This was it. After all the anticipation, the match between the Glamourous Fighting Machines and the Fancy Fighters was about to begin. While neither team could be too sure, both had a feeling Shaymin had been right about the Time Space Squad, thus all four fighters were determined to show them just how threatening they could be.

With that in mind, Machoke and Lucario immediately raced toward each other and threw their arms forward, each planting his hands into the other's shoulders. Both of them started to apply pressure and start up a contest of strength while Clauncher leapt toward Gardevoir with her claw raised. The green girl squeaked and swerved to the right just in time to avoid it before she sent her palm hard into the shrimp's cheek.

Clauncher flew sideways and fell on her side while Machoke smirked and started to overpower Lucario. However, it seemed as if this was what the dog wanted, thus he smirked and leaned backward, latching his ankles around Machoke's. He then used all his might to flip both himself and the reptilian over, slamming his skull into the canvas while the crowd cheered.

Afterwards, he released his hold and leapt toward Gardevoir, forming an aura around his hand. Before Gardevoir could react, she took the palm to the back of her head before Lucario exclaimed, "FORCE PALM!" Clauncher adding, "CRABHAMMER!" expanding her claw and slamming it into the white woman's face.

Machoke rose to his feet and gasped at the sight of this. Gardevoir could feel her head spin from just these two hits alone, thus the reptilian man put on a serious look and ran toward Lucario from behind. Unfortunately for him, the dog saw it coming and spun around, planting his foot into Machoke's midsection. He then proceeded to unleash an onslaught of karate chops while Clauncher lifted up Gardevoir and leaned backward, planting her face into the canvas.

"We're only a little over a minute into the match and it's already really intense!" Beedrill stated, "Neither team is letting up, though it would seem the Fancy Fighters are dominating! Let's see if the Glamourous Fighting Machines can pull off one of those classic miracles that they're known for!"

It seemed as if they might just be able to do that when Machoke smirked and caught Lucario's wrists after the eleventh strike. He then lifted the dog up over his shoulders, leaned backward and planted his back into the canvas. Gardevoir seemed ready as well when she slipped out of Clauncher's hold, spun vertically one hundred and eighty degrees and planted her feet into the shrimp's back.

With Clauncher distracted, Gardevoir reached her arms down and took hold of her sides. She then leapt high above the mat and flipped the shrimp upside-down, descending toward the mat with her legs flying up over her head. When Machoke saw this, he hurled Lucario toward the female fighters.

The crowd watched in awe when the reptilian leapt up to Lucario's level and latched onto the dog's ankles. He then flipped him over and wrapped his legs around his neck. Finally, he placed Lucario's skull right up against Clauncher's tail before he and Gardevoir shouted, "METEOR ATOMIC BOMB!"

Sure enough, the shrimp's skull hit the canvas hard as she already coughed up blue blood, Lucario taking in a lot of pain himself. The cheers from the crowd were even louder as Machoke and Gardevoir released their hold on their opponents and breathed heavily with a big smiles on their faces.

Vaporeon blinked and uttered, "Okay, I'm sure this isn't over yet, but that was amazing," Scorbunny nodding in agreement.

The majority of the crowd broke out into heavy cheers and applause, Blaziken and Hitmonchan both watching this from the hospital. The chicken stared and uttered, "Wow, even as friends, they're still going all-out."

The boxer nodded and replied, "I gotta say, Gardevoir's incredible. If anyone from the Beiulieu family can advance to the semi-finals, it's her," chuckling, "Don't tell my darling I said that."

"Why not?" Blaziken remarked, "He'd likely agree with you," Hitmonchan sighing, "Yeah, but he puts himself down enough as it is. I don't wanna give him another reason."

Florges and Smeargle, who had returned to France, both applauded this while watching it on TV. The flower woman grinned and squealed, "Tres magnifique! Those two never cease to amaze moi!"

"Oui!" Smeargle replied with a big smile before he munched on an apple pie fry, "I still can't believe I managed to beat her in the last tournament. It feels like a true miracle."

