A picture of Lorekeeper Aster's silhouette, from the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Konnichiwa!

As I first announced in my 25th Pokémon anniversary blog, it is my intention to write a fanfic about the past of my favorite Pokémon character Zinnia, as well as the mysterious Aster.
(The human one, not the Whismur one.)

Although this is going to be a fanfic, it is my intention to keep this as close to the canon of the core series games as possible. I'll obviously be taking creative liberties with regards to certain things (especially with regards to Aster, since there's so little information about her anyway), but I won't do anything that directly contradicts any of the lore that was established in the Δ Episode of Pokémon Ω Ruby and α Sapphire Versions.

Now, because of the tremendous information vacuum in the games regarding Aster (and the Draconids in general to a certain extent), I will also be relying on information provided in the Ω Ruby/α Sapphire arc of the Pokémon Adventures manga, and also The Wish 🌠, but ultimately, this is going to be a fanfic to fill in the backstory of the games, and flesh out Aster as a character more.



Now, there are a few things that I feel the need to clear up before I start writing this:

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1. Aster the human was the previous Lorekeeper—NOT Zinnia's daughter

This was apparent to me during my first playthrough of the Δ Episode TBH, despite the fact that it was never explicitly stated in it. Aster's status as the prior Lorekeeper in the games was also confirmed by Shigeru Ohmori, however.

According to an interview with Shigeru Ohmori in the June 2015 issue of Nintendo Dream, Aster was a person with special powers who held the position of Lorekeeper before Zinnia, much like Aster in Pokémon Adventures.

Source

Because of the fact that Zinnia refers to her Whismur Aster whom she named after the deceased previous Lorekeeper Aster as her “daughter", many people (such as the person who made the otherwise spot-on meme above) incorrectly assumed that Zinnia had a human daughter named Aster in the past, but that she passed away, and that Aster the Whismur was named after her.



Just like Lillie and her Cosmog Nebby in the Gen 7 Alola games, Zinnia basically assumes the role of Aster the Whismur's mother. Like Nebby, Aster the Whismur was given a nickname, follows behind their mother outside of a Poké Ball, and (most significantly) doesn't participate in Pokémon battles like Zinnia's Dragon-type Pokémon do, which is more like the relationship that a pet parent has with their pet than the relationships that Pokémon Trainers normally have with their Pokémon.
(Aside from how Zinnia taught Aster the Whismur how to steal of course, lol!)

Steven: Joashu◇☃☀★J4! Now is our chance! Take the dimensional shifter and—

Aster: Mumumurrr!

Courtney: Huh?!

Aster snatched the dimensional shifter away from Courtney!

Steven: That Pokémon... Doesn’t it belong to...

Zinnia: Nice one, Aster!

That isn't to say that Zinnia isn't old enough to have had a daughter, because she is (more on that in a moment), but any daughter of hers would had to have been a child, and the role of the Lorekeeper is one that is assumed by an adult.

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2. Zinnia is an adult


Official artwork of Steven Stone (age 25) and Zinnia (age unconfirmed) together in their special costumes in Pokémon Masters EX.

I must admit, it feels incredibly weird to even have to clarify this point, but given how many people have questioned this, I feel the need to do so here.

Just like with the crazy assumption many fans had made regarding Zinnia being Lorekeeper Aster's mom, it is literally based upon a single line of in-game dialogue, although in their defense, this assumption was made by Bulbapedia as well.
(Although they have since partially corrected this.)



If you want to know more about the discussions on Bulbapedia about this subject, I recommend checking out this page where it is discussed. However, let me just say that since they say things like this:

I do consider that the best potential evidence against Zinnia having had a daughter. Long story short, though, there's some evidence for and against it, but nothing really conclusive.

And this:

...The whole line also implies the player character is a teenager, which is pretty weird considering that, according to Bulbapedia, Brendan and May are 12-years old.

…This tells me that they don't have the foggiest clue what they are talking about here, and Zinnia's alleged teenager-ness is merely an argument that Gabo 2oo came up with to counter the nonsensical assumption that Aster the human was Zinnia's daughter, which has already been thoroughly debunked anyway.
(Although Tiddlywinks doesn't seem to realize that, lol!)

