//------------------------------//
// Second Gym Battle! Tomboy vs Tomboy 
// Story: My Little Pokémon 
// by Amarvax 
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One week has passed since Twilight became an Alicorn and a Princess. 

Recently, she's been learning how to really control her flying. Having wings is going to be tough to manage. But today, Rainbow Dash's second gym battle is on the horizon.

"I can't wait! My second gym battle's gonna be a total win this time!" 

"We're very excited to see your second gym battle Rainbow Dash. But which type is it?" Fluttershy asked.

"A Water-Type Gym. Can't be too tough. It's just water."

"I wouldn't underestimate water Rainbow Dash." Brock said. "Water-Types are good against a large majority of typings and only have two major weaknesses. Electric and Grass.

"Exactly why my Piplup is up there with the best, don't you think?"

"Pip-Piplup!"

"Either way. Whoever this next Gym Leader is.. they're going down! Rufflet, Swablu and Whirlipede won't let me down."

"We'll be cheering for you all the way, Rainbow Dash." Princess Twilight said.



The next gym was located in Dodge Junction. This gym had a dome-like structure to it located next to the Cherry Hill Ranch. Arriving there, the gang had all seen a pony trainer walk out of the gym, looking defeated.

"Bummer. That was a total wipeout." The unicorn said, walking away in defeat.

"Woah. He must've suffered a real big loss. That doesn't scare me though!" Rainbow Dash walked in there with confidence. Entering the gym, the Gym Leader was a very familiar face.

"Well, well. A new challenger already. And I see a familiar face in the crowd." The recognizable voice said.

"Huh? Oh wow! Misty?!" Ash said.

"Pikachu-Pi?!"

Misty was the gym leader here. Only fitting.

"We meet again, Ash. Pikachu. Guess Alola wasn't the last time we'd see each other."

"You decided to fill in as a gym leader in Equestria?"

"Yep! I see Brock here too... and I recognize you. Your name is Dawn isn't it?"

"Yeah, that's me."

"Looks like you keep on piling up new friends don't ya Ash? So who's here to challenge me?"

"That'll be me!" Rainbow Dash stepped up.

"Alright then. You think you have what it takes to battle me, Rainbow hair?"

"Oh I know I can!" Both of their personalities clashed. They were both essentially tomboys.  Perfect dualities of each other.

"How long have you known her Ash?" Rarity asked.

"Very long. Very long. Pikachu, Brock and I know her a lot ya know."

"Mhm." Brock nodded in response.

"Pika."

"Since you're a newbie trainer, I'll obviously use slightly weaker Pokemon. But I won't hold back in the slightest." 

"Works for me."

"What Pokemon does she use Ash?" Spike asked him.

"She's got a pretty fierce Staryu and Starmie. But that Gyarados is the real obstacle." 

Another unicorn referee was here to judge the battle once more.

"We'll start off strong. With my heaviest hitter! Go! Whirlipede!" Out came her first Pokemon, Whrilipede. The Curlipede Pokemon.

"Let's steamroll all over them Whirlipede!"

"Whirli!"

"Whirlipede huh? Okay. Then come out! Politoed!" Her first choice was the Frog Pokemon Politoed. Dashie pulled out her dex to see what this one was all about.

"Politoed. The Frog Pokemon. When several Politoed gather together to sing under the moon, the angry quality of their cries makes it sound like they're having a heated argument. Poliwag and Poliwhirl regard this Pokemon as a leader."

"This thing doesn't seem too dangerous. Can't be too careful though..."

"That frog Pokemon doesn't look like the kind to be very strong." Rarity said.

"When it comes to physical, no. But it can take hits and deal some major special attack damage. Rainbow Dash will have to break through that special defense first." Brock explained.

"Battle Start!" The referee said.

"I'll do the honor of staring us off! Politoed, Hyper Voice!"

"PoliTOOOOOOEEEED!" Its potent cry had kicked in. A horrible echoing shout came out, having so much power that it actually damaged Whirlipede, knocking it back a bit. Everypony else was feeling this as it was getting to them as well.

"That sound is horrible!" Rarity said with her hooves in her ears.

"That's Hyper Voice for you!" Ash replied.

"Piiikaaa!"

"T-Too loud! Whirlipede! Rollout!" Whirlipede rolled forward, trying to break through the shockwaves of Hyper Voice. 

