Yo!
Not a ton to say. Maybe... five or six chapters left? We're getting close!
Chapter 46
It turned out that if Bianca and Cynthia both collaborated on a strategy, then that strategy was pretty damned good.
That strategy might have seemed foolhardy at first glance, but…
"RAMPARDOS' AIR BALLOON IS PREVENTING CAITLIN'S TYPHLOSION FROM UTILIZING ANY OF ITS GROUND-TYPE ATTACKS! WHAT A MANEUVER! BIANCA HAS BET EVERYTHING ON BEING ABLE TO TAKE TYPHLOSION OUT OF THE BATTLE TO SWEEP WITH CHANDELURE, BUT CAN SHE DO IT!?"
The crowd was electric, and Bianca was right there with them, feeding off of their energy. Her Rampardos seemed to be the same. She was a fierce, competitive Pokémon, and she seemed to feed off of high-intensity situations; where it was her against the world.
That didn't quite add up here, given that if she did fail, then Bianca had not one, but three backup plans, but that was, frankly, neither here nor there.
Even still, Rampardos was hovering in the air thanks to the Air Balloon, and was immune to Typhlosion's immediate answer of Earthquake. But a single fire-type move would knock it out of the sky, and Rampardos wouldn't be able to close the distance quickly enough before another Earthquake struck it.
But luckily, she wasn't counting on that occurring, either.
"Rampardos, Stone-Edge!"
Her Pokémon wasn't going to rely on making contact, even if making contact would allow it to assuredly mow down anything in its way in a single strike. A Rock Head would annihilate Typhlosion, but then, Rampardos was one of the strongest attacking Pokémon… period.
A Stone Edge from it was nothing to scoff at.
Typhlosion found that out firsthand, tanking the hit and being buffeted backwards. It hung on through sheer will alone, and managed to knock Rampardos out of the sky with a Focus Blast. The hit wasn't dead on, however, only striking Rampardos' side.
Cynthia had, after all, mentioned that Focus Blast was famously unreliable. It seemed luck was on Bianca's side.
"Another Stone Edge, Rampardos!"
"Earthquake, Typhlosion!"
Both moves struck in the same instant, with Rampardos being sucked into the fissure that had formed in the ground, assuredly knocking it out. But luckily for Bianca, Typhlosion was no better off.
It, too, had fallen, and with it had gone Caitlin's main method of preventing her Chandelure from sweeping.
Now all Bianca had to do was make it happen.
/
"We have quite the match on our hands, here, folks. It's Bianca vs. Caitlin. The latter went up early, as many pundits expected, and yet, the moment that Bianca managed to take out Caitlin's Typhlosion, it felt as if the tides shifted. Bianca has geared much of her strategy towards removing that obstacle, and it's paying off."
"Well, Roxy, at this point, I don't see Caitlin having any outs to a switch-in Chandelure. Normally you'd say that Bianca still has to do is find a way to get it into the battlefield, but she lost her Rampardos at the exact same moment as Caitlin lost her Typhlosion. The ruling is they get to both send their Pokémon out at the same time, which means that, even if Caitlin's up one Pokémon, 5 to 4, it's going to be an uphill battle for her."
"Ty, we've been seeing this more and more as the tournament's gone on. Bianca's a crafty trainer. She comes into every battle with a plan, and she executes on it. It's clear that her opponents are doing the same, but something about her is making her difficult for her adversaries to pin down. I mean, if even Caitlin can't manage to shift and adapt, then who can?"
"Well, given that Lance just won his match, and advanced to the Round of 8, I think I see these two on a collision course."
"You guys are talking an awful lot about potential future matchups. Do you really think Caitlin doesn't have a shot?"
"OH! CAITLIN'S REUNICLUS GOES DOWN TO A SHADOW BALL FROM CHANDELURE! THAT'S THE SECOND POKÉMON IN JUST TWO TURNS! WHAT CAN CAITLIN DO!?"
"You were saying, Gabbi?"
"Oh, quiet, Ty."
