In Nimbasa City, our heroes run into their old friend Bianca, who’s planning to challenge the Gym Leader, Elesa. Bianca tells her friends that Elesa is also a supermodel, and takes them to one of her fashion shows so they can check out her style before the battle!

After the show, they gather at the Gym, where they discover Bianca’s dad waiting for them. He’s decided that Bianca isn’t ready for her journey and wants to take her home. She points out that he started his own journey as a Pokémon Trainer when he was young, but he won’t listen. At Elesa’s suggestion, Bianca makes a deal with her father: if she can beat the Gym Leader, she gets to continue her journey, but if she loses, she’ll have to go home with him.

Unfortunately, Elesa’s powerful Zebstrika is more than a match for Bianca’s team. She sadly makes plans to leave with her father, but first Ash tries to convince him to let her stay. When words don’t work, he decides to challenge Bianca’s dad to a Pokémon battle instead. The stakes are similar: if Ash wins, Bianca gets to keep traveling with them…but if Ash loses, both he and Bianca have to go home!

It turns out Bianca’s dad has quite a reputation as a powerful Trainer—in his younger days, he was known as the Red Meteor, and loved to battle with his Darmanitan, the Red Flash! Ash and Oshawott take them on, and during a lull in the battle (with some help from Iris and Cilan), he tells Bianca’s dad about all the good times they’ve had traveling together as friends.

Bianca’s father ends up winning, but the battle and Ash’s stories of their travels have reminded him of his own journey. He changes his mind and advises Ash and Bianca to keep traveling and growing stronger together.

So Bianca’s journey continues, thanks to our heroes—and Ash gets ready for his own battle with Gym Leader Elesa!