This was it. This was the day Zeraora would fight well against a fellow hero. Sure, he may have defeated Golduck, but he was still unsure just how he had pulled it off. And while he still could not remember a single signature move, he at least knew enough standard moves to be of use.

But of course, Scolipede and Geodude would not be easy opponents. While the rock was short, he was known for his incredible physical strength. Meanwhile, the centipede was almost twice as tall as Vaporeon and Zeraora.

Either way, the fox turned toward the cat and smiled with a nod before he forced a grin of his own. And with that in mind, Beedrill nodded and turned to Nori who smiled and exclaimed, "Well, folks, the combatants are set! Let's begin!" ringing the bell.

Vaporeon nodded at Zeraora who took a deep breath and leapt up into the air. Afterwards, the fox jumped up to his height and flipped vertically. She pushed him forward with her tail before he aimed his feet toward Scolipede, planting them hard into her face.

The crowd went wild as Scorbunny beamed and squealed, "That was a good start!" Rillaboom nodding and replying, "I have to admit, that was definitely a really good strategy."

However, everyone's enthusiasm died down when Scolipede implied a smirk with her eyes and asked, "Is that it?" Zeraora tensed up before she sent her antennae forward and planted them into his shoulders while green acid covered them. She then leaned backwards and shouted, "VENOSHOCK SUPLEX!" ramming his back into the canvas.

Vaporeon gasped and leapt toward the centipede with the tip of her tail covered in ice. She then swung it around only for Geodude to float in front of her and grab the part in question with a smirk. He lifted her up and threw her downward, planting her upper back into the canvas as she cried out in pain.

The crowd cheered as Palkia turned to Dialga and said, "Looks like we got nothing to worry about. If this is the best those heroes who came with Shaymin are capable of, we're on easy street."

Dialga nodded and replied, "Indeed. Maybe we should have just declared war on all heroes instead of setting up a tournament. Oh well, this is still entertaining."

Geodude proceeded to lift Vaporeon up again before he threw his arms downward and slammed her into the mat a second time. When Zeraora saw this, he gasped and gritted his teeth. He then tried his hardest to ignore the pain to his shoulders and sent his feet inward, ramming them into the antennae.

Scolipede's eyes widened before she removed the parts from his shoulders. And when she bolted upright, the cat leapt into the air and thought, 'If that kick didn't hurt her, this certainly will!' taking hold of her cheeks and planting his claws into them.

While the claws certainly added a bit of pain, Scolipede still ignored it as she implied a smirk and said, "You definitely have skill, but as you can see, much like my buddy, Geodude, my body is far too tough for it to matter."

At that moment, all of Zeraora's confidence left him, thus he allowed her to swing her head downward and cause him to fly off of her. When Geodude turned back slightly and noticed this, he swung an already dazed Vaporeon toward the flying feline and caused both to collide with one-another. Needless to say, their friends were beyond concerned when the Atlantic Catfish gasped in pain and fell against the canvas.

"You know, I never did like that Geodude," Machoke uttered, "But Scolipede's just as bad," Drizzile grunting, "Don't count Vaporeon out yet. She's dealt with worse."

While this was certainly true, Vaporeon had lost to almost every major opponent she had ever faced. To this day, her victory over Corviknight was the only one worth mention. Every other victory she had ever obtained was against someone who hardly provided a challenge at all.

But even with that in mind, the fox still pushed herself up before taking hold of Zeraora's shoulders and helping him back to his feet. But when she noticed the look of horror in his eyes, she shook him by the parts she had grabbed and grunted, "Don't lose faith now! They may be tough, but we can do this!"

The cat breathed heavily before he released one last breath and uttered, "Right, of course. I mean, I did beat Golduck, and she's a legend. I've never even heard of this Scolipede before."

The centipede felt slightly offended when she heard that but tried her best to ignore it while Beedrill stated, "Things started off promising for the Atlantic Catfish, but we're only a few minutes in and they've already taken in a lot of pain. Let's see if they can make up for that."

Vaporeon could see all of her friends looking at her with concern. As such, she took a deep breath and thought, 'It's a good thing Zeraora's back in the game. I just hope I'm right and that he really is good enough to make up for this.'

With that in mind, she watched as Scolipede said, "Good, you're done your little pep talk. I was starting to grow impatient," Geodude folding his arms and grunting, "You'd better be grateful. I convinced her not to take advantage of your conversation."

"Oh, wow, thanks," Vaporeon replied with a bow of her head, "It's too bad we have to beat the shit out of you," the rock smirking and readying himself for whatever they had in store.

