Two weeks had passed and it was finally time for the opening ceremony of the Hero Olympics, which of course was being held in the Tokyo Dome. The seats were filled as the people were all beyond excited. Reika, Cici, Tsuya and Keiko had booked themselves front-row seats as they wanted to see the Japanese representatives as close up as possible.

"This is certainly exciting, isn't it?" Keiko asked with a big smile as Reika nodded, saying, "I can see why you were so into this stuff when you were young, Mom. I can't believe how big this sort of thing can be."

With that, Beedrill took the stand with Weedle once again by his side as he cleared his throat, exclaiming, "Welcome one and all to the opening ceremony of the twenty-third Hero Olympics!" the crowd going wild as he added, "In less than fifteen minutes, those who qualified for this event will be walking down the runway!"

At this moment, Machoke and Aipom had just arrived at the building as Machoke spat, "CRAP, WHY DID I HAVE TO SLEEP IN TODAY!?" Aipom groaning, "That's what I get for forgetting to set the alarm!"

Unfortunately, the two were still in their pyjamas as Aipom grumbled, "Great, everyone's gonna see me this way," a familiar voice entering the area and saying, "Hi there, guys."

Machoke turned and noticed Sawk standing there with a big smile on his face, the boy waving and saying, "Hey, Sawk, so you made it to the Olympics," Aipom nodding and sighing, "Sorry your brother couldn't join you," Sawk shaking his head and replying, "It's okay. We both knew what we were getting into. I'm just happy he was my final opponent."

"So you're the other Japanese participants," said an octopus standing before them with her tentacles by her side, the others staring as she added, "Name's Octillery. It's an honour to meet you two in person."

With that, the octopus held out three of her tentacles as Machoke, Sawk and Aipom shook them, Aipom uttering, "This is great and all, but we don't have a long time before we have to be on the runway," Machoke nodding and replying, "Worry, not, I came prepared," the boy removing his pyjamas only to find there was nothing underneath, the boy shouting, "OH NO, I FORGOT TO PUT MY SPECIAL OUTFIT ON LAST NIGHT!"

Aipom stared as he let down tears, sniffing, "I spent so long working on it! It was going to be great!" the monkey sighing, "As much as I hate to indulge your entrances, we certainly can't have you walking out there without your speedo at least," Sawk and Octillery both shielding their eyes, Octillery sneaking a quick peak.

However, Machoke then noticed a group of female dancers heading out from a change room, his eyes going wide as he uttered, "I am brilliant!" Aipom and Sawk staring at him with distraught looks while Octillery looked confused.

With that, fifteen minutes had passed as Beedrill exclaimed, "And now watch as those who qualified come down the runway! Starting us off are the representatives of France!"

The crowd cheered as Gallade, Gardevoir and Florges entered the area with a young woman holding the flag of France in her hand. Every country had a flag girl to help carry the banner, so to speak.

Gardevoir had a big smile on her face as she waved to the cheering crowd while Gallade had a more dignified look, Tsuya waving excitedly at him. Of course Florges was elegant as always, though a part of her really wanted to sing for the fans right now.

"Wow, Gardevoir looks so enthusiastic," Reika stated as Tsuya blew Gallade a kiss, exclaiming, "HEY, GALLADE, IT'S ME! LOOK AT ME!" Gallade turning to face her as her cheeks turned red before she squealed excitedly, her hands up against her cheeks.

Beedrill continued to announce the countries as Ireland was next followed by Africa and then Poland. Scrafty was happily waving to the crowd along with a ferret named Furret and an orange pig named Pignite.

Next up was Russia, with Ursaring being one of its representatives, Brazil following close behind. Next up were the Peruvian participants followed Scotland, Heracross waving happily to the crowd while accompanied by a beaver named Bibarel and a dinosaur-like dragon named Bagon.

Next up was India, Lopunny waving ecstatically while accompanied by a stag beetle named Pinsir and a coffin with a face and shadowy arms named Cofagrigus. After that was Australia with Dodrio walking down the runway with a dinosaur with a pouch named Kangaskhan and an anteater named Heatmor.

When the German division came down, Scyther was joined by a metal ant named Durant and a yellow fox named Braixen. And soon enough, America entered and was represented by Blaziken, a lion named Pyroar and Clauncher.

