Things had taken a very unexpected turn and not for the better. Sure, Tyranitar had been beaten, but Psyla was dead. It seemed that last attack of hers was too much to handle, especially seeing as she had overexerted herself to the point where she was able to lift someone as heavy as Tyranitar up without her power activated.

But while Reika and her friends stayed by her corpse, the girls grieving, Reika's eyes widened when she heard someone else enter the area. Her eyes went even wider when the news reporter said, "And now it would seem there is a silver lining to everything that has happened as Machoke has returned!"

The cameraman focused primarily on Machoke now as the boy turned to the camera, Aipom halting her trip to the dome when she saw him on a big TV. Many other citizens stopped what they were doing when they saw him with a serious look on his face.

"I am sorry for missing in action," Machoke stated, "It was selfish of me to leave you all like this, but now I'm here to set everything right. I know I should have returned sooner, but honestly, I feel fortunate that I was able to get back this quickly. And mark my words, everyone, I'm going to help my friends put a stop to this!"

"Don't forget about us!" Octillery exclaimed, placing a tentacle on his shoulder as Gothitelle tried to avoid the camera.

She hated being seen on camera unless it was for a match. At least then the fight would distract her from the pressure of having everyone watch and judge her.

However, while the citizens were cheering, Cici and Tsuya both looking beyond relieved, Reika simply ran over to Machoke and punched him hard in the cheek. Everyone stared as Tsuya blinked, saying, "To be fair, I was actually considering doing that myself."

Machoke groaned, rubbing his cheek, just about to retort to this action before sighing, "Yeah, okay, I totally deserved that," Reika then biting her lower lip and letting down tears before hugging the boy, sniffing, "We were all so worried about you! What were you thinking!?"

"Well, I'll have you know this was not as bad as you think it is," Octillery said, "You wanna know what he wanted to do with us in Hawaii most of all?" the girls staring, Tsuya asking, "He went to Hawaii?" as Gothitelle smiled lightly, saying, "He asked us to help him train."

Machoke nodded and said, "Yeah, I wasn't there for long, but I feel like I'm ready for this," Reika smiling and nodding her head before saying, "Well, don't just stand here talking about it. Go on and prove it," before pointing to the portal, Gothitelle's eyes sparkling at the sight of a dark place being located inside of that hole.

Machoke nodded and said, "Right," before noticing Psyla lying unconscious, asking, "Hey, isn't that Gardevoir's aunt?" then turning to Tyranitar and adding, "Well, looks like she did a good job keeping him at bay," the girls not even bringing up the fact that the wolf had killed herself in the process of winning her match.

However, just as Machoke was about to enter, he heard a familiar high-pitched voice screeching, "MACHOKE! DON'T GO YET!" the boy turning, his eyes widening when he noticed Aipom sprinting over to him with tears in her eyes, the monkey leaping onto his face and embracing it, squeaking, "Why did you run away!? Did I do something wrong!?"

Machoke rolled his eyes and patted her back before prying her off of his face, saying, "I had some issues to work out and now I have. I just wanna go in there and put a stop to whatever's going on. Will you help me, sensei?"

Aipom's eyes sparkled, a big open-mouth smile forming on her face as she nodded her head, bonking the boy over the head with her tail fist and scolding, "Don't do that again, though, okay!? You had everyone worried sick!" Reika laughing nervously and saying, "You didn't have to do that. I already hit him."

With all said and done, Machoke approached the portal with Aipom on his shoulder and Octillery and Gothitelle by his side. There was no way they were going to let him go in there alone. Though what really impressed Aipom was just how seriously the boy was taking this. A week ago, maybe a bit more than that, Machoke would have been terrified of entering a portal to a dark world but luckily, he had grown up so much during his time on Earth.

All the while, Blaziken continued to pull on Blitzle's arm as the zebra cried out in pain, the chicken saying tauntingly, "You know, the opponent I beat to be accepted into the Hero Olympics was a unicorn. You're not that much different from one, are you?" the zebra's eyes widening as he gasped, "YOU DARE COMPARE ME TO A UNICORN!?" before crying out in pain when Blaziken tightened her grip, snapping, "You're in no position to backtalk!"

