Characters / Pokémon Horizons: The Series

aka: Pokemon Horizons The Series Antagonists

Main Character Index > Pokémon Horizons: The Series

This is specifically for characters and their Pokémon that debuted during Pokémon Horizons: The Series. For more characters of the Pokémon: The Series anime, click here.

Warning: Early reveals that are taken as a Late-Arrival Spoiler in later episodes are unmarked. Unlike past series of the Pokemon Anime, Horizons rarely has supporting characters appear in just one episode, and many of these characters play a huge role in the backstory and have shaped the current storyline and many of the recurring mysteries center around them. As such, this page has a lot of Spoilered Rotten tropes, so proceed at your own risk if you are not caught up with all episodes that have aired in Japan.

Rising Volt Tacklers

As a Group

The Rising Volt Tacklers keep a large number of Pokémon aboard their ship; while they don't belong to anyone specifically, their abilities are used to help out around the place.

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• Audience Surrogate: The adults on the crew stand in for older teen and adult fans who have played Pokémon for years, as they are adults who are highly knowledgeable of Pokémon and have clearly seen much of what happens before. Liko and Roy, of course, are surrogates for new players, having just received their starters and have to learn everything the adults already know. Due to her being related to Murdock and having a lot of knowledge of Pokémon despite being the same age as Liko and Roy, Dot may stand in for players who were introduced to the series at a young age by relatives and have a leg-up relative to others their age who are starting out fresh.
• Badass on Paper: Downplayed. They have a Cool Ship and travel around the world, but Friede is the only one who specializes at battling, and they're always struggling to stay within budget and not exhaust fuel and other resources, but manage to get by just fine.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Liko wears light blue while Roy wears red. Dot's travel clothes are green, yet she also has purple hair.
• Composite Character: The Rising Volt Tacklers mirror the cast of Journeys in many ways, but also mix and match several aspects of them.
  • Liko, Roy, and Dot mirror Ash, Goh, and Chloe from Journeys as the trio of kids. However, they mix and match several aspects of them.
    • Liko is the primary protagonist and viewpoint character of the show like Ash. However, her character arc more closely mirrors Chloe's, being a shy, soft-spoken girl trying to discover her place in the world of Pokémon and who she wants to be.
    • Roy is the dual protagonist of the series, much like Goh. His personality, however, mirrors Ash's, being a hot-blooded and passionate boy with a big dream, wanting to become a legendary Trainer who can challenge the Pokémon of legend.
    • Dot is the situational tritagonist who occasionally joins Liko and Roy in their adventures, just as Chloe did with Ash and Goh. Her personality is closer to Goh's, however, in that she is an introverted shut-in who is booksmart and tech-savvy, but has trouble socializing with others.
  • Friede is akin to Professor Cerise in being a Professor who looks after the trio of kids but is more active and has similarities in personality and skill to Ash, right down to possessing a Pikachu and Charizard of his own.
• Five-Man Band:
  • Professor Friede is The Leader who is the group's primary battler and head researcher, tasked with protecting the members from harm.
  • Orla is The Engineer, who tends to repair the ship and keep it from falling apart.
  • Murdock is The Heart, being a big, lovable guy who keeps the team fed and happy.
  • Mollie is The Medic, who helps tend to the group's injuries and keeps them healthy.
  • Ludlow is The Quiet One on the team, usually keeping to himself, but nevertheless helps to impart the occasional pearls of wisdom.
  • Dot is The Smart Guy, being a brilliant technician who designed and maintained the group's systems, but prefers to keep to herself while moonlighting as Nidothing.
  • Liko and Roy are the The Sixth Ranger, being the latest members to join the crew and the least experienced among them.
• Dub Name Change: Their ship, the Brave Olivine, was changed from its original Japanese name, the Brave Asagi.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: With Liko and Roy as their newest members, the group as a whole has four male members (Friede, Murdock, Ludlow, and Roy) and four female members (Orla, Mollie, Liko, and Dot).
• Hired Guns: They first meet Liko because they were hired to protect her. That said, they quickly start to bond with her and decide to protect her regardless if they'll ever get paid for it or not. They don't do any other jobs during the first stretch of the series, but during the second arc, they run out of funds and start doing jobs again, though it is clarified that it is usually just Friede who does them, while the others mostly do freelance work concerning their specializations, though now Liko and Roy join him.
• Mundane Utility: The Rising Volt Tacklers use the Pokémon for various mundane tasks around the ship; for example, a Slugma uses its fire to power the engines, and an Alolan Muk eats any garbage they need to dispose of.
• Mythology Gag: Besides Pikachu and Charizard, many of the Pokémon they own are variations of members of Ash's team, such as a normal Noctowl, an Alolan Muk, and a Snorunt.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • Liko is the shy, soft-spoken Blue Oni and Roy is the passionate, fiery Red Oni.
  • Liko is the adventurous Red Oni and Dot is the Defrosting Ice Queen Blue Oni.
  • Friede is the Battle-ready Red Oni and Murdock is the laid-back Blue Oni.
  • Orla is the workaholic Red Oni and Mollie is The Stoic Blue Oni.
• Secret-Keeper: Episode 13 reveals that Friede and Murdock at least know that Nidothing's true identity is Dot. When they see a very excited Liko fangirl about Nidothing when she receives a photo of the streamer with Ludlow and Quaxly enjoying their indoor picnic, Friede has considered telling her about Nidothing's true identity but Murdock decides that it's best for Dot to tell Liko about it herself.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl:
  • Liko is the Girly Girl and Dot is the Tomboy.
  • Orla, being the teams mechanic is the Tomboy, and Mollie, being The Medic is the Girly Girl.
• Undying Loyalty: When the Explorers come right to where they docked, everyone comes out to battle even though without Friede they were overmatched, and they in general always help each other out when one asks for it.

Kids

Liko

I won't find anything unless I look for it myself!

Voiced in Japanese by: Minori Suzuki

Voiced in English by: Alejandra Reynoso

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Erika Ugalde

The new lead protagonist of Pokémon Horizons, she's a girl from the Paldea region with a mysterious, awe-inspiring pendant given to her by her grandmother, having traveled to the Kanto Region to attend the Indigo Academy her parents once attended. Little does she know that her life is about to change forever, as two parties have taken interest in her pendant, starting her own Pokémon Journey far beyond her wildest dreams.

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• Affirmative-Action Legacy: In a sense; while there were plenty of female main characters before Liko, they were companions to the actual main protagonist, Ash, who she's replacing as the next main character.
• Ambiguously Related: There's a strong hint that she may be related to the ancient hero Lucius, as his shiny Rayquaza gives her a longing look, and she's the one who's been primarily helping to calm his other Pokémon down when she encounters them.
• Amnesia Episode: Because of Spinel, she spends Episode 15 wandering around Levincia without her memories. Fortunately, Iono and Dot are able to use their respective streaming platforms to get people to find her without compromising her identity or her pendant.
• Attack! Attack! Attack!: An early flaw in her battle style. While Sprigatito's ability to create an unusually high amount of leaves for its Leafage move is a useful trait, Liko ends up defaulting to just spamming the move in her initial battles. Even her idea of misdirection is simply to use the leaves as a smokescreen, something experienced trainers like Amenthio and Friede can easily predict and counter. She realizes her mistake after a training battle with Captain Pikachu in Episode 7, which teaches her the importance of adapting your battle plan based on what your foe does, instead of sticking to the first plan that worked.
• Audience Surrogate: As a newcomer to the Pokémon world, she's treated like a new player being introduced to the series for the first time and lacking both the skills and the knowledge to handle it properly to start, while slowly growing more comfortable with the world over time.
• Big "WHAT?!": Lets out a particularly large one with Sprigatito when Dot finally (with some prodding from her now-partnered Quaxly) confesses that she is the person behind Nidothing.
• Blue Is Heroic: She has several shades of blue as part of her color scheme, and she's one of two new main characters replacing Ash in the anime.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In Episode 18, she and Roy do a variant of Nidothing's introductory catchphrase as part of their plan to learn about Captain Pikachu's flying abilities which Dot is filming as a Nidothing video.
• Brainy Brunette: She's got black/bluish hair and is fairly knowledgeable about Pokémon, though it's Downplayed as she's still a rookie with a long way to go before she has what it takes To Be a Master.
• Breaking Old Trends:
  • She's the first lead character of the anime who isn't based on any of the characters from the games.^note Ash himself doesn't count, as he was explicitly based on, but later diverged from, Red
  • She's the first female character since May to get a Grass Type as her Starter Pokémon, and the first to be given one (unlike May, who caught her Bulbasaur).
  • She's the first female character to catch a Generation 8 Pokémon^note Chloe's Yamper doesn't count, since he was a family pet, and is formally considered to be owned by her father., and the first to catch a gender-specific Pokémon since Mallow's Tsareena.
  • She's also the first character to have her grandmother in a more active role, as most of the other leads never mentioned their grandparents, they only appeared sporadically (like Goh's grandmother), or had already passed away before they debuted (like Kiawe's).
  • She's also the first protagonist to explicitly own a female starter since Ash's Snivy and the first to have her starter's gender confirmed since Serena's Delphox.
  • She's also the first character to have her Grass Starter evolve since Ash's Torterra, as all of them since his Snivy had never done so. She's also the only one with an evolved female Grass Starter besides May.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: More like Brilliant But Not Driven than anything. Liko has shown in multiple occasions to have a natural talent for battling, being able to adapt and think on her feet in situations with ease, and device unorthodox strategies on the fly. However, her lack of a personal goal and her willingness to prioritize others' happiness over hers means she doesn't utilize aforementioned talent to its fullest potential. This is in contrast to Roy who possesses a strong drive and determination to pursue his goals but is held back by his lack of talent as a Trainer and battler even when compared to her.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": A subtle one, but the League logo hairpin she wears is a stylized "L", which could stand "League" or "Liko" in her case.
• Canon Foreigner: She's an exclusive creation for the anime, unlike Ash, who was based on Red.
• Character Development:
  • Early on, she was relying on spamming Sprigatito's Leafage because it initially worked for her, but a special training session with Captain Pikachu helped her to learn she needs to strategize properly. In Episode 11, she employs such a strategy when she tag-teams with Roy against a giant Arboliva, using Sprigatito to distract the massive Pokémon to give Roy's Fuecoco an opening to strike.
  • In Galar, she realizes she has become a doormat, being nice to everyone else at the expense of her own progress, losing a competition to Roy, and angering Sprigatito after forfeiting a battle. At the end of episode 20, she is lost in thought late into the night upon this realization.
• The Chosen One: The Terapagos in her pendant only responds to her, though how that is has yet to be explained. It later decides to stop hiding in her pendant and begins traveling in her backpack full time. Liko's Grandmother suspects that Terapagos may have been Lucius' partner, and the implied relation between him and Liko indicates why it chose her.
• Comically Missing the Point: She notices that Dot has both a Quaxly and a Nidothing costume, but she mistakenly assumes she's a Nidothing fan and has no idea that Dot's really the streamer. Luckily, Dot puts a stop to the misunderstandings and reveals she is the real Nidothing in Episode 16.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: While both Liko and Ash both had difficulties bonding with their eventual partners in their first episodes and said partner Pokémon has enormous potential, that's where the similarities end. To differentiate between the two:
  • Unlike the hot-headed, sociable, and confident Idiot Hero that is Ash Ketchum, Liko is soft-spoken, socially awkward, and initially unsure of herself. Ash is also highly trusting and an infamously Horrible Judge of Character when it comes to Team Rocket's schemes, unlike Liko who immediately becomes suspicious of Amethio demanding her pendant.
  • Ash only had his mother around, with his father only being mentioned once on a journey of his own (and his grandfather in the original Japanese). Liko implies both of her parents and her grandmother are still around in her life. Furthermore, Delia Ketchum's life outside of having been one of Professor Oak's students is unclear (supplemental material says she runs a restaurant), while from what little has been said about Liko's parents, they were attendees of the Indigo Academy. We later learn that Liko's father works as an artist, making picture books, while her mother is a schoolteacher.
  • She notably doesn't have a set goal in mind of what she wants to do as a trainer, whereas Ash's only goal was To Be a Master. This turns out to be plot-relevant, as it's revealed she's more concerned with making other people happy, much to her detriment.
• Cuddle Bug: She loves cuddling with Sprigatito, much to the grass cat's initial dismay. Her first attempt ends with her getting scratched.
• Curbstomp Battle: In her encounters with Amethio, she gets utterly destroyed, although it's justified in that she's just a rookie.
• The Cutie: She's played as a shy, kind young girl with a very innocent outlook on life, who's under the protection of a group of renowned researchers and travelers.
• Damsel in Distress: She ends up the target of Amethio and The Explorers over her pendant, putting her in plenty of unexpected danger until Friede comes along and rescues her.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of Ash's Nice Guy status back during his run. Ash's altruism, even during his brattier days in Kanto, always won out, and he did the right thing simply because he felt he should. Although this would bite him in the rear every once in a while^note Notably, his willingness to take in Charmander resulted in him getting a powerful, but disobedient Pokémon when he evolved, but even then it won out when he saved Charizard's life and made a loyal friend out of him. Another instance would be in Kalos, where him stopping to help everyone out allowed his rivals to catch up to him, and him inspiring Alain led to his defeat in the Kalos League, though he was still considered the better trainer after Lysandre's attack., his willingness to put others' needs before his own made him Loved by All and furthered his growth from an overconfident rookie to a World Champion. Unfortunately, Liko's Nice Girl behavior, while admirable, lacks any backbone to say no, and won't draw the line if it means keeping everyone pleased. As a result, her own personal growth is stunted, and she's left contemplating about this by the end of Episode 20.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: She partakes in the "Rising Volt Tackler's Rap" with the rest of the group.
• The Empath: She may not have Ash's confidence, but Liko seems to share his gift for understanding Pokémon and what they want. In dealing with Lucius' ancient Pokémon when they go on a rampage of some kind, Liko is able to calm them down and get them to entrust themselves in her care.
• Extreme Doormat: She's very eager to please people and make them happy, but this proves to be a problem for her. By forfeiting her match to Wakaba just to try and make her happy, she leaves her opponent disappointed she won by default, and her Sprigatito was even less pleased that she threw in the towel without even trying.
• Establishing Character Moment: She's first introduced finding the bus stop, another girl seemingly waves to her, and Liko waves back but it turns out that the girl is waving to someone behind Liko. On the bus, the two girls watch a video of Nidothing on their phone and Liko wishes she could talk to them as she loves Nidothing as well but she's too shy to interact with them.
• Famous Ancestor: Both of her parents were mentioned as prominent alumni of the Indigo Academy. It's also implied by the Shiny Rayquaza's reaction that Liko may be related to Lucius, the fabled ancient adventurer and hero.
• Fangirl: She's a huge fan of Nidothing. Little does she know that Dot, the Rising Volt Tackler who refuses to leave her room, happens to be Nidothing's true identity.
• Fatal Flaw:
  • Like May before her, Liko is fairly underconfident in her skills. Despite being fairly gifted and intelligent in the world of Pokémon, she isn't sure she has what it takes to battle properly, with Sprigatito's early disobedience troubles not helping matters. Even when she starts to get a taste of battling, she's still not sure how to approach it properly, as she has Sprigatito spam Leafage rather than adapt her strategy to match what her opponent is doing—an effort of which Friede is able to point out won't help her in the long run.
  • She is an extreme people-pleaser to an unhealthy degree, sacrificing her own progress and happiness to make sure everyone else is happy and stunting her own progress. When she faced Gym Trainer apprentice Wakaba and was told that the battle would be one of her tests, Liko forfeited to make sure she wouldn't be badly affected by it, but Wakaba was then disappointed that she won by forfeit and Sprigatito was unhappy about it, finally seeing that there are problems being that way and that she was an Extreme Doormat, and was deep in thought about it as episode 20 ended.
• Forgotten First Meeting: Episode 18 shows that Liko actually first met Professor Friede when she was younger, having walked into a video call between him and her mother. Since it was only a brief moment, she naturally doesn't recognise him at all when he introduces himself to her in the present.
• Generation Xerox: Although her grandmother's face was hidden behind a blinding light in a dream sequence, what little is seen of her shows that Liko inherited her eye and hair color. When Liko's grandmother did appear in her youth, she is a spitting image of Liko, hairstyle aside.
• Good Luck Charm: Her pendant was given to her by her grandmother for good luck. It winds up becoming central to the series, as The Explorers want it for their own ends.
• Green Thumb: Her first partner is a Sprigatito, a Grass-type.
• Grew a Spine: She builds up the confidence to stand up for herself, asking her father to continue going on a Pokémon Journey with the Rising Volt Tacklers rather than stay at home.
• Her Own Worst Enemy: By bending over backwards to please everyone, feeling that being a Nice Girl requires her to put others needs before her own, she's finding herself unable to grow as a Pokémon Trainer.
• Inconsistent Spelling: At first. As L and R are the same letter in Japanese, she was sometimes spelled as "Riko" in early Japanese promotional materials. That said, this is now averted, because as soon as official English marketing settled on "Liko", Japanese material also started exclusively spelling it like that.
• Inner Monologue: Unlike the past series that had a disembodied Narrator recount the adventures of Ash and Pikachu to the audience, we often get to hear Liko's thoughts on things, both within the episode and recounting the current story, which adds to her introspective nature.
• Innocent Blue Eyes: She's a fairly socially awkward character with a Nice Girl disposition, and has the big blue eyes to match.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • In episode 8, she tries to befriend Dot because she mistakenly believes that she's a fellow fan of Nidothing (unaware Dot really is Nidothing), but Dot angrily shuts her out because she hates socializing with anyone.
  • Later, during episode 20, Liko decides to throw her fight against Wakaba during her and Roy's tag match against her and Kabu. Unfortunately, Wakaba is more offended by this than appreciative, since in her mind it means that she didn't rightfully earn her victory.
• Internal Reveal: In Episode 24, she finally learns the name of the Pokémon hiding inside her pendant — Terapagos.
• Kindhearted Cat Lover: While the Pokemon isn't quite appreciative at first, she adores Sprigatito, trying to hug her with delight when they first meet.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Once Liko analyzes the current situation (Two groups are both looking for her due to the pendant and several events have happened as a result), her conclusion is as thus:
  Liko: (internally) "Am I the heroine in some story?!"
• Like Father, Like Son: Liko often draws pictures in her diary entries. It is later revealed that her father, Alex is a painter who draws Pokémon picture books.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • To the Rising Volt Tacklers' exasperation, Friede forgot to mention to Liko that they're an explorer group dedicated to researching the mysteries of the Pokémon World, and Liko's mother had hired them to look after her and her pendant. She doesn't learn the full details until episode 3, leading her to feel wary of the team before then.
  • Dot's true identity as Nidothing is no secret to the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers, but goes straight over Liko's head, even when she's presented with evidence of it. When Friede is about to spell it out to Liko in episode 13, Murdock stops him so Dot can tell Liko on her own terms once she's ready.
• MacGuffin: Her pendant holds a mysterious power, though its true nature is initially unknown. It was passed down to her from her grandmother, Diana, and it is the catalyst that starts Liko's adventure. The Explorers track her down to try to take it for themselves, prompting the Rising Volt Tacklers to come and rescue her. It also has a strong reaction to Roy's mysterious Poké Ball. It is later revealed to have been Terapagos itself in its dormant form. It partially awakens a few times to protect Liko, and eventually permanently awakens after Liko tames the hero Galarian Moltres.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Her hairpin is the exact same shape as the logo on Ash's original hat.
  • In addition, her very name is a transliteration/homonym for that of Ash's Japanese VA, Rica Matsumoto.
  • Her outfit is the same coloration as an Oshawott, not unlike the one Ash or her roommate Ann owns.
  • Liko mistaking Dot as being a Nidothing fan instead of recognizing the obvious clues she is Nidothing harkens back to Ash not realizing the mysterious psychically-empowered man who's trying to help him beat Sabrina and knows so much about it is Sabrina's father. Or more generally, being unable to recognize the Team Rocket trio in various disguises throughout the series.
  • Her trainer ID, 230414, is the release date of the series in Japan.
• Nice Girl: Although shy, Liko is a kind and polite girl who can easily make friends with other people to a fault, sacrificing her own progress to make others happy as Kabu pointed out to her (see Fatal Flaw above).
• No Social Skills: She has trouble socializing with others, having often been told by them that they can't tell what she's thinking if her internal monologues are anything to go by. Later Played for Drama as Liko thought being nice meant putting other people's happiness above hers, causing her to become a doormat and Roy to pass her up, as seen in their Gym competition game.
• Opposites Attract: A platonic variant; she and Roy became fast friends despite their initial polar opposite personalities.
• Pals with Jesus: She winds up becoming a protectorate of the Legendary Pokémon Terapagos, though it takes her several episodes to understand the meaning behind this connection.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Her relationship with Roy is this, the two quickly becoming close friends and often being very similar to each other when together.
• Psychic Powers: She obtains the Psychic Type Hatenna in Episode 21.
• Shrinking Violet: She tends to be shy and reserved around new people. If things get really uncomfortable, she has a tendency to freeze up.
• Socially Awkward Hero: She's noticeably more shy around others than most of the series' leads, though she's internally eager to make friends where she can.
• Stock Shoujo Heroine: If Ash Ketchum was a Stock Shōnen Hero, then Liko is written as a Stock Shoujo Heroine and displays a few traits of one: she starts off as a shy studious school girl who is suddenly thrust into adventure when she is targeted by an evil organization who wants her pendant. Her character arc seems to revolve around her personal growth and her relationships with others.
• Uncatty Resemblance: An ironic example, as her outfit and bag bear a striking resemblance to Oshawott and its scalchop, but she doesn't own one herself (her roommate Ann does).
• When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Early on she only knows one move Sprigatito can use, Leafage, but manages to get a fair bit done with just it, often using it as a makeshift smokescreen. Even after learning Quick Attack, she still mostly uses Leafage, but In episode 20, she showed she and Sprigatito had developed some versatility with it, with the latter firing it in different sizes, hitting more targets when it was larger and being more precise when smaller.

