Characters: Zinnia, Steven, Renee, Wallace
Warnings:
Violence
Renee had a weird dream that night. She had a hard time remembering it, but it was something about a woman in a field. She was pretty, and seemed to speak a language Renee was sure didnât exist. She shook Reneeâs hand and smiled at her, and that seemed to be all that Renee could remember.
Renee didn’t feel rested at all when she woke up, only stressed. The mysterious girl, the meeting, it was too much going on at one time and she didnât want to deal with it. She spent a good 15 minutes sulking in bed before actually getting up, and exited the guest bedroom only to discover Steven and Wallace had been waiting for her. She apologized, and went to grab breakfast.
âGoodmorning Renee! You sure slept in.â Wallace said. He was sitting on the couch watching battles on TV with Steven, as the two of them had already eaten.
Renee rubbed her eyes as she sat down with cereal.
âYea, I know. Itâs just⌠things are happening so fast and I donât want to deal with it.â
âThat makes two of us, then.â Steven chimed in. He was laying down in Wallaceâs lap, thumbing through an issue of League Illustrated that was at least a week old.
âHah, I guess youâre right. Hey, how much time until the meeting do we got anyways?â Renee asked.
âWeâve got maybe like⌠an hour or so, which gives you 30 minutes to get ready, I think.â
Upon hearing â30 minutesâ Renee paused, then started eating faster and attempted to multitask, checking her phone as well. Wallace chuckled a bit, watching Renee try to get her morning together as quickly as possible.
Renee got ready, and Wallace waved Steven and Renee off as they left for the Mossdeep Space Center. The island of Mossdeep was small, so the center was at least within walking distance. The two talked about an assortment of things, trying to get their minds off the impending calamity at hand. At a point during their walk, Renee released Izzy, and she joined the two on their walk through the suburban area.
When the two arrived, Renee recalled Izzy back to her pokeball, and they both stepped inside the space center. Looking around, it looked like just a normal day – people and families were looking at exhibits and waiting in line to enter, like nothing was wrong; the whiplash hit Renee as she remembered the meteor case was still top secret.
The attention of the two friends was caught by an older man with grey hair in a lab coat. He waved towards the two, and motioned them to come closer as he stood by the staff-only staircase.
He introduced himself as Professor Cosmos, the person who self-proclaimed himself the discoverer of the âincidentâ. Steven and Renee attempted to make short introductions as well, but were blown off by Cosmos – as he âalready knew who they wereâ.
Cosmos motioned for the two to follow him up the stairs, and he unlocked a door with his staff keycard.
Renee was in awe of what was inside – rows of buttons and switches and screens, all lined up in front of a trio of large screens. And on the very middle screen, there it was – live, grainy footage of the meteor. Despite the low quality of the footage, Renee almost felt her stomach drop just seeing it – there it was, and it was real. Her distraction was cut by Steven tugging at her sleeve and motioning his hands towards the professor, who had prepared a conference room for the three.
Once inside the conference room, Cosmos made sure to lock the door and pull the blinds down so nobody could peek in. Then, with a giddy look on his face, he gestured towards a sleek white package on the conference table.
âWhat is it?â Steven asked, hesitant to touch the package.
âOpen it! Please, donât hesitate!â Cosmos replied, as he slid the package over the table to Steven and Renee.
Renee looked over at Steven and gave him a slight nod. With that, Steven lifted the top off of the box to see a remote-looking device sitting inside, surrounded by a grey foam.
âWhat⌠is it?â Renee asked the professor, whose expression shifted to that of disappointment at her reaction.
âWellâŚâ Cosmos said, pushing up his glasses in an almost stereotypical manner; âThis is the device that will save the world!â
âOkay, but what does it, like, do?â Renee replied once again.
In a disappointed huff, Cosmos looked to Renee for a second before going on.
âItâs a device like no other – the idea is, when itâs attached to a rocket weâll send up to the meteor, itâll be activated and open a temporary wormhole to rid us of the meteor! Youâll find full details in the paperwork, make sure to go over it, since you two are the regionâs champions, and all!â
The two friends were still awestruck – it all felt fake. Using a wormhole of all things⌠it sounded like science fiction. Still, Renee and Steven accepted that this was really their only option, and Renee slid the paperwork over to herself and began reading over it, handing off pages to Steven as she finished.
