Appearance

Personality

Zach, what he prefers to call himself, is a young men with accomplishments that he fought hard and well for. He used to be a very oblivious person that thought he knew the answer on every question to the point it was just plain annoying. He was arrogant, cocky and even though he was decent towards his Pokémon he was not so towards trainers he thought of less than himself. He won one battle after the other and gained the "bad guy" popularity that came with his behavior but was shitty towards people on a daily basis. The popularity probably went to his head as not even his parents really knew how he could have become like this. Certain events prior to losing against Korrina from the Shalour City gym caused his popularity to drop immensely and instead of being praised, he started being shunned. During that time he kept blaming Korrina for every bit of misfortune he was facing.

Certain events throughout his journey caused him to change his personality for the better and he would now look carefree for most people upon meeting him. He can also be serious guy when situation calls for it but he is bad at thinking situations through and would rather like to act than to think. He can be much of a troll now and then but is pretty fun to be around with for most. As the prankster he is, he may often make terrible puns to lighten up the mood but also just cause it to become terribly awkward sometimes as well. He treats everyone with utmost care and tries to do whatever he can to help someone in trouble, even when its sometimes not wished for. He believes that's part of a champion's job.

He lost his chance of becoming a champion the first time because he was called and told that his father had died in an accident right before his last battle against Diantha. He was so close to becoming a champion and chose to continue the battle as he thought his father would not have wanted for him to give up now. It was a terrible idea, he did not have his mind in the battle at all and his Pokemon fainted fairly quickly, resulting in a crushing defeat. He fell into depression soon after but was helped through this thanks to Korrina, who was no longer the cause of his misfortune but rather the cause of his fortune. He fell in love with her but this love is unrequited as Korrina just thinks of him as a good friend. Nowadays he still has a habit of becoming terribly upset or think ill of himself whenever he ends up in a bad situation but having his Pokémon by his side, that now think greatly of him, helps him a lot.

His journey towards his eventual champion title was a road with many bumps but he eventually got there and did not let it define him, but shape him became a better man because of it.

History and family

The start of an eventful journey
Zach, or Zachery for his mother, was born from a newly wed couple that had just started out as small daycare in the small town of Vaniville. He was loved and raised well by both his mother and father and was always playing with the Pokémon that were brought to the daycare. He had a good childhood and absolutely nothing to complain about except that his father started to be more frequently away from home as he started growing older. His father had great interest in different kinds of Pokémon and was because of that often visiting different daycare's all over the world. He once made up for that with Zach by giving him a newborn Growlithe that he had brought back with him from the Kanto region he had recently visited.

Zach knew from a young age that he wanted to become a Pokémon trainer and thus chose to travel around the region of Kalos when he turned 15. By that time he still had Growlithe and had just obtained an Eevee that was born from the Espeon and Umbreon of his mother and father. He chose Froakie as his starter Pokémon from professor Sycamore to balance out his current team and started with training first before challenging his first gym. After his first win at the gym in Santalune City against the gymleader Viola, he became more cocky and often displayed a flair of arrogance. At that time it was only slightly but it became worse when he caught a Pokémon for the first time, Helioptile, and went to challenge the second gym in Cyllage City and won his gym battle against Grant. As a gymleader that was mostly specialized in stone Pokémon, Helioptile the electric type Pokémon he had just caught was not a good choice to use in battle so he wasn't used at all. Zach could only use Growlithe, Froakie and Eevee for this battle. Even though it was a close win, Zach started changing for the worse as he believed he could win against anyone without even using his full team. He was not stupid in the least. He knew very well that if he would challenge the third gym now immediately, he would most definitely lose and thus he would go for a new training regime. He would battle trainers that just started out like him. People took quick notice of this.

By that time, his popularity started to rise as people were impressed by the two gym badges he received within such a short time spawn. Media started calling him "a rising star" and would have an article on him almost every week. It would often contain interviews, small bits about his training and plans for the future. They would also film the battles he was having against other trainers and people would go up to him to challenge him. He would win one battle after the other as his only condition was "You can only have the first three gym badges". All in all, he was pretending to be bigger than he actually was.