Liko's Pokémon

Sprigatito (Nyahoja) > Floragato (Nyarote)

Voiced in Japanese by: Megumi Hayashibara

Voiced in English by: Kira Buckland

Liko's starter, a finicky grass cat who initially is not openly fond of her new trainer. Later evolves into Floragato in a battle against the Black Rayquaza.

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• Accessory-Wearing Cartoon Animal: Upon evolving into Floragato, she gains a small flower over her left shoulder.
• Action Initiative: Learns Quick Attack in HZ007.
• Actor Allusion: This isn't the first Pokémon cat that Megumi Hayashibara has voiced in the series, having provided the voice for May's Skitty on Advanced Generation. This is also, in fact, her fourth time voicing the protagonist's grass starter, having voiced Ash's Bulbasaur in the Original series, his Snivy in Best Wishes, and his Rowlet in Sun & Moon.
• Always Accurate Attack: Learns Magical Leaf in HZ040, allowing her to aim her attack at a Spidops without hurting its hostages.
• Blood Knight: Loves battling and never shies away from other physical activities. When Liko forfeits in episode 20 to ensure Wakaba doesn't fail the test as part of her apprenticeship program, Sprigatito gives perhaps the biggest example of Tranquil Fury ever seen in the series.
• Breaking Old Trends: She's the first Grass Starter to evolve since Ash's Torterra, ending a drought of Grass Starters not evolving that began with Ash's Snivy. She's also the fastest of the bunch to evolve compared to those that did, with a record of 44. ^note Ash's Bayleef evolved after 73 episodes, his Sceptile evolved after 59 episodes the first time, and 95 the second, and the aforementioned Torterra evolved the first time after 95 episodes and the second time after 66. May's Venusaur evolved twice after only 60 episodes as a Bulbasaur but was never seen evolving.
• Canon Immigrant: She was made playable in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet after the launch of the dub in the US, being made available to obtain via a limited-time code.
• Cats Are Mean: Downplayed. Not friendly to Liko at first, but does care for her deep down.
• Cats Hate Water: Shown in episode 8 after Liko accidentally splashes her with just a little bit of water while mopping the floor, causing the cat to recoil and hiss at her, despite being also a Grass-Type Pokémon, who should have enjoyed getting splashed by water.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Does not like Fidough stealing Liko's attention away from her.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • To Ash's Pikachu. The two are both starters given to the lead protagonists who are disobedient at first. However, Pikachu initially hated his trainer, but after Ash saved his life, Pikachu grew very fond of him. Sprigatito is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold that does care for her trainer but isn't very affectionate. Additionally, while Pikachu never displayed tendencies of real-world mice, Sprigatito constantly sunbathes, purrs, and reaches for things slightly out-of-reach like real-world cats do.
  • Another key point distinguishing the two is that Pikachu wholeheartedly refused to evolve into Raichu, wanting to prove that he could grow more powerful on his own merits. Sprigatito evolves into Floragato in episode 45.
• Cute Kitten: Sprigatito is so adorable that Liko suffers Cuteness Proximity when she first sees the cat, trying to immediately pet Sprigatito despite her new Pokémon being rather fussy about being touched.
• Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Occasionally pokes Liko in the eye, never truly intending to harm her but always getting a grunt out of Liko. She seems to be this with her Leafage, but it was an act. She initially was popular amongst her kin for her strong Leafage that she could use to soften falls and the like, but after accidentally hurting them while trying to save them from a Spidops, she didn’t use it for a while after that. When they became partners, Liko at first thought she didn't use it because she was too weak, but it was actually that she was holding back her own strength.
• A Dog Named "Perro": Her name contains the word "gato", which is Spanish for cat.
• Evil-Detecting Cat: When Liko first encounters Amethio, Sprigatito growls at him. It takes other signs for Liko not to trust him, but Sprigatito immediately knows that Amethio isn't to be trusted.
• Foil: Sprigatito is the exact opposite of Roy's Fuecoco in every way—whereas the fire croc is a male Fire Type with a friendlier disposition and a more varied move pool, Sprigatito is a female Grass Type who's a lot more aloof with an occasional willingness to show affection, in addition to having less moves more suited to her typing. In addition, Fuecoco hasn't evolved, but Sprigatito has.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Ironic considering she doesn't actually have green eyes, but she doesn't like Liko paying attention to other Pokémon, which fits her species' Dex entries. Inverted in Episode 21, though; when Liko released Hatenna back into the wild, it was Sprigatito who stopped her from leaving and convinced her to join Liko.
• Green Thumb: She's a Grass-type and she knows the moves Leafage and Magical Leaf.
• Hates Being Touched: Downplayed. Sprigatito doesn't mind being touched, but hates being cuddled or given too much affection. When Liko first tried to hug the cat, she scratched her!
  • Subverted once she evolves, as she willingly initates a hug with Liko.
• Irony:
  • Sprigatito is a Grass-type Pokémon, yet hates getting wet due to being a cat.
  • Sprigatito is a Blood Knight with a fittingly large attitude who is eager to get stronger, while her owner Liko is incredibly polite and soft-spoken to the point she stunts her own growth to make everyone else happy, including forfeiting a battle the opponent really needed to win which was completely antithetical to what Sprigatito wanted. That said, the person who ran the breeding place Sprigatito came from in episode 40 says Sprigatito seemed to somehow jive with Liko so it was not against all odds that they became partners.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Starts out aloof and snappish with Liko. Despite this, she's shown to be very protective of her. Even her typically jealous tendencies didn't stop her from encouraging Liko to catch Hatenna.
• Lonely Among People: While she could coexist with the other Sprigatito at the place where she was bred, she still ultimately preferred sunbathing by herself on the roof.
• My Greatest Second Chance: HZ040 has her make up for an incident from her past (hurting some friends when trying to rescue them from a Spidops) by learning Magical Leaf so her attack will hit the same Spidops without hitting Hatenna and Terapagos.
• Oxymoronic Being: Despite being a Grass-type Pokémon that theoretically could tolerate water far better than Litten or Meowth, Liko's Sprigatito has a cat's stereotypical hatred of water.
• Parrot Pet Position: After becoming closer to Liko, she starts hanging out on her shoulder.
• Signature Mon: Liko has made the Grass Cat Pokémon part of her identity on social media as evidenced by her username "SprigatitoLove".
• Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration: The Pokemon website page for the species mentions that they hate their trainers paying attention to other Pokémon. Sprigatito is like this at first, as she grows jealous of Liko playing with a Fidough, but she starts to grow out of this behavior.
• Starter Mon: She serves as Liko's first partner.
• Took a Level in Badass: She ultimately evolves into Floragato in Episode 45.
• Took a Level in Kindness: After the first couple of episodes, Sprigatito is much friendlier to Liko and other Pokémon.
• Tranquil Fury: When Liko deliberately throws a battle, Sprigatito stares at her with the most pissed off look on her face for her doing that.

Hatenna (Mibrim)

Voiced by: Kei Shindō

A Hatenna that Liko found in a shed while waiting out a rainstorm. She is a very sensitive Pokémon that detests conflict and loud noises.

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• Because You Were Nice to Me: She bonds with Liko because the girl was the first to try and help her feel more comfortable around people.
• Breaking Old Trends: In the previous series, the number of Psychic-type Pokémon belonging to the main characters could be counted on one hand^note This includes Misty's Starmie, Ash's Mr. Mime, and Serena's Delphox as most of them belonged to the Team Rocket trio.^note Jessie's Wobbuffet and Woobat and James' Mime Jr., Chimecho and Inkay. The same applies to Fairy-type Pokémon, which the final member of Hatenna's line is.^note Ash's Mr. Mime again, Dawn's Togekiss, Clemont's Dedenne, Serena's Sylveon, Lana's Primarina and Jessie's Mimikyu; Misty's Togetic, Tracey's Marill and James's Mime Jr. all had the Fairy-type retroactively applied to them after they were retired from the main cast. Brock did also have a Comfey that only appeared in one episode. Hatenna is the first actual capture by Liko.
• The Eeyore: She can get depressed rather easily if she senses strong negative emotions.
• The Empath: Played for drama. The Hattena line is known for being able to sense and feel another person's emotions, but they can also overwhelm her extremely easily to the point that she constantly runs away to a solitary place as a result.
• The Medic: Learns Heal Pulse after watching Mollie's Chansey do it, helping to save the rest of the injured Maushold family.
• In the Hood: Played Literally. She likes to sleep in Liko's hood.
• Living Lie Detector: Because of her ability to detect the emotions of other people, Hatenna is able to sense when another person that the group is meeting may have ill intentions for them such as Tepen.
• Mythology Gag: Her liking to sleep in Liko's hood is not unlike Ash's Rowlet's tendency to sleep in his owner's backpack.
• Nervous Wreck: If exposed to loud noises or any form of conflict, she tends to fall apart very quickly.
• Psychic Powers: She is a Psychic-type, and can use the move Confusion.
• Shrinking Violet: Her species can pick up the emotions of others, which makes her very nervous around humans. For bonus points, she is colored violet herself.

Roy

I want to challenge the Pokémon from the legends!

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuka Terasaki

Voiced in English by: Anjali Kunapaneni

Voiced in Latin American Spanish by: Ana Lobo

Pokémon Horizons's other new protagonist, he's a boy from the Kanto region in possession of a mysterious Poké Ball. He hasn't become a trainer yet, but he aims to challenge the Pokémon he's heard about from the legends his grandfather told him.

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• Ambiguously Absent Parents: Nothing has been brought up regarding where his parents are, with it being shown so far that his grandfather is the only living relative he has.
• Ambiguously Brown: He has a notably darker skin color than Liko. He is from an island in Kanto, so he could just be a dark-skinned Asian.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In Episode 18, he and Liko do a variant of Nidothing's introductory catchphrase as part of their plan to know about Captain Pikachu's flying abilities which Dot is filming as a Nidothing video.
• Breaking Old Trends: He manages to catch a Wattrel in Episode 14 before Liko has caught a single Pokémon, in contrast to how Ash would always catch a new Pokémon in the region before his friends did.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": He's wearing a red shirt with a yellow-colored, R-shaped Unown on it, reflecting the first letter of his name.
• Canon Foreigner: He's an exclusive character to the anime, much like Tracey, Max, and Goh before him.
• Can't Catch Up: Despite getting the lion's share of development in terms of Pokémon battles, with his Fuecoco already learning 3 moves, and coming up with a Combination Attack between his Fuecoco and Wattrel, Roy has been consistently shown to be behind Liko and Dot in battle aptitude and skill. Liko defeated him with a type disadvantage twice and would have won their Litwick flame competition had she not been distracted by Roy's improvement and determination during the event. And to make this even worse, Dot is able to win a battle by her own merit against a trainer despite becoming a trainer later than Liko and Roy COMBINED.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: As the replacement for Goh as a dual protagonist, Roy is very different from his Vermilion City predecessor.
  • Goh was a city boy living in an apartment in Vermilion City with his parents, albeit somewhat estranged from them. Meanwhile, Roy is a small-town boy from an island mostly filled with Pokémon, raised exclusively by his grandfather, whom he shares a close relationship with.
  • Goh was a new Trainer partnering with a more veteran Trainer in Ash at the beginning of his journey as a Research Fellow for Professor Cerise. Contrarily, Roy, while also a new Trainer, is partnered with Liko, who is just as new to being a Trainer as Roy is, as a fellow member of the Rising Volt Tacklers.
  • Goh was very anti-social except for Ash and Chloe and really didn't have any friends because he was too obsessed with trying to find Mew all his life, and even then his friendship with Ash had a fair share of bumps because Goh could easily take any negative action as a "betrayal", to his own detriment. Roy is notably more friendly despite being raised by himself on a less populous island, and he and Liko get along much better.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Kind of. His magenta eyes match the tuft of magenta hair coming from his hat.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: While Liko takes after her predecessor's empathic side, Roy takes after Ash's adventurous Blood Knight side. Despite always itching for adventuring and battling, Roy isn't a prodigy like Ash nor is he armed with as much knowledge as Liko. Whenever he tries to jump into a battle, his strategies are too simple and straightforward to give him any real edge. Even if his Fuecoco is armed with powerful moves like Ash's Pikachu, he couldn't power through his battles without any real strategy. Despite having the same drive and resolve to battle like other protagonists, it's not enough to push him to victory.
• Deuteragonist: He's the co-protagonist of Horizons, but the main story primarily follows Liko, with Roy's desire to challenge Pokémon of his childhood stories complementing her journey to uncover the mystery of Lucius and his Pokémon team.
• Dub Name Change: He's called "Rory" in the German dub, Rod in the Spanish dub, Rhod in the French dub, and Rain in the Portuguese dub to avoid conflicting with Raihan, who's called Roy in all of those dubs.
• Expy: Of Ash Ketchum, the previous anime protagonist. Both of them wear a cap, are upbeat, and seek adventure. Their starters are (or start as) small yet armed with high-powered moves available at later levels. They also have a rough start to their journey, being attacked by wild Pokémon in the forest and having to deal with a villainous team right away. And compared to their female protagonists, are more eager to battle.
• Genki Guy: He's quite excitable and upbeat, especially when it comes to Pokémon.
• Goal in Life: He doesn't want to be just any Pokémon Trainer; he aims to be the one to challenge all of the Pokémon from the legends. After losing to Rayquaza in battle, his goal shifts from challenging it, to becoming strong enough for it to approve of him
• High Hopes, Zero Talent: In contrast to Liko, while Roy possesses a strong drive and passion to pursue a great dream to challenge the Pokémon of legends with determination and willpower, he is held back by being uniquely talentless as a Trainer and battler. While he is able to bring out Fuecoco's Ember through the power of song and voice, he lacks the aptitude for coming up with complex strategies to win in a battle and tends to focus on using powerful moves, which leads to his downfall. He has consistently been defeated in every battle he has partaken in as a result, and the only victory he can claim is against Liko in a contest to either light Litwick flames or put them out, which was entirely due to Liko silently allowing Roy to win due to being awed by his drive, and not because Roy was actually more skilled as a Trainer.
• Hot-Blooded: Deconstructed. Roy, like Ash before him, is eager for battle, but unlike Ash, he lacks actual sound strategy and creativity whenever he rushes into a fight. This has resulted in him getting soundly beaten, as power alone isn't enough to claim victory.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He's trained himself to be able to throw stones with pinpoint accuracy, which he uses to help rescue Liko from a group of angry wild Pokémon.
• MacGuffin: He owns a mysterious Poké Ball with special powers, the nature of which is initially unknown. It is later revealed to contain a shiny Rayquaza.
• Mythology Gag:
  • His mystery Poké Ball reminds audiences of the GS Ball from the Orange Islands arc—the same ball that was meant to contain Celebi before it was decided otherwise, the ball was left at Kurt's, and never mentioned again. It also happens to contain a very rare variation of Rayquaza in its shiny form, similar to the planned Celebi.
  • Roy's Naranja Academy uniform is the Summer uniform from Pokémon Scarlet.
• Naïve Newcomer: Although he wants to be a Pokémon Trainer, he still has a lot to learn regarding the bond between him and any Pokémon he may catch. He wants Fuecoco to be his partner, but Friede explains that it has to be something that the Pokémon wants as much as the trainer.
• One of the Girls: Roy stands out as the only boy among the kids of the Rising Volt Tacklers, with his two closest friends being Liko and Dot. Made even more apparent at the Naranja Academy with Ann and Nemona also being close with the group. He does not seem to mind, however, and gets along with Liko and Dot incredibly well.
• Opposites Attract: A platonic variant; he and Liko became fast friends despite their initial polar opposite personalities.
• Platonic Life-Partners: Is this with Liko. The two quickly become close with each other and have excellent teamwork and are often similar to each other when working together.
• Playing with Fire: His partner is the Fire Type Fuecoco.
• Second Episode Introduction: While he is considered one of the two protagonists of the series, he isn't seen until the end of the third episode, since the initial episodes are dedicated to showing how Liko started her journey.
• Shock and Awe: His second catch is the Electric/Flying type Wattrel.

