Ash's Entrance Battle against Raihan is finally here, and both trainers are eager to get started. Ash has no intention of losing so he can challenge Leon, but neither is Raihan! Who will come out on top—and who will earn the right to challenge the Champion?
This episode contains the following tropes:
- An Odd Place to Sleep: Ash and Raihan catch Leon sleeping in the bushes so he can be there early to watch their battle.
- Bait-and-Switch: Ash brings his Mega Stone so he can Mega Evolve Lucario later on, but he decides to use his Dynamax band on Gengar so he can deal with the Sandstorm that Raihan's Flygon created.
- The Cameo: Greninja is briefly seen as it senses Lucario using its aura to create the ultimate Aura Sphere.
- Didn't See That Coming:
- Ash Gigantamaxes his Gengar to swallow up the Sandstorm, which catches Raihan off guard, and shocks Pikachu over how he chose to use that power up rather than the Mega Stone he originally planned.
- The massive Aura Sphere that Lucario creates shocks everyone in the stadium, Leon and Raihan included.
- Didn't Think This Through: Raihan orders his Flygon to charge forward with Crunch after its Sandstorm is sucked away by Gengar and the Ground/Dragon-type is hit by G-Max Terror. Cue Flygon being pummeled into the ground via Max Starfall.
- Graceful Loser: Despite being knocked out of the Masters Eight, and thus his only chance to battle Leon, Raihan takes his loss against Ash in stride and encourages him to keep going. Although, he does warn Ash that he's going to try to take them both down.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Non-lethally, Gengar willingly lets itself get knocked out by Goodra (while taking the Dragon down with it) to keep Lucario fresh for the final battle.
- No-Sell: Gigantamax Duraludon shrugs off all of Lucario's Aura Spheres. Subverted with the Giant Aura Sphere, which knocks it out in one hit.
- One-Hit Kill: Non-lethally, but Lucario's gigantic Aura Sphere is able to immediately knock out the Gigantamaxed Duraladon despite Duraladon's attempt to block with Max Rockfall.
- Taking You with Me: A non-lethal example. Gengar takes a hit from Raihan's Goodra while it's using G-Max Starfall so it could take the Dragon type out and ensure Lucario is well rested enough to handle Duraludon, even preventing Ash from calling it back knowing what it had to do.
- Took a Level in Badass: Lance's profile describes him as the Kanto and Johto Champion, rather than the Elite Four member he was described as in his last appearance, suggesting he claimed both ranks in between episodes.
- Underestimating Badassery: Raihan is impressed that Ash rose up so quickly, but he thinks the kid doesn't have the true spirit required to battle Leon. Ash proves him otherwise and then some.
- Wham Episode: Ash defeats Raihan to qualify for the Masters Eight, pitting him against other top contenders like Cynthia, Steven Stone, Lance, Diantha, Alain, and Iris.
- Wham Shot: As Ash qualifies for the Masters Eight, his opponents are put up on the list to showcase the eight contenders. Up there are the usual suspects—Leon, Cynthia, and Lance are already confirmed to be in the group, and Diantha and Steven Stone are unsurprisingly involved given their status as Champions. But just above Ash at number 7? Iris. And at number 6? Alain.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Previous episodes established Flint of the Sinnoh Elite Four as one of the Masters Eight, but as he's no longer up there, it can be assumed he was knocked out of the bracket.
- The Worf Effect: Dragonite, despite being one of Ash's strongest battlers, is soundly defeated by Raihan's Flygon. Notably, this is its first on-screen defeat.
