Yo! Another chapter of WWUTB! We're getting very close to the end! Hope you guys are enjoying this final arc.

Chapter 43

"For those of you just joining us, we have quite the banger of a match unfolding before our eyes!"

Bianca's forehead dripped with sweat, despite the winter chill hanging in the air. Her palms were clammy, and her breaths were coming hard and fast.

Despite the fact that it wasn't her out there, it definitely felt like it.

"It's all come down to this!" The announcer called out as Bianca's Leavanny and Elesa's Electrivire stood opposite one another, on their last legs, with both of them down to just those Pokémon. "One-on-one! Down to the wire!"

"Leavanny!" She shouted out. "We need to finish it!"

Her Pokémon nodded back at her, and then turned to face its opponent. Electrivire was the better off in terms of health, but then, Leavanny had the advantage in terms of type matchup.

The problem was that Electrivire knew Fire Punch. And Fire Punch was going to be a problem. A single one of those, and…

Well, Leavanny was going to be out for the count.

Honestly, she'd made so many mistakes already just from being nervous about competing on such a big stage. Her voice had been drowned out by the crowd, and her orders had been harder for her Pokémon to hear. Because of that, they'd erred.

She'd gotten the hint after a while, and rallied back to bring things to where they were now, but none of that would matter if Bianca lost here.

She couldn't.

She wouldn't.

Her breaths came quick, and fevered. She wasn't panicking, but she was feeling in her heart the truth of the matter.

If she failed here, then the last eight months were for nothing.

Or…

No, that wasn't true. They weren't for nothing. She'd improved as a person by leaps and bounds. She'd made great friends, met the love of her life, and experienced things that she'd have never had the chance to without going on such a journey. Even if she lost here, those things wouldn't be taken away from her.

But…

She still held within herself an impossible dream.

She wanted to win.

She wanted to win, and to keep on winning.

She wanted to get as far as she could.

…She needed to act. She'd hesitated enough. It was time for her to go on the offensive. Elesa was almost guaranteed not to expect as such.

"Leavanny!" She shouted. "Harass it with a Signal Beam!"

Her Pokémon had the range advantage, mostly because if Leavanny and Electrivire were trading long range hits, Electrivire's would be resisted by Leavanny. A thunderbolt was going to prove a lot less effective against Leavanny than a Signal Beam on Electrivire.

"Electrivire!" Bianca barely made out from the other side of the arena. "Strike back with a Thunderbolt."

Neither of them was willing to commit, then. Both understood that a missed hit could mean the different between a win and a loss.

And damn it, but Bianca wanted to win.

Both attacks connected, and Leavanny stumbled somewhat. Electrivire on the other hand stayed relatively stationary, and Bianca bit down on her lower lip.

She had to hit it with something hard, and she had to do it fast.

She had something up her sleeve – she wouldn't have made for a very good Pokémon trainer if she didn't – but it was a gamble, and a heavy one at that.

Leaf Storm.

If it failed, her Leavanny was going to be left a sitting duck. If it struck out accurately, then Electrivire would fall.

If it didn't…

No. She couldn't doubt her Pokémon now.

They'd made it this far.

They weren't going to fail.

"Leavanny!" She called out. "We're playing our gamble. Get in close, as close as you can, and then fire!"

Her Pokémon nodded its head, smiling back at her, before turning to face Electrivire, and beginning to glow with a green energy. It dashed forwards, even as Elesa called out to her Electrivire to close the distance, and to hit Leavanny with a Fire Punch.

It was going to be close. The audience had quieted down, waiting for the result. It was still noisy, to be clear, just not nearly as much as it had been before. The announcer called out almost Bianca's exact thoughts; that this was it.

The two Pokémon closed the distance between them, and it was clear that while Leavanny's move had more range, to guarantee a hit it had to get close.

And it if got close, then it was in range of Fire Punch.

Electrivire swung first, aiming high, and Leavanny, with a titanic showing of bravery, dodged just beneath it, the flames at the bottom singing its antennae.

Even so, it was in.

"LEAF STORM!" Bianca shouted.

And her Pokémon answered.

The next few moments were a blur of activity. Her Pokémon hit its attack, sending Electrivire up into the sky. The air seemed to almost be sucked entirely out of the stadium, for the crowd went silent. They waited for Electrivire to come back down.

And when it did, it kicked up a cloud of dust. Leavanny backed away, barely able to stand, but her Pokémon was standing.

And as the dust cleared…

It was revealed that it was the only Pokémon still standing.

