Part One of Movie 13 Plot in ‘CoroCoro’

What a Pokemon-y day! The day started before 3 AM and now it’s almost midnight. Brownie points go to anyone who reads every word of every news story today.

An 80-page manga booklet of the first part of The Ruler of Illusions: Zoroark movie is included in this month’s CoroCoro magazine. Yaminokame has summarized it below in his own words and I have edited it for clarity. Typically, the manga versions of the movies turn out to be almost exactly like the movies themselves, so do not read the summary below unless you want to be spoiled. Currently, Yaminokame has translated half of it – we’ll edit pictures of it into this post later along with the second half of the summary.

The manga starts out with an Electabuzz and Metang fighting over a ball with an Elekid and Beldum in the background coming up from behind. After a little struggle, Electabuzz takes the ball from Metang and throws it into a pyramid-shaped goal and scores. The scene then changes to Ash, Dawn, and Brock along with Pikachu and Piplup inside of a Pokemon Center watching the sporting event on TV. As Ash and the gang watch the excitement, Team Rocket, who is behind them dressed as janitors, asks the nearby nurse Joy what exactly is happening on TV. Nurse Joy replies that it is a new sport called “Pokemon Baccer” (ポケモンバッカー) and that the world cup will be held in two days in Crown City. It then focuses on the TV with the announcer saying that a lot of strong contestants will gather for the tournament, and among those will be Grings Kodai (グリングス・コーダイ), whose team consists of the Legendary Pokemon Raikou, Entei and Suicune. Ash gets excited about the Legendary Beasts participating in the games and decides to head to Crown City to watch the match live. Team Rocket, hearing that Legendary Pokemon will be there, run off toward Crown City as well.

A large aircraft is in the sky with a Zorua and Zoroark sleeping inside a cargo bay. Suddenly, Zoroark is woken to the sound of a large door opening – Raikou, Entei, and Suicune are standing on the other side. Kodai (the villainous-looking guy) and Rioka (the secretary) are in a room overlooking the cargo bay. Rioka tells Kodai that the preparations have been made and so he yells to begin. Upon request, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune leap up towards Zorua and Zoroark. After dodging many of their attacks, Zoroark transforms into Raikou and releases some electricity with black smoke filling the air. Seeing this, Rioka gets scared and screams. Kodai tells her not to be afraid because it is just an illusion that Zoroark is showing them. He looks towards his wrist and explains that the device he is wearing is an “illusion canceler,” which will block out illusions and only show what is real. He complements Zoroark from afar on how well it creates illusions. The scene moves slightly above Kodai and Rioka’s head to a TV monitor – a man announces that they will be arriving in Crown City momentarily. With this news, Kodai says that practice is over and the Raikou, Entei and Suicune, in front of Zoroark disappear, leaving three mechanical orbs which disappear into holes in the floor. Zoroark is still a Raikou. The smoke from its illusion subsides and Zoroark returns to its natural form. Zorua pops out of Zoroark’s fur and jumps to the ground, and Kodai tells the man on the TV screen, Gun (グーン), to capture Zorua. Gun presses a few buttons, and a Ninjask pops down from a hole in the roof of the cargo bay. Ninjask swoops down, grabs Zorua, and takes it back up to the hole in the roof. Zoroark tries to follow after the Ninjask to rescue the crying Zorua, but it doesn’t make it in time and the hole in the roof shuts. The scene shifts to Kodai, who asks Zoroark if it really cares for Zorua that much. He tells Zoroark that if it wants to get Zorua back again, it’s going to have to obey him. Zoroark roars as Kodai and Rioka leave the room overlooking the cargo bay. The scene switches to Ninjask carrying the struggling Zorua. Zorua finally breaks free from the Ninjask and starts running away. Gun realizes that Ninjask has lost control of Zorua from the monitor and watches as Zorua wonders around the ship avoiding the Ninjask. Eventually it notices a small hatch and tries to get into it by pushing it open. Upon opening the hatch, Zorua is sucked out of the ship by the air pressure and falls down to the ground below. Kodai and Rioka enter the room that Gun has been in and Gun reports to Kodai about Zorua’s escape. Kodai asks Gun if he has the video data from Zorua and Gun replies that he does. Kodai then says that losing Zorua will not hurt his plans. Shortly after, they arrive at Crown City and Kodai says that he will get the “ripple of time.”

