Be warned; things are about to get a little more intense and violent near the end of this chapter.
Zinnia wasted no time when she and Loch landed in Meteor Village. The second her feet hit the ground, she took off running, not event bothering to recall Salamence, who loyally followed her.
Loch was shocked by her sudden speed. "Hey, wait up!"
He quickly followed her after hastily recalling Talonflame. The two ran through the town, startling multiple Draconid villagers in the process, but Zinnia didn't mind; the sooner she told her grandmother about what she had seen, the better. Loch, however, was still flustered and kept apologizing to the people they startled as they ran by. Soon, they arrived at a house at the far end of the village, not too far from Zinnia's home. Stopping at the door, Zinnia frantically knocked on the door. Loch stopped behind her, leaning over as he tried to catch his breath from all the running.
"Come on. Come on. Come on..." Zinnia kept muttering to herself, nervously bouncing up and down.
"Zinnia" Loch gasped, still out of breath, "Chill...we probably...outsped them."
Zinnia, however, seemed fine, though her face remained determined. "I'm not taking any chances, Loch. I will not let my people be sold out!"
Just then, the door opened as an older woman in ceremonial robes appeared, a mildly surprised look on her face.
"Zinnia, dear" she said, "What's wrong?"
"Grandma, we need to talk." Zinnia replied, "I fear the Draconids may be in danger."
The older woman ushered Zinnia and Loch inside. After a brief introduction between her and Loch, she motioned for Zinnia and Loch to sit at her couch while she sat in a rocking chair opposite from them.
"Ok" the elder said once everyone was seated, "Tell me everything."
Zinnia spared no detail as she told her of how her and Loch's adventure was cut short when they spied on Tyser speaking with Jesse, James, Meowth, and Jupiter. This was an indication that Rocket and Galactic were working together on something, and they wanted the Draconids to get involved too. When she had finished, her grandma's expression become of deep concern.
"This certainly is a problem" she mused.
"We have to tell the rest of the Village." Zinnia added, "They have to know so we can fight back!"
The older woman looked to Loch, "And you agree with this?"
Loch nodded. "Anything to get rid of Team Rocket. Their era of terrorizing people and stealing pokemon needs to end."
"If that's the case, then go find Wallace."
Zinnia looked confused. "The gym leader?"
Zinnia's grandmother reminded her that Wallace was also a Draconid, so he would be more than willing to help. Not only that, but he was good friends with the Hoenn Champion, Steven, and it was no secret that Steven and his Metagross were a force to be reckoned with.
"The Champion?!" Loch asked, amazed, "We'd have a huge advantage if he can help."
Zinnia was deep in thought for a few moments before saying, "My concern is how we get to him. If Tyser even has a hunch of where we're going, he'll try and silence us. It's what he's best at."
"Then we'll fly there." Loch quickly responded, "Your Salamence is wicked fast; Talonflame's no joke either. If we leave soon, we can get there before he notices."
Zinnia was content with this solution, but they needed to leave soon for that to work. No sooner was this decided was when a sharp knowck was heard on the door.
"Elder!" came a male voice from the other side, "I have news you should hear."
Zinnia immediately recognized it as Tyser and froze. Loch frantically looked around for other options of getting out and spotted a window at the back of the room. Immediately, he ran over and shoved it open; thankfully, it could fit a person through.
"Zinnia, come on!" he whispered, waving her over.
The older woman put a hand on Zinnia's shoulder. "Go with him. I'll get Tyser off your scent."
Zinnia looked worried. "Be careful."
The old woman simply smiled. "Trust me, I'm too old to be tricked, but you have our people's burden on your shoulders. I will not let that go to waste here. Now go!"
Seeing no other option, Zinnia ran to join Loch, who had already climbed thorugh. After he helped her out, the two summoned their flying mounts once again and, mounting them, took to the skies, soaring out of the crater.
"I know where Wallace's Gym is" Zinnia shouted from her Salamence. "This way!"
The two pokemon streaked across the sky, approaching the city in the distance, which Zinnia told Loch was called Sootopolis. AS they continued, on however, Loch heard a strange buzzing sound, and immediately became both concerned and curious.
"Does Salamence buzz when he flies?" he asked Zinnia; admittedly, he didn't know much about Salamence to begin with.
Zinnia grew concerned as she heard the noise too. "No. I doesn't."
Turning around, she had enough time to register a beam of energy as it streaked past her, just narrowly missing her and her pokemon, but enough to startle them both and cause Salamence to temporarily veer to the side.
"What the hell!?" Zinnia shouted as she regained her balance on Salamence's back.
Loch looked behind them to see the source of the buzzing; a pair of Flygons were in hot pursuit. The two pokemon also bore riders, and neither Zinnia nor Loch needed a closer look to see that it was two of Tyser's men.
"How'd he find us so fast?!" Zinnia shouted.
Loch was equally surprised, but quickly got an idea; he veered Talonflame. "Don't know, but I'll try and buy you some time."
Zinnia looked shocked. "What?!"
"Just GO!" Loch shouted, "You're the one they want anyways!"
Zinna saw the look in his eyes and knew there was no changing his mind; quickly, she turned Salamence towards Sootopolis.
"Good luck!" she shouted before spurring Salamence forward. As she left, Loch turned to face the two Draconids and pulled out one of his pokeballs.