"Hehe. Politoed! Earth Power!" Politoed made the ground erupt with power, causing pillars of the ground to strike Whirlipede, sending it upwards.

"Oh no! Whirlipede!"  Rainbow Dashed cried out.

"Follow up with Water Gun!" Politoed then shot Whirlipede out of the air with a Water Gun, making the Curlipede Pokemon fall. Whirlipede wasn't out of the match yet, but Rainbow thought that it was taking too much punishment. 

"Okay, Whirlipede. Come back for now." She had returned him to his Pokeball. That was a rough start.

"Whirlipede got pretty overwhelmed there. That Hyper Voice basically stopped it in its tracks." Fluttershy said.

"Misty's Politoed sure has learned some new moves, huh?"

"Pikachu."

"So much for starting off strong. But I don't have anything to worry about! Go! Rufflet!" Next was Rufflet, ready to take action.

"Rufflet!"

"Watch out for the Hyper Voice Rufflet. Fly up!" Rufflet took the skies, gaining the air advantage. This negated Earth Power from making contact. 

"Water Gun!" Misty let Politoed make another attempt to shoot Rainbow Dash's Pokemon out of the air. 

"Fly over it and go in with Wing Attack!" Rufflet flew over the Water Gun, zooming towards Polited.

"Politoed! Hyper Voice!" Again, Hyper Voice was in play. Since Rufflet was getting close this was a perfect opportunity to use it. 

"Look out Rufflet!"

Politoed let out that same horrible echoing sound. It reached Rufflet, however, the Eaglet Pokemon wouldn't let that get to it. Through its sheer stubbornness, it kept flying forward as it struck its wings on Politoed's face. The impact of the attack was weakened a bit due to Hyper Voice slowing it down a bit. Politoed's Hyper Voice had stopped.

"Good! Now use Aerial Ace!" Rufflet's newest learned move came into play. Rufflet flew at intense speeds that would confound a Pokemon. It dashed past Politoed, leaving a big hit behind.

"Sweet! Rufflet's new move!" Spike said.

"Politoed! Bounce!" Politoed had suddenly bounced up in the air.

"What the-"

The Frog Pokemon came falling down, ready to slam into Rufflet.

"Dodge it!" Rufflet moved away from the bounce as Politoed crashed in the ground, leaving some cracks. 

"Bounce one more time!" Politoed kept on bouncing around, trying to hit Rufflet.

"That thing won't let up until it makes contact. We have to finish it off fast." Rainbow thought to herself. "Rufflet! Circle around with Aerial Ace!" Rufflet had begun flying around Politoed, a similar tactic used in her first Gym Battle.

"Water Gun!" Politoed was firing Water Guns trying to hit Rufflet. Some hit and some miss but Rufflet kept flying as it closed in with Aerial Ace. Politoed fired one more Water Gun, however, Rufflet swooped under it as it used Aerial Ace on its belly. The impact and speed that had picked up caused enough force to knock Politoed back. Politoed tumbled around like a ball as it had fainted from that powerful impact.

"Politoed is unable to battle! Rufflet wins!"

"Yes! Finally, we took that thing out!"

"Ruff! Rufflet!"

"Woowee! That was a close one." Applejack sighed with relief. That Politoed was tough to get through. Brock wasn't kidding when he said it was a tough Pokemon.

"Good job Politoed. Not bad, Rainbow. Managing to take out my Politoed. Even if it did take two Pokemon to do so."

"Feh. You ain't seen nothing yet!"

"Hmph. It's your turn! Starmie!" Next up was Starmie. The part Water and Psychic Type. Rainbow pulled out her dex to get good info on this one.

"Starmie. The Mysterious Pokemon. Getting close to a Starmie could give you a headache, possibly because of mysterious signals transmitted by its glowing core. The signals it sends to the skies indicate that this Pokemon may be from outer space."

"Outer-Space?!" The Mane 5 all said.

"T-That thing's an alien?!" Pinkie Pie stammered.

"Hah! Do you think that'll scare me? Yeah right!" Rainbow Dash wasn't intimidated by that dex entry.

"We'll see. Starmie. Cosmic Power!" Starmie had absorbed mystical power from space, tapping into the cosmos. Its defense and special defense had risen. "Now! Psybeam!"

"STAR-MIE!" A beam of psychic energy was fired at Rufflet.