The road to defeat.
It had been at least half a year since Zach went on his Journey when he decided it was time to move to the next gym in Shalour City. He hadn't caught any more Pokémon but as Frogadier was the only evolved Pokémon in his team and he wanted a grass type Pokémon for balancing purposes, he felt it was time to evolve Eeevee into Leafeon. He had heard of a mossy rock at the route towards Shalour City from the Pokémon Center and thought it would be perfect. It didn't take him too long to actually find it but by the time he did, Eevee seemed to feel uneasy. She didn't want to evolve into a Leafeon at all and was only too keen to let Zach take notice of that. Eevee would constantly run away from the Mossy rock. Even when Zach took her back in the Pokéball and released her almost on top of the mossy rock, she would disappear almost instantly behind his legs. Zach was starting to get pissed and took Eevee in his arms to literally throw her at the rock. Frogadier and Growlithe appeared from out of their balls by themselves and stopped Zach before he would do something he might regret. They disapproved greatly of his behavior and would show that by glaring at him and keeping Eevee away from his as far as possible. Zach did not see the ill he did, but there was someone who did see. A journalist who had followed him had seen the situation unfold.

Just a few days later, without Zach knowing, an article had been placed online about his attitude towards his Pokémon and in particular Eevee. Without really knowing about the scandal that had been released to public, he appeared at the Shalour City gym. Korrina was the current gym leader and she too had read the article. She had followed his journey for a while and thought of him as a jerk. She was doubting whether she should accept the challenge or not but decided to go through with it in the end with a second agenda in mind. It was time to teach this boy, who was about the same age as her, a lesson.

There were enough people to watch him fail as his Pokémon refused to fight for him. It was a short battle, one that Korrina won. The audience all cheered for Korrina, something that Zach did not understand at all. He felt humiliated by his Pokémon and the loss was adding up to that. He yelled at Korrina, he wanted a rematch right away. Korrina refused instead and lectured him. She told him what had transpired with the media and reminded him that being a trainer meant that he needs to take good care of his Pokémon, all the while the audience was still listening. He had hurt Eevee emotionally and it was something Korrina just couldn't accept. While the audience started to leave, Korrina did as well but not before telling him that he wasn't going to fulfill his dreams with his current behavior. She wouldn't want to see a champion like him.

Zach's eyes were opened. All Zach could do was fall down to his knees and give the ground a good punch. "Dammit..." He whispered when he finally realized what he had done. Still on his knees, he apologized to his Pokémon many times. He promised to all four of them right there that he would do better. He picked up Eevee, who forgave him despite what he had done, and told her that she could be whatever she wanted to be. It was a touching moment that was soon disturbed by the sound of a phonecall. His father was calling him. The conversation the two had over the phone was not a very nice one, both his parents were terribly disappointed in him. Zach understood and simply apologized.

The road to change
A few weeks after the loss against Korrina, Zach's popularity had dropped immensely. He was glared at on the streets often and he would occasionally hear someone name calling him. Pokémon center personal would take care of his Pokémon but wouldn't talk to him. Pokémon market personal would sometimes refuse him entry to the stores. Zach started blaming Korrina for all of that although he didn't say that out loud. He might have known deep inside that all of this was his own fault. He had just started to try to become a better person but that change wouldn't come naturally, he would have to work for it. He had at least changed his behavior towards his Pokémon completely. He would brush their fur often, praise them after a training or make them homemade Poké food. He wasn't very good at it yet but he at least wanted to try.

Zach went up to Korrina again after a while to finally get his third gym badge. His Pokémon were much more forthcoming and finally looked like they were okay with their trainer's decisions. Korrina was not entirely convinced by his sudden change of heart but decided to give it a try, seeing how Eevee wasn't afraid of her trainer anymore and even sitting on Zach's shoulder. There wasn't a very big audience during their battle. It was much smaller than the first time but the few people that were there were booing Zach the entire battle. Zach won after a hard battle, Korrina wouldn't give her badge just casually. After he received his badge, he left the gym without saying a word to Korrina. He just simply didn't know what to say. What did catch the eye of both Korrina and her Lucario was that his Pokémon looked quite content with him. It was as if they were smiling to their trainer as they left.

