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| Season | Pokémon Horizons: The Series (Horizons Season 1) · Paldea: home, Artazon & Arboliva arc (HZ009–HZ012) |
| Episode | Horizons Season 1, episode 12 · English episode 1236 · Japanese episode 1245 · Bulbapedia code HZ012 |
| English title | The Future I Choose |
| Japanese title | わたしが選ぶ未来 Watashi ga Erabu Mirai — “The Future I Choose” |
| First aired (Japan) | 23 June 2023 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 7 March 2024 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Kureha Matsuzawa |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Dokimeki Daiārī (Heart-Pounding Diary) – asmi feat. Chinozo · RVR ~Raijingu Borutekkāzu Rappu~ (Rising Volt Tacklers Rap), Mollie Ver. – Liko (Minori Suzuki) & Roy (Yuka Terasaki) |
| English opening | Becoming Me – Haven Paschall (version 1, with clips from Heart-Pounding Diary) |
| Previous episode | Arboliva’s Forest (HZ011) |
| Next episode | An Unexpected Picnic! (HZ013) |
Plot episodeArboliva joins LikoLucius named
The Future I Choose is the 12th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1236th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1245, Bulbapedia code HZ012). It first aired in Japan on 23 June 2023 and in the United States on 7 March 2024. It falls within the season’s Paldea: home, Artazon & Arboliva stretch (EP9–EP12).
The last episode of Netflix’s Part 1 (HZ001–HZ012), released in the US on Thursday 7 March 2024; BBC iPlayer had released it in the UK on 15 January 2024.
Synopsis
Liko and her friends help the giant Arboliva restore its burned forest, after which it enters its Ancient Poké Ball, and a picture book about the Ancient Adventurer Lucius sets the Rising Volt Tacklers on course for Galar to find Liko’s grandmother. Mollie explains that Arboliva heals injured Pokémon with its nutrients like a doctor, but the ruined forest can do only so much, so Liko resolves to replant it. She and Mollie gather Berries while Fuecoco churns the soil with Stomping Tantrum, but Paldea gets little rain in this season. Aboard the Brave Olivine, Dot traces the communication problems to interference, and Friede and Captain Pikachu find a Magneton broadcasting electromagnetic waves and drive it off with a shock. Liko’s call finally gets through, and the whole crew comes to help: Ludlow’s Quagsire uses Rain Dance to soak the soil, and Arboliva’s Seed Sower Ability grows the Berries into new trees, drawing back the Pokémon that fled the fire.
Liko’s pendant then glows and turns into the mysterious Pokémon, and Arboliva envelops Liko and Roy in a ball of light. In a thick mist, a silhouetted figure begins to speak to them before the vision fades and the pendant returns to normal. Arboliva’s Ancient Poké Ball glows and recalls the giant Pokémon inside, and Friede, taking this to mean it wants to come along, entrusts the ball to Liko and Roy, unaware that Spinel of the Explorers has been watching. At the Artazon library, Friede finally reaches Liko’s mother, Lucca, who tells him the Ancient Adventurer’s name is Lucius. Meanwhile, Liko and Roy read one of Alex’s picture books, a tale Roy’s grandfather once told him, about an adventurer who befriended the Black Rayquaza and five strong Pokémon a century ago and travelled with them to a “paradise” where they settled.
Roy concludes that the healing partner must be Arboliva, meaning that the Ancient Poké Balls hold the adventurer’s partners and that four more remain to be found. Lucca cannot explain the pendant, which her own mother gave to Liko, and suggests asking Liko’s grandmother, while her Squawkabilly flaps about repeating “Galar” and “castle.” Lucca chooses not to visit her daughter so that Liko can decide her future herself. Liko’s father says the picture book draws on tales about her grandmother and is probably fiction, but Roy, having met both the Black Rayquaza and Arboliva, is sure it is true. Friede leaves the decision to Liko, who chooses to find her grandmother, and since Squawkabilly’s words are the only clue, the team agrees unanimously to head for Galar. Watching the airship through his Beheeyem and Magneton, Spinel declares that the pendant will soon no longer be Liko’s.
Major Events
- Arboliva’s choice. The forest is replanted with Quagsire’s Rain Dance and Arboliva’s Seed Sower
- Arboliva enters its Ancient Poké Ball and is entrusted to Liko
- The pendant Pokémon emerges again
- Lucca names the Ancient Adventurer as Lucius
- The team sets course for Galar
- Spinel watches the ship
Pokémon making their anime debut
Squawkabilly#0931 · HZ012
Captures and evolutions
Arboliva#0930 · Liko · Lucius’s giant Arboliva enters the second Ancient Poké Ball and is entrusted to her
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Kureha Matsuzawa.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar and Paldea storyline.
Part of our Pokémon Horizons: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.