Three coloured beasts. Two illusion masters. One time-traveling onion fairy.
Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions (known in Japan as Pocket Monsters Diamond and Pearl the Movie: Phantom Ruler Zoroark) was the 4th and final movie for Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, and the only standalone movie, as the last three movies formed an interconnecting story with Dialga and Palkia.
A new sports game called "Pokémon Baccer" is having its world cup tournament held in a place called Crown City. Excited, Ash and his friends decide to travel to Crown City to watch. Everyone is very excited to see the game, especially because the three Legendary Beasts of Johto are going to be playing, led by businessman Grings Kodai. However, everything falls apart with that idea, since the evil Pokémon Zoroark stowed away on Grings Kodai's ship, controlling the beasts and making them wreak havoc across the city, causing everyone to evacuate.
At least until Ash finds out that Zoroark is Zorua's mother, and that she's only doing these things for Zorua's sake. Ash takes it upon himself to return Zorua to Zoroark, and to find out just what it is that Grings Kodai is up to. Which is further complicated by the appearance of the real Legendary Beasts that have come to stop Zoroark.
Provides Examples Of:
- Accidental Pervert: Piplup the second time Zorua takes Dawn's form. Dawn does not approve
◊. - Action Mom: Zoroark. Once she gets going, it takes all three Legendary Beasts to even slow her down, and even then, she almost had them on the ropes when Ash and company broke up the fight.
- Badass Adorable: Zorua tries to be this, he really does. Unfortunately, he is very small and only knows one move, and hasn't actually been able to prove his worth yet.
- Despite that, he still ultimately ends up setting off Kodai's downfall by biting his wrist in their brief struggle. Turns out, he broke Kodai's illusion canceller in the process, setting the stage for the man's humiliating defeat. Probably not on purpose, but still.
- He was also able to hold his own for a brief moment against Kodai's Shuppet and Mismagius by transforming into a Tangrowth. He only lost that time because of Kodai's illusion canceller.
- Bait-and-Switch: Early on is a scene of Karl's grandfather's best friend being stunned at Celebi returning to the city, and racing to tell him. He looks stunned and asks if she's sure that Celebi is back after all of these years, with her nodding and crying. It looks like the set of a Vagueness Is Coming moment, then two break out into smiles and tears of joy, talking about how it's been so long since the trees died (as a result of Kodai absorbing the Time Ripple) and Celebi's return means that the city's plant life is finally returning to normal.
- Beneath the Mask: The Big Bad Grings Kodai tries to present himself as an honest rich businessman trying his 'honest best to stop the "evil" Zoroark' from destroying Crown City. In reality, he's a greedy, sadistic blackmailer who's coercing Zoroark to attack the city by threatening to kill her baby.
- Big Bad: Grings Kodai. In terms of evil, he's down there with Hunter J from the anime proper for being the most monstrous Pokémon [anime] antagonist ever.
- Big Damn Heroes: There are several. First in the opening scene, Zorua finds himself cornered against a cliff by a mob of angry Vigoroth he accidentally angered while escaping from Kodai, but thankfully the group manage to arrive just in time to bail him out. Next, he, Piplup, and Pikachu end up cornered by another, more varied mob of Pokémon, but Celebi flies in and smooths things out. Later, Kodai finally catches up with him and Celebi and Zorua, despite his best attempts, is powerless to stop him, but thankfully Ash and company arrive in time to rescue them. The last two belong to Zoroark, who arrives just in time to save an extremely outnumbered Dawn and Brock from Goon, Kodai's Dragon, and take him out. Her last one comes when she arrives at the stadium just in time to stop Kodai from absorbing the Time Ripple; though at first it seems to be a subversion, as he stops her by holding Zorua hostage, it is Double Subverted when she traps him in an illusion and sets off his Humiliation Conga (in the film) or Disney Villain Death (in the manga adaptation).
- Dawn and Bronzor (and Brock, though he doesn't do anything) show up in time to save Ash from Kodai's Mismagius and then defeat it.
- When both Zorua and Celebi have been taken down by Kodai, they're saved by Pikachu and Piplup, who are then set on by Goone's Scizor and end up being rescued by Togekiss and the rest of Ash's group.
