It was a nice episode. Basically broke down to three main parts: Ash saying goodbye to Goodra (first minute of the episode), Ash and the gang trying to stop Xerosic (almost the full first half), and the goodbye to Greninja (last 7 minutes of the episode).
Nothing much to say about Ash's goodbye to Goodra. I saw it coming the moment the League ended.
The Xerosic segment of the episode was alright, but still pretty enjoyable. Turns out he survived falling for Clemont's trap during the Team Flare arc, and what's more surprising is that Xerosic is alive and well despite falling flat on his spine when he got evicted out of Prism Tower. Yeah, yeah, it's a cartoon, I know, but I couldn't help but point that out.
Anyway, after Ash and Greninja take out the first vine (which came out of the ground, surprising them b/c they thought the crisis was over), A Zygarde Cell makes it visible, but Xerosic's Malamar uses Psychic to transport it into a giant cage. Xerosic reveals himself to Ash and the gang (for everyone besides Clemont, this is their first time meeting him). Xerosic reveals that he will become the leader of Neo-Team Flare, and his goal is to collect all the Zygarde Cells to force the Perfect Zygarde transformation (though his method for doing so is pretty tedious considering he is collecting the cells one at a time, and considering they are all over the world.. yeah...), basically wanting to continue where Lysandre left off. After an explosion between Greninja and Malabar's attack creates a smokescreen, Xerosic kidnaps Clemont by ordering his Malamar to use Psychic on him. You know, if we got Pokemon Z a while back, I can easily imagine Xerosic being Neo-Team Flare's leader with the goal of collecting all the cells as a great post-game adventure. Even then, having Xerosic be the remaining scientist left in the anime already harkens back to the games where he was the only Scientist and was still doing some dirty work.
Inside Xerosic's car, Xerosic tells Clemont that he will use the same technology used to mind control to take over Clemont's mind, turning him into an "Enhanced Human;" this is another one of Xerosic's new ideas as Neo-Team Flare's leader. Before getting the zap, Clemont request if he (Clemont) can wipe his glasses. Xerosic lets him, and once he finishes, Xerosic fires the mind control beam on Clemont, and the screen switches to the outside of the car as we hear Clemont scream.
Team Rocket makes a brief appearance afterward. They are working on a presentation for Giovanni where they are using the footage they recorded during the entire Team Flare raid. A giant vine appears behind them, but then we see both Zygardes in their 10% Forme destroy it. Wobbuffet manages to catch footage of it, and the trio decides to use the footage as part of their presentation. That was it for Team Rocket's appearance here, but I thought it was charming how they were trying to create the perfect Powerpoint/Google Slide/Keynote/whatever you want to call it presentation for their boss.
Meanwhile, Ash and the gang try to look for Clemont. Ash has dispatched Greninja to go on its own in order to find some clues, and because it is in the Ash Greninja state, it can easily relay its thoughts, perceptions, and sights to Ash. Eventually, Greninja manages to find Xerosic and Malamar collecting another Zygarde Cell. Greninja accidentally steps on a twig (LOL, that's something you should never do as a ninja; gotta love the irony in that scene), and Xerosic notices. Malamar fires a Signal Beam on Greninja, and Greninja counters with Water Shuriken. Ash and the gang catch up with it at this point. Xerosic notices them and orders Malodor to use Psycho Cut to create a smokescreen. He then makes a bolt for the car and starts driving. Greninja makes a giant leap and lands in front of it...
And then....
Did Greninja get run over? O_O
Even Serena's reaction heightened the emotion in this scene!
But as it turned out...
Greninja lives! ^_^
That definitely made up for the twig accident! Greninja hanged on the bottom of the car like a boss.
Xerosic's car eventually meets with an airplane, and then he flies off to a mountain. While the airplane turns invisible during it, Greninja manages to latch on it. Ash can still track the plane's presence thanks to the Ash Greninja transformation. The group eventually heads to the top of the mountain, and then he realizes the airplane is closing in on their location. Ash, Serena, and Bonnie then leap off the mountain as the plane closes in, and Greninja picks them up by using its tongue to catch Serena's hand, safely escorting them to the top of the plane. What was interesting about this scene is that the tongue entered through a portal when trying to grab Serena. That portal is supposed to be the airplane's invisibility can creating a distortion.
The gang then breaks into the plane. They eventually the main room where Clemont is held captive. Xerosic appears before them and tells them how Clemont will be his first "Enhanced Human." Clemont then walks toward the group, appearing in some kind of hypnotic state. He eventually stops, and the shine from both of his lenses fade,
revealing that he was actually never affected by Xerosic's machine. Turns out when Clemont wiped his glasses and placed them back on, he placed a small chip by his forehead. This small chip blocked electromagnetic waves, thus cancelling the effects of Xerosic's mind-control beam. Clemont only acted oddly in order to fool Xerosic. Long story short,
Xerosic's biggest mistake was letting Clemont wipe his glasses in the first place. With this small chip, Clemont has won the inventor's battle with Xerosic for a second time. It was also nice to see that Clemont's final invention demonstrated in the series was a success, especially when used against a villain.
Clemont and Xerosic then battle again. This time, it's Chespin vs Crobat, though Chespin has some help from Greninja. Greninja mainly served as an anchor for Chespin to Vine Whip on so that it could easily slam itself onto Crobat. Chespin eventually defeats Crobat.