And of course, more and more countries came, China soon entering while Hitmonlee waved at Hitmonchan, the girl waving at him while being joined by her other siblings. All three were happy to walk down the runway together. Behind them was England, Lucario and Bisharp walking tall and proud while a skunk named Skuntank joined them.

And soon, almost every country had entered, Beedrill announcing, "And now for the final country, Japan!" the crowd getting ready to cheer before breaking out into hysterics as not only was Machoke wearing a woman's dancing outfit while performing tip-toe steps with his arms spread out like a swan's wings but he had also convinced the others to play along.

Aipom sported a small tutu while strumming a harp, a look of pain on her face while Sawk was also dressed like a ballerina, sweat pouring down his face as he thought, 'Oh god, please don't let Throh see me.'

He turned toward the crowd and noticed his brother waving at him, shouting, "LOOKING GOOD!" Sawk's face turning into Throh's colour. Octillery did not seem to mind this though as she danced gracefully while saying, "I feel like a super model," placing her tentacles against her cheeks, her eyes closed and a big smile on her hose-like mouth.

"Who else but Machoke?" Reika groaned, Keiko chuckling and saying, "His dad did some weird things back in the day, but he could never top this," Weedle all the while fuming while thinking, 'He just keeps finding new ways to embarrass Hero Planet.'

Hitmonchan simply stared at Sawk and groaned, "I can't believe I used to have the hots for that guy," Sawk hearing this and thinking, 'Okay, there is an upside to this,' Machoke suddenly whipping out his speedo from behind his back and saying, "Well, that was fun," Aipom remarking, "YOU MEAN YOU HAD THOSE WITH YOU THIS WHOLE TIME!?"

"Well, yeah, why wouldn't I?" the boy asked, getting out of the dancing outfit and into his speedo fast enough for no one to see what was underneath as the monkey retorted, "Why did you have us wear these stupid outfits, then!?"

Machoke laughed and replied, "Well, what kind of entrance would we have had if I simply came in my regular clothes?"

Keiko simply snickered as Reika asked, "And you say his father was very much like this?" the woman nodding as Sawk ripped off the ballet outfit he was wearing to reveal his karate gi underneath, the dancer he had borrowed it from shouting, "HEY, YOU'LL HAVE TO PAY FOR THAT!" Sawk groaning, "I just couldn't have my dignity today, could I?"

"I don't see what the big deal is," Octillery replied, posing like a supermodel and winking at the crowd, people shielding their eyes at the sight of this. Weedle simply shook his head and groaned, "They're not helping things."

Even so, Octillery eventually handed the dancing outfit back to the woman she had borrow it from along with Machoke, the boy bowing his head and saying, "Thank you for lending us the outfits," the woman smiling and saying, "No problem," before putting it back on only to notice Machoke's muscular build had stretched it out in size, the dancer sighing, "Now I just need to find a way to shrink this."

Aipom was about to get out of the tutu even though hers was actually given to her since there was no one in the group small enough to wear it when Keiko exclaimed, "YOU LOOK ADORABLE, AIPOM!" the monkey blinking, now wondering if she should take it off.

Either way, things had finally calmed down as Blaziken walked over to Machoke, patting him on the shoulder and saying, "When you told me you were participating, I had a little trouble believing it, but here you are," Gardevoir giving him a hug and squealing, "Now we all get to compete together! Yay!"

Gallade nodded as Machoke stared, asking, "Wait, you actually won three matches?" the boy smirking and replying, "Yeah, get used to it because I'm gonna be winning a lot more from now on!"

Hitmonchan suddenly ran over to the group, Hitmontop and Tyrogue slowly walking over to them as the boxer smiled at Gallade, asking, "Hi, Gallade, how are you?" the boy blinking and replying, "Fine," Tsuya staring at this, wondering if this was going where she thought it was.

Machoke then noticed Lucario simply standing around with his arms folded. He seemed uninterested in talking to anyone until Clauncher ran over to him, saying, "Hey, Lucario!" the dog turning and blinking before replying, "Sup?" Machoke's eyes widening as Blaziken asked, "Did Lucario just say what I think he did?"

