Loch had heard of Safari Zones before, but nothing prepared him for actually seeing one. As Zinnia led him through the forest, they came across a small building that opened up in the back to a rather large, fenced off area.

"Here we are" Zinnia announced, retracting Aster into her pokeball, "It's not much but if you want a place to catch certain Pokemon native to the region, than look no further."

Loch looked over the small building with curiosity. "So, how does this work? Do we get to catch any or is it just for sightseeing?"

"Either one! Come on, I'll show you." Zinnia replied, motioning for him to follow her in.

The inside of the Safari Zone building reminded Loch of a Pokemon center, only a little more condensed. He could see the portable station where trainers could switch their pokemon out, but instead of Nurse Joy being at the desk, there was a kindly young woman with short brown hair. She kindly smiled as she saw Zinnia and Loch enter.

"Zinnia!" she happily exclaimed, "You're back!"

Zinnia waved at the lady, "I'm just showing a new friend around. He's from Galar.

Loch held his hand forward in introduction. "I'm Loch. My sister's Gym Leader Nessa."

The woman shook his hand. "Wonderful to meet you! I've always wanted to see Galar. What's it like?"

"Lots of mountains, so good places to find a nice view. It does get pretty cold in the winter though."

"Says the guy without a shirt" Zinnia muttered.

"This is my summer look!" Loch argued.

"I see" the woman said in interest, taking no notice of Zinnia's comment "So, have you been to a Safari Zone before."

Loch shook his head as Zinnia stepped in, "I was going to show him around the place. This is his first time in Hoenn."

The woman lit up in interest. "Really? Well, it's simple: just go out and catch whatever pokemon you find out there."

Loch looked surprised, "That's it?"

"That's it" Zinnia replied, patting Loch on the shoulder, "You got any empty pokeballs?"

Loch nodded, patting his backpack.

"Let's go then!" Zinnia said, running out the side door. Loch followed close behind, and as they stepped out into the safari fields, he could see tall grass in almost every direction: perfect hiding places for all kinds of pokemon.

Zinnia noticed Loch looking around wildly and giggled. "Yeah, this is definitely your first time in a Safari Zone."

"It's just…so many places to find one…" Loch stammered, his mind racing with all the possible pokemon he could find and catch. Before Zinnia could say anything else, Loch had taken off into the grass. Amused, she simply shrugged to herself and followed him in.

"Wait up!" she called out. After a few moments of riling through the grass, she found him kneeling at the edge of a lake, gazing intently at something. Following his gave she noticed he was looking at a Surskit that was just resting on top of the water. A pokeball was in Loch's hand.

Zinnia silently knelt down next to him and whispered. "Interesting choice."

"SHHH!" Loch hissed. Slowly, he stood up when the Surskit's back was turned and drew his arm back. Aiming, he threw the pokeball, and it arced perfectly towards the target. However, a rustle in the water startled the Surskit and it took off, yet the pokeball bumped something, opened, and sucked something in before closing and bouncing back to Loch's position. Loch and Zinnia watched with curiosity as the ball beeped three times before making a satisfying click; the pokemon was caught.

Both trainers were confused and stared at the ball for a few moments.

Zinnia scratched the back of her head. "Well…you caught something."

"Yeah, but what?" Loch asked as he nervously picked up the ball. Cautiously, he opened it. A flash of light erupted form the ball, and the two watched wide eyed in anticipation…and a big orange fish with crazy eyes flopped to the ground.

Zinnia immediately busted out laughing, but Loch just stood there, dumbfounded.

After a few moments, he facepalmed and groaned. "Seriously? Magikarp?!"

Zinnia had to catch her breath and wiped a tear out of her eye. "I'm sorry. I'm not laughing at you. It's just that kind of luck is sorta ridiculous."

Loch simply shook his head as he put the Magikarp back in the ball.

"It's not all bad" Zinnia added, "This does mean you're not far away from having a Gyrados."

Loch knew she had a point, and also realized that Gyrados was a pokemon Nessa had wanted to find; she would flip out when he returned home with one!

Smirking at the thought, he put the pokeball in his bag. "I guess you're right."

The two continued on their way through the Safari Zone. Loch finally caught the elusive Surskit while Zinnia was able to snag a few bug types of her own. Finally, they had explored their fill and began to head out.

"How did it go?" the woman at the desk asked as the pair walked in.

Zinnia shrugged. "It was alright. Loch here accidentally caught a Magikarp, but nothing else too surprising."

Loch rolled his eyes, but chuckled in amusement; he knew Zinnia meant no disrespect.

Just then, his attention turned to the TV hanging up in the corner. It was tuned into the news channel. where a reporter was speaking as a a red R was projected next to her.

