Pokémon
251 wild creatures...
...20 badges to be won...
...Are you up to the challenge?
Note: I will use a mix of Japanese and American information. Check the dictionary for who's who
The main storyline of Pokémon revolves around a 16-year-old boy named Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town (in the region of Kanto). He wants to become a Pokémon Master more than anything else, and he starts his journey off on the wrong foot. He has to run to the Oak Laboratory in his pajamas because he accidentally broke his alarm clock during the night. He meets his main rival, Gary Oak - the Pokemon Prof.'s grandson - and learns that there are no Pokémon left to choose from. Professor Oak tells him that there is in fact one left, but it's sort of defective. Ash doesn't care and takes Pikachu, who packs a lot of voltage for a large yellow rat. The defect, you ask? Pikachu will not stay in it's PokéBall no matter what. Since Ash is not the brightest trainer, he starts throwing rocks at simple bird-types and accidentally hits a Spearow in the head. Of course, it gets angry and chases Ash and Pikachu. Pikachu shocks it and it calls on...MORE SPEAROW! The chase scene continues. Ash and Pikachu jump into a river and grab onto the fishing lure of an orange-haired girl. Ash takes her bike and tries to escape the short-tempered birds. They finally catch up to the boy and the Pokémon and Pikachu saves the day with an awesome thundershock that gets all the Spearow...and the girl's bike. Then Ash sees a gold Pokémon which his Pokédex has no information on at all...it's actually revealed as Ho-oh in a fourth season episode...but...OH WELL!
Then the girl, whose name is Misty (the Gym Leader of the Cerulean City Gym) catches up to Ash at the Viridian City Pokémon Center and demands a new bike. Since he can't pay her back right away (bikes in the Pokemon world cost around 1,000,000 yen), she claims to follow him everywhere until she gets a new bike. Later in the series, she falls in love with him, but that's not important. The two of them reach the first Gym in Pewter City and somehow beat the leader Brock. He also joins the little group because he wants to be a Pokémon Breeder (he happens to be a bit of a pervert) but couldn't achieve his dream because he had to take care of his 9 little brothers and sisters - mother dead, father selling rocks around the city. Odd.
Every show needs a villain. In Pokémon's case, it is Team Rocket. The two members who are trying to capture Ash's strangely powerful Pikachu (so they can give it to their boss for money and recognition) are Jessie and James, and their talking Pokémon Meowth. They actually aren't fierce at all, although they like large, comical contraptions that never work. They chase Ash everywhere, and respectfully call him "the twerp". Wherever Ash is, Team Rocket is, and vice versa. Sometimes they realize this and make horrible puns about it. They are dimwitted teddy bears of annoyance. Sorry TR fans...but the only Team Rocket members who can get the job done are Cassidy and Butch! They are members of "Team Rocket 2" who are on the boss's good side. Since they actually manage to steal Pokémon, they get put into jail. A downside. Cassidy teases Jessie by saying that the boss wants to kick her and James off the team for good, and when they get calls from their boss Giovanni, it's never usually good news. Famous line: "Team Rocket's blasting off again!"
So they travel all over Kanto. Ash wins all 8 badges and catches a few Pokémon. Not as many as he should have, but he got some. Then he participates in the Indigo Pokémon League and places in the Top 16 (not bad for someone who didn't practice). Next is the Orange Islands League (my personal favorite). It's new and different because Professor Oak asks Ash to retrieve the mysterious PokéBall nicknamed the "GS Ball" from Professor Ivy. Ash gets the ball, but Brock decides to stay with Ivy. When they reach the next island...Pokémon Watcher Tracey Sketchit replaces Brock! It was a pleasant surprise, and the three of them helped a baby Lapras who had been separated from it's family. They explored the Orange Islands riding on the Lapras, and Ash beat all four members of the Orange Crew. Then he beat the leader of the Orange Crew and was entered into the Orange League Hall of Fame. The Orange Islands contained tons of exciting new events, but they had to go back to Kanto. Brock somehow re-appeared in the Ketchum Household, and Tracey stayed with Professor Oak (*snif snif* waaaaaah). Professor Oak couldn't find any information about the GS Ball, so he sent Ash to...JOHTO! Okay...that was dumb. Anyway, he wants Ash to bring the GS Ball to Kurt in Azalea Town because Kurt is an expert on PokéBalls. So Ash decides to participate in the Johto League too! He wins badges and meets up with the people he met in previous seasons, which is kind of cool. At this point in time, Ash and Gary Oak are still rivals, but not enemies. I believe that they can now be considered friends. Thus is the story so far...
Well, there's your summary of Pokémon. While you're here, check out these links:
Dictionary
Challenges - Interested?
Fanfiction