Yo!
Not a ton to say, let's just get into it!
Chapter 47
"It all comes down to this, ladies and gentleman! Bianca and May both have just one Pokémon remaining, and it's looking dire for the underdog here!"
"May has managed to push Bianca to the brink! The final Pokémon on both sides are Salamence for May, and Rampardos for Bianca. It's a bit of a skewed matchup, made even worse due to the fact that Rampardos is the far slower Pokémon, with much less maneuverability."
"Yet Bianca is attempting to correct for that! She's embraced Rampardos' inability to maneuver, and has, essentially, trapped it within the confines of a trio of Rock Tomb's! But because of that, Salamence can't strike out at Rampardos. Not without going directly above it."
"And directly above, Roxy, is exactly where Rampardos wants Salamence. If Rampardos can hit it with a Stone Edge, then I do believe this battle's over in Bianca's favor."
"Oh, May's making her move!"
/
May was making her move.
And Bianca could barely breathe.
It all came down to this. Rampardos had a single shot. One hit to be able to take Salamence out of the sky. If it succeeded, then that was it. Bianca moved on.
If it failed…
"Rampardos!" She called out, and she hoped her Pokémon could hear her, because inside of the rock tomb it was trapped within, she couldn't tell. "I'm leaving the timing up to you! You know what to do!"
Her Pokémon gave a grunt back, but it was all but lost in the sea of noise surrounding them. This was one of the closest matches of the tournament, and the crowd was reacting in kind.
Bianca would've been thrilled about that if it wasn't actively inhibiting her.
"Salamence, take to the skies! Don't get directly above the hole, but find an angle you can fire a Draco Meteor inside!"
That was her play, then. She was anticipating Bianca's move, and working to directly counteract it. It was smart. That was the really unfortunate thing.
And yet, Bianca had anticipated May's counter as well.
And she had a plan.
It was going to be tight. Rampardos was going to act on its own unless she gave it orders, and while she was confident in her Pokémon's ability to strike a knockout blow, she wasn't confident in its ability to adapt.
That was Bianca's job. She wasn't going to fail at it. Not now.
Not after everything.
She'd come too far to fail. Obviously, the idea that the victory in a tournament went to 'whoever wanted it most' was a falsehood, but there was some truth to it.
May had won many competitions before in her life. This was, to her, likely just another tournament, just another day competing.
This was, for Bianca, everything.
And she was going to make it count.
Salamence moved into position, and May gave the call. In anticipation of the match's end, the crowd quieted down. Bianca's mind focused in.
She had one shot at this.
Rampardos acted the moment it saw Salamence, sending a stone edge high into the air. Salamence ducked and dodged around the rocks, albeit one smaller rock did manage to strike its tail. It was far from a debilitating blow, however. It really only served to slow the Pokémon's attack down.
The ugly truth of the matter was that Rampardos wasn't tanky enough to take a Draco Meteor, no matter how much of the move would be absorbed by the Rock Tomb set up around her.
She shouldn't have to, however.
Bianca's plan was going to circumvent that.
"Salamence, now!" May called.
Salamence went in. All sound around her died.
It had to get closer. Closer so that its Draco Meteor was sure to hit. If it missed, then its power would be so greatly reduced that even Rampardos would be able to contend with it. It couldn't afford that.
That played to Bianca's advantage.
Closer…
Closer…
Closer.
Now.
"Rampardos!" She screamed out. "Stone Edge with the boulders around you!"
It was clear from the way that May's eyes widened across from her that such had not been expected. The sheer strength that was required to send those boulders up into the air was something that not many Pokémon possessed.
But Rampardos was not lacking in power.
It slammed its foot into the ground, and let out a great roar. All around her, the rocks shot off into the air at high speeds, aiming right for Salamence.
"DRACO METEOR!" May shouted.
It was do or die.
The Draco Meteor was summoned, just as a boulder from below slammed into Salamence's body. It knocked the Pokémon to the side, and sent it on a collision course with the ground.
