Today marked a whole month since Machoke and the others had graduated. This meant two things, the first being the fourth weekly allowance. But what was the other thing? This had not yet been stated.

As it just so happened, the chairman, Weedle, would call in four heroes each hour and have them brought to Hero Planet to show off how good they had gotten in friendly sparring matches. Currently, a pangolin with razor sharp claws and spikes coming from her back named Sandslash was going up against a grizzly bear with a yellow circle on his belly named Ursaring. A humanoid being with pale purple skin and brown shorts and shoes named Tyrogue sat on the sidelines watching them as his opponent had not shown up.

Sandslash propelled herself off the ropes and rolled up into a ball, shouting, "SPINY BOULDER!" Ursaring allowing himself to take the blow as he ignored the pain and grabbed hold of the pangolin. Sandslash retracted from her ball-like formation as her head was now facing the mat, the mammal trying to free herself only for the bear to slam her head into the mat, performing a tombstone piledriver.

Ursaring proceeded to kneel down, sending a punch toward Sandslash's face only for the pangolin to easily block it. She smirked as panic filled Ursaring's face, Sandslash shouting, "REVERSE BOULDER!" tucking herself into a ball again and rolling backwards, Ursaring going under her multiple times and taking in cuts to his back before being flung into the turnbuckle, Weedle ringing the bell with his tail.

Ursaring twitched as Sandslash walked over, saying, "Sorry about that, Ursaring. I got a little carried away," the bear spitting out a bit of blood and replying, "It's okay. I welcome the challenge."

"NO!" Weedle remarked, Ursaring asking, "Was there something wrong with my response?" the caterpillar grimacing and grunting, "This just won't do!"

Tyrogue looked at the bug and asked, "Excuse me, sir, but what are you getting at?" Weedle remarking, "The fact that Machoke was supposed to be your opponent and he isn't here!" Tyrogue replying, "That's okay. I can just wait for one of these two to recover and-"

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" Weedle retorted, taking a deep breath, "It's not just Machoke, either. All four of the heroes stationed in Tokyo claim to be sick and therefore unable to attend!" Ursaring asking, "But isn't that a legitimate excuse? I don't think Tyrogue wants a cold," Weedle retorting, "SHUT UP!"

The three heroes stared as the bug sighed, "What I mean is that it makes no sense that four heroes can come down with simultaneous colds, especially Blaziken! Fire types are, by nature, unable to get colds!" Sandslash asking, "Is this true?" Weedle nodding and sighing, "Something fishy is going on and I'm going to find out what it is."

Meanwhile, on Hero Planet, Machoke was currently lying in bed, coughing like crazy as Aipom said, "You really do look terrible, and on sparring day no less," Machoke moaning in a raspy tone, "I was looking forward to it," coughing some more as Aipom sighed, "Well, your temperature was one-hundred degrees. You'd better stay in all day."

Machoke coughed some more, watching Aipom and thinking, 'Alright, soon enough, that bitter chocolate I slipped in her tea will work its magic,' the monkey's eyes shooting wide open as she screeched, "HOLD ON, I'LL BE BACK TO MAKE YOU CHICKEN SOUP IN A BIT!" racing into the bathroom and slamming the door shut.

Machoke smirked and said, "Dipping the thermometer in boiling water when she's not looking. Never fails," the boy getting up and dashing out the door. And no sooner had he done this had the toilet flushed, Aipom exiting and taking a deep breath, her eyes widening as he groaned, "Why didn't I see this coming!?"

Soon enough, Machoke, who had his street clothes on the whole time, met up with his friends downtown and said, "Hey, guys," Gardevoir wearing her jersey while Gallade wore black jeans today, the two waving at him. Blaziken was dressed in blue jeans and a green T-shirt.

"I feel a little bad lying to the chairman, but this was a great idea," Blaziken said, Gardevoir blushing and squeaking, "This is so exciting! I've never done anything rebellious before!" Gallade sighing, "Just don't make it a trend, okay, sis?"

At that moment, Reika ran over to the group, exclaiming, "Hey there!" Blaziken grinning and replying, "Hey, good of you to join us, Reika," Machoke nodding with a big smile on his face while Gallade and Gardevoir looked at each other before chuckling. Machoke's infatuation with the girl was written all over his face.

