For some reason, Diantha was waiting for her when she got back.

"I saw your conference. Well, you know that everyone pays attention to those"

Right. Iris had started to feel better when she got back, but then realized she was going to be in for a large headache now that Unova champion having a breakdown was going to be on the headlines of every major news source

"I just don't like losing and…it just happened. I was crying before I realized it. I don't like to lose, Diantha, I thought I could be compared to you and Cynthia, but that clearly isn't the case. I guess I was just lucky to have been born in Unova and not in Sinnoh or Kalos"

"Don't you dare say that! You beat Alder to become Unova's champion, and Alder defeated me more then a few times. You know what that means? You shouldn't sell yourself short like that. In fact, you can't. That's why I wanted to talk to you as quickly as possible. Us champions are held to a high standard, and a lot of people will be rude about how you cried. Including some people from Unova. You're going to have a mixed reception for a while. It's unfair, but that's how it works. I learned that as an actor, before becoming the proper champion, but you had no such advantage, so I'm sorry it's come like this. The talk shows will mock you."

Would talk shows really make her the butt of jokes? That actually irked Iris quite a bit

"I don't get it, Diantha," Iris said while drooping a bit. "I either care too much or too little. I either am at the mercy of a Fairy Pokémon by using all Dragons, or not a real Dragon Type specialist. I'm either too arrogant or not confident enough. People have even complained that me owning a Gabite is a betrayal to Unova, because its evolutionary line isn't found in the wild there"

"It's just hard, learning how to meet expectations. And you definetly don't have to limit your Pokemon choices, but not crying is definetly something everything will want from you. Crying and a few other things, like not going to events and being in super-public feuds with non-trainers are others that are off the top of my head" Diantha spoke, "I would say that you just have to hope you'll learn quickly without any hiccups, but you've had that hiccup now. It will bring some pain, but just know that we're behind you. I know you have a support system in Unova, so I'm sure they're making something right now. And I was really impressed in your battle with Cynthia. You're right that Dragonite wasn't used right, but that's something you can't know until the battle is done, and you did very well with Excadrill and Haxorus. By the way, most Pokemon can't parry a few attacks from that Garchomp like Haxorus did. Even before it could mega-evolve, so I don't think you failed him one bit. My ace is a Fairy type, and I'm still intimidated that I might have to face her to win this. And at just age 19, just imagine how strong that Haxorus and the rest of your Pokemon will be in five years. Honestly, I'm kind of intimidated by your Haxorus too, even if it can't use Outrage my Gardevoir"

Diantha wasn't known as being a motivational type, but Iris felt a lot better after hearing that.

"Ah, thanks Diantha. You deserve to win this."

They hugged, and in that hug, Diantha giggled a bit

"Oh, you don't have to pretend to not root for Ash in front of me. By the way, I know of a beautiful Kalosion girl who would do anything to be with him, so don't waste this shot."

Iris kept in the hug, so Diantha couldn't see her face, in case it would betray her what she said next.

"There's nothing between us, Diantha. We're just really good friends. Didn't you travel with any guys before you were a champion? Would you like asking me if you had a thing for Lance?"

Diantha ended their hug

"Touché. I just felt I had to ask, it seemed you were trying to hide something about him at your press conference, but I suppose even Actors can get emotions wrong, sorry about that. Well, I thank you for rooting me now!"

They smiled and said goodbye.

Iris made her way to her room. It had a wooden floor and light blue walls. To the direct left of the door was a desk, and further down, was a large TV and a fancy couch across from it, with two elegant chairs to the left of it. Behind them, was a room leading to the bedroom, and the room to the left of that was the bathroom. All next to that were three windows that gave a great view of Wyndon. It was almost as good as Castelia City. Almost.

Iris laid down on her couch (in case anyone came) and checked her phone. It wasn't going to be pretty, but she needed to know what was being said about her, they weren't going to let her not respond to any of it.

Leaning back on a chair, she took out her Rotom Phone, she went on Chirper, a social media app whose logo was a red Swellow.

-The Unova champion isn't a standout Unovan (600,000 likes)

-I feel that to be a champion, you need a certain personality, and Iris definetly doesn't have that, judging by her press conference. You didn't see Lance cry or act cheeky after losing to Diantha (400,000 likes)

-I'm glad I don't live in Unova and am not represented by a crybaby had (90,000 likes)

- Alder always showed himself to be the ideal Unovan: traditional, hardworking, family-oriented. Iris doesn't show any of that, a self-serving "dragon specialist" who doesn't always use dragons (why would anyone use an Excadrill at the M8 tourney?), she's just a cocky girl who lucked herself through the conference, Elite Four, and Alder and cries that her luck ran out tonight (3,000,000 likes)

- Alder wouldn't have lost, or cried about it like that (1,000,000 likes)

- Someone please beat Iris and give us a champion that's as good as Unova deserves (500,000 likes)

- The Unova Pokémon League should just abolish the Champion position and just acknowledge who has beaten the Elite Four as special, so they can just always send Alder or a better young person to these things (2,000,000 likes)

- We want a Unova Champion that we actually like and can beat other champions. How do we have someone worse than the freaking Alola champion? (3,000,000 likes)

She just had to drop the phone to the floor after that. She walked to the sink, washing her face, that would keep her from crying.

