Onia: the Explorers agent who searched a year for Amethio

She joined the Explorers to climb the ranks fast, and she stayed out of loyalty. Onia is a field agent in Horizons, always paired with Zirc and assigned to the team led by Amethio. The duo starts out as backup in the hunt for Liko, and ends up defying the entire chain of command for a boss the organization has declared dead.

Contents

• Two Agents Recruited the Same Day, and a Boss They Thought Would Be Easy
• The Hunt for Liko, From the Academy Rooftop to a Kanto Beach
• Golduck and Skarmory, a No-Frills Field Team
• Cruel to the Small, Soft on the Cute
• Loyalty That Comes Before the Rules
• A Year Spent Searching for a Man Who's Officially Dead
• Onia at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Two Agents Recruited the Same Day, and a Boss They Thought Would Be Easy

A late episode of Horizons looks back on how they started. Zirc and Onia joined the Explorers on the same day, went through a first interview with Hamber, then were assigned to the team of one of the organization's administrators.

The two recruits didn't react the same way. Zirc mostly saw a babysitting chore for an administrator who was too young, while Onia saw it as a fast track to the top: their boss's grandfather is Gibeon, who runs the entire organization.

That calculation fell through, and for a good reason. Amethio turned out to be serious and capable, able to wrap up his missions with ease, and his two subordinates ended up swearing allegiance to him. The feeling was mutual: he thought little of them at first, but came to regard them as friends.

The Hunt for Liko, From the Academy Rooftop to a Kanto Beach

The opening episode of Horizons shows her in a scouting role. Onia spots Liko on a rooftop at Indigo Academy and reports her position to her teammates, before joining the trio to surround her. Friede and his Charizard step in, Amethio sends out his Ceruledge, and the fugitive is caught mid-fall by her pendant in front of everyone.

The chase continues all the way to the Rising Volt Tacklers' airship. The defenses fall, Liko is forced to go with them, then a second battle pits Friede and his Pikachu against Amethio as the two agents look on. A storm cuts the battle short and the Explorers leave with Liko's Sprigatito.

A few episodes later, on an island in Kanto, Amethio uses them as a decoy. Zirc and Onia pin the crew down on the beach while their boss searches for Liko: Murdock and Orla take the bait and quickly fall to the Rhydon and the Golduck. Onia then heads off to search the forest, finds Liko and Roy there — and loses the battle she starts.

Golduck and Skarmory, a No-Frills Field Team

Her Golduck carries most of her battles. It sweeps aside the Rising Volt Tacklers on the Kanto beach, then falls to Liko's Sprigatito in the nearby forest: the same day brings out both its best and its worst performance.

Things don't get any easier from there. In the Galar Mine, the appearance of the local Moltres wipes out every Pokémon present and forces the two agents to retreat; at Diana's castle, Sprigatito knocks Golduck out with a brand-new move, to Onia and Zirc's surprise.

The Skarmory serves first and foremost as transportation. The duo arrives on Skarmory's back to make sure Amethio is all right after his battle against the Black Rayquaza, and swoops into Laqua the same way to urge their boss to flee.

Cruel to the Small, Soft on the Cute

The character isn't written to be gentle. Onia has a nasty temper, bordering on sadism, and doesn't hold back from threatening or roughing up small Pokémon — Liko's Sprigatito pays the price.

The other side of her is stranger. She melts in front of Pokémon she finds cute, to the point of daydreaming about spending time with them, then treating them as her own without wondering whether they already belong to someone.

An episode from the very start of Horizons brings both sides together in a single story. Tasked with guarding the hostage Sprigatito, she grows attached to it, goes out to buy it something to eat and gets spotted by Murdock's Rockruff. Her retreat unwittingly leads Friede and Liko straight to the organization's hideout, where she has to battle the very Pokémon she was guarding — and watch it escape thanks to Leafage.

🧸 She'd fall head over heels for this section: check out the Pokémon plushies.

Loyalty That Comes Before the Rules

The first breach of the rules dates back to the Galar Mine. Amethio announces he's going alone because he's disobeying his superiors; his two agents invite themselves along anyway, fully aware of what that means.

A later episode in the arc goes further. Amethio keeps telling them to keep their distance and warns them their careers in the organization will go nowhere for as long as they stay by his side. The two agents reject the argument and refuse to let him give up, until he relents, asks for their help and admits he owes them.

Things come to a head with Spinel. The trio breaks into his Exceed lab, finds research on Laquium that's still experimental, gets caught by security and locked up without their Pokémon in a dockside warehouse, until Hamber comes to free them. In Laqua, Onia and Zirc turn their Pokémon against their own administrators to cover Liko's escape, then own up to what they did and brace for the consequences.

A Year Spent Searching for a Man Who's Officially Dead

After Laqua, the official story leaves them without a boss: Spinel publicly announces that Amethio betrayed Gibeon and that the two men killed each other. Hamber summons the two agents almost a year later, with no intention of punishing them: he has come to give them a job, because neither he nor Cervantis believes a word of that story. He hands them a Zygarde Cube, and the White Zygarde's Cell leaps into it of its own accord.

The search stalls for a long time. The duo exhausts every lead without the slightest result and yet refuses to stop. On a beach in Levincia, a ticket lost in the sewers leads them to cross paths with Liko, Roy and Dot; Onia also runs into Grusha there and, being a true fan of the Gym Leader, asks him for a handshake.

The resolution comes through Liko. Taken to Amethio's family mansion, she spots vacation photos that point to a remote island, and the trio finds the missing administrator there. At first he refuses to act, changes his mind after a battle against the girl's Charcadet, then sends his two agents back to the Explorers to work from the inside. Zirc leaves him the Zygarde Cube; he and Onia then call Hamber to report the mission accomplished.

Onia at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Onia in Pokémon Horizons?
  An Explorers agent, introduced as a recurring character. She always works in tandem with Zirc and serves on the team of administrator Amethio, to whom she is completely loyal.
• Which Pokémon does Onia use?
  A Golduck, which she sends out in most of her battles, and a Skarmory that mainly serves as her mount to reach Amethio or leave an area quickly.
• Why is Onia so attached to Amethio?
  At first she saw her assignment as a chance to climb the ladder, since he is the grandson of the Explorers' leader. She then discovered a serious, effective administrator, and swore allegiance to him.
• Is Onia evil?
  She has a nasty temper, bordering on sadism, and doesn't hesitate to go after small Pokémon. Yet she openly has a soft spot for the ones she finds cute, to the point of wanting to keep them for herself.
• What happens to Onia after Amethio disappears?
  Hamber tasks her and Zirc with finding out what really became of him without alerting Spinel. Hamber gives them this mission almost a year after his disappearance; the duo eventually finds him with Liko's help, then goes back to serving the Explorers so they can act from the inside.

In short

Onia starts out as a careerist and ends up a double agent out of affection. She is one of the few characters in Horizons to choose a person over an organization, without ever giving up her bad temper or her love of cute Pokémon. Her loyalty is the one thing she has never bargained over.