The crowd was getting restless as they waited in anticipation for the match between Lucario and Primeape. Even Machoke was rather interested to see just what Lucario would do. He had not seen the dog fight since he killed a pair of humans in front of his face. He wanted to see just how well he would do against a hero.
"Welcome, everyone, to the seventh match of the Hero Olympics!" Beedrill exclaimed, "Now this is a match I'm sure many have been waiting for, the match between Lucario and Primeape!" the crowd cheering as he added, "Something worth note is that Lucario is the son of Riolu, the champion of both the nineteenth and twentieth Hero Olympics! He had a perfect winning streak before Machamp came along and took that from him in the twenty-first Olympics! Is Lucario better than his father? We're gonna find out soon!"
Nori nodded and exclaimed, "In the red corner, representing Peru is a monkey that can really pack a punch, quite literally, Primeape!" the Peruvian fans cheering wildly as the monkey raced toward the ring, leaping high into the air and flipping vertically a few times before landing firmly against the canvas.
Primeape was an odd-looking specimen as his body was round and completely covered in white, shaggy fur. His ears were also more pointed than that of a typical monkey and looked more like a cat's ears. The only parts of him not covered in hair were his nose, which was like that of a pig, his arms and his legs, these parts being brown with black metal braces on the wrists and ankles. His hands also resembled boxing gloves.
"And in the blue corner," Nori stated, "coming to us from England, a mysterious fighter with an impressive background, Lucario!" the English fans cheering before noticing the dog was not there.
All went silent as Nori asked, "Where's Lucario?" Weedle's eyes going wide as he spat, "That's a good question!" the caterpillar thinking, 'Dammit, he'd better show up soon! He's the star attraction of the Olympics!'
Beedrill cleared his throat and said, "Okay, Lucario seems to be running late, but worry not, British fans, for he will have ten minutes to show up. If during that time he does not arrive, he will be disqualified and the match will go to Primeape," the monkey fuming and snorting, "He'd better not have chickened out!"
Amanda was especially worried right now as she bit her lower lip, placing her hand against her chest and thinking, 'Where are you, Lucario? It's not like you to duck out of a fight,' Machoke noticing her and saying, "Oh, that's Lucario's sister."
"He has a sister?" Aipom asked, Machoke nodding and saying, "Yeah, they were teammates in the three-legged race," Reika smiling and saying, "It's sweet of her to come all this way to see him," Cici squeaking, "I just hope he doesn't disappoint her."
During this time, a staff member of the spa noticed the sauna was still occupied, her eyes widening as she opened the door and noticed Lucario lying against the bench he had been doing pushups on, the dog breathing heavily as sweat poured down his entire body. The woman panicked and quickly ran over to him, dragging him out of the sauna.
"Are you okay, sir?" the woman asked as the dog took many deep breaths, grunting, "Yes, I'm fine!" shoving the woman to the side and walking shakily toward the back exit, adding, "If you'll excuse me, I have business to attend to!"
The staff member held out her hand but retracted it when she could see just how serious Lucario was right now. She could tell that he would not listen to reason and hoped he would be okay in his condition.
After five minutes, Primeape folded his arms, tapping his foot and snorting, "Where the hell is he!? Doesn't he realize how rude it is to keep your opponent waiting!?" the audience now really worried, especially Amanda.
However, everyone's fears were put to rest when Lucario arrived wearing his street jacket, only this time it was zipped up. The crowd went wild as Amanda took a deep breath, Nori exclaiming, "After leaving us hanging for five minutes, Lucario finally shows up and looking as if he had not just left us waiting!" Lucario taking a deep breath and saying nothing, the dog headed toward the ring.
"Geez, he could at least apologize for his tardiness," Machoke groaned, "Even I was worried," Aipom asking, "But why? You hardly know him."
The boy shrugged and replied, "Yeah, but he did help expose Talonflame, remember?" the monkey saying, "That is true."
Gardevoir felt relieved to see him arrive. After all, she had still not forgotten the day he saved her from a pair of robbers. She still wished he had chosen to fight alongside them, though.
