Pokemon fans waved goodbye to Ash and the gang earlier this year after the perpetual ten year old won his championship bout against Leon, ushering in the age of new protagonists Roy and Liko. However, it seems like we're being dragged back in for one last adventure, as fans have recovered the script for two long lost episodes of the Pokemon Black and White anime that were meant to air back in 2011.
Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma (Part 1 & 2) were set to show an epic clash between Ash Ketchum, the lovable yet mischeivous Team Rocket, and the criminal syndicate Team Plasma, but the episodes were indefinitely delayed due to an earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in 2011. Given that the episodes featured earthquakes and the destruction of public property, they were dropped over fears they'd be too insensitive, with the promise they'd be aired at a later date. It's now 2023 and these episodes still haven't been seen, but a set of Pokemon fans have finally uncovered the next best thing.
A Bulbagarden user called ObjectionMan revealed that one of only two known owners of the script for Team Rocket vs. Team Plasma (Part 1 & 2) had offered it to them for $4,000, prompting him to start a fundraiser. After a while, the fundraiser was taken down, as the original script owner has come forward and shared it with the Pokemon community for free, giving us access to two unaired Pokemon anime episodes for the very first time.
While the original script is in Japanese, it hasn't taken long for fans to completely translate the it into English, which you can view here or in the tweet embedded above. You can also view a small snippet of the original episode which was released as a teaser, though the full episodes are yet to be released. It's unlikely that they ever will in any official capacity now that Ash has hung up his trusty cap, though hopefully fans will be able to recover the actual episodes and get them dubbed one day.
In other not-so-happy Pokemon news, Pokemon Go developer Niantic is suffering the consequences of its actions, as Raid Numbers have reportedly fallen off of a cliff following the game's Remote Raid Pass controversies. Who knew that making your game harder to play results in less people playing?