The day is finally here, as the last match of the Masters Eight Tournament officially gets underway. It's the finale everyone's been waiting for, as Ash and Leon are both eager to take each other on and win no matter what. The question is, who's going to come out on top? Will Leon keep up his winning streak? Or is Ash going to finally be the one to dethrone him?
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Bring It: Leon wants the ultimate battle against Ash, so he requests that the League grant Ash permission to use all three power ups (Dynamax, Z-Moves, and Mega Evolution) all at once. The League clears it, and Ash is more than happy to accept the challenge.
- Call-Back: Piplup busts out his old cheerleader outfit to wear in support of Ash, which Dawn notes to Chloe that he used to do that all the time back in Sinnoh. Eevee even gets in on the fun by having a pom-pom put on her tail!
- The Cameo: Steven Stone, Raihan, Lance, Professor Sycamore, Mairin, Alain, and Allister make brief (and ultimately final) appearances watching the match.
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with both trainers down one Pokémon, with Ash losing his Gengar, and Leon down his Inteleon.
- Continuity Nod: When Goh reunites with Horace and Gary, he tells the two that even though he can't make Ash's match, he promised to meet up with him again, smiling when he did.
- David vs. Goliath: Leon's Inteleon vs. Ash's Gigantamax Gengar. While Inteleon's Snipe Shot and Dark Pulse allow it to cause Gengar to time out, the Secret Agent Pokémon gets flattened by a G-Max Terror followed by a Max Ooze, scoring Ash's first victory.
- Didn't See That Coming: Ash's Gengar gets rid of Inteleon's Counter Shield by using Will-O-Wisp to evaporate the water.
- Friendship Moment: Chloe and Dawn both came all the way to Galar just to cheer on Ash, marking the only two of his friends who actually went out to see him.note
- It Only Works Once: Thanks to Gengar's Cursed Body ability, Mr. Rime is unable to use Freeze Dry a second time, though it hardly matters in the long run, as Gengar is still frozen, then eliminated with a Psychic Terrain boosted Expanding Force.
- Power Copying:
- Leon's Cinderace has the ability to change its typing with Libero, which matches its type to the first move it used. It's able to shut down Pikachu by using Scorching Sands to activate Libero, rendering it immune to Electric moves.
- Leon went out of his way to mimic Ash's Counter Shield strategy, having his Inteleon use Aqua Jet to build up a shield.
- The Reveal: Leon reveals the final three members of his team—Cinderace, Inteleon, and Mr. Rime.
- Team Spirit: This is Leon's strategy against Ash and all his opponents: have his Pokémon slowly wear down the enemy, then if they get knocked out, make it easier for their replacement to take down their foe. He cites this when Mr. Rime takes down Gengar, but gives the credit to Inteleon for the kill.
- Truer to the Text: Cursed Body returns to how it was seen in Unova wherein Mr. Rime can't use its Freeze-Dry twice in a row whereas Alola depicted Alolan Marowak stuck to the spot after it hit Acerola's Greedy Rapooh.
