Return to Classic Pokeau characters || Page last updated: February 4th, 2024
“Right… well, no matter what, I’ll love you Cynthia, even if you put my soul into a rock.”
–Orchid, Odd Keystone
Orchid was the lorekeeper previous to Zinnia, and her late mother. She was a dutiful archivist, who’s work tore an international incident wide open.
While she was born in Fallarbor, her family, as well as Emmy, ended up moving all the way to Celestic Town in Sinnoh after rising tensions with the Stone family resulted in the death of her father. It would be because of this move that Orchid was introduced to Cynthia – the two of them would train together and became good friends, and eventually, fall in love.
The two got married young, and Orchid was able to dedicate herself to her studies full-time. She worked to archive Draconid history and varied mythology; though Orchid eventually took a special interest in a man named Joeseph Stone. The information she uncovered was game-changing, but…
Orchid later died of suspicious circumstances shortly after her daughter was born, ruled as medical complications.
But a spirit like Orchid’s wouldn’t be extinguished so easily, especially when she had unfinished business.
Appearance
Orchid was 6’0″ (182cm), with a muscular-thin build. She had short wavy black hair, with one side tied into a mini-ponytail using the Draconid heirloom bead – the red colour of which matched her eyes. She was almost always seen wearing her emerald delta necklace.
Her style was very ‘vintage’, and she commonly wore both traditionally masculine and feminine clothing.
The ghostly Draconid archivist
| Nicknames | Flower, Nightmare eyes |
| Gender | Genderfluid (She/her) |
| Age | 20 (Deceased) |
| Birthday | November 4th |
| Occupation | Lorekeeper (Former) |
| Ethnicity | Draconid |
| Birthplace | Fallarbor Town |
| Orientation | Ace Lesbian |
| S/O | Cynthia |
| Legend affiliation | N/A |
| Theme |
Personality
Orchid was determined, dedicated, and she always cared a lot about what she was invested in. When she was dead-set on something, she would ignore all else until she could complete her task at hand; even if it would sometimes come with the cost of her own well-being.
Orchid was also a massive perfectionist, though she’d never admit it. She’d be more likely to say that she wanted to do things to make the world better, even if it was small – and she’d be honest by saying that.
Being the lorekeeper, Orchid was raised with values of helping others, and that’s exactly what she tried to do – even if the person didn’t really ask. She wanted everyone to be happy, and because of this, she’d often put everyone’s weight on her shoulders. She always wanted to be at the front lines of everything, and to do her best to help her community.
She was quite social too, and even if her frequent research gave her an ‘egghead’ reputation among local kids. She would always be ready to strike up a conversation – especially with family.
Story
This section is old and outdated. It currently only goes up to the in-universe year of 2027 and is due for an update!
Birth and conflicts (0-2)
Orchid’s birth was celebrated, as it marked the next chapter of the lorekeeper legacy. However, through unfortunate coincidence, Orchid was born during a tumultuous time for her family and Fallarbor town as a whole. The ever-turbulent relationship between the Stone and lorekeeper families was growing worse, particularly due to the recent discovery of a rare mineral deposit just out of town. It wasn’t the Devon CEO who posed the biggest problem, though – it was his sons. The four had been particularly aggressive in their approach to coerce the family into allowing Devon to access the deposit. Even after Orchid’s mother’s refusal, citing dangers related to the nearby volcano, they persisted.
Read more – Warnings for family member death
It all came to a point when Orchid was just 2 years old – Orchid’s father, a family friend, and Emerald had agreed to a shady meet-up with the brothers. It was clear from the beginning that neither side was going to play fair, but the entire confrontation quickly spiraled out of control. When the dust settled, five people were dead, which included the 3 eldest Stone brothers and Orchid’s father. Emerald has also sustained mild injuries, and had to take time to regenerate.
Unable to consult Emerald, Orchid’s mother made the executive decision to move with her daughter to the remote Draconid outpost of Celestic town, nestled deep in the mountains of Sinnoh for safety.
The small community in Celestic was very welcoming and empathetic, and they felt honored that the lorekeeper would feel that their small town was a place she’d be willing to call home for a while.
