A Plan to Capture Rayquaza - Pokémon Horizons Episode 44 Review - Rayquaza Crashes The Party

Things are getting intense now, with the Brave Olivine sustaining major damage in this week's episode from the Black Rayquaza crashing into it. I think the third arc of Pokémon Horizons being a school arc makes a lot of sense now, as the kids can spend time at school while they wait for the airship to be fully repaired, which you have to imagine could take a long while.

The Explorers’ plan to capture the Black Rayquaza seemed well-planned. Using their resonance generator, they can lure in the Black Rayquaza to make a synchronized attack exploiting its weaknesses to ice and rock moves. There’s just one thing they’re missing though. Rayquaza has a ball of its own. If they try to capture it, will their ball actually work, or will the capture get canceled out due to the Ancient Pokeball’s existence? I was honestly surprised the Explorers didn't seem to have considered the Ancient Pokeball in their scheme. Then again, only Amethio had seen it, so it's entirely possible that the other Explorers smply weren't aware of it.

Speaking of the Explorers, seeing Spinel in this episode made me happy. He’s become my favorite character in this entire show. It’s a little crazy how my favorite character is a villain, but he’s just so clever and cunning as an antagonist that I can’t help liking him a lot. He even realized that Friede would come after him, so he laid out a plan to trap him and wait until the other Explorers could capture the Black Rayquaza. Having said that, while the Friede and Spinel battle was fun to watch, the writers really do seem to like giving Friede battles with no results. He's previously done this three times with Amethio, before finally scoring a win on their fourth encounter. Will this be the same with Spinel?

Coral was also another standout character in this episode. Her last-minute decision to have her Glalie Self-Destruct was as crazy as ever, but it was a worthwhile plan. It’s unfortunate that we don't really know much about Chalce at this point, but given that she will appear in the next arc disguised either as a student or teacher, maybe she’ll finally get more of that screen time.

It’s wild just how competent the kids are becoming. While they weren’t in an actual battle themselves this episode, Liko and Roy were able to use their Pokémon to block the Explorers and protect the Black Rayquaza. Roy used his Fuecoco’s Stomping Tantrum to cause tremors to try and prevent Chalce from throwing her ball; and when that didn’t work, he used Wattrel to zap the ball away, though Chalce sadly was able to knock it out with her Medicham's Psybeam afterwards. It was good to see Roy making use of all the Pokémon his arsenal to try and stop them. Liko also used her Sprigatito’s Quick Attack to distract Sidian's Garganacl. Even Dot joined in, as she developed a shut-down program on the fly, jumping out of the boat with her Nidothing outfit and plugging her Rotom Phone into the resonance device’s outlets. It’s crazy how each of these kids played a huge part in stopping the Explorers. Once again, Friede didn’t step in to save the day either! Although not a child, Ludlow even contributed by having his Quagsire speed up the lifeboat by making it use Hydro Pump.

I just hope that the other Rising Volt Tacklers will be okay. I do wonder what Iono’s role will be in this two-parter also, as she did make a brief cameo appearance here. What are your thoughts on this episode?