However, just as the two were about to move elsewhere, they heard a sound and looked behind them to notice what looked like a comet streaking by in the distance, all of them blinking before Gallade said, "Huh, you don't see that everyday," the group carrying on.

It seemed the 'comet' was actually a spaceship piloted by Weedle as it had crash-landed, the bug groaning and slowly climbing out while wearing a small backpack and uttering, "Right, that's why we don't use light speed to land on planets anymore," shaking off the pain and sporting a serious look, exclaiming, "The important thing is I'm here! I'll just need to call for a ride later!"

And sure enough, the group was at their usual club, the guests of course greeting them. Reika had actually called up a couple of her friends and it was not long until they joined the group on a couch, one of them feeling rather nervous around Gallade.

"I guess we may as well all get acquainted," Reika said, turning to her girlfriends and pointing at the heroes, adding, "These are the guys I've been hanging out with these last few weeks, Machoke, Gallade, Gardevoir and Blaziken," all of them waving as one of her friends, a girl with short blue hair said, "I'm Cici," a nervous blush on her face as Gardevoir smiled lightly, saying, "It's very nice to meet you."

Cici felt a little more comfortable as she could sense Gardevoir was also a tad nervous to be around so many new people. Neither were exactly the most social of their kind, though Gardevoir was getting much better at talking to new people these days.

The other girl, who had long white hair, smiled bright and said, "I'm Tsuya, nice to meetcha," the girl then scooching over to Gallade and running her finger along his leg, adding, "Especially you," Gallade blinking and asking, "What are you doing?"

"I didn't really need to introduce you guys," Reika said to the heroes as Cici nodded, uttering, "We've all seen you on TV. We think you're amazing, though Tsuya especially likes-" Tsuya shooting Cici a creepy stare as the girl trembled, uttering, "Never mind, it's not important."

"Well, it's certainly great to have more members in our group," Blaziken said with a smirk, "So, who's up for karaoke?" Machoke getting up and replying, "Me! I wanna go first this time!" the others cheering him on.

At that moment, Weedle was crawling by when he heard a familiar sound coming from inside. The worm blinked and shook his head, saying, "I'm getting old. I thought for sure I just heard Machoke's voice," his eyes widening when the boy hit a higher note, the caterpillar thinking, 'Oh, I definitely heard him that time.'

With that, he stood up tall enough to see through the window, a look of fury forming on his face when he saw all four heroes in the club. What a disgrace. He expected such irresponsible behaviour from Machoke, but to see the other three acting like this was enough to drive him off the deep end. The way he saw it, Machoke must have had a bad influence on them. There was no better explanation he could come up with.

With that in mind, he propped down his backpack and pulled out a cellphone, dialling a few numbers with his horn and holding it up to the side of his head. He quickly got a response as he asked, "Hey, Riolu, how has the final exam been going?"

"Well, of the forty-four students we had the beginning of the semester, thirty-one have graduated," the dog replied as he turned to the four rings, adding, "Though that number might go up. We have four left," Weedle asking, "And how are they doing?"

Before the dog could answer, he noticed one particular fighter, a thin green bug holding Bouffalant high above her head. Between each of her body segments as a creamy white attachment and her eyes were narrow. Her head had three sharp points at the back and her face looked more like that of a dinosaur than a bug. She also had spikes of green fur on her thighs and claws on her feet. With two pairs of wings coming from her back, this fighter was known as Scyther.

After lifting up Bouffalant, the bug leaped high above the ring before leaning backwards and shouting in a thick German accent, "FLYING HAMMER!" ramming the bison's head hard into the mat and knocking him out cold.

And at that exact moment, the other three fighters finished off their own opponents, a rabbit taking down a huge tortoise with her ears, a beetle defeating the pangolin, Sandshrew with a big horn atop his head and a golem taking care of a red dragon with a piledriver as Riolu pressed the button on a stop watch, saying, "They all defeated their opponents at the same time, sir, three minutes and twenty-five seconds."

