PERSONALITY 

+ cheeky, bright, quirky, athletic, street smart, tomboyish, careful, bold

- too bold, not careful enough, clumsy, extravagant, insensitive, carefree

~ extrovert, gryffindor-hufflepuff mix, enfp, just a ball of sunshine

 

zinni in a nutshell is crazy. growing up surrounded by 2 humans and pokemons who aren't able to converse normally with her, you can say that she grew to be quite...quirky. she's cheeky and bright, and a brat all in all. thanks to her parent's influence, she learned all the know-hows from them - what to expect in the wild, what to do when you face a wild pokemon and the sorts. it's also thanks to them that she understood that being bold yet careful is occasionally the right thing to do during unexpected situations.

 

...but of course, she also learned the bad things from her parents so she tends to be too bold and not careful enough, or just a mixture of both that leads to her running off in the speed of light (shoutout to team rocket) while her pokemon chases after her in exasperation. she can be quite flamboyant and extravagent in terms of her work, choosing to take the most dangerous paths because "that's the path where they least expect us!" instead of the safely paved road. and as she reached her destination covered in dirt or soot, she would pump her fist and shout (her pokemons would sometimes act as if they don't know her).

 

on her insensitivity, this is mainly due to the fact that she's rarely around people for a long time. because of her job, she's always travelling all over the place, only staying in the certain city for a set duration. hence, she's quite ignorant when it comes to reading the room or understanding the mood. well...she's making progress, maybe.

 

  

 

zinni's life can only be described as dangerous. why dangerous? born to a pair adventurous pokemon photographer parents, zinni had travelled around the pokemon world since she was in her mother's womb. the moment she could walk without so much as stumbling or tripping over her own feet (say 5 years old), her parents had promptly whisked her away from their home in larousse city and opened her eyes to a beautiful and scenic journey. for her parents who loved travelling, it was truly a painful (but worthwhile! i mean, they conceived a child and started  a family lmao) 5 years of waiting and taking turns travelling alone to nearby locations only. and so, this was where zinni's life as a child tagging along her pokemon photographer parents' travels began.

 

now, why is zinni's life dangerous? for starters, a pokemon photographer's main job scope is to capture/photogragh wild pokemons' natural behaviour in the wildlife (e.g. azumarills playing in the lake, bellossoms dancing to the sound of the wind in forests, or corsolas swimming along the coral reefs) and documenting their natural state which can be given to professors researchers for their research, or sold to pokemon magazines and what not. for zinni's parents, this was the perfect job for them for their love of pokemon and travelling.

 

with that said, 5-year-old zinni's stubby legs had struggled to keep up with her parents' pace, constantly needing them to carry her and take multiple breaks throughout the day. she also had to learn mountain climbing and diving, withstand the heat of the sunlight from travelling for days (and the occasional volcanoes), as well as daily runnings with her dad to increase her stamina. whenever little zinni asked why she needs to do all these, her parents would say, "well, if a wild pokemon ever attacks us, at least we're able to run or swim for our lives!"  there was also the fact that photographing wild pokemons was nervewrecking as the chances of them attacking was not slim.

 

and so, zinni had grumbled along with her parents' fanatics and questionable child parenting (seriously, i questioned myself while writing this cause what parent brings their child to such dangerous journeys lol). years went by with zinni showing little interest to the adventure and journey ("it's too hot! my legs hurt! i want to sit down and rest!" she shouted). while each region was truly beautiful in their own right (she couldn't deny this), a young zinni was too stubborn to conform to this stupid and hot and tiring life. finally, it was when they took their journey to the alola region where zinni finally realised that all the hardships was worthwhile.

 

3 years after travelling all over the hoenn, kanto and johto regions, the family of three went to the alola region to document on the alolan forms of pokemon. as they travelled there on the ferry, zinni had thought that it would be another year of climbing mountains or trecking along the open plains. she was proven wrong. one thing that 8-year-old zinni truly enjoyed was the open ocean where she could dive straight in and witness the magnificent view of the ocean life. this was the only bearable and acceptable moment of zinni's life where she fully enjoyed it. as they arrived in alola, zinni was introduced to the alola islands where she was surrounded by the ocean.

