//------------------------------//
// Chapter 32- A Griffon's Grudge Match 
// Story: Twilight Sparkle has a Pokemon Journey 
// by Darkmetroidz 
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Gilda had happily accepted Rainbow Dash's challenge, but requested a fifteen minute break so that she could get her pokémon healed. Rarity suggested they take advantage of the respite in order to calm down Rainbow Dash.

"Dash, are you sure you're going to be able to handle this?" Twilight asked, concerned for her friend. Rainbow's team was smaller than Twilight's, and had even worse matchups against Gilda's team. Although Slowpoke would fare well enough, Pidgeotto would be crushed by Gilda's Rock pokémon and Luxio would have to worry about the bevy of Ground-type moves that Gilda's team would surely be packing. She laid a gentle hoof on Rainbow's shoulder. "We can leave Rainbow. You don't have to do this."

Rainbow forcefully shook her hoof off. "Forget it Twilight. I'm not going to just back off with my tail between my legs after I already made the challenge. I don't need you telling me how to pick my battles."

"Rainbow Dash, I am not going to allow you to let your pokémon get hurt just because Gilda made you angry." Everypony turned to look at Rarity. "Your team isn't strong enough to stand up to Gilda and her Rock types. You'll simply put your team through unnecessary pain, and for what?"

"What?" Dash exclaimed, furious. 

Applejack chimed in. "I gotta side with Rares on this one. That team of Gilda's is full of tough customers. Your team's plenty strong but I don't think they've got a Vanillite's chance in Tartarus against them.

Rainbow Dash looked around in bewilderment. "I can't believe this. Is that how you all feel?"

Rarity, Twilight, and Applejack all nodded with varying degrees of hesitancy. "I'm sorry Rainbow Dash, I'm just thinking about the well-being of your-"

"Shut up Rarity." Rainbow Dash snapped. "If you're not going to be here to support me than you can just grab the ferry back to Equestria. I'll meet you there. And I'll be there with my badge, just you wait." Rainbow Dash stormed off without another word, leaving the other five alone in the reception area of the coliseum.

Fluttershy bit her lip. "Do you think you were a little harsh? Rainbow looks really upset."

Privately, Twilight agreed. In hindsight her words had sounded incredibly patronizing. Rainbow Dash was every bit the trainer she was; she didn't need anypony else to tell her how to act.

*	*	*

Rainbow had walked off without any destination in mind. She now found herself lost in the bowels of the coliseum, somewhere between a closed snack bar and a janitor's closet. She clutched Pidgeotto's pokéball in her hoof. She tossed the ball onto the floor, letting her partner out to hop around and scavenge up bits of popcorn off the floor. "Looks like I got us into a tough spot this time, eh little buddy?"

"Pidg…" Pidgeotto cooed. Rainbow ruffled her feathers playfully, eliciting more enthusiastic tweets from her partner.

She sighed deeply. "I guess we're going into this alone buddy. It doesn't look like Twilight and Rarity have our backs on this one. But it doesn't matter. I have you, and Slowpoke, and Luxio. And that's all I need." Rainbow rose to her hoofs and straightened out her jacket. "I'm going to be the greatest trainer in all of Equestria. And I'm not going to let that Griffon stand in my way. You with me?"

"Pidgeo! Pidgeooo!" Pidgeotto cried. Rainbow encouraged Pidgeotto onto her back and made her way back to the arena.

"Good. We're going to do this, with or without them."

***

Twilight and the others had made their way into the stands, nervously awaiting Rainbow Dash's entrance to the arena. The fifteen minutes had expired, and Gilda waited impatiently on her side of the arena, her clawed foot tapping angrily at the sand.

"I guess Dashie is a no-show." Gilda finally declared. "Guess she wasn't up to the task. Not that I blame her. A weak trainer like her was never going to beat my gym."

"I'm right here, beak-for-brains." Everypony turned to the challenger's entrance. Rainbow Dash stood in the archway, cold determination behind her eyes. Whether or not she would win was irrelevant. Rainbow Dash was ready to accept the challenge no matter the outcome. "I promise you Gilda, I'm not the little filly you knew anymore. Now, let's battle!"