Primeape released steam from his nostrils, slamming his feet against the mat and barking, "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW ANGRY YOU'VE MADE ME!? YOU DON'T TAKE ME SERIOUSLY ENOUGH, DO YOU!?" Lucario frowning and retorting, "I'm sorry I was late, but I had some business to take care of," the pig monkey refusing to accept this as he remarked, "Whatever! At least I can vent my frustration by wiping the floor with you!"
With that, British fans were cheering as they could finally count on Lucario to represent them. However, their cheers turned to looks of shock, Amanda filling up with terror when the dog removed his jacket, revealing that he had lost a significant amount of muscle. He had already been skinny before but now one could actually see his ribcage pressed up against his skin as he tried his best not to breathe too heavily. He knew his sister was watching and did not want to upset her.
Weedle stared, his eye twitching as he uttered, "Please tell me I'm just seeing this," the woman from earlier entering the area and gasping when she saw Lucario.
For whatever reason, she had not realized he was partaking in this very match and as such, she felt like it was her responsibility to tell the chairman of Hero Planet about this right away. Despite having not recognized Lucario, she seemed to know full well who Beedrill was as she walked over to him, tapping him on the shoulder.
"What is it?" the wasp asked as she whispered in his ear, "That guy in the ring, the blue one, I found him in the sauna. He stayed in there too long and exhausted himself as a result," Beedrill's eyes widening as he quickly turned to Weedle and whispered the same thing to him.
"He did what!?" Weedle remarked before whispering into the side of Beedrill's head, "Alright, look, Lucario is a big favourite to win this match. We must not allow anyone to know what he did. That means we act like nothing's going on and let this match go as planned," Beedrill replying, "I was thinking it would be more logical to send him somewhere to recover, but if you say so."
'Dammit,' the caterpillar thought with his eyelids narrowed, 'How could he do something so stupid at such a crucial moment?'
"What happened?" Machoke asked, "He actually looks, well, not scary today," Aipom nodding and replying, "He definitely doesn't seem like his usual self," Gardevoir really hoping he was feeling fine.
Even so, Lucario did his best to stay up, though people could see his legs shaking as he was trying his hardest just to stand up. The only one not showing any sympathy was Primeape who simply believed this was an act to get him to drop his guard. After all, he had heard amazing things about Lucario and had prepared extra hard for this match so there was no way he was going to hold back.
With that, Nori looked around before saying, "Alright, we're finally ready to start, so begin!" the woman ringing the bell as Primeape immediately charged toward Lucario. The dog was unable to react in time as the monkey sent his fist hard into his face, the crowd gasping as Lucario almost fell down from the force but just barely managed to stay up.
Machoke stared and asked, "Did anyone else just see that?" the others nodding as Blaziken said, "Yeah, I've barely seen Lucario in combat and yet somehow, that didn't look right."
Amanda was the most worried as Primeape proceeded to send another punch into the dog's face, following it up with an onslaught, hitting him multiple times as the dog just barely managed to stay up. After a few more hits, Lucario sent his palm toward the Primeape's face only for him to back away in time to dodge it, lifting up his fist and sending it hard into the dog's skull.
Once again, Lucario just barely managed to stay up as he backed away from Primeape, rubbing his skull. However, just as Weedle was feeling beyond irritated by this, he noticed one member of the crowd not from the Peruvian side saying, "You know, I gotta admit, that Primeape is pretty awesome," another nodding and replying, "Yeah, he's beating up Lucario like it's nothing," another exclaiming, "YOU ROCK, PRIMEAPE!"
Most of the area burst into heavy cheering for the monkey as Weedle's eyes widened, the caterpillar thinking, 'Perhaps Primeape can make Hero Planet rich after all. I guess I don't need Lucario.'
"Not only does Lucario show up late and looking exhausted, but he's not even putting up a fight!" Nori exclaimed, "I've heard a lot of amazing things about his family's abilities, too, and I even saw him in action once! Perhaps he hasn't been training since then!"
"Well, if you're not going to take this seriously," Primeape grunted with a frown, "I may as well end this now!"
