Another chapter in quick succession! This one is where shit really begins to hit the fan, and I hope you enjoy!
Lavaridge Town Pokémon Center, 6 A.M.
Ash tossed and turned in bed, stuck in a heavy dream. Within his dream, he stood within a white void, an Azelf (apparently his conscience) hovering over him. Currently, one question was bouncing around his mind.
"Do I love Serena?" he thought to himself. Over and over again, the question bothered him. He had already admitted he had a crush on her, but had that crush been love this whole time? He didn't know. However, one glance at a specific memory made him realize the truth. It was Serena's departure at the Lumiose Airport, the last time he had seen her until recently.
"Ash, thank you. I'm glad I came with you. You're the kind of person I wanna be!"
Ash lightly gasped at Serena's words as Clemont and Bonnie smiled at each other behind him.
"Man, was I really that dense?" Ash questioned.
"Believe me, this was only the tip of the iceberg," Azelf noted.
"Next time we meet, you're gonna like the kind of person I've grown into!" Serena exclaimed, winking at Ash with a smile. He smiled back at her, clenching his fist.
"Awesome!"
"Really?" Ash facepalmed at his past self's action, groaning. "That's all I could've said in response?"
"Ash, nobody would blame you," Azelf responded. "Generally, most girls mature faster than boys. You just weren't up to speed yet."
"See you!"
Serena stepped down the escalator as she descended, before turning back towards Ash with a large smile.
"Hey Ash, there's just one more thing!"
"Here we go…" Ash said, nervously awaiting what he remembered had happened.
Serena dashed up the escalator as Ash looked on in confusion. Upon reaching the top, she leaned in towards Ash's mouth…
And kissed him.
Ash's face turned red as he watched the moment unfold, sitting cross-legged. He was in silence at this moment, and he only now realized that Serena's choice to kiss him was an act of courage from her.
Serena was intensely blushing as she went down the escalator, hands behind her back.
"Thank you!"
Ash watched Serena descend with a blank expression on his face, but started to smile a few seconds later. Once Serena was out of sight, he was about to walk off when Clemont and Bonnie stopped him right in his tracks.
"Ash, Serena kissed you!" Bonnie squealed "Aren't you gonna say something?"
"I-I don't know," Ash responded. He blushed slightly, but was still clueless as to what happened.
"Ash, when someone kisses you it's an enormous sign of affection," Clemont stated. "But I didn't expect you to barely react."
"I…I don't wanna talk about it," Ash stated.
"Remind me Ash, what did you do after that happened?"
"I…kind of just pushed it into the recesses of my memory. It was such a big shift for me that I didn't know how to process it. But now…now I think I do."
"And how is that?"
"I…I think I love Serena. Well, loved her all this time. I've just never taken the time to realize it."
"Then go out there. Tell that girl you love her Ash. Ash. Ash. Ash."
"Huh?"
"ASH!"
Ash jolted awake, jumping in the bed to see a confused Pikachu and Serena in front of him. While Pikachu looked annoyed, Serena looked worried. Seeing Serena worried about him made him feel worried too.
"You never usually sleep this long," Serena stated. "Is everything okay?"
"I'm fine, don't worry," Ash responded. "Just had a bad dream, that's all."
Serena placed one of her hands close to Ash's hand.
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"It was just…me losing against Leon," Ash was obviously lying. "No big deal."
Serena chuckled slightly. She shook her head and smiled
"You and your battles. It never gets old."
As Serena walked towards the bathroom, Ash looked at Pikachu, smiling.
"Hey buddy, I think I've figured it out. I think…I love Serena."
Pikachu had a blank expression briefly, before cheering and raising his fist into the air. He was glad to see his Trainer had finally realized the truth!
"Thanks for the support buddy. I just need to figure out how exactly I can tell her."
Mossdeep City
Zinnia walked along the streets of Mossdeep, hood up, as her Whismur named Aster followed along. The Space Center loomed over the street she was on as she walked into an alley, kneeled down, and opened up her backpack.
"Grappling hook, check. Go-Goggles, check. Megalith chunk? Double check."
Zinnia looked towards Aster, who clinged to her leg like a barnacle. Zinnia smiled as she pet Asteron the head.
"Don't worry Aster. Once we've disrupted Mossdeep's plans to stop the meteor, we'll be heading to Sky Pillar."
Zinnia grabbed the grappling hook before zipping it back up. Shooting the hook up into the air, it latched onto the roof of a building as she and Aster ascended upwards. Arriving on the roof, she grabbed her Go-Goggles and turned them on. This model provided zoom functionality in addition to dust and sand protection, allowing her to see what was going on inside the building.
