Yo! Back for another chapter of WWUTB! Hope you guys like this one. We're almost at the World Championships!

Chapter 39

Bianca was surprisingly calm as she and Cynthia walked the couple of blocks towards their destination for the evening.

She wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was because she had Cynthia beside her, a steadying element even if her own mind was doing its best to unsteady her. Maybe it was the confidence she'd been building within herself over this entire journey.

Maybe it was just pure, dumb luck.

She'd have taken any of them, really. She certainly wasn't complaining.

"I've heard good things about this place," Cynthia stated as they saw the restaurant – and wow, it looked fancy – at the end of the street they were walking down. "Apparently it's upmarket while not being too much."

"What qualifies as too much?"

"Multi-course meals on a menu that's in a language I don't speak."

"Ah, yeah, that's fair."

Cynthia chuckled. "But no. This is just a nice sushi place." Cynthia's eyes widened, as if she'd just considered something. "Er… you do like sushi, right?"

It was Bianca's turn to chuckle. "I do."

"Okay," Cynthia let out a massive breath of relief, and the more that Cynthia spoke, the more Bianca was starting to suspect that these random events, being given their very nice penthouse suite, and the trip to this restaurant…

That they hadn't been so random after all.

Perhaps Cynthia hadn't known exactly where they'd be heading, but in Bianca's eyes, she'd at least intended for them to stay someplace nice, and had her team of sponsors or managers get her a reservation at a nearby restaurant.

It was… honestly, it was adorable, in Bianca's eyes. It was perhaps the shyest she'd ever seen Cynthia – although calling her shy when she had invited Bianca out here without hesitating was perhaps an overstatement.

They walked up to the restaurant in question, and Cynthia gave her name to the man at the counter. He nodded, then escorted the two of them back past the regular dining areas, and into a private room.

Bianca was half tempted to whistle appreciatively.

It was a rather… romantic place. It was sparsely lit with candles in the center of the table, and dim lights hanging above them. There were just the two chairs at the table, opposite one another, and it was clear that this had been picked out for the two of them.

Bianca was blushing rather madly as she sat down, and Cynthia was looking much the same as she sat on the other side of the table.

"I didn't realize it was going to be quite this, uhm…" Cynthia swallowed visibly, and Bianca cut in before she could somehow misconstrue anything.

"I like it." She spoke, smiling over at her mentor as she looked down at the menu that had been placed in front of her. It was a welcome excuse to not have to meet Cynthia's eye right then. "It's nice, I think."

"Oh. Then I'm glad."

They were relatively quiet as the waiter came back to get their drink orders, and then brought a basket of bread for them to eat. It was moist, and scrumptious. Buttered to perfection. She practically moaned around each bite.

"This place is almost worth the price of admission on the bread alone," Bianca joked, and Cynthia chuckled as she ate of her own slice.

"Indeed. Let's hope the entrees measure up."

They did, and with aplomb. Bianca had gone for a standard maki roll dish, and she was loving what she was having. Cynthia had gone for something that Bianca had never heard of – chira…something – which looked equally delectable.

They very much enjoyed their meal. Over the course of the hour or so that they spent in that back room, they talked about all sorts of minor, inconsequential things. They talked of the tournament, and Bianca's expectations. They talked of Cynthia, and what she'd be doing while Bianca was competing.

"Oh, I'll be around. I'm sure you'll see more than enough of me." She'd said, with that look in her eye like she knew something Bianca didn't.

At this point, she was used to it.

Eventually, they paid for their meal, and walked back to the hotel. It was quite late at that point, around ten or eleven in the evening. Despite that, they were in no hurry as they took a somewhat lackadaisical pace.

"I had fun tonight." She told Cynthia, hoping the woman would see the… maybe-date as a success.

"I'm glad. Perhaps we could do this again sometime in the near future?" Cynthia suggested casually, and it had Bianca's cheeks heating up.

"I think I'd like that."

"Good."

They didn't say anything else that evening.

They didn't have to.

And certainly, yes, nothing happened between them, despite what Bianca might have wanted. There was a part of her that just wanted to barrel past the walls they'd both put up and ask Cynthia point blank if she wanted to date her, but…

Well, she wasn't exactly that kind of person, even when motivated.

So, they enjoyed a companionable silence, and the hours continued ticking by.

/

Bianca had spent an awfully long time with Cynthia as of late, and that was more than nice. She'd have wanted to spend more time with her, but Cynthia was being called away for a week to do work in and around the stadium that the World Championships were being held in. Apparently, her and her sponsors had business there, which made sense enough to Bianca.

It would suck to be on her lonesome for a week, but at the same time…

Well, she could get some tasks done that she'd been pushing back for the last little while.

