With the match between Ash and Leon halfway over, the Champion of Galar is poised to make a comeback. With his Rillaboom laying on the hurt, Ash is being put at a worse disadvantage by the minute. What can he do to keep in the match? Or is it all over? Meanwhile, something sinister begins to rise on the horizon...
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Crazy-Prepared: Leon specifically taught his Rillaboom to use Drum Beat to have the vines block any Flying attacks, making it capable of being used as Vine Tentacles (ala Vine Whip), and even taught it Acrobatics to boost its speed and keep close range combatants off guard. Still falls to Dracovish, due to (once again) Leon underestimating Dracovish's extending spikes.
- Darkest Hour: Things aren't looking so good for Ash. All of his team is down except Pikachu, Leon still has Charizard and Cinderace available with relatively little injuries...and then Eternatus unexpectedly appears over the battlefield.
- David Versus Goliath: Pikachu with his Z-Move is the David to Leon's Charizard in Gigantamax Mode's Goliath. Unusually, the battle isn't resolved, since Eternatus intervenes, though Pikachu's Z-Move is able to tank the G-Max Wildfire.
- Didn't See That Coming: Dracovish's extending spikes allow it to take care of Rillaboom's vines with Ice Fang and its Heroic Willpower and determination to avenge Sirfetch'd allow it to beat Rillaboom after a brief collision between Dragon Rush and High Horsepower.
- Killer Gorilla: Rillaboom once again demonstrates how much of a powerhouse it is by demolishing Dragonite and Sirfetch'd without much effort, easily swatting away their attacks. To Ash's credit, it only takes three Pokémon to bring it down (due to the battles eating up its stamina and taking damage from Hurricane and Meteor Assault), whereas Diantha lost over half her team to it before it finally went down (though not nearly as good as Alain, who Blast Burned it using his own Charizard).
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Leon's suggestion to let Ash use Mega Evolution, Dynamax, and Z-Moves during the match may have made for one heck of a spectacle, but it causes so big a buildup of Galar particles, it threatens the whole stadium with the possibility of another Darkest Day. And then Eternatus shows up...
- Rule of Symbolism: As Ash busts out his Z-Move, the Alola Gang and his old Alolan Pokémon team are seen watching the match from school, where Ash first mastered the Z-Moves. Notably, this also marks the last time Principal Oak is ever seen in the anime.
- Tempting Fate: Leon claimed last episode that Ash's Pokémon were worn down. He didn't realize that it applies to his own Pokémon as Rillaboom goes down via collision with Dracovish's Dragon Rush due to the damage it took from Dragonite and Sirfetch'd.
- Worf Had the Flu: Dragonite and Sirfetch'd fall to Rillaboom, with Dracovish following suit against Cinderace, due to the severe injuries they sustained in their previous battles against Dragapult and Mr. Rime respectively. Rillaboom also counts, given that it takes heavy damage from Dragonite and Sirfetch'd and all it takes is a Dragon Rush-High Horsepower collision to send the Grass-type packing with the episode even showing Rillaboom getting pushed back before it's knocked out thanks to its stamina finally running out.
- Wham Shot: As the Galar particles begin to build up around the stadium, Eternatus is shown in containment...and it gets loose.
