. Of course, they wore gloves since the ropes were still hot, but Allie and Geneva were just grateful to see them removed. Drizzile especially took a deep breath and sighed, "Thank god Scorbunny doesn't have to deal with that too."

"I hear that," Bailey groaned, "I'd hate to touch those things," Allie nodding and adding, "Still, I can't help but wonder what the next gimmick will be. It can't be any worse than electricity, right?"

"Considering what we saw from Shaymin during the sporting events, she might have very well found something worse," Drizzile grumbled before Morgrem nodded and replied, "Doesn't matter, anyway. Scorbunny can handle anything."

At that moment, the regular ropes were back in place, thus Shaymin grinned and squealed, "Ladies and gentlemen, it's just about time for the second-last match of the tournament to begin! I tell you, it's been an incredible ride! But as it nears its end, I imagine it can only get better!"

Tori nodded and stated, "In the red corner is our British representative! She has amazed us all in her matches with Hatterene and Rapidight, and she comes to us today to dazzle us even more!"

All the while, Hatterene was seated amongst the crowd with a big smile on her face. She could not wait to give Scorbunny all the support she could, especially after she helped her come to terms with her real self. And of course, Rapidight and Ben both watched from the hospital, and both definitely wanted to see the rabbit come out on top.

"With speed, agility and skill, Scorbunny!" Tori finished before everyone cheered wildly, the rabbit speeding toward the ring with another jersey on. However, this time she had lit her feet on fire in advance, which allowed her to leave a stream of flames behind her. Once she was close enough to the ring, she leapt into the air and landed firmly against the canvas before she removed her jersey.

Needless to say, the cheers and applause were deafening as her friends gave her a standing ovation. She shot them a grin before looking at a nearby camera and thinking, 'I know you're probably not awake yet, Vaporeon and Rillaboom, but I'm still gonna win this not just for myself but for all of us.'

Once the crowd was calm, Shaymin beamed and squealed, "In the blue corner, still representing Russia is that awesome metallic warrior with many skills up his sleeve! He's already proven himself a real force to be reckoned with against Vaporeon and Rillaboom and I'm sure he intends to do the same to Scorbunny! Give it up for Melmetal!"

The Russian fans were truly astounded when their national anthem started to play in the background. It seemed as if Melmetal had gone for a simpler entrance when he marched toward the ring in a green uniform. On top of that, he also had the Russian flag in hand and twirled it before he entered the ring to give an army salute.

The Russian fans gave a round of applause for him while everyone else was amazed. In the history of the Hero Olympics, no one had ever given an entrance like this. And it seemed to ultimately pay off.

Once Melmetal was finished, he removed his clothes and set the flag gently against the ringside. But of course, Scorbunny could not have cared less about his entrance. All that mattered was that she finish what her friends had started, especially now that she had seen a good number of his abilities.

Once both were ready, Shaymin smirked and said, "Now that the fighters are here, you're all probably wondering what the gimmick for this match is. Well, I brought back one classic match type. Now to bring in one that hasn't been used since the dark ages."

Many were intrigued by this while Geneva groaned, "If this was used back during those times, it can't be good."

At that moment, the staff carried in big mats covered in spikes and laid them down around the ring. They continued to set out more and more until half of the floor was covered. The audience's intrigue increased as Shaymin explained, "Everyone, it is my pleasure to introduce the classic spiked floor death match! Basically, whoever's knocked out of the ring will be in for a rather nasty experience, so these two had better make sure that doesn't happen!"

Neither fighter looked too worried about this until Shaymin directed everyone's attention to four choppers hovering above the ring. Everyone stared in confusion until she said, "Oh yeah, and just to make things more interesting..."

The pilots proceeded to lower cranes toward the ropes and grab hold of them, prying them off of the turnbuckles. Now Scorbunny could not help but feel a tad nervous, especially since some of her best abilities involved her using the ropes. Melmetal, on the other hands, seemed fine with this.

