HZ025

Rivals in the Dark of Night! (Japanese: の Rivals in the Dark Night) is the 25th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,257th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 20, 2023, in Australia on May 3, 2024, in the United Kingdom on May 27, 2024, in sub-Saharan Africa on June 21, 2024, and in the United States on August 9, 2024.
==Blurb==
In pursuit of Terapagos, Amethio’s group ambushes Liko, Roy, Friede, and Diana inside the ancient castle near Hammerlocke. Liko and Roy manage to escape as Friede distracts Amethio with a battle. Meanwhile, Hamber stages his own surprise attack and approaches Diana, declaring his intent to take Terapagos for the Explorers. He’s also brought Sidian and Coral to the castle, and they track down Liko and Roy—but the Rising Volt Tacklers arrive just in time to rescue the young Trainers. Taking on both Sidian’s Garganacl and Coral’s Glalie, Captain Pikachu puts up a tough fight, but will it be enough to hold back these powerful foes?
==Plot==
Continuing from the end of the last episode, Liko, Roy, and Friede find themselves confronted by Amethio, Zirc, and Onia at Diana's castle, while, unbeknownst to them, the Explorers Admins Sidian and Coral are also on their way to the scene, accompanied by Hamber. has locked eyes with Amethio in particular and is crying at him aggressively. Just then, Diana and her enter the room to hold the Explorers trio off while her opens a hidden tunnel for her granddaughter and her friends to use to escape. Diana assures them that she'll follow them once she's picked up something first. Liko, Roy, and Friede make their escape while Diana turns her attention back to Amethio and his henchmen. Zirc warns her not to get in the way of the Explorers, and she's surprised to learn the organization's name. Before Amethio can attack her, Diana jumps onto the back of her Arcanine and jumps out of a nearby window. Amethio tells Zirc and Onia to ignore her and focus on finding Terapagos. Liko recalls just as digs through the tunnel ceiling above her, scaring her and forcing the group to run. From Rhydon's digging, Zirc is able to determine that the escape tunnel leads to one of the castle's towers. As such, Amethio orders his henchmen to circle their targets from below, while he strikes from above.
Climbing the tower, Friede tells Liko and Roy to wait for him halfway through while he goes to the top to call Murdock to pick them up. However, his phone call is interrupted by Amethio appearing on his and attacking him with . To make his way to a more favorable battleground, Friede jumps off the tower and calls out his mid-fall, landing on the roof below. Witnessing the stunt, Liko and Roy realize Friede went ahead to use himself as a decoy to keep them safe. Amethio lands on the same rooftop, sending out and recalling Corviknight to make the match one-on-one. Not wanting to trigger Ceruledge's , Friede chooses to keep his distance and attacks with and . During the battle, one of Ceruledge's s strikes the tower, causing rubble to start falling toward Charizard. Friede tells Charizard to use on the rubble, but Amethio has Ceruledge use , having it dive out of the shadow of one of the pieces of rubble and take the hit from the Dragon Claw before Friede can react, triggering Weak Armor and increasing Ceruledge's . With this advantage, Ceruledge is able to land multiple es on Charizard, sending it crashing down to the roof. Meanwhile, Diana packs up some books and an ancient belt before preparing to leave, only to be confronted by Hamber and his .
Despite taking a lot of damage, Charizard is still able to get back up. However, Ceruledge still has the advantage in speed, allowing it to easily dodge Charizard's Flamethrower and hit back with Night Slash. Amethio aims for the finishing blow and tells Ceruledge to start charging for a powered-up Psycho Cut. Just then, though, Friede finally decides to stop holding back and whips out his Tera Orb, stallizing his Charizard into a type, rendering Psycho Cut ineffective and allowing Charizard to use a supereffective , finally defeating Ceruledge. Liko and Roy are in awe at what they just witnessed, but the moment is cut short when Zirc suddenly appears on the staircase behind them. Urged by Roy, he and Liko climb down a ladder to escape, but on the ground level, they're confronted by Onia, and Zirc flies up behind them on his , surrounding the two children. With no other choice, Liko and Roy start battling the two. Liko's Sprigatito makes short work of Onia's with supereffective attacks, prompting Zirc to switch targets and have Rhydon attack Sprigatito. However, Rhydon's is disrupted by a super effective from . Before the battle can continue, a loud noise is heard, and Zirc notices a couple wild Pokémon being affected by , indicating the presence of Sidian and his . With Hamber and Diana, Diana questions why the Explorers would be targeting them, given that they were, in fact, Lucius's friends. Hamber refuses to explain, but nearby commotion provides Diana with the distraction to escape. Before Hamber can do anything else, he's contacted by Gibeon. Inside the castle, Sidian continues to defeat any Pokémon that gets in his way.