"Guess we're gonna be competing, eh?" Clauncher stated with a grin, "Don't expect me to go easy on you, buddy!" the dog smirking and remarking, "I'd be insulted if you did," Aipom saying, "Wow, he actually made a friend."

However, the friendly chatter would have to end as Beedrill stated, "Alright, everyone, since the audience came all the way here, it wouldn't be right to end everything after the opening ceremony! As such, we're going to take care of all the sporting events today! The remaining participants will face off in a fighting tournament starting next week!"

"Wait, so we don't get time to prepare ourselves?" Machoke asked when Weedle directed everyone's attention to a big screen, everyone staring and wondering exactly what kind of event they would start with.

After a while, a picture of three heroes, namely Graveler, a pile of sludge named Muk and Scizor appeared on screen with the words 'Extreme Rock, Paper, Scissors' written over it as everyone stared in silence. Blaziken tilted her head to the side, uttering, "This is a joke, right?"

Everyone else nodded, wondering if Beedrill and Weedle were off their rockers for choosing this as a sporting event until Weedle barked, "I'll have you all know that this is not a joke!" everyone staring as Reika asked, "It's not?"

Beedrill shook his head and replied, "Quite the opposite. This has been the first event of the Hero Olympics ever since the beginning. See, while skill, speed and strength are certainly the most important aspects of being a hero, luck does play a role, so it's not out of the question to base an event around that."

Most of the heroes nodded their heads in understanding, but Machoke and Blaziken both thought this was incredibly stupid. The Hero Olympics was supposed to be a measure of skill and yet they were starting with something humans did to solve disputes on a regular basis.

Either way, the event went by quickly as everyone simply turned to a random fighter nearby and started the game. Machoke, what with his incredible luck, naturally won this event with ease, the boy breathing a sigh of relief, and the same went for most of the others. Even Dodrio defeated their opponent by using their feet. Thankfully they did have more than enough toes to pull it off.

Unfortunately, there was the fact that half the heroes participating had lost, so the odds of everyone Machoke knew succeeding was not all that favourable. And it seemed one of his friends had lost as he heard sniffing from behind him, the boy turning to see Gallade on the ground and hugging his knees.

"I can't believe it," the boy uttered, his eyes wide with absolute shock, "I lost!" Machoke laughing nervously, not knowing what to say as Gardevoir walked over and gave him a hug, saying, "It's okay, Gallade. You made it as far as the Olympics themselves. I think that's something to be proud of."

Gallade wiped a tear and nodded, a grin on his face as he replied, "I shouldn't be crying anyway! That's poor sportsmanship!" Hitmonchan walking over and saying, "Besides, everyone loses every now and then, right?"

"I'm guessing you lost, too?" Gallade asked as Hitmonchan laughed and remarked, "No way! My opponent got super nervous and used scissors!" a big grin on her face as Gallade looked down again, the boxer patting him on the shoulder and saying, "It's okay, don't let it get you down."

However, Lucario noticed that Clauncher had not been so lucky. Due to her having claws, all she could use was scissors and this made her easy pickings. However, before the dog could try and console his friend, he noticed she was rather positive, the lobster letting out a laugh and exclaiming, "Oh well, it was just awesome getting this far!" shrugging her shoulders as Lucario smiled lightly.

The other two to fail were Hitmontop and Heracross, both letting out disappointed sighs as Lopunny gave Heracross a sympathetic look, saying, "It's okay, you did your best," the beetle grinning and giving the rabbit thumbs up before exiting the area.

Hitmontop simply gave Tyrogue and Hitmonchan pats on the shoulder when her sister was done fawning over Gallade for the time being, the girl saying, "Do your best to make sure at least one of us makes it, eh, guys?" the two nodding and giving their sister a hug before she headed out of the area.

With that, everyone readied themselves for the next event as Beedrill stated, "Well, we're now down to half the contestants, so it's time for the next event!" the wasp then pointing toward the screen as everyone waited for a title to come up. Soon enough, a picture of a man grabbing a falling woman appeared on screen as the next title was 'Save the Damsel in Distress'.

"Wait, we have to do what!?" Machoke spat as Weedle explained, "It's quite simple. Your jobs as heroes is to protect the innocent, so we've based an event around that."

