“ | The Pokémon… The flower Pokémon… The Pokémon that was given eternal life… | „ |
~ AZ daydreaming about his Floette. |
“ | A long time ago. A very long time ago. The man made an ultimate weapon. Using it required the life force of many Pokémon… The Pokémon granted eternal life learned this. The resurrected eternal Pokémon left the man's side. The man was surprised and sad. He had revived it so they could be together… day after day passed, but they were never to meet. Eventually, he became a mere shell of a man. A man condemned to wander forever by the light of the weapon… and a Pokémon that also wanders eternally… where is it now? What do I have to do to meet it? | „ |
~ AZ describing himself and his relation with his Floette after firing the Ultimate Weapon. |
“ | Floette… it's been 3,000 years… | „ |
~ AZ when he's finally reunited with his Floette. |
AZ is the overarching antagonist of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. He is the former King of Kalos, who created the ultimate weapon three thousand years ago, causing his precious partner Pokémon, Floette, to abandon him. In the present Kalos, he is a mysterious wanderer who has the appearance of an extraordinarily tall, disheveled man.
History[]
Over 3,000 years ago, Kalos was in a war, AZ's Pokémon, a Floette, was forcibly recruited and died in the war. Heartbroken, AZ invented a machine that harnessed the powers of Xerneas/Yveltal the legendary Pokémon of death/life, in order to give eternal life and bring the dead back to life, at the cost of draining the life energy of other beings. He used it to recover his Floette which in turn also made both of them immortal. However, he still was angry with the people for their greediness, so he converted his machine into a powerful weapon, a single blast from the weapon destroyed most of the Kalos region and killed almost every living being in an extremely big perimeter.
The destruction caused by the ultimate weapon ended the Kalos war and AZ became the new king of Kalos, but Floette abandoned him disappointed by the horrible actions her owner committed. Yveltal/Xerneas also died after having its energy drained by the machine and reverted into a cocoon-like form so it could come back to life eventually.
The massive amount of energy produced by the blast of the ultimate machine and the spirits of the thousands of dead Pokémon eventually led to the creation of both the Mega Evolution and the Infinity Energy which Devon Corporation would eventually learn to harness. The remains of the dead Pokémon's spirits became rock structures scattered around the area where the ultimate weapon was built, which would eventually become Geosenge Town.
Overwhelmed by guilt, and cursed with eternal life, AZ spent thousands of years as a wanderer searching Floette while at the same time carrying the key to the machine hoping no one would ever turn it on again. Despite his immortality, AZ continued to age and become weaker until he was left as a mere shell of his former self, he also became significantly taller as a side effect.
In the modern ages, Lysandre reused the machine in an attempt to kill all living beings except Team Flare to prevent overpopulation. He obtained the cocoon of the legendary Pokémon and kidnapped AZ in order to steal the key to the machine. The player character would find AZ imprisoned in Lysandre's lab, AZ warned about what would truly happen if Lysandre were to turn on the machine and begged the player to stop him from repeating the mistake that AZ once committed. The player's actions would cause Xerneas/Yveltal to come to life before the machine could fully charge and were then caught by the player. Lysandre attempted to fire the ultimate weapon despite not being fully charged and due to the evacuation of the city, it didn't cause much damage except it apparently destroyed itself and seemingly killed Lysandre. AZ then thanked the player for destroying the machine once and for all and regretted that Floette never returned to his side.
After the protagonist defeated Diantha, AZ battled the player to find it out how it is to be a trainer. After it, he said that he regretted what he did and his Floette floats from the sky, revealing that she was watching him all the time.
Although not by name, AZ was mentioned several times during the Delta Episode of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. He and his actions 3,000 years ago were first mentioned by Mr. Stone, who told that his grandfather got the idea to use the same energy used by the ultimate weapon to improve the lives of people and Pokémon alike, thus leading to the creation of Infinity Energy, which the Devon Corporation used to grow into one of the top industries in Hoenn. Later, the player overheard Wallace talking with his master, learning that the tree planted in front of the entrance to the Cave of Origin was given to the people of Sootopolis by a "huge man who visited from the Kalos region." Underneath the tree, there is a flower of the same kind as the one carried by AZ's beloved Floette. AZ was mentioned once more by Zinnia at the Sky Pillar, telling that "a tall visitor from a distant land" once witnessed how Mega Rayquaza stopped a fight between Primal Groudon and Kyogre, having said, "It is the Δ (Delta), born of the great disturbances in this world. By the bonds born of mankind's wish and the power of the stones, it will calm the troubles that plague the world."
Pokémon[]
Trivia[]
- AZ is the tallest person in the main series games.
- While he did appear in Pokémon Generations, he did not appear in the main anime.
- AZ is the oldest known human in the history of Pokémon, games or otherwise.
- All of the Pokémon that AZ uses in battle are Pokémon associated with ancient civilization or longevity; Torkoal is based on a tortoise, which can live for multiple centuries, and both Golurk and Sigilyph are Pokémon thought to be from ancient times. Also, all of them know Return, indicating a high friendship level with AZ.
- His name is from the letters A and Z, meaning the beginning and end.
- During the Delta Episode of Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, it is indirectly stated that AZ's building of the Ultimate Weapon split the timeline in two, one where AZ followed through with his plans and fired the weapon resulting in the creation of Mega Evolution in present day, and one where he did not fire the weapon causing history to develop without the existence of Mega Evolution.
- An interview with Junichi Masuda in Game Informer magazine reveals that AZ's Floette was given to him by his late mother and was taken by force by the soldiers fighting in the war.
- The interview also reveals that AZ's great height is due to the influence of the ultimate weapon's power on his body, and that he continued to age despite being immortal.