Steven Stone had walked into a large office area alongside Sawyer, handing a small box to Professor Cozmo.
"So the Aegislash kid is still around. That's a shame."
Sawyer pounded his fists together as he smirked, causing Cozmo and Steven to burst into laughter. He then pointed his thumb backwards, and Zinnia could barely make out the words "they should be arriving soon".
"What? Who's arriving soon?"
Hoenn Airspace
Ash and his friends were all aboard a Devon Corporation helicopter, heading for Mossdeep. The view was incredible; flocks of Taillow and Swablu flew along in the air, chirping away. A group of Swablu flew faster, catching up to a Trainer flying on her Altaria. The trainer looked over her shoulder and waved to everyone, her red pigtails flapping in her face.
"Thanks for coming along with us May," Brendan stated. "It's great to see you again."
"No worries Brendan!" May responded. "I'm just glad to talk with you again. We haven't seen each other since you got your Mudkip after all!"
As Ash sat in the helicopter, he glanced at Serena. While she had been in a helicopter before, this one was higher up than she was used to, leading her to hold on to one of the railings. Ash put his hand over hers, smiling. Serena smiled back, flipping her hand around as she clasped his. They tightly gripped each others' hands without even realizing it, simply enjoying each others' presence without saying a word.
Internally though, Serena was worried. They were about to take out the meteorite, and then what would happen? Would Ash just immediately leave Hoenn and return to Kanto? Serena hated to admit it, but she was running out of time. Maybe she had to ask Ash herself.
"Hey Ash, what are your plans once we stop the meteor?" she asked. Ash immediately jolted in his seat, before briefly pondering to himself. He knew that he didn't want to leave right away, but he also didn't want to stall for too long. Cerise was waiting after all.
"Actually, I think I might stay in Hoenn a bit longer," Ash noted. "After all, I think me, Goh, and Chloe deserve a bit of R&R after all we've been through, right?"
Goh gave a thumbs-up, as did Chloe. Serena smiled back, and could've sworn she saw Chloe wink at her.
"There is one thing you could do," May stated. "On the note of meteors, the Litleonid meteor shower is due to pass by in a few days. I've heard it's the most romantic thing."
Serena, Ash, and Brendan all blushed profusely. May smiled at Brendan before continuing to speak.
"You know, Drew and I were supposed to go this year before…what happened. If I had the chance, I'd love to go personally."
"Hey Ash, why don't you go with Serena to see the Leonids?" Goh blurted out. Chloe immediately threw her hand over his mouth and laughed nervously as Ash and Serena sat blank-faced. Ash eventually scratched his neck nervously as he glanced towards Serena, blushing lightly.
"Well, I don't have any other ideas," Ash murmured. "If you don't want to, that's fine, but-"
"Ash, I'd love to," Serena responded, blushing heavily. Ash had just asked her out! Both of them smiled, thinking one thing to themselves:
That's when I'll tell the truth.
Mossdeep Space Center
The helicopter touched down on the landing pad of the space center as the group walked out. Steven, Sawyer, Cozmo, and Birch were there to greet them.
"Good to see you all made it," Steven stated. "Do you have the Primal Shard?"
"Right here," Serena responded, fishing it out of her bag before handing it to Steven. He smiled, clasping it in his hand as he admired the texture of it.
"A piece of this world's earliest days," Steven muttered to himself. "Let's get to work."
The group walked inside, seeing countless scientists working away on computers. A large monitor dominated the wall, showing video footage of Grand Meteor Delta soaring through deep space. It was unclear when exactly it would make impact. As they neared the monitor, Steven placed the Primal shard inside a small box with a connector on each side of it.
"I suppose we should explain how the Link Cable works," Cozmo noted. "How familiar is everyone with the multiverse?"
The whole group stammered as they struggled to comprehend what Cozmo had just said. Eventually, Ash coughed into his hand.
"When I went through Ultra Space, I went to a version of Alola devastated by a Guzzlord," Ash recalled. "Does that have anything to do with it?"
"Precisely," Cozmo explained. "The Link Cable, powered by the shard of Primal energy, is essentially designed to open up an Ultra Wormhole for the meteor to enter. From there, it will effectively be destroyed."
"Wouldn't that just lead to the meteor entering another world?" Chloe questioned.
"Possibly, but-" Cozmo was interrupted.
"What if that world can't deal with the meteorite?!" May exclaimed. "We're just gonna let them die?"
"We don't know that for sure," Birch shook his head. "For all we know it could be drifting through Ultra Space for eternity. There is one problem though: we need someone to man the shuttle to set up the Link Cable in front of the meteor. A team of two, to be precise."
Everyone immediately glanced at Ash and Serena, who sighed as they held their hands up in the air. It seemed like every opportunity the group had, they would try to push those two together.