- Big Friendly Hyena: The Mightyena that Karl's grandpa owns.
- Blackmail: Kodai forces Zoroark to wreak havoc among the citizens of Crown City in exchange for Zorua's safety. He doesn't hold up his part of the deal at all.
- Break the Cutie: Zorua towards the end.
- Call-Forward: When Ash and co. watch the preview of the Pokémon Baccer World Cup in the movie's prologue, the announcer briefly mentions that Kodai's team is called the Nimbasa Legends, in reference to Nimbasa City in the then-upcoming Unova region.
- The Cameo:
- Team Rocket is in the movie for spans of about five minutes at a time with absolutely no purpose.
- As a last hurrah to the Diamond & Pearl anime, its supporting cast and their partner Pokémon appear during the credits. In order: Rhonda the reporter, Professor Rowan, Dawn's mother Johanna, Ash's and Dawn's rivalsnote , the Gym Leadersnote , the Elite Fournote , Champion Cynthia, Barry's dad Palmer, and finally Zoey and Paul.
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The real Legendary Beasts show up to stop Zoroark...after she stopped tearing the city apart and is now only looking for her injured son.
- Character Tics/Catchphrase: Zorua's mischievous giggle. Heeheeheeheehee!
- Chekhov's Gun: Zorua biting Kodai's wrist in their fight, which seems completely useless; it turns out that he happened to clamp down on Kodai's illusion canceler without him realizing it, and guess what Kodai needs for his plan to work?
- Clear My Name: Subverted, kind of. Zorua averts Poor Communication Kills by quickly explaining to Ash and company that Zoroark is his mother just trying to protect him and Kodai is the real Big Bad. Everyone else still seemed to blame Zoroark though. Played straight with the Legendary Beasts, who have to be convinced that Zoroark is the good guy.
- Color-Coded Wizardry: Zorua and Zoroark glow pink whenever they create or dispel an illusion.
- Continuity Nod: Subverted. It was believed that Jimmy had made a cameo dressed up as HGSS Ethan. Sadly, it wasn't.
- Celebi's leitmotif is the same song that plays during Celebi's revival in the fourth movie.
- Cool Plane: Kodai's Airship (or Flying Boat) is both practical and impressive. note
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: Kodai is the founder and owner of a huge company...who is secretly a murderous and extremely selfish villain. Really.
- Crazy-Prepared: Kodai seems to be this, having a gadget for nearly anything. Makes sense, as he is able to see the future and is a Manipulative Bastard.
- Curbstomp Battle: Almost any battle Zorua is in ends up this way, though it's mainly because, despite him trying as hard as he can, he's still just a baby and only knows one real move, plus his illusions were pretty much useless against Kodai because of the villain's illusion canceler. However, Zoroark delivers one in a Big Damn Heroes fashion by rushing in and saving the outnumbered Dawn and Brock from Goon and taking out all his Pokémon with little effort.
- In spite of being a Mythical Pokémon, Celebi gets defeated once after one attack by a regular Pokémon, and a second time by a human using only his bare hands.
- Darker and Edgier: Compare this movie to many of the movies before it. The antagonist Grings Kodai is so evil that he strangles Celebi, tries to kill Ash and his friends, and near the end, threatens to kill Zorua in front of its mother. In fact, all of this earned this movie a PG-12 rating in Japan as opposed to the G rating that the movies typically get.
- In the English Dub, Zorua gives up and submits himself to die at the hands of Kodai.
- And if you've had some practice at filling in the blanks about what Pokémon say, you can practically hear Celebi crying "STOPITSTOPITICAN'TBREATHE!"
- Another thing to add is the previous two films had Well-Intentioned Extremist who at least thought they were doing the right thing. Kodai's a selfish sociopath only out for himself.
- Darkest Hour: Zorua has been captured by Kodai, Ash, Celebi, and Pikachu are caught in his Mismagius's Psychic and unable to so much as move, and Dawn and Brock are too far away to help. Zoroark arrives and makes a beeline for Kodai, but her love for her child is used to disable her, allowing Kodai's Shuppet to take her out, too! With no one left to oppose him, Kodai obtains the Time Ripple and all plant life in Crown City begins to die. Yeah, it turned out to be a fake, but it was still a rather dark moment.
