HZ074

(Japanese: ３人のエクスプローラーズ The Three Explorers) is the 74th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,306th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on November 22, 2024.
==Plot==
Following the appearance of Diana's outside her window, Liko, her friends, and Friede follow it to find Diana herself in Brave Olivine's kitchen. Having heard of their current location in Kitakami from Lucca, she had ridden her all the way there to reach them, as she has something important to share with them: new information about Lucius. Before sharing it, however, she challenges her granddaughter to a Pokémon battle. As such, the Rising Volt Tacklers gather on the wing deck to witness the showdown. Diana declares that this time, she won't hold back. Liko remembers how last time, even her and Roy working together had only been enough to barely land a single hit on Arcanine. This time, though, she and are feeling much more confident about their chances, despite being at a .
The battle begins with Liko ordering a . Arcanine avoids the attack with , which Liko has Floragato take head-on while the Magical Leaf and strikes Arcanine anyway while it was briefly immobilized. Arcanine follows up with , but Floragato dodges it and hits Arcanine with . She continues to execute this same maneuver repeatedly afterwards, avoiding being hit while slowly building up damage on Arcanine. Diana is happy to see how far Floragato has come since their last battle, but then assumes a more serious expression and shouts out a passionate command for a . The strong attack grazes Floragato as she tries to avoid it, but she still manages to get up. Diana orders another Flare Blitz, but Floragato manages to hit Arcanine first with , cancelling out the attack. This, however, ends up only benefitting Arcanine, as being hit by a move has triggered its Ability, , boosting its strength. While nervous, Liko declares that they can grow stronger too and stallizes Floragato. Diana orders one more Flare Blitz from Arcanine. Knowing that Magical Leaf will burn up if she just fires it off, Liko looks for an opening. Spotting Arcanine's feet, Liko has Floragato attack them with Magical Leaf, successfully making Arcanine stumble and fall over, which she capitalizes on by ordering a big Magical Leaf, which is enough to defeat Arcanine. Diana is happy to see how much Liko has improved in such a short amount of time, which she attributes to her friends pushing her forward during the Tera Training course. As promised, Diana now agrees to show the information she discovered about Lucius.
In the Brave Olivine's conference room, Diana starts out by showing everyone a photo of her in her youth alongside her friend Hamber, whom she used to go on adventures with. A year ago, they had met up again for the first time in ages. While Hamber had claimed to just want to go on adventures again, she had found out that he was actually after Liko's pendant. As such, she had told Lucca to keep Liko safe, which, in turn, had led to her hiring the Rising Volt Tacklers to protect Liko and bring her safely back home to Paldea, which is how Liko's own adventure had started. Getting to a more important part, Diana explains how, back when her castle hideout was attacked, she had met Hamber again and learned that he was a member of the Explorers. This information had shocked her, since the Explorers were originally founded by none other than Lucius, shocking everyone else too, since they can't picture the Explorers being anything but ruthlessly villainous. Finding out the origins of the Explorers had been the reason why Diana had left the Brave Olivine, which she had requested Friede to keep as a secret. Since history books only contain a few scant mentions of the team, she had visited towns that Lucius was said to have visited a hundred years ago and talked with old people who had lived in those places for a long time. From the legends they could tell and diaries they could show to her, she had discovered accounts of people who had met Lucius and his friends.
Diana brings out another old photo that showcases the three s who originally formed the Explorers: Lucius, Rystal, and Gibeon. Liko and her friends remember Rystal's name from the vision of the past that had showed to them. As for Gibeon, Friede has no idea who he is. To everyone else's surprise, though, Liko recognizes the name, having heard of him from Amethio and learned about him being the leader of the Explorers and his grandfather. The Rising Volt Tacklers are confused as to how Gibeon could still be alive after a hundred years, but regardless, someone of that name is now using the name of Lucius's team and leading the Explorers. For one last piece of information that Diana has discovered, she reveals that Gibeon is the board chairman of the company Exceed. Friede reveals to the rest of the team how he used to work as a researcher for Exceed and had recently investigated it while the Brave Olivine was being repaired, discovering that the company had done research on a substance called Laquium, which has a strange effect on Pokémon. However, he hadn't been aware that the company even had a board chairman, though he can remember his boss, Cervantis, mentioning that there are people even above him in the company's hierarchy. Diana confirms that she hadn't been able to find anyone from Exceed who'd have actually met Gibeon, either. This means that Gibeon has been using Exceed to research Laquium, while the Explorers are trying to reach Laqua. Given the similarities in the names of the substance and the location, the Rising Volt Tacklers quickly deduce that the two are connected, and that the Explorers are trying to get their hands on Laqua's Laquium.
