"You should have seen this by now. It's true that humans are weak and powerless, but they have dreams, and believe in each other. They stand together, and have empathy for each other. That is their real strength: they have the power to believe in themselves. And within themselves, they somehow find the will to succeed!"
"Then I will believe in them."
"Now you understand!"
"Yes!!!"
"Then I will believe in them."
"Now you understand!"
"Yes!!!"
—Squishy and Z-2
Japanese Title: The Zygarde Counterattack! The Final Decisive Battle of Kalos!!
Original Airdate: September 15, 2016
US Airdate: December 17, 2016
Z-2 finally sees things Squishy's way.
Kalos' last line of defense stands in between the Megalith and the Anistar Sundial. Will it be enough to finally save the day?
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Back-to-Back Badasses: Champions Steven and Diantha pull this pose when using Psychic to buy Ash and Alain more time.
- Behemoth Battle: Zygarde Complete vs the Megalith, starting with a Beam-O-War.
- Colossus Climb: Alain and Ash climb the Megalith's "vines" in order to get to the slab and reach Chespie. The other trainers with them perform non-lethal Heroic Sacrifices to get them to the power source.
- Combined Energy Attack: Once Chespie is secured, all the heroes concentrate their attacks to destroy the Megalith. It doesn't work.
- Cue the Sun: The episode (as well as the crisis) ends with the sunrise looming over the badlands.
- Curbstomp Battle: Once in Complete Form, Zygarde completely decimates the Megalith with a handful of attacks.
- Diving Save:
- Grant performs one to save Viola when the latter is attacked by the megalith.
- Blaziken Mask does this to save Clemont and Bonnie, leading directly to the Luke, I Am Your Father reveal.
- Humongous Mecha: Zygarde Complete looks like this. Ironically, it's smaller than the Megalith (which is in the shape of Zygarde's 50% Forme).
- Karma Houdini Warranty: Malva chooses to turn herself in because of this trope, because she was a member of Team Flare. Steven Stone notes that she's unlikely to face serious consenquences, however, given that she had a Heel–Face Turn and actively and visibly fought Team Flare.
- Last Villain Stand: The entire episode can be seen as one for Lysandre, who no longer has any resources other than the Megalith he is riding. While he still has a decent shot at victory for most of the episode, Ash and Alain having their Pokémon destroy his control gauntlet all but explicitly dooms his plan. Lysandre screams and raves not to give up, even though he's a sitting duck for Zygarde now.
- Luke, I Am Your Father: Clemont and Bonnie find out that Blaziken Mask is their father Meyer.
- Near-Villain Victory: Once Lysandre returns and assumes control of the Megalith, he was virtually unstoppable, as all the heroes are effortlessly beaten by the juggernaut's new laser blasts. However, the heroes' resolve was enough for Z-2 to have an epiphany, allowing the two Zygardes to reach an understanding and transform into Zygarde Complete Forme and start fighting back. Even then, it is made apparent that though Zygarde Complete has the durability, it still doesn't have the power to finish the Megalith off in a straight fight. In the end, the only way to defeat the Megalith is to completely disable it.
- Never Found the Body: Lysandre was last seen getting swallowed by the explosion of his Megalith, and Steven and Malva ponder what became of him.
- Patrick Stewart Speech: Squishy delivers to Z-2 a good summation of why he feels humans deserve to be saved.
- Vocal Dissonance: Even if it's speaking synchonized with Z-2, Squishy's high-pitched voice heavily contrasts the large and imposing Zygarde Complete Forme.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: With the Megalith getting disconnected from its "power source" (Chespie), the heroes thought the threat is over, and all that's left to do is to destroy the abomination. Unfortunately, Lysandre returns, and it powers back up again.