- Dark Is Not Evil: Zoroark and Zorua are both Dark-types, and Zoroark is rather frightening looking, but they're both rather heroic. Also applies to Joe's Mightyena, which is a Dark-type as well but just acts like a Big Friendly Dog.
- Death by Adaptation: In the manga adaptation, Kodai falls from of the stadium to his death in the arena far below.
- Death by Irony: Kodai's defeat is the direct result of Zorua, the little kid he's been kicking around the entire movie and who just crossed the Despair Event Horizon because he thinks he's failed everyone.
- Death Glare: Kodai gets a mass Death Glare in his final scene, courtesy of the entire cast.
- Defeat Means Friendship: For the Legendary Beasts, at least.
- Despair Event Horizon: Zorua when he gets shocked to the bone by Kodai. However, it may also have to do with the fact it seems that him getting captured by Kodai seemingly allows the villain to win by preventing his mother from stopping him in addition to the fact Zorua thinks he's about to die.
- Determinator: Zoroark, even more so than Ash in this movie, made better by the fact that the only noises she makes are screams, and they sound just like another well known determinator due to sharing the same seiyū.
- Must run in the family, kind of. Zorua isn't nearly as strong and gets beaten much more easily, but the little guy just keeps trying until he's finally nearly killed by an electric shock that is ultimately used to kill his mother.
- Didn't Think This Through: When Zorua, Pikachu and Piplup are cornered by a horde of Pokémon at the park, Zorua tells them to get out of his way, as he's going to find his Meema. Cue the Pokémon stepping forward some more as that's precisely why they're confronting him, out of anger of Zoroark destroying the city.
- Disney Villain Death:
- Subverted. Kodai is tricked by Zoroark's illusions to trip off and fall from a balcony in the stadium, a rather large height, and lays motionless on the ground below. However, he was just knocked out, not killed.
- Played straight in the manga, where Zoroark's illusions instead take the form of vines trying to kill him, causing him to take a fall off the very top of the stadium to the arena far below. Since he doesn't appear again, it's implied that he died.
- The Dragon: Goon pretty much takes that role for Kodai's Big Bad.
- Dub Name Change: Zorua's pet name for his mother changes from 'Maa' to 'Meema' between dubs.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Starring Zorua and Zoroark, who appear in Pokémon Black and White. A very subtle one is shown on Karl's cap. The silhouette on it looks very much like a Woobat.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Zorua and Zoroark, big time. Unlike in some other movies where Ash and company do all the work, they end up being the primary characters instead. They have to fight Kodai at practically every single turn, and get tricked, battered, and electrocuted. Zorua tries his absolute hardest to protect his friends, only to be repeatedly defeated, while Zoroark has to fight the Guardian Olympus Mons of Crown City singlehandedly, defeat The Dragon and all his Pokémon, and finally die protecting her son. Thankfully, Celebi returns the favor to Zorua for the little guy protecting it by restoring Zoroark to life. At the end, when you see them nuzzling each other arriving back home, you know they went through heck to get there.
- Electric Torture: Kodai's method of choice, though he only uses it like this once on Zorua to get his mother to back down. And it actually subverts Harmless Electrocution, as Zorua is clearly badly injured from it and in agonizing pain.
- Engineered Public Confession: Kodai's downfall.
- Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Kodai has a Mook named Goon. Though said Mook is actually his Dragon.
- Family-Unfriendly Death: Zoroark's (temporary) death is absolutely brutal.
- Forced to Watch: Zoroark knows her child is in danger, then sees him being tortured right in front of her. Both times, she just can't get to him.
- For the Evulz: Just to prove how sadistic he is, Kodai electrocutes a baby in front of its mother, who had already given up the moment she saw he had her son, with a smile on his face. He then quips that he thoroughly enjoyed it.
- Glamour Failure: Zorua can make himself look like a human, but his disguises aren't perfect. His tail is visible, he keeps his "hands" curled up like paws, and his mouth doesn't move when he speaks. These things don't happen when he turns into fellow Pokémon. He is just a baby, though, so he probably hasn't had enough practice with it yet. Zoroark has no such problem, either because she has no tail or she's more experienced at creating illusions.