Over an impromptu snack break, everyone reviews the results of their discussion. While some questions still remain unanswered, they've gotten much closer to figuring things out now by pooling their information together. Friede, in particular, is curious to learn more about Rystal. Seeing react to Rystal's name with a longing expression, Liko declares that she wants to revisit the Crystal Pool and see if its rumored power of letting one meet those who have died could allow them to meet Rystal. Agreeing to Liko's idea, she, her friends, Friede, and Diana travel to the Crystal Pool, arriving there after sunset. Under the starry sky, everyone prays for them to get to meet Rystal, with Terapagos calling out to her. A few moments later, the Crystal Pool indeed reacts to their plea and starts to glow brightly. As the light dies down, a woman carrying a baby appears in front of them. Terapagos excitedly approaches her, even as she tries to understand where she is. She does confirm herself to be Rystal when Liko asks for her name, but Liko doesn't manage to nervously stutter out much beyond her own name before Lucius's Pokémon emerge from their s. Rystal recognizes them, but is now even more confused as to why Liko would have them. As Liko's nervousness keeps her from getting the words out, Friede steps in and explains that the Rising Volt Tacklers are searching for the Six Heroes so that Terapagos can regain its power and they can reach Laqua. He also reveals to Rystal that that the power of the Crystal Pool has brought her into the future to meet them. Rystal understands and believes the explanation, given that they have Lucius's Pokémon and her former partner Pagogo with them. Liko and her friends are surprised to learn that Terapagos's Trainer was Rystal and not Lucius, like they had assumed.
The baby in Rystal's arms starts to cry, and she does her best to comfort her, addressing her as Leila. This name catches Diana off-guard, since Leila was actually the name of her mother. This means that Diana herself is Rystal's granddaughter, which, in turn, makes Liko her great-great-granddaughter. While initially angry at being called old, Rystal quickly calms down, saying that she can finally understand why Terapagos is with them, since her child's father is actually Lucius. The group is now in even more shock following this revelation, although none more so than Liko, who is practically panicking after learning that the ancient adventurer Lucius is her great-great-grandfather.
==Major events==
* The Rising Volt Tacklers reunite with Diana.
* Liko has a with Diana and wins.
* The Rising Volt Tacklers find out about Lucius's history with the Explorers.
* Liko reveals to the Rising Volt Tacklers what Amethio told her about Gibeon.
* Liko, Roy, Dot, Friede, and Diana encounter Rystal at the Crystal Pool and learn that she was 's original .
* Lucius and Rystal are revealed to be Liko's great-great-grandparents.
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* Rystal
====Pokémon debuts====
==Characters==
===Humans===
* Liko
* Roy
* Friede
* Mollie
* Orla
* Ludlow
* Murdock
* Dot
* Gibeon (photo)
* Hamber (photo)
* Amethio (flashback)
* Spinel (flashback)
* Coral (flashback)
* Sidian (flashback)
* Chalce (flashback)
* Diana
* Leila
* Rystal
* Lucius (flashback/photo)
* s
===Pokémon===
* (; flashback)
* (; stallized)
* (; flashback)
* ()
* (; flashback)
* (Friede's; Captain Pikachu)
* (; )
* ()
* (Dot's; Rotom Phone)
* (Hamber's; photo)
* (Spinel's; flashback)
* (Sidian's)
* (Chalce's; flashback)
* (Diana's)
* (Diana's; )
* (; )
* (; Galarian Form)
* (; )
* (; )
* (Trainer's; flashback)
* (Trainer's; flashback)
* (Trainer's; flashbacks)
* (Trainer's; flashback)
* (Rising Volt Tacklers')
* (Rising Volt Tacklers')
* (Rising Volt Tacklers'; ×3; )
* (; )
==Trivia==
* Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar: "What do excel in?"
** Choices: Speed, kindness, cleverness
** Answer: Cleverness
* The initial TV airing of this episode did not feature Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar. However, it was later available in streaming.
* The first eyecatch features Liko and her , and the second features Diana and her .
* In the preview for this episode, Diana showed a blank photo of the three Explorers. In the actual episode, the photo clearly shows the three Explorers.
* Lucius and Liko narrate the preview for the next episode.
HZ074 preview photo.png|Blank photo in the preview
HZ074 photo edit.png|Actual photo in the actual episode
===Errors===
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
074
Category:Episodes written by Kureha Matsuzawa
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Hiromasa Amano
Category:Episodes by one-time directors
Category:Episodes animated by Katsuji Matsumoto
Category:Episodes by one-time animation directors
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a Legendary Pokémon appears
Category:Episodes that feature time travel
de:3-nin no Explorers
es:EP1310
fr:LH074
it:OP074
ja:2023年版第74話
zh:宝可梦 地平线 第74集