Disclaimer: The song Vaporeon refers to is a real song called 'Thank You For Being A Friend' written by Andrew Gold and used as the theme song for Golden Girls.

Jolteon and Zeraora remained in the Basketball court for a while, but after enough time passed, he was finally able to make the sparks last. As such, the yellow fox was ready for step two. With that in mind, she had him stop meditating, his sparks still circling his whiskers.

Once Zeraora opened his eyes, Jolteon used her eyes to signal him to look down. Thus he did just that before he noticed the whiskers in question. He breathed heavily and lifted up his paw, lightly holding his claw up to the electricity as it spread to that and covered his entire forearm. A light smile formed on his face as he said, "I did it. I actually used it."

"Yep, you sure did!" Jolteon squealed, "But you weren't fully conscious. That's gonna be lesson number two, Electric B-" Zeraora holding out his hand and retorting, "Please, please don't finish that," the yellow fox blinking before she chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of her neck.

She then stated, "Anyway, now that you've figured out how to activate electricity by clearing your thoughts, now I'm gonna teach you to use it on command. One thing you need plenty of is energy," Zeraora nodding and replying, "Well, I'm not lazy like normal cats, so I might be fine there."

Jolteon nodded and squealed, "Alright, now go to town on this this!" pulling out a big metal practice dummy seemingly out of nowhere, "Maybe try scratching it. If you can really get into the moment, you should notice sparks fly."

Zeraora nodded and started to claw rapidly at the dummy. While this showed little results at first, he started to pick up the pace when Jolteon told him to. He continued to get faster and faster until finally, he saw a tiny spark emerge from his right middle claw. His eyes widened as he kept at it, more sparks forming until soon, electricity circled around his paw.

Thus he turned toward Jolteon and said, "Wow, you're a really good teacher," Jolteon beaming with pride and squealing, "Naturally." For a split second, the cat could swear he saw her nose grow to the size of that of a tengu, though he was too distracted by the fact that she said that in such a calm tone.

Jolteon soon noticed this herself, thus she picked up a cup of freshly brewed coffee and gulped it down before her entire body started to vibrate. Thus Zeraora stared at her and thought, 'If she wasn't so nice, this would terrify me.'

And so, the cat spent another hour training. After all, just because he had gotten sparks to form once did not mean he had completely figured out how to use them on command. But much like when Rillaboom learned how to use her grass powers, he had surprisingly gotten the hang of it very quickly. Like her, he had simply needed someone with the same element to show him.

The two returned soon as Vaporeon and Leafeon panted heavily from a lot of sparring. The blue fox turned and said, "Boy, you two were sure gone a long time," Jolteon squealing, "I couldn't help it. Tokyo's just so big and cool. I had to do everything with Zeraora!" the cat chuckling and thinking, 'Yeah, with her speed and energy, that's actually believable.'

Leafeon could once again tell she was lying, but unlike before, she immediately caught onto the reason. Thus she said nothing and nodded her head, saying, "Well, Vaporeon and I have been sparring a lot. I gotta say, she wasn't kidding. Her style is way different from mine."

Vaporeon gave her own nod before Zeraora approached her and said, "Hey, um, I had an idea while I was hanging out with Jolteon. Seeing as she and Leafeon are here and aren't competing, I thought it might be a good idea to spar with them, you know, maybe have a two-on-two match with them."

Leafeon blinked and turned to Jolteon who gave the cat a thumb up. Vaporeon blinked and nodded her head, replying, "Okay, yeah," a big smile on her face, "In fact, I was gonna suggest maybe we do that tomorrow after you master your electric powers, but you know what? You seem to always activate them during matches, so this might help."

The tan fox seemed to like the idea as well, thus she smiled and said, "I'm definitely up for that. It'll be nice to see what the two of you can do against veterans like us, eh, cousin?"