Both trainers selected a pokéball from their belts. Gilda was the first to let hers loose. "Alright Magcargo, let's go!"

Rainbow Dash smiled. Gilda had switched up her team, but the pokémon she led with matched up incredibly poorly to her Slowpoke. Rainbow snickered. She couldn't wait to see the look on Gilda's face when she wiped it out.

From the stands, Twilight was less confident. "Gilda made this same ploy with me. She's just biding her time before she brings out her ace- that Aerodactyl of hers."

"Alright! Slowpoke, let's do this!" Slowpoke emerged from its ball with a yawn, unsure exactly what was going on as it emerged. Neither pokémon was particularly fast, giving each trainer ample time to size up the other.

While neither pokémon was quick to take the offensive, Gilda still managed to get there first. "Stealth rock, now!" Magcargo set up the same floating rocks that Lycanroc had menaced Twilight with earlier. The stones levitated all over the field, ready to dig themselves into any pokémon Rainbow Dash should switch in.

Twilight was greatly worried by the floating stones. "I don't think Rainbow knows how much trouble she's in. Those rocks will seriously hurt Pidgeotto if she switches into them."

Rainbow dash smiled. "Slowpoke, let's hit 'em with that new move of ours! Water pulse, let's go!" Slowpoke yawned, firing off a pulsating wave of water from its mouth. The hit devastated Magcargo, knocking it down in a single hit. "For how much trash comes out of that beak, your Magcargo went down pretty easy." Rainbow jeered with a smile.

Gilda withdrew her pokémon with a sigh. "I guess you're right Dash. I had you pinned for a chump, but looks like I was wrong. I just hope you don't hurt my Rhydon as badly." She tossed out her second pokéball, sending Rhydon onto the field with a loud thud.

Up in the stands, Applejack bit her lip uneasily. "I don't like this one bit. Gilda's playin' with Rainbow Dash out there, and she's taken the bait and swallowed the whole darn fishing pole."

Twilight agreed. "She's trying to goad Rainbow before she sweeps her with that Aerodactyl. I think Gilda wants to embarrass Rainbow by getting her as cocky as possible before defeating her team."

"That's so mean…" Pinkie said with a pout.

Twilight nodded. "Yeah. And it looks like Rainbow is playing right into her claws."

Back on the field, Rainbow had yet to make the connections between her current situation and what had transpired during Twilight's battle. I'm going to show them all! Gilda, Rarity, Applejack, all of them! We're going to destroy Rhydon just like we did Magcargo. Cliff badge, here I come! Rainbow raised a confident hoof and got ready to make another attack.

"Rhydon, take down!" Gilda ordered

"Alright Slowpoke! Water pulse, again!" Slowpoke fired the rippling pulse of water at the charging Rhydon, downing it in one hit once again. Rhydon collapsed on the ground. In victory, Slowpoke waddled his pink body atop Rhydon's rocky body, and made itself comfortable.

"Geez Dash, I don't know what I'm going to do. You took out two of my toughest pokémon like they were nothing. Guess I'll just throw it in the towel." Gilda said with a sigh.

"Aw, that's no fun. Come on Gilda, if you give up now the win isn't going to mean anything."

Gilda withdrew Rhydon, causing Slowpoke to land on the ground with a dull thud. "Alright Dash, but remember. You asked for it." Gilda threw Aerodactyl's pokéball with a grunt, letting her ancient pokémon take wing yet again.

Despite what had happened earlier, Rainbow Dash was unfazed by the flying fossil pokémon. "Hey Gilda, how does it feel to get your entire team swept by one pokémon?"

"I don't know Dash. Why don't you tell me?" Gilda asked with a smug grin.

Twilight cringed. Oh no. This is where Gilda turns the tables on her. This was exactly what happened when she had fought her just a few minutes ago. That Aerodactyl would throw Rainbow for a loop if she wasn't ready for it.

"Alright Aerodactyl, let's get them with roar!" Gilda's command silenced the entire stadium. Twilight and company looked on in fear as Rainbow was about to fall victim to the same tactic that nearly destroyed Twilight. But Rainbow Dash did not look worried.

She was smiling.

"Predictable, just like always." Rainbow Dash said with a knowing smile.

