“This will be a Three-on-Three Pokemon battle for the Honesty Badge!” Twilight Sparkle, the referee, announced. “The Challenger, Dawn Skystar, may switch her Pokemon out at any time! This battle will commence... Now!”
Applejack's tail threw a Pokeball into the air, where it clicked open. Light spilled out and formed a long-furred bone-white Monferno, with a purple flame on its tail. Large dark-grey circles formed a mask and surrounded its eyes, and it stared at her opponent with unforgiving purple eyes as its flame grew larger.
Riolu checked her out and whistled, and Monferno didn't react.
“Ghost and Fighting?” Dawn guessed.
“Eeyup. Her abilities are Fur Coat and Pressure,” Applejack said proudly. “Them fancy five-PP moves ain't worth much after a few'o them hit her!”
“Then it's a good thing Gust has a lot of PP... JUST LIKE THUNDERBOLT!” Dawn declared. “Raiden, Thunderbolt!”
“Monferno, Phantom Force!”
“Riii... YOOO!” Raiden cried, building up an aura of bright yellow and unleashing it at the Monferno, who took it without flinching. She faded out of existence, and disappeared.
“Did I just win?” Dawn and her Riolu asked at the same time, the Riolu asking it in Pokemon-speak.
Monferno appeared behind Raiden and kicked her in the head hard enough to send her face-first into the ground, the ghost's body painfully cold to the touch.
“Raiden, Thunderbolt!” Dawn cried.
Without getting up or moving, Raiden charged up electricity. Angrily pointing her right paw at Monferno's face, she unleashed another bolt of lightning, and this one seemed to hurt about as much as a flick to the forehead, if the ghost's reaction was any indication.
Dawn sincerely hoped that, some day, the scale of her Pokemon battles would get to the point where every move was packed with importance and strategic planning. But until then, battles were a damage contest, a race to see who could knock the other out first. “Wing Attack!” She cried.
“Shadow Ball!” Applejack shouted, and Monferno put its hands together, behind it. It gathered and charged ghostly energy into a ball, and something nagged at Dawn's brain, a strange sense that she'd seen this pose before.
Raiden's wings flared out and she flew past the ghostly fighter while using the edge of her wings to strike her in the face, right in the nose. Her composure broken, the Monferno screamed and grabbed the rounded monkey thing she called a nose, because it now had a dent in its upper side, like a dented car, her shadow ball dropping to the floor and dissipating.
“Shadow Ball!” Applejack shouted.
“Dodge it!” Dawn shouted back. “Then use Peck!”
Monferno put its hands together, behind it. It gathered and charged ghostly energy into a ball, and shot it forwards at the Riolu, who dodged it. A beak of white energy formed on Riolu's face, and she divebombed down into her opponent.
“Phantom Force!” Applejack cried, and the Monferno faded out of existence, vanishing. Riolu flared her wings out to slow her descent, landing gracefully and looking around in confusion.
Dawn got an idea. “Quick, fly up! As high as you can!”
A wing-assisted leap sent Raiden rocketing into the air, flaring her wings out to slow her ascent as she got closer to the ceiling. There, she hovered, and waited.
Monferno appeared right behind her, foot covered in shadow energy, and...
She fell to the ground like a stone, hitting the ground and passing out.
“Monferno is unable to battle! Dawn wins this round!” Twilight declared.
“YES!” Dawn cried, punching a hoof into the air. Her Riolu flew down and landed on it gracefully, to the Trainer's surprise. She decided to go with it, rearing up on one leg while she did the same. Dawn fell onto her backside, and decided to never do that again, her Riolu hopping off and landing beside her. “Take a rest, Raiden, you've earned it.”
“Of course!” Rarity realized. “Fur Coat might half the damage from physical attacks, but falling onto the ground isn't a Pokemon attack!”
Applejack's tail grabbed her second Pokeball from her belt, and threw it into the air to bring her final Pokemon out. “Go, Appleseed!”
It was a Machamp, Dawn realized, but he was the wrong colour. He was mud-brown, and he had small golden Topaz gems on his knuckles. A large yellow Topaz gem was embedded in the center of his chest. His head bore a shockingly long mane of sand-brown hair, which whipped behind it in a non-existent breeze.
“What Type is that?” Dawn asked.
“Rock-Type and Fighting Type! His abilities are No Guard, and Solid Rock! Which means he takes a quarter less damage from super-effective attacks, and never misses!”
“In that case, I'll send out Aurora!” Dawn decided, and she did so, her Riolu jumping back off the battlefield to land next to her trainer and recline casually. Her small and green-haired Ralts seemed even smaller on the massive battlefield, and even smaller when compared to the colossal monster in front of her, this twisted sculpture of muscle and bulk, this... this mockery of the humanoid form.
Slowly, she turned her head around to face her trainer, and weakly pointed at the muscular beast. “Ral?” She asked quietly.
“She didn't change her type?” Applejack asked herself.
