Distant Blue Sky!

is a special episode of . In the English dub, it was retconned into the main series, becoming the 12th and final episode of of .
==Synopsis==
Ash and Pikachu are doing what they love as they travel to different places. But when Ash's mom asks to meet at a nearby Pokémon Center, he heads out right away—his dad will be there, too! On the way, Ash befriends a boy named Sunny, who eventually leads him to a berry patch near a house. There, Ash meets a man and woman who reveal that Sunny is their son who passed away a year ago. Ash returns Sunny's hat to them, then helps Sunny pet Pikachu before they part ways. At the Pokémon Center, Ash's dad has already departed, but he left Ash a present—a brand-new hat!
==Episode plot==
Underwater, Ash looks at a group of Water Pokémon, and follows a Slowking. However, a Trainer bumps into him and swims away. Ash looks at him, and turns around to see a Gyarados chasing them. Elsewhere, Pikachu is playing around with another group of Pikachu. Gyarados emerges out of the water, and Ash, atop of it, calls out to Pikachu. The latter goes to the lake, where the Trainer emerges out of the water. Ash latches onto Gyarados before jumping away to rendevouz with Pikachu; Gyarados fires a Hydro Pump but Pikachu and Ash jump to dodge. The former fires a Thunderbolt at Gyarados, while Ash throws a Poké Ball to Gyarados. Gyarados, however, escapes the Poké Ball and returns to the lake. Ash waves his hand at Gyarados, then turns to the Trainer and the two glare each other. Ash changes into his usual outfit and challenges the Trainer, having Pikachu use Iron Tail against the Trainer's Machamp. Machamp fires a Hyper Beam, but misses and ends up fainting from a Thunderbolt.
At evening, Ash and the Trainer part ways, and Pikachu bids farewell with the group of Pikachu he played with by stroking their tails. The next day, Ash contacts his mom at a Pokémon Center. Telling about his day, Ash is pleased to hear that his dad will come with Delia to meet him tomorrow, at a place over the mountain that Ash has to cross. Excited, he logs out before his mom can tell him more. Team Rocket, who are in the lobby, heard about these plans and plan on capturing Pikachu: they take off their disguises and run off, unaware that Nurse Joy and Chansey heard all of that. Ash and Pikachu walk on a path, through a cave to a forest with many Pokémon. Excited, Ash and Pikachu stay at the place for the night. At morning, Ash gets woken up by a Lickitung, who licks him. Lickitung runs off, annoying Ash, who notices Pikachu is gone. He comes out, and finds a boy, who knows where Pikachu is. He states that some group of people in strange clothes took Pikachu away, which causes to ponder who those people are.
Team Rocket, who snatched Pikachu in a cage, celebrate. They have a "luxurious meal" - a cookie - to celebrate. Ash and the boy look at them, and the former slides down to confront them. Team Rocket boasts they stole Pikachu and locked him in a cage, in which Pikachu cannot execute his attacks. As they continue to chant their motto, Ash already got their cage and key: he unlocks the cage, letting Pikachu blast Team Rocket off, who are dumbed down on their mistake. Ash regroups with Pikachu, and thanks the boy, who introduces himself as Sunny. Ash extends his arm to shake hands; Sunny is sad for a moment, and instead sees how close Ash and Pikachu are. He asks how does it feel to touch a Pokémon, to which Ash answers it is nice and warm, but each Pokémon is different. He is willing to show Sunny some of them.
A moment later, the group encounters a Diglett. Ash pets Diglett, but the latter drags him to the point Ash gets bashed to a rock. Despite the setback, he continues to show Sunny some more Pokémon, such as Dodrio, but falls down while riding it. He also looks in a tree hole for Venonat, the latter using Stun Spore on him. Ash tries to pet it but then also gets sprayed by Poison Powder. Chasing a Bellsprout, Ash finds a Kakuna and touches it. Pikachu gets startled, as a swarm of Beedrill chase the group. Ash and Pikachu fall down a slope, but the Beedrill fly away, ignoring them. After recovering, Ash and Pikachu notice Sunny has not fallen, and are told that he is familiar about this area. At this point, Ash and Pikachu are hungry, so Sunny shows them some food: Oran Berries. As they look around the garden, the group notices a man inside a house painting pictures. They also notice paintings of the sky; Sunny points at one of them, for it is his favorite. Ash leans in to see more, but is noticed by a woman, who gasps.