With all said and done, the fox took a deep breath and turned to Zeraora, whispering, "Launch me into the air. I think my ice might be able to do some real damage. If we can break open Scolipede's flesh, it might give us a weak spot to exploit."

Zeraora nodded before he held out his paws just like Vaporeon did. She then leapt atop them before he threw his arms upward. However, it seemed as if he did not have the same grace she did, thus she wound up flipping forward vertically and falling on her face.

This gave Geodude just the opportunity he needed to drift over her and drop on her back. The fox cried out in agony and coughed up blood while Zeraora gasped and clasped his paws over his mouth.

'Oh my god,' he thought while Geodude remained on Vaporeon's back, took hold of her chin and pulled up on it, shouting, "BOULDER CLUTCH!"

Zeraora continued to tremble, and this distraction was all Scolipede needed as she went down on her four legs and eight arms. She then raced toward Zeraora and rammed her skull into him from the side. This caused him to spin back and land on his front side.

With that, Scolipede mounted her upper body over his back and wrapped all of her arms around him, pulling up and barking, "CENTIPEDE BACKBREAKER!"

The crowd cheered more while Scorbunny squeaked, "VAPOREON, NO!" Blaziken uttering, "What the hell was that? You all saw that, right?"

Aipom nodded with her arms folded and sighed, "It's like those two have no chemistry. Now I'm wondering how they beat Barbaracle and Golduck. Surely they must have practised that move in advance."

While Zeraora's back was certainly in pain, he was much more focused on the amount of shame that he felt. Aipom was right. Had he not screwed up Vaporeon's plan like that, they would not have been in this mess. Once again, he felt like he had let the fox down.

With that in mind, he gritted his teeth and growled while his whiskers turned bright yellow. Sparks then travelled into his tail before he roared, "LIGHTNING SLASH!" and shifted it upward into Scolipede's gut. He ran it right along the centipede before green blood dripped from her, thus she cried out in pain and released her hold on the cat.

The crowd stared in shocked while Zeraora panted heavily with a look of fury in his eyes, a blue glow around his tail. Geodude saw this and gasped, "Scolipede!" the cat leaping toward him with his paws balled up into fists and cupped together. And once close enough, he sent them both down into the rock's skull. This caused just enough pain for him to wince and release his hold.

Vaporeon gasped with a big smile and wrapped her tail around Geodude. She then flung him back-first into the turnbuckle while the crowd cheered wildly, the fox rising to her feet and breathing heavily.

Morgrem grinned and squealed, "Yeah, that was awesome!" as Rolycoly sighed with relief while Raboot uttered, "Damn, that was a pretty good comeback."

Rillaboom grinned and stated, "That's more like it. I figured there was no way Vaporeon would go down that easily, even with two opponents at once."

"Wow, that was incredible," Vaporeon said with a big smile before Zeraora calmed down and uttered, "What did I-?"

He then turned backward to see the sparks that surrounded his tail. A big smile formed on his face as he exclaimed, "Look at that! I'm using electricity! I'm actually using it!"

Scolipede finally ignored the pain on her upper body and breathed heavily. While the slash had not put a necessarily deep cut on her, it had left a long line on her. And there was no way she would let that happen again.

Thus she narrowed her eyelids and grunted, "Well, it seems you have some skills after all. But can you keep that up?" Zeraora noticing that his tail still had sparks around it.

With that in mind, he put on a serious look and grunted, "Vaporeon, I have a plan. I'm not sure if it'll work, but if it does, we could add another weak spot to Scolipede," Vaporeon biting her lower lip. A part of her had wanted to keep coming up with good strategies, but she needed this, and Zeraora was actually confident for a change.

She then noticed Geodude push himself away from the turnbuckle and shake the pain off of himself before she took a deep breath and said, "Alright, let's do it," Zeraora whispering what he had in mind to her before Scolipede growled, "You know what!? As much as I respect Geodude's sense of sportsmanship, I'm taking advantage of this!"

With that in mind, she lunged at the duo only for Vaporeon to slide her tail under Zeraora. She then used it to launch him into the air before he spun vertically toward Scolipede and barked, "LIGHTNING SLASH!" this time putting a small cut on her forehead.

More green blood squirted out before she winced in pain, Geodude gasping and floating toward the cat. But just as he was about to grab him, Vaporeon curled her tail into a spring and bounced high into the air. Sure enough, she managed to reach the rock just in time to latch onto his shoulders and lean backward, shouting, "TRAMPOLINE SUPLEX!"

The crowd cheered louder when Geodude's skull hit the canvas hard. His eyes widened and twitched while he gritted his teeth, Scorbunny giving a round of applause while the others stared in awe.

