This was it. Now that the bell had been rung, Drizzile's match with Melmetal could finally begin. All of his friends were more than ready to give him all the support they could while Inteleon watched from back home and thought, 'There is nothing left for you to learn, Drizzile. You can beat him.'

Drizzile had to admit that he had not quite figured out a surefire opening strategy for this match. He could rush Melmetal, but then the cyborg could pull out some sort of countermeasure. And if he stood his ground, there were plenty of moves that could have possibly struck him. With that in mind, it seemed like his best option would be to start on the offensive.

As such, he took a deep breath and raced toward Melmetal with his hands covered in water. The cyborg started to vibrate and churn his body only for the chameleon to dash behind him and form a massive pair of mittens with the water. He then placed a firm grip against Melmetal's waist and shouted, "AQUATIC POWER MITTS!"

All went silent among the crowd when he leapt into the air and leaned backward, planting the back of Melmetal's head into the canvas. With that, the area erupted with cheers and applause while Shaymin squealed, "And Drizzile lands the first strike with a suplex made even more powerful thanks to his jumbo sized water gloves! Let's see what else he has in store!"

"You know, the others had some really good starts, and yet that one hit was somehow more impressive than all of them combined," Allie said as Bailey uttered, "Really? Scorbunny landed, like, three or four hits before getting struck."

"No, I see it," Morgrem stated with a grin, "Drizzile put more passion into that suplex than any other strike he's landed in the past. We might be seeing him at his best."

And sure enough, there was no way the chameleon would allow it to end there. As such, he leapt into the air and lathered his feet in water. He then formed a set of blades on his soles and exclaimed, "AQUATIC ICE SKATES!" planting them hard into Melmetal's chest. After Scorbunny's match, he knew better than to aim for the midsection.

The cyborg narrowed his eye and lifted up his arms, aiming them for Drizzile's sides. But just as he was about to send them inward, the chameleon leapt up just in time to avoid them and planted his blades into them instead. Finally, he flipped himself backward, cutting into the hands before landing a small distance from the cyborg while the crowd continued to cheer.

But while this seemed to deal pain, Drizzile did find it a tad confusing that there was no bloodshed. It was as if Melmetal had no blood inside of him at all, but that could not be. Steel type fighters usually had a mixture of blood and oil inside of them.

Even so, now was not the time to dwell on this as Melmetal rose to his feet and grunted, "Not a bad start. In fact, that was very impressive. But as you've seen up to this point, it'll take a lot more than that to bring me down."

With that in mind, he proceeded to shoot his long protrusions out of his belly and shouted, "LIQUID METAL FLYING BLADES!" Drizzile's eyes wide with shock along with those of his friends when his water blades shot out of Melmetal's torso and right over his shoulders.

Two cuts formed before blood squirted out, Drizzile crying out in pain and clutching onto the spots that had been slashed while Melmetal chuckled, "Were you not paying attention to my match with Scorbunny? I can absorb sharp objects and use them as weapons! And yes, it doesn't matter whether they're made of metal or not! I can still use them!"

It was at that moment that Drizzile looked down and noticed his feet were still covered in water but his blades were nowhere to be seen. He trembled and backed up while his friends watched with concern.

"You've gotta be kidding," Morgrem groaned before Allie whimpered, "Oh no. Most of his best moves are blade based."

Brian nodded with his eyes narrowed and grunted, "But even so, he has plenty of other good moves in his arsenal. I'm sure he can win without them, even if this probably throws his strategy off."

"Yes, of course," Wendy replied with a nod, "After all, he's good at working around disadvantages like this. I know he'll think of something."

Drizzile seemed to think so, thus he took a deep breath and grunted, "Alright, I guess I won't rely on certain techniques. That doesn't mean I can't beat you. I just need to rely on moves that I know will hurt you!"

Thus he raced toward Melmetal and unleashed a fierce karate chop into his side before dashing behind him and sending a roundhouse into his back. He then leapt up and dealt two karate chops to his cheeks. But just as the chameleon was about to distance himself, his eyes widened when Melmetal's collar started to spin much like the hexagonal nuts on his hands.

Since Drizzile was right up against them, he took in a fierce scrape to his midsection and flew backward, Melmetal barking, "GOLDEN GEAR!"

The crowd gasped before Rolycoly uttered, "How did it never occur to us that he could do something like that?" Morgrem groaning, "You're right. If he can do that with his hands, of course he can do that with his neck."

Of course, it did not end there. Now that Drizzile was once again distracted, Melmetal had to take full advantage of this. As such, he leapt high into the air before his body churned and inflated like a balloon. Drizzile's friends watched in horror while he exclaimed, "LIQUID IRON PRESS!"

