Twilight had left Ponyville in high spirits, surrounded by five new friends, and with two pokémon at her side. However, the message that Trixie had left had knocked much of the wind out of her sails. She was visibly distraught, and her companions were quick to take notice.
"Somethin' bothering you, sugarcube?" Applejack asked, laying a gentle hoof on her shoulder. "Don't let that note get to ya, some ponies are just jerks."
"But it's not the note. I only just met her and she seems to absolutely hate me. I didn’t do anything to make her upset, I don't think. She challenged me to a battle immediately after we got our pokémon, but it's like she hated me from the minute she saw me."
"Eh, don't worry about it." Rainbow reassured. "Don't give 'em the satisfaction of knowing they hurt you."
"Aww, did somepony have their precious little feelings hurt?" Jeered a familiar voice. Twilight and company wheeled around to see a blue mare, wearing a wizard's hat and sporting a new cape. "I've been looking for you, Twilight Sparkle." She growled.
"What's your problem Trixie? What have I ever done to you?"
"Hmmph, as if you would care. It doesn't matter anyway. Trixie is going to become the best trainer in all of Equestria, and will prove it by defeating you in a battle!" Trixie pointed her hoof at Twilight, "I challenge you to a pokémon battle!"
"No." Twilight said firmly. Surely that would be the end of it. If she wouldn’t go along, there was nothing Trixie could do.
Fluttershy tapped her on the shoulder. "Um, Twilight, you aren't allowed to say no to a battle. It's kind of the rule."
"And what happens if I break the rule?" Twilight asked.
"You can lose your trainer's license." Pinkie answered nonchalantly.
Twilight sighed. There was no getting out of this now. "Fine Trixie, I'll play your game. Eevee, I choose you!" Eevee came out of her pokéball, ready to fight.
Trixie scoffed. "Really, is that the best you can do? Ghastly, Trixie has need of you!" A purple mass of gas materialized from inside the pokéball. It screeched at its opponent, and stuck out its obscenely large tongue.
Twilight wanted to end this as soon as she could. Problem being, most of Eevee's moves would be ineffective against a ghost type like Ghastly. "Use bite!" She commanded. Eevee pounced at Ghastly, sinking its teeth into its gaseous form. Somehow this worked, and Ghastly reeled in pain.
This was something Trixie was not going to let pass. "Use curse!" An ethereal stake drove itself into Ghastly's form, placing a dangerous hex onto Eevee.
Twilight swallowed. I'd better switch Eevee out before this curse can do her much more harm. She immediately began fumbling through her bag to find the pokéball.
The action did not evade Trixie's notice. "Oh no, don’t even think about it. Mean look, now!" The pokémon gave Eevee a terrifying glare with its evil eyes, scaring it and trapping it on the battlefield. Unless Twilight could take down Ghastly, Eevee was going to keep suffering. The effects were already becoming apparent. Eevee didn't have much longer before the curse knocked her out.
"Bite, again!" Twilight commanded. She was quickly becoming flustered. She needed to move quickly. Ghastly easily floated out of the way this time, before taunting them by blowing raspberries with its huge tongue.
Ghastly hovered up in the air, beyond where Eevee could reach, taunting the poor pokémon all the while. Finally, the black aura became too much for Eevee to withstand, and it collapsed, unconscious.
"Good job Eevee," Twilight sighed, drawing her pokémon back into her ball. "Bulbasaur, now it's your turn!"
Trixie laughed. "Really? You mean even after a gym battle, your pokémon hasn’t evolved? Shame. Trixie hoped this battle might be fair. Go, Charmeleon!" The pokémon that came out of the pokéball was similar to Charmander, but bigger and meaner looking. The flame on its tail blazed even more fiercely, giving the pokémon a menacing appearance that its previous form had lacked.
Charmeleon was far faster than Bulbasaur could hope to be. Immediately, it came at him with a metal claw attack, slashing at Bulbasaur and sending the poor pokémon reeling.
Twilight grit her teeth. She knew at this point Trixie was just toying with her. Why else would she use metal claw when one fire move would K.O. Bulbasaur.
As it turned out, that fire move was coming up. "Fire spin, let's go!" Charmeleon wrapped Bulbasaur in a spinning pillar of flame. It whirled mercilessly for a moment before dissipating, leaving a very unconscious and very burned grass type on the ground.
Trixie grinned wickedly. "Yes! You had best remember your previous victory, Twilight Sparkle, as that was the first and last time the Great and Powerful Trixie will ever lose!" She tossed down a smoke pellet and vanished, leaving five mares to console a very distraught Twilight.
"Wow. What is her problem?" Rainbow asked to nopony in particular. "I mean, there's being a showoff and then there's just being a jerk."
"She certainly seems to have a vendetta against you, for whatever reason." Rarity offered a hoof to help Twilight up. Come on dear, let's head back to town. We'd best heal up your pokémon before we venture off again."