Weedle's eyes went wide as he stuttered, "Th-three minutes and-and twenty-f-f-five?" Riolu replying, "Yeah. Why do you ask?" the caterpillar taking a few seconds to collect himself before replying, "That's a new record, way better than the four stationed in Tokyo."

"I don't follow, sir," Riolu replied as Weedle laughed lightly, hanging up the phone before his laughter got louder, a few passersby stopping to stare at him as he froze briefly before laughing nervously, saying, "Oh, don't mind me, fair citizens."

The following day, Machoke was at home doing pushups as punishment for running off, Aipom sighing, "I swear to God, you can be such a pain sometimes," Machoke groaning before asking, "If I invite you along for our next get-together, will that make you feel better?" the monkey biting her lip, her body twitching as she screeched, rubbing her head. Sure, she would have absolutely loved that, but it would have been irresponsible to go against her duties.

At that moment, the door opened up as Blaziken, Gallade and Gardevoir stood at the doorway, Blaziken snapping, "MACHOKE, YOU GOTTA TURN ON THE TV RIGHT NOW!" Machoke blinking as Aipom asked, "Can't you guys knock first?" Gallade replying, "No time to explain."

With that, they flipped the TV on, turning it to the news channel as Weedle was on screen, Machoke asking, "Hey, what's that disgusting thing?" Aipom smacking the side of his face with her tail hand and remarking, "Don't be rude. That's Weedle, the chairman of Hero Planet."

"Alright, as you know, this report is regarding four particular heroes stationed in Japan, Machoke, Gallade, Gardevoir and Blaziken," the caterpillar said as Machoke grinned, saying, "I bet he's offering us all hero medals for our hard work," Gallade replying, "I dunno. He doesn't look too happy about this."

"How did you know he was going to talk about you guys?" Aipom asked as Gallade replied, "They stated it before the commercial break. I'm actually surprised we got here in time."

"It has recently come to my attention that these four have been slacking in their duties," the worm added, all four staring in shock as he grunted, "They think just because a villain hasn't shown up for a long time, it means they can just take a breather whenever they want."

"How did he find out?" Machoke asked, Aipom sighing, "It was only a matter of time," everyone glaring at her as she protested, "I SWEAR I DIDN'T TELL!"

Weedle then proceeded to state, "However, four very promising students have recently come to my attention. They have all simultaneously broken the record for the shortest time a student on Hero Planet has passed his or her final exam. As such, I am considering replacing Machoke and his team with them."

All went silent as all four gritted their teeth, Machoke feeling the most irritated of them all while Weedle added, "Now, I am a fair man, so I will give them a chance to defend themselves. In a few days from now, I will have them take on all four of my newcomers to defend their right to stay stationed in Tokyo. I will discuss further details tomorrow at this location," showing an address on the bottom of the screen before saying, "I recommend you four show up if you know what's good for you! And you know who you are!"

With that, the broadcast ended as Blaziken got up, barking, "HOW DARE HE SAY THAT ABOUT US!?" Gallade nodding and growling, "We have just as much right to be here as anyone!" Gardevoir not even sure what to say as Machoke spat, "This is complete, utter bullshit!"

Aipom covered her ears, whining, "Can you tone down the language, please?" Machoke remarking, "I'll say whatever the hell I want! This is pure slander and he knows it!"

"Exactly right, Machoke," Blaziken replied with a nod, "After all, I defeated Onix and helped Machoke beat Bisharp," Machoke replying, "Don't forget I also defeated Rotom, and he was a tough one."

Gardevoir nodded and squeaked, "I beat Scrafty, and that wasn't easy!" Gallade adding, "Yeah, and I..." all going silent until Gallade uttered, "Uh, what did I do again?"

"Oh, now we see who the real weak link is!" Machoke exclaimed tauntingly, "Gallade hasn't beaten anyone since he came to Earth!" Blaziken sighing, "Machoke, don't make fun of him," Gallade's eyes sparkling until the chicken added, "It's not his fault he's not as badass as we are," Gallade looking down and groaning, "They're right, I'm a failure," Gardevoir patting him on the shoulder saying, "No you're not."