But just as Vaporeon suspected, this match was certainly not over yet. This showed when Lucario pushed himself up and placed his hand against Clauncher's tail. He then pried her up off the mat before setting her down on her feet and said, "That's just what I expect from the two of you. This is the rematch I always dreamed of."

"Well, glad we haven't disappointed you," Machoke replied with a grin before turning his gaze to Dialga and Palkia. But while the purple dragon appeared a little bit intimidated, the blue dragon tried not to look impressed.

With that, Machoke narrowed his eyelids and thought, 'Alright, if that didn't strike fear into you, watch closely,' before he and Gardevoir leapt toward their opponents with their arms out and shouted, "ECLIPSE HOOK!"

Lucario held up his arms and pointed his wrist spikes forward, thus when Machoke's arms made contact, the spikes pierced his flesh. The reptilian man cried out in pain while Clauncher easily blocked Gardevoir's arm with her big claw and wrapped both of her arms around it.

The Fancy Fighters leaned backward and lifted up their opponents, planting their upper backs into the canvas. But of course, it did not end there when Lucario rose to his feet and lifted up Clauncher, both shouting, "CRAB GAVEL!" before the dog swung the shrimp downward and planted her big claw into Machoke's gut.

The reptilian man took in quite a bit of pain but ultimately ignored it before lifting up his arm and taking hold of Clauncher's claw. He then used all his might to throw her forward, Lucario's eyes wide when he ascended off the mat and flipped forward onto his skull. Gardevoir rose to her feet with a smile and leapt into the air. She then leaned sideways and planted her elbow into Lucario's chest while the crowd went wild.

Of course, both lovers were not finished, therefor they lifted Lucario up by his shoulders, flipped him upside-down and leapt into the air. They then leaned their bodies sideways, thus planting the dog's skull into the canvas as Scorbunny uttered, "I am so glad I'm here to see this," Raboot munching on a bag of nuts and replying, "You can say that again."

The female rabbit turned to face him and uttered, "Where did you come from?" the male replying, "I saw two seats open here and decided to claim one."

"Hey, same here," Leafeon stated while she sat next to him and sighed, "Though I wanted to sit next to my cousin," Scorbunny blinking before Vaporeon nodded her head at her with an awkward look in her eyes. Once the female rabbit put two-and-two together, she nodded and said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Scorbunny," holding out her hand.

Lucario flipped back to his feet and took a few deep breaths before a grin formed on his face. He then nodded at Clauncher and said, "Alright, let's kick this up a notch," a blue aura surrounding the dog. The crab then proceeded to take hold of his foot and lift him up before hurling him toward the two.

Lucario crossed his arms in front of his face and pointed his wrist spikes forward. Sure enough, Machoke was unable to move out of the way in time to avoid taking them to his shoulders and falling on his back while the dog barked, "ROYAL JAVELIN!"

Gardevoir was about to help only for Clauncher to roll up into a ball and leap toward her while she spun like a wheel. Sure enough, the white woman's head turned sideways when the shrimp struck it hard like a cannonball. And when Clauncher reverted to her regular state, she took hold of Gardevoir's side and lifted her up, planting her side into the canvas.

Lucario continued to hold onto Machoke before flipping him over onto his belly. He then latched onto the reptilian's arms and legs and rolled over onto his back. But just as it looked like he had set up Machoke for his Tower Bridge, it seemed he had more planned when he tucked his knees in and planted them into his back, sending him high above the ring.

The dog leapt up to Machoke's level and wrapped his arms around him. After that, he rested the reptilian against his shoulder and leaned backward, shouting, "HALF-MOON PRESS!" planting the back of his head into the canvas.

Machoke coughed up a bit of blood while the crowd gasped, Beedrill stating, "And Lucario unleashes one of four moves that he used to get the drop on Machoke back on the day! I wonder if we'll get to see all of them in action!"

'As if,' Machoke thought, 'You may have caught me off-guard with that, but I'm not gonna let myself fall victim to the others.'

