First Round - Fashion Star vs Animal Queen
It was time for the third match.
"Who do you think'll win?", Rainbow asked the crew, her legs propped up on the seat in front of her.
"I think Rarity has this", Sunset answered. "I'm not saying Fluttershy is weak, it's just that Rarity is more of a fighter."
"Are you kidding me? Fluttershy's got this in the bag", Pinkie protested. "There's no way Rarity could have learned everything she needed to know in just a week. No offense, buddy."
"I'm with you Pinkie. Fluttershy may seem a bit helpless, but she can stand her own when she needs to. What about you, Twilight?"
"I'm of the same opinion as Sunset. But I guess this all depends on how much Rarity has learned and understood about these battles." They were looking at Silver now, who was noticably uncomfortable being sandwiched between two girls. (Sunset and Twilight)
"Don't look at me", he said sheepishly. "I tried to teach her everything from typings to Z-Moves. I was helping her select her team. She understood the basics and now it's up to her imagination." It is true that Rarity is the most creative of the crew. That might be a deciding factor later.
"Of course, there's one thing... Nah. I'll leave it as a surprise.
"Before we start, Rarity, I just want to say that this might not be as spectacular, but let's just do our best."
"Oh, I agree darling. And don't worry about me. I know how to shine."
"Ah shall name the rules, then.
This will be a Three-on-Three match. Each trainer is allowed to switch out their Pokémon at any given moment. Upon request, any moves a Pokémon can learn, be it naturally learned, TM, tutor, bred or otherwise, are allowed. The battle is over once all three members of one's team are unable to battle. Are you ready?"
"Yes."
"Absolutely."
"Then, BEGIN!"
"Come on out, Mimikyu."
"Spotlight, Opal my dear." Out of Rarity's ball jumped an Alolan Persian.
"She named it after her cat?", Sunset asked.
"She probably couldn't remember its name", Pinkie retorted.
"Are you kidding me?", Rainbow jumped in. "Persian has to be one of the easiest names to remember."
"You seriously don't see the resemblance to her cat?", Twilight then asked. After everyone tilting their heads to the side for a few seconds they could all agree that they do look similar.
"Now, Opal, open the show with Power Gem."
A number of gem stones shot out of Persian's forehead, spreading around the field. Once they were in position, they fired of sparkling enery beams.
"Dodge them, Mimikyu!", Fluttershy's tone of voice was like you'd expect. Concerned. Concerned that she would lose in a matter of minutes if she couldn't find a way out. Even concerned for her Pokémon even if it was just a figment of her own imagination. Her partner complied as best as it could.
"And now, Dark Pulse." Was Rarity's second command, which she emphasized by reaching out with a open palm.
Instead of firing at its opponent, Persian fired the energy wave at the gems. They melded with the pulse, their own bright beams encased in purple spirals, creating a shimmery purple aura. It was a truly magical sight to behold.
"She wasn't kidding when she said this would be a spectacle", Twilight commented.
"Get out of there with Shadow Sneak", Fluttershy thought quickly. In a matter of seconds, Mimikyu descended into its own shadow, which made its way out of the gleaming whirlpool. The sneaky shadow extended further and further, until it reached behind the grey cat. However, Persian was barely fazed.
"Counter with Night Slash." Raritys attack hit its mark. With a triumphant gleam in her eyes she celebrated her first attack that connected. But Mimikyu was unharmed.
"What? I know I hit it", she exclaimed surprised.
"That's Mimikyu's ability, Disguise", Pinkie yelled from the stands. "It can take one hit without damage when it enters the battle."
"I told you that", Silver screamed after her.
"And I told you guys", Pinkie followed up. "Fluttershy's got this."
"Don't be too full of yourself", Twilight scolded her. "Rarity may be still unfamiliar with the details, but her light show before shows that she has a good grasp on how to utilize her given abilities. And don't forget that Fur Coat halfs the damage of anything Mimikyu could threaten her with."