The reporter continued, "...accusations against the Kanto-based Team Rocket for illegal genetic experimentation have been growing. Though who is responsible for starting these accusations is currently unknown..."

"Genetic experiments?" Loch asked. Zinnia had noticed the news feed as well and was equally confused.

The woman at the desk nodded. "This has been going on for almost a week now. People have been saying Team Rocket has been doing something rather horrifying, but what it is exactly, I don't know. Other accusations have been made against Galactic for illegal tests with some kind of portal tech too. What's even weirder is that other regions have gotten involved with these accusations."

Loch raised is eyebrows in surprise. "Other regions? How many?"

"From what I gather, all except Galar, Alola, and Unova have spoken out, though something tells me Unova won't be far behind."

Zinnia stroked her chin in thought. "What are they planning?"

"I don't know" Loch replied. Just then, he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed two figures moving past the Zone. Judging by their familiar leather outfits and capes, he recognized them as Draconids, and pointed this out to Zinnia. As Zinnia watched, she noticed they moved rather shadily, as if they didn't want anyone to notice them.

Zinnia narrowed her eyes. "What are those two up to?"

"Whatever it is" Loch replied, "I want to find out."

Zinnia couldn't agree more, and the two went outside, just as the Draconids disappeared into the forest. Loch and Zinnia quickly went in after them, making sure to stay far enough behind so as to not be noticed. Eventually, they heard a few voices coming from nearby, and Loch instinctively ducked down into the bushes. Zinnia, however, crept a little closer to the source, though she was crouching to stay hidden. Loch looked at her, slightly dumbfounded.

"She's nuts!" he whispered to himself. Though he also decided to follow her in case something happened. The two eventually came to the edge of a clearing in the woods, where they saw the two Draconids standing around.

"That's Captain Tyser" Zinnia said, pointing to the first one, "He's the head of law enforcement in Meteor City."

"I'm sick of waiting" grunted the other Draconid.

"Agreed" added Tyser, "They said to meet here right now, and THEY'RE the ones who are late?!"

"Only fashionably" said a woman's voice. The Draconids whipped around to see three figures emerge form the woods. The first woman had exceedingly long pink hair that stuck backwards in a sort of arc, and she wore a white outfit that had a red R on the chest. The second was a woman with short purple hair and wore a white and grey jumpsuit with a gold G on the chest. The third was a man with short purple hair and an outfit similar to the first woman's. A Meowth sat on his shoulder.

The first Draconid grunted. "Since when does Rocket and Galactic ever work together?"

"And Plasma" the woman in the jumpsuit added, "Unfortunately, they didn't have a representative who could come at this time. I am Commander Jupiter of Galactic."

"And we are Jessie and James of Team Rocket" the woman, Jessie announced.

"And what do you want?" asked Tyser, "and just get to the point."

At this point, Loch had taken out his phone and began recording the conversation.

"We need a suitable ally in Hoenn to help expand our campaign" Jupiter explained, "And, unfortunately, Teams Magma and Aqua were not interested."

Jessie added, "The Draconids may not have the influence Magma and Aqua does, but you do have the firepower. Your dragon-types are suitable for enforcers."

"And what exactly is this campaign?" Tyser asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Control over the regions, of course" Jupiter replied with a dramatic wave of her arms, "We plan to harness of the power of the legendary pokemon of each region to bend the people to our combined will. An alliance with the Draconids would give us an opportunity to unleash Rayquaza himself."

Tyser wasn't fazed, "And what's in it for us?"

"A mutual alliance, control over Hoenn, I'm sure we can work a few things out."

"Don't forget this" Jessie said as James brought out a silver case, opening it to reveal what Zinnia and Loch guesses was quite a substantial amount of money.

"And this" James said, "Is just the start."

"So" Jupiter said, extending her hand, "Do you accept?"

Zinnia had heard enough, taking back off through the forest. Seeing her leave, Loch hurriedly turned off the recording and hurried after her. He quickly caught up with her outside the forest.

"This isn't right." she said, noticing him arrive, "Only the chieftess can create alliances; what they're doing is wrong."

"But we don't know if he accepted or not" Loch argued.

"I saw the look in Tyser's eyes" Zinnia snapped, looking quite furious, "He's easily bribed."

Loch wasn't fully up to speed on Tyser's character, so he just decided to take her word for it. "What do we do?"

"We need to find my grandma" Zinnia immediately answered, "she's the chieftess and the most respected person of the Draconids. If anyone will listen, it's her."

Loch nodded, and he and Zinnia summoned their Talonflame and Salamence respectively before mounting and taking to the skies, and straight for Meteor Village.

Let me know what you think so far!