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| Season | Pokémon Horizons: The Series (Horizons Season 1) · Spinel’s heist arc (HZ013–HZ018) |
| Episode | Horizons Season 1, episode 18 · English episode 1242 · Japanese episode 1251 · Bulbapedia code HZ018 |
| English title | Flying Pikachu, Rising Higher and Higher! |
| Japanese title | そらとぶピカチュウ、どこまでも高く! Sora Tobu Pikachū, Doko made mo Takaku! — “Flying Pikachu, Soaring High!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 18 August 2023 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 10 May 2024 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Kureha Matsuzawa |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | None in Japan – Dokimeki Daiārī (Heart-Pounding Diary) – asmi feat. Chinozo plays as an insert song over the final scenes, with the credits · RVR ~Raijingu Borutekkāzu Rappu~ (Rising Volt Tacklers Rap), Friede Ver. – Liko (Minori Suzuki) & Roy (Yuka Terasaki); on the first TV Tokyo airing, a guest version with Subaru Kimura (Oha Suta collaboration) |
| English opening | Becoming Me – Haven Paschall (version 1, with clips from Heart-Pounding Diary) |
| Previous episode | Special Training Time! (HZ017) |
| Next episode | The Bittersweet Truth (HZ019) |
Plot episodeCaptain Pikachu’s originFriede’s backstory
Flying Pikachu, Rising Higher and Higher! is the 18th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, the first season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1242nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1251, Bulbapedia code HZ018). It first aired in Japan on 18 August 2023 and in the United States on 10 May 2024. It falls within the season’s Spinel’s heist stretch (EP13–EP18).
Released on Netflix in the US on Friday 10 May 2024 with the rest of Part 2 (HZ013–HZ023); BBC iPlayer had released it in the UK on 27 February 2024.
Synopsis
Pressed by Liko, Roy and Dot, Friede tells the story of how he met a Pikachu that could fly, made it his partner, and founded the Rising Volt Tacklers, revealing along the way that Liko’s mother was his former teacher. Remembering how Captain Pikachu seemed to fly during Roy’s training match, Liko and Roy ask Dot about it, and she agrees to investigate, sending her Rotom Phone along to record. Friede admits Cap flew but refuses to discuss the past. Mollie and Murdock say only that Cap is very healthy, while Ludlow reveals that Cap is the reason Friede formed the team. Orla explains that she and Friede lived in Kanto before she moved to Hoenn, and that he is shy about his history, especially on camera. Touched by the children’s curiosity, she calls a meeting at which Friede, after some grumbling, agrees to tell his story.
Years earlier, Friede had quit his job as a company researcher and lost his passion, spending his days fishing with Ludlow, until his former teacher, Lucca, called and met him at the Treasure Eatery in Medali. Now married and living in Paldea with a young daughter, she invited him to see a famous local Pikachu, and Friede’s curiosity was sparked when he saw it whip up a vortex and float through the sky. The Pikachu tackled him or ran whenever he approached, until he and Charizard brought it Berries and a lecture on balanced nutrition. Watching from afar, Friede worked out that its light body, Volt Tackle and springy tail let it launch itself upward and hover by flapping its tail, though he could not understand why it flew every dawn despite Volt Tackle’s recoil.
One morning Friede flew alongside it on Charizard and, at sunrise, realised that the Pikachu simply longed to see the horizon. When it forgot to flap its tail and fell, Charizard caught it, and Friede invited it to soar with him and see the world, catching it as his partner. Back with Ludlow, he sailed the boat Olivine from Porto Marinada to Slateport City, where Orla converted it into an airship, renamed the Brave Olivine; Orla joined to maintain it, Pikachu was named captain, and its flying Volt Tackle gave the team its name, the Rising Volt Tacklers. The crew applauds, but Liko is stunned to learn that her own mother was Friede’s teacher, a detail he had forgotten to mention. The children agree not to publish Dot’s video, and Liko resolves to thank her mother next time they meet, just as the coast of Galar comes into view.
Major Events
- Captain Pikachu’s story. How Friede met the flying Pikachu, caught it and founded the Rising Volt Tacklers
- Liko’s mother, Lucca, was Friede’s teacher
- The Brave Olivine began as Ludlow’s boat, converted by Orla in Slateport City
- Larry appears in the flashback
- Aired in Japan on Ikue Ōtani’s birthday
- No Pokémon Seminar
Captures and evolutions
Pikachu#0025 · Friede · Captain Pikachu, caught in a flashback
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Kureha Matsuzawa.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Kanto, Galar and Paldea storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The Heart-Pounding Diary insert song over the final scenes is removed, since no instrumental exists, leaving only the background score; the normal opening plays before the title card instead
- No opening in Japan: Heart-Pounding Diary plays as an insert song over the final scenes, with the credits, as Friede and Cap fly at sunrise (YouTube and TVer also show the normal opening)
- Korea used We Go, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Thailand We Go (English Ver.), and mainland China “Set Sail” as the insert song
- On its first TV Tokyo airing, the ending is a guest version with Subaru Kimura (Oha Suta collaboration)
Part of our Pokémon Horizons: The Series guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.