Roy's Pokémon

Fuecoco (Hogator)

Voiced in Japanese by: Daiki Yamashita

Voiced in English by: Zeno Robinson

A Fuecoco who was initially a part of the Rising Volt Tackler's gaggle of Pokémon before allowing himself to be caught by Roy.

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• Big Brother Worship: He looks up towards Friede's Charizard, a bigger and much more powerful Fire type.
• Big Eater: He can be pretty gluttonous, clearing out the entire berry stash of a bunch of wild Pokémon on one occasion.
• Casting Gag: He shares both of his voice actors with Goh, Ash's co-protagonist in in Journeys.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Unlike the other Fire starters, most of whom were either standard starters given to trainers (Blaziken and Delphox), previously abandoned by their trainers (Charizard, Infernape, and Pignite), wild Pokémon that wound up being caught by other trainers (Quilava), or ended up leaving a difficult life on the streets to end up in caring hands (Incineroar and Cinderace), Fuecoco was a shy little Fire Croc with a worshipper's complex of the more powerful Fire Pokémon that willingly chose to join Roy without a fight.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Due to his inexperience and his only move being a very finicky Ember attack, it winds up getting demolished by Amethio's Ceruledge. Later on, it ends up on the giving end of one of a wild Spearow attacking it after just one Ember attack, sending it packing quickly.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Learns Stomping Tantrum, a Ground-type move, in Episode 10.
• Foil: He's presented as the exact opposite of Liko's Sprigatito in every way. Sprigatito is female, more anti-social and aloof (though still caring), and learns only a handful of moves more suited to her typing. Fuecoco is male, a lot friendlier, and with a notable worship of Friede's Charizard, and learns a more varied move-pool that includes both Ground and Fairy-type attacks. As of now, Sprigatito has since evolved, while Fuecoco has yet to do so.
• The Klutz: The little fire croc winds up sliding off the Brave Olivine and into the water when the ship is forced to make an emergency landing.
• Performance Anxiety: As much as he loves to sing, he gets nervous whenever someone's around to hear it.
• Playing with Fire: He's a Fire-type by nature and can use the move Ember, though he initially has trouble doing so until Roy encourages it. He later learns Flamethrower in Episode 20, and Flame Charge in Episode 45.
• Super-Scream: He learns Disarming Voice in episode 37.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Learns Flamethrower during some special training with Kabu in Episode 20.
  • He learns Flame Charge in Episode 45, giving him access to a powerful speed-boosting move.

Wattrel (Kaiden)

Voiced by: Ayane Sakura

A Wattrel that Roy initially encountered when it stole his sandwich during a picnic and later helped teach how to fly.

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• Acrophobic Bird: It apparently couldn't fly because it was afraid of heights.
• Blow You Away: It is a Flying-type despite being initially unable to fly. It also knows the Flying-type move Peck and has the ability Wind Power, which explicitly powers up its Electric attacks in strong winds.
• Breaking Old Trends: More like "restoring previously broken old trends": It's the first regional bird caught by the lead protagonists since Ash caught his Fletchling back in XY, as neither Pikipek nor Rookidee were obtained by any of the series leads.
• Handicapped Badass: It's smaller than the usual Wattrel and can't use the wind as much as others, but still has displayed a lot of power.
• The Napoleon: It tries to compensate for its smaller size with a tough and aggressive demeanor.
• Out of Focus: It doesn't make a lot of appearances after its capture, with Roy sticking to Fuecoco whenever he needs to battle.
• Perpetual Frowner: The Wattrel species as a whole is known for having a friendly appearance, yet this one is almost always shown with a tense expression that would rival a Toucannon's.
• Shock and Awe: It's part Electric-type, and can generate electricity by flapping its wings. Wattrel eventually learns the Electric-type move Spark after a bit of training in Episode 17.
• Toothy Bird: When it's angry, it's sometimes drawn gritting teeth.
• Ungrateful Bastard: When Fuecoco offered to share the sandwich with it, Wattrel took both pieces for itself.

Dot

I mean, why is everyone on this ship a total werido?

^{Click here to see Nidothing}

Voiced by: Yoshino Aoyama

Voiced in English by: Faye Mata

Dot is the reclusive niece of Murdock and the computer programmer of the Rising Volt Tacklers. In addition, she also streams under the costumed identity of Nidothing.

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• Actually, I Am Him: In Episode 16, Dot tries to tell Liko that she is Nidothing, but she finds difficulty trying to get her words out. When Dot finds out that Liko still thinks Dot is only just a superfan of Nidothing, Dot, still struggling, is finally prompted to spell it out for her.
  Dot: How can anyone be so clueless? I am... I am the real Nidothing, Liko!
• Ascended Fangirl: She was a fan of Iono before she became a popular streamer herself.
• Beneath the Mask: Nobody would suspect that the popular, bubbly, and social-engaging streamer Nidothing is actually a reclusive, quiet shut-in with No Social Skills off-camera.
• Character Development: Thanks to Liko and Roy reaching out and befriending her, Dot slowly learns to come out of her shell and makes the effort to open up to others.
• Child Prodigy: At such a young age, Dot had managed to completely build the technical systems the Rising Volt Tacklers use for their research.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Dot fulfills a similar role to Chloe from Journeys within her group, being an occasional tritagonist who situationally tags along with Liko and Roy during their adventures, much like Chloe did with Ash and Goh. However, while Chloe is averse to Pokémon and didn't like them very much, being cold towards the idea of becoming a Trainer, Dot on the other hand is averse to social interactions with people and is an extreme shut-in, rarely leaving her room. Chloe was very socially adept with people, willing to befriend Goh after recognizing his loneliness, while Dot is very knowledgeable about Pokémon. Chloe initially did not know what she wanted to do or if she wanted to become a Pokémon Trainer, while Dot seems to have a passion for streaming as Nidothing, looking up to Iono. Both Chloe and Dot start out, albeit in different ways, as refusing to leave their comfort zones, but their character arcs are about them slowly coming out of their shells and exploring the world they initially shut themselves out of, particularly through their interactions with Ash and Liko, respectively. Just as Ash helped Chloe learn the true joys of being with Pokémon which gradually led to her becoming a Pokémon Trainer and loving Pokémon, Liko is helping Dot come out of her shell and more willingly interact with people, and enjoying connections and friendships with others.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Despite her anti-social tendencies, she's slowly starting to be encouraged to interact with others her age, with some encouragement from Ludlow.
• Dramatic Irony: By Episode 8, the audience knows that Dot and Nidothing are the same person. However, neither Liko nor Roy knows this yet. When Liko hears Nidothing's Leitmotif playing in Dot's room, she just assumes Dot is just a Nidothing superfan.
• Everyone Has Standards: Despite the rocky start she has with Liko, the moment she goes missing, Dot steps out of her room and even off the ship so she can lead the charge in trying to find her.
• Eyes Out of Sight: Dot's regular hairstyle is a big purple mop that covers her eyes, alluding to her reclusive nature.
• The Faceless: While Episode 7 reveals her identity and hair color, her face isn't actually seen until Episode 8.
• Family Eye Resemblance: She seems to get her purple eyes from her mother Blanca.
• Gondor Calls for Aid: When Liko disappears in Levincia after losing her memories, Dot proceeds to contact Iono in order to get help in finding where in the city she disappeared to.
• Hidden Depths: While she seems very aloof to everyone and acts like she wishes she could just stay in her room forever to just do her thing, she has always quickly tried to solve problems that the ship is encountering and when Liko went missing, not only came out of her room but came out of the ship to look for her, so she really cannot just let something that is wrong stay that way.
• Hikikomori: Unlike her Nidothing persona, Dot herself is an extremely shy recluse who rarely ever leaves her room, and when she does it's usually when no one else is around. That being said she does keep in touch with everyone else via the Rising Volt Tackler's Rotom phone app she developed and Quaxly as a "messenger".
• Large Ham: Her job is to entertain viewers and get them excited about Pokémon, and she delivers in a tone that could make William Shatner proud.
• Let's Get Dangerous!: She tends to tie back her hair when she's about to approach something with 100% seriousness.
• Making a Splash: Her partner is the Water-type Quaxly.
• Meaningful Name:
  • She dresses like a Nidorina and calls herself Nidothing, so...
  • Her streaming name in Japanese, Gurumin, is a play on 着包み (kigurumi), Japanese for "costumed character".
  • Her real name is actually Dot, turning it into a Punny Name mixing "Dot" with "Clothing" and "Nidorina".
• Mr. Exposition: Her videos provide information on various topics relating to the Pokémon world, such as type matchups and different types of Poké Balls.
• Mysterious Purple: She has purple-themed clothing and hair color, and prefers to keep to herself.
• Mythology Gag: Dot's Naranja Academy uniform is the Fall uniform from Pokémon Scarlet.
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: Downplayed. Dot is rude towards people in person due to having No Social Skills, but she does have a heart of gold after warming up to Liko and Roy. But even that is still the polar opposite of her Nidothing persona, who is always happy and willing to help others even if a fan question hits too close to home for her.
• No Social Skills: Due to her preference for being The Shut-In, Dot prefers to send her Quaxly to communicate with Liko and Roy. In her own words, she describes human interaction as "a pain".
• Not So Above It All: In Episode 18 she too gets excited over finding out about Friede and Captain Pikachu's first meeting and when she describes the viral potential of the video she's making with Liko and Roy she uses an Elektross-related metaphor not unlike Iono (but with "going upriver" instead of "crawling out of the ocean").
• Refuge in Audacity: Unintentionally invokes this in episode 13. Dot decides to reveal to Liko that she is Nidothing by sending a picture of her and Ludlow while she is in costume. Unfortunately, Liko would never, ever think Nidothing was on the same ship she was on nor would take a picture with her, so she simply assumes that Dot is such a big fan of Nidothing that she procured an identical costume that she wore in the picture for some reason.
• The Reveal: Episode 7 reveals that Nidothing is actually a girl named Dot, and she's also a member of the Rising Volt Tacklers. The same episode reveals she's Murdock's niece and that she developed much of the technology that the Rising Volt Tacklers use.
• The Shut-In: She has her own quarters on the "Brave Olivine", but never steps outside of them.
• Shared Family Quirks: Both Dot and her mother Blanca have a taste for Pokémon-themed slippers, Snorlax and Rockruff themed ones respectively.
• Tomboy: She has a very masculine appearance, and uses masculine Japanese pronouns to refer to herself.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Though she doesn't have a Cherrim, her hairstyle strongly resembles one, even looking like its Sunshine Form when tied back for her more lively Gurumin/Nidothing persona.
• Vocal Dissonance: Despite being the same age as Liko and Roy, her normal speaking voice is much closer to that of an adult woman.
• Walking Spoiler: Nidothing's fully-encompassing costume meant for the first few episodes her identity was completely unknown, meaning it's impossible to discuss her true character without revealing she's a member of the Rising Volt Tacklers named Dot. This is to the point that when Faye Mata announced she was voicing her on Twitter, she quickly added a second part, outright asking fans to keep spoilers off the thread.
• Writer's Block: More like Streamer's Block. Episode 13's Nidothing Video is about picnics but at the start of the episode Dot has a hard time with what to say as she's never been on one herself given her reclusive nature. It's only after Liko (with help from Murdock) sets up an indoor picnic for Dot and Ludlow that she finally has inspiration for said video.

Dot's Pokémon

Quaxly (Kuwassu)

Voiced in Japanese by: Daisuke Namikawa

Voiced in English by: Daman Mills

A Quaxly that is aboard the Brave Olivine. Usually hangs around with Ludlow and Dot at different times and appears in Nidothing's videos. Dot later officially captures him in Episode 16.

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• Bait-and-Switch: His initial appearances suggested he was owned by Ludlow, but it turns out he had no owner to begin with, hanging around the old fisherman because he liked him. He later winds up under Dot's care.
• Making a Splash: A Water-type Paldean Starter Pokémon.
• Morality Pet: Downplayed. He sort of acts as Dot's conscience, giving a disapproving look after she yelled at Liko.
• Mythology Gag: Quaxly isn't the first Water starter with a Donald Duck-like voice, with Ash's Totodile having a similar voice.
• Neat Freak: Standard for his species, he takes pride in his glossy coif and doesn't allow anyone to touch it.
• Non-Action Guy: At first. For a while, he didn't display any sort of fighting prowess, but finally did in episode sixteen and did okay for the first battle of a Pokémon, not being too far behind the slightly less raw Sprigatito and Fuecoco.
• Only Friend: Is probably the only character on the airship that Dot wants for company at first.
• Shout-Out: His voice in the English Dub sounds like that of another famous cartoon duck, Donald Duck.
• Signature Mon: Quaxly is Nidothing's most iconic Pokémon partner on live-streaming, as well as being Pokémon that comforts Dot in her privacy. It becomes official once Dot decides to catch Quaxly in a Poké Ball.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: He clearly wants to make Dot happy and is overjoyed when she finally catches him.

Tinkatink (Kanuchan)

A Tinkatink that Dot came across while out shopping. After helping to get her hammer back from an Orthworm, she asked to join Dot's team.

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• Carry a Big Stick: She initially had the rattle-like hammer that Tinkatink usually have, but took an interest in the microphone Dot had bought and reworks it to become a custom weapon.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Part Steel-type.
• The Fair Folk: Primarily a Fairy-type.
• Please, Don't Leave Me: She didn't like the prospect of Dot leaving her on her own.
• Prone to Tears: She's quite emotional and prone to crying.

Adults & Others

Note: With exception of Captain Pikachu, Pokémon are included in the folders of their trainers.

Professor Friede

Since I'm a Pokémon professor, this really gets me fired up!

Voiced by: Taku Yashiro

Voiced in English by: Crispin Freeman

A Pokémon Professor partnered with a Pikachu, he's the leader of a group of researchers and adventurers known as the "Rising Volt Tacklers", who have been hired by Liko's mother to help protect her and her pendant.

