Ash is alone in the forest after losing at the Snowbelle Gym. Serena tracks him down, but they end up in a shouting match, and she runs off after angrily telling Ash to start acting like himself again!
Soon, a snowstorm sets in, and Ash takes shelter in a cave with some frightened Pokémon. He gets into trouble while trying to help a stranded Spewpa—but Greninja shows up just in time, and then shifts effortlessly into Ash-Greninja to rescue Spewpa!
When our heroes reunite, Ash promises not to overdo it again—a promise Greninja soon has to enforce when Ash learns the Kalos League is coming to Lumiose City!
After losing to Wulfric during the previous episode, Ash was sitting alone in the Winding Woods, thinking about his recent defeat. But Nurse Joy revealed to his friends that his Greninja also ran away, though she told them that its strength was back to normal after its defeat. They don't know where Greninja went, but Serena guessed that it ran off to find Ash. Tired of waiting, Serena decided to find Ash herself.Bonnie asked her brother if Ash will be back, with Clemont responding that there's no need to worry. Pikachu releases Talonflame, Hawlucha, and Noivern from Ash's belt and ask them to find Ash, as he is worried about him. Meanwhile, Team Rocket are spying on Ash and wondering what is up with the twerp, and figured this will the perfect time to capture Pikachu. Greninja is also thinking about its recent battles and defeats, and wondering what it did wrong. Serena finds Ash in the woods, and ask if the latest gym battle is what was bothering him. She tells him that she understands from her experience from the contests, only for Ash yelling at her that she doesn't know how he felt and wanted to be alone. This gets Serena mad at Ash, and throws snowballs at him, saying that the Ash she know always tries his best and never gives up. She ran off crying after the argument, as she wanted the real Ash back. This causes Ash to realize what Serena was talking about, and decides to get back into the Pokémon Center. Unfortunately, he rolls off the side of the mountain, getting lost in the process.
Pikachu and Ash's Pokémon are still searching for their missing owner, and Bonnie is now wondering where Serena vanished off to, though she came back after her brother noticed. Serena was still mad with her scuffle with Ash, with the siblings wondering why she is huffy. Nurse Joy tells the gang that a snowstorm is coming through, and they need to get back. Pikachu asks Serena about saving Ash, with Serena reluctantly agrees to help out. So everyone except Clemont decided to go out into the forest to find Ash, with Clemont saying he needs to get his backpack. While searching for Ash, he stayed inside a cave for shelter. But things got worse when Team Rocket showed up to capture Pikachu. Pikachu defended himself by shocking them using Thunderbolt, though all it did was giving them a tickle. The trio decided that getting Pikachu isn't really worth it, as his shocks aren't as powerful and Giovanni wouldn't be too happy. Serena and the gang found Pikachu, but they saw that the storm is getting worse and they need to find Ash very soon. Squishy detected a Zygarde Cell and ran off to find it, with Pikachu following its trail. However, the cell vanished off, though the gang found a cave nearby thanks to it. Serena felt regret from scolding Ash earlier, and tells the gang that she really admired Ash and didn't want to see him down. Clemont tells that they all admired Ash, and they'll continue looking for him after the storm dies out.
Meanwhile, Ash is resting in a cave when he noticed a Oddish, Budew, Sentret, Zigzagoon, and Scatterbug out in the cold, and tells them that can come inside, as he is friendly and is warm inside. He gets a instant flashback memory of his younger days, as this reminded him the time he offered some wild Pokémon shelter. Squishy decided to find Ash while the group were sleeping, though Pikachu notices a sound. Just as Ash was relaxing, he noticed a group of Spewpa sitting on as tree branch out in the cold, and decides to rescue them. Greninja meets up with Squishy and points out where Ash is heading. Ash was just about to rescue the last Spewpa when the branch breaks off, making them both falling off, though were rescued thanks to Greninja. Ash was glad to see it, but it was short lived when the Spewpa fell off. Greninja transforms into Ash-Greninja and was able to rescue the falling Spewpa, thanks to Ash.
After the rescue, Ash stayed in the cave with Greninja and the other Pokémon and told Greninja about what happened prior to his Trainer days, similar to what happened earlier. When Ash got lost, he rescued some Pokémon before a rainstorm hit them, and stayed with them inside a tree until the storm ended. This was inspired him to become trainer. Ash apologized to Greninja about what happened at the gym battle. He realized after spending some time, that a team is not someone who has to do it alone, but together. Ash tells Greninja that should start their training again, as a team. Once the storm died down later, Ash and the group of Pokémon came out of the cave, with the group of Spewpa evolving into Vivillon, and they flew off into the sky. The duo later found Serena and the others, and rejoined afterwards. Ash apologizes about leaving and before Serena could do the same towards Ash, he thanked her for snapping some sense into him. Squishy was happy, and contacts the other Zygarde Cells about Ash and Greninja's combined teamwork. But that gets interrupted with Team Rocket trying to get Pikachu, though that was stopped thanks to him and Greninja. Surprisingly, they were happy that a full throttle Thunderbolt blasted them off, as Pikachu is back in full strength.
The next morning, the group found out that the Kalos League will be held in Lumiose City. Just as they're about to leave, Greninja offers its Poké Ball to Ash, as a reminder of their friendship. Ash promised that they'll do better at the rematch. They're now excited to their eighth badge!