The final mission for Project Mew is here! Goh has two choices for his final mission, so he chooses to go and catch Regieleki and Regidrago—alone! While he leaves Ash behind so he can train for the Masters Eight, Goh heads back to the Crown Tundra, meeting up with Gary to get his last shot at becoming a Chaser. But can these two work together at long last?
This episode contains the following tropes:
- The Ace: Gary emerges as the first place contender with 15 tokens, even though he was clear ahead of the competition enough that he only needed the 12 he already had.
- Bait-and-Switch: With all five Regis present, Regigigas shows up in Dynamax Form, seemingly setting up a Dynamax Raid Den Battle. Instead, it vanishes and is never seen after.
- Breaking Old Trends: This is the first time Gary's been seen catching a Pokémon on screen.
- Character Development: To cement Goh's growth even further, he and Gary work together in perfect sync compared to their last team up, even though Goh had no reason to help Gary out.
- Cheaters Never Prosper: Sterling and Lyla ambush Goh and Gary so they can either knock them out of the running, or wear them out enough so if they fail to catch Regieleki and Regidrago, they can try for themselves. They not only get walloped, but they get so caught up in the moment they forgot about their efforts and actually made a helpful suggestion to the two!
- Crazy-Prepared:
- Goh and Gary both suspected Sterling and Lyla would try to sabotage them during the mission, so they both brought along Pokémon who could cut through thick Ice attacks. Likewise, Gary brought his Blastoise to counter any Ground Types, knowing that the two troublemakers would bring them along (a Sandaconda and a Runerigus) to take out Cinderace, giving Goh some coverage.
- Subverted with their other choice of Pokémon to use against the Regis. While Goh brought Flygon to deal with Regieleki and Gary caught a Hatterene to handle Regidrago (since Electric types don't affect Ground types and Dragon types can't hurt Fairy types), the Regis switch partners and flatten them both.
- Fire-Forged Friends:
- This mission, combined with Goh's Character Development, helps him and Gary to put aside any animosities and truly emerge as friends—just like with Ash beforehand.
- Also one between Goh and Gary and Lyla and Sterling where when the latter pair is defeated in a battle, they decide to cheer for them in the background and eventually form a proper friendship together.
- Heel–Face Turn: After being defeated by Goh and Gary, Lyla and Sterling put an end to their ambush and instead become more supportive to them (Lyla being the first with Sterling being hesitant and having her to push him into it).
- Hidden Depths: Would you believe that Gary nearly got kicked out of Project Mew because he was trying to complete all of his missions half-cocked like Goh? It turns out that Quillon gave Gary that very same warning he would later give to Goh.
- Mythology Gag:
- The option that Goh didn't pick for Project Mew was one of the missions from Sword and Shield to locate and catch the Swords of Justice.
- With all five Regis appearing at once, Regigigas appears in Dynamax form, homaging a hidden raid battle if all five of them are brought to a den in the Giant's Bed.
- Offscreen Moment of Awesome: Quillon is seen catching Registeel, but it's revealed he also caught Regirock and Regice to open the Split Decision Ruins.
- Horace managed to complete the other mission (which, as we'll later find out, was to catch one of the Swords of Justice), qualifying him as a chaser in second place.
- Properly Paranoid: It seems Goh and Gary both thought that Lyla and Sterling would try to sabotage their mission, so they had proper type coverage available to prepare.