Ash admits he wanted to see the picture with his friend. He turns around, but notices Sunny has gone missing. The man comes out, and is told by the woman that she thought she saw something, but it was not true. The man turns to Ash, who is hungry, and coldly tells him that he can take the berries as he wishes before coming back into the house. The woman apologizes for the cold behavior, but offers the hospitality to harvest as many berries, and even adds sandwiches for Ash and his friend to eat. Ash is grateful for this hospitality, and continues on his path before meeting up with Sunny once more. Ash asks where he has gone to, and is told Sunny chased a rare Pokémon, but knows that the people at the house are helpful enough. Ash offers he food he got to eat; Sunny declines, stating that he had breakfast already, which makes Pikachu and Ash a bit concerned.
Taking a break, Ash and Pikachu eat, while Sunny glares at the sky, contemplating its beauty. Ash admits it is a nice weather they are having. Sunny remarks how Ash is eating much, but Sunny refuses to eat. Ash remarks if he saw someone like him eating, he'd also become hungry. Still, he also awaits his mom's cooking. Ash splits bread with Pikachu, and Sunny is interested how he understands Pokémon. Ash replies that he merely understads Pikachu's feelings. Thus, Sunny asks for a favor from Ash. The two watch a group of Mankey, one wearing a blue cap. Sunny describes that Mankey took the hat that Sunny's father had given to him. Ash understands, and thinks of how Pikachu could use Thunderbolt but would damage the hat. Ash steps forward to confront the Mankey, asking for the hat back. The Mankey ignore this and throw stones at Ash, who dodges. Ash chases the Mankey with the hat, who leaps ahead on an Onix. The Onix wobbles, causing Mankey to fall down, to which Ash jumps to grab Mankey, saving it and retrieving the hat. Ash explains that this hat belongs to his friend, and has to return it. The Mankey is still upset about this loss, so Ash gives it his hat. The Mankey is content, and goes away.
Ash sees Sunny in the distance, and goes to him. As he does, he notices Sunny being even more distant for some reason. Ash follows Sunny, who goes away, leading Ash back to the house with the couple. The two notice the hat Ash got, and ask where he got it. Ash explains that he got it from a Mankey, on Sunny's request. The couple is shocked, thinking Ash lied; Ash defends himself that this is the truth, and the woman starts crying. Inside, Ash is shown a picture of Sunny, who was sick a year ago. Ash recalls how Sunny refused to shake Ash's hand, didn't get hurt from being chased from Beedrill and stated how he was full enough not to eat the food. The couple tells how Sunny was a vigorous Trainer that spent a lot of time in the forest, spending time with the wild Pokémon. Ash looks at the picture of the blue sky, which Sunny described as the most beautiful of all the paintings. Everyone looks at this painting, and the couple remembers that they did spend time with Sunny, on a grassy field under this blue sky.
Moments later, Ash departs from the couple. The man looks at the blue hat, wondering about Sunny. The couple looks at the sky, unaware that Sunny's spirit is behind them to look at the sky as well. After a while, Ash encounters Sunny, knowing his past, and his interest in Pokémon. Sunny extends his hand to touch Pikachu, which only passes through Pikachu. Instead, Ash attempts something else: he focuses himself, closing his eyes, and hugs Sunny, who senses this feeling. Sunny succeeds in touching Ash's hand, bringing it to Pikachu to feel their connection. Ash opens his eyes and sees Sunny gone, but is glad to have shared this experience. After traveling some more, Ash and Pikachu gaze at the blue sky, noting it is wonderful. He comes to the Pokémon Center, surprised only his mother came. The latter instead hands a new cap for Ash, who puts it on. Ash and Pikachu see they claim to be ready for new adventures, but Ash is hungry at the moment. Much to his pleasure, his mom brought her cooked food for him to eat. As Ash eats, Team Rocket, in disguise, observe this, shocked a bit. Delia approaches them and shares food with them as well, and as she goes to grab more, Team Rocket greedily eat everything.
Ash continues to eat, but starts to cry as well, surprising Pikachu. At night, Pikachu and Ash are sleeping, with Delia putting the blanket on them. In the morning, Ash runs up to his mother to announce his new adventure. His mother gives him a sandwich to eat, to which he happily takes a bite before sprinting away. Delia looks in the distance, and is surprised to see Team Rocket dashing after Ash and Pikachu, who continue their journey under the blue sky.
==Trivia==
*This is the first time a special episode that is not counted as part of the main series by the Japanese version is dubbed as part of a season.
** was also dubbed as part of a season, however it was also considered a main series episode in Japan, as can be seen on Pokémon.co.jp, rental DVDs, Hulu, and Amazon Prime Video.
*Other than Wobbuffet and the Iron Tail move, all of the episode's Pokémon content is based on Generation I.
*Despite the end credits listing With You as the opening, it wasn't used for it.
==Gallery==
==References==
Category:Special episodes