 

 

 

and so, this was the start of zinni's true journey as an aspiring pokemon photographer. since then, zinni had tagged along her parents with minimal complaints as they travelled the world, meet all sorts of people and see plentiful of different pokemons before she finally became a licensed pokemon photographer at the age of 16. she would come to bid her parents goodbye few months later after learning all the know-hows, acquiring her pokemon team and finally start her journey, travelling to wherever her feet brought her.

 

in 8-year-old zinni's mind, she would dream to be a pokemon photographer who would only travel to islands or regions with lots and lots of water, but 18-year-old zinni knew otherwise. looking back, despite her stubbornness and hatred for the tiring treckings, she would constantly be in awe whenever a docile wild pokemon (cue her pokemon partner) would go up to her, or when she ran down a field of flowers excitedly. no, zinni definitely did not hate the journey, she loved it. it was only but a child's tantrum who knew nothing of the world, yet.

 

 

  

 

TRIVIA 

+ she LOVES the ocean, like love love.

+ if she wasn't born a human, she would be a water pokemon.

+ water pokemons are her favourite, but not to the point of having her whole team be them (like misty). she loves them all haha.

+ whenever she isn't working, she would go down to the port to enjoy the sea breeze or take a dive.

+ she also reads a variety of books, catches up with the people she met during her journey, or helps the professors in the regions' she's at to care for the pokemons there during her free time.

+ she's paid quite a hefty sum from her jobs as most of the clients are pokemon professors, researchers, and sometimes even the league.

+ she's very athletic as it's needed for her journey.

+ while her personality may say otherwise, zinni is actually quite smart in terms of pokemon knowledge, wilderness survival, and such.

+ she's also quite informative towards current news (e.g. new president of a company, elite four gossip, up and coming pokemon trainers, etc).

+ she wants to have a sleepover with friends, specifically girl friends and gossip about boys as she's never done this before.

+ she has quite a number of acquaintances with high positions due to her work, so people would always get shocked when a teenage girl in dirty boots would barge in to their boss' office like it's nothing.

+ zinni likes beautiful and etheareal stuffs, stuffs that can look more prettier under her camera lense. think of shiny gems, the blazing flames of a magma, or the soft yet shiny coat of ninetales.

+ it is from this that she named her pokemons after gems.

+ it is also because of this that most of her pokemons look quite stunning (at least to the eyes of a pokemon photographer).

+ despite travelling a large part of the pokemon world, zinni's pokemons are mostly from kanto, johto and hoenn.

+ this is because her parents wanted her to have a suitable team for travelling with her before she started her journey. hence, she went around nearby regions (nearby to her and her family) to catch some.

+ her pokemons are a practical team suitable for travelling. e.g. riding on one for long distance, flying to other regions, and diving with her in the event of strong currents.

 

 

 

rihyuk and rua fell in love at first sight as independent pokemon photographers. no like, literally at first sight. while they were both on the job, their cameras had panned towards each other as their eyes met thru the lense. the meowth was long forgotten. the two hit it off immediately for their love of photography and travelling. one thing led to another, the two were soon blessed with the news of a child and quickly held a simple marriage ceremony.

 

the two lovebirds were still infatuated with each other up to this day, and zinni would always turn a blind eye whenever they showed pda (with no shame) in front of their relationship-less daughter. having said that, they also served as a great role model to zinni, constantly teaching her on stuffs that can only be learned by experiencing it yourself. zinni looks up to them both greatly, and sometimes even their strong marriage (but she wouldn't admit it to them).

 

while the family have been apart for 2 years or so since zinni went on her own journey, they would meet up quite often, almost comically, by literally bumping into each other in the wild as they were taking pictures of the same pokemon. so while they only exchanged small talks for no more than 5 minutes before going their own way, zinni would quite literally bump into them every few months a year.

 

 

 

out of all the uncles she've met, "mr. park" was little zinni's favourite uncle. whenever her parents' work brings them to hoenn, zinni would always insist on going to rustboro city first to play with mr. park. just mr. park, because zinni didn't know his name, and the endearing name call stuck with her ever since she was 5.

 

the large and muscular uncle would give her candies sneakily or play tag with her in the nearby playground. he was a fun uncle. it was actually quite the disturbing sight for most onlookers as they saw a huge man chase a little girl around. to this day, the two maintained a close familial relationship as mr. park had seen zinni grow up to be the woman she is today, and zinni would listen to his past stories as an ex pokemon trainer.

