Greninja

Biodata

Power Progression

The year figures are the story’s measures of Greninja’s strength, not his chronological age.

Appearance

After evolving, Greninja has dark-blue skin and a pink tongue worn around his neck like a scarf, giving him the look of a composed ninja 6 10.

• His scarf can lash out, bind an opponent, or wrap around Chi Hong 30 54.
• After Bond Evolution, water and ice form a more refined suit of ice-crystal armor around him 66.
• His completed bond form has a stronger, straighter body, a red crest on his head, and black finlike structures beside his cheeks. His overall appearance takes on features resembling Chi Hong, while water and blue light gather into a massive Water Shuriken on his back 67.
• The same more robust, Chi Hong-like form and back-mounted Water Shuriken reappear when he undergoes Bond Evolution before challenging Zi Ji 79.

Personality

Greninja is usually calm and aloof, but takes pride in winning: after defeating Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong, he posed with folded arms and waited for the crowd’s reaction. He is affectionate toward Chi Hong, once choosing to wrap him in his tongue-scarf and lick his face 13 54.

He wants to surpass Charizard and become Chi Hong’s strongest assassin. Rather than accept Charizard’s provocations while outmatched, he waits for a chance to grow stronger. Against the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, that ambition and Chi Hong’s encouragement help him stand despite a devastating soul attack 16 66.

His composed exterior can give way to envy or eagerness for recognition. After Mu En strengthened Charizard, Greninja abandoned his aloof pose and approached Mu En hopefully, only to become dejected when Chi Hong explained that the fire-based power could not help him. When the Little Snow Empress called him cool, he immediately joined Charizard as one of her self-appointed guardians 8 56.

Greninja also shows determination against overwhelmingly stronger opponents. After Zi Ji severely wounded him, he asked Bi Ji to stop healing him before his recovery was complete and returned to battle with renewed fighting spirit 81.

Abilities & Skills

Stealth and close combat

• Uses Smokescreen, shadows, speed, and Substitute to create openings. He emerged behind Zhu Lu for a Night Slash and evaded Cui Yajie’s attack before defeating her with Aerial Ace 10 11.
• His Dark typing makes him exceptionally difficult to detect at night and protects him against Psychic-like mental attacks, though Chi Hong notes that a separate Martial Soul-sealing effect could still affect him 12 26.
• Chi Hong has taught him hand-to-hand techniques; he combines precise movement with Water Shuriken in close combat 11 66.
• Double Team creates multiple illusory copies. Against Zhengtian Academy, Shangguan Can’s Spiritual Shock could not distinguish his true body because Greninja was immune to that mental probing 29 40.
• Lick can paralyze an opponent. Greninja used an afterimage to bypass Xu Sanshi’s shield and strike his back with his tongue, immobilizing him 30.
• His precision and Ultimate Ice allow him to exploit ice’s reflective properties to deflect the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s blades of Ultimate Light 66.
• In bond form, his speed impresses even Zi Ji, who calls him outstanding among hundred-thousand-year Soul Beasts. He combines phantoms, shadow movement, and repeated attacks from different directions to search for an opponent’s weaknesses, although Zi Ji can read his feints and anticipate his strikes 80.

Water and ice

• Torrent can drive water into a powerful waterspout. Against the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, Greninja followed it with Hydro Pump to extinguish her fire domain and break her barrier 11 66.
• Torrent activates when his health falls below one-third, increasing the power of Water-type moves by 50% 8.
• Protean changes his type to match a move before he uses it. It enables his Ice-type training and gives moves matching his current type a 1.5× power bonus 32.
• Under the Ice Empress’s guidance, he learned Icy Wind and Ice Beam, then mastered Ultimate Ice alongside Ultimate Water. His Frost Water Shuriken overwhelmed Zhengtian Academy’s final attacks before the referee intercepted it 33 42.
• The Ice Empress taught him to distinguish water’s protective, nourishing nature from ice’s destructive intent. After watching her demonstrate cold that destroys life from within rather than merely freezing surfaces, he applied that understanding to Ice Beam, astonishing her with his aptitude 33.
• Blizzard creates a battlefield-wide storm of snow, hail, and freezing wind. Against Zhengtian Academy, he used mist from a preceding clash to help form the storm and restrict Ye Wuqing’s Golden Leaves 41.
• His Frost Water Shuriken suppresses non-ultimate elemental attacks. Against Meng Hongchen, it gathered further ice and water power as it flew, drained her Ice-Fire Poison Dragon Drill, and scattered the attack 47.
• During the rematch against Zi Ji’s suppression, Chi Hong called for Torrent Burst, and a freezing waterspout erupted around Greninja as a Golden Water Shuriken formed behind him 81.

