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Draconid Joashu's Pokémon Blog

Beyond the Power of Your Imagination

Created on 01/24/23 by DraconidJoashu


Konnichiwa!


Although I already wrote this old blog about my signature over on Paint back in 2019, I decided that I'd write a new blog about it last year (which this is basically a copy of), that goes into a bit more detail not only about my signature on here and on Paint, but also Zinnia's actions during the Δ Episode of Pokémon Ω Ruby and α Sapphire Versions, in order to better understand the context in which she says that famous line of hers that I quote in it.


First of all, it is worth pointing out to those unfamiliar with Pokémon Ω Ruby/α Sapphire Version that Zinnia is a member of an ancient tribe of Dragon Masters know as the Draconids, and that my username, the names of my main group on Paint and my Discord server, the theme of my profile, and numerous other things of mine on Paint, here on SocialCu.be, and elsewhere were directly inspired by her, the Draconids, and the storyline of the Δ Episode, and my signature is yet another example of this overall "Draconid theme" of mine.

(I even wrote these lyrics for her main theme song in the games, lol!)

Now, for those unfamiliar with Japanese, my signature is written in Japanese Kanji, which are a type of Japanese letters that are similar to (and oftentimes the same as) Chinese ones, in that each Kanji character has a certain meaning (or sometimes multiple possible meanings), rather than a certain pronunciation like English letters do.

Although Zinnia is shown saying it in-game in the image at the top of this blog, this is my signature:

"……想像力が 足りないよ —伝承者ヒガナ"

And this is my signature written only using Hiragana and Katakana , 2 different types of Japanese letters that (like English letters) are phonetic, meaning that each letter or combination of letters has a certain pronunciation, rather than a certain meaning:

"……そうぞうりょくが たりないよ —でんしょうしゃヒガナ"

And finally, this is my signature in Romaji, which is when you spell Japanese words or names using Roman letters (the same letters used in English and most other European languages), making it possible for people who don't know how to read Japanese letters to be able read it and pronounce it:

"……Souzouryoku ga tarinai yo. —Denshousha Higana"

Now, let's go over what exactly my signature means in English, and why it is that I chose it.



ヒガナ (Higana) is just Zinnia's original Japanese name (check out the image above for an explanation of what her Japanese name means, BTW), and 伝承者 (Denshousha) is her Japanese Trainer Title, which simply means "Lorekeeper", the same as her English Trainer Title.

Now, there are multiple possible English translations of this particular Japanese quote of hers, and this is further complicated by the fact that she actually says this twice during the storyline of the Δ Episode (with slightly different punctuation used each time), and it is translated into English differently each time that she says it in the game.

Although most of the online translators that I entered it into translated it as "imagination is not enough", in the actual games it's translated as "You guys need some imagination" the 1st time that she says it, while the 2nd time it's translated as "Looks like it's beyond the power of your imagination", with my signature being a quote of her saying it the 2nd time, which is why it begins with "……", just like in that 1st image at the top of the blog.
(For those interested, the other version of this quote is one of the common phrases that can be used in Festival Plaza in the Gen 7 games, which is given by Hoenn Tent ★★★★★.)

Now, I still don't know much Japanese, but based upon both the situations in which she says this and the Kanji characters used, I would tend to assume that the 2nd in-game translation is the most accurate translation of this, as 想像 (souzou) means "imagination", 力 (ryoku) means "power", and 想像力 (souzouryoku) means "power of imagination", according to every online translator that I checked.
(If anybody with a better knowledge of Japanese than I would like to offer their opinion on what the most accurate translation is I'd certainly appreciate it, though.)

Anyway, although it certainly is a nice quote even without understanding the context in which it was originally said, for those who wish to know why exactly Zinnia says this in the first place, you will need to have a pretty good understanding of the storyline of the Δ Episode, which I will provide in the (spoiler-filled) spoiler below.

Please note that while I do use exact quotes of all of the things that the different characters say in it (which I copied and pasted directly from Serenes Forest), I repeatedly bounce to different points in the Δ Episode storyline throughout it, in order to highlight specific pieces of dialogue that help in explaining certain things.
(In other words, it's a nonlinear explanation of certain aspects of the Δ Episode's storyline, rather than an exact transcript of all NPC dialogue.)

