CJ'S VS BLOGS: Cell VS Zygarde (Dragon Ball VS Pokémon)

"Every living thing is made of cells, and everything it does is done by those cells."

-L.L Larison Cudmore

Cell, The Ultimate Bio Android

Zygarde, The Order Pokémon

Sometimes the mightiest warriors can be shredded down to a single cell and still continue on fighting. These two represent the evolution of said cells in wildly different directions. Will Cell destroy the very thing The Order Pokemon wants to protect? Or will Zygarde successfully defend the environment? It's time to find out who I think would win a DEATH BATTLE!

Before I Start

For what I'll be using to analyze Cell, I will be using both Dragon Ball's original manga as well as it's anime adaptation as Toriyama acknowledge both versions of events as part of the story. Although I will be prioritizing the manga over the anime as it's the original. I will not be including any movies as they literally cannot happen during the timeframe they are presented as being in. And no GT as it's also not canon.

For Zygarde I'll basically be using a soft composite version of it, using the original games it hails from as the primary source. As well as the Pokémon XY&Z and Horizons anime, and the Pokémon Adventures manga.

Also the sources that I used to help make this blog:

Death Battle's Omniman VS Bardock
G1's Cell VS Metal Sonic Prediction Blog
The official Cell VS Metal Sonic Death Battle
The Drunk Giraffe's Kyogre VS Chaos Blog
The Drunk Giraffe's Shadow VS Mewtwo Remastered Blog

Fun fact I was a researcher on the original blog, I didn't help that much though, just found a few calcs

G1's Shadow VS Mewtwo 2026 Prediction Blog
The official Shadow VS Mewtwo 2026 Death Battle

Cell

Background

Image by WWAL of the G1 Team

"I am perfection itself. My perfection is absolute...breath-taking majestic!"

Even in the most dire situation Dragon Ball's mightiest warriors had faced yet, there was still an unknown threat laying waste to Ginger Town. After Piccolo decided to refuse with Kami he went to go check it out, only discovering the clothes of the dead sprawled throughout the city. That was until encountering the monster who had just finished absorbing the life of another human. This monster introduced himself to Piccolo as his brother and called himself Cell.

This, Cell was another of Dr. Gero's Android experiments much like the twin cyborgs Android #17 and #18. But unlike them Cell was being homegrown through data and DNA he collected from multiple warriors throughout their history in order to get revenge on the man who destroyed the red Ribbon Army, Son Goku. But Cell's personal goal wasn't just revenge against Goku for his master, he desired more than anything to achieve perfection. In order to do this he would need to absorb his cyborg siblings. Unfortunately for him when he finally woke up initially, the two had been killed by a half Saiyan warrior named Trunks. So when Trunks decided to go back in time with the help of his mother after killing the androids, Cell killed him and took his time machine to hop timelines into one where the androids were still alive. Although this required Cell to go back into his larva state in order to fit inside of the cramped time pod.

After arriving in the timeline Cell popped out of his time machine and bid his time until he was ready to hatch once again in order to achieve his goal of perfection. After four years of growing, Cell was finally ready to hatch but feared he couldn't take on the Androids leading us back to the events at the start. And during Cell's confrontation with Piccolo, he demonstrated the ability to perform multiple techniques he shouldn't, like the Kamehameha and even copying Piccolo's ability to regenerate limbs. And after this fight Cell flew off to kill more humans and even learned to hide his ki so he couldn't be tracked until he was strong enough to absorb the androids. And a few days later Cell reappeared after Piccolo's own fight with Android 17 to absorb the android as he had grown substantially stronger. But a new Android, Android 16 stood in his way of his goal which lead to a fight with 16 urging the cyborg twins to flee, but being overconfident led to Cell seizing his chance and absorbing him to achieve his next state, but he still wasn't perfect.

With his "Semi-Perfect Form" he easily defeated Android 16 before confronting 18 and trying to trick her into joining him to achieve true perfection. Unluckily for him Tenshinhan came in from the top rope and hit him with numerous Shin-Kikohos so 18 could escape. When he was finally free from the onslaught Tenshinhan was passed out from the drain the move does on him and he was rescued by the fabled Son Goku, who promised him that next time the two met, he would defeat him. With that promise stirring the Saiyan DNA inside him, Cell's drive for perfection became nigh unsatiable, blowing up islands just for the chance to find Android 18. And when there was just one left he touched down on it to look for her himself when he was then confronted by Vegeta and another timelines Trunks. And while Cell thought he could win, Vegeta completely humiliated him and was going to easily kill him. But knowing Vegeta could never resist a true challenge, he told him that if he could absorb the nearby Android 18 he would achieve his perfect form, And Vegeta being Vegeta, allowed it.

After a long back and forth between Cell, Trunks, Android 18 and eventually even Krillin, Cell would end up successful in absorbing 18 and becoming truly perfect. With his Perfect form he effortlessly defeated Vegeta and styled on Trunks even after Trunks took a more powerful form. But instead of just killing the warriors, Cell's Saiyan blood took over again and inspired by the fact that the Z-Fighters kept growing stronger in such a short time frame, he decided to throw a tournament to get the fight he wants against strong opponents especially since he hadn't gotten to fight Goku yet. And ten days later he finally got his wish, but before he even got to go all out, Goku forfeited their fight and brought in his son Gohan to fight him instead. And unfortunately for Cell, this young fighter would be the one to finally end him. After provoking him to awaken Super Saiyan 2 Cell was effortlessly outclassed, deciding to blow himself up and take the Earth with him. But Goku did what was necessary and teleported the two to a faraway planet. Although Cell was able to regenerate from his core and teleport back to Earth and engage Gohan in a beam struggle to end all beam struggles, but unfortunately for him but fortunately for the entire world Gohan came out on top with a little afterlife help from his pops. Ending the menace known as Cell once and for all.

