Yo! Not a ton to say this week, so let's get into it!


Chapter 21


The contest arrived, and Bianca was… conflicted.

It didn't feel like she should've been, of course. The only thing she had to be conflicted about was a silly little comment from someone she'd met for five minutes, and whom then had exited her life.

Funny how such a thing affected her so.

"Run me through your routine one more time." Cynthia's voice broke her out of her own thoughts, which was probably her intention.

"I'm going to use Wallace's routine with Milotic first. I've already used it before in my first contest, but it's a solid routine, and I'm confident it will get me out of the first round with a decent placing."

Cynthia hummed out in acknowledgement, and then kneeled down beside her.

"Bianca, are you okay?"

"I'm fine." She brushed Cynthia off, not really wanting to talk about something so asinine. "I've practiced with Milotic for the past twelve hours. We have the routine down to a science. Now… now it's just about performing."

Cynthia obviously noticed her brusque change in topic, but chose not to call her on it, which Bianca was thankful for.

"Alright. I'm going to head into the crowd and find a spot," She placed her hand upon Bianca's shoulder, smiled down at her, and then said, "Good luck. I know you can do it."

Bianca mustered up a smile at that, and it was genuine, even if there was a touch of something less so within it.

And then, it was just her.

Of course, it wasn't really. She was in the preparation room, where nearly a hundred other contestants were applying make-up, donning outfits, and getting any last-minute preparations in that they might need.

She was surrounded by some of the best in the world. Not, crucially, the best, given that most of them had no need to attend a competition such as this one.

Most of the perennial favorites to win the Grand Festival, like Wallace, received seeds come the end of the year simply because of placing in prior Grand Festivals, which explained his absence from this event, but most would count on placing highly in a quarterly event such as this in order to make it to such a prestigious stage.

She wasn't competing against the very best, but she certainly had her work cut out for her.

"Ladies and Gentleman," She heard the announcer's voice, muffled though it was through the walls and floors surrounding them, booming out, and the audience's raucous cheering in response, "Welcome to Petalburg City's Quarterly Festival!"

Bianca swallowed down her nerves, forcing herself to stay in the moment, to not think of anything more complicated than her exact routine, how she was going to accomplish it. It was odd how much easier it was to accomplish during a contest than it was when she was preparing for a gym battle.

An attendant entered the dressing room, and called out, "You're all going on stage for the initial segment. Two minutes to showtime. Last minute prep, and then let's go!"

Bianca was one of the first up, having finished her own preparations minutes ago, but there were a few people who seemed to be growing rather panicked, making final choices on accessories, or lip gloss. Finally, the two minutes were up, the attendant gave them the signal, and the stragglers joined them on the stage that would soon raise up out of the ground into the middle of the Petalburg contest hall.

Bianca swallowed on the nerves hanging at the back of her throat, took a breath, and focused.

"And now, please join me in welcoming today's coordinators!"

The platform above them opened up, and the stage began to rise. Already, the cheers were deafening, and they only grew louder the higher they climbed, until they reached a fever pitch, and Bianca was half-tempted to reach up and cover her ears as the stage briefly jittered before locking into place.

All around them was a crowd of easily a few thousand people. Bianca had heard the stadium could seat above ten thousand, but she didn't know whether or not the event had been sold out. From a cursory glance, however, it certainly seemed to be. She couldn't spot a single empty seat with a quick skim, although she was sure there had to be a few.

The next several minutes passed by in a blur for Bianca. After their initial showings, lots were drawn for when the competitors would actually be going on stage. Bianca drew around the middle of the program, which meant she was likely going to be waiting for two or so hours before she even got to go up and perform.

It wasn't the worst of fates – she could've drawn last, and been stuck within the building for four or five hours while the others went up and performed – but it wasn't the best either.

The structure of the event meant that while the group who'd showed up today would be performing for all of today, there would be another group tomorrow, and the next day. From those three groups, around a third of each would move onto the next round, then a sixth or so of that group to the next, and the winner would be decided from that remaining group of around sixteen or so competitors.

