Was this really the end? Was Machoke really done for? He had just taken in two of Giratina's most powerful attacks. There was no way he could get up from that, or at least that was what the crowd figured.

And it seemed their suspicions might be true as the boy lay there with blood having escaped from his mouth, his eyes rolled to the back of his head. None of his friends wanted to believe this, especially since this was the same hero who had taken in Missingno's punishment and still risen after all of that.

"COME ON!" Aipom screeched while slapping her tail hand against the side of the ring, "MACHOKE, GET UP! I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! THIS IS A MINOR SETBACK!"

The rest of the crowd started shouting at him to get up as well while Blaziken snapped, "Come on, man, you've taken in worse than this before!" Gardevoir whimpering, "Please get up."

Even those watching at home refused to accept this as Scyther snapped, "Come on, mein freund! You've dealt with worse than this!" Lopunny hopping back and forth with one leg at a time, shouting, "YEAH, GET UP AND KICK HIS BUTT!"

"Aye, it's painful to see you like this, lad," Heracross added with a grimace.

"There's no way he's gonna let that beat him," Scrafty said with a serious look in his eyes, Bisharp nodding and replying, "Indeed. This is but a minor setback."

Mawile, on the other hand, was not so confident as she squeaked, "And just think, I helped make this happen!" Gothitelle sighing, "Don't worry. I can feel it. Machoke's not done for just yet," Octillery nodding and patting both on the shoulder, saying, "Yeah, we're talking about the one who made second place in the Hero Olympics. Anyone good enough for that won't be taken down so easily."

Of course, Tyrogue and Dodrio were both cheering while the Hitmon siblings rose their fists in the air and chanted his name repeatedly. Even Lucario, Amanda, Talonflame and Clauncher were doing this as they refused to see him lose so quickly.

Machamp and Kala both had serious looks in their eyes as they spat, "COME ON, SON, GET UP!"

However, Giratina folded his arms and said, "Stop wasting your breath," before looking down at Machoke and adding, "You know, I will give you some credit. It takes a lot of spirit to take that much punishment from me. Most others would have gone down much more quickly, but you put up a reasonable fight. As such, I will make your death as quick and painless as possible."

Nori's eyes and mouth were wide open as she turned to Beedrill and snapped, "HEY, START THE TEN COUNT BEFORE THAT HAPPENS!" the wasp nodding only for the dragon to hold out his hand and remark, "Save it."

Giratina then proceeded to split his wings into three segments each again as he aimed one of the spikes toward Machoke's heart. At that moment, Reika bit her lip before raising her fist in the air and chanting, "Machoke! Machoke!"

Cici and Tsuya nodded before joining their friend. Needless to say, it was not long before Gallade, Gardevoir and Blaziken joined in, Machamp and Kala doing the same. And sure enough, the entire area erupted in cheers for Japan's hero, the dragon smirking and saying, "Sorry to disappoint you, but he won't be getting up any time soon."

He then rose the section of his wings that he planned to use to end it all and exclaimed, "SHADOW CLAW!" but just as the spike was seconds away from piercing Machoke's flesh, the boy's eyes widened as he quickly grabbed hold of the wing portion, all going silent as Giratina's eye twitched.

'No, it can't be,' he thought, 'I can feel it. This boy is nowhere near as powerful as Arceus was. How can he show this much resistance?'

Machoke had a serious look in his eyes as he said, "I can tell by your expression that you've never faced a member of my family before," the boy then shifting his arm sideways and slamming the back of Giratina's head into the turnbuckle.

The crowd went wild as the boy got up, breathing heavily before groaning, "I'm getting rather tired of these close calls."

Giratina could not believe what had just happened. No one had ever gotten up from an onslaught like that. In fact, a big part of the reason Arceus won was because he did not fall victim to Hex's power. But Machoke had. This made no sense.

However, it was best Giratina not let this get to him too much as he shook the pain off of the back of his head and righted himself up, saying, "I have to admit, you have managed to surprise me a couple of times, but don't get a swelled head. This is a minor setback."

With that, the dragon charged at Machoke with his head aimed at the boy's chest. However, Machoke once again managed to dodge as he wrapped his arms around Giratina, leaning backward and planting the side of the dragon's head into the mat, the crowd going wild.

"WAY TO GO, MACHOKE!" Gallade exclaimed, Machamp hugging Kala and shouting, "THAT'S OUR BOY DOWN THERE!" the woman rolling her eyes and sighing, "Yes, he certainly is."

And it did not end there as Machoke sent a drop kick into the dragon's neck. He would have attempted a submission hold, but he knew that Giratina would likely sink into the mat again if he tried that.

Aipom let down a light tear as Nori exclaimed, "And just as it seemed all was lost, Machoke has recovered from Giratina's onslaught and is now on the offensive! He's known for turning bad situations in his favour and it seems he's still got it!"

