With round one out of the way, it was time for a break from all of the fighting as Weedle decided to give everyone two days to rest up before the semi-finals. However, before doing anything else, Machoke went to check up on his friends in the hospital.

Gallade and Gardevoir were awake but could not move, Gallade now having stitches across his chest. It seemed that gash Scyther gave him had left a permanent scar. To think a hero would go that far against someone fighting for the side of good.

Gardevoir simply smiled at Machoke and squeaked, "Good job in your match, Machoke," Gallade nodding and saying in a weak tone, "You're the man," taking a deep breath as even that sentence took quite a bit of strength to let out.

"Did you see what happened to Blaziken?" Machoke asked, hoping they had not as Gardevoir whimpered, "I hope she turns out okay. Her beating looked far worse than ours," the girl then smiling softly and adding, "But it's okay because I know you're going to win the tournament for us, right?"

Machoke took a deep breath and nodded with a serious look in his eyes, saying, "I'll make them all pay. I promise," the boy already starting to regret those words but choosing not to let his emotions ruin the moment.

Suddenly, Reika and her friends entered as Tsuya ran over to Gallade, exclaiming, "ARE YOU OKAY!?" throwing herself right over him and staring deep into his eyes, Gallade whimpering, "Guys, help me," a Reika sighed, "Give him space, Tsuya."

Cici smiled at Gardevoir and said, "I thought you did a great job," Gardevoir giving the girl a big smile and replying, "Thank you. That means a lot."

After a bit more talking, the group headed out of the hospital as Reika turned to Machoke with a serious look on her face. Machoke knew what she meant and nodded, a confident smile forming on his. Sure, he was scared, but there was no way he could allow himself to lose.

However, he would have to think about this later as that evening, Weedle had set up a big meeting regarding the semi-finals. Quite a number of guests had arrived at the same building he had introduced the new graduates in, including Aipom who was wearing a small tuxedo and a bow-tie.

Reika and Keiko were there as well, wearing their nicest dresses for the occasion when Reika noticed the monkey, smiling and saying, "Wow, you look positively adorable," Aipom blushing and uttering, "No, I look too much like a boy!"

Keiko laughed and replied, "Honestly, that suits you much more than a dress would. Trust me, I'm a fashion expert."

The monkey smiled lightly and nodded, saying, "Thank you," when Weedle tapped a microphone with his horn, getting everyone's attention.

"Thank you all for coming," the caterpillar said, "As you all know, the first round of The Next Gen Battle is over. Currently, it seems like the odds are stacked in Team Next Gen's favour, but anything could happen. And a reminder to everyone, the first match will be between A block's Lopunny and Machoke while the second match will be between B block's Scyther and Fiarrow."

One news reporter in the crowd held up his own mic, asking, "Sir, where are the semi-finalists at this time?" Weedle nodding his head and replying, "Worry not, for they are in this building. I've set up a grand entrance for them therefor Machoke won't be doing anything stupid this evening."

With that, the lights were dimmed as fog came out from behind a big curtain, covering the stage. Everyone marvelled at the sight of this when the silhouettes of the heroes appeared, all of them striking cool poses. However, one particular silhouette was unable to hold its pose as the owner ended up falling sideways, running into the one next to him and knocking the figure over, Weedle groaning and shaking his head. Of course this was bound to happen.

As the fog cleared, no one was the least bit surprised to find that Machoke was the one who lost his balance, though thankfully the one he had bumped into was Lopunny. As the boy slowly got up, he held out his hand, saying, "Sorry about that," the rabbit taking it as he helped her up and replying, "Don't worry, I know you didn't mean it."

Reika took a deep breath and sighed, "Well, at least they're not fighting with each-other," Keiko chuckling and replying, "His father wasn't that much different."

Fiarrow simply rolled his eyes at this, though his look soon became shock when he turned toward Scyther to see her reaction. And soon enough, everyone else had the same surprised look when they noticed Scyther was not standing next to him. Instead, it was the red insect from before, Scizor.

Aipom's eyes sparkled as she squealed, "Oh my god, that's the great Scizor! Mommy told me all sorts of things about her!" the insect blinking and looking down at her, asking, "Your mother wouldn't happen to be Ambipom, would she?" the monkey nodding as Scizor smiled, saying, "Never thought I'd get to meet her daughter."

"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS!?" Fiarrow snapped with a look of fury in his eyes, "SCYTHER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE HERE, NOT YOU!" Weedle nodding and replying, "While I don't approve of the outburst, Fiarrow has a good point. Why are you here instead of Scyther?"

