Pokemon Black and White: Espiritoy VS Nekronity
Their rivary is fierce and their battles are the stuff of legends. Just as White eventually fades to Black, Espiritoy and Nekronity were once the same, but one slid further into darkness until they were deadly opposites.
Their battle plain is the world of Spirits; Nekronity is known as the Guide Pokemon, who collects the lost souls of Pokemon in our world, from places like Mount Pyre and the Lost Tower, and transports them to the Spirit World. Espiritoy aims only to destroy and corrupt as many souls as he can, and is known as the Void Pokemon.
Nekronity: The Guide Pokemon
Psychic-type
Moveset: Psychic, Amnesia, Wish,
Signature move
Signature move - Spirit Flash: Psychic, Special, Power 120, Accuracy 65, PP 5
Physical description: Nekronity is small and cat-like. Its body is mostly white in colour. It has a pale blue mask over its face, which loops around the back into two long, flowing blue ribbons. It has a pale red gem set into its forehead. There is a long ruff of lilac fur around its neck and chest, and it has rounded, fingerless arms. Its legs are elongated like a kangaroo or a rabbit. It has a long sickle-shaped tail that holds a red gem using psychic power.
Pokedex description: This Pokemon is said to guide spirits to the afterlife. It has the power to remove memories.
Nekronity is the mascot Pokemon of White version. It is pure white, with pastel colours on other parts of its body. There is a legend regarding Nekronity:
There is a Pokemon that can travel freely between many worlds. It can come to our world, and to other worlds, but its home is the Spirit World. This Pokemon is a guide for the spirits; it has ribbons that reach naturally towards spirits, and touch them, and hold them until the Pokemon is home, where the spirits are freed. This Pokemon is gentle, and loving, but should it come under threat, it has a means to erase the very memory of itself from its attacker's mind. We worship and revere this Pokemon, and hope that the fate of an attacker will never be known to our people.
The legend has many correct point about it; Nekronity does indeed hold the power to collect spirits, move between worlds and erase memories. The one thing the legend has wrong is that the ribbons "hold" the spirits until Nekronity returns to the Spirit World - in actual fact, the ribbons are more like tunnels, in that as soon as a spirit touches the ribbon, it is transported to the Spirit World. The ribbons are also free moving; they can indepentantly sense a spirit in the air and move towards it. Nekronity has no control over them. The part of Nekronity that can "erase the very memory of itself" is the red orb that is suspended within the sickle of its tail, which itself resembles a scythe that would be used by the Grim Reaper. However, Nekronity, being able to change itself into a number of other forms, prefers to stay in this delicate cat-like form as it believes it calms the spirits more than if it were to look like Death.
Espiritoy: The Void Pokemon
Dark-type
Moveset: Dark Pulse, Torment, Assurance,
Signature move
Signature move - Spirit Void: Dark, Special, Power 100, Accuracy 85, PP 5
Physical description: Espiritoy is as black as the night. Its body is long and reptilian. It has a bird-like face surrounded by jagged spikes which continue down its long neck, broad back and long tail, stopping slightly short of the tail blade. It has long legs, but sits back more on its back legs, propping itself up with its front legs. Its limbs, as well as neck and tail, are covered in small ringlets that create an energy barrier over its body. Its chest and stomach, places that are usually deemed weak points, are protected by a spiked plate that protrudes from its body. It also has claws with points so sharp they are practically unseen.
Pokedex description: This Pokemon is the embodiment of evil. It is said that a gifted trainer may be able to unlock its dark heart.
Espiritoy is the mascot Pokemon of Black version. Its entire being is darknened from the evil it does. As with Nekronity, there is a legend about Espiritoy:
There is a Pokemon with a heart as black as the night, which aims only to corrupt the spirits of the dead. It gathers spirits and steals them away from their eternal bliss, instead cursing them to an eternity of pain. When eight and a hundred of these spirits gather, this Pokemon creates another, who works for it and helps it spread evil across the land. The Pokemon has an enemy that it wishes to defeat, but its mind is set on destruction and it has not the time. All humans fear its presence - should it draw near, it would not hesitate to wipe us all out. We pray it will never come.