Defense and teamwork

• Protect forms an emerald barrier. Greninja used it to withstand Huo Yuhao and Wang Dong’s fusion attack, though holding the barrier exhausted him 12 13.
• He combines attacks with teammates: his Cross Water Shuriken finished the Hell White Tiger after Charizard trapped it in flames, and his Hydro Pump joined Riolu’s Counter to overwhelm multiple opponents 12 30.
• Fighting alongside Chi Hong let their Ultimate Water and Ultimate Ice resonate in Ice Emperor’s Wrath 42.
• He joined Charizard’s Flamethrower and Lucario’s Aura Sphere with Hydro Pump to strike the Hongchen siblings’ Three-Legged Toad fusion before it could fully threaten the team. Chi Hong noted that none of the three Pokémon had poison resistance 48.
• In bond form, his ice-crystal armor withstands the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s Golden Light Judgment while he counterattacks with Water Shuriken 67.
• His Ultimate Ice Water can autonomously freeze wounds and wear down hostile water energy. After Zi Ji’s Yin Water-infused claws struck him, this effect worked alongside the Meadow Plate’s healing power 81.

Bond Evolution

Bond Evolution is triggered by Greninja’s complete trust and intimacy with Chi Hong. At 100 intimacy, described as “Together in Life and Death,” their icy-blue and golden lights join into the Light of Bonds, reshaping Greninja and healing his wounds. The transformation does not require a Mega Stone 66 67.

• Enhanced physical and elemental power — his legs, speed, and Ultimate Ice Water become substantially stronger. He overwhelms the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s defenses despite her Eye of Destiny and durable dragon bloodline 67.
• Shared mental strength — Greninja and Chi Hong unite their minds and combine their Inner Focus. With additional protection from the Mystery Plate, Greninja withstands the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s Soul Detonation, overcoming the soul vulnerability she exploited before his transformation 66 67.
• Golden Water Shuriken — Chi Hong and Greninja move in unison to gather golden light into an enormous shuriken containing ice, water, and powerful mental force. It breaks through the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s combined Ultimate Light and Ultimate Fire and defeats her 67.
• Shared sensation — Chi Hong feels the pressure and pain experienced by Greninja. This link conveys the strain of blocking the Scarlet King’s claw and the agony of Zi Ji’s injuries 67 81.
• Repeatable transformation — Greninja enters bond form again alongside Charizard’s Mega Evolution before their fight with Zi Ji 79.

Life force and domain development

The enhancement associated with the Meadow Plate raises Greninja’s level of life, overcoming a limitation that had allowed superior bloodlines to suppress him despite his dual ultimate attributes. He also gains passive recovery of injuries and stamina, improving his endurance 73.

Against Zi Ji, Greninja’s renewed Ultimate Ice Water and Charizard’s Blaze-enhanced flames begin suppressing her Devouring Domain. Rudimentary elemental domains form around both Pokémon and reach a standoff with hers. This is an initial approach to the domain threshold rather than an explicitly completed domain 82.

Limitations

• Greninja is an offensive assassin with comparatively low defense. Zi Ji’s superior physical power can shatter his shuriken, and a direct claw strike from behind leaves him unable to move despite his regeneration 80 81.
• His Dark typing does not protect him from every form of soul attack. Before Bond Evolution strengthens his mental defenses, the Three-Eyed Golden Lion’s Soul-Burning Golden Fire and Soul Stripping cause severe pain and incapacitate him 66 67.
• Zi Ji’s Devouring Domain drains vitality and strength while sharply reducing his speed. He uses Protect when it engulfs him, but remains vulnerable to her subsequent attack 81.

Equipment / Items

• Life Orb — boosts move power by 30% but costs vitality each time a move is used. Greninja later lends it to Riolu 10 37.
• Protect TM and move-learning wristband — given to him by Chi Hong after Professor Oak sent the TM 12.
• Ice-move TMs — Icy Wind, Ice Beam, and Blizzard, supplied for his training under the Ice Empress 32.
• Splash Plate — its power awakens Greninja’s Ultimate Water and Protean; Chi Hong also gives it to him to strengthen his control over water 32.
• Meadow Plate — grants passive injury recovery and stamina restoration; its healing power is specifically active on Greninja after Zi Ji wounds him 73 81.

