Ash and his team are training hard for the Masters Eight, but something just doesn't feel quite right. Luckily, Ash gets a call from Professor Oak, who invites him to see his old teams. Ash gets the idea to ask the old guard to train the new guard. But just as things get underway, Paul, Ash's old rival from Sinnoh, stops by. Ash gets the idea to challenge him to a battle, and Paul is more than happy to oblige. Let's see just how far our hero has come!
Friends, Rivals, Lend Me Your Tropes!
- As You Know: The narrator recounts Infernape's troubled history with Paul to those who hadn't seen Diamond and Pearl.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Paul had gone out of his way to study the strategies of each Champion, catch and raise Pokémon who were their signatures, and train them to replicate those Champions in every which way.
- Bash Brothers: All of Ash's old Pokémon are more than happy to show his new team the ropes and battle with them as part of their special training. Gengar in particular gets along very well with all of the Fire types, who teach him Will-O-Wisp.
- Batman Gambit:
- Paul uses a strategy to grab Lucario with Gyarados' tail while it's recovering from Hyper Beam and then attack it with Ice Fang, knowing it would get so enraged that it would learn Bullet Punch. The smirk on his face says it all.
- His reason for visiting is a long-term example. Paul comes to Oak's under the guise of wanting to learn more about Pokémon since he's due to become a Gym Leader soon, knowing Oak would invite Ash to visit. Since Ash would inevitably challenge him to a battle, Paul took the opportunity to subtly prepare Ash for the Masters Eight tournament, using the Signature Mons of Lance, Cynthia, and Steven Stone to warn him about what he might face.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- None of Ash's Tauros charge him down when he returns.
- Bulbasaur and Charizard aren't the main focus of this return episode, with Infernape leading the Fire types in light of Charizard to teach Gengar Will-O-Wisp.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: Played With. Paul's not lazy in the slightest—in fact, he's on the way to becoming an official Gym Leader soon—but he doesn't bother signing up for the World Coronation Series because he hates all the spectacle. As his battle with Ash shows, he could absolutely dominate the event if he wanted to, and probably even make his way into the Masters 8.
- The Bus Came Back:
- Paul returns to the anime for the first time since Diamond and Pearl, even bringing his Electivire with him.
- All of Ash's old Pokémon that weren't seen since his last visit to Oak's, including Kingler, Noctowl, Glalie, Gliscor, Sceptile, Swellow, Torkoal, Gible, Staraptor, Torterra, Unfezant, Snivy, Scraggy, Leavanny, Palpitoad, and Boldore, make their return here. Kingler is especially of note, as it had been over 792 episodes since the crab was last seen.
- Call-Back: Dragonite is training with Swellow, Staraptor, Unfezant, and Noivern. Back in Black and White, Oak mentioned that Swellow and Staraptor were competing together as flyers and suggests that Ash should send Unfezant to him in exchange for Charizard since they might get along so well together.
- Character Development: Paul returns in this episode, but though he's no less tactical and still knows how to push Ash's buttons, he's upped his game big time. Not only is he able to copy the strategies of Champions perfectly, he's been offered a position as a Gym Leader. All of that stems from him being far kinder to his Pokémon, as he doesn't berate or push them like he used to.
- Chekhov's Skill: Paul's ability to observe and replicate the strategies of others was first shown in Diamond and Pearl, most notably when he uses Ash's Counter Shield tactic against him in the Sinnoh League. In this episode, he copies the abilities of several Masters Eight members to prepare Ash for the upcoming tournament.
- Contrived Coincidence: Just as Ash is looking for somewhere to get the fighting spirit he needs to train his team, Oak calls and suggests Ash should visit his old Pokémon. Subverted, as it turns out there’s a very good reason why Oak invited Ash to his lab, because Paul came to help Ash train.
- Cuddle Bug: Gible and Palpitoad take a shine to Goh and spend the entire episode hanging out with him.