"I guess we're heading into space Serena," Ash stated, shrugging to himself. Serena sighed a little, feeling completely anxious. She had never been into space! What was she supposed to do? Why did she hear the sound of glass shattering?
Wait. Glass shattering?
Serena's train of thought had been interrupted by an alarm blared throughout the Mossdeep Space Center following the shattering of a window. The group turned around. Oh, great. She's back.
Zinnia stood along the edge of the room, arms folded, as Aster and her Salamence stood beside her. Ash clenched his fist, giving Zinnia a glare as sharp as a dagger.
"I never thought you'd survive plunging into lava," Zinnia joked, walking over to the group as she spoke. "No matter. Hand over the Link Cable and nobody gets hurt."
"Why should we?" Steven declared. "You have no right to interfere."
"Oh, do I?" Zinnia retorted. "It was the Draconids who halted the first meteor showers centuries before you were even born. It is MY people who know how to stop this."
"I don't think you understand," Cozmo flatly stated. "We're going to be sending the meteor through Ultra Space. You have no need to interfere. Now surrender and-"
"And what if that meteor arrives in another reality?" Zinnia questioned. "What if that reality lacks the advanced technology necessary to destroy it? You'd be saving our world at the cost of another."
"That isn't for you to decide," Steven stated. At that point, Zinnia pulled her belt of Poké Balls off of her body, before tossing them out onto the field. A Goodra, Tyrantrum, Altaria, Noivern, and Kommo-o leapt out onto the floor, ready to attack. Zinnia pointed forward flashing a maniacal grin.
"Seize it."
The Dragon-type Pokémon charged forward as the Trainers readied their Poké Balls. They knew what was about to go down.
"Lucario, it's up to you!"
"Milotic, defend us!"
"Magneton, show us what you've got!"
"Eevee, take 'em on!"
"Shiftry, take point!"
"Beautifly, go for it!"
The Trainers' Pokémon crashed to the ground, staring down their opponents as they arrived. Before long, a ferocious battle broke out. It was impossible to tell who was doing what to who as dust kicked up in the air.
As all of this was happening, Zinnia tossed her grappling hook up onto the ceiling as she ascended, climbing along the rafters as she made her way over to the monitor. Observing from above, she noticed Cozmo and Birch attempting to fit the Primal Shard into the Link Cable, which was a large flexible tube of sorts. Zinnia dropped down as she snatched one end of the Link Cable from Cozmo's hands, grinning wickedly. At this point, the two of them were engaged in a tug of war as they locked gazes.
"You have no idea what you're messing with," Zinnia ranted. "The Draconids are the ones who can save this world, not a bunch of geeks with overpriced tech!"
"You're just a child!" Cozmo retorted. "Wake up and see the truth!"
"I'm no child!"
Zinnia snarled as she yanked harder on the Link Cable, which drew the attention of Aster. The Whisper Pokémon immediately let out an ear-piercing screech across the room, which caused everyone to immediately stop what they were doing and cover their ears. What few windows were remaining immediately shattered, as did numerous monitors.
Unfortunately, Zinnia had conditioned her ears to resist Aster's noises.
The Draconid woman managed to yank the Link Cable away from Cozmo as she held it in the air triumphantly, her Pokémon running to defend her from anyone who would take it. Grinning, she placed both of her hands on it as her Salamence lumbered over.
"Salamence, Dragon Claw if you please."
Salamence roared as he reared back his claw, slashed at the Link Cable…
…and let out an explosion of rainbow energy across the room, stretching across the entire Hoenn region and possibly even beyond.
Terra Cave
A pool of lava bubbled at the bottom of a large cavern. As a rainbow-colored wave of energy passed by it, the bubbling intensified as the entire cave began to shake, rocks falling to the ground. Eventually, an explosion of lava sundered the entire cave and forced the island it was located on to explode, revealing the presence of a giant, glowing red Pokémon.
Groudon, the master of land.
Marine Cave
Elsewhere, a large underground spring of water had the rainbow energy pass through. The water began to rise, engulfing the cavern it was in, before unleashing a massive geyser in the ocean far above. A large blue Pokémon rose from the geyser, letting out a ferocious roar.
Kyogre, the master of the sea.
Mossdeep Space Center
The dust cleared from the space center as Zinnia held the two halves of the Link Cable, now scorched and frayed beyond repair. The Primal Shard inside it was now just a pebble. Everyone looked at her with expressions of disbelief and anger.
"What have you DONE?!" Cozmo snarled. Zinnia smirked as she tossed the cable's remains along the floor to him, cleaning off her hands.