Early life (2-10)
Because of the remoteness of Celestic’s location, Orchid grew up without a lot of outside influences. Emerald would often fly over the mountain and visit Eterna city for the night, bringing back newspapers when she returned, but that was about it. Orchid was taught to read at a young age, and would usually immerse herself in books to learn about the world outside her tiny town. While she was too young to formally begin lorekeeper training, she still strived to do her best and helped out however she could. There weren’t very many kids her age around the town, but she never seemed to mind.
Cynthia, training, and nightmares (10-13)
It was a cloudy afternoon, and the family was eating lunch when a knock fell on the front door. It wasn’t expected, but it also wasn’t unheard of; people of the town would often come to the lorekeeper for help. Orchid’s mother moved to get up and answer the door, but Emerald beat her to it, even after she insisted she should answer instead, as Emerald was never in a particularly good mood these days.
There was a man at the door, and he didn’t look like he was from Celestic at all – he looked and dressed wealthy, and by his side was a girl around Orchid’s age in a black fur coat.
The man said he had heard of the ‘lorekeeper training’ and wanted to ask if his daughter could ‘enroll’. Emerald seemed dumbfounded from his misinformation, but politely corrected him. Still, the man insisted, and the two argued for a bit. Orchid was eating, but stopped to stare over at the door. She could only see Emerald’s expression, but from that, she could tell that she was frustrated. Then, they stopped. The man offered Emerald an amount of money she couldn’t refuse, so she begrudgingly changed her attitude towards him. The man called a chauffeur to grab his daughter’s luggage, and they quickly moved everything inside.
And so, almost as strangely as he came, the man left in a cloud of dust and fallen leaves kicked up by his expensive car. Emerald found his desire to just drop his daughter off for an undefined period of time quite odd, but pushed her suspicion to the side when taking the money into account.
Orchid was just about as confused as her mother and the girl. While her mother went to berate Emerald for taking to accepting what she called bribery, Orchid went to attempt an introduction with the girl who had just shown up. She’d never talked much to kids her age, so she slipped up halfway through her introduction from anxiety. The girl told her it was alright, and introduced herself as Cynthia. She told Orchid that her father was a powerful pokemon trainer, and that she was here ‘to get strong like him‘. Orchid perked up a bit, remembering news of the Pokemon League and broadcasts she’d listen to on the radio. She was able to talk with Cynthia for a bit before her mother calmly interrupted both of them. She told Orchid it was best to help Cynthia get settled, and that afterward the four of them would formally discuss lorekeeper training.
While helping Cynthia get settled, Orchid was able to learn a bit more about her. She told her about her father and her life at home, and how her father had apparently been searching for a place for her to train for a while. Orchid told her that she thought it was strange how her father would just drop her off like that, but Cynthia shrugged it off, saying it was normal for her.
That evening, the four of them sat down to discuss training. Orchid’s mother was reluctant to include Cynthia, still feeling sour over Emerald’s decision to take her – but Emerald insisted. While Orchid had a bit of a headstart from her studies in her free time, formal Lorekeeper training was meant to prepare her for taking her mother’s role when it was time. Orchid was more than ready to begin, and enthusiastically said so. Cynthia seemed a bit intimidated by everything, especially considering it was her first day in a new place – but Orchid’s mother told her she’d likely only participate in only some of the things Orchid did. The meeting felt a bit underwhelming to Orchid, who had expected something less casual. Still, she was excited to start training as soon as she could.
Not long after, Orchid formally began training to take up the role of lorekeeper, with Cynthia at her side. While her mother facilitated most of it, Emerald did teach her on occasion – though much less than she normally would. Orchid’s mother found herself filling in for Emerald more than she’d like to, but Orchid didn’t question it much. Her learning was primarily linked to Draconid history and dragon husbandry, but she was also taught a variety of other skills ranging from physical training to varied naturalistic skills. It got difficult at times, but Orchid was more than thankful she at least had someone her age to talk to about it. Additionally, the two found out they had a strong shared interest in history, and would often stay up late at night going over old books.
