Taking the Next Steps – Pokémon Rising Hope Episode 19 (HZ108)


Season	Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope (Horizons Season 3) · Allies, Amethio & Mega Dragonite arc (HZ101–HZ108)
Episode	Horizons Season 3, episode 19 · English episode 1332 · Japanese episode 1341 · Bulbapedia code HZ108
English title	Taking the Next Steps
Japanese title	ダイアナ・カムズ・バック！！！！ Daiana Kamuzu Bakku!!!! — “Diana Comes Back!!!!”
First aired (Japan)	29 August 2025 · TV Tokyo
First aired (US)	20 March 2026 · Netflix
Screenplay	Kureha Matsuzawa
Opening / ending (Japan)	GET BACK – Yuzu · Ready Go – ME:I
English opening	Evolving Again – Haven Paschall
Previous episode	Friends as Two, Me and You (HZ107)
Next episode	Tinkatuff’s Hammer Wasn’t Made in a Year! (HZ109)

Plot episodeDiana returnsThe Stellar Form theory

Taking the Next Steps is the 19th episode of Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1332nd episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1341, Bulbapedia code HZ108). It first aired in Japan on 29 August 2025 and in the United States on 20 March 2026. It falls within the season’s Allies, Amethio & Mega Dragonite stretch (EP101–EP108).

Released on Netflix in the US on Friday 20 March 2026 with the rest of Part 2; BBC iPlayer had premiered it in the UK on 27 February 2026.

Synopsis

Diana returns to the Brave Olivine with new Pokémon and new information — her Scarlet Book’s theory of Terapagos’s Stellar Form, and Hamber’s tip that the Explorers hold the Six Heroes in an Exceed building — and gives Liko’s Charcadet a lesson in a Double Battle. Liko and Roy are waiting for a visitor announced by Liko’s mother when Diana drives up in a car with a Revavroom attached; on her travels she has caught new Pokémon and met Hamber, who thanks Liko for her help with Amethio and has agreed to pass on information from inside the Explorers. On the observation deck Ult quickly hits it off with her. Diana recaps Laqua as her granddaughter told it, and the group explains the Strong Spheres. She shows an illustration from her Scarlet Book of Terapagos’s unknown third form, the Stellar Form, and theorises that Pagogo lacked power both with Lucius and with Liko, and that if it can resonate with Pokémon of all eighteen types, Laquium might be wiped out for good. A call to Briar for her input is cut short by a book deadline.

Diana reveals that the Explorers hold the five Six Heroes other than the Black Rayquaza; Ult confirms he saw Lucius’s Kleavor and Lapras at the base, and everyone resolves to get them back. An explosion draws them to the wing deck, where Liko’s Charcadet is battling Roy’s Crocalor with Captain Pikachu refereeing; Flash Fire absorbs Crocalor’s Flamethrower, and Cap stops the match. Seeing the fierce look in Charcadet’s eyes, Diana proposes a Double Battle, sending out Wash Rotom and Arcanine against Meowscarada and Charcadet. Wash Rotom’s Discharge blocks Flower Trick and Clear Smog, Charcadet absorbs Arcanine’s Flamethrower to shield Meowscarada, and Meowscarada lands a super effective Flower Trick on Wash Rotom. But when Arcanine’s Flare Blitz draws Charcadet into protecting Meowscarada and Wash Rotom fires Hydro Pump at Charcadet, Meowscarada’s rescue leaves it open to a super effective hit that knocks it out — exactly as Diana planned.

Diana pauses the battle and advises Charcadet to trust its teammates so it can protect them better, and Meowscarada comforts it. Charcadet leaps onto Arcanine during Extreme Speed, blinds it with Clear Smog, grabs Wash Rotom’s hose and swings it around, then knocks it out with Take Down. Arcanine’s Flamethrower only powers Charcadet up, and Liko’s call for Ember becomes Fire Spin, trapping Arcanine in a ring of fire — but Arcanine escapes with Extreme Speed and defeats Charcadet, and Diana wins. Asked whether her Flamethrower was deliberate, Diana says that teaching Charcadet Fire Spin was Liko’s own doing. At a welcome-back party, Diana announces that she will leave the ship again but promises to return. Hamber could not give the exact location of the Six Heroes because Chalce was watching him, only that they are probably in an Exceed building, so Liko suggests asking Cervantis, Amethio’s father and a former Exceed director, and vows to bring the Six Heroes home safely.

Major Events

Diana returns. Diana arrives with Revavroom, Wash Rotom and the Scarlet Book’s theory of Terapagos’s Stellar Form and the eighteen types
Her Wash Rotom and Arcanine beat Liko’s Meowscarada and Charcadet, which learns Fire Spin
Hamber reports that the Six Heroes are held in an Exceed building
Rellor and Revavroom debut