"Talonflame! Smokescreen!" he shouted. Talonflame spread its wings and blew out a smoke from its mouth, flapping its wings to spread it. The smoke covered most of the space between Loch and the Flygons. The latter of which flew right into it, immediately stopping in midair and frantically looking around, unable to see anything. Wasting no time, Loch opened the pokeball, releasing a medium sized, wasp-like pokemon.
"Beedrill" Loch said. The pokemon snapped to attention, eagerly awaiting it's trainer's order. Loch looked back to the cloud of smoke, which was beginning to dissipate. It had already faded enough to where he could see the two Flygons, still regaining their bearings.
Pointing to the rider on the right, Loch looked to Beedrill. "Twinneedle!"
Beedrill immediately flew over, buzzing through the smoke and directly at the Draconid, it's stinger arms outstretched. The rider only had time to register a flash of yellow and black before feeling two stabs in his shoulder. Startled and in pain, the rider fell off his mount, and the Flygon immediately dove down to catch him. Meanwhile, Beedrill buzzed in triumph as Loch cheered it on, not noticing the second rider had finally taken notice and charged right at him. Seeing the danger, Beedrill immediately buzzed over to attack, but it wasn't fast enough, the Flygon fired Dragon Pulse, hitting Talonflame square in the chest and sending it sprawling through the air for a few moments and almost causing Loch to lose his grip on the bird.
Meanwhile, the Draconid wasn't going to let Loch recover and prepared Flygon for another attack as Beedril buzzed up behind it, ready to strike again. The Flygon and Talonflame collided into a claw lock in the air, though this gave both Talonflame and Loch an opportunity to steady themselves. Angered, Loch leaned forward and threw a fist at the Draconid rider, connecting solidly with the closest part he could reach: the man's leg.
"Why are you chasing us!?" Loch demanded.
"Tyser saw you leave with Zinnia." the Draconid explained, "He calls you both a threat and says you need to be dealt with."
Loch growled in anger, but his expression turned to a smug grin. "Tell that to him."
This confused the Draconid long enough for Beedrill to sneak up on him, stabbing him with its abdominal stinger. Shouting in anger, the Draconid swatted Beedrill away, but Loch was able to recall it to its pokeball.
"You did good, buddy." he whispered, putting the ball in his bag; he made a note to reward Beedrill with some pokepuffs if he made it out of this before returning to the problem at hand.
"Flametrower!" he shouted. Talonflame let out a column of fire from its mouth, burning the Flygon and causing it to let go in pain. Talonflame briefly fell a few feet before leveling out and heading down to Sootopolis.
Loch let out a cheer. "Yeah! That'll teach 'em!"
He had spoken too soon. Another Dragon Pulse shot past, this one grazing Loch's shoulder and burning it. Loch shouted in pain as he clutched his shoulder, but he spurred Talonflame on; he could see the gym getting closer now. Frantically, he veered in all directions to avoid the Flygon's attacks as it was rejoined by the second Flygon, who had successfully saved its rider. Quickly, Loch realized he may have made a mistake; the Flygons were closing in and were getting more accurate with each shot. He just hoped Zinnia made it in time.
Suddenly, Talonflame dove down, taking Loch by surprise. Before Loch could ask himself what happened, a sudden surge of heat roared above him as a Fire Blast collided with one of the Flygons. Briefly confused, Loch heard a powerful roar and looked to the gym to see a familiar orange, winged shape approaching fast: Charizard.
As Loch watched, Charizard went right for the Flygon that had been hit by Fire Blast and raised a clawed fist, striking it in the chest with Mega Punch. The Flygon was sent backwards some distance before retreating. With one gone Charizard turned to the other. This one was ready to fight back, but then its rider noticed the figure standing in front of the gym, no doubt the Charizard's trainer, and, recognizing him, became deathly afraid.
"Oh shit!" he gasped, "It's him!"
Immediately, he turned the Flygon away and sped off. Charizard the flew over to Loch and Talonflame and made a small growl, sounding concerned.
"I'm fine" Loch said, "Thank you. But who...?"
Confused by the Draconid's sudden retreat, he looked to the gym entrance to see a young man wearing a standard, red trainer outfit from the Kanto region. He wore a hat that shaded his face, but Loch could see he had black hair and light skin. Charizard motioned for Loch to follow it don to the gym. Seeing few other options, Loch obliged. Once they landed, Loch recalled Talonflame into its pokeball as Zinnia ran out of the gym's entrance, almost tackling him in a hug.
"You're ok!" she shouted.
Loch hugged her back. "All thanks to this guy and his Charizard. Thank you, by the way."
The trainer simply nodded in response. As another man, this one with a white outfit and green hair, stepped out of the building.
"Are you alright?" he asked.
Loch and Zinnia pulled out of the hug as Loch turned to respond. "I'm fine."
Zinnia introduced the man as Wallace, the gym leader they were coming to meet. Turns out he had already been aware of the problem and was discussing it with Steven when Loch and Zinnia approached. This still left one question in Loch's mind though.
"So, who's he?" Loch asked, pointing to the other trainer.
"He's actually the reason I knew about Rocket's doings." Wallace explained, "He's been the thorn in their side for some time now."
The trainer tipped his hat. "Call me Red. Now, we should probably head back inside; the less time we waste the better."
Wallace nodded in agreement and waved Loch and Zinnia back inside. There was still much to discuss, but Loch and Zinnia were just glad they had made it to Wallace in one piece.
That's right, folks. Red's here, and expect to see him a lot.
Let me know what you think so far!