Hey guys, next update to this story. Enjoy reading and as always, tell me what you thought in the comments.

Touko sat up in her bed. It had been two weeks in the hospital, her legs were recovering quickly. She had seen herself on the news a couple of times, most of them had her depicted as a cute and fragile girl, which made her angry. Touko was reading a book nurse Jodi got for her when there was a knock on the door.

"what!" Touko yelled as doctor Patrick came in

"good morning Touko, as polite as always?" he said in his usual friendly voice

Touko could see he had someone with him.

"Touko, I want you to meet Iris, tough I think you have met already" the doctor said as a purple-haired girl walked into sight

Touko's eyes shot open at the sight of the girl. Iris was one of her best friends. She had met her at the Opelucid gym. After winning the match she and Iris went out to train together. They had a lot of fun together. From then on they went on training together on almost a daily basis. Iris taught Touko everything there was to know about dragon types, and in return Touko showed Iris how to battle more strategically.

"Iris!" Touko yelled shooting up

"Touko!" Iris yelled as she practically jumped on top of Touko and hugged her tightly

"what happened to you? I thought you were hiding in the dragonspiral tower! How'd you get captured?" Touko asked

"oh… well, I sort of went to get food, and then sort of started a fight with another girl who was there. The noise we made was enough to warn every pokemon in Icirrus…" Iris said blushing

"ah… so, how long has it been? Since you were captured?" Touko asked

"nine months now, but to be honest, I'm happier this way…" Iris said

Touko frowned and thought about this.

Could someone be happy like this? To be treated like an infant all the time… how? Touko thought

"how could you enjoy it? You're being treated like an infant!" Touko asked

"I dunno… it's just, that I feel safer with my new family… it's hard to explain… but it just does" Iris said calmly

Touko sighed and looked at her friend. She had known Iris for quite a while, but she always knew when she was lying. Iris was not lying now, on the contrary, Iris was more honest than she intended to. This troubled Touko. What if the thing she had been fighting for all this time, was not something she had to fight, but had to embrace? What if she inspired people to do the wrong thing? How could she be sure now?

Iris and Touko talked for a long time, until Iris' "father" an Ampharos, came to get her. Later that night Touko was put to bed by nurse Jodi. Touko was too troubled to think straight. There was a huge crack in what she thought was the truth. How could she know what was right and what was wrong. How could she know she had been fighting the right or the wrong opponent? All the troubles eventually wore Touko out and she fell asleep.

"Touko! You have to go now!" Marshal of the elite four yelled as he kicked another attacking pokemon back

"No! I won't leave you guys there!" Touko yelled back

"Touko… it is out job as the elite four to be your guardians… plus, you are the most important person to be rescued, not us, we will gladly sacrifice ourselves for this goal…" Grimsley said in his usual friendly way

"No! we can make this! We can escape together!" Touko yelled back

"Touko… all of us hold a different purpose in life… yours is to inspire others to do what's right… ours is to make sure you can accomplish that… don't worry sweetheart… we'll get out of this…" Caitlin said as she nodded, tears running down her face

Shauntal hugged Touko tightly.

"go now… make sure our work does not go to waste… I will write many stories about you… know that if we get out of this, we will be there for you, and even if we may be far away, we will find a way to help you. Our champion, and our friend" Shauntal said as she directed her towards the emergency exit. "go now, don't look back, we shall fight for your survival" she said calmly

Touko began to cry as she ran towards the exit, turning around one last time, to see her friends fight. She couldn't let this all go to waste… they did this for her… Touko saw the door getting closed behind her as she ran on…

Six months had passed… Touko sat by a lake, staring at her image in the water… teardrops fell from her face as she cried… she had lost so much to all of this… she had to fight, she had to win, and if she could not win, she would fight to the very last moment…

The very last moment…

Touko saw another image in her dream

There was a girl, held by an Ampharos, looking more happy than she ever had… this girl was Iris. Touko saw the two images at the same time. The one with Iris, happy in her "father's" arms. The other was Touko fighting, and believing she did the right thing…

Touko woke up in the morning. She began cried in her hands, her mind too troubled by this choice to actually do something. Touko stayed like this for a while until she eventually calmed herself. She grabbed a piece of paper and a pencil from her night stand and began to write down all there was to the choice.

I can either choose to stay, with as danger that I do not know if it will actually work out like they said. Or I can fight back, with as danger that I will grow depressed again, without knowing if I'm doing the right thing… Touko thought to herself, writing it down. She then began to consider both sides.

Staying might make me happy again… but I will always find myself selfish… being out there will break me… but I can cling onto the believe that it is the right thing… Touko thought.

Touko put the list down and sighed as she looked towards the ceiling. Touko sighed again as looked out of the window next to her. Outside were children. They were playing with each other and appeared happy. Their respective pokemon parents were watching them with smiles on their faces. The children playing looked about as old as Touko. Touko couldn't help but smile at the playing children. She felt envy, envy to their happiness. How much she wished she could grasp for it. If only someone else would be champion instead of her… There was a knock on the door.

"Come in…" Touko said

Nurse Jodi came in and instantly noticed Touko's troubled face.

"what's the matter dear?" the Chansey nurse said walking towards Touko's bed

"no… it's nothing" Touko said coldly

"I can see that is not the case Touko, why don't you tell me" Nurse Jodi said placing the tray of food she was holding down

Touko didn't answer. Nurse Jodi found the piece of paper Touko had been writing on and read it, instantly understanding her problems.

"dear girl, I understand what you are doing. The truth is, none of these options is going to work out like this, because they are not the problem" Nurse Jodi said

Touko turned her head

"what do you mean?" she asked.

"you see, you are burdening yourself too much darling. You see your duty as champion as a task that goes above your own happiness. I really think it is a great thing that you care so much about others, but you can't help anyone if you're not happy yourself. I think you should try to become happy yourself first, then you can think about others. What does your heart tell you to do?" the nurse asked in a friendly way

"my heart… I don't know… I stopped listening to my own feelings a long time ago…" Touko said looking at the nurse

"what is it that you want Touko?" the Chansey nurse asked

"I… I just want my life back… I want to be happy again!" the girl said bursting into tears again

Nurse Jodi smiled softly at the crying girl as she hugged her tightly, stroking her hair.

"it's okay darling, it's okay" Jodi said soothingly

Touko sobbed in the Chansey's arms. Her mind was bursting with all the thoughts and consequences of every possible scenario. Touko didn't know if she could just choose for herself. It felt like running. Touko saw running as something bad, as something that made her weak. She couldn't allow herself to be weak.

Touko calmed down after a bit. Nurse Jodi smiled at her wiping away the remaining tears.

"all better now dear?" nurse Jodi asked

"yeah… I'm fine…" Touko answered

Touko had set her mind. She knew what she would do. And even though she would never forgive herself, she would finally choose for her own happiness. All she could do now was hope that this was the way to get there.

End of the third chapter. I will introduce the parent couple in the next chapter! Hope you enjoyed reading!

-Gahlgutt