While the heroes of Edmonton and Tokyo had all come out on top, Dialga and Palkia would also advance to the official first round of the tournament. But either way, there were still plenty of other teams left, and the crowd could not wait to see who would also compete.

In one ring, Lucario and Clauncher were up against Talonflame and Scyther. While the dog and falcon were good friends, neither one of them would let up. This was certainly made clear when Talonflame flapped his wings and sent a barrage of kicks toward Lucario's face.

However, the dog was more than prepared for this, thus he held up his wrists and pointed them backward. As a result, the falcon's feet wound up pierced when they ran into the spikes.

However, it seemed as if Talonflame was prepared for this when he latched onto Lucario's wrists and flew high above the mat. His entire body caught flame while he performed a U-turn and shouted, "FLARE BLITZ!"

All the while, Clauncher was held up by Scyther. The bug had formed a pair of blades on her arms and was currently swinging them at the shrimp, shouting, "ARM SCHWERT!"

Clauncher blocked the strikes with her big claw as best as she could, though it had proven to be only slightly effective. While the claw did not bleed, it had a lot of scratches on it and right now, her eyelids were starting to sag.

But when she looked up and noticed Lucario in trouble, she put on a more serious look. Scyther, however, snapped, "Hey, don't turn your back to your opponent!" swinging her blade again only for the shrimp to open her claw and catch the blade without even looking at it.

Scyther's eyes widened with terror before the shrimp lifted her up, the audience truly in awe. They had all completely forgotten just how strong she was for her size, and this was certainly favourable as it allowed her to swing Scyther around before she flung her toward Talonflame.

The falcon's eyes widened when his partner soared right into his side and caused him to release Lucario. Thus the dog flipped himself right side up and wrapped her arms and legs around Talonflame, barking, "CANINE HUG SLAM!"

The crowd cheered when he drove Talonflame's skull into the canvas and leapt back toward Clauncher with a smile. The two then shared a brief high five before Scyther landed on her feet and grunted, "I have to admit, Lucario, that partner of yours really is incredible."

Clauncher chuckled, "Oh, you're too kind. You two are pretty amazing as well," Talonflame flipping upright and retorting, "Pretty amazing? We're saucesome!"

'Saucesome?' Lucario thought with a look of confusion, 'The hell does that mean?' before Scyther spread out her wings and grunted, "Alright, let's show them that team move they didn't get to see before."

Talonflame nodded and took to the sky along with her. Both then held hands before the falcon lit himself on fire. After that, they spun toward their opponents and whipped up a twister made entirely out of fire, shouting, "ARM SCHWERT INFERNO!"

Lucario narrowed his eyelids and said, "Not bad, but we can defeat that easily, right?" Clauncher nodding and replying, "I know just how to do it, too."

With that in mind, the shrimp curled up into a ball before Lucario picked her up and reeled his foot back. He then swung it upward into her and exclaimed, "CRUSTACEAN FOOTBALL!" sending her into the air while everyone started in confusion. But while it seemed like the dog had somehow missed his target, it became clear why he aimed upward when Clauncher descended downward like an asteroid and landed hard against Scyther's skull.

This was just enough for her to cough up blood and break formation, thus Talonflame found himself losing control. With that, Lucario raced toward the falcon and grabbed hold of him. He leapt high into the air and flipped the now dazed falcon upside-down, pressed his knees up against his feet and barked, "COLLAPSING TOWER!"

The back of Talonflame's head hit the canvas hard as he coughed up blood and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Lucario leapt off of him and allowed him to collapse while Clauncher wrapped her arms around Scyther's waist. She then smiled at Lucario and nodded before he returned the gesture and leapt toward the bug.

Clauncher leapt into the air and leaned backward before the dog descended toward Scyther and planted his feet into her chin. Thus he and his partner shouted, "SHARP BACKDROP!" the bug's skull hitting the canvas hard.

Scyther let out one last cry of pain before Clauncher released her and allowed her to collapse. And after ten seconds, their victory was confirmed as they rose an arm in the air each. Lucario then looked down at Talonflame and enquired, "Hey, you okay, buddy?" the falcon's eyes rolling back into place before he pushed himself up and remarked, "Who do you think you're talking to?"

Scyther was also alright as she sat upright and rubbed her skull. Clauncher smiled and held out her tiny claw before she said, "You were just as amazing as I thought you'd be," the bug smiling and shaking her claw.

