Explorers
- This article is about the group from Pokémon Horizons. For the games, see Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky.
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The Explorers (Japanese: エクスプローラーズ Explorers) are a mysterious organization led by Gibeon, and the main antagonists of Pokémon Horizons: The Series. They've pursued Terapagos, the Black Rayquaza, and the Rising Volt Tacklers, becoming their enemies in the process. All of this has been in furtherance of their main goal of reaching Lakua, although their motivations behind this goal are unknown.
History
Pre-series
Originally the Explorers was a group made of friends of Lucius. Although neither their purpose nor ensuing fate are known, the organization managed to exist in the present, well after Lucius found Lakua.
At some point in the past, Hamber joined the Explorers and approached Diana, an old friend of his, with an offer to join the organization under the pretext of introducing her to someone who could aid her adventures. However, this was actually an attempt to obtain her pendant, which she refused to hand over. After that, the Explorers decided to pursue the pendant until they found out that it was in the possession of Diana's granddaughter Liko, at which point they decided to find her in order to take it. Eventually, they were able to find Liko attending the Indigo Academy in the Kanto region.
Pokémon Horizons: The Series
The Explorers debuted in The Pendant That Starts It All (Part One). One day, Amethio approached Liko at Indigo Academy's dormitories and, while under the guise of a representative of Diana, lied about being entasked to pick up the pendant in order to return it to her grandmother. Feeling something was amiss, Liko attempted to escape from him and his cohorts, Zirc and Onia, but ended up cornered in a rooftop until Friede swooped in at the right time and engaged Amethio in a battle. Upon witnessing the collateral damage the battle was causing, Liko tried to run away and almost got hit by a stray Psycho Cut if not by her pendant suddenly generating an energy field in order to shield her, which Friede used as an opening to escape with her to the Brave Olivine. The Explorers, however, did not give up and followed them to the airship, even amidst a vicious thunderstorm. There, Friede and Amethio clashed again, albeit briefly, as this time, Liko stepped in, having her Sprigatito unleash a Leafage powerful enough to break the barrier around the battlefield and expose everyone to the unrelenting weather. This forced the Explorers to retreat, but not without taking the Grass Cat Pokémon as a hostage.
In For Sure! 'Cause Sprigatito's with Me!, Amethio battled against Friede once again; this time, however, the Professor was just distracting him to allow Liko to find Sprigatito in the warehouse where they were hiding. While this was happening, Zirc managed to plant a tracker on Brave Olivine's hull. This allowed for the Explorers to follow the ship all the way to Roy's island via submarine, where both parties clashed once more in Found You, Fuecoco! and The Ancient Poké Ball. As Liko's Sprigatito and Roy's soon-to-be Fuecoco were being overwhelmed by Amethio's Ceruledge, the girl's pendant synced with the boy's Ancient Poké Ball, which finally opened up. From the artifact, emerged a mighty Black Rayquaza, who indiscriminately rained devastation all over the the beach with a singular Draco Meteor, forcing the Explorers to retreat. Later, during a meeting with the other Explorers's higher-ups, Gibeon, the organization's leader, removed Amethio from the mission of collecting the pendant and assigned it to Spinel. Afterwards, Amethio communicated to Zirc and Onia that he was going to pursue the Black Rayquaza from now on, believing its connection with the pendant to hold the key to the mystery behind it.
In The Future I Choose, it was revealed that Spinel was spying on the Rising Volt Tacklers during their time in Paldea in order to learn more about them. The knowledge he acquired was put to use over the following episodes, as he commenced his attack on them. First, in An Unexpected Picnic!, he positioned his fleet of Magneton around the Brave Olivine to create an electromagnetic interference to mess with the data array of the ship, rendering it powerless during a system reboot. After successfully scaring them away at the beginning of the following episode, Friede followed one of the Magneton all the way to Levincia, where he was ambushed by it and Spinel's Beheeyem, which were being commanded from a distance by their Trainer, seemingly in order to have his strength tested. The next day, Spinel created a false advertisement for some Spicy Herba Mystica to lure Liko into a back alley in Levincia. There, he had his Beheeyem put her on a trance with its psychic powers, allowing him to collect her pendant without any mishaps. Over the next episode, a dazed Liko was left wandering around the city while the Rising Volt Tacklers were caught on a web of misinformation laid out by Spinel, which pointed her whereabouts to Artazon instead. At the end of the day, with the collective efforts of Roy and Dot, she was able to fully regain her memory.
