Yo! Back again. Getting pretty close to the end of this story! What a ride it's been!

Chapter 44

"You did your best, Leaf."

"Yeah, well, my best looked a lot like getting my ass kicked."

Brendan had an almost smug expression on his face. "Now you know what it's like."

"Shut up, Brendan."

Both Bianca and Barry laughed as Leaf let out a groan. She'd lost to Cynthia just a few minutes prior, and they were helping her through the process of accepting that fact.

No one was really blaming her. Hell, even Leaf wasn't blaming herself. But losing sucked.

Bianca would know; she'd done an awful lot of it.

"You did better than I did, at least." Brendan shrugged. "Got her to drop three Pokémon instead of just two."

"That is true. Does that mean you finally concede that I'm a better trainer than you?"

"No."

Barry gestured for Bianca to follow him as the other two got into a petty squabble – a friendly petty squabble, but a petty squabble nonetheless.

"So," He looked to her. "Ready for our match?"

It was the second day of the competition in the round of 64, which meant that things were, officially, heating up.

Everyone who wasn't elite – and hell, some of the elites themselves – had been taken out of the competition. Of the top ten, Selene, Geeta, May, Caitlin, Lance, Leon, and Cynthia were still in the competition. Steven, Dawn, and Diantha had all been eliminated.

Bianca was a bit flustered to think that she was among the top 64 trainers in the world.

Well, in fairness, as far as draws went, she'd done fairly well for herself. Elesa was good, but by her own admission not someone who could compete for the crown, and Blue was good, certainly, but…

…Maybe she wasn't giving herself enough credit, when she thought about it.

"Bianca?"

"Huh?" She tuned back in to find Barry staring at her. "S-Sorry. What were you saying?"

Barry rolled his eyes playfully. "I asked if you were ready for our match?"

Ah, of course. What else would Barry of all people be asking about but that?

In truth, she was as ready as she was going to be. Everyone's teams had been locked in, after all. The six-on-six rounds featured battles between trainers that had, well, six Pokémon on either side. But each trainer was allowed to bring two Pokémon as reserve, and potential substitutions to their main lineup. Substitutions had to be put in place ahead of the actual match by twelve hours to give the opponent time to prepare, however.

Bianca had already locked in her lineup against Barry, and he'd done the same. For Blue, she'd gone for something slightly gimmickier – a lineup of Musharna, Rampardos, Chandelure, Salamence, Milotic, and Gallade. This round, she would be subbing Musharna back out for Leavanny, and utilizing her normal six.

She'd built her previous strategy around taking out Blue's plethora of flying type Pokémon. He'd had a Pidgeot and a Gyarados, but also no Pokémon that resisted rock-type attacks other than his Rhyperior. Against Rampardos, that was practically begging to get Head Smashed.

And a lot of Head Smashing Rampardos had done. She'd taken Rhyperior out at the cost of a few of her Pokémon, but once she had Trick Room up and Rampardos safely switched in, there was nothing Blue could do to counteract its terrible power.

Barry, like Blue, didn't base his team on any one type. Most of the people at the competition didn't. Some ran certain teams that played with different weathers, like sun, rain, and hail, but most stuck with a rounded offensive or defensive profile.

His team featured a Torterra, Snorlax, Heracross, Staraptor, Floatzel, and Rapidash.

Off the bat, he shared a similar weakness to Bianca's Rampardos, and yet his team was not nearly as vulnerable thanks to Heracross, Floatzel, and Torterra all being able to hit the frail Pokémon super effectively. Likewise, Chandelure could strike Heracross and Torterra super effectively, but would be covered by Floatzel. Both would prove effective, but she would need to get Floatzel and Torterra off the field as quickly as possible to utilize both at their best.

That would be her plan, then. Lead with Leavanny to scout, and use U-Turn to bring out an advantaged Pokémon. If it was Torterra or Floatzel, she could stand and fight.

From there, she would have to play it by ear, but on the whole, her Pokémon were stronger, she felt.

But then, thinking like that served no purpose other than to get herself overconfident.

"Biiianca."

"Oh, crap," She'd zoned out again. "Sorry."

"It's fine," Barry chuckled. "I'll stop asking you questions, then, seeing as how you're all focused. Let's have a good match, alright?"

That sounded good to Bianca, yes.

They broke off with the both of them wishing each other well, and Bianca instead went to go check in on Cynthia, who'd finished her match against Leaf just now. It didn't take long to locate her, seeing as how she was occupying the same dressing room she'd been in before.

"Ah, Bianca," She leaned forward so that Bianca could kiss her quickly. "How are you faring? Nervous for your match?"

"Eh, a little bit." She admitted. "This is the final round to have the rotating arena, right?"

