Twilight had delivered the news to Rarity, urging her to be wary of whatever Trixie might have planned. Rarity promised she would be careful, but seemed confident that she and Kirlia could handle whatever Trixie could throw at them. Rarity made her way onto the stadium and her friends into the stands, finding prime seats in the contestant's box, which offered front row seats at the middle of the stadium.
Sheriff Silverstar personally came out onto the field to open the match. "Fillies and gentlecolts, foals of all ages. Welcome, one and all to the final match of this year's Appleoosa Trainer's Cup!" The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers as their host continued his speech. "Our last match will be between Trixie of Canterlot, and Rarity of Ponyville. The first pokémon who is unable to battle will be declared the loser. For anypony who forgot, the prizes up for grabs include a beautiful trophy and a fantastically rare pokémon that was imported all the way from the Griffon Kingdom. Good luck, and may the best pony win."
Trixie and Rarity readied their pokéballs. "Come Kirlia, victory awaits!" Rarity cried.
"Haunter, Trixie has need of you!" The two pokémon appeared onto the field, bringing forth another wave of cheering. The fans were desperate to see this climactic match. With Twilight out of the running, the tournament's narrative had changed; now it was Rarity, a competitor who had been underestimated the entire tournament, who now stood against a villain who had felled two of the previous heroes, the former favorites, Rainbow Dash and Twilight. Would Rarity, who was by all means the underdog, win and steal victory away from the trainer who the crowd had come to despise? It all would depend on the next few minutes.
"This will certainly be an action-packed match folks!" The emcee declared. Action packed was right. Due to their dual typings, each pokémon was vulnerable to at least one of their opponent's types. Haunter to Kirlia's psychic typing and Kirlia to Haunter's ghost and poison. It would come down to who could land the most and fastest super effective moves.
Rested from their nap, Kirlia and Rarity were in perfect sync with each other, giving Kirlia the chance to get a move off before Trixie was even ready. "Open up with double team!" Rarity ordered. Kirlia split into several clones that spread across the battlefield. Rarity smiled. With any luck this would give her time to unload her power moves onto her opponent.
Trixie didn't miss a beat. "Clear away the illusions with dark pulse!" Haunter unleashed a wave of pure blackness that swept across the battlefield, destroying all the clones. Kirlia wasn't especially hurt, but the tactic had been ruined. Rarity would need to try something else.
"Go for confusion!" Rarity ordered. Kirlia focused her energy and fired a pulse of psionic energy at Haunter, causing it visible pain.
"That's it!" Trixie roared. "Sludge bomb, now!" Haunter gathered a mass of purple sludge in its mouth and spat it at Kirlia.
"Dodge that disgusting mess." Rarity ordered. "Teleport!" Kirlia blinked out of the way, leaving the toxic mess to splatter on the ground. Rarity knew poison would dreadfully hurt Kirlia, and the severe poisoning it afflicts would hurt even worse.
Haunter kept firing but Kirlia kept evading. Every shot he took would easily be blinked away from by Kirlia. Trixie was becoming visibly frustrated. This tactic obviously wasn't working, and if she didn't try something soon, another strong psychic attack could finish Haunter off. Trixie hoped this wouldn't be necessary. Oh well. "Haunter, use shadow ball, just like we planned." Haunter fired off an orb of malefic darkness. Kirlia prepared to blink away from it but the attack shot straight past her. Kirlia looked back, confused. The orb was spiraling right at Rarity.
The stadium had gone dead silent apart from a collective gasp. That silence was broken by six concurrent screams, that of Rarity, and of her friends, watching helplessly in the stands. A ghost attack of that power would certainly put Rarity in the hospital, if not worse.
Kirlia's eyes lit up a fierce purple. She used teleport, blinking right in front of Rarity. She spread her arms out, staring straight at the shadow ball as it spun right at her. "Kirlia?" Rarity shrieked. "What are you-"
Shadow ball hit with massive force. Rarity ducked out of the way, as Kirlia flew past, the orb still spinning into her body. She landed against the wall with a sickening crunch, leaving an imprint in the wall.
"KIRLIA!" The sounds of Rarity's wailing cut deep into the hearts of the spectators. The pokémon fell from her impact site, onto the ground. Rarity galloped to her side, trying to see if her precious partner was alright.
"Please Kirlia, tell me you're okay." Rarity sobbed, shaking her pokémon, desperate to get some kind of movement. Kirlia's body seemed limp in her hooves. After a minute, she produced a weak sound, moaning to her trainer.
"Kirlia… Kir…"
Tears had begun falling freely as Rarity cried over her injured pokémon. One landed right between her eyes, snapping Kirlia's eyes open. Rarity stepped back.
Her eyes had ignited with a purple glow akin to the shade of her mane. Kirlia's body became cloaked in a blazing white aura as her body began to grow and contort. The entire stadium, Trixie included, watched with bated breath and wide eyes as Kirlia transformed before their eyes. Once the aura cleared, Kirlia was gone, in her place was a taller, more elegant pokémon. Kirlia had evolved into Gardevoir.
"It's a miracle!" The emcee cried, his voice overwhelmed by emotion. The entire stadium erupted into thunderous cheers. Trixie looked in horror, her mouth twisted into a scowl as she sighed a defeated sigh. Gardevoir stepped back onto the battlefield, her strength renewed by the evolution.