While reading, Renee was interrupted by a tapping noise. She thought nothing of it at first, but the noise kept persisting, to an irritating degree. She eventually stood up and checked the window, which appeared to be the source of the sound – believing it to be a pesky bird pokemon. But when Renee opened the blinds, there was nothing there.
Believing she had scared it off, Renee went back to signing and reading through the hefty paperwork. But then the tapping came back, and once again, Renee opened the blinds to see nothing there.
As soon as Renee sat down, the tapping resumed once more, and at this point, she couldnât stand it. Renee lifted the blinds and pushed the window open, and that was when she was pushed out of the way by a human-sized figure.
Stumbling to catch her breath, Renee looked before her to see the woman who had greeted her at her house the day before, and she had a rather confident smile on her face. The woman tipped off her fingers to Renee;
âHowâs it goinâ, champ?â
Everyone in the room sat by in shock, not knowing what to say. Looking around, the intruder silently closed the window and shuddered the blinds behind her, and helped a small whismur into the room from above. Finally, after an innumerable period of silence, Professor Cosmos spoke up.
âWh⌠who⌠what are you⌠who are you and what are you doing here!! This is a confidential meeting – Iâm one step away from calling security!â
The mysterious intruder gave him an annoyed look and shrugged.
âIâm just your average nobody trainer – nameâs Zinnia! I just have some important business regarding a champ, a former champ, and a big olâ hunk of rock in space.â
The room was silent once more after her statement, the only sound being Steven muttering about Zinnia referring to him as a âformer champâ.
Renee swallowed nervously before addressing her.
âEr, Zinnia⌠how do you even know about all of this?! Have you been the one meddling with this process the entire time? The arson, visiting me at my parentâs house, following Wallace⌠it was all you, wasnât it!â
âBingo! Hey, youâve already put this together, youâre smart!â Zinnia paused briefly, looking to Steven before eventually returning her focus to Renee as she sat down and propped her legs up on the conference table. âHey, can the prettyboy over here, like, book it? I donât like him.â
Steven looked offended, but tried to keep his cool.
âNo, Iâm as much a part of this as Renee is. Youâre acting like you own this place when you literally just broke in!â
Zinnia leaned back in her chair, sneering at Steven. âWell, itâs not my fault your dadâs a dick who ruined my life.â
Steven looked at Zinnia with an exasperated facial expression. Before he could speak, he was interrupted by Renee, who stood in between the feuding parties.
âWoahkay! Letâs chill out a bit! Zinnia, without insulting Steven, explain why youâve been following me and tell what you have to say, please.â
Zinnia let out a small groan at Reneeâs statement, but she took her legs off the table and sat in a more professional manner.
âOkay, first thing, you guys really need new windows if I was able to hear all of your âconfidentialâ meeting through it. Just a thought.â Zinnia paused and took out a small notebook, and quickly flipped through it. Ignoring Steven and Cosmos and looking only at Renee, Zinnia spoke up again.
âSo, assuming you already know that I know about the whole meteor thing, we donât have to go over that⌠well actually⌠kinda?â Zinnia tapped her notebook with a pen as she thought.
âIâm the Draconid lorekeeper, and passed down throughout history, thereâs a recurring prophecy. Every 1,000 years, a meteor will threaten to destroy Hoenn, if not the world – and itâs the task of the lorekeeper to team up with Rayquaza to destroy it.â
Steven cocked his head to the side. âBut if itâs your task alone, why are you interfering? Besides, we already have our plan set.â
Zinnia looked up to Steven with an annoyed look on her face.
âGod, will you shut up? I need to interfere. What if Rayquaza got sent to another dimension because of your stupid device by accident? And whoâs to say where itâll go and what the fate of the people on the other side of that wormhole will be? Not to mention youâre using infinity energy, and Iâm sure you of all people know where that comes from, prettyboy.â
The room went silent for a minute, and Steven looked particularly stung by Zinniaâs words. After a moment, Cosmos spoke up.
