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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 20 · English episode 1289 · Japanese episode 1298 · Bulbapedia code HZ065 |
| English title | Liko and Amethio |
| Japanese title | リコとアメジオ Riko to Amejio — “Liko and Amethio” |
| First aired (Japan) | 13 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. KANKAN |
| English opening | My Favorite Pokémon – Isaiah Tyrelle Boyd and Haven Paschall |
| Previous episode | The Approaching Shadow! (HZ064) |
| Next episode | Infiltrating the System! Naranja Academy in Danger! (HZ066) |
Plot episodeLiko and Amethio trappedAmethio dismissed
Liko and Amethio is the 20th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Search for Laqua, the second season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1289th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1298, Bulbapedia code HZ065). It first aired in Japan on 13 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
Trapped together beneath Glaseado Mountain, Liko and Amethio open up to each other about their grandparents’ dreams and escape, while Grusha rescues Roy and Dot from Coral and Sidian, and Amethio is stripped of his duties by Gibeon on Spinel’s evidence. As Terapagos glares at Amethio in the cave, he says he has no plan to act against them and walks off to look for a way out, while Liko blames herself for worrying her friends again. At the mountain cabin, Roy and Dot battle Coral and Sidian, trying to get past them: Garganacl blocks the way with Stone Edge, Glalie’s Blizzard pushes Fuecoco and Quaxwell back, Salt Cure hits Fuecoco and Ice Spinner strikes Quaxwell, and Coral ignores Sidian’s call for restraint. The two realise that the admins are stalling them so that someone else can go after Liko. Stone Edge blocks Stomping Tantrum but leaves an opening for a super-effective Liquidation, until Garganacl uses Recover and gets back up, while Chalce watches from afar.
As the cave grows colder, Floragato gathers grass, Ceruledge warms Amethio with its blades and lights a campfire, and the two Trainers sit together. Amethio asks why Liko held back when he Terastallized, and she admits she failed her test against Grusha after hoping Terastallization would help her understand Terapagos; he tells her that one setback does not make her worthless. When Liko asks why he saved her from Black Rayquaza, he denies it, but explains that he serves his grandfather Gibeon, the Explorers’ leader, who wants to reach Laqua through Terapagos and Rayquaza, and that he wants to fulfil that dream. Liko tells him that she is on an adventure inherited from her grandmother, who gave her the pendant that became Terapagos, which also wants to reach Laqua, and suggests that they could be more than enemies. Feeling a draft, Amethio spots holes in the ceiling; Ceruledge and Floragato ride Corviknight up to widen them with Psycho Cut and Magical Leaf, and when a rock falls towards Liko, Hattrem stops it with Confusion and smashes it with Brutal Swing.
Above ground, a bored Coral orders Self-Destruct, but a Moonblast from Grusha’s Altaria knocks Glalie out first; Grusha snowboards down, and Chalce orders the admins to retreat, so Sidian flies off on Aerodactyl and Coral follows, vowing revenge. Out of the cave, Amethio warns that Spinel is plotting something with the Treasure of Eternity and declines Liko’s suggestion of working together: their goals are the same, but not their paths. Grusha, called earlier by Friede, follows the boulder’s tracks in the snow, and Altaria pecks it apart to reunite Liko with her friends, while Friede watches from above. At the cabin Liko realises that Terastallization is not the only path as long as she never gives up, tells Friede about Spinel’s Umbreon, and learns that the Laquium was kept at Friede’s former company; then she leads her friends to Paldea’s highest peak for a group photo. At Explorers headquarters, Hamber shows Spinel’s footage of Amethio helping Liko escape, and Gibeon, comparing him to his father, removes him from his duties and says he never wants to see him again.
Major Events
- Liko and Amethio. Roy and Dot battle Coral and Sidian until Grusha’s Altaria intervenes
- Liko and Amethio talk by a campfire about their grandparents’ dreams and escape
- Gibeon strips Amethio of his duties on Spinel’s footage
- Recover is used for the first time since BW063
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.