/
Bianca raised her arms in the air as, yet again, she was the one left standing after a Pokémon battle.
Gods, but it felt good.
She wondered, idly, if this was how Hilda had always felt; if this was why she kept aiming for higher highs, greater heights. It would've explained why she was always charging ahead, heedless of her and Cheren trying to get any R in.
She laughed, thinking back on those times, but closed the distance towards the middle of the arena, where Caitlin was waiting for her.
"My, my." The woman smiled her way. "But you have become quite the trainer, haven't you, Bianca?"
She chuckled below her breath. "I've definitely improved."
"It's good to see. Hilda used to speak so highly of you, you know."
Bianca's eyes widened. She… she should've perhaps expected that, to be honest. Hilda had always been on her side, but…
Well, it was easy to look at the current her and believe that she'd only become a decent trainer within the last little while, instead of believing that she'd always been one, or something akin to that.
But maybe… maybe she was starting to accept the fact that while she might not have been in the emotional state to properly utilize her skills back then, she'd at the very least possessed some semblance of them. Maybe she hadn't been as pathetic as the her of the past used to believe.
Self-confidence was a lot easier to have when one had quite literally saved the world.
"All right," Caitlin smiled down at her, before letting out a long yawn. "I don't know about you, but I'm quite tired. Perhaps we'll call this conversation here for now."
Bianca chuckled. "That works fine for me."
"But regardless, be careful, Bianca. You've still got a few more challenges coming up. And I doubt they're going to be getting any easier."
She nodded her head. That much was obvious. At this point, she was the sole competitor still in the tournament who hadn't been a champion of their respective region at some point. May, Selene, and Lance were all potential opponents on her side of the Round of 8.
None of them were going to be easy.
Although, if Bianca had one tiny request of the universe, it would be…
/
"Noooooooooo!" Bianca cried out as she let her head fall into her hands, leaning against the wall directly in front of her as Barry, Leaf, and Brendan all watched on with a morbid sort of intrigue.
"So, uh… you alright, Bianca?"
"Why!? Why did this have to happen!?"
"Yeah, like, didn't you just win your match?" Leaf cut in. "I kind of feel like you should be doing a lot better in terms of… y'know, attitude."
"What am I supposed to do!?"
"Uhm, is something like… actually wrong? Like do you need help with something, or–"
Bianca rounded on her friends with honest-to-gods tears in her eyes. "I have to face May!"
The others just sort of stared at her for a while. It was Brendan, May's rival for the majority of her life, who ultimately spoke.
"Bianca, I really don't think this is as big of a deal as you're making it out to be."
"I have to knock May out of the tournament!" Bianca moaned out in pure agony. "This is a huge deal!"
Barry snorted. "Well, you're confident, at least."
"You can't fault her for energy, either," Leaf commented.
"You guys don't have to eliminate your childhood hero from the tournament, do you!?"
"Well, no, but we've also all been eliminated," Brendan countered, "Which I think sucks a bit more than that."
That…
Was actually sort of fair, but Bianca wasn't going to acknowledge it as such.
Yet before she could think up anything else to say…
"Hey, everyone!"
It was a voice that Bianca didn't immediately recognize, and yet, it was also one that sounded strikingly familiar. A part of Bianca that had long since been forgotten cried out for her to remember it, but before she could–
"Oh, hey, May."
Her brain practically imploded on hearing that.
She turned towards the new arrival, and saw a woman dressed largely in reds and blacks. She had long brown hair, a scarf tied to her arm, and seemed very upbeat in terms of personality.
She was also Bianca's childhood hero, so she felt like she couldn't be blamed for what happened next.
"MAY!"
May flinched. Barry and Leaf flinched.
Brendan just sighed. "You're being so cringe right now."
Bianca definitely felt it, too, given that she hadn't mean to be even half that loud. Unfortunately, what she'd wanted and what had actually happened were too very different things.
God, she really was cringe.
"Your name's Bianca, right?" May turned to her, somehow still keeping a positive attitude with the woman who'd yelled her name directly at her. "I came over because I saw Brendan and wanted to say hi, but it seems coming over here was more productive than that, even!"