âShe⌠she does have a point, I guess? I mean, we donât know where the meteor will end up⌠and as for infinity energy⌠well…â Cosmosâs words trailed off by the mere mention of infinity energy.
âThis just⌠all doesnât make sense! Zinnia, youâre acting like this is all a game when the fate of the world is dependent on this! I want to believe you, I want to believe that you have the power to summon Rayquaza or whatever, but right now youâre here making everything more difficult than it needs to be!â Renee said, slamming her palms on the table in front of Zinnia, clearly frustrated. Zinnia just sighed, closed her journal and got up.
âChamp, no, Renee⌠look, Iâm sorry Iâm causing you all this distress. I can tell youâre a good person, really. She wouldâve loved you, especially. But right now, Iâm the bad guy, I guess, and I need to do something that will make sure nothing gets in my way.â
Just as Zinnia finished speaking, she grabbed her whismur and put it up on the table, and whispered to it in a language Renee couldnât understand. Before anyone could react, the pokemon skittered past the grabbing hands of the others in the room, grabbed the remote device, and ran back to Zinnia.
Confidently gripping the remote, Zinnia threw it to the floor with all her might, and stomped on it with her good foot for good measure. A crunching noise could be heard, and horror washed over the faces of everyone in the room, save for Zinnia.
âNO!!!â Cosmos cried out, straining what little hair he had in his hands, as he watched with horror.
âThere⌠thereâs a backup, right?! You must have made a second one!!â Steven said, exasperated.
Sniveling, Cosmos replied – âNo⌠no⌠Mr. Stone had us strapped for time⌠we only had time to create oneâŚâ
With Cosmos saying that, Zinniaâs grin grew wider and wider – it was all according to her plan.
The room was silent – everyone was too in shock to say anything. What they had thought to be a reliable method to save the world had quite literally been crushed right before their eyes. Once again breaking the silence, Zinnia spoke up;
âWell, are you gonna work with me now? Iâll give the details later, I think I should head out now. But Iâll be back! Pinky promise.â
Zinnia waited for a response, and when she didnât get one, she just shrugged.
âWhatever. Whether you like it or not, you guys are gonna have to work with me. Catch ya later!â She paused for a moment before turning to Steven.
âOh, I almost forgot, hereâs something I would give to give to your dad, but since heâs not here, youâre the next best option.â
Steven looked confused as Zinnia nonchalantly came up to him, but he was soon consumed with shock and pain as Zinniaâs fist hit him square in the nose. He yelped out in pain, bringing his hands to his face as he realized the pulsing pain wasnât the only thing in his nose – he was bleeding.
Zinnia had a crooked smile on, and seemed like she had done everything she came to do. With that, she waved goodbye, grabbed her whismur, and hopped out the window. Renee ran to the window at the sight of Zinnia jumping from the third story, but was relieved to see she had landed on a salamence and was flying away.
Renee’s attention turned to Steven in a panic, as she grabbed a bundle of tissues to help contain her friendâs bleeding. As Renee turned to Stevenâs face, she could tell that he was trying his best to hold back tears.
âSteven, oh my god⌠hey, youâre not like him, I promise, she doesnât knowâŚâ Renee said in an attempt to comfort him, knowing how being equated to his father was like opening a wound.
Renee was trying her best to keep a handle on the situation, but between Cosmos incessantly muttering about what they were going to do now to Stevenâs bloody nose, she was quickly feeling overwhelmed. The room was quiet, save for Cosmosâs mumbling, until Steven spoke up, his voice wavering.
âI think itâs broken.â
With that, no more words were said. Renee and Steven swiftly went to the hospital to get Stevenâs nose checked out; and as a matter of fact, his nose had been broken. Luckily, surgery wasnât required to fix it, but the pain was still rather intense. He was instructed to take it easy for at least 3 days.
With impending doom on the horizon, Steven and Renee couldnât do anything but sit around.
—
March 31st, 2005
7:26pm
4 days
Thatâs all squared away and taken care of, thank goodness! Now I just have to think about what I have to do next⌠if that is anything at all. I canât summon her back quite yet, I have to wait until the day of to do that⌠which leaves me sitting on my ass until then. Hopefully I didnât do too much of a number on that prettyboy Steven? Weâll have to see.
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