 

 

while zinni does not have anyone else she's particularly close with, it isn't an exaggeration to say that zinni has a wide network of connections. from the fishermen/women at the port to the ship captains who brought her from region to region, or even the high rank managers working for the elite four to the professors who have commissioned her with numerous jobs. zinni knows quite a handful of people who both appreciates her work quality and enjoys her pleasant (ish) personality.

 

 

HELLO, AND THANK YOU FOR AGREEING TO THIS INTERVIEW. TO START OFF, PLEASE INTRODUCE YOURSELF! 

"hi! the name's zinni moon, professional pokemon photographer at your service." zinni smirked, ending it off with a wink. "mt. chimney, the abandoned ship, ruins of life, deep inside the icefall cave...you name it! i've been to almost every dangerous places just to snap pokemons," she said as she counted off. "...i've even snuck in to professor sycamore's lab to see if there's any pokemon that mega evolved!" she exclaimed but soon grimaced. "of course he caught me and i was given an earful..."

 

"but anyways!" she grinned cheekily, fingers coming up in a circular motion, "my prices are on the higher side but i assure you the quality. got any job for me? hmm? hmmmm??"

 

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT STARTING YOUR JOURNEY? NERVOUS? EXCITED? BOTH? 

zinni hummed in thought while picking at a soot under her finger, "well, i've been travelling since i was 5 with my parents, and started my own journey 2 years ago...so it's been like 13? 14 years of travelling? so i can't really say i'm nervous."

 

as she finally managed to get that annoying booger out of her finger, she smiled brightly, "...but i'm excited! i mean, i finally have travelling companions!"

 

a sharp bark at her side sounded, half growling half whining. "oh! i didn't mean it like that ru. i mean, people! companions that talk!...in human language!" zinni said in a hurry as she realised her partner was getting moodier. she laughed nervously and gave it a pet on the head.

 

"i love you guys a lot, i really do. but you know, i can finally have a normal conversation daily with people, and not just give pleasantries in passing." she smiled in earnest, then suddenly stood up and shouted, "and i can finally have those girls talk that i've only heard about!!!"

 

her pokemon partner just shook its head, fully knowing that this was one of the main reasons for her wanting to travel in a group with people.

 

I SEE. WHAT ARE YOUR OPINIONS ON TRAVELING WITH OTHERS? 

 

zinni coughed in embarassment and sat down again, "well, as you've...heard...hahaha..."

 

"i'm glad that i'm able to travel with others, go through all our travels together and share stories of our life."

 

a sudden thought occured to her, "hey, do you think we'll have those campfire sessions where we sing and dance, and have talks about our hardships? you know! strengthening our bonds by sharing our emotional pains!...no? hello? why are you laughing?!"

 

WHAT ARE SOME THINGS YOU'RE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SUMMER? 

"capturing an absol!" zinni exclaimed.

 

"oh wait, that didn't sound right. not capture capture, but snapping...photographing! i saw one when i was a kid but i was only a child who didn't know anything," she said, "my parents fawned over the picture they took of it for weeks while i just played with my mom's swampert."

 

"so i really want to be able to snap an absol myself. and they are quite pretty, no? despite being called the bringer of doom, i think its beautiful dark blue and black coat outweighs any bad superstitions those old hags give it. thinking about it now, aren't they actually a good luck charm? you know, they warn us of natural disasters and all...heh, maybe i do want to capture it." she grinned.

 

"...besides that, i'm looking to expand the range of my work, so i want to start with finding some ghost types."

 

LASTLY, WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS FOR THIS JOURNEY? 

"...don't you think your questions are quite repetitive?"

 

she laughed, "just kidding! expand my work to ghost types starting with absol, that's a worthy goal, right? oh, and evolving my cute little diamond!"

 

 

back when 6-year-old zinni first travelled to the kanto region, her parents had brought her to prof. oak's laboratory to receive a job from him. oak's assistant had guided them to route 1 to further explain the job to her parents, where little zinni had wandered off after seeing a wild pidgeot fly off in a different direction. after trying to catch up to the bird pokemon, zinni had gotten lost in the forest when ruby, a baby growlithe at that time, had approached her. the two of them, both being babies, were scared of each other and were frozen still. a moment later, zinni gave her a nervous smile and outstretched her hand, "hi little one, you lost too?" she said as she slowly crouched down. having realised zinni's friendly demeanour, ruby approached her and snuggled against zinni's open palm.