In another ring, a blue turtle with a squirrel tail named Squirtle and a cyborg with a spherical head with a single eye and two magnets on his cheeks named Magnemite were up against two boys with rocky skin and karate gis named Throh and Sawk. Throh was rather stocky and red while Sawk was tall, slender and blue

Both seemed to dominate their opponents when Sawk lay into Magnemite with an onslaught of karate chops. All the while, Throh lifted up Squirtle and leapt backward, planting her skull into the canvas. However, it seemed that the cyborg was prepared for this as he took hold of Sawk's wrists and pointed his magnets backward.

"SONIC BOOM!" he exclaimed before unleashing a shock wave from the magnets and launching himself forward. He then yelled, "Squirtle, it's time for tactic two hundred and thirteen!" the turtle nodding and tucking herself into her shell. She then spun it around and forced Throh to release her before she landed behind him and spun into his ankles, barking, "SHELL SPIN HOCKEY PUCK!"

This caused Throh to trip and fly backward just in time for Sawk's back to make contact with his, both gasping in pain before Magnemite released his hold. This allowed Sawk to fall forward and collapse before his brother fell on top of him.

When their victory was confirmed, the crowd cheered as Squirtle rose her arms in the air, squealing, "We actually won a match!" Magnemite folding his arms and replying, "Well, naturally. With your strength and my intellect, is it really that surprising?"

"Dude, have you seen our track record?" the turtle remarked before the cyborg released a nervous sweat drop.

Sure enough, more and more teams fell. The purple lizard with a yellow underbelly and electric frills, Toxtricity, defeated an otter with a sky blue body and snow white head and a dark brown mole with a blade sticking out of his forehead and tribal marking on his cheek with the help of his twin sister, Sutorinda. The only difference between him and her was that her underbelly and frills were blue.

They ultimately came out on top with a move that involved them flying toward their opponents and holding each other's hands and feet to form a wheel shape. They then spun like a buzz saw and sliced open both opponents, calling the move Lightning Saw.

Smeargle and Florges were also up against the dinosaur with a skull on her head, Cubone, and the yellow dragon with axes on his cheeks, Haxorus. The dinosaur and dragon were both rather weak, thus the flower woman and beagle felt fully confident.

Smeargle ran over to Haxorus, leapt behind him and wrapped two of his tails around his wrists and the third around both of his legs. He then held him up and flipped him backward before he pulled back hard, causing his back to bend.

Florges, meanwhile, held up Cubone before flower petals formed around her arms. She then used them to launch her toward Haxorus as the flower woman and Smeargle exclaimed, "PETAL CANNON!"

Cubone ran hard into Haxorus, both coughing up blood before passing out while the crowd went wild. Smeargle rose his arms in the air with a big smile before Florges walked over and kissed him on the cheek. Needless to say, this was a pretty big deal considering the beagle used to be one of the weakest heroes on Earth.

In another ring, Scrafty and Bisharp were up against a light-brown horseshoe crab with sickles for hands named Kabutops and a pangolin with sharp claws and spikes along her back named Sandslash. While both had put up a good fight, in the end, Bisharp had caught Kabutops' arms and ankles and was currently on his back with the horseshoe crab aimed upward in a bridge formation.

Scrafty sent Sandslash high above the ring before he planted his knees into the back of her neck and sent her belly hard into her partner's. This caused Kabutops to fall backward into Bisharp's bladed rib cage, thus resulting in his back being pierced.

The crowd cheered while the pangolin and crab coughed up blood and passed out, Scrafty and Bisharp exclaiming, "IRON MAIDEN!" Sure enough, ten seconds passed and their victory was assured, the crowd going wild.

Meanwhile, a short cream-coloured girl with a long black ponytail with jaws like that of an alligator named Mawile and a red octopus known as Octillery were up against two opponents of their own. One was a bright pink girl made entirely out of whipped cream with two looped bangs decorated with a strawberry each. Her partner was a golem made of various square shaped and rectangular stones. His legs were enormous and brown on the bottom while the rest of his body, which was essentially a head with arms, was much smaller. These two were Alcremie and Stonjourner respectively.