Vaporeon nodded and thought, 'Well, it's not an official match. Besides, if Scorbunny can fight her great grandfather without hesitation, I can do the same with my family, right?'

With that in mind, she and Leafeon got a little bit of rest in before heading to a wrestling ring reserved for people to spar. At this moment, a few citizens just happened to enter the gym and notice this. Thus they all sat on the floor to watch. After all, while they had only discovered Vaporeon and Zeraora a while ago, they knew full well who Jolteon and Leafeon were and could not wait to see them in action.

When Jolteon saw all the people, she grinned and squealed, "Who wants to be our announcer!?" a young man smiling and raising his hand before anyone else. Thus the yellow fox nodded and exclaimed, "Alright, just signal the start of the match when we're good and ready! Of course, I'm more than ready right now, but the others might not be!"

"Nah, I'm fine," Leafeon said with a shrug while Vaporeon turned to Zeraora. The cat seemed to be prepared when he gave her a thumb up, so she nodded and gave her opponents the same gesture.

With that in mind, the man in the crowd rose his arm and exclaimed, "Ladies and gentlemen of the gym, we are gathered here today to witness a truly momentous occasion! Legendary fighters, Jolteon and Leafeon are about to go toe-to-toe with newcomers, Vaporeon and Zeraora! So, without further ado, let's begin!"

He then lowered his hand and signalled the start of the match. Zeraora winked at Jolteon before he raced toward her with his arm out. The yellow fox smirked and sped toward him at the speed of sound, ramming her arm into his neck and knocking him on his back before anyone could even figure out what was going on. Vaporeon stared at this and thought, 'Oh god, she's just as good as I heard she was.'

With that in mind, she was just about to head toward Jolteon and help her partner only for Leafeon to spread her tails out like blades and race by the blue fox. She then shouted, "LEAF SWORD DASH!" putting a cut on Vaporeon's side.

The blue fox winced in pain and looked at the blood dripping from her. It was clear that while this was a sparring match, both of her ancestors were not holding back. With that in mind, Vaporeon took a deep breath when she noticed Leafeon aim a roundhouse at her.

Unlike before when she fell victim to this, Vaporeon took hold of her leg and twisted it, causing the tan fox to fall on her back while Zeraora got up only for Jolteon to bounce off the rope and ram her skull into his back. She then stood upright and unleashed a barrage of rapid karate chops into his chest like machine gun bullets.

But while it looked like this really hurt, in reality, the yellow fox was holding back. As it so happened, she and Zeraora planned this in advance. The cat wanted to make it look like he was struggling against her so that when he finally unleashed his electricity, it would seem like Vaporeon somehow inspired it.

Vaporeon, however, truly believed he was in pain, thus she formed her ball of water and turned it into ice. She then leapt toward Jolteon who signalled Leafeon not to stop her. Sparks of electricity surrounded the yellow fox as a smirk crossed her face. And when Vaporeon swung her tail at her and shouted, "ICE FLAIL ROUNDHOUSE!" Jolteon sped behind the blue fox and wrapped her arms around her.

She then turned toward Leafeon and winked at her before she leaned backward. The tan fox nodded and leapt at Vaporeon before she spun around and leaned her arms back. She then took hold of Vaporeon's chin before she and her mother squeaked, "DOUBLE SUPLEX!" ramming the back of the blue fox's head into the canvas.

Zeraora winced at the sight of this and thought, 'Sorry, Vaporeon, but Jolteon really wanted to make our victory look super impressive,' and while Leafeon had caught onto the fact that her mother wanted her to hold back just a little bit, just pulling off a team move with her felt satisfying.

Vaporeon gritted her teeth and held onto the back of her head before Zeraora faked a gasp. He then growled, "Alright, that's it! I don't care if you two are friends! I'm not going easy on you!" clenching his fists and racing toward both foxes.

Since Leafeon had already figured out Jolteon's plan, she did not even need to be signalled to stand still and allow Zeraora to land a hit. Thus she pretended to have a delayed reaction before the cat formed sparks around both arms and barked, "LIGHTNING ROD CLOTHESLINE!"