Skill & Experience

Cell is one of the most impressive fighters in all of Dragon Ball up to his arc. Which is incredibly impressive considering the bug has literally no combat training whatsoever. He was able to kill his timelines version of Trunks seemingly effortlessly in his Imperfect Form and was going blow for blow with Android 16. Cell also gets more knowledgeable about the art of battle after achieving his higher forms. As when he became perfect he immediately noticed the flaws in Trunk's Super Saiyan Grade 3 form and used them to his advantage to literally never get hit during that fight despite being weaker than Trunks by his own admission. And then he did it himself just to flex about how utterly fucked Trunks was in their fight. He's also more than a match for some of the best martial arts masters in the verse. Most notably in his fight with Goku, Cell never goes all out despite forcing Goku to use his most impressive techniques. And one of Cell's most impressive parts of his battle prowess is his ability to use and master a technique after only seeing it once. Most notably after witnessing Goku's Instant Transmission prior to his self destruction, he used it to teleport back to Earth after regenerating.

Abilities
Bio-Android Physiology

As Dr. Gero's ultimate creation made up of the cells, data and very DNA of the mightiest warriors to ever come to earth, Cell has a very unique type of physiology. Like I just mentioned he's made up of the DNA of all the most powerful warriors to ever come to earth. In the manga he's specifically made up of 5 fighters, those being Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Freeza & King Cold. Meaning that he also has their types of physiologies as well.

Coming from the Saiyans Goku and Vegeta, Cell gains enhanced strength, speed stamina, and way more abilities. However he also gains the Saiyans insatiable lust for battle as well as their unique ability to greatly enhance their power after recovering from a fatal injury. Cell himself has shown this off when he blew himself to kingdom come and regenerated, he basically unlocked his own version of Super Saiyan 2.

With Piccolo's DNA he gains the abilities/physiology of Namekians. Meaning the bug man can live off of just water and even live for multiple centuries as long as he doesn't die in combat. He also gains the power to regenerate, but his version of it is significantly more bullshit. Piccolo states that he can only regenerate as long as his head is not damaged, but Cell can regenerate as long as his core is still intact. Even if he gets blown to complete smithereens like he did to himself. Meaning in order to kill him, you would have to completely destroy him on a cellular level.

And finally from Freeza he gains his clan/races physiology. With it he has no trouble breathing in spaces without oxygen, like the vacuum of space. He also gains an even longer lifespan in conjunction with the one he gets from Piccolo's Cells.

Ki

The concept of Ki is the very life force found within all living beings. And in Dragon Ball that concept is taking further. The fighters in the verse are capable of manipulating that life force to achieve all sorts of things. The most common one we see is flight and shooting them out as ki blasts. But another function that isn't seen that often that ki possesses is telekinesis. So Cell and other fighters can move and lift things with pretty much just thoughts with their ki. Hell Goku's even used it to read Krillin's mind on Namek, then never did that shit again. Although his "siblings" the androids were implanted with unlimited artificial ki reserves, Cell himself possesses natural ki due to being a bio android made up of DNA of people with natural ki. This means Cell has his own ki signature that can be sensed, but Cell learned to mask his ki pretty easily to avoid being detected by the Z-Fighters. He can also sense the ki signatures of others. And the most notable thing every fighter uses to ki to do is use their attacks, in which he has access to both his own original ones on top of the ones he got from his genetic makeup.

Original Moves

Even though Cell is mostly known for stealing moves and techniques, the bug man has demonstrated various unique and original moves by himself that no other fighter has done before him.

All Clear: A move in which cell causes massive destruction by waving his wand and creates explosions in the surrounding area.
Android Barrier: Something his "siblings" became decked out with upon being turned part artificial was the ability to form a massive shield that surrounds himself in order to block incoming attacks.

Perfect Barrier: This is basically an enhanced version of the Android Barrier that Cell can use in his Perfect Form where the barrier is even bigger and seemingly damages his opponent when they try to attack him.

Big Bang Crash: Cell forms a massive red sphere in the palm of his hand from his ki before firing it off as a powerful ki blast.

Super Big Bang Crash: An enhanced version where first Cell traps his opponent in the normal Big Bang Crash before firing off even more ki blasts to decimate his foe.

Gravity Impact: A powerful ki blast that Cell shoots out from his hands that can also cause shockwaves.
Negative Power Rain: First Cell knocks his foe to the ground then launches a volley of ki blasts that rains down destruction.
Perfect Shot: Possibly inspired from Freeza's Death Beam, Cell shoots out a powerful beam of ki from his finger.
Psycho Crash: Cell uses his ki telekinesis to lift up his foe before performing slicing motions with his hands to hopefully slice them apart.
Time to Die: Cell swats his enemy towards the ground as if they were a fly before firing a powerful finger beam while they can't fight back on the ground.
Ultimate Blitz: An attack where Cell has two options; he can either fire off a single beam of ki or multiple at once.
Ultimate Wave: Cell fires off a giant green sphere of ki at the ground which causes a big ass shockwave as a result.
Unforgivable: If Cell is ever pressed and decides not to play fair anymore, the bug man can pump himself up like a balloon and eventually self-destruct if a minute passes or possibly even getting hit in this state. While Cell initally didn't know he could survive this, he did and as a result got an insane Zenkai Boost.
Zetsumei Bullet: Cell punches his enemy in the neck, then walks up to their limp body and blasts a hole in them with a ki blast. He used this to put Piccolo on death's door when he was getting in the way of him absorbing the androids.