"You guys were right," Gallade uttered, "She's just like us, pulling off miracles when it really counts," Machoke turning to Scorbunny, Rillaboom and Drizzile and uttering, "Are you guys also like that?"

All three of them shrugged before Morgrem and Rolycoly chuckled nervously. After all, while they had not won a whole lot of matches in their career, their victories had been very similar.

Vaporeon released her hold on Geodude with a look of pride before Zeraora leapt away from Scolipede and landed beside the fox. He could feel his adrenaline pumping and his spirits high. And the best part of all was that this time, he knew full well what he was doing.

Vaporeon looked at the cut on Scolipede's forehead and smirked before she asked, "You thinking what I'm thinking?" Zeraora nodding before he and the fox leapt toward the centipede. Vaporeon proceeded to cover the tip of her tail in an ice ball once again and spun vertically, she and Zeraora shouting, "FROZEN THUNDER BALL!"

But just as the move was about to land, Zeraora's eyes widened when his electricity suddenly faded from his tail. While Vaporeon's ice dealt a decent amount of damage, Scolipede was able to ignore it due to the fact that Zeraora's had done next to nothing.

As such, she once again covered her antennae in acid and jabbed them into her opponents' bellies. Both coughed up blood before she swung her head downward. Geodude recovered just in time to see this, thus he leapt up toward Vaporeon and Zeraora and rested his arms up against their neck. Thus when they hit the canvas, they took in even more pain and coughed up blood, Geodude and Scolipede exclaiming, "VENOSHOCK CHOKESLAM!"

Vaporeon's friends all stared in horror while she and Zeraora lay there with their bodies twitching. Geodude looked down at them, grinned at Scolipede and gave her a thumb up. Thus the Steamrollers backed away from their downed opponents and rose their arms in the air while Nori started a ten count, Butterfree stating, "It seems as if the Atlantic Catfish's advantage has left them! For whatever reason, Zeraora's electricity has up and vanished, thus the Steamrollers are able to knock them down!"

While Zeraora still had enough strength to move, he was spellbound. Out of all the times for this to happen, why now? Why when he finally felt truly worthy of being Vaporeon's partner?

Thankfully, since Vaporeon's body was scaly, she could also move, thus she pushed herself up while flipping backwards. She then looked down at her partner and gasped, "Hey, are you okay!?"

The cat continued to lie there for a few seconds before his eyes widened and he bolted upright. Even so, he continued to sit there while he uttered, "I'm so sorry, Vaporeon. I'm not sure if we can get the upper hand back."

"What do you mean?" Vaporeon enquired, "We were doing awesome before," Zeraora sighing, "Only because my electric powers actually worked. But there's a problem. I don't know how I used it. It's like everything I did three days ago. I have no clue what I did."

The fox looked at Scolipede and squinted her eyes while the cat uttered, "Are you hearing me right now?" only for Vaporeon to hold her hand up to his mouth and gasp, "Look!"

When the cat turned, Scolipede had a look of confusion as he and Vaporeon stared at the scar on her head. While their last move may not have dealt the damage they had hoped, it had increased the size of the wound. With that in mind, Vaporeon smiled and said, "We'll work on your electric powers later, but I don't think we'll need them to end this match."

"Is that so?" Scolipede retorted before she dove toward the Atlantic Catfish, "You sound awfully confident about that!" Geodude racing toward Zeraora with his fist at the ready. Fortunately, though, the cat and his partner were ready, thus when Scolipede closed in, both spun around. Vaporeon slammed her tail into the centipede's skull while Zeraora delivered a roundhouse.

More green blood squirted out while Scolipede's eye twitched, Geodude ready to strike only for Zeraora to fold his arms defensively and block an onslaught of punches from him. His eyes widened when his whiskers lit up and two spheres of electricity covered his fists.

The crowd watched in amazement when the cat smirked and unleashed an onslaught of rapid punches toward Geodude, shouting, "PLASMA FISTS!" While the rock managed to block them at first, it was not long until he felt his arms start to weaken. Thus he lowered his guard just long enough to receive a fierce punch to his forehead, a small burn mark forming on that very spot.

Zeraora continued to send more and more strikes to Geodude as Scolipede growled, "Oh no you don't!" She tucked herself into a ball and rolled toward him while green buzz saws made of energy formed on her shoulders and she spat, "CENTIPEDE STEAMROLLER!"

Vaporeon would not allow Zeraora to lose the upper hand, not again. As such, she frowned and dashed in front of the centipede. She glared and watched her movements while she thought, 'It's just like when Scorbunny defeated Melmetal's Jack Marble technique. I just have to watch really closely and strike when the time is right.'