 

an hour later, zinni's frantic parents had found the two hugging each other inside a hole of a large tree. it turned out that ruby was one of prof. oak's arcanine's offsprings that had also wandered off while playing (idk if his arcanine has any babies but it's au anyways). as prof. oak realised that zinni and ruby had formed an inseparable bond, he decided to gift ruby to zinni. since then, ruby had always been by zinni's side up till now for the past 12 years. a few years after ruby joined zinni's family (yes, years, because ruby was a baby who rarely took part in battles so she took a long time to evolve), ruby had finally evolved to an arcanine. since then, she would often give zinni rides on her whenever it was a long trip.

 

ruby has a gentle yet stern personality. she would enjoy getting the occasional belly rubs from zinni and act cute to get coddled, but would be firm whenever she thinks zinni is making a bad decision (e.g. stopping zinni from climbing a steep mountain with no safety gear just to take a damn picture). essentially, 12 years for an arcanine is quite an old age. so while ruby was still able to take part in sudden battles with wild pokemons/trainers or give zinni rides once in a while, the limit to her stamina is slowly putting a strain on ruby's body.

 

+ jolly nature, intimidate ability, current moveset includes bite, ember, extreme speed and flamethrower.

+ assuming dog(?)-like pokemons have a similar lifespan to dogs, ruby most probs has another 5 years or so before she passes.

+ it's still longer than the normal dog life but she's a pokemon so...

+ while she is old-ish, ruby is still one of the main fighters in zinni's team.

+ she is still able to run far and fast, but will need more rest than the other pokemons.

 

 

 

before zinni started her solo journey as an official pokemon photographer, her parents wanted her to have a pokemon team to assist her in her travels.

 

 

 

 

 

and so, zinni started her mini journey on foot to search for a suitable pokemon. but if she absolutely needed to catch one, why not catch the most beautiful one? her march continued on to johto, practically slept by the port and went aboard any available ships to catch a feebas. one thing led to another, she finally caught one that was able to evolve to a milotic and named it sapphire. few months after feeding it dry poffins and singing it praises of how beautiful and silky its scales were to the point every fisherman associated zinni as a feebas craze, sapphire finally evolved.

 

despite zinni's million praises, saph adopted a shy and bashful personality. adding in its modest nature, it did not become boastful or arrogant (which ruby is thankful for, whereas zinni would constantly reprimand her for being too shy and to "take pride in its beauty"). she would then become zinni's strongest fighter both on land and water.

 

+ modest nature, marvel scale ability, current movesets include dragon pulse, giga impact, water gun and iron tail.

+ she's humble whenever she wins any battles or if anyone gives her praise for her beauty.

+ but she would give the occasionally battle cry whenever she faces a strong opponent.

+ current strongest pokemon in zinni's team.

+ would always be on standby in the ocean with zinni in case of danger.

+ able to fight on both land and water.

 

 

after 'touring' johto, zinni felt it was suitable to have a pokemon from hoenn, as ruby was from kanto and sapphire from johto. so she went back to her hometown region and decided to catch a flying type. salamence or flygon were her choices, however she came upon peridot on her way to fortree city, wounded from a battle. zinni felt that it was fate that brought her to him, and so she decided to nurse him with the available potions on hand, coaxed it to tap on her pokeball, before running to the city pokemon centre.

 

peridot had felt grateful (albeit his pride stung a little) that a human had helped him, and willingly joined zinni's team when he was back to perfect condition. while not as strong as sapphire or ruby, peridot is mostly zinni's first choice of pokemon when it came to battling trainers (those that go up to her of course). this was a way to allow peridot the opportunity to 'pay back' zinni's grace, at least this was what zinni felt from the tropius. when she had her first battle after catching him, she had instinctively taken sapphire's pokeball, however it was peridot that broke out of its pokeball first.

 

since then, whenever she felt he could handle the opponent, zinni would always start off with peridot first. however when it comes to stronger pokemons, she would choose otherwise.

 

+ bold nature, chlorophyll ability, current movesets include body slam, hyper beam, leaf blade, razor leaf and solar beam.

+ would fly zinni on his back from location to location, sometimes even to another region.

+ constant want to fight in zinni's battle as a way to show its gratitude to her.

+ ranked 3rd in terms of power in the team, but slowly catching up to ruby (mostly because ruby is getting old).