Stolen Moves

The main bread and butter of Cell's wide array of abilities, are the ones he got from the fighters DNA he's made up of. How moves/techniques are products of DNA, I'll never know especially since most techniques in Dragon Ball are taught from master to student. Regardless he can use the moves of the mightiest warriors in the universe.

Big Bang Attack: Vegeta's move where Cell fires a spherical ki blast from his palm that can devastate opponents. More than likely the inspiration for Cell's Bing Bang Crash.
Destructo Disk: Something Cell has only used in the anime but as I'm including that this move is fair game. Taken from Krillin's cells, Cell (the character) can form razor sharp disks that he can launce which are capable of cutting virtually anything in half. The downside is after they're thrown he can't control them.
Death Beam: Taken from Freeza, Cell fires a powerful ki beam from his finger that can easily pierce through his opponent.
Death Saucer: Also taken from Freeza, Cell forms razor sharp disks similar to the Destructo Disk but the main difference is these circles of death can be controlled with ki telekinesis.
Dodon Ray: Originally belonging to Mercenary Tao and passed down to Tenshinhan as his student, Cell inherited this move from his DNA. Cell fires a concentrated beam of yellow ki from his finger at his foe. It can also be charged up in order to make the Super Dodon Ray.
Galick Gun: Another move Cell got from Vegeta. In order to use this he curls his fingers and puts his hands behind him before firing a massive purple beam of ki towards his foe.
Instant Transmission: A move he got from Goku that he saw right before blowing himself up that he learned to do after regenerating. By locking on to someone's ki signature Cell can teleport directly to their location.
Kamehameha: The most iconic move in all of anime is one Cell also has that he inherited from Goku's DNA (it was Roshi's move first but whatever). He puts his hands close together before charging up a blue sphere of ki and then puts his palms outwards and fires off a massive blue ki beam. (Fun fact it's yellow in the original colored manga)
Multi-Form Technique: Another move received from Tenshinhan's DNA. With it Cell can literally split himself into four seperate fighters. The initial downside of this that Ten had was that the technique split his power into fourths but Cell is literally built different with Tenshinhan himself saying that he doesn't get weaker even after splitting himself into fourths.
Solar Flare: The last move Cell gains from Tenshinhan's DNA. Cell puts his hands on his temple before emitting a massive flash of light that temporarily blinds his foe unless they have some way to block it like wearing sunglasses.
Special Beam Cannon: From Piccolo's DNA, Cell puts two of his fingers on his forehead to charge up a powerful attack before pointing them at his opponent and firing out a powerful ki beam that can pierce through his opponents.
Spirit Bomb: Another move from Goku, Cell gathers ki from the members of the planet or even just the planet itself a powerful blue sphere of ki is made that Cell can launch at his enemies. Though this move can only hurt those who aren't pure of heart. And normally only those pure of heart can use it, and though Cell technically never used it, he claimed he could if he really wanted to. And during Dragon Ball Kakarot he did use it and that game had pretty heavy Toriyama involvement.
Supernova: From Freeza's DNA he gains the Supernova move. Pointing his finger in the air he gathers ki to charge up a massive sphere of yellow ki before throwing it at the ground or his opponent.

Absorption

Cell's main ability is that of being able to absorb the energy of people. Using his tail's point he can impale someone and completely drain them off all life which also increases his power proportional to how many people he's drank. Or just how powerful the person is, like being stronger from draining Piccolo's arm, even if Piccolo was still substantially stronger at that point. But after draining about 600,000 people he became roughly even with Android 16 in power who was around Piccolo's level if not stronger even after he fused with Kami. But the true application of this ability is him opening up his tail to absorb Androids 17 & 18 to achieve his Perfection. After they get absorbed they became part of him, but it's also shown that hitting him hard enough will make him cough up one of them and revert to a previous form.

Resistances

Extreme Temperatures: Given that Cell has Freeza's DNA, he should also resist the same things he did. And Freeza is capable of surviving the cold vacuum of space and the fiery destruction of Planet Namek.
Electricity: Cell's cells from Freeza allow him to tank bolts of lightning with no issues whatsoever
Paralysis: Cell is made up of some of Goku's cells, who has broken out of Freeza's paralysis ki blast by flying out of it the second it exploded
Mind Control: Cell has Piccolo's DNA, who resisted the mind controlling effects of the Black Water Mist

Forms

Larva State

This is Cell's initial state after growing from the speck he was in Dr. Gero's lab. But after a bit he "hatched" from it and fully came to maturity with his imperfect form. Although it is shown that he can revert back to this form like he did when he stole Trunks time machine after killing the guy. Other than that the form is pretty much featless.

