Outside the Nacrene Museum, the showdown between the six Gymleaders and Team Plasma's Shadow Triad has begun. Lenora orders a Retaliate from Patrat, and the scout Pokemon rams into the underside of Basculin to send it flying. The Nacrene Gymleader then motion to Skyla, who carries on the assault with a Razor Wing from Unfezant.

Black watches the battle from midair on Swanna, and marvels at the superb combo. He notices that Lenora seems to be much stronger than before, and the dark-skinned woman looks up to greet him, happy to meet the boy again after so long. She remarks that the six of them should be able to take care of things out here, and wants Black to head into the museum to deal with the others. Hawes informs him that numerous Plasma Grunts have broken into the museum through the entrance, and Black assures them that he will handle it. He hops off Swanna, thanking it, and starts rushing into the Nacrene Museum.

Inside, Plasma Grunts are turning the place upside down, but fail to find traces of the Dark Stone which they are seeking. One of the Grunts finds the Gymleaders really nasty for hiding it so well, and another asks for help in checking out the library area, which looks extremely suspicious to her. However, in that instant, powerful flames come blasting through the entrance, and send some of the Grunts flying. Black steps into the lobby with his Pokemon, and declares that he will not let them have the Dark Stone, which is Zekrom itself. He orders an Electroweb from Tula, Brine from Costa, and Ember from Nite, and immobilizes some of the Grunts. He states that it is not acceptable for them to interfere with the Pokemon League because there is some legendary dragon that they want, and says in order to safeguard his dreams, he will fight with all his might to bring them down.

Outside, the Shadow Triad gather up and try to figure out a strategy to deal with the Gymleaders. They see that they have six opponents in total, which means each of them will need to take on two. The Pansage-masked one decides to handle Clay and Elesa, the Panpour-masked one battles Lenora and Skyla, while the Pansear-masked one fights Burgh and Brycen.

With that, the three leap off to separate spots, and the Pansage-masked one orders a Quiver Dance from his Lilligant. Clay says little tricks will not work on him, and orders Excadrill to attack in its driller mode. However, with its speed raised, Lilligant manages to jump out of the way, and even grab Excadrill by its feet. It then uses Mega Drain, and Excadrill widens its eyes in pain as its health is chipped away. Fortunately, Elesa has her two Emolgas attack with Acrobatics, which knock Lilligant off the drilling mole. Clay thanks Elesa for her help, and says he has been too careless since he was preoccupied by their advantage in number.

At that moment, Clay hears Brycen talk about how defeat is brought about by pride, and looks over to see that Burgh's Whirlipede has been defeated by Larvesta. The Pansear-masked man recognizes Brycen's words as martial art teachings, and recalls that the man used to be a proud action star who is a master in martial arts. Unfortunately, due to some injury, he was forced to retire from his glory and became the Gymleader that he is.

Brycen remains in silence at the mockery, and orders Cryogonal to unleash a blast of cold air. The Pansear-masked man retaliates with Larvesta's flames, and the attacks collide in midair. Burgh can see that the clash between fire and ice is a disadvantage to Brycen, and the Pansear-masked man laughs that before his ice could reach him, it is all turned into tiny shards and pieces. Brycen comments that it is a cheap trick trying to affect the opponent's emotions with crafty words, and says people like the Pansear-masked man cannot read his mind.

In that instant, Larvesta gets lifted off the ground, and the Pansear-masked man bolts in shock. He soon sees that Cryogonal has strapped an ice chain around his Pokemon, and fails to understand how it happened. Burgh, on the other hand, recalls that Cryogonal is a Pokemon born from snow clouds, who creates chains with ice crystals to catch their prey. He realizes that when Larvesta's flames turned the ice attack into tiny shards and pieces, appearing as if the attack failed, the shards actually assembled like ice crystals in the air and formed the ice chain.

