Zach

Zach may just be a Fletchinder (Currently), but she’s the REAL protagonist of this story. She’s often on edge, nervous, and wracked with guilt over pulling Carol away from her old life–but Zach is determined not to let anyone see how much these negative emotions are affecting her. When others notice, she tends to brush them off or be dismissive. She’s prone to being especially reckless when she’s stressed, unfortunately, so the people around her are all aware that something is going on. Zach tries to act as a team leader, helping others with their battling skills and also trying to manage team conflicts, but she isn’t great at it–especially if she’s called out for her hypocrisy (She will, for example, encourage other members of the team to be less reckless when like two days ago she decided to dive into the ocean. As a fire type.). Zach grew up in the same Arceus-worshiping commune Ava, Gabriel, and Tyler did, and the four of them were friends when they were young. When she was a teenager, Zach got an assignment in Sinnoh, and although she and Ava remained friends, they didn’t see each other as often. While in Sinnoh, Zach became accustomed to the less strict gender norms held up by the Arceus worshipers there, and was generally much more comfortable than she’d been at home. Unfortunately, she was soon called to return home, to help fight the same ruinously powerful legendary that has been mentioned like six times now?? It’s very important. Before she left, her friends from the Sinnoh commune gave her a gift: a fragment of Palkia’s power that allowed her to teleport herself short distances, at the expense of some of her energy. Back at her home commune, Zach was ridiculed by her family for being “girly” and was generally encouraged to be more manly. It was not great for her. It was almost a relief when one day, in battle, Zach’s amulet was suddenly overcharged and she got flung to another world. She’s been to several of those now, using her transformation abilities to get by until she gathers the strength to jump worlds again, trying to get closer and closer to home. When she met Carol, Carol accidentally activated her amulet prematurely, which Zach believes is what caused her to become a human and Zach to become stuck as a Fletchling. She doesn’t know for sure, though. A lot of Zach’s character arc through Ablaze involves coming to terms with the shitty beliefs her upbringing imparted on her, and also deconstructing a lot of internalized transphobia. She’s a bit of a disaster but god do I love her. FUN FACT, normally when people who can transform into Pokemon do so, they actually cannot evolve, but Zach was able to. Jee, I wonder why that was!! (If a Pokemon is given the ability to transform into other Pokemon, its “natural form” is still capable of evolution. This is a hint and also yet another way in which I have been mean to my dear fire chicken.)