Imperfect Cell

After hatching from his larval state, Cell reached his maturity and became in his eyes "Imperfect". Even though he isn't quite perfect yet he is still incredibly dangerous. He seemingly easily killed his own timeline's version of Trunks after he shutdown the androids, which is why he took that versions time machine. He also still has all of the Z-Fighters plus Freeza's abilities, and techniques even while in this state though they're not as powerful as they can be in his ascended forms. And like I went over not long ago, his main thing is absorbing the energy and life force of people. Which let him go from weaker to Piccolo to superior to him and might have made him a Super Saiyan.

Semi-Perfect Cell

After absorbing his "brother" Android 17, Cell achieved his Semi-Perfect state. In this form he grew so much in power that he no sold a direct punch to his Semi-Perfect face from Android 16. Who minutes earlier was fighting evenly with his Imperfect Form with 16 even stating the two to be equal in power at that point. Which is also backed up in guidebooks. He also gets even better at using his stolen moves and abilities as well as an increase in battle IQ. Although even with this buff he got embarrassed by Super Saiyan Grade 2 Vegeta, thankfully however he had an even greater form awaiting the Saiyan Prince.

Perfect Cell

Upon absorbing Android 18 after achieving his Semi Perfect Form, Cell achieves true perfection in his perfect form. In his perfect form he got so much stronger that he went from being bitched by Vegeta to completely destroying him in their fight. He also outclassed Trunks by literally just dodging every hit due to his superior speed compared to Trunks' Super Saiyan Grade 3. Hell he was even stronger than a Mastered Super Saiyan Goku, who flexed half his power and stunned every other Z-fighter due to just how wide the gap between them was. To the point where after Goku did his last ditch Instant Transmission Kamehameha, he gave up and saw no point in continuing a losing fight and subbed in the one person who could potentially step to Cell. And Cell during his fight with Goku wasn't even using close to his full power. And in his Perfect Form his battle IQ skyrockets even further, using multiple techniques to perfection (pun intended) in order to push Goku further in hopes of a fun battle. He also gains the ability to shit out offspring in the form of the Cell Jr's, whose power level is seemingly the same as papa Cell himself. Those little demons were beating the brakes off of every Z-Fighter with seemingly no difficulty at all. And even though he seemed to achieve perfection he still has one more form he can achieve.

Super Perfect Cell

After losing horrifically to Super Saiyan 2 Gohan and deciding the best method to kill the sonuvabitch was to blow himself to smithereens, Cell did just that. But not realizing he could actually regenerate from this, he ended up doing so and gained such a massive Zenkai Boost from it to the point where he regained his Perfect Form even after Gohan made him cough up Android 18. But it's not just that Cell also gains the electricity crackles on his Super Saiyan aura akin to that of Super Saiyan 2. And given that he claims he powered up just like Son Gohan it might functionally be his equivalent to it. And his power with it is no joke, he effortlessly kills Trunks and would've killed Vegeta if Gohan didn't block the attack. And this was the first attack to actually do meaningful damage that Cell landed on Super Saiyan 2 Gohan as it completely nullified the use of one of his arms.

Feats

Overall

Defeated basically all of the Z-Fighters sans Gohan
Killed Trunks and would've killed Vegeta if not for Gohan
Almost destroyed the Earth (you know who stopped him)
Achieved his goal of seeing the world in terror
Has one of the best Death Battles in recent memory
Is my personal favorite Dragon Ball villain

Power

Imperfect Cell could shatter mountains just by powering up
Damn near killed Piccolo effortlessly after drinking about 600,000 people
Semi-Perfect Cell effortlessly destroys several islands on the hunt for 18
If Perfect Cell's Kamehameha hit the ground it would have destroyed the earth (thank Gohan for stopping it) (Planetary)
Blow himself the fuck up and King Kai's planet went with it (Small Planet Level)

Though he would've destroyed the earth if Goku didn't teleport them away which also killed Goku.

Most famously his Kamehameha threatened to wipe out the solar system (1.053 Kilofoe/Solar System Level)

This feat can definitely get higher as in the Dragon Ball universe there a numerous nebulae in the solar system meaning the sun isn't the only star in it.
Hell as a high end it's possible that he could destroy the universe as Elder Moori felt Cell's ki from earth all the way on the other side of the universe in New Namek. (Possibly Universal)

Speed

Avoided every strike from Piccolo during their rematch
Was capable of dodging attacks from Super Saiyan Grade 4 Goku and could've dodged way more if he wasn't playing with his food.
Dodged every last attack that Trunks threw in his Super Saiyan Grade 3 state
Outspeeds Goku when he starts to get a bit more serious
Instant Transmission brought him from King Kai's planet to Earth well instantly

Durability

Imperfect Cell took Piccolo's Light Grenade to the dome and was virtually unaffected, that thing damn near blew up the island they were on.
Semi-Perfect Cell takes a direct full power punch from Android 16 without being affected at all
Super Saiyan Trunks and Krillin together were jumping him after he transformed and couldn't do shit to him
As you can see he no sold Krillin's Destructo Disk, the move meant for cutting down opponents stronger than Krillin, it even worked on Freeza in the previous arc.
Let himself get hit by Vegeta's Final Flash which Trunks claims could've destroyed the whole planet and then just regenerates his arm back.