"Dodge it Rufflet!" Rufflet barely dodged the Psybeam as it grazed its feathers, hitting the walls and leaving a huge mark on it. Rufflet got a little bit scared by that attack. It looked destructive. "Yikes. That move looked vicious. Rufflet! Make sure you don't get hit by it, no matter what!"

"Ruff!" 

"Go! Aerial Ace!" Rufflet took off into the skies, zooming forward. Misty had let Staryu used another Psybeam. Rufflet flew to the side to avoid it. Psybeams were being fired at it constantly as Rufflet kept doing its best to dodge them. 

"Pretty fast. But not as fast as Starmie! Power Gem!" Starmie had then unleashed a Rock-Type move. It attacked with a  ray of light that sparkled like gemstones as they pelted at Rufflet, pushing it back. Rufflet's distance was getting further away from Starmie.

"Don't let those gems bother you! Bite em!" 

"What?!"

"Rufflet opened its peak, letting the power gems go inside as it flew forward.

"Just like Ash. But that's why I gotta beat you! Starmie! Psybeam!"

"Release them Power Gems!" Rufflet had spat out the Power Gems, sending them back. The Psybeam had powered through the gems, destroying them as it made direct contact with Rufflet. "Oh no, Rufflet!" Rufflet fell on the ground, heavily damaged. Rufflet got back up with scratches all over it.

"Your Rufflet's pretty tenacious. But tenacity won't stop us!"

"We got this! Rufflet!"

"RUFFLET!" Rufflet stood back up with confidence. The Eaglet Pokemon was too stubborn to go down so easily. Its determination to win was grand. For a split, second Ash could see a projection of Rainbow Dash and Rufflet's evolved form, Braviary with rainbow feathers.

"You sure about this? Okay then. Go on Starmie. Rapid Spin!" Starmie flipped itself over as it began spinning around. 

"Rufflet! Wing Attack!" Rufflet ran forward, eventually taking off to the skies as it smashed its wings towards Starmie. Rufflet tried pushing it back, but Starmie was too strong. "Come on Rufflet!" Rufflet then flew back as it used Wing Attack from above, striking Starmie down. This wasn't enough to take down Starmie though.

"Hydro Pump!" A high volume of water was blasted at Rufflet, granting a powerful and far knockback. Rufflet rolled on the floor. It couldn't go on after a hit that strong. It had fainted.

"Rufflet is unable to battle! Starmie is the winner!"

"Thank you Rufflet. Get a good rest." Rainbow Dash had sent Rufflet back. "What do I do? That Starmie's just as big an obstacle as Politoed. Whirlipede can't do much since its part poison. And Psychic-Types easily beat that." Rainbow thought to herself.

"Wait a second..!" Rainbow Dash had just realised. Whirlipede is part Bug. Bug types work well against Psychic types. Whirlipede was once again the Pokemon that balanced things out for her. "Whirlipede. Let's have a second go." She had sent out Whirlipede who had taken some damage earlier.

"Is Whirlipede in good condition?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's just like what happened with Gardenia and her Roserade."

"What do you mean Ash?" Twilight asked.

"Poison-Types aren't very good against Psychic-Types, but Psychic-Types don't do well against Bug-Types at all."

"So once again, Whirlipede evens out the playing field." Rarity replied.

"We're gonna go for broke Whirlipede! You with me?"

"Whirl!"

"This is our chance. I couldn't use this move against Thunderlane's Pokemon since it wouldn't even phase them... but this one." 

"Starmie! Psybeam!"

"Whirlipede! Pin Missile!" Whirlipede's newest move, Pin Missile. Sharp pins are fired forward, making contact with the Psybeam. Both attacks collided, causing them to explode and create a huge smoke cloud. The smoke covered the gym as Rainbow seized this opportunity. "Rollout!" Whirlipede moved in the smoke, ready to strike.

"Look out for Whirlipede and use Rapid Spin!" Starmie looked around, using its glowing core to sense Whirlipede. It saw the Curlipede Pokemon closing in as it spun around. Two spinning Pokemon had clashed, causing sparks to rise from their speed. 

"They're even!" Rainbow and Misty both said. Whirlipede and Starmie had knocked each other back.

"GO! Pin Missile!" Whirlipede rolled about, firing Pin Missile while moving. 

"Starmie! Use Rapid Spin to knock them away!" Starmie spun around, knocking away the Pin Missiles as they hit the walls and the area around them. Whirlipede was moving in, releasing more Pin-Missiles as the pressure was on. "Starmie! Psybeam!"

