A/N: the picture shows the outfit Touko wears during the event.

"I'm here now!"

"But we are so behind schedule right now! Quick, we need to get you ready for the show!"

I was pushed into the changing room by my manager. I sighed as I looked over at the outfit neatly laid out for me. It consisted of a short, white, lace dress that was paired with a small, white, lace cardigan, and low heeled shoes that were also white and lacy; it had been decided that I was to wear low heeled shoes after a small incident where I may have fallen onto a reporter, perhaps causing a domino effect where other reporters fell leading to there being quite a vast amount of broken equipment, such as their expensive cameras...

Hey, its not my fault. I blame those ridiculously high heeled shoes.

I smiled at the memory, but the smile didn't stay long as I remembered the current circumstances. I sighed once more as I sat down on a chair. I enjoyed watching Rosa's gym battle so much, but it had only allowed my mind to drift away temporarily, and now I was in the same situation than before. I at least wish I could've congratulated Rosa before leaving the gym, but I couldn't seeing as it really was late and I really did not want to be murdered by my manager. But still, that was my last chance to just be normal in front of Rosa's eyes, because the next time we met I would I be Touko the Champion.

I put my face into my hands and leaned down so that I was leaning between my knees. Everyone now saw me as Champion Touko, rather than who I was. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed being Champion as I got to have some intense battles and I could witness the bonds between trainers and pokemon, which meant the World to me. But why must everyone else make this role so complicated? At heart, I wanted to spend my free time helping Unova by traveling around it as I used to, but each time I suggested this my manager and those who worked with her would look at me weirdly, and then say "but that would ruin your image."

Because in their eyes that was all that mattered. My image.

I can even recall the conversation me and my manager had while I was getting ready for my first ever event as a Champion...

"Uhm, Miss. M., I don't think this outfit really suits me," I had told my manager, staring in shock at the, well, highly feminine outfit.

"How many times do I have to tell you to just call me manager? And what do you mean it doesn't suit you? t's perfect!"

"Ye-yeah, its very pretty, but I'm more of a tomboy you see. And I just don't think I would feel like myself in such an outfit."

She had laughed at me, then said, "who cares about that? You are the youngest Champion in the World and furthermore you are the Hero of Truth. Dressing you up like this means we can exploit both traits, making you look young, pure and innocent while dressed all in white, and also match your image of 'hero.'"

For some reason I felt ashamed when she called me a 'hero.'

"But isn't a Champion supposed to look strong and ready to protect their region?"

She laughed again, "you really are naïve. No, child, you need to find some kind of trait that is unique to you, and then exploit it to its full capacity. Its the only way of standing out."

I sat up and leaned back against the chair, my eyes closed. I felt like the real me had hidden somewhere deep inside me, and only came out when I was participating in or watching an intense battle. I was so ashamed of myself.

I slowly opened my eyes, and focused my gaze on the ceiling above me. I'm I a good Champion? Do I even have the right to call myself that? Ghetsis was somewhere out there, plotting an evil scheme to take over Unova, and what was I doing to help? Participating in some show in which my main job was to look pretty?

Bile rose up my throat, and I swallowed painfully in response.

Unova's Champion.

Touko the Champion.

They were two very different people.

But which one was the real me?

***********

"Alright, get ready to head out there soon!" My manager said while checking over me quickly. I was dressed in the chosen outfit, with my make up having being done to make my face look delicate and with my hair half braided from left to right, with the rest cascading down my back in soft curls.

"Yes, this will do," she said approvingly. I kept my eyes downcast, "now, remember to smile and be graceful." I nodded.

"It's time!" A member of the staff called.

"Go out there and dazzle them!"

I stepped up to the curtains, and as they opened up to reveal an overflowing ocean of people, I put on a smile and stepped forward.

"And now I present to you all, Unova's Champion Touko White!"

I kept smiling as I made my way to the front of the stage while delicately waving at the crowd.