Bianca couldn't make out if it had fainted. Neither, still, could the officiator. It was too high off the ground.
Which meant the match wasn't yet over.
Draco Meteors rained down around Rampardos. Her Pokémon did its best to evade them, but that was clearly not its strength. Even so, it avoided a few before being utterly eviscerated by a pair of meteors, and then another few kicked up dust that exploded into the air.
At that exact moment, Salamence slammed into the ground, kicking up an equal amount of dust.
The audience was stunned. The announcers said nothing. Everyone simply sat and waited.
And when the dust cleared…
It was to see, somehow, both Rampardos and Salamence still standing.
Bianca's eyes widened, as did May's. The audience clamored once more, and the announcer screamed something out that was impossible to decipher with all the feedback.
It was clear that both Pokémon were on their very last legs, however. Both were due to fall any moment, and neither could truly attack the other.
It was just a waiting game. Who could stand longer.
Rampardos stood ramrod straight. Its entire body shook, and yet it would not bend.
Salamence, on the other hand, teetered on the verge of collapse. Bianca bit down on her bottom lip.
Rampardos suddenly began to shake. As the seconds ticked by, that shaking grew more fevered. Her left leg nearly gave out entirely. She righted herself only just in time. A groan of strain emerged from her lips.
Salamence seemed almost to be recovering. It rose higher. Its wings flapped once, then twice.
For a moment, Bianca's heart stopped.
She…
She was going to lose.
No.
She had already–
And then Salamence's head fell, and the Pokémon let out an exhausted breath.
And the stadium erupted.
"MAY'S SALAMENCE IS UNABLE TO BATTLE! THE WINNER IS… BIANCAAAAA!"
Bianca was far too shocked to truly process what had just happened. She stood there, entirely dumbfounded, and watched as across from her, May sighed, and brought her Pokémon back into its Pokéball. Then, she started making her way towards her.
"You did very well, Bianca." May spoke, shaking her head minutely. "You were even stronger than I thought you'd be."
"I…" She couldn't quite believe it. "I'm glad that… you were strong too, uhm…"
May chuckled, rubbing a hand up and down the back of her neck. Clearly, she was rather disappointed. "Ah, well. Was hoping to win that prize money. Would've been nice."
"There's… prize money?"
May looked at her like she was crazy for a moment before breaking out into laughter.
"Yeah, there's prize money. Quite a bit of it. Its split amongst those in the top 16, so I'll still get a decent chunk, I just wanted the first-place pot."
It probably helped Bianca that Cynthia had been covering for all of her expenses for the last… well, full year, basically, but she'd entirely missed the part where anyone had mentioned a prize pool. Looking back, it made a lot of sense. It explained why so many people wanted to enter, and how they'd attracted so many big names.
Still…
Bianca wasn't sure she cared, in all honesty.
She just wanted to win.
No matter what.
/
She was still a bit shaken by the time she saw Cynthia again. The woman wrapped her in a tight hug, excited for her sake, and she was incredibly appreciative for it. Cynthia had won her own match earlier in the day, advancing to the round of 4. There was but one match remaining in the round of 8, but the likely winner of it would be Lance.
That meant it would be Bianca against Lance next, and then Cynthia against Leon.
That latter match was going to serve as the highlight of the tournament for most of the people involved. It was clear the organizers felt as such, too, for they had gone all out on advertising the match. It was going to be streamed all over the world, for anyone to see.
Of course, given that Bianca's match was either going to be just before or after it…
She would likely be getting the same treatment.
It was a bit insane to think about that… that she was still standing there, among the best trainers in the world, after everything that had happened over the past few weeks. She stood among elite company… not even that, among venerable company. Many elites had already been thrown to the wayside.
And yet, here Bianca remained.
…She didn't feel like she deserved to still be there after that last match, however.
In all honesty, she'd gotten bailed out by Rampardos back there. It being able to take a hit from Salamence's Draco Meteor was… well, it shouldn't have happened. That it did was great, but…
She couldn't count on that again. Shouldn't, at the very least.