In the legend, Espiritoy is seen as the direct opposite of Nekronity, as one who collects spirits for themself and doesn't allow them access to the Spirit World. Instead, he feeds on them or gathers them to form his own cronies. It is stated in the legend that when "eight and a hundred of these spirits gather, this Pokemon creates another". This is possibly referring to Spiritomb, who is said to be made up of 108 spirits. Therefore it is probably safe to assume that Espiritoy employs Spiritomb to do its bidding. In fact, there is a third legend which makes this especially clear:
It is said that many years ago, when the world was still young, and few people walked its surface, that the two Pokemon of Spirits came into our world and fought. Many died as a result, both human and Pokemon, and while Nekronity strived to save all their spirits, Espiritoy managed to collect exactly a hundred and eight. These hundred and eight spirits, corrupted by Espiritoy's darkness, did his bidding and went on to harvest more spirits while Nekronity fought to calm Espiritoy's rage. Espiritoy was stronger, it seemed, until a higher power, one who helped to form the world, decided that its destruction should stop. It sealed Espiritoy away in the furthest parts of the Spirit World and then disappeared, the fighting quelled. Nekronity proceeded to recover any remaining spirits, and the hundred and eight that followed Espiritoy were punished for their deeds. Nekronity sealed them within a keystone. Judging by the nature of this action, it is probable that this was how Spiritomb was born and 500 years later would again be freed.
There are ruins in a certain region where the wall between our world and the Spirit World are very thin. Despite the fact that the villainous team in this region is adamant about infiltrating the Spirit World to ressurect their late leader, the ruins emit a mysterious power that prevents their entry completely. The champion of the region, a gifted psychic, predicted that when the time comes, an experienced trainer with a strong and trusting partner Pokemon may be granted access to the ruins to ensure that the ressurection shall never happen. (
Depending on your game version the event varies - happens between last badge and elite four, no matter what version it be)
BLACK: When the ruins are entered, the first thing one should notice is the walls - they appear to ripple slightly. The cause of this soon becomes clear - a hole is open between the worlds, surrounded by black rocks inscribed with arrows pointing upwards and glowing red. Should one approach the hole, one would find that they are unable to enter, as a strange force prevents it. There is an inscription on the wall:
WE WORSHIP THE ONE WHO GUIDES THE SPIRITS AND FEAR THE ONE WHO CORRUPTS THEM. SHOULD AN EXCEPTIONAL PERSON STEP FOOT HERE, AN EQUALLY EXCEPTIONAL POKEMON SHALL APPEAR. TAME THE DARKNESS! FREE US FROM THE DARKNESS! CAPTURE THE DARKNESS!
At this point, Espiritoy will appear from the hole to the Spirit World, and battle shall commence. If one defeats or flees from Espiritoy, there is only one way to rebattle him; by taking a Spiritomb as ones Partner into the ruins. This shall grant one access to the Spirit World, where Espiritoy can be found.
If Espiritoy is captured during the first battle, there will be nothing in the Spirit World.
WHITE: The White version is almost identical. The first difference is the rocks; they are white and have a glowing blue arrow. When one reads the inscription upon the wall, it reads:
WE WORSHIP THE ONE WHO GUIDES THE SPIRITS AND FEAR THE ONE WHO CORRUPTS THEM. SHOULD AN EXCEPTIONAL PERSON STEP FOOT HERE, AN EQUALLY EXCEPTIONAL POKEMON SHALL APPEAR. FIND THE GUIDE! RETURN TO US THE GUIDE! BEFRIEND THE GUIDE!
As before, this is when Nekronity will appear. The same conditions apply as the battle with Espiritoy.
Should the player return with a Spiritomb having defeated the Elite Four of the region, the counterpart of the Pokemon they captured will be found in the Spirit World. This way, both mascots can be aquired without the need for trading between versions, should the correct conditions be met [a Spiritomb recieved from D/P/Pt, the Elite Four beaten].
Both Pokemon are encountered at Lv. 55. It is interesting to note that all of Espiritoy's moves are Dark-type, whereas Nekronity breaks its trend with Wish.
The person who discovered the ruins did so by accident, and was later ejected by the strange force as they did not meet the criteria of an "experienced trainer". However, while there, the person managed to copy down the inscriptions and also take photographs of the artwork on the walls. When they exited the ruins, they found that the film in the camera had been completely wiped. He managed to draw the images from memory, which seem to show Nekronity with Spiritomb trapped within upwards-pointing arrows representing its power, while Espiritoy is shown with downwards-pointing arrows. He also painted the Pokemon Nekronity, as shown below; this begs the question of whether he saw the Pokemon itself while within the ruins.
Below is a second artist's impression of Nekronity, based on the discoverer's image of the Pokemon. This one shows Nekronity in an imaginary place called the Spirit Isle - the artist has highly stressed that such a place is non-existant. The artist also mentions that the paintings on the stones in his image is based on the etchings done by the discoverer: