HOw about if PIkachu was finally stolen by Team Rocket. Jesse and James take him away, and Ash shows fierce determination to rescue his friend. Iris, Cilan, and Ash scale a mountain and battle with Jesse and James, only to find out that it was a setback. Jesse laughs and puts Pikachu in a strange machine and it comes out, looking hurt. Ash runs up to it, to comfort it, but it thunderbolts him away. Jesse points out that Pikachu is theirs now as Pikachu runs up and nuzzles it's head onto her leg. Jesse is disgusted, and kicks it away, but the Pikachu runs back, now loyal to Team Rocket. Iris and Cilan are mortified, and Ash keeps on running back, only to be Volt Tackled off the mountainside. He scrapes himself as he falls down,and hits his head on a rock, knocking him out. Jesse and James then capture Iris and Cilan. Ash is woken by an Oshawott's water gun. As his eyes slowly open, he asks where he is. He then realizes he doesn't know who he is. His pokemon try to reveal it to him in comedic ways, and Ash percieves it wrong until he ends up with a completely random and irrelevant identity. It then shows that he is out of the mountain, and in town, and behaving strangely. Trip meets up with him, but Ash doesn't recongize him and does something to offend him. Trip then challenges Ash to a pokemon battle, which Ash refuses because battling isn't his thing. This leaves Trip confused as he asks if it is really Ash. He gets a blank look in return, as Ash asks if that is his name. Trip catches on, and tells Ash who he is through his eyes: An overenergetic annoying pokemon trainer who wants to become the champion. Ash grins and bursts out laughing, as that severely contradicts who he thought he was. Trip then asks where Ash's buddies are, and Ash asks if he has any friends. Trip is getting annoyed, and he notices a piece of fur stuck to Ash's arm. He quickly scans it and finds out that it is Pikachu fur. On the mention of Pikachu, Ash declares he has a headache. Trip asks where Pikachu is, and Ash suddenly has a flashback of Team Rocket. Describing the flasback, Trip says he'll help Ash rescue Iris and Cilan. Ash declines the rescue mission because he doesn't know anything. Trip says he'll do it himself.
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Team Rocket has Iris and Cilan in a cage and are taunting them when Trip shows up, declaring he'll be the hero. A small scene transition later, he is also in the cage with Iris making a snide comment on how Trip didn't even get to send out his first pokemon. Suddenly, Ash shows up, claiming he followed Trip after realizing that he wanted to save his friends. At the sight of Pikachu, Ash remembers that it is his friend. Ash runs up and tries to give it a hug...but Pikachu tackles him and starts beating him up. Ash gets up, shaken, and collapses a second later. Pikachu is about to finish him when Ash asks Pikachu who he is. Pikachu stumbles back, and Cilan realizes the question seems to have affected him. Ash tells Pikachu that even though he doesn't remember anything, he remembers his best friend. Pikachu begins to cry. Ash picks it up and in a quiet voice asks if Pikachu remembers him. Pikachu blinks twice, before giving a sad cry and hugging Ash. Team Rocket claims that it is impossible for Pikachu to have been freed of the brainwash. Ash grins and tells them that nothing is impossible and rematches. His knowledge of battling comes naturally back, and this time he beats Team Rocket and frees his friends from the cage. Jesse and James run off however before they can be captured. Ash suddenly collapses and Iris asks him if he is alright. Ash nods and declares that he remembers everything. And the team heads back.
