Japanese Title: The Altar of the Sun! Solgaleo Descends!!!!
Original Airdate: November 30, 2017
US Airdate: April 7, 2018
Okay, Lillie, you've had your video game-mandated moment with Nebby. Now it's time for Ash to take it into Ultra Space to save your mother.
With Nebby brought to the Altar of the Sunne, the Tapus take over and get to work helping make it better. While the twerps wait, Team Rocket find out that it is not exactly what they thought it was.
This episode contains examples of the following tropes:
- Bowdlerize: When Bewear stops Team Rocket from interfering with the Tapus, initially it crushes all of them in a Bear Hug. At one point, Wobbuffet's spirit is sticking out of his mouth. His spirit is erased from the English dub, as they usually do when Meowth has a Near-Death Experience from Mimikyu.
- Buffy Speak: In the English dub, Jessie refers to Kommo-o as "that ching-a-ling-a-ling thing".
- Cliffhanger: The episode ends with Nebby taking the twerps into Ultra Space. Professors Kukui and Burnet just miss them.
- Doorstop Baby: The Tapus show the twerps the rest of the story: When Cosmog was conceived, they converged upon the Altar of the Sunne and took it to Melemele Island to be found by Ash.
- Dramatic Irony: Although it's part of his party in the games, no one in the anime knew of Professor Kukui owning any Pokémon of his own until he brought out his Braviary to save Professor Burnet at the Dragon Trial site.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: In addition to helping Nebby evolve, the Tapus turn Ash's Z Ring into the Z-Power Ring, and give him the Solganium Z. The Solganium Z will only be used to open up Ultra Wormholes, however.
- Mythology Gag: The image of Solgaleo touching foreheads with Lillie is lifted directly from the ending of Sun.
- Rescue Romance: Professor Kukui saving Professor Burnet undoubtedly starts this.
- Sustained Misunderstanding: For Team Rocket, this comes to an end when Nebby evolves into Solgaleo. Jessie, Meowth, Wobbuffet, and Bewear, all go Demon Head on James upon finding out that Nebby is not a Proto-Koffing.
- Transformation Is a Free Action: Bewear invokes this on Team Rocket in relation to Nebby, forcing them to wait while the Tapus work on it.