"It is indeed." Cynthia confirmed. "After this, in the Round of 32, there's not going to be a need to spice up the arena. Only the truly heavy-hitters are left, and so audiences will want to watch even standard matches without anything thrown into the mix."

Bianca nodded. "It seems a bit rude to the people who fought before, making them compete on a weird field like that."

"On the contrary, that was the organizers doing their best to make the first few rounds closer." Cynthia spoke, and then, when Bianca didn't understand, she elaborated. "Simply put, a wrench in the plan affects someone who has played on a normal tournament stage a thousand times far more than it does someone who's fought there once or twice. You, for instance, have no experience on a regular flat tournament stage, having only fought on this odd transformable stage. That benefits you, seeing as you and someone like Blue had the exact same amount of experience on that stage, despite the fact that he's been battling with Pokémon professionally for over a decade and a half now."

When it was put that way, Bianca supposed she understood what Cynthia was getting at.

"So… should I be worried?"

"Not particularly." Cynthia shrugged. "Skill will adapt to the situation, regardless of what it is. And you have it."

She was honestly beginning to think that Cynthia was right. That she had developed skill.

Even if it was a bit embarrassing to receive such complements.

"Also, I thought you should know that everyone who enters into the top thirty-two is going to be interviewed by Poké-News Network." Cynthia told her with a small smile on her lips, and Bianca paled.

"So, prepare yourself for that as well."

/

All in all, she didn't have very much time to focus on her potential death-by-interview, what with her match with Barry coming up, and the fact that to even face such an interview, she'd have to beat him.

She was confident she would. She was just worried that she was too confident.

Was she getting ahead of herself? Probably. She was thinking even now about what she wanted to say in that interview, who she wanted to give thanks to. Everyone, really.

No. Focus!

That was right. She had a gameplan formulated for Barry, she just had to execute on it. Use Leavanny as a pivot, eliminate Torterra and Floatzel, and then clean up with Rampardos. If that failed, she could cycle to Salamence as well, and try the same thing with him, albeit she was planning on using Salamence as a piece of her core to take out Torterra, and potentially Heracross as well.

She was caught up in her own head enough that when the buzzer went off for her to make her way to the stage, she completely missed it. Luckily, a nearby attendant tapped her on the shoulder, and let her know it was her time to go up on stage.

She nodded her head, feeling rather embarrassed, and then did just that.

The stage was different to how it had been the last two times she'd gone up. The first time, it had been an odd array grasslands and stone, but this time, it was an area with raised elevation, some kind of hill, and then what looked like asphalt on the other, an urban street.

It was perhaps the oddest combination that Bianca had seen thus far. But, as Cynthia had said, her skill would let her adapt to the situation.

She just had to make that a reality, now.

Across the field from her, she saw Barry wave. She did the same, meeting his wave with one of her own, before drawing Leavanny's Pokéball from off of her waist.

Now, there was nothing to do but wait for the countdown.

All around them, cheers were cascading down from the audience like droplets from a waterfall, so intense that it was almost too much. But Bianca…

She'd grown to be… not quite comfortable under that excitement, but to embrace it.

She was nervous, yes, but she was confident that no matter who they were, there wasn't anyone on this stage who wasn't.

Well, maybe not Cynthia, Lance, or Leon, but frankly, they didn't count.

"LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE FOR THE TWENTY-FOURTH MATCH IN THE ROUND OF 64; BARRY VS. BIANCAAAA!"

The crowd roared its approval, and she took a breath to try and soothe her nerves.

"THE MATCH WILL BEGIN IN THREE… TWO… ONE…"

Time to perform.

"START!"

"Let's go, Leavanny!"

"Hit 'em where it hurts, Torterra!"

The two Pokémon entered into the battlefield simultaneously, and instantly, Bianca found herself smiling. She had the advantage in terms of type matchups here, and she was going to use it.

Barry seemed to be realizing the same thing, for he reached back towards another Pokéball on his waist, already planning a switch. Bianca was okay with that, because it would give her a free bit of chip damage, alongside a switch.

"Come back, Torterra!"

"U-Turn, Leavanny!"

Barry's Pokémon, his Rapidash, hit the field and was instantly hit by Leavanny's U-Turn, which recalled it back into its Pokéball. She brought out Milotic in exchange, again taking a favorable type matchup.

Barry could switch again, but he had a problem if that was the case, namely that if Bianca went for Hydro Pump, whatever switched in, even if it was Floatzel, was going to take a significant chunk.

Rapidash, as unfortunate as it was, likely had to stay in.

"Rapidash, move behind the hill at the edge of the arena!"

Ah, so he was planning on using the terrain to his advantage, then? Bianca couldn't begrudge him that, even if she herself hadn't made any moves to do so. Still, if he was putting distance between them, then Bianca would be happy to oblige.

"Milotic, hit the hill with a surf!"