- Glass Cannon: Kodai's Mismagius and Shuppet both are. They're very powerful, but both go down extremely quickly once someone actually gets a shot at them.
- Go Through Me: the collective Pokémon of Crown City pull this on the Legendary Beasts to protect Zoroark.
- Zorua tries his hardest to stand in front of and protect Celebi, but is just blasted out of the way and knocked out. At least he tried, though.
- Go Out with a Smile: Zoroark, after bringing down Kodai with her last breath, smiles as she suffers her Disney Death.
- Happily Adopted: It's stated that Zorua isn't Zoroark's biological child. However, it's obvious that they still love each other very much.
- Harmless Electrocution: While electric attacks play this straight as always, this is subverted by Kodai's weapons. No one he uses his wrist claw's shock on recovers quickly (not even Bronzor), his electro cages bypass Mamoswine's Ground type protections, and the claw even kills Zoroark.
- Healing Hands: Celebi has these. It uses them to bring Zoroark back to life after being turbocharged by the Time Ripple.
- Hero Antagonist: The real Legendary Beasts to Zoroark when they show up to protect the city...after she's stopped attacking it, and is only trying to reach her injured son and take revenge on Kodai for making her attack the city in the first place. They make it up later, though, by helping her defeat Kodai.
- Averted in the manga, they don't fight Zoroark and have come simply to stop Kodai.
- Heroic Resolve: For once, not Ash; Zoroark gets this after spending a few hours trying and failing to free herself from her prison (cage encased in an outer coating of steel that badly shocks her whenever she touches it). Then she hears Zorua cry out for help and proceeds to tear her way out. After that, she's completely unstoppable, proceeds to pull two Big Damn Heroes moments (One by saving a heavily outnumbered Dawn and Brock from The Dragon and his Pokémon, then another by arriving in the nick of time to stop Kodai from winning), and fight to a draw against three Olympus Mons. By the time she's finally saved her son, she's sustained so much damage she actually dies, though she gets better.
- In-game, Zoroark's defensive stats are sub-par at best, so that makes this Zoroark's rugged determination even more impressive.
- He's Dead, Jim: The writers/animators really went all out to show that, yes Zoroark is dead and not just Only Mostly Dead like Celebi and Ash in previous movies, what with her falling to the ground in extreme slowmo and Zorua and Ash's extended futile attempts to wake her up.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Kodai uses his TV network and the televisions placed throughout the city to broadcast an 'apology' to Crown City for Zoroark's 'controling' his Legendary Beasts and order an evacuation. At the end of the film, the group uses the same network and system of televisions to broadcast his Evil Gloating and reveal him.
- Human Shield: Kodai is not above using a baby as a shield to prevent said child's mother from taking her EXTREMELY justified revenge on him. Also, he was smart enough to come prepared with said living shield just in case she showed up.
- Humiliation Conga: Kodai gets one. It is VERY satisfying.
- An even more humiliating fact about it; it was aired on HIS own TV network.
- I Have Your Wife: The entire reason Zoroark does anything Kodai says is that she believes he's got her son and will hurt him if she doesn't. He doesn't, but she doesn't know that. However, he pulls this again at the end when he really does have Zorua.
- Intrepid Reporter: Karl and Rowena have been investigating Kodai since before Ash's crew even heard of him.
- It's All About Me: Grings Kodai's philosophy. He even comes right out and says it.Ash: Stop, Kodai! All the trees and flowers will die!Kodai: What do I care? So long as my visionary powers grow, it's all worth it!
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Zorua is rather mean and brash, but then again, he's just a baby.
- Karmic Death: A non-fatal example. Kodai is defeated by Zoroark using her illusion powers on him to trick him into falling off a stadium balcony and knocking himself out (or to his death in the manga adaptation); when he comes to, his Evil Gloating is broadcast on the television network HE owns! And he's surrounded by the entire populace of Crown City, including the police force.
- Lack of Empathy: Grings Kodai does not care about who he has to hurt to keep his power.