"U-Uhm, yeah," Bianca tried her best to stay calm. It wasn't like she was talking to the woman whose poster she'd had hung up on her wall for her entire childhood or anything. "It's nice to meet you. Sorry for yelling before…"
"Ah, that's fine. I'm looking forward to our match. I'll have to study up on your matches for our bout in a few days!"
Bianca felt like she'd been punched in the gut. In a good way.
…That didn't make a ton of sense.
"D-Definitely!" She laughed. It was far too much. "Same here!"
May offered out her hand, and Bianca, despite knowing she was unworthy to so much as touch her, placed her own hand within May's.
They shook. It was a magical moment that lasted all of one and a half seconds.
May stuck around for another few minutes, but eventually bid them farewell, waving as she disappeared around a corner. Once that happened, Bianca allowed her arms to fall down at her sides, and stared
"That… was one of the best moments of my life."
"Oh my god," Brendan groaned. "You're so cringe."
/
She and Cynthia decided to strategize yet again, and yet this time, they decided to do so outside of their apartment. They moved down to the beach that their hotel was set up near, and sat on some long chairs as they stared out at the setting sun.
The nice thing about reserving a penthouse suite was that they had a section of the beach all to themselves. Well, 'to themselves', which included all of the other rich people who could afford to stay at the hotel that Cynthia had booked for them, but given that was only a hundred or so people, and less than a fourth of them were actually out on the beach, it translated to it feeling quite empty.
And that was a positive, in Bianca's eyes. She wasn't horrible around crowds as much as she used to be, but if she could avoid them without issue, then she'd certainly take it.
She was watching May's last few matches. She'd faced off against Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four, Glacia of the Hoenn Elite Four, and Serana, a champion of Kalos. Rather self-explanatorily, that last matchup had been the closest. Serana had taken May to a single Pokémon remaining, and she'd done so with a fairly standard, balanced team.
But May had still claimed victory in the end.
Her team, too, was balanced. A Mega-Blaziken, Armaldo, Tentacruel, Exploud, Metagross, and a Salamence of her own. It was an almost perfectly balanced team, with only a few Pokémon sharing weaknesses, and almost all of them having ways of covering one another.
Exploud and Armaldo were both weak to fighting-type moves, and Tentacruel and Blaziken were both weak to Psychic. That jumped out to her immediately. Her Gallade could come in and clean up the back half of May's team if she could take out Metagross and Salamence beforehand.
That wasn't exactly an easy ask, however. The two were pseudo-Legendaries for a reason.
She would know; she had one on her team, and Salamence was not a pushover.
Not to mention the fact that Exploud was a heavy-hitter with its Boomburst, which struck for heavy damage against nearly every Pokémon, other than Ghost Types. She'd have to take that one down with Chandelure, but then, if she brought out Chandelure, she was leaving an opportunity for May to get Tentacruel in.
Then again, if she predicted the switch in to Tentacruel, she could get Gallade in for free. But was that too risky?
Bianca sighed. Cynthia looked at her over her meal with a small chuckle.
"Deep in thought?"
"Something like that." Bianca rubbed at the back of her neck. "It's hard to say. I think I might have a strategy, but… I just don't know."
"Mm, well, I'd say you should trust your gut." Cynthia spoke. "That's what I do, and it's worked out pretty well for me."
"Yeah, but your guts a bit more intuitive than mine."
"What makes you think that?"
She wasn't terribly sure, to be honest. The doubt that she could quite measure up to someone who was a champion of champions?
"Well…" Cynthia smiled over at her. "If you ask me, I'd say your instincts are damned good. That strategy you used against Barry? With your team, I don't think I could've come up with anything better myself."
"…Really?"
"Really." Cynthia laughed. "Now come help me with my planning. I've got an awful lot still to do."
Bianca rolled her eyes, but did just that.