Scizor took a deep breath and replied, "Scyther asked me to take her place on stage, Herr Chairman," Weedle nodding and replying, "I see. In that case, I got another question that everyone's been dying to know."

"Don't bother," Scizor remarked, holding out her hand and adding, "You all want to know what my connection to Scyther is, and I guess I do owe you all an explanation, especially with the way I've been away for so many years," Weedle replying, "I was going to ask about that. I'm just glad we're on the same page."

Machoke had not seen her sudden appearance in the B Block area earlier, so this was the first he had heard of this. Now even he was interested as he at least knew who Scizor was and why she was so famous, one such reason being the fact that she was once Greninja's partner for a tag team match.

"First of all, yes, I am Scyther's lehrer," Scizor replied, "That's German for teacher," Lopunny nodding and asking, "But why wouldn't Scyther tell us something like that?" Fiarrow nodding and folding his arms, saying, "That's a very good question. You'd better have a damn good explanation for that."

"It's simply because I told her not to," Scizor stated, all going silent until she added, "See, I wanted to make my return to the world of wrestling a surprise until the right moment came up, but, well, she revealed that she knew my signature Arm Schwert before she was supposed to, though I guess in a sense I am glad that I don't have to hide it anymore."

Everyone nodded in understanding as Scizor proceeded to explain, "As for where I've been all this time, well, when Machamp defeated Deoxys and saved the world, evil pretty much came to a halt, and unfortunately, fighting evil was all I really could do with my life. Now that it was gone, I was out of a job, so I left back home to Germany. I tried finding a new form of work, but that was a disaster, so I moved into an abandoned movie theatre and lived off of whatever I could find."

The people all listened with intent save for Fiarrow who sighed, "Yeah, yeah, your life sucked, but what about Scyther?" Scizor remarking, "I'm getting to that, impatient one!" Fiarrow folding his arms and narrowing his eyelids, the insect continuing her story.

"One day, just when I was about to give up on life as I knew it, a young man entered the theatre," Scizor added with a light smile on her face, adding, "His name was Kristof and he was so handsome. He tried to cheer me up and give me a reason to keep living, even offered me a job at a meat-processing plant he owned. At first, I tried to brush him off, feeling like I didn't deserve anyone's sympathy, but he was persistent, so I finally took him up on his offer."

While Scizor continued her story, she reminisced about her first day on the job. At first, she was terrible at it, creating a mess at every turn and coming very close to chopping her arm off. However, Kristof guided her through everything and eventually, she was able to work just as well as he did, soon being promoted to assistant manager.

During this time, Scizor fell in love with the young man, and always having been a woman of action, she was the first to confess these feelings. She was afraid that he might not be interested in a romance what with him being a human and her being an insect, but thankfully, Kristof shared her feelings, admitting that he had actually felt this kind of connection between them since the day he hired her.

"Our wedding day was the happiest moment of my life," Scizor said with a soft smile, letting down a light tear as the audience could not help but shed tears of their own, Aipom sniffing, "That's so sweet," Reika and Keiko nodding.

"So where is he now?" Machoke asked, Scizor replying, "This is where my connection with Scyther really comes in," Fiarrow sighing, "Finally! That romance stuff was making me sick!" Scizor shooting the falcon a glare before clearing her throat and carrying on.

"One day, two years after we had been married, two people broke into our house," Scizor stated, "They were wanted convicts who were well-known for taking violent action against anyone who promoted the consumption of meat. You could call them vegetarian extremists if you will," one vegetarian person in the crowd gulping nervously and pulling on his collar, the insect adding, "Kristof was strong, but these people had weapons and, well, I'm certain you can all guess what happened next."

All went silent as people stared in absolute horror, Scizor adding, "To make matters worse, I had been pregnant for nine months at the time, so lord knew I should not have been doing anything too extreme. However, seeing what these people had done brought out a level of anger I had never reached before. I lashed out at them, pulling out everything I had, but I knew my beloved Kristof would not want me to kill in cold blood, so I simply called the police and had them arrested. Unfortunately, it was shortly after they arrived that my water broke and I was rushed to the hospital."

"Oh, I think I get it now," Fiarrow said with a smirk, "You're Scyther's mom, aren't you?" Scizor nodding and replying, "Precisely," everyone truly amazed, but in retrospect, all of them felt like this should have obvious from the start. After all, the two did look very similar.

"I never sent my daughter to school," Scizor explained, "I taught her everything myself after she turned three. The one technique she had always been really good with was the Arm Schwert as it came naturally to her. But even with her not being so good with the others, she was a very fast learner, and I'll admit, my training methods were harsh, but she had no problem with any of them. She had always wanted to be strong, like me."