At that moment, part of the floor opened up as a giant dragon head statue appeared, a girl hanging from the top tooth by her collar. Everyone stared in absolute horror as the head was risen up high above the ground, the girl screaming in absolute panic. The worst part was that this was not even scripted or anything. This girl was in genuine peril.

As the audience and the heroes themselves were seriously questioning the government's judgement on this one, even Beedrill had to agree as he asked, "Don't you think this is going too far, Dad?" Weedle replying, "Don't worry, son, there's a safety mat in front of the statue," the caterpillar pointing at a big mat that had just been placed in that exact spot by the staff, asking, "See?"

"Oh, okay," the wasp replied, nodding his head, "I shouldn't have doubted someone as brilliant as you," Weedle replying, "That's fine, son. Your reaction shows that you care about the citizens and that makes me proud."

While the girl tried her best to stay calm, Weedle gave Beedrill a paper with the concept written on it as the wasp stated, "In this event, two heroes will go head-to-head and race to the finish while the damsel is dropped from the statue's tooth. Whoever catches the falling human first will advance to the next event. But if the damsel hits the ground, or in this case the safety mat, both heroes lose and will be eliminated from the Hero Olympics."

"Even with the mat, this still seems insane," Machoke muttered as Gardevoir nodded, saying, "I don't even care if I win or lose the race. I just hope whoever they use for my race will be okay."

Beedrill called up the first two contestants, Dodrio and Furret. Before they could start, Beedrill stated, "One last thing before we begin. You can use any means necessary to ensure that you make it to the finish line first, including using your powers to slow down your opponent," Furret smirking at Dodrio as the middle head exclaimed, "SWEET! THIS'LL BE EASY!" the right head sighing, "We could just play fair anyway."

With that, a button was pressed as the statue vibrated, the girl's collar shaken off of the tooth as she started to fall, Dodrio and Furret taking off. Furret grinned before rolling up into a ball and shouting, "WEASEL BALL!" Dodrio's heads nodding at one-another before the kiwi picked up the pace, catching up with the ferret as the right head said, "I would have liked to play fair, but since you're resorting to cheap tactics-"

The middle head barked, "DON'T WASTE TIME!" the right head rolling her eyes and shifting sideways while barking, "WRECKING BALL!"

With that, the head slammed hard into Furret's side as the ferret rolled out of the race area and into the wall, Dodrio taking full advantage of this and leaping onto the safety mat, allowing the girl to fall on their back. The crowd cheered as Beedrill announced the kiwi's victory, the girl hugging all three necks while kissing the middle head, feeling beyond grateful to have been saved.

And sure enough, more and more heroes came up, all of them feeling more confident about this. Not all the damsels were young girls or women either. Some of them were middle-aged businessmen, elderly people and bums who had snuck into the stadium to watch the Olympics. The only people not being used as damsels were children as even with the safety mat, Weedle did consider that too extreme.

And like with the previous event, some of Machoke's friends had failed. Tyrogue ended up losing to an elephant with armour going from his trunk to his back named Donphan, the elephant using a rolling technique of his own to outrun him. Same went for Florges who lost to a purple cat named Liepard, the cat scratching her side with her claws as a means of slowing her down.

Gardevoir whimpered when she saw this, Florges sauntering back and wincing in pain while the girl squeaked, "Are you okay?" the flower girl nodding and saying, "I'm fine."

Gardevoir was up next as her opponent was Cofagrigus, the coffin turning to her with a big grin and saying, "It's a pleasure to meet you," his face becoming extremely creepy while he wiggled his arms around in a menacing fashion.

But strangely enough, Gardevoir did not feel the least bit intimidated by this as she gave him a sweet smile, saying, "Nice to meet you too," the coffin blinking and shaking her hand, really hoping his scare tactics would have worked.

Thankfully, Gardevoir had learned not to be intimidated by scary-looking people after meeting Kuro on her ride to Paris. To her, Cofagrigus was just another hero and nothing more.

In fact, Kuro was currently seated in the crowd, holding up a little French flag and waving it with a light smile on his face, though he was not really saying anything. Gardevoir noticed this and flashed him a sweet smile.

"Wow, Gardevoir's so cool," Cici uttered, "I wish I could look at someone like Cofagrigus and not be scared," Reika patting her on the shoulder and replying, "It might happen someday."