Namely…

First, she had to take a boat – her worst nemeses – to Akala Island. From there, she hiked a ways to the Fossil Restoration Center, and while she'd first assumed it would be an impressive building…

Well, it was a trailer on the side of the road.

Bianca had her doubts about the validity of this place, but she decided that it wasn't as if they could make the fossil that she had in her bag more dead.

And if they succeeded, then hey, power to them.

The man running the place seemed to be about forty or so years old. He was short and stout, but had a jolly demeanor that rubbed off on Bianca. She was smiling as he examined the fossil that she'd brought along with her from Sinnoh, 'oohing' and 'aahing' as he turned the stone around in his hands.

"This is fantastic!" He exclaimed. "A genuine skull fossil! I haven't seen one of these in at least a few years!"

"A skull fossil?"

"Indeed!" The man showed her the indents in the stone, the way it was shaped around a dome-like structure. "See here? These are some of the spines that would've once belonged to the Cranidos that formed this fossil."

Bianca nodded along as the very enthusiastic man walked her through the process of reviving the fossil. It was, apparently, going to take a while. Bianca nodded her head, and then stepped outside, deciding that she'd train a bit on the route outside the center.

Route 8 was surprisingly populated, which was at odds with just how empty the fossil restoration center had been. Then again, given she'd heard that Alola didn't have any naturally occurring fossil Pokémon, she supposed that made sense.

She trained for most of the day, battling against other trainers who were around. Most weren't here for the World Championships – locals, she'd guess – but she faced off against one or two that were. They ended up being the biggest challenges that Bianca had faced in quite some time, to the point that one of them even brought Bianca down to her final Pokémon, Salamence.

Still, she claimed victory in both bouts by the skin of her teeth, and when the battles finished, she was smiling from ear to ear.

When she'd finished training, she headed back to the Fossil Restoration Center, and was surprised to find that they'd already finished reviving the fossil.

"Here she is," The man smiled as he gestured towards the Cranidos stood on top of its desk, looking around in some vague state of confusion. "And a female Cranidos at that! Quite rare. They were genetically predisposed to be male around 88% of the time."

Bianca nodded her head, walking over to the Cranidos – her Cranidos, she supposed – and offering out her hand to it.

The Pokémon, seemingly uncertain as to what to do with it, instead headbutted her hand, sending it flying backwards and causing her to have to wring out her wrist.

"Ow." She muttered below her breath, still sort of amused.

"Hah, Cranidos can be a bit feisty in general." The man explained. "Despite their aggressive appearance, they're actually herbivores. Because of that, and the era they existed in, they had to be able to defend themselves from just about everything. So, they're aggressive first, and ask questions later."

Bianca supposed that made sense, even as she leaned forward once more, and offered her hand out a second time.

This time, Cranidos leaned forward, and sniffed the skin of her palm. After a moment, it rubbed its skull against it gently, and Bianca, sensing that it was giving her a chance, scratched behind its horns.

Cranidos' left leg started thumping on the counter, and she giggled even as the Fossil Restoration guy laughed heartily.

"My, but she's warmed up to you quite quickly. Seems you've a knack for this."

Bianca chuckled, even if the compliment did her good. "I don't know about that one. But thank you."

"Ah, right," He reached behind him, and came back with a Pokéball. "Here's this for you; Cranidos is already captured with that. That's pretty much the first thing we do. Wild Fossil Pokémon are actually illegal for a number of reasons. Mostly because they could completely decimate local populations if left unchecked."

Bianca supposed that made sense. If a Cranidos were to suddenly be able to breed with another of its kind, and they were able to outmuscle a local herbivore, then they might ruin an entire ecosystem just by trying to survive.

"Not their fault, but that's just how things are." He shrugged. "Still, you take good care of this lassie now, y'hear?"

"Mm." Bianca hummed in the affirmative, even as she took up the Pokéball, and recalled Cranidos back into it. "Thank you again for your help, sir. It's very much appreciated."

"It's no trouble at all. And don't worry about payment; I do this for the fun of things!"

Bianca didn't doubt that, and yet even so, she shook her head, and slipped the man a sizeable chunk of change. Cynthia had, after all, hooked her up with a decent supply of cash to use while she was gone, and she wasn't just going to let this man help her without paying him at all.

Before he could protest, she ran out of his shop, and smiled as she made her way back to the boat she'd taken to get to Akala.

Of course, she stopped smiling the moment she actually got on the boat, but it wasn't as bad as it had been that morning. Despite her best wishes, she was going to be having to travel by boat quite a lot – unless Cynthia was willing to break out her jet for flights that would be, at most, ten or so minutes long – and so the sooner she got used to it, the better.

She groaned as she touched back down on Melemele Island, and stretched herself out.

Technically, she didn't have anything else planned for the next week while Cynthia was gone. Even so, she had a few ideas as to what to do.

Training was most of those ideas.

So, she did. She went out to the nearest route, and she trained.