If Barry wanted to hide his Pokémon behind the land to try and bait her to get close, she'd simply use an attack that could hit around the land itself.

Milotic brought a great wave up around it, and launched it at the Hill. The wave bent around the hill, but the water that hit it splashed up, and then rained down on whatever was below.

Rapidash included.

Barry looked aggravated about that. He couldn't play this scenario out. Not with Rapidash vulnerable.

Milotic had it backed into both a metaphorical and literal corner.

"Come back, Rapidash!" Barry recalled his Pokémon, before taking a moment to figure out who it was that he wanted to send out next. "Floatzel, you're up buddy!"

Bianca had expected as much. Floatzel was his sole out that would be able to stand up to Milotic. It also featured a dual-typing in dark that would allow it to neutrally strike against Milotic, and on its much weaker physical defensive profile.

But then, Bianca wasn't planning on letting it get close.

"Milotic, Alluring Voice!"

A new addition to Milotic's arsenal; a Fairy-Type move to hit dark and dragons super effectively. In fairness, Milotic had given up Blizzard for Alluring Voice, and so it had much less upfront power, but it traded that for greater versatility, given it still kept ice beam.

The current Alluring Voice wouldn't come with the second affect of confusing Floatzel, but it would hit hard, and given it was a sound-based move, it was next to impossible to avoid. Floatzel was standing on the other side of the arena, and yet the move washed over it.

It flinched visibly, shrinking down on itself from Barry's side of the field.

"Floatzel, Aqua Jet!"

The move itself wasn't going to do any damage, but that wasn't what Barry was after. He needed to close the distance between Floatzel and Milotic if he wanted to have any chance.

Again, however, Bianca wasn't going to allow that.

"Alluring Voice, Milotic!"

Her Pokémon cried out, and unleashed yet another wave of sound towards Floatzel. The Pokémon was struck in the middle of its approach, and it flailed out wildly as it struck the asphalt below it, and went still.

And that was that.

One down.

"BIANCA STRIKES FIRST BLOOD IN THIS MATCH; IT'S A ONE POKÉMON DISADVANTAGE FOR BARRY!"

The crowd cheered, and Bianca felt good. It felt, for once, like she was actually able to bring her A-game to one of these matches, instead of stumbling.

Odd how it just sort of… clicked.

Barry recalled Floatzel, but whatever he said to it in support was lost in the sea of cheers. Bianca, for her part, focused in. She'd yet to take a hit in this fight, but that didn't mean she could relax.

One wrong move could still spell disaster.

"Let's make it happen, Snorlax!"

In terms of Barry's next move, it wasn't at all the worst. Snorlax didn't resist any of Milotic's moves, but it wasn't weak to them, either. Snorlax was also a bit of a beast in terms of tanking hits, and it could dish out powerful moves as well thanks to its strength.

But then, Bianca hadn't come into this fight without a plan to deal with that.

Right now, however, she didn't need to do anything. Barry couldn't utilize moves like Body Slam or Giga Impact – not that she knew if Barry had either – at risk of her swapping in Chandelure. And it couldn't use a Rest and Sleep Talk set to hit her while asleep either, due to her being able to simply switch in Gallade and annihilate it with a Close Combat. He also couldn't begin to set up with Curse, as Milotic would simply hit him with Alluring Voice, and confuse Snorlax.

Barry was, in a way, already trapped.

It was odd, but…

It felt like the battle was already over.

/

"Maaaan!" Barry laughed, shaking his head as he ran a hand through his hair. "You really pulled me to pieces back there, Bianca!"

Bianca couldn't deny she was happy that she'd won, of course. It felt a bit bad to have to take Barry out of the competition to move on, but she'd done just that, and now…

Well, now she was moving on to the round of 32.

Their battle had concluded just fifteen or so minutes ago, and Bianca was riding high off the win. She and her Pokémon were, for the first time during the matches in the stadium itself, fully in sync. It felt like everything had clicked that day.

And it showed in the results.

"Barry's correct, you know." Brendan pushed up his glasses. "You left no room for him to make any moves to counter you after you took the pace early. The moment that you opened with Leavanny, and he opened with Torterra, it felt like you'd already won. Some people in the audience around myself and Leaf were almost bored at how clinical your style was, and yet, you left no openings for Barry to get back into the match. Despite the fact that you gave up a few Pokémon, it never felt close. Honestly, it reminded me of seeing Cynthia's matches."

She wasn't quite willing to say that much. She'd done well, and probably had her best match ever, without any screwups. She was so used to mucking something up, making some mistakes, but…

Well, that hadn't happened.

Earlier in the day, the very first match had concluded with yet another victory for Caitlin, as she'd defeated the up-and-coming Lyra, proving her position as a solid, unbreaking wall. Where someone like Lance fought with raw, untamed offense, Caitlin utilized Pokémon with high hp counts and great defenses to slowly ware away at those attacking her.