Bianca swallowed nervously as she plopped back down inside of the dressing room. The longer she had to wait, the more she could get in her own head.

And that was not something she needed right now.

Only… she felt her Rotom phone vibrate within her pocket, and her eyes widened, even as she reached down and drew it out.

'Doing alright?' The message from Cynthia read.

She smiled.

'Yeah. Doing fine.'

'Good. I would advise doing anything to take your mind off of your own performance, even if that is simply browsing the web.'

She was probably right, all things considered. Bianca chuckled under her breath, sent back an 'Okay' message, and then did just that.

There wasn't much happening in the world at the moment. Things were relatively peaceful, which was odd, since there was usually some group trying to summon some legendary Pokémon for their own aims that had to be stopped.

It was almost ominous that that hadn't happened.

Well, whatever. Bianca shrugged, and then began to browse around for other things, reading some of the articles in 'Trainers Monthly', and just in general keeping herself occupied.

It was not for thirty or so minutes that Bianca received another message, and though she was expecting Cynthia, her eyes widened as she saw who the actual sender was.

'Hello, Bianca.' The message from Professor Juniper wrote. 'We're all watching here at the lab, and seeing as how you're not up for another hour and a half or so, I figured I might see if you were able to receive messages. If you're only reading this a few hours from now, then feel free to ignore it.'

Almost immediately, Bianca texted back.

'It's good to hear from you! What do you mean that everyone at the lab is watching?'

Professor Juniper's response comes just around a minute later.

'I decided to give everyone at the office the day off so that we could watch you compete! Everyone would've just been watching on their phones anyways if I hadn't, so it's not as if we'd have gotten any work done regardless.'

Bianca chuckled under her breath, even as she felt her eyes welling up.

She spoke with the professor for an easy hour, discussing nothing of terrible import, but… that was fine. It was all she really needed just to take her mind off of things for a little while. To keep herself out of her own head.

Professor Juniper gave her that.

It was all she could ask for and more.

"Contestant fifty-three!"

Bianca took a breath, then. She was contestant number fifty-four, which meant that in just two or three minutes, she would be taking the stage for her routine.

'I'm going to be on in just a moment,' She sent to the professor. 'Thank you for helping me combat my nerves, Professor. I hope I can make you proud.'

'You already have.'

"Contestant fifty-four!"

The minutes had gone by so quickly. Bianca took a breath, stood from her place, and began making her way towards the doorway that would lead her up onto the stage.

All around her, the other coordinators here for today's competition wished her luck, or gave her little bits of advice. Take deep breaths. Stay focused. Don't forget the fundamentals.

It was all solid, and Bianca internalized as much of it as she could.

She moved up the stairs, passing by the woman who'd just performed. She had a smile on her face as she nodded towards Bianca, and then passed her to enter into the dressing room behind them.

And it was time.

Time for Bianca to perform.

/

'You did so well!' The message on Bianca's phone read as she brought it out, having just finished her and Milotic's routine. 'Everyone in the office was flabbergasted!'

She chuckled under her breath, unable to quite hide the proud warmth within her chest at that.

'Tell them all that I'm glad they enjoyed it.'

'You're a shoe-in for the next rounds! The judges awarded you twenty-six points out of thirty, right?'

They had. Not the best score of the day – there'd been two perfect thirties already – but anything above a twenty-two was generally considered enough to advance from the first round, and Bianca had passed that quite comfortably. Her routine had gone off, generally, without a hitch, albeit she'd fumbled her landing at the end just a bit, which had resulted in a drop in points. What should have probably been a twenty-eight or twenty-nine had been docked appropriately.

But worrying about such was pointless now. She'd done her routine, and she'd done well enough. The other coordinators surrounding her each gave her little words of encouragement as she reentered the dressing room, and now, she was just waiting for the latter half of the day's events to finish.

Then again, she didn't technically need to stay now that she herself had finished her routine. The results for the day, including who would be advancing to the next round, were going to be posted online, and so Bianca had no real need to stay.