"Twilight's right, but a thought crossed my mind", Sunset commented. "I'm sure Rarity and Silver tried to keep her movepool simple so it wouldn't get overly complicated." The boy gave an affirmative nod.
"So the real question is," Rainbow concluded, "how well can she utilize her limited options?"
"Well, they couldn't expect me to memorize every single thing", Rarity meanwhile thought to herself.
When she turned back to the field, Mimikyu had made its way back to its master, who was crouching down to pet it through the cloth of the costume.
"There, there. Don't worry, you can still do this, you little Mimi-cutie", she was comforting it. Now facing its opponent again, Mimikyu dashed zig zag at the grey feline.
"Play Rough." Mimikyu clung to its back and used its wooden tail to pound Persian mercilessly. On Rarity's command, it tried to shake the offender off, but it took quite a while before it had any success.
"Now Persian, Assurance." Mimikyu was again flung back by one of Persian's moves. But it also stood up and dashed at it again just as quickly.
"Well, that's unexpected", Twilight commented, taking a second to fix her glasses.
"What?"
"I was sure Fluttershy would try a more defensive approach, but she's just bombarding Persian with attacks." The others thought about that. "Even taking effectiveness into account, that Assurance attack should have done quite some damage."
"Yeah, you're right." Rainbow realized, concern creeping into her mind. "What is she doing?" On the battlefield, Persian delivered another blow to Mimikyu.
"Well, either way", Pinkie interjected, "GO RARITY! GO FLUTTERSHY. WOOHOO!"
"Shadow Ball, Mimikyu."
"Block it with Night Slash." Persian did just that, creating a cloud of smoke. But a surprise followed. Mimikyu jumped through the smoke screen and practically clawed itself onto Persian's face. Persian mewled and tried to shake it off, to no avail this time.
"Alright then, Power Gem", Rarity commanded confidently yet slightly annoyed. But it didn't go as she expected. With Mimikyu covering its face, the Power Gems had no way to spread. The pressure kept rising until, BAAM, they exploded, incapacitating both the defender as well as the attacker.
"Both Persian and Mimikyu are unable to battle. Double Knock-out!", Applejack declared.
Certainly an unexpected outcome. Also, unexpected was Silver's reaction. He basically panicked at the thought of his student losing.
"What's gotten you so worked up? You didn't even bat an eye when Twilight kicked your butt."
"Sorry, but you don't understand. Rarity has to advance into the next round. She promised to make me a suit, when I succeeded in helping her. For free."
"That's it?", Sunset asked confused. Looking over his choice of attire, a baggy shirt and vintage-style jeans, along with those weird goggles, she couldn't imagine him actually being stoked about something like that. She was even sure he wore two different socks.
"Do you have any idea how much a tailor-made suit costs. I'll need one eventually so I can't pass up this chance."
Feeling no need to question his line of reasoning, they accepted his answer.
Meanwhile, the combatants decided on their next Pokémon.
"Do your best, Goodra."
"Show them your elegance, Leavanny."
"Fluttershy's got quite the advantage there", Sunset remarked. "Let's see if Rarity can do anything about it."
"Dragon Pulse, Goodra."
"Dodge it." Leavanny made several twirling steps to her right side. Her movements made it seem like she was dancing. "Razor Leaf."
Leavanny started spinning on the spot and threw her leaves as if they were knives. Fitting, as they would have the very same effect on Goodra. Fluttershy knew her companion wasn't fast enough to actually dodge them.
"Use Bide", she pleaded and Goodra was surrounded by red aura. After the already thrown leaves hit the Dragon-type, Rarity stoped her attack immediately.
"Wait, I remember this attack." She thought back to her, quote on quote, 'training'. "Silver said it gathers energy from the opponent's attacks and gives them back twice as hard. If I remember correctly, Leavanny doesn't have anything to put that thing down quickly. Why is a creature that is based on a slug even classified as a Dragon anyway? That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that my best move right now is to wait untill she is finished collecting energy."