Notable Battles

Tournament final

Greninja intercepted Meng Hongchen while Lucario confronted Ma Rulong. His Ultimate Ice and Water suppressed her Ice-Fire Poison Dragon Drill, and his Frost Water Shuriken dismantled it. He subsequently joined Charizard and Lucario in a coordinated ranged attack against the Hongchen siblings’ Three-Legged Toad fusion 47 48.

Challenge against Darkrai

Greninja, Charizard, and Lucario challenged the newly summoned Darkrai together. Their opening attacks struck Double Team copies, and Greninja was astonished that Darkrai could produce far more convincing numbers of clones with the same technique. Darkrai then used Dark Void to put all three challengers into a deep sleep 58.

Duel with the Three-Eyed Golden Lion

Chosen to fight the Three-Eyed Golden Lion alone, Greninja countered her Ultimate Light and Ultimate Fire through agility, reflective ice, and Torrent-enhanced water. Her Soul Stripping nearly defeated him, but Chi Hong’s encouragement helped him stand and attain the intimacy needed for Bond Evolution 66.

In his transformed state, Greninja resisted her mental attack and defeated her with Golden Water Shuriken, advancing to thirty thousand years. When the Scarlet King immediately ambushed him, Greninja and Chi Hong reacted together to block the claw, though the attacker’s physical strength remained beyond Greninja’s ability to comfortably withstand. Greninja withdrew while the Ice Empress and Snow Empress fought the Scarlet King, and Bi Ji later healed him along with the other injured participants 67 68.

Battle with Zi Ji

Greninja entered bond form alongside Mega Charizard X to challenge Zi Ji. His high-speed feints and shifting ambushes failed to overcome her perception and dragon body. Once she expanded her Devouring Domain, she slowed him, caught him from behind, and sent him crashing into Chi Hong 79 80 81.

After partial healing from Bi Ji, Greninja chose to continue. His Torrent-powered Ultimate Ice Water and Charizard’s renewed flames developed rudimentary domains capable of contesting Zi Ji’s suppression. Zi Ji acknowledged both Pokémon as worthy opponents, while Di Tian recognized Greninja’s exceptional growth potential despite his lack of innate dragon bloodline talents. Bi Ji subsequently healed Chi Hong and his Pokémon, and Chi Hong recalled Greninja and Charizard after their recovery 81 82 84.

Relationships

• Chi Hong — trainer and second partner. Their bond reaches 100 when Chi Hong trusts Greninja to rise against the Three-Eyed Golden Lion, triggering Bond Evolution 3 66. Their completed bond form combines their mental strength and allows Chi Hong to share Greninja’s pain and physical strain 67 81.
• Charizard — teammate and rival. They spar to improve coordination despite their opposing elements, while Greninja aims to surpass him 6 16 66. They later undergo their respective transformations together and develop rudimentary domains while fighting Zi Ji 79 82.
• Ice Empress — ice instructor. She initially questions whether a Water-type should learn ice techniques, then teaches Greninja after seeing Protean 32 33. Her demonstration of ice’s destructive nature helps him rapidly learn Ice Beam, and she later guides Chi Hong so that he can convey an understanding of Ultimate Ice to Greninja through battle resonance 33 39 42.
• Riolu/Lucario — teammate. Greninja weakens opponents for Riolu to finish and later fights alongside Lucario in the tournament 28 41.
• Three-Eyed Golden Lion — opponent whose Soul Stripping attack pushes Greninja to the brink before his Bond Evolution 66. He subsequently defeats her, and witnessing both his growth in Chi Hong’s memories and his later challenge against Zi Ji helps inspire her desire to become Chi Hong’s partner 67 77 83.
• Little Snow Empress / Xiao Xue’er — younger teammate whom Greninja helps guard after she praises him as cool. She later admires his bond form and remarks on his resemblance to Chi Hong 56 67.
• Darkrai — teammate and an overwhelmingly stronger practice opponent at their first meeting. Darkrai defeats Greninja, Charizard, and Lucario together with Dark Void 58.
• Bi Ji — healer who restores Greninja after the Scarlet King incident and treats his severe injuries during the Zi Ji battle. Greninja asks her to stop before fully healing him so that he can return to the fight 68 81 84.
• Zi Ji — powerful opponent whose perception, physical strength, and Devouring Domain initially overwhelm Greninja. His persistence and developing elemental domain eventually earn her recognition 80 81 82.

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