Fresh off his victory in the World Coronation Series, and traveling on his own once more, Ash and Pikachu are Wandering the Earth, looking to make new friends and see as many Pokémon as possible. But as their journey is just getting underway, an unexpected arrival winds up changing the path our hero finds himself on.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Badass in Distress: Latias, a Legendary Pokémon, is badly wounded and winds up needing to be tended to. In its wounded state, Team Rocket tries kidnapping it.
- Breaking Old Trends: This marks the first time that Ash not only brings his old Pokémon back onto his roster for regular rotation since Unova, but it also marks the first time he hasn't had a full party since before getting Dracovish.
- Bullying a Dragon: Team Rocket makes their second attempt at swiping the World Champion's Pokémon, and do just as well as they did the first time when Ash busts out one of his actual Dragon Types, Noivern. In a bigger sense, they do this again in attempting to steal the Dragon Type Latias, which winds up biting them in the butt.
- The Bus Came Back: Donphan, Sceptile, Buizel, and Noivern make their return to Ash's party after having been left at Oak's for so long.
- Call-Back:
- Sceptile frees Pikachu using his Leaf Blade attack, as he frequently did on Advanced Generation.
- Ash recognizes Latias from his previous encounter with one in Pokémon Heroes. Notably, Team Rocket, who never encountered her, don't recognize it and have to check their Dex to get a clue of what they're seeing.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Mimey doesn't like Oak stopping by to talk with Delia, so he deliberately dusts up some of the dirt path to get it all in Oak's face.
- Crazy-Prepared: Subverted. Team Rocket thinks they've finally got Pikachu since they know his moves inside and out, and their latest net is designed just for him. They failed to consider that Ash would have other Pokémon on hand that weren't Pikachu, and once again bungle their chance to catch him.
- Credits Montage: The English dub's credits feature a wide variety of clips and photographs from all the previous anime entires from Indigo League to Journeys, showing Ash with his old friends and Pokémon, all tied with a new rendition of the original theme.
- Didn't See That Coming: Twice for Team Rocket. In their first attempt to capture Pikachu, their net they design is made to keep him from using his moves, but it fails to account for the other Pokémon Ash brings along with him, especially when Ash uses Donphan's Rollout to block Wobbuffet's Counter. Then, when trying to capture Latias, they freeze her containment dome since Dragon Types are weak to Ice, but Ash uses Pikachu to shock the glass and break it (with himself as an electrical conduit), leaving them stunned. James even lampshades how they failed to consider their plan backfiring.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: As Team Rocket is blasting off again, they're complaining about their loss when an invisible object appears behind them, sending them blasting off further. Said object then crashes into a lake, alerting it to Ash, who learns it's a Latias and drags her up to safety so he can treat her.
- Foreshadowing: Latias is completely distressed around Ash and whimpers in fear from him when she has enough strength to try and fly away. Almost as if she doesn't like humans...
- Mythology Gag: Oak's poem makes mention of "151", referring to the original 151 Pokémon from Pokémon Red and Blue.
- Oh, Crap!: As Ash and Pikachu are lying under a tree looking for Pokémon, they see a Meowth leering over them, which makes them realize it's that same Meowth that belongs to Team Rocket.
- Taking the Bullet: Donphan gets in the way of Wobbuffet's counter to block it from hitting Noivern, absorbing the blast.
- This Is Gonna Suck: Once Latias breaks free with Ash, Team Rocket knows they're in deep trouble (and Noivern makes it double)!
- Wham Shot: Just when Team Rocket is about to get away with Pikachu, Ash sends out Noivern and then follows it up with Donphan and Sceptile. Up until this point, Ash has either traveled alone with Pikachu or carried his latest regional team with him. This episode marks the first time since Pokémon the Series: Black & White that Ash has gotten his old Pokémon back in party and more importantly, the first time that his Pokémon are no longer regional/series-based anymore. From this point forward, Ash will be rotating his Pokémon in and out of his team, with each episode showcasing a different set of Ash's old Pokémon.
