The first round of the Equestria League begins with the top 16 trainers that passed the preliminaries. The final battle of the first round pits Flash against Trixie, and while everyone is expecting a win from the new hero of Equestria, Trixie is determined not to go down without a fight, and has a special scheme ready that's sure to take Flash by surprise.
- Attack Reflector: Trixie has her Slowking use Psychic to change the trajectory of Dragon Pulse and send it right back at Astro, striking him and knocking him out of the sky. Later in the match, Trixie does a similar trick when she has her Hatterene uses Psychic to curve a Flamethrower attack from Viper and throw it back at the snake.
- Badass Boast: Trixie gives one in the last battle when her Sagic uses Double Team and Prongs struggles to hit the right one.Trixie: Step right up, step right up. Pick the right Sagic and win a prize! Pick the wrong one and get pulverized!
- Battle Amongst the Flames: Flash invokes this by having Viper set the entire Forest Field on fire. This gives Viper the Home Field Advantage and helps deal with Hatterene's increased speed, since she gets hurt by the flames if she gets too close to them. The fire dies down at the end of the battle, when both Pokémon are knocked out.
- Bound and Gagged: This happens to Astro during his battle with Hatterene. With her speed vastly increased thanks to Trick Room, Hatterene manages to get behind Astro and uses her hair to wrap around his body and restrain him and clamp his mouth shut to stop him from fighting back, leaving him defenseless. She releases him after he is knocked out by her Draining Kiss and she gently lays him on the ground.
- Calling the Old Man Out: When Trixie talks to her father over the phone, and he tells her she should probably just forfeit her match against Flash to save herself the "humiliation" of losing to him, Trixie makes it clear she no longer cares about his opinion of her. When she left home to begin her journey he had no faith in her, and she proved him wrong by making it to the Top 16 of the Equestria League. She tells him regardless of the outcome of her match she already knows she is great, and hangs up on him before he can respond.
- Cradling Your Kill: Downplayed and non-lethal example. Hatterene restrains Astro in her hair, leaving him Bound and Gagged, and drains him of his energy via a Draining Kiss to the head. Once Astro is knocked out, Hatterene gently lowers his limp body to the ground before unwrapping him, instead of immediately releasing him and letting him crash to the ground.
- Crazy-Prepared: After Viper sets the entire Forest Field on fire during his battle with Hatterene, Present Mic quickly calms the audience by announcing they have measures in place to makes sure the fire doesn't spread past the battlefield.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Astro ultimately ends up fighting a losing battle against Hatterene, since she has her speed massively increased thanks to Trick Room, she has a double type advantage against him, and he had taken damage previously in his battle with Slowking. But despite that he still manages to put up a good fight, landing a lucky Shadow Ball on her, and biting her on the waist before tossing her into the air. Unfortunately, any damage he manages to inflict on her is undone when she uses Draining Kiss on him to restore herself to full health.
- Do Not Go Gentle: Trixie is aware the odds are going to be against her in her battle with Flash, and that she will most likely lose to him. But she is determined to make Flash work for his win regardless, and manages to successfully come up with a strategy that successfully gives him a run for his money and reduces him to just one Pokémon. Though after he destroys her Trick Room she realizes it is only a matter of time before his faster and stronger Prongs defeats her Sagic, she resolves not to give up and keep going until then. Ultimately, Flash wins the match, but Trixie is cheered on by the audience the same as him for her amazing performance.
- Double Knockout: The battle between Viper and Hatterene ends in a draw.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Astro is referred to as Flash's best weapon he has against Trixie, since he is part Dark-Type and would therefore have a massive advantage against Trixie's team of primary Psychic-Types. However, Astro only manages to defeat one of Trixie's Pokémon, her Slowking, before being defeated by her Hatterene.
- Dying Curse: Played With during Slowking and Astro's battle. Right before Astro manages to defeat Slowking, Trixie orders Slowking to use Trick Room, setting up her main strategy against Flash. Slowking ends up being knocked out with Dragon Claw immediately afterwards, but Trick Room remains in effect for most of the remaining match and quickly proves to be a major problem for Flash.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: This chapter bring's Trixie's arc to a close. Despite losing the battle to Flash, she is proud of her performance and is praised by the entire crowd for her efforts. Her teacher, Professor Luna, also invites her to join her on her research trips until she figures out what she wants to do next, claiming she will need a "strong trainer" to help her whenever she gets into trouble.
- Forceful Kiss: Hatterene uses Draining Kiss several times. Usually while her opponent is restrained or otherwise can't resist her planting her lips on them.
- While she has Astro completely restrained and defenseless in her hair, she turns him around and plants a kiss on his head, with him only able to groan though his clamped mouth as she drains him of his energy until he is knocked out and goes limp in her grasp.
- Though her first attempt to plant a kiss on Viper after he is disoriented by her Psycho Cut fails when he manages to slither out of the way of her approaching lips, she later manages to steal a kiss from him twice during their battle. First, when he uses Poison Fang to bite her on her knee-area, she quickly leans down and kisses him before he can pull away. Later, she uses her hair to grab him and pull him into another kiss, until he fires a point-blank Flamethrower in her face, forcing her to release him.
- Flash Step: Thanks to Trick Room, Hatterene becomes so fast that she can perform several of these. When she first does it, it is mistaken for Teleport at first.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Downplayed with Flash. Some of his orders during the match end up backfiring, but they don't cost any of his Pokémon their battles, and he still ultimately wins the match against Trixie.
