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| Season | Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua (Horizons Season 2) · Spinel’s trap & the student tournament arc (HZ064–HZ067) |
| Episode | Horizons Season 2, episode 19 · English episode 1288 · Japanese episode 1297 · Bulbapedia code HZ064 |
| English title | The Approaching Shadow! |
| Japanese title | ナッペ山、しのびよる影 Nappe-yama, Shinobiyoru Kage — “Mount Napper, the Creeping Shadow” |
| First aired (Japan) | 6 September 2024 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 25 April 2025 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Kureha Matsuzawa |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | Will – IVE · Let me battle – Giga & TeddyLoid feat. Muto |
| English opening | My Favorite Pokémon – Isaiah Tyrelle Boyd and Haven Paschall |
| Previous episode | Ice Battle! Cold-Eyed Grusha (HZ063) |
| Next episode | Liko and Amethio (HZ065) |
Plot episodeSpinel’s LaquiumTerapagos’s Terastal Form
The Approaching Shadow! is the 19th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1288th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1297, Bulbapedia code HZ064). It first aired in Japan on 6 September 2024 and in the United States on 25 April 2025. It falls within the season’s Spinel’s trap & the student tournament stretch (EP64–EP67).
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
Spinel separates Liko from her friends on Glaseado Mountain, interrupts her battle with Amethio, tests Laquium on his Umbreon to provoke Terapagos into its Terastal Form, and traps Liko and Amethio in a cave beneath the mountain. As the dejected Liko, Roy and Dot head back towards Naranja Academy, Spinel’s Beheeyem watches from above and relays everything to Spinel in a van nearby; Chalce warns him that Amethio has spotted him, and Spinel plans to turn that to his advantage. At a crossroads Roy suggests cheering Liko up with a detour to the summit, one of the Ten Sights of Paldea, and Dot reluctantly agrees. When Roy and Dot go ahead to a cabin to rest, a boulder blocks the path behind them, and Chalce’s Medicham uses telekinesis to block Liko’s way back with another, sending her down a different route. Amethio, riding Corviknight, follows Spinel on foot, and when he and Liko run into each other, he decides to keep his vow to take Terapagos and sends out his Terastal-ready Ceruledge.
Liko sets Terapagos’s bag aside and sends out Floragato, confident this time despite their earlier defeat on Roy’s home island. Floragato dodges Psycho Cut with Quick Attack, counters Shadow Claw with Acrobatics and lands a powerful Magical Leaf, and Amethio admits that she has grown stronger; he notes that Liko is avoiding Bitter Blade and attacking from range, strategising mid-battle. Then he Terastallizes Ceruledge into a pure Ghost type, and its Phantom Force attacks overwhelm Floragato as Liko falters, remembering how Grusha’s Terastallization beat her. Before Ceruledge’s finishing Bitter Blade can land, Spinel’s Umbreon leaps between them; Spinel feigns surprise, but Amethio realises that he let the two wear each other down. Instead of seizing Terapagos, Spinel releases the pink mist of a Treasure of Eternity sample onto Umbreon, which cries out and goes wild, knocking out Ceruledge in a single blow. Sensing the treasure, Terapagos bursts from its bag and confronts Spinel, who shows it the Laquium and watches its reaction.
Enraged, Terapagos Tera Shifts into its Terastal Form, shatters the Treasure of Eternity and calms Umbreon before reverting to its Normal Form in exhaustion. Satisfied, Spinel thanks Liko for her cooperation and leaves, ignoring their questions. Amethio and Liko chase him into a tunnel beneath the mountain and a large cavern; Spinel is gone, and the entrance collapses behind them, the chase revealed as a trap. Outside, Spinel teleports away with Beheeyem and tells Chalce that Terapagos and Laquium are opposites; since Gibeon regards Amethio as his heir, Spinel means to get him out of the way before he can interfere. In Levincia, Friede hears from Roy and Dot that Liko is lost, heads for Glaseado Mountain and calls the Glaseado Gym. In the cave Amethio’s escape attempts fail and Terapagos cries out at him, while at the mountain hut Roy and Dot are confronted by Sidian and Coral, who drop their disguises, abandoning Tera Training, and send out Garganacl and Glalie.
Major Events
- Spinel’s trap. Chalce separates Liko from her friends
- Liko’s battle with Amethio’s Ghost-type Ceruledge is interrupted by Spinel
- Laquium drives Spinel’s Umbreon wild
- Terapagos Tera Shifts into its Terastal Form and shatters the Laquium
- Liko and Amethio are trapped in a cave
- Coral and Sidian quit Tera Training
Pokémon making their anime debut
Glimmet#0969 · HZ064
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Kureha Matsuzawa.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Paldea, Kitakami and Johto storyline.
Part of our Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.