Aegislash, meanwhile, had managed to rise back up onto the tip of her blade but was still trying to get over what had just happened. She had not detected nearly that much power from Gardevoir and yet she had taken in a powerful slam. Sure, her metal body did cushion the impact a bit, but it still hurt.

Though the worst part about all of this was that she knew that could have been prevented if she had paid more attention. The whole reason Gardevoir had grabbed her so easily was because she had been too focused on trying to save Blitzle from Blaziken and was not focused on the girl.

Right now, she would have to at least find a way to slow Gardevoir down before trying to save her ally from getting a broken arm, Blitzle all the while wishing she would hurry. This was far from the worst pain he had ever felt but it was still horrible.

As such, Aegislash glared at Gardevoir and said, "Alright, you will not be so fortunate again," Gardevoir holding up a defensive stance and feeling pretty good right now with the way things had been going.

As such, she proceeded to rush toward Aegislash, sending a palm punch toward her face only for the sword to hold up her shield this time. However, Gardevoir had seen this coming as she sent her other palm toward the side of Aegislash's head.

Unfortunately, the sword had also predicted something like this as she held up her free arm, saying, "You should have aimed for the other side," grabbing hold of Gardevoir's hand as her eyes widened.

With that, she used her shield to keep Gardevoir's other arm busy before turning her body sideways and flipping herself over a full three-hundred-and-sixty degrees, shouting, "SACRED SWORD!" a dark energy surrounding her blade as she managed to strike Gardevoir across the chest, blood flying out of her while she coughed up some of the substance, her eyes and mouth wide open as she fell hard on her back.

Gardevoir's body twitched as she was in the worst pain she had ever felt in her life. Not even Garchomp's might could compare to being slashed with a blade, Lucario and Talonflame both staring in absolute horror.

To make matters worse, Aegislash was now ready to go after Blaziken as she once again performed a handstand using one finger and started spinning herself around like a pinwheel. Blaziken was too focused on Blitzle to notice as Aegislash felt she had enough momentum, sending herself flying toward the chicken while exclaiming, "SACRED PINWHEEL!"

Blaziken's eyes widened when she was slashed across the back, blood flying from that very spot as she released her hold on Blitzle, the zebra breathing a sigh of relief before getting up and wrapping his arms around her, shouting, "NOW IT'S TIME FOR MY REVENGE, AND LET ME TELL YOU, I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS AS COLD AS ICE!" electricity surrounding him as he spat, "SPARK!"

With that, electricity coursed through the chicken's veins as she cried out in agony. Talonflame could not bare to watch this, the falcon shouting, "ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT! I DON'T CARE HOW MUCH THE ELECTRICITY HURTS!"

Lucario's eyes widened as he spat, "WAIT, DON'T-" only for the falcon to fly beak-first into one of the bars, his body electrocuted. He ignored the pain as he attempted to fly through, but after a few seconds, he came to a startling realization and stopped his assault, backing up and breathing heavily.

"I can't pass through these bars," he uttered, "and I can't break them either," Lucario nodding and sighing, "I had a feeling that would be the case."

After a few seconds, Blitzle's electricity was once again taking a break as the zebra released his hold on Blaziken, the chicken stumbling before falling on her back, her eyes and beak hanging open while Blitzle sighed, "Thank you ever so much, Aegislash," the sword shrugging and replying, "It is merely what allies do."

"Oh, heavens no, I am serious," the zebra remarked before wrapping his arms around Aegislash's head and exclaiming, "I will do anything, anything at all to repay you for this wondrous act! Ask and you shall receive!" Aegislash rolling her eye and groaning, "Seriously, enough with the- wait, did you say anything?"

"It's not over yet," came a familiar voice from behind Aegislash as her eye went wide, the sword slowly turning and staring in absolute horror when she saw Gardevoir standing. Sure, she was still bleeding, but she acted as if this meant nothing.

The sword could not believe what she was seeing. She had faced opponents with far tougher bodies before and even they would be lucky to have gotten up from an attack like that. And as if this could not be more difficult for her, Gardevoir's hands were now glowing violet only now the aura was brighter than it had been before.

"I have to admit, I really should have used this earlier," the girl said through deep breaths, "But I guess it's better I use it late than not get a chance to use it at all."

Blitzle turned to Aegislash and asked, "Do you know what that glow is?" Aegislash shaking her head and replying, "Whatever it is, it does not look good."

