Traveling on a ship, headed for the White Ruins and Professor Juniper’s father, Cedric, our heroes meet an unusual young man known as N. N tells them he considers all Pokémon his friends, and he claims he can hear the inner voices of Pokémon. He’s also quite pleased with the strong bond he senses between Ash and Pikachu.

Ash mentions that they’re on their way to investigate the Legendary Pokémon Reshiram, and when N seems interested, Ash tells him about the time he saw Zekrom. N launches into a passionate description of his goals—to learn the mysteries of why Pokémon exist in this world, to meet Reshiram and Zekrom, and to make Pokémon’s lives better. This sounds good to Ash...but it quickly becomes clear that he and N don’t see entirely eye to eye when N voices his disapproval of Pokémon battles, saying he doesn’t like the idea of forcing friends to fight each other.

Meanwhile, Team Rocket has yet another sinister plot to steal Pikachu for the Boss. They first lure Axew away from our heroes while Ash and Iris are having a practice battle, and Pikachu is not far behind. Soon, both Pokémon are in Team Rocket’s clutches, but with the assistance of N, they are soon freed—though not before an attack from James’s Amoonguss stuns poor Pikachu. Ash isn’t sure what to do, but N has a plan: he brings everyone to the bow of the ship and calls to his friends, and then two wild Alomomola leap out of the water and use Refresh to heal Pikachu!

The ship is docking at Castelia City, where N has to go—but he assures our heroes that they will meet him again. As he leaves, he considers what seeing Zekrom might mean for Ash...a life-changing experience indeed!