Fiarrow's eyebrow rose but the falcon said nothing, the audience truly touched, Machoke now tearing up as he sniffed, "That was such a sad story, Miss Scizor! I would love to be your student too if you would take me!" Scizor replying, "As much as I respect your father and his family, I must decline. Scyther is my only schuler, got it?" Machoke blinking as the bug sighed, "It means student," Machoke nodding in understanding.

"Oh well, I'm sure my buddy Lopunny would love to team up with me, eh?" Machoke asked, grinning at the rabbit as she smiled, replying, "Sorry, but you're my opponent," the boy trembling as he looked at Fiarrow and said, "Uh, no."

Aipom face-palmed and groaned, "Is he actually thinking of switching sides?" Reika and Keiko shaking their heads as Fiarrow asked, "I got one more question. Where is Scyther right now?"

Scizor blinked and replied, "Oh yes, I was going to explain that. Well, currently, my schuler is off training in a nearby forest to get ready for the match," Fiarrow gritting his teeth and remarking, "EVERY ONE OF US HELD OFF ON OUR OWN PERSONAL VENDETTAS TO BE HERE THIS EVENING! HOW DARE SHE NOT SHOW UP!?" everyone gasping as Weedle said, "Look, I wish she could have come, too, but there's no need to be so upset about this."

"CAN IT, FOGIE!" the falcon retorted before shooting Scizor a glare and adding, "The next time you see your precious 'schuler', give her a message from me," Scizor staring at him as he stated, "You're going down!" the falcon holding a thumb down before turning and storming out of the area.

Everyone stared, wondering why Fiarrow was making such a big deal out of this. So what if Scyther was off training? If anything, it meant she was invested and took the match seriously, so why was he so offended by this?

Either way, things calmed down after he had finally left, Reika taking a deep breath and asking, "What's his problem?" Keiko shrugging and replying, "To be fair, he seemed to have issues already."

All the while, Fiarrow was walking away from the building as he sighed, "Oh well, at least I learned something interesting today," a smirk on his face as he spread his wings and flapped off into the night with no real destination in mind.

The rest of the event went okay with people having refreshments, Scizor talking to Aipom as she exclaimed, "No way! Ambipom's teaching children how to fight!?" the monkey nodding and replying, "Yep, you just can't take the teacher out of this family."

She then gave Scizor a serious look and added, "You should let Machamp know you're back in the game. I'm sure he'd love to meet up with you again. You might even get to be one of Hero Planet's instructors."

Scizor shook her head and replied, "Right now, my top priority is my daughter. I care so much about her and really want her to succeed. In fact, I actually asked her before we started training if there's anything else she'd rather do in life."

"What did she say?" Aipom asked, the insect replying, "My greatest desire is to be like you when I grow up."

Aipom stared in amazement and said, "Wow, very articulate for a three-year-old," Scizor chuckling and replying, "I taught her how to read when she was almost two and the first thing she did after that was read through the entire dictionary," Aipom's eyes sparkling as she squealed, "OH MY GOD, THAT'S JUST LIKE ME, ONLY I DID ALL THAT A YEAR EARLIER!"

"Geez, what a boring childhood," Machoke muttered to himself before walking over to Reika to talk to her so he would not feel bored the rest of the evening.

Watching this, Scizor sighed, "I'll admit, that Machoke does remind me a lot of his father. People talk about how Machamp was this great, brave soldier, but he was very much like his son. Childish, lacking in intellect but also having a good heart and the ability to pull through when he really needed to."

Aipom blinked as Scizor added, "You know, the age of three was not the only time I gave Scyther the option to follow a different path. I've always given her a choice. As long as she trained under me, she would follow my methods and undergo harsh training, but if she would rather pursue a new career, I will gladly let her do so. I don't want her thinking she's useless like I almost did."

"You're a very good mommy," Aipom replied with a big smile as Scizor sighed, "Well, there was one day I actually struck her, and it wasn't during training either."

Aipom stared with confusion as the insect added, "It was shortly after she turned eight. I once again asked her if she would ever think of pursuing another goal, and here's what she told me."

Scizor remembered a young Scyther standing before her, looking up at her and exclaiming, "I want to become big and strong so I can take down bad people like the ones who killed Father!"

As soon as she heard this, Scizor rose her hand and struck Scyther in the face, the child's eyes widening. However, due to her being trained to be tough under any circumstance, she did not shed so much as a tear when Scizor barked, "THAT IS A HORRIBLE REASON TO FIGHT!"

Scyther was even more confused as her mother added, "We fight to protect people, not for petty revenge, got it!? One day, I just know evil is going to return and your primary goal will be to focus on making sure they don't harm the innocent, nothing more!"

