After picking up the "GS Ball" from Professor Ivy, Brock decided to stay on the island so Ash and Misty head back home by blimp. Unfortunately, our duo gets double-crossed by Team Rocket once again, and then Jigglypuff puts the whole crew to sleep. The blimp crashes on sunny Tangelo Island. Ash and Misty then wonder along the beach and find some kids picking on a beached baby Lapras. They chase them away and get a hold of Nurse Joy to come save it. At the center they meet Tracey, and Ash learns of the Orange League, and wants to compete. Professor Oak agrees to wait for the GS Ball so that Ash can compete. Meanwhile, Team Rocket want to steal the Lapras while it is defenseless.

The group are headed towards Mandarin Island on Lapras. When they arrive there, they see a person being attacked by some Pokemon. As they go to investigate; Pikachu stops, turns around, and attacks Ash. Togepi jumps out of Misty's arms. Then a group of Magnemite surround Ash, shocking him. To create a distraction, an Electrode rolls by and explodes in front of Ash. When the smoke clears Pikachu and Togepi are gone. They find out from Officer Jenny that the same thing has happened to many others. They believe it is some sort of psychic Pokemon behind all of this, because Jenny's Gastly is not effected. Meanwhile, Jessie and James are on the island and Meowth suddenly leaves them. They follow him to the source of all this, it is the work of Butch and Cassidy. Butch and Cassidy get rid of them, and Officer Jenny find them. Team Rocket reluctantly agree to help Officer Jenny and Ash to stop Butch and Cassidy.