Beedrill rose his arms in the air and exclaimed, "Yeah, you rule, Machoke!" the announcer asking, "Aren't you supposed to be neutral?" the wasp retorting, "This isn't a match between heroes, so I couldn't care less about that rule."

But just as Machoke was ready to do more, his eyes widened when Giratina wrapped two his wing fragments around his ankles. While he had been overconfident before, the dragon was feeling beyond peeved now as he pulled on the boy's feet thus causing Machoke to fall on his back. Giratina then rose to his own feet with his teeth gritted.

"You're annoyingly persistent," Giratina growled as he combined the lower two fragments of his wings together.

He then proceeded to leap high above the mat while adding, "No matter. You're still nowhere near Arceus' level of power, so I'm sure this will be enough to finish you off."

Aipom's eyes widened as she spat, "MACHOKE, GET OUT OF HIS GRIP!" the boy smirking and saying, "Don't worry, I can get out of this."

What happened next not only shocked Giratina but also the crowd as Machoke did not escape but rather ignored the grip on his ankles. Instead, he flipped his body upward while the wing fragments were still bound to him and took hold of the dragon.

All went silent as he flipped Giratina over, the dragon's eyes wide with shock as the boy wrapped his arms and legs around him. Giratina would have attempted to escape, but he was too shocked by this strategy to think straight, his head soon driven into the mat as Machoke spat, "ULTIMATE DRIVER!"

The crowd stared in amazement as Machoke allowed Giratina's body to collapse, but after a few seconds, they could not help but burst into heavy cheers. Kala and Machamp were both shocked and impressed while Machoke's friends cheered the loudest of everyone else.

"How did you know that would work?" Aipom asked as Machoke took a deep breath and replied, "I got to thinking and realized a couple of things. The first thing that came to mind is that Giratina has never seen me in action before. He wasn't around when Lucario found a way to exploit each and every one of my finishing moves, so I had a feeling he wouldn't know how to counter the Ultimate Driver."

"That's a good point," Blaziken said as Reika nodded and replied, "That's true. Giratina's never even seen his finishing moves, though a part of me thought he would have at least tried studying Machoke's previous fights to prepare himself."

In London, Talonflame turned to Lucario and asked, "Hey, did you figure that would be the case?" the dog replying, "I wasn't certain, but considering how arrogant Giratina seems, I figured there was a possibility he wouldn't make a lot of preparations for this match. I just didn't know he was truly that foolish, though."

"So what was the second thing you noticed?" Aipom asked as suddenly, the crowd gasped.

Sure, this should have been expected, but after Machoke had successfully pulled off one of his finishing moves, it was distressing to see Giratina rise up after taking in such a hard blow to the head. Sure, Talonflame had gotten up after sustaining Machoke's Muscle Tombstone, but it was still uncommon for such a thing to happen.

The dragon took deep breath and growled, asking, "Yes, what is the second thing you noticed about me? I'm pretty sure you're bluffing seeing as I don't have any weaknesses."

"Actually, you do," Machoke remarked, shockingly nowhere near as frightened as the crowd was to see the dragon standing, "and it took me a while, but I eventually noticed this with all of your other moves up to this point. I've heard how strong you are, how a single move from you was enough to take down the mighty Dragonite back in the day."

"Oh yeah, I heard of that, too," whispered one audience member, another adding, "Dragonite was one of the most powerful fighters back in the day."

"Yeah, I remember her," Giratina replied, "Honestly, she didn't live up to the hype," Machoke remarking, "Well, if that's the case, then how was I able to stand up to your most powerful moves? Going by your track record, I shouldn't have been able to get up after taking in that onslaught of punches earlier."

All went silent as the dragon narrowed his eyelids, saying, "Yes, you really shouldn't have," Gallade asking, "So does that mean he's not as strong as the stories say?"

"I think what Machoke means is that he's not that strong anymore," Blaziken added as Machoke nodded, Giratina's eyes widening as the boy added, "Think about it. You may have been a powerhouse back in the day, but if I'm not mistaken, you and the heroes who opposed you were all in your forties at the time, right?"

"Yes, that's true," Giratina replied as Cici uttered, "I get it now. It's not that Giratina's gotten weaker with age. It's that Machoke has youth giving him the upper hand."

"Are you saying age makes me weaker?" Giratina retorted as Machoke shook his head and remarked, "No, but a lack of training certainly does! You're stronger than most from your generation, that's for sure, but since you've gone more than one hundred years without training, you've screwed yourself!"

The crowd was spellbound in response to this. A part of them had trouble believing it, especially since Giratina was still able to pack a punch, but there was no doubt he was not showing the results from his moves that anyone would have expected. Sure, Machoke had a knack for getting out of situations like these, but not even he should have been doing this well against the legendary dragon.

