While Zeraora and Vaporeon had a very rough start, they were finally able to make progress. Dialga and Palkia had not succumbed to a lot of hits, but they were vulnerable now. This was at least enough to even the playing field, thus the heroes felt more than confident.

"What a comeback, folks!" Nori exclaimed, "The Time Space Squad had the upper hand for a while, but the Atlantic Catfish have managed to really turn things around! But can they keep this up!?"

Palkia took a deep breath and said, "Big deal. So they've gotten us to bleed. We beat this time's champions. We can beat them easily, right?" Dialga nodding and replying, "Indeed. I gotta hand it to you, it really seems like we've been on the same page as of late. Not all the time, but more than usual."

"What can I say?" the purple dragon asked, "You're a good influence," the blue dragon feeling slightly embarrassed by that, though he was unsure why.

Zeraora struck a fighting pose while Megumi smiled and thought, 'That's right, son. Keep it up. I'll still be proud of you even if you lose, but I've seen enough to know that you can do far better than this.'

Dialga formed his blue aura while Palkia covered her body in a dark purple coat and turned her claws pink. When Vaporeon saw this, she readied herself and said, "Alright, now we can fight like we normally do."

Zeraora nodded when the dragons raced toward them with their claws at the ready. Vaporeon leapt to the side and evaded a slash from Palkia while Zeraora did the same with Dialga. However, both gasped when the the blue dragon knelt down and swept his leg toward Zeraora's ankles, the purple dragon aiming her tail for Vaporeon. But when the heroes managed to leap over them, it seemed as if the dragons wanted this when they rose up and swung their claws upward against the heroes' sides.

"METAL DRAGON UPPERCUT!" Dialga barked as Palkia shouted, "SPACIAL REND!" Blood flew from the Atlantic Catfish while their friends winced.

Things only got worse when Palkia turned her arms pink and rammed her right one sideways into Vaporeon's neck, exclaiming, "SPACIAL WHACK!" Dialga, meanwhile, flipped a full three hundred and sixty degrees backwards and swung his feet into Zeraora's cheek. As a result, both heroes fell on their sides before the dragons leapt into the air and planted their elbows into their rib cages.

The Atlantic Catfish coughed up blood while Shaymin frowned and grunted, "I know it's too early to assume, but they need to be more careful. They took in so much damage earlier," Rillaboom remarking, "Take it from the one who discovered Dialga and Palkia's weakness in the first place. Making them vulnerable doesn't guarantee smooth sailing against them."

Dialga and Palkia prepared to strike the heroes again only for Vaporeon and Zeraora to link their tails together. They then rolled away from the incoming strikes before they propelled themselves into the air. Zeraora covered all but the tip of his tail in electricity while Vaporeon formed her ice sphere, each dragon taking one to the neck before the heroes exclaimed, "HAIL STORM WHIP!"

Things only got better when Vaporeon released Zeraora. The Atlantic Catfish swung their tails around afterwards, the blue fox squealing, "ICE FLAIL ROUNDHOUSE!" as Zeraora barked, "LIGHTNING SLASH!"

The ice struck Palkia hard in the cheek as the tail cut open Dialga's chest. But while the dragons took in a lot of pain from this, they refused to let this get to them. Thus they latched onto the tails that struck them and lifted them up.

Luckily, Zeraora and Vaporeon were prepared for this, so the blue fox melted her ice ball and slipped her tail out of Palkia's grip. Zeraora did the same with his own tail before both heroes wrapped their arms and legs around their opponents from behind while turned upside-down. They then flipped one hundred and eighty degrees, planting the Time Space Squad's skulls into the canvas before the crowd went wild.

"And once again, the Atlantic Catfish amaze us all with a very impressive counter!" Butterfree stated, "It would seem both of them are determined not to take in any more serious damage from their opponents, and who can blame them? After what The Time Space Squad pulled off against their past opponents, they need to bring their A game to the table!"

But just as Zeraora and Vaporeon were about to release their opponents, Dialga grunted, "Did you seriously think that would be enough to stop us?" latching his legs onto Zeraora's neck. He then applied enough pressure to get the cat to release him while Palkia placed her hands against the mat and pushed herself high into the air along with Vaporeon.

