Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
History
Background
As a set of three,Silvally was originallyartificially created by theAether Foundation to be an Anti-UB Fighting life-form as part of thebeast killer project (BKP) under the direction of the Aether Foundation's president,Lusamine. The Pokémon was originally code-named as "beast killer (BK)", and were given cells taken from all known Pokémontypes with the intention of giving it the ability to shift type while holding onto the correspondingmemory. ThisAbility had been dubbed as theRKS System. This power granted it the nameType: Full (Japanese:タイプ：フルType: Full), however, like the other two, it had rejected the RKS System and went berserk. Without Lusamine's knowing, this had lead Aether Branch ChiefFaba, to create a helmet that would inhibit the RKS System from working. Type: Full was put into permanent cryogenic stasis, the beast killer project was deemed a failure and Type: Full was renamed toType: Null.
At some point before the events of "Sun and Moon",Gladion was able to free one of the Type: Null, which he adopted as his own in the hopes of finding a way to undo the effects of the limiter helmet and allow it to use the RKS System. Gladion had stolen the Pokémon fromhis mother, without her knowing, only tellingWicke of his departure with it. But in "Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon", one of the Type: Null left with Gladion due to disappear ofhis father. According to Faba in Secret Lab A, the information about Type: Null had eventually become public. Gladion, who sympathizes with Type: Null due to their shared connection with the Aether Foundation, calls it "Null".
Gladion and Type: Null battle against and alongside theplayer at various points of the story. It battles with the player and Gladion atAether Paradise when Gladion's sister,Lillie, gets kidnapped by the foundation. At Aether Paradise, Lusamine berates Gladion for stealing her Type: Null. Sometime after the events on Aether Paradise, Type: Null and Gladion become close enough that Type: Null breaks its helmet, and evolves into Silvally, a new form named by Gladion himself according to theRotom Pokédex in Pokémon Moon. Gladion and Silvally later challenge the player at the foot ofMount Lanakila, where it holds the memory matching thefirst partner Pokémon of the type the player's first partner Pokémon is weak to.
InPokémon Sun and Moon, after the player becomesChampion, and Gladion becomes acting president of the Aether Foundation, he discovers another Type: Null that was put into stasis. He entrusts it with the player atAether Paradise's Conservation Area, knowing they will take good care of it. InPokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Gladion and Silvally leave forKanto andJohto to train after the player becomes Champion, and leaves another Type: Null with Wicke to give to the player atAncient Poni Path on their way toPoni Grove.
It appears as a Silvally in a photograph of Sun and Moon's credits. Gladion appears alongside Silvally who is affectionately licking him.
Gladion's Silvally appears inPokémon Sun, Moon,Ultra Sun, and Ultra Moon as Gladion's main Pokémon and partner. Gladion's Silvally primarily appears in it's pre-evolved state,Type: Null for a majority of those games. As a Type: Null, it was one of the few members of its species to be exposed to the outside world and theAlolaregion. Due to this, both it and its species were unheard of to other people and Pokémon. Like its Trainer, Type: Null was rather rebellious and untrusting of others due to it's history with theAether Foundation. Type: Null is noted to be hostile both before and after its cryogenesis and had gone berserk over its RKS system implementation. It eventually gained trust and familiarity with its Trainer, and became helpful in its tasks, using the strength that Gladion had set out for. Silvally's aggressive and hostile behavior are what likely resulted in his Gladion's clothes becoming tattered.
Gladion sympathizes with Silvally, originally calling it by thenickname "Null" before its Evolution. Type: Null was able to destroy its control mask through the bond it had created with Gladion, who had named the newly evolved Pokémon intoSilvally. InPokémon Masters EX,Gladion'ssync pair story suggests that the name Null is no longer used, and that the two of them are different from when they once were.
According to Gladion's comments inPokémon Masters EX, after having destroyed its control mask, it had relieved itself of any pain and hatred it had before. It looks to the future and new experiences.