It was also during this time that Orchid began having frequent nightmares. She started to stay up late studying to avoid sleeping, because whenever she had a nightmare she’d wake up anxious. She had also come to realize that things she’d see out of the corner of her eye – things she had thought were ghost types hiding – really weren’t. She’d always dealt with this, but it was only now that she realized she was the only person experiencing this. She was afraid to mention it to her mother or Emerald, but she confided to Cynthia about it, who offered to support her however she could.
The landslide, the meteor, and the future (14-16)
For a while, it was mostly business as usual for the household. Orchid and Cynthia would train alongside eachother, strengthening their bonds with not only their pokemon, but with each other as well. Orchid had chosen to raise a bagon, while Cynthia found herself to be rather fond of a gible. They were making steady progress, and while Orchid’s hallucinations and nightmares proved to be an intimidating obstacle, she still managed it as best she could.
Read more – Warnings for descriptions of delusions, and talk of disasters and imminent doom
One day, Orchid woke up with an awful feeling of anxiety and dread. Normally, she’d feel like this after having a particularly bad nightmare, but she hadn’t had one that night. No matter what she did – talking to Cynthia, reading, writing – it didn’t go away. Orchid felt like her world was rumbling, and when she heard or felt something odd she’d completely freeze up. Nobody else felt or heard any of this, which only led her to panic more. She had nightmares of variations of the same event – a landslide, almost nightly. Her fear had gotten to the point where she became afraid to go outside altogether. She didn’t know why this was happening and she just wanted it to stop. Her mother’s concern grew to a point where she had asked Emerald if she could fly Orchid over the mountain to see if a doctor in Eterna could help, but at a certain point in the road Orchid completely froze and refused to move forward.
On a foggy morning, Orchid awoke to pokemon cries and bell-sirens in the distance. She felt like she had a pit in her stomach, and didn’t want to go downstairs. Cynthia wasn’t in the room either, despite Orchid almost always waking up before her. She didn’t want to get out of bed – she thought to herself that if she didn’t leave the room, nothing would truly be wrong.
She was in bed for what felt like an eternity, before she heard the front door open and close, followed by footsteps up the stairs. She turned her head, to see that it was Cynthia – covered in dirt and visibly distressed. Orchid sat up and was about to speak, but before she could, Cynthia ran to her and held her in a tight hug. For a moment, neither of them could find any words to say, and for the moment, time stood still.
Cynthia was muttering, talking too quickly for Orchid to properly make anything out. Orchid eventually built up a will in herself to ask Cynthia what had happened, which prompted a deep sigh from her. Cynthia’s words were wavering, but she told Orchid what happened:
It was probably a pokemon that caused loose rocks on the side of Mt. Coronet fall in a landslide. The road Orchid had frozen on previously was completely destroyed, along with some houses. Nobody was sure if anyone was hurt yet or not, but everyone in the house except Orchid had rushed out to help. Cynthia tried waking Orchid up, but told her she was unresponsive.
Orchid was in shock – she couldn’t find words for anything. The only things on her mind were panicked thoughts about the people involved and guilt from feeling like she could’ve stopped it somehow. There was so much she wanted to say, but she ended up breaking into tears instead. Cynthia did her best to assure her everything was going to be alright, and sat with her until Emerald and Orchid’s mother returned home.
In the days following, there was some discussion about the possibility of there being a deeper meaning – the episode Orchid had seemingly predicted the landslide, after all. And while her paranoia was severe for a couple of days afterward, it soon dissipated, and she no longer woke up with the awful feeling she did during the episode leading up to the landslide. All the talk stressed her out, and she just wished she could go back to normal training with Cynthia.
Though, she was able to find some solace with a new friend – not human, but a pokemon. While helping clear debris with Cynthia, Orchid had noticed an absol standing silently in the distance. She ended up following it, and bested it in battle. Admiring her strength, the absol didn’t seem to want to leave Orchid’s side.
For a while after the landslide, things had mostly gone back to normal. It seemed the prediction thing wasn’t a ruse, though. A less severe episode forboded a large storm later that year – and it was in partial thanks to Absol that Orchid was able to make it through with more ease. Despite everything, she still vowed to do the best she could, and Orchid and Cynthia were quite popular within Celestic for their assistance.