Alright, don't mess this up.

I took a deep breath and approached the microphone.

***********

"And now, as the final event for today, our Champion will choose one member of the audience to prestigiously battle with her in a one on one match. Champion, if you would, please," the presenter motioned me forward with one hand.

"Thank you," I said, then focused my gaze upon the crowd in front of me. Over the duration of the show I had tried to avoid as much as possible meeting any of their gazes, because they held so much admiration and joy in them. I don't think I would've been able to keep my screams in if I had looked at them properly, as I was definitely not worth those awe filled looks. But now my eyes searched through the crowd, looking for the only person that I wanted to battle right now. Within seconds I found her, and the first thing I noticed was her own gaze of admiration; I flinched slightly, but was able to cover it up. I cleared my throat and pointed towards her, while saying, "will you accept my challenge, young lady?"

Her eyes widened, but after a few seconds of shock she nodded excitedly and began to make her way through the crowd, to the front of the stage. I slightly froze as we walked closer and closer. Why? Because she didn't know who I was, yet. I saw it in her eyes just a few seconds ago, and I didn't blame her for not recognising me. She had been quite far away from the stage, and earlier on when we first met I had looked drastically different in my regular clothes. But as soon as she made eye contact with me, as soon as she was in front of me, she would recognise me. I knew it.

Eventually, she managed to manoeuvre her way through the crowd to reach the stage, safely stepping onto it. I swallowed as I stepped forward to meet her.

"Oh wow, hello!" she exclaimed happily, moving forward to meet me, "this is such an honour. My name is-"

There. She knew. Her eyes widened as she recognised me. Even though I was slightly disappointed that she now knew who I really was, I still couldn't help but chuckle lightly at her reaction.

"Rosa," I finished of for her in a whisper, as it would be a scandal if people knew that we had met before hand, making my choice biased, "I'm Touko, nice to meet you," I said, not fully able to keep back my laughter.

She was still staring at me in shock, but people were now wondering what was going on. I quickly whispered to her, "you can ask questions later. Just give it your all in battle right now."

She nodded slowly, then more decisively, "yes. I'll give it my all!" I saw burning determination in her eyes, which filled me up with my own determination.

Without any further words, we took our places on the opposite sides of the stage, while a referee steeped into the centre to announce the rules.

"This will be a one on one battle. It will be over once one pokemon has fainted. Trainers, call out your pokemon," the referee announced, stepping back.

I took my pokeball out first, allowing Rosa to have a choice on who to send out once I had chosen, but I think she had already made up her mind regardless, "Samurott, out you come!" My trusty partner took his place on the stage.

"Alright, let's do this!" Rosa launched her own pokeball into the air. Her recently evolved Serperior appeared on the stage. I smiled, already sure before she called her pokemon out that it would be Serperior.

Murmurs could be heard going through the crowd, all worried about my obvious disadvantage. As if thinking the same, Samurott looked back at me, giving me a smirk. Cheeky little-

I couldn't help smiling, because type advantage was not everything, and this audience was about to witness that.

"Let the battle begin!" The referee called out.

"You may have the first attack," I called out to Rosa. This voice. This voice I was using. It was filled with anticipation and excitement, it was a voice that showed I was ready for an intense battle.

It was the voice of the real me.

"Serperior, vine whip, let's go!" Almost immediately Serperior responded, proof that the bond between those two was strong, and that they had absolute faith in each other.

"Razor shell!" I called out. Samurott fought back against the vines at lightning speed. Even though I could hear the excited cheers from the audience, my mind was focused sorely on the battle.

Rosa gasped at Samurott's speed, but then smiled to herself, "time to limit its choices! Use sunny day!"

I cursed in my mind as the sun's rays focused harshly on us. There goes our powerful water moves. But the battle was just getting started.

"Get closer!" I called out, leaning forward. At my command, Samurott launched itself forward, going so fast that if you blinked you might've missed it.