- Logical Weakness: When Kodai has visions of the future, he sees brief snippets of what's going to happen, not everything surrounding it and thus not the actual context. Thus, he can still be fooled by Zoroark's illusion powers if he sees them inside one of his visions. He sees himself absorbing the Time Ripple, and assumes this means he will win in the end, which makes him confident enough to gloat about his crimes to Ash. But this Time Ripple was an illusion created by Zoroark, and Rowena and Karl are able to catch his confession on camera.
- Made of Iron: Zoroark is pretty darn sturdy. Subverted at the climax. She manages this trope compared to other Pokémon, who by their nature are Made of Iron. She also manages this trope compared to her species in particular (read: a bunch of Glass Cannons.)
- Mama Bear: Zoroark. Enough to break out of her prison all on her own, fight the Legendary Beasts to a standstill, and even foil the Big Bad's Evil Plan. In fact, she has such a defined motherly instinct, she can feel her son getting pushed around! Zorua even points it out near the end."I knew you were strong, Meema!"
- Master of Illusion: Zoroark transforms into Entei, Raikou, and Suicune during its search for Zorua, and also Pikachu at the end. Zorua, on the other hand, changes into a number of creatures.
- Mathematician's Answer/ Non-Answer: Zorua, when asked who "Meema" is, replies with "Meema is Meema."
- Medieval Stasis: Averted. Twenty years ago, Kodai's extendible claw was clunky and glaringly obvious. Now it's merely a string with a claw at the end of it that can be hidden in his sleeve.
- Moment Killer: Almost literally. Zoroark and Zorua are moments away from finally reuniting when Kodai decides to break up the touching reunion by trying to kill Zorua, with Zoroark ultimately Taking the Bullet for her son and suffering a Disney Death.
- Monster Is a Mommy: Zoroark is not evil and is being used as part of the bad guy's Evil Plan. All she wants is to get her son back and go home, but she has to go through absolute hell to get there.
- Monster Clown: Zoroark has a very clownish look about it due to its facial markings.
- Mood Whiplash: See Disney Death entry.
- Morality Kitchen Sink: Ash and his friends are white, The three Legendary Beasts and Zoroark are grey, Grings Kodai are black.
- Mortal Wound Reveal: After being badly shocked by Kodai, Zoroark manages to drive him off with the help of the Legendary Beasts and appears to be fine. However, after he's out of the scene, she collapses and barely lives long enough to bring Kodai down with an illusion. she gets better though.
- My Significance Sense Is Tingling: The Legendary Beasts somehow just know that Zoroark is impersonating them and their powers at Crown City and immediately go to intercept her.
- Mythology Gag: This movie in general is very similar to Pokémon 4Ever. Let's count the ways:
- A Celebi that requires the protection of Ash and his friends, is instantly healed of its injuries by a magical source, and enters/exits the movie by time travel.
- Angry forest Pokémon that challenge the antagonists.
- The Big Bad being a megalomanic psychopath with access to powerful technology, a liking for Electric Torture, and a dramatic Evil Laugh.
- The powerful protagonist Pokémon being forced to work for the villain (one way or another).
- Said Pokémon being revived of its Disney Death by Celebi.
- A Suicune that shows up attempting to solve the mess, eventually pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment.
- A Scizor on the antagonists' side.
- A Cool Old Lady who provides the characters with vital information about Celebi.
- A Cool Airship owned by the villain that gets blown up by the star Pokémon of the movie.
- An evil character being voiced by Kōichi Yamadera (the poacher with the robot eye in 4Ever, Goon in Master of Illusions).
- Near-Villain Victory: Possibly the closest call of the movies so far.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Legendary Beasts, who are the guardians of Crown City, but believe that Zoroark is attacking the city (which she was, when they started off towards the city) and attack her...stopping her from reaching her injured baby who is in dire need of help.
- Nothing Can Stop Us Now!: After absorbing the Time Ripple, Kodai, given his huge ego, cannot resist going on about how he's won and there's nothing Ash or anyone else can do about it. He comes right out and says that he destroyed all of Crown City's greenery 20 years ago, and has absolutely no qualms about doing it again, because no one will ever find out. Turns out he absorbed an illusion Time Ripple created by Zoroark and Ash's reporter friends caught his Evil Gloating on film, marking the beginning of his Humiliation Conga.