With that in mind, he gritted his teeth and lowered his legs, latching them to Lucario's waist. The dog's eyes widened before Machoke placed his hands against the mat and pushed himself upright, forcing Lucario to fall on his back. The reptilian then took hold of Lucario's arm and pulled up on it while everyone was truly amazed. Never had they seen a submission hold quite like this.

But of course, Machoke knew better than to expect this to end the match for good, thus he got off of Lucario before he could do a thing. He then took hold of the dog's wrist again and hurled him toward Gardevoir who had just gotten up from her slam earlier. Thus she leapt toward the dog with her arm out and squeaked, "MOON HOOK!" ramming it into his neck before he winced and fell on his back.

Clauncher gasped only for Machoke to send a fierce karate chop into her skull, knocking her hard on her belly while the crowd cheered. All the while, Nori stated, "I gotta say, this has to be the most back-and-forth match in this entire tournament so far. Just when you think one team has the upper hand, the other one claims it back!"

Machoke had a feeling this might not last since Lucario still had his aura around him, thus he nodded at Gardevoir and asked, "Hey, think you can take him for a while?"

The white woman nodded with a sweet smile before a violet aura surrounded her hands. Lucario's eyes widened since he knew what this meant. For the next three minutes, he and Clauncher would really need to up their game.

With that in mind, Lucario dove toward Clauncher, rolled along the mat and picked her up by her tail. He then asked, "Hey, you alright?" the shrimp opening her eyes and replying, "Yeah, I'm fine. You should know me better than that by now."

The dog smiled before he said, "Alright, I'm gonna need you to expand your claw and keep it that way for at least a minute." When the shrimp noticed Gardevoir's aura, she nodded in understanding and replied, "Gotcha," before she tripled the size of her big claw.

Gardevoir raced toward him only for him to swing Clauncher toward her and bark, "CRUSTACEAN SWORD!" But when the white woman ducked under and went in for a tackle, her eyes widened when Lucario sent his knee into her face.

As if the counter was not enough, this actually hurt a lot. While that was to be expected for most opponents, Gardevoir always gained an increase in resistance when she had her aura activated. There was no doubt Lucario's put them on equal ground now.

Even so, Machoke would not allow this to continue, thus he dashed behind Lucario only for Clauncher to leap out of his hand, roll up into a ball and ram into the reptilian man's forehead. This was just the distraction the Fancy Fighters needed, thus Lucario took hold Gardevoir's wrists and hurled her into the air. He then leapt up to her level after she flipped upside-down and placed his knees against her feet.

"COLLAPSING TOWER!" he barked before the back of Gardevoir's head hit the canvas hard and she coughed up blood. Machoke gasped only for Clauncher to leap up and take hold of his head. She then dragged him downward and planted his upper back into the canvas before she lifted him up over her head.

Just as she was about to lean backward, Lucario propelled himself off of Gardevoir and latched onto Machoke's ankles, pulling him downward while he and Clauncher shouted, "BRAINCRUSHER!" And sure enough, Machoke's head hit the mat hard before he coughed up blood and groaned in agony.

"Way to go, honey!" Veronica squealed with her arms in the air, "You got this in the bag! Come on, crush them into dust!" only for Amanda to blink and utter, "You know he and Machoke are friends, right?"

Dialga, meanwhile, stared at the ring and said, "You know, I've read a lot about that power of Gardevoir's, that only females in her family have it. But it really doesn't seem all that special," Palkia blinking and uttering, "Wait, what power?"

Gardevoir planted her hands up against the canvas and flipped herself upright before crying, "Honey!" She then took a deep breath and thought, 'Right, we have to take this more seriously. Even though these two are our friends, we have to treat them like any other opponent, otherwise the wrong team could face Dialga and Palkia in the third round.'

With that in mind, the white woman leapt toward Lucario and took hold of his arms. Before he could react, she leapt high into the air and flipped one hundred and eighty degrees. She then spun like a twister and drove the dog's head into the mat, shouting, "TORNADO BUSTER!"

While Lucario had his own power activated, he took in far more pain from this than before and coughed up blood while he thought, 'Okay, so this power is stronger than mine,' before Gardevoir released her hold and allowed him to collapse.