With that, the race started up as Cofagrigus used his bottom hands to lift himself up, using them as feet to make his way toward the finish line. Unfortunately for him, Gardevoir was way too quick on her feet.

The coffin grimaced and thought, 'Alright, time to play dirty,' before sending one of his hands toward her spiked collar in an attempt to grab it. However, Gardevoir was moving way too fast, so his hand was unable to reach her as he stopped paying attention to his movement, losing his balance and falling flat on his face.

Needless to say, this was an easy win for Gardevoir as she caught a falling man in his forties, the man sighing with relief and saying, "Thanks, Gardevoir, you're amazing," the girl blushing and squeaking, "Thanks!"

The crowd cheered as she made her way back to her friends, Blaziken giving her a high five when suddenly, her name was announced. The chicken was more than ready before she heard Beedrill state that her opponent would be Scyther.

Both stared at one-another before slowly making their way to the starting point, Scyther saying, "Sorry to have to face you so early," Blaziken shrugging and replying, "We probably would have had to face each-other eventually. May as well take care of it now, eh?"

Scyther nodded and held out her hand, saying, "Here's to a good, clean race without any dirty tactics," Blaziken nodding and shaking her hand.

"Blaziken is dead-set on winning this," Beedrill stated, "Her mother failed before making it to the tournament portion in the twenty-second Olympics, so this is a really big deal to her."

Their damsel was a woman in her late thirties, the statue vibrating as she was dropped, crying out in terror. Blaziken and Scyther took off as both seemed equal in speed. After all, both had trained really hard in that category and were going neck-and-neck. Blaziken would not let Scyther off so easy, even if she was a friend, so she picked up the pace a bit.

However, just as it looked like the chicken was likely to win, her eyes widened when she noticed a child in the front row walking along the railing, everyone in the area too distracted to notice this. Blaziken sighed and turned to Scyther, saying, "Promise me you'll make it to the tournament," before sprinting away from the runway. And this was certainly good timing as the kid had just lost his balance, his mother noticing this and crying out for help.

Everyone gasped as Aipom noticed this, thinking, 'So that's why she gave up,' Scyther catching the woman while Blaziken managed to save the boy, Scyther then turning and noticing this, her eyes widening. She figured Blaziken had a good reason to give up a win like this, but she did not think it was this serious of a situation.

"Wow, Blaziken's awesome!" Machoke exclaimed, light tears in his eyes as the mother of the child sprinted from her seat and onto the field, Blaziken handing over the kid. The woman cradled him and sniffed, "Thank you so much, Miss Blaziken! I won't take my eyes off of my little Muto again!"

"Don't mention it," Blaziken replied with a smirk, but deep down, she was hurting.

She had just sacrificed a victory, which meant she had suffered the same fate as her mother. Sure, it was for a good cause, but she still did not feel so good about giving up her spot like that.

Scyther saw the chicken slowly make her way to the exit, saying, "You did a great thing, Blaziken. You deserve this win more than I do," Blaziken letting out a sigh and saying nothing, the others watching as Gardevoir asked, "Do you think she's going to be okay?" Machoke and Aipom not so sure how to answer that.

However, while Blaziken was headed out of the area, she noticed another chicken standing there folding her arms. This one looked a lot closer to what an Earth chicken looked like only instead of a crest atop her head, she had three orange feathers. Her upper body consisted of yellow feathers while her lower body was made up of orange feathers. With three claws on each hand representing her fingers, this was Blaziken's mother, Combusken.

"Mother," Blaziken uttered, her eyes wide open as the older chicken took a deep breath, sporting a warm smile and saying, "I came here to see how you'd do in your first Hero Olympics."

"And I failed," Blaziken replied with a sigh, "You're probably ashamed of me, aren't you?" Combusken shaking her head and replying, "On the contrary, I'm mighty proud of you," Blaziken's eyes widening as her mother continued, "You want to know why I failed the twenty-second Hero Olympics during the elimination rounds?"

Blaziken listened closely as her mother added, "It was during an event in which I had to hurl to big rock as far as I could. I actually had just the right distance set up to earn me in a spot in the tournament portion when I detected a puppy walking right in front of where my stone was going to land. I immediately sprung into action and got there just in time to stop my stone from flattening the poor creature."