And yet that was how she'd had to win.
It left her feeling gross and icky, which Cynthia didn't take long to pick up on.
"What's wrong?"
She explained as such to Cynthia, and earned an "Ah." From her girlfriend. "I see. I was watching your match, you know. Biting at my nails quite a bit near the end."
Bianca couldn't blame her that. She'd have been doing much the same in her scenario, if a match that Cynthai was competing in were to ever be close.
They never were. Cynthia was an unstoppable force. All of the trainers remaining in the competition seemed to be.
Bianca was just Bianca.
"What's with that face?" Cynthia leant down so that she could look Bianca in the eye. "You've got this look in your eye."
"What look?"
"Like you're doubting yourself again."
"It's not…" Bianca sighed. "It's not doubt, so much as realism."
"Explain."
"I just mean… is it doubting myself if I question whether or not I can beat someone like Lance, or Leon, or you? Is that really doubting myself, or is that just looking at myself in the mirror and recognizing the faults that I have?"
"Hm…" Cynthia hummed out. "Well, that's a fair question. But I don't think you're quite coming at this the right way."
"Why?"
"The last few times you fought, how were you feeling coming into the matches?"
"Uhm…" She thought back. "Good, I guess?"
"Okay. Were you confident?"
"I guess, yeah."
"And what happened in the end?"
"…I won. Is this… going somewhere?"
"Someone's not particularly patient today." Cynthia rolled her eyes, but pressed on. "Every champion level trainer in the world goes into their matches not thinking they're going to win, but knowing it. I believe I told you that once."
"You… you did." She couldn't quite remember when. Possibly around the time she'd faced Iris? But that was so long ago… it almost felt like a lifetime ago. "You said you have to be a bit delusional in order to be the best, right?"
"Mm." Cynthia chuckled. "For example, I'm perfectly confident in my ability to defeat Leon in two days. I imagine he's just as confident in his ability to beat me. One of us will be wrong, and for that person, that loss will be all the worse because of that confidence. But it is still necessary. Going into a battle believing you're going to lose…"
"Is a self-fulfilling prophecy." She remembered the last bits of Cynthia's phrase from so long ago. "I… I know. It's just…"
"You brushed up against defeat for the first time in a long time today." Cynthia told her, and it was the truth. "You had almost forgotten what it was to lose, and yet, just an hour or so ago, you remembered the feeling. And you hated it. Am I incorrect?"
She wasn't. Cynthia was… annoyingly good at reading her in times like this.
"Now, come," Cynthia instructed her. "You've got to plan for your next opponent. Might as well see who it is you're going to be matched against."
"Do you have a favorite?" She asked, because everyone in the audience and among the pundits did. "Between Lance and Selene?"
"I'd say Lance, but only just." Cynthia admitted. "I've faced Selene before; she's quite good. Intuitive, and plans on the fly. I think she'd be a much scarier opponent if she was willing to sacrifice some of her spontaneity for reliability, but then, she wouldn't really be herself if that was the case. Selene has an odd habit of almost always bringing a different team to every tournament. Because of it, she's impossible to truly predict until her first match has started. She's won more than a few tournaments off of surprising others, and taking what some might call 'fluke victories.'"
"Some?"
"A win is a win." Cynthia smiled. "It doesn't matter how it's achieved. If you're the one with your hand held high at the end, then you've won the match."
"But you think Lance will beat her?"
"Spontaneity works well against people with… not less experience, since everyone here is extremely so, but it's certainly better against trainers to whom some Pokémon are surprises. Lance has quite literally battled against every single Pokémon in a tournament setting before; he's the only trainer to hold that legendary moniker. He's been battling for thirty years, now, and for that entire stretch of time, he's competed at an elite level. A lot of people say that he's the greatest Pokémon trainer of all time for those reasons."
"Do you agree?"
"Well, of course not." Cynthia replied, her eyes twinkling with mirth.
"I believe in myself over anyone else, after all."
