Zinnia

Zinnia
Species	Human
Affiliation	Draconoid people
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Red
Relatives	Grandmother
Voiced by	Vivian Lu (2020)
Debut	Pokémon: Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

Zinnia is a Pokémon trainer who was featured in Pokémon: Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as a central character of the Delta Episode, which was those games' new post-game narrative. She is a Lorekeeper of the Draconoid tribe who posed as a member of Team Magma or Team Aqua depending on the version.

Background

Zinnia was descended from a tribe of Dragon-type users known as the Draconoid tribe. Her people passed down lore regarding Rayquaza and the Mega Evolution phenomenon for thousands of years. This also included lore regarding the existence of an alternate world, in which Mega Evolution was unknown. Zinnia's upbringing was implied to have been filled with hardship, and she took up the habit of looking up to the night sky to calm herself. She was close to someone named Aster, who she loved dearly, but Aster passed away. Ultimately, Zinnia stood as the last Lorekeeper of the Draconoid people, and a great responsibility came with it.

Despite the sorrow that she carried, she often acted in an manner that was irreverent and upbeat.

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire

The Draconoid people were able to use the cyclical nature of history to predict the future, and they foresaw a giant meteoroid that would crash into Hoenn and devastate it. It was decided that the only viable plan would be to summon Rayquaza, so that it could use the power of its Mega Evolution to destroy the meteoroid.

Zinnia initially felt that the best way to summon Rayquaza would be by awakening one of the super-ancient Pokémon (Groudon and Kyogre), as Rayquaza had descended to break up their battles in the past. To that end, Zinnia infiltrated the ranks of one of Hoenn's villainous teams as a grunt and supplied them with information on how to awaken one of those Pokémon. In Omega Ruby, she helped Team Magma to summon Groudon; in Alpha Sapphire, she helped Team Aqua to summon Kyogre.

She was first seen at Petalburg Woods, where she was part of a recon team and reported when one of the other grunts was defeated by Brendan/May. It was then that Zinnia started to see promise in that trainer. Zinnia was also seen at Mt. Chimney, where she held off the leader of the opposing villainous team (Archie in Omega Ruby or Maxie in Alpha Sapphire) for her current leader. The team was ultimately able to succeed in reviving the super-ancient Pokémon in primal form, but Brendan/May was able to defeat the Pokémon and suppress the threat before Rayquaza could intervene.

Because of this, Zinnia had to change her plans. During the game's ending, she discarded her grunt uniform and decided to set her new plan into action.

Delta Episode

During the events of the Delta Episode, Zinnia pursued her plan to summon Rayquaza on her own. She traveled around Hoenn and stole Key Stones from several people. In the process, she formally met Brendan/May, who had become Hoenn's new champion. Zinnia had come to genuinely admire them and helped them in their own journey. When they met at the Granite Cave, she let them have a Meteorite Shard after they defeated her in a battle. However, she then went to the Mossdeep Space Center and saw that Steven Stone and Professor Cozmo were engineering their own plan to combat the meteoroid. This would involve using Infinity Energy, which drained the lives of Pokémon, and it was for the sake of creating a warp hole that the meteoroid could pass through.

Zinnia objected to repeating the sins of the past by utilizing Infinity Energy, which was previously used to fuel an ultimate weapon for a war thousands of years ago. She was also concerned about the possibility that the meteoroid would end up being sent to another civilization - such as the other version of Hoenn, which did not have Mega Evolution or the technology to do something about the meteoroid. She refused to speak to Steven Stone about the matter and only addressed Brendan/May, although she only told them parts of her story and her plan at a time. Zinnia also destroyed the dimensional shifter during her second appearance at the space center, ruining their plan to stop the meteoroid.

After she had gained all of the Key Stones that she needed, she traveled to the Sky Pillar to summon Rayquaza and practically invited Brendan/May to meet her there. Once that trainer arrived at the Sky Pillar, Zinnia told them about the history of Rayquaza and the Draconoid people in pieces as they ascended the tower. When they reached the top, she talked a bit about her past and knocked Brendan/May out. Once they awakened the next morning, Zinnia set her plan into motion. She used a chant to summon Rayquaza and asked it to Mega Evolve, but it turned out that the Pokémon did not have enough power to do so. All seemed lost, until Zinnia realized that Rayquaza was reacting to a meteorite that Brendan/May was carrying, which was like a Mega Stone. It contained the power that Rayquaza needed, and it became clear that Brendan/May was the one chosen by Rayquaza instead of her. So Zinnia stepped aside and cheered Brendan/May on as the trainer battled Rayquaza and successfully caught it. She would even provide Poké Balls if the player ran out of them.

Once Brendan/May caught Rayquaza, Zinnia acknowledged that the trainer would now be the successor to the Draconoid people's long history. She proceeded to teach Rayquaza the move Dragon Ascent, which was apparently the key to its true power. She then declared her last task as the last Lorekeeper of the Draconoid people: to test if Brendan/May could master Rayquaza's power in battle. So they battled once more, and Brendan/May was able to prove their self by defeating her. With that, she urged Brendan/May and Rayquaza to go on and protect nature, Pokémon and the people. Mega Rayquaza's power successfully destroyed the meteor, and Zinnia departed before Brendan/May returned to the pillar. She left them with a letter saying that she was going off to find out if she could "forge a new beginning from something once lost". The Key Stones she had stolen were also returned to their owners.

