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| Season | Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope (Horizons Season 3) · Episode: Mega Evolution — the lost year arc (HZ112–HZ114) |
| Episode | Horizons Season 3, episode 24 · English episode 1337 · Japanese episode 1346 · Bulbapedia code HZ113 |
| English title | Mega Evolution – Ult |
| Japanese title | ウルト ――最強 Uruto — Saikyō — “Uruto—Strongest” |
| First aired (Japan) | 17 October 2025 · TV Tokyo |
| First aired (US) | 26 June 2026 · Netflix |
| Screenplay | Kureha Matsuzawa |
| Opening / ending (Japan) | None – the series logo and arc subtitle appear over Lumiose City · Yū (YUU) – Yuzu |
| English opening | None – the Evolving Again instrumental plays over clips from YUU |
| Previous episode | Mega Evolution – Roy (HZ112) |
| Next episode | Mega Evolution – Bonds (HZ114) |
Plot episodeEpisode: Mega Evolution, part 2Emma and Ult’s past
Mega Evolution – Ult is the 24th episode of Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope, the third season of the Pokémon anime, and the 1337th episode of the English dub overall (Japanese episode 1346, Bulbapedia code HZ113). It first aired in Japan on 17 October 2025 and in the United States on 26 June 2026. It falls within the season’s Episode: Mega Evolution — the lost year stretch (EP112–EP114).
Released on Netflix in the US on Friday 26 June 2026 with the rest of Part 3; BBC iPlayer had premiered it in the UK on 27 February 2026, CBBC broadcast it on 19 March 2026 and ABC iview added it in Australia on 2 April 2026.
Synopsis
Roy learns about Ult’s past from Emma, the detective who took him in off the streets, and beats Ult in a battle that shows the importance of trust, before the Yellow Flash invites the two rivals back into the Lost Mayo Maze for a second chance. That night in Lumiose City, Emma cooks dinner for Roy and Ult. Ult claims that the Pokémon in his Dusk Ball, which he has never seen, would have beaten the Yellow Flash easily and will come out once he proves himself the strongest Trainer; Roy shows his Ancient Poké Ball and says he shares that dream. When the power goes out, Emma Mega Evolves her Ampharos to restore it, to Ult’s annoyance. Emma reads an Exceed article blaming the Rising Volt Tacklers for Mount Pericarp, which Roy vehemently denies while admitting that the team has disbanded: Liko and Dot have gone home, and he travels with Cap to grow strong enough to meet the Black Rayquaza again. Hearing about Rayquaza, Ult resolves to catch it himself and to master Mega Evolution.
Emma asks Roy to be Ult’s friend. She explains that she took Ult in when he was living on the streets and taught him to read and write, as Looker — the man who took her in and whose footsteps she followed as a detective — once did for her; she wants Ult to find something for himself, but the two never got along well. Roy agrees and finds Ult trying to trespass into the Lost Mayo Maze, and the boys leave without noticing that the Yellow Flash was watching. The next day Ult, frustrated that Sableye will not Mega Evolve, suspects his Mega Ring is fake, and Master Mayonnaise, deducing that they lost, proposes a battle between them. Sableye’s repeated Power Gems miss Crocalor, a super effective Disarming Voice and Stomping Tantrum land, and Crocalor, united with Roy, dodges a Shadow Sneak from behind with Flame Charge and defeats Sableye in the same motion.
Ult refuses to accept defeat and tries to force the Pokémon out of his Dusk Ball, but Master Mayonnaise stops him. After Ult heals Sableye, the master points out that his trust in Sableye did not show in the battle: his constant orders exhausted it, he does not know what Sableye feels about him, and he has been burdening the Pokémon in the Dusk Ball, which is why it will not come out. He tells Ult to give up on Mega Evolution until he forms a real bond. Then the Yellow Flash drops in and gestures for them to return to the maze. This time Sableye remembers the route; trusting it, Ult leaps the pit that trapped him before and tears the wallpaper from the door that stumped them, declaring that he wants to understand his partner. Behind the door, instead of the Yellow Flash, two of the palace’s occupants are waiting: Count Hoisin and Shoyu. Looker is mentioned for the first time since BW122, and this was the first Japanese episode after Legends: Z-A’s release.
Major Events
- Episode: Mega Evolution, part 2. The detective Emma, who took Ult in off the streets and has a Mega Ampharos, asks Roy to be his friend
- Looker is mentioned for the first time since BW122
- Roy’s Crocalor beats Ult’s Sableye
- Count Hoisin and Shoyu debut
- The first Japanese episode after Legends: Z-A
Trivia
- The screenplay is by Kureha Matsuzawa.
- This is a plot episode: it advances the Rising Volt Tacklers storyline.
Changes in the English Dub
- The series logo is missing from the opening shot on BBC iPlayer and Amazon, though present on Netflix and ABC iview
- The second version of YUU ends on an arrogant Ult
Part of our Pokémon Horizons: Rising Hope guide. Browse every season of the Pokémon anime.