His journey after this became a little more eventful. Pokémon trainers would not seek him out anymore to just defeat him but to prove that they are better than him. Getting his fourth and fifth badge was a tough challenge as both gym leaders didn't think too kindly of him, however, even they could see that he was trying to make a change. He was already completely different than from the articles and interviews that were made of him before. He tried to be more kind, even though slipping up sometimes but never again had he said something foul to his Pokémon or purposely tried to hurt them. Zach still blamed Korrina for humiliating him in front of so many people but he was starting to get at terms with it by the time he was about to get his seventh gym badge about a year later.

At the age of 18 now, most people had forgotten about Zach or still felt a bit of disgust towards him and avoid him. Zach hadn't spoken to his parents since that night of his first defeat and was starting to feel awful about that but he also didn't dare to get in contact with them. He had recent new additions to his team, a small Espurr that somehow grew attached to him and a Noibat that would sleep on the back of Arcanine for most of the day. Zach was more kind now, surprising people in the Pokémon center sometimes as well as other trainers. He was slowly regaining the respect he had lost one year ago. He had come to terms with what happened one year ago but Korrina was still a topic he wanted to avoid at any cost.

The road to being a champion
Zach had build a powerful friendship with all of his Pokémon so the battle against Olympia for his seventh gym badge wasn't too hard. Upon receiving his gym badge, Espurr suddenly started to glow. Zach knew it meant she was evolving but was surprised nonetheless because of how soon it was. Espurr only joined his team just recently and is already evolving. Zach was thrilled from excitement, something that surprised Olympia in return. Olympia had heard of Zach and his more arrogant days but he looked much different now. Espurr evolved into a majestic Meowstic and while she did, Eevee saw the look on Zach's face. Eevee wanted to make her beloved trainer happy just like Meowstic just did. After all that he had gone through to get here and for everything that he has done for his Pokémon, Eevee wanted to evolve as well.

Eevee didn't evolve though until after Zach won his eight and last gym badge. As a good luck totem for the championship tournament, Zach wanted to start nicknaming his Pokémon from now on. He wanted to start with his precious team. Meowstic was now named Luna, Greninja was now named Kaden, Arcanine was named Ignis, Heliolisk was named Lio and Noibat, who had evolved into Noivern in the meantime was named Ryuji. Zach wanted to give them a name that suited them and was about to give Eevee a nice name that he really liked. He named Eevee "Fey". Eevee was so excited about her new name and loved her trainer so much for it that she suddenly started to glow unexpectedly. She definitely took Zach by surprise by that and his expression was priceless. Fey evolved into a beautiful Sylveon, the only evolution of Eevee that required a lot of love. Zach was so happy that he cried for the first time in a long while. He felt redeemed.

Zach and his team blew through the tournament like a rapid storm. There were some difficult fights near the end but the 17 year old Zach still made it through. He was in ecstatic. He was overjoyed to get so far and people started to cheer for him again. His excitement was soon utterly destroyed when he was up against the current champion Diantha, his final battle to realize his dream. Zach received a phonecall prior to the battle, it was a cop asking him if he was indeed the son of the kantonian man named William Harrison. Zach replied with a yes but had a terrible gut feeling. Apparently his father had gotten into a car accident and had passed away. Zach froze in place as he heard the news. His mother was already called according to the cop. Details would be given later upon returning home. Zach hang up and his Pokémon team knew something terrible had happened by the look on Zach's face. Diantha asked him if he wanted to delay the battle until a later date. Zach refused the proposal right away and kept silent afterwards. It wasn't entirely getting through him yet but he wanted to continue, his father wouldn't have wanted him to stop now even though their last conversation wasn't a pleasant one.

Zach lost. It was a crushing defeat. Throughout the fight he started realizing what the cop had said and his mind wasn't in the battle at all. Diantha felt sympathy for him and offered to bring him back to his parental home as soon as possible. Zach accepted and thanked her but also apologized to Diantha as well as his Pokémon team.