Dialga pushed himself up and leaned backward, planting the back of Zeraora's head into the canvas. Meanwhile, Palkia used her wings to perform a U-turn, thus she was now upright while Vaporeon's skull was aimed at the canvas. The purple dragon then turned to face the blue fox, wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her knees up against the side of her head.

Sure enough, Vaporeon was unable to break free this time and her skull was slammed hard against the canvas as the crowd gasped. With both heroes down, Dialga smirked at Palkia and asked, "What say we end this once and for all?"

The purple dragon nodded before Dialga's aura formed around him. Palkia also turned her skin dark purple once more, lifted Vaporeon back up and said, "I'd really like it if you stand right there."

Dialga did the same with Zeraora, both heroes too dazed to even respond. With that, the blue dragon leapt toward Palkia who wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up. After she pointed him forward, the blue dragon extended his claws forward while Palkia wrapped her legs around him and did the same with her hands. Both proceeded to soar toward their opponents and spin like a drill, shouting, "SPACE TIME DRILL!"

At that moment, Vaporeon and Zeraora managed to regain just enough strength to see this. Thus they panicked and leapt to the side, and while they avoided the full blunt of the attack, they took a sharp scrape to their ankles and fell on their sides.

But while the heroes were clearly in pain, Blaziken still looked relieved as she sighed, "Good, at least they're still in this," Gallade nodding and replying, "Yeah, that could have been so much worse.

It seemed Dialga realized this when he turned to the heroes and grunted, "Dammit, that's not good enough." But while Palkia was just glad their attack landed at all, she could see where the blue dragon came from. With that in mind, she took to the sky and flew toward Zeraora, scooping him up by the shoulders and flying high into the air.

Dialga grinned and said, "Good thinking," before he raced toward Vaporeon and reached for her legs. However, the blue fox refused to let him get the upper hand as she covered the tip of her tail in ice again and spat, "ICE FLAIL CLIP!"

She then swung her tail sideways and struck Dialga's ankles. This caused him to lose his balance and fall on his back before Vaporeon wrapped her tail around his shins and barked, "ICE SUPLEX!" slamming his chest into the canvas.

She then boosted herself high into the air toward Palkia just as she performed a U-turn in midair and dove toward the canvas. But just as she was seconds away from ramming Zeraora's head into the mat, her eyes widened when Vaporeon spun vertically toward her and rammed her ice sphere into her back, shouting, "BOUNCING ICE BALL!"

This was enough for Palkia to release her hold, and while Zeraora did fall on his upper back, he took in significantly less pain than if the purple dragon's move landed. As such, he flipped back onto his feet and let out a sigh of relief before he smiled at Vaporeon. But of course, there was no way he would let this chance go, thus he leapt up to Palkia's height before she could fall, lifted his fists over his head and engulfed his forearms in electricity.

"PLASMA FISTS!" he barked before he swung his arms downward and rammed his fists into the purple dragon's gut. She coughed up blood and fell hard on her back while the crowd cheered wildly.

Dialga gritted his teeth and growled, "No!" before he leapt toward the cat with his leg at the ready. However, Vaporeon and Zeraora were more than ready for this when they nodded at one-another and flipped vertically toward the blue dragon. Electricity covered Zeraora's tail while Vaporeon formed her ice sphere, both placing the tips of their tails up against each other.

"FROZEN THUNDER BALL!" both shouted before they rammed said parts into Dialga's forehead, blood flying out as he gasped in pain and fell hard on his back.

"Way to go, guys!" Scorbunny squealed with a big grin, "Damn, they've really turned this match around!" Shaymin genuinely impressed. She knew both heroes were good, but she never imagined they would be able to regain the upper hand this many times against villains this strong and skilled.

"Those lizards never stood a chance!" Morgrem quipped before Drizzile stared at her, the goblin grinning nervously and uttering, "Sorry."

"I hate to admit it, but they're doing better than Aipom and I did," Rillaboom sighed, "They may have started out with everything going against them, but they really turned things around. I just know they can win at this rate."

