Ash yawned as he awoke the following day. "A dream?" He thought. He looked down and noticed that, instead of hands, he had hooves. "Guess not" He groaned and stood up. He still wasn't used to his new Rapidash form and wobbled a little, quickly regaining his balance. He looked around and noticed Misty was still asleep and Brock was up making breakfast. Pikachu was also asleep by Ash's sleeping bag and Ash's Pokéballs sat next to him.

Brock looked over and saw the Rapidash as it stood up and looked around. "Mornin' Rapidash"

Ash tilted his head and looked at Brock. [You mean you don't know who I am?] He asked, though Brock couldn't understand him.

"You hungry?" Brock asked taking out a bowl of Pokéfood specially made for Rapidash.

Ash gave Brock a confused look but smelt the food. He snorted and shook his head.

"No?" Brock said taking some of it and tasting it. "What's wrong with it?" He said. It was a little upsetting the Rapidash didn't like his Pokéchow, because he had researched Rapidash and found out what kind of food they like. This was a type he made that all Rapidash should love, but this one didn't.

[Brock, do you really expect me to eat Pokémon food?] Ash asked shaking his head. Then he remembered, he was a Pokémon.

Brock frowned and sighed, turning back to making the breakfast, pancakes again.

Ash heard something and turned to see Misty waking up. He tried to say 'Good morning', but just ended up neighing.

Misty looked at Rapidash and smiled. "Good morning to you to" She said standing up. "Something smells good" She added, smelling the pancakes.

Brock just grumbled and thought. "What's wrong with that Rapidash? All Pokémon like my pokéfood"

Brock had been so distracted trying to figure out what was wrong with the Pokéfood, that he had made at least thirty pancakes.

"Brock!" Misty yelled. "We can't eat all this, there's only two of us!" She pointed to herself and then to Brock quickly. The pokémon couldn't help because they were already stuffing themselves with Pokéfood.

"Well, at least we won't go hungry" Brock said scratching the back of his head.

Misty sighed and looked at the pancake mountain in front of her. "Ash wouldn't complain..." She said sadly, remembering her friend who seemed to have disappeared into thin air the day before. She suddenly noticed that a few pancakes had disappeared. She looked up and saw Rapidash eating them.

[Now this is proper food] Ash said after he swallowed the pancakes. He bent his head down and picked up a few more, eating them quickly.

"Well, looks like we won't have any left over. Rapidash has Ash's appetite" Misty said taking three pancakes and putting them on her plate.

After breakfast, in which Ash had eaten half of the pancakes if not more, Misty headed over to the Pokémon and began talking to them. "So, you guys ready to find Ash?"

Ash looked over at them as they all cheered. He trotted over and nudged Misty in the shoulder. [Misty, I'm right here]

Misty looked back and smiled, patting the Rapidash's muzzle. "You wanna help too?"

Ash pulled away quickly and snorted. [Cut it out Misty]

Pikachu tilted his head. "Pika?" He said in a confused tone.

[Pikachu] Ash said walking over and lowering his head down to Pikachu. [It's me]

Pikachu twitched his ears, but as he looked in the Rapidash's eyes, he felt a little strange. It was as if he knew Rapidash before yesterday.

[Pikachu, it's Ash] Ash said, though trying to imagine it from Pikachu's point of view he probably sounds mad, and from the look on Pikachu's face, he was thinking just that. [Look, I know it sounds crazy, but it's true]

Pikachu froze for a second as he looked into the Rapidash's eyes again. He knew those eyes. "Pikapi?!" He said, startled. [H-how did this happen?]

[A Ninetails, I stepped on its tail by accident. And you know that they'll get back at you even if it takes a thousand years. Also, that Ninetails have mysterious powers, that's what it must have used to change me into a Rapidash] Ash explained, glad that his friend could see who he really was.

"Pikachu" Misty called. "Come on, we have to go look for Ash"

"Pikachupi, pikachu pika Pikapi" Pikachu said pointing to Rapidash.

"What do you mean that Rapidash is Ash?" Misty asked confused.