First of all, Brendan/May's age is explicitly stated to be 12 on the Buzznav in the actual game, which is far more relevant than what any fan website (even Bulbapedia) says, although in this particular case they are actually saying the same thing, which is good. Secondly, the fact that this random Team Magma/Aqua Grunt refers to Brendan/May as a teenager as well means that they are an unreliable source of information. Thirdly—and most importantly here—it isn't just Brendan/May who refers to Zinnia as a woman like the people on Bulbapedia seem to believe.



It seems kinda Farfetch'd too assume that a single line from some random Team Aqua/Magma Grunt is a more reliable source than Brendan/May, Steven Stone, Team Aqua Leader Archie/Team Magma Leader Maxie, Wallace, and even another Team Aqua/Magma Grunt in the same room as them, but if all of that evidence wasn't enough evidence to convince you, consider what the 3rd Team Aqua/Magma Grunt in that room says.

Team Magma Grunt: Black bob hair... Actually, she’s my type.

Team Aqua Grunt: Black bob hair... Actually, she’s my type.

I don't think that I need to explain why this line of dialogue would be incredibly problematic if Zinnia were actually underage, but that doesn't matter here because she's obviously not.

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3. Sappho Zinnia and her “friend”


An image I made of Zinnia—in the EX colors version of her special costume from Pokémon Masters EX—with a lesromantic pride flag in the background. It was inspired by similar images out there made by others, such as this one I first uploaded here on Paint over 5 years ago.

Zinnia: Ever since I was a little girl, I have always turned my eyes up to the sky. When I was so full of uncertainty that I felt my heart might be crushed by it... When I was so grief-stricken and alone I thought my heart might break of it... I turned and looked up there... so that my tears would never, ever fall. What about you? Have you ever had to do something like that?

Joashu◇☃☀★J4: I have.

Zinnia: Right...

Zinnia: ... I used to watch the stars like this all the time... Together with Aster. We were always together. In good times and in bad. I loved her. I loved her with everything I had... But I still lost her.

Zinnia: ... Hahaha... ... I want to see her... I want to be with her again... My sweet Aster...

Zinnia: I will, won't I? With this... Just a little longer...

Higana's “sorrowful memories” of losing the love of her life are why she was named what she was. Similarly, zinnias are associated with “thoughts of absent friends” in the language of flowers (source), and Zinnia's names in every other language are associated with similar things as well.

I swear, even without hearing the music playing in the background, reading this never fails to bring me to tears...

Anyway, Zinnia makes it crystal-clear here that she loves Aster more than anyone or anything else in the world. So much so, in fact, that she is even looking forward to dying in space atop Mega Rayquaza to save the world from the meteor, so that she can “see her” and “be with her” again in the afterlife.


A flashback shown in The Wish 🌠, showing Zinnia as a little girl (probably about 6 years old here), a Whismur (Aster the Whismur?), and an unnamed adult Draconid (Lorekeeper Aster?) wearing the cape that (in the manga) was worn by Lorekeeper Aster, and then was later worn by Zinnia once she had succeeded Aster as the Lorekeeper following Aster's death.

These words would certainly make a lot of sense if Aster was in fact Zinnia's daughter, but as I already explained, that is literally impossible since Aster was the prior Lorekeeper. Ironically, it is entirely possible that Lorekeeper Aster was Zinnia's mom, and speaking solely for myself here, I can certainly relate to how Zinnia feels here having lost my own mother 3 years ago.
(Just like Zinnia, “I loved her with everything I had... But I still lost her.”)

Of course, what really struck me here out of everything that she says here is how she says “We were always together. In good times and in bad”, and if you do an internet search for "In good times and in bad" the first thing that shows up in the search results are a bunch of links talking about about marriage vows.

Couples wedding in the Latin Church of the Catholic Church essentially make the same pledge to one another. According to the Rite of Marriage (#25) the customary text in English is:

“I, ____, take you, ____, to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

Source

Artwork of the ancient Greek poetess Sappho of Lesbos and her “friend” gazing out at the ocean together. Zinnia and Aster, on the other hand, just gazed up at the stars together, which is TOTALLY not romantic, lol!

While IDK for a fact that Aster's and Zinnia's relationship was romantic in nature, given that she said that she “loved her with everything [she] had” and was literally looking forward to her own death just so that she could “see her” and “be with” “[her] sweet Aster” again, I think it's pretty safe to assume that they were more than just friends.

