This week's episode of Pokémon Horizons feels like a major turning point for the story now that so many things have been revealed about Lucius and the Explorers. I don’t know where to start because I enjoyed everything that transpired here.
I suppose we should start at the beginning. I’m glad that Diana has returned! She’s such a fun character, so to have her back is a real treat! I like that she has vital information about Lucius and what not, but decided to have a battle with Liko in order to give it out. To put it another way, she’s behaving like an in-game Pokémon character. In-game NPCs always have important information, but at the cost of a battle. The battle between grandmother and granddaughter was really great. Liko showed off why the third arc was vital in her growth as she managed to defeat an opponent she lost to before. A major factor of Liko’s losses has always been due to type disadvantages. However, this time she finally defeated an opponent who had the type advantage to her. Diana wasn’t a pushover though. Her Arcanine even had Justified as its Ability, which is normally a Hidden Ability for the Growlithe line.
In the aftermath of the battle, Diana reveals two important things: the first being that she used to be friends with Hamber years ago, and she even had a picture of their younger days. They had separated a long time ago, but a year prior to the story, Hamber reached out to her in hopes of funding her adventures. Only, this was a ploy to get the pendant in her possession. This is when she learned that he’s a part of the Explorers. First off, I wonder how old their Pokémon are, because Diana had Arcanine for a very long time as well as Hamber with his Dusknoir, who had been a Dusclops back then. Second, I do wonder about the identity of Hamber. He’s been around for a long time. How exactly did he came across Gibeon and start working for him? Is he a relative of Amethio’s or is he Lucca’s father, given that Lucca’s hair is a darker shade of black compared to Diana? The second most important thing revealed in this episode: Lucius was the founder of the Explorers. Back then, there were three people, Lucius, Gibeon, and the elusive Rystal who was mentioned in the previous episode. Lucius is a familiar name to all of them, and Rystal is a name they just heard of recently. Gibeon however is still an unfamiliar name to them, except for Liko. It seems like Friede’s bad habit of not telling important information has rubbed off onto her. Liko tells them that Gibeon is Amethio’s grandfather. Diana then tells the group that Exceed's President is named Gibeon. This surprises Friede because he never knew the President; he was only familiar with the director, Crave.
Gibeon and Amethio’s family tree is actually a topic of debate between a friend and me. The reason being that Amethio calls Gibeon "Grandfather". Given how old Gibeon is, I feel that Gibeon could be a great grandfather or a great-great grandfather or even further back in generations, and it's just that he's being called "Grandfather". Meanwhile, my friend thinks that he’s just a grandfather, and that he just had kids late due to his possible immortality. What do you think about this? Can a grandfather from several generations back still just be called grandfather? Now that Gibeon’s relation to Exceed is revealed, I also have to wonder about Director Crave, Friede’s former boss. Is he Amethio’s father? Is he Gibeon’s son? Is he Hamber’s son? What do you think about his possible identity?
Now for Rystal, this is where the group decide to go to the Crystal Pool to try out the legend of meeting the deceased. Did you know that before Rystal’s reveal, people had assumed the woman in the fog, a scene that had been revealed during the reveal of the fourth arc a few months back, was Liko from the future? Crazy, right? I’m glad that theory has been debunked because it was ridiculous. Rystal was Lucius’s wife and Terapagos’s former Trainer; she named it Pagogo. She doesn’t reveal much about herself because she’s confused about meeting these people from the future. However, once she lets her guard down, she does reveal one more important thing: her daughter’s name is Leila, which happens to be the name of Diana’s mother. This means that Rystal is Liko’s great-great grandmother and that Lucius is Liko’s great-great grandfather, an obvious reveal. From what I’ve seen of Rystal so far, she seems like a kind but fun person, who has a bit of a temper, but is also accepting of what is going on around her. Given how she spoke about Lucius and being relieved to see his Pokémon, it’s sort of tells that Rystal had to raise Leila alone. Terapagos wasn’t with her as well. She must have been really lonely without her husband and friends, despite having a daughter. I honestly can’t wait to learn more about her next episode.
It’s pretty crazy to learn so much about Liko’s family history in one episode. I can’t wait for next week’s episode. I am really curious to see the Explorers’ story and how their outcome came to be the way it is in the present. What are your thoughts on everything that was revealed in this episode?