"Look, I'm sure Weedle recognizes and appreciates everything you've done," Aipom stated as everyone turned toward her, the monkey adding, "But he's right! You guys rarely ever go on patrol and you all faked a sickness yesterday just to get off work! That's not exactly what heroes should be doing!"

"She's right," Gardevoir whimpered, tears forming in her eyes as Gallade took a deep breath, holding his sister's shoulder and replying, "It's okay, sis," Blaziken nodding and replying, "That's right. We'll just have to prove them wrong when we wipe the floor with his new students. They're probably not as tough as he makes them sound."

Machoke nodded and folded his arms, stating, "Yeah, we're gonna put those wannabes in their place, right, guys?" Gallade and Blaziken cheering before looking at Gardevoir, the girl biting her lower lip before sporting a serious look, wiping her tears and nodding. There was no way they were going to fail.

"Well, you'd better start training now if you want to prove Weedle wrong," Aipom stated as the four nodded and ran into the yard, starting up rigorous training exercises, the monkey sighing, "Somehow I don't think that's gonna be good enough."

All the while, Lucario was at an airport when he saw this exact report on the TV, the dog blinking and saying to himself, "Perhaps my next stop shall be Tokyo."

The following day, many arrived at a fancy building as Weedle stood atop a podium, saying, "Thank you all for coming. I'm sure you're all ready to hear the details regarding the upcoming event."

Many reporters were there as the four more recent graduates stood behind the caterpillar, all of them hidden under cloaks for dramatic effect. Everyone wanted to know as soon as possible who was under those disguises.

"I have proposed a tournament," Weedle said, everyone listening with interest as he added, "I will call it 'The Next Gen Battle'. Both teams will compete and whichever one has so much as one member still standing will be stationed in Tokyo," one reporter asking, "So even if three members of a team fail, one member can win it for all of them?" the caterpillar nodding and replying, "That's correct."

With that, he then proceeded to say, "Now, graduates, reveal yourselves," the heroes removing their cloaks as everyone gazed in wonder. One was of course Scyther, the German bug who had beaten Bouffalant, Weedle directing everyone's attention to her first while saying, "Hailing from Germany, an insect of many talents, Scyther!" the bug waving at the crowd.

The other was a blue rhino beetle with yellow eyes, Weedle stating, "Hailing from Scotland is a beetle with a lot of strength, Heracross!" the beetle smiling sweetly at the crowd and saying, "Hi, nice to meet you all."

The third was a light-blue golem with bronze arm and leg bands along with a metal patch over what looked like a crack on his upper body. His shoulders and a couple of diamond formations on his wrists had yellow swirls on them, a roman armour skirt over his legs. Weedle pointed at him and added, "Coming to us from Rome is a golem with a lot of fighting spirit, Golurk!" the golem exclaiming, "I will crush my opponents into dust!"

Then finally, the last of the new graduates as a dark-brown rabbit with a short round tail. Her ears were brown on the top but almost two-thirds consisted of long strands of cream-coloured fur, the ends resembling chubby fists. This same colour of fur was also present on two cotton ball-like tufts on her wrists and her feet right up to her knees also had this colour. Weedle simply stated, "And last but not least, coming to us from Egypt is a rabbit with a lot of speed, Lopunny!" the rabbit waving at the crowd with excitement.

One reporter stated, "I look forward to seeing them in battle, that is I would if their opponents had actually bothered to show up," Weedle replying, "Oh no, they showed up, surprisingly. I just have them waiting in another area right now. Come on out, guys!"

At that moment, the others also came in wearing cloaks as one reporter asked, "Weedle, I don't understand. We already know who they are," Weedle replying, "True, but do you know who's under which cloak?" the area going silent as Machoke grinned under his, thinking, 'This is a great disguise. I should use this when sneaking out of the house.'

With that, the bug explained, "Each member of the new team will pick one of these fighters. Whoever each one chooses will be his or her opponent for the first round. Now, who would like to pick first?"

"Me!" Scyther exclaimed, the bug stepping forward as Golurk grunted, "No fair! You always gotta go first!" Scyther shrugging and replying, "I strive to be number 1, Kamerad," the golem sighing, "I have no idea what that means."