They stood there for several seconds. You could've cut the tension in the air with a butter knife, until Rainbow Dash yelled annoyed down into the arena.
"Oh come on. Somebody do something."
"Patience is a virtue, darling. I will continue as soon as Fluttershy releases her attack." Her friend in turn let out a disappointed sigh.
"I hoped you wouldn't know how it works. I guess I have no other choice. Release." What Goodra released was a small, white beam, which Leavanny was able to dodge without problem.
Rarity was truly thankful for her lessons.
Time for a flash back. Rarity thought back to her second day of training. It was the day after the two of them selected her team.
"Before we start todays lesson", Silver said, "let's review yesterday's progress."
The two of them met in the mall after Rarity's shift at the boutique. They took a table at Rarity's favorite ice cream parlor. Rarity enjoyed some iced coffe, while Silver ordered a peppermint-chocolate chip sundae.
"Yesterday we decided on my team." She pulled a card from her purse. "Gardevoir, Alolan Persian, Leavanny, Altaria, Alolan Ninetails, and Milotic.
"Good. Now, today's lesson will be about stats and typings." He went into great detail about the correlations between the different types and what the stats meant and Rarity was taking notes throughout.
"As for Speed, there are not many speedy Pokémon that benefit from good physical and special defense. Usually one of the two or neither. They're typically used to deal as much damage as fast as possible. Or, in this particular type of tournament, most could use their agility to avoid attacks. Now, your team has quite good speed. Your best option would be to dodge, counter and hope they won't outspeed you. I think giving some of them Protect is also a good choice."
He was surprised by her attentiveness, which he figured was out of solidarity to her friends. Though Rarity appreciated his thoroughness.
He had prepared videos, statistics and even info and work sheets for her. Rarity figured that he must've spent every free second of his day to help her as best as he could.
When they finished for the day, Rarity agreed to drive him home. The car ride was silent except for the quiet funk rock Rarity was slightly dancing and humming to. As he was living on the outskirts of town, it took quite a while for them to arrive.
When they arrived, he tried to give her 5 dollars and leave. She refused the gas money though.
"You didn't have to drive me home just to thank me for helping. You already promised me the suit for not screwing up your training", he told her in a cynical tone.
"Nonsense. I simply love helping out my friends and friends of Pinkie Pie are friends of mine." Her gaze passed over the time on her radio display. "Oh no, the video store will be closed by the time I get back." That gave him an idea.
"Let me guess, a romantic movie that you can cry and eat ice-cream to?" It almost scared her how accurate his assumption was.
"Wait a sec." And he disappeared in his house. Two minutes later, he returned with a DVD in his hands.
"One scratch and you're done for."
"I don't want his efforts to go to waste, that's why I have to win" , she thought to herself. Even though she had mixed feelings about the boy and his cynical nature, she recognized the good in him and didn't want to disappoint one who put so much effort into helping her.
"Power Whip, Goodra", Fluttershy commanded. The dragon's feelers extended and split into vine-like whips, ready to thrash into the bug.
But Rarity wasn't having it. "Swords Dance!" Despite the outrageous number of whips trying to hit Leavanny, the bug merely danced around all of them. When they stopped their onslaught, Leavanny finished with a pose, kneeling down with its arms crossed, before the vines fell apart, chopped apart by Leavanny's blade arms.
"I never even thought of using Swords Dance like that", Twilight commented.
"Leave it to Rarity to dance her way to victory", Sunset answered, which got a snicker out of her purple friend.
"Hey, Fluttershy hasn't lost yet."
"Now get in close and use Leaf Blade." Leavanny's movements again looked more like ballet as it danced its way around Goodra. Every attempt at blocking was expertly dodged.
"This is not good. I hope Goodra's ability can help. But I need a way to stop it from moving for good. I have an idea."
"Now X-Scissor." Leavanny got behind Goodra, but as it turned around to face its attacker, it was gone. They noticed too late that the bug jumped and was now over the dragon, delivering the attack to its neck as it dropped down.