Shortly after Orchid turned 16, she was sat down to have a serious talk with both Emerald and her mother. She didn’t know what it was about, but was concerned by how solemn they both looked. The two broke the news to Orchid about the millennial prophecy that Orchid would have to face – that she would have to sacrifice herself in order to allow Rayqyaza to mega evolve and destroy a meteor that threatened all of humanity. She was aware of the prophecy involving the meteor, but had no idea it would manifest during her lifetime. Outwardly, Orchid acted understanding, but on the inside, it felt almost like her world shattered under her feet. She wasn’t quite sure how to feel, and if anything, she felt a mix of despair at knowing she wouldn’t live longer than 45, rage at them not telling her sooner, and a feeling of fleetingness. Her mother’s tone was sad and empathetic, but it didn’t seem to reach her. She was dismissed and she quietly walked upstairs to her room, where Cynthia was waiting.
Cynthia was about to ask what was talked about, but quickly realized something was wrong. Orchid was unable to keep everything in, and ended up sobbing in Cynthia’s arms. She promised Orchid that she’d stay with her until the end, no matter what. It took a while for her to calm down, but eventually, the tears stopped flowing. Instead, she was hand in hand with Cynthia, talking about things they’d want to do together in the future.
The two had never really stopped to consider what they’d call their relationship before, but it was then that they both realized they wanted to spend their lives together. They both ended up talking about their future until the sun came up.
Lorekeeper Orchid, Champion Cynthia, and Joseph Stone (17-18)
Time passed, and training continued. Nothing truly outstanding happened for a while, aside from expected bumps that come from living in a remote mountain village. That was, until Orchid’s mother became seriously ill. She was already around the age where a lorekeeper would pass their role to their child, but her sudden onset of illness only kickstarted the process. Despite having prepared for this her entire life, Orchid was still a bit nervous – but with the encouragement of others, she was able to quickly overcome the feeling. The ceremony was attended to by lots of residents of Celestic, and many of the people who watched her grow up were there to congratulate her. It was a heartfelt moment, and afterwards she spent the night creating an outline of things she wanted to accomplish as lorekeeper.
Read more – Warnings for minor character death mention
As lorekeeper, not a whole lot changed for Orchid. She was already helping the community out, in addition to the research she did. If anything, it meant she could fully dedicate her research time to what she wanted. And what she wanted was ambitious – she had a clear plan to catalog a complete anthology of Draconid history. It was almost exclusively spread by word of mouth, and Orchid had absorbed all of it during her training – and she had a burning desire to immortalize it. When she wasn’t writing her anthology, she also looked into the legends and myths of Sinnoh as well; though she had to do much of the research either by herself or with Cynthia, since her mother wasn’t very familiar with the subject and Emerald was distant.
It was shortly after the new year that Orchid received a call, requesting Cynthia on the line. Orchid passed the phone to Cynthia, and watched as Cynthia’s expression twisted into some sort of combination of shock, grief, and confusion. She kept her responses to the caller short, and agreed to meet somewhere in the coming weeks. After she hung up, Cynthia let out a deep sigh and rubbed her temples. Orchid walked over to ask what the call was about, to which Cynthia revealed that the call was to inform her that her father had died. Orchid was shocked, and asked if she was alright after hearing the news, but Cynthia said she wasn’t quite sure how to feel. After all, she barely knew him – to Cynthia, Orchid and the others in the house were her real family.
In the call, Cynthia was also summoned to Sunyhore city to meet with a council about the future of Sinnoh’s champion status – given that her father was the previous champion, they wanted to take a look at Cynthia first to see if she was up to par for the role. She agreed, and said she’d head out to Sunyshore as soon as she could. Orchid was interested as well, as she had never really left Celestic and was intrigued as to what other areas of Sinnoh looked like. Quite recently, a road had been built through Mt. Coronet, which made Celestic a town isolated no longer. The two packed their bags and caught a plane in Eterna.
