Media Essays: Pokémon Horizons Rewrite (Part 4)

Parts 1, 2 and 3 here.

And here we are folks, the final part of this huge rewrite of Pokémon Horizons. I can't begin to tell you how fun it's been taking the original series and giving it a change for the better. Now for this part, we give Horizons the conclusion it deserves by making Season 6 entirely about Blueberry Academy and ditching Season 7's original premise entirely so we can instead making Season 7 all about wrapping up the Laqua storyline.

So without further ado, let's dive in!

Blueberry Academy

Unlike the original series, Blueberry Academy will be the focus of an entire season in a similar vein to Terastal Debut and Rising Again will be its own arc. That I feel will MASSIVELY improve the pacing and also allow Blueberry Academy to be done justice.

The story follows on from the previous season in where Liko, Ann, Dot and Amethio have been arrested and are currently locked up in a cell at the local prison station. Amethio correctly deduces that Spinel will bribe the cops into handing them over to him so he can finish them off himself and thus they have to get out and fast. Ann and Dot are in on the plan, but Liko worries they'll only look like bigger criminals if they do so, hence it might be best if they just play nice for the time being. Amethio disagrees since the moment they end up in Spinel's clutches, they're finished, so they have to get out now. Then he suddenly notices there's a Zygarde cell watching them in the corner of their cell. The prisoners look outside their window and see the White Zygarde that once belonged to Lucius is there and already in its 10% form. Using a powerful Core Enforcer, Zygarde destroys part of their cell and allows our heroes to flee custody, and all in good time too as the chief of police had finished a phone call with Spinel in where he did indeed bribe him to hand the prisoners over to him and would've done so had Zygarde not intervened. Now the kids have escaped, they have one burning question...what now? Spinel's pretty untouchable at this point and no one will ever trust them since they've only made themselves look like bigger criminals. Ann suggests they go somewhere for more intense training to make their Pokémon even stronger. Dot has an idea. As she searches for a good place to train, she comes across the website for Blueberry Academy. The four decide to go there for training, but Liko points out they'll have to use fake names and disguise themselves since Blueberry Academy will never let them in. Dot however finds out upon doing some digging that the principal, Cyrano, is actually a close friend of Director Clavell's, so she suggests they ask Clavell to put a good word in for them. They call Clavell and despite finding the idea risky, he agrees to do so as he wants to help the kids prove their innocence. He calls Cyrano and Cyrano allows them into the academy, reckoning they can't be as bad as the news says if his dear friend "Velly" thinks they're a good lot. Liko, Ann, Dot and Amethio fly off to Blueberry Academy...but their trip doesn't go unnoticed by Spinel. Not wanting them to get stronger, he sends Indy, Rubina, Coral, Sidian and Chalce to go after them.

And so our heroes arrive at Blueberry Academy in the next episode. Like in the original, we get an introduction to the academy and our heroes being welcomed into the school, as well as getting to meet Lacey of the BB Elite Four. However, all four of them will be in this version, as will Kieran. To add more substance to this story and make it more than a mere training arc, I'll also be adapting parts of The Indigo Disk's plot, which you'll see as we go through this arc. After being settled in, Liko, Ann, Dot and Amethio come across Kieran, who isn't too impressed by the newbies and he coldly warns them that they better show their strength here in the Academy or they won't last a day. Refusing to take that lying down, Ann challenges Kieran to a battle, replacing the Roy vs. Nemona battle we got in the original episode. It's Ann's Crocalor and Absol vs. Kieran's Hydrapple and Grimmsnarl. To no one's shock, Kieran dominates the battle with Grimmsnarl's barriers halving all damage from both physical and special attacks Ann lands on his Pokémon and his Hydrapple Terastalizes into a Fighting-type, catching her off-guard as she didn't expect such an outcome. Despite being utterly wasted, Ann isn't discouraged and actually feels fired up to get started here in the Academy. Liko and Dot are equally as fascinated while Amethio can't afford to relax since he's sure the Explorers will find them here.

