Much as Matthew had predicted, the Rhyhorn smashed it's way through the scenery, rampaging through boulder after boulder, searching for Hope. He glanced up at his opponent who was staring at his Pokemon intently, grinning as it smashed its way through the rocky terrain. He was headstrong, not really concentrating on what Matthew was doing, much more concerned with the destruction his Pokemon was leaving in its wake. This was the perfect situation for Matthew, who was much more level headed than he would normally be. Part of him understood that he needed to go through this knuckle-head in order to beat Brock and be on his way to seeing Emily again, but there was also a part of him that wanted to thrash this guy in order to impress Rose. He looked over to her in the spectator area and grinned, she seemed as excited about this battle as he was. He would repay that excitement with his first victory against an opposing Pokemon Trainer.

Matthew took a deep breath, adjusted his glasses and focused on the battle at hand. So far, the Rhyhorn had leveled a couple of the boulders, luckily its aim was way off as Hope hopped from boulder to boulder, using meditate on Matthew's command. As Hope dodged from rock to rock, he could feel the frustration oozing off his opponent, which just made Matthew's grin wider. Normally, he was the one getting hot-headed under pressure, but today was different. Matthew had been through too much today and needed to prove to himself that he could do this. Never before in his life had he been this calm in the face of adversity. If this had been any other day, Matthew had no doubt that he would have commanded Hope to dive straight in with a force palm attack and have lost the fight to Rhyhorn's brute strength.

"Rhyorn!" Oliver suddenly shouted "Eight O'clock!" Matthew was torn from his thoughts as the opposing Rhyhorn reeled around after its latest strike, turning to face the boulder Hope was standing behind. Given the lack of remaining terrain after Rhyhorn's spree, Matthew figured there would no more chances for Hope to dodge around. This was going to be the last charge, one way or another. 
"Get ready Hope." Matthew shouted as Rhyhorn pawed the ground, lowering it's horn ready to charge. It was up to Matthew now he had to time this just right, giving Hope enough time to strike while staying out of the way of the Rhyhorn's attack herself. Whichever Pokemon landed its attack was sure to be the victor.

The Rhyhorn began to trample towards the boulder, in that moment Matthew could have sworn that time slowed. He watched as the Pokemon stampeded towards Hope, he was practically able to count the footsteps.
"Now Hope!" Matthew yelled "Step to your right and use force palm!" His Pokemon didn't even hesitate, she spun to her right and thrust out her fist, just as the Rhyhorn burst through where she had just been standing. There was a small burst of energy, a ripple in the air strong enough to make Matthew hold onto his glasses as Hope's attack connected with the pokemon. The Rhyhorn spun out of control and crashed into a nearby empty chair. After a moments pause, Brendan stuck his hand out, pointing to Matthew
"Rhyhorn is unable to battle. Matthew and Hope win!"

Matthew couldn't hold in his excitement, literally leaping off the ground, whooping with joy.
"We did it Hope! We get to battle the gym leader! We're going to become champions!"
"You're getting ahead of yourself kid," Oliver grumbled, returning his Rhyhorn to its pokeball "But it was a good match, your Pokemon is tough."
"Damn right she is!" Matthew grinned, running over ans scooping up Hope in his arms "Your Rhyhorn is super strong too!" He shook Oliver's hand and dashed back over to the edge of the arena, to where Rose was standing.
"Did you see that?" The smile plastered on his face could not be larger, as he set a triumphant looking Hope down on the concrete beside the arena "I mean, I knew Hope was strong, but we took out that Rhyhorn in a single attack! It was amazing!"

Matthew probably would have rambled on about his victory for another ten minutes, but he was fortunately interrupted by Brandon.
"Our next challenger is Rose, could she please take the field." Matthew shrugged, and beamed at her.
"Go on! You're going to kick ass out there!" He cheered "Good luck!"