Cloudy Fate, Bright Future! (Japanese:カロスの危機！巨大日時計の戦い！！The Crisis in Kalos! The Battle of the Giant Sundial!!) is the 92nd episode ofPokémon the Series: XY, and the 891st episode of thePokémon animated series. It first aired in Japan on October 15, 2015, in Canada on December 5, 2015, and in the United States on December 12, 2015.
Spoiler warning: this article may contain major plot or ending details.
Ash is preparing for his Anistar Gym battle as Professor Sycamore arrives in the city to research the origins of the mysterious Anistar Sundial. A young woman appears and angrily demands that the professor leave at once! Gym Leader Olympia soon arrives to stop her apprentice. Powerful and mysterious, Olympia can actually see into the future!
Olympia has a vision of the strong bond between Ash and Frogadier and a bright future for both, but she also sees that the sundial is in great danger of being destroyed—by none other than Team Rocket! Our heroes join forces with Olympia and her apprentices to send the villains blasting off again.
The formidable Olympia accepts Ash’s Gym battle challenge, and while his friends are a little nervous, Ash can’t wait for the chance to win his seventh Kalos Gym badge!
Plot
InAnistar Gym, a team ofPsychics participate in a meditation session to become one with the universe, overseen byOlympia and her apprenticeCharlene. Suddenly, Olympia has a vision and projects it for everyone to see. She predicts that an imminent crisis will sweep the Kalos region, and she has identified those who will be involved. An image ofAsh appears, who Olympia claims will be deeply involved in the crisis, along withhis friends.Professor Sycamore is also identified as the one who will "lead the way". One of Olympia's other apprentices,Carrie, notes this troubling prediction with anger.
At thePokémon Center,Serena shows off her second Princess Key toEevee andBonnie, discussing her next Pokémon Showcase. For now, Ash andPikachu are psyched for the battle for their seventh Gym Badge.Clemont reminds him ofTierno's experience where he lost against the Gym Leader'sPsychic-type Pokémon, but Ash remains excited. He runs out of the Center to find the gym with his friends in hot pursuit. Meanwhile, a news broadcast byMalva reveals that Professor Sycamore is in town to investigate Anistar City's giant sundial, which is said to have a connection withMega Evolution. Elsewhere,Team Rocket plot to steal the sundial, withJames explaining that the sundial is an artifact rumored to originate from outer space, and its properties are still largely unknown aside from the fact that it always glows at certain times of the day.
Sycamore arrives with his assistants in a van, but before they can begin their observation Carrie confronts them, having herSigilyph usePsywave to destroy their equipment. Carrie accuses Sycamore of the looming crisis Olympia predicted as Sycamore tries to ask for an explanation. Having seen the destruction from afar, Ash and company arrive on the scene, who Carrie recognizes and begins attacking him as well, releasing aSableye who fires itsPower Gem. Ash calls the others to stand back as he sends Pikachu andFrogadier into the fray, quickly defeating Carrie's Pokémon. Before Carrie can send out another Pokémon, Olympia lifts thePoké Ball from her hand, ordering Carrie to stand down. Carrie is forced to surrender as Charlene scolds her for hastily jumping to conclusions, pointing out that it's not the first time that it has happened. The Psychics apologize to everyone for Carrie's recklessness, and Sycamore finally identifies Olympia as the Gym Leader of Anistar. Olympia confirms this, and Charlene explains that Olympia had a vision involving all of them. Sighting Frogadier, Olympia has another vision that directly addresses Frogadier, inviting Ash and the group to the Gym to further explain.
In the Gym, Ash's group is impressed by the gym's design based on clockwork and space, discussing the prospects of Olympia being able to predict their futures. Charlene explains that Olympia can only see into the future when she has visions instead of spontaneously. Olympia begins to discuss the vision she had of Frogadier, who she describes as a Pokémon with a "curious fate", beginning with its past as an Egg. Everyone is surprised to see the image of Froakie's Egg, realizing that they have no knowledge of what Frogadier's past was like - Sycamore confirms that he himself has little idea of what Froakie was like before he selected it as afirst partner Pokémon. Olympia reveals that shortly after hatching, Froakie trained hard by itself and refused to associate with the other Froakie, being completely focused on becoming stronger. This brought it into conflict with the other Froakie and it became injured in the process, necessitatingNurse Joy to help it recover. From its interactions with Nurse Joy, Froakie realized that it needed to team up with a Pokémon Trainer to become even stronger. However, since it was already used to training by itself, it held high standards for the Trainers that chose it as a partner, and rejected all of them as being not strong enough. Olympia states that Froakie eventually found the quality it had been searching for in Ash, which was love - after Ash had showed concern for itwhen they first met. Ash is happy to see the bond he has with Frogadier reaffirmed.
Olympia continues her vision, revealing that not only will Frogadier evolve, but it will attain an even greater power alongside Ash. Everyone guesses that Olympia is referring to Mega Evolution, and are all excited since no records of aGreninja Mega Evolving have ever existed. Ash openly challenges Olympia to a Gym battle. Olympia accepts, but undergoes another vision, ordering her twoMeowstic to useHelping Hand andFuture Sight. Charlene, sharing this vision, explains that "greedy evildoers" are plotting to steal the sundial. Ash and his friends run out to stop this threat, as Olympia states that the thieves will also be involved in the crisis she foresaw.
At the sundial, Ash's group finds Team Rocket trying to lift the sundial away with massive grapplers from their balloon. Ash has Frogadier useWater Pulse to stop them, which causes Team Rocket to lose their grip, damaging the sundial in the process much to Charlene's horror. At that point, Meowstic's Future Sight activates, bombarding Team Rocket with energy blasts and sending them blasting off. Olympia descends upon the group as they marvel at her power, noting the accuracy and timing of her Future Sight. Clemont asks if Ash is ready to fight Olympia, since she's not only a master of Psychic-type Pokémon but can also see into the future, but Ash remains as psyched as ever. Olympia tells Ash to prepare for infinite possibilities in their upcoming battle.
WhenOlympia sees events in the future,Greninja's Ash-Greninja form can be seen as a silhouette.
Errors
Between the scenes ofProfessor Sycamore setting up his equipment,Carrie destroying it, and Ash and his friends arriving at the scene, Sycamore's equipment went missing.
In one scene, while Olympia is looking down atAsh andhis friends while in theGym,Pikachu is missing from Ash's shoulder. However, in the next shot, Pikachu is shown sitting on Ash's shoulder.
In one scene,Frogadier's eyelids are colored dark-blue instead of blue.
Pikachu is missing
Frogadier's eyelids error
Dub edits
In the dub, James's imitation of Professor Oak's Pokémon Holo Caster is translated as "Professor James's Mysteries of Kalos".
Pikachu is missing
Frogadier's eyelids error