However, Giratina refused to accept this as he spat, "SO WHAT!? I CAN STILL WIN THIS MATCH! SHADOW CLAW!" once again sending his spike toward Machoke's chest. Luckily, the boy managed to dodge in time to avoid a blow to the heart, but not quickly enough to avoid a strike to his shoulder.

Seeing this, Giratina got an idea as he sent another spike forward, piercing the other shoulder as he gripped onto the wing fragments with his hands. With that, he used the other fragments to pierce Machoke's sides and knees, all going silent as Aipom bit her lower lip with concern.

"It seems even with the disadvantage, Giratina has more than enough surprises to possibly win this," Nori said as the dragon leaned backward, pulling Machoke over his head and slamming him hard into the mat, shouting, "SHADOW CLAW SUPLEX!"

He then returned his spikes to his side with a smirk and said, "I just came up with that move. I may be old, but I can still develop new techniques," Blaziken groaning, "That's not how the expression goes."

Gardevoir, however, seemed calm as she said, "I'm sure Machoke will be fine," and this seemed so as the boy slowly rose to his feet.

Sure, Giratina had once again drawn blood, but there was no way the boy was going to lose. This was by far his most important match.

The dragon gritted his teeth and said, "Fine, so you can get up from my moves. Big deal. You're still no match for me."

With that, Giratina charged toward Machoke as Aipom exclaimed, "MACHOKE, FIGHT BACK!" the boy nodding and dodging to the right, sending another karate chop into the side of the dragon's head.

However, Giratina saw this coming as he exclaimed, "OMINOUS WIND!" a dark wind surrounding his arms and wing fragments while he spun in a circle, buffeting Machoke with them. After a certain number of hits, the boy was sent spinning horizontally into the turnbuckle, swallowing blood that just about escaped from his mouth.

The crowd was once again worried. Despite Giratina having lost a lot of strength, it seemed he was still a force to be reckoned with as he approached Machoke from behind and growled, "You may have put up a really good fight, but you're no Arceus."

The dragon proceeded to wrap his arms around Machoke once again, all going silent as the crowd knew he was setting up his Dragon Breath Driver again. If this worked, even with things going more in Machoke's favour, this could very well have been enough to end the match.

With that in mind, Giratina returned his wings to normal as he flew up high above the ring, turning the boy so his head was facing the mat. The dragon then pointed his face toward the sky before opening his mouth, a flame forming in it.

But just as he was about to unleash it, Machoke's eyes widened as he gritted teeth, the crowd gasping while Giratina stopped his attack, asking, "How are you still moving?"

"It's like I said," Machoke retorted as he latched his arms onto the dragon's ankles, "You've never faced a member of my family before!"

The boy's muscles then expanded in size as he applied all of his might, flipping himself and the dragon so now Giratina's head was facing the mat. However, Machoke had a feeling something along the lines of his Muscle Tombstone would not be enough and as such, he latched onto the Giratina's wrists while wrapping his own legs around those of the dragon.

Giratina's eyes widened as Machoke started to spin, the two headed toward the mat as Gallade, Reika and Blaziken exclaimed, "YEAH, YOU GO, MACHOKE!" Nori and Beedrill staring and saying in unison, "I've never seen that before."

"MUSCLE TORNADO!" Machoke exclaimed as he and Giratina headed toward the mat, but just as the dragon was about to make contact, it seemed even the spinning was not enough to stop him from countering this as he faced the mat and spat, "DRAGON BREATH!"

The crowd gasped as Giratina released just enough fire from his mouth to soften the blow, so when his face hit the mat, he barely felt a thing while Machoke released his hold on the dragon and leapt away from him. How could this be? Machoke had only had this move for a little while and yet someone who had never seen it before had found an effective counter for it.

The dragon rose to his feet with ease and smirked at Machoke, saying, "That's not a bad move. I don't think I've ever seen anything like it. But even so, I'm not going to let myself fall victim to another move like that."

Aipom and Gardevoir both clasped their hands over their mouths as Cici whimpered, "What can he do, now? That was supposed to be his trump card."

"It ain't over yet," Blaziken remarked, "Don't forget, it's just like Machoke said, Giratina has never seen his other moves in action. That means even his Sunset Slam could possibly win him this match."

Aipom could hear this as she exclaimed, "Machoke, get him set up for your Sunset Slam!" Machoke blinking before smirking and saying, "That might actually work."

Giratina simply tilted his head to the right and asked, "What kind of name is Sunset Slam? That doesn't sound very threatening."

However, the dragon was not going to allow Machoke to pull it off as rushed at the boy. But just as he was about to land a blow, Machoke leaned backward and sent his feet hard into the dragon's chin, sending him high into the air. However, Giratina did not seem the least bit intimidated as he simply flapped his wings so he could gain control.