Taking into account all of the evidence here, the only 4 possibilities that make any sense here are that Aster was Zinnia's lover, mother, older sister, or a really, really, REALLY close best friend (like the kind Sappho had), with the mother and sister possibilities being less likely due to the fact that they likely would've just been clearly spelled out in-game (why wouldn't they be?), and the lover possibility being the most likely one by far, especially given how controversial it would've been to introduce a brand new openly lesbian character who is a total badass who saves 2 worlds in a kids' game.
(As someone with an openly homophobic father myself, who likely wouldn't have been allowed to play Pokémon anymore if he had known there were any queer characters in it, I can certainly understand their decision to be subtle about it here.)

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OK, so having cleared all of that up, how exactly am I going to handle my fanfic?

1. It will be based primarily off of the storyline of the Ω Ruby and α Sapphire games, and will explore Zinnia's and Aster's shared past prior to the events of those games.

2. It will be written based on the assumption that Zinnia is 19 years old during the events of the Δ Episode in the games—both an adult and a “teenager”—and Aster will be at least a few years older than that, although I can't say exactly how much older yet.
(Zinnia is actually probably a few years older than that TBH, but because of the whole “teenager” thing this seems like a reasonable compromise IMO.)

3. The story will begin 7 years prior to the events of the games, when Zinnia was 12 years old. As was mentioned above, Brendan/May is 12 years old in the games, so this will be written based on the assumption that Zinnia too began her journey as a Pokémon Trainer at the age of 12.
(Most of the core series games have you begin your journey into the “world of Pokémon” somewhere in the 10-12 age range.)

4. Although the only Draconids ever mentioned in the games are Zinnia, her Grannie, and Aster, this story will add other Draconids as well, including (but not limited to) Jinga, Renza, and Tomatoma from the Pokémon Adventures manga.
(Why? Because they're all cool of course, lol!)

5. Although Lorekeeper Aster dies 9 years prior to the events of the Ω Ruby/α Sapphire arc of the Pokémon Adventures manga (see this timeline here)—which is more or less the manga's version of the Δ Episode—this will obviously not be the case in my fanfic, given that it will only be set 7 years in the past and Lorekeeper Aster will still be alive in it.

Since the Pokémon Association doesn't even exist in the core series games, it is safe to assume that the circumstances surrounding Lorekeeper Aster's death in the games must have be different than they were in the manga. Zinnia does still wear Aster's burnt cape just like she does in the manga, but how and when exactly Lorekeeper Aster will die in my fanfic will remain a mystery.
(I wouldn't want to go spoiling it, now would I, lol?)

6. As was mentioned above, the fanfic will be based on the assumption that Zinnia was in love with Aster, and although it's obviously going to have an unhappy ending, I will try to make it a happy, positive story that gives the reader a sense of why Zinnia loved Aster so much in the first place.
(Which my fellow fans of Zinnia and the Δ Episode's storyline will hopefully be able to appreciate.)

7. In the Ω Ruby and α Sapphire games, there are a number of Secret Base caves on Route 115 located near Meteor Falls, which have descriptions that imply that people lived there long ago. This fanfic will assume that they were once inhabited by the Draconid people, and that these caves are in fact the core series games' version of Meteor Village, and that this is where Zinnia, Aster, and the other Draconids live.



I'm admittedly kinda twisting things around a bit here, given that these descriptions all say that people lived in them “long ago” rather than “7 years ago”, and I may reconsider this and just put Meteor Village actually inside of Meteor Falls just like how it is in the manga,
(Any suggestions from y'all regarding how I should handle this would be GREATLY appreciated!)

8. I will try not to deviate too much from the things established in the games and (to a certain extent) the manga. I will assume that (like in the manga) Zinnia's Noivern was originally Aster's, and the story will show Zinnia forming the same team of Pokémon that she uses in battle against you in the core series games. The Pokémon teams of Aster and the other Draconids will be comprised mostly of Dragon-type Pokémon (as would be expected), and I may include some Gen 8 or 9 Pokémon in the story as well, if it seems appropriate to do so.
(Which isn't too far off from the games TBH, since over half of Zinnia's team—including her/Aster's Noivern—aren't even catchable in the Ω Ruby/α Sapphire version of Hoenn anyway, even post-game.)

Anyway, I think I covered just about everything here. If anyone here has any questions about any of this, or any suggestions about how to handle the fanfic, please leave a comment.

Sayonara!

I looked to the sky
And never knew
When all my tears would finally dry

Down would come the rain
And with a crash
There never would be light again

But I'd give my life
So that this world need never cry
Our savior released
So the departed can find peace

Lyrics written for Vs. Zinnia by Man on the Internet.