EPISODE 42: The Intruder!*

It was somewhat a shock for Zinnia to be eavesdropping us all of a sudden. We even feared she was eavesdropping us since before but was only now when we found out about this secret work of hers. What's worse, she could be part of the villainous Team Galactic or even the Pokemon International Police. After all, she did hinted she was here in Sinnoh for a purpose.

We slowly approached her, such as how a cat approaches a dead mouse in a cautious manner. We were alerted, our hairs were standing as our hands were tightly gripped to our Pokeball. We choked our saliva, and the floor made a squeak.

Then, the cape began to wiggle as, during those seconds, Zinnia snapped back to her consciousness. She arose from the ground, standing back from all of us. Too bad for her there are no windows at our headquarters, but that raises the question, how did she enter this facility in the first place?

"Stand back from me!" Zinnia growled with a furious amount of anger boiling in her body.

"Stand back from our facility, intruder!" Copper dealt with her, he retaliated Zinnia's words as he approached her confidently.

"I came to challenge Luna! It's been a while, and today is the perfect opportunity. I was able to enter your facility when one of your members opened the door. I snuck in as soon as possible, and here I am now. Come at me, Luna! It's time to claim my revenge for your falsehood demeanor with Rayquaza! This is my objective in Sinnoh!" she increased her tone, pointing her fingers at me.

"A battle? Wanna battle her? Then get through me! Charizard, you're up!" Zeal blocked and pushed to the ground.

"Wait? Isn't your Charizard-"

"I know!" Zeal looked at Grace with a wrathful smirk while Charizard was just loafing around.

"I see, one of your underlings wants to challenge me, alright then, I'm going to battle my way to your leader! Salamence, roll out!"

<Salamence! Sala!>Salamence shrieked loudly upon exiting its Pokeball.

"Hey!" Charlotte stood between Zinnia and Zeal. "Battle outside for Pete's sake! The walls are newly cleaned and the floors were recently mopped," she complained.

"Eh? Reasonable enough." Zinnia nodded her head, sending back her Salamence to its Pokeball.

We then head outside, to a patch of snow and ice. There, we used the patch as our battlefield. Both Zinnia and Zeal were eager to battle one another while I sat at the corner with the rest, observing everything. I wondered what made Zeal so interested to battle Salamence in the first place, and with her Charizard, a Pokemon who does not follow her commandments and instructions.

"Charizard, you're up!" Zeal tossed her Charizard out for the second time. Her eyes bore the determination of the finest, but her Pokemon is completely the opposite.

"Salamence!" Zinnia tossed out her Salamence for the second time. Both she and her Pokemon had the same glare towards their foe, as if the two of them are in complete sync, the complete opposite of Zeal's Charizard. Charizard was plain bone-idle lazy, who doesn't care about winning even if its power is immensely strong.

"Let's start the match, Salamence use Dragon Claw!"

"Charizard listen to me, just this once, use Seismic Toss before the attack hits you!"

<Chaaaarrr!>Charizard yawned and allowed itself to receive the attack on purpose.

"This isn't going as planned. Charizard is completely disobeying orders." Faith was worried, she had a hunch Salamence would triumph over Charizard.

"Well, if the Pokemon is uncomfortable with its trainer, it won't obey." taught, Grace.

"No. I don't think that's their problem. Charizard saved Zeal many times, they're close, it's their trust they have to work on." I told otherwise.

Back at the battlefield, things were going abrupt. Charizard is deaf whenever it comes to commands and instructions. I observed how Charizard was working on its own, doing its own plan without the assistance of its trainer. Charizard made the title, "trainer" a useless and unneeded title.

"Salamence, Dragon Rush!"

"Charizard, listen! Dodge the attack!" I also noticed Zinnia, whenever she gets angered easily when Charizard disobeys. A trainer or any title at all must be patient with their Pokemon, like how I was patient when dealing with Shelgon. In short, neither the human nor the Pokemon is doing their job properly, this is a big downside when it comes to the relationship between them.

Salamence was zooming fast at Charizard, but it did not dare to dodge and instead tried to use Flamethrower to damage Salamence. It barely did a thing for even in flames, Salamence prospered and went through it, hitting Charizard in the head with a powerful blow.

"What's wrong with you?! Charizard, for once, listen to me!" Zeal began to yell, scolding her Pokemon. Charizard neglected her again and fought with Zinnia and Salamence alone until it fainted. It did not dare to dodge, not once, did it try to at least dodge an attack. This also shows Charizard is more of an aggressive Pokemon rather than a defensive one.

In my perspective, this is wrong. A Pokemon's attack and defense should be balanced but that is not always the case for others. I'm no trainer, and I have my own perspective when it comes to things like this.

"Charizard, return to your Pokeball." said the disappointed Zinnia. If she lets her anger flow right into her, then there is a high chance she might abandon Charizard.

"Now, for the main event! I come to challenge you, Luna Evergreen. Your Shelgon, against my Salamence!" Zinnia looked at me next.

"Don't you think that's unfair? Come on, let me use a Pokemon aside from Shelgon. She's still tired, we did something together."

"You can't hide from this! You were in a meeting, I saw you! Shelgon didn't do anything but stayed in her Pokeball, my eyes are wide, you cannot fool me-" blabber here, blabber there, it was getting annoying so I sent out Gardevoir and with her, she teleported Zinnia and Salamence someplace else I know not about.

Might be a way to dodge a battle, making me look like a coward not to mention I've promised to battle her, so I asked Gardevoir to sent her back. Just one battle won't hurt, a "father vs daughter" type of battle.

"You sent me to the north pole?!"

"Not my fault, well, actually it is. Okay, let's have this battle of yours up and running. Win or lose, doesn't seem like we had a deal about it, the only thing I promised was a battle, so come at me!" I stood from the log I was sitting on and walked to the opposite direction she's at. I stretched my arms far and wide as I tossed out Shelgon.

"Great! Now this will be one worthy- oh, excuse me for a sec." Zinnia stopped her words when her phone suddenly rang. She answered the call, I was wondering who she's talking to.

"Wh-what?! I'll get there as soon as possible." Zinnia declined her call, and without even greeting us, she left, riding atop her Salamence.

"Wait, about our battle?!" I yelled at the sky, but she didn't seem to notice me. Her eyes tell a lot about how hurried she was to attend something, but at least I didn't have to battle her. Who was she talking to in the first place? Who is she working for this time?