Twilight Sparkle has a Pokemon Journey

by Darkmetroidz

Chapter 11- The Appleoosa Cup, Part 1

Twilight and company used the day they had before the tournament to get ready for the competition. Twilight and Rainbow Dash went off to the hills and crags outside of town and spent the day training themselves alongside their partners. Twilight and Bulbasaur spent their time running and climbing, while Rainbow Dash and Pidgeotto took to the skies to improve their speed and maneuverability. Every now and again they would break to spar, each trainer giving it their all. At the end of the day, both trainer and pokémon were exhausted, but the exercise had felt tremendously rewarding. Twilight, after years of doubting its existence, finally experienced the so-called "runner's high" fitness fanatics often described, after she had collapsed on the floor of the inn.

Applejack and Pinkie stayed in town, testing their mettle against many of the townsponies, and lending a hand with their pokémon harvesting apples. Pinkie playfully practiced with Steve, practicing dodging projectiles and having Steve knock down apples from trees by sniping their stems with bullet seeds. Applejack and Mareep both bucked apples by hoof, and eventually, during one of her scrims, Mareep evolved into a Flaafy, which would give Applejack a big hoof up in the competition.

Rarity spent her day with Fluttershy, and spent most of it working on creating the perfect outfit for the tournament. She sewed herself a dress made of elegant, lightweight blue fabric that would be comfortable in the desert heat, and made a matching bow for Kirlia. This wasn’t to say she didn’t do any actual training. All the while Kirlia was helping while sparring with Buneary and Teddiursa. The goal Rarity had in mind was to improve their teamwork and their concentration. As a psychic type, Kirlia had great power at her disposal in the form of moves like confusion, telekinesis and future sight, whose power increased even further when the pokémon is in sync with its trainer. Having them work together on two separate things at the same time was meant to improve Rarity' ability to think under pressure and multitask, and Kirlia's ability to keep track of several things at once, and sharpen her focus.

The next morning, the five trainers arrived at the fairground entrance. A pit area had been set up behind the stadium for the contestants to rest and recover between matches. Each competitor had their own taped off section to set up in, which included a few chairs and some complimentary pokémon food, courtesy of a local feed company which sponsored the event. At the end furthest from the stadium grounds, a catered buffet had been set up for the trainers, which supplied hayburgers, salad, and lots of local apple products.

Trixie, still wearing the wizard's regalia that was her signature, approached the group in a huff. "Listen here, you prissy unicorn." She growled, jabbing a hoof at Rarity, "Trixie is on to the deception you pulled two days ago. You denied Trixie a chance to beat Twilight Stinker into the ground, and Trixie will not overlook this trickery. You had better watch out if you have the misfortune of facing the Great and Powerful Trixie in battle."

"Well what does it say about you for falling for the tricks of a 'prissy unicorn'?" Rarity remarked sarcastically. "You will find Kirlia and I to be more than a match for whatever a ruffian like you can throw at us."

"We'll see about that." She grinned. Trixie diverted her attention to Twilight. "And as for you, Twilight Burnout, Trixie will be making up for lost time when we meet in the arena." Before Twilight could offer a rebuttal, she dropped another smoke pellet, and disappeared.

"That pony really ruffles my feathers." Rainbow growled.

* * *

The tournament was split into two rounds: a round-robin qualification round and a three stage elimination round. The first eight trainers to get three wins in the qualification round would move on to the elimination round, where they would battle for the cup.

Twilight gave a sigh of relief and Trixie a groan of annoyance when the schedule was announced and they were not slated to fight. Both of them had gotten three consecutive matches with strangers. Twilight knew at least one of them, if not both, would be able to pick up three wins without dropping a match, and was certain both of them would make it to elimination. The bracket seeding would be drawn randomly. Twilight knew they would have to battle eventually, but hoped to delay it as long as possible. If they ended up on opposite sides of the bracket, it might be possible that somepony would defeat her and Twilight wouldn't have to face her at all.

Sheriff Silverstar, the town's gym leader and also chief law enforcer, stepped up the mic and addressed the audience and competitors. "Welcome, one and all, to the sixth annual Appleoosa Trainer's Cup. I'd like to give a warm Appleoosa welcome to our sixteen competitors, who'll be duking it out to win the trophy, the banquet, and a mighty rare pokémon we had brought in just for the event." The crowd roared with enthusiasm, with yee-haws echoing across the town. "With that said, let the competition begin!" Confetti sprayed from four tubes
mounted across the stage, and the audience cheered, excited to see the battles begin.

Twilight turned to her friends, who had lined up along with the rest of the competitors on the field for the opening ceremony. "Good luck girls."

"Thanks Twi, you too." Applejack smiled back.

The first day's battles were intense, but ultimately, Twilight and the four of her friends who entered made it into the next round. True to her predictions, both Trixie and Twilight moved on with 3-0 records, Trixie using Haunter and Twilight opting to fight with Bulbasaur. Also achieving a 3-0 record was Rainbow Dash and Pidgeotto, who won using her pokémon's blazing speed to dominate her opponents. Applejack and Flaafy, Rarity and Kirlia, and Pinkie and Steve all moved on with a 3-1 record, a respectable finish. Also moving on was Braeburn, who was battling with Numel, and the gray stallion they had met in the bar, Prism, who fought alongside a Nidorina.

"Congratulations to the trainers who have made it this far!" Silverstar announced, amid roaring cheers from the spectators. "But now we move into the real competition. From here on out, anypony who loses a single battle will be eliminated from the competition. Who's gonna be our next champion?" Each of the eight trainers who qualified stood before the audience, most of them waving to the gleeful onlookers. Most of the spectators had picked their favorite trainers, and cheered with all their might in support of them. Trixie had even gathered a few, who were awed by her ruthless style and dominating victories. However, many found her tactics to be overly harsh.

The brackets were designed as follows:

On the left side of the bracket, Trixie, who had been the first to qualify, would battle Rainbow Dash in the first match, and then Twilight would battle against Prism. On the right side, Rarity would battle Braeburn, and Pinkie Pie would take on Applejack. The winners would move on to fight each other, and the victors of those matches would fight against each other in the finals.

Twilight gathered with her friends in the pit. Half of the competitors had left since the qualification round ended, and the area felt much emptier. "Good luck to all of you." Twilight wished. "Let's not go easy on each other, okay?"

Rainbow Dash grinned wildly. "Like there was any hope I would Twi. I'll see you in the semifinals, that's a promise."

I hope so. She thought. I'd much rather have to face Rainbow Dash than Trixie. Even if Rainbow could be a sore winner, her taunting was nowhere near as hurtful as Trixie's. Besides, Twilight did not want that poor prize pokémon falling into Trixie's hooves, purely out of compassion for the pokémon.

Author's Note:

Hey all! I've decided to break the tournament into smaller bits, and put each battle seperate. I will be uploading the first round alongside this because I don't want to leave you with just this piece. I have the entire quarterfinals written but I need to make some tweaks to some of the matches. Rainbow Dash vs Trixie is a bit short but I think you'll agree that the conclusion is fitting.

Anyway, first year of college is done! Somehow I got out with my sanity and my GPA intact. Hopefully I'll have more free time to work on this (especially while my hunt for a job is still going on) so I'll try to have more out soon. I hope you're all enjoying this story. I love pokemon, and it's really something special for me to be able to write this. I hope this is as much fun to read as it is to write.

Comments

[Booster Spice]

Trixie has to be careful in that in winning she could lose by disqualification. Then again, she is likely to use Taunt against Dash for a quick win?