"Serperior, keep him away with vine whip!"

"Go for it!"

The two pokemon began to battle at close proximity, vines clashing against shells. I bided my time, as I patiently waited until-

There.

I knew Samurott had seen it too, as he began to move in through the reckless opening in the vines. It was a small opening, but it what was all we needed.

"X-scissor!" I called out. Rosa gasped as Serperior was thrown back by the powerful hit. Even though it had only been one hit, Serperior was left lying on the ground. Alright, a bit of type advantage was helpful.

"No! Serperior, you can do it! Stand up!" Hearing Rosa's voice, Serperior found the strength to get back up. I smiled at their close bond.

"Let's attack while we can! Solar beam!"

Serperior hardly took any time to charge its beam of light due to the sunny day.

"Get ready Samurott!"

Both me and Rosa leaned in, waiting for the powerful attack to be released. Samurott's stance changed, ready to-

"HELP! PLEASE SOMEONE HELP!"

A desperate cry that resonated through the air made me blink in confusion, as I turned my head towards the source of the voice. Just behind the crowd, a middle aged woman was screaming as she grabbed onto people.

"T-THEY, THEY TOOK MY POKEMON!"

I was now out of my battling trance, and was walking closer to the edge of the stage. Rosa followed suit, while Samurott and Serperior both stopped in their tracks. I glanced over at Rosa, and she did the same. We both nodded, then got off the stage, moving through the crowd towards the direction of the woman.

"Hello," Rosa made it there first, with me closely behind. We both looked at the woman in concern.

"Who took your pokemon?" I asked, placing a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

The woman was crying as she pointed towards the entrance of the amusement park, "the two people in black, military-like uniforms," she managed to say through her tears.

Rosa gasped, "could it be Team Plasma?"

I turned towards her in shock, "w-what did you just say?" No, this wasn't the time for that, and shacking my head I said, "actually, let's first get back her pokemon!"

We both nodded and began to run out the park, with our pokemon following closely behind. I cursed as I tried not to trip in these ridiculous shoes. Oh, to the distortion world with it!

I kicked off my shoes, and immediately found myself running faster. Even though little stones kept digging into my feet, I still felt so much better without those shoes on.

"There!" Rosa pointed towards two people dressed in black uniforms. They were running away from the park.

"Vine whip!" Rosa called while running, and Serperior launched its vines towards them, trapping them both.

"Arg, get off!"

"Ahhhh!"

The two people, a man and a woman both with orange hair, tried to wiggle free out of Serperior's strong grip. As we neared them, the man sent out a Liepard.

"Fury swipes!"

Serperior cried out in pain as the Liepard slashed at the vines, letting them both go. However, as they were about to run, Samurott reached them and blocked their path. They grunted and turned around, but me, Rosa and Serperior were now blocking their remaining path.

My eyes immediately trailed towards the insignia on their uniforms, an insignia I knew very well.

Team Plasma.

As I stared at them in shock, Rosa shouted, "give back the stolen pokemon!"

They laughed.

"And why would we do that?" The woman sneered, clutching two pokeballs even closer to herself.

"Then we'll just have to take them back by force! Serperior!"

Rosa and Serperior got ready to battle, as did the man and his Liepard. With another laugh, the women called out a Swoobat. Samurott came to stand in front of me, but instead of changing into a battling stance, he looked at me. His eyes conveyed all he wanted to say. Worry about them later, for now what matters is reuniting the stolen pokemon and their trainer.

I nodded, smiling gratefully at Samurott, then leaned in, ready to battle. Samurott changed into his battling stance, and then we were off.

"Gust!"

"Razor shell!"

"Fake out!"

"Vine whip!"

Each command blended into another, and my vision was blurred by the amount of attacks taking place at the same time. However, it wasn't a long battle, and within two minutes or so me and Rosa emerged victorious.