- Oh, Crap!: Goon gets a delightful one when he sees Zoroark, in a full on Mama Bear Roaring Rampage of Revenge, running straight at him. Later on, Kodai gets his own when Zoroark fights through his electrical shock and blasts him off his feet. From then on, this becomes his default expression.
- On a less fun, more tragic note, Zorua has one when he realizes his mother just jumped over him and got hit with a Shadow Ball meant for him...right as they were about to reunite...
- One Pokémon Army: Zoroark, though mainly when her Mama Bear side kicks in. She was powerful enough to take on the three Olympus Mons guarding Crown City, who themselves probably fit in this trope, singlehandedly, and tied with them.
- Note too that she fought several Scizor, who are Bug/Steel Pokémon which Dark-types are weak against and deal less damage to (at the time), and stomped them all. Of course, they kept attacking with Ghost-type moves, which she resists.
- Palette Swap: The actual Legendary Beasts are shiny while Zoroark disguises herself as the normal variety.
- The Password Is Always "Swordfish": In the Japanese version, the password to Kodai's files about the Time Ripple is..."Time Ripple" ("VISION" in the English dub). Rowena lampshades this.
- Pay Evil unto Evil: Ash and company are normally fine with letting the Big Bad be arrested and being done with it, but Kodai is such a horrible, evil person, they're not letting him off that easy. He finds himself intentionally forced to witness his Evil Gloating be broadcast live on his own TV network. To make it even more crushing, the entire cast is just sitting around him in absolute silence, giving him a mass Death Glare the entire time, including the police who likely just heard about what he's done. Did he deserve it? You bet!
- Pintsized Powerhouse: Karl's Bronzor is no bigger than Zorua, but it's strong enough to telekinetically levitate Kodai's car into the air and slam it against a tree.
- Please Wake Up: After Zoroark dies from wounds inflicted by Kodai, Zorua tries desperately to wake her, crying and even making an illusion of their home and promising her they can go back. She gets better.
- Police Are Useless: Subverted at the end. Both Kodai and Goon are arrested for their crimes.
- Poor Communication Kills: Par for the course of a Pokémon movie.
- Actually somewhat less; Zorua quickly dispels the belief that Zoroark is the bad guy to Ash and the gang almost instantly. And as to the Legendary Beasts attacking Zoroark, she did think her son was in danger at the time and may have been too angry and/or not had enough time to explain.
- Kodai's visions could also count. See Prophecy Twist below.
- The Power of Love: This is what enables Zoroark to be so badass.
- Prophecy Twist: Very early in the film, Kodai has a vision of himself absorbing the Time Ripple. Turns out that what he saw was him absorbing a fake Time Ripple created by Zoroark.
- Put on a Prison Bus: At the end of the film, Grings Kodai is last seen being taken into police custody.
- The Mole: Kodai's secretary Rowena is actually a reporter gathering information on him.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Zoroark's rampage towards the end is one half this, one half her being one serious Mama Bear.
- Running Gag: Zorua turning into Dawn and Dawn getting mad.
- Samus Is a Girl: A lot of people who only take a passing glance at this movie assume Zoroark to be male. She's not.
- Sequel Hook: Ash promising to meet up with Zorua and Zoroark again whenever he sets up his mind to go to Unova...which he never does during his travels through Unova.
- Shock and Awe: Kodai seems to have a thing for electric power. His Shuppet can use electric attacks, and his two favorite weapons both involve it, an iron cage surrounded by steel which is electrified and a robotic claw that can dish out a deadly electric shock. Worth noting is that, in a rarity for Pokémon, Harmless Electrocution is subverted. Coincidentally, his hometown is Nimbasa City...
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Team Rocket vanish from the movie once the Legendary Beasts show up and don't appear again until just before the credits
- Smug Snake: Kodai is extremely smug for most of the film, though he gets progressively less composed the closer to the deadline he gets, and he completely loses it when he's tricked at the end and tries to murder Zoroark. He further breaks down when his plan is completely ruined.
- The Sociopath: Grings Kodai, willing to kidnap a baby Pokémon and hold it hostage to force its mother to cooperate with his plans.
- Spanner in the Works: Zorua turns out to ultimately be this to Kodai's plan. Yeah, that little bite on his wrist? The one Kodai just shrugged off with little effect? Kodai finds out a good bit too late that little bite destroyed the only thing protecting him from Zoroark's illusion powers, allowing his entire Evil Plan to come crashing down around his ears and his Humiliation Conga to start.