Scaling

Freeza & Freeza Force (Pre-Super)

At the start of the Android/Cell Saga Trunks came in and literally blitzed and one-shot Mecha Freeza. Keep in mind that this version of Freeza by his own admission was way stronger than the one Goku fought on Namek. And after Trunks warns the Z-Fighters that the androids are stronger the group basically all agrees to only come fight if you're Mecha Freeza's level or stronger. And all of them minus Chiatzou show back up, with Cell still being stronger than most of them even in his Imperfect Form. And hell Cell also kinda just kills the version of Trunks who used time travel twice, in his own timeline and the main one. So he should scale to DBZ era Freeza and his soldiers.

King Vegeta decimates three planets with just a wave of his hand (14 Ronnatons - 1.8 Quettatons)
Saiyan Saga Vegeta destroyed Planet Arlia in the anime (4.34 Quettatons/Dwarf Star Level)
Freeza himself most famously destroyed Planet Vegeta (4.92 - 20 Quettatons/Dwarf Star Level)

The version in Dragon Ball Z Kakarot is even more impressive (88.6 Quttetons/Small Star Level)

He also destroyed Planet Namek and in the anime lit up the fucking galaxy with its explosion (1.6 Exafoe/Multi-Solar System Level)

The Z-Fighters

Cell fought all the Z-Fighters during his arc and pretty much won every last one of his fights with them. Even if he lost at first with his weaker forms, his Perfect Form embarrased trunks and Vegeta and he was still stronger than a Goku who had mastered the Super Saiyan state. And he got stronger after his massive Zenkai boost, the only one he wouldn't scale to would be Gohan as he's the one who killed bug man here and he did that with half of his ki.

Weaknesses

As much as Cell likes to boost about being perfect, he really isn't. He has a really bad habit of getting overconfident and then proceeding to be his ass beat right after. (Prolly got that from Vegeta). He's also underestimated Gohan but to be fair Gohan also underestimated himself. But he still lost a beam struggle to him while Gohan only had half his ki after getting the use of one of his arms nullified. And one of the main weaknesses is that it Cells that if Cell gets gut checked hard enough he'll puke back out the Androids he's absorb, reverting back to his weaker forms.

Zygarde

Background

"This is Zygarde, a Pokemon that defends the order of all things."

Note: While Zygarde's backstory is different in the anime, I'll be focusing his background section on the games as I like its story a bit more in them.

Long ago in the Kalos region a war broke out where many Pokemon and their partners lost their lives. And devastated by this and his personal loss of his Floette, the king AZ built a machine to bring them back to life. But being jaded by the constant death around him he decided to turn that machine into a weapon which wiped out the opposing side. And 3,000 years later one of his descendants, the leader of team Flare, Lysandre decided to awaken the ultimate weapon once again and wipe out all life in the Kalos region in order to start again. Thankfully a young trainer was able to stop the man from commiting genocide. But he still fired the weapon in hopes of killing everyone in his immediate vicinity, which backfired on him as he ended up getting blasted by hit and was stuck in the rubble of the destroyed base. Enter Zygarde, who sensing that the balance of life and death was shifting came in to save the now immortal Lysandre from being stuck forever and enlistting his help in order to save Kalos.

Zygarde and Lysandre, now going by L and who had amnesia would wander the Kalos region for 5 years in hopes of finding a compatible trainer to work with Zygarde and unlock its full strength to save Kalos from the disaster that was coming. And one day it would encounter one such trainer, Paxton/Harmony depending on if you played as a boy or girl. One day Zygarde in its 10% Forme came across an Absol Mega Evolving by itself and to free it from its pain, enlisted the help of that trainer who was able to calm it down. And after this Zygarde gave them a pebble, challenged them to a brief battle and left after it was satisfied. With L coming shortly after and stating the the Pokemon was intrigued by them. And after a few days of Zygarde looking for a trainer to fight by its side, it would challenge Paxton/Harmony to another battle after L gathered 40% more of its cells to allow it to battle in it's 50% Forme. After being satisfied with the battle, Zygarde and L would take their leave once again.

Not long after this Zygarde would also be looking for other candidates to work with and watched Paxton/Harmony's promotion match with the leader of the new team Flare, Grisham. After Paxton/Harmony won Zygarde left again certain of its choice to work with them to save Lumiose City and Kalos at large. Especially when the danger it had been sensing had finally come to wreck things up. You see, after AZ decided to nuke the country, his Floette left him. Distraught by this he decided to build another version of the Ultimate Weapon inside of Prism Tower when it was built that would give people and Pokémon life and energy without trying to turn it into a weapon. But given that they were built using the same energy, this weapon dubbed Ange reacted to the ultimate weapon being fired by Lysandre 5 years earlier. With it, it started harboring mega energy and started to overload, leaking out and creating new Mega evolutions and causing the ones Mega Evolving without the bond of a trainer immense pain.

This threat would be amplified soon as Ange would effectively go hyper insane and even after AZ's special Floette Mega Evolved to help stop it, it instead got taken over by the weapon and Prism Tower itself became the greatest threat to Lumiose City. With the only onese being able to stop it being Zygarde and their chosen partner. Along with L who had gathered all 100 of Zygarde's Cells to help it achieve its complete forme and take on the big ass tower. And with one last Core Enforcer, it destroyed the tower and peace would return back to Lumiose. At least that's what everyone thought what would happen but the Mega Energy leaking from Ange and Floette unleashed its ultimate move as Light of Ruin. This would cause the pebble that Zygarde gave its chosen partner revealed its true form as the Zygardite and in response to the situation and the bond it had grown with them, Mega Evolved into its most powerful state, Mega Zygarde. With its Mega Evolution came a powered up version of its Core Enforcer, the Nihil Light and with it won the beam struggle between it and Ange Floette, truly returning peace back to Lumiose.