The scene switches to a nighttime aerial view of Crown City. A light starts shining in mid-air and grows larger. Celebi pops out of the light and flies off towards the full moon. The scene changes to a clock with the symbol of Pokemon Baccer on it. The clocks beeps, changing from 0002 to 0001, signaling that it is midnight and that the Baccer tournament is a day away. The scene changes again to some scenery of the mountains and forests of Crown City. Another scene change shows Zorua plummeting to the ground and landing in a tree of sleeping Vigoroth. It lands on a Vigoroth, waking it up, and then bounces on to two others before it finally makes a crash-landing on the ground. The angry Vigoroth surround Zorua, wanting to fight. They close in on Zorua, pushing it towards a cliff, and finally leap at it once it has nowhere left to run. At that moment, Ash tells Pikachu to use Thunderbolt. The attack strikes one of the Vigoroth and Ash and Pikachu run up to stand in front of Zorua. Ash yells at the Vigoroth telling them that a 3 vs. 1 match is unfair and if they really want to fight, him and Pikachu will take them on. Losing interest, the Vigoroth walk off into the forest. Soon after, Brock, Dawn, and Piplup come running up asking what’s going on. Ash explains to them that Zorua was getting attacked by Vigoroth and then asks Zorua if it’s okay. Zorua shakes it’s head to the side and says that it didn’t ask for Ash’s help. Ash and the gang are stunned that it can talk. Zorua mentions to itself that it’s Ma told it not to talk to humans, but it just slipped out. Brock mentions that it’s telepathy (as usual) and Ash chimes in saying that this is his first time seeing a Pokemon like Zorua. Dawn asks Zorua where it came from and it replies that it was brought from across the ocean by a bad person. Zorua goes on to say that it was the only one able to get out of the flying ship and that “Ma” is still captured in it. Ash asks if Ma is its friend. Zorua responds that Ma is his mother and then points towards Crown City saying that Ma was taken there. (What?! Zoroark is female!) Brock looks at the map and claims that the city Zorua is pointing to is Crown City, and Ash comments that it is exactly where they were headed. Zorua says that it is going to go save Ma. Ash assures Zorua that they will help it and Pikachu and Piplup start jumping around. Shocked, Zorua looks at them for a moment, then jumps up into the air, twirls around, and pops into Ash with a Zorua tail. Needless to say, Ash and the gang are shocked. Smiling, Zorua tells Ash that he will make them his partners while Ash and the gang just stare in disbelief. It shows a scene of Pikachu shaking its head between the two Ash trying to figure out which is which, and then Zorua transforms from Ash into Pikachu and starts laughing some more. The scene cuts out to a view of the sun raising over the mountains.

The scene changes to an old-style street of Crown City where the Baccer countdown clock is placed. We see a man standing outside of his home with a broom and a Mightyena resting on the stoop. The man looks over to the Baccer clock and mentions that there is only one more day until the Baccer World Cup. To that, Mightyena looks up and stares towards him. The man asks Mightyena what’s wrong and the scene changes to Celebi flying by behind him in the distance. The scene changes to Kodai’s aircraft parked above the water. The cargo bay door opens and Zoroark, who is standing on the other side of the door, hunches onto all fours and growls. Kodai tells Zoroark that it’s time to begin and tells it to go wild in the city. A picture of Ninjask carrying Zorua appears on a monitor in front of Zoroark and Kodai tells Zoroark not to forget that they have Zorua. Zoroark watches helplessly as Zorua cries, calling for it on the screen. Kodai tells Zoroark to go and Zoroark leaps out of the ship, across the water, and onto the land. Kodai turns back to the monitor and tells Gun to let out the live camera robots. Another hatch on the ship opens and releases four flying robots. The scene goes back to Kodai who yells that it’s showtime!