"Electrivire is unable to battle!" The announcer called out. "The winner is… BIANCAAAA!"

And then it felt like the entire world exploded all at once.

The crowd erupted into a barrage of cheers, and Bianca's ears felt the effects. Despite that, she couldn't deny that her heart soared, and that her entire being radiated energy.

Gods, but she was excited!

She ran across the field, and wrapped her arms around her Leavanny's body. It hugged her back and jumped up onto her, counting on her to support its weight. Luckily, Leavanny was pretty light, but even so, Bianca wasn't exactly strong.

Once they broke apart, Bianca recalled Leavanny back into its Pokéball, and let out a horrid sigh of relief.

That had been close. Far too close.

But she'd done it.

She was in the round of 128.

She looked across the field, and saw Elesa recalling her own Pokémon with a semi-regretful look on her face. She walked over towards her, and Bianca met her halfway for a hug.

"You did well." She spoke.

"Ah, thank you." Bianca ran a hand up the back of her neck. "You did too, y'know."

"Hah, not well enough," Elesa chuckled, but she shook her head and smiled. "Still, I suppose I'll get to enjoy the actual event a bit more from the sidelines."

"That's a good way of looking at it."

"And I'll get to spend some quality time with my good friend Cynthia."

Bianca's heart lurched, and she was about to subtly complain about that before Elesa's face pulled into a grin, and Bianca realized she had been joking.

"Oh, don't tease me like that!"

Elesa cackled, even as they made their way off the stage.

/

"Nice job out there, Bianca!"

She was greeted by Barry, Leaf, and Brendan as she made her way off of the stage, and back into the tunnel she'd taken to walk out. The others had seemingly been waiting for her.

"You panicked a bit in the middle there," Brendan spoke, "But you brought it back at the end there."

"What Brendan's trying to say," Leaf elbowed him, and the man huffed out. "Is that you did a good job, and that we're all very proud of you."

"I actually agree with what Brendan was saying." Bianca admitted, scratching at the back of her skull. "I was rough out there."

"Yeah, but a win's a win." Barry said with a shrug. "Doesn't matter how well you did, or bad you did; if you lose, you lost. If you win, you won. Nothing else matters."

Bianca laughed. "That's a rather simplistic way of looking at things."

"That's Barry in a nutshell." Leaf teased.

"Hey!"

Bianca ended up bidding them farewell, and instead making her way towards the competitors seating, where those who were actively fighting in the tournament could watch the matches unfold while they weren't on for their match. She showed off her id, and the man guarding the entrance nodded and let her through.

She made her way up a few floors until she exited out into the stadium. The section that had been carved out for them was small; incredibly so. It was situated at the very left side of the stands, where they could be most easily cordoned off.

The current battle was between Janine, and one of the trainers from the qualifiers.

Instantly, Bianca had a favorite.

She wanted to shout out, to call out in support of her friend, but…

…

Bianca looked around, and realized that all around her, people were hooting and hollering, making fools of themselves and being as loud as possible.

And no one cared at all.

So…

"GO JANINE!" She shouted out, knowing hers was just another scream absorbed by the crowd all around her. It was… an oddly good feeling, almost, to have such anonymity. Janine didn't so much as shift at the sound of her voice, which told Bianca that she hadn't been heard.

But that was fine, she didn't want to distract the woman.

And so, she herself was lost in the haze of competition, as the day began to gradually tick by.

She witnessed many matches. She saw Steven, one of the top ten, be taken down in the first round by Wallace in a tense, back and forth display. The two were apparently good friends, and had evidently squared off before, for they were both quite familiar with one another's styles.

She watched Lance utterly decimate one of the poor members of the qualifiers, who ended up losing while Lance still had four Pokémon up. She watched Diantha get matched up against one of the top twenty trainers at the event, a woman named Lyra. Apparently, she was one of the older champions of Johto.

The match came down to the wire, but in the end, Lyra ended up taking the win.

Two of the top ten taken down during the round of 256.

Unfortunately for Brendan, however…

"You uh…" Leaf patted the man on the back as he returned from what Bianca could only really call a ritualistic slaughter. "You did your best."

"Thanks, Leaf." The man sighed out, having gotten absolutely trounced. "It's easy to hear that Cynthia's one of the best trainers of all time, but experiencing it firsthand is… ugh. Nightmarish."

"You took down two of her Pokémon, though?"

"Both moves were sacrifices to guarantee her victories in other places," Brendan spoke, analyzing his own match incredibly well despite his early defeat. "She could've likely perfect-gamed me if she wanted to play a little risky. But she decided to take no risks. She didn't have to."