"But that's what I meant, lehrer," Scyther replied as Scizor's eyes widened, the child adding, "I want to take down bad people so no one else will have to die," Scizor looking into her daughter's eyes before hugging her tightly, sniffing, "Sorry for not understanding, mein liebling."

Back in present day time, Aipom simply nodded and said, "Still, that is certainly a good mindset to have. I still stand by what I said, you're a good mommy," the monkey then asking, "So, are you still willing to give her the option to choose a different path? She seems more than ready to take on evil."

"Trust me, that option will never leave," Scizor replied, "No matter how old she gets or how good she is at her job, I will always give her the option to pursue another path if she wants it. After all, it was choosing a new path that saved me."

During this time, Scyther was still in a nearby forest, racing through it and slicing down trees with her Arm Schwert technique. Only this time she was using both arms to do it. Sure, Fiarrow may have been her ally, but there was no way she was going to hold back.

It was not as if she was spiteful toward Fiarrow either. Again, Scizor taught her never to use vengeance as a motivational tool, and she already believed in that even before she was told. She was just focused to the point where she simply viewed Fiarrow as any other opponent as opposed to a friend.

The next two days went by quickly with Machoke spending a great deal of time preparing for his match with Lopunny. Seeing as he was the only one left, he knew how difficult this would to be, Aipom more than happy to see him taking this as seriously as he was.

And once the two days were up, it was finally time. The match was to take place in another park, only this one was more for going on nice walks than setting up picnic spreads and the like. Like before, bleachers had been set up in the area as a lot more people were coming to the event. There were snack vendors all around the area and even some people selling merchandise based off of the heroes who would compete.

Machoke was headed to the park along with Aipom as he asked, "So, you remember what I asked you to do for my entrance?" the monkey nodding and replying, "Can you tell me what your contribution is going to be? I really don't understand why I have to hold a miniature trampoline by the side of the ring."

"You'll see soon enough," Machoke replied with a grin, "It's gonna be awesome!" the monkey sighing, "That's what I was afraid of."

Strangely enough, Lucario was not in this area. In fact, he had not been seen since Blaziken's match ended. Where had he gone and why was he so afraid of Fiarrow?

Either way, everyone was looking forward to the event, and the setting seemed fitting enough as there were plenty of Earth rabbits in the area. If anything, Lopunny would have been right at home, and Reika had a sneaking suspicion Weedle had something planned when he chose this location.

Because the matches were happening one-at-a-time as opposed to having both blocks going at once, Nori was in the announcer's seat this time as she exclaimed, "Welcome, everyone, to the second round of The Next Gen Battle!" the crowd cheering as the woman added, "It's been a pretty intense tournament so far, but now we've entered the semi-finals! Whoever wins these two matches will fight for the championship, but if Machoke loses, his team will be kicked out of Tokyo before the finals even begin!"

Fiarrow smirked when he heard this but looked as if he was hoping for Machoke to win, but why? Scyther all the while sat across from him, both giving each other a cold stare before turning back to the ring.

With that, Nori exclaimed, "In the red corner, representing Team Next Gen and weighing thirty-three kilograms, the bunny with an amazing spirit, Lopunny!" the rabbit bounding toward the ring on all fours with a group of rabbits following her as if she had trained them to do this. Once in front of the ring, she bounced high into the air and performed a flip before landing on her ears and performing a handstand with them, the crowd going wild.

"And in the blue corner," Nori stated, "representing Team Jinroku and weighing seventy kilograms, Machoke!" everyone turning before noticing Aipom standing next to the ring with a small trampoline being held up by her tail hand, the monkey thinking, 'Please don't be embarrassing.'

Everyone stared in shock when Machoke bounced toward the ring, sporting a pair of sandals with springs glued to the bottom. When he got close, he smirked and started bouncing higher and higher before coming to the trampoline only to end up missing as he flew straight into the ropes, said objects sending him flying into a tree as everyone in the area laughed.

Reika face-palmed and groaned, "Even after everything that's happened, he can't be serious just this once," Lopunny blinking and saying, "Shame about the results, but that looked like a really cool idea," Machoke taking off the sandals and making his way over to the ring, climbing into it and acting as if that failure had not even happened.

Fiarrow simply watched with interest, wondering how Machoke would defeat Lopunny while Scyther said nothing. Lopunny simply bowed her head and said, "Machoke, I like you and all, but I can't let my team down. I hope you understand," the boy taking a deep breath, replying, "Me neither," Aipom glad to see him at least taking the match seriously as Nori rang the bell.