HZ003

For Sure! 'Cause Sprigatito's with Me! (Japanese: ニャオハとなら、きっと As Long as I'm With , I'm Sure) is the third episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,235th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 21, 2023, in the United Kingdom on December 1, 2023, in Australia on February 27, 2024, and in the United States on March 7, 2024. It was initially intended to air in the United States on February 23, 2024, but was rescheduled.
==Blurb==
After the Explorers steal Sprigatito, Liko awakens on board the Brave Olivine to find Friede looking for the group. His trail has gone cold, so Liko insists on searching by herself. Friede rejects her plan, revealing that her mother asked the Rising Volt Tacklers to protect her. So, Murdock’s Rockruff tries to track down Sprigatito’s scent while Liko and Mollie run errands. Suddenly, Liko hears Rockruff barking at someone who leads them directly to the Explorers…and to Sprigatito! As Friede and Amethio resume battling, Liko and Sprigatito create a diversion and escape. Knowing the Rising Volt Tacklers are good people, and wanting answers to her questions, Liko has a request…
==Plot==
After seeing a dream of her grandmother, Liko wakes up aboard the Brave Olivine. Remembering how her was taken from her the previous night, she resolves to get her partner back and steps out of her cabin to find Orla, Murdock, and Mollie on the deck. They tell her that Friede is looking for the Explorers so they can get her Sprigatito back. Friede indeed soon returns, though he says that while he managed to follow the Explorers to a nearby port city, he lost track of them afterwards, so he has no idea where exactly they're hiding. Liko expresses her desire to come along to look for her partner, though Friede warns that she won't stand a chance against the Explorers without any Pokémon. Friede reveals that her mother actually hired them as her bodyguards, which surprises Liko, causing the rest of the team to berate Friede for once again unintentionally withholding information from her, though they quickly brush it aside to focus on breakfast instead.
Once the Brave Olivine has docked at the port town, Murdock calls out his . Since Rockruff still remembers Sprigatito's scent, he figures they can use it to find the Explorers. Friede joins him on his search, while Orla will work on repairing the wing deck, Mollie asks Liko's help in getting some Potions from a Pokémon Center, and Ludlow stays behind to fish. Leading Liko to the Pokémon Center, Mollie hands her a list of the preordered items and sends her inside alone without explaining why she's not coming along. Meeting Nurse Joy, Liko hands the list to her, but Joy gets distracted by the need to treat another girl's first. The girl berates herself for causing her partner to get hurt due to her own inexperience, making Liko think about Sprigatito and the possibility of her partner getting hurt too. However, unbeknownst to Liko, Sprigatito is being treated well by Onia, who has bought her plenty of and toys, finding her irresistibly cute. She recomposes herself when Amethio enters the room, making it clear that he does not intend to use Sprigatito as a bargaining chip, his focus being solely on capturing Liko and her pendant. He is contacted by Zirc, who's spying on the Brave Olivine and informs him that the Rising Volt Tacklers are in the city. Ending the call, Amethio wonders out loud what the team's next move is going to be.
Aboard the Brave Olivine, Orla finishes repairing the wing deck's retraction mechanism, while at the Pokémon Center, Nurse Joy finishes treating the Vulpix and hands Liko the boxes containing the preordered items. Liko almost falls over from the weight of the boxes, but they're caught by Mollie's Chansey the instant she exits the building. Simultaneously, Rockruff catches Sprigatito's scent on a disguised Onia, who's been out shopping. When Murdock, Friede, and Liko run towards her, she ditches her shopping bag and makes a run for it, contacting Amethio and informing him of her situation. He tells her to lead them to their hiding place and contacts Zirc, who's just finished secretly attaching a tracking device on the underside of the Brave Olivine, telling him to return. While Murdock stays behind to assist the civilians whom Onia knocked over during her escape, Liko and Friede follow Rockruff to the warehouse area where the Explorers are hiding. Friede tries to keep Liko from just charging in, but she, as Sprigatito's , feels it's her responsibility to save it. As such, Friede devices a plan.
Liko and Friede enter a warehouse, where Amethio confronts them. He makes his recurring demand for Liko's pendant clear, but Friede suggests they settle things with a Pokémon battle, as their previous battle wasn't even properly finished. Amethio agrees, and Liko moves aside from being caught in the middle of the action. While Captain Pikachu once more clashes against Amethio's Ceruledge, Liko uses the distraction to sneak further into the warehouse, with Rockruff quickly leading her to the room where Sprigatito is being held. As Friede and Amethio's battle moves to the warehouse's rooftop, Liko forces the door open and reunites with Sprigatito. They escape outside, where Onia appears before them, still fawning over "her" cute Sprigatito. She is devastated when the refuses to come with her and calls out her , taunting that a type like Sprigatito stands no chance against it. Undeterred, Liko orders Sprigatito to use . While the attack doesn't do much against Skarmory, it still provides enough of a cover to allow Liko and Sprigatito to escape. On the rooftop, Amethio has driven him and Pikachu at the edge. His confidence of his impending victory fades away quickly, however, when the leaves of Leafage rise up behind Friede and he sees Liko running away, realizing too late that the battle was just a distraction planned by Friede. Smirking, Friede and Pikachu fall off the rooftop and fly away with .