Did She really not have the right personality? Was she really disrespecting Unova? Did they really want another champion? Those posts didn't just have 10 likes, they had millions. More then the populations of most of the cities in Unova.

Also, she was trying really hard to have that "Ideal Unovan personality", it's what cost her friendship with Cilan. While she was training with the Johto Dragon gym leader Clair, Cilan did some connoisseur things in Johto, the things he couldn't do in Unova, and semi-frequently visited her and sometimes invited her to interesting things, like this tournament in the Whirl Islands that, while they didn't have the Pokemon to do it, they learned that Ash and another of his companions had previously participated in. After Iris finished her training with Clair, she returned to Unova, and did the gym challenge, leading to her becoming champion. Cilan, by then, had returned to Unova as well, after doing some things in Kalos, he felt he had enough experience to open a high-end restaurant in Castelia City. He wanted her to sponsor it, become sort of a spokesperson, appear in some advertising, he really wanted to associate it with the new Champion. But she felt like she shouldn't use her position for it, it would cause too much controversy, the other restaurants would retaliate against the Pokémon League and she might be seen as the person that killed other restaurants, that she only wanted to advance the interests of her friends and not everyone in Unova, so she refused. And he asked her several times. Even though his food tasted really good (another reason why Iris felt sponsoring it wasn't necessary) it flopped. He lost everything and even his brothers' gym, it basically got confiscated by the government as punishment for not being able to pay the loan he had taken out. There being more then eight gyms meant the Pokémon League couldn't stop it. Cilan blamed Iris for this, she'd never forget how angry he was in that last video call, and never picked up her calls since. She didn't have the money to pay his loan at the time, she hadn't been Champion long enough to establish the revenue streams, so she couldn't do anything about it, and now, there's no way to get the Gym back since someone else bought it. Well, that, and she said some things she regretted.

"It's no wonder you couldn't do well in that Dragon school. You have no commitment, don't want to help anyone at all. Forget about your friends as soon as you become important. Ash and Dawn wouldn't want to associate with you anymore if they knew what happened. I bet Drayden wishes anyone but you became the champion. Hopefully Alder returns for a rematch and ends your dress-up game, because it feel like Unova doesn't have a Champion now. I'd tell trainers quickly to do the Gym Challenge in other regions instead."

"I freaking sacrificed a lot of Dragon things training for this. I missed the Nimbasa Tournament, I couldn't defend my title there, because I had committed to train with Clay and go through a gauntlet of ground types. I rarely talked to the Elder of my village, then she died. I couldn't get to the funeral in time, because I thought I could battle Caitlyn to finish my Elite Four battles and get there, but I couldn't get there in time after the battle finished. Haxorus didn't speak to me for two days. The Opelucid Gym got remodeled, but I had to do an interview when it was first revealed to the public. They initially wanted me to cut the ribbon in front of it, but that didn't happen, and some of them are very disappointed in me. It's not my fault you just aren't good enough to be a Connoisseur. That's why none of the others take you seriously, your brothers don't take you seriously, and I know some of the Pokémon League execs were glad to take the gym away from you. I fought it, I tried everything, but you can see that wasn't enough. Just deal with reality. You always joked that it was hard to believe that Drayden thought I could be the Opelucid Gym Leader, actually, it's hard to believe you could be a good Connoisseur. Because you aren't."

Beat. She quickly realized that was the worst thing she could have said

"Cila-"

"I couldn't bring this before, but I can definitely say it now. I hate you. All you've been is a drag on me. That journey would have been much better if it was just Ash and I. Goodbye"

They hadn't spoken since. Iris felt like she lost something that day, that would never come back. And there was nothing she could do about it now. At least she only cried about it at night and never in public, so she wouldn't have to tell anyone about it.

Was becoming champion worth it? Was it worth having to lose to Cynthia, disappointing Unova, losing a dear friend? Failing her Pokémon?

In frustration, she punched the mirror, cracking it throughout. She saw that she could see her body just as broken as her psyche was.

She screamed.

She needed to see him now. She got on her Salamence slippers (she thought it would be funny to have the slippers of a Dragon she didn't own) and made her way to Ash's room.

Ending notes:

Yeah, Iris is really going through the wire right now. But we know how strong she is. I got the idea for the mean "Chirps" from seeing real tweets saying that they hated that she cried. When I saw that Cilan didn't watch Iris' battle against Cynthia, my first thought was that they must have had a falling out, and that inspired what happened to them here. Sorry if Cilan appears too antagonistic, but losing everything would make anyone bitter. It will be explored more in the future of this series. Also, that was just as tough to write for me as it probably was to read, but I really wanted to establish that Iris' life wasn't going perfectly, and becoming champion cost her some things. Ash will appear in the third chapter and be more prominent starting there. Tell me how much you loved or hated it in the comments! All critique is welcome.