Greninja's final destiny (speculation)

Misty-Moo

Misty-Moo

I give up
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I happened to watch "A Festival of Decisions!/Decisive Battle in the Ninja Village! Frogadier VS Bisharp!!" the other day. The final scene where the ninjas discuss Greninja & the fact that Ash-Greninja now seems to be perfected got me thinking.

Assuming that Ash-Greninja becomes a form that Greninja can take on at will at some point in the future, ie., without input from Ash. I thought it would leave him at the end of the series to become protector of the ninja village. This is a better fate for what is a special/unique/one-in-a-million Pokemon than simply hanging out at Professor Oak's Lab with all Ash's other cast-offs.

Thoughts?

(Note to mods - apologies if you feel this doesn't deserve its own thread, please merge into the main Evolution/Capture/Release thread)
 
Seems like a good idea. With the unusual amount of focus that frog has been given, it would seem odd to just shove it aside like all the others.

Personally, I wouldn't mind if it became one of Ash's recurring MVP's alongside Charizard.
 
I was thinking about what would happened to Greninja earlier. With all of the focus it has been getting and the emphasis on its bond with Ash, it would be kind of strange to just leave it at Professor Oak's place. I wouldn't be surprised if that happened, but they might try something different with its departure. I'm not sure if it will become the protector of Ninja Village, if only because I think that was just more foreshadowing of Greninja's form than anything else.
 
They keep showing us that Ash is necessary for the transformation. So I doubt Greninja will ever be able to transform without Ash being present. It would also seem strange. Greninja doesn't really have a connection with the villagers or the village itself. Sure, he knows Sanpei and his Greninja, but that's pretty much it. I personally don't believe it will happen, but they might surprise us. Anyways, I'm pretty sure Oak will be intrigued on to do some research on a pokemon that can perform a pseudo mega evolution without the need of a stone. Hell, it could end up staying at Sycamore's lab instead. Considering he's the lead researcher on mega evolution.
 
@Perpetual_Phoenix Yes, that's how Ash-Greninja appeared first of all.

However, there's an ancient stone carving in the village of an Ash-Greninja. Therefore, Ash himself isn't crucial to the transformation, it's simply that eg. the right Trainer can bring out the hidden strength of the right Greninja. Also, they say "The village hero has protected us again". We've seen that the village has a lot of Froakie evos, it isn't beyond the realms of possibility that the villagers breed them (maybe even from the original Ash-Greninja) and that's where Ash's Greninja originally came from.
 
Ash-Greninja was foreshadowed by Olympia to combat a much greater threat than whatever the Ninja Village faced: Team Flare. If it was meant to be the protector of the Ninja Village, it would have left Ash at the end of that two-parter or the Ninja Village was the focus of the climax for the Team Flare crisis. Like Goodra. Really, Ash is the key to activating Ash-Greninja. There was a reason why Ash was chosen by Froakie among so many other trainers. And to say that Greninja would find a way to activating Ash-Greninja without Ash is the equivalent of a Pokémon Mega-Evolving without its trainer's Keystone despite the fact its still owned by trainer. In other words, it makes its trainer's bond pointless.

Really, I've heard a similar prediction that Infernape will leave Ash for Paul at the end of the Sinnoh Saga because of Paul finally learning kindness and deciding to amend bridges with abused starter (and thus not raise questions as to why Infernape would allow itself to be Oaked after such a great bond with Ash). That did not happen for obvious reasons.

The point of the matter is that Froakie chose Ash to be its trainer. It has no reason to leave like Goodra, who lost its home and friends to a Pokémon invasion and was too weak and cowardly to do anything about it. Froakie did not. It did not came from a Ninja Village as an abandoned Pokémon, but rather was born in the Sycamore's Laboratory. Its loneliness and isolation from others is due its own unique and serious personality, which makes it incompatible with almost all of the trainers it has saved for Ash.

Pokémon is all about forming strong bonds of friendship between humans and Pokémon. The anime showcased it with Froakie choosing Ash. They reemphasized this with Greninja giving Ash its Poké Ball to him as well as Ash remembering why he chose to become a Pokémon trainer in the first place as of the recent episode.
 
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This is actually a good idea, and it would make indeed Greninja feel more special and awesome. However there are two things about why I don't think it will happen:

1) The ninja village guys have absolutely no idea on how to train an Ash Greninja, as the transformation only happened once many centuries ago.
2) The writers brought Charizard home after 13 years, and Gliscor didn't returned to training, they don't seem to like the idea anymore. Goodra is to be seen.
 
