Yo!

Three more chapters! We're almost at the end! Hope you're all enjoying this!

Chapter 49

"For those of you just joining us, things have been surprisingly calm here in the second-to-last match of the Pokémon World Championships!"

"That's right, Roxy. Bianca, the de facto challenger to Lance's champion, has been able to dictate the pace against the far more experienced veteran. Not many people expected such coming into the day."

"I know I didn't, Ty."

"But Lance has been unable to truly utilize the blistering, high-tempo aggression that has made him such a feared champion throughout the years. He's been able to keep pace with Bianca, but that's all it feels like; he's keeping pace, not setting it."

"And I don't think that's going to be enough for him to win."

/

"Stone Edge, Rampardos!"

Her Pokémon did just that, summoning up a maelstrom of stones from out of the Earth. Scizor had been injured enough already by Gallade's efforts. That singular hit was enough to do it in.

That marked the fourth of Lance's Pokémon to fall.

And Bianca still had three herself.

3 to 2.

She was winning. Honestly, even though it might seem even for an outsider looking in, she'd had control of the match from the very beginning.

Lance was on the backfoot, and he performed far less consistently from there.

Lance had two Pokémon remaining. His Dragonite, and his Mega-Gyarados. Both were threats in their own right, although personally, Bianca had a feeling the latter would be more of a problem than the former.

He sent out Gyarados, just as she'd predicted. The Pokémon roared, intimidating her Rampardos just a bit. Though she doubted that intimidation would be enough to prevent a single Stone Edge From knocking Gyarados out of the match.

"Rampardos, Stone Edge!"

"Mega-Evolve into a Surf, Gyarados!"

The move was assuredly going to be enough to take out Rampardos. Bianca's only hope was that her Pokémon's Stone Edge would connect before it went down. Unfortunately, she got unlucky, and Stone Edge missed the mark as the surf came crashing down around Rampardos.

Rampardos was down.

Now…

Now she had just two Pokémon remaining; Milotic and Salamence.

"Milotic, you're up!"

Her Pokémon wasn't at a disadvantage in this match-up, but unfortunately, Milotic had taken some chip damage earlier against Lance's Aerodactyl. That wasn't going to be enough to secure this matchup, but then, every little inch mattered in a scenario like this.

It wasn't a particularly complicated exchange. Gyarados struck out with Water and Dragon-Type moves, and Milotic struck out with Fairy-Type attacks. They weren't terribly effective, given that Milotic was no fairy itself, but that didn't matter.

Eventually, she edged out the victory in the one-on-one.

2 to 1.

This was it.

"Dragonite," Lance announced as he took a breath. "It's all on you."

As Lance's ace, and one of the very first aces ever hit the field, the audience erupted into cheers. Lance's Dragonite was almost as famous as he was, given that the Pokémon had been with him through thick and thin for nearly thirty years.

"Milotic, Ice Beam!"

Despite everything, however, it was only going to take a singular good hit from either of her Pokémon to end this match. Salamence could strike at it with a Dragon-Type move like Outrage, and Milotic could hit it with anything Ice-Type.

Dragonite had the ability Multiscale, which kept it safe from singular instances of damage, but that didn't mean it didn't feel them. The ice struck it dead on, and though it was probably still hovering above sixty percent, it was already chipped down.

"Draco Meteor, Dragonite!"

The Pokémon called down a plethora of boulders that struck Bianca's Pokémon dead on. Milotic fainted, but that was fine. Dragonite had needed to overextend to eliminate it quickly.

And that meant that the match could come down to her own Ace.

"Salamence!" She called out. "Let's go!"

Her Pokémon hit the field with a roar of its own, which affected Dragonite. Now, both of its offensive stats were lowered. That put her in a great situation. A singular hit from Salamence would be enough to do it in.

But she could confirm that with this.

"Salamence, Mega Evolve into an Outrage!"