The monkey proceeded to wind up his arm before shouting, "SUPER FIST!" sending a harder punch than the ones dealt before into Lucario's face, the dog coughing up blood as backed up into the ropes, slumping over them and breathing heavily.
"So you're still standing," Primeape grunted with a snort, "That doesn't mean a thing to me anymore! I came into this match expecting a huge challenge and what do I get? A weakling who can't even live up to his family's reputation! Your father may have been amazing, but I guess the same can't be said for his flesh and blood! I bet you bribed your way into the Olympics!"
Amanda bit her lip, knowing this was not true, but Lucario acted as if nothing insulting had been said. Was he really too weak to even stand a chance in this match or was something else going on?
However, Machoke's eyes widened when he noticed something in Lucario's eyes, a glimmer. It was as if the dog knew something no one else did, the boy asking, "Hey, Aipom, do you see what I see?" the monkey replying, "What are you referring to, exactly?" Blaziken nodding and saying, "I'm surprised you of all people noticed it."
The others turned to the chicken as she added, "I've noticed it since Lucario took in his second hit. He's had this very intense look in his eyes like he's waiting for something."
Primeape of course did not detect this as he wound up his arm again, saying, "Alright, time to finish you off for good!" but as he sent his fist forward again, Lucario rose his arm and grabbed it, a serious look in his eyes as the crowd gasped, Nori saying, "Just as it seemed Lucario was done for, he has made a miraculous recovery, but will this be enough to save him or is he merely delaying the inevitable?"
The dog simply frowned as Primeape sent his other fist toward him only for that wrist to be grabbed as well. The monkey's eyes went wide as Lucario said, "I notice you're only able to fight with your fists. While it is commendable that you can stand up to mighty villains with such a limited move set, you're going to need more than that to get through the Olympics."
Primeape was about to retort when Lucario started pulling on his arms, forcing them into an X formation. The monkey squealed in pain, the British fans cheering as the Peruvian fans were absolutely shocked. Had Lucario been playing possum this whole time? His father certainly had not been known for taking that sort of approach.
After dealing enough pain, Lucario proceeded to pull harder, bringing Primeape's head close to him before ramming his skull into the monkey's face. He finally released his hold on the wrists as Primeape backed up, rubbing his aching head only to receive a hard palm punch to the gut.
Something odd happened with Lucario as a strong aura temporarily surrounded him, the aura lasting just long enough for his build to return to normal. No more could his ribcage be seen against his body and his arms were back to being just wide enough to cover up his bones. Even all that exhaustion from earlier had left him as if that mishap in the sauna never happened.
No one really knew how he had regained his strength like that, not even Amanda. She had never seen him pull off something like this, but even so, the British fans were still ecstatic, cheering wildly for the dog.
Weedle was simply glad that the crowd was loving Lucario even more than they had before. It seemed him making such an amazing comeback after coming so close to losing won him more respect and that was fine by this caterpillar.
Primeape was not going to let this go, though, as he rushed at Lucario while flailing his fists around, shouting, "NO, I'M GOING TO WIN THIS NO MATTER WHAT!" only for the dog to once again grab hold of his wrists, this time leaning backwards and lifting him over his torso.
Primeape's eyes were wide with shock as Lucario sent his feet hard into the monkey's chest, sending him flying high above the ring. However, the way he had kicked him managed to send him spinning vertically so by the time he stopped rising, his back was facing the dog while he descended, unable to even try and counter what came next.
Soon enough, the monkey's back was planted hard against Lucario's chest spike as his eyes were wide open with shock, Lucario locking his arms and legs in place and shouting, "LONDON BRIDGE!" blood coming from the monkey as his eyes rolled to the back of his head, Lucario releasing him and saying, "Don't worry, he's still alive."
Beedrill nodded and started the countdown, the British fans going wild, Machoke trembling and uttering, "I think this new Lucario scares me even more than the old one," Amanda simply staring silently when the wasp reached ten, shouting, "And the winner of the seventh match of the Hero Olympics is Lucario!"
