Pokémon Horizon's New Protagonist Reached a Major Milestone

Warning: Spoilers for Pokémon Horizons, Episode #52

Summary

Pokémon Horizons' Roy has been performing exceptionally well lately, having won his battle with gym leader Brassius during the Terastal course, even when it wasn’t necessary to do so to pass. Now, Roy’s streak continues with another major first for any Pokémon trainer: their first evolution.

Roy currently owns two Pokémon: his starter, Fuecoco, and a Wattrel, which he caught fairly early on in the series. Wattrel has unfortunately been out of focus for the most part, appearing rather infrequently compared to Liko and Dot’s other Pokémon, such as Hatenna and Tinkatink. When Roy first found Wattrel, it was struggling to fly, but he helped it learn even before catching it. Still, it often struggled in high winds and would give up when faced with difficult conditions.

Pokemon Horizons: Wattrel struggles with the wind

It seems that all Wattrel really needed, however, was the proper motivation: Roy being in danger.

Roy’s First Evolution Is a Lot Like Ash

An Endangered Trainer is One Key to Evolution

In the episode, Roy has been trying to write a report on wild Pokémon in the area, focusing his attention on a Capsakid. The Capsakid managed to get in trouble, however, stuck on a cliff ledge near a waterfall where it couldn’t get back up. Roy climbed down to help it, but the path back up collapsed behind him, leaving him in a tough position as well. Wattrel attempted to help, but the strong gusts blowing around the waterfall kept knocking it back. It was eventually able to carry Capsakid to safety, but now Roy was left to climb up.

A handhold broke off, however, sending Roy falling into the water below. Wattrel, out of sheer determination, powered through to his rescue–and evolved into a Kilowattrel. With its new size, Kilowattrel was able to catch Roy and fly with him, taking him to safety. Roy was thrilled to see his Pokémon evolve, and the group celebrated both his safety and Kilowattrel’s new form.

Pokemon Horizons: Liko stares in awe, Sprigatito glows with mysterious power.

Pokémon’s New Protagonist Just Broke A 27 Year-Old Ash Tradition

Pokémon Horizons is once again setting itself apart from the predecessor series by doing something that Ash would never have done with Pikachu.

As it turns out,Ash has had a Pokémon evolveunder very similar circumstances. Ash’s Gligar evolved when Ash was attempting to climb a Team Rocket machine and fell, and he too was saved by his newly evolved Pokémon as it swooped in to rescue him. The situation also bears a resemblance to Ash’s Fletchinder, which flipped the conditions by having Ash dive to save Talonflame from lava. Ash actually fell from great heights with some regularity, which thankfully hasn’t been a trait of Roy’s so far.

When a Pokémon’s trainer is in danger, they are capable of tapping into their latent potential, and that seems to be just as true inHorizonsas it was in the original series. Kilowattrel’s new size and wingspan make it a far more powerful flier than before, allowing it to finally conquer those heavy winds which used to give it trouble. Although it took Roy a while to get there, he’s finally passed this major milestone as a Pokémon trainer, making him all the better equipped to handle whatever challenge is thrown at thePokémon Horizonscrew next.