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| Season | Pokémon the Series: XYZ (Season 19) |
| Episode | Season 19, episode 48 · English episode 936 · Japanese TV special · Bulbapedia code XYS05 |
| English title | The Legend of X, Y, and Z! |
| Japanese title | ＸＹＺの伝説！ XYZ no Densetsu! — “The Legend of XYZ!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 3 November 2016 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 28 January 2017 · Cartoon Network |
| Screenplay | Atsuhiro Tomioka |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | XY&Z – Satoshi (Rica Matsumoto) · Puni-chan no Uta (Puni-chan’s Song) – Eureka (Mariya Ise) |
| English opening | Stand Tall – Ben Dixon and The Sad Truth |
| Who’s That Pokémon? | Yveltal (US) |
| Previous episode | Till We Compete Again! (XY140) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeSpecialLegend of Xerneas, Yveltal and Zygarde
The Legend of X, Y, and Z! is the 48th episode of Pokémon the Series: XYZ, the nineteenth season of the Pokémon anime, and the 936th episode of the English dub overall (a Japanese TV special, Bulbapedia code XYS05). It first aired in Japan on 3 November 2016 and in the United States on 28 January 2017.
Premiered on 28 January 2017 as the season finale — the last special on Cartoon Network — a week after Canada (21 January). In Japan it had aired on 3 November 2016, after the end of Pocket Monsters XY&Z.
Synopsis
A special in which Professor Sycamore and Alexa uncover an ancient Kalos legend of a young man named Jan, his beloved Aila, who was turned to stone by Yveltal, and his encounters with Xerneas and Zygarde. In the present day, Alexa, who reports on the people and Pokémon of the past, leads Professor Sycamore to ruins containing the Maiden Statue, which depicts a girl named Aila; Kalos records match the statue, and Sycamore concludes that Yveltal turned her to stone. In the legend, Aila is the village chief’s daughter. When the oracle Olympica prophesies that Yveltal will drain all life, the chief sends Aila’s beloved Jan to defeat it, promising her hand as the reward, and Aila begs him not to go. Jan rides out on his Gogoat, but his arrows fail, his Talonflame is petrified, and Yveltal’s Oblivion Wing turns Aila to stone and hurls Jan from the cliff.
Sycamore explains that after absorbing the land’s life Yveltal cocooned itself and fell into a long sleep, perhaps waking every thousand years. In the legend, Olympica tells Jan that the survivors have fled and that Xerneas, Yveltal’s equal, could restore Aila’s land, but it is found only where a forest glimmers like a rainbow, and it keeps moving. Jan searches forest after forest in vain until, in a fog-covered wood, he helps an injured Scatterbug and meets an old man, who tells him that soldiers of King Veofum have taken Xerneas, asleep in its tree form, to his small kingdom, hoping to control its power. Angry that nothing grows, Veofum orders his advisor to burn the tree, and Jan begs the soldiers to stop.
Zygarde then appears, gathering its Cells into its 50% Forme, and destroys the kingdom with Land’s Wrath. The tree becomes Xerneas, which ignores Jan’s pleas and walks away. Jan returns to Aila’s statue, resolves to protect the land, moves the statue and records his story, which is passed down to the present day. One day Xerneas appears before him, and its aura revives the barren land. Sycamore explains that Xerneas and Yveltal embody the cycles of nature and that Zygarde restores balance whenever it is disrupted, and when Alexa asks what became of Jan, he says the legend does not tell. In a final scene, an elderly Jan naps beside the statue and tells a young girl that Xerneas made the season bloom again and that he met all three Legendary Pokémon. He declines her invitation to her house, saying he will stay with Aila.
Major Events
- The legend of X, Y and Z. Professor Sycamore and Alexa uncover the legend of Jan and his beloved Aila, turned to stone by Yveltal, and of Xerneas and Zygarde
- No main character appears
- The season finale in the dub and the last special on Cartoon Network
- TV-episode debut of Yveltal
Pokémon making their anime debut
Yveltal#0717 · XYS05
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Atsuhiro Tomioka.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Kalos story.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Japanese title card has no reader; the dub substitutes an Ash card
Part of our Pokémon the Series: XYZ guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.