Pikachu sighed and walked over. He quickly began to explain to Misty and Brock along with all the other Pokémon what had happened, about the Ninetails and everything that had happened.

"What do we do Ash?" Misty said walking over to him. "For you to change back we'd need a Ninetails, and none of us have one"

Ash sighed and pawed the ground in annoyance. Being a Rapidash wasn't so bad, but he still preferred being human. Now that the others knew, they had to find a way to turn him back.

As Ash stood pawing the ground, the others sat in a circle around the burnt out fire a short distance away.

All of a sudden a huge metal claw shot out of the forest surrounding them and clamped onto Ash. He yelled, or rather neighed, as the claw lifted him off the ground. Then a familiar motto was heard.

Prepare for trouble,
Make it double,
To protect the world from devastation,
To unite all peoples within our nation,
To denounce the evils of truth and love,
To extend our reach to the stars above,
Jessie,
James,
Team Rocket, blast off at the speed of light,
Surrender now, or prepare to fight.
Wobbuffet!
Meowth, That's Right!

As Jessie, James and Meowth, interrupted by Wobbuffet, recited their motto, Ash was thrown into a large cage at the bottom of the huge Meowth head balloon that Team Rocket rode in.

The flames on Ash seemed to grow larger as anger raced through him. He reared up and began thrashing around the cage.

"Team Rocket, let him go!" Misty called up.

"We're not dumb enough to let a pokémon as rare as this unusually coloured Rapidash go" Jessie said.

"We're taking this Rapidash and there's nothing you can do to stop us!" Meowth said.

"Wobbuffet!" Wobbuffet agreed, as always.

James took out a remote control with two buttons and a control stick on it, a red one a blue one and a yellow one. He pressed the yellow one and two rockets shot out of the side of the balloon, pointing east. He then pressed the red button, causing the rockets to take off.

"Bye bye twerps!" Jessie called.

"Hey, maybe we should have tried to catch pikachu" Meowth said.

Jessie frowned. "Just be happy with what we've got" She said as the balloon shot through the air.

Ash had stopped slamming the cage with his hooves and was now trying to stay standing as the wind began to blow him back. He stomped his foot angrily. [Team Rocket, you won't get away with this]

As noon approached and the sun rose to it's highest point, Team Rocket's balloon began to slow down. Ash noticed that there were a few Rockets below them and when they landed, the other Rockets greeted them.

"A Rapidash huh? Didn't know you guys had it in ya" One said to James.

Another Rocket stepped forward. "Looks pretty strong"

"Can you handle it?" Came a taunting voice from the back of the group. The group cleared to reveal Cassidy and Butch. Cassidy was the one who had spoken.

Jessie growled and stepped beside the cage. "Of course a can, right Rapidash?" She said sticking her hand in to pat him.

Ash growled and bit onto Jessie's hand as hard as he could.

Jessie quickly pulled away and Cassidy laughed. "Nice try Jessie, but the others can take it from here. It's not going to obey you on the first go; you have to tame it"

Ash wondered what she meant be tame, until he saw two other Rockets, one had a whip and the other had a bridle. He growled at them, as they opened the cage and noticed they'd landed inside a fence, so he couldn't run. He growled as they tried to approach him and ran forward, trying to get past them, but a few other Rockets had ropes, and quickly restrained him. He got one rope around his neck and a few others around his legs. They eventually knocked him over and approached him.

Two Rockets stepped forward and grabbed onto his head so he couldn't move it, and another force a bit into his mouth as they put the bridle on. The two quickly pulled away, allowing the Rapidash to get up.

Ash angrily jumped up and tried to charge at one of the rockets, but he was held back by the one with the bridle in hand, so he tried to attack that one, but the bridle had a few extra ropes attached to it, that were being held by a few other Rockets, meaning he couldn't go anywhere.

"Let's go" One said pulling on the rope.

Ash did his best to stay in the same place, put when five other Rockets help out, he had no choice.

He had no idea what was in store for him, but he was pretty sure he wasn't going to like it.