After bidding farewell to N and his companions, our heroes have found themselves within sight of Dragonspiral Tower. The White Ruins are close by, and Ash can’t wait to get there! But first, they must sort out a pressing problem: Pignite’s Flamethrower has gotten very weak, and after some investigation, they discover something lodged in its nose. Jumping up and down doesn’t shake it loose, and even a scary spin in the sky courtesy of Charizard isn’t enough to banish this pesky problem. Finally, Iris tries tickling Pignite’s nose with a blade of grass, and it sneezes out the culprit: a shell from an earlier Bullet Seed attack!

As they’re busy with that, Team Rocket and Team Plasma are busy double-crossing each other. Jessie and James break into Team Plasma’s lab to steal Colress’s Pokémon-controlling device, and when all the henchmen chase after them, Meowth approaches the good doctor and invites him to join Team Rocket! Colress seems intrigued, but first he wants to use Meowth in the final round of his experiments. Meowth agrees, planning to use his specially trained concentration skills to ward off the mind control...but the machine proves too powerful, and Meowth falls under Team Plasma’s influence. The machine even makes him attack Jessie and James when they return from their decoy mission! But they manage to fight through Meowth’s impressive cyclone of Fury Swipes and reconnect with their partner, and the three of them escape.

Ghetsis isn’t happy that Team Plasma hasn’t recaptured N yet, but he’s discovered something that might lead them to Reshiram—and it’s at the White Ruins. Jessie, James, and Meowth overhear this tidbit thanks to a listening device they planted at Team Plasma’s lab...so it seems our heroes, Team Plasma, and Team Rocket are all headed to the same place!