The next day, our heroes meet with Briar and she confirms a theory that Diana brought up in the previous season, that in order to eradicate the Laquium core for good, they need Pokémon of all 18 Tera Types to provide the power Terapagos needs in order to erase it completely. Going over the Pokémon they all currently own, plus estimations on what the Legendary Six Heroes' Tera Types will be, they realize they have all but four Tera Types. They're missing Fighting, Rock, Ground and Poison. Dot reckons they could maybe convince Kieran to help them with his Hydrapple, but Ann doubts he'll be interested. Dot also suggests they recruit Penny, having seen her Sylveon Terastalize into a Fairy-type during their last battle, so she can fill in the Fairy spot. As for the other three, they'll catch Pokémon in the Terarium to get what they need. Liko passes the information on to Diana and she offers to look for a Poison type, especially since she's interested in the local legends over in Kitakami. That leaves a Ground and a Rock type left to catch.

On that subject, for this version of Horizons, the 18 Tera Types end up being:

Meowscarda: Tera Type Grass

Skeledirge: Tera Type Fire

Quaquaval: Tera Type Water

Kilowattrel: Tera Type Electric

Hatterene: Tera Type Psychic

Ceruledge: Tera Type Ghost

Tinkaton: Tera Type Steel

Flygon: Tera Type Ground

Rampardos: Tera Type Rock

Hydrapple: Tera Type Fighting

Sylveon: Tera Type Fairy

Rayquaza: Tera Type Flying

Arboliva: Tera Type Normal

Moltres: Tera Type Dark

Lapras: Tera Type Ice

Kleavor: Tera Type Bug

Gouging Fire: Tera Type Dragon

Pecharunt: Tera Type Poison

Some might resent the fact I've left Captain Pikachu out and let Rayquaza have the Flying spot, but I feel it's better this way so now we don't have Gouging Fire just conveniently being a Rock Tera Type by having him as the Dragon representation and it also gives me an excuse to let our heroes catch more Pokémon. Oh and as you saw on the list, Flygon and Rampardos will be those new catches. There'll be an episode where Liko and Ann explore the Terarium and catch a Flygon and a Rampardos respectively. Flygon's there because I love Flygon, it's half Ground type and I think it'd be so cool to give Liko a Dragon-type of her own while Ann with Rampardos I think works really well. Ann loves a good battle after all, so a Pokémon like Rampardos that's really good at attacking and not much else would suit her. Speaking of Ann, this arc will have a subplot in where Ann and Amethio have to work out their resentment to each other since Ann still hates how Amethio twisted her arm into betraying everyone for Gibeon's sake and also keeping it hidden from her that Gibeon had disowned her, plus the fact Amethio just went into hiding and left Ann to fend for herself. Amethio acknowledges he's been a terrible brother to his sister and he wants to make up for it. The two finally reconcile during an episode that sees the Explorers attack Blueberry Academy in order to stop the Rising Volt Tacklers from training and getting any stronger.

As for the Elite Four, as I said, all four of them show up and get battles this time around. The line-ups are as follows:

Liko vs. Lacey

Ann vs. Drayton

Dot vs. Amarys

Amethio vs. Crispin

All four battles will have the same pattern to them in where our heroes lose their battles but get a rematch later and win. If you're curious on how I'd execute the battles and which Pokémon get used, it'll go like this:

Liko: Meowscarada and Terapagos

Lacey: Excadrill and Alcremie

Ann: Crocalor (later evolves into Skeledirge during the rematch) and Sandslash

Drayton: Archaludon and Kingdra

Dot: Quaxwell (later evolves into Quaquaval during the rematch) and Froslass

Amarys: Metagross and Scizor

Amethio: Ceruledge and Corviknight

Crispin: Blaziken and Magmortar

I'll also be keeping the episode where Hattrem evolves into Hatterene and Dot's Gimmighoul will evolve into Gholdengo here instead of during my version of Rising Again.

As I also mentioned earlier, the Explorers launch an attack on Blueberry Academy that sees them attempt to sink the place just so they can kill our heroes per Spinel's orders. Like with Naranja Academy, they pose as staff and students respectively whilst exploiting Cyrano's absent-minded nature and Coral and Sidian have put more effort into their disguises this time around so they won't be recognized. It's during this battle where Liko and Ann's new Flygon and Rampardos respectively also get to show off what they can do. After their plans are foiled, Coral, Sidian and Chalce wonder if they really should follow Spinel's examples seeing that using the Strong Spheres doesn't appear to be making them any...stronger. Chalce even begins to wonder if they should be relying on the bonds with their Pokémon and not an artificial means to inflate their strength.

