TB039: Pikachu's Goodbye

is the 39th episode of of , Season 1 of , and of .
==Synopsis==
Misty and Brock continue to journey with Ash as he seeks to become a Pokémon Master. Passing through a beautiful forest, the three of them stop for a rest. As they enjoy the restful mood, Pikachu notices something staring at them from the shadows of the bush around them. Realizing that they are being watched by a group of wild Pikachu, Pikachu bounds after them into the woods. Paying no heed to Ash's call, Pikachu runs further and further into the wild unknown. Though they seem frightened at first, the group eventually opens up to Pikachu and they play together as friends. Will the group be as receptive to Ash when he makes his presence known?
==Episode plot==
Ash, Misty, and Brock are resting in a forest. Brock begins to state how nice it is to kick back and relax for a while, but Ash starts swinging on some vines, and he slams into a tree. Pikachu runs over to make sure Ash isn't hurt when he sees a small Pikachu watching them. Ash, Pikachu, Misty, and Brock chase after the small Pikachu and the small Pikachu leads them to a large group of wild Pikachu. Pikachu says hello to them, but the group runs off, scared. But the small Pikachu stays behind and shakes tails with Pikachu. The group of Pikachu comes back and they play with Pikachu. Brock says the small Pikachu must have accepted Ash's Pikachu into their party.
Ash stupidly runs out from behind the rock he, Misty, and Brock have been hiding behind and says he wants to be a part of the group too. When he runs out from behind the rock, Ash, not knowing this Pikachu group doesn't really come into contact with many humans, accidentally scares away the group of wild Pikachu.
Later, Ash asks Brock and Misty why the Pikachu ran away. Brock says that the Pikachu must have been scared away by Ash because the Pikachu aren't used to seeing humans. The small Pikachu that Ash's Pikachu met earlier, watching them, falls into a river from a tree and Ash's Pikachu jumps into the river to save the small Pikachu, but he is washed away too. Suddenly, all the other wild Pikachu all join tails to save Ash's Pikachu and the small Pikachu and they succeed.
Team Rocket watches the group of wild Pikachu and decides they would be a good present for the boss and they make plans to catch them.
That night, all of the Pikachu, including Ash's Pikachu, sing the Pikachu chant. Ash and his friends see how happy Ash's Pikachu is, and stated that it's the best thing in the world for Pikachu to be with his own kind. Ash is saddened by this remark, seeing Pikachu may want to leave him, but says nothing.
Ash stays up while Misty and Brock sleep. He watches the campfire and sees Pikachu's face in it. Ash thinks that maybe Pikachu should be with its own kind. The campfire dies out as Ash sees an image of Pikachu running away. Suddenly, all of the Pikachu yell for help.
Ash and his friends run over to where the cries were coming from and they find all of the Pikachu trapped in an electric-proof net. Team Rocket, including Jessie, James, and Meowth, appear and reveal their plan to swipe the Pikachu tribe. When Pikachu tries to break it with an electric shock, the net, which is an environmentally resistant net, absorbs the shock, keeping the Pikachu trapped. James then traps Ash and his friends in a net, but they easily get out of it. Team Rocket starts flying away in their balloon taking all of the Pikachu with them. Ash's Pikachu chews a hole in the net and jumps out of the net. Ash and his friends hold out the net they were trapped in to catch Pikachu. They catch Ash's Pikachu and all of the other Pikachu follow Ash's Pikachu out of the net. Ash's Pikachu bites a hole in Team Rocket's balloon and Team Rocket goes "blasting off again".
thumb|Ash saying goodbye to Pikachu...
Ash is overjoyed to have Pikachu back with him, but then Pikachu heads off to celebrate with the Pikachu tribe. Ash is shocked but then decides to accept Pikachu's seeming decision.
Ash starts walking away without Pikachu. Misty and Brock catch up to him and ask him why he's leaving Pikachu. He says Pikachu would be happier with the wild Pikachu. Pikachu starts following Ash and Ash tells him to stay behind. Ash runs off, struggling not to give into his emotions with Misty and Brock running after him, calling his name. Pikachu is left behind, shocked and confused at what's going on.