/
"Welcome back to the Pokémon News Network, bringing you live to the Pokémon World Championships happening in sunny, but relatively chilly Alola. I'm Roxy, and here we have the first matchup in the Round of 8 – Bianca vs. May."
"And what a matchup this looks to be, Roxy."
"Indeed, Gil."
"It's hard to say exactly when it happened, but suddenly, Bianca has emerged as, while not a favorite, a potential dark horse to take this entire tournament by storm. She's already defeated two champions on her way to this point, and while she'd need to beat, likely, three more to claim victory, well, if you ask me, that's not sounding nearly as ridiculous as it might've a few weeks ago."
"Let's look at the starting lineups. On May's end, it's a Blaziken equipped with a Mega Stone, an Armaldo, Tentacruel, Exploud, Salamence, and Metagross."
"That's quite the terrifying lineup, Gil."
"It definitely is, Ty. On the other end, Bianca's entering into this battle with a Salamence of her own, supported by Milotic, Leavanny, Gallade, Chandelure, and Rampardos. It doesn't quite jump off the page as much as May's lineup, does it?"
"No, it doesn't, but that doesn't mean it's worse than May's. Bianca has settled for a more clinical style of battling, as we've seen from her matches thus far. She's all about controlling space and distance on the battlefield, and controlling the way that her opponent can effectively play the game."
"Yet, can Bianca's style work against someone who's as unorthodox as May? Despite how powerful her team might seem on the surface; she's known primarily for using it in a way that many trainers around the globe say is one-of-a-kind."
"Well, the match is about to start, let's send it down to our casters to take it away!"
/
"–ingenious move from Bianca! She pivots around Metagross' Meteor Mash with Leavanny, tanking the hit and getting in Chandelure! She hits it with a Shadow Ball, making it so that even if May tries to switch out, any of her Pokémon are going to be taking serious damage!"
"It's not over yet! Metagross is still standing! It's going for a Psychic!"
"It's clear that taking out Metagross was Bianca's current goal, but what a risky strategy from May to use one of her team's aces as a lead; this is the kind of out of the box thinking we've come to expect from Hoenn's champion!"
"Metagross' Psychic connects, but as does Chandelure's Shadow Ball! Metagross is down! Oh, Chandelure falls as well! 5 to 5 here in the first match of the Round of 8!"
"They're switching in their next Pokémon. It's Leavanny again from Bianca, and Blaziken from May. It seems she read Bianca's intent to get a pivot into the battle."
"Blaziken's Mega-Evolving, and going right for Leavanny! If it can get a few turns, it Speed Boost is going to make it nigh-unstoppable!"
"Wait! Bianca's not switching out Leavanny!"
"She's choosing to let the Pokémon do as much as it can before fainting! It's a risk, going down 4 to 5, but at the very least, Leavanny nails Blaziken with a Leaf Storm straight to the face. Leavanny's down. Next in is…"
"Ah, it's Gallade!"
"She's looking to bring Blaziken down hard and fast! If she fails here, her entire strategy might fall apart, and May will be able to clean up!"
"Blaziken's going in, its charging forth with a Flare Blitz! Clearly, May knows that if she can take down Gallade, her victory is all but assured!"
"It's a long-range Psychic from Gallade! The hit connects, but will it do enough! Blaziken's Speed Boost is only making it faster! Will Bianca be able to bring it down in time!"
"AH! SHE DOES IT! BLAZIKEN FALLS!"
"An ingenious maneuver by Bianca! She uses Blaziken's blazing speed against it, and has Gallade use its Psychic not to throw Blaziken to the ground, but instead, to accelerate its movement, and cause it to run right out of the arena! It's KO'ed!"
"May seems impressed, but she knows she can't afford to be! This match is just heating up!"
"Or is it!? May's only got one answer to Gallade left, and Bianca will know it!"
"Just what's going to happen, folks!? We're on the edge of our seats here, and we know you are too!"
"I know I could certainly go for a drink right now, which is why Ludi-Cola, a proud sponsor of Pokémon News Network, is just what you need to quench your thirst–"
/
Bianca was practically panting.
Things were close.