During this time, Gallade continued to move along when he started to feel a tad exhausted from all the running and jumping he had done. As such, he decided to take a quick break, but he knew he could not risk taking a long one as he let out a deep breath, holding his knees and saying, "Man, this place goes on forever."

He then decided to take a seat on a nearby rock, saying, "It's a good thing I was able to go ahead. Even if Blaziken and Gardevoir defeat their opponents, which they most certainly will, who's to say even they would make it this far in time?"

He then looked around, thinking, 'Though it's odd. I haven't run into a single villain so far. In fact, it took us a fairly long time just to run into those first two, and there's supposed to be five more here.'

However, his train of thought came to an end when he felt something slimy touching his neck. The boy then looked down and noticed said part started to sink inward, Gallade's eyes nearly popping out of their sockets as he started to gag, his tongue sticking out of his mouth. But what was causing this? Was this a side effect of being in the Reverse World for too long? No, if that was the case, then there would be no need for him and his friends to be here.

It also did not explain why he felt something touching him right now. And this feeling was actually quite familiar as he looked back to his finals match in the Bourges elimination tournament when he faced a squirrel with a long tongue named Lickitung. He remembered being trapped in the squirrel's tongue, the feeling of saliva mixed with a rough texture pressing up against him.

With that, the boy also remembered how he had gotten out of it as he lifted up one of his arms so the blade portion was facing the area just behind his neck, the boy shifting it closer ever-so-slightly before lightly tapping something invisible. At that moment, a tiny drop of blood fell as the source seemed to let go, his neck returning to its normal width as suddenly, a certain green chameleon appeared, yowling in agonizing pain, his tongue rolling up in his mouth with a small cut near the end of it.

"I knew it!" Gallade exclaimed with a frown before turning to face the chameleon, "Well, finally managed to run into one of you! I can't believe it took so long, but Gallade's finally gonna get his chance to shine!"

Kecleon took many deep breaths, thinking, 'Dammit, I should have held on tighter. I gave him too much time to respond. A rookie mistake on my part.'

He then shook his head and ignored the pain to his tongue, folding his arms and saying, "It's most impressive you saw through my camouflage, but no more! I am Kecleon and you will fall to my-" his eyes widening as he ended up whipping out the end of his tongue briefly while talking and bit into his wound, his eyes going wide as he fell on his back, rolling around his pain, crying, "OH GOD, IT HURTS! WHY DID YOU DO THAT, YOU BASTARD!?"

Gallade lowered his eyelids, thinking, 'Why is this loser even associated with those other two? Besides, chameleon teeth are tiny as Hell. That really shouldn't have hurt so much,' before sighing and holding up his arms out defensively, his mind adding, 'No, I can't let my guard down for a second! When I lost to Scrafty and Scyther, it was because I took them lightly and let my guard down! I can't do that! This guy might be significantly more powerful than he looks right now! After all, he almost killed me!'

He then realized he was just about to let go of a perfect chance what with his opponent writhing in pain and ignoring his presence. With that in mind, the boy proceeded to sprint toward the downed chameleon with his arms held back shouting, "YOU SHOULD HAVE STAYED HIDDEN!"

But just as he was about to strike, Kecleon finally managed to ignore the pain as he quickly blended in with the ground, Gallade sending one of his blades toward where his neck was. However, when he saw the blade touch against the ground, he knew his opponent had dodged him, Kecleon going to his side and preparing to strike him.

However, just as he was about to do so, Gallade noticed the red stripe on his midsection just floating there and knew right away what that meant. As such, he quickly swung his arm back, striking the side of Kecleon's face with his fist and sending the chameleon flying away from him.

"Some camouflage!" Gallade exclaimed tauntingly, "What's the point if you can't hide your stripe!?" Kecleon recovering from the hit but feeling terrified now as he knew the boy had a point.

All his life, he felt that his camouflage technique would be his greatest asset but for some reason, he was always able to hide every spot except for his stripe. Unless he was able to cover his lower body, there was just no point in using the ability.

All the while, Beedrill was still flying around and looking all over the place, wondering just how big the Reverse World was. And during this time, a certain butterfly was flying around as well, having been sent to patrol the area for anyone who might actually get past the others.