On the rooftop, a cold wind blows by, which annoys Amethio as he recognizes as it as a sign of Coral's presence. Unexpectedly, the damaged tower starts falling down on them, forcing Friede and Amethio to take flight to avoid being crushed by it. In the courtyard, Zirc and Onia decide to abandon the confrontation and retreat to avoid getting caught in the crossfire, flying away with their Skarmory moments before Liko and Roy are surrounded by Coral and Sidian. Suddenly, Captain Pikachu dives down from the sky and strikes Coral's with , the Rising Volt Tacklers having arrived on the scene with the Brave Olivine. Murdock sends down Orla's to pick up Liko and Roy while Cap stays behind to confront the two admins. Coral has Glalie use , but Cap dodges it, forcing Garganacl to defend itself with . Sidian next commands Garganacl to use Salt Cure, but Cap avoids this attack as well and strikes back with , which sends Garganacl flying back. Coral starts growing annoyed and, ignoring Sidian's objections, recklessly orders Glalie to use . The violent explosion rocks the courtyard, but Cap manages to escape from it with Friede and Charizard, while Glalie and Garganacl are defeated. At the same time, Diana emerges from the smoke while riding her Arcanine. The performs a mighty leap and lands straight on Brave Olivine's wing deck, much to everyone's amazement.
As the sun rises over the ruined castle, the latest confrontation between the Rising Volt Tacklers and the Explorers comes to an end, with Sidian scolding Coral over her reckless actions, while Amethio quietly looks towards the sky. Aboard the Brave Olivine, Diana gives Lucius's memoirs to Liko and encourages her granddaughter to seek out the Six Heroes that once traveled with Lucius: the Black Rayquaza, , , , , and . In the Explorers' base, Hamber tells Gibeon that the cogs are beginning to turn again, moving them towards fulfilling their wish.
==Major events==
* Liko and Roy encounter Sidian and Coral for the first time.
* Diana starts traveling with the Rising Volt Tacklers.
* Diana reveals that Lucius's last three Pokémon are , , and .
===Debuts===
====Pokémon debuts====
* 
==Characters==
===Humans===
* Liko
* Roy
* Friede
* Mollie
* Murdock
* Amethio
* Onia
* Zirc
* Diana
* Hamber
* Coral
* Sidian
* Gibeon (voice only)
===Pokémon===
* ()
* ()
* (Liko's; Rotom Phone)
* ()
* (Roy's; Rotom Phone)
* (; stallized)
* (Friede's; Captain Pikachu)
* (Friede's; Rotom Phone)
* (Orla's)
* (Murdock's; Rotom Phone)
* ()
* (Amethio's)
* (Onia's)
* (Onia's)
* (Zirc's)
* (Zirc's)
* (Diana's)
* (Diana's; )
* (Hamber's)
* (Hamber's; Rotom Phone)
* (Coral's)
* (Coral's; Rotom Phone)
* (Sidian's)
* (Lucius's; Black Rayquaza; fantasy)
* (; ; fantasy)
* (; Galarian Form; fantasy)
* (; fantasy)
* (; fantasy; debut)
* ('s; fantasy)
* (; )
* 
* 
* 
* 
* (Galarian Form)
* 
* 
* 
==Trivia==
* Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar: Which action raises the temperature of 's flames?
** Choices: Battling, eating, meditating
** Answer: Battling
* This is the last episode of the Liko and Roy's Departure chapter.
* The first eyecatch features Liko and her , and the second features Roy and his .
* The initial TV airing of this episode did not feature Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar. However, it was later available in streaming.
* This marks the first time Friede and Amethio have finished one of their s.
* This marks the first time Liko's Hatenna has returned to her since her capture.
* Although the move has existed since Generation V, this episode marks the first time that is used in the .
* This episode revealed that stallization is possible in regions unrelated to Paldea.
* The English dub was released on iTunes and Google Play in Australia on April 3, 2024.
** This episode was originally scheduled to air in Australia on April 2, 2024, but was replaced with a rerun of The Pendant That Starts It All (Part Two).
===Errors===
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
025
Category:Episodes written by Dai Satō
Category:Episodes storyboarded and directed by Hiroaki Takagi
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Hiroaki Takagi
Category:Episodes directed by Hiroaki Takagi
Category:Episodes animated by Keita Hagiwara
Category:Episodes animated by Chiaki Kurakazu
Category:Episodes animated by Natsumi Hattori
Category:Episodes animated by Toshiko Nakaya
Category:Episodes animated by Masaya Ōnishi
Category:Episodes animated by Yusuke Oshida
Category:Episodes animated by Yoshitaka Yanagihara
Category:Episodes animated by Hiromi Niioka
Category:Episodes animated by Saki Ebisawa
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a Legendary Pokémon appears
Category:Episodes focusing on the Explorers
Category:Episodes which aired in Australia before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in South Africa before the United States
de:Rivalen im Dunkeln der Nacht!
es:EP1261
fr:LH025
it:OP025
ja:2023年版第25話
zh:宝可梦 地平线 第25集