Spoiler:


The Δ Episode is essentially about a giant meteor (know as the "Grand Meteor Delta" in the Pokémon Adventures manga) heading towards the Earth, threatening to cause a mass extinction event similar to the one that wiped out the dinosaurs both IRL and in-game.

Now, the folks at the Mossdeep Space Center detect the presence of this meteor at the very beginning of the Δ Episode, and they devise a plan to stop its arrival: by launching a device called a "Dimensional Shifter" into space in front of the meteor, using rockets powered by "Infinity Energy" (which is the life energy of Pokémon) developed by the Devon Corporation.

Professor Cozmo: Our current plan involves using the Infinity Energy within our rocket, combined with the life energy of humans found in Key Stones...

Professor Cozmo: We will start off by artificially replicating the massive energy that is triggered at the time of Mega Evolution!

Professor Cozmo: We will fire the energy produced from our rocket into space...

Professor Cozmo: And create a "warp hole."

Professor Cozmo: By creating a warp hole in the path of the meteoroid, we hope to be able to transport it somewhere far away from here.

Steven Stone: An audacious plan… And using such technology you would…

Steven Stone: May I ask where exactly the asteroid will be warped to?

Professor Cozmo: Well, we're not entirely sure, but…

Professor Cozmo: We do have a device that links the warp holes. We've named it the Link Cable.

Professor Cozmo: But there's no need to worry. Based on our theory, we can at least guarantee that we will be sending it away from our planet.


Now, the Space Center guys and the Devon guys aren't the only ones who know about the meteor's approach, as the ancient tribe of Dragon Masters known as the Draconids also know about it, and foresaw its arrival over a thousand years ago.

Zinnia: A thousand years of peace followed after that disastrous time. But the Draconid people, learning from their long history's cyclical nature, foretold that the meteoroids would fall on this land again. The meteoroid to come, they prophesized, would be far greater than those that had come before it. This meteoroid would be great enough to break the world forever…


The Draconids have their own plan for dealing with the threat posed by this meteor, however: having their chosen Lorekeeper (Zinnia) summon Lord Rayquaza to the Dragonhark Altar (the top of Sky Pillar), and to have her Mega Evolve Rayquaza and ride Them into space, and then for Lord Rayquaza to shatter the meteor to pieces by using Their powerful Flying-type move Dragon Ascent.

Zinnia: In order to prevent this great calamity, those who held the knowledge of the past arrived at a plan. Their plan was to invoke Rayquaza, the great savior, and summon it to this land before the meteoroid could strike.

Zinnia: I spent a long time thinking about how I could protect the happiness of as many people as possible. What I must do, as one who holds both the knowledge and the power… One who bears the heavy wishes of those who could not…live up to that fate…

Zinnia: That's right. I will summon Rayquaza to this world to destroy the meteoroid headed for Hoenn.
Zinnia's Grannie: Since times long gone, Hoenn has repeatedly suffered great disasters.

Zinnia's Grannie: At times, the destruction took the form of a huge meteoroid, which fell upon our land from distant space. At other times, the Primal Reversion of our own super-ancient Pokémon brought us to the brink of destruction.

Zinnia's Grannie: Each time, Lord Rayquaza has saved us from doom.

Zinnia's Grannie: The chosen Lorekeeper, standing before a stone that shone with rainbow light, offered up a wish to the great one. And Lord Rayquaza's body was suffused with a brilliant light and transformed.

Zinnia's Grannie: The Lorekeeper is the one who has inherited the knowledge and power to summon Lord Rayquaza when disaster imperils the world.

Zinnia's Grannie: The true Lorekeeper of the current generation is the one called Zinnia.

Zinnia's Grannie: The disaster that now approaches our planet, as it has twice before… Zinnia has been trying for some time to avert it… in her own way.