Meanwhile, Gardevoir felt truly ready now as her power had activated. However, like with Psyla, she could only have her new souped-up power activated for ten minutes, so she had to make every one of these minutes really count. Hopefully she would do a better job taking advantage of her powered-up state than her aunt had.

Blitzle looked frightened as Aegislash sighed, "We cannot allow this to get us down. We have a duty to perform," the zebra nodding and replying, "Right," both then nodding to one-another as the zebra took hold of the sword's handle, holding her upside-down and sending electricity through her, the two shouting, "THUNDER SWORD!"

Gardevoir definitely had to be careful now. This was the move they had used to not only knock out Throh but also cut off Sawk's hand. She really hoped she could prevent them from being killed let alone free Talonflame and Lucario from their electric prison.

Luckily, she was truly prepared now as when Blitzle swung Aegislash's blade toward the her, she held out her hand and grabbed it, both villains going wide-eyed as Gardevoir closed her eyes and pursed her lips. When she opened her eyes, she noticed she had actually managed to stop the blade.

Granted, her palm had been cut slightly as blood dripped down the sides of her hand, but compared to what it could have done, this was nothing. Even the electricity coming from the blade seemed to have no effect on her, her eyes sparkling as this new power was even greater than she could have imagined.

With that in mind, the girl proceeded to pry Aegislash out of Blitzle's hooves, the zebra's eyes and mouth wide open as he spat, "ALAS, SHE HAS STOLEN MY WEAPON!" Aegislash groaning, "Good to know that is all I am to you right now," Blitzle uttering, "That's not true. I was just trying to be dramatic," Aegislash rolling her eye and sighing, "I was jesting, you ignoramus."

Their spat came to an end when Gardevoir flipped Aegislash around, now holding her by the handle and shouting, "SACRED SWORD REVERSAL!" swinging the blade sideways across Blitzle's chest, his eyes widening as he coughed up blood, more of the substance coming from his torso while he fell on his back, the zebra suffering the exact same fate the girl had earlier.

However, Gardevoir knew Aegislash was not going to allow her to use her like this any longer and as such, she hurled the sword high into the air and leapt up to her level, grabbing onto her sword guard and lifting her body up above her own head while descending toward the ground. And soon enough, the two collided with the surface as Gardevoir spat, "METEOR BOMB!"

Aegislash's eye was wide open as a small crater formed around the spot. Sure, Gardevoir's Meteor Bomb was powerful, but it had never been this strong before. There was no doubt about it, this new power had been completely worth all the hard work required to obtain it.

'Thank you, Auntie Psyla,' the girl thought with a big smile on her face, 'If only you could have seen all of that.'

However, her eyes widened when Lucario said, "Hate to break up your moment of happiness, but we're still trapped," the girl turning and staring in shock as it was just as he said.

The cage was still up, but why? Was defeating Blitzle not enough to cancel out his electricity? Would she have to resort to killing him?

No, she could not do that. No matter how horrible a person was, she would never end that someone's life. Both she and Machoke believed in this and were proud of it.

Even so, she remembered how much pain her friends were in as she turned to look at them with concern, a light smile forming on her face when she noticed Blaziken slowly starting to move. However, the chicken had not fully recovered and this was certainly a bad thing as Aegislash and Blitzle were still moving as well, only they did not seem to be in nearly as critical of condition as her.

Gardevoir turned, staring in horror at the sight of Blitzle slowly but surely rising to his feet while Aegislash positioned herself onto her sword tip. Still, Gardevoir's fear was not as high as before as both looked absolutely winded after taking in such devastating attacks.

"Oh my god!" Blitzle exclaimed, "That was the most horrifying thing I have ever experienced! I think we should just surrender and hope she shows mercy on our souls!" Aegislash taking a deep breath, sighing, "Blitzle, you knew the risk of joining the side of evil. If you are not ready to handle failure, you should just quit the team," the zebra's eyes widening as he shook his head, saying, "I cannot do that."

"Then cease being an infant," Aegislash remarked, "We will fight to the bitter end even if we end up forfeiting our lives," Blitzle nodding and replying, "Yes, you are right. I lost sight of that and for that I apologize."

The sword simply shook her head as Gardevoir took a deep breath, thinking, 'It's okay. I can do this now,' and this certainly seemed true as her new power had given her an unbelievable boost in strength. There was no way she was going to lose. Even if it meant fighting alone, she would win this.