The season will end with a two-part finale that sees Liko and Ann both together taking on Kieran in order to prove their worth in the end and also to convince Kieran to join them in their battle against Spinel. Kieran is against Spinel's plans because he sees the Strong Spheres as "cheating" and a lazy way to increase one's strengths, and he also is against anything that causes pain for the Pokémon. The battle has Liko and Ann using Meowscarada and Skeledirge respectively while Kieran once against uses Hydrapple and Grimmsnarl. This time, Ann knows how to deal with Kieran. She and Liko put their focus on taking Grimmsnarl down as quickly as possible and given Hydrapple isn't very mobile, it's hard for it to defend its partner. However, Kieran is the BB Academy Champion for a reason and he proves tough to beat. Liko even loses and Ann has to carry on alone. However Meowscarada successfully managed to take out Grimmsnarl, so it's just Skeledirge vs. Hydrapple. Thanks to Skeledirge's new Ghost-typing, Kieran's Hydrapple can't use its Fighting-type Tera Blast to do any damage, which gives Ann a cunning plan.

She keeps Skeledirge that way for now so Kieran is forced to use other attacks and then when it seems Hydrapple is running out of steam, Ann Terastallizes Skeledirge and has him go on the offensive. After a tough battle, Hydrapple is defeated and Kieran is left in total disbelief. However, he dismisses it since it wasn't a full battle and that this doesn't prove he isn't the strongest. Still, a deal is a deal and he tells our heroes to give him a call when it's time to save the world. Amazed, Liko and Ann thank Kieran and are very grateful that he'll help.

With their education and training at Blueberry Academy concluded, Liko, Ann, Dot and Amethio leave the school and resume their plans to stop Spinel. But they'll need to get the gang back together as without the Brave Asagi, they have no chance of getting to Laqua and Amethio also wants to momentarily depart from the group so he can find all the Zygarde cells in order to achieve Zygarde's 100% form. Our heroes bid Amethio farewell for now and decide their next stop will be Kitakami since Liko wonders if Diana's found what she's looking for...

Doesn't this sound like a MUCH better Blueberry Academy arc than the absolute joke we got in the original where it was pretty much a random detour instead of a proper part of the story? Here, the setting is much more integral to the plot and gets used to its full potential, all of the Elite Four plus Kieran actually get used here instead of just Lacey and Drayton and we have this all done and over with so the next arc can focus entirely on the 18 Tera Types plot and gearing up for the finale. Speaking of, let's get to it...

Rising Again

Once more, ignore the presences of Roy, Ult and Friede on the poster as the first two are absent and the third is dead for real now.

With Blueberry Academy over with, we follow on from Diana saying she was going to Kitakami by having a loose adaption of The Teal Mask. And yes, that means we'll get the introduction of Ogerpon here, cause why not? After arriving in Kitakami, Liko tries to contact Diana, but has no luck. Worried that the Explorers might've gotten their hands on her, Liko, Ann and Dot begin asking around the village in hopes of finding clues about Diana. The most they can gather is that she was last seen heading up into the mountains to search in "the ogre's den", but the kids are warned to stay away as the ogre is dangerous. Curious, Dot wants to find out more about this "ogre" and Liko wants to know if her grandmother is safe. She and Ann use Flygon and Kilowattrel to fly up the mountains while Dot rides on Gholdengo's surfboard. Upon arrival, they find the den, but it's empty and there's no sign of Diana anywhere. But a mysterious figure sees them poking around its den and nervously waits for them to leave. After the kids go, they wonder where to look next for Diana, but then to their amazement, they actually find her. However, she...doesn't seem to be herself. For no real reason, she's doing a weird dance and chanting "Mochi, mochi!" over and over. Weirded out, Liko and friends take Diana to Moussi Town to try and find out what's wrong with her. Remembering that Kieran's from Kitakami, Dot calls him and asks if he knows what's up, but Kieran has no idea. However, he says that if they look for the ogre, the ogre might be able to save Diana. Unlike the rest of the people in the town, he believes that the ogre is good and will be able to help them. The kids plan to search for the ogre in the morning. However, as night falls, a strange being begins feeding mochi to the people of Moussi Town, resulting in all kinds of strange dancing and chanting of "Mochi, mochi!" repeatedly.