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• The Ace: By far the strongest trainer introduced in Horizons, as well as a professor and even helmsman.
• Ambiguous Situation: In episode 21, he tells Liko and Roy that there are trainers who want to get stronger, want to collect Pokémon, and who want to discover brand new Pokémon. This oddly lines up with the heroes of the previous series, Ash, Goh, and Chloe, but it is unknown if this is a coincidence or if he indeed knows them and references them.
• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: He's a brilliant man, but one who tends to get easily distracted.
• Big Good: As The Leader of the Rising Volt Tacklers. Among the group, he also seems to be the only elite trainer, which constantly puts him in the spotlight fending off the Explorers. Even when the kids get more competent in battling Friede is still clearly the strongest by a ginormous margin, and he's the only one who can actually fight Amethio, even holding the upper hand in most of their fights.
• Birds of a Feather: With his childhood friend Orla, as they were both at similar points in their lives when they reunited to form the Rising Volt Tacklers, having become bored of their typical jobs and wishing to explore the world to do things they had never done before, which led to them forming the Rising Volt Tacklers together to explore new horizons.
• Canon Foreigner: Like Professor Ivy and Professor Cerise, he's a creation of the anime.
• Childhood Friends: With Orla, they grew up together in Kanto before she left for Hoenn. They reunited when he decided she was the one to build him his ship while she was working at a freight yard, and she chose to go with him.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: In comparison to Professor Oak as the mentor figure for the lead protagonist, Friede couldn't be far more different.
  • Oak is an older man with a grandson. Friede is a relatively young man with no apparent family relations.
  • Oak operated out of a lab in Pallet Town and rarely left it aside for special occasions. Friede is a world traveler operating out of the "Brave Olivine" airship.
  • Oak only uses Pokémon he has on hand or borrows from other trainers. Friede has Captain Pikachu and Charizard as his partners.
  • Oak only had one assistant, Tracey, helping him. Friede leads the Rising Volt Tacklers, which consists of five other members.
  • Oak first met Ash when the boy arrived late to get his starter and helped tutor him from afar while occasionally checking in on his progress. Friede met Liko saving her from The Explorers, having been hired by Liko's mother to protect her and her pendant, and was instrumental in aiding Sprigatito's rescue to the point that Liko wanted to join his team.
  • Oak is known as the foremost expert on all things Pokémon and is quite proud of it. Friede doesn't like the idea of being referred to as a Professor because the experience burnt him out, nearly leading him to quit researching.
  • Oak was once the teacher of Ash's mother, Delia, before becoming the mentor figure for her son. Friede on the other hand was once a student of Liko's mother, Lucca, before becoming the mentor figure for her daughter.
• Cool Ship: He and his group operate out of a massive dirigible airship, the Brave Olivine.
• Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life: Being a professor wasn't all that it was cracked up to be, so he laid around for a while until he met Cap, who inspired him to form the Rising Volt Tacklers and travel the world to answer the world's questions.
• Ditzy Genius: He's a bit easily distracted and tends to forget to share important information, but he's still a brilliant researcher in the Pokémon field and The Leader of a prominent group of scientists. He's also not just skilled at Pokémon battles, but also how to defuse situations involving Pokémon without violence, as he demonstrates in saving Liko and Roy from the angry island Pokémon in episode 4.
• Dragon Rider: He owns a Charizard that he constantly rides on, both in battle and in rescue operations.
• Expy: Pokémon's version of Holland Novak, both being airship captains who look after the heroine while being a mentor figure to her and her fellow protagonist. Both even have the same English voice actor.
• Forgetful Jones: Constantly forgets to give important information to the others. This costs them big time when him forgetting to inform the others about his fight against Spinel's Magneton and Beheeyem makes them think they can leave Liko unsupervised, leading to Spinel wiping her memory and taking her pendant.
• Friend to All Living Things: Par for the course for a Pokémon trainer, of course, but Cap very quickly went from aloof to tolerant to wanting to stay with him even though all Friede had done was watch him train until saving him from a potentially dangerous jump right at the end.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted, he does pull them down on his face regularly when there is bad weather of debris. Oftentimes he's on the outside of the airship or riding Charizard, so this happens frequently.
• Incoming Ham: Makes his introduction to the series by flying in on Charizard and yelling that he's found Liko at the top of his lungs.
• The Leader: He leads an adventurers' team called the "Rising Volt Tacklers". He is kind of a laissez faire type of leader though, being mostly awe-inspiring rather than directly commanding. As a result, he rarely gives actual orders, everyone just does their job as expected.
• The Mentor: As an extremely acknowledgeable elite trainer and Pokemon Professor Liko and Roy actively look up to him as an ideal. Interestingly enough, Friede himself doesn't actively play into a mentor role, but he also doesn't discourage the kids from looking up to and imitating him either.
• Non-Action Guy: Inverted, he's the only strong trainer in the entire team, the rest of whom are mostly scientists or medics. This becomes an issue later on, even if Friede is strong enough to fend off all enemy trainers, he can't be everywhere at once.
• Non-Standard Character Design: Unlike all the previous Pokémon professors in the series, he's dressed more like an Ace Pilot than a scientist. He also dislikes being called a professor, since he found it very boring.
• Noodle Incident: Roy's grandfather met Friede before, but the two men parted on bad terms. How this happened isn't explained. Similarly, he also resents being called a Pokemon Professor for some reason. Even Roy's grandfather seemed somewhat puzzled at that.
  • It's later revealed that Friede found being a Professor a Soul-Crushing Desk Job and quit after working in a lab for a period of time, so he's really formerly a Professor.
• Playing with Fire: He owns a Charizard, who's implied to be his starter.
• Poor Communication Kills: Friede would have had a much easier time befriending Liko in the first three episodes if he had explained things sooner, such as how he and the Rising Volt Tacklers had been hired to be her bodyguards by her mother. Unfortunately, he's easily distracted, and his teammates lecture him over not telling Liko sooner when they discover the girl is completely confused over what's going on. His inability to explain things through is basically a running gag, to the point it's kind of a genuine character flaw he has.
• Real Men Eat Meat: During a picnic, when everyone had assembled a sandwich, his had bacon, prosciutto, and herbed sausages and virtually nothing else. A sandwich that Dendra would be proud of.
• Ship Tease: He and Orla are childhood friends, she was among the first to join the Rising Volt Tacklers aside from Ludlow who was already there after she made it into an airship, and he seems to listen to her more than the other adults.
• Shock and Awe: He's partnered with a Pikachu known as "Captain Pikachu".
• Vague Age: Apparently, he's a full-blown Pokemon Professor, but doesn't seem anywhere as old as almost all other professors in the series. He might as well be in his late teens or even in his mid-thirties, but the series' art style doesn't really tell us much. Episode 18 shows that he was an adult and already a Professor when Liko was little, putting him in his mid-twenties at least.
• Willfully Weak: The series did a bait-and-switch with this in the first arc. In Friede's first few battles with Amethio, he seems to have the edge but it's interrupted. In Galar Mine, Amethio Took a Level in Badass and started to give Friede some trouble before the battle was interrupted again. At Diana's castle, they fight again, and Amethio seemingly started to gain the upper hand...before Friede Terastalizes his Charizard into a Dark Type and quickly defeats Amethio, indicating Friede could always have beaten him that way but chose to play with him every battle before then.

Charizard (Lizardon)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kenta Miyake

Voiced in English by: Edward Bosco

Friede's Charizard and main battler. Normally a Fire/Flying type, it can Terastalize into a Dark-type.

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• Ambiguous Gender: It's not clear if this Charizard is male like Ash's or female.
• Blow You Away: A Flying-Type. Friede often rides it and can give others a lift when they need to be taken to places quickly.
• Canon Immigrant: It was made available as a Mystery Gift in Scarlet and Violet a few days after it demonstrated its Tera-Typing.
• Casting a Shadow: It can Terastalize into a Dark-Type.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Just like how Captain Pikachu contrasts Ash's Pikachu, Friede's Charizard contrasts Ash's Charizard. Where Ash's was a proud, aggressive Blood Knight with a strong need to constantly prove his worth, Friede's is a Gentle Giant who easily befriends smaller Pokemon (Fuecoco in particular) and while no slouch in a fight, often sits out battles in favor of Pikachu.
• Face of a Thug: Make no mistake, Charizard is a very intimidating-looking Mon. Despite that, there isn't a mean bone in its body, and is very friendly and approachable.
• Gentle Giant: It's not only a big fellow, but it's a very friendly Pokémon to all the smaller mons. Fuecoco in particular wants to be as strong as his idol.
• Playing with Fire: Naturally a fire-type. It knows Flamethrower and fellow Fire-type Fuecoco looks up to it.
• Starter Mon: It's implied it was Friede's first Pokémon.

Captain Pikachu

Voiced by: Ikue Otani

Professor Friede's partner.

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• Allergic to Love: He has a sneezing fit when people call him cute.
• Authority in Name Only: Played With. Despite being Captain, Friede is the one in charge. He takes command when Friede isn't around, but when Friede isn't at the Brave Olivine most of the time everyone else isn't there either so there's no one to command. He may be in charge of navigating the ship, but he's usually just sitting in the chair. Captain Pikachu does guard the Brave Olivine from intruders, however.
• Badass Adorable: He's as adorable as any other Pikachu, but Captain Pikachu is nonetheless a highly competent battler, able to battle on par with fully evolved Pokémon.
• Badass Arm-Fold: His default pose is this, marking him as an experienced opponent.
• Badbutt: In addition to his constant arm folding, he always has a confident face, he sits very confidently on his tail like it takes no effort, and when Roy snuck onto the ship, Cap quickly shocked him and looked like a champ doing it. His demeanor is overall much "cooler" than pretty much every other Pokémon ever seen while still not looking particularly edgy.
• Berserk Button: Does not seem to like being called cute.
• Close-Range Combatant: Unlike Ash's Pikachu, who had Thunderbolt as his most well-known attack and learned Electroweb in Alola, Captain Pikachu instead uses Thunder Punch and Volt Tackle, a move Ash's Pikachu used to know but hasn't used in years. It's deconstructed in Episode 22, as Galarian Moltres is able to exploit Cap's fighting style and utterly destroy him.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character:
  • Has several contrasts to Ash's Pikachu as the resident mascot Pikachu of the show
    • Compared to Ash's Pikachu, who started as an inexperienced battler (albeit one with lots of potential) before growing stronger together with his trainer, Captain Pikachu starts its series already a capable battler under the command of a prominent Pokemon Professor. Also, while Ash's Pikachu was more of a Long-Range Fighter using Thunderbolt and Electroweb, Captain Pikachu is more of a Close-Range Combatant using Thunder Punch and Volt Tackle.
    • In terms of personality, while Ash's Pikachu was also a Badass Adorable and a Blood Knight, he was much more childlike and friendly outside of battle and enjoyed playing with his friends just as much as training. On the other hand, Captain Pikachu is far more traditionally masculine in his mannerisms and exudes total confidence at all times. This avoidance of cuteness is so great that he's practically allergic to being called cute.
    • Like Ash's Pikachu, he originally didn't get along with Friede at all, but they eventually bonded through a common interest, rather than becoming Fire-Forged Friends.
  • Also contrasts Professor Cerise's Yamper from Journeys in being an Electric-type owned by the Professor who also looks after the rest of the Pokemon under said Professor's supervision, and while generally friendly, are not fond of being given affection and are hostile towards strangers. However, Yamper was generally not particularly close with Cerise himself, instead being much more loyal to his daughter Chloe, only taking food and orders from her instead of anyone else in Cerise's family, and loyally serving as her protector even despite Chloe's somewhat distant attitude towards it. Captain Pikachu on the other hand shares a much closer bond with Friede himself, and the two form a great team together in battle and in operating the ship.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: He's been on both ends of this trope. When he first battles against Amethio's Ceruledge, he manages to land some clean hits without getting a scratch. But in Episode 22, the Galarian Moltres exploits hits battling style and demolishes him.
• Doppelgänger Spin: He knows Double Team.
• Drama-Preserving Handicap: Episode 35 reveals he Hates Being Called Cute so much, he starts sneezing uncontrollably, in the same episode where the antagonist is a Hunter seeking cute Pokémon. So Roy and Liko have to defend him until he recovers and the Hunters fail to notice it.
• Logical Weakness: He is exclusively a Close-Range Combatant. While he is usually fast enough to get in close even if he has to pull back right after, Galarian Moltres simply used its ranged attacks to keep him away, both hurting him and literally preventing him from attacking it at the same time, thus dealing a Curb-Stomp Battle to him.
• Meaningful Name: He's a Pikachu wearing an airplane captain's hat, hence the name. It doubles so when it's revealed he was trying to learn how to fly.
• Mythology Gag:
  • During his battle against Ceruledge, Captain Pikachu absorbs lightning from a storm. Ash's Pikachu is implied to have done the same thing against a flock of Spearow.
  • Like Detective Pikachu, Captain Pikachu loves its coffee as seen towards the end of Episode 3's Pokémon Seminar about its species.
• Not Quite Flight: He can gain air by forming a funnel cloud with Volt Tackle and springing up using his tail, and hover momentarily by swinging his tail back and forth.
• Secondary Sexual Characteristics: He has a flat-shaped end on his tail, confirming he's male.
• Series Mascot: He serves as the successor to Ash's Pikachu as the anime's new mascot, reflected by the fact that Ikue Otani voices him despite the Captain being a very different character from Ash's. Official social media accounts of Pokémon reflect this change by having their avatar be Pikachu wearing the airplane captain's hat.
• Signature Headgear: His airplane captain's hat also signifies his owner's piloting theme.
• Sweet Tooth: He enjoys eating donuts with his partner.
• The Worf Effect: A Galarian Moltres manages to wipe the floor with him, forcing the group to run for their lives.

Orla (Orio)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ayane Sakura

Voiced in English by: Mara Junot

The engineer of the Brave Olivine, Orla is responsible for the engine room. She also appears to be the team's second-in-command.

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• Birds of a Feather: With Friede, as revealed in Episode 29. When they reunited, they were both working typical jobs but were at points in their lives where they wished to explore the world and do things they hadn't done before, which is what compelled Orla to travel with Friede once she had completed building his airship.
• The Cavalry: When Liko and Roy are trapped by Sidian and Coral, while Pikachu gets their attention, she sends her Metagross to physically fly them back to the Brave Olivine.
• Childhood Friends: With Friede. They grew up together in Kanto before she left for Hoenn, and they didn't reunite until he went with her to build him his ship, and she decided to go with him after that.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Her main partner Pokémon is Metagross. Interestingly, despite being a fully evolved Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon, it's apparently not great at battling, as it struggled against Zirc's Rhydon and Onia's Golduck.
• Gadgeteer Genius: She apparently made the Brave Olivine from Ludlow's boat after getting convinced by Friede. Yes, she got a boat to fly.
• The Lancer: Balances out Friede's eccentricity with her level-headedness.
• Playing with Fire: She works with both a Carkol and a Slugma in the engine room.
• Ship Tease: She and Friede are childhood friends, she was among the first to join the Rising Volt Tacklers aside from Ludlow who was already there after she made it into an airship, and he seems to listen to her more than the other adults. She also teases him in that certain way.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: While she's normally in her mechanic duds when she needs to go into a fancy place like Mesagoza, she can dress pretty fancy.
• Shock and Awe: One of the Pokémon she works with is Elekid, which helps her when her job as an engineer requests her to deal with electricity.
• Soul-Crushing Desk Job: She was bored of her job at a freight yard in Hoenn, so she left it to go with Friede when she got the chance.
• Wrench Wench: She's the mechanic of the team.

Metagross

Orla's first introduced Pokémon.

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• Adaptational Wimp: The Metagross species as a whole are pseudo-legendaries, aka some of the most powerful Pokémon in the world, and are capable of dealing tons of damage thanks to them having a high (135) Attack stat. This particular Metagross noticeably struggles against a Rhydon and a Golduck. Justified, as it's used more to help Orla with repairs on the ship rather than for battle.
• Extra-ore-dinary: It's primarily a Steel type.
• Mr. Fixit: Assists Orla in repairing the Brave Olivine.

Elekid

Orla's second introduced Pokémon.

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• Mr. Fixit: Assists Orla in repairing the Brave Olivine.
• Shock and Awe: It's a pure Electric type.

Murdock

Voiced in Japanese by: Kenta Miyake

Voiced in English by: Major Attaway

Murdock is a skilled chef who is responsible for feeding the team.

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• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: The silver streaks in his hair resemble a fork and knife, and he's the team's primary cook.
• Connected All Along: Nidothing is really his niece, Dot.
• Cool Uncle: To his niece, Dot, whom he cares for like she's his own daughter. He even bakes her some treats to have, which he's delighted to find she snuck out of her room to eat.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His partner Rockruff is a Rock-type.
• Gentle Giant: He's a big man with an imposing look, but he is very friendly, jovial, and a bit of a worrywart.
• Our Fairies Are Different: His other Pokémon is a Ruby Swirl Alcreime who helps him in the kitchen, especially when it comes to desserts.
• Real Men Wear Pink: His muscular body may look intimidating, but he is actually the cook of the team. Not to mention his main partner is a Rockruff, a cute, dog-like Pokémon that he openly cuddles and praises. His other Pokémon is an Alcremie, a pink fairy-type made-out cream that helps in the kitchen. He's also the first one Orla called when she needed help sewing up holes in the blimp.
• Supreme Chef: Like Brock, Cilan, Clemont, and Mallow before him, Murdock's skills in the kitchen are nothing short of five-star tastes. His treats are even enough to get Dot to sneak out of her room when nobody's looking to get them.

Rockruff (Iwanko)

Voiced in Japanese by: Saki Kotori

Voiced in English by: Haven Paschall (credited as Haven Burton)

Murdock's first introduced Pokémon.

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• Animal Jingoism: Averted almost to the point of inversion; it almost immediately befriended Liko's normally somewhat aloof Sprigatito and the two are often seen playing or hanging out together.
• Dishing Out Dirt: It's a pure Rock-type that knows Rock Tomb.
• The Nose Knows: Tracks Sprigatito and Liko using his powerful sense of smell.
• Second Episode Introduction: First appeared in the second episode.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: His friendly disposition, playfulness, and powerful sense of smell aren't unlike the one Ash had before it evolved into Dusk Form Lycanroc, marking Murdock's Rockruff the closest thing to it. He even shares the same voice actor in English.

:Alcremie (Mawhip)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kei Shindō

Murdock's second introduced Pokémon. She mainly helps him cook for The Team.

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• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: She's a Ruby Swirl Alcremie to help distinguish herself from ones that previously appeared.
• Team Chef: Assists Murdock in making food for the Rising Volt Tacklers.

Mollie

Voiced in Japanese by: Kei Shindō

Voiced in English by: Erica Mendez

Mollie is a healing specialist and is responsible for the ship's infirmary and the health of the members and Pokémon of the Rising Volt Tacklers.

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• Ambiguously Related: Her pink hair, status as a medical specialist, sharing a voice actor with them in both the English and Japanese dub, and the reveal that she comes from a long line of doctors all pinpoint to her being related to the Nurse Joys, but nothing concrete has been said about it.
• Astonishingly Appropriate Appearance: She's the team medic, and not only is her hair pink like many a Nurse Joy (whom she shares her Japanese actress with) and other Pokémon Center nurses, but it's the same shade of pink as her Chansey. Turns out that it is all but outright stated that she is related to them.
• Black Sheep: She comes from a long line of Pokémon doctors, greatly implied to be Nurse Joys, and she loved the work but she chose to quit since she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of having her life planned out for her and would rather treat wild Pokémon in the wider world rather than let them be brought to her. She actually refuses to visit Pokémon centers due to being reminded of these painful memories, which is why she's with the Rising Volt Tacklers.
• Deadpan Snarker: She's rather snarky, usually directing it at Friede's antics.
• The Medic: She serves as this for the team, and has a Chansey as a partner. This isn't coincidental as it is implied that she's related to the Nurse Joys.
• Shorter Means Smarter: Her field of medicine is the most academically rigorous of the adults' specialties, and she is shorter than the other adults her age, in fact only being about half a head taller than Liko.

Chansey (Lucky)

Voiced in English by: Sarah Natochenny

Mollie's first introduced Pokémon.

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• Cool Big Sis: Hatenna starts looking up to her in HZ038 after watching her treat some of the Brave Olivine's Pokemon. Witnessing her resolve to help Liko rescue the rest of the Maushold family, Chansey entrusts her with an egg to heal them with.
• The Medic: Assists Mollie in treating the Brave Olivine crew.
• Signature Mon: It's typically one of the Nurse Joy family in most of the regions, hinting at Mollie's relation to them.

Ludlow (Landau)

Voiced in Japanese by: Ikkyū Juku

Voiced in English by: Larry Kenney

The oldest member of the Rising Volt Tacklers, Ludlow is a fisherman. He's on the Brave Olivine because it was once his fishing boat.