/
Lance and Selene had a helluva match, but in the end, Cynthia's prediction came to pass. Lance won, albeit only just edging out his opponent with a single Pokémon remaining. It was by far the closest match Lance had played.
Even so, nothing else mattered than the win. And Lance had it.
Which meant that he was Bianca's opponent.
She had quite a lot of film to go off of, which was what she was watching alongside Cynthia as they laid down in bed that evening. Cynthia herself was half watching Bianca's film, pointing out things that Bianca might want to keep in mind, and half preparing for her own match against Leon.
That match would precede Bianca's own. It was the main event in two days.
Bianca had time to plan.
But what a team she had to plan for. Many of Lance's Pokémon were the same ones that he'd been using for thirty years. His team consisted of a Mega-Gyarados, an Aerodactyl, and a Dragonite, all from his original championship lineup. He had, at one point, utilized three Dragonite's, which felt a bit excessive to Bianca, and evidently did to him as well nowadays. He had since rounded out his lineup with a Tyranitar, Eelektross, and, of all Pokémon, a Scizor.
That last one didn't make quite as much sense, given all the other Pokémon looked vaguely… well… dragony, but then, Scizor did round out his lineup quite well.
At a glance, Lance's team had a few glaring weaknesses. Three of them could be super-effectively struck by Milotic, and Scizor would be easy prey for Chandelure. Eelektross would be somewhat of a conundrum, given that it would outspeed Rampardos, but then, she could work around that, and it wasn't like Salamence couldn't cover that if it needed to.
As odd as it was to say, Lance's team, at a glance, looked simple, and easy to counter.
And, of course, that was all as intended.
Because Lance played in a way that didn't allow his opponent any time to actually capitalize on the weaknesses of his team. He struck out with raw, hyper-aggressive attacks, and prevented the opponent from doing anything but defending.
Even Selene, who'd evidently pushed Lance harder than anyone, had been on the backfoot against Lance for the majority of their fight.
Then…
That had to be Bianca's angle. She had to find a way to not go on the defensive. Her team was an awful lot stronger from the position of the aggressor. She lacked any true walls, with Milotic not truly counting as one due to the fact that Eelektross could likely cut it down with one or two hits.
"By the way," Cynthia coughed into one hand, before sitting up in bed. "I happened to… okay, I didn't happen to do anything, actually. I went ahead and procured something for you that I think you might be interested in."
"Oh?" She looked over, and Cynthia nodded. She stood from their shared bed, and walked towards her bag, which was resting on the other bed, which had once been Bianca's.
It had become something of a second shelf, to be honest, now that no one actually used it.
Cynthia took a moment rifling through her bag, before smiling as she seemingly found what it was she wanted. She brought it out – it was a small object, fitting in the palm of her hand – and stepped towards Bianca awfully tepidly.
Which wasn't really like her normally, but then, Bianca had found that Cynthia could be awfully shy about these things when it came to her.
She found it adorable, to be honest.
"Here," She held something out for her. "I thought you might like to have this."
Bianca looked down at it…
And didn't quite recognize it at first.
It was familiar, in the way that something someone had seen once or twice in passing might be. It seemed to be some sort of bangle, and as she leaned down and took it up, she turned it in her hand.
And she knew what it was the moment she saw the symbol on it.
"This is…" Her breath caught.
"Mm." Cynthia hummed.
"A Mega Bracelet."
She looked up to see Cynthia smiling down at her, but also, to see her holding yet another object in her hand. She placed it in Bianca's other hand.
It was a Mega Stone.
"This…"
"I collected that about… five or six years ago?" Cynthia didn't seem to know exactly. "I put it away, seeing as I had no use for it, and sort of just forgot. But… well, recently, I had been making calls around to some of the people I knew, hoping they might be able to dig it out of whatever storage center I'd put it in. Lo and behold, they found it…"
"A Salamencite."
/
It was dark out by that point, but Bianca was far too excited to go to bed. They'd tried very briefly, but in the end, she and Cynthia had hoofed it outside, and fifteen or so minutes later, they'd made it down to the nearest training area.