Soon after this AZ passed away and L would ask a favor of Paxton/Harmony on behalf of Zygarde. That was to catch the other legendary Pokémon of Kalos, Xerneas and Yveltal. After successfully catching the Pokémon of life and death, L approached the trainer with one last favor. This was to spar against Zygarde once again, with it going through it's 10%, 50% and Complete Formes. And after it was satisfied with the battle it allowed itself to be caught and joined their team, hoping to stop any threats to the delicate balance of life and death with their help.

Equipment

Zygarde Cube

This polygonal box is used to store the Zygarde Cells the Pokemon is made up of. In gameplay it allows it to be changed between its 10% and 50% Formes. As well as changing its ability from Aura Break to Power Construct. Although the lore application of this item is to have its cells basically be all together at once in order for it to transform way more easily given it normally likes to use its cells and cores to see all over the world.

Zygardite

What was originally a pebble that Zygarde gave to its chosen partner Paxton/Harmony, would eventually reveal itself to be Zygardes very own Mega Stone. With this Mega Stone, Zygarde becomes able to Mega Evolve, though it can only Mega Evolve from while it's in its Complete Forme.

Abilities

Zygarde's Biology

Within the world of Pokemon, Zygarde has quite the unique biology compared to the rest of its contemporaries. Zygarde is actually made up of between 95 to 99 Zygarde Cells and 1-5 Zygarde Cores. The reason these numbers vary, is just that between mediums the people behind the scenes just decided to work it its biology a bit differently. In the XY anime it's made of 98 Cells and two main cores and in the games its made of 5 cores and 95 Cells. And when these cores & cells come together they allow Zygarde to achieve its forms. (I'll get to those in a bit). These Cores also have the ability to communicate with each other telepathically, and can even talk to other Pokemon as well as humans.

Pokémon Abilities

Starting with the Generation 3 games; Ruby, Sapphire & Emerald, Pokemon have gained signatures abilities that they can show off in battle that aren't the same as just their moveset. And as a Gen 6 Mon, Zygarde obviously has some abilities to show off too. It comes with two abilities it can use.

Aura Break: This shuts off the use of "Aura" abilities, specifically Xerneas' Fairy Aura and Yveltal's Dark Aura. Which boost their Fairy type and dark type attacks respectively.
Power Construct: Zygarde's effectively signature ability which lets it change between its 10% and 50% Forme with the help of a trainer and a Zygarde Cube. And in gameplay if 50% Zygarde falls below half HP it will transform into its Complete Forme.

Moveset

Like all Pokémon, Zygarde comes in with its own unique moveset. While in game it can only use and learn 4 moves at a time. In other media its shown that Pokémon can use way more during battle. And hell in game now you can basically switch out moves for forgotten ones at any time without the need for a Move Reminder (thank god). And for completions sake, I will both be including its level up moveset as well as the moves it learns TM, even though those usually require trainer help. Plus other media has shown that Pokémon can learn moves usually learned only by TM by themselves.

Dragon Type Moves

Level up moves:

Dragon Breath: Zygarde emits a breath attack like a Dragon Slayers Roar from Fairy Tail. This also has a 30% chance to paralyze the target, halving the speed and could event prevent them from moving at all.
Core Enforcer: One of Zygarde's four signature moves and its most powerful. Zygarde unleashes a powerful blast that it forms into a giant Z which causes explosions. And in Legends Z-A it was able to do this as a physical attack as well. It also disables the targets Ability if it goes last
Dragon Pulse: A powered up version of Dragon Breath, it does way more damage but lacks the paralysis chance of it.
Breaking Swipe: Zygarde swings it's tail or equivalent version depending on its form and hits its opponent with it. This also lowers the targets attack stat.
Outrage: One of the most powerful Dragon type moves ever. Zygarde enters well an outrage and thrashes about unleashing powerful attacks at the cost of becoming confused after
Dragon Dance: A special type of dance that Dragon types or dragon like Pokémon can do to boost their attack and speed by a factor of 1.5. They can also do this 6 times to max out at a 4 times stat increase.

TM moves

Draco Meteor: Zygarde shoots a blast up in the air which then splits into multiple comets that come raining down over the battlefield.
Scale Shot: Zygarde shoots a volley of five dragon scales from its body, this move increases its speed at the cost of lowering its defense for some time.
Dragon Tail: Using tails or tail like appendages the user knocks away its opponent and forces another Pokémon in the opposing trainers party to be dragged in.

With this myriad of Dragon type moves this a good time to mention that any move it uses that is the same type it is, the attack power will be multiplied by 1.2. And Zygarde is a Dragon and Ground Dual type meaning its attacks of both types will be affected by what is dubbed "STAB" or Same Type Attack Bonus. And speaking of Ground type moves...