Due to the momentum, though, it took him a while to get full control of himself, and that was more than enough time as Machoke leapt onto the ropes and propelled himself off of them. He then tucked himself into a ball and spun vertically toward the dragon, hitting him hard in the back. The boy then turned himself around and reached his arms and legs back, snagging Giratina's wrists and ankles before spinning himself and the dragon like a wheel.

'This is the most complex move I've ever seen,' the dragon thought as he could not think of a way to counter this, Machoke headed toward the mat.

After a few seconds, Giratina's belly was slammed hard into the surface as he finally coughed up a bit of blood, Machoke taking hold of the back of his head and shouting, "SUNSET SLAM!" ramming the dragon's face into the canvas.

The crowd went wild as Giratina gritted his teeth. He could not believe what had just happened. Not only had he fallen victim to two finishing moves, but Machoke had actually managed to draw blood. Even Arceus had to deal a lot of damage to draw blood from the dragon. However, what was even more alarming was that when the dragon's face collided with the canvas, he noticed a small fragment of his mask had chipped off and fallen right in front of him.

All went silent as it seemed Machoke had done more than just ship Giratina's mask. He had put a small crack in it. Sure, this was a sign that the boy's efforts had been worth it up to this point, but at the same time, no one knew just how the dragon would take this.

And it seemed he was taking this rather poorly as his eyes narrowed to the point where they looked more like thin diamonds. He then gritted his teeth and growled, "Alright, I can see that you really are a threat. You were annoying before, but I can't let you live any longer."

Machoke trembled as he had a feeling this was not an empty threat, and Gardevoir could feel it too. Gallade and Blaziken, on the other hand, saw this as the dragon being a poor sport as Gallade exclaimed, "Don't let him get to you, Machoke! He's just trying to scare you!" Blaziken adding, "Yeah, it's like you said! He's not the same threat he used to be!"

"I don't think that's completely true," Reika uttered, Gardevoir nodding and saying, "Yeah, I can sense a powerful aura coming from him."

It seemed to be even more than that as Giratina started to change. A row of spikes jutted out of his back while his tail became more slender and longer. Even his mask changed shape as the sides were now pointed back and shaped more like blades. His wings also became slightly longer thus allowing him to form a forth pair of wing strands. And to top it all off, more spikes formed on him, only these ones were on the sides of his arms.

"I never thought anyone would bring this side out of me again," Giratina said while taking many deep breaths, "I see it now. You may not be on the level of Arceus, but as I am now, you might as well be. Not even he was able to surprise me like you have so far."

Machoke panicked and spat, "Oh my god, Aipom, I might not be able to win this after all!" Aipom sighing, "Machoke, you've dealt with opponents like this before. So what if he's stronger now? The world is depending on your victory!"

The boy let out a sigh and uttered, "Yeah, you're right," only for Giratina to fly at him and deliver a headbutt to his back.

It got worse when Giratina proceeded to wrap his arms around the boy, Machoke crying out in pain. After all, the dragon's spikes were digging into his flesh now as he smirked and said, "Time to reintroduce you to an old friend," before wrapping his wing strands around the boy and leaping high into the air, leaning backward and shouting, "DRAGON CLAW SUPLEX!"

The crowd gasped as Machoke's head hit the mat hard, the boy coughing up blood while Giratina removed his spikes and allowed him to collapse. Not only did Giratina have this new look, but he seemed to be stronger. Sure, it only stood to reason that this would deal more damage than before now that Machoke was weakened, but somehow, that was even more powerful than it should have been. Perhaps this new form increased the dragon's power.

"MACHOKE!" Gardevoir squeaked while Tsuya groaned, "Oh god, that looked horrible."

Nori blinked and said, "Well, things have taken a nasty turn for the worse. Can Machoke resist like he always has and make a comeback or is this really the end?"

Lucario gritted his teeth and grunted, "Come on, Machoke. I dealt far worse pain to you than he has so far and you still fought to the bitter end. I refuse to let this be it," Talonflame and Amanda both nodding in agreement.

The crowd also refused to believe this was it, but it seemed Machoke might be down for the count. His body was lying against the canvas while his eyes were rolled to the back of his head, Beedrill gulping, "I hate to say it, but this might be it."

"It should be," Giratina said as everyone stared at him in silence, the dragon adding, "When I get to this state, my power increases by an extra fifty percent. That move may not have dealt a whole lot earlier, but with my power boost, it should have dealt as much as it used to. And after all Machoke took in earlier, he shouldn't be able to stand after that."

Needless to say, this was a huge upset as no one knew what to do. If Machoke could not rise to his feet in time, Giratina would kill him. And if Machoke was dead, the world would be doomed for sure.