Zinnia's Grannie: Balance must rule this world. History is doomed to repeat itself… While our people have overcome many disasters in the past, it was through great, great sacrifice… Yet we have continued to struggle to preserve peace for as many years as we can. This is how we have protected this world, upon which we now live.

Zinnia's Grannie: I do not know exactly what you plan to do. But do you believe that you are not sacrificing anything for your own protection?

Zinnia's Grannie: Zinnia will follow her convictions until the very end. Even knowing the sacrifices that they will require. Even if the sacrificial blade is leveled at her own heart.
Zinnia's Grannie: Dragon Ascent is a powerful move that only Rayquaza can use. They say its power is so strong that a meteoroid can be broken into pieces with one attack.


Zinnia is willing to sacrifice her own life in order to save the world, but since both the Draconids' plan and the Space Center's plan would save this world, why is it that Zinnia repeatedly sabotages them throughout the course of the Δ Episode?

Well, she doesn't approve of them murdering innocent Pokémon to power their rockets, for starters.

President Stone: Let me first take us back 3,000 years, to the days when this story began…

President Stone: There was a great war at that time, in a region far from here. That war was finally brought to an end by a weapon created by one man. And what energy source could power such a dreadful weapon? Do you know?

President Stone: You see… It ran on the life energy of Pokémon.

President Stone: The energy that could be gained by the sacrifice of so many Pokémon… There are surely many people who would call it reprehensible.
Zinnia: So this is what has come of human technology and of hope and blood and sweat and tears and… Well, the list gets kinda long and boring. But it contains everything, huh?

Zinnia: I know all about it. About just what kinda energy you're using to fuel this rocket thing… The abominable technology humanity first thought up 3,000 years ago…

Zinnia: So you're once again planning to claim that this is best for humanity, or best for the whole darn world…

Zinnia: It's a snap of your fingers to repeat the sins of the past.

Zinnia: Worse, if what I overheard is true… This time, you're about to commit an error more abominable than before!

Steven Stone: Tell me, would you rather we sit here wringing our hands, waiting for the meteoroid to strike us?

Zinnia: Ahahahaha! What's up with that? You're a pretty simple guy for a former Pokémon League Champion.

Zinnia: You know, there are necessary sacrifices, and there are unnecessary sacrifices.

Zinnia: What a disappointment! This is the best you could do with all your knowledge and technology?

Zinnia: Instead of trying to make something outta nothing, you'd rather repeat the mistakes of the past, straight up? No, you're gonna add new mistakes on top—that really takes the cake.

Zinnia: You guys need some imagination.


There's that 1st instance of her saying that famous line of hers!


However, Zinnia isn't only opposed to their plan because she's pro-life against the use of Infinity Energy…

You see, the Draconids have knowledge of another world, in which they say another Hoenn region similar to the one of Ω Ruby/α Sapphire Version exists, but that history took a different course in this other world, causing many things that exist in this world to not exist in that one, such as Mega Evolution.

Zinnia: Now then… That is an impressive machine. Snap your fingers, the asteroid vanishes, and we all live happily ever after?

Zinnia: Ahahahah! Indeed! It's like that former Champ said! This thing is the best hope we have of saving this planet and everything on it.

Zinnia: But you know… It could also be the worst tragedy imaginable for some other world and everything on it.

Steven Stone: …What are you trying to say?

Zinnia: I'm not talking to you. You don't get it.

Steven Stone: Ugh…

Zinnia: But you, Joashu◇☃☀★J4… Hope for our world… Tragedy for another… You get it, don't you?

Joashu◇☃☀★J4: I do.

Zinnia: And you come through again! You never disappoint me.

Zinnia: My people know it.

Zinnia: From generation to generation, we pass along the lore about the distortions in the world borne by the Mega Evolution mechanism. And about the existence of another world, which we have long observed to be just like this one and yet not the same…

Zinnia: That's right. A Hoenn region that's almost exactly like this one we live in. Filled with Pokémon and people like us. A world where maybe the evolution of Pokémon took a slightly different path, where Mega Evolution is unknown…

Zinnia: A world where that war 3,000 years ago…never happened. A world where the ultimate weapon was never even built.

