The Masters Eight Tournament has finally arrived! Ash and Goh head to Wyndon Stadium in Galar, where Ash, Iris, Alain, Diantha, Lance, Steven Stone, Cynthia, and Leon will compete to see who's truly the best, like no one ever was. Alain gets pitted against Leon for the first match, as the Champions watch on to bear witness to the Monarch's might.
This episode contains the following tropes:
- Adaptational Late Appearance: Though Hop is the player character's rival in Pokémon Sword and Shield, he doesn't actually appear in the anime until much later, having only been mentioned in passing.
- Big Brother Worship: Hop holds his big brother Leon in high regard and believes nobody could beat him.
- Broken Win/Loss Streak: With his defeat at Leon’s hands, Alain suffers his first and final loss after winning nearly every match ever since his debut.
- Call-Back: Steven Stone mentions to Lance that he met Alain while searching for Mega Stones together, referring to the Mega Evolution special where Alain made his debut.
- The Cameo: Professor Sycamore, Garchomp, Mairin, and Chespie are seen watching the Masters Eight tournament from the lab in Lumiose City and witness Alain's defeat.
- Continuity Nod: Team Rocket appears under the guise of their "Dum-Dum-Dum-Z" radio personas to infiltrate the Masters Eight tournament and steal everyone's powerful Pokémon. They don't do anything.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- Hop challenges Ash to a battle, and Pikachu knocks out Wooloo with a single Iron Tail. Justified because Pikachu has yards more experience compared to the sheep.
- Alain does put up a good fight, but Leon wipes the floor with him with two Pokémon left. In particular, Malamar puts up the worst fight out of Alain's Pokémon, getting its attacks countered before being easily taken down.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Chesnaught puts up the best fight amongst all three of Alain's Pokémon, standing up to Rillaboom even after the latter Gigantamaxes and manages to get it to shrink back down to normal before being taken down and allowing Charizard to take down Rillaboom with a single Flare Blitz.
- Fangirl: Iris is such a big fan of fellow Champions Cynthia and Diantha, she gets the two of them to take a selfie with her.
- Funny Background Event: Every time the disguised Team Rocket is seen, James' Morpeko is seen chowing down on a snack in its Hangry Mode.
- Graceful Loser: Alain, despite being decimated by Leon, takes his loss in stride and admits he needs to rethink his strategy for next time. Leon welcomes the opportunity.
- Internal Reveal: Ash and Goh meet Leon's brother Hop for the first time and learn of their relation, though players of Sword and Shield or the other characters in Galar already knew about this.
- Killer Gorilla: Leon is revealed to have a Rilaboom on his roster, it's capable of Gigantamaxing, and it manages to decimate Alain's Chesnaught. Alain is able to take it out with his Charizard using Flare Blitz thanks to Chesnaught managing to last long enough to cause Rillaboom to shrink down to normal.
- Make My Monster Grow: Leon Gigantamaxes his Rillaboom but Chesnaught is able to outmaneuver the Drummer Pokémon and cause it to shrink down to normal.
- No Range Like Point-Blank Range: Malamar is taken down when its attempt to use Throat Chop results in Leon's Charizard grabbing it and taking down the Overturning Pokémon with a point-blank Fire Blast.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Hop wants to be the first person to beat his brother in a battle.
- The Reveal: Alain is shown to have obtained a Chesnaught and a Malamar since his last appearance.
- Tender Tears: Poor Mairin starts swelling up with tears when Alain gets decimated in his match.
- The Unreveal: Leon's third Pokémon is never seen in this episode, on account of him not having to use it against Alain.note
- The Worf Effect: Alain was the only one of Ash's rivals he could never beat, with his Mega Charizard X infamously defeating Ash-Greninja in the final bout of the Kalos League with a normally ineffective Blast Burn while simultaneously tanking an effective Water Shuriken that had somehow been powered up even further. Alain Mega Evolves his Charizard, but Leon's own Charizard is able to take it out with one Dragon Pulse...in its base mode.
- Truer to the Text: Ancient Power is shown as Leon's Charizard summoning rocks out of the ground and flinging them at Alain's Charizard whereas all previous appearances had it as the Pokémon flinging a silver ball of energy at the opponent.
- Worf Had the Flu: Gigantamax Rillaboom trying to catch the much smaller Chesnaught means that Charizard is able to take care of the Grass-type after it shrinks down to normal by using Flare Blitz to punch through Rillaboom's Drum Beating defense and wipe out Rillaboom.