Barry patted the man on the back. "That's rough, buddy."

"Thank you all for absolutely nothing." Brendan rolled his eyes.

He was back in a joking mood only fifteen or so minutes later. It was clear that while he'd definitely hoped he could beat Cynthia, he hadn't expected to be able to.

Cynthia had been…

Well, impressive was a word for it. Dominant another.

Terrifying a third.

Bianca could see why her girlfriend was considered one of the favorites.

Speaking back on Brendan, however, he was helping everyone else prepare for the next round – the matchups for which would be announced soon – while they all joked with one another.

Barry had won, and Leaf had as well, albeit barely. Her match had been closer than Bianca's own; with her Pokémon falling quite literally a second after Bruno's final Pokémon had.

Still, as Barry had said; a win was a win.

Eventually, their messages for the next round came, and Bianca searched the now much smaller bracket for her name.

"Ah, found you, Bianca," Barry smiled as he showed her his phone. "Here."

She looked, and…

Her eyes widened.

'Bianca vs. Blue'.

"Well, well." Barry laughed. "Seems fate favors you after all, Bianca. Or, well, maybe it doesn't, depending on if you're confident or not."

Bianca just laughed. "I've got to be confident, don't I?"

"I suppose so." He hummed out. "So, what do you think?"

"I'd say…" Bianca thought a moment, looking down at Blue's team on her own phone now that she had a chance to study it.

"…That I might actually have an idea."

/

"Welcome back to our coverage of the Pokémon World Championships! We're here tonight to break down the results of the round of 128, which just finished earlier today!"

"And what a round it was, Gil. One hundred and twenty-eight trainers entered, and only sixty-four could move on. We saw stomps, upsets, and everything in between. Let's talk about some of the biggest moments. Gabby, you were eager to talk about one match in particular."

"Of course, Ty. First off, another of the top ten drops before the round of 64! Then again, this time, there wasn't much choice, given that it was Dawn against Cynthia! A matchup so good that a lot of people were calling the World Championships scripted! The twin champions of Sinnoh getting to face one another in a tournament setting for the first time in two years. The last time, Cynthia was actually the one to walk away defeated in a close battle, where Dawn emerged with only one Pokémon remaining. It was time to see which of these two trainers had best adapted since then, and which was going to be leaving the tournament early!"

"The match started off strong; with Dawn taking the lead early on. She managed to use her Empoleon to take out Cynthia's Spiritomb before it could properly set up. Unfortunately for Dawn, that was about where the good news ended for her in today's match."

"Simply put, after that, things were smooth sailing for Cynthia. Spiritomb's Imprison locked Empoleon out of most of its moves when Cynthia's Milotic switched in, and when Dawn was forced to switch out, sacrificing tempo, she lost her Staraptor quickly to a predicted Ice Beam. From there, it was a match of efficient trading by both trainers, but it felt like the writing was on the wall already."

"Cynthia took the match in the end with a single Pokémon remaining, but despite that seemingly close figure, it never felt nearly as close on the field."

"And so, Cynthia moves on to the round of 64! I know quite a few people are breathing sighs of relief, because more than a couple here in the studio were upset that Cynthia had drawn one of the only people to knock her out of a tournament in the last few years so early on. A lot of people's bets and predictions were riding on her making it into the top 16, and most have her much higher than that."

"Now, onto other highlights; more in news from Sinnoh, Barry, a longtime rival of Dawn herself, moved onto the round of 64 by defeating his opponent Grimsley. Dawn implored viewers to root for her friend now that she'd been eliminated, and even met many fans outside the stadium, holding an impromptu autograph session."

"Lance continues on a streak of dominance, taking another commanding victory over his opponent in this round, Sidney, of the Hoenn Elite Four. Sidney, while remaining stoic in the face of his opponent, simply seemed unable to contend with Lance's hyper aggressive, all-out offensive strategy."

"Wallace, who upset Steven Stone in the previous round, moves onto the round of 64 after a match against one of our battlers from the qualifiers. There are many more names to be brought up here, but given we've limited time for this segment, I think we should move onto the final match we wanted to highlight; Blue vs. Bianca!"

"I'm sure Blue needs no introduction. A former champion of Kanto, and one of the very first to earn the moniker at that. He was thought to be in the top thirty trainers in the tournament, and yet he was placed up against someone who's been making waves in her own way, beginning to draw a bit of buzz."