- While Viper is battling against Hatterene, when the latter suffers from burn status, Flash orders Viper to use the super effective move Poison Fang against her, and he bites her on the knee-area. But while Viper is biting Hatterene, he is close enough for her to use Draining Kiss on him, with her quickly leaning down and stealing a peck from him before he can pull away.
- Flash has Viper set the whole forest field on fire to gain an advantage against Hatterene. But once their battle ends in a draw and the flames on the field die down, Flash and Trixie are left with one Pokémon each, with Flash's being Prongs and noting it might have been better for Prongs if he fought while the forest was still up.
- Home Field Advantage:
- Flash has Viper set the entire Forest Field on fire to give Viper the advantage against Hatterene, since Viper himself is immune to the flames and Hatterene will need to slow down to avoid falling debris from the flames and gets singed by the flames if she gets too close.
- Zig-zagged with Prongs. After the fire has died down, leaving the battlefield mostly just burnt remains, Flash notes it probably would have been better to have Prongs battle while the forest was still up. But he is confident that Prongs can handle Sagic regardless, since he is still "Prince of the Forest", regardless of whatever condition the forest is in. Prongs still ends up winning the battle anyway.
- Hope Spot: During Astro's battle with Hatterene, he ends up restrained in her hair when she gets behind him and is unable to move. He tries to free himself by firing a Shadow Ball behind him at her, only for her hair to quickly clamp his mouth shut too, leaving him helpless against her.
- Killer Bear Hug: Viper manages to wrap himself around Hatterene and squeezes her tightly, before she manages to free herself by using Psychic to throw him off her. Later, after dodging her first attempt to plant a Draining Kiss on him, he manages to tightly constrict her again, this time setting her ablaze with Pyro Coil and leaving her with a burn status.
- Kiss Diss: During the battle between Viper and Hatterene, Viper becomes disoriented from a Psycho Cut attack, and Trixie orders Hatterene to use Draining Kiss on Viper. Hatterene puckers up and flies down, ready to plant her lips on Viper. But just as she gets within kissing range of him, his eyes shoot open and he manages to slither out of the way of her approaching lips, dodging her attempted kiss.
- Kiss of Death: Trixie's Hatterene uses Draining Kiss to drain the energy of Astro and Viper. This is played straight with Astro, who is defeated after receiving just a single kiss, but more downplayed with Viper, who manages to keep fighting even after being kissed by Hatterene twice, and ultimately manages to end the battle with a draw.
- Life Drain: Hatterene uses Draining Kiss to drain energy from Astro and Viper and heal herself. Luna even notes that her Draining Kiss most likely healed whatever little damage Astro managed to inflict on her, putting her back to full health.
- Luminescent Blush: Hatterene's Draining Kiss causes something to this effect, with both Astro and Viper's bodies glowing red after they are kissed by Hatterene right before a yellow ball of energy flies out of them and into her.
- No Range Like Point-Blank Range: When Hatterene grabs Viper in her hair and kisses him, Viper manages to fight through the pain of having his energy drained and pulls his head up to directly face Hatterene before firing a point-blank Flamethrower in her face, forcing her to release him.
- Not Quite Flight: When Astro drops Slowking from way up from the roof of the canopy, Trixie has Slowking use Psychic on some thick tree branches as it falls and have them come to it, making it seem like it is surfing in the air and allowing it to battle Astro in the air.Mic: Wow! Hang ten dudes!
Luna: Ha! Looks like you don't need wings to fly after all. - Prehensile Hair: Trixie's Hatterene of course has this. She uses her long hair throughout the battle to attack or grab her opponents. This includes her swinging her hair lock around to fire Psycho Cuts, slapping Astro and Viper with her hair when they bite her, using her hair strands to restrain Astro and clamp his mouth shut before turning him around and kissing him, and using her hair to grab Viper and pull him into a second kiss.
- Serious Business: Lightning Blitz acts disgusted when Flash claims he is going to have fun in the League, proclaiming that the Equestria League is a "serious tournament" for "serious trainers" and that it isn't supposed to be fun. Flash counters by asking what's the point in doing something if you don't have fun doing it, with Lightning just calling him "pathetic" in response.
- Spin Attack: Astro uses Crunch to bite down on Hatterene's waist, and as she tries to free herself by swatting him with her hair, he keeps holding on and eventually flies into the hair with her, spinning around in an attempt to make her dizzy before releasing her and sending her flying. She continues to spin around for a moment when released before quickly stopping herself.
- Tears of Joy: Trixie cries these when she is cheered on by the crowd despite her loss, because of the amazing performance she gave during the battle.
- Took a Level in Badass: Trixie reveals her Hattrem evolved into a Hatterene off-screen.
- The Unreveal: When Flash and Twilight are discussing what team he should use against Trixie, Twilight says she should most likely have a full team of six Pokémon, but they have only ever seen her use four in the past, meaning it is possible she could use something completely unexpected against Flash. Instead, Trixie ends up using her three most commonly used Pokémon, leaving her last two a mystery.
- Unspoken Plan Guarantee: Enforced by Luna. When she and Trixie are talking together and Trixie suddenly comes up with a strategy to use against Flash, Luna stops her from sharing it with her, saying she doesn't want the surprise ruined for her. Though Trixie's strategy fails to win her the match, it does succeed in catching Flash by surprise and helps her put up a good fight against him, which was what she really wanted.
- Worthy Opponent: Flash thanks Trixie for a great battle and shakes hands with her, clearly having had a fun time. The whole crowd also gives both of them a round of applause, with everyone chanting Trixie's name for her performance despite her loss due to giving him a run for his money through the whole battle.