And just like in the original series, our heroes fall victim to it, because how could I leave that out? XD This leaves Meowscarada and the other Pokémon to go it alone. It pains them to leave their trainers, but they're the only ones who can save the day now. They search the mountains again and this time, find the ogre, Ogerpon, at the Dreaded Den. Meowscarada explains the situation as best she can and Ogerpon is all too happy to help since the culprit, Pecharunt, is her arch-enemy. She arrives in the village and battles Pecharunt. It's a close battle, but Pecharunt is defeated and the Mochi curse is over. Seeing that Ogerpon saved them all, the villagers see her as a hero and are grateful to her. Diana reveals to Liko that she was looking for Pecharunt and fell victim to it. She believes something as powerful as Pecharunt will be perfect for the Poison Tera Type and Terapagos is able to confirm, luckily, its Tera Type IS Poison. Unfortunately, the Explorers show up to steal Ogerpon and Pecharunt for themselves. During the battle, Chalce, Sidian and Coral use Strong Spheres on Medicham, Garganacl and Glaile while Liko, Ann and Dot use Mega Raichu X, Mega Absol and Mega Froslass. Ogerpon even joins in the battle and at one point, she gets a dose of Laquium, but is able to fight off its effects due to her willpower being too strong to be affected. The kids also get surprising help from Hamber, who was with Diana during her expedition and he's managed to catch a Bloodmoon Ursaluna. The Explorers are defeated and our heroes are able to get away with Ogerpon and Pecharunt in tow. As the trio watch the kids and Diana leave, Chalce begins to feel that Spinel's way is wrong because in spite of the power boost, the Rising Volt Tacklers have been winning against their Strong Spheres. Sidian agrees and wonders if they should pursue Mega Evolution instead...

The Dot and Penny episode from the original remains intact and will follow on from the Kitakami adventure. Dot realizes they still need to gather information and data that proves the Strong Spheres are a bad thing like Principal Clavell asked them to. Dot and Penny meet up and carry out their infiltration mission like in the original episode, only there's no Gholdengo evolution since that happened earlier in the rewrite. The girls get away with the data, leaving Chalce further convinced that they need to abandon the Strong Spheres as the Explorers keep failing again and again to stop their enemies. After that, we get an Amethio focused episode in where he and Zygarde are tracking down more Zygarde Cells with Zir and Conia assisting them. During the episode, Amethio is given a Key Stone secretly by Hamber, who tells him that it should "help him unlock Zygarde's true power". Also during the episode, Zygarde finds what appears to be a pebble. Amethio guesses that Zygarde must think it's valuable and decides to keep it for now. The episode then ends with Amethio re-joining the group, feeling Zygarde has enough power to help for now. Liko feels they're strong enough to rescue the Six Heroes, and they HAVE to succeed this time around otherwise no 18 Tera Types plan for them.

We get the two part episode we had in the original version with the kids and Amethio (with Diana also joining this time around) storming Explorers HQ in order to get the Six Heroes back. Thanks to their training from Blueberry Academy and the power of Terapagos, Zygarde, Ogerpon and Pecharunt, the Six Heroes are defeated and purified of Laquium. But this all plays into Spinel's hands as he's able to manipulate recorded footage of the team in order to make them look like the real villains in all this, thus making them look like even bigger criminals to the world at large. This puts a damper on the team's plans since with the exception of Naranja Academy, who will even believe them at this point. Amethio suggests they don't focus on their reputation for now and just focus on erasing the Laquium core before Spinel can finish the production of Strong Spheres.

