XY028

The Bonds of Evolution! (Japanese: チャンピオン・カルネ登場！霧の中のメガサーナイト！！ Champion Appears! Mega  in the Mist!!) is the 28th episode of the, and the 827th episode of the Pokémon anime. It first aired in Japan on May 22, 2014, in the United Kingdom on July 5, 2014, and in the United States on July 26, 2014.

Blurb
Ash, Serena, Clemont, and Bonnie meet Diantha, the Champion of the Kalos region! Professor Sycamore is on the scene as well, doing research on Diantha's Gardevoir and its Mega Evolution.

Ash challenges the Champion to a battle, and under unusual circumstances, she accepts. However, their battle is quickly interrupted by the Team Rocket trio, who grab Gardevoir in a cage of energy and fly away! Thanks to the strong bond between the two of them, Diantha knows exactly where Gardevoir is, and she leads our heroes there at once.

She challenges Team Rocket, calling on the power of her Key Stone—and inside the cage, Gardevoir Mega Evolves! Professor Sycamore is delighted to witness a Mega Evolution in person, and Mega Gardevoir makes short work of the villains. Diantha has to get back to a movie shoot, but she agrees to battle Ash again someday...just as soon as he beats the Kalos League!

Plot
This episode begins with and, who have found a poster advertising a battle featuring the Pokémon Champion of the Kalos region, Diantha. The friends tell Ash, who has never heard of Diantha before, that Diantha is not only the strongest Pokémon trainer in Kalos, but is also a famous actress. Ash decides to request a battle with Diantha, and the friends run off to meet her.

Behind the scenes at the stadium, Diantha's manager tells a large crowd that Diantha is not accepting meetings or interviews. Just as Ash and his friends are about to leave, Professor Sycamore appears and motions to them to follow him into a room. The professor has come to examine the Mega Evolution that Diantha's Gardevoir possesses. The friends are excited to also hear that Diantha is in the room next door. Ash head towards the door, wanting to request a battle immediately, but before he can open it Diantha emerges, much to the awe of, , and. Professor Sycamore asks Diantha if she has thought about his request to leave her Key Stone temporarily in his possession, to which she respectfully declines, saying that the Key Stone is the very bond between her and Gardevoir. Professor Sycamore persists, however, and Diantha begins to offer a compromise for the next time she visits Lumiose City. Diantha's manager Kathi Lee, however, appears and abruptly tells Sycamore that Diantha's schedule is full. Diantha tells the group to feel free to watch the battle.

At the battlefield, the two opponents take to the field to a cheering crowd, Diantha and a previous year's champion from Brackish Town,. In the stands, Ash asks Professor Sycamore about the Key Stone. Professor Sycamore tells him the Key Stone is the stone Trainers hold, and the Mega Stone is the stone that Pokémon hold, both crucial to Mega Evolution. Diantha releases Gardevoir, who wears a Mega Stone. Professor Sycamore tells the travelers that a close bond between the Trainer and Pokemon is also crucial to Mega Evolution. Above, watches and decides to get Gardevoir for themselves, hoping to please. On the field, Magnus releases, and the battle begins. Magnus and Absol begin with, but Gardevoir is too quick. Absol then uses, but again Gardevoir evades the attack, able to understand Diantha's commands merely through eye contact. Magnus's Absol uses, but Gardevoir repels it with , which rebounds to hit Absol. Absol uses, but Gardevoir uses to knock Absol out, winning the match.

Inside the stadium, a crowd again forms, hoping to see Diantha. An officer tells the crowd that Diantha has already left for a movie shooting. Serena suggests that the group go try Brackish Town's famous chocolate cake, Professor Sycamore opting to join them after he takes care of his data. However, when the travelers reach the restaurant, they are greeted by a long line. However, Bonnie and Serena are determined to get through the line, and manage to procure one slice. Faced with the predicament of sharing one slice with four people, Clemont pulls out a machine that can cut the piece into exactly equal pieces. Before he can cut into the dessert, the group notices a disappointed woman who was unable to procure a slice, and offer to share with her. The lady reveals she is indeed Diantha, and the group share the dessert, after which Bonnie asks for Diantha to marry her brother. Ash determinedly asks Diantha to have a battle with him, and after his persistence, she accepts. Professor Sycamore appears, wanting to also watch the battle.

In a field, Ash begins to battle Diantha's Gardevoir with. Ash begins with Pikachu's, followed up by Quick Attack, which Diantha's Gardevoir nimbly avoids. Ash next commands Pikachu to use and, which Gardevoir also dodges. Gardevoir uses Shadow Ball, which sends Pikachu flying and Ash running to catch him. Seeing Ash's devotion to his Pokémon, Diantha recognizes his passion. Just then, Team Rocket releases a net, which captures Gardevoir in a transparent box. Diantha orders Gardevoir to use Shadow Ball on the box, but to no avail. Jessie throws a smoke bomb and Team Rocket's balloon soars off. Diantha, who knows where Gardevoir has gone, leads the way.