@Nicolas721 Fair point. However, this is based on the assumption that at some point in the future Ash's Greninja can take on the Ash-Greninja form on its own, without the input of a Trainer.

@Shadao OK, it will play an important role in the Team Flare arc, but then what?
Also, the situation is in complete contrast to the one between Paul and Chimchar, he released it because Chimchar didn't live up to his expectations. Therefore, it had no reason to return to him. Froakie continually rejected all those other Trainers because it knew none of them were the right one, ie., the Trainer who would help it release its hidden form. It has always been the one driving things and you could draw a conclusion from this that it will again make its own decision at the end of XY&Z.
Yes, I did get the thing about Froakie's birth wrong, but I was just going from memory. However, the point about the Ninja Village having a lot of Froakie evos still stands. Firstly, where do they get them? They're not going to travel all the way to Sycamore's Lab every time. Secondly, where does Sycamore get his breeding stock? Regardless of the way things are done in-game, he's not going to endlessly breed from one pair like some sort of puppy farm. Therefore, Ash's Greninja could be descended from the Greninja of legend.

This Greninja is not just nothing like any other Greninja, it is nothing like any other Pokemon, therefore, the usual rules do not apply to it.
 
Misty-Moo said:
@Nicolas721 Fair point. However, this is based on the assumption that at some point in the future Ash's Greninja can take on the Ash-Greninja form on its own, without the input of a Trainer.

@Shadao OK, it will play an important role in the Team Flare arc, but then what?
Also, the situation is in complete contrast to the one between Paul and Chimchar, he released it because Chimchar didn't live up to his expectations. Therefore, it had no reason to return to him. Froakie continually rejected all those other Trainers because it knew none of them were the right one, ie., the Trainer who would help it release its hidden form. It has always been the one driving things and you could draw a conclusion from this that it will again make its own decision at the end of XY&Z.
Yes, I did get the thing about Froakie's birth wrong, but I was just going from memory. However, the point about the Ninja Village having a lot of Froakie evos still stands. Firstly, where do they get them? They're not going to travel all the way to Sycamore's Lab every time. Secondly, where does Sycamore get his breeding stock? Regardless of the way things are done in-game, he's not going to endlessly breed from one pair like some sort of puppy farm. Therefore, Ash's Greninja could be descended from the Greninja of legend.

This Greninja is not just nothing like any other Greninja, it is nothing like any other Pokemon, therefore, the usual rules do not apply to it.
Click to expand...

Where did you think Sycamore got the other starters from? Or Professor Oak? Or all the rest of the professors. There is nothing indicating that Froakie came from the Ninja Village or that it was a descendant of the legendary Greninja. And even if it was, would that really stop Greninja staying with Ash?

Really, the whole Ash-Greninja being tied to the legendary Hero-Greninja of the Ninja Village is basically the equivalent of finding out Ash has the exact same Aura as Sir Aaron from Lucario and the Mystery of Mew. Did that mean that Ash has to drop his dream of being a Pokémon Master in favor of becoming an Aura Guardian like Sir Aaron? No. Likewise, Greninja shows no ambition of being the Village's guardian at any point. In fact, the village seems to be perfectly okay without the Hero-Greninja around. That Greninja hasn't been seen in over centuries. Centuries, that's a pretty long time. They weren't in a constant of crisis that wasn't fully resolved (the antagonist voluntarily went into some sort of exile to rethink about his life while Sanpei's brother Ippei became the chieftain of the clan, and he has a Greninja of his own), compare that to Pidgeot having to defend the Pidgey and Pidgeotto from the Fearow and Spearow flock, which was unresolved, or Goodra remaining behind to rebuild its homeland with its friends and former enemies.
 
What if Ash takes it with him to Alola? Ash has brought Pokemon to start journey's before (Such as the case in Johto and Sinnoh, with Sinnoh being on accident) but they can always have Greninja be another sidekick to Ash like Pikachu is.
 
Oak'd. That's its destiny. Just like all the other 'moms Ash had such deep bonds with.
 
Although I'd get some sadistic satisfaction from it being unceremoniously dumped, it would be an enormous anticlimax wouldn't it?
 
Infernape got oak'd despite everything that happened in Sinnoh, I highly doubt that Greninja would get special treatment. I wouldn't mind Greninja being oak'd for the Alola journey though, I'm already so done with it.

This is precisely why I hoped Ash wouldn't have something like Mega Evolution. It would make things extremely awkward at the end of the region.
 
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