Pokémon Horizons: The Series – Season 1 Episode 12 Recap & Review

The Future I Choose!

Episode 12 of Pokémon Horizons: The Series begins where we left off in episode 11 with Liko and Roy staring at the decrepit forest nearby. Arboliva puts them down and the two inform Mollie about what they saw. Mollie says as long as the forest remains the way it is, Arboliva’s sadness will never waver. Liko suggests they find a way to restore the forest to a better state. 

While Liko and Sprigatito gather berries, Mollie tries calling Friede and the others. However, like Liko in episode 11, Mollie can’t get any service. Liko tells Roy that he and Fuecoco should prepare some soil. Meanwhile, she and Mollie will focus on gathering more berries. After each team finishes their duties, Mollie tells them they must gather water next. 

At the airbase, Dot realizes something’s tampering with their Rotom device signals. She informs Murdock and the others about it. Friede tells Orla and Murdock to watch the ship—meanwhile, he, Charizard, and Cap plan to investigate. Friede and his team explore the town and notice a Magneton nearby. They believe the Magneton is responsible for tampering with signals in the area. 

Cap zaps the Magneton and Friede calls Liko. Liko informs Friede about what they’re up to and Friede plans to gather water and report to their location. Later, Friede arrives with Orla and the elderly crew member (Ludlow). Ludlow says he can provide our heroes with some water assistance and summons his Quagsire. 

He asks Quagsire to use Rain Dance. While Quagsire dances in the rain, Liko registers Quagsire in her Pokédex. Thanks to Quagsire’s Rain Dance, Arboliva regains access to his specific ability. Arboliva uses its ability to restore most of the forest to good health. Suddenly, Liko’s pendant glows again and the Pokémon from episode two appears before her. 

Arboliva notices this Pokémon and places a large crystal around Liko, Roy, and their Pokémon. Suddenly, the two find themselves in a misty area. A man tells them to “go out and find it” and Liko wonders what’s going on. Liko and Roy return to their world and Arboliva heads inside the ancient Poké Ball that was wrapped around its neck.

Friede and the others approach our duo. He suggests they keep Arboliva’s Poké Ball at their side. Meanwhile, Friede suggests they should all return to the airship. Meanwhile, Spinel monitors our heroes from afar. Later, Cap and Friede visit one of Paldea’s libraries and research the ancient Poké Ball. 

Friede’s baffled that he can’t find any data on the ancient Poké Ball. Suddenly, Liko’s mother Lucca, and her Pokémon approach Friede, telling him to keep it down. Lucca apologizes to Friede for not returning his calls. When her Pokémon starts acting up, Lucca suggests that she and Friede discuss things outside. 

Meanwhile, Roy visits Liko on the airship and asks for an update on Friede’s whereabouts. Then, he notices one of Alex’s picture books contains details about the ancient adventurer his grandfather told them about. We shift to Lucca and Friede discussing the ancient Poké Ball that caught Friede’s attention.

Lucca informs Friede about a legend about an adventurer named Lucius who traveled the world with six Pokémon companions to find paradise. She states that the ancient Poké Ball was his. On the airship, Liko and Roy read the book about the ancient adventurer, his six Pokémon companions, and their journey to reach paradise. 

Fortunately, for Lucius and his pals, they reached paradise. Due to his accomplishment, the people granted Lucius the title, of ancient adventurer. Liko wonders if the Black Rayquaza they saw in a prior episode is the same one from this tale. Roy believes that’s the case. Additionally, he believes Black Rayquaza and Arboliva are a part of Lucius’s squad. 

With that in mind, Roy believes there are four more Pokémon they need to find. Meanwhile, Lucca tells Friede that she can’t offer him any more intel on Lucius and his six companions. Moreover, if he wants more information on Liko’s pendant, he must find Liko’s grandmother and ask her himself. 

Elsewhere, Liko calls Alex and he tells her the things in the book are fictional. Liko ends the call, but Roy believes the book’s tale holds truth. Before Lucca goes, Friede asks her if she wants to see Liko. Lucca says she’s not interested in seeing her because initially, she was going to take Liko’s pendant from her. 

Moreover, Lucca wants Liko to make her own decisions as a part of her educational philosophies. Friede returns to the airship and asks Liko what she wants to do. Liko tells the others she wants to find her grandmother and ask her questions about her pendant. Roy thinks it’s a brilliant idea because he wants to ask her questions about Black Rayquaza and the other ancient Pokémon. 

Friede tells Liko and Roy that he may know where Liko’s grandmother is located. He tells them that a bird told him that she might be in the Galar region. Everyone tells Friede they’d love to travel to Galar with him. Meanwhile, Spinel’s Beeheeyem and Magneton observe our heroes from afar. The season closes with Spinel planning to follow our heroes to the Galar region. 

The Episode Review

And with that, Pokémon Horizons: The Series season 1 comes to a close. Having said that, it looks like our heroes won’t be meeting any other folks from the Paldea region, which is unfortunate. We hope Roy will squeeze in a swift battle with Nemona before they leave. If not, it’d be great to see him and her battle in the future when Roy is proficient at the hobby. 

Nonetheless, it’ll be interesting to see Pokémon Horizons’s take on the Galar region. While Pokémon fans got to experience Galar through Ash and his companion’s perspective, it’ll be great to receive Liko and Roy’s impressions on the place, especially Liko’s. Galar aside, fans will adore seeing Liko’s mother pop up in this chapter.

While it’s a bummer she chose not to reunite with her daughter, it’s great that we got to see both of Liko’s parents in this anime. Hopefully, we’ll get to see them interact with their daughter more in future seasons.

Overall, this was a nice way to close off the first batch of Pokémon Horizons episodes. While we may have to wait a while for future episodes to get dubbed, I’m excited to see what awaits us in Episode 13 and onward.