Ash was walking through the forest alone, since Dawn was looking for a new Pokémon, while Brock was shopping, and Pikachu went with him to try to get more Ketchup.

"Hey, Ash!" Ash turned to see a girl with dark-colored hair and wearing a cloak-like cape and a hat.

Ash's eyes widened in both shock and surprise. It was Lily.

"It's been a long time." The girl said with a bright smile and a small tilt of her head. "How've you been?"

Ash beamed and smiled even wider. "I've been good. It's been a while since I last saw you." He blinked and tilted his head to the side. "What brings you to Sinnoh?"

She giggled and held up a book for him to see.

"Are you looking for some new spells?" Ash guessed with a questioning look crossing his face.

Lily smiled and nodded her head. "Yup, you're spot on! Hey, I know! Maybe you could help me!" She spoke with an excused bounce in her step. "Would you mind helping me with a spell?"

Ash winced, remembering what had happened the last time he volunteered to help her with one of her spells.

But he couldn't say no to a friend, so he nodded his head with a friendly smile on his face. "Sure I can help, what do you need me to do?"

She giggled and began to flip through the pages of her book. Her face lit up at a certain point on the page she was currently reading and she looked up to Ash with a wide, happy grin.

Ash gulped and prepared for whatever she had in store for him.

Alright." She smiled. Lily added the last ingredients together in the pot, then turned to face Ash. "Are you ready, Ash?"

"Ready!" Ash nodded. Lily smiled.

Lily nodded back and then stood over the potion.

"Shuckle's shell run amok! Stantler's horn and all the rest! Finish it off with a final blast!" she chanted with a wink.

Upon speaking those words, the potion bubbled up and over the top of the cauldron, turning into a vapor that quickly surrounded Ash.

The vapor covered him completely. After a moment, the vapor started to clear and so did his head, but the first thing he heard was Lily gasp in shock.

"Pika Pika! Pika Pi Pikachu?" Were the words that came out of his mouth instead of human speech.

He gasped and put a hand - err - paw over his mouth in shock.

"P-pika? PIKA!?" He gasped. His eyes widened even more when he heard the voice coming out of his own mouth, one now near-identical to Pikachu's.

"Pika Pika! Pi Pikachu Pi!" The situation was just too much for Ash. He held his head and screamed again in frustration before he ran off into the woods in a full-blown panic.

In his panic, Ash accidentally activated his Agility and disappeared into the forest in the blink of an eye. Nearby, a woman with short silver hair and a dark cloak was supervising her men as they loaded petrified Pokémon in glass cases onto a boat docked nearby.

...

Once the stars had finally faded from his vision and his head slowly started to clear from the fog it had been in, Ash slowly began to register in the back of her mind that everything seemed a whole lot bigger than he last remembered.

"Not again! I just knew something like this would happen!" Ash muttered to himself, before looking at his body, and seeing yellow fur, and realizing his senses were greatly increased though he had ran far enough that he could no longer find where he started, causing him to sigh. "And I'm a Pikachu again."

Though something still felt off, which was when he caught sight of his tail.

"A heart shaped tail? But that means I'm a female Pikachu!" Ash yelped as panic started to fill her mind. "I need to find Dawn and Brock, maybe one of them can help me!"

With that she ran in the direction she hoped was the city.

Ash ran through the forest in her new female Pikachu state, trying to find someone that could help her figure out how to fix what it was that had changed her into a female Pikachu.

"Move you, idiots! We have other jobs to do!" she demanded. But just as they were gathering the last of the boxes, Ash ran out of the tree line of the forest and into the clearing. Because she wasn't looking where she was going, or was even aware she had just used Agility, she ran face-first into the woman's red, heeled boot.

"Pik!" She yelped.

"What in the-?!" She gasped, looking at who had just run into her. Ash sat on the ground at her feet, holding her nose in pain and completely unaware of the danger she was in.

"Pika…" she groaned in pain.

"Hmm..." the woman suddenly snapped her fingers and an Ariados crawled down from a tree nearby and fired String Shot at Ash, trying her up before she even realized what had happened.

"Pi?! PIKACHU CHU PIKAPI PPPIIIKKKAAA!" Ash screamed as she struggled frantically against her restraints. The woman watched her and seemed almost disappointed by the lack of a fight from her.

"Not very powerful." She commented. "But someone may want her as a pet. Load her onto the boat." She ordered. Ariados obeyed her command and picked Ash up and carried her to a crate. Ash let out a howl of rage and fear, calling for anyone to help her. But no one came as Ariados threw her into one of the remaining crates and the woman sealed it up. Ash could only stare at the inside of the wooden crate in horror as she felt someone pick it up and carry it away, along with her inside.

...

The boat ride lasted ten long hours. Ash was unable to break out of the crate she was trapped in. She had no idea where they were taking her, but she didn't plan on staying with them long. She knew she was on her own now, and she had to escape. Since she had nothing but time on her hands, she began trying to use attacks. She practiced and practiced and practiced until she was able to at least activate his Agility and use a very weak Thunderbolt.

"What's in this one?" one of the men asked his associate.

"Doesn't say. Hang on." Another replied. He grabbed a crowbar and started prying the top of the box open, as he assumed any Pokemon inside would have been petrified already. As soon as the lid was off, Ash fired the best Thunderbolt she could muster. It wasn't much power at all, but it was enough to startle the men and make them drop the box.

"Ack!" The first yelled as he stumbled back from the crate. Ash seized her chance and lept out of the crate and without hesitation she ran away as far and fast as she could, managing to trigger Agility again in the process.

"Stop that rat!" One of the men ordered the others. Several of the men started to chase Ash as she ran towards a large patch of thick woods up ahead. Ash ran as fast as she possibly could right into the dense forest until she was completely out of stamina and felt like her lungs might burst.

"Pi...pi..." she panted. The lack of food and tireless training was one thing, but combine that with everything else that had happened that day, it was all just too much for her and she finally collapsed, passing out as she did. Luckily for her, she collapsed into a thick bush just off the main path. And she was a mile or so ahead of the men, so none of them noticed her collapse. They ran right by the bush she was in without even a sideways glance.