The sun eventually set, and Bianca returned back to their hotel room.

Despite its grandeur, it was a bit lonely with just herself there.

She looked down at her phone, and thought about calling up Cynthia. She wanted to hear from her, talk to her.

…No. She… she could manage without Cynthia for a single week! She wasn't that needy.

Bianca harrumphed, planted her hands on her hips, and made a solemn vow to herself.

She would be able to handle things on her own, without Cynthia's help, until she got back.

She could more than manage something like that.

/

So, it was over the course of the next two or three days that Bianca spent the majority of her time training the newest member of her team.

Cranidos had quite the personality, she'd already found out. Where Salamence could be a bit feisty, Milotic was calm and serene, Gallade was self-assured and confident, Leavanny was a bundle of love and friendship, and Chandelure was a cuddle bug – which was not a good thing when said Pokémon was as hot as fire – Cranidos was…

Well, energetic was probably the nicest way to put it.

She loved to run up and down the routes that Bianca would take her out to. She would headbutt the trees they passed by, and then subsequently get dizzy and have to have Bianca help her up. In battle, Cranidos was incredibly aggressive, just as the man back at the fossil center had said. it had a hard time getting used to Bianca's orders at first, but it was adjusting quickly.

By the time the first full day had gone by, it was following her commands to the letter. By the time the second day had passed, it was already learning new moves, and using them quite freely.

Bianca found herself impressed, and from her light research on the matter, she figured that Cranidos would likely be evolving into a Rampardos sometime soon.

In terms of what her team needed, Rampardos fit the niche rather well. It was raw ferocity and attack, though it lacked on the defensive end of the spectrum. It was famously difficult to use because of it, being seen as a glass cannon.

Bianca had a feeling she could get something out of it, however.

Another day of training, and just after she'd finished a match with a local trainer, her Pokémon began to glow a brilliant white.

Bianca smiled as Cranidos' silhouette grew in size, until it was around the same size as her. It emerged from out of the light with a powerful stomp, and then a roar.

And she had herself a Rampardos.

Nothing much happened for the next few hours. She and Rampardos trained a bit more – it still needed to catch up to where the rest of her team was – until it was getting late, and given how energetic Rampardos was, Bianca decided to let it stay outside of its Pokéball and run alongside her as they made their way back to Hau'oli City.

Bianca didn't think anything of that decision. It was, in her eyes, a way for Rampardos to get a little more exercise. Her Pokémon clearly needed it.

And yet, as they entered back into the city proper, her Pokémon had begun to slow down somewhat. Bianca looked over at her, and saw that Rampardos' steps were growing more and more sluggish.

It had an almost lethargic air to it.

And that…

That was setting off alarm bells in Bianca's head.

She might've made her peace with what happened to Emboar, she might've gotten to say all the things she hadn't gotten to before, but…

Seeing a Pokémon struggle with something they hadn't had any trouble with before was dredging up bad memories.

She recalled her Pokémon into its Pokéball, and rushed to the nearest Pokémon Center. She had them heal her entire team, which was something she hadn't done that day, in all fairness. Perhaps that was all it was; just a minor injury that Bianca hadn't noticed.

She was certainly going to hope that was it.

She went to bed that night without having released Rampardos again, and the next morning, it was the first thing she checked.

She released Rampardos, and her Pokémon seemed to be doing a lot better. She let loose an aching sigh of relief, and wiped some of the cold sweat that had been building at her forehead.

Yet that feeling of relief only lasted for a few hours. By the time noon had arrived, her Pokémon had grown just as lethargic as it had been the previous day. It was lagging behind, and didn't seem up to the battles that it had been practically groveling for the previous day.

To say that Bianca handled that well was… yeah, no, that would be a lie.

So it was that at roughly two o'clock that day, Bianca retreated back to the Pokémon Center, and inquired about just what it was that was wrong with Rampardos.

"Well…" The nurse joy who worked there seemed rather confused herself. "I can't say I see a lot of Rampardos here, if I'm being honest. This is the first one I've had the pleasure of helping. It could be a disease, or something else entirely. I don't want to make any blanket statements. Perhaps we should get her looked at before anything else?"

Bianca nodded fiercely, wanting more than anything for her Pokémon to be alright.

There was a voice at the back of her mind that told her to just call Cynthia already. She'd always been able to solve problems like this. So, what if it was to do with a Pokémon? She'd somehow have a connection to someone else, who'd be able to wrap this up in an hour.

But… gods, it was stupid, but she wanted to be able to handle this on her own! She didn't want to go to Cynthia for every little thing.

She'd been able to handle the end of the world by herself, hadn't she? She'd been able to battle back Mars, and Dialga, all on her own!

And yet… the more she thought about it, the more that theorem fell away. Because when Bianca thought back on it, on that time spent in that alternate dimension, or timeline…

She'd not been alone at all.