"Now," Rosa said, "give us back the pokemon." Without hesitation, Serperior and Samurott stood each on one side of each grunt. With a growl, the women threw us the two pokeballs. Me and Rosa quickly caught one each.

With the pokeball safely in my hand, I stepped closer to the grunts.

"Why are you still around?" I asked, my voice low and dangerous, "Team Plasma has already been disbanded."

It was evident that the woman was smirking, even through the black mask she had wrapped around her mouth, "oh, you mean the old Team Plasma? The one who was led by a useless, good for nothing, weak, pathetic child?"

My eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed as I furiously stepped closer to her, "what did you say?" I did not recognise my own voice, so filled with venom and anger, "what do you know?!" Samurott held me back as I tried to slap her, "where's Ghetsis?!" Now Rosa was holding onto me too.

"Please, Touko, calm down!" she pleaded.

"No, where is he?!" I shouted.

Suddenly, black fog surrounded us. The vile smell made us gag as the thick entrails of the fog wrapped menacingly around us.

"Good thing we came to check on you!" A new voice said.

"Yeah, yeah, let's go!" The male grunt from earlier said.

"No!" I coughed, my arms reaching blindly into the fog.

"Ohh, right," the female grunt's voice sounded further away, "we'll tell Ghetsis that you send him your greetings, Hero of Truth." And with that final comment, the fog cleared.

But the grunts were no where in sight.

I blinked as my arms fell limply to my sides. Rosa, who had let go off me when the fog had surrounded us, stepped to my side.

"Did you know?" I asked in a low voice.

"Yes," she said, just as low, "me and my friend ran into them a while ago."

I faced her, "you've only seen the grunts?"

She nodded, also turning around to face me, "yes. But what they said about that Ghetsis... what was all of that about?"

"He was the former 'leader' of Team Plasma, but he recently escaped prison."

Rosa's eyes became filled with confusion, "but what about those comments they made about their former leader?"

I looked away, "they're not true," I cursed myself for the trembling of my voice. Samurott nudged my hand, and I smiled as I petted his head, "no, they're not true at all. He was brave and loved pokemon, and he was tricked into being their leader, when Ghetsis was the one behind their evil plans," I shook my head and once again made eye contact with Rosa, "we should return these pokemon to their trainer."

Rosa nodded, though I could see the concern in her face. Without any further words we turned around and began to make our way back to the amusement park.

***********

"Thank you so much!" The women from earlier said as she cried in happiness, while softly hugging her Eeevee and Cubchoo. Me and Rosa smiled at the sight, but two familiar cries made us both look towards the counter of the Pokemon centre we were in. We smiled even wider when we saw Samurott and Serperior running towards us, while Nurse Joy trailed behind holding two pokeballs.

Rosa's Serperior used her vines to hold Rosa's hands, and they both smiled at each other. As for Samurott, well he said hello to me in his own special way.

"Gahhh," I spurted as Samurott covered me in water. Everyone's eyes turned to us in confusion, but I merely laughed lightly, "don't worry, that's just a traditional greeting between me and Samurott. You see, on the day I first met him as an Oshawott, as I picked him up he sprayed his water gun in my face, and since then it's become a common joke between us." I patted Samurott on the head, knowing but not saying that the other reason that Samurott had done that was to cheer me up.

Rosa smiled at us, "aww, that's adorable!" she gushed.

I began to smile back, though it didn't quite reach my eyes. She noticed this and was about to say something, when...

"Touko White! What in the Distortion World just happened!"

I turned around, and was met by the furious eyes of my manager.

Author's Note

*awkwardly waves*

...

...

...

*hides behind a thick wall of steel*

Please have mercy!

All joking aside, I'm really, really, really, really sorry! I know it's been a LONG time since I updated, but I have my reasons. If you want to know them, just go to the author's note on the next chapter. And yes, I am posting two chapters in a row, which is the least I could do. I made sure that they were reallyyyyy long, well, long as in the longest chapters of the book so far.

Thanks for reading!

Katherine

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