This article is about an episode of the Pokémon animated series that has not been dubbed into English. As such, its coverage may contain romanized Japanese names, rather than dub names.
The Core Awakens (Japanese: 覚醒！滅びのラクリウム・コアAwakening! The Catastrophic Rakurium Core) is the 135th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,367th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on April 24, 2026.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
Plot
Pagogo and the 18 Tera Type Pokémon ready to erase Laquium once and for all
Picking up from the end of the previous episode, Pagogo transforms into its Stellar Form and Terastallizes the 18 Tera Type representatives. At this moment, though, Spinel orders the Explorers agents to attack the representative Pokémon while they're immobilized. Roy, Ult, and Friede try to defend them, but Lucario and Sableye are still feeling the effects of their earlier battle against the Explorers Admins. When Charizard gets taken down, Spinel orders Rubina and Indi to act. They each send out an Electrode and order them both to use Explosion. In a desperate move, Penny orders Sylveon to use Reflect and Disarming Voice. While this saves most of the Pokémon, Sylveon itself gets caught in the blast and is defeated. With one Tera Type representative now missing, Pagogo begins to falter, but suddenly, Chalce, Coral, and Sidian make an appearance. Instead of acting against the Rising Volt Tacklers, Coral tells Spinel she's done being bossed around by him and Terastallizes her Scream Tail, Screamypuff, which then takes Sylveon's place as the Fairy Tera Type representative and stabilizes Pagogo. Chalce declares that they're not Spinel's servants anymore, while Sidian proclaims that there will be no future for the Strong Spheres. Coral insists to the Rising Volt Tacklers that this alliance is just a one-off deal, but they still appreciate the assistance nonetheless. As Pagogo begins resonating with the 18 Pokémon around it and starts erasing the Laquium crystals, Spinel states that this betrayal only reinforces his view on how people and Pokémon alike all betray one another in the end, brushing off things such as friends and bonds as farcical and intangible. Knowing that the Strong Spheres are already spreading Laquium around the world, he considers the Rising Volt Tacklers' efforts futile. Liko, however, refuses to believe this, stating that Laquium doesn't have to come between people and Pokémon, and she holds the hope that eventually, everyone else will realize this, too, which her friends agree with.
Spinel being absorbed by Laquium
Spinel, growing more and more unhinged, denounces such speculative hope as ridiculous and starts approaching the Laquium crystals, refusing to let the Laquium Core be erased, even if it is to cost him his life. He starts embracing the crystals, causing them to start growing around him and encasing him, until he's completely absorbed into the pink crystals, much to the alarm and worry of his Umbreon. The Laquium crystals start resisting the purification and growing uncontrollably. A crystal spear extends outwards and strikes Pagogo, reverting it to its Terastal Form and completely halting the purification process. The crystals form into a tower-like structure, with the Laquium Core itself emerging from the ground and rising up the top of the crystalline structure. Friede realizes that the Core responded to the attempt of purifying it by strengthening its energy output, and with Spinel's tenacity added to the mix, this has now caused the Laquium to spring to life. The Core repels Pagogo's attempt to use its power on it, prompting the Rising Volt Tacklers to attack. Lucario, Sableye, and all of the Terastallized Pokémon hit the Core with everything they've got, only for the Core to emerge completely unscathed from their bombardment and strike back with a burst of energy that causes all of the Terastallized Pokémon to revert to normal. Even though the situation is looking bleak, Liko stands up and defiantly walks towards the Core, declaring that although she may have stumbled and faced defeat many times, she has learned that those setbacks don't equal loss of failure; as long as she and her friends can keep on walking, they'll always find hope in the end. Her friends all agree with her, declaring that they will never give up.
Inspired by this display of determination, the Rising Volt Tacklers resume their assault, launching a barrage of attacks at the Core. While seemingly effective, the damaged crystalline structures quickly regenerate themselves, and the Core unleashes a cloud of Laquium mist, forcing GalarianMoltres and Amethio's Corviknight to blow it back with Hurricane. Meowscarada, Skeledirge, and Ceruledge defend them from the subsequent counterattack, which results in multiple sharp crystals bursting out of the ground at them. To avoid the ground-based attack, Roy, Ult, Friede, and Amethio take to the sky on their Flying types. Tentacles of Laquium chase after them through the air, before shattering and firing towards them as sharp crystal spikes. Before they can make contact, though, they're shot down by a Thousand Arrows attack from Zygarde, which transforms into its Complete Forme and joins Rayquaza in a combination attack of Thousand Arrows and Draco Meteor. However, the Laquium Core still stands firm and retaliates with a relentless flurry of sharp crystals. While everyone backs away to avoid another cloud of Laquium mist, the Core sprouts crystalline branches in the shape of a giant flower on top of itself, assuming yet another new form as it continues barraging everyone with crystals. Dot tries to use Quaquaval's Aqua Cutter and Lapras's Ice Beam to form a protective barrier of ice. When the barrier eventually shatters, another one is formed, but no matter how many times the strategy is repeated, the crystal barrage keeps breaking through. When the ice barrier is about to be completely overwhelmed, Friede orders Captain Pikachu to use "Rising Volt Tackle", creating a vortex that halts the crystal bombardment.
While Charizard saves Cap and keeps dodging the Core's attacks, everyone starts noticing how it's only attacking Cap at the moment, despite everyone else being completely open and vulnerable. Liko realizes that the Core only targets its attacks on those who most recently attacked it, as proven by it only attacking Cap at the moment and ignoring everyone else. Dot and Penny realize that since the Core isn't a living thing, it's only acting as a substance that's reacting to external stimulus. Liko decides to use this information to their advantage by having them attack in turns instead of all at once. The Core's attack pattern indeed becomes much simpler as a result, but it still keeps attacking back and repairing any damage it takes, leaving it completely unscathed. Penny encourages Dot to figure out a solution while the others buy her time to think. By observing the Core's behavior as everyone keeps attacking it, Dot indeed soon figures out a pattern: the Core's only reaction to attacks is to attack back, never making any defensive moves. However, if an attack ever gets close to the Core's spherical center, it guards itself by reinforcing its defenses in that particular area, meaning that the Core's main sphere must also be its weak point. Ult decides to exploit this information by having Dragonite attack the Core with Hyper Beam, only for it to do nothing. Dot adds that the Core is also building up resistance to the attacks it's hit by, meaning that one by one, their attacks will stop working on it. Their only hope now is to hit the Core with their most powerful moves that it hasn't experienced yet. Liko understands that they only have one shot at destroying the Laquium Core, or else they'll risk just increasing its defenses even further.
