Roaring Black Rayquaza - Pokémon Horizons Episode 33 Review - Amethio Battles Rayquaza

This week's episode of Pokémon Horizons treated us to a beatdown, with Amethio getting totally wiped by Rayquaza, in humiliating fashion. Silly Amethio, did you really think you have the power to defeat a legendary? I do wonder why Rayquaza showed up though. It seemed like he wasn’t as chummy towards Terapagos as the other Hero Pokémon were. Does it not like Terapagos for some reason?

I'm starting to feel bad for Amethio, he just keeps losing, first with Friede and now with Rayquaza. I do wonder what it is he’ll do to get stronger. I do commend him for using both his Ceruledge and Corviknight in battle though. He at least knows he has two Pokémon, and can use them efficiently, unlike Liko and Roy who insist on training only one of their Pokémon and not both. When was the last time we saw Hatenna or Wattrel being given an opportunity to pull their weight in battle?

Speaking of Roy, why is he being so reckless again? I would've assumed he'd learned his lesson back in Episode 22, when he and Liko wandered into the deeper parts of the mines and almost got themselves in danger. He was just being stupid yet again with the way he was yelling at Rayquaza to challenge him. Come on Roy, it’s dangerous out there. What makes you think you're at the level to challenge Rayquaza, when it just beat the snot out of Amethio? At least Amethio had two fully evolved Pokémon, but all you have are two basic level Pokémon! What makes you think a mere Fuecoco and Wattrel are gonna make you earn Rayquaza’s respect? I just hope that this will be the deciding factor for him to get some development once and for all. I think the bad aspect of this reckless side is that he never gets reprimanded by the adults for his thoughtlessness. Once again, he almost got Liko and Friede in danger, but not once did they scold him for his actions.

This episode showed off Terapagos’s Terastalized form for the first time, though only briefly. I do wonder what sort of relationship Terapagos and Rayquaza have, because Rayquaza doesn’t seem all too fond of the sparkly turtle. Will there be a fight between them in the future? I’d like to see that. I did like how Terapagos's transformation was caused by it seeing Liko and Roy almost getting hurt, and it wanting to prevent that from happening.

In other events, Diana is planning to leave the ship, but only Friede knows so far. It seems she wants the Rising Volt Tacklers to keep searching for the Heroes, while she goes off to investigate more on the pendant, Terapagos, and the Explorers. I do think she’ll return someday. It’s also good to get some more backstory on her relationship with Hamber, which we first learned about back in Episode 24. Knowing that Diana and Hamber were once friends before he was a part of the Explorers just fuels more into the mysteries of who they are. I did like that Diana decided to train Liko and Roy with her Arcanine so that they can improve their battling. Good thing for them that it was only a practice match, which gave the two a victory. Had Diana been serious, she would’ve knocked them both out. However, the Diana segment does give me uneasiness. What if Diana gets hurt or gets captured by the Explorers later on?

This episode also gave us the final episode of the mini Terapagos segment. Turns out I did get it right, with how it was about the Paldean Starters. The finale is Terapagos going to the kitchen because it was hungry, only to encounter Rockruff and Alcremie. Alcremie gives them her cream, and Shuckle even gives them its juice. Quaxly meanwhile freaks out over the mess. It was super cute over all!

Now that everything has become peaceful once again, where will they go to find the other heroes? How will they encounter Kleavor and Entei? Will Amethio return stronger? Will Roy get that character development he needs? What do you think about this episode?