When he descended toward the chameleon, Allie frowned and snapped, "Come on, Drizzile! You can avoid that easily!" the chameleon gasping and rolling to the side just in time for Melmetal to hit the canvas hard.

Drizzile slowly rose to his feet while his fans cheered, Shaymin exclaiming, "Melmetal truly surprised us with that trick he did with his collar, but Drizzile is still in the game! Though considering how much torment he took from Unown, is that really so surprising?"

But while the chameleon had avoided the move that beat Vaporeon, he could see how the others struggled so much against him. He was strong, really strong, so much so that even the most seemingly harmless moves in his arsenal felt like a meteorite to the face. Needless to say, he would really need to step up his game.

With that in mind, he waited for Melmetal to return to his normal size before leaping toward him and delivering a roundhouse to his face. He then latched onto the cyborg's head with his legs. After that, he propelled himself into the air to set up for a frankensteiner while the crowd's excitement grew.

However, his eyes widened when suddenly, Melmetal churned his liquid metal once more and expanded the size of his feet. Thus he implied a smile with his eye and asked, "Didn't think I could do that, did you?" Drizzile's eyes wide with terror.

Sure enough, Melmetal took full advantage of this and lifted up his arms. He then formed his fingers and took hold of Drizzile's sides. Sure enough, he sharpened the tips of the parts he had formed and jabbed them into the chameleon's skin, shouting, "LIQUID METAL ICE PICK!"

The Russian crowd cheered while he lifted Drizzile up and threw his arms downward, ramming the back of the chameleon's head into the canvas. As if the blood coming from the parts that had been stabbed were not bad enough, this one hit was enough for Drizzile to cough up the substance.

"Things are not looking good for Drizzile," Shaymin stated, "While he started off strong, that one strike from his own blades seems to have really thrown him off. Melmetal's already managed to draw blood from him three times while Drizzile has only landed one impressive hit so far."

As much as it pained the chameleon to admit it, the hedgehog had a point. He figured he could still get the upper hand even with more simple tactics, but right now, he was even worse off than the others, and the match had not even gone for five minutes yet.

However, he had little time to think of a way to get the upper hand back when Melmetal rose his hand into the air, saying, "Just so you know, I'm not giving you a chance to counter my moves. I gave your friends all sorts of opportunities and that made things much harder for me. It's nothing personal. After all, you seem like a cool guy, but again, I have a country to represent."

With that, he sent his hand toward Drizzile only for him to instinctively cover his hands in water and form his daggers. He then crossed them in front of his face only for Allie to squeak, "NO, DRIZZILE, DON'T!"

But it was too late. While this did stop Melmetal from lowering his hand briefly, it ultimately proved ineffective when the blades seeped into his hand. As such, all Drizzile had to protect himself were his hands, and while this kept his face from taking in the full brunt of the strike, Melmetal still managed to push said hands into his face, thus causing him pain regardless.

As if that was not enough, the hexagonal nut on that hand was now pressed up against Drizzile's forehead. Thus Melmetal started to spun it and shout, "HARD BUZZ SAW!" the metal scraping against that very spot thus causing the chameleon to cry out in pain once more.

Of course, things only got worse when the cyborg's body vibrated once again before he formed his protrusions and exclaimed, "LIQUID METAL FLYING BLADES!" the daggers shooting out and piercing Drizzile's shoulders. And unlike the ice skates earlier, these ones were stuck in his flesh with the tips right up against the mat, thus he was now trapped in place and unable to stop the onslaught to his forehead.

The Russian crowd cheered wildly while everyone else stared in horror. They could not believe things could be that easy for Melmetal. There had to be something Drizzile could do. After all, he made it to the finals for a reason.

Incineroar gritted his teeth and stood up, grunting, "Hey, what the hell, Drizz!? Are you seriously gonna take that shit!?" Wurmple blinking before Ben nodded and snapped, "Come on, Drizzile! This is nothing! Unown was way worse than this guy and you still managed to beat him! You don't need fancy blade based moves! You're awesome without them!"

Rapidight nodded and stated, "Damn straight! I checked out your match with Morgrem, and while you may have lost, you did use some pretty impressive moves against her! If you'd used full force, you would have won for sure!" Rolycoly staring at the goblin with concern only to feel relieved when she grinned and added, "She's right, Drizzile! You made it this far for a reason! Don't let us down!"

Melmetal all the while formed a neutral look on his eye while he said in a voice too quiet for anyone else to hear, "Those poor naive fools seriously think you can win. I may have prepared myself too much for this match. You only made it this far because your opponents just happened to suck more."