Mawile and Octillery seemed to have the upper hand when the girl leapt toward Alcremie and exclaimed, "ALLIGATOR JAW!" the ponytail opening her mouth and biting into the cream girl's face. All the while, Octillery had Stonjourner's arms trapped in place while she beat away at his face and stated, "Good job, Mawile and Mrs. Futakuchi!"

As it so happened, Mawile's ponytail was actually a reincarnation of her mother who had died saving the life of another child. And together, both family members made for quite an impressive team.

But just as it seemed like they had this match in the bag, the ponytail tensed up and found herself unable to move her jaws. On top of that, Alcremie seemed to have felt no pain at all when she smiled and asked, "I'm sorry, is this supposed to hurt?"

Stonjourner blinked and uttered, "Oh, Alcremie, you're okay," only for the cream girl to sigh, "Please, you know something like this won't effect me."

She then lifted up her hands and placed them against Mawile's ponytail while Octillery stared with concern. This was just enough for Stonjourner to gasp, "Oh, right!" before flipping his legs up like the pages of a book and planting them into the octopus' back.

This caused her to release him before he lowered his feet back to the canvas and wrapped his arms around her, shouting, "FALLING ROCK DRIVER!" He flipped her upside-down and rose his legs backward, pointing his feet into the air and allowing himself to drop toward the mat. This allowed Octillery's skull to hit the canvas hard, thus she coughed up blood and passed out.

Alcremie, all the while, puffed up her cheeks, inflated the size of her arms and used them to pry open the ponytail's jaws. She then lifted Mawile up over her and leaned backward, planting her skull and her mother's back into the canvas.

With that, Mawile and the ponytail both cried out in pain and lost consciousness as well, Alcremie and Stonjourner's victory confirmed. Thus the cream girl rose her arms in the air and squealed, "ALRIGHT! JUST ONE MORE STEP TOWARDS GLORY!" Stonjourner lifting up his own arm and uttering, "Yay."

Meanwhile, a pale purple boy with ridges on his head and brown shorts and shoes named Tyrogue and a three-headed kiwi known as Dodrio were up against a large red and black centipede named Scolipede and a floating rock with arms named Geodude. While Tyrogue and Dodrio had put up a good fight, in the end, both seemed at a major disadvantage when Scolipede rolled into them with what appeared to be green saw blades made of energy attached to her shoulders.

She struck each one with a blade and exclaimed, "CENTIPEDE STEAMROLLER!" putting a big gash on each one's torso. Thus blood flew out from the opponents before they passed out.

Geodude grinned and said, "That was awesome, Scolipede," the centipede nodding with a proud smile and replying, "But of course. Together, we'll definitely win this tournament."

This left one last pair of teams. One of the fighters in the ring was a sentient sword with ghostly black arms that had purple fingers, a golden blade with a white rim and a handle that looked more like a striated spike. Her name was Aegislash. Her partner was a black zebra with white stripes and a mane shaped like a lightning bolt named Blitzle.

One opponent was a green rose with white petals that represented hair, a leafy green cape and a red bouquet of flowers for a right hand and a blue bouquet for the left. Her name was Roserade. Her partner was a pile of purple sludge named Grimer.

It seemed as if both made for a very good team when Grimer stretched out his arms and trapped Blitzle in place, the zebra gasping, "MY WORD! This ugly, disgusting monstrosity has me in its slimy grip! Alas, Aegislash, go on without me!" the sword blocking an incoming strike from Roserade, who had formed thorns all over her body, with her arms, grunting, "Must you always be such a drama queen?"

All the while, she noticed her hand start to bleed while she narrowed her single eye and thought, 'I wish I still had my shield,' Roserade noticing she had dropped her guard. Thus she covered her blue bouquet in a bright orange sphere and rammed it into the sword's face, shouting, "WEATHER BALL!"

This sent Aegislash flying backward toward the ropes. However, when she noticed this, she implied a smirk and said, "Big mistake." She then tilted her body back and allowed herself to hit the material and bounce off with her blade pointed straight toward Roserade.

The rose girl's eyes widened when a dark energy surrounded Aegislash's blade and she exclaimed, "SACRED STAB!" jamming it into Roserade's gut.

The rose girl coughed up blood before Grimer gasped, "Roserade!" and released his hold on Blitzle. Thus the zebra took a deep breath and grunted, "Right!" before he went down on all fours and charged toward him with electric sparks covering the tip of his mane.