Blaziken simply could not believe what she had just heard as Combusken sighed, "I lost my chance at advancing, but I saved a life, and honestly, that meant more to me than winning the Hero Olympics ever would have," her daughter letting down tears and smiling, giving Combusken a hug.

Scrafty and Bisharp were facing off against each-other soon, and while the two of them were friends, both had agreed not to hold back. Scrafty came very close to making it to the finish line by kicking himself off the ground repeatedly to increase speed.

However, Bisharp simply ended up being quicker as he caught a young girl just before she could hit the safety mat, the knight striking a cool pose and saying, "You are safe, my fair lady," the girl giggling and replying, "And I thought chivalry was dead," a seductive look in her eyes as Scrafty smirked, saying, "She's all yours, buddy," Bisharp's eyes widening.

While Bisharp was now fleeing for dear life from his new fangirl, Lucario was facing off against a bull named Tauros. Tauros was about to dominate when the dog leapt high into the air, planting his feet hard into the bull's skull and knocking him flat on his face, easily claiming victory.

And finally, after all that, it was Machoke's turn as he took to the starting line, his opponent standing next to him. This creature was a round chipmunk just tall enough to reach the boy's thighs. He had green armour around his upper body along with the tops of his arms and two long pointed ears with a red tip on the end of each one. His face was covered in light brown fur but the rest of him that could be seen outside of his armour was dark brown. His name was Quilladin.

"I gotta say, it's an honour to face you, Machoke," the chipmunk said with a smile as Machoke smiled and replied, "Thanks. It's nice to meet you too," Quilladin then smirking wickedly and adding coldly, "But don't think I'm gonna go easy on you!"

Machoke gulped while thinking, 'He looks like a pathetic shrimp but he's probably really hardcore. I can't let down my guard,' Weedle all the while thinking, 'Please, Quilladin, don't let me down.'

With that, it was time to reveal the damsel, Machoke all the while grinning while thinking, 'I wonder who I'll get. Maybe an intelligent blond with sexy glasses or a brunette in a bikini! Oh, the possibilities are endless!" his eyes widening when he noticed his damsel was a middle-aged man with sweat all over him. His entire face was lumpy and deformed and his nose was four times the size of a normal one.

"OH MY GOD, WHAT AM I DOING UP HERE!?" he spat, trembling for dear life as Weedle noticed Machoke's expression and asked, "Is something wrong?" the boy blinking as the caterpillar added, "Again, your job as heroes is to protect the innocent, and evil does not discriminate! They will attack anyone to get what they want, even the physically unattractive!" Beedrill nodding and replying, "Take it from an ex-villain. He's not lying."

Machoke took a deep breath and replied, "Okay, fine, you're right," Aipom shaking her head and sighing, "At this point, I'm ashamed of him for even thinking like that."

With that, the statue was shaken as the man fell, the race starting up. However, before Machoke could even try to outrun Quilladin, the chipmunk smirked and rolled up into a ball like Furret and Donphan had before shouting, "ROLLING PINATA!"

Machoke panicked as the chipmunk dug his claws into the dirt, sending it flying sideways and into the boy's eyes. Machoke tried his best to ignore this only to end up tripping on his own feet and falling forward, Quilladin smirking while Weedle looked hopeful.

However, just as all looked lost, Machoke remembered something. During his training with Aipom, the monkey had taught him how to defend himself when he could not see. She told him to think about what direction a possible attack would come from and use that to his advantage, and Machoke did just that by throwing his arms out and placing his hands firmly against the ground, stopping his fall and propelling himself forward.

Everyone stared in shock as Machoke soared right past Quilladin, Weedle asking, "How did someone so stupid pull off something like that!?" Beedrill turning as the caterpillar cleared his throat and uttered, "I mean, wow, what an impressive feat," Machoke landing on the safety mat as the deformed man fell on him.

The crowd went wild as Beedrill exclaimed, "And thus Machoke is the last participant to advance to the third event!" Weedle letting out a sigh as Quilladin looked down, slowly making his way toward the exit. Things were certainly looking up as Machoke had made it past the first two events, but what would the third one have in store?