Silvally appears alongside its trainer in Pokémon Masters EX as async pair. Gladion and Silvally are unique among all other sync pairs in Masters EX, as they are capable of changing theirtype to match the weakness of their target. Excluding the baseNormal-type form, Silvally is weak to all other 17 types once in each of its forms.
Silvally was aPokémon created byFaba to fightUltra Beasts. Four years prior to the start ofPokémon the Series: Sun & Moon,Lillie was attacked bya mysterious Ultra Beast, and was saved by Silvally. The fierce expression Silvally had on its face, combined with the emotional trauma of the incident, left Lillie with a fear of touching Pokémon. Following this incident, Silvally was given a restricting helmet by Faba,turning it intoType: Null. Sometime later, it was stolen byGladion, who felt sorry for the Pokémon and wanted to rescue it from Faba's cruel experiments.
Silvally first appeared as a Type: Null inRising from the Ruins!, in a secluded cave onAkala Island. After being called out, Silvally began to act restless due to the stress brought by its helmet. The Pokémon eventually calmed down after being comforted by Gladion. InA Dream Encounter!, it began acting restless again. Gladion inferred from its uneasiness that it had sensed the presence of an Ultra Beast.
InA Masked Warning!, Silvally was seen training with Gladion onTen Carat Hill until they were interrupted byAsh, who had beenteleported there byNebby. Silvally started growling at Nebby, causing Nebby to start crying and leading Gladion to the conclusion that Nebby is the Ultra Beast his Pokémon sensed before. Later, Gladion accepted Ash's challenge to battle, choosing Silvally to fightAsh's Lycanroc. Silvally was able to overpower Lycanroc and managed to throw it in the nearby lake. This dirtied Lycanroc's fur, which temporarily caused it to go berserk. Once Lycanroc had calmed down, the battle continued, and Silvally quickly defeated Lycanroc.
InNight of a Thousand Poses!, Silvally was seen with Gladion after Lillie had been teleported to him by Nebby. Upon seeing Silvally, Lillie recalled a brief scene of the Pokémon from her traumatic incident, which made her believe Silvally attacked her and once again rendered her unable to touch Pokémon. InMission: Total Recall!, Faba stole Silvally back after defeatingGladion's Umbreon andLycanroc and putting its Trainer to sleep withHypnosis. Gladion, together withLusamine, later retrieved Silvally from Faba's office and used it to confront Faba, who was trying to erase Lillie's memories and cover up his mistakes. Ordered to save Lillie, Silvallybroke its mask and attacked Faba'sAlakazam, breaking thePsychic hold it had on Gladion's sister. It then used theRKS System and aDark Memory to turn into aDark-type and defeated Faba's Pokémon with a Dark-typeMulti-Attack. After being brought to safety, Lillie fully remembered Silvally's heroism four years ago and thanked it for rescuing her, which allowed her to completely overcome her fear.
InFamily Determination!, Gladion used Silvally to help him and his sister overcome obstacles on the way to theAltar of the Sunne. Standing right before the altar was a horde ofJangmo-o andHakamo-o, led by aTotemKommo-o. Thanks to the help of Lillie and Snowy, Gladion was given enough time to give Silvally aFairy Memory, allowing it to resist Kommo-o'sClanging Scales and defeat it. Silvally waslater used to battle Lusamine'sAbsol alongside Gladion's other Pokémon. Having its feet frozen in place by Absol'sIce Beam, Gladion used aFire Memory, allowing Silvally to melt the ice and counterattack. This released the hold it had on Gladion's other Pokémon thanks to itsMean Look. Gladionlater used aSteel Memory to change Silvally to aSteel-type, allowing it to ferry him across the sea of poison theNihilego-possessed Lusamine left behind.