It was a strategy that, much like – apparently – Bianca's own, could seem boring and un-interactive to those who watched it without proper knowledge. Heck, even to those who actually did know what was going on, it could be a bit stale.

Bianca, on the other hand, found it fascinating. But then, people probably wouldn't care much for her opinion on the matter.

Speaking of Lance, the match that was coming on next was actually one of the most exciting on Bianca's side of the bracket; Lance vs. Gloria, a former champion of Galar. It was a close match, but one that Bianca had no real favorite in. She could instead sit back, and simply enjoy great Pokémon battling.

Gloria was a balanced fighter, and she was able to temper Lance's overwhelming aggression better than any other trainer had at the World Championships so far. Unfortunately for her, she also had about two decades less experience than Lance, who had been doing this for well over twenty-five years. Gloria, on the other hand, had only been a Champion-level trainer for around three or four.

And that experience showed in the end, with Lance taking a close – but overall clean – victory, with two Pokémon, one heavily damaged, remaining.

That was the final match of the day, and with its conclusion, the next matches were to be drawn.

And Bianca's…

Well…

It was quite the interesting match.

'Bianca vs. Iris'

/

Yep. It was official.

This was the worst thing that had ever happened to her.

"So, Ms. Bianca, what are your thoughts on the tournament overall so far?"

The demon – she was technically, technically, a person, but it didn't feel like it – waved a microphone in front of her face, and Bianca froze up more than she thought it was possible to freeze up.

"Uh… good?"

"Wonderful to hear," If the woman interviewing her was being sarcastic, then she had the poker face of a professional. "And as for how you've done in the tournament so far, public opinion on you is rather split. Some see the performances you put up against your earlier opponents in Elesa and Blue to be more indicative of your strength. Others see your most recent battle against Barry, an almost clinical performance, as a sign of your true skill, and cite that your previous performances were the effect of jitters. What do you have to say?"

"Oh, uhm… well, I'd say it took me a while to adapt to the stage. But I'm there now. I'd like to hope I'll keep performing as I did today."

"Excellent." Bianca got nothing at all from this woman. She was fairly certain she could've burped for an answer, and the woman would've said nothing else. "Now, it's become common knowledge ever since a reporter managed to capture a picture of you and Cynthia exchanging a chaste kiss earlier in the week–" Bianca choked on nothing, "That the two of you are romantically involved. Do you have any comment on that relationship?"

"Uh… not without talking to Cynthia first."

"And on the rumors that you're her student?"

"Oh, uhm, that's true. She taught me… well, she was around for the last year, helping me with my journey."

"And is that when you two became close?"

"Yeah, I suppose so." She realized she'd been tricked into answering questions that she'd specifically said she wouldn't. "But I'd rather not talk about that."

"Is it a touchy subject?"

"What? No, no! It's–" She was still being tricked. "No comment."

The reporter at least gave the faintest hint of a smile, then. "Apologies for digging too deeply into your personal life, Ms. Bianca. Now, seeing as how we don't have a ton of time, I'll move on to our last question, and one we're pitching to everyone; what are your thoughts about your opponent in the next round, Iris, former champion and current Gym Leader of Unova?"

That… was a hard one.

"Well… I've known Iris most of my life, actually, although… saying that kind of makes it sound like we've been friends for years. I first met her when I was fourteen. That was during the Team Plasma debacle."

The interviewer likely sensed a good story, because whereas before she'd been trying to wrap the interview up, she was now clamoring for more. "Ah, I see. How did you meet?"

"Well, she actually helped me to get back some of my Pokémon who'd been stolen away by Team Plasma. In the end… she inspired me, and gave me a lot of courage to keep going where I was otherwise unsure of myself. In a way… you could say she's the reason I'm here today, even if she can't be given all the credit."

"I see, I see. Alright then; if you had to say one thing to Ms. Iris ahead of your match tomorrow, what would you say?"

"Ah… well, I…" Bianca swallowed, her nerves, which had fled while she'd been telling that story before, were back in full force. "I really respect Ms. Iris. I think she's strong, and brave, and courageous, and carefree, and… and good, most of all. I think there are very few Pokémon trainers in the world who can claim to be half as strong as her."

"Am I detecting a 'but'?"

"But," Bianca smiled as the interviewer nodded towards her, subtly urging her on. "Even despite all of that… even if it's you who's standing in my way, Iris…"

She felt some small resolution in her heart, even as she looked directly into the camera, placed her hand over her heart, and stated clearly…

"I'm going to win."

End Chapter 44

Alright, that's that!

The round of 32 awaits next! Bianca vs. Iris. Who will emerge victorious?

Well, I mean, the story's about one of those characters, so...

Anyways, I'll see you guys next week!

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