She thought she'd been pushed before, and she had been, but this…
May was the toughest challenge she'd ever been faced with, and then some.
She'd not made any mistakes. If anything, she was probably playing one her cleanest matches at the tournament so far. And yet, even despite that…
She was barely eking out a victory; if she was even winning at all.
She and May were both down to single Pokémon left. This was not the first time this had happened at the World Championships, but it was the first time it had happened where Bianca felt like she wasn't favored in the final exchange.
Her Rampardos against May's Salamence.
She hadn't had a good window to get Rampardos involved in the battle, and it was costing her. She hadn't wanted to fully commit to a style of getting her out onto the field, and properly supporting her like she had against Blue, by utilizing Musharna, and yet, at the same time, she'd brought it along, hoping to use its frightening power against something May might bring.
Yet now, she was going to have to come up with a method to strike down Salamence, a Pokémon with far-superior mobility to back up its nearly-equal firepower.
And she had moments, at best, to formulate a plan.
The one that came to her was obvious; Stone Edge from a distance. It wasn't a particularly reliable strategy, unfortunately, given Stone Edge was not the most accurate of moves, and Salamence was not the most stationary of Pokémon. If it hit, it would almost certainly knock Salamence out of the sky, and end the battle.
But if she didn't hit, couldn't hit…
Bianca shook her head. Now wasn't the time for that.
She could be upset later, if she lost. For now, she needed to focus in on the present.
She had to find a moment where Salamence wasn't moving, which Bianca felt like would be seldom. May would have watched her most recent matches. She was smart. She'd know what Bianca was trying to do, just as Bianca knew what she was trying to do.
And yet, one of them would have to break past the others concentration to win.
She'd force May to do something, at least.
"Rampardos, Stone Edge!"
"Take to the air, Salamence!"
Both things happened near simultaneously, as if both of them had in the same moment realized they needed to make something happen. Stone Edge missed, as she'd predicted it would.
"Draco Meteor, Salamence!"
Bianca swore, even as she cried out, "Protect, Rampardos!"
Loading that move up on Rampardos before the battle had begun was a damned good choice, now. Her Pokémon hid behind a blue force field, and tanked the blow as the meteors rained down all around her. Salamence's power would be lowered as well.
But then, that didn't expressly matter. If Salamence couldn't be hit, then there was almost nothing that Bianca could do.
She had to hit Salamence.
How?
How could she–
…Oh.
She understood, in that moment, that she had just the tool she needed. It was a completely asinine thing to do, but…
Maybe, just maybe…
She needed to provide a good enough target.
"Rampardos!" She shouted out, and then, she played her gambit. "Rock Tomb, around yourself!"
Her Pokémon was evidently confused, as was May. Even so, she followed Bianca's orders.
A collection of boulders landed around Rampardos, and it was then, seemingly, that May clued into what she was doing.
"Salamence! Flamethrower!"
The Pokémon shot out a blast of flame, but Bianca's Pokémon was faster.
"Rampardos, Rock Tomb again, same deal!"
Her Pokémon shot rocks into the air, and these ones struck the top of the rocks from earlier. They created what was, almost, a wall.
A wall, but also a cage.
She'd trapped Rampardos in place, certainly. But she'd also prevented any of her opponent's moves from striking her from range.
May was realizing her plan, now.
Salamence would have to approach to close the battle out. It had no other options.
Well, if May knew enough about the Rampardos line, she might think to heat the rocks that surrounded Rampardos, essentially placing it inside a superheated cage, which, with Rampardos being rather weak to the heat, would probably do it in.
But Bianca was betting she didn't know that.
And she was proven correct when May instead ordered Salamence to reposition itself, looking for a way to strike at Rampardos.
Bianca had, purposefully, only left a single opening.
Directly above.
And she was betting everything that Salamence wouldn't be able to finish Rampardos off without opening itself up, too.
Now…
It was time to see whether or not that bet would burn her or not.
End Chapter 46
Alright, that's that!
Not a ton to say. I'll see you guys next week!