Resonating Spirits in a Challenge to Ryme! – Pokémon Horizons Season 2, Episode 16

Plot episodeRyme beats RoyThe first failed test

Resonating Spirits in a Challenge to Ryme! is the 16th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1285th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1294, Bulbapedia code HZ061). It first aired in Japan on 16 August 2024 and in the United States on 25 April 2025. It falls within the season’s The implementation tests stretch (EP58–EP63).

Released on Netflix in the US on Friday 25 April 2025 with the rest of Part 2. BBC iPlayer had premiered it in the UK on 17 February 2025, and Australia’s 9Go! showed it between 17 and 28 March 2025.

Synopsis · Major Events · Trivia · Dub Changes · All episodes

Synopsis

In Montenevera, Roy discovers that the rapper Ryme is the town’s Gym Leader, wins a rap battle to earn his test, and then loses to her Toxtricity after a hasty Terastallization, becoming the first trainee to fail a Tera Training test. Singing all the way, the trio arrive in a town that honours departed souls with candles, festivals and two concerts that day; the Gym receptionist sends them to the plaza stage. On the way a pack of Greavard pops out of the snow, and everyone grows sluggish as the cute Pokémon drain their life energy, until a restaurant meal restores them. While they eat, two Drifloon carry Terapagos into the sky; a gust makes them let go, and Nemona and Pawmot catch it. Nemona explains that Ryme is both the Gym Leader and a rapper performing at the concert, which has an open segment that can include battles. When Roy shouts for Ryme, the host MC Sledge answers instead, eager for a warm-up battle; Fuecoco dodges Sableye’s Shadow Claw and Power Gem, sings with Roy to power up and wins with a single Flame Charge.

MC Sledge introduces the star, Ryme, and Roy is stunned to recognise the woman he met in the woods. After a song, Ryme invites challengers on stage, and Roy volunteers. She is pleased to hear that he met the Annihilape she mentioned, but first demands a rap battle, in which Roy holds his own, then asks what Terastallization means to him; he calls it a step towards his dream of battling Black Rayquaza. Ryme’s Houndstone faces Roy’s newly evolved, noticeably faster Kilowattrel, whose Spark repeatedly grazes it, until Phantom Force dodges an attack and Crunch finishes Kilowattrel. Fuecoco and Roy sing, Houndstone answers with Scary Face and Crunch, and after a Flame Charge misses when Houndstone vanishes with Phantom Force, Fuecoco turns in time to blast it with Flamethrower as it reappears and knocks it out. Ryme asks what drives the two of them to sing, and after a moment’s hesitation Roy answers that it helps them grow stronger and win.

Ryme’s second Pokémon is a Low Key Form Toxtricity, not a Ghost type, as Liko notices. Its Overdrive blocks Flamethrower and Stomping Tantrum, and Boomburst stops Flame Charge; Ryme reveals that its Punk Rock Ability boosts sound-based moves, and Nemona explains that it also softens sound-based attacks, which is why Fuecoco’s Disarming Voice, a Fairy move that is weak against Poison types anyway, barely makes it flinch. Toxtricity counters with Hex, and when Fuecoco jumps to dodge, an Overdrive catches him in mid-air. Desperate, Roy rushes to Terastallize Fuecoco, a hasty decision Ryme criticises, and before Fuecoco can act Toxtricity blinds him with Venoshock and finishes him with Overdrive, without Ryme needing to Terastallize at all. Roy is devastated. Ryme tells him that he is a poor partner to his Pokémon, declares that he has failed the test and says he may return once he has cleansed his spirit, then goes back to her concert, leaving Roy struggling with the fact that he failed to draw out his partner’s full potential.

Major Events

• The first failed test. Montenevera’s festival
• Roy beats MC Sledge’s Sableye and learns that Ryme is the Gym Leader
• A rap battle earns him his test
• Ryme’s Houndstone and Toxtricity beat Roy after a hasty Terastallization, and he fails
• Ryme performs Ghost Rhyme

Pokémon making their anime debut

• Greavard#0971 · HZ061

Trivia

• The screenplay is by Michihiro Tsuchiya.
• This is a plot episode: it advances the Paldea, Kitakami and Johto storyline.

Changes in the English Dub

• Dub error: Nemona says Punk Rock weakens all moves, rather than sound-based ones
• Ryme performs Ghost Rhyme; its full music video was posted on the Japanese YouTube channel after the episode

Part of our Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.