"WILD CHARGE!" he yelled before ramming it into Grimer's back. This caused the sludge to cry out in pain before he and Roserade were forced up against one-another, Aegislash and Blitzle shouting, "SACRED CHARGE!"

Both opponents coughed up blood and passed out, thus Aegislash and Blitzle's victory had been confirmed as they rose their arms in the air. The zebra took many deep breaths and stated, "I dare say, hearing people cheer for us is amazing!" Aegislash nodding and sighing, "And to think, years ago, we tried to enslave this world."

Once all of the matches were finished, Nori looked at a little screen that showed her this and exclaimed, "Alright, folks, that concludes the elimination round! Now we officially have the sixteen teams that will compete in the main event!"

The crowd was truly curious when all of the barricades were lowered to reveal the teams left standing. When Blaziken, Drizzile and Rillaboom saw each other still standing, they all grinned while Vaporeon was happy to see that they all won their matches. And of course, when the trio spotted her and Zeraora standing tall and proud with Barbaracle out cold and Golduck's skull lodged in the canvas, their happiness grew.

However, they were even more amazed when they saw that Morgrem and Rolycoly had defeated their first opponents. While Scorbunny had a feeling they would win, the others were not entirely sure. But they were certainly ecstatic about this as it meant all six friends would get to compete.

Melmetal was also glad as he stated, "Well, look at that. They all advanced," Shaymin much more focused on Dialga and Palkia right now. As if the fact that they had won their match with nary a scratch on them was not enough, they just happened to have been in a ring located right next to theirs. With that in mind, Shaymin gritted her teeth and thought, 'Dammit, if we had just checked one more door, we could have faced them!'

Dialga turned to face the hedgehog and groaned, "Great, the pest actually won her match," only for Palkia to shrug and reply, "Big deal. If we fight her in the first round, we can easily beat her again," the blue dragon blinking and uttering, "Oh yeah, I did say that, didn't I?"

Since Beedrill and Butterfree had not taken in too much damage from their match with Aipom and Rillaboom, they both flew toward the announcer's booth and took a seat. Nori blinked and sighed, "Let me guess, you lost, didn't you?"

The butterfly narrowed her eyes while Beedrill sighed, "Yeah, but hey, at least that means we get to state how the order works," Butterfree grumbling, "Yeah, because that's much more exciting than advancing to the actual tournament."

The wasp patted his wife on the shoulder before he tapped the microphone and exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen, each section of you has just witnessed one exciting match, but in just three days from now, the main event will begin! Therefor it only seems right to decide the order of the matches right now!"

"Wait, really?" Morgrem uttered, "We don't have to come back tomorrow to watch a pinball machine or something else decide that?" Rolycoly groaning, "Come on, we just finished a match. I don't wanna be launched out of a cannon or shot at a target or what-have-you."

The others were equally curious, many others sharing the small golem's sentiment. Though thankfully, it seemed as if they would not have to endure anything along those lines when Butterfree explained, "Actually, we don't really need to decide the order, because it's already been decided. See, the matches will take place based off of which ring each qualifier is standing in."

The heroes and audience looked at the rings in particular while Beedrill explained, "Basically, the order will go from left to right, meaning whichever team is currently in the ring on the far left-hand side will go up against whoever is in the ring beside it, and it will continue in that order until we get to the team standing on the far-right ring."

Zeraora looked to the right and uttered, "Wait a minute, I just realized something. We're in the far left ring," Vaporeon's eyes sparkling before she formed a wide grin and squealed, "Oh my god! That means we get to be in the first match!"

The cat tensed up and tried his hardest to look as excited as the fox did. After such an impressive victory, he should have felt ready, but it was as he said. He was still not entirely sure how he had knocked out Golduck. And to make matters worse, their next two opponents looked tough as well.

Next to them were Scolipede and Geodude. The centipede turned to face them with a smile on her face and said, "Well, this should be fun," the rock planting his fist into his palm.

Scorbunny and Blaziken, meanwhile, stood beside the ring where Alcremie and Stonjourner had fought. When the chicken noticed Octillery and Mawile both in a heap, she frowned and grunted, "We can beat these two easily, right?"

The rabbit nodded and replied, "Damn straight," a big smile on her face while Stonjourner tensed up and whimpered, "Oh my god! Our next opponent is Blaziken! She once beat a rock snake four times my height!" only for the cream girl to pat the tall golem on the side of his leg and coaxingly say, "It's okay, Stonjourner. We can beat them."

