It’s nice that Pokémon Horizons' story was able to take a little break in this week's episode in order to have some fun little matches with the Elite Four members. A total of four separate matches were shown in this episode. To be honest, I thought that the pacing would be a bit messy with that many battles, but it’s not as bad as I assumed.There's a special set of rules to go along with each these battles: The students must pair up with the Gym Leader they took their test with, and only the student's Pokémon can terastalize. The match ends when one of the Elite Four’s Pokémon is knocked out, or when the student’s Pokémon is knocked out. I like that the rules are strict because it handicaps both the Gym Leader and the Elite Four member, and gives the student the spotlight because they’re the most inexperienced.
The main highlights in this episode are Dot and Roy’s matches, with Coral and Sidian’s matches getting trimmed down heavily. For Dot’s match, she’s paired up with Iono, and they’re matched against Poppy who uses Tinkaton and Copperajah. Dot uses Quaxly, while Iono uses Bellibolt. For a nine-year-old, Poppy actually shows why she’s an Elite Four member here, as she’s very strategic in her battles. She skillfully uses Sandstorm mechanics, and she even commands her Tinaktink to use Brick Break to break Bellibolt’s Reflect. I think that’s the first time the secondary effect of this move has been shown in the anime? Speaking of battle effects, I loved the little detail where Quaxly gets shocked by Discharge because it’s a move that affects the ally too. The battle was very exciting, but eventually, Copperajah gets knocked out by Bellibolt, securing a win for Dot. I do like that Dot is actually frustrated with her win because it’s in-character for her. She wanted to win with her own merits, but Poppy tells her to cheer up.The match with Roy and Brassius against Hassel was also fun to watch! While the previous match with Dot was a match full of strategy, Roy’s match was one full of creativity. I do like that Roy and Brassius teamed up to create moves that can be used in a contest battle. However, I did expect Roy to lose; not because of the fact that he was the only one of the three who won his Terestal Course battle, but because Hassel's Baxcalibur got so many power-ups due to its ability that a win for Hassel was basically guaranteed. Seeing the two struggle against him reminded me of when I was battling and struggling hard against him in the game—that Baxcalibur is terrifying. Despite losing, Roy is happy. He learns that battling is all about teamwork, and that he needs the help of others to get things done. I love seeing how the mindset between Roy and Dot differs in these matches. I also loved the part where Hassel burst into tears and was comforted by his Pokémon; seeing Baxcalibur hugging him was the cutest thing ever!
The Explorers duo get their matches too, but they're both compressed down a lot. Coral actually loses her match when she uses her infamous Self-Destruct tactic to not only knock out her own Glalie, but her partner Kofu’s Wugtrio, as well as Larry’s Flamigo and Pom-Pom form Oricorio as well. The way she got mad that it’s not considered a win, and how Larry roasted her by telling her that her personal rules won’t apply when she goes into society, was just hilarious. Sidian also loses his match with Rika because he was protecting his partner Tulip’s Espathra, despite knowing that he'll lose if his Pokémon is knocked out. He explains that it’s not in him to use “backup” as a means to secure victory, showing off his usual honorable side. Seriously, Sidian is a rather nice guy; I do wonder why he’s with the Explorers. Overall, I feel like the matches with Kofu, Tulip, and Larry are cut down because they’re most likely the focus for the next stage of the Terestal Course; that’s just a prediction on my part.
Overall, these matches were a lot of fun! It’s just nice to see the kids battle and see their improvement! While the fights were fun to watch though, what worries me the most is that these matches will be used for power scaling debates. Please take those debates out of here, and just watch the kids battle Elite Four trainers for the fun of it! Pokémon is all about fun, after all! These matches do not determine which Elite Four is the strongest or weakest, or which of the three kids are the strongest. It’s just a test for students to see how well they have progressed and how well they can terastalize.
Now that the next episode will focus on Liko and Katy against Rika, I do wonder who will win. Liko has the type advantage as Rika is a Ground-type specialist, but her ace Clodsire is also a Poison type, which means that Grass moves won’t be as effective. If I was her, I’d target Dugtrio. Who do you think will win?
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