InFilling the Light with Darkness!, Gladion had to calm Silvally down again. Gladion recognized its behavior as a bad omen. It was later sent out as its Trainer and the otherUltra Guardians witnessed anUltra Wormhole form above the Altar of the Sunne, where it sensedtwopresences coming out. Inthe next episode, Silvally teamed up withPikachu to free Nebby and Lunala fromTeam Rocket's electric net. InThe Prism Between Light and Darkness!, it was revealed that Silvally was able to performBreakneck Blitz, which it used along withZ-Moves from Ash's Pikachu,Kiawe's Marowak, andLana's Popplio to help separate Nebby from Necrozma and to give Necrozma enoughZ-Power to turn it back into itstrue form. However, this attempt failed as the amount of Z-Power was too little and Necrozma used it to power itself up instead. Silvally later joined the rest ofAlola in showering Necrozma with Z-Power, causing it to separate from Nebby and revert to its normal form. Necrozma still had not absorbed enough Z-Power though and tried to capture Nebby again, but was stopped in its tracks by Silvally, who attacked it withAir Slash.
InBattle Royal 151!, Gladion used Silvally during theBattle Royal preliminary round of theManalo Conference, where it was able to defeat several Pokémon, including aTalonflame and aPrimeape. It was among the 16 Pokémon remaining at the end, securing Gladion a place in the next round.
Silvally and Gladion
InThe Final Four!, Gladion used Silvally to driveTupp,Zipp, andRapp away fromMimo, whom they were harassing. Later, Silvally was the second and last Pokémon Gladion chose to use in his semifinals battle againstKiawe, facing hisTurtonator. After Silvally's foot had gotten stuck on the ground, Kiawe started performingInferno Overdrive, but Gladion used a Fire Memory to turn Silvally into aFire type just before the attack hit, allowing Silvally to endure the Z-Move. It then counterattacked withCrush Claw, defeating Turtonator and allowing Gladion to advance to the finals.
InFinal Rivals!, Silvally was the first Pokémon that Gladion sent out in his battle against Ash in the Manalo Conference finals. It faced off against Ash's newly evolvedMelmetal. Silvally took heavy damage from Melmetal'sDouble Iron Bash andFlash Cannon, but eventually, Gladion used aFighting Memory to give Silvally a type advantage, turning the tide of the battle and soon resulting in Melmetal's defeat. Silvally next faced Pikachu. Using anElectroweb that Silvally had dodged as a platform, Pikachu was able to launch a high-velocity surprise attack from behind and defeat Silvally withIron Tail.
Silvally appeared inThe Homecoming Crown!, taking a picture with Gladion, his family, and their Pokémon after reuniting withMohn. InHelping the Hometown Hero!, it trained alongside the rest of Gladion's team to prepare for Gladion's upcoming battle with Ash.
Personality and characteristics
Silvally struggling from the stress of its helmet
Silvally has the ability to sense the presence ofUltra Beasts andUltra Wormholes. It often becomes stressed when it senses danger, barking and lashing out whenever it feels threatened. As aType: Null, its helmet was also a source of anxiety for it. Despite its anxiousness, it appears to trust its Trainer, and can be calmed down with Gladion's words. It eventually became able to trust Gladion enough to use the full extent of its power, breaking its restraints. It also has a strong connection to Lillie, having saved her from Nihilego during her childhood. It inadvertently caused Lillie's fear of Pokémon, and was ultimately what caused her to stop fearing them. Initially, Gladion wanted to keep Silvally's existence a secret, likely to preventFaba from discovering that it was he who stole his research.
After breaking its mask, it gained access to theRKS System. This granted it increased versatility both in and out of battles, having used theAbility in order to traverse poisonous liquid as aSteel type and withstand an Inferno Overdrive as a Fire type.
Outside of battles and tense situations, Silvally has been shown to have a calm and amicable personality, integrating socially with other Pokémon in a normal manner despite its artificial origins.
Silvally first appeared as a Type: Null inThe Decision and the Tournament of Six, when it was entered in theIki Town festival tournament. While the competitors in the tournament were being picked,Gladion was temporarily away due to Type: Null sensing acrack in the sky. In thesecond battle of the first round, Type: Null was sent out to battle againstHau'sKomala, which it easily defeated despite its speed being reduced by its heavy iron mask.