"Wait, I don't get it," Bailey uttered, "Why would they put the ropes back just to remove them again?" Drizzile sighing, "I just hope Scorbunny can work around this. Something tells me this is gonna be far worse for her than it'll be for Melmetal."

Allie frowned as she had to admit the chameleon had a point. Melmetal was made of liquid steel. For all they knew, these spikes might not even have an effect on him. And while she was certain Shaymin had not planned it, it seemed ironic that both gimmicks were this big of a hindrance for her friends.

Either way, Scorbunny tried not to look scared while Melmetal implied a sweet smile and said, "Don't look so afraid. I'll try not to rely on the spikes too much," the rabbit frowning and thinking, 'Don't patronize me. I can work around this.'

With that, she was now fully focused, thus Shaymin nodded and said, "Well, it seems like both fighters are ready. So, let's begin," ringing the bell before Scorbunny leapt toward Melmetal and planted a flying kick into his face.

Melmetal backed up while the British crowd cheered, the rabbit sending a roundhouse into his gut. She then proceeded to latch her legs onto his wrist and pull back as hard as she could without exhausting herself thus pulling him downward and causing him to hit the mat hard.

"And Scorbunny's off to a good start!" Shaymin exclaimed, "Melmetal is unable to respond as she lands two fierce kicks and slams him to the mat with a move that won't put a strain on her!"

Drizzile and the others smiled when Scorbunny bounced high above the ring and thought, 'I'm gonna take you down quickly. I won't let you use any of those cheap tactics of yours against me!' She then descended toward the cyborg with her feet ablaze and exclaimed, "SCORCHING ANVIL!"

But just as she was seconds away from striking Melmetal, his liquid metal vibrated and churned. It then seeped into the hexagonal nut in his midsection before he shouted, "LIQUID METAL STALAGMITE!" a long metal spike protruding from his back just in time to stop Scorbunny's attack.

Since her feet were cupped together, the spike did not pierce her flesh, but she was still unable to finish her attack. Thus she leapt back before he could do more and allowed him to rise back to his feet. But while the crowd was disappointed that her attack had failed, Drizzile was just relieved that she had not taken in pain as he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Damn, that was close," Morgrem uttered while Scorbunny frowned and dashed toward him again. But just as it seemed like she was as rash as she used to be when she was just starting out, she smirked and noticed Melmetal aim the nut on his right fist toward her. As such, she leapt to the side and sent a roundhouse into the side of his hand.

Unfortunately, this did not have the result she had hoped for. While it dealt some damage, Melmetal easily ignored it and sent his left fist into her gut, shouting, "STEEL KNUCKLE!"

Scorbunny tried her best to ignore the pain only for the cyborg to reel his right arm back and send it into her face. While she flew backward, he stretched both of his arms toward her and rammed them into her sides, shouting, "DOUBLE IRON CRUSH!" his nuts rotating and scraping the spots he had hit.

Scorbunny cried out in agonizing pain as the crowd gasped. Tori stared at this and stated, "While Scorbunny certainly had a good start, it would seem Melmetal has gotten the upper hand! Scorbunny clearly tried her best to avoid getting hit, but it simply wasn't good enough!"

Scorbunny could see her friends watching with concern, thus she gritted her teeth and planted her hands into Melmetal's. But just as she was about to try and slam him, she remembered that she could not do that without putting a serious strain on herself. As such, she applied all her might, now ignoring the pain to her sides, and pried herself out of the hold.

All went silent throughout the area while Melmetal stared in shock. Thus Scorbunny smirked, propelled herself toward him and rammed her feet into his face. The crowd cheered as she leapt backward and took many deep breaths. While she had taken in a lot of damage from that last move, she had to ignore it. There was no way she would meet the same fate as Vaporeon and Rillaboom.

"Damn, that was awesome," Rolycoly uttered, Drizzile nodding and replying, "Yeah. I've never seen her pull off a counter like that."

