Pokemon Horizons Proves How One of Its New Heroes Is Deeper Than Ash With Devastating Loss

Warning: Spoilers for Pokemon Horizons, Episode 61

Pokemon Horizons Finally saw Lico, Roy, and Dot arrive at Montenevera, so that Roy could take on his Terrastal Implementation test. Not only did Dot manage to pass her, but the battle also saw her quickly evolve into Coxwell, showing Dot’s significant growth over the course of this training.

Roy went to his exam with gym leader Rime hoping it would go much the same way, but his first pokemon, Kilowattrel, went down quickly. Fuecoco was able to hold her own against Rime’s Houndstone, but when she sent out a Toxicity, Fuecoco found herself almost completely helpless, unable to land any attacks in the face of Toxicity’s booming health. Toxtricity took Fuecoco with ease, even after terrestalizing, and Ryme was quite disappointed with the outcome of the battle, chiding Roy for being a poor partner to Fuecoco.

It looks like Roy will spend the majority of the next episode pondering Rime’s words and trying to figure out how he can be a better trainer.

Roy’s devastating loss gives his character a shot at depth

Roy must take his criticism and grow

Roy was well aware that he had a long way to go before he reached his goal of providing a challenge to the Black Rayquaza, but he couldn’t have known how far off he was. Roy didn’t have much of a strategy in his battle with Rime, and that was quite evident in his loss, as he flitted around using every move in Fuecoco’s arsenal before he was finally defeated.. Going into battle without any sort of plan is certainly one way for a trainer to let their partner down, but Rime seems to be talking about more than just that. It’s going to take some real self-reflection for Roy to understand what rhyme means, and that’s something rare for those Pokemon Anime.

Ash certainly had some losses that required him to rethink his position, with perhaps the most memorable being his loss to Lt. Ash’s losses were rarely that personal, however, and the solution for Ash was often just to train more and come up with a better strategy. The fact that the next episode is dedicated to raw thinking about this criticism already suggests a more contemplative, character-based approach than the anime usually took with Ash.

Roy has fallen behind his friends, especially now that both Dot and Lico have evolved their partners, while Fuecoco remains in his base state. It’s time for Roy to answer for himself why he couldn’t measure up, and figure out what he needs to do to have a chance against Reim. Fortunately, he has the highly skilled Nemona to rely on for advice, which can perhaps help Roy identify his weak spots. If Roy is to pass his territorial exam in Pokemon HorizonsHe’ll need to understand Fuecoco better than he does, and that’s the first step to becoming the type of trainer who can stand up to Rayquaza.