Squishy

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Z1 redirects here. For the nineteenth Pokémon Tretta set, see Birth! Z Tretta!! (Tretta).
554Darumaka.png The subject of this article has no official English name.
The name currently in use is the official romanization of the Japanese name.
Puni-chan
プニちゃん Puni-chan
File:Puni-chan.png
Puni-chan
File:Puni-chan 10 Percent Forme.png
As a 10% Forme Zygarde
Debuts in Mega Evolution Special IV
Gender Unknown
Ability Unknown
Current location With Bonnie
HOME000.png
This Pokémon is fully evolved.
Voice actor Japanese English
As Zygarde Yūki Kaji Billy Bob Thompson

(Japanese: プニちゃん Puni-chan) is a recurring Pokémon character in the anime that traveled with Ash and his friends under the care of Bonnie. It first appeared in Mega Evolution Special IV and is the central figure of the XY&Z arc of the XY series.

History

The Zygarde Core first appeared in Mega Evolution Special IV, where Mairin's Chespin recovered it from an experiment being done in the Lysandre Labs. Although the Core escaped, Mairin's Chespin fell into a coma. At some point after escaping Team Flare, it found its way to a bag on a stump, which the tired Order Pokémon decided to sleep in. This bag turned out to belong to a little girl, Bonnie, who was quickly enamored with the cute Pokémon. It attempted to escape to no avail. Ash and Serena attempted to scan it to learn what it was, but neither Pokédex recognized it. Bonnie then nicknamed it Puni-chan in the absence of a species name and decided to take care of it despite Clemont pointing out that they knew nothing about this Pokémon.

Puni-chan was quickly separated from the group after Sawyer's Grovyle chased a group of Dodrio through the forest the group was in. The group, together with Sawyer, soon caught up to it, only to find it being captured by Team Flare admin Celosia and a group of Team Flare Grunts. Celosia referred to Puni-chan as theirs, but her harsh treatment made Ash and his friends skeptical of this claim, so they continued to rescue Puni-chan. The five and their Pokémon were able to escape with Puni-chan none the worse for its ordeal.

After escaping, Puni-chan was introduced to the rest of the group's Pokémon. During dinner, the group was confused that Puni-chan was refusing to eat, but understood when it basked in the setting sun and absorbed sunlight. Soon after, it went berserk upon seeing Terminus Cave on Serena's Town Map and attacked the device, which the group interpreted to mean it wanted to go there.

That night, it detected through its cells that Celosia and the Team Flare Grunts were still searching for it, so it woke the group up. It was attacked by the Grunts again, but Ash and Sawyer, still unconvinced that Puni-chan belonged to them, defended it while Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie carried it away from Celosia's group. However, it was separated from the three after Bonnie fell while crossing a river, leading to it being cornered by Bryony. Out of desperation, it absorbed surrounding cells to transform into its 10% Forme, allowing it to use Land's Wrath to force Bryony and her subordinates to retreat. Although this exhausted it, it absorbed light to heal itself.

In Love Strikes! Eevee, Yikes!, Puni-chan was shown to Professor Sycamore, who was informed that neither of the two Pokédexes recognized it. Sycamore then went on to say that it may be a new Pokémon. While resting in Bonnie's bag, Dedenne wanted it to make space for it so that Dedenne could rest. Serena then decided that she would make an extension for Puni-chan to rest. While Serena was stitching Bonnie's bag, Puni-chan went to rest on a rock nearby and absorbed sunlight for itself to re-energize. When the stitching was done, both Puni-chan and Dedenne were happy as they could now rest in Bonnie's bag. Later Puni-chan got kidnapped by Team Rocket, along with Serena's Eevee, Clemont's Bunnelby and Dedenne. They managed to escape, but were quickly found again. When Bunnelby and Dedenne got defeated by Gourgeist and Inkay, Puni-chan prepared to change its forme and attack them, but stopped when Ash and the group arrived.

In A Giga Battle With Mega Results!, Professor Sycamore met Puni-chan and took a DNA sample of it to start analyzing it.

In Dream a Little Dream from Me!, after the gang viewed the Litleonid meteor shower, Puni-chan separated from the rest of them to sleep in a nearby tree. A Darkrai also happened to nestle in that same tree, and started showing Puni-chan a nightmare, pulling Ash's Pikachu and Team Rocket's Meowth into its dream. In it, the Pokémon were either in their evolved or pre-evolved form and could talk like human's, while the human's talked like Pokémon. The dream entailed Puni-chan revealing a glimpse of its true strength to Pikachu and Meowth, before attempting to escape to its home so it can access it and repel the flaming ghost (most likely an allusion to Team Flare) that was pursuing it. In the end, it was woken from its dream by Clemont's (failed) invention, and promptly found by Ash and his friends.

In Meeting at Terminus Cave!, Ash and his friends returned Puni-chan to Terminus Cave, where it started to meditate in the waters. It was then attacked by Team Flare, and knocked into a pillar. While Clemont's Luxray and Serena's Braixen engaged Team Flare, Puni-chan was captured by Team Rocket but Ash's Greninja quickly retrieved it, handing it over to Bonnie. As the battle heated on, Puni-chan transformed into its 10% Forme and used Land's Wrath to fight off Team Flare, but in doing so it got separated from Ash's gang. This left Bonnie very worried.

At the end of A Cellular Connection!, Puni-chan went back into Bonnie's bag after following her for the whole episode.

Personality and characteristics

Puni-chan, being a Zygarde Core, is shown to be keeping a regular check of nature through other cells that are scattered throughout the region. Puni-chan uses these cells as surveillance cameras, and will always check with its cells before falling asleep. If it senses that enemies are approaching, it will wake any traveling companions up to warn them. When in danger, as shown in From A to Z!, it calls upon these cells to change its form.

As shown when it tried to escape from the group, Puni-chan doesn't fully trust humans; this may stem from the experiments it was subjected to at the hands of Team Flare. It only warmed up to the group when they rescued it from Celosia, and even then, it didn't fully trust them until they defended it a second time. In Meeting at Terminus Cave!, it showed a moment's hesitation before heading to the center of Terminus Cave, looking back at Ash's group before plunging down a chasm. While communicating with Z2 in A Cellular Connection!, Puni-chan disagreed with Z2's unfavorable opinion on humankind, and expressed the desire to continue observing them.

As revealed in Dream a Little Dream from Me!, it tends to refer to itself in collective, as it is a part of the bigger Zygarde. Also, its biggest nightmare is a flame ghost who constantly tries to attack and capture it.

Moves used

10% Forme

File:Puni-chan Lands Wrath.png
Using Land's Wrath
Move First Used In
Land's Wrath From A to Z!
A shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.


Names

Language Name Origin
Japanese プニちゃん Puni-chan From プニプニ punipuni, onomatopoetic word in describing something squishy


Related articles

For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Zygarde.


Project Anime logo.png This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime.