Oooh, I'm sorry to keep you waiting, guys. I've just been posting alot of other stuff, so... sorry!

Important chapter here, impoooooooorrrtant...

I don't own Pokemon. I haven't even been able to watch an episode in months...

Here we goooo..

The four entered Mauville at noon the next day. Everything seemed well…

Ash led the way to the Mauville City Gym, where he spotted a handful of people gathering around the entrance.

"Don't worry, everyone! We're going to get all those pokémon back! We've just got to prepare!" called a voice. "Go home! We'll call you all back to return your pokémon!"

"That's Watt's voice," Brock stated, and Ash nodded in agreement.

"Team Rocket was already here," Ash spat. "They already stole people's pokémon." He saw the crowd slowly and sadly walk away, and he came up to where Watt was standing.

"Ash? What are you doing here?" he asked, seeming somewhat confused.

Ash dismissed the question with a wave of his hand. "It's a long story. Where's Wattson?"

Watt shook his head. "He's inside getting more pokémon. Team Rocket came and stole some peoples'… They stole Wattson's Manectric, and my Ampharos." Watt cocked his head to one side. "What was weird about it though, they defeated our pokémon with a Pikachu that looked exactly like yours…"

Ash turned away, his eyebrows creasing. "Don't worry, Watt, we'll get those pokémon back. Do you know where Team Rocket is now?"

Watt nodded. "Yeah… It was weird. They told us where they would be. It was like they wanted us to come after them."

Ash nodded as well. "Probably to steal more pokémon."

"They're a mile or two north of Mauville."

Just then, a man came out of the Mauville Gym. "Here, Watt, catch!" And the man threw a pokéball to Watt. He then laid his eyes on the four newcomers. "Ash! What's the reason for stopping by this time? I hope you didn't expect a battle…"

"I told Ash what happened," Watt exclaimed. "He can help us out."

Wattson fingered the pokéball he had in his hand. "Those dirty thieves stole my Manectric." Wattson suddenly smiled. "But they won't beat my Electabuzz. I gave you Jolteon, Watt. And, Ash, your Pikachu can help out too. I'm sure your Pikachu can beat theirs."

Ash walked away from them a few steps. "Pikachu's…not around, Wattson."

Wattson threw a curious look at Ash's back and kept silent, sensing that something wasn't right.

"They didn't steal your Pikachu, did they?" Watt inquired.

Ash was silent, and he shoved his hands in his pockets. They didn't steal him…

"We don't have the time to tell you about—about all that. We've got to catch up to Team Rocket before they get away!" Misty exclaimed, trying to snap everyone back into reality.

Watt nodded. "By the way, where's May?"

"She's in Mossdeep City for a contest with a friend. Misty's with us though," Max replied.

"It's nice to meet you, Misty," Wattson said, leading the group north. "I'm sure Team Rocket is just waiting for us to walk into their trap… I suggest we try and faint their Pikachu first, because it seems to be the strongest of the group." Wattson paused. "I don't remember them having a Pikachu………… Unless…" He looked to Ash again questioningly. "I'm afraid I don't understand."

"As Misty said, we don't have time to explain. And, yes, I agree that we should try to faint Pikachu first. Team Rocket is not afraid to use his attacks directly on you or the rest of us," Ash stated monotonously. "So be careful."

Wattson wondered if Ash knew that Pikachu would use attacks on them from first-hand experience. He also wondered why. There were so many why's, what's, and how's in his mind about the whole Pikachu situation. He expected Ash would tell him later…

This is it. I'm going to get Pikachu back today. All I have to do is faint him and get him. After that, it'll be just easy, Ash thought. After that, everything will go back to normal.

"That, apparently, is what we're looking for," Brock said a few minutes later, pointing to a tent a few yards away. It had a huge red 'R' on it.

"What are we waiting for then?" Ash asked impatiently, getting irritated. He started forward, only to feel the ground disappear beneath him. He fell several feet before landing hard on the ground. "Ow…," he groaned, trying not to move.

"Ash? Are you alright?" Misty's head appeared in the opening of the hole, about fifteen feet higher than where Ash was now.