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• Clark Kent Outfit: His impressive muscles are only visible when he removes his usual outfit and becomes Mighty G.
• Cool Old Guy: Ludlow shows that he is very much capable of steering the Brave Olivine even when it is a full ship and no longer just a fishing boat. His humble Quagsire also shows what might be one of the greatest displays of Surf in the anime, manipulating giant waves of the ocean to shield them and keep the crew safe. Turns out he's also quite muscular despite his age. He's also supposedly a Legendary Hero.
• *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": At the end of the Palafin episode he threw his back out after reaching his limit as Mighty G.
• Hidden Depths: Until Episode 42, he was presented as a quiet fisherman, who occasionally spoke out in words of wisdom. Then it turns out he's actually a legendary superhero known as Mighty G.
• Large Ham: When he becomes Mighty G, he becomes one of these and is quite heroic.
• Making a Splash: A Pokémon he owns is a Quagsire also a Sharpedo which he uses to swim through the sea at high speed.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Not extreme but even with his platform sandals, he's still barely taller than the child characters. Even as Mighty G he's still around the same height.
• Proverbial Wisdom: When he does talk he's often coming up with these.
• Secret Identity: Normally a mild-mannered old man when his friend Palafin was in trouble, he takes off his usual teal clothing to reveal a muscular body and becomes Mighty G.
• Shout-Out: His Secret Identity Mighty G references All Might of My Hero Academia in name, muscular appearance, heroic personality, and even being drawn in a more heavily-shaded Non-Standard Character Design in this form. Additionally, he can only assume this form for a limited time before being physically strained.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: He has a tendency to appear out of nowhere to give Liko advice on whatever problem she's pondering at the time, usually startling her in the process.
• The Quiet One: Is often seen fishing in solitude and rarely converses with the rest of the team. He's not like this when he's Mighty G.
• Uncatty Resemblance: He strongly resembles a Drampa with his choice of outfit and hairstyle, although it's not currently known if he has one.
• Weather Manipulation: His Quagsire knows the move Rain Dance, which summons rain.

Quagsire (Nuoh)

Voiced in English by: Daman Mills

Ludlow's first introduced Pokémon.

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• Making a Splash: It's a part Water-type that knows Surf and Hydro Pump
• Weather Manipulation: Knows the move Rain Dance, which summons rain.

Supporting Characters

Horizons Characters

Ann

Voiced in Japanese by: Yuna Ogata

Voiced in English by: Xanthe Huynh

Liko's roommate at the Indigo Academy.

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• The Bus Came Back: She reappears in Episode 46, where she and her Dewott have a rematch against Liko and her Floragato. This time, Liko is able to defeat them.
• Cute Little Fangs: She has a cute little fang as part of her character design, similar to her Oshawott.
• Dishing Out Dirt: In episode 21 it is revealed that she caught a Sandshrew. This ends up being a factor in Liko getting her first capture in the same episode, which turns out to be Hatenna.
• Genki Girl: She's a very energetic and extroverted girl, which becomes even more apparent when placed together with Liko.
• Making a Splash: Her starter Pokémon is an Oshawott that knows Water Gun, and later learns Water Pulse and Razor Shell.
• Muggle Best Friend: She's Liko's roommate at Indigo Academy and very evidently her best friend, the two having developed an extremely close relationship with each other during their time together at the Academy. While Liko now travels the world with the Rising Volt Tacklers, and Ann remains at Indigo Academy, Liko still attends classes remotely and the two consistently remain in touch with each other through video chat, regularly talking about what they're doing and what adventures they go through in their now very different lives.
• Promotion to Opening Titles: She appears in the third opening, next to Nemona, no less.
• Took a Level in Badass: Episode 46 reveals that not only her Oshawott has evolved into Dewott and has learned a lot of new attacks, but Ann herself shows a lot of battle skill.
• Trash of the Titans: Downplayed. She's messy, but she at least keeps the mess on her side of the room instead of making things wild for her roommate.

Diana

Voiced in Japanese by: Kiri Yoshizawa, Yuna Ogata (young)

Voiced in English by: Nancy Linari

Liko's grandmother and the mother of Lucca, who gave her granddaughter an old pendant to help her on her journey.

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• Breaking Old Trends: In past Pokémon series, the main character's grandparents were either not mentioned^note Ash's grandfather was brought up once, but only in the Japanese dub, rarely seen (such as Goh's), or (in the case of Kiawe) deceased. Diana is the first to have a major role in the anime.
• Cool Old Lady: She's well into her golden years, but she's got plenty of adventuring experience under her belt, and her granddaughter is absolutely enamored with how much she's done.
• Connected All Along: Diana actually knew Hamber many years before the series began, but when the two meet again, she quickly realizes he's trying to play her for the pendant.
• Failure Hero: Subverted. At first, she acts like she wasn't able to make much progress figuring out what the Pendant was and outright stopped trying to a few decades before the series began. That said, she isn't filled with regrets about it, and given that the Pendant actively responds to Liko to the point of showing its true form, it might have been for the best in the long run. However, it was then revealed that she was able to determine who all of Lucius' Pokemon were, indicating she might have simply decided to stop there and wait for someone else to pick the quest up.
• Forgotten Friend, New Foe: She met Hamber of the Explorers long ago as a young woman, and was once friends with him, though the two gradually drifted apart from each other. Later, they eventually met again when Hamber became a member of the Explorers, and he attempted to introduce her to Gibeon, but Diana realized Gibeon had antagonistic intentions with the pendant and asked her daughter to send the Rising Volt Tacklers to protect Liko, whom she had passed the pendant down to by that point.
• Generation Xerox: She has the same hair color and eye color as Liko, and she wears a similar outfit. Flashbacks reveal that when she was young, she looked much like Liko herself. That said, personality-wise, she is much more boisterous and outgoing than Liko is, although Liko looks up to her a lot.
• I Work Alone: Unlike Liko who is with the Rising Volt Tacklers, she has always done everything on her own but this is a Deconstructed Trope because just by herself, she wasn't able to learn much about the pendant just by herself despite trying for many years. So when she had to pass the Pendant to Liko, she arranges for the Rising Volt Tacklers to help her finally discover the truth behind the mystery. Tellingly, Liko and the RSV make more progress with that in a week than Diana in what was implied to be decades. However, it's later revealed she actually did discover who all of the Pokemon that Lucious owned were, so she could have still accomplished as much as someone working alone could have concerning the Pendant could have.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: An interesting mutual case. She and Hamber stare each other down in episode 25, but don't actually battle with their Arcanine and Dusknoir that they had out. When she realizes he brought backup, she flees. However, he didn't make any attempt to pursue her, and he didn't order Sidian or Coral to attempt to deal with her, indicating both thought the other was too much of a threat to battle.
• Like Mother, Like Daughter: Both Diana and Lucca have a Yellow-Plumage Squawkabilly as a Shoulder Pet.
• Mama Bear: She's the one who suggested that Lucca hire the Rising Volt Tacklers to protect Liko the moment she realized Gibeon was after the pendant. Also, when the group visits an old acquaintance of hers named Tepen in hopes that he can give them more information about Roy's ancient Pokéball, she's absolutely furious when he instead chooses to try and betray them by stealing the Pokéball for himself and threatens to burn him to a crisp for it.
• Meaningful Name: Her name in Greek means "divine", and she's looked up to very highly by her granddaughter.
• Playing with Fire: Owns an Arcanine, which is a Fire-type. She owned it as a Growlithe since she was a child, and it is her main partner.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She gifted Liko an old pendant to guide her on her Pokémon Journey, setting her granddaughter on the way to meeting the Explorers out to steal said pendant, and joining the Rising Volt Tacklers to keep it safe. She's also the one who discovered the pendant in the first place just before she started her Pokémon journey.

Roy's Grandfather

Voiced in Japanese by: Jin Urayama

Voiced in English by: Sean Burgos

Roy's grandfather and the leader of a small island of villagers in the Kanto Region.

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• Cool Old Guy: Say what you will about his grouchy disposition, but he's got it made as the leader of a small island.
• Grumpy Old Man: Downplayed. He shows good hospitality towards his guests, but he's still pretty sour with Friede about something that happened sometime before the series.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite not always being in a friendly mood (and on even worse terms with Friede), he shows no hesitation towards offering his guests prime hospitality.
• Noodle Incident: He met Professor Friede once before, but evidently something happened that left the two on bad terms since.
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Despite whatever misgivings he has with Friede, he trusts him enough that he lets Roy join the Rising Volt Tacklers.
• Sacred Hospitality: Even if he isn't fond of Friede, he still treats his guests very well when they come to him for help.
• Supreme Chef: In episode 5, he whips up a big lunch for the Rising Volt Tacklers, and even makes some special snacks for Friede and Liko.

Alex

Voiced in Japanese by: Tokuyoshi Kawashima

Voiced in English by: Anthony Bowling

Liko's father, an alumnus of Indigo Academy, and a painter by trade.

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• Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Subverted. Despite his worries for Liko's safety and her own fears that he'll force her to stay home, he's more than willing to let her go on her own journey with the Rising Volt Tacklers when she speaks up for herself.
• Heroes Love Dogs: He owns a Fidough that helps him with his work.
• Innocently Insensitive: He expresses his worries about Liko, which any good parent would understandably do. Unfortunately, Liko overheard him and got quite upset.
• Like Father, Like Son: Given her own sketching talents, it's clear Liko picked up her skills from him.
• Nice Guy: He's very polite and respectful to his guests, and is very caring for his daughter.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Not ugly by any means, but compared to his wife, Alex isn't exactly flattering.
• Unseen No More: He makes his debut in the ninth episode of the series.

Lucca

Voiced in Japanese by: Houko Kuwashima

Voiced in English by: Dawn M. Bennett

Liko's mother, who hired the Rising Volt Tacklers to protect her and her pendant from The Explorers. She's a schoolteacher. Friede was once one of her students.

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• Ambiguous Situation:
  • It's not clear as of yet why she hired the Rising Volt Tacklers to protect her daughter, how she knew that Liko would be the target of The Explorers, or if she's even aware of what that pendant holds. She reveals to Friede that even she doesn't know. It's later revealed that she knows Friede from his time as one of her students and that her actions led to him forming the Rising Volt Tacklers, giving a potential explanation as to why she hired them specifically.
  • She's, in practice, an Ambiguously Absent Parent to Liko but hasn't explained why yet. Interestingly, Liko doesn't make any attempts to contact her despite her not seeming to be outright hiding.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: Ash's mother Delia constantly communicated with him and was always very up-front with everyone about how she felt and what she wanted. Lucca and Liko haven't spoken in the present day yet to the point we don't actually know the nature of their relationship, and she's a walking mystery.
  • Ash's mother Delia was also once a student of Professor Oak, the Professor who acted as a mentor figure for Ash. Contrarily, Lucca is a schoolteacher and was once the teacher of Friede, the Professor who acts as Liko's mentor figure.
• Expy: She vaguely looks like the player character's mother in the Scarlet and Violet games, but not exactly as she more or less resembles Liko.
• Master-Apprentice Chain: Was Friede's teacher, and Friede himself is now mentoring her daughter, Liko.
• The Ghost: While her husband appeared in the ninth episode, she hadn't appeared at the time, with Alex mentioning she wasn't home that day when Liko returned to Paldea. She only managed to appear in person in the twelfth episode.
• Parrot Pet Position: A literal example since her main Pokémon is a yellow-plumed Squawkabilly.
• Small Role, Big Impact: She was the one who introduced Friede to the Pikachu who would eventually inspire him to form the Rising Volt Tacklers and make said Pikachu its captain, and if it weren't for that chain of events her daughter Liko wouldn't be traveling with them in the first place. All this, for someone who only appeared for a few seconds in her debut episode.
• This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself: She doesn't speak to her daughter about anything when she appears, wanting her to decide if she wants to take a journey for herself.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Lucca is a very attractive woman, while her husband is a plain-looking man.

Blanca

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai

Dot's mother and Murdock's younger sister.

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• Attention Deficit... Ooh, Shiny!: She often strays off topic in conversation, forcing her Lycanroc to get her back on track.
• Dishing Out Dirt: She owns a Midnight Form Lycanroc, a Rock-type.
• Generation Xerox: She has a similar facial structure and hair color to her daughter.
• Shared Family Quirks: Both Blanca and her daughter Dot have a taste for Pokémon-themed slippers, Rockruff and Snorlax themed ones respectively.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Her Midnight Form Lycanroc has a somewhat scary demeanor but seems to be friendly to others and even keeps Blanca herself on track, and heavily uses Counter when battling, making it a lot like the Midnight Lycanroc that Gladion had.
• Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Blanca is more overtly emotional and has a bad habit of going off-track, while her daughter Dot is more introverted and grounded.

Naranja Academy

In General

The premier academy in Paldea, which teaches students and their Pokémon how to truly become better trainers.

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• Cool School: One of the most prestigious schools in the Pokémon world in fact, complete with a variety of teachers and plenty of subjects to offer.
• Cutting Off the Branches: The school in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet was dependent on which title the player chose—Naranja for Scarlet, and Uva for Violet. The anime picks the former school here.
• Meaningful Name: Naranja is Spanish for orange and its color scheme is primarily orange—need we say more?

Director Clavell

Voiced by: Mahito Ohba

The director of Naranja Academy.

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• Cool Old Guy: Despite his age, he doesn't head up the most prestigious school in Paldea for nothing.
• Cutting Off the Branches: He's the head of Naranja Academy in this continuity, rather than the director of whichever version exclusive school was available.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: He's considerably wise and has a pair of glasses on at all times.

Dendra (Kihada)

Voiced by: Eriko Matsui

One of Naranja Academy's teachers, who specializes in battling.

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• Bare-Fisted Monk: She not only dresses like a martial artists, but her specialty is teaching trainers how to battle. In addition, she owns the Fighting-type Hariyama.

Jacq (Zinnia)

Voiced by: Tasuku Hatanaka

The homeroom teacher at Naranja Academy, and a renowned researcher in Pokémon ecology.

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• Smart People Wear Glasses: He is a famous researcher, and he has the glasses on to match.

Nemona (Nemo)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura

Voiced in English by: Yolis Arroyo

A student of Naranja Academy and a Paldean Champion.

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• The Ace: She's a Paldean Champion—one of the strongest trainers in the entire region.
• Bare-Fisted Monk: Her Pawmot is part Fighting type, although it has yet to show any Fighting moves.
• The Bus Came Back: After being absent since "Arboliva's Forest!", she returns for the "Terastal Debut" arc.
• Breaking Old Trends: She's the earliest Champion to be introduced in the series in the tenth episode, whereas most Champions (not counting Ash) tend to be brought into the anime a bit later.
• Blood Knight: Her thirst for battle is as eager as that of a Klingon warrior, and she'll challenge anybody that happens to be a trainer. When she meets Liko and Roy for the first time, she immediately asks if they want to battle her.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: She's seen battling a trainer with a Skiploom, and her then-Pawmo wipes the floor with it.
• Cutting Off the Branches: Depending on whether the player picked Scarlet or Violet as their choice of game, she would be attending the school exclusively in that game. Here, she follows the former option by being a Naranja student (evidenced by her red tie).
• Famed In-Story: By the time the series starts, she's already a Champion-ranked student, and is well known throughout the Paldea region.
• Mr. Exposition: She explains the Terastrilization phenomenon to Roy.
• Mythology Gag: Her Pawmot is one of the team members that players fight against in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
• Nice Girl: Blood Knight tendencies aside, she's very friendly and outgoing, and eager to help wherever she can.
• Shock and Awe: She owns a Pawmot that's an Electric Type and knows the move Spark.
• Student Council President
• Vibrant Orange: She has a red-orange tie on her outfit and is definitely a very energetic Champion.

Penny (Botan)

One of the students attending Naranja Academy.

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• Perpetual Frowner: She's always seen with a dour look on her face.
• The Voiceless: Doesn't speak in her first appearance.

Paldea Gym Leaders

Brassius (Colza)

Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai

Voiced in English by: J. Michael Tatum

The Grass-type Gym Leader of Artazon and an artist by trade.

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• Character Catchphrase: He uses the word "Avant-garde" when something intrigues or upsets him.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Roy battles against him in an unofficial match, but loses on account of Brassius being more experienced.
• Dishing Out Dirt: While he's a Grass specialist, his Sudowoodo is a Rock type with access to Rock-type moves.
• Green Thumb: He's a Grass type specialist who has a Dolliv and a Sudowoodo that can Terastrialize into a Grass type.
• Mythology Gag: Liko, Roy, and Nemona look for Sunflora to cheer him up, which is what the player character in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet does to qualify to battle him.
• Signature Mon: His Sudowoodo, his partner from the games.
• Writer's Block: Or in his case, Artist's Block. He's become deeply unsatisfied with his latest sculpture of a black Rayquaza he carved before seeing the real one with his own eyes, which rubs off on the rest of his work and affects his motivation to run his Gym. He breaks out of his slump when Roy finds his sculpture to be just as impressive as the genuine article.

Iono (Nanjamo)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kaede Hondo

Voiced in English by: Erika Harlacher

The Electric-Type gym leader of Levincia and a massively popular streamer.

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• Always Someone Better: Is more popular as a streamer than Nidothing and Dot doesn't deny it.
• Famed In-Story: She's known worldwide as a famous streamer.
• It Amused Me: When Roy and Dot finally find Liko, she instantly shows up in her balloon, implying she knew where Liko was the entire time and just wanted to see her game played out, even though it would have been much better to find Liko instantly.
• Large Ham: Naturally rivals Nidothing in this department. And unlike Dot, is this way off-stream as well.
• Meaningful Name: Befitting of her status as an Electric Type Gym Leader, her English name contains "Ion"—which are electrically charged atoms.
• Mythology Gag: Episode 15's game to find Liko is a lot like the game she makes the player do before they can battle her in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.
• Public Secret Message: In Episode 15, when Liko is missing, and the Rising Volt Tacklers have to find her without revealing info about the pendant, Nidothing and Iono collaborate and create a game that poses Liko as just a fan selected for a hide-and-seek game played by all the fans in Levincia, allowing the Rising Volt Tacklers to locate her without needing to give out any information. Not even her name, because they used Liko's username.
• Shock and Awe: She's an Electric Type Gym Leader with a streaming background.