Melmetal himself knew this full well, thus he watched from the crowd and hoped she could pull this off. And sure enough, Vaporeon just happened to spot the pattern right on time before she covered the tip of her tail in ice. She then spun her body around and shouted, "ICE FLAIL ROUNDHOUSE!" swinging the sphere toward Scolipede.

Vaporeon closed her eyes tight while the crowd stared in stunned silence. When she noticed she had not been struck and felt that her ice had indeed hit something soft, she opened her eyes and slowly turned toward the centipede. Sure enough, the scar on her skull had split open and a great deal of green blood trickled down from that exact spot.

As if that was not enough, Zeraora held his arms back before he sent both fists forward into Geodude's forehead. This sent him flying backward into the turnbuckle, and when he collided with it, he cried out in pain, closed his eyes and passed out.

When Scolipede retracted from her ball-like state and spread her arms and legs out, Nori blinked while Beedrill stated, "Wow, just as it seemed like their advantage had left them, the Atlantic Catfish get it back! Zeraora delivers an amazing onslaught while his partner strikes Scolipede in the forehead! But will this be enough to take these two powerhouses out for good!?"

Scorbunny bit her lower lip in anticipation while the others were just as invested. And once Butterfree reached ten seconds, Nori nodded and rang the bell, exclaiming, "After a very intense first match, the Atlantic Catfish have won and will advance to round two!"

The area erupted with heavy cheers and applause as Zeraora's electricity faded. He then looked at his paws then at Geodude's unconscious body and thought, 'Oh my god. I did it. I really did it. And I actually kinda knew what I was doing that time.'

The others all rose their arms in the air, Rillaboom shouting, "Way to go, guys!" Aipom nodding and saying, "Well, they still have a way to go, but that was a great comeback," Machoke sighing, "Come on, you're not even a trainer anymore. You don't have to talk like one."

Scorbunny's eyes sparkled until Raboot nodded and said, "That Vaporeon's pretty impressive. Of course, she doesn't hold a candle to us, but still," the female rabbit lowering her eyelids and thinking, 'Yep, exactly how Grandma described him.'

Blaziken seemed to agree though as she said, "Hey, if we win our next match, we'll get to fight them. That's pretty exciting, isn't it?" Scorbunny's eyes wide with shock. In all the excitement, she had just about forgotten that her match was next.

Drizzile nodded with his arms folded and stated, "I can see why Vaporeon chose Zeraora as her partner. He's kinda like me and Rillaboom when we were just starting but he definitely shows a lot of promise," Gallade shrugging and replying, "Yeah, but we could beat them if we face them later, right?"

The chameleon had to admit, much like Scorbunny, he had not really thought about that yet. If he and Gallade won the first two rounds, they could potentially wind up facing either Vaporeon or the female rabbit in the semi-finals. Whatever the case, Drizzile would certainly like a less stressful match for a change.

Rolycoly took a deep breath and said, "I was really on the edge of my seat there, but then again, when am I not when watching our friends fight?" Morgrem shrugging and replying, "Same here, but was there any real doubt they'd win?"

Scolipede and Geodude were both loaded up onto stretchers before Beedrill stated, "And with the first match out of the way, we have ten minutes for the next one to begin. Therefor, I request that the Atlantic Catfish step out of the ring as soon as they can."

Vaporeon nodded and held up her fist, Zeraora staring at it for a few seconds. A smile then formed on his face before he lifted up his own fist and planted it up against hers. He could not have felt more satisfied.

While he and the fox returned to the crowd, the cat looked around and noticed the bullies who used to pick on him were not in the bleachers. But right now, he was just so happy to have earned his victory that he did not even care whether or not they had seen him win on TV. He had just proven himself a worthy fighter in front of all of these people and that was good enough for him.

Dialga watched this and said, "I can see why that mermaid cat thing doesn't have much of a reputation back in her time," Palkia remarking, "What do you mean? She won, didn't she?"

"Yes," the blue dragon replied, "But it wasn't a very impressive victory. If anything, I feel like that floating rock and the bug would have been a much bigger challenge if we faced them later. Still, though, there are others who came with her. Let's see if they're at least worth worrying about."

While he still felt confident that he and Palkia could win this tournament with ease, it still did not hurt to be cautious. As such, he would focus as hard as possible on every single match.

Blaziken and Scorbunny headed to the back to prepare themselves after Vaporeon and Zeraora headed to the bleachers. Thankfully, the cat was used to the fox's friends by now, so he did not feel particularly nervous when he sat near them. Now all that mattered was that he cheer for Vaporeon's friend.

But would this turn out like Blaziken figured? Would Vaporeon and Scorbunny fight in the second round?