Ash and Goh head to the Hoenn Region's Mossdeep Space Center to meet up with Sophocles, who's participating in a mission to bring home a prominent satellite that's been in space collecting data. While things start off smoothly, an equipment malfunction leads Sophocles, along with the klutzy Ampharos he borrowed from his cousin, to get down in the dumps. While Ash and Goh try to cheer the two up, Ampharos runs away, leading to a search to find it.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- The Bus Came Back: Sophocles makes his first appearance outside of Alola, inviting Ash and Goh to Mossdeep to watch the Talonflame 2 mission.
- Call-Back:
- Ash asks Sophocles about the Alolan gang, to which Sophocles mentions Kiawe wants Goh to battle with him again, referencing their previous encounter.
- Ash gets excited when he incorrectly assumes they sent a Talonflame to space, fitting considering he still owns one himself.
- Ash makes mention of Sophocles' dream of wanting to be an astronaut.
- Epic Fail: Ash assumes that the Talonflame 2 mission actually sent a real Talonflame to space. Yeah, about that Ash...
- Failsafe Failure:
- A minor malfunction occurs in the equipment used to hook Ampharos up because Togedemaru was smacked into it with its spikes. The whole thing goes kaput while in the middle of the guidance mission. Luckily, it was fixable.
- In spite of multiple space centers guiding in Talonflame 2, none of them are prepared for the satellite suddenly drifting off course to avoid a meteor smashing into it.
- Internal Reveal: Sophocles learns that the Raboot he saw back in Alola has since evolved into Cinderace.
- It's All My Fault: Sophocles and Ampharos fall into a funk when a malfunction takes the center of the Talonflame 2 mission. Ash and Goh snap them both out of it.
- The Klutz: Molayne's poor Ampharos is a bit slippery on its feet, whacking Ash and Goh multiple times. When an equipment malfunction during the mission occurs, it winds up slipping into a funk and briefly loses the ability to light its tail.
- Shout-Out: The Mossdeep Space Center personnel's jackets have a logo with a UFO hovering over two angled lines. Upon close inspection, it looks like the configuration of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 from Star Trek: The Original Series (minus the warp nacelles). The pods used to hold Ampharos even look remarkably similar to a scaled-down version of the transporter pads.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Ash refuses to let Sophocles throw in the towel, noting that he always wanted to be an astronaut, and refuses to let his friend give up on his dream.