This was more than enough for Drizzile to ignore the pain to his forehead while he gritted his teeth. With that in mind, he lifted up his feet and rammed them into the sides of Melmetal's hand. This was just enough for him to wince and stop his attack. The chameleon then used all his might to pry his shoulders away from the mat and ignore the additional pain this caused him.

He then formed his big water gloves and leapt high into the air, shouting, "AQUATIC POWER MITTS!" sending them both downward and delivering a fierce two-handed karate chop to Melmetal's skull.

The stadium filled with cheers and applause while Drizzile distanced himself from Melmetal and breathed a sigh of relief. Sure, he was already battered and bruised, but this no longer mattered to him. This was not just for him. This was for all of his friends who had fallen to the cyborg's might.

But while Melmetal felt irritated by this, he simply took a deep breath and implied a smile with his eye, saying, "Wow, that was quite the comeback," Drizzile narrowing his eyelids and thinking, 'You think I'm just gonna forget what you said earlier? Admit it, deep down, you are a poor sport, and I'm gonna wipe that fake smile off your face soon enough.'

All the while, his friends all cheered while Wendy exclaimed, "Yeah, sock it to him!" Brian adding, "That's the Drizzile I came to support! Keep it up!"

Geneva and Rolycoly held up their sign that said 'Go, Drizzile' while Allie breathed a sigh of relief and nodded her head. And once again, this was all the motivation Drizzile needed. As such, he kept his gloves around his hands and clenched his fists before unleashing a barrage of rapid punches into Melmetal's gut.

When the cyborg sent his fists toward him, he simply held up his hands and blocked the incoming punches. He then propelled himself into the air and vaulted over to Melmetal's face, shouting, "Let's see you absorb this blade!" Finally, he turned himself around and sent the tip of his tail into the cyborg's forehead, barking, "CHAMELEON LANCE!"

Melmetal's eye widened before he fell backward and landed hard against the canvas, the crowd cheering wildly. And to top it all off, Drizzile ended his assault with an axe kick to Melmetal's face. Afterwards, he leapt backward and took a deep breath, wiping sweat off of his forehead.

"Things were looking awful, but Drizzile has managed an incredible comeback!" Tori stated, "It's just like the others said! Even without his blades, he's still a force to be reckoned with!"

"Wow, Vaporeon's friend is awesome," Eevee uttered with a smile, "Reminds me of me back in the day," Popplio replying, "More like all of us. We'd always do our best under the worst circumstances."

"Yep, good times," Umbreon sighed only for Crabrawler to retort, "I dunno, many of your earliest matches were really easy for you, like, amazingly so."

The black fox blinked before she shrugged her shoulders with a grin and uttered, "It's not my fault I'm awesome," the others lowering their eyelids and glaring at her.

Lycanroc simply chuckled, "Still, I hope this turns out like our matches normally did. If Vaporeon can't win the Olympics, then the least we can do is support her friend."

Melmetal took many deep breaths before he pushed himself back to his feet. But while this was slightly irritating, it was also a good challenge. This meant that if he won, it would feel much more satisfying. As such, he breathed one last breath and said, "Well, now I can see how you made it this far. But I'm not through just yet."

But even after saying that, he realized he would need to think of a strategy now. After all, if he tried his Jack Marble, Drizzile would likely use the same tactic Scorbunny had used to counter it. Currently, the chameleon had too much energy to be caught off guard.

With that in mind, he sent his fists toward Drizzile only for him to see this coming and leap over them. Unfortunately, though, it seemed that Melmetal knew he would do this. Thus he leapt up into the air, swung his arms upward and rammed his fists into the chameleon's chin.

Drizzile tensed up and thought, 'He's probably gonna try his Double Iron Crush! I'm ready for this!' forming his water gloves only for Melmetal to raise his arms over his head and send them crashing into his skull.

The crowd stared when the strike caused Drizzile to flip upside down and fall head-first into the canvas. And things only got worse when Melmetal shifted his body over him and inflated like a balloon, shouting, "LIQUID IRON PRESS!"

This time, the chameleon was unable to move, thus all but his head and shoulders were crushed beneath the cyborg's weight. He cried out in agonizing pain and coughed up more blood while the Russian fans went wild. The others stared in horror while Vaporeon gritted her teeth and growled, "Dammit! I was really hoping he wouldn't fall victim to that!"

Rillaboom and Scorbunny both watched in terror from the hospital. Deep down, they wished they could be there to cheer him on. They figured that might help him overcome this somehow.

Regardless, it looked as if this match would end up being surprisingly short when Shaymin stated, "And just as quickly as it came, Drizzile's advantage leaves him! Melmetal seems more than prepared as he has now struck the lizard with the same move that knocked Vaporeon unconscious for almost a week! Drizzile has sustained a lot in the past, but I'm not even sure Unown's worst can compare to being crushed by that much steel!"