Cynthia was easily able to pass their standards, and she left many of the spectators in awe of her utter power as a trainer. Those who oversaw the league quickly and happily announced her as Sinnoh’s new champion, granting her a grand celebration. While Orchid was a bit overwhelmed at the size of it all, she still stuck close by Cynthia, proud of her achievement. During the celebration, while the two were talking, they were approached by the current sitting champion of Hoenn and CEO of the Devon Corporation, a man named Joseph Stone. He came to congratulate Cynthia on her new position, but he also seemed to give a strange look to Orchid. Orchid felt uneasy around him as well, which was mostly her gut – but she did remember mentions of the Stone family from Emerald. The sinking feeling of dread eventually became too much and Orchid had to excuse herself.
Afterward, while talking with Cynthia, Orchid couldn’t really explain the feeling and concluded she must’ve had a long day. Still, she made a mental note to do some research herself and ask Emerald about it later.
The year was busy, and because Cynthia was now champion, she and Orchid decided to permanently relocate to the more accessible property at the Sinnoh league that Cynthia had inherited from her father. Emerald wasn’t pleased about them leaving, but ultimately didn’t do much to stop them. Orchid was quick to fall in love with the estate’s large library, where she made her office to dedicate herself to her archival full-time.
As soon as they could, Orchid and Cynthia had a small, low-key wedding, keeping their promise of wanting to make the most of what they could together. While the league and research still kept both of them busy, they were nearly inseparable and would still spend a lot of their time together.
The two of them had some discussions about family, but decided to wait just a bit.
The case of Joseph Stone and death (19-20)
Given her intrigue in Joseph Stone, Orchid had remembered to speak to Emerald about him. She brought it up when she finally got the chance to talk to her.
Read more – Warnings for mentions of blackmail, pregnancy, hospitalization, and main character death (Heavily implied to be murder, includes needles.) Feel free to skip this section.
Emerald responded to her question with a deep, frustrated sigh, followed by a muttered ‘bastard’. She mumbled a bit before revealing some things to Orchid, which she had never known previously; Joseph was partially responsible for her father’s death, and the two families have been at odds for even longer than that. Orchid was shocked and didn’t quite know how to react, so she just thanked Emerald and changed the subject before leaving a while later.
With knowledge in mind of her father’s death the prolonged conflict, Orchid scoured the archives in both the private and public libraries at the league. While Cynthia joked that she wouldn’t let any book go unturned, she wasn’t entirely wrong. She often had to carry a half-asleep Orchid to bed in the morning after she stayed up the whole night looking for something, anything.
And that’s exactly what she found.
It was slow at first, a couple of news clipping and business records here and there. But it gradually grew into more, and all of a sudden the pieces began to go together and make more and more sense. Her conclusion was grim, and at the moment where it clicked, Orchid was horrified. Her dive started in Fallarbor with the fight over the ore deposit – and it had only built from there. Those who attempted to call out the man’s ethics or ties to Rocket would often go missing out of nowhere, die in an accident, or supposedly commit suicide. It was a pattern that kept coming up again and again, neatly tucked away as to not alert the general public. She was also able to recover logs and files that very distinctly pointed towards Devon using infinity energy – energy derived from the lifeforce of pokemon.
Orchid didn’t know what to do with the knowledge she’d come across, other than knowing that if she made it public, the incident would be massive and she could be putting Cynthia and herself in a very dangerous position.
Cynthia was concerned, and while she was unaware of the true subject of her research, she still worried for Orchid’s wellbeing. Aside from not sleeping as she usually did when she got ingrained in her studies, she had experienced a brief episode of similar severity to the landslide. It began when Joseph had actually come to stay at the Sinnoh league for a brief period, and while Orchid attempted to keep her wits together, she ultimately broke down in front of him and hid away for the rest of the time he stayed. She was able to contain it rather quickly though, as she had access to care and medicine she didn’t have in Celestic. Still, she was anxious and unsure of what her next move would be. Cynthia would often come to comfort her, promising that she’d stand by her and do her best to make sure no harm came to Orchid.
Over the following months, Cynthia and Orchid discussed the idea of family more seriously, and decided to make a plan for it. After Orchid got pregnant, she made a promise to put her research on hold, as to not stress herself too much. She ended up hiding it meticulously, just in case.
There were little to no bumps in the road for Orchid at all, and everything was looking to be all clear. Cynthia and Orchid mutually decided a hospital would be a better option, so that in the case of emergency they wouldn’t be a boat away from the nearest hospital in Sunyshore.