Ash spit out dirt. "I've been through worse." He rubbed his head and looked up. "Um…mind helping me out?"

Misty was about to reply when the group heard something—something very familiar.

"Prepare for trouble, we've got the Pikachu!"

"Make it double, 'cause we're gonna attack you!"

Misty threw Ash a helpless look, telling him that they would be too busy battling to help him out at the second.

Ash glared. "Fine." He threw his pokéballs up, where Max caught them. "At least my pokémon can help, since I'm apparently useless."

"—Meowth, that's right!"

"Pikachu!"

"Wooooooooooobuffet!"

Wattson nodded to the others and threw his pokéball. "Electabuzz, help us out!"

"Jolteon, go!" Watt called.

Brock selected his pokémon next. "Forretress, let's go!"

"Gyarados, I choose you!" Misty let out the ferocious pokémon.

"And I choose Grovyle!" Max let out Ash's grass pokémon.

"Five!" Jessie screeched. "That'll be a great addition to our collection! Pikachu, use Thunder on all of them!"

"Piiikaa—chu!" The little mouse pokémon discharged a surprising amount of energy on all of the opposing pokémon.

Gyarados took heavy damage, but was still going. The other pokémon only took about half damage. Forretress didn't look too good, because Pikachu's attack took a critical.

"Jolteon, Quick Attack!"

"Electabuzz, Thunder Punch!"

"Flamethrower, Gyarados!"

"Grovyle, you use Leaf Blade attack!"

"Tackle, Forretress!"

Jessie and James raised their eyebrows in unison. "So you're actually attacking us this time!" James asked, slightly amused. "Pikachu. Dodge all of that with Quick Attack."

Pikachu did as he was told. He seemed to squirm out of the way of each and every attack. Gyarados's attack accidentally hit Forretress, making the pokémon faint.

Misty apologized to Brock for her pokémon's mistake, and Brock just let out Lombre.

James sighed, seeing that they had only gotten rid of one pokémon so far. At least there was no twerp trying to strangle him again. That twerp was in a deep pit. James let out a small laugh. "Use Thunder again, Pikachu!"

Both Lombre and Gyarados fainted. Being part Water type, of course they were weak against Electric type attacks. Both Misty and Brock returned their pokémon. Brock then hesitantly let out Mudkip.

Electabuzz and Jolteon were now critically hurt. They obviously weren't fully trained, and weren't ready for this kind of battle yet. The attack completely missed Grovyle, who had gracefully dodged the attack.

"Crap. I only brought Gyarados!" Misty said, anger boiling up inside her. Ash was right, Pikachu was good enough to take care of Gyarados.

"Here, Misty!" Max shouted, tossing one of Ash's pokéballs at her.

Misty looked at the pokéball curiously, and then back at the younger member of their team. "I don't know any of the attacks! I don't know a lot of these pokémon!"

"That one's Torkoal!" And Max explained Torkoal's attacks as quickly as he could.

"Okay…… Torkoal, come on out!" Torkoal formed at Misty's feet. He instantly took in the situation.

"Electabuzz, use Thunder Punch one last time!"

"Double Kick, Jolteon!"

"Mudkip, let's hit him with a Water Gun!"

"Bullet Seed! Let's go, Grovyle!"

"Torkoal, use Flamethrower!"

Jessie's eyes flashed. "Zap that Water Gun, Pikachu!"

Pikachu's cheeks sparked. He let the Water Gun hit him, but then sent a jolt of electricity through it. The electrified water hit Mudkip and made the little baby pokémon faint.

"Easy as fainting a baby pokémon!" James cried out triumphantly. But to his dismay, he saw the other four attacks hit Pikachu dead on. The combination of not one, but four attacks cost Pikachu a lot. "Pikachu! Use Thunder again!"

"Pika…pika…pi…" Pikachu panted. "Pikac…pikach…pika—CHU!"

This time Pikachu downed Electabuzz, Jolteon, and Grovyle.

Max let out both Swellow and Corphish. He looked to the others nervously. "What happens if we lose?"