Katy (Kaede)

Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi

The Bug-type Gym Leader of Cortondo and a baker. During the Terastal Debut arc, Liko is assigned to battle against her.

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• Bears Are Bad News: Has a Teddiursa which she can Terastallize into a Bug-Type.
• Beware the Nice Ones: She's a sweet-natured woman who (appropriately) runs a patisserie, but Coral finds out the hard way that she is not to be messed around with when she orders Glalie to use Blizzard in the kitchen and laughs at Liko and Floragato trying to protect each other from the cold; Katy gives her one hell of a Death Glare all while still using the same sweet voice while lecturing Coral about why she failed her cooking battle against Liko.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: She specializes in Bug-type Pokémon.

Paldea Pokémon League

Rika (Chili)

Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga

A Paldea Elite Four member who specializes in Ground Types.

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• Bifauxnen: Much like her game counterpart, Rika has an androgynous appearance. Doesn't help that her seiyuu is well-known for voicing Tomboyish characters.
• Dishing Out Dirt: She specializes in using Ground Types.
• World of Technicolor Hair: Like with previous characters in the series, Rika's hair color sticks out for being a darkish, blue-green.

Poppy

Voiced by: Miria Takagishi

The youngest of the Paldea Elite Four, who specializes in Steel Types.

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• The Baby of the Bunch: She's the youngest member of the Elite Four.
• Cheerful Child: Her promotional image shows her as having the biggest smile of the Elite Four, compared to her more serious-looking companions.
• Dub Name Change: Averted. She maintains the same name in both the English and Japanese dubs.
• Extra-ore-dinary: Her specialty is Steel Types.

Larry (Aoki)

Voiced by: Kosuke Toriumi

A salaryman, Gym Leader, and a member of the Paldean Elite Four, who specializes in Normal Types at his gym job, and Flying Types in his Elite Four duties.

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: He's not only a Gym Leader and an Elite Four Member, he has the appropriate suit to match his skills.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Before he was confirmed to be having a larger role in the main series, he cameoed in Episode 18 at the Treasure Eatery.
• Meaningful Name: His English name, Larry, can be derived from "Salary Man, of which he works. It also doubles as a pretty normal name for a guy who's speciality is Normal Types.
• Mythology Gag: His brief cameo takes place at the Treasure Eatery in Medali, where he can be found frequenting to challenge him.
• Perpetual Frowner: Like in the games, he always has a dour look on his face, as seen on the promotional poster—compared to the rest of his coworkers, he's the only one who looks downright depressed.
• Unusual Eyebrows: Larry's eyebrows are awfully big and rectangular.

Hassel (Hassaku)

Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu

A Paldean Elite Foursman who specializes in Dragon Types.

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• Badass in a Nice Suit: He wears an impeccably sharp suit, and happens to be an Elite Four member who specializes in one of the most powerful Pokémon species out there.
• Dragon Tamer: He specializes in Dragon Types.

Geeta (Omodaka)

Voiced by: Sanae Kobayashi

The chairwoman of the Paldean Pokémon League.

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• The Ace: As the chairwoman of the Paldea League and their most powerful trainer around, she definitely qualifies.
• Badass in a Nice Suit: She's the most powerful trainer in Paldea and dressed in a sharp suit.
• Curtains Match the Window: Her eye color is strangely the same as her hair.
• Exotic Eye Designs: She has a strange set of big purple eyes with yellow irises.
• World's Best Warrior: She's the strongest trainer in the Paldea region, though their League operates much differently compared to the other regions, and it's currently unclear how she ranks in comparison to other champions like Ash or Leon.

Galar Characters

Kabu

Voiced by: Hiroki Tochi

Voiced in English by: Clyde Kusatsu

The Fire-Type gym leader of Motostoke, originally from the Hoenn region.

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• Adaptational Late Appearance: He is a gym leader from the 8th Generation games that didn't debut in the anime until the 9th Generation.
• Cool Old Guy: He is old for a Pokemon character, but full of wisdom and compassion, and instantly desires to help young Liko and Roy, and makes some very hard but true points to the former, letting her realize she is too nice.
• Not So Above It All: Even though he was on a run, he couldn't help but stop and have some of Mitchell's treats even though that would offset some of the health benefits of said run. Granted, he wanted to watch the battle at the end of episode 19 as well.
• No-Sell: Certainly a contender for strongest trainer seen in Horizons up to that point. Liko and Roy's Pokémon, Sprigatito and Fuecoco, cannot do anything to his Centiskorch.
• Playing with Fire: He specializes in using Fire Types.
• Signature Mon: His Centiskorch serves as this, just like in the games.

Explorers

WARNING: This is a secret organization and a huge part of the series is gradually revealing what they are. Thus, most of this page is spoilers. Proceed at your own risk if you are not caught up with all episodes that have aired in Japan.

In General

The main antagonists of the series. They're a mysterious organization whose real purpose and motivations are unknown, except that they're currently pursuing Liko and her pendant.

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• Brought to You by the Letter "S": The Grunts have outfits that sport the group's "E" logo on their left shoulder.
• Canon Foreigner: The Explorers are the first villainous team created specifically for the anime.
• Color Motif: The Explorers are associated with purple and grey, the latter matching the Steel/Flying Pokémon the admins use.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: The Explorers could not be more different than the Team Rocket agents and leaders that have been around for the past 26 years in the anime, and it shows.
  • Unlike the hammy, sympathetic Goldfish Poop Gang that could occasionally be Not So Harmless Villains known as the Team Rocket Trio, The Explorers are a lot more deceitful, serious, and in possession of far more powerful Pokémon. You know they are deadly serious when they don't even have any Pokémon capable of human speech.
  • While Team Rocket's number one target is Pikachu, they'll steal just about any Pokémon they can get their hands on without a second thought. The Explorers are focused solely on their primary mission for the pendant and have little interest in anything else; for instance, Amethio only took Liko's Sprigatito trying to save its life, and he refused to use the cat as a bargaining chip to get Liko's pendant.
  • Narrative wise, The Explorers are significantly more intrinsic to the plot than the Team Rocket Trio. Given the latter's sheer incompetence, even when they briefly Took a Level in Badass in Unova, they were little more than annoying obstacles for Ash and his friends to swat away whenever the Trio tried their little schemes, and rarely did it ever affect their growths as trainers. In fact, Giovanni had no interest in Ash as much as the Trio tried to say otherwise, and rarely clashed with him sans Unova. The Explorers, on the other hand, kick off the entire story by going after Liko, Roy, and the Rising Volt Tacklers, forcing the bunch to grow, learn, and adapt to their attacks, and putting themselves directly in Gibeon's crosshairs as he starts throwing everything he has at them to steal Liko's pendant.
  • Above all else, the Explorers are presented as an extremely dangerous threat that when Liko and Roy fight against Sidian and Coral on their own, the two are utterly helpless against the duo without Friede being there to bail them out, whereas the moments that Team Rocket were a legitimate threat were very few and far between due to them having some moral lines they wouldn't dare cross, and even then Ash would make mince meat out of their ambushes more often than not.
• Foil: To the Rising Volt Tacklers:
  • Multiple times, it's shown that the Volt Tacklers are a group of True Companions who are willing to help each other whenever possible. By contrast, whenever the Explorers admins are seen in a group, they're mocking each other's failures.
  • Friede is clearly a compassionate leader to his team, looking out for everyone's well-being, while Gibeon shows no such affection for his subordinates and outright states they only exist to serve him.
• Mysterious Past: Diana recognizes the Explorers' name, noting that the group was the name of Lucius's friends in his era. This may imply that the Explorers' are descendants of Lucius's friends, which drives their current desire for Terapagos. Ironically, they have an antagonistic relationship with Diana and Liko, which contradicts the supposed companionship the original Explorers had with Lucius the ancient hero.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: To keep a close eye on Liko, Roy and Dot as they take the Terastal courses at Naranja Academy, Sidian and Coral pose as students while Chalce poses as a school faculty member. However, unlike the Team Rocket trio, Liko, Roy and Dot all see through their disguises and are very suspicious as to why they've enrolled.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni:
  • While Amethio is The Stoic, his planning boils down to Leeroy Jenkins with some use of Trainer's intuition, and he is shown to continue the mission he was explicitly removed from. He is contrasted with Spinel, who uses long-term planning to achieve the goals efficiently without getting involved personally, with a near-permanent Psychotic Smirk.
  • Coral is a classical bratty Psycho Pink, while Sidian is reserved and very affable.
• Rock Theme Naming:
  • Amethio is named after the amethyst jewel.
  • Zirc and Onia's names are put together to form "zirconia".
  • Hamber's name is derived from the hambergite mineral.
  • Spinel shares his name with the spinel jewel.
  • Gibeon's name may come from the Gibeon meteorite.
  • Episode 16 introduces 3 new admins: Onyx, Agate, and Sango in Japanese, whose names are Sidian, Chalce, and Coral respectively in English. Onyx and Agate share the same names with 2 types of banded chalcedonies while Sango's name translates to "coral", referring to the precious coral variety. Sidian and Chalce reference Obsidian and Chalcedony respectively.
• Tom the Dark Lord: "The Explorers" isn't a particularly intimidating name for a clandestine villainous organization.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Horizons may be light-hearted, but The Explorers are serious, no-nonsense villains who would use sheer force to accomplish their goals, unlike the incompetent goofballs that were Team Rocket.
  • Episode 43 is perhaps the golden example of this. Sidian and Coral attack Liko and Roy when Friede isn't around, and the two of them get utterly destroyed (and would have likely been beaten for good had Sidian not interrupted the battle just to take a phone call). Without their protector, Liko and Roy are utterly helpless against the more vile members of the organization; contrast that to Ash and his friends, who very rarely had to deal with Team Rocket's pestering as a serious threat.
• Uncatty Resemblance: Several admins resemble their Pokémon — Amethio has a dark purple color scheme and eyes similar to his Ceruledge, Zirc has sharp red eyes like his Rhydon, and Onia has Tsurime Eyes and a red highlight like her Golduck.

Leadership

Gibeon

Voiced in Japanese by: Show Hayami

Voiced in English by: David Kaye

The boss of the Explorers.

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• Actor Allusion: In the English dub, Gibeon lets out a slight yeeeeeeeeees while discussing matters with Hamber. This Verbal Tic was made famous by David Kaye's most famous role as the Predacon Leader Megatron.
• Big Bad: As The Explorers' actual head, he is the one behind the operation to kidnap Liko and take her pendant, as well as secure the ancient Rayquaza.
• Casting Gag:
  • Like with his previous roles as Vandal Savage on Young Justice and Beast Megatron on Beast Wars and Beast Machines, David Kaye serves as the overarching antagonist. He runs a mysterious organization like the former, and is heavily associated with the color purple like the latter, while also borrowing from Megatron's traits in holding little tolerance for his minions in disobeying his whims. Kaye even employs a similar voice to Gibeon as he does with the Predacon's leader.
  • This also isn't the first villainous anime character Kaye has voiced that has a mane of long white hair and has a connection to dogs.
• Contrasting Sequel Antagonist: Like Giovanni before him, Gibeon is the mysterious leader of a team of villains in the Pokémon universe who mainly operates in secret. However...
  • He immediately distinguishes himself from Giovanni by taking Amethio off the mission for failing to obtain Liko's pendant, whereas Giovanni kept Jessie, James, and Meowth around despite the fact their incompetence should have gotten them fired long ago.
  • Another important detail that separates him from Giovanni is that he is fully aware of and wants Liko's pendant, unlike Giovanni, who never wanted or cared about Ash's Pikachu contrary to what Jessie, James, or Meowth think.
  • For further contrast, Giovanni's partner is the Normal Type Persian, a fairly standard Pokémon he uses mostly as a Right-Hand Cat. Gibeon owns a Shiny variation of the extremely rare Ground and Dragon Type Zygarde, which is seen in the dog-like 10% form.
• Evil Sounds Deep: As usual for villains voiced by Show Hayami and David Kaye.
• The Ghost: His physical appearance is yet to be seen until episode 45, which shows a good chunk of him aside from his face.
• Hidden Agenda Villain: Even the admins seem to be unaware of Gibeon's actual end goal, though Hamber seems to know it.
• Irony: A meta example. He's voiced in Japanese by Show Hayami, who's best known to Transformers fans as the original Japanese voice for Ironhide and Ultra Magnus, both heroic and loyal Autobots. In English, he's voiced by David Kaye, who originated the voice for the Beast Wars iteration of Megatron, the vicious and ruthless leader of the Predacons.
• Non-Action Big Bad: Though Gibeon is yet to directly threaten the protagonists, he very much keeps track of the most recent developments and quickly issues new orders to his admins according to the newest information.
• Orcus on His Throne: His admins serve as the primary physical threat running through, as he stays hidden in an unknown location. From what we do see of him, he's implied to be physically old, decrepit and practically bedridden.
• Olympus Mons: His only Pokemon so far is a shiny 10% Zygarde.
• Palette Swap: His Zygarde is a shiny variation of the species, so its familiar black and lime green are replaced with white and blue-green.
• Pragmatic Villainy: After one too many failures from his subordinates, Gibeon elects to simply order his men to halt their attacks on the Rising Volt Tacklers, electing to just keep tabs on them since they're after the same thing anyway. Only when the opportunity is right will they move in and steal what they're after.
• The Voice: He interacts with the admins mostly via this.
• White Hair, Black Heart: From what is seen of him, he has a very clear head of white hair, and serves as the leader of the evil Explorers.
• You Have Failed Me: Gibeon dismisses Amethio from the mission to capture Liko and her pendant after failing enough times and insubordination, replacing him with Spinel. That being said he doesn't get rid of him outright; he just reassigns him to a different operation.

Hamber

Voiced in Japanese by: Hironori Kondo

Voiced in English by: Paul Mercier

Hamber is the butler of Gibeon, the boss of the mysterious organization Explorers.

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• The Dragon: Gibeon's second-in-command, all the admins answer to him when Gibeon isn't directly relaying orders and he is shown as his closest confidant.
• Dragon-in-Chief: The Admins defer to him rather than Gibeon directly.
• Evil Counterpart:
  • To Ludlow. Both of them are the oldest members of their respective groups whose hairstyles obscure their faces and have limited screen time, but that's where their similarities end. While Ludlow is a compassionate Cool Old Guy who cares about the well-being of his fellow Rising Volt Tacklers and tries to be a grandfatherly voice of guidance to Liko, Roy and Dot, Hamber is emotionally detached from most of the admins barring Amethio, having a purely professional dynamic with them and seemingly only caring about Gibeon and Amethio, the latter of whom he is noted to particularly favor and treat like a son.
  • Seems to be one to Diana. She's older like him and has pursued knowledge of Lucius, they both take action when they need to, and in fact, they used to be friends. However, they are polar opposites in terms of their personality. Diana established more of a connection with Roy and Friede in just a couple of hours then Hamber has with his associates who seem to have been in the organization for a while. Both do, however, share a close bond with the respective protagonist and antagonist Liko and Amethio, respectively. Diana is Liko's grandmother, while Hamber does not seem to be related to Amethio, but shares a close bond with him in particular.
• Evil Old Folks: One of the oldest characters in the anime, and a major member of malevolent organization.
• Hiding Behind Your Bangs: A rare senior example. Nonetheless fitting, as he is implied to be the only person who knows what Gibeon is truly after.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: An interesting mutual case. He and Diana stare each other down in episode 25, but don't actually battle with their Arcanine and Dusknoir that they had out. When she realizes he brought backup, she flees. However, he didn't make any attempt to pursue her, and he didn't order Sidian or Coral to attempt to deal with her, indicating both thought the other was too much of a threat to battle.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Non-combat example. When Amethio says to his face that he's not following orders which is usually a huge problem to other organizations, he flat out doesn't care, and let's him keep doing it, and the preview for the next episode show Amethio still in the organization with the others.
• Soul Power: Has a Dusknoir, which is a Ghost-type.

Admins

Amethio

Voiced by: Shun Horie

Voiced in English by: Daman Mills

Amethio is a Trainer who is one of the admins of the mysterious organization "Explorers". He and his team are sent after Liko's pendant.

