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.
Mega Evolution - Bonds (Japanese: メガシンカ ――絆Mega Evolution—Bonds) is the 114th episode of Pokémon Horizons: The Series, and the 1,346th episode of the Pokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 24, 2025 and is scheduled to air in the United Kingdom on February 27, 2026.
In the Mayo Maze Palace, Roy and Ult find themselves meeting Count Oyster and Shōyu, who declare the two young Trainers must defeat them in a battle before they can battle Yellow Blast again. Ult becomes determined to battle, wanting to understand Sableye even more, and Roy prepares to have Crocalor battle alongside it. Ult has Sableye use Throat Chop on Count Oyster's Escavalier, but it is blocked by Iron Defense while Shōyu's Accelgor comes up from behind with Skitter Smack. Crocalor uses Flamethrower on his opponents, but Escavalier uses Protect to stop it and Accelgor attacks Fire Croc Pokémon with a supereffectiveWater Shuriken. Seeing how their opponents work perfectly as a team, Roy suggests they work together too, but Ult is too agitated and calls for Sableye to use Shadow Sneak. Accelgor uses Double Team to throw off Sableye, allowing Escavalier to attack with Fell Stinger. Accelgor goes in for the finishing blow with Skitter Smack, only for Crocalor's Disarming Voice to send the Shell Out Pokémon back. Ult is frustrated by his inability to battle well, but he becomes confused when he hears laughing from Roy, who tells him he and Crocalor get excited when facing strong opponents. Crocalor uses Disarming Voice on Escavalier and Accelgor, who counterattack with Fell Stinger and Water Shuriken respectively. The Fire Croc Pokémon dodges the attacks at the last second and sends out Flamethrower that is once again negated by Protect. Ult watches Roy and Crocalor hold their own against Count Oyster and Shōyu and, with Sableye's help, realizes the reason why he couldn't battle well. With his newfound realization, Ult resolves to make his Pokémon the strongest and is motivated to continue battling. Crocalor manages to trap Escavalier in a wall while it was cornering the Fire Croc Pokémon and defeats it with Flamethrower. At Shōyu's call, Accelgor comes up from behind Crocalor and didn't notice Sableye doing the same with Shadow Sneak, defeating the Shell Out Pokémon.
As agreed, Roy and Ult are allowed to battle Yellow Blast again, with Count Oyster and Shōyu disappearing after bringing down the walls of the Mayo Maze Palace. Once Master Mayonnaise, who is acting as referee, begins the battle, Yellow Blast immediately begins to move extremely fast, though Sableye and Crocalor were able to avoid getting hit compared to last time. However, Yellow Blast's high speed causes the two Pokémon to resort to dodging, rendering them unable to fight back. Eventually, Crocalor gets knocked down and Yellow Blast turns its attention to Sableye. Roy realizes a possible plan for Ult to pull off with Sableye, believing they are capable of doing so now. When it gets attacked by Yellow Blast, Ult completely trusts Sableye and is able to battle alongside it, resulting in Ult being able to Mega Evolve Sableye into Mega Sableye for the first time. Yellow Blast unleashes a strong Flash Cannon, but Mega Sableye is able to stand back up, though it can't use Power Gem due to its gem being too heavy to lift. Instead, it uses Confuse Ray and follows up with Throat Chop. Unfortunately, Yellow Blast forces itself out of the confusion by using sheer willpower and defeats Mega Sableye, undoing its Mega Evolution.
Roy and Crocalor after defeating Lucario
Yellow Blast turns its back on Roy and Ult, deeming the battle over, when Crocalor stands back up with motivation to beat the Aura Pokémon. The two get into sync by singing and Roy is able to determine not only how Yellow Blast would attack, allowing Crocalor to act accordingly, but also his opponent is feeling during the battle. In his excitement to battle even more, Roy Mega Evolves Lucario into Mega Lucario, shocking everyone present. Despite the surprise at this turnout, Roy eagerly has Crocalor use Flamethrower while Mega Lucario uses Flash Cannon, and both attacks meet in the middle. However, with encouragement from his Trainer, Crocalor is able to overpower Mega Lucario and defeats it.
Afterwards, Master Mayonnaise congratulates the two young Trainers on mastering Mega Evolution while revealing Count Oyster and Shōyu as his fellow allies who wished to help Trainers strengthen their bonds in pursuit of Mega Evolution, resulting in the construction of the Mayo Maze Palace. Even though Roy didn't Mega Evolve Crocalor, the fact that Lucario Mega Evolved thanks to its bond with Roy is proof that he managed to master Mega Evolution. To support this, Lucario comes up to Crocalor with respect and Roy with a plea to join his team. Having come to the Mayo Maze Palace in search of strong opponents to improve itself, Lucario wishes to continue this goal by Roy's side, and Roy agrees to catch it. Later on, Roy is ready to leave Kalos and thanks Emma for all she did. He is surprised to hear Ult had left for his own journey earlier, which Emma thanks him for as Ult is able to find something he wants to do. She also reveals Captain Pikachu's reason for following Roy is probably he looks at the road ahead like Friede. Hearing that, Roy decides to change his outfit a little to resemble the man he admires, not realizing the shop owner is Master Mayonnaise, and leaves his cap with Emma as he departs from Kalos. At some point down the road, Roy and Ult meet again while facing a wildPangoro and Pyroar, and the two Mega Evolve their respective Pokémon for the upcoming battle.
The title text for this episode is shown directly over the background, without a separate title card segment. As such, the title is not read aloud. Since there is no opening theme, the series logo (with the arc subtitle) is shown alongside the title text (unlike the previous two episodes of this mini-arc which featured the series logo separately from the title text).
The Taiwanese Mandarin and Hong Kong Cantonese dubs of this episode were released on the Traditional Chinese Pokémon YouTube channel at 6:30 PM (UTC+8), at the same time the Japanese version was released on the Japanese YouTube channel after its television airing. In the regular episode order, the Taiwanese Mandarin dub was midway through the second season, while the Hong Kong Cantonese dub was between the first and second seasons.
The Korean dub of this episode aired on October 28, 2025 (four days after the Japanese airing), before the Mega Voltage arc.
The next episode preview is removed from the Prime Video VOD release.[note 1] It is however retained in the YouTube and TVer releases. The TVer release also includes a trailer for the Rising Again arc, which was originally uploaded separately to the TV Tokyo YouTube channel after this episode's initial TV broadcast.