When the time came, the doctor who arrived to assist Orchid hooked her up to an IV. She was a tad confused, and asked the doctor why – who only replied as it being a precaution. Cynthia was by her side, and while her touch was warm, Orchid was slowly overwhelmed by a feeling of both stinging pain and dizziness.
“Something’s wrong,” she muttered to Cynthia, over and over again. She knew this wasn’t how things were supposed to go, but she couldn’t will herself to say more than that. Everything became dizzier and she couldn’t feel anything, only faintly hear Cynthia and people shuffling around – before it became nothing.
Orchid died there, to the suddenly horrified expressions of the nurses in the room, and especially so of Cynthia, refusing to accept what just happened as it played out in front of her. Her daughter was still able to be delivered safely, and was named Zinnia as the two parents agreed on beforehand.
Afterlife (1979-2005)
Read more – Warnings for major character death, implied murder, and grief
After a moment of nothing, everything slowly came into focus for Orchid once again. But this time, she couldn’t feel anything – not the pain she was in, not the bed, not the IV. Her vision and hearing were still blurred, but she sat up to try and make sense of it all. She finally was able to see clearly, and when she was able to process what she was seeing, she was beyond horrified. She was sitting above her own body, and the shock of seeing so caused her to jump… into the air. She was floating. She had an idea as to what had just happened, but she didn’t want to accept it – she couldn’t accept it. She tried to scream out to get the attention of the doctors, of Cynthia, of anyone, but nobody could hear her.
It wasn’t long for Orchid to realize three things – first, and most obvious, she had died. She didn’t seem to become a ghost pokemon, as nobody could see or hear her. She also realized she couldn’t move too far from her remains, and she measured that she only had about a 10-foot radius to move around it. The last thing she realized was she could sleep – sort of. Falling in and out of sleep felt more like falling into a state of dissociation, and she’d wake up days or weeks later.
She wasn’t quite sure how to manage her feelings – she felt completely isolated and absolutely terrified. It came to her as a later realization, but she remembered that since she had died, her daughter would be the one to die due to the meteor. She had trouble dealing with the thought whenever it came up, and would sometimes hope the world would end instead.
Her body was buried in Cynthia’s garden, where she lived after death. There, she noticed that she was able to be seen – but only by pokemon and young children. She was still lonely, but was able to find some solace in being the strange woman in the garden nobody could see. It seemed that after a time of telling children they could take home some flowers from her bed that Cynthia realized she was there too – and while neither of them could properly communicate, both of them realizing their presence seemed like enough.
One early morning, Orchid watched as Cynthia sat on the cliffside a ways from the garden. She kept periodically checking her watch, and looking to the sky as if she was waiting for something. Though Orchid had long lost her sense of timekeeping, it felt like forever – until a distant but loud noise could be heard reverberating through the sky. Cynthia slumped over, before wiping her face and walking back inside. It didn’t take Orchid very long to realize what had just happened, and what day it was – and the feeling hit her just as hard as well.
It was then that Orchid knew her daughter was dead.
Zinnia and the trial (2010)
After the day Rayquaza destroyed the meteor, Orchid was more or less unconscious most of the time. She had held on to the desire to at least see her daughter one last time, but with that hope extinguished, her spirit became less and less active.
…Or so she had thought.
Read more – Warnings for mention of murder and brief mention of needles
Orchid was leaning against a tree, watching the sun fall over the ocean when a sharp voice called out. She didn’t react at first, knowing the voice belonged to an adult and they were likely calling someone else. But then the person called again, even identifying her as ‘the person sitting by the tree’. She turned around to see a woman looking directly at her – she told Orchid that the garden was closed to the public now and she should probably leave. Orchid was about to confirm with the woman that she was able to see her, but the woman interrupted her with a snide comment;
“This feels awkward, you look an awful lot like my dead mom, and it’s freaking me out…”
If it wasn’t for the fact that Orchid no longer had a heartbeat, she felt like it would’ve been pounding. She quickly stood up, and as she examined the woman, she quickly realized there was only one person it really could be – even though she thought it’d been impossible. It seems that through her expression, the person staring at her figured it out as well.
“Holy shit.”