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• Affably Evil: Amethio is impeccably polite, sincere, and dislikes any sort of underhanded tactics, even when it could grant him a major advantage.
• Dark Is Evil: He's dressed in dark clothing and wields the dark-colored Corviknight and Ceruledge.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Of the original Team Rocket Trio, who spent 26 years stuck in their single-minded approach to try and capture Pikachu by any means necessary.
  • While Amethio is far more competent and skilled than they were even during their brief boost in villainy in Unova, his adherence towards his strategy of stealing Liko's pendant and refusing to adjust it on the fly results in him getting fired from the mission and replaced by the more dangerous and effective Spinel, in what would have realistically happened to the TRio had Giovanni not given them enough leeway despite their constant failings.
  • Jessie, James, and Meowth were always loyal to Giovanni, no matter how much he belittled them, and it's implied the reason they could never quite fully go clean was out of an Undying Loyalty to him no matter what, despite them having the skills to do legal ventures. When Amethio returns in episode 21, he flat-out says he's going to search for the Black Rayquaza and will disobey orders directing him elsewhere, indicating he is silently rebelling against Gibeon. Consequently, the higher ups back at HQ aren't pleased with his actions, whereas the TRio could get away with being incompetent fools because they wouldn't dare disobey Giovanni.
• Dragon with an Agenda: He immediately wants to steal Terapagos upon seeing his own power, and given that he is now ignoring orders from Gibeon, he thus must see it as a way to further his own goals.
• Even Evil Has Standards:
  • Despite being a villain, he shows limits to what he'll do to get his way given he takes Sprigatito hostage mostly to save it from falling to its death, lets his subordinate pamper it, and refuses to use it as a bargaining chip.
  • Despite it likely being the best chance he'll ever have of snagging Liko and the Pendant and restoring his reputation in the Explorers, he doesn't make any attempt to grab her when she rolls through the room he fights Friede in on a mine-cart, allowing her to escape the mine and get the injured Pokémon to a Pokémon Center.
• Exotic Eye Designs: His pupils are white and triangle shaped.
• Extra-ore-dinary: One of his Pokémon is the part Steel-type Corviknight.
• The Heavy: Not the actual leader of Explorers (he seems to be a mid-level admin at best) but he's the enforcer sent to take Liko's pendent, making him the central antagonist at hand at least until Gibeon reassigns him after one too many failures.
• Hidden Depths: While seemingly the Butt-Monkey of the Explorers, he deduced that Liko is the key to unlocking the pendant's power and that it only responds to her far quicker than the otherwise more strategic Spinel did, who only figured out after getting a huge display of its power and desire to be with her, implying a better understanding of mystical artifacts than average and perhaps more than the rest of the organization.
• Honor Before Reason: When Freide asks if Amethio is going to attack Charizard with Ceruledge and Corviknight together instead of 1v1, he calls his Corviknight back, to which Freide comments that he is a "by the book" guy.
• I Was Just Passing Through: Tells Liko in episode 45 he saved her from Rayquaza's meteor because Rayquaza is his priority when she thanks him.
• No-Nonsense Nemesis: Amethio is an antagonist played almost completely straight, with next to no comedic traits (which are instead given to his subordinates). As a result, he's a serious threat anytime he's around, and he has to be dealt with with direct force, and many times the protagonist just opts to flee from him. This is a significant shake-up from good old Rockets, as this kind of antagonist tends to be a Knight of Cerebus only showing up well into a season, but Amethio is around from episode one, which sharply warps the storyline around the danger he represents. This in turn reshapes the main character group as well, as the story necessitates a powerful elite trainer (Friede) to cover the newbie protagonists. And even then, most of the fights between Amethio and Friede have not been conclusive, as all of them get interrupted or the RVT group flees as soon as they can. The fight between Friede and Amethio in HZ 025 finally has a conclusive result, with Friede's Charizard defeating Amethio's Ceruledge, but Amethio notably pushed Friede into enough of a corner to force Friede to Terastallize his Charizard and unleash a powerful Tera Blast.
• Noble Demon: Compared to most of the other admins, he is far more ethical and doesn't indulge in sadism and senseless violence.
• Obviously Evil: Thanks to his dark clothes, cold disposition, Exotic Eye Designs, and demands that Liko bring her pendant to him without a proper explanation, it's no wonder the girl immediately figured out she shouldn't trust him, which is compounded when he sends his goons to take her pendant by force.
• Pet the Dog: He has his Corviknight catch Liko's Sprigatito when it was about to fall off the deck of an airship to its death. We're led to believe he might be holding it hostage to bargain for the pendant, but he reveals later he has no intention of doing so, even if Friede does egg him into a wager over it after the fact.
• Playing with Fire: His Signature Mon is the Fire-type Ceruledge.
• Poor, Predictable Rock:
  • Amethio is by no means a weak trainer, being perfectly able to match Friede blow for blow, but he's extremely inflexible and all of his operations amount to "catch up to the Volt Tacklers, fight them and try to snatch Liko" without any greater planning or complex strategy, and he tries this no less than 3 times in a row. His inability to adapt/improvise nets him defeat after defeat with nothing to show for them, ultimately getting him reassigned and replaced with Spinel.
  • He shows signs of improvement when he attacks the Rising Volt Tacklers in Galar Mine. He tries to take advantage of Liko and Roy being split from Freide by sending Zirc and Onia to deal with Liko and Roy while he goes to occupy Freide so he can't help them, and in the ensuing battle, uses Phantom Force and the Weak Armor ability to get a more clear-cut advantage by raising Ceruledge's speed as opposed to going for a slug-fest like in previous battles, though it still doesn't get finished, this time due to Galarian Moltres interrupting.
• Put on a Bus: He is introduced as the central antagonist and remains the primary threat through all of the initial story arc, appearing in just about every episode. Once the RVT get to Paldea and he gets reassigned, he is benched, and didn't appear for a while, coming back after Spinel's tenure as the central villain was done but now seeking to capture the Shiny Rayquaza on his own and even then, he's acting outside his orders, indicating Gibeon has absolutely no faith that he can capture Liko and the Pendant now.
• Signature Mon: His Ceruledge acts as his primary partner, and has been given the most focus on his team due to his constant clashes with Friede while using it.
• Starter Villain: The first foe of Horizons and the first anime antagonist of the era following Ash's retirement from the protagonist role, serving to establish the new era's different tone and approach to its storytelling. He remains the main threat for the first arc of the series before his failures get him dismissed from the mission by his boss. That said, when he does finally come back, he's as much of a thorn in the side as ever, and deliberatly averts Can't Catch Up, though he appears having disobeyed orders directing him elsewhere, so the Explorers top brass continue to not believe in him.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • When he reencounters the Rising Volt Tacklers, he demonstrates he's far less rigid in his tactics by having his henchmen go after Liko and Roy, and deals with Friede by boosting his Ceruledge's speed to give him an edge. The subsequent battle at Diana's castle has Amethio defeated, but not without Amethio pushing Friede far enough that he has to use his trump card, Terastal, to gain the upper hand.
  • Later on, he manages to get gain the ability to Terastalize his Ceruledge into a Ghost Tera Type.
• Underestimating Badassery: Does underestimate Captain Pikachu when the mouse gets in the way. Captain Pikachu shows that he's no pushover very quickly. He wises up in their second battle, performing much better when he is taking his foe seriously from the start.

Spinel

Voiced by: Makoto Furukawa

Voiced in English by: Matthew Mercer

One of the admins of the Explorers, he's given the mission of retrieving Liko's pendant after Amethio's failure.

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• Brilliant, but Lazy: Downplayed in episode 44 as he still plays a part in the scheme, but he mostly leaves the plan to capture Rayquaza in the hands of Sidian, Coral, and Chalce while he hides in a nearby satellite tower to occupy Friede while they do most of the work. Depending on them causes the plan to not work.
• Casting a Shadow: His main Pokémon is an Umbreon and is the first villain to own one.
• Combat Pragmatist: For once, he gives orders to his Pokémon remotely from his hideout, not giving Friede any chance of discovering anything about him no matter the result of the battle. His main strategy for the battle is to have Beeheeyem hold Charizard in place with Psychic while Magneton unleashes a barrage of super-effective moves on it.
• Crazy-Prepared: Not only he pulls off a multi-step scheme to steal Liko's pendant and leave undetected, he heavily screws with Liko's memory and fills the internet with fake info on her sightings, so the Rising Volt Tacklers would waste time looking for her while he is long gone.
• Dragon with an Agenda: Since he didn't give the 'unverified' information about the pendant to the other members, he must be after something concerning it himself, independent of the organization.
• Didn't See That Coming: One of the key factors of his defeat was something he hasn't observed, namely that Arboliva's Ancient Ball can act as a radar to the pendant, and that the pendant itself is a Pokémon who escapes captivity once Liko gets close to it.
• Evil Genius:
  • He uses a swarm of Magneton to stall Brave Olivine in place and disrupts communications, while he spies on the crew for a while and learns of their habits. Then he uses Pokémon controlled by microphones to lure Friede away, and, unlike Amethio, doesn't entertain challenging him head-on. Friede has won, but after revealing his trump card, and still none the wiser about who his assailant is.
  • He sends Liko an ad for spices the crew wanted, along with the location, then hypnotizes the separated Liko to give him her pendant, while wearing a disguise just in case she retains her memories about it. Friede goes to another city due to a fake lead, and by the time Liko is reunited with the crew Spinel and the pendant would have been at the Explorers' base had he not been stuck waiting for a cargo ship.
  • In Episode 27, he feeds the Rising Volt Tacklers false intel on the Shiny Rayquaza so The Explorers could get a head start on tracking the Legendary Pokémon down.
• Exact Words: After he give his report to the Explorers about how he lost the pendant, he mentions to his Umbreon that he didn't include any unverified information.
• Exotic Eye Designs: In contrast with Amethio who has triangle-shaped pupils, he has white circular ones.
• Faux Affably Evil: While he is not outright nasty towards the Rising Volt Tacklers and didn't kidnap Liko herself their first encounter, he still erased her mind, and after realizing that Liko herself is needed to secure the pendant, appears to now be okay with kidnapping her on his next try. Also, in the heat of battle, he did call Dot pathetic. Then further tries to have Liko, Roy and Dot physically harmed with Umbreon's abilities being aimed right at them instead of just their Pokémon.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: In episode 44, He gets Sidian, Coral, and Chalce to do all the actual work of setting up the machine to lure Rayquaza and then pepper it with attacks while it is frozen, while he simply occupies Friede. He manages to occupy Friede for quite a while, but that ended up not mattering at his three coworkers let the kids of the Olivine deactivate the machine, of which Friede was not the sole reason it happened. His attempt to get his coworkers to do all the work is what ultimately cost him.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: He has been shown to be far more effective than the other Explorers in his two major engagements. In fact, none of his failures were due to incompetence on his end; a legendary Pokemon he didn't know about intervened when he tried to steal the Pendent, and the machine to stun Rayquaza being stopped was completely out of his control as Chalce simply was unable to stop Dot from deactivating it.
• The Juggernaut: He has never been truly defeated in battle; Lucious' Arboliva rescued Liko, Roy, and Dot when he cornered them. Later on, Friede and Cap had to resolt to blowing a hole in the building to get away from him as they were unable to make much progress against his Umbreon.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: To the point of Face of an Angel, Mind of a Demon.
• Near-Villain Victory: Twice! If it weren't for Arboliva’s Poké Ball reacting to the pendant's presence and leading the kids to the ship he was hiding out on, he would've gotten away with Liko's pendant and potentially injuring or killing her in the process. Later on, his plan to capture the Black Rayquaza with three other Explorer members starts well before they mess up on their end, but Rayquaza was nevertheless partially frozen and pissed when thawed out.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: Subverted. While still vaguely recognizable, the disguise he uses when he steals Liko's pendant is still way more convincing than most of Team Rocket's disguises.
• Pet the Dog: Implied; he owns an Umbreon (which only evolves with high friendship) and apologizes for making it attack "weak foes" when he sends it against Liko, Roy, and Dot, implying he at least has some level of affection towards it.
• Practically Joker: Given his penchant for misdirection and subterfuge, his condescending attitude towards his fellow villains, his green-colored hair, the fact he Would Hurt a Child, being The Sociopath who employs a wide variety of dirty tricks to accomplish his goals and reveling in the villainous deeds he enacts with sadistic glee, he's the closest thing the Pokémon franchise has to the Clown Prince of Crime. It doesn't hurt that The Explorers overall are dressed primarily in purple uniforms, similar to Joker's signature color. There's also the fact he doesn't spill all the details about the pendant to his boss, suggesting he's pursuing his own agenda outside of the group, which Joker would frequently do for his own gain. Episode 27 also shows he has Joker's talent for misdirection, as he gives the Rising Volt Tacklers a false tip on the Shiny Rayquaza's whereabouts so The Explorers could get a head start on tracking it themselves.
• Pragmatic Villainy: In Episode 27, he convinces his fellow Explorers to just monitor Liko and company for now, knowing full well that attempting to steal Terapagos head on would just lead to an easy defeat for the villains. Instead, they should concentrate their efforts on hunting the Shiny Rayquaza— which should be easier since he fed the heroes false intel on its whereabouts.
• Psychic Powers: One of his Pokémon is a Beeheeyem, which, like most of its species, can teleport and manipulate memories. Spinel makes good use of those traits.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eye color is a light red and he's clearly a bad guy.
• Revealing Cover Up: The fact he continues jamming the communications of the Rising Volt Tacklers and spreads fake info on the internet to stop them from finding Liko clues Friede in that he must still be close by. If he was planning to run far away as soon as he got the pendant there would be no need to trouble himself with all this. Episode 16 reveals it's because he's waiting for a cargo ship to leave.
• The Rival: It's apparent he's one to Amethio, given the condescending tone Spinel has after Amethio is taken off the mission.
• Shock and Awe: One of his Pokémon is a Magneton. He uses it to disrupt internet connections between Rotomphones.
• The Sociopath: Spinel is this trope in terms of antagonists: he exhibits traits of a textbook malignant psychopath to the absolute extreme. He lacks empathy for others, even his own fellow Explorers' members, being condescending, snarky, and dismissive towards his peers. He is relentlessly calculating, manipulative, and cold, relying on tactical, yet dirty and underhanded tactics to achieve his aims, such as using his army of Magneton to cause disruptions, while staying in the distance unseen. When facing Friede, he never shows himself, and commands his Beheeyem from afar, using Psychic to keep Charizard immobilized while using his Magneton to mercilessly fire a flurry of super effective attacks. True to a genuine psychopath, Spinel also hides behind a mask by wearing a public persona and changing his personality to lure Liko into a trap he set up with a fake advertisement, then proceeding to hypnotize her by giving her amnesia before stealing her pendant while she is mentally incapacitated. Also akin to a psychopath, Spinel never loses his cool, keeping a completely calm demeanor and rarely, if ever, showing any emotion. He is also evidently sadistic, and joyfully revels in the evil deeds he performs, much unlike Amethio.
• Technician Versus Performer: The Technician to his rival, Amethio's Performer. Amethio's preferred tactic of securing the Pendant is going aggressive with attacks against the RVT, which ends up with long, drawn-out battles that give Liko an opportunity to escape or for some artifact like Roy's Ancient Pokeball to activate and ruin everything. Meanwhile, Spinel uses a stealthy and tricky tactic by hypnotizing Liko in a secluded alley, allowing him to secure it without much effort and without the pendant activating at all.
• Too Clever by Half: Spinel builds a whole empty building and waits for an uncertain amount of days until Friede decides to investigate it, so other Explorers can summon Black Rayquaza with the recording of Terapagos's cry, without worrying about Friede's Charizard. Instead of just summoning Rayquaza when there are no threats, or not doing it so close to the trap, this Complexity Addiction only ensures the rest of the Rising Volt Tacklers are in the right place and time to interfere with the summoning, and Captain Pikachu breaks free from the trap anyway.
• Viler New Villain: While the Team Rocket Trio drew a line at using hypnosis, Spinel gleefully employs it on Liko the first chance he's able to get her alone. Heck, he's even worse than the previously introduced Explorers such as Amethio, who at least have a code of honor.
• Would Hurt a Child: He orders his Beeheeyem to use Hypnosis on Liko and Sprigatito to give them amnesia. And later uses his team to directly attack Liko, Roy and Dot with intent to cause harm to them, if not kill them outright.

Sidian (Onyx)

Voiced by: Yuki Onodera

One of the admins of the Explorers.

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• Ambiguously Brown: Has much darker skin than most of the other members of the Explorers, except for Chalce.
• Dishing Out Dirt: Aside from his name being a type of mineral, he owns both a Garganacl and an Aerodactyl, both being at least part-Rock-types.
• Dub Name Change: Unlike most of the other Explorers, Sidian's name in the English dub is completely different from his original name in Japanese, Onyx. This is most likely to prevent confusion or overlap with the Pokémon named Onix.
• Giver of Lame Names: When forced by Coral to pick another name in order to hide their true identities at Naranja Academy, in Japanese he goes with... Onigiri (rice ball) and Sandwich, also doubling as an Atrocious Alias because he not only has to think of them on the spot, it's almost similar to their names. Poor Coral can be seen laughing her butt off when she hears them, and Liko, Roy and Dot are not buying it at all.
• Honor Is Fair Play: When Sidian challenges Liko to a battle as seen in Episode 43, he politely asks her to be his opponent and says "Let us fight with honor". He values honorable combat and fair play, and is impeccably polite and well mannered.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Together with Coral, he forms a duo of Explorers' admins who are referred to as the "troublemakers" of the organization, noted by both Amethio and Hamber to be reckless and often disobeying orders to get into the action themselves.
• Noble Demon: Sidian values honor in battle and is incredibly polite. He will never resort to underhanded tactics or dirty play to win, and will politely ask his opponents to battle him in an honorable battle. He often stays around Coral to keep her more volatile behavior in line, being far more level headed and reasonable than her.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Despite being known among his organization alongside Coral as the duo of troublemakers, Sidian is more stoic and serious between the two, and is more capable of holding himself back in the midst of action, contrary to Coral, who has a wild disposition and will easily lose her temper in the midst of battle and cause reckless destruction in doing so.
• The Mole: Poses as a student of Naranja Academy with Coral during Terastal Debut.
• The Stoic: Is mildly critical of Spinel's failure, but keeps his cool.

Chalce (Agate)

Voiced by: Mimi Maihane

Voiced in English by: Shara Kirby

One of the admins of the Explorers.

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• Action Girl: Her main partner is a Medicham, a Fighting-type. She also appears to be as skilled in martial arts as her Medicham is.
• Deep Cover Agent:Terastal Debut reveals she's working at Naranja Academy as an instructor.
• Dub Name Change: Originally named Agate in Japanese, her name in the dub was changed to Chalce, from chalcedony. Agate is a banded variant of chalcedony.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While it happened fast, in episode 44, she ultimately could not get herself to physically prevent Dot from turning off the machine that stunned Rayquaza when her Medicham was occupied, so she seemingly isn't willing to hurt children...unlike Spinel.
• Ice Queen: An antagonistic, yet calm individual, showing least reaction to Spinel's failure.
• Kicking Ass in All Her Finery: One of the few female villains in the franchise to wear a full dress. Her outfit keeps her Pokeballs close to hand, hinting that she prefers being able to send out her Pokemon as soon as possible.
• Ranged Emergency Weapon: While the Medicham species is known for their melee attacks, hers can use Psybeam if it absolutely needs to hit something far away.

Coral (Sango)

Voiced by: Ikue Otani

Voiced in English by: Lizzie Freeman

One of the admins of the Explorers.

