Summary

• The new series Pokémon Horizons introduces an incredibly dark and sinister Pokémon villain named Spinel.
• Spinel utilizes an army of Magneton to jam communications and shut down electronics, revealing a diabolical plan.
• Spinel's use of Pokémon, including the ability to erase memories, showcases the dangerous potential that these creatures possess and the formidable opponents that the heroes face.

The new series Pokémon Horizons has upped the bar on what it means to be a Pokémon villain with the Explorers, but their latest agent of evil is taking things to a whole other level by using Pokémon in devious new ways.

The series began with Amethio's dogged pursuit of Liko and her pendant, but Amethio was ultimately taken off the case by his superiors, handing it over to a new character named Spinel. Spinel hadn't shown up since his first appearance until last episode, where he began by attacking the Rising Volt Tacklers' airship with an army of Magneton. This diabolical tactic resulted in communications jamming and the shut down of electronics aboard the airship, seemingly leaving them open for attack. Spinel didn't just conduct a full-frontal assault on them, however; instead, he had something much darker planned.

Spinel's Use of Pokémon is the Anime's Darkest Ever

Spinel's Magneton ploy was pretty devilish on its own. He was using far more than six Pokémon, and the damage that their electromagnetic pulse did to the ship could keep it grounded for a while. Spinel then used these Magneton to lure Friede away from the airship and attempt to take him out, all without ever showing himself. Even this was only a small part of the scheme, though; he also planted a fake ment for a shop selling Herba Mystica in Levincia in order to lure Liko away from the ship. Once he got her alone, he was able to use his Beheeyem to hypnotize her, allowing him to steal her pendant and erase all memory of the encounter.

While this is hardly the first time a Pokémon has been shown to hypnotize a human on screen, no villain has ever attempted to use it to erase memories, a skill that's historically only been possible for Legendary Pokémon like Mewtwo. If the next episode preview is any indication, it may have worked a little too well, erasing more of her memory than intended. Spinel has proven how dangerous Pokémon can be over the last two episodes, and how much damage a dedicated evildoer could actually manage with their power at his disposal. The Explorers have proven themselves to be formidable opponents, in a way that many evil teams from the games never quite did.

With the pendant now in Spinel's possession and the heroes with no way of knowing who has it, things aren't looking too good for Liko right now. That's a level of success that's rare among Pokémon villains, and Spinel accomplished it with relative ease. While these dark tactics may have won the day for now, Pokémon Horizons' intrepid airship crew surely won't rest until the pendant has been recovered--especially now that they've seen for themselves what it can do.