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| Season | Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope (Horizons Season 3) · A year later: Laquium returns arc (HZ090–HZ095) |
| Episode | Horizons Season 3, episode 4 · English episode 1317 · Japanese episode 1326 · Bulbapedia code HZ093 |
| English title | Clash of the Nidothing Fans |
| Japanese title | ガチ推し！？ぐるみんファン対決！！ Gachi Oshi!? Gurumin Fan Taiketsu!! — “Super-Stans?! A Gurumin Fan Showdown!!” |
| First aired (Japan) | 25 April 2025 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 6 January 2026 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Kureha Matsuzawa |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | GET BACK – Yuzu · Ready Go – ME:I |
| English opening | Evolving Again – Haven Paschall |
| Previous episode | Following Traces of Laquium (HZ092) |
| Next episode | The Pokémon Center Lady (HZ094) |
Filler / stand-alone episodeLitten SmittenTeacup Town
Clash of the Nidothing Fans is the 4th episode of Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1317th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1326, Bulbapedia code HZ093). It first aired in Japan on 25 April 2025 and in the United States on 6 January 2026. It falls within the season’s A year later: Laquium returns stretch (EP90–EP95).
Released on Netflix in the US on Tuesday 6 January 2026 with the rest of Part 1; BBC iPlayer had premiered it in the UK on 27 October 2025.
Synopsis
A tip from a devoted Nidothing fan called Litten Smitten leads Liko and Roy to Teacup Town, where her distrust of the Rising Volt Tacklers turns into a battle and then into friendship when they protect a flock of wild Pokémon together. On her livestream, Nidothing begs viewers for any clue about rare Pokémon, moves the Pokédex cannot explain, or the Black Rayquaza, and is stunned when a long comment about the Rayquaza appears. Liko and Roy travel to Teacup Town, where Machoke and Machop help farmers tend a fragrant tea field, and meet the commenter, Litten Smitten, who is accompanied by two Litten and is decked out in homemade Nidothing merchandise. She immediately fawns over Captain Pikachu, to his dismay. Liko is nervous because she has not been watching Nidothing’s streams lately. Litten Smitten refuses to share anything until she can speak to Nidothing herself, and only when Nidothing appears on Roy’s Rotom Phone does she agree to guide them to where she saw Rayquaza.
On the walk the two Litten climb onto Liko’s legs, making Meowscarada jealous, and an awkward silence falls when Liko admits she has not been commenting on Nidothing’s streams. In a large clearing, Litten Smitten asks why they want the Rayquaza; when Roy says he dreams of catching it as a Rising Volt Tackler, she recalls Exceed’s accusations against the team, loses all trust, and challenges Liko. Her Incineroar faces Liko’s Meowscarada, with Cap refereeing — the second time a Pokémon has overseen a battle after Ash’s Pikachu in JN138. Darkest Lariat blocks Flower Trick, Bulk Up stops Acrobatics, and Incineroar turns a tripping flower against Meowscarada, pulls it in and scorches it with Flamethrower. Liko notices that Incineroar relies on simple, repeated patterns. Meowscarada times Acrobatics to land just as Darkest Lariat ends, vanishes after Magical Leaf, and a hidden flower bud stuck to Incineroar’s belt explodes as it prepares a finishing Flamethrower. Both Pokémon square up again, the battle still undecided.
Ult bursts out of the trees fleeing a swarm of Dodrio whose territory he has blundered into, and an angry flock of Fearow joins them. Ult and Litten Smitten prepare to fight, but Liko insists the wild Pokémon have done nothing wrong and sends out her team and Roy’s instead. Pagogo takes its Terastal Form and blocks the attacks with Protect, Lucario stops the flock with a Flash Cannon into the ground, Cap and Meowscarada distract them with Double Team and Flower Trick, Kilowattrel, Crocalor and Roy sing to calm them, and Hattrem’s Heal Pulse restores them all, after which the flocks leave peacefully. Litten Smitten decides there is no need to finish the battle, since Liko and Roy are clearly not bad people, and confesses that she never saw the Black Rayquaza at all — she posted the comment only for attention, under a username borrowed from Liko’s old comments. Ult stalks off, Nidothing forgives her fan while making clear that Liko gets no special treatment, and Liko and Roy continue on their way. This is the first Mega Voltage episode without a Mega-Evolved Pokémon.
Major Events
- Litten Smitten. A false Black Rayquaza tip from a Nidothing fan leads Liko and Roy to Teacup Town
- Liko’s Meowscarada and Litten Smitten’s Incineroar battle without a result
- The group calms flocks of wild Dodrio and Fearow
- Captain Pikachu referees, the second Pokémon to referee a battle after Ash’s Pikachu in JN138
- The first Mega Voltage episode without a Mega-Evolved Pokémon
Trivia
- The English title plays on a free adaptation of the Japanese “Super-Stans?! A Gurumin Fan Showdown!!” that echoes the English title of BW080.
- The screenplay is by Kureha Matsuzawa.
- This is a stand-alone episode: it can be skipped without losing the thread of the Rising Volt Tacklers story.
Part of our Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.