- Sphere of Destruction: Kodai taking power from the Time Ripple caused one of these large enough to engulf all of Crown City and some of the surrounding landscape. All plant life within it got covered in some kind of purple... stuff that caused all the leaves to wither and then be blown away by the shockwave that followed.
- Spot the Imposter: The real Legendary Beasts happen to be shiny, wheras the Illusionary Legendary Beasts Zoroark created are not.
- Supporting Protagonist: While Ash is the viewpoint character of the film (and all films before and after), the story actually revolves around Zorua and Zorark, and it is ultimately the latter that pulls all the Big Damn Heroes and Deus Ex Machinas to Save the World, Not Ash.
- Taking the Bullet: When Kodai has his Shuppet fire a Shadow Ball at Zorua, Zoroark leaps in front of the attack and takes it for her son.
- Taking You with Me: When Zoroark is mortally wounded by Kodai, she uses her last energy to create an illusion and send him falling off a balcony and getting knocked out before she dies, leading to his downfall. While he doesn't die and she gets better, it still counts.
- Even more fitting in the manga; while Zoroark's fate is pretty much the same, her final act of revenge is a good bit different. She chases Kodai with illusionary vines, causing Kodai to fall off of the top of the stadium to his death.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted with Zoroark. Nothing about her suggests that she is female except for her son constantly calling her 'Meema'.
- This Is Unforgivable!: While Zoroark seems to feel this way about him harming her child, everyone seems to feel this way about Grings Kodai's actions by the end.
- Twisting the Prophecy: The Big Bad, Grings Kodai has the power to see the future, an ability he gained by siphoning off Celebei's time ripple, and uses it to become the successful businessman he is today. When he plans to absorb the time ripple again to replenish his power, he sees a vision of his success and remains smug and confident throughout the film. The heroes manage to exploit this by having Zoroark conjure an illusion of the time ripple for him to absorb, all so they can catch his confession and gloating on camera.
- Unstoppable Rage: Kodai hurting Zorua sends Zoroark into one of these. Let's just say that when she gets mad, standing between her and her baby is a very bad idea.
- Verbal Tic: Zorua ends all of his sentences with an adorable "zo".
- Villain Ball: After Kodai realizes he fell for an illusion of successfully drawing power from the Time Ripple created by Zoroark, he makes an attempt on Zorua and Zoroark's lives (and succeeds in Zoroark's case) instead of just making a run for the actual Time Ripple when he had the chance.
- Villainous Breakdown: Kodai goes through both versions of this. After Zoroark tricks him with an illusion, Kodai snaps and tries to murder her and Zoroark on the spot. After Zoroark counterattacks and fries his Time Ripple absorbing claw, Kodai's behavior becomes far less composed, and he's hysterically screaming that the Time Ripple will be his. Also see the Engineered Public Confession entry above.
- Villain with Good Publicity: Invoked. Grings Kodai is the head of an entire media empire, which he uses to aggrandize himself.
- Walk on Water: Suicune enters Crown City by leaping long the surface of the river that feeds Crown City's waterways.
- Would Hurt a Child: Kodai threatens to kill Zoroark's baby boy, Zorua. He is not kidding.
- Putting Ash and his friends in an electrified cage also qualifies. Even worse is that it is implied that Kodai was going to kill Ash to eliminate any witnesses.
- World-Wrecking Wave: Kodai's messing with the Time Ripple in the past caused a Sphere of Destruction followed by a localized, plant-specific one of these to hit the same area. The trees seemingly survived having all their leaves blown off, but all the other plants were either completely withered or scoured away.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Kodai's visions will always come true, though his words imply that if one knows what they're doing, it's possible to Screw Destiny, as he claims that he can remove obstacles he's foreseen from his path. Unfortunately for him, what he sees happening might not be what really is going to.
- You Shall Not Pass!: Brock and Dawn hold off Goone while Ash tries to reach the time ripple.
- Likewise, the Pokémon of Crown City attack Goone and Kodai while Ash's group escapes with Zorua and Celebi.