Melmetal tried not to look annoyed while he said, "I have to admit, I'm impressed. I didn't think someone of your stature could pull that off," Scorbunny smirking and remarking, "Yeah. One thing you should know is that I'm a lot tougher than I look."

Even so, she knew she would need to be a lot smarter with her tactics. Just from those few hits, she could see why everyone else had fallen to Melmetal so quickly. He really was just as powerful as he looked if not more.

With that in mind, Scorbunny struck a defensive stance and chose to wait for Melmetal's next action. The cyborg implied a smirk with his eye and shifted it sideways before his body vibrated once again. He then inflated his body while the rabbit narrowed her eyelids and thought, 'I see what you're plotting. Well, that's not gonna work.'

Once Melmetal's body was as big and round as it could get, long protrusions shot out of it before he shouted, "JACK MARBLE!" and rolled toward Scorbunny. Unlike Rillaboom, the rabbit had the athletic skill to dodge this move, thus she waited for just the right moment to jump high into the air. She then smirked and lit her feet on fire, aiming her heels downward and descending just like before.

"Wait, what's she doing!?" Allie spat, "She'll take in far more damage from that!" only for Drizzile to utter, "No, wait. I think this might be the smartest strategy she's ever used."

Scorbunny planted her heels hard into the top of Melmetal's body and screamed, "SCORCHING ANVIL!" The crowd stared in shock when this actually caused the cyborg to stop rolling forward. And when the cameras zoomed in on it, everyone turned to a big-screen TV showcasing all of this to see why her attack had worked so well.

"Would you look at that, folks!?" Shaymin squealed, "Scorbunny managed to land her kick right into Melmetal's head!" Bailey, Morgrem and Rolycoly's eyes sparkling at the sight of this.

Sure enough, it was just as Shaymin described. When Scorbunny landed, both of her feet were planted right into Melmetal's skull. Thus he deflated his body before she leapt away from him, the cyborg rubbing the part that had been hit.

"You think I haven't been paying attention?" Scorbunny quipped with a smirk, "Every time you inflate your body, there are three parts of you that you're unable to tuck in, your shoulders and your head," the crowd staring in stunned silence.

"She's right," one member of the Russian crowd commented, "I've noticed it many times but never really thought about it," another adding, "And to think she timed that move just right. I have to admit, I'm impressed," before clasping her hand over her mouth.

However, luckily for her, Melmetal did not seem to care about her comment. Instead, he was much more focused on Scorbunny while he narrowed his eye and grunted, "I can see you really are a lot smarter than you once were."

With that in mind, he took a deep breath and sent his right arm toward her once again, readying his left arm. Luckily, though, Scorbunny knew exactly what he was attempting and thus leapt to her own left so he could not use his other fist against her. But it seemed as if Melmetal had expected that when he lifted up his right leg and shot it toward her, barking, "LIQUID METAL STAMP!"

Scorbunny's eyes were wide with shock when his toe struck her hard in the forehead and caused her head to reel back. And it seemed this was only the beginning as Melmetal stretched his arm toward her and grabbed into her ears, sharpening the ends and shouting, "LIQUID METAL ICE PICK!"

Many members of the crowd winced when the nails pierced right through Scorbunny's ears. Thus she cried out in agonizing pain before Melmetal swung her around like a flail and hurled her toward the edge of the ring. As such, Drizzile's eyes widened before he stood up and yelled, "SCORBUNNY!"

Needless to say, the others were just as shocked when she flew outside the ring and landed back-first into the spikes. Thankfully, they were small enough not to be fatal, but they still put multiple holes in her while she released more cries. Even the Russian fans could not help but feel a tad sorry for her while Melmetal folded his arms and said, "Hey, Shaymin added this gimmick for a reason. Figured I may as well use it."

Shaymin had the most childish grin on her face while she squealed, "It works perfectly!" Tori staring at her and uttering, "Can you go back to not acting like this, please?"