And of course, Megumi could not have been happier to see all of this. On top of Zeraora being a good fighter, she had to admit that Vaporeon really was a great ally for him. She would certainly need to sit down with her husband and have him watch the footage on TV with her after she returned home.

However, as it so happened, after he saw the footage the woman sent him earlier, he had put everything on hold to watch the match. The being in question was a yellow sabre-tooth tiger with black markings along his body and a white underside. His thin light-blue tail was the shape of a lightning bolt with points that resembled a spark on the tip. He had a matching muzzle shaped like an X and a black face plate over his forehead. His name was Raikou.

While he watched the footage, he smiled and thought, 'Son, you're even better than I could have imagined. I would have been fine if you never sought to follow this path, but I couldn't be more proud of you right now.'

At that moment, Vaporeon froze up and uttered, "Wait, Zeraora, do you see this?" the cat blinking and enquiring, "What do you mean?"

"We have a golden opportunity here," the blue fox replied with a grin, "If we hit him hard enough, we could probably knock his voice out of him." The cat beamed bright and nodded before Vaporeon curled her tail like a spring.

Palkia opened her eyes at this moment and slowly sat upright, groaning, "Dammit, why are these two so strong?" She then noticed Vaporeon leap high into the air before Zeraora jumped above her and prepared to plant his feet into her shoulder while she formed her ice ball again.

"Is she gonna send that into Dialga's gut like an anvil?" Blaziken uttered before Hitmonchan beamed and squealed, "Looks like it! This'll be good!"

Shaymin and Melmetal, on the other hand, knew exactly what the duo was up to. Thus they nodded at one-another only to notice Palkia take to the sky with her skin dark purple and her hands bright pink. Thus they both spat, "Guys, look out!"

Unfortunately, it was too late when Palkia clenched her hands into fists, rammed them into their backs and shouted, "SPACIAL FIST!" This caused the heroes to gasp in pain before they flew over the ropes and landed hard against the ground outside of the ring, Nori immediately starting the twenty count.

"No!" Rolycoly cried with his hands against the sides of his head, "They were doing so well!" Morgrem patting him on the back and saying, "Hey, calm down. They'll turn this around again, I'm sure of it."

The Atlantic Catfish would need to act soon, though, when Palkia descended toward them and planted her feet into their guts. She then turned the claws on said feet pink and exclaimed, "SPACIAL REND TWO POINT O!" scraping them against the heroes, putting big cuts on them and causing them to bleed heavily while they cried in agony.

Dialga rose to his feet just in time to see this. A big grin formed on his face as Nori reached six seconds. He figured that was more than enough time, thus he leapt over the ropes and landed beside his partner before he said, "Hey, Palkia, I'd like to win through more traditional means. A ring-out wouldn't be satisfying, especially after what they just put us through."

Palkia blinked and nodded with a smile before she said, "Yeah, you got a point there. We beat everyone else by knock-out. May as well do the same for our final opponents."

With that in mind, she lifted up Vaporeon by the legs, keeping her upside-down. She then flew high above the canvas and lowered her hands to the blue fox's thighs before she planted her claws into them, turning these claws pink first.

Dialga, meanwhile, held Zeraora in the same way and leapt right under Palkia. He then dug his claws into the cat's legs and upper back. Both descended toward the canvas as all went silent among the crowd. There was no doubt about it. This move would end the match for sure.

"SPACE TIME DRIVER!" the Time Space Squad spat when Vaporeon's skull was pressed up against Zeraora's feet. And sure enough, the cat's skull hit the canvas, his mouth wide open while a large amount of blood spewed out. Vaporeon coughed up some of the liquid herself before Dialga and Palkia released them and allowed them to collapse.

Nori stared at this along with many others, Beedrill exclaiming, "This match just keeps going back and forth! Just as it seems like one team will win, the other gains a huge comeback! However, that looked especially brutal, not to mention that move also defeated Machoke and Gardevoir! Can the Atlantic Catfish recover from that or is this match truly over!?"

Unfortunately, despite how much Vaporeon and Zeraora could normally sustain, this one move seemed to be enough to take them out for good. Not only were they not moving but their eyes had rolled to the backs of their heads. Thus Nori started the ten count while Scorbunny squeaked, "No! Get up!"