Xerosic then attempts to escape by jumping out of the ship. Clemont manages to catch him as he falls out. It reminded me of a similar scene in the Team Flare arc where Lysandre purposefully fell off Prism Tower while Greninja tried to grab him, but it failed. Here, it's a similar idea, except this time, Xerosic is jumping off because he doesn't want to get caught, and he ultimately fails. Xerosic is arrested shortly afterward. Before entering the police car, he asks Clemont how he managed to become strong. Clemont answers that he was never physically strong, but he became better in what he did thanks to his friends. It was a nice of way acnknowleding the character development he experienced throughout XY/XY&Z.
With the Law finally doing its course on Xerosic, another destructive vine appears out of nowhere. Just as it is about to hit Bonnie, a sudden flash of green light destroys it. The source of this light is revealed to be Squishy in its 10% Forme. Bonnie is overjoyed to see Squishy and hugs it. Squishy then takes Greninja to a deep part of the forest, and Ash and the gang follow suit.
It is now evening, and they eventually reach the deepest part of the forest where Z2, in its 50% Forme, is waiting. I legit got scared at this scene because the music turns sinister and serious as we see Z2 standing on a giant tree stump. Squishy and Z2 then explain that the vines that have been appearing every now and then are due to the remnants of the negative energy left from Team Flare's doing. Basically, Kalos's ecosystem is still damaged from the Team Flare attack, where the underground has been polluted with the energy used to mind control Zygarde, thus meaning the vines can still come out anytime. Greninja has the ability to detect this negative energy that causes these vines, as evidenced in the beginning of the episode where it came out of its Pokeball on its own when the vine emerged. Squishy and Z2 believe this ability to detect such a presence will be valuable for what's to come, especially when even the two can't pinpoint all of the negative energy without Greninja's help.
Overhearing this, Ash then asks Greninja what it wants to do. Ash realizes that another incident like what Team Flare caused should not happen again; Greninja should help Squishy and Z2 out in destroying the negative energy polluting Kalos in order to protect the region from even more harm. Greninja agrees to it. Grab your tissues everyone, because now we reach the emotional part of the episode.
Ash recalls when it first found Greninja as Froakie, the time Froakie evolved, Frogadier's battle in the 7th gym, and its evolution during the Ninja Village battle. He then tells it,
"You've always become stronger for the sake of someone else. And this time, Kalos is calling out for you as if it's telling you that locating the negative energy is your mission." He then states this:
I really like this quote. Even if Greninja and Ash will be far apart from now on, they are always connected. Indeed, considering Ash and Greninja are able to hear each other's thoughts and see what the other sees thanks to the Ash Greninja transformation, they really are connected no matter the distance! Staying in that Ash Greninja form also gives me this sense that the Pokemon has evolved even further
Unfortunately, it doesn't seem likely that Greninja will come back given the circumstances, but I still think this scene was pretty poetic. Heck, even the setting where Ash and Greninja has some pretty symbolism going on.
They both share a hug in that stream. After they hug, Greninja walks away from Ash and back to its side. Basically, the stream symbolizes a dividing line, one that marks a goodbye from both individuals. On one side, you have Greninja, who will stay in Kalos to protect the region and aid the Zygotes. On the other side, you have Ash, who is about to embark on a new adventure. Yes, it is very basic symbolism, but the director really did a good job with the setting, both visually and symbolically.
And I'll be honest: I actually got misty-eyed when I first watched this entire scene. While it could've been even more emotional if they played "Tears After a Cloody Weather," the embrace, the setting, the flashbacks, the tears from Ash and Greninja's eyes were all enough to make me feel emotional. It was a truly beautiful scene, and being a huge Greninja fan also heightened the feels for me. I think scene will definitely will go down as one of Ash's most emotional goodbyes.
You can say what you want about what you think of Ash leaving Greninja with the Zygardes rather than leaving it in Oak's lab. Personally, I like Greninja's new future for one reason:
he has become the Archer of the Pokemon series!
What do I mean by Archer? No, I'm not talking about your basic archer or Robinroot. I'm talking about THIS Archer.
That's right, Archer from Fate/Stay Night!
Archer made a contract with the world in order to become a counter-guardian. That is, Archer's duty was to protect the world from all sorts of disaster by killing those that could negatively impact the planet.
Similar to F/SN's Archer, Greninja basically made a deal. This deal was constructed by Zygarde, the protector of Kalos. Zygarde, or Kalos in a metaphoric sense, is tasking Greninja to locate all the negative energy in the region just like how the world tasked Archer to locate all those that would cause major disasters.
Ash's Greninja has become the Pokemon equivalent to Fate/Stay Night's Archer confirmed!
Yeah yeah, I know it's just a coincidence, but I couldn't help but point out the similarities.
Squishy and Bonnie also part ways for good this time. It was a pretty touching scene, though nowhere as sad as Ash and Greninja parting ways. We do learn that Bonnie wants to become a Pokemon Trainer though. Her parting words to Squishy:
As Greninja departs Ash and the gang, we even see Hawlucha has tears coming out of its eyes. Not only is it the most expressive Pokemon when it comes to mannerisms, but also its emotions!
A solid episode overall. The Xerosic segment was good, but things definitely picked up in the final seven minutes.
Mythra wheres ur sig from?