Clauncher tensed up when Machoke rose to his feet and said, "You should know by now that it'll take more than a brainbuster to take me down," realizing that his other two team finishers would not work on a fighter her size. Besides, Lucario had defeated all three finishing moves required for those team moves in the past anyway. If anything, there was only one move that could work on them, and it was the one they created earlier.

With that in mind, the reptilian man smirked at Gardevoir and asked, "So, you ready to pull off that awesome team move again?"

The white woman nodded and replied, "Hell yeah," before lifting up Lucario and hurling him toward Machoke. The reptilian also picked up Clauncher by her tail and flung her toward Gardevoir before the shrimp even had time to react.

Once again, Gardevoir leapt up into the air and flipped Clauncher upside-down, allowing her legs to float over her head. Machoke, all the while, leapt up to their level and flipped Lucario over. He then latched onto the dog's ankles and wrapped his legs around his neck before planting him up against Clauncher's tail, the Glamourous Fighting Machines exclaiming, "METEOR ATOMIC BOMB!"

Amanda watched this and blinked, saying, "I gotta give Machoke credit. At least he waited for the right moment to use that again," Veronica whimpering, "Lucario can break free from that, right?"

It seemed that was not the case when, just like before, Clauncher's skull hit the canvas hard while Lucario's head pressed up against her tail. Both Fancy Fighters coughed up blood as they closed their eyes. Thus Machoke and Gardevoir released them and allowed them to collapse while cheers and applause filled the area.

Vaporeon, Zeraora and Scorbunny watched in silence as Veronica bit her lower lip and cupped her hands together. All the while, Dialga nodded with a grin. After all, he could not have asked for a better pair of opponents to defeat in the semi-finals.

Nori reached ten seconds and rang the bell before she stated, "After probably one of the most exciting matches so far, the Glamourous Fighting Machines claim victory and move on to the semi-finals!" the crowd truly ecstatic while Veronica breathed heavily and panted, "It's okay. Machoke and Gardevoir are friends. I'm happy with this."

Amanda patted her on the shoulder and sighed, "It's okay to be a little upset. Just don't go overboard," the silver-haired woman nodding before resting her head against her future sister-in-law's shoulder.

Lucario and Clauncher slowly opened their eyes before the dog looked up. Machoke smiled and extended his hand to him, saying, "That was an awesome match."

The dog grinned and took hold of the hand before he was pulled upright. The two then shook hands while the cheers got louder. And when Veronica saw this, she took a deep breath and sighed, "Yeah, I really am okay with this now."

She then placed her hands against her cheeks and squealed, "He's such a good sport!" Amanda nodding and replying, "Yep, that he is."

Clauncher also shook Gardevoir's hand and said, "You guys really are awesome. I know you'll put those dragons in their place," Lucario nodding with a serious look in his eyes. If anyone could stop two villains, it was the Glamourous Fighting Machines.

"Well, folks, that concludes the quarter-finals!" Beedrill exclaimed, "And what a round this has been! But remember, we still have the semis just three days from now, so be sure to see it!"

Machoke and Gardevoir exited the ring along with Lucario and Clauncher. They smiled when Scorbunny raced toward them and squealed, "That was great! You guys really live up to your reputation!" Zeraora nodding and uttering, "So this is what it's like watching two champions go at it."

Gardevoir and Clauncher rose their eyebrows before Vaporeon chuckled, "Of course you were both amazing too," Gardevoir giggling, "I look forward to facing the two of you in the finals."

Vaporeon nodded and thought, 'Yeah, we're in good hands. I guess the world didn't really need us. These two will defeat Dialga and Palkia for sure,' looking at Zeraora, 'Even if we lose the finals, we will at least beat Toxtricity and Sutorinda. I don't wanna see them make it.'

Amanda and Veronica raced over to Lucario and gave him a hug before telling him how good a job he did. The dog then turned to Vaporeon and Zeraora before he said, "Best of luck in the next round. Those two lizards are pretty tough."

The cat grinned and replied, "Yeah, but we can beat them, right?" Vaporeon nodding with a sweet smile.