The hedgehog then cleared her throat and explained, "Much like Hawrelak Park's lake, this only counts as a ring-out if Scorbunny gives up or is unconscious! That means she can spend as much time lying on those spikes as she can handle!" Allie barking, "Oh my god, seriously!? I know heroes can handle stuff like this, but this feels too sadistic!"

Many other members of the crowd seemed to agree. But just as they were ready to voice their objections, Scorbunny gritted her teeth and growled, "It's like you said, Allie. I'm a hero, so I can deal with this," lifting her head up and ignoring the blood dripping out of the back of her head, "Even if these spikes were bigger, this wouldn't be nearly enough for me to give up."

While a part of Melmetal was not surprised by this, he still had a look of irritation in his eye. However, he quickly resumed a neutral look when he noticed his fans gazing at him. After all, he could not show any signs of bad sportsmanship.

To top it all off, he realized he still had a golden opportunity here. Thus when Scorbunny started to push herself upright and dig her hands further into the canvas, the cyborg extended his hand to her and enquired, "Hey, how about I give you a hand with that?"

Sure enough, he formed his fingers and aimed for her skull. But just as he was about to grab her, she smirked and placed a firm grip with her hands against the area just around the tips of the spikes they had been on. She then used them to flip herself back ninety degrees and perform a handstand while everyone stared in stunned silence. Afterwards, she leaned her body backward and flung herself forward with her feet on fire.

"INFERNO AXE!" she barked before flipping downward and planting her heels into Melmetal's skull. Afterwards, she proceeded to fold her arms and dance on that very spot, the British crowd along with her fans giving a round of applause.

"Damn!" Ben exclaimed with his eyes wide open, "That was incredible!" Rapidight nodding and replying, "Well, it certainly would have been disappointing if she had gone down that easily."

Melmetal narrowed his eye after Scorbunny delivered twenty four hits to him, thus he lifted his arms and spun the nuts on them while aiming them toward her side. But when he sent them inward toward her ribcage, she jumped over them, causing them both to collide. She then spread out her legs, lit them on fire and exclaimed, "SCORCHING MALLETS!"

With that, her heels landed on top of the cyborg's hands, and while this dealt less damage, he still winced in pain. It was clear that after how close she came to defeat, Scorbunny was not going to let him get the upper hand, not again.

As such, she leapt behind him and delivered a roundhouse to his back. Then with him distracted she jumped up and latched her legs around the bottom part of his head. The crowd stared in stunned silence while she sighed and thought, 'I know I'm taking a huge risk here, but I get the feeling this might just be able to finish him off. He's tough, really tough, but I bet even he couldn't possibly handle this.'

With that in mind, she propelled herself and Melmetal high into the air while everyone stared in shock, Morgrem gasping, "Wait, can she really afford to do that!?"

The others were equally concerned, but Scorbunny was fully confident. Thus she flipped her body three hundred and sixty degrees backward and shouted, "ASTEROID FRANKENSTEINER!" hurling the cyborg over the side of the ring.

The British crowd and most of the Edmontonians cheered wildly when the cyborg fell hard onto a bed of spikes. Scorbunny took many deep breaths after she landed and thought, 'Okay, come on, Scorbunny. You can handle it. You have to,' thus she followed her breaths up with the deepest one of all and wiggled her arms.

This seemed to at least take a little pressure off while Shaymin shouted, "Scorbunny just took a big risk! For those unaware, her family has the same handicap as the Torch Family, in that they can't pull off advanced techniques without putting a serious strain on themselves! But even so, it seems to have worked as now Melmetal is on the receiving end of the spike pit!"

But while many among the crowd were beyond ecstatic, the Russian crowd did not look the least bit concerned. And Allie did not even have to look at them to realize something was off herself. Thus she bit her lower lip and uttered, "Guys, I hate to say it, but I get the funny feeling that didn't make much of a difference."