And after 30 long years, Orchid had finally reunited with her daughter.
Neither of them questioned the logistics of they could see each other, they both just accepted it as fate. The two sat down and talked for a long time – though it felt like Zinnia was doing most of the talking. She told Orchid about her life, about what she’d been through – about Aster, Renee, Steven, Emmy, and everyone else. Orchid did ask about a few things, like how she was still alive after the meteor was destroyed. As Zinnia was recounting that week to her, Orchid stopped her on the mention of Steven’s dad. She quickly confirmed that she was talking about Joseph, and the tone of the conversation quickly went from bittersweet to dead serious.
Orchid confessed that she believed she was murdered – that she found hard evidence of Joseph’s foul play, and like the many others she found out about, he had her discreetly ‘eliminated’ – she only began feeling faint after the IV was attached. Zinnia was shocked at the idea, but admittedly not surprised. She mentioned he had done a lot to hurt her, too.
The two continued to talk for some time after that, until the sun had disappeared from the sky. Zinnia mentioned she was getting tired and got up, but before she could leave, Orchid stopped her briefly. She made sure to tell Zinnia where she had located all that research she did – and hoped she could make use of it. Zinnia told her that she’d check it out, and gave her a long hug – what felt like the warmest touch Orchid had in a long time.
Zinnia waved goodbye, and after all those years, Orchid felt at peace.
…Until she didn’t.
It was the same fuzzy feeling she had when she had first died, but this time, she could sense everything around her. The couch she was sitting on, the flowery smell, the beating of her heart… wait.
When she fully came to, she panicked from the overstimulation – and when she heard that her voice wasn’t hers, she only panicked more.
Zinnia and some others Orchid didn’t recognize came to her side, trying to calm her down. After a while, she eventually did, and one of the people introduced herself as Aster and offered to explain the situation. It took her a while to properly get it through to Orchid, but at the baseline;
Cynthia, Steven, and Zinnia were looking over her research together – and combined it with incriminating direct evidence gathered by Steven and recovered by Zinnia. While going over it all, they felt as though help from Orchid would be crucial. Aster brought the idea of spirit channeling to the table, and the crew decided to try and channel Orchid’s spirit through Cynthia.
It was all hard for Orchid to wrap her head around, if the shock of being in a living body again wasn’t enough. Orchid questioned as to where Cynthia was if she was in her body for the time being, worried; when a voice inside her head replied back. This, of course, only managed to confuse and freak Orchid out. Aster tried to use co-piloting a plane as a metaphor, and while Orchid mostly got it, she still gave her a confused look. She let out a deep sigh, and just muttered that she needed to lie down for a bit.
While lying down, Orchid and Cynthia talked for hours excitedly, even if the method and circumstanced were admittedly odd.
Over the next week, Orchid would assist Steven and Zinnia in planning their case, and volunteered to be the one to put Joseph on trial – under the guise of being Cynthia.
The time came, and Joseph was arrested when Steven tipped Interpol off.
The trial was intense, and while Joseph had thought of ways to cover for himself, Orchid was quick to give her rebuttal. After going through everything, Joseph Stone had run out of tricks and he was given a guilty verdict.
For a second time, Orchid felt like she could be at rest; everything she’d worked for led up to this, and she had gotten the justice she deserved.
But her eye caught something – whether it be the way Joseph’s hand reached into his coat or that nightmarish metallic glint. The moment she figured out what he was doing, Cynthia piped up in a panic – and before Orchid could say anything, she took back control of her body, throwing Orchid back out unintentionally.
Present day
While Orchid will never know directly what happened in the final moments of the trial, she does know everything turned out alright. Her spirit was finally able to move on, and she now resides in the upper spirit plane – though she’s occasionally channeled down into a keystone or similar supernatural object by Aster to get caught up with her family. Ideally, she wouldn’t want to be dead – nobody really would; but she’s content to settle with how things are right now. While she might not be living, per say, her spirit is has persevered nonetheless.
Skills
Disaster prediction:
- Because of psychosis, Orchid would experience episodes of hallucinations and unreality, as well as harsh nightmares. It was only after hallucinations successfully foretold a landslide that, likely due in part to direct divine connection, Orchid was capable of ‘predicting’ disasters.