The road to reality
Zach received the details of his father's death at home. His father had returned from a trip to Unova and was driving home when his car crashed. The reason for the car crash had yet to be investigated but there was a Pokémon that survived the crash, or better said, an egg did. Both Zach and his mother, whom he also hadn't spoken to in a year, received an egg with an unknown blueish pattern. This egg and Luxio, his father's partner Pokémon that he left home during this trip, were the only things left of him. There was a note with the egg. "For my dear son." Zach fell into depression after this. He lost his chance at the champion title and most importantly, he lost his father. He was planning on returning home after the tournament anyway to apologize to both his parents but never going to be able to apologize to his father was a cruel development for him.

Zach didn't leave his home for a full year. He was mostly in his room and sometimes outside in the garden with his Pokémon. The egg he had received from his father gave birth to a small female Oshawott that he named Mira. He tried to help out his mother but he was in bed for most of the day or trying to take care of Mira the best he could. Fey and Luna were often found on Zach's bed while Ryuji and Lio were usually outside trying to help Zach's mother with feeding all of the daycare Pokémon. Ignis was usually laying next to Zach's bed and sometimes tried to act like a pillow. Kaden tried to keep his training regime going and always tried to motivate the other to stay active as well. After a year, everyone was starting to feel less motivated but tried to stay happy for Zach's case. His expression was always gloomy and he seemed upset whenever he was reading another article about himself. The newer ones always described his loss against Diantha and how he disappeared from the radar. He would sometimes also read an article on his father and articles about the accident.

It kept on like that until Korrina decided to pay him a visit. Diantha had given her his address and it was about time someone went to check on him. Zach's mother opened the door and asked her to wait while she went go get her son. His mother seemed much more cheerful and really seemed to be moving on, although there was this faint pain hiding in her smile. The wound of losing a loved on was still fresh.

Zach was completely silent as he went downstairs and saw Korinna standing there on her roller skates. There was a long silence, even after two years, Zach still did not know what to say. Korrina spoke instead. She apologized for doubting his intention to change, she saw his Eevee had evolved into a Sylveon and that can't happen if you don't truly love your Pokémon. Zach apologized as well and admitted that the fame had gone to his head and thanked her for opening his eyes. Korinna didn't stay too long but it was long enough to get Zach to at least be out of his room for the moment.

The road the Hall of Fame
Korinna started visiting more often after that time. Sometimes it was just for chitchat and sometimes they would have a Pokémon battle with Mira being a small and cute cheerleader. In the end Korrina visited household Harrison pretty frequently and even helped out with the Pokémon in the daycare sometimes. Korrina and Zach ended up becoming pretty good friends. Zach was starting to heal from his depression thanks to her regular visits and was even slowly making preparations to give the champion title another try. After another full year, he became aware of the feelings that he had developed for Korrina.

The 20 years old Zach stood in front of Diantha with his full team of 6 Pokémon plus Mira who wanted to come along no matter what. He was confident and even Korrina and his mother had come to watch the battle. There was a journalist present, the same one that had written about Zach's disappearance after his first loss two years ago. Zach was feeling incredibly nervous because this would be the first real battle since two years. Of course he had tested his strength against Korrina but Diantha was something else. After an incredible battle, Zach was crowned winner. He was finally the new champion of Kalos.

With his mother crying from happiness instead of from sadness and Korrina cheering for him instead of lecturing him, Zach felt like nothing could go wrong now. "I'm sorry dad... and thank you." He whispered as he looked up at the sky.

The road to a new beginning
Zach is now 23 years old and has been defending his champion title for three whole years. The once shunned young trainer was now widely known as a helpful young man and was depended on. It wasn't surprising when a letter came in asking for his assistance in catching a new Pokémon that could possibly bring harm to others. Korrina promised him she would take care of Mira together with his mother while he was away. He never got to confess his feelings for her but he already sort of knew Korinna only viewed him as a friend, maybe her best friend but nothing more than that and Zach... was fine with that.

Pokémon