It was deserted, which was good. Not for any particular reason, Bianca just liked being alone with Cynthia.
"Well, go on," Cynthia chuckled at her enthusiasm. "Aren't you going to try it?"
She laughed back. "You almost seem more excited than I am."
"Somehow, I doubt it. Now go on!"
Bianca couldn't hide the fact that she desperately wanted to try out the Salamencite that Cynthia had procured for her. It would've been difficult not to be excited about it. She reached down for Salamence's Pokéball and threw it out onto the field in front of her.
Salamence hit the dirt field with a half-yawn, half-roar. Bianca giggled at that, before reaching out and rubbing its head. It leaned into the petting, before seemingly spying the orb in her hand. Its eyes focused in on it, and Bianca nodded.
"Spotted this, buddy?"
It gave a roar of assent, and Bianca nodded her head.
"Here," Cynthia stepped over, holding a bandana with a notch in it. "This is a Mega-Bandana. You can slot the Mega Stone into it, and then tie it somewhere Salamence wants it."
"Where would you want it, big guy?"
Salamence took a moment, grunting out below its breath and giving quiet bellows, before seemingly settling on having the bandana tied around its neck. Bianca did just that, tying it loosely, but tight enough that it wasn't going to fall off while Salamence was flying around.
Salamence gave it a few head shakes, before seemingly accepting that it was good enough.
"Alright then…" She swallowed, suddenly nervous. "Guess there's nothing left to do but to do it, huh, buddy?"
Salamence gave an agreeing cry, and Bianca held up her wrist. The band upon it glowed with a strange, almost mystical energy.
"Let's do it!" She shouted, most likely far too loudly for how late it was. "Mega Evolution!"
Salamence was suddenly suffused in a brilliant light, almost like an evolution itself. It faded after a moment, however, replaced by what seemed like an almost stone-like texture appearing all over its body. It grew outward, almost like a giant egg in shape, before that egg shattered, and revealed…
Her Salamence, having Mega Evolved.
There he was, with his crescent-moon shaped wings, and his sharpened features. His power had been immensely heightened, and he seemed quite happy for it, judging by the proud cry he gave off.
Bianca cheered, running up to him and hugging him. She hadn't even noticed that he was hovering in the air almost effortlessly until he excitedly brought her a foot or so off the ground. She squeaked in brief panic before Salamence put her back down.
"Careful, there," Cynthia laughed at her expense.
"Oh, hush, you." Bianca giggled, before turning towards Cynthia and smiling. "…Thank you."
"No need."
"Yes, there is." Bianca walked over and leaned forward, wrapping her arms around Cynthia's midsection. "You deserved to be thanked for doing such a nice thing for me. Going to all this effort."
"Well, I…" Cynthia paused. "You're welcome."
"Haha…" Her voice trailed off, but eventually, she found herself squeezing tighter, and, before the nerve left her…
"I love you."
Cynthia's hold briefly stiffened, before it increased almost twofold. Bianca could barely breathe, even as she felt Cynthia's body shaking against her own, a mixture of laughter and happy tears.
"I love you too." She murmured.
They stayed like that for a long time. Long enough that Salamence eventually came up and headbutted the both of them lightly, trying to get their attention.
In Salamence's defense, Bianca had totally forgotten what they'd been doing, but he had kind of ruined the moment.
Cynthia coughed awkwardly. "…We honestly should get some sleep. It's quite late. We'll need to train in the morning."
"Oh? Trying to get me into your bed so quickly?"
Cynthia rolled her eyes, but her face was undeniably red. "Y'know what? Sure. I am."
"Well, at least you're forthright about it." Bianca giggled back, feeling almost bold now that she'd made her deepest feelings known. "Alright, c'mon…"
"We've both got matches to win!"
And left unsaid was the truth that the both of them knew. That if they both won their matches…
The final battle would be against each other.
End Chapter 47
Alright, that was Chapter 47!
We're really close to the end! I think... five chapters left? Story will, if I've planned this out right, end on chapter 52!
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