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• Action Bomb: Her Glalie knows Self-Destruct, and both she and her partner show no hesitation to use it.
• An Ice Person: Owns an Ice-type Glalie.
• Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: One of the girliest characters so far (in a Cute and Psycho way), and her outfit leaves her midriff exposed.
• Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Very silly and seemingly easily distracted, she still easily handled Roy's Fuecoco in battle and nowhere is it implied that she's less accomplished than others in the organization. Even Friede and Cap ultimately had to run away from her as she quickly decided to use Glalie's Self-Destruct against them.
• Cheery Pink: An evil version. She has pink hair and has an outgoing personally, but she's a nasty piece of work.
• Cute Little Fangs: One of her fangs is much longer than the rest, which combined with her Playful Cat Smile helps make her look both cuter and mischevious. At least until her Hair-Trigger Temper is set off, then the abnormally long fang enhances her psychotic expressions.
• Determinator: In episode 44, when the Explorers plan to use a machine to stun and freeze the Black Rayquaza to capture it go south, she and her Glalie navigate through its Draco Meteor and use Self-Destruct next to it, in a last-ditch effort to bring it down
• Dub Name Change: Her Japanese name is just that language's word for "coral", which is a bit of an Odd Name Out among the others using English words for minerals, so her name in English involves just directly translating it.
• Evil Is Petty: Coral is exceptionally petty and will throw a temper tantrum at even the most trivial of matters that don't go her way, such as not being able to get Wiglett Manju sweets, and lashing out at Liko because she opened her box of sweets and thus "ruined their value" in Coral's eyes.
• Girlish Pigtails: Her hair is styled with two pigtails to emphasize her being younger/more immature than her fellow admins.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: It takes very little to make her to throw a temper tantrum.
• Head Pet: Inverted. She often lounges on top of her massive Glalie's head.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Despite her silly and carefree demeaner, she did quickly realize she needed to use Self-Destruct against Cap, indicating she can still quickly read situtiations and opponents correctly.
  • She was able to get a note on the back of Roy's Fuecoco without him noticing it, indicating she has some clandestine ability.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Together with fellow admin Sidian, she is part of a duo known as the "troublemakers" among the group, due to their tendency to disobey orders and jump into action themselves against others' wills. Both Amethio and Hamber refer to them as this.
• Ironic Echo: Her Glalie can use Icicle Spinner to make it harder to hit and to move around itself, which is similiar to how Ash Ketchum in the preceeding series could have his Dragonite use Dragon Dance to allow it to deflect attacks.
• Jack of All Stats: In game, Glalie is a Master of None with a mediocre 80 in every stat, but the series has depicted that more in this way, with it being pretty fast, strong, and bulky. Even with a Type disadvantage, it still seemed to outdo Roy's Fuecoco in any meaningful area.
• Playful Cat Smile: She often forms her mouth into a cat-like dip, showcasing both her immaturity and mischievous nature.
• Pointless Band-Aid: She has a pair of band-aids crossed over her hair.
• Psycho Pink: She has pink hair, but is very much a Card-Carrying Villain, even gleefully mocking Spinel's failure.
• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Coral is more boisterious, energetic, and outwardly aggressive than her fellow troublemaker Sidian, who is stoic and serious. Coral openly mocks her fellow admins and has a tendency to lose her temper in the midst of action, causing unnecessary destruction in doing so.
• Sweet Tooth: Was pissed when she couldn't get a diglett-themed Manjū, challenging Liko and Roy for that without even mentioning Terrapagos which she should be trying to take from Liko.
• The Mole: Poses as a student of Naranja Academy with Sidian during Terastal Debut.
• Token Mini-Moe: While every other Explorer is clearly an adult, she looks like a young teen at best.
• Troll: Mocks Spinel's failure, going the extra mile to remark that this failure came despite Spinel's trademark Crazy-Prepared modus operandi.
• Vague Age: Her short stature, youthful appearance and extremely bratty personality may put her closer to Liko and Roy's age, but since every other member of the Explorers is an adult, it wouldn't be unreasonable to assume that she's just older than she looks.

Grunts

Zirc (Zir)

Voiced in Japanese by: Kohsuke Tanabe

Voiced in English by: Michael Schneider

Zirc is a trainer from the mysterious organization "Explorers", part of the initial team sent to retrieve Liko's pendant.

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• The Brute: He's pretty physically imposing but still defers to Amethio.
• Dishing Out Dirt: His main Pokémon and battler is the Ground and Rock-type Rhydon.
• Extra-ore-dinary: One of his Pokémon is the part Steel-type Skarmory.
• Not So Above It All: A brief example but Episode 8 shows that he's a fan of Nidothing and even gave a comment on a livestream.
• Signature Mon: Rhydon is his main Pokémon battler and Zirc's username during Nidothing's livestreams is "Rhydon's Muscles". He even goes as far as asking Nidothing for advice on how to battle better with Rhydon after getting his butt kicked by Roy's Fuecoco.
• Took a Level in Badass: Seems to have taken Nidothing's advice to heart. When he finally gets to battle Liko and Roy again in episode 25, his Rhydon has Super-Effective attacks in store for both Sprigatito (Megahorn) and Fuecoco (Rock Blast) and unlike Onia's Golduck, Rhydon not just stayed up, but showed no signs of slowing down and in fact, seemed to have the two starter Pokemon in a bind before Zirc and Onia decided to leave in fear of the arriving Sidian and Coral.

Onia (Conia)

Voiced in Japanese by: Arisa Shida

Voiced in English by: Lisa Ortiz

Onia is a trainer from the mysterious organization "Explorers", part of the initial team sent to retrieve Liko's pendant.

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• Butt-Monkey: Seems to have officially become this in episode 25. Liko and Roy were only scared of Zirc, and even when she cornered them for a battle, Liko quickly defeated her...and then showed far more concern for Zirc and his Rhydon.
• Can't Catch Up: Seems to already have fallen into this by episode 25. Her Golduck is quickly defeated by Liko's Sprigatito, and this was her second defeat to it remember, and Sprigatito isn't getting any weaker. Made more painful because Amethio and Zirc actually did Take a Level in Badass by then.
• Cuteness Proximity: She outright squees when she sees Sprigatito.
• Extra-ore-dinary: One of her Pokémon is the part Steel-type Skarmory.
• Making a Splash: Onia owns a Golduck, which is primarily a Water-type.
• Not So Above It All: Despite being just as serious as her teammates, Episode 3 shows her a number of comedic moments, mostly involving Sprigatito.
• Pet the Dog: When the Explorers have Sprigatito hostage, it's shown she brought it some toys and food.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Although she had a nice time with Sprigatito while it was a hostage, the cat simply didn't like her deep down and changed tunes when Liko came to rescue it. After all, cats can be mean with their wild personalities.

Spoiler Characters

Note: Following folders has unmarked spoilers.

Lucius

Voiced in Japanese by: Daisuke Namikawa

Voiced in English by: Steve Blum

The ancient adventurer whose exploits have passed into myth and fairy tale. He had traveled to the ends of the earth with his 6 Pokémon collectively known as "The 6 Heroes". Their goal was to reach a dreamed paradise.

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• Ambiguously Related: There's hints throughout the series that Liko, and by extension at least her mother's side of the family, may be descended from him.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: He owned a Kleavor, itself primarily a Bug Type with a fierce look.
• Casting a Shadow: His Galarian Moltres was part Dark type.
• Dragon Tamer: His partner was the Shiny Rayquaza, a Dragon and Flying type.
• An Ice Person: He owned the part Ice Type Lapras.
• Making a Splash: He owned a Lapras that was primarily a Water type.
• Olympus Mons: He owned a Shiny Rayquaza, an Entei, and a Galarian Moltres, all of whom are legendary Pokémon
• Playing with Fire: Owned the legendary Pokémon Entei, a Fire type.
• Posthumous Character: Since he is a fabled hero from 100 years ago or more, he himself is probably long gone if he even existed in the first place.
• Walking Spoiler: Who he was is one of the driving questions of Horizons so he cannot be talked about without discussing the main plot.

Lucius' Pokémon / Six Heroes

• Living Relic: All of Lucius's Pokémon are apparently still alive or are implied to be alive in the modern era. Its especially notable for Kleavor as the rest of its species is implied to be extinct.
• Plot Coupon: They are closely related to Liko's pendant and The Promised Land Lucius was looking for, so Rising Volt Tacklers figure they have to find all of them.

Rayquaza

A shiny version of the famed legendary with ties to the main protagonists.

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• Advertised Extra: The Sky High Pokémon appeared on a promotional poster and got a pretty big preview, but after easily stomping Amethio's Ceruledge, it refused to be recalled back into the ancient Poké Ball and flew away.
• Always a Bigger Fish: Is the bigger fish compared to the rest of the cast. Any time both the Rising Volt Tacklers and the Explorers are around to fight both each other when it is around, they end up having to focus more on not getting harmed from the collateral damage of Rayquaza's attacks.
• Ambiguous Situation: At this time, it's unknown if this is an entirely new Rayquaza, or the same entity from Pokémon: Hoopa and the Clash of Ages that appeared to aid Ash and co. in stopping Hoopa's Unbound form.
• Breaking Old Trends: Whenever Legendary Pokemon appeared in the anime before, they'd typically be in their standard coloration. This Rayquaza instead has a shiny coloration.
• Captured Super-Entity: Turns out it was in Roy's Ancient Pokéball. How it ended up in there is yet to be explained, but it is suggested that it was one of the six Pokémon that partnered up with Lucius, an ancient adventurer.
• Color-Coded for Your Convenience: This version is the famous shiny iteration to distinguish it from other Rayquaza that appeared in the anime.
• Curbstomp Battle: All of its battles end horribly for the opposition the second it can retaliate.
• Curb Stomp Cushion:
  • In episode 44, a last-ditch Explosion from Coral's Glalie manages to stagger it, when it took basically any other attack without flinching.
  • In episode 45, while Friede and Amethio still ultimately lose against it, they manage to do a good chunk of damage to it before it fled once more.
• Death Glare: Gives a chilling one to Amethio just before it curbstomps Ceruledge.
• Early-Bird Cameo: It appeared in the anime before both its regular and shiny colorations were among the 200+ Pokémon that were added to Pokémon Scarlet and Violet as pre-DLC transferable Pokémon following the Pokémon Home 3.0 update.
• The Juggernaut: Unsurprisingly for a legendary Pokémon, it is this. Every single encounter involving fighting it leads to a Curb Stomp Cushion at best for the characters, with the Explorers forced to retreat twice when it ends up in the position to retaliate, even with a plan designed to incapacitate it.
• Meaningful Look: It shoots one at Liko before it flies away.
• Nonstandard Character Design: Rayquaza is constantly seen with glowing, crystalline skin, not unlike a Tera Pokemon. It's not a result of it being a shiny Pokémon; Gibeon's Zygarde, which is also shiny, noticeably doesn't have this effect.
• Olympus Mons: It's one of the more famous examples, complete in its fan-favorite shiny form.
• Our Dragons Are Different: It's a Dragon/Flying type that looks like a flying snake.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: After wiping the floor with Amethio's Ceruledge, it refuses to be recalled back into the ancient Poké Ball and flies away.
• The Worf Effect: Amethio, who is the biggest threat to the rookie trainer Liko, is slaughtered by this Rayquaza the moment it attacks.

Arboliva (Oliva)

A giant-sized Arboliva. It had an ancient Pokéball around its neck, the same sort that the black Rayquaza was inside. After Liko and Roy replanted a part of the forest that was destroyed in a fire, it recalled itself into the ball and is now in Liko and Roy's possession.

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• Green Thumb: A huge tree-like Pokémon, it has the ability Seed Sower, which makes plants grow.
• Spanner in the Works: It's capable of detecting Liko's pendant, which proved to be handy when Spinel stole it and almost got away with it had Arboliva's ball not led the Rising Volt Tacklers right to him.
• That's No Moon: It's large enough that Liko and Roy initially mistook it for a tree.

Galarian Moltres (Galarian Fire)

A regional form of the famed Legendary Bird, who appeared in the Galar Mines with the same ancient Poké Ball as Rayquaza's in its talons. After a lengthy battle and chase, Liko and Roy were able to recall it, putting the Legendary under their care.

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• Adaptational Late Appearance: It wasn't included in Ash's story during Journeys despite his frequent visits to Galar. It appears during the Gen IX anime, albeit with the caveat that it can be transferred into Scarlet and Violet.
• Blow You Away: It's mainly a Flying-type, and it looks like a giant bird.
• Casting a Shadow: It's partially a Dark-type.
• Combat Pragmatist: It uses its ability to drain the vitality of people and Pokemon alike to weaken opponents before attacking them. Recognize that Captain Pikachu is a Close-Range Combatant, it simply uses its ranged attacks on him to prevent him from getting in close, demolishing the mouse in the process.
• Dark Is Not Evil: It's a Dark-type, has a nasty temperament, and attacks anything on sight. Despite this, it was one of the Six Heroes that worked alongside the legendary Lucius, and willingly returned to its Poké Ball once it was calmed down. Liko realizes that its rage came from a deeply held desire it wanted to fulfill, the rain it made while showing Lucius being its way of crying.
• The Dreaded: Every single Pokemon in the Galar Mine is terrified of it.
• Gameplay and Story Integration:
  • Like its Pokedex entry, anyone caught up in its aura becomes a burnt-out shadow of themselves.
  • On slightly funnier note, thanks to it being transfer exclusive, Moltres doesn't have a dex entry in the Gen IX games. When Liko scans it, the Pokedex has no idea what it is.
• Implacable Man: Or 'Mon, in this case. Liko and Roy gather their Pokémon, Cap, and them into a mine cart and roll away from this Moltres variant, but it just follows them and doesn't stop until Friede gets its attention.
• Life Drain: It radiates a dark aura that drains the stamina of both people and Pokémon, leaving them weak and unable to defend themselves.
• Red and Black and Evil All Over: With its burning red flames, dark feathers, and destructive disposition, it might as well be Darth Maul himself. The Evil part is subverted as it was one of the Six Heroes and, once it calmed down, was willing to return to its Poké Ball and join the Rising Volt Tacklers.
• Underground Monkey: The standard Kantonian Moltres is a Fire/Flying-type with yellow colors and an orange flame running across its head, wings, and tail. This Moltres, being of Galarian origin, is a Dark/Flying-type with black colors and red flames. Bonus points since the heroes actually find it underground.
• The Worf Effect: It completely demolishes Captain Pikachu in battle, leaving him critically injured, though it's Justified due to Galarian Moltres being a Legendary Pokémon, and Cap having little battle experience against Legendaries like Ash's Pikachu.

Lapras (Laplace)

One of the six Pokémon that Lucius owned in ancient times. In the current era, it supposedly guides lost ships out of foggy seas but in reality, it creates the fog itself using Mist and it also leads a band of Pokémon that steals the lost ship's cargo.

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• An Ice Person: It's part Ice-type.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: It acts helpful towards sailors, seemingly guiding their ships through mist, but in reality it's creating the mist itself as a cover while its allies steal all the food onboard.
• Covered in Scars: This Lapras is not only ancient, but is larger then most Lapras seen in the anime and covered in scars, including its shell.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite stealing cargo from other ships, Liko is able to convince it to stand down and come with her to take Terapagos to Rakua.
• Legacy Character: In a sense. Though it was owned by a hero from a century ago, it's one of the same types of Pokémon previously owned by Ash Ketchum.
• Making a Splash: It's primarily a Water-type.
• Non-Standard Character Design: While Lapras are generally large Pokémon, this one seems to be twice as big and has a longer neck then most.

Entei

One of the six Pokémon that Lucius owned in ancient times.

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• Olympus Mons: Entei is one of the three Legendary Beasts of Johto.
• Playing with Fire: Entei is a pure Fire Type.

Kleavor (Basagiri)

One of the six Pokémon that Lucius owned in ancient times.

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• Adaptational Late Appearance: Kleavor is a Generation 8 Pokémon that's making its debut in the 9th Generation's anime.
• Blade Below the Shoulder: Both its arms end in axes.
• Big Creepy-Crawlies: It's primarily a Bug Type, and looks very intimidating.
• Breaking Old Trends: It's the first Hisuian Pokémon that was owned by a character.
• Dishing Out Dirt: It's partially a Rock Type.

The Pendant Pokémon

A Terapagos that seems to be residing in Liko's pendant.

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• Ambiguous Situation: What it is and how it was sealed in Liko's pendant is currently unknown, nor how it's connected to the shiny Rayquaza in Roy's old Pokéball. Diana suggests it may be one of Lucius' Pokémon, and an implied familial connection between the two suggests why it's so protective of her, but it's only speculation.
• Badass Adorable: The little crystal turtle Pokémon is absolutely cute, and it possesses a massive amount of power under that shell.
• Beehive Barrier: Creates one of these in the second episode to protect Liko from Psycho Cut.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Cute and curious as it may be, Terapagos can throw down with the best of them because it is a Legendary Pokémon. When the Rising Volt Tacklers reencounter the Shiny Rayquaza, Terapagos enters into its Terastral Form and faces the Dragon/Flying Type head on to protect its friends.
• Constantly Curious: It's preferred behavior is going directly to whatever new it sees even if it's dangerous. When there's nothing new, it makes rounds around Brave Olivine trying everything or interacting with Pokémon on ship.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To Nebby. Its an incredibly powerful legendary Pokemon that travels alongside the main cast like Nebby did. It also has child like curiosity that can put it in danger. However Terapagos has some differences that sets it apart.
  • First and foremost is its age. Nebby was a newborn with little to no control of its power. Terapagos has complete control of its abilities, thanks to being hundreds of years old.
  • Second, none of Ash's companions knew what Nebby even was. The Rising Volt Tacklers have a decent bit of info on Terapagos thanks to Lucius' memoirs.
• The Cutie: It's a childish Pokémon with a permanent wide smile on its face and natural tendency to befriend almost every Pokémon it meets.
• Early-Bird Cameo: It appeared in the second episode of the series before showing up in any other form of media. It took a couple of days after the episode aired to be confirmed it would show up in the Expansion DLC of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. Notably, this is the first Pokémon to appear in the main anime series (not including the movies) before the games since Dusk Lycanroc, and the first completely new species since at least Noivern in 2013. It was only during the August 8th Pokemon Presents that it would be revealed as the normal form of Terapagos, which wasn't scheduled to be added into the games until December 14, 2023.
• Guardian Entity: It seemingly protects Liko and Sprigatito from Amethio's Ceruledge in its first appearance.
• Living MacGuffin: In the first arc, the pendant is desperately saught by Explorers, then being known as just as a Mineral MacGuffin with unusual Beehive Barrier powers. After the audience and Explorers learn that it is in fact a Pokemon with connection to Lucius, it becomes less of a priority since it's always with Liko, compared to Shiny Rayquaza, but still on villains' radar.
• Power-Strain Blackout: Terapagos enters into its Terastral form, but exhausts itself confronting the Shiny Rayquaza. Mollie has to treat it right afterwards.

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