Gallade turned to the ring next to his and stared in shock. He could not believe his next two opponents were Smeargle and Florges. After all, both were really good childhood friends from his hometown of Paris. Drizzile noticed this and bowed his head to the side, Smeargle and Florges smiling and returning the gesture. Needless to say, both looked rather forward to facing Gallade in the first round.

Morgrem and Rolycoly were to go up against Toxtricity and Sutorinda. After their victory, Morgrem felt much more confident as did the small golem. After all, these two lizards may have looked scary, but the goblin and her partner had dealt with worse in the past.

Of course, as soon as Shaymin heard the rule for the order, a big smirk formed on her face before she turned to face Dialga and Palkia. She could not believe her luck. Even though she had not gotten a chance to face them in the elimination round, she could still fight them in the official first round.

All the while, the dragons faced her with confidence. It was just as Palkia said. Shaymin was hardly a threat to them at all.

Rillaboom and Aipom would face Magnemite and Squirtle after that. The monkey grinned and said, "Yeah, we got this," the gorilla nodding and pounding her fist against Aipom's tail fist.

Lucario and Clauncher noticed they were up against Aegislash and Blitzle. While the dog was fully aware of the fact that these two were on the side of good now, he had not entirely forgotten about the time the zebra rendered him and Talonflame useless by trapping them both inside an electric cage. But even so, he would try his best not to let that motivate him since it would be petty to do so.

Clauncher, meanwhile, just looked forward to another match. After all, when not fighting opponents, she always tried to be as chill as possible.

This left Machoke and Gardevoir to face Bisharp and Scrafty in the final match of round one. Needless to say, both could not believe this. After all, Scrafty was the first fighter Gardevoir ever defeated on Earth while Bisharp was Machoke's second.

And of course, when the knight and salamander gazed upon them, a big grin formed on Scrafty's face before Bisharp bowed his head. All four heroes certainly looked forward to this.

"Well, now that the order has been decided, everyone can head home or wherever else they may be staying," Nori stated, "Remember, though, in three days from now, the first match will begin at ten in the morning. I hope to see you all here."

And with that, the stadium was soon cleared out. The heroes were all off to their hotels, save for Machoke and Gardevoir, who still lived in Tokyo. They also invited Aipom to stay with them, but she felt it would be more beneficial to spend her time with Rillaboom since the gorilla was her partner.

Scyther and Talonflame bowed their heads in respect to Lucario. But while the falcon would certainly stick around for the dog's next match, Scyther figured she may as well return home. After all, her human wife, Reika, would likely want to watch the rest of the tournament on TV with her now that she was no longer competing.

Of course, Vaporeon's friends all gathered around her to congratulate each other on their victories, Zeraora feeling beyond nervous. That tension rose when the fox pulled him in for a group hug, Scorbunny squealing, "I wish I could have seen your match!"

"Well, we'll get to see them in three days," Rillaboom replied as Morgrem nodded and said, "I can't wait to see what kind of skills you have, Zeraora."

The cat blushed and uttered, "Oh, um, thanks," rubbing the back of his head. He then blinked and spotted Golduck and Barbaracle slowly pass them. Despite all the damage they had taken in, somehow they were still able to get back up.

The cat felt a sense of dread until both opponents gave him and Vaporeon's thumbs up. Much like when Machoke defeated them back in the day, both had gained a great deal of respect for the two after this match. As such, Zeraora smiled and returned the gesture, Vaporeon soon spotting this and bowing her head.

Shaymin, all the while, looked at this and said, "I'm debating whether or not we should stay here after we kick Dialga and Palkia's asses, Melmetal."

The cyborg blinked and turned to her before she sighed, "It's like, on one hand, there's really no point in sticking around, but they seem to be having fun. And you know, if those two villains are dealt with, there's really nothing to stress out over, right?"

Melmetal uttered, "I dunno, I feel like the longer we stay here, the more likely someone is to reveal that we're from the future," the hedgehog narrowing her eyelids and retorting, "Why were you looking at me when you said that?" the cyborg blinking in confusion.

Either way, things had gone well so far, but even so, Dialga and Palkia had won their match easily. Could Shaymin and Melmetal truly defeat them? And how would the others fare?