The Pansear-masked man grunts in frustration and calls for help from his companions, and the two other Shadow Triad members quickly order a Hyper Beam from Lilligant and an Aqua Tail from Basculin. The combined attacks floor Cryogonal, and even turns it into thin air. The Pansear-masked man grins that the Pokemon has melted, but Burgh knows better. When Cryogonal was battling Larvesta, the flames have raised its body temperature, and it has simply evaporated into steam by the attacks of Lilligant and Basculin.

Indeed, Brycen remains unfazed, and after performing a martial arts ritual with his hands, states that the battle is over. As soon as he says that, several ice chains materialize out of thin air, and bound the Shadow Triad and their Pokemon together. The chains pull in from different directions, and create a grip so tight that the three masked men are rendered completely immobile.

Burgh gasps that Brycen's style is artistic and fantastic, and Elesa exclaims that it is the first time she witnessed Brycen in a battle. Skyla is equally amazed, but Clay and Lenora, who know the man well, are less surprised, pointing out that the Icirrus Gymleader is the only one who remains unharmed in their group.

The Shadow Triad are upset that their mission to retrieve the Dark Stone for their King has been hampered, and cry out in despair. Lenora recalls that the three talked about the same King when they first appeared, and says they claimed to be looking for a founding dragon for their King. Clay believes that this King is equivalent to the boss of Team Plasma, and demands the Shadow Triad to take them to their hideout where their King is. However, the Panpour-masked man mutters that the battle isn't really over yet, and says they have more backup plans for this mission. Just then, a rumbling is heard from a distance, and storm clouds start to gather in the sky.

Back inside the museum, Black has already taken out all of the Grunts in the lobby, and plans to handle the remaining who are near the library. At that moment, a powerful quake rumbles across the entire area, and stops him in his tracks. He wonders what is going on as he has never felt anything like that before, and rushes back outside. He asks Clay what has happened, but the Driftveil Gymleader, who wears a frightened look on his face, calls him a idiot and tells him to stand back.

Black looks up in the air, and just like all the Gymleaders did, bolts in bewilderment when he sees three genie-like creatures hovering above, their presence exuding tremendous force and intimidation. In the next instant, the three join their powers to create a tornado on the Gymleaders, which is filled with sharp rocks and charged with electricity. The six Gymleaders are sent tumbling around in midair, and both Lenora and Skyla gasp that it is Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus. Elesa recalls that they are the legendary Pokemon her granny talked about, and Burgh and Clay are horrified that they have fallen into the hands of the enemy.

Black rushes forward from his position, but Clay shouts that he must do as he has been told by Lenora. Black begins to protest, but Clay points out that he cannot be blinded by his hot-headedness now, and reminds him that although he managed to defeat six Gymleaders, he is still an ordinary trainer. At that moment, a flying rock hits Clay on the forehead, and causes him to bleed out. The Driftveil Gymleader reiterates that Black's job is to protect the museum, and he is certainly not equipped to handle the situation at hand.

Black fights with himself at what he should do, but eventually fails to hold himself back. He charges forward to Landorus, but Nite jumps in to attack first, knowing that its trainer is acting out of impulsiveness. The attack naturally did minimal damage to the legendary Pokemon, and it turns around to grab Nite by the neck while continuing its assaults on the Gymleaders.

The Shadow Triad manage to free themselves from Brycen's ice chains, and grin that the table seems to have turned. They can see that the Gymleaders are totally helpless against the combined forces of Tornadus, Thundurus and Landorus, and think that it is time for them to go down. Shocked and infuriated, Black cries for them to stop, and in that instant, Nite evolves into an Emboar, and wiggles free from Landorus's restraint.

Meanwhile, at the Dragonspiral Tower which is located in the northwestern part of Unova, N stands on the footbridge outside its entrance, and tells Gigi that the tower is the oldest structure in Unova which has been erected even earlier than the founding of the region. He looks up towards its top floor, and muses that it will be where 'Ideals' clashes with 'Truth'…