Having finished its combo, Leavanny retreated, but something was wrong. It slipped and slid over the field and could barely stand on its legs.
"What happened? What did you do?", Rarity shouted across the field.
"That's Goodra's ability, Gooey. When it gets hit by a physical move, the attacker loses speed. But, I think its effect is a bit more literal in here.
Fluttershy was right. Leavanny was covered in slimy goo from top to bottom. "Get it off, Leavanny." Rarity commanded desperately.
"This should give me enough time to stop it from moving for good. Ice Beam."
Instead of targeting its opponent, Goodra shot the icy beam at the ground, covering it in a cold, slippery layer. Only around itself did it leave a small circle un-iced.
Just as Leavanny finished cleaning herself, the ice reached it. The Grass-type managed to jump and avoid being frozen in place, but that didn't help the fact that it lost all grip under its feet. Slipping one way and the other, it was at the complete mercy of Goodra's next attack.
"Now, finish it with Ice Beam." Unable to dance away, the freezing-cold energy hit her head-on.
"Leavanny is unable to battle. Goodra wins this match."
"See? I told you that Fluttershy can stand up for herself", Rainbow exclamed, the grin on her face rivaled Pinkies.
"THAT WAS AMAZING!"
"And pretty smart too. A Pokémon that doesn't have to move much like Goodra is at a great advantage on an icy terrain."
"You're not gonna start panicking?", Twilight asked half-jokingly, half-mockingly. "Given up on your free suit already?"
"Not really. I'll admit that it was a clever idea, but she has no idea that she just cornered herself."
"What's that supposed to mean?" The posh way he talked ticked Twilight off quite a bit. Unlike the way Rarity talked, it just sounded so condescending to her.
"She probably expected her last Pokémon to definitely be Gardevoir, but she doesn't know that she has a new favourite. One that couldn't be more perfectly suited for this situation."
"Ninetales, Spotlight!"
Rarity threw the balls high into the air and as it opened, an enormous cloud of powder snow descended onto the battlefield and from it emerged a fox, as white as snow freshly fallen from the heavens. It's nine tails shimmered in the light.
Upon entering, clouds began to form and from them fell frozen drops of water. It hailed.
"Okay, that's actually a problem."
"I'm so excited to see how Fluttershy will respond", Twilight exclaimed while taking notes on an imaginary note pad. Whether or not she realized this remains unanswered. "Watching two amateurs adapt is more interesting than I thought."
"Fluttershy is NOT an amateur", Rainbow corrected her, to which Twilight quickly apologized. "Come on, Fluttershy. Kick her prissy butt!", she shouted into the arena.
"Come back, Goodra." Fluttershy decided to switch her Pokémon out. "I'm counting on you, Snorlax."
"Interesting choice", Twilight said.
"Why?", Rainbow asked. Silver took the liberty of explaining.
"While it's Dragon type would give it the complete disadvantage, Goodra is still able to stay at a distance, whereas I assume Snorlax would have to get close or wait for its opponent to come close to really attack. The interesting part is that Ninetales will also stay at a distance, but Snorlax won't be able to get close due to the ice."
"He hit the nail on the head", Twilight admitted reluctantly. "Fluttershy must have some sort of plan."
"Let's see what I can do." Rarity pulled a small card out of her pocket and looked over Ninetale's attacks. "Dazzling Gleam."
Ninetales emitted a brilliant light and shimmering spears of rainbow-colored light dropped down from the heavens.
Snorlax took them like a champ, just like Fluttershy expected.
"How about you Rest up a bit, sweetie?" Upon hearing this, Snorlax belly flopped onto the fighting stage.
The audience had one collective thought in their minds. "Why is Fluttershy using Rest already?" Until their eardrums were practically shattered by the sound that came from the fat fighter.
"SNORLAX IS USING SNORE."
"I THINK MY EARS ARE BLEEDING."