- She wouldn’t consider it a skill at all; she hates it, and knowing that her delusions might actually happen only adds to her stress during episodes.
- Due to this, her companion pokemon was actually an absol instead of the expected dragon-type for a Draconid.
- Orchid’s absol served another assistance – it was able to warn her of incoming episodes so she could make sure she was safe.
- ‘Nightmare eyes’ is a self-given nickname because of this.
- authors note: orchid’s delusions are very explicitly based off of previous personal experiences dont sue me for making it a bit Funky
Research:
- Orchid was dedicated to deep research, and quite skilled at digging things up. Be it a billionaire’s dirty laundry or ancient Sinnohan folklore, she was able to quickly gain information, as well as come to conclusions and create and present a clear hypothesis in her writing.
- She wrote an impressive anthology on Draconid history in her short life, currently in the process of being translated by her daughter. All of Orchid’s writing was in Draconid.
Jack of all trades:
- Orchid knew how to do many things, despite her death at such a young age. Being a lorekeeper meant training in varied fields, but Orchid did pick up some smaller hobbies on her own.
- Sewing: It started by simply repairing tears, but Orchid eventually taught herself how to sew full garments by herself. She mostly just modified existing clothing, but would sew full dresses on occasion for her wife.
- Tennis: Cynthia’s influence got Orchid trying things she never thought she would be interested in otherwise, one of them being tennis, of all things. Cynthia used to take her on dates to a tennis court before her death.
- Archery: Though mostly recreational in ranges, Orchid occasionally used archery for assistance in sending flares through fog – her focus and steady hand aided her quite well.
- Taxidermy: An on-and-off hobby few even knew about – a bit of a combination of her interests in sewing and preservation. She also collected bones and related finds from the mountains for archival.
Team
Orchid
Lorekeeper
Absol 
Lv. 90
Bibarel Lv. 85
Medicham Lv. 86
Salamence Lv. 88
Weavile Lv. 85
Yanmega Lv. 84
Relationships
Cynthia – Wife
Her one and only. They grew up together and planned to spend their entire lives together – but when Orchid’s was cut short, Cynthia vowed she would still be eternally faithful. They’re incredibly in tune with each other, so much so that the two were able to almost seamlessly share a body for a short period of time.
Emmy – Complicated
The two were distant, despite being Lorekeeper and legend. Orchid understands why Emmy was distant and struggling, but still feels as though she could have done better. Despite this, Orchid holds no ill-will.
Zinnia – Daughter
Wishes she could know her better, given that Zinnia is her daughter, after all. Orchid is glad that Zinnia seems to be carrying on her research.
Aster – Daughter-in-law
Aster channels Orchid’s spirit regularly in order for her to communicate with her wife and daughter. Despite this, Orchid is rather unfamiliar with Aster herself – only really knowing what Zinnia has told her.
Joseph Stone – Mortal enemy
Is glad to know he’s paying for his crimes after all this time.
Anniel – Good friend
The two are friends, with Orchid being one of Anniel’s favorite people to visit in the upper spirit world. Orchid is unaware of the deeper meaning to Anniel’s fondness.
Trivia
- Orchid had an inner debate about wearing long skirts because they’re fashionable vs. wearing pants because she can move in them. This is so sa
- Orchid was the go-to person for confused travelers lost in the fog, as she was able to both guide them to their destination and non-condescendingly explain that no, they weren’t in Veilstone, how did you even get here,
- While she was an excellent archivist, her sorting method was a bit… disorganized. She always made an effort to clean up any mess once she was finished, though.
- Cynthia took care of her absol after she died, while her salamence went to Hoenn and eventually to Zinnia.
- Orchid’s spirit is channeled bi-monthly by Aster so she can catch up on things.
Meta commentary
- According to archival dates, Orchid’s creation date was sometime around 2016-2017… which was when I was a teenager and saw 20 as being… a good age. But now I’m older than Orchid, and it’s, uh, weird, to say the least. But it’s been so set in stone (haha) timeline-wise that I can’t really budge her age around much – and that, my friend, is my biggest regret with Classic Pokeau.
Gallery