Ground Type Moves

Level Up moves:

Bulldoze: Zygarde stomps on the ground so hard that it causes anything in its vicinity to tremble and take damage. This move also slows down their target.
Thousand Arrows: Another one of its signature moves, Zygarde shoots a myriad of arrows at its opponent. This move also bypasses the immunity Flying types have from Ground type moves. It also knocks the target to the ground and prevents them from flying for the rest of the battle.
Thousand Waves: Zygarde unleashes a wave akin to an Earthquake around itself that causes damage to anything in that surrounding area. It also prevents opposing Pokemon from switching out of battle.
Land's Wrath: The last of the trio of Ground type signature moves Zygarde has. It gathers energy from the land beneath it before causing it to implode on itself causing a mini earthquake that devastates foes.
Dig: Zygarde burrows itself underground for a few seconds before coming back up and delivering a powerful blow to its opponent. This move can also be used as a way to dodge attacks.
Earthquake: Zygarde actually just causes an actual Earthquake that damages both allies and opponents in the wide area.

TM Moves:

Earth Power: Zygarde causes the ground to erupt with power, devastating the surrounding area and causing damage to its opponent. This move also has a chance to lower its targets Special Defense stat.
Scorching Sands: Zygarde attacks by utilizing sands of absolutely scorching temperatures. It's so hot that it has a chance to inflict its target with the Burn status condition. It also immediately thaws any Pokémon who were frozen prior.
Stomping Tantrum: After being frustrated Zygarde attacks its opponent. The attack power doubles if its previous move happened to fail.
Fissure: The most powerful Ground Type attack, Zygarde causes a massive fissure that swallows up its opponent. This move is so powerful that it immediately one shots any opponent hit with it, at the cost of extremely low accuracy.
High Horsepower: An powerful and fierce attack that requires the use of the full body of the attacker.

Normal Type Moves

(I couldn't find any more gifs of Zygarde using other types moves so sorry for the lack of visual flare for the next couple sections)

Level Up Moves:

Safeguard: By creating a strange and peculiar field, Zygarde can prevent itself from being inflicted with Status conditions for a short time.
Glare: Using a frightful glare, Zygarde can inflict opponents with Paralysis.
Bind: Using its long body or weird leash thing or tails, Zygarde can squeeze its opponent so hard that it does damage over time and prevents them from switching out.
Camouflage: By adapting to terrain, Zygarde can change its type depending on its environment.
Extreme Speed: Zygarde charges at its opponent with blinding speed. In the turn based games it always attacks first, and in Legends Z-A it appears to move so fast, it looks like teleporting.

TM Moves:

Protect: Zygarde takes on a defensive stance that also forms a shield to protect itself from attacks. Although using it consecutively can raise its chances if failing.
Swift: Zygarde summons a myriad of stars that it then fires at its opponent. This move bypasses any and all accuracy checks to quite literally never miss.
Body Slam: By bellyflopping on their opponent Zygarde can cause devastating damage to them as it uses the move uses its full body weight as the attacking method. And given that 50% Zygarde is 672 lbs. and Complete Forme is double that, imagine just how strong this move is.
Endure: By adopting a defensive stance, Zygarde can be hit with any move, even the special ones that will always one shot and live with one HP, pretty much akin to a focus sash.
Hidden Power: A move that changes the type it is to deal supereffective damage to the target.
Secret Power: This move changes what it does depending on the surrounding environment.
Frustration: A full powered attack that increases in power the more Zygarde dislikes the trainer its fighting with.
Return: A full powered attack that increases in power the more Zygarde likes the trainer its fighting with.
Retaliate: A powerful attack that doubles in power if an ally was knocked out beforehand.
Round: A powerful attack that utilizes the power of song to deal damage.
Double Team: Zygarde creates illusory copies of itself to boost its evasiveness.
Swagger: Zygarde inflicts it opponent with confusion although this also happens to boost their attack by 2 stages.
Sleep Talk: A move that allows Zygarde to use any of its available moves while sleeping.
Snore: Another move that can only be used while sleeping. It has a 30% chance of making the target flinch
Confide: By telling a secret to the target, the target loses its ability to concentrate, which in turn causes its Special Attack stat to be lowered.
Strength: A super powerful punch that utilizes Zygardes full power to dish out incredible damage on its target.
Hyper Beam: Zygarde shoots a massive beam from its mouth or chest depending on forme. This move is so powerful that it even leaves Zygarde unable to move after its use for a bit.
Giga Impact: A powerful move where Zygarde crashes into its opponent using every bit of its power. Due to this after hitting its opponent, it will be left unable to move for a bit.
Hyper Voice: A move that attacks by unleashing a horrifically loud screeching sound and vibrations.
Substitute: By sacrificing a portion of its HP, Zygarde can sub in a fake substitute that will take damage for it until it breaks, however even though it can't be hit technically, it can still attack by swapping back in for the substitute.
Facade: A move that does basic damage, but its strength is that if inflicted with status ailments the moves attack power doubles.
Tri Attack: A move that uses three beams of fire, thunder and ice all at once. Given its nature this move can inflict paralysis, freeze or burn on its target.

Ice Type Moves

Haze: A move that unleashes black smoke in a surrounding area, any opposing targets that touch the smoke will have all of its stat changes reverted back to base.

Dark Type Moves

Level Up Moves:

Bite: A move that pretty much does what it says on the tin. Utilizing sharp fangs or teeth they take a bite out of their opponent. It also might cause the opponent to flinch and prevent them from attacking after being bitten.
Crunch: A powered up version of Bite but rather than having a chance of flinching, it has the chance of lowering the targets defense.

TM Moves:

Payback: Zygarde stores power and then unleashes it on its target. If it was attacked and survived the hit beforehand, the power of the move doubles.