In Quaxly, We Can Do It, Friede and the young Rising Volt Tacklers begun their counterattack to find the culprit and get the pendant back. The Professor went after a leaving cruise, where he was greeted and challenged by a mysterious man—this, however, was one more red herring from Spinel. While this was happening, Dot and her Quaxly managed to pinpoint the pendant's location to a docked cargo ship and alerted her friends. The three of them battled against Spinel's Magneton and Beheeyem and won, but were not match to his Umbreon. At that moment, backed up against a wall, Liko's feelings begun resonating with the pendant, which shone brightly and gave Spinel's hiding location off. After Sprigatito returned the item to her Trainer, the pendant activated again and released Arboliva of the Six Heroes from its Ancient Poké Ball. Then, the group grabbed hold at the Olive Pokémon's arms before it jumped overboard, leaving Spinel at the ship with the understanding that Liko herself is the key to the pendant's secrets.
In The Lonely Hatenna, Amethio, Zirc, and Onia arrived in Galar after tracking the Black Rayquaza to Galar Mine. In the following episode, their path once again crossed with the Rising Volt Tacklers's: Amethio immediately engaged Friede in battle, while Zirc and Onia faced off against Roy, Liko, and Captain Pikachu. However, the battles came to a rather abrupt end when a Galarian Moltres with an Ancient Poké Ball appeared and started attacking them. At the end of the next episode, it was revealed that the Explorers had witnessed the recapture of Moltres and Liko's pendant turning into a mysterious Pokémon, with Amethio deciding to go after the Rising Volt Tacklers in order to steal it.
In Reunion at the Ancient Castle!, Amethio, Zirc, and Onia reported their findings to Hamber, which quickly contacted other Admins to head with him to the Galar region: he recruited Coral and Sidian, as Spinel and Chalce were occupied in the Explorers's laboratory. Amethio's team followed Liko, Roy, and Friede to an ancient castle near Hammerlocke, where they surrounded them in order to take the mysterious Pokémon away. The confrontation extended into the following episode and ended up with Amethio's first official loss to Friede. Meanwhile, Hamber and his Dusknoir arrived at the place and confronted Diana, who questioned him about the Explorers's motives to target them. Then, a commotion provided by the arrival of Coral and Sidian allowed for her to escape the scene, as well as for Amethio's team to leave before being caught in the crossfire. The two Admins cornered Liko and Roy, only for Captain Pikachu to arrive and rescue them, fending off her Glalie and his Garganacl at once. This, however, made Coral snap and recklessly order her Glalie to use Self-Destruct, allowing the Rising Volt Tacklers to escape and leaving the ancient castle in ruins.
In As Long as I'm with My Friends, while the Rising Volt Tacklers had been once again caught in false information spread by Spinel, the Explorers Admins had a meeting to discuss their next move. They eventually concluded that the best course of action would be pursuing the Black Rayquaza itself instead of Terapagos in order to stay ahead. In HZ033, Amethio's team detected that the Black Rayquaza in the Lapras Sea, and as such they immediately went after it. However, despite his best efforts, he lost very easily when trying to battle it. Amethio also witnessed Terapagos transforming into its Terastal Form as it conjured up strength in order to protect Liko. In the following episode, after asking Hamber to train him in order to become stronger, they held a training match between their Ghost-type Pokémon, which ended up with a victory to Hamber after he Terastallized his Dusknoir. Afterwards, he gave a Tera Orb to Amethio and set him in the direction of mastering the Terastal phenomenon in order to draw out its full power.