Inthe finals, Type: Null was used to battle againstSun. First, it went up against Sun'sAlolanMeowth,Cent, which it easily defeated while Sun was distracted. Sun then switched out for hisLitten,Dollar, but his fireballs were blocked by Type: Null's mask, preventing him from doing any damage. Sun attempted to get over this by having Dollar lodge hairballs inside of Type: Null's mask and then lighting them on fire to damage Type: Null internally, but Gladion saw through the strategy and had Type: Null shake the hairballs out.
Angered by Sun's apparent lack of seriousness during their battle, Gladion chastises Sun and questions why he's even participating. Gladion's words anger Sun, which causes the cast on his injured arm to burst open, revealing theSparkling Stone underneath. A powerful energy shoots out from a crack in the sky and lands on the Sparkling Stone before moving towards Dollar. The energy powers up Dollar'sEmber, allowing it to create a powerfulsea of flames that defeats Type: Null. Despite having one Pokémon left to use, Gladion was forced to give up the tournament byHala, making Sun the victor.
InThe Wild Full-Power Pose of Fire, at theRuins of Life, Type: Null was used to attack Sun,Moon, andKiawe as they were preparing to stop Gladion from kidnappingTapu Lele. Hoping to have Sun defeat Gladion with theZ-Move he recently mastered, Kiawe threw hisZ-Ring to Sun for him to use, only for Type: Null to destroy it. While Gladion claimed he wouldn't have lost regardless, a voice calls out and argues that Gladion wouldn't have destroyed the Z-Ring if he truly believed that. The voice is revealed to beKahili, who uses her golfing skills to send herToucannon out to distract Type: Null long enough to deliver Sun his own Z-Ring.
Now with a Z-Ring of his own, Sun successfully has Dollar perform Inferno Overdrive on Type: Null. Though the attack succeeds, Type: Null doesn't faint and its mask begins to crack. Worried as to what might happen if the mask completely broke, Gladion switched Type: Null out for hisPorygon.
InFlash and Cosmog's Secret, Gladion arrived atPo Town for the first. Immediately after his arrival, Gladion was attacked by aSalazzle, forcing him to have Type: Null blow it away withAir Slash. The Salazzle's Trainer then revealed herself to be the Team Skull AdminPlumeria, who was testing Gladion to see if he was good enough to be an Enforcer.
InThe Truth and Island Kahuna Hapu, Type: Null was used to battle Celesteela and Guzzlord atRoute 10 in order to prevent them from reachingHokulani Observatory. While Type: Null easily took down Celesteela, Gladion was distracted whenLillie appeared and called out to him. Guzzlord proceeded to attack Lillie, only for Type: Null to swoop in and take it down, evolving into aSilvally in the process.
Silvally is a powerful and determined Pokémon who is capable of handling itself. As a Type: Null, it was very sluggish due to its helmet, but made up for it with its incredible strength. Its helmet also bolstered its defense, allowing it to take multiple hits without taking any damage. It has the ability to senseUltra Wormholes and can fight anyUltra Beast with ease due to it being created with that goal in mind.
A† shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves.
In the TCG
Gladion and Silvally are featured in one of the cards of theCosmic Eclipse. In Japan, the card is part of the JapaneseDream League subset.
Gladion's Silvally Cards listed with ablue background are only legal to use in the currentExpanded format. Cards listed with agreen background are legal to use in both the currentStandard andExpanded formats.
Rounding off the mainstream TCG releases on June 16, 2017 were a number of specially illustrated deck cases, card sleeves, and files. Deluxe items featuringLillie and her relatives were subsequently released on June 17, 2017 as part of a Pokémon Center campaign.
TheGladion & Silvally Deck Case & Sleeves (Japanese:デッキケース＆シールド グラジオ＆シルヴァディDeck Case & Shield: Glazio & Silvady) is another special release that comes packaged with a deck case and a set of 64 card sleeves. Both products featureGladion and his partner Silvally.
Silvally is the first Pokémon inPokémon the Series to be kept in aPremier Ball.
It is also the first Pokémon inPokémon the Series that has gone throughdevolution, having been reverted to a Type: Null through a special limiting mask Faba put on it.
Silvally is the only one of Gladion's Pokémon that does not share a type with any of his other Pokémon.