The British fans cheered even louder, save for one who had actually stopped cheering on Lucario shortly after his sudden recovery, and that was Amanda. She could feel something off about him at that moment when his strength returned. Sure, her brother had done as usual and just applied enough force to his London Bridge not to kill the opponent, but there was still a sense of malice that had not been seen since the time he had killed an innocent human.
The girl then shook her head, figuring she was imagining this when Lucario looked at her, the girl smiling lightly and flashing both of her thumbs up toward him. He was simply trying to win and that was it. Nothing else was going on.
Lucario gazed briefly at his unconscious opponent before the monkey was lifted up and taken out of the ring, the dog taking a deep breath and headed to the bleachers. He had won the first round and that was what counted right now. The only thing left to do was to find out who his next opponent was, nothing more.
Beedrill simply cleared his throat and stated, "Well, that was certainly an unexpected result, wasn't it, folks? As you all know by now, the next two fighters get five minutes to prepare themselves, however, in light of that match being so surprisingly short, I think I'll extend that time to ten," the wasp then turning to Weedle who nodded and replied, "I'll allow it."
"He's too generous," said a certain purple starfish in the crowd, namely Starmie.
She was not an ordinary starfish, of course, as her body looked a lot more like it was made of crystal than actual flesh. She also had another star attached to her back, only this one was pointed upside-down. And rather than having an actual face, she had a red gemstone on her front with a solid gold rim around it.
Metang was even more intimidating with his red eyeballs, but that was far from what made him so intimidating. He was a blue cyborg with a horn for a nose. Instead of a neck, he had a disc under his head with grey spikes coming from the sides. His body was quite tall and stocky , his arms rather skinny save for his forearms, which were massive in comparison, big claws coming from the palms of each.
The two stared threateningly at one-another, clearly taking their upcoming match very seriously. Machoke could just feel the tension in the air as he uttered, "They do know these are fights between heroes, right?" Aipom replying, "Get used to it. I've heard the Hero Olympics have always been like this."
During that ten minute break, the others decided to stretch their feet a bit. They knew ten minutes was not enough time to enjoy the relaxation of the spa but they could still walk around.
Amanda seemed to have a different reason as she was headed toward Lucario, the girl tapping him on the shoulder as the dog turned to her and said, "Oh, hi sis."
Amanda smiled and replied, "You were great back there," the girl then glaring at him and adding, "But don't scare me like that again! I thought there was something wrong with you!"
"There was," Lucario replied, "but it's dealt with now. There's nothing to worry about," the girl taking a deep breath and replying, "Okay, as long as you're fine," the dog smiling and giving his sister a hug, of course leaning forward to make sure his spike did not touch her.
At that moment, Amanda's doubts regarding the dog were gone. He was back to his usual self, no malice in what he was doing whatsoever. He had only shown aggression against Primeape so he could win the match, nothing more.
With all said and done, the ten minutes had flown by as the seats were once again filled, Amanda and Lucario sitting next to each-other now. While Lucario was focused on finding out his next opponent, his sister was just happy to spent some quality time with him, even if it was not under peaceful circumstances.
"Welcome, one and all, to the eighth match of the Hero Olympics and the final match of the first round!" Beedrill exclaimed as the audience was now excited, Nori stating, "In the red corner, coming to us from Croatia is a cyborg with a great deal of strength, Metang!" the Croatian fans cheering heavily when the cyborg headed toward the ring, waving to the crowd.
His entrance may not have been anything special or even threatening for that matter, but he still let off an intimidating air. Machoke was getting shivers just looking at him as Aipom let out a sigh, patting him on the shoulder.
"And in the blue corner, hailing from Brazil is a starfish with a brilliant sheen, Starmie!" Nori exclaimed as the starfish flew into the area while spinning like a disc, landing firmly against the ring with her arms against her hips, the Brazilian fans loving this.
Both fighters stared each-other down, tensions once again rising. Sure, this may have been a fight between heroes, but like the others before them, they were very serious about this. And without further ado, Nori took a deep breath and rang the bell, signalling the start of the match.