With all said and done, everyone was ready to leave the stadium. Of course, Machoke and Gardevoir would go to check up on their friends in the hospital along with Scorbunny and the others. But before they could do so, Vaporeon said, "Hey, Scor, you can go on ahead if you'd like."

The rabbit looked back and forth between the blue fox and her partner. Thus she nodded in understanding and headed off. Zeraora blinked and uttered, "Oh yeah, you had something to tell me, right?" Vaporeon nodding with a sigh and turning to face him.

"Well, the first thing I wanna talk about is our match with Scorbunny and Blaziken," Vaporeon uttered before Zeraora thought, 'Oh, this is what I thought,' before she sighed, "The truth is, I did something really terrible back there. I could tell the two of them had been weakened too much, but in truth, I wanted to be the one to finish the match, so I figured I'd give you a reason to join me for a team move. In truth, you defeated them both while I was unconscious and I kinda robbed you of that."

The cat stared for a few seconds before he let out a sigh and said, "Hey, it's alright. I'm just glad you actually came clean," the blue fox staring wide-eyed while he added, "I get it, okay? This was your chance to prove whether you were better than Scorbunny or not. I'm more than happy to give you that. Besides, you held back against her. We're a team, and that means sharing the glory, right?"

Vaporeon continued to stare blankly for another few seconds. She then blinked her eyes tight and breathed a sigh of relief, saying, "Wow, thank you for saying that. And before you ask, I already told Scorbunny and she's cool about it, too."

Zeraora nodded and replied, "Well, that's great to hear," a sweet smile on his face before Vaporeon rubbed the back of her head. But just as she was about to head off with the cat, he asked, "Wait, you said that was only the first thing you wanted to talk about. Is there something else I need to know?"

The blue fox released nervous sweat and gritted her teeth with a look of fear in her eyes. Even so, she could not keep quiet about this any longer. It would be unfair to Zeraora, and at this point, she no longer cared about winning the tournament.

With that in mind, she took a deep breath and said, "Zeraora, do you remember when I took you on as my apprentice, when I said you were the perfect partner for me?"

The cat nodded and replied, "Yeah, do you not think I am?" only for Vaporeon to reply, "Oh, heavens no. In fact, you're so much better than I could have ever hoped," before sighing, "But, well, there is a reason. You see, it's not just Scorbunny but, well, ever since she and the others became my allies back home, they've managed to upstage me at every opportunity."

Zeraora blinked while she added, "In my entire career as a hero, I've only ever defeated two villains, and Scorbunny was my first. Meanwhile, they've beaten a plethora of opponents, including three extremely powerful gods who came to test their skills."

"Wow, that's impressive," Zeraora uttered before Vaporeon sighed, "Yeah, it is, and, well, it made me jealous. The truth is, Scorbunny actually volunteered to be my partner, but I turned her down and chose you instead. The reason is because, well, I wanted to prove that I was worthy to fight alongside them. My goal was to win the tournament without their help."

The cat nodded and said, "Well, I hope you told Scorbunny that as well. She'd be-" only for Vaporeon to cut in and state, "I did tell her, but that's not all. See, the reason I chose you when I could have at least sought out someone with experience was also for my own benefit. I saw how weak and pitiful you were and thought that if I could shape you into the perfect fighter, I'd only look more impressive. People would see how I turned a complete loser into a champion and say 'That Vaporeon is amazing! Not only is she a great hero but a great trainer as well!'"

Zeraora stared wide-eyed. While he had caught onto the first thing, this was all news to him. Thus he uttered, "So you used me for your own benefit is what you're saying."

Vaporeon bit her lower lip and uttered, "In a matter of speaking," the cat taking a deep breath. He did not look angry, but he did not look accepting either. If anything, he seemed confused.

Thus he clenched his fists against his sides and stood there for a few seconds. Then after a while, he said, "I, um, need some time to think," before he turned away from Vaporeon and marched away from the area. The blue fox stared in stunned silence before she fell to her knees. Deep down, she had a feeling this would happen, but she had really hoped it would not.