Salamence followed her orders, and the band around Bianca's wrist began to glow. The bandana around Salamence's neck did the same, causing it to glow a fierce white for just a moment, before a cocoon-like structure built itself up around it. It lasted only a fraction of a second, but once it burst…

Mega Salamence floated in the air, its crescent wings keeping it aloft.

And then it practically blinked out of existence.

Dragonite reacted the moment it did, its own body glowing with a similar aura. An Outrage wouldn't be able to do Salamence in by itself, not with how Salamence had already lowered its attack, but a plethora of them might be able to.

But the problem Dragonite was facing was that Salamence was fast, too fast. It tried to get a bead on the Pokémon as it soared around it, and dodged its attacks, but it couldn't. Every attack missed.

And the moment that Dragonite fell into confusion, the moment that it was vulnerable…

Salamence struck.

It sliced past Dragonite at a speed that created a sonic boom, and kicked up a great cloud of dust. The dust settled over ten or so seconds, and when it cleared…

"Dragonite is unable to battle…" The announcer called out, and Bianca felt her heart surge. "The winner is…

"BIAAANCAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

/

"Hail! The victorious challenger returns!"

Bianca headed back into the room the others had been watching the match from to a chorus of cheers, and well-wishes. Barry came up to her and wrapped her in a hug, laughing as he spun her around. Dawn nodded to her, Steven shook her hand, Wallace winked to her, May waved – Bianca nearly fainted – and Cynthia also wrapped her up in a hug.

"Congratulations!" She laughed freely. "You did it!"

It was odd, but in a way, it didn't quite feel real to Bianca. Maybe this was all one giant dream, and she'd find herself waking up any moment back in her home in Nuvema Town.

Except… no. That didn't seem to be happening.

Her life was just crazy, nowadays.

"You played an immaculate match, Bianca." Wallace spoke in his normal, exaggerated tone. "You had so much control that the bout was almost boring. It felt like Lance could never quite recover after having to switch out early. What a brilliant maneuver from you!"

She went a bit red with embarrassment. "Thank you."

"In truth, as much as he's a bit much," Steven rolled his eyes at Wallace's antics. "He's not wrong. You took control early, never gave Lance a moment to counteract your momentum, and carefully chipped away at his Pokémon with your own team. You took advantage of his lack of ability to get his Pokémon into and out of combat as easily as you could, and because of that–"

"Ah, are we discussing my downfall?"

Every figure in the room turned towards the door, where, sure enough, Lance was standing with a tired smile on his face.

"Not your downfall, necessarily." Wallace answered, not missing a beat. "More Bianca's triumph."

"Mm." He hummed in response, walking over to the table that had all the food and taking up a sandwich. "You did well, Bianca. Better than I'd anticipated. I should've known that you having Aqua Ring on Milotic was a part of some greater ploy." He sighed. "Ah, well. That's the nature of competition. You win some, and you lose some."

He was handling this… remarkably well.

It seemed that Bianca's expression was easy for Lance to read, for he turned to her with an amused smile. "I've lost more tournaments than most of the people in this room have entered, Bianca. I'm fine."

Oh. Right. He was…

"Uhm… how old are you?" She couldn't hide her curiosity.

"Oof." Steven grunted out.

"Yowch." Dawn looked away.

"Er, Bianca," Wallace coughed into one fist, "It's prudent to not ask such things about–"

"I'm fifty-one." Lance answered, and the man grimaced as he said it. "But do me a favor and never bring that up again?"

Bianca nodded her head quickly. "Er… sorry about–"

"It's fine." Lance answered, shaking his head with some small amusement. "As long as it's never brought up again…"

"Oh." Bianca got what he was trying to say. "So, uh… how about the weather!"

Lance snorted. "Better, kid."

Bianca wasn't a kid… but then, she'd just called Lance old, so perhaps they were even.

/

They ended up celebrating for about twenty minutes before it was announced there was going to be a finals pre-show, one which both Bianca and Cynthia were to attend.

Apparently, it was going to be a joint interview, where both of them were going to be asked questions.

Again, this was about as close to one of Bianca's nightmares as she could get in the waking world, but having Cynthia there would likely help her a bit.