“Don't back down, Aurora!” Dawn shouted. “Fighting-Types are weak to Psychic-Types, and that's just what you are! That, and Fairy, but we don't need to beat a Dragon up just yet. It don't matter what she thinks! It don't matter what abilities that beast has, because you have the best ability of all: The ability to make me believe in you! I BELIEVE IN YOU, AURORA! Now use Confusion!”
“Appleseed, use Mach Punch!” Applejack commanded.
The green-haired Pokemon concentrated, and achieved nothing as the massive fighting-type Pokemon rushed toward her. The bulky Pokemon punched the Ralts in her face with a strong uppercut, one that sent the Pokemon flying like a kicked football. Aurora soared into the air and hit the ceiling with a loud clang, falling and landing near the entrance like a sack of potatoes.
“What?!” Dawn gasped. How could believing in her Pokemon NOT guarantee her victory? What, was it a bad idea to send a Pokemon she'd just caught into an incredibly important Pokemon battle with one of the strongest Trainers in the region?
She realized what a stupid move she'd made, and she calmed down. She deserved that loss. She deserved ALL the losses. She deserved to lose this match, all over this one mistake.
But Raiden didn't make that mistake. She had dreams of her own, even though her trainer had never bothered to ask what they were. And it was time for Raiden to fight for her dreams!
“Aurora, return!” She yelled pointlessly, her magic grabbing Ralts' Pokeball and returning the Pokemon to it. She threw another Pokeball into the air, where it spilled light onto the battlefield, light that became her Riolu. “Take him down, Raiden!”
The Riolu was pumped already, but upon seeing her opponent, she squealed with delight like a young filly at some boyband's concert.
Appleseed the Machamp proudly began flexing for her, and Riolu loudly hooted and cheered the Pokemon on, and Dawn wondered if this was weird or not.
“Calm down, Raiden.” Dawn said, getting her attention. “You aren't just here to admire that thing's body, you're here to beat it up!”
The cute little Pokemon cheered, even happier than before. She hopped and danced around, before settling into a low stance, left arm back and bent upwards at the elbow, right arm pointing towards the giant Pokemon. She beckoned it forwards with her paw, flicking it towards herself, and he grinned, looking forward to the fight.
Dawn thought for a moment. Normally, Fighting was weak to Flying, and Rock resisted it. But with that Solid Rock ability, would he resist Flying attacks even more than he usually would? She had no idea, but she was pretty sure Electric-type attacks would still deal the regular damage on this foe. “Raiden, use Thunderbolt!”
“Mach Punch, Appleseed!” Applejack commanded.
“Riii... YOOO!” Raiden cried, building up an aura of bright yellow and unleashing it at the Monferno, who flexed his muscles and took it with a grimace. Then, he punched the air, sending an impossibly fast bullet of air at Raiden's face, knocking her out in one strike.
“RAIDEN!” Dawn cried in shock. She used her magic to pull the Pokemon closer, so she could hug it.
Opening her eyes for a second, the Riolu whispered something. “Ri... Yo.”
She passed out in her hooves.
“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” Dawn roared to the heavens.
A tear rolled down Rarity's cheek as Fluttershy watched with teary eyes, irritation building in an unimpressed Rainbow Dash as Pinkie Pie continued to munch popcorn she'd gotten from... somewhere.
“She's fine!” Rainbow Dash shouted from the wooden stands. “Just get on with the rest of the fight already!”
“You did good, Raiden.” Dawn said, lowering the hero's body beside the arena. “Now... I'll finish this with one move!”
“Bring out your last pathetic Pokemon, Dawn!” Applejack would shout if she was evil. Dawn would reply with a shout of “My team has no pathetic Pokemon, Applejack! But it does have... The unstoppable WaveOcean!”
Dawn blinked, returning to reality. “Go, WaveOcean!” She declared, sending out her Shedinja. Her big blue Shedinja, whose hollow eyes seemed to stare into the souls of both of her opponents, unnerving the big brute and killing all excitement the farmer had for this fight.
“Oh no.” Twilight said quietly, realizing her mistake.
“That better not be-” Applejack began flatly.
“It's Water-type!” Dawn announced with pride.
Applejack's hoof swiftly met her face. “And its abilities are...”
Almost like an Opera singer, the Alicorn sang, “Wonder Guaaaard, and Mooow-tooooor.... Driiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiive!”
Appleseed the Machamp fell to his knees and screamed at the sky.
Applejack's face swiftly met the floor. “And none of mah Pokemon know any Grass attacks. Monferno don't, Appleseed don't, and Rhyperior don't. Well, guess that means Ah can't do anything now. Ah don't fancy gettin' Water Gun'd for a few hours 'fore losin' anyway. Ah surrender. You win.”
“Applejack is unable to battle! Dawn wins!” Dawn cheered, grabbing the badge with her magic and rearing up, punching the sky. “I got... The Honesty Badge!”
Riolu leaped up and landed on her head, arms folded, wings flared out. “Ri-rio lu!” She announced proudly.
Rainbow Dash and Pinkie booed her, and the pink mare started throwing popcorn.