After Amethio's failure, Spinel came up with a new plan to catch the Black Rayquaza, aided by Coral, Sidian, and Chalce. Prior to HZ042, the Explorers led the construction of a tower on an island near Levincia as part of the plan, which the Rising Volt Tacklers were made aware of in HZ043 and started being enacted in HZ044. The tower itself was a red herring; its true purpose was to separate Friede from the rest of the group. The real plan involved attracting Rayquaza by simulating Terapagos's energy signature through a resonance generator, wearing it down by attacking him with powerful, super effective moves, and finally catching it in an Ultra Ball. The Rising Volt Tacklers managed to stall the Explorers for time enough to allow Dot to create a shutdown program and disable the resonance generator, allowing Rayquaza to free itself from the onslaught of attacks. Once again, Coral let her temper overcome her better judgment and commanded Glalie to use Self-Destruct, which collided with Rayquaza's Dragon Pulse. The resulting explosion was powerful enough to blast the Legendary Pokémon directly into the hull of the Brave Olivine. In the following episode, the four Admins retreated. As Liko, Roy, and Friede were battling against the Black Rayquaza, Amethio arrived at the scene and worked in conjunction with them. Despite his Ceruledge and Friede's Charizard having Terastallized, they ended up defeated by a single Dragon Ascent.
Notable members
Main members
This is the list of Explorers members up to the most recent Japanese episode:
| Member | Rank | Debut |
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 Gibeon |
Boss | The Ancient Poké Ball (voice only) HZ045 (physical debut) |
 Hamber |
Second-in-command | The Treasure After the Storm! |
 Amethio |
Admin | The Pendant That Starts It All (Part One) |
 Spinel |
Admin | The Ancient Poké Ball |
 Coral |
Admin | The Ancient Poké Ball |
 Sidian |
Admin | The Ancient Poké Ball |
 Chalce |
Admin | The Ancient Poké Ball |
 Onia |
Grunt | The Pendant That Starts It All (Part One) |
 Zirc |
Grunt | The Pendant That Starts It All (Part One) |
Associates
This is listing of characters who aided the Explorers in their goals at some point during the events of Pokémon Horizons: The Series:
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| Bisharp's Trainer | Explorers' subordinates |
Technology
Gadgets
- In The Pendant That Starts It All (Part Two), the trio used their watches to change into the organization's standard uniform. Coral later used the watch in HZ043 to change in and out of her civilian clothing.
- In For Sure! 'Cause Sprigatito's with Me!, Zirc planted a tracker in the husk of the Rising Volt Tacklers' airship. It was later found and destroyed by Quaxly in HZ006.
- In Fly! Wattrel!!, Spinel communicated with his Pokémon using a small transceiver attached to them. He also used the transceivers in Quaxly, We Can Do It to communicate with Liko, Roy, and Dot.
| Watches | Tracker | Transceiver |
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Vehicles
- In The Treasure After the Storm!, Amethio contacted Hamber from a submarine. This submarine later made further appearances as Amethio, Zirc and Onia's method of transportation around the world.
- Spinel was seen using a van outfitted with high-tech surveillance equipment as a base of operations in multiple episodes.
- In Quaxly, We Can Do It, Spinel used a cargo ship docked in Levincia to transport his van from the city.
- In Rivals in the Dark of Night!, Hamber, Sidian, and Coral traveled to Galar using an Explorers helicopter.
| Submarine | Helicopter |
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Other
- In The Ancient Poké Ball and several subsequent episodes, the Explorers leadership are shown using a virtual reality space to meet with each other and give reports to Hamber and Gibeon. The individual members use hologram technology to project themselves into this space, which appears and disappears upon their entering and leaving it. While Hamber and the five Explorers admins move around and interact with each other in this space as if it is real, Gibeon speaks through a holographic monolith that stands at the center of the space.
- In HZ044, the Explorers are seen using a resonance generator that can transmit energy at long distances. After observing Terapagos using his equipment, Spinel was able to recreate Terapagos's energy signature on the resonance generator to attract the Black Rayquaza.
Artwork
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| Concept art of Amethio from Pokémon Horizons: The Series[1] | Concept art of Zirc and Onia from Pokémon Horizons: The Series[2] | Concept art of Spinel, Sidian, Chalce, and Coral |
Trivia
- The Explorers is the first villainous organization created specifically for the anime.
- The names of the members of the organization presented in the anime refer to gemstones and rocks used in the creation of jewelry.
Names
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References
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This article is part of Project Anime, a Bulbapedia project that covers all aspects of the Pokémon anime. |