That was the hope, at least.

"So, uhm…" Bianca coughed out under her breath as the makeup artist applied foundation to her cheeks. "Is this really all… necessary?"

"Looking good for TV?" The man laughed. "Yes, it's necessary."

"You get used to it." Cynthia chuckled at her naïveté. "Just be glad you don't have to do a documentary series. Let me tell you, those? No fun at all."

"Oh, you're such a whiner, Cynthia." The makeup woman working on her rolled her eyes. "You had to get makeup every morning for a few weeks. It wasn't that big of a deal."

"I nearly died." Cynthia quipped. "Came this close to meeting my end."

"From what? Boredom?"

"Something like that, yes."

Bianca laughed.

/

"So, you'll want to talk normally," The man who had just attached a small microphone to her lapel explained to her. "This will pick up your voice just fine. Make sure you're not trying to talk directly into it, sometimes that causes feedback."

"Got it."

"Cynthia, I doubt I need to explain any of this to you?"

"It's only been a year or so." Cynthia smiled. "I think I'll manage."

It was around ten minutes later when the lights came on, and the interview began.

The hosts – of whom there were two, Roxy and Ty, Bianca was pretty sure their names were – introduced the segment first, letting the viewers know that they had some rather intriguing guests. Finally, they turned towards them.

"And here we have the two finalists of the Pokémon World Championships! Bianca and Cynthia!"

"It's a pleasure to be here, Roxy." Cynthia nodded to the woman. "It's been a bit of a while. How are the kids?"

"Oh, they're good." Roxy laughed, seemingly at ease.

"And Ms. Bianca, it's wonderful to have the chance to talk face to face again."

Oh. Right. She hadn't recognized her for the first few seconds, but Roxy had been the woman interviewing her for the Round of… 64? Yes, that sounded right.

"It's nice to see you again, too, Ms. Roxy."

"Oh, so very formal." Roxy chuckled. "Hear that, Ty? She called me Ms. Roxy."

"Yes, I heard." Ty, her partner, laughed lightheartedly. "Speaking more on personal matters, however; I'd like to start this interview by asking the both of you to confirm or deny the rumors. Are the two of you romantically involved?"

Cynthia looked to Bianca, and Bianca looked to Cynthia. It was clear that Cynthia was asking her permission, and she nodded her head subtly.

"We are." Cynthia answered.

Ty nodded. "Well, it was just about the worst kept secret in the Pokémon world."

Cynthia laughed. "And whoever could have been at fault for that?"

She shot her a look out of the corner of her eye, and Bianca coughed into one hand, earning a bit of laughter from some of the camera crew.

They talked about nothing of import for the first five or so minutes, just answering personal questions, or things like 'how have you enjoyed the tournament so far?'

After a while, though, the questions did get a bit more pointed.

"So, Bianca, this is your first ever Pokémon tournament, correct?"

"It is." She answered.

"And you've made it to the finals of a bracket that once contained as many as ten thousand people. How does that feel?"

"A bit… unreal, I suppose?"

"I can only imagine."

"It's just… when I think back on where I was a year ago at this point, working alongside Professor Juniper at her lab in Nuvema Town, and where I am now… it's almost impossible to compare the two of them."

"What led you to leave your position at Professor Juniper's lab in the first place?"

"I suppose I'd say it had been a feeling in the back of my mind for a long time. I didn't want to acknowledge it, but I'd been growing… not bored necessarily with the work, but unsatisfied. It no longer gave me any sort of spark like it used to. And when I thought of giving Pokémon training another try… I suppose that was when I first realized that that might've been what I wanted to do after all."

"I know your story has inspired quite a lot of people; A 28-year-old scientist getting back on the proverbial horse, and reaching for her dreams once again."

Bianca blushed. "I don't know about inspiring…"

"She never gives herself enough credit, I'm afraid." Cynthia spoke, rolling her eyes. "There aren't a lot of champions who could make it this far, let alone people that, with a single year of building themselves back up, could manage to make it here, to this place."