"I don't think I'll be needing this anymore," Zinnia flatly stated. "Now if you excuse me, I have a trip to Sky Pillar awaiting me. No need to thank me for destroying the meteorite."
As Zinnia recalled all of her Pokémon except Salamence, she jumped onto Salamence's back and took flight, leaving the Space Center behind.
"Is everyone alright?" Cozmo questioned.
"I'm good," Ash replied, before looking to his left. Serena was getting up slowly, having been blown away by the explosion of energy a bit more. Ash offered his hand to her as she blushed and took hold of it, getting up. Steven then coughed into his hand to speak up.
"We'll need to follow Zinnia," Steven stated. "Whatever she's doing at Sky Pillar might be our only chance. Plus there's also the fact that she caused billions of dollars in damage here and nearly killed u-"
"WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?!" Sawyer exclaimed, pointing out at the ocean. Everyone turned around to notice Groudon and Kyogre lumbering through the ocean towards each other. The water around Groudon was turning into stone as a steam cloud formed around him, while storm clouds pouring down rain fell over the ocean due to Kyogre.
"New plan: Ash, Serena, you two are going after Zinnia," Steven declared. "The rest of us will deal with…whatever's happening here."
"Right," Ash replied. Looking at Serena, he grasped her hand tightly, smiling at her in assurance. She blushed back in response, which made Ash's heart twinge a bit.
"Anything we should know before heading out there?" Serena asked. Cozmo immediately raised a finger before grabbing two small boxes and handing them to the duo.
"We were initially going to use these spacesuits for deploying the Link Cable, but that isn't an option," Cozmo stated. "You two should still take them though."
Ash and Serena each took a box, placing it into their bags. Nodding at each other, they then turned back towards Steven, smiling.
"I'll get a helicopter ready for you shortly," Steven stated.
Meteor Falls, three years ago
A young girl walked into a bedroom with a Bagon on her shoulder, where an old woman was laying down. She coughed as the girl approached and sat on the edge of the bed.
"You wished to see me Lorekeeper?" the girl asked.
"Call me Aster, Zinnia," Aster responded. "I…I don't have much longer in this world. Soon, I will be joining our ancestors."
"A-Aster…" Zinnia cried, clenching her fists. "What of the Draconids? They need your guidance!"
"Which is why I wanted you here," Aster stated. "Y-you are the one who must carry on our legacy. You…must be our next Lorekeeper."
"I…I can't," Zinnia responded. "I've always dreamed of heading out into the world as a Trainer! Why can't it be someone older?"
"Zinnia, your capabilities are akin to mine when I was your age," Aster responded. "Your ability to bond with Dragon-type Pokémon is second to none. If anyone is to lead us, it should be you."
Zinnia teared up slightly. Her dreams of competing in Hoenn's Pokémon League had been shattered, and she had no choice but to take up the mantle of leadership.
"My Whismur will guide you," Aster stated. A Whismur jumped up onto the bed, clinging to Aster's arm in fear. The old woman then closed her eyes.
"Zinnia…you will soon have to halt the coming of the Delta. Its return will…require you to awaken the Emerald One."
"I…I will," Zinnia responded, clutching Aster's hand, as tears flowed down her face. "You h-have my word."
Aster faintly smiled, her eyes still closed. Whismur was beginning to tear up.
"I…I know you will…Zinnia…"
Aster's heartbeat stopped as Zinnia let the dam of tears open up. Bawling over Aster's body, she buried her head in the bedsheets. Whismur placed a hand on Zinnia's arm, crying to itself alongside her.
"Whis…"
Zinnia looked up at Whismur, smiling faintly as she hugged it tightly.
"Don't worry…Aster."
Hoenn Airspace
Zinnia jolted awake from her daydream, still flying on top of her Salamence. That day had been the most influential in her life, deciding the course of her destiny. From that day onwards, she had done nothing but prepare for the Delta to arrive. She had visited ancient Draconid sites in Sinnoh, Kalos, and Alola to study what was coming. She had set aside her dreams of competing as a Pokémon Trainer to work to save the world.
And now a bunch of Trainers from outside Hoenn were wanting to meddle in her destiny?
Zinnia scoffed when she remembered them. They were too blind to see that Hoenn's salvation would be in the form of Rayquaza.
And they would not stand in the way of her fulfilling Aster's last request.
Sorry for a bit of a shorter chapter. I didn't want to write a whole six on six battle with twelve mons on the field at once, so I had to make things a little short. I do want to take a moment to discuss Zinnia's characterization though.
Zinnia in this fic is primarily based on her manga incarnation, but I wanted to play up her arrogance and god complex. She's very much a firm believer that her sole destiny is to stop the meteor, and without it, she is nothing. Her aggression and ruthlessness stem from this.