Zinnia: And in that Hoenn of that world… What would happen if one day, out of the blue, a meteoroid appeared? What would happen to the people of that world, without the technology to destroy the meteoroid or the power to warp it away?

Zinnia: …

Zinnia: Looks like it's beyond the power of your imagination.

Zinnia crushed the dimensional shifter in her hand!


Totally badass, right?

(Now y'all know why I want that quote as my signature, lol!)



This "other world" the ancient Draconid lore speaks of (shown in the image above) is in fact the one which the original Gen 3 Hoenn games (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) for the Game Boy Advance take place in (which explains why a Link Cable would connect to it, lol), which the current Champion Joashu◇☃☀★J4 (me) is aware of, but that the Space Center guys and even the "former Champ" Steven Stone seem to be completely clueless about.
(They certainly won't be able to get a Time Travel Award to put in their Secret Bases like I did if they don't even acknowledge the existence of Gen 3 Hoenn, lol!)

Professor Cozmo: You fool! You have no substantive proof, and yet you claim another world, one just like our own, exists? Out of this fantasy, you—you have destroyed our only hope!

Steven Stone: What have…you done…

Zinnia: Farewell, brief hope…

Professor Cozmo: Y-you! Do you even know— Now what are we to do?!

Zinnia: Calm down there, Prof. It'll be OK.

Zinnia: I… We… We can protect this world…and the other.

Steven Stone: Who exactly is "we"? What are your intentions?


The "we" that Zinnia is referring to here is herself and the previous Lorekeeper Aster (not to be confused with Zinnia's Whismur Aster, whom she named after her), but she is a subject for another blog.

Anyway, it would seem that a surprisingly high number of my fellow Pokémon players don't understand what Zinnia is talking about for some reason, or why she does the things that she does during the Δ Episode (despite the fact that she explains herself pretty clearly most of the time), leading to a lot of people hating on her out of ignorance.


However, that doesn't change the fact that Zinnia was right, and her saying that and crushing the Dimensional Shifter in her hand like that is not only one of my favorite parts of the Δ Episode, but also one of the coolest things (if not the coolest thing) that any NPC has ever done in a Pokémon game.

(Zinnia is WAY cooler than AZ or even N IMO.)

When she says that to those scientists, she is disappointed that it seems to be "beyond the power of their imaginations" for them to even consider the possibility that what they are planning to do might be wrong, or that the things that she is trying to tell them might in fact be true.

Unfortunately, they have too much faith in science, and so Zinnia does what she has to in order to save both worlds from destruction.
(And without using evil technology that requires sacrificing the lives of innocent Pokémon, either.)



…Oh yeah!

One other thing that I'd like to address here is what happens after Zinnia summons Lord Rayquaza…

You see, although the Draconids' plan ultimately saves both worlds thanks to Zinnia, she does run into a slight problem after she summons Lord Rayquaza, and realizes that They are too hungry to Mega Evolve ATM…

Zinnia: Now the world…will be saved! Aster… Aster, I did it!

Zinnia: Great Rayquaza! Hear my wish! Achieve your Mega Evolution! Take hold of your true power! Show me your true face! The Rayquaza that will save this planet!

Zinnia: Huh?! H-how can this be?! I gathered all of the Key Stones that could withstand your great power… and summoned you here… You came… And yet… Why?!

Zinnia: It can't be… The one without enough power…is you, Rayquaza?

Zinnia: The Meteorites that should lie within Rayquaza's great body…aren't enough? Have these thousand years drained them of their power?




Unfortunately, Zinnia made a slight miscalculation, and had assumed that the meteorites in Lord Rayquaza's body (shown glowing in the above image of my Shiny Mega Rayquaza using Dragon Ascent) would have enough power left to Mega Evolve after Their previous world saving Mega Evolution 1000 years ago.

Of course, it is worth pointing out that Zinnia understands how Rayquaza's Mega Evolution works, and had she realized that Lord Rayquaza would've needed a snack first, she probably would've packed Them some lunch, lol!