"What do you mean?" Bailey enquired before Drizzile sighed, "She's right. Look closely at Melmetal."

Sure enough, there was no blood coming out of him at all. In fact, it looked like he had actually flattened the spikes under him, thus Shaymin blinked, looked closely and groaned, "Aw, man, they didn't hurt him at all, did they?" Tori slapping her forehead and shaking her head.

Scorbunny could see this herself, thus she thought, 'Oh no, I really should have expected that,' before Melmetal placed his hands against the floor and pushed himself up. However, when he stood, everyone was even more shocked. The spikes had not been flattened at all. Instead, his back had somehow pried them off of their respective mats, thus they were stuck in him.

Everyone was even more shocked when they seeped right into his liquid metal flesh. Scorbunny shook her head while Melmetal marched toward the ring, stomping on a few more spikes and absorbing them. He then chuckled and said, "I gotta hand it to you, that was an impressive move back there. But while that may have dealt pain to me, things like metal spikes have no real effect on me. If anything, they actually help me quite a bit."

Everyone would soon find out exactly what he meant when he held up his arms and exclaimed, "LIQUID METAL NAIL GUN!" his protrusions once again emerging from his body. This time, though, all the spikes he had absorbed shot out with them, Scorbunny's eyes and mouth wide with terror when they all flew into her. Blood squirted from her flesh while she groaned in pain and tried her hardest to stand up.

If the move she had used earlier had not taken enough out of her, the rain of spikes certainly seemed to. As such, Melmetal folded his arms and said, "Much like your friends, you put up a good fight, Scorbunny, but I have a country to represent."

With that in mind, he approached her with his arms raised and barked, "STEEL KNUCKLES!" ramming both nuts into her face.

The crowd watched in stunned silence while the rabbit coughed up blood, closed her eyes and fell on her back with her arms spread out. Drizzile breathed heavily and stared at Melmetal in fear. As if the cyborg had not been scary enough before, this had only made his chances of success look less likely.

The others were equally concerned as Tori started the ten count, Shaymin stating, "While Scorbunny had a nice comeback, it would seem Melmetal might have very well just claimed victory with that hard punch."

Sure enough, Tori reached ten seconds and rang the bell, exclaiming, "Well, folks, that concludes the semi-finals! Melmetal has won the match and will face Drizzile in the final round one week from today!" the Russian fans breaking out into heavy cheers and applause while various staff members entered the area and removed the spiked mats.

Allie bit her lower lip while Rolycoly trembled and uttered, "Oh my god, it's like he's invincible," Morgrem shaking her head and remarking, "Hey, Unown seemed invincible. I'm sure Drizzile's got this," turning to Drizzile and adding, "Right, Drizzile?"

Allie rested a hand on his shoulder and gave him a supportive smile. Thus he took a deep breath and nodded before he rose up from the ring and said, "Come on. Let's check on Scorbunny."

The group raced out of the bleachers and toward the ring while Melmetal gazed upon her and thought, 'Now there's only one of you left to oppose me. I gotta hand it to you. You almost got me to reveal all of my abilities.'

Once the others entered the ring, though, he faked a gasp and asked, "Oh no, did I bring too much harm to her as well?" the others not even dignifying this with a response. They all had this funny feeling he was faking it, even Bailey and Geneva.

Either way, medics soon raced toward the ring to load Scorbunny up onto a stretcher. Just as her friends were about to head off with her, Drizzile glared at Melmetal and said, "Watch yourself. Once a week passes, your winning streak ends," Allie staring at him in stunned silence. Once again, her heart skipped a beat while she blushed and wondered why.

Melmetal took a deep breath and replied, "Well, I can't just let you beat me, but I understand," the chameleon narrowing his eyelids and taking off with the others.

While Melmetal may have been a fellow hero and often displayed good sportsmanship, he was somehow more terrifying than even Unown. Even if it was just a competition, Drizzile still felt like he needed to win this match at all cost, even more than his fight with Centiskorch.