She'd had Hilda, and Professor Juniper there to help her. N had bought her time; Cynthia had given her the means to even make it that far. And her Pokémon had been the ones to help carry her through that final battle.

…She hadn't been alone. She'd never been alone.

So, when Nurse Joy took Rampardos back to be examined, Bianca took out her phone, and made a call.

"Bianca?" Cynthia's voice came through the receiver. "Is everything alright?"

"I…" She swallowed. "I don't know. It's a long story, do you have time?"

"For you?" Cynthia chuckled on the other end of the line. "I'll make time. Now what is it?"

She explained the situation to Cynthia over the course of the next ten minutes. Through it all, her mentor/friend/something stayed silent, and allowed her to go on a bit of a rant.

"–and I didn't know what to do so I took her to the Pokémon Center but they don't know what to do either, and–"

"Bianca." Cynthia finally stepped in. "Calm down. Take a breath."

She did. She felt moderately better afterwards.

"Alright. Now, explain to me when Rampardos' symptoms first started to show."

She thought back on it. Rampardos had been fine during the day yesterday until it had been out for a while, and this morning, it had been doing fine until noon. She communicated as such to Cynthia, and…

"Ah, I think I know what's going on."

Bianca's eyes widened. "Really!?"

"Mm. Rampardos is a Pokémon native to Sinnoh, correct? And fossils of Rampardos are normally found in and around Mt. Coronet, which is snowy most of the year. Now compare that climate to the one Rampardos is currently faced with."

When Bianca did, something obviously stood out.

"I think Rampardos is simply hot." Cynthia explained. "Ask Nurse Joy is she thinks the symptoms that Rampardos has might match up to heat exhaustion, or heat stroke."

Bianca was almost bewildered to think that all of what Rampardos was experiencing could be just that, but she nodded her head. She entered into the examination room and asked nurse joy about the symptoms. She'd been invited in earlier, but she'd declined before because she'd been about to call Cynthia, and didn't want to talk while the woman was trying to work, which was the only reason she felt comfortable barging her way in now.

"Heat stroke?" Nurse Joy's eyes briefly widened, before they settled into a calmer, more speculative expression. "Actually, now that I think about it, a lot of the symptoms match up. Let me measure your Pokémon's internal body temperature against the average Rampardos', and we'll see what comes back."

Bianca exited back out of the examination room, and waited in the waiting room. It only took around fifteen minutes for Rampardos and Nurse Joy both to come back out of the exam room. Bianca took note of Nurse Joy's smile, and the fact that Rampardos seemed a lot more energetic.

It lunged at Bianca, and she initially panicked, until the Pokémon cuddled up against her, as if trying to hide from Nurse Joy, who laughed apologetically.

"Your guess was right, Ms. Bianca. Rampardos' body temperature was almost a full degree higher than it should've been. I went ahead and injected it with a few electrolytes, just to make sure it was feeling alright. Unfortunately, that seems to have frightened poor Rampardos quite a bit."

Her Pokémon, a meter and a half tall dinosaur, made a low bellowing noise as it ducked its head, so that it couldn't see Nurse Joy at all.

Bianca couldn't help but snort.

"I'd advise not training with Rampardos during the day, when the sun is going to be at its highest, or, if you have to, to have a method of cooling Rampardos down. Perhaps a water or ice type to use an attack that Rampardos could then soak in or rub up against."

Bianca nodded her head, feeling relief finally hitting her now that she knew Rampardos was largely fine.

They exited out of the Pokémon Center – Rampardos practically fled, and Bianca couldn't help but cackle at that image – and Bianca immediately reached down towards her phone.

She called Cynthia at first, but it went to voice mail. So, she texted her a moment later.

'Thank you for your help. It was heat stroke after all. Nurse Joy recommended that I train Rampardos at night, or give her an opportunity to cool down during the day. I'm sorry to have bothered you.'

She received a reply no more than thirty seconds later.

'You're never bothering me, Bianca. I'm honestly sorry that I'm busy. Trust me when I say that I'd much rather be back there training with you. Don't be afraid to call me again if you need help, okay?'

Bianca's cheeks heated up somewhat, and she did a happy little dance in front of the Pokémon Center as she mulled the text over in her head.

It seemed Cynthia felt the same way she did. That being separated from each other was just about the worst.

She wanted to see Cynthia again, she definitely did.

But…

For now…

She had a team to train.

The clock was ticking; the World Championships were only a month and a half away.

And she was going to be ready for it.

End Chapter 39

Bianca obtains her final team member - of Ten, given the five of her old team. Her main lineup with be Salamence, Milotic, Leavanny, Gallade, Chandelure, and Rampardos.

Not a ton to say beyond that, though. Hope you guys enjoy what's coming up!

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