Twilight nodded and took the hoof, wiping the tears that had begun to form in the corner of her eyes. What could she have possibly done to have made Trixie dislike her so much? Try as she might, Twilight had no recollection of the wizard-robed mare from before the day she started on her journey. Was it just how Trixie was? No, surely not. Twilight didn't believe that ponies could be so cruel to each other for no reason. But then why did Trixie behave so antagonistically towards her?
They walked the short distance back to town to find the town's pokémon center. "What seems to be the problem, girls?" Asked Nurse Redheart.
"Our friend lost a battle, her pokémon are in pretty bad shape." Rainbow Dash explained.
The medic nodded. "Of course. Give me your pokémon, I'll have them fixed right up." Twilight gave her the two pokéballs, which she carried over to the healing machine behind her. Before beginning the process, she inspected the pokémon's conditions on a monitor, frowning a bit. "Your pokémon will be fine, but they are quite badly hurt. Whoever you were battling must either not know about trainer etiquette, or worse, not cared."
"'Trainer etiquette'?" Twilight repeated, the term unfamiliar to her.
"Yes. They're unwritten rules of trainerdom. For example, don't capture pokémon somepony else is fighting. Don’t steal other's pokémon, and don't use excessive force in a battle. Most of them are common sense, but they were written into a code for the sake of being official. Whoever you were battling clearly went far beyond what was necessary to knock out your pokémon. I would advise you stay clear of that individual in the future."
"Heaven knows she's tried." Rarity protested. "That ruffian of a wizard had been lying in wait for her."
"She really doesn't like Twilight." Fluttershy added.
Redheart gave a breathy sigh. "It really is silliness that a trainer can't refuse a battle. I can't stand watching trainers abuse other trainers and their pokémon who are obviously weaker than they are." The machine dinged, signaling the process to be finished. "Here you are sweetie. Stay safe, and try to steer clear of the trainer who did this."
"I'll try…" Twilight sighed.
The six left the pokémon center and made for the road again. Twilight was still obviously upset. This didn't go unnoticed by the others, especially not by Rarity. She nudged Pinkie Pie in the shoulder, and whispered in her ear. "We have do to something to take her mind off this. Can you think of anything to do she would enjoy?"
Pinkie's eyes lit up. "I have an idea!" She trotted over to Twilight, and gave her a playful shove. "Hey Twilight! Wanna do something super-duper fun?"
"Not really Pinkie, I'm not in the mood."
Pinkie Pie was not so easily deterred. "Well I bet your tummy is in the mood for some super delicious food!" Twilight gave it a moment of thought, only to be greeted by an outrageous roar from her stomach.
"I guess that battle worked up an appetite." She giggled. "You know anywhere we can get something to eat?"
"Yeah, follow me!" Pinkie Pie hopped off, with the others following her as fast as they could manage. She led them to the eastern tip of Ponyville, to a small noodle bar named "Cherry Blossom's Noodles". They went inside and took a seat at the bar, and waited to be served.
"Hello, how may I help you?" A petite mare with a cherry-red mane asked.
"Six bowls of Paradise Noodles, please!" Pinkie asked.
The mare nodded, and called out to her pokémon. Two pokémon, a Pawniard and a Dewott, hopped onto the counter. She tossed some unboiled noodles into the air, which Pawniard began dicing with its blades. The mares clapped as the food fell directly into their bowls. They repeated the process with leek and scallions, and finally, Cherry Blossom ordered Dewott to use scald, which cooked the noodles right in front of them. The three took a bow amid applause from the diners, who wasted no time digging into their food.
A hot meal in her belly significantly improved Twilight's mood. "Thanks Pinkie, this was a great idea. It's really amazing how ponies and pokémon cooperate to do things like this."
"I shudder to think what our society would become without our beloved pokémon." Rarity commented. She had released Kirlia from her pokéball, and was feeding bits of her meal to her pokémon. Twilight did the same, offering little sips of broth to Bulbasaur and Eevee.
"By the way, does anypony know anything about the Fillydelphia gym leader?" Twilight asked. Her companions unanimously shook their heads no.
The bar's owner however, raised her voice. "You mean, Gym Leaders. Fillydelphia has two gym leaders who fight in tandem against challengers."
"A double battle?" Twilight exclaimed. She used to read about how the addition of a second pokémon into a battle opened up an entirely new realm of possibilities for strategy, as certain pokémon formed extremely effective combinations with each other.
"Yes. The Leaders are twins, and they are extremely in tune with each other. The road ahead is long, use it to train." She advised, taking bowls as they were emptied and wiping them clean. "It is very rare a single challenger can defeat them. You would have better luck battling as a team."
They considered the chef's words as the six left the noodle bar. "So, whaddya say Twi? Wanna work together for the next gym badge?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"Sure Rainbow, that'd be great." Twilight smiled.
The smile on Twilight's face was a massive relief to Dash and the others. It seemed like she had shaken off her encounter with Trixie, and was ready to focus on moving forward on her journey to become a pokémon master. Twilight stared at the long road eastward, resolving not to let anything stand between her and her dream of becoming a pokémon master.