As he continues to run through the forest, Ash finds himself remembering all the things they've been through together... their first meeting, saying goodbye to Ash's Butterfree among other things. The memories end with an image of Ash and Pikachu laughing at when Haunter scared Misty and Brock into leaving the Pokémon Tower.
In the present, Ash finally stops running. Misty and Brock both catch up to him, asking why he's leaving Pikachu. Ash stands his ground, stating that Pikachu will be much happier with its own kind in the forest rather than traveling with him and decided that his decision is final.
Suddenly, the sun comes up and a familiar shadow is seen overhead. Brock, Misty and then Ash all glance up at the figure and sure enough, it's none other than Pikachu who's obviously overjoyed at seeing the group once again while Ash is completely stunned by Pikachu's appearance.
As it stands there, the other Pikachu emerge from Pikachu, all together in a single group as Ash, Brock and Misty look on in disbelief.
The little Pikachu that Pikachu itself attempted to save earlier comes up to Pikachu and the two shake tails. The rest of the Pikachu cry out, leaving Pikachu stunned. The group then begin cheering as loud as they can.
Misty wonders what they're doing. Brock tells her that the other Pikachu are cheering, not only for Ash but also for Pikachu as well. Ash is stunned.
Encouraged by their cries, Pikachu leaves to rejoin Ash, running along the path before eventually jumping into Ash's arms, choosing him over his own kind much to Ash's joy. 
As they embrace each other in a passionate and heartwarming hug, Ash, overwhelmed with emotion, finally begins crying while still hugging Pikachu with the cheers of the wild Pikachu echoing in the background and the sun behind them as well with Brock and Misty also watching.
==Trivia==
*Who's That Pokémon?: Pikachu (JA and EN)
*"The Time Has Come" is sung by a man in the episode but on the CD, the song is sung by a woman.
*Additionally, before this episode was first broadcast on TV Tokyo, there was a short segment titled テレビの前のみなさんへ (To everyone in front of their TV) airing before it with Miyuki Yadama explaining the issues with the previous episode with many going to the hospital as a result of the broadcast and how the network and its affiliate networks, professional doctors, and the government had to research into the cause of this at-the-time unknown issue to ensure that it will not happen again.
*Brock didn't seem to realize that it was he who influenced Ash into letting Pikachu go, despite him being against it later on.
*Based on this episode not being mentioned in the production material for the anime and the originally announced scheduling prior to the "Cyber Soldier Porygon" incident, the episode was produced entirely during the four-month hiatus.
*This is the first episode of the Japanese dub of the Pokémon anime to have just the テレビ logo to appear during the opening credits and the ending credits without the TV Tokyo's red circle logo and without the チュッ! text, and the Dare da? (だれだ？ Who is it?) segment only starts on a black screen without the white flash.
*The opening animation was changed to be broken up into four images per screen, and the Pocket Monsters logo was changed from the hand drawn logo to the CGI logo.
*This is the first episode to air as part of a one-hour special, in this case with "The Battling Eevee Brothers", after re-airing 37 episodes of the Japanese dub of the Pokémon anime on Kids's Station.
*This is also the first episode to air in the Thursday at 7:00 PM (JST) time slot, which was adjusted to Thursday at 6:55 PM (JST) from "A Keeper for Keeps?" and later to Sunday at 7:00 PM (JST) from "A Plethora of Pikachu!" Prior to the aforementioned Porygon incident, new episodes aired on Tuesdays at 6:30 PM (JST).
*In the Hulu version, both the Fantasy in My Pocket ending song and the next episode preview for "The Battling Eevee Brothers" are completely cut from the episode.
===Mistakes===
*The number of Pikachu changes throughout the episode. Although about 30 Pikachu are present when Ash, Pikachu, Brock, and Misty first see the group of Pikachu, the number of Pikachu increases greatly when Team Rocket steal the Pikachu and fly off with their balloon.
===Dub differences===
*After Team Rocket finishes their motto, James says, "We'd like to thank all of our fans for their loyalty and support. This victory is for them," thus breaking the fourth wall.
==Gallery==
==References==
Category:Episodes focusing on Ash
Category:Episodes focusing on Pikachu
Category:Episodes in which a main character attempts to release a Pokémon