Wattson shook his head. "Don't think about that. Look at Pikachu. He's really tired. He's injured. He can't go on for much longer."

Max nodded. "Swellow, Wing Attack! Corphish, Bubblebeam!"

"Torkoal, Overheat!"

Ash heard this from where he sat and pounded the wall of the pit. "Damn it, Misty, don't use that when Pikachu's so tired!" He hissed to himself. He hated not being able to be up there. His rage was slowly building…

"Dodge that, Pikachu!" Jessie and James called out in unison.

"Pi…pikachu…" Pikachu couldn't dodge. He got hit with all of the attacks. "Chuuuuu!" he cried, falling off from where he was perched and beginning to fall.

Misty watched the pokémon fall, and deduced that Pikachu would fall into the pit where Ash was… "Ash! Pikachu's coming your way!"

Ash stood up and saw a yellow blob falling into the pit. He caught Pikachu easily and sat back down, cradling the little pokémon in his arms.

"Pikachu…are you okay?"

"Pika! Pi, pikachu!" Pikachu's cheeks sparked, but he didn't have the strength to give Ash a Thunderbolt.

"Pikachu, you've got to remember me!" Ash said, looking deep into the pokémon's eyes. "Don't you remember? Why can't you—why can't you remember?" He sighed, seeing that Pikachu was still trying to inflict some kind of pain on him. "I want to tell you a little story. It was a few years ago when I was ten. I was about to go on my pokémon journey, except I slept in, so when I came to Professor Oak's lab, he had already given away all the other starter pokémon… He said that he had another one, but it wasn't too tame. I took it anyway. It was…it was a Pikachu."

"You may have beaten Pikachu, but we've still got all of our stolen pokémon!" James yelled. He, Jessie, and Meowth began running back to where they stashed the stolen pokémon. James and Jessie let out their pokémon to distract the others.

With a little help from Torkoal, Misty, Brock, Max, Watt, and Wattson took out Cacnea and Dustox. Seviper slithered off somewhere, and the group didn't bother giving chase.

"Do yah think Ash'll be okay down in that pit alone with Pikachu?" Max asked.

"Pikachu doesn't have the strength to use any of his attacks," Brock pointed out. "Ash is perfectly safe. We've just got to focus on getting back those stolen pokémon."

"And that's how we won our Feather Badge, Pikachu. After that, we—"

"Pikapi?" Pikachu gasped suddenly. "Pikapi! Pikapi!" Pikachu eyes watered. "Pi—Pikapi!"

"Pikachu! You remember!" Ash knew this was the real deal this time. Only his Pikachu would call him 'Pikapi'.

Pikachu began to cry into Ash's shirt. "Pi pika, Pikapi… Pik chu pi!"

Ash rubbed Pikachu's back. "It's okay… It's okay…" His eyes watered as well. He was so happy he could shout out to the world that his pokémon remembered him now. His best friend knew who he was again. "I missed you so much, Pikachu. I thought I lost you…"

"Pi pika…" Pikachu kept crying. He sniffed a few times and looked up at Ash, who was smiling slightly, a few stray tears running down his face. "Pika! PI PIKACHU!" Pikachu yelled, drawing an 'R' in the dirt.

Ash nodded. "When we get out of here, and you regain your strength, we'll give them a nice Thunder attack, okay?"

"Pika…" And Pikachu collapsed in Ash's arms.

"Just hang in there until we get to a pokémon center…" Ash stroked Pikachu's back. How he had missed his best friend. How he had missed Pikachu being there all the time. But now that Ash had Pikachu back, it was all going to change. It was all going to go back to normal. He felt like he could take on any and all trainers in the world, with just Pikachu by his side. Ash smiled again. He had to let out the happiness somehow. Tears of joy didn't exactly cut it.

THANK GOD, PIKACHU!

That's the end of the story! Yay!

(Just kidding, just kidding!) Are you kidding me? I can't end it there... Although I kinda wish I did... oh, jeez... you're all gonna kill me...oh man...

Please review..., because after the next chapter...um...

(runs and hides)