Zinnia: Are you also interested in this old painting? Or are you here for the other? For one of the Meteorite Shards that can serve as a source of power for the Legendary Pokémon that lives in the heavens above.
Zinnia: That glittering Meteorite that you've got there… Hmm… It's sure giving off some vibes.

Zinnia: I'd keep a tight hold on it if I were you, along with that shard I just gave you.
Zinnia: Swallowing meteorites allows it to store as much power as a Mega Stone.


Based on what Zinnia is saying here, the Meteorite Shard that she gives you after you battle her in Granite Cave "can serve as a source of power for the Legendary Pokémon that lives in the heavens above", obviously referring to Rayquaza.

Additionally, she advises you to "keep a tight hold on" the Meteorite that you already had, which you took from Team Magma/Aqua at Mt. Chimney during the main story.

In the other world's (the original Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald's world's) storyline, Professor Cozmo (the same man leading the Space Center's efforts in this world) takes the Meteorite from you after you reclaim it from Team Magma/Aqua (and gives you a TM27 Return in exchange for it), and him not wanting this Meteorite back in this world is the only reason that you still have it to feed to Rayquaza later on during the Δ Episode.

Professor Cozmo (R/S/E): Please, may I have that Meteorite? I'm not asking for it for free. How about in exchange for this TM?


Also, during the Δ Episode's storyline, you are forced to give that Meteorite Shard that Zinnia gives you to (guess who) Professor Cozmo, so that he can make that Dimensional Shifter of his, and if the game allowed you to keep it like Zinnia said that you should, then it is entirely possible that Zinnia's Meteorite Shard could've saved the day at the end, rather than your Meteorite doing so.

Professor Cozmo: Ah, Joashu◇☃☀★J4! Thank you for coming!

Professor Cozmo: And you brought the Meteorite Shard with you. Well done!

Joashu◇☃☀★J4 handed over the Meteorite Shard to Professor Cozmo!


Although Zinnia may have wrongly assumed that Rayquaza had enough strength left to Mega Evolve, she was also the only one capable of summoning Rayquaza in the first place, and she both wanted you there with her at the Dragonhark Altar, and for you to hold on to your Meteorite and the Meteorite Shard that she gave you.

Wallace: Only the ancient Draconid people know how to summon Rayquaza to the Sky Pillar.
Zinnia: Now we can do it: The summoning.

Zinnia: We will summon Rayquaza!

Zinnia: Well then, looks like my job here is done. So don't mind me while I excuse myself.

Zinnia: Oh. Joashu◇☃☀★J4? I really hope you'll come chasing after me, you know?

Zinnia: We'll be heading to that ancient tower, sealed since primal times, the Sky Pillar.

Zinnia: If you don't know what that is, well, ask that former Champ of yours. He'll know what I'm talking about. See you there!
Zinnia: So you came for me. Thanks for that. That's really good, Joashu◇☃☀★J4. I really feel it, right here. Mm-hmm…


In other words: Zinnia deserves just as much (if not more) credit for saving the world from the meteor as the player does, as well as all of the credit for saving the other world from the Space Center's plan, since the game (unfortunately) forces you to take the Space Center's side until the very end.

Anyway, I believe that I covered everything here that people tend to overlook when criticizing Zinnia's actions during the Δ Episode…

If anyone here actually read all of this, I congratulate you (I really did get a little carried away there, lol), and if you have any additional questions about Zinnia, the Draconids, my signature, or anything else to do with the storyline of Pokémon Ω Ruby or α Sapphire Versions, feel free to ask away in the comments!


Sayonara!


Zinnia: …

Zinnia: Hey… The actions that you're taking now… Are they based on the ideals you cling to? Or are they based on actual truths?

Zinnia: And if they are… How much of the truth do you think you know?


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8DraconidJoashu 1 year ago
@.:A-MAN:. Cool, thanks!
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70.:A-MAN:.
1 year ago
Char limit has been updated to 4 million now. Sorry about that. :/
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8DraconidJoashu 1 year ago
Hmmm... It seems as though there's a text limit for blogs here after all.
@TulipsOfLove @DCTheGamr
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