Megumi stared with concern and thought, 'You fought your best, son. I just hope you'll recover from that soon,' Vaporeon and Zeraora's friends all cheering for them along with most of the crowd.

"Well, that certainly lasted longer than expected," Beedrill stated, "Though it's still the shortest final match in this tournament to date," Nori reaching seven seconds.

When Shaymin saw that the Atlantic Catfish had no chance of getting up along with the murderous look in Dialga's eyes, she took a deep breath and took on her Sky form. She then flew toward the announcer's desk, took hold of Nori's microphone and barked, "Everyone, we must stop this match right now! The Time Space Squad are evil and I finally have proof!"

Beedrill was about to chew her out before he blinked and uttered, "Wait, you have proof?" Butterfree adding, "But then what was that talk about you claiming that because you were cranky or something?"

The hedgehog sighed, "Melmetal only said that so you'd let us compete. In fact, I'd hoped someone would defeat these two without me having to bring this out," pulling out a microchip, "What I have here is security footage of these two committing not only theft but mass murder."

Dialga stared in shock and thought, 'What is she thinking? Doesn't she know what will happen?' Palkia trying her hardest not to look terrified right now. After all, the last thing she wanted was to make it obvious that this security footage was legit.

Beedrill held out his stinger and said, "Nori, hold off on that ten count. We're going to study this footage," Butterfree examining the chip and saying, "Wow, this is a really fancy design. I've never seen anything like it."

And so, Shaymin handed the chip to a staff member who inserted it into a computer. All the while, Rillaboom blinked and uttered, "Wait, would a microchip from our time even work on past computers?" Raboot remarking, "What do you mean your time?" he, Leafeon and Jolteon even more confused when Drizzile added, "You'd think so, but for some reason, mankind hasn't really altered microchips all that much. They're stronger now, but they pretty much use the same programming."

Just as Drizzile suspected, the chip did indeed work. The footage was shown on a nearby jumbotron, the crowd gasping when they saw the footage of multiple guards being struck down. Although Beedrill and Butterfree were mostly confused as this looked like the interior of Hero Planet's Tower of Justice.

The footage went on to show the dragons breaking open the big safe with their power sources in them. All the while, the crowd nodded in understanding since the earlier footage showed Palkia without her wings. And on top of that, the footage also showcased Shaymin being brought down by the duo, though Dialga using his Roar of Time had not been caught on film. After all, he had done that while standing on top of the tower, and there were no cameras pointed toward that area.

Even so, Beedrill nodded and said, "That's definitely footage from Hero Planet. To think they stole from us and harmed so many guards without us noticing."

"Well, no shit we didn't notice that," Butterfree remarked, "First off, when have we ever had an orb and a pair of wings locked away in the tower? And secondly, I didn't recognize any of those guards."

Shaymin bit her lower lip and thought, 'Oh no, do I tell them?' Beedrill sighing, "For all I know, this could have been staged," only for Nori to gasp, "Wait, look at that!"

She then directed everyone's attention to a date written on the lower right hand corner of the screen. Beedrill blinked and uttered, "So this footage was all recorded on..." his eyes wide with shock as he spat, "JULY TWENTY THIRD, TWO THOUSAND AND NINETY NINE!?"

Most of the crowd went quiet, Lucario, Amanda and Veronica all staring at one-another. Blaziken, Gallade and Hitmonchan looked at their new friends while Raboot pulled his ears sideways and spat, "Wait, what!? This makes no sense!"

Jolteon grinned wide before Leafeon uttered, "Wow, Mommy, you were right," the other four from this time period retorting, "You knew about this!?"

Morgrem and Rolycoly laughed nervously before Scorbunny nodded and said, "Yeah, it's exactly as it looks," smiling at Raboot and adding, "It was nice getting to meet you in your prime, Great Grandpa."

Raboot blinked and said, "Oh, so that's why Vaporeon almost called me that. At least I still look young and sexy," striking a supermodel pose while the others shook their heads at him.

