Goh wakes up in a terrifying situation...and realizes that this is not a nightmare.
Tropes in this chapter include:
- A Death in the Limelight: Zeno gets more character this time around, and this chapter is his last hurrah.
- All Just a Dream: Goh has gotten a little bit more dry about this, since in nearly every other time something bad's happened to him, it's been a nightmare created by Zeno. Unfortunately for him, this time, it isn't a dream.
- And Then What?: Goh tending to Mew becomes this; after he tossed everything aside for his dream and now having to tend for the Pokémon he dedicated his life to, what happens to him now?
- Badass Boast: Zack gives a good one to Simon.
- Big "WHAT?!": Parker shouts this when Zeno reveals that the person he's drawing is Goh's kidnapper.
- Bookends: Zeno's debut chapter had him see home movies mostly in his Specter form. His last action with Goh is to watch movies in School Uniform Goh form before he fades away forever.
- Break the Comedian: As bad as his sense of humor is, Zeno is still known to be a trickster. So the fact he's completely serious the entire chapter shows you how dire the situation is.
- Broken Smile: Goh's expression upon him having to tend to Mew, to the point that Zeno is quite horrified by it.
- The Bus Came Back: Akemi returns after an appearance at the end of the Cyan Desert Car. Zack and Ray also return to confront Simon before he retreats back into the Fog Car.
- Call-Back: The good memory that Zeno shows Goh is the one of him getting that book for Chloe's birthday.
- Can't Kill You, Still Need You: As Goh points out, Ms. Roycewood won't get the Mew Tracker if he dies, and won't be able to track jack if the injured Mew also dies. So she can threaten them all she wants, but if she pulls the trigger, her plan goes up in smoke.
- Commonality Connection: Parker and Kris "Twitchy" Foster both ended up in the Calla Rehab center due to having a strange voice in their heads.
- Hostage Situation: Goh's stuck in one of this; after being kidnapped by Ms. Roycewood, she traps him at gunpoint and ransoms his safety for a new Mew Tracker, so she can find a Shiny Mew and be set for life. Somehow.
- How the Mighty Have Fallen: We're reminded once again how this applies to Class 5-E, but Yeardley in particular is hit hard with this: the once confident student is gone, having been so traumatized by everything that he can't even defend himself when people start spitting at his direction on top of his parents divorcing over this kerfuffle.
- Intergenerational Friendship: Parker ends up befriending "Twitchy" who is supposedly around Ash's age.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Goh doesn't go to school for very long so he had no idea that Chloe had no friends. So when Zeno reveals that Chloe wasn't celebrating her birthday with a lot of friends and he just left her gift on her doorstep before walking away, Goh tearfully cries that he would've gone in and had cake if he had known or just entered the house in the first place.
- Noodle Incident: Whatever happened to "Twitchy" that caused him to start hallucinating numerous "friends" shaped like Unown letters. Played for Drama as it is absolutely not hilarious in any way, shape or form, as he may never live a normal life.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Zeno is freaking out this entire chapter and does not show any of his usual snark or gadfly quirks when he tells Goh and Parker about the kidnapping situation and he mostly sticks to the School Uniform Goh form when he's with Goh.
- Put on a Bus: Miss April is no longer returning to teaching (a later chapter reveals she got blacklisted) and is going back to college to earn a degree in Child Psychology.
- Rule of Symbolism: Fitting that one memory that Zeno shows Goh was that of Ash telling him that he had to be more empathetic to Sobble; something that could've been very helpful with Chloe's situation if he apologized to her on that fateful night.
- Stopped Caring: Yeardley has been beaten so thoroughly over his head over how much of a mysoginist he is that he can't even be bothered to say anything in his defense.
- Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Thankfully Averted. When he hands Molly the picture of Goh's kidnapper and tells her to deliver it, Parker is quick to add to not say he wants anything in return.
- Wham Episode: Goh is kidnapped and held for ransom, having to take care of Mew in order to bide time. His parents have to recreate the Mew-tracking device for his safety, Class 5-E is facing judgment day and Simon is about to set a bigger rampage across the Fog Car.
- Wham Line: When Goh finds himself tied to a chair and with some kidnapper muttering about wanting Mew, he rolls his eyes and tells Zeno that ha ha this is a horrible nightmare and he'd like to wake up. But Zeno replies with:Zeno: (panicking) Goh, I don't have time to explain all of this so let me give it to you straight...you're not dreaming!
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Zeno finally manages to give a poignant one to Goh, that while he messed up in his friendship with Chloe, that doesn't mean he was never a friend to her, or that she herself didn't mess up either. The memory Zeno shows Goh getting a book for Chloe's birthday drives this further:
- While he was too obsessed with Mew to celebrate Chloe's birthday with her under the naivety that she had friends (she didn't), he still went out of his way to get her a birthday present he knew she'd love.
- Zeno also showed that it was both of them that caused the rift in their friendship. Goh wanted to chase after Mew over celebrating Chloe's birthday with her, but at the same time Chloe herself never vocalized wanting him to stay.
- He also highlights that Chloe had problems Goh would not have been able to know about because she never told him. For example, he only dropped off his present instead of giving it to her directly because he was under the reasonable assumption she was celebrating with other friends that shared her interests instead of actually looking inside the house to see that was false. Zeno agreed that he probably would've done more than that had he known.