"Well…" Bianca blushed. "I think a lot of them could, if they were with you."

Cynthia's face went red, too, and Roxy and Ty both cooed.

"On that topic, that is something that a lot of people have brought up; Cynthia, Bianca is your student. Are you going to be able to put your biases aside in the finals?"

"Well, it's impossible to say that I'd be able to put my biases entirely aside. I'm only human, after all. But I can say that if you think I'm just going to let Bianca win, then you've got another thing coming."

"And if anyone out there thought I'd want her to," Bianca smiled, "Then I think you might've read me wrong."

Cynthia laughed.

"Good. Come at me with everything you have. I've been waiting a long time for someone to match me."

She looked right into Bianca's eyes, stared her down, and then, with a half-wicked smile, said, "I know you can. Make it count."

"Well, that's all the time we have for today. I'd like to thank both of the finalists for being here with us this evening."

"Thank you, Roxy." Cynthia responded.

"Yes, thank you." Bianca followed up.

One of the cameramen from off the stage shot Bianca a thumbs up.

"This has been the Pokémon News Network," Roxy announced as she smiled towards that very camera.

"Signing off for the evening."

/

They made it back to the penthouse late. It was cresting eleven o'clock, and frankly, Bianca just wanted to curl up in a little ball on her bed and fall asleep. Unfortunately, she also wanted to start planning for the match up to end all match ups that she had coming up in just two days.

They were rather conflicting feelings, but in the end the latter won out.

"Oh?" Cynthia looked over at her as she was gazing down at Cynthia's team on her Rotom phone. "Already planning?"

"I've got to, don't I?" Bianca smiled over at her as she flicked off the bedside lamp. "Let me know if my phone's too bright for you to sleep, I'll lower the brightness."

"Mm."

Cynthia sat there for a second without turning over, however, so Bianca knew she wasn't done.

"It's funny. For a moment there I was going to start offering you tips." She laughed. "But I don't think I'm going to be doing that. You've got to figure this out on your own, I'm afraid."

"I assumed so. But don't worry."

She shot her girlfriend a cocky grin.

"I won't need help."

Cynthia's eyes widened, before her lips turned up at the edges into a teasing smile.

"Oh, look who's too big for her britches now!"

Cynthia got on top of her, and startled tickling her at the ribs.

"Gah! Stop!"

"You will pay for your arrogance!"

"Ah!"

/

It was a day later. Bianca was at the arena.

Not for any particular reason. She was the only one there. No matches or events were being held that day, and so no one else – other than the workers – saw any reason to be present.

But… she'd wanted to be there.

She was sort of just… taking it all in.

She'd been asked on the show what she felt about the tournament, but the truth of the matter was that she was pretty sure the enormity of what she'd already done wasn't going to hit her until it was over. It wasn't going to hit her until she went back to Nuvema afterwards, and celebrated – win or lose – with her family and friends. Cynthia had already agreed to come along – again, win or lose – and Bianca couldn't have been happier.

It was odd to think of it like that. As if she could still lose. She'd come so far, done so much… in the end, it didn't matter what the result of that final matchup was. Even if Cynthia annihilated her six to zero, she'd still be on top of the world.

She wasn't sure she could lose. She'd changed when she'd once thought such a thing impossible. Gone beyond her wildest dreams. Hell, tomorrow, she had the potential to make one of her earliest visions on this journey – standing in the middle of this very stadium as the final victor, with the crowd chanting her name – a reality.

Here she was. At the end of the road. The end of the journey.

One last step. One final hurdle.

…She was going to win.

She swore it to herself in that moment. Right then and there, she told herself that no matter what Cynthia came at her with, no matter what strategy her girlfriend used against her…

She'd have a way out, and she'd find a way in.

She was going to win this.

She was going to be the greatest Pokémon trainer in the world.

Just like Hilda had always believed she could be.

End Chapter 49

Alright, that's that!

Not a ton to say, so I'll just say 'see you next week'!