Reunion at the Ancient Castle!


Season	Pokémon Horizons: The Series (Horizons Season 1) · Diana’s castle arc (HZ024–HZ026)
Episode	Horizons Season 1, episode 24 · English episode 1248 · Japanese episode 1257 · Bulbapedia code HZ024
English title	Reunion at the Ancient Castle!
Japanese title	古城での再会 Kojō de no Saikai — “Reunion at the Old Castle”
First aired (Japan)	13 October 2023 · TV Tokyo
First aired (US)	9 August 2024 · Netflix
Screenplay	Dai Satō
Opening / ending (Japan)	Dokimeki Daiārī (Heart-Pounding Diary) – asmi feat. Chinozo · RVR ~Raijingu Borutekkāzu Rappu~ (Rising Volt Tacklers Rap), Ludlow Ver. – Liko (Minori Suzuki) & Roy (Yuka Terasaki)
English opening	Becoming Me – Haven Paschall (version 1, with clips from Heart-Pounding Diary)
Previous episode	Fiery Galarian Moltres (HZ023)
Next episode	Rivals in the Dark of Night! (HZ025)

Plot episodeDianaTerapagos named

Reunion at the Ancient Castle! is the 24th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1248th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1257, Bulbapedia code HZ024). It first aired in Japan on 13 October 2023 and in the United States on 9 August 2024. It falls within the season’s Diana’s castle stretch (EP24–EP26).

The first episode of Netflix’s Part 3 (HZ024–HZ034), released in the US on Friday 9 August 2024; it had appeared first on Australian iTunes and Google Play (1–10 April 2024), and BBC iPlayer released it in the UK on 27 May 2024; 9Go! aired it in Australia on 2 May 2024 and Canada’s Cartoon Network on 3 August 2024.

Synopsis

Liko, Roy and Friede find Liko’s grandmother Diana at her hidden castle in the Wild Area, where she names the pendant Pokémon as Terapagos and explains her connection to Lucius, until Amethio and his team burst in. No one aboard the Brave Olivine, not even the Pokédex, recognises the creature from the pendant, so the trio sets out to ask Diana while Captain Pikachu guards the ship. Amethio confesses to Hamber that he has been working alone and shows him footage of the creature; Hamber agrees to resume the pursuit and summons the admins Sidian and Coral to Galar, whose bickering his Dusknoir quickly silences. Faced with a Wild Area full of castles, the trio follows Diana’s Squawkabilly, which repeats “ancient castle,” to a stone wall, where a Stonjourner steps aside to reveal a hidden passage just before Zirc and Onia arrive. Liko explains that she has seen her grandmother only on brief visits, the last when she entered Indigo Academy and received the pendant.

Diana’s Arcanine greets them at the castle, followed by Diana herself, who explains that the castle is one of her hideouts, open to wild Pokémon, that she too has been targeted for the pendant, and she thanks Liko for keeping it safe. When the creature leaps out of Liko’s bag towards her, Diana identifies it as Terapagos, though its form differs from the recorded one with a large shell, and suspects it once belonged to Lucius. Outside, Amethio spots the suspicious wall, and Ceruledge’s Psycho Cut drives off the Stonjourner and exposes the passage. Over canned food and tea, Diana tells how as a child she found the pendant and a book by Lucius in a briefcase in her attic, searched for him in vain until she gave up thirty years ago, and recently discovered that an old friend offering support was linked to the pendant’s pursuers, which is why she hired the Rising Volt Tacklers.

Diana thanks Friede for protecting her granddaughter, and Roy shows her the Ancient Poké Ball the Black Rayquaza came from. Liko suggests that the visions she saw with Arboliva and Moltres may be Terapagos’s memories, and when she mentions “Laqua,” Terapagos cries out excitedly and runs to a door. Diana explains that Laqua is the paradise Lucius sought and goes to fetch his memoirs. While she is away, Arcanine and a Blipbug warn her that intruders are coming, and the group, unaware that Hamber has also sent the admins Sidian and Coral to Galar, is caught off guard as Amethio, Zirc and Onia storm in. Friede sends out Charizard, Amethio calls Ceruledge, and Zirc and Onia block the exits. Terapagos pulls free of Liko’s grasp, locks eyes with Amethio and lets out a sharp cry.

Major Events

Diana’s castle. Liko’s grandmother, Diana, names the pendant Pokémon Terapagos and explains Lucius and Laqua
Coral and Sidian appear in person
Amethio storms the castle