"I CAN'T BELIEVE I'M SAYING THIS, BUT I REALLY HOPE RARITY WILL SHUT IT DOWN."
But they weren't the only one that were getting affected. Ninetales was cowering on the ground and covering its ears. Rarity wasn't fairing much better. The soundwaves were messing up her hair.
"This is horrible", she lamented as she tried to contain the damage.
"SERIOUSLY, SHE'S WORRIED ABOUT HER STUPID HAIR?", Silver screamed over the noise.
"WHAT DID YOU SAY ABOUT MY HAIR?" The thought of her hearing his insult over the snoring was absolutely ridiculous, though it gave the boy an idea. The others would have tried to stop him if they weren't rolling on the ground in agony.
"I'M SORRY", he yelled through the pain in his ears. "I SAID IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE GAVE YOU A SWIRLY IN MULBERRY JUICE!" His verbal attack made Rarity furious.
"Just wait until I'm done with you. Aurora Veil, Ninetales. And then Dazzling Gleam."
Ninetales created a bubble of light around itself, partially shielding itself from attacks as long as it continued to hail and performed the attack from before.
"Not quite enough, huh? Ice Beam."
Rarity was more determined than ever to win. Fluttershy was in trouble.
"I don't know if Snorlax can hold out until it wakes up and can Rest again. And Rarity will soon think of something. I need a new strategy. First, I have to get rid of the ice. Once Snorlax wakes up, I'm going on the offensive. I'm not going to lose.
Despite her pain-contorted face, Rainbow was able to see Fluttershy's face. The sight was something that surprised her more than Twilight's saying she was a pony princess.
The expression on Fluttershy's face was one of pure determination. The usual soft smile and eyes glistening with compassion were replaced by a scowl. And, eventually, a smile.
"I think it's time, Snorlax." She said as she put a bracelet on her arm. Attached to it was a white, diamond-shaped crystal. As she began to strike her pose, strands of energy connected her and her Pokémon. This energy filled Snorlax enough for it to wake up and do a front flip.
"PULVERIZING PANCAKE!"
The frozen ground didn't even faze to the gargantuan gobbler. The weight behind its steps caused the ground to crack as it hauled its ass over to Ninetales. With its final step, it jumped about 15 feet in the air, only to come down with literally ground-shaking force.
"Dodge it, Ninetales." The fox tried its best to get out of the impact radius, but was inevitably blown away.
The impact whirled up dust and fog from the shattered ice, so it was difficult to see.
As Ninetales got onto its paws again, it didn't know where to look. It didn't know from where it was sent flying or where its opponent could come from. This reflected Rarity's own state of mind.
Until the sound of fast approaching, heavy footsteps returned. Ninetales was just able to turn around and see the bear-like creature, but couldn't do anything to stop it from ramming it.
"Heavy Slam!" The Steel-type move hit Ninetales head on and had it not activated its Aurora Veil, this would surely have been the end.
Snorlax's Z-Move caused the ice to break. Even if the attack didn't directly hit its opponent, Snorlax was at least able to move freely now.
The hail still falling from the sky told the contestants that the fight had not been decided.
"Well, that was quite unexpected", Rarity said out of breath. The mental strain started to take its toll on her. "But if you're using your secret weapon, so will I." Rarity put on the same bracelet Fluttershy was wearing before, but the crystal was an icy blue.
She performed the dance to charge up her Ninetales. When she was finished, a huge pillar of ice shot up from the ground and Ninetales fired a super-powered ice beam at Snorlax, encasing it in a huge block of ice only to shatter right afterward.
The shockwave of the attack almost blew Fluttershy off her feet. She started to feel tired too.
"Rest, Snorlax!", she commanded weakly. Like before, Snorlax slumped to the ground. But something was different. It wasn't sleeping. It was unconscious.
"Snorlax is unable to battle. Ninetales wins."
It all rested on the backs of two worn out Pokémon now.
"Goodra, hold on just a little longer."