Aboard the Brave Olivine at sunset, Liko feels she can finally fully trust the Rising Volt Tacklers, given that they put her and Sprigatito's safety before her pendant. In addition, being separated and reuniting with Sprigatito has truly made her feel like a Trainer and made her understand what her grandmother had meant by telling her that the only scary part of being a Trainer is the first step. Thanks to Sprigatito, she's been able to take that first step and find herself a new horizon. She steps in front of the Rising Volt Tacklers, expressing that, while they seemed suspicious to her at first, due to them taking her with them without explaining anything, she feels ready to trust and travel with them now in order to find out more about her pendant and why the Explorers are after her. Friede happily accepts her request to continue traveling along with them, as they're also interested in finding out more about the pendant, since the Rising Volt Tacklers are a team all about uncovering the mysteries of the world, yet another thing that he's absentmindedly neglected to mention. With Liko now officially a member of the team, Friede declares that their next destination is Liko's home in Paldea, where they're going to collect their bodyguard fees so they can keep financing their adventures. In her cabin, Liko calls Ann and informs her of her departure, saying that she'll be attending classes remotely from now on.
On a small island off the coast of Kanto, a boy named Roy happily runs out of his home and to the beach, excited to see if the previous night's storm has brought in any new treasures. Much to his delight, he indeed finds something: the flag that was blown off the Brave Olivine as it flew through said storm.
==Major events==
* Orla is revealed to own a and an .
* Mollie is revealed to own a .
* Liko and Friede free from the Explorers' captivity.
* Liko joins the Rising Volt Tacklers.
* The Rising Volt Tacklers head for Paldea.
===Debuts===
====Humans====
* Roy
* Roy's grandfather
====Pokémon debuts====
* Mollie's Chansey
==Characters==
===Humans===
* Liko
* Roy
* Friede
* Mollie
* Orla
* Ludlow
* Murdock
* Nidothing (video)
* Amethio
* Onia
* Zirc
* Ann (on a phone)
* Nurse Joy
* Diana (dream)
* Roy's grandfather
* Trainer
* Citizens
===Pokémon===
* ()
* (Liko's; Rotom Phone)
* ()
* (Friede's; Captain Pikachu)
* ()
* (Orla's)
* (Orla's)
* (Orla's; Rotom Phone)
* ()
* ()
* (Amethio's; flashback)
* (Amethio's; Rotom Phone)
* (Onia's)
* (Onia's; Rotom Phone)
* (Zirc's; flashback)
* (Zirc's; Rotom Phone)
* (Ann's; on a phone)
* (; ×2; one on a video)
* (; video)
* (; video)
* (; video)
* (; video)
* (Nurse Joy's; ×2; male and female; video)
* (Diana's; dream)
* (Rising Volt Tacklers')
* (Rising Volt Tacklers')
* (Trainer's)
* (multiple)
* 
* 
* (×2)
* 
* 
* 
==Trivia==
* Professor Friede's Pokémon Seminar: What is stored in 's cheeks?
** Choices: Electricity, , s
** Answer: Electricity
* Heart-Pounding Diary replaces Aim to Be a Pokémon Master -with my friends- as the Japanese opening theme, while RVR ~Rising Volt Tacklers Rap~ replaces Type: Wild as the Japanese ending theme.
* This is the first episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series to feature a character from a previous series, namely, Nurse Joy.
* The first eyecatch features Liko and her , and the second features Amethio and his .
===Errors===
* For a few frames, Nidothing's left claws are colored blue instead of white.
* For a few frames during the battle in the warehouse, the side of Friede's mouth is missing.
HZ003 error 1.png|Nidothing's claws color error
HZ003 error 2.png|Friede's mouth is missing
===Dub edits===
==In other languages==
003
Category:Episodes written by Naruki Nagakawa
Category:Episodes storyboarded by Tetsuo Yajima
Category:Episodes directed by Junya Koshiba
Category:Episodes animated by Yoshitaka Yanagihara
Category:Episodes animated by Yusuke Oshida
Category:Episodes animated by Makoto Shinjō
Category:Episodes by multiple animation directors
Category:Episodes in which a main character is introduced
Category:Episodes focusing on Liko
Category:Episodes focusing on the Explorers
Category:Episodes which aired in the United Kingdom before the United States
Category:Episodes which aired in Australia before the United States
de:Bestimmt! Weil Felori bei mir ist!
es:EP1239
fr:LH003
it:OP003
ja:2023年版第3話
zh:宝可梦 地平线 第3集