Back in Crown City, there are many people and Pokemon out and about. Zoroark as Suicune walks up to a man, who is startled to see it there. Suicune lets out a roar and the nearby Pokemon fly away and the people get scared. Team Rocket’s Jessie is seen popping her head out of a bush wondering what’s going on. James and Meowth also pop up and she mentions that the city seems very noisy. At that moment, Zoroark as Entei comes running by them. Jessie and James are very happy to see Entei, but Meowth remarks that something seems strange. The scene goes back to the man with the Mightyena, who is wondering what all the racket is about as people run by his home screaming. A man runs by and tells “Mr. Joe” (ジョー) to run away because Legendary Pokemon are wrecking havoc in the city. Joe is surprised at the news and wonders why the Legendary Pokemon would do such a thing. There are then three scenes that show Raikou, Suicune, and Entei terrorizing the people of the city.

People are screaming and running across a bridge out of the city. Officer Jenny is standing on the bridge, telling everyone to leave the city quickly. Ash, with Pikachu on his shoulder and Zorua disguised as Pikachu on his head, walks up to the bridge along with Brock and Dawn. Brock mentions that on the other side is Crown City, but the bridge begins to draw up. Ash talks to the Officer Jenny and says that they want to go to Crown City, but she says that the city is being closed off and nobody is allowed in at the moment. Ash looks across to Crown City and ponders aloud what could have happened to close it off. At that moment, a TV behind them turns on and shows Kodai on the screen. Kodai tells the people of Crown City that he, Grings Kodai of Kodai Networks, is terribly sorry and that the Legendary Pokemon, Raikou, Entei, and Suicune that he had brought to Crown City to participate in the Pokemon Baccer tournament have began attacking the city. Ash, along with some citizens from Crown City, are stunned at the news. Kodai continues on screen by announcing that all of what was happening is because they are being controlled by the evil Pokemon “Zoroark.” A picture of Zoroark destroying walls is shown on the screen. Seeing this, Zorua, still perched on Ash’s head as a Pikachu, pops back into its normal form and yells that that is his Ma. Continuously yelling “Ma, Ma,” Zorua struggles to get away from Ash so it can go see its mother. Ash asks it if its mother would do something like that, but Zorua says no and that Zoroark is probably being made to attack the city against its will by the bad man, Kodai. Dawn asks Zorua if it was Kodai that kidnapped them. Calming down, Zorua tells her yes. After a small silence, a reporter (Kurt) walks up to Ash and the gang telling them that he wants to hear everything that happened today.

Jessie, James, and Meowth are looking out from the side of a building within an old street of Crown City. Meowth mentions that everyone’s gone, and James replies that they all evacuated. Jessie tells them that this is their chance – if they give Giovanni the Legendary Pokemon and Zoroark, then the celebrity lifestyle is waiting for them. As the three of them are teary-eyed dreaming, Celebi dashes across the road in front of them. Not believing their eyes, they turn and scream “C…Celebi!!?” as it flies joyfully by. Overhead Celebi is one of the flying cameras from Kodai’s airship. Back at the airship, Gun sits at the computer as Kodai and Rioka look on from behind. Gun announces that they have located Celebi. Kodai responds by saying that things were going right along with the “vision” that he had seen. He adds that he is sure the time ripple will appear in this city. The next moment, the colors around Kodai’s face get darker and he hunches over in pain holding his face. Rioka, worried, walks over and asks if he is okay. Kodai exclaims that he just had a “vision of the future.” The scene shifts over to the Pokemon Baccer clock that is still at 00001. The clock is shrouded in a dark haze as he is imagining it. The next scene zooms in closer on the clock and Kodai finally realizes that it is the countdown clock. The next scene of his vision shows him behind the clock reaching out to a circular object hovering in the air. The next scene zooms in closer on the object and he realizes that it is the ripple of time. While he is basking in the glory of acquiring the ripple of time, Ash and the gang show up behind Kodai, angry. Ash is yelling at Kodai, however, no words are coming out in the vision, which just leaves Kodai wondering who Ash is. The vision fades and Kodai snaps back to reality, grimacing and holding his forehead. Noticing that Kodai has snapped out of the vision, Rioka asks him what he saw. He replies by saying he saw the people who would try to get in his way, but the vision cut out at the end so he couldn’t see what happened. Kodai places his hand on his face and says that the limit of his visions is drawing closer. He then says that he needs to get the ripple of time as soon as possible. Rioka and Gun just stare at him.

I bet that Ho-Oh will come later in the movie: “What the heck is all this racket!? Who dare try to damage the reputation of my creations!”