Melmetal once again narrowed his eye and grunted, "Don't feel too bad. This was inevitable. You put up a good fight, but in the end, this match is mine."

Drizzile struggled to keep his eyes open while his friends shouted words of encouragement. He started to lose consciousness while he thought, 'No, this can't be. I can't lose, not after all that preparation.'

Inteleon, meanwhile, bit her lower lip and thought, 'It's fine, son. You did a very good job. Even if you lose, you can take pride knowing you did the best you could.'

And sure enough, Drizzile passed out as everyone stared silently. After a few seconds, Tori blinked and gasped, "Right!" before starting the ten count.

Melmetal then reverted to his normal size and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Wow, that sure was a close one," Vaporeon gritting her teeth and growling, "Dammit! Come on, Drizzile!"

She then slammed her fists against the railing and barked, "You can do it! Get up! Drizzile! Drizzile!" the others nodding and joining in while Tori reached six seconds, Melmetal chuckling, "Oh my god. That's cute. They think that'll restore your energy."

However, his eye widened and the crowd stopped chanting Drizzile's name when the chameleon in question rose to his feet. However, now his eyes were closed, thus Allie smiled and said, "Drizzile's got this."

Melmetal stared and tensed up. He knew exactly what this meant. If he moved in the slightest, Drizzile would strike him for sure. But if he did not fight back, the chameleon would likely regain enough strength to be a legitimate threat again.

With that in mind, he took a deep breath and thought, 'No, this is the perfect time for me to use this,' thus he once again inflated his body. His protrusions then emerged from him as everyone except for the special guests knew exactly what was coming.

"JACK MARBLE!" he exclaimed before rolling toward Drizzile. Sure enough, he could sense the cyborg coming, thus he leapt to the side and sent a roundhouse toward him. However, the crowd gasped when he wound up hitting a protrusion instead of the cyborg's body. As a result, he was the one who took in pain to his ankle.

Drizzile rolled sideways away from Melmetal and breathed heavily but kept his eyes and ear holes closed. He figured this must have been a fluke, though he could not help but wonder what he had just hit. Unfortunately, it seemed this was not the end when the cyborg rolled toward him again.

Drizzile leapt into the air this time and sent a karate chop downward only to hit another protrusion, Melmetal thinking, 'That's it. He can only feel my movements when he does this. He has no way of knowing what moves I'm using, so as long as I continue to use Jack Marble, he won't be able to hit me.'

All the while, Inteleon watched this and gasped, "No, son! Stop attacking him! Keep your distance!" but of course, since she had yelled at her TV screen, this made no difference, not that he would have heard her even if she was there in person.

The others were equally concerned, thus Vaporeon spat, "Drizzile, he's protecting himself! You can't hit him with moves like that!" only for Allie to sigh, "That's not gonna work. In order for this technique to work, he has to shut off all sense of sight and sound. Right now, he can't hear anything."

Vaporeon bit her lower lip and whimpered, "It's bad enough Melmetal has all these abilities that I haven't seen before, but this is insane," the others nodding in agreement.

Drizzile attempted to dodge and counter each time Melmetal came close to him, but every single time, he wound up hurting himself. As such, he leapt as far away from the cyborg as possible and opened his eyes, now realizing his tactic would not work. Sure, he had wasted more than a minute of the time that he could use it, but it was better to save that remaining time for when he could make actual use of it.

When he saw Melmetal rolling toward him, he thought, 'Of course! That's why my attacks didn't work!' thus he took a deep breath before his mind added, 'Alright, that's it. I gotta use the same counter that Scorbunny used, but I have to make it count.'

As such, he watched Melmetal roll toward him and jumped into the air, but just as he prepared a karate chop and aimed for the cyborg's head, his eyes widened when the sphere expanded and covered that very spot. Even the Russian fans were shocked by this as Drizzile took in another strike, coughing up blood and flying backward into the top rope.

"Now this is a shock!" Shaymin squeaked, "It turns out Melmetal has always been able to hide his head! But why didn't he do that in his last match?" Tori explaining, "It's because if his head isn't showing, he can't see where he's going, so it makes sense he would save such a defensive tactic for when it's absolutely necessary."

Drizzile breathed heavily as Melmetal revealed his head again, saying, "Look at that. All your best tricks have failed you. I should have just used this from the start."

Drizzile leapt off the top rope just in time to avoid another strike, but Melmetal simply bounced off and pursued him again. Thus the chameleon was at a loss for ideas. What could he possibly do to counter such a move?