So… she didn't. She packed her things, bid farewell to the few other coordinators she'd been occasionally chatting with throughout the event, and headed out into the lobby. Once there, she messaged Cynthia, and let her know she was out.

"Nicely done." Cynthia spoke as she too joined her in the lobby. "You performed admirably."

"Slipped up a bit on the landing, but other than that, it was good."

Cynthia chuckled. "Just like you to worry about the small imperfections."

"Well… it could've been a much better performance."

Cynthia seemed surprised by her words, then, which Bianca didn't necessarily understand. Before she could question such, however, Cynthia was smiling, and gesturing for the both of them to head out of the venue.

From there, they went and got lunch, given that Bianca had only been eating cheese, crackers, and the occasional oran berry from the small snack table available to competitors inside of the dressing room, which was not at all a meal.

As they sat down, they discussed Bianca's performance briefly, before moving on to more important matters.

"So," Cynthia spoke, "How do you feel about the Festival in general?"

That… Bianca wasn't really sure she understood the question, and she said as much.

"What are your plans on a broader scope regarding contests?"

Bianca paused, and absorbed the question, really thought about it.

It wasn't something she'd fully considered before. There was a part of her, no matter how small, that had latched onto what that girl who'd asked for her autograph earlier had said.

That she had a talent for contests.

The word irked her in some indescribable way. The very thought also had her feeling uncertain, confused, in a way she hadn't in her entire life.

And it wasn't fun.

"I don't know. I guess I just figured I'd participate to have fun, and then challenge Norman for the gym badge at some point. Then, we head towards our next destination, right?"

"That's as fair a plan as any other, but…" It was Cynthia's turn to hesitate, a rather rare thing, before clearing her throat, locking eyes with Bianca, and saying, "The Grand Festival at the end of the year; it coincides almost one to one with when the World Championships are going to be held."

Bianca's eyes widened. "That… What are you…?"

"Is this something you see yourself wanting to pursue over the World Championships, Bianca?"

It was such a sudden, powerful question that briefly, Bianca found herself incapable of speech. She sat still as a board, and just… thought.

What… why would…

The more she considered it, the more sense what Cynthia was asking started to make. Recently, she'd been going out of her way to go to and compete in more and more contests. She'd stopped their journey on occasion so that she could attend them, and even come to Petalburg almost exclusively so that she could compete in the Festival.

Norman, the gym leader here, had simply been a convenient afterthought.

A hand on her own had her breaking out of her head, and she looked up to see an expression of concern upon Cynthia's features.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to panic you. I simply wanted to know if you'd had a change in priorities."

"That… no. I haven't." She spoke, and it felt like the truth… didn't it? "I… That's a good idea, actually. We can go to Petalburg gym once we're finished eating!"

Cynthia's expression showed doubt, but she nodded her head as she reached down and took a bite out of the pizza they were sharing.

"Right. Well, I suppose we'll do just that."

They spent the rest of dinner in silence.

/

The trip to Petalburg gym was awkward, but… less so. That was mainly due to Cynthia making an effort to initiate conversation, and Bianca, no matter how off she was feeling, wanting to talk to her.

Cynthia had, after all, rather rapidly become her closest friend in the world, perhaps with the exception of Professor Juniper. But given she'd not seen the latter in months, and had only just talked with her again today via text, Cynthia did have a bit of an unfair advantage.

"From what I hear, Norman is accepting challengers at the moment, so we'll have no trouble getting in. There are a lot of other coordinators that also double as trainers, however, so I wouldn't be surprised if we had to wait a while before your attempt."

Bianca nodded, and they moved into the relatively simplistic building that Norman's gym called home.

One might've even called it normal.

…Bianca wasn't proud of that one, but she'd already thought it, so it was too late to unthink it.

They decided to wait in the reception area a while, because, just as they'd expected, Norma was in fact busy with a few other trainers. Apparently, there were three ahead of them, which had Bianca sighing, given she'd already spent a good majority of the day waiting.

Still, it didn't end up taking that long. Within thirty minutes the last of the trainers had cleared out, with a smile on their face and a new gym badge in hand. Bianca found herself almost unsteady as she stood, and walked into the main hall, where she would be facing off against Norman.