Goodra was still exhausted from Leavanny's onslaught before. With its typing, the hail, and Aurora Veil, it was more than clear who held the advantage.
"Okay, let's finish this quickly. Ninetales, Dazzling Gleam."
The frozen particles in the air reflected and broke the light even more.
"Bide!" Fluttershy decided to place it all on one card. She was to wait until the right moment.
"That won't help you. I'll defeat your slug before it can do anything." Rarity was confident that Ninetales could bring Goodradown before it gathered enough energy to be a threat. "Ice Beam!"
Goodra took the beam with all its remaining strength, but the attack's extra effect froze Goodra in place, starting with its feet and slowly making its way up its slimey body. Fluttershy felt an icy chill crawl up her body.
Fluttershy thought to herself "I know what they're thinking. I know what my friends are thinking up there. They're thinking 'That's it for Fluttershy. She never stood a chance anyways. She could never hold her own.' And they're not wrong to believe that. I'm weak. I have always been. But those times are over. The times of weak and timid Fluttershy are over."
"Come on, Goodra. I know you can do it. I know you can win", she almost yelled to cheer her Pokémon on. The ice has already reached its long neck. But was it really her Dragon she wanted to endure?
"Come on, Ninetales. We're almost done."
"Just a little longer!", both of them screamed simultaneously.
Just as they finished the sentence, the sky started to clear. The hail had stopped and with it the Aurora Veil.
"Now's our chance, Goodra. Release."
Even though the ice had almost completely frozen the Dragon, it could still respond to its masters command. The beam before was nothing compared to this one. The concentrated white flash was as big as half of the arena and had more than enough force to knock Ninetales out.
"Oh that's just great!", Rarity exclaimed as she was engulfed by the flash.
"Ninetales is unable to battle. Goodra is the winner and that means Flutterhy is the winner of this here match."
"That was AWESOME Flutters." Rainbow Dash, who could not contain her excitement, jumped down into the arena and gave Fluttershy the tightest hug she had ever given anyone. Pinkie, just as excited, hug-tackled both of them, knocking them off their feet.
Fluttershy herself would have rather checked to see if Rarity was okay, but her friend had already set her sights on a different target.
"It seems we underestimated Fluttershy quite a bit, huh Twilight?", Sunset commented.
"It seems so. You did a good job of instructing her, Silver", Twilight begrudgingly admitted. But he was too nervous to actually pay attention.
His gaze laid on Rarity who was slowly approaching the stands. Her steps were long and heavy, an aura of dread surrounded her.
"What", she started, almost whispering, "did you say ABOUT MY HAIR?"
She started running and actually climbed up the wall. Finally breaking out of his fear-induced paralysis, he turned on his heels and started running like all hell broke loose, Rarity following close behind.
"Does personal fitness translate into the mind scape, Sunset?" The question popped into Twilight's mind.
"Yeah, why?" Sunset got herself an imaginary bag of chips as they calmly observed the chase.
"He might be even faster than Rainbow Dash."
"I'm not surprised." Sunset offered Twilight some of her snacks. "Never underestimate the power of fear steroids."
"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY STARS HAVE MIMICKED MY HAIRSTYLE?"
First Round - Third Match
Winner: FLUTTERSHY
Stats
Page generated in 0.015 seconds
Total duration
757 users online
1,165,119 hits today, 2,151,698 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Seeing the release date of the chapter I was wondering why I didn't receive any notification, but seeing now there isn't any comment, you release it with the next, right?
Anyway, very tight match, I was expecting a draw, but Fluttershy just had more will in the end.
Mistakes found:
Rarity could have learned everything she needed to know
energy
*missing space*
was
I have to get rid of the ice.
the
*missing space*
the
*missing space*
*missing space*
*missing space*
8628174
Probably because I accidentally published it twice before it was finished. One of the downsides of writing on my phone is that I sometimes hit tge wrong button.
8628213
Rarity is Coo-Coo for Coco Puffs near the end of this chapter.