The crowd cheered when he rammed both arms into Jolteon and Leafeon's necks. The foxes gasped in pain and fell on their backs before Vaporeon rose to her feet and stared at Zeraora in shock. Ge then breathed heavily as he smiled and uttered, "Look. I wanted to produce electricity and I did. I did it all on my own!"

He would have mentioned how the idea was that her being in trouble caused it, but he figured such wording may have come off as a tad suspicious. As such, he left it there, and it seemed to work when a big smile formed on Vaporeon's face. However, it looked like the duo had not exactly won when Jolteon winked at Leafeon and whispered, "Now that Vaporeon knows Zeraora can use his electricity, what say we take this match seriously now?"

"Wait, so you weren't actually thinking of throwing the match?" Leafeon replied only for the yellow fox to chuckle, "As if. I haven't had action like this in ages. This is my chance to show the people of Tokyo just how awesome I am. There's no way I'm losing on purpose."

Leafeon smirked and squealed, "I figured you of all people would never sink to that level," thus she and Jolteon rose to their feet and nodded at one-another. Vaporeon turned to face them and smiled at Zeraora, asking, "You ready to finish this, partner?" the cat shooting her a grin and nodding.

With that in mind, Vaporeon once again formed ice on the tip of her tail while Zeraora formed electricity around his. Just the fact that he had been able to do that by his own free will was the greatest feeling in the world to him. Thus both leapt toward their opponents and spun around, ramming their tails into their faces and barking, "FRIGID ELECTRO FLAIL!"

But while Leafeon and Jolteon took in pain from this, they ignored it and leaned backward. They then placed their palms against the mat and flipped upright, Zeraora staring at the yellow fox with confusion until she smirked, showing him that she was indeed fighting seriously now.

As such, she leapt backward into the ropes and pressed up against them, her body conducting electricity. She launched herself off of it like a bullet with her arms pointed forward, screeching, "LIGHTNING BOLT TACKLE!" ramming her palms hard into Vaporeon's gut.

Leafeon, meanwhile, leapt toward Zeraora and rammed her feet into his chest. She then wrapped her arms around him and leapt into the air before she flipped upside down and wrapped her tails around his legs to bind them in place. At that moment, leaves started to form around her body while she spun toward the mat and shouted, "BINDING LEAF TWISTER!"

Zeraora's eyes and mouth went wide when his skull hit the canvas hard and he coughed up blood. Despite how little damage he had taken in up until now, this had dealt considerable pain to him. Thus when Leafeon released him and allowed him to collapse he rocked back and forth and held onto his skull.

Vaporeon looked at this and thought, 'I can't believe it. Both of those were moves Mommy turned into her own. I didn't think they'd actually use them at once.'

Regardless, she shook her head when she realized Jolteon was still pressed up against her, thus she took hold of her wrists and grunted, "You know, you may be fast, but like everyone else from your generation, you've weakened with age."

Thus she forced Jolteon's arms into an X formation and applied enough force to make her spin around and fall on her back. The crowd cheered wildly before Vaporeon once again formed her ice ball and wrapped her tail around the yellow fox's neck. Afterwards, she performed a handstand and squeaked, "ICE FRANKENSTEINER!"

But rather than slamming Jolteon into the mat, she released her hold and allowed her to fly right into Leafeon's back. Thus the tan fox cried out in pain and fell hard on her belly before Zeraora rose to his feet and took many deep breaths.

While Jolteon's change in plans had thrown him off guard at first, there was no way he would allow this to get him down. After all, it was not as if Scorbunny and Blaziken would just allow him and Vaporeon to defeat them. If anything, this was just the training he needed for their next match.