 

 

zinni would come to acquire diamond just a month or so before meeting with the main squad. as zinni had a strong team to help her, she felt it was unnessecary for another pokemon. however, as she realised that ruby was getting old and may not always be there to protect her or even ruby herself, she decided to catch a similar body type pokemon as ruby to lessen the arcanine's burden.

 

she had first decided on a vulpix, however after giving it some thought, she felt a pokemon with a different typing would be better as it allows her team more versatality when it came to snowy locations. so she went on to the alola region, contacted a breeder she knew there and emptied almost half her savings to buy an alolan vulpix egg. she cared for it as if it was her own baby, singing it lullabies at night and polishing it during her free time. thanks to zinni, diamond hatched a few months earlier than expected (please correct me on this if i'm wrong, i'm not sure how long an egg takes to hatch but i assume they hatch in a few months and could hatch earlier if given great care).

 

having a baby on the team definitely changed the dynamics of the entire journey. ruby would constantly coddle it as if diamond was her own, sapphire would do tricks both on land and water just to amuse her, and peridot would turn towards diamond whenever he won a battle, as if to say "that's how you do it, kid!". yes, it was truly something to see.

 

diamond herself was quite shy, similar to sapphire, but was more on the timid side. she would hide behind zinni's leg or dive into ruby's mane whenever something frightened her. but the team would always encourage her, willing her to know that 'it's okay to be scared, you just need to get stronger and know that we always have each other's backs.' it was thanks to this that despite only being a few months old, diamond has a strong determination to evolve faster, to be stronger, and to help her precious team more...but first, she'll need to stop being afraid of almost everything.

 

+ timid nature, snow warning ability, current movesets include tackle, feint attack, confuse ray and swift.

+ would go on to learn stronger moves such as ice beam and aurora beam.

+ wants to evolve as soon as possible to grow stronger like her team.

+ scared of loud noise, loud people, anything loud really.

+ or even sudden movements like a human kid sticking its candied face to hers.

 

---

JOURNEY HISTORY

zinni had just came back from lumiose city, the kalos region after completing professor sycamore's commission to snap pokemons that were able to mega evolve to further understand them (as well as receiving a glare from said professor - refer to interview on why lmao), when she decided to take a small break and head back home.

professor sycamore had tasked her with delivering a package (idk the content, maybe you could incorporate it into the story?) to professor kim in hoenn, so she went to littleroot town. there, she meets aiden (and others from the main squad?) for the first time and gets to know him.

(here, it's your choice to have zinni join him immediately, if not, then continue reading!)

after a few pleasantries, zinni bids them goodbye and decides to travel throughout hoenn again for the sake of travelling only before going back home to rest. as she travels along the typical journey route, she will then bump into aiden and friends again in a certain city. as they talked and zinni realised that they were travelling hoenn (same as her!), this was the perfect chance for her to have human travelling partners.

with no current jobs to do or any tasks given to her, zinni then decides to join them. the squad would feel reassured to have her as well as she has a vast knowledge when it comes to travelling (and she's roamed hoenn 2-3 times already).

 

DREAM zinni dreams to be the most reknowned pokemon photographer in the whole pokemon world. with her parents being in the top list, she vows to achieve even bigger than them. and to do so, her current dream is to win the pokemon photographer of the year award at an earlier age than them (because they both won it between ages 25-30) at the pokemon photographer awards.

 

+ while she doesn't know how to make dry poffins, she's aware on which are the better quality ones as she fed sapphire (a feebas at that time) like crazy.

+ she has seen quite a few legendary pokemons, namely regirock, registeel, regice, and suicine.

+ she saw them purely for photographing purpose, with suicine only a blur of an image as it ran off as she as it saw zinni.

+ zinni's team is actually quite strong, say up to the fourth or fifth gym level.

+ while they aren't a battle-focused team, all of her pokemons (except dia because she's still learning) have natural battle/survival instinct as that was how they were trained.

+ for example, saph (milotic) would do crazy backflips both on land and water if she deems that it was the most efficient way to battle.

+ zinni would leave the team as she received a job /or/ she left to go research on something for the team (depends on how you want it to happen, but i don't see zinni tagging along with them forever cause she still needs to earn money.

+ dia (alola vulpix) would evolve to ninetales during this time period.

+ i'll add more if any!