The bond between pokémon and trainer now stood stronger than ever before. The love between the two burned brighter than the fires of the sun, and with renewed vigor Gardevoir stepped forward to claim victory for her trainer. "Psychic!" Rarity shouted. Gardevoir's eyes illuminated as she grabbed Haunter in her telepathic power. She flung the gaseous pokémon into a wall with monstrous force, leaving it totally unconscious.
"The battle is over! The winner is Rarity!" The emcee screamed. He seemed at the point of tears himself, as did the spectators. Confetti erupted from several cannons around the edge of the arena, showering the victorious pair in glittery paper.
Rarity embraced her partner. "Gardevoir… thank you." She whispered.
"Garde…" She smiled back, hugging her trainer.
* * *
Trixie scowled as the confetti began raining down onto the stadium. Her plan to defeat Kirlia had failed, and had went on to be her undoing. Somehow, Haunter's attack had triggered Kirlia's evolution, and the newly-evolved Gardevoir had handily defeated her. Perhaps it's time to evolve Haunter into Gengar... She mused.
At present, however, she had bigger problems to worry about. Not only had she lost the tournament, but it was highly likely that the Sheriff would be out to hunt her down. A quick scan over the judge's booth confirmed he was gone, and Trixie didn't have to think hard as to what he was planning. She recalled her unconscious pokémon and prepared to make her getaway.
While the crowd was distracted by the showering confetti and celebrating her opponent, Trixie snuck out of the entrance to the stadium, looking to make a beeline for the train station. If nopony saw her, Trixie could get on the next train and be gone before anypony realized she was missing.
She glanced backwards towards the arena to make sure she wasn't being followed. Just as she gave a relieved sigh, she crashed into something large, hairy, and angry. "Watch it bub," Trixie growled as she turned around. All at once, all the color drained out of her face.
Sheriff Silverstar gazed at her with a look of contempt. If looks could kill, his would have slaughtered the entire arena. Wordlessly, he brought out a lasso and began twirling it slowly. "Tell ya what." He said with a sadistic grin, "Since I'm a good sport, I'll give you ten for a head start."
"T-ten what?" Trixie fearfully asked, taking a few tentative steps backwards.
"Ten, nine, eight…" Trixie got the message and began galloping as fast as her legs would carry her. She wouldn't be able to hop a train, not with Silverstar following her. She would have to somehow give him the slip before she could make her getaway. Trixie searched desperately for a place to run, trying to figure out where the best place to try and lose him would be. Without a second thought she chose the apple orchards off to the west and began a desperate attempt to flee.
Her hat fell off as soon as she started to run, but she didn't have time to worry about it. She heard a manic cheer of "Yee haw!" From behind her. Her time had run out, and now she had to pray that somehow she would be able to outrun or outsmart the sheriff. She heard him say something else, but wasn't able to focus enough on his words to hear him clearly. Her only thought was to reach the orchard and then try to lose him in the maze of trees.
She dared take a glance backwards and her eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets. Silverstar had unleashed his pokémon to join in on the chase. Now, in addition to himself, she had to contend with his Gligar, Rhyhorn, and Dugtrio. The crashing of Rhyhorn's thundering footsteps urged her into an even more panicked gallop. Her lungs burned already but the sheer force of adrenaline kept Trixie moving. She had never run so much in her life, but now she needed every drop of energy her body could muster to avoid capture by the chief. If only Charmeleon had evolved… If her partner had been able to evolve, she might have been able to make an escape flying on his back. However, now wasn't the time to consider what ifs. Now was the time to run. She heard Silverstar gaining on her. She made a sharp left into a thicket and kept running.
* * *
While Sheriff Silverstar was off chasing Trixie, the other judges had come forth to present Rarity with her prizes. "Here you are ma'am." One gave her the trophy, a large golden cup that was big enough to fit Twilight's Cubone comfortably inside. Finally, they presented her the other prize: the mysterious rare pokémon.
"Go on, open it!" Rainbow Dash urged.
"Calm yourself, I want to relish in the moment." Rarity snapped back. "Pokéball, go!"
"Karp, Karp, Magikarp…" The Magikarp gasped as it flopped around.
Rarity was furious. "Is this some kind of joke?"
The judges all laughed. "Don't worry now, it's just a little prank we like to pull every now an' again. Here's the real one." Rarity took the new pokéball and inspected it. The ball wasn't a standard pokéball. It was unique, with blue and red markings on the top of the lid. "This pokémon comes from Groucho of Griffonstone, the legendary breeder. This pokéball is custom-made for his pokémon. Think of it as a pedigree."
Rarity threw out the ball. "Rua! Zorua!" The adorable black pokémon barked.
"A Zorua?" Twilight gasped. "I've only ever heard rumors about these pokémon. That's incredible! I've never seen one of these pokémon in real life before!"
"Zorua is exceedingly rare." The judge explained. "That Groucho would be able to breed such a fantastic pokémon speaks to his abilities."
"Zorua?" Rarity giggled. "Welcome to the team." Zorua gave a devious grin, and rubbed its furry head along Rarity's leg.