As was tradition at this point, Norman knew Cynthia.

"It's certainly been a while." The man laughed as he shook Cynthia's hand, his voice steady, and his overall vibe… easygoing. "How've you been?"

"Good, good. How about May, how has she been?"

"Hah, you sure you don't know better than me?"

The name triggered something in Bianca's subconscious, and suddenly a bunch of disparate pieces fit together into one concise whole.

"Wait, wait!" Bianca suddenly shouted, shocking both Norman and Cynthia out of their conversation. "Er… sorry, but… May… you wouldn't happen to be related to the May, right? Champion of Hoenn?"

Far from be put-off, Norman smiled widely. "She's my daughter, actually."

"Ah! I knew it!" Bianca practically squealed, her old fan-girlishness coming back to her in the moment. "I'm a huge fan of your daughters, I followed her entire championship career!"

"Well, that's great to hear!" Norman seemed genuinely happy to meet a fan of his daughters, even if, for some reason, Cynthia's expression had morphed into a scowl.

"You… know May?"

"Yep! She was my favorite growing up, the trainer I wanted to be when I was a little girl! I followed Hoenn's championship scene for a while, cause' we had coverage from it on our TV at home, and I'd watch it every morning before school."

Cynthia's eye twitched. "I see. And… you never caught anything about Sinnoh's championship scene, by chance?"

"Huh?" Bianca wasn't really sure why Cynthia was asking. "Uh… no, not really. Not anything specific, anyways. I mean, I know that their champion is currently out of commission from talking to some reporters a few months ago, but then, that was then, so that might've changed. Other than that, I'm in the dark."

Cynthia sighed. "Yes, well… okay."

Norman snorted, before trying to pretend as if he hadn't. Bianca wasn't really sure what was going on, or why Cynthia suddenly looked rather terribly petulant, but regardless, she hadn't come here just to annoy her friend.

"Now then, would you like to begin, Miss Bianca?" Norman asked.

"Mm." She answered, reaching down towards her Pokémon, and trying to muster up her normal energy before a battle.

Despite her attempts, it… wasn't coming.

And that…

It…

/

Her eyes were wide, and her breath was gone.

"Kirlia is unable to battle," The announcer called out, his tone unwavering, unfaltering, assured. "The winner is Norman!"

She was in a trance as she reached out with her Pokéball, and recalled Kirlia back into its own. She felt… odd. Bad, obviously, but… there was something else, something more… more sinister beneath it.

Something that whispered underneath her skin.

"You're a real natural at this contest thing! Not too many people can say they have your talent for it!"

Bianca swallowed on some spittle at the back of her throat, even as she tried to remain gracious in her accepting of defeat. She bid farewell to Norman, traveled outside with Cynthia at her back, and said nothing as they made their way back to the hotel.

Cynthia attempted to call out to her as they entered into their shared room, but…

"Bianca–"

"I'm fine." She lied rather obviously. "Just… need some time to get my head out of the clouds is all. I'm uhm… I'm going to turn in early tonight. Thank you for being with me today."

"I…" Cynthia looked like she wanted to say more, she really did, but…

It was one of Cynthia's flaws, Bianca had found, that she was taking advantage of tonight. The flaw that Cynthia always saw others struggles as something they needed to solve on their own, as something she shouldn't involve herself in.

Bianca probably needed that help.

…But she didn't want it.

And so, when Cynthia shook her head minutely, looked up at her, and said, "Okay. Goodnight, Bianca," she was not crestfallen.

If anything, she was relieved.

And so, she turned in for the night, her mind a maelstrom, with the word talent on her tongue, and her thoughts consumed by her lack of it.


End Chapter 21


Getting deeper into Petalburg! Three more chapters in this arc, I think? Maybe one less? Depends on how things go, really. Anyways, I'm actually going to start releasing a new story here soon, which is a commissioned fic (exciting) so we'll see if that affects scheduling for this story at all. It shouldn't, but y'know how life is.

Anyways, see you all next chapter!~


Obligatory Self Shill

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