Pokémon: Indigo League

Ash Ketchum is finally 10 years old, old enough to become a Pokémon Trainer. He wakes up late on the day he is supposed to receive his first Pokémon at Professor Oak's lab, however, and arrives to discover all the Pokémon are gone. Ash has no choice to take a naughty Pikachu. Pikachu will not listen to Ash or go inside its Poké Ball, so Ash must drag it along with a rope. After many failed attempts at capturing some Pokémon, Ash throws a rock and hits a Spearow. The Spearow gets angry and the entire flock starts chasing Ash and Pikachu. They run away from the Spearow, borrowing a bike from a red-haired girl to escape, but when they cannot go any farther, Ash uses his body to shield Pikachu from the attacking Pokémon. Pikachu realizes how much Ash cares for him and uses a powerful electric attack to drive the Spearow away, destroying the bicycle in the process as well. Ash and Pikachu see a glimpse of Ho-Oh.

Finally arriving in Viridian City, Ash is cornered by Officer Jenny who asks why he is carrying Pikachu instead of having it in a Pokéball. After explaining, Jenny takes Ash to the Pokémon Center where Nurse Joy begins treatment on the injured Pikachu. Before Pikachu's treatment finishes, however, Ash is interrupted by Misty, the girl who Ash took the bike from, who vows to stick with Ash until he pays her back for destroying her bike. The Pokémon Center is then attacked by Jessie, James, and their talking Meowth, members of Team Rocket, seeking to steal all of the infirm Pokémon. Ash's Pikachu and the Pokémon Center's many Pikachu manage to defeat Team Rocket by shocking them using Thunder Shock, sending them "blasting off" into the sky for the first time.

Ash discovers and catches a Caterpie—his first Pokémon capture! Though Ash is excited, Misty is grossed out by Bug-type Pokémon, so she is repulsed by its attempts to be friends with her. At night, as Ash and Misty sleep, Caterpie shares with Pikachu its dream of evolving into a Butterfree. Ash also captures a Pidgeotto. Team Rocket shows up to steal Pikachu and Pikachu and Pidgeotto are weakened by Koffing and Ekans, so Ash reluctantly sends out Caterpie. To the surprise of Jessie and James—not to mention Ash—Caterpie's String Shot is able to defeat the Team Rocket Pokémon, including Meowth! When Misty tries to make nice with Caterpie, it evolves into a Metapod.

While wandering through Viridian Forest, a Samurai challenges Ash to a battle, and it turns out to be Metapod vs. Metapod. After a short time, a swarm of Beedrill attacks, and Ash's Metapod is taken by them. Ash is able to rescue his Metapod and it evolves once more into Butterfree.

Naši hrdinové se dostávají do Cínového města, kde se Ash chce utkat s místním šampiónem Brockem, expertem na kamenné Pokémony v zápasu o odznak. Ash po své prohře pomůže Pikachuovi zesílit. Poté Brocka jen náhodou poráží a získává tím nejen Kamínkový odznak, ale i dalšího přítele na cesty.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu arrive at Mt. Moon to find Team Rocket interfering with the local wildlife in hopes of finding the rare Moon Stone. With the help of Seymour the Scientist, the gang saves the Moon Stone and the Clefairies that guard it. Also, Brock catches a Zubat.

When at a carnival, Ash and his friends meet Melvin, a magician who is really losing his touch and fails in his own magic show. In his effort to get better, Melvin decides to hypnotize Ash and uses his Pokémon Exeggcute to capture loads of Exeggutor. The Exeggutor end up hypnotizing themselves and Team Rocket and almost destroy the entire carnival. The carnival owner sets a time bomb to stop the Exeggutor. Ash's Charmander uses flame attacks and Melvin successfully performs his fire magic trick to wake up the Exeggutor before they get harmed by the time bomb. Charmander evolves into a disobedient Charmeleon.