With that, the bug thought hard before choosing the second to the left, said fighter removing his cloak to reveal Gallade underneath. The boy smirked, holding up his blade arms and saying, "I look forward to wiping the mat with you," Scyther smirking and remarking, "Funny, I was going to tell you the same thing."

Golurk then snapped, "Me next, everyone!" Lopunny and Heracross nodding, saying nothing to this as the golem did not even stop to think, pointing at the one on the far right and belting, "You! Show yourself so I can see your fear!"

The figure removed the cloak to reveal Blaziken underneath, though naturally there was no fear in her eyes. In fact, she looked more eager than ever to knock this guy's stone block off.

Lopunny bounced forward squealing, "This looks like fun!" tapping her chin and holding out her finger, saying, "Eenie meenie miney mo..." the crowd and the other fighters groaning as she actually went through the entire chant, soon ending up with the one on the far left, said fighter taking a deep breath.

Gardevoir was underneath this one as she thought, 'Okay, Machoke said I have to look cool,' Weedle uttering, "Um, you have to take your cloak off," Gardevoir taking hold of one edge and throwing it off to the side with an intimidating look on her face, now sporting a black shirt with ripped sleeves as she pointed at Lopunny, squeaking, "You're going down like a clown, Charlie Brown!"

All went silent as the last cloaked member exclaimed, "YOU ROCK, GARDEVOIR!" Gallade laughing nervously and saying, "Okay, Machoke is not allowed to pick her entrances anymore."

Weedle simply let out a sigh, saying, "Well, we already know it's him under the cloak, so I'll forgive that violation of my 'no talking until revealed' terms," Lopunny's eyes sparkling as she clapped excitedly, squealing, "OH MY GOD, THAT WAS SO COOL! I'VE HEARD YOU'RE SUPER SHY AND TIMID, BUT YOU JUST PROVED ALL OF THAT WRONG!"

"Thank you," Gardevoir squealed, lightly blushing as Machoke shot her a look, the girl blinking and nodding, sporting a confident look and adding, "I mean, your praise means nothing!" Gallade groaning, "It's okay to be a good sport, sis."

With that, Machoke tried the same thing with his cloak only to end up stepping on the bottom and causing himself to fall on his back, his cloak falling over his face as he flailed his arms, shouting, "WHO TURNED OUT THE LIGHTS!?" the team even more embarrassed now.

Heracross simply helped him remove it, saying, "Here you go, sir," Machoke blinking as the beetle smiled bright, saying, "I am so happy to be your opponent. I'm looking forward to this."

The boy blinked and said, "You seem quite reasonable," the boy not even sure whether to act tough or scared right now. Heracross really did not seem all that bad.

"Alright, it would seem the match-ups have been decided," Weedle stated, "You will be divided up into sub groups. Group A will consist of Machoke, Gardevoir, Heracross and Lopunny with Gardevoir and Lopunny fighting in the first match. They will meet in a park located here," pointing to a park on a map before adding, "Group B will be the rest, with Gallade and Scyther being the first to fight in that division. They will be located here," the caterpillar pointing at another spot on the map.

"Hold it," Blaziken said, Weedle asking, "Yes?" the chicken asking, "So, you're saying if just one member of our team can make it through the tournament, we all stay in Tokyo?" Weedle nodding as Blaziken added, "What if two members of the same team win back-to-back?" Weedle replying, "Like any tournament, the winner of one match will face the other winner, so it is possible for two members of the same team to compete."

"But hold on," Gallade uttered, then trembling as he asked, "What if we all fail in the first round?" Machoke shouting, "DON'T SAY THAT!" Blaziken sighing, "He's right. We can't rule out the possibility," Weedle nodding and replying, "Well, the tournament will continue, but your team will lose, no ifs, ands or buts. You can choose to stay and watch the show or get going before it's over, your call. But let it be known, I've already chosen new locations for all of you, and with the exception of Gallade and Gardevoir, you're all going to be sent to separate countries."

Machoke's eyes widened as he now realized just how serious this was. If he and the entire team lost, it would be a nightmare trying to see each other again. They would likely get new partners who were nowhere near as pleasant to be around. On the whole, there was no way they could risk failure.