Shaymin took a deep breath and said, "Yeah, see, I've actually had this proof all along. The only problem was that showing you this meant that I'd have to reveal that we're from the future," Beedrill and Butterfree both spellbound until she formed a cute grin and added, "In fact, I don't mean to brag, but I'm actually Hero Planet's first chairwoman!"

Everyone except for the heroes of Edmonton continued to stare, only now their jaws were dropped. And in the hospital, Aipom just happened to be awake to hear this, the monkey looking at Rillaboom when the camera pointed at her. She could not believe she had fought alongside a hero from the future.

Sure enough, everything they just heard would soon be confirmed when Dialga chuckled, Palkia staring awkwardly at him before that chuckle grew into heavy laughter. "So you actually went and did it!" he exclaimed, "You revealed our little secret to everyone! Indeed, everyone, what you've just heard is correct! We are technically what you all refer to as evil! In fact, we're actually from a generation ahead of Shaymin and her group!"

The audience trembled as he explained, "We actually come from a time when evil had almost been entirely wiped out. Luckily, members of my family were born with a special power called The Roar of Time! I used it to go back to their time period, but I was defeated. The source of my power was stolen and locked away, as were Palkia's wings! So if anything, we were simply retrieving what belonged to us in the first place!"

Palkia bit her lower lip only for Dialga to nod, thus she smirked and added, "That's right! We came here because we knew no one from this era could possibly defeat us! Our plan is to spread fear all across the land so that the heroes of the world will fear us and switch to our side!"

"So that's their plan," Melmetal uttered before the Dialga snickered, "You know what the best part of all of this is!? You're too late to reveal this information, Shaymin! We were gonna spill the beans after we won, and as you can see, we already have!"

He then directed everyone's attention back to Zeraora and Vaporeon while Megumi breathed heavily, Raikou's eyes wide with terror as he thought, 'I need to get there right away and save my family!' getting up from his seat and wondering how he could possibly do that in such a short period of time.

The blue dragon grinned at Beedrill and said, "Oh, but by all means, disqualify us. After all, we're villains in a tournament for heroes. It doesn't matter, though, because we're not leaving this ring! Hell, if any of the heroes watching this match would like to face us, then come on in and do so! We were gonna kill these two to make a statement, but you guys have much more status in this time line!"

Most of the audience trembled, Lucario clenching his fists and gritting his teeth as Palkia pointed at him and said, "You'd make an excellent victim for us. After all, your family has been quite the burden to us villains for generations. We'd be better off without you in our army," Dialga adding, "Or perhaps Mr. Chairman and his wife will face us. There won't be any need for them in our perfect world."

Beedrill and Butterfree were tempted to fly in there and prove them wrong. But just as things were about to heat up, the crowd went silent when a familiar voice spat, "Don't even think about it!"

Everyone stared when Vaporeon's eyes rolled back into place and she pushed herself back to her feet. Zeraora then regained consciousness himself and followed suit before he panted, "As you can see, we still haven't been defeated yet, so until this match ends, no one else will have to risk their lives!"

The crowd stared silently for a few seconds before breaking out into heavy cheers and applause. While such things had happened many times in the past, this was still an incredible moment. Blaziken smirked and said, "Just like Machoke," as Gallade and Hitmonchan nodded.

At this point, everyone had gotten over the fact that Vaporeon and her friends were from the future. All that mattered was that they could still fight, thus there was a chance that Dialga and Palkia could be defeated. Needless to say, all of this support made Zeraora especially happy, a big smile on his face while a tear fell from his eye.

"It really is a wonderful feeling, isn't it?" he asked, Vaporeon nodding and replying, "Yep, it sure is."

However, the cat's eyes widened when Megumi stood up and cheered, "Kick their asses into next week! Make them wish they'd never set foot in our time line!"

Zeraora turned toward the woman with a big open-mouth smile before a grin formed on his face. He then pounded his fist against his palm and grunted, "Right! We can still beat them! I know we can!" Vaporeon nodding only for Dialga and scoff, "Big deal. If Nori hadn't stopped the ten count, you would have been declared the losers already. At least now that our secret's revealed, we can kill you without the need for a ten count."

While this was certainly promising, the Time Space Squad was still a major threat. Could the Atlantic Catfish defeat them or would their second chance prove pointless?