"Rollout!" Whirlipede had stopped the Pin Missile assault as it rolled away from the Psybeam. 

"You're mine now, Rainbow! Spun and use Hydro Pump!" Misty had combined two moves into one, taking inspiration from Ash. Hydro Pump was moving around in a circle, like a whirlpool. The size of it gave it so much range as it made contact with Whirlipede, knocking it back. 

This had caused the Curlipede Pokemon to unfortunately faint.

"Whirli..."

"Whirlipede is unable to battle! Starmie wins!" 

"And after all that hard work. Not even its new move could seal the deal." Fluttershy sighed.

"It's not over yet. She still has one last Pokemon." Ash said.

"Hehe. Just what I wanted." Rainbow Dash had smirked. "I trained with you for a bit Swablu. So now's your chance to shine! Go!"

"SWA! Swablu!" Rainbow Dash's other Pokemon had dealt enough significant damage to her Starmie. Swablu had all the chances in the world to deal that right hit and knock it out.

"We'll go with everything we have! Time for you to show your new move Swablu! Ice Beam!" Swablu unleashed a beam made of pure ice towards Starmie.

"Starmie! Psybeam!" Both beams clashed as they were pushing each other back. Both beams were strong, but only one could come out on top. Swablu was starting to get overwhelmed by Ice Beam suddenly. 

"Swablu! Pull back and go for Ice Beam one more time!" Swablue dropped the Ice Beam, flying down as it fired an Ice Beam forward. 

"Jump!" Starmie had jumped over the Ice Beam suddenly.

"Fly after it and use Fury Attack!" It was a speed battle now. Swablue zipped up, swinging its wings at Starmie.

"Rapid Spin!" To counter, Starmie spun around to clash with the cotton wings. 

"On top of Starmie!" Rainbow used Swablu's dex entry to her advantage. Swablue had made itself a hat on top of Starmie.

"What in the-?!" Misty was surprised.

"Now! Ice Beam!" Swablu fired Ice Beam on Starmie, point-blank. Starmie took massive damage from this. 

"Oh no! Starmie! Don't let up! Hydro Pump!" 

"Fly through it by covering yourself!" Swablu had covered itself with its cotton wings, nullifying the Hydro Pump. It still slowed down from the hit but that wouldn't stop this bird. 

Misty could feel the pressure. This team was very stubborn. 

"Finish it with Psybeam!" Starmie fired a final Psybeam forward.

"Swoop and fire!" Swablue had swooped under the Psybeam, firing Ice Beam at Starmie, making direct contact.

That was a definite faint.

"Starmie is unable to battle! Swablu wins! And the victor is Rainbow Dash from Cloudsdale!"

Their second gym battle won. It was much harder than the first one but they pulled through at the end.

"YES! SECOND TIME IN A ROW!"

"Swa!" Swablu flew over to Rainbow Dash, landing on her head with joy.

"Phew. That was rough." Dawn said.

"Amazing job Starmie." Returning her Pokemon to its ball, Misty walked up to Dashie to grant the second badge onto her. "Not bad, Rainbow. Just like Ash, you battle with some crazy tactics."

"Heh. Thanks."

"You deserve this. The Soak Badge."

"Yes! The second badge is mine!" Rainbow Dash flew up with excitement.


Outside, Misty was about to bid farewell to them.

"You know Misty, we can come back and visit you anytime ya know." Ash said.

"I know you will Ash. I'll be waiting here at Dodge Junction if any of you wanna hang out."

"By the way. Why didn't you use your Gyarados, Misty?" Dawn asked.

"If I used Gyarados this early, it would be a total wipeout for every trainer else. Besides, I'm saving it for the Pokemon World Championship happening in our world."

"Pokemon World Championship?!" Ash said, paying attention to this.

"Pikachu?!"

"Yep. Also known as the Pokemon World Coronation Series. It's the biggest tournament yet. And I'm gonna be the one to win it."

"Yeah right! If you're entering something that grand, then I'm joining in no question."

"Pika!"

"Well. I'll see you there Ash. And take care why don't you? Don't forget to come by!"

"We won't!" They bid her farewell, ready to return back to Ponyville, via train.

With Rainbow Dash's second gym battle complete, her team grows stronger evermore. And so does her determination. The Pokemon World still has a lot in store for her and the others. As the journey continues.


Chapter 39 End!