- Didn't See That Coming: Paul can still be caught off guard by Ash's strategies, including when Dragonite can control the movement of its Draco Meteor and how Gengar's Will-O-Wisp gives it enough power to block Meteor Mash. (Although Metagross’ case is debatable, considering Metagross stood and took the Will’O Wisp instead of dodging it with Agility.)
- Playing with Fire: Gengar takes to Ash's Fire types so well, it learns Will-O-Wisp, making it hot to the touch when it uses the move.
- Plot Parallel: The episode contains homages to several different elements of Ash and Paul's rivalry.
- Gengar trains with Ash's Fire types to learn Will-O-Wisp, with Infernape receiving the main spotlight as Gengar's mentor. As Gengar shares a similar backstory to most of them, it's rather fitting that it ends up finishing the battle against Paul.
- Ash and Paul's battle follows the same format as their very first battle in DP003: a best-of-three format with no switching allowed. By even further coincidence, both battles take place at a regional professor's laboratory.
- Lucario tries to approach with Aura Sphere, only to be trapped by Gyarados' Prehensile Tail, a nod to Paul's Signature Move in their Sinnoh League battle. Lucario's Steel-type energy proceeds to blaze up from the intensity of the battle, allowing it to learn Bullet Punch and mirroring Infernape's arc to master Blaze.
- Power Copying: Paul possesses the unique skill in that he can analyze and replicate the strategies and move sets of the Pokémon used by the members of the Masters Eight, the most powerful trainers in all of the world.
- The Reveal: Paul never joined the World Coronation Series, despite being absolutely capable of it, because he didn't like all the spectacle. He is set to become a Gym Leader, though.
- Stealth Mentor: Paul shows up at Oak's Lab not just so he can learn about Pokémon in preparation for becoming a Gym Leader but to also prepare Ash for the Masters Eight. When Goh realizes that the three Pokémon he chose are the signatures of Lance, Cynthia, and Steven Stone, then asks Paul about it, Paul just smirks and thanks Oak for his time. It's also Implied Oak was in on the whole thing too.
- Took a Level in Badass:
- Lucario learns Bullet Punch.
- Gengar learns Will-O-Wisp.
- Paul himself has grown even more powerful than before, as he's not only able to copy and replicate the strategy of Champions, he's even been offered a place as a Gym Leader!
- Took a Level in Kindness: He's still very snarky and blunt, but Paul actually came to help Ash train for the Masters Eight and is deliberately pushing Ash's buttons to get him to do better. Still, he treats his Pokémon far better than he used to, and he's pretty respectful to Infernape.
- Paul’s Electivire has taken another level itself, to the point of happily playing with Pikachu and Grookie.
- Training Montage: Each of Ash's old Pokémon teach his current team a thing or two to prepare them for the Masters Eight.
- Gengar learns fire moves from Charizard, Quilava, Torkoal, Infernape, Pignite, and Talonflame,
- Sirfetch'd receives projectile and defense training from Sceptile, Oshawott, and Bulbasaur.
- Dragonite is given new flying techniques from Noivern, Swellow, Staraptor, and Unfezant.
- Lucario spars with Heracross, Buizel, and Hawlucha.
- Dracovish takes a relaxing day with Glalie, Kingler, Corphish, Totodile, and Snorlax.
- Truer to the Text: Gengar's version of Will-O-Wisp leaves its opponent burned, severely reducing their attacking power, making it much closer to its game counterpart than its previous uses, which depicted it as a standard fire-attacking move.
- The Unreveal: While it's shown that Paul was offered a very prestigious Gym Leader position, Oak never says which region offered him the job, or what type specialty he'll be focusing on. We also don't learn what happened in his rematch against Brandon.
- The Worf Effect: In its second defeat, Dragonite falls to Paul's Garchomp despite a decent showing.
- You Fight Like a Cow: Paul eggs Ash on by telling him that Ash is not going to survive the Masters Eight if he's having trouble against someone who isn't even in the competition.