Gilda stared at her with bewilderment. "What are you talking about?" The trainer's confusion caused Aerodactyl to pause. Her pokémon was unsure how to act with its trainer so bent out of shape.

"Slowpoke, use block!" Rainbow commanded. "On yourself!" A giant X appeared over Slowpoke, causing Aerodactyl's roar to fizzle out, leaving Slowpoke stubbornly in the arena. 

"She did it!" Fluttershy exclaimed, settling nevously into her seat as soon as the words left her mouth.

Twilight smiled in approval. She had given Rainbow far too little credit. She should have known that Rainbow would have spent the previous battle formulating her own strategy for how to beat Gilda. From the seats, Twilight could see Gilda grinding her beak across the stadium. Her strategy had been completely turned against her. Now she had one pokémon left against all of Rainbow's three, could not swap them out with Roar and whittle them down with her stealth rocks, and was stuck against Slowpoke and his water attacks.

Gilda had to make best with what attacks she had. "Rock slide, go!" She ordered. If she could not dispatch Slowpoke quickly, she was doomed. Aerodactyl desperately dumped boulders onto Slowpoke, but Slowpoke either shrugged off the attack or simply did not notice. 

"Water pulse, counter!" Rainbow shouted back. Slowpoke's water blasted Aerodactyl from the air, leaving it vulnerable on the ground. "Now, finish with surf!" Slowpoke flooded the arena with a wall of water, dousing Aerodactyl beneath the wave's crash. When the tide subsided, Aerodactyl lay unconscious on the now muddy ground.

Without a word, Gilda withdrew her pokémon. As the battlefield drew silent, a harsh light enshrouded Slowpoke. The radiant glow grew to bathe the arena with light, disappearing with a final flash. When the glow had cleared, Slowpoke had changed, standing on two legs with a shell-like entity clamped down on its tail. It had evolved into Slowbro. Rainbow Dash raised her hoof in triumph, thrilled to see her pokémon evolve. Slowbro meanwhile, seemed oblivious to the fact that any such transformation had occurred.

Gilda approached Rainbow Dash with a scowl written across her face. "Dash."

Rainbow met her old friend's gaze hesitantly. "Yes?"

A smile slowly grew across Gilda's face. "I was wrong Dash. You've gotten a lot stronger since the last time I saw you. More importantly though, you've gotten a lot smarter. I mean, using a move on yourself to keep me from swapping our your Slowpoke? Pretty slick." Gilda held out a gleaming pin in her claws. "Rainbow Dash, it is my honor to award you with the Griffonstone Cliff Badge."

Rainbow Dash joyfully accepted the badge, embracing her old friend as she did. Twilight smiled. I guess Rainbow had it under control after all. 

The six left the coliseum in high spirits. With their business in Griffonstone done, they would return to Equestria and move onto the next gym, located in Cloudsdale. Twilight now had five of the eight badges needed to enter the Pokémon League, meaning her journey was now more than halfway finished. However, that only meant things would only become more difficult from here.

Rainbow had remained uncharacteristically silent since they had left the coliseum. She had kept at the front of the group but spoke little. Twilight tapped her hoof on Dash's shoulder. "Hey Rainbow? I owe you an apology. I had no right to talk to you the way I did earlier. I shouldn't have doubted you like that. I'm sorry."

"If anything, I owe you more of an apology than anyone else," Rarity added, "And yes, Twilight is right. We had no place to be so critical of you. You did splendidly out there, and we're all proud of you."

"Agreed. You're pretty darn clever Dashie," Applejack said.

Rainbow Dash smiled, satisfaction evident in her grin. "Thanks guys. I guess I should have told you I had a plan, but hey, we pulled it through. A badge and an evolved pokémon in one day? I'm on a roll!"

The group laughed as they proceeded back to the harbor, but Twilight couldn't help but think about her and Rainbow's futures. As strong trainers, it was their destiny to one day have to battle each other. Twilight knew hoping it would never happen was pointless. Instead, she looked forward to that clash with eagerness, hoping for a battle that would push them both past their limits. You may not be my rival Dash, but you're still a strong trainer. If we're both on our way to the top, it's inevitable that we'll face off against each other eventually. 

I look forward to that day.