Diantha recalls an experience in which she was lost in the fog while shooting in the Lapidarian Highlands, and her Key Stone led her to Gardevoir. Ash says he think their hearts were calling out to each other. The group reaches Gardevoir, and Diantha tells the others to stay back while she confronts Team Rocket. Diantha mega-evolves Gardevoir into Mega Gardevoir, and this time, the force of Mega Gardevoir's Shadow Ball blasts the box. Diantha tells Mega Gardevoir to use Moon Blast, which sends Team Rocket blasting off again.

The group congratulates Diantha as Mega Gardevoir returns back to normal. A helicopter with Kathi Lee arrives to pick up Diantha. Diantha thanks Ash and all the children, but has to go to her next shooting. Just before she leaves, Ash tells Diantha that he is challenging the Kalos League, and asks her to battle him when the time comes. Diantha tells him she'll look forward to it, and the friends and Professor Sycamore wave as the helicopter rides off into the sunset, having all learned more about the secrets of Mega Evolution.

Major events



 * and encounter Professor Sycamore again.
 * Ash and his friends meet Diantha, the Kalos League.
 * Ash and his friends learn about Mega Stones and Key Stones, as well as witness a Mega Evolution for the first time.
 * Ash has a with Diantha, but it gets interrupted by.

Humans

 * Diantha
 * Kathi Lee

Pokémon debuts

 * Diantha's Gardevoir (Mega Gardevoir)

Humans

 * Jessie
 * James
 * Professor Sycamore
 * Diantha
 * Kathi Lee
 * Crowd
 * Professor Sycamore
 * Diantha
 * Kathi Lee
 * Crowd
 * Crowd

Pokémon
Who's That Pokémon?: (US and international) Pokémon Quiz: (Japan)
 * (Mega Gardevoir)
 * ('s)
 * (male)
 * (picture)
 * (picture)
 * (picture)
 * (multiple; picture)
 * (×3; picture)
 * (picture)
 * (picture)
 * (picture)
 * (multiple; picture)
 * (×3; picture)
 * (picture)
 * (picture)
 * (picture)
 * (multiple; picture)
 * (×3; picture)
 * (picture)
 * (multiple; picture)
 * (×3; picture)

Trivia

 * Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster:
 * This episode was originally scheduled to air on May 29, 2014 as part of a one-hour special alongside Heroes - Friend and Faux Alike!, but it was pushed up one week after the postponement of An Undersea Place to Call Home!, and aired as a standalone episode.
 * V (Volt) was supposed to be replaced by Mega V (Volt) as the Japanese opening in this episode, but due to the aforementioned reasons, it debuted in the following episode instead.
 * The next episode preview is narrated by James, Jessie,, and.
 * For the TV Tokyo airing, instead of the normal preview, a special preview of Heroes - Friends and Faux Alike!, Mega Revelations!, Diancie and the Cocoon of Destruction, The Cave of Trials!, and The Aura Storm! was shown.
 * Several running gags from the are played differently for the first time in this episode.
 * does not use his Aipom Arm to grab Bonnie after she asks Diantha if she could marry him.
 * Clemont's invention works correctly without exploding.
 * Since Jessie's Wobbuffet is absent in this episode, he does not appear in the motto sequence.
 * The dub of this episode first aired in on July 5, 2014, 21 days before  airing.
 * uses a variation of their.
 * Title card music from the is used as background music after the battle of Diantha and.
 * Professor Sycamore does not wear his lab coat at any point during this episode, a rarity for the series.
 * In the English dub, the film that Diantha is starring in is called My Sweet, Sweet Lady. This may be a reference to the 1964 film .
 * The famous chocolate cake of Brackish Town is reminiscent of the cake.

Errors

 * When the exhibition match is about to begin, Diantha is on the left side of the screen instead of the right.
 * In the Pokémon Quiz segment, Gardevoir's type is described as pure, but Gardevoir was changed -type in Generation VI along with.
 * This error is fixed in the Mandarin (Taiwan) and Cantonese dubs.
 * When Clemont uses his invention to cut the cake into six pieces, the color of Diantha's shadowed skin is dark brown instead of dark beige.
 * When Gardevoir is about to Mega Evolve, its legs are green instead of white.
 * In the Pokémon Holo Caster segment, when is about to scare  in his  costume, the beige and light gray parts of Spewpa's head are dark gray instead, and the two dots on its face are black instead of beige.

Dub edits

 * For an unknown reason the episode title is used again in XY034 in the n dub.
 * For unknown reasons, the theme song has no vocal in the n dub.

In other languages
Das Geheimnis der Mega-Entwicklung! EP832 XY028 XY028 XY編第27話 精灵宝可梦 XY 第28集