Poison Type Moves

Level Up Move:

Sludge Wave: By surrounding itself in poison it can send a wave of sludge to attack its target. Given that its a wave of sludge, this move has the possibility of poisoning its target.
Coil: Zygarde coils itself up and concentrates. By doing this its Attack, Defense and Accuracy are all boosted by 1 stage.

TM Move:

Poison Fang: Seemingly a variant of Bite/Crunch. By poisoning the fangs/teeth they bite with Zygarde attacks and it also has a chance of badly poisoning its foe. This is different than regular poisoning as when badly poisoned opposing forces take more damage every time the poison kicks in until they eventually keel over or are healed.
Toxic: A move that badly poisons targets. Like I just said this is worse than just getting regularly poisoned.

Fighting Type Moves

All of the fighting type moves and the rest of its moveset are only accessible with TM's hence why I stopped differentiating them from here on.

Focus Blast: A ball of energy unleashed after heightening their mental focus. This move also has the chance to lower the targets Special Defense.
Brick Break: A karate chop at high speeds that can even break through barriers
Rock Smash: A punch that has the chance to lower the targets Defense stat.
Superpower: A powerful attack is delivered at the cost of lowering both the Attack and Defense stat by 1 stage.
Reversal: An all out attack that becomes significantly stronger when health is lower. Pretty much a last resort move.

Psychic Type Moves

Zen Headbutt: A powerful headbutt attack that is achieved by focusing every last ounce of willpower into it. It also has the chance to flinch the opponent.
Psychic Fangs: By focusing psychic power into its fangs, a high powered bite is delivered. This move also destroys barriers.
Rest: By going to sleep for a bit, Zygadre can restore its health back to full.

Rock Type Moves

Rock Slide: An attack that utilizes hurling big ass boulders. It also has the chance to flinch the opponent.
Sandstorm: A giant sandstorm is conjured up that causes chip damage to any Pokémon that aren't Rock, Ground or Steel type. It also happens to boost the Special Defense of Rock types.
Stone Edge: An attack that conjures up sharp stones to hit the opponent. This move also has a way higher chance of landing a critical hit.

Steel Type Moves

Iron Head: A powerful headbutt that is delivered by coating the head in steel. It also has a chance to flinch the opponent.
Iron Tail: Coating its tail with steel, Zygarde delivers a powerful strike that can also lower the targets defense.
Magnet Bomb: Zygarde launches actual steel bombs at its opponent. These bombs also stick to the target and the move can never miss.

Fire Type Move

Sunny Day: Harsh sunlight is set up. This causes Fire type moves to double in damage and water type moves to be halved in damage.

Grass Type Move

Grass Knot: A mini plant thing that trips the opponent. This moves power greatly increases depending on how heavy the opposing force is.

Nihil Light

Zygarde's ultimate move, that can only be accessed upon Mega Evolving. After Mega Evolving Zygarde's Core Enforcer changes into Nihil Light. A move so powerful it goes through Fairy types immunity to Dragon type attacks. And it's seemingly the equivalent to a Z-move from Alola as it's a way more powerful version of a move unlocked with something. Which probably explains why it was in Alola lore wise.

Resistances

Poison, Rock and Fire Type Moves: Based on its typing of Dragon & Ground, Zygarde takes half damage from any poison, fire or rock attacks.
Electricity: Again as a Dragon & Ground type, it is immune to any and all electric attacks.
Extreme Heat: Several Pokemon, most notably with Macargo are as hot as the surface of the sun and they can withstand its heat somehow (this series is fucking insane)

Forms

Cells and Core

Like I went over in its biology section, Zygarde is made up of a bunch of lil guys as their own Cores and Cells. While they aren't really capable of battling each Core is capable of sending out Cells to act as their eyes and ears throughout the Pokémon world. They can also call upon them whenever they need to in the anime and it just becomes easier with the Zygarde Cube.

10% Form

After gathering 10 of its Cells or 9 and 1 Core, Zygarde transforms into its 10% Forme. In this state it takes on the appearance of a dog. But don't let that fool you, Zygarde is still plenty capable of fighting extremely powerful foes in dog state. Its also capable of using its signature moves just not as powerful as its higher forms.

50% Forme

Once 50% of its cores and cells have assembled, Zygarde achieves its 50% Forme. In this state it transforms into a giant green and black snake that becomes way stronger than its previous form. While the abilities it can use are pretty much the same as its previous form, they become way more powerful in this state. Zygarde also gains a massive increase in its speed as well on top of the power buff.

Complete Forme

Whenever all of its cores and cells are assembled, Zygarde awakens to its full power. While in gameplay this can only be achieved whenever 50% Formes health falls below half, it has shown the ability to call upon its cells to achieve this without that restriction. In Complete Forme Zygardes power increases exponentially, it becomes so strong and fast that it could battle evenly with Ultra Necrozma and even react to its light. And that's no longer ven its final form anymore.

Mega Zygarde

The highest form Zygarde can achieve. When its in its Complete Forme and a crisis is approaching Zygarde responds to the emotions of the people and Pokemon and Mega Evolves. It's Mega Evolution increases its power significantly, giving it a whopping 216 base special attack stat. It also gets the effectively equivalent of a Z Move, turning it's Core Enforce into the powerful Nihil Light. Which is so strong I gave it it's own section compared to the rest of Zygarde's moveset.