However, Chalce, Sidian and Coral have become even more disillusioned since they're also starting to feel Pokémon battles are no fun when they're standing around doing nothing while the Strong Spheres makes the Pokémon fight without commands from their trainers. This leads into another Explorers themed episode where the trio secretly begin training by using Mega Evolution instead of Strong Spheres. Sidian has the easiest time since his Aerodactyl hasn't been exposed to Laquium, but Coral and Chalce struggle due to the Laquim breaking their bonds with Medicham and Glaile. It's during that episode where we get their backstories too. Like in the original, Chalce wanted to be a teacher and joined the Explorers in hopes of making that dream happen, but unlike the original, this rewrite shows more times of her hesitating to harm children and expressing displeasure about it, especially during the attacks on Blueberry Academy, so she doesn't come off as a hypocrite. Coral and Sidian also have proper backstories instead of just brief scenes that basically tell us "they were always like this and the Explorers just gave them an outlet". Coral grew up the way she did because she was a victim of bullying. People picked on her because she was either "too pretty", "too hot-tempered" or "too annoying". This boiled to a point that Coral snapped and developed the violent, explosive personality she has today. She even had her Glaile use Self-Destruct on her bullies, nearly killing them in the process. Hamber saw her as a wild child who needed guidance and recruited her in the hopes of giving her that guidance. Sidian grew up the way he did due to living in a particularly violent part of town and it taught him a valuable lesson in that you have to counterattack when attacked, which is why he's so battle-hungry. But when his battle-hungry nature caused him to harm an innocent civilian, it caused him to realize he needs self-control and has to battle more honourably, which is why Hamber recruited him. At the end of the episode, Coral and Chalce apologize to Medicham and Glaile for abusing them like so and announce their intentions to never use Strong Spheres again. It's a small start, but enough for their Pokémon to take a liking to them again. Spinel's Umbreon witnesses this and begins to hope Spinel will come to his senses as Chalce, Coral and Sidian have...

With the Six Heroes rescued, Liko and friends can put the plan into action at last. With no Brave Asagi to fly them to Laqua, they instead get transport courtesy of Hamber, who has stolen an Explorers helicopter to fly everyone to Laqua. On their way, they pick up Kieran from Blueberry Academy since they need him now. We then get the four-part finale as in the original series without heroes arriving back at Laqua once more in order to erase the Laquium Core and put Spinel's plans to an end. The Explorers put up a good fight with Chalce, Coral and Sidian also able to Mega Evolve now, but it's not enough and the Rising Volt Tacklers are able to battle their way through. Upon reaching the Laquium Core, they attempt to use the 18 Tera Types in order to put an end to it, but Spinel intervenes and awakens the core. What follows is a tough battle in where no matter what they do to the core, it just seems to get stronger. But Liko and Dot are able to find a weakness and seek to exploit it with Liko commanding Rayquaza and Amethio commanding Zygarde. Both of them Mega Evolve with the pebble Zygarde found earlier turning out to be a Zygardite, and their combined attacks leave the core weak enough for the 18 Tera Types to power Terapagos up enough to erase it completely.

Enraged, Spinel uses one last bit of Laquium to force Umbreon into battle and Liko sends out Meowscarada to fight back. Unlike the original, it won't be completely one-sided and the battle is much longer so it's not over with so quickly. As is, Liko still mostly dominates and is able to win in the end. Now with his plans in failure and nothing left to lose, Spinel attempts to make it up to Umbreon, but she's not interested. She abandons him and Spinel wanders off after her. Like in the original, he's later arrested and is alone in a cell while Umbreon roams freely.

Also like the original, Liko ends up bidding goodbye to Terapagos as it wants to stay in Laqua to help repair the damages and care for the Pokémon living there, as do Rayquaza and Zygarde. With the world saved, Laquium erased for good, the Rising Volt Tackler's reputation restored and the Explorers changing their ways for the better, Liko and friends have a very bright future ahead for them as they head off to future adventures in the Pokémon world...

Conclusion

And that's the end of this rewrite Pokémon fans. Is it perfect? Of course not, I'm never so arrogant as to think that. There's no such thing as a perfect rewrite anyway. But is it better than the original Pokémon Horizons? I'll leave you all to be the judge of that. I still feel that if the show had been executed the way I've done it here, we would've had something truly special. Ah well, at least for those who enjoy it, my rewrite's here for you and I hope you had fun reading through it.

Do feel free to leave any comments down below and let me know what you think. Did you like my rewrite? Do you think it's an improvement over what came before? Do tell me.

Next week, we're going to tackle the four elements as the Avatar franchise makes its grand return with a new movie, Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender. See you then media fans!

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