Zinnia was last seen in a scene at Meteor Falls, where she met with a Draconid elder who she referred to as her Grannie. She helped Zinnia to accept that it was time for her to set aside her burden and rest, and that she could pursue a new life now. Zinnia then departed on a journey to find herself, but she left the elder with a Salamencite to pass on to Brendan/May as a gift.

Pokémon Roster

Zinnia is always accompanied by a Whismur that she has named Aster, seemingly after her departed loved one. The Whismur is at her side at all times, as opposed to being kept in a Poké Ball, and is never used in battle. She is also known to be affectionate to the Pokémon and refers to it as her daughter.

During battles, she uses the following Pokémon:

• Tyrantrum
• Altaria
• Salamence (Mega Salamence)
• Goodra
• Noivern

For the first battle at Granite Cave, she only uses the first three Pokémon.

In Other Pokémon Games

In Pokémon Masters EX, Zinnia appeared with Rayquaza (capable of Mega Evolving) as a playable sync pair that could be unlocked by completing "The Dragon That Rules the Sky", the Legendary Event in which they were introduced which first ran in January 2020. A variation of her that was paired with Salamance instead could also be unlocked with Battle Points starting in May 2021, and a Special Costume variant (wearing a monocle, formal clothing and a cape in the manner of a phantom thief) paired with Thievul could be recruited at random through the Sync Pair Scout feature during limited time periods starting in April 2023.

In "The Dragon That Rules the Sky", it was shown that Zinnia (initially accompanied by Salamence) was bored of the Pokémon Masters League, but she became excited when she saw that Rayquaza had come to Pasio. She explored the glacier in search of it, seeing this chance as a way to conclude that chapter of her life, and she ran afoul of some Team Break members in the process. She was initially suspicious of Scottie/Bettie and Professor Kukui when she met them, and she proceeded to battle them. After she was defeated, Zinnia went ahead to seek out Rayquaza, but the other two trainers ended up coming to her aid and worked with her to defeat Rayquaza in a battle. After the battle, Zinnia had a one-on-one talk with Rayquaza and convinced it to accompany her as her partner, at which point they let Scottie/Bettie and Kukui battle them again. In the process, Zinnia rediscovered how fun battling could be. She later made an appearance in the Story Event "Hearts United", in which she was shown watching a battle that Steven Stone took part in with his own Shiny Rayquaza. In a skit accompanying the event, it was shown that their Rayquaza were drawn together, and they decided to battle to decide whose was stronger.

Zinnia later played an important role in the Main Story's Villain Arc chapter "Hoenn: Deltas of Land, Sea and Sky". Zinnia used her Rayquaza to break up Groudon and Kyogre's battle when they went out of control, and she later tried to warn Archie that Team Aqua and Team Magma were being manipulated by some outside force. It also turned out that a meteor was on a collision course with Pasio, and it came down to Zinnia to stop it, as Steven was preoccupied and tried to encourage Zinnia by calling it a race between them. Zinnia was unsure about this as her Rayquaza was unable to Mega Evolve (though it was capable of Mega Evolving during gameplay), but she was able to convince to Mega Evolve. Using a suit provided by Team Aqua, she rode Mega Rayquaza to destroy the meteor offscreen. Zinnia then watched from a rooftop as Team Magma and Team Aqua made peace with each other.

She was also featured in the Costume Event "Solve the Case" in her Special Costume. It was revealed that she secretly operated as the Phantom Imaginate and fulfilled requests retrieved by her Thievul to steal Pokémon from trainers. She chose which requests she fulfilled and primarily took on ones that involved stealing back Pokémon that had been taken by evil organizations such as Team Rocket or Team Galactic. During that event, an impostor was going around claiming to be the Phantom Imaginate and stealing Pokémon that legitimately belonged to people associated with teams such as Guzma. Zinnia showed up to help Steven Stone, Shauna, Looker and the others to apprehend the impostor so that his stolen Pokémon could be returned to their rightful owners. She also fulfilled a request she had taken by retrieving a Rattata that the impostor had stolen from a Team Rocket Grunt. It was shown that the grunt truly cared for her Pokémon despite its weakness, and Zinnia respected that.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In Pokémon Adventures, she was featured in the Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire arc.
• Zinnia was featured in the sixth episode of Pokémon Evolutions, which adapted part of the Delta Episode. She was shown at the Sky Pillar teaching May about the history of Mega Rayquaza and her people. She was shown witnessing May's battle with Rayquaza, and the episode ended with the beginning of her own battle against May, with her sending Salamance against Mega Rayquaza. There were also brief flashbacks depicting her as a child.

Trivia

• Zinnia is named after a flower which is used to symbolize the "remembrance of a dear friend". Notably, Aster and Zinnia's names start with the contrasting letters of A and Z, possibly in reference to AZ (who is referred to in the backstory of the Draconoid clan) as well as the game's titles referencing the 'alpha' and 'omega', the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.
• Her Japanese name is Higana, in reference to the Japanese name for the red spider lily, and it can also refer to the Japanese word for nirvana. The red spider lily can represent "sorrowful memories" in the language of flowers, the "flower of the dead" in Japanese culture and the "flower of heavens" in Buddhist scriptures.
• According to an interview with Shigeru Ohmori, the original Aster was someone with special powers who held the title of Lorekeeper prior to Zinnia.
• After being beaten at the Granite Cave, Zinnia asks the trainer if they are fighting for ideals or truths. This seems to be referencing the themes of Pokémon Black and White.
• She uniquely keeps her Key Stone(s) in a Mega Anklet.