After the second round of the League ends with Flash taking a win over Heath Burns, the matches for the semi-finals are announced. First it is Rainbow Dash vs Lightning Blitz, followed by Flash Sentry vs Applejack! After a day of preparation, Rainbow begins her battle against Lightning.
Tropes:
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: Tank pats Rainbow on the head to get her to calm down before her battle with Lightning.
- Beyond Redemption: Grand seeing Lightning put his Pokémon through Training from Hell is the last straw for him, and he tells Lightning he realizes he can't change him and that he is done torturing himself by reaching out to help him. He basically says he is disowning Lightning until he decides to change on his own and put the past behind him.
- Boring, but Practical: Lightning's strategy of swapping out his current Pokémon for one with an advantage against whichever one Rainbow uses is described as "a normal and very good strategy" by Cloud Clipper.
- Call-Back: Cloud Clipper repeats the steps to winning battles that Flash said she shared with him growing up: "Make a plan. Execute the plan. Expect the plan to go wrong. Throw away the plan."
- Combat Pragmatist: Lightning constantly swaps out his Pokémon during the battle, especially when Rainbow manages to gain an advantage against his current one. Cloud Clipper admits it is a good strategy though.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: The first half of the battle between Rainbow and Lightning is one, with Lightning defeating Rainbow's first three Pokémon without losing any himself. Every time it seems like Rainbow is gaining the advantage Lightning recalls his Pokémon to send out one that has a better type advantage.
- Hidden Depths: Present Mic apparently has some skill as a sculptor, since he claims he made the statues that were on the battlefield during Flash and Heath's match. Though he claims they are not his best work.
- Off Screen Moment Of Awesome: Most of the battle between Flash and Heath is not shown, with only the final part with Astro and Riptide defeating Blazegon seen. But, apparently Skyler was knocked out earlier in the battle and Riptide was the one to defeat both of Heath's other Pokémon as well, Magmortar and Darmanitan.
- Poor, Predictable Rock: Rainbow runs into the problem of having an entire team that only uses one type of Pokémon. Lightning knows what type of Pokémon to expect from her and can constantly swap out his Pokémon for one that has a better advantage.
- The Unreveal: Despite the previous chapter ending showing the eight trainers that advanced to the second round, most of the matchups are left a mystery here, since the chapter begins skipping to the climax of Flash and Heath's battle. It is revealed that Applejack, Rainbow, and Lightning won their matches and advanced while Sugarcoat, Indigo, and Micro lost, but it isn't clarified who beat whom.
- You Remind Me of X: Cloud Clipper says Rainbow reminds her of herself when she was her age, which was the same thing she thought of Spitfire when she first made her her apprentice.
