Pokemon Z Theories

Ideas for Pokemon Z
by Sir VG
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Edit: 2016.04.19 - The entire idea is debunk. We're getting Pokemon Sun and Moon, part of the new 7th gen. Poor Zygarde. All those forms talked about in the movie are going to go to waste. His true purpose, gone. Thanks Game Freak. :(

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The 3rd round of Gen 6 games are likely coming soon and I came up with some ideas for it that I thought I'd type out. It's partially predictions, but partially a way to change the scope of the 3rd game and how battles work that I thought would be quite interesting.

First off, based upon its release schedule history, I predict that we'll get the 3rd Gen VI game late 2015. The game will probably be announced at E3 2015. Its title will probably be Pokemon Z, listing the 3rd axis notation (XYZ, which indicates 3-D, which Pokemon moved into with the 6th generation).

The game itself will focus on Zygarde, much like how B2W2 focused on Kyurem or Platinum focused on Giratina. In both of those examples, the legendaries were catchable in the prior games, but they added something that changed how they worked in battle. Both of those were via an item that changed their form.

Zygarde, however, needs more than a form change to fix the issue with it from X/Y. This is due to its typing.

Zygarde is obviously intended to be a counter in Kalos, much like how Rayquaza is in Hoenn and Kyurem in Unova. This is proven by its ability, Aura Break, which reverses the Fairy and Dark Aura abilities of Xerneas and Yvetal, respectively. But the current typing Zygarde has makes his stab moves completely ineffective. Xerneas is immune to Dragon and Yvetal is immune to ground.

That being said, there exists a new battle mechanic in Gen VI: Inverse Battles. What this does is make moves that are normally not very effective now Super Effective and vice versa. It also makes moves that normally fail to connect (Normal on Ghost, Electric on Ground, etc) hit for neutral damage. I think this will play into Zygarde perfectly.

I think there will be an item for Zygarde that will cause all moves by Zygarde and against Zygarde to be inversed. But if you're in a double/triple/rotational battle, the other Pokemon on Zygarde's team will be hit normally. Suddenly, you've completely changed Zygarde from a laughing stock of a legendary to a FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH. How so?

Because damage is inversed, Xerneas' Fairy attacks, which are normally STAB and super effective now are not very effective. Combined with Aura Break and they're not going to pose much of a threat! Yvetal's Flying/Dark attacks will keep at neutral damage. And Zygarde's Dragon and Ground attacks now hit Xerneas and Yvetal for neutral damage. You ALSO remove Zygarde's 4x weakness to ice! Zygarde will now have weaknesses to Fire, Poison, and Rock (resistances to Dragon and Fairy, and heavy resistance to ice), still keeping him somewhat balanced, but making him a much more viable character in the battle scene.

The item, much like items such as the Griseous Orb, Plates, Drives, Mega Stones, Primal Orbs, can only be held by Zygarde and cannot be traded to another game and cannot be knocked off (via Knock Off), swapped (via Trick or Switcheroo), or stolen (via abilities [Pickpocket or Magician], or moves [Thief]).

So this leaves the last question: what is it going to be called? Well, the only item that is unobtainable and unused that is the Common Stone, but this makes no sense. Since the legendaries are based upon Norse Mythology, it'll possibly be tied into that. As for what exactly, I'm not sure. Since his name is based upon garde (French for guard), a shield would be a likely candidate.

As for when you encounter it in Z, I think this will be its moveset:
Land's Wrath (Signature Move!)
Dragon Dance
Crunch (or Bite)
Dragon Breath


And final note, while its base power is only 600 (compared to 680 for Xerneas and Yvetal), I don't think it needs a power boost if this item is given. This will make it much more dangerous than a few points in stats.

We'll see what Game Freak does when (and if) this game comes out.