//Gonna yap about how Steven and Zinnia for my lil AU intertwine for a bit bc these two are spinning in my brain
//So, Zinnia wasn't originally supposed to become a Lorekeeper (at least for a good while but Aster bit the dust when she was very little, if Aster was still around then when they retired that title would've gone to her) and also has some pretty big shoes to fill which fueles her constant need to imitate Aster (at least the idealized version of Aster that's in her head, Aster was a very flawed person in life and actually used becoming Hoenn's champion as an excuse to skirt their duties) Zinnia does suffer from quite a bit of imposter syndrome from it too mainly feeling that she is just a cheap replacement for the Draconid Clan's real Lorekeeper (that title however is still extremely important to her and she may have formed her personality around it, outside of that, she genuinely has no idea who she is)
//Steven, on the other hand, outright despises the position he is in, he originally wouldn't have had too awfully much involvement with the Draconids (outside of Zinnia's plan to at least get in his good graces) but since he literally has Jirachi's comet inside of him, he can't not be involved (Jirachi is one of three things needed to get Lord Rayquaza to full power in the event of either Groudon and Kyogre rampaging again or another meteor event occuring, the other two things are of course the Dragon Ascent scroll and the mega anklets)
//Zinnia, when she finds out what happened to the comet, literally has an identity crisis because that is supposed to be her comet, not Steven's, and if it was up to Steven then he would gladly give it to her but he can't because it would outright kill him. Zinnia also feels that he had ripped away her sole duty as Hoenn's real protector (the Lorekeeper is literally supposed to fight alongside Lord Rayquaza but now she has to share that duty but she cannot accept that because that's not what Aster did, Aster prevented the destruction of the region nearly three decades ago by themself so why can't she?)
//By the time that the second rampage kicks off, Zinnia is outright having a manic episode and Steven has resigned himself to death, however, neither are willing to fully work together (Zinnia is completely deadset on being the only one to fight alongside Lord Rayquaza while Steven knows that even though he has no ties to the Draconids, the power Jirachi possesses will be enough to compensate for what he himself is lacking if he pours literally every last bit of his energy into the comet) they are both willing to give their lives to ensure that their home is safe and are willing to rip eachother apart if it comes down to it (Zinnia is willing to rip the comet from Steven and Steven is willing to take the Dragon Ascent scroll and mega anklet from Zinnia) they end up fighting eachother to a draw and are forced to cooperate since Zinnia is lacking the second mega anklet and Steven was unable to get the comet to full strength
//They're able to get Lord Rayquaza to full power and quell Groudon and Kyogre but are both left hollow, neither of them expected to live past that day and had zero plans for if they did since in their heads that if either lived then the world is doomed, it takes a lot of time for the two to come to terms with everything (Zinnia's case would be her trying to discover who she really is outside of being a Lorekeeper whereas in Steven's case is learning to let people back in after distancing himself from everyone for the past three years) they do eventually become actual friends instead of whatever facade they had going on while Zinnia was being a double agent weasling herself into Team Magma while Steven was busy trying to keep the kids safe while they traveled the region
//Lets just ignore for now that Wallace was holding his own extremely well against Archie and Maxie and was able to withstand the energy that the Blue Orb was exerting between himself and Archie, yes he got yelled at by everyone after because what the hell was he thinking doing that but Wallace tries to justify it since thats what all good champions do and that it was a pretty good first impression he made (also ignore that Drake is likely trying not to have an anurysm and really just wants to go to Alola and have NOBODY contact him for at least half a year because that whole thing was nearly a repeat of what happened to Aster twice over) also Winona completely matched his level and nearly did the same with the Red Orb until Maxie chickened out and bailed unwilling to risk himself like Archie was doing because that sea loving maniac was too far gone at that point