With that in mind, he took a deep breath before his eyes widened. He then formed electricity around his paws and said, "Hey, Vaporeon, I just suddenly remembered the move I used to defeat Golduck. Maybe if we could combine it with your Trampoline Suplex, we could make something on the level of the infamous Muscle Coffin."

The blue fox blinked before she smiled and nodded. A part of her was a tad surprised that he knew about that move considering he seemed to lack knowledge of a lot of famous signature moves, but the idea was certainly a good one. With that in mind, she sped toward Jolteon just in time for her to rise up off of her daughter and whimper, "Sorry, Leafeon."

While Leafeon was able to recover just fine, she had to admit, she was a tad concerned by how normally Jolteon had said this. In fact, the yellow fox often made it her goal to defeat her opponents as quickly as possible since drinking anything other than water during a match was frowned upon. And sure enough, it seemed as if she had started to suffer a bit of fatigue from the lack of coffee.

This was just what Vaporeon needed before she wrapped her arms around her, curled her tail like a spring and launched herself into the air. Before Leafeon could retaliate, Zeraora dashed behind her and wrapped his arms around her. He then leapt high above the ring and flipped her upside-down, planting the claws on his feet into her upper back while he dug the ones on his hands into her ankles. Finally, he wrapped his tail around her neck before Vaporeon leaned backward and placed Jolteon's skull up against her daughter's feet.

"TRAMPOLINE THUNDER CAT DRIVER!" Vaporeon and Zeraora spat before Leafeon's skull was planted into the canvas, Jolteon taking extreme pain from the force applied to her own. Thus both foxes coughed up blood and closed their eyes.

Vaporeon and Zeraora released them and allowed them to collapse before all of the people gathered around cheered wildly. The blue fox and cat breathed heavily and smiled at one-another before the man who had volunteered to be the announcer nodded and held his hand up, exclaiming, "And Vaporeon and Zeraora have won the match! Truly they are worthy of competing in the Ultimate World Team Tournament!"

"Wow, Zeraora, you were incredible!" Vaporeon squeaked with a big grin, "Did I really inspire all of that!?" the cat nodding and replying, "Yeah, of course you did. If it hadn't been for all of your lessons and motivation, I never would have been able to pull that off."

After a few seconds, the blue fox gasped and turned toward her family with concern only for notice that Leafeon had managed to rise to her feet. She took many deep breaths and turned toward them, uttering, "Wow. That random stranger's right," the man uttering, "Actually, my name's Muto," the tan fox continuing, "You really are worthy of being in this tournament."

She then bowed her head to Vaporeon and added, "And you are one awesome cousin," winking at her, the blue fox wondering what that was about. There was no way she knew the truth, right?

Vaporeon then looked down at Jolteon and asked, "Oh, uh, is Great, I mean, Auntie Jolteon gonna be alright?" Leafeon helping the yellow fox up and replying, "She'll be fine. She's just suffering a little burnout right now. All she needs is a full cup of Joe and she'll be back to her old self."

Zeraora smiled and said, "That's good. I'd feel awful if she wound up in the hospital because of us," before taking a deep breath and adding, "Anyway, I think I need a little more fresh air. That took a lot out of me."

Vaporeon nodded and replied, "Go ahead. You've more than earned it," the cat heading outside before the blue fox thought, 'Wow, to think he's this great because of me. I can't believe it.'

After Zeraora stepped out, he pulled out a handkerchief from under his fur and started to wipe the sweat off of his paws. But just as all seemed right, his eyes widened when he noticed a familiar group of humans before him. The one who stood out the most was a tall boy named Akio.

"I had a feeling you'd be here again," he stated as he gazed upon the cat, one of the girls who hung out with him sighing, "It's not that hard when he's been training here every single day for the last little while."

"Wait, you've been stalking me!?" Zeraora retorted only for Akio to reply, "Well, not really. The truth is, I usually work out at this gym during my free time. It helps to relieve stress, but lately, every time I come here, you and that partner of yours are training. I figured you wouldn't wanna see me in there."

