Dawn, Piplup and Pikachu made their way through the forests outside Professor Oak's lab, following claw marks left by Zoey on several trees. After a while, they found Zoey outside a window leading to the lab Dawn and the others had just escaped from.

"What took you so long?" Zoey sarcastically asked.

"There's no time for jokes, Zoey. Is this where Haunter went?" Dawn said.

"Obviously. Why else would I be risking myself by standing outside this place?"

("What are we waiting for, then? Let's go and teach these guys a lesson!") Piplup responded, puffing out his chest in confidence.

("Piplup, wait! We need a strategy.") Pikachu pointed out, causing Piplup to look down out of embarrassment. ("Dawn, Zoey, what do you know of this place?")

"I remember when I was brought in here," Zoey said. "There were three labs with those machines that switched our bodies around. If we're going to cause the most damage here, we need to destroy those machines."

"That's it, then. We'll have to split up. Zoey, what moves do you have?"

"As a Glameow? I remember that my body gave off a Thunderbolt when Glameow first realized it had a human body. So I know for sure that I can use Thunderbolt."

"That's great! Then with Pikachu's several Electric-type moves and my Discharge, we should have no problem overloading the machines. Piplup, you come with me to provide backup."

("You can count on me, Dawn!")

"Then it's settled," Zoey said. "I'll take the equipment in the northwest hall, Dawn and Piplup can take the northeast, leaving Pikachu to handle the southern hall's equipment."

("I don't think splitting up is such a good idea, guys.") Pikachu responded.

"Don't worry, Pikachu," Dawn said. "Everything will work out."

"As a precautionary measure, though, let meet up in the cells. We can escape through the window like last time," Zoey said.

"Fine by me."

("Got it!")

("I'm still not sure about this, but okay.")

With that, the four went their separate ways.

(Ryder's Lab: Southern Hall)

Pikachu walked through the air ducts of the lab as quietly as he could. He witnessed the bodies of many women Ash and he had met in the past dressed as Pokémon and going through some sinister training.

After a while, Pikachu walked over a dining hall, where Lenora and Zoey's bodies were enjoying some dinner. Lenora's body was dressed in a Watchog suit while Zoey's body wore a Glameow suit.

"Wilma, did you hear about Haunter?" Zoey's body asked.

"What about him, Giselle?" Wilma asked.

"Apparently, he botched up an important mission and is going to be punished because of it."

"Really? What are they going to do to him?"

"I heard that he's going to become a Human Pokémon, like us!"

"Isn't that a good thing, though?"

"Not for him. From what I've heard, he flat-out refused to become a Human Pokémon when Master Ryder first proposed the idea to him. Now, he has no choice but to become one of us."

"Hmph! Serves him right, treating the rest of us like weaklings just because we wanted to be something more than just mere Pokémon."

Pikachu continued walking before he heard anything else. He had a job to do and couldn't afford to get sidetracked by conversations like that.

He moved so swiftly he didn't notice the bottom of one part of the duct was broken. When he did notice, it was too late, as he was falling down into the lab he had wanted to infiltrate. As soon as he landed, wires came out of nowhere, attached themselves to him and sent a strong current coursing through his body, causing him to black out.

(Ryder's Lab: Northwest Hall)

Zoey ran around in circles several times before she finally got her pursuers off her tail. She had just fried the machine she came to destroy, but was too late to prevent it from being used one last time. Now, she had to go to the cells in the lab, if only to free the latest victim in Ryder's insane plan.

(Ryder's Lab: Southern Hall)

Pikachu woke up and immediately released a Thunder attack toward the ceiling. Luckily, the reflective cover of the lamp over his face redirected the attack to a box-like machine by the table he was just laying on.

As Pikachu jumped off the table, he noticed a few things that seemed out of the ordinary. First, everything seemed smaller to him, much smaller than a Pikachu would be used to in a place like this. Second, his jump from the table to the floor was much shorter than it should have been.

Based on these observations, Pikachu concluded that he somehow got taller. He started to question how when he noticed one last thing. On the table right beside the one he was just on was a Pikachu. This one was still asleep, so he reached out to wake it up. Only then did he stop and realize why everything seemed so strange to him.

He was staring at a human woman's hand, clad in a yellow elbow-length glove. He knew that this was the hand he was trying to use as it did all the movements he wanted it to. As he looked at the rest of his body, he noticed the rest of the woman's body, dressed in the same kind of performance suit that he saw the other women wearing, but with a Pikachu motif.

Looking around the room, he noticed a mirror tucked away in a far corner of the room. Rushing over and taking a look, Pikachu gasped when he saw the face of Elesa, the Gym Leader of Nimbasa City, staring back at him.

"This can't be happening!" Pikachu said, taking note of Elesa's voice leaving his new lips.

("Ugh! What's going on? Where am I?")

Pikachu looked over to see his old body, now inhabited by Elesa, sitting up on the table.

Nervously walking over to the table, Pikachu looked at Elesa and said, "Hey. How are you feeling?"

As soon as Elesa saw her body talking to her, she stared at the Pikachu body she now possessed and was about to scream with terror. Luckily, Pikachu covered Elesa's mouth.

"Shh! Do you want the bad guys to come in here and put us both in chains?"

After calming down, Elesa asked, ("How did this happen? Who are you?")

"I'm Ash Ketchum's Pikachu, and that's my body you're using now."

("So we somehow switched bodies?")

"Yes. It's a long story, but it'll have to wait until later. Right now, we need to get out of here and meet up with my friends. We came in to destroy the machines that switched our bodies. There are more like us that are fighting against the man that did this to us. Will you help us in our fight?"

("Normally, I'd chalk a tale like that up to lunacy, but with the proof right in front of me, I believe you. Just tell me what to do, and I'll do my best to help!")