"That trainer is Bianca, from Unova's Nuvema Town. Rumored to have been trained by Cynthia herself, Bianca started the tournament off with a shaky win against Elesa, and many thought that form would be the expectation coming into her match with Blue. However, initial nerves seem to have been shaken off, and despite a harsh opening to the match, with Blue taking a commanding five to three Pokémon lead, Bianca was able to counter, and finish the battle out with the help of her final Pokémon, Rampardos."

"Utilizing what many would call a gimmicky strategy of having Musharna set up for the Pokémon entirely via Trick Room, Future Sight, and Healing Wish support, Bianca took Blue by surprise, and managed to sweep the last of his three Pokémon."

"It goes to show you that Pokémon battles are never over until they're over, Roxy."

"It does indeed, Ty. Now, the round of 64 approaches! Let's take a look at some of the most exciting matchups coming up!"

"First off, for those watching for high-impact matches, we've got a battle of champions on the right side of the bracket; Caitlin against Lyra, who ended up taking down Diantha in the previous round! Lyra was listed just outside of the top ten, with most trainers considering her to be within the top fifteen trainers present. She took down Diantha to make it this far, however, so perhaps she's been underrated?"

"Well, it feels like Johto often draws the short straw when it comes to rankings in these tournaments. But that's a completely different topic. Caitlin and Lyra will be facing off against one another first thing tomorrow morning, as the very first match of the day. You won't want to miss this one, folks!"

"For those on Cynthia watch, the last of Sinnoh's twin champions still remaining will be facing off in the next round with one of those from the qualifiers; a woman named Leaf. A childhood rival of both Red and Blue, she's looking to make it far in this tournament to prove she's just as capable as them. But can she take down such a herculean opponent?"

"My money's on no, Gil."

"And finally, with so few from last week's qualifiers left in the tournament, we're going to be scratching off at least one more name from that list tomorrow, given that one of the last matches of the day will feature Barry and Bianca duking it out against one another. Who will reign supreme in this battle of the underdogs? Find out today and tomorrow, here on the Poké-News Network!"

/

That night, Bianca laid down to rest feeling both energized and exhausted.

She'd gone up to battle once more in front of tens of thousands of fans, and while she'd emerged victorious, there had definitely been a moment where she'd thought she wouldn't.

Blue had her on the ropes. If her gamble with Rampardos and Musharna hadn't worked…

But there was no sense worrying about that right now, she supposed. It had worked.

She and Cynthia both were back in their hotel room. Bianca was prepping for bed, but that was slow going, mostly because she was almost entirely distracted.

Her next opponent was Barry.

It was a match that felt almost fated to happen, ever since she'd first met him back in Pinwheel Forest. Now, here they were, months later, about to truly face one another.

…But she could think more on that tomorrow. Their match wasn't until the day after tomorrow, given that until the round of 32, the tournament organizers would still need at least two full days to make room for matches.

But those were thoughts for later. She had been brushing and flossing her teeth at what had to be a rate of roughly one tooth per thirty seconds for the last while, but she broke herself out of her own head to finish before the heat death of the universe. When she stepped out of the bathroom, it was to find Cynthia reading of a book on her own bed. She looked up and smiled.

"Tired?"

"More than a little." She admitted, laughing. "But I'll be alright."

Cynthia nodded her head, before placing her book down in front of her, and, red in the face, scootching slightly to the right on her bed.

"If you'd like… perhaps you could lay with me?"

Bianca's eyes widened. She… wasn't really sure what brought this on, but… "Uhm… are you sure? I wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable, or–"

"I'm sure." Cynthia recovered gracefully. "I've actually been meaning to ask for a few nights now. Forgive me for being so slow."

"No, you're…" Bianca just laughed. "Honestly, I'd say the same thing."

She walked over to her own bed, grabbed her pillows, and moved them over onto Cynthia's. Then, she laid down beside her, and got herself comfortable.

That all sort of fell apart once Cynthia snuggled closer to her, and messed up her entire effort, but…

She couldn't find it in herself to be mad. Not when she was so warm.

So, she thought, 'to hell with it', and turned herself so that she was face to face with Cynthia.

She kissed her lightly, before wrapping her own arms around her girlfriend, and holding her.

And that was how they laid until morning; arm in arm, with smiles on their faces.

And the tournament continued.

Six matches to go.

End Chapter 43

As you can probably tell by this chapter, we're not going to be fully detailing each of Bianca's matchups in the tournament here. Relevant matches with big stakes will be shown (and I'm sure you can guess the potential matchups I might be talking about), but other than that, they'll be shown as they've been in this chapter; quick snippets that give you a general idea of how the match went.

Alright, that's all from me!

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