The accident with the bike? It put Ash in a coma. three days later he was found and pumped full of painkillers. This is why team rocket became less menacing. The drugs kicked in and stabilized his coma dreams, instead of being terrifying, they became idyllic, and he’s able to live out his pokemon master fantasies.
It’s also the reason that every time he enters a new region, virtually no one has heard of him, despite his conquests, and why givoanni leads team rocket. Ash has daddy issues, so he put his dad atop the evil corporation, and he just can’t picture himself as famous, so he essentially adopts a new identity every few months.
It also explains a few other things, such as how a child can go off on his own in