The cat blinked before he sighed, "And I don't blame you," a shorter boy named Taki nodding and stating, "Same here. Ever since that day, you know, a few nights ago, we've been thinking. At the time, we didn't feel like we'd really done anything particularly wrong, so we felt as if our punishment was unjust and that you were just another tool trying to take us down."

A girl with pink hair named Ichigo bit her lower lip and added, "It was wrong for us to abuse you like that. You've lived such a hard life and we only made things worse for you all because you were weak at the time."

"Speaking of which, we saw your fight through the window earlier," a girl with green hair named Kami squealed, "You were so cool! That move you came up with, that was just wow!" Akio nodding and sighing, "Anyway, I just wanted to tell you that we're sorry for the way we treated you and we're happy that you're doing as well as you are."

Zeraora blinked and formed a light smile. He then bowed his head and replied, "Um, thank you. It really means a lot to hear you say that," Akio bowing back and saying, "Anyway, I guess you'll be a full time hero now. I'll admit, we'll miss having you at school. But we'll be at the stadium to cheer you on, alright?"

The group talked for a little bit longer as Vaporeon looked outside at this and smiled sweetly. It seemed as if Zeraora's troubles were finally over. And while it was amazing that this had been partly because of her, she felt genuinely happy for him. With that in mind, she took a deep breath and sported a slight look of regret.

'I've only been helping him for my own benefit,' she thought, 'Alright, we still got a few hours of the day left. We got plenty of time to train tomorrow.'

With that in mind, she smiled, stepped outside and said, "Hey, Zeraora, that match took an awful lot out of me. What say we call it a day and spend a little time on the town, eh?"

The cat's eyes widened when he heard that. That shock soon turned to extreme happiness as a big smile formed on his face and sparkles formed in his eyes. And when the blue fox offered to let him choose their activity, he was even more thrilled.

With that in mind, he first decided to go and see the latest animated romance film that had been released to theatres. And while Vaporeon mostly agreed to this just to make Zeraora feel appreciated, she was soon just as swept up in it as he was.

Afterwards, the two went to a local arcade. This was certainly nice as Vaporeon had never been to one before, so the experience was thrilling for her. And after that, the two went out for dinner at a nearby restaurant.

Zeraora sat before Vaporeon with a fried mackerel in front of him along with some fruit punch. Just as he was about to dig in, her took a deep breath and smiled at Vaporeon before he said, "Hey, Vaporeon, there's something I just wanted to tell you."

The blue fox blinked and looked up from her own dish, asking, "What is it?" the cat replying, "These last couple of weeks have been incredible. Really, they have. I'm sure I don't need to remind you of this, but up until now, I had no real direction in life. There were so many days where I wondered what it was all worth. If it weren't for my parents sending me a little bit of money every now and then, I would have had nothing to live for at all. And yet now, you've entered my life, and so have all of your friends. You're all great people and you've given me something to live for."

Vaporeon was about to respond only for him to hold up a finger and add, "I guess what I'm trying to say is, well, thank you for being a friend."

After a few seconds, the blue fox gave Zeraora a big smile and said, "It was no problem at all. Though to be honest-" only to stop herself, shake her head and utter, "Never mind."

Deep down, a part of her wanted to tell the cat why she recruited him in the first place. But how would he respond to that? He was so happy, and she just had this feeling that if she told him she had only used him to fulfil what even she was able to admit was a rather selfish goal, his spirits would be crushed. Perhaps it was best for him not to know.

After taking a bite of her food, she asked, "Okay, so seriously, did you actually mean to quote the famous Andrew Gold song or was that just a coincidence?"

Zeraora's eyes widened briefly before he snickered and broke out into hysterics, a few customers staring at him. But for the first time in his life, he did not care who stared at him. He was far too happy to let it bother him, and soon enough, Vaporeon joined him. There was no doubt the two of them were more than ready for tomorrow's match.