In his quest to collect Gym Badges, Ash heads for Cerulean City, intending to confront the Cerulean Gym Leader. For some reason, Misty expresses a desire to avoid Cerulean City and disappears along the way. Upon entering the gym, Ash and Pikachu are entranced by a synchronized swimming show being performed by three beautiful sisters, unsure if he has really found another Gym. The three reveal that they are the Gym Leaders but have since converted the Gym into an aquarium and water show, and offer to just give Ash the badge, but Misty appears once more, revealing that she is also one of the Gym Leaders and will battle Ash in lieu of her three older sisters. However, Team Rocket disrupts the battle in an attempt to steal all of the Gym's Pokémon, and Misty's sisters decide to award Ash the Cascade Badge for helping save everyone.

Having run out of medicine, Ash and his friends go to a shop in Mossgreen Village to get some healing potions. The shop's owner Cassandra wants her weak Paras to evolve into a Parasect so she can use Parasect's mushroom for a new kind of miracle potion. Ash, his friends, and Team Rocket all decide to help out Cassandra by training her Paras, hoping that it can evolve into Parasect. Paras finally evolves after beating Charmeleon in battle.

After receiving his second badge, Ash sets off triumphantly for Vermilion City. Along the way, they hear of a trainer named A.J., a fierce Pokémon trainer who has never lost a match. Full of self-confidence from his own record of ten victories in a row, Ash heads directly for the gym to find his new opponent. When they arrive, a huge bulletin is in front of the gym with a neon sign declaring "98 Consecutive Victories", which appeals to Ash's over-confidence. A.J. is on the brink of achieving his goal of 100 straight victories, after which he will embark on a journey to gather badges, and Ash discovers A.J.'s odd training style.

Our three heroes have lost their way in the depths of a dense wooden forest, shrouded in thick, white mist. Momentarily giving up, they decide to break for a brief rest. As Ash wanders deeper into the wood, searching for firewood, he happens across a young boy being bullied by five classmates gathered around him. Eavesdropping on their conversation, Ash learns that the boys are attending a preparatory school for Pokémon trainers. Graduates from the school are automatically qualified to participate in the Pokémon League without travelling around and collecting any badges. Ash, Misty, and Brock head to the school and do not agree with some of their ideas of training, something their "leader" does not take well.

Arriving at a canyon to find an old fashioned fossil hunt, Ash, Gary and the gang decide to join in. But Team Rocket arrives and intends to blow the canyon up. Ash, Pikachu, and Team Rocket fall into a pit which is full of awakened ancient Pokémon. Their only hope rests in Ash's disobedient Charmeleon, which evolves into a powerful, yet still disobedient Charizard to defeat a raging Aerodactyl. In the end, the ancient Pokémon are sealed away once more (along with a terrified Team Rocket) and Officer Jenny dismisses the entire event as a side effect caused by Jigglypuff's singing. Ash, however, finds a rare Pokémon egg in the chaos and keeps it.

Ash and friends are still on their way to Vermilion City and still lost. They stop by a pond for a break when they see an Oddish taking a drink. Ash and Misty try to catch it but they are stopped by a mysterious Bulbasaur who rescues the Oddish. They continue on their journey and keep getting caught in traps, until the Bulbasaur's owner, Melanie, finds them, saves them and brings them back to her cabin. It turns out that she helps injured, sick, and abandoned Pokémon, and they decide to help. Meanwhile, Team Rocket decides to steal all the Pokémon, while Brock wonders if he should stay with Melanie. In the end, Melanie gives Bulbasaur to Ash, but not until Bulbasaur challenges Ash and Pikachu to a battle.

While on the road to Vermilion City, Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu come across a Charmander sitting on a rock. Ash tries to catch it, but it turns out it has a trainer and cannot be captured, so they head to the Pokémon Center. At the Pokémon Center, a hotshot trainer named Damian is bragging about how he left his Charmander behind, promising to come back for it when he means to abandon it for being weak in his eyes. After hearing this, Ash and Brock head back out to get the poor Pokémon as a rainstorm threatens its very life. After a battle with Team Rocket, where Damian witnesses Charmander defeating them, Damian tries to get Charmander to come back to him, but the Pokémon's loyalty now belongs to Ash. Ash captures Charmander, gaining a new friend and Pokémon.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu become the victims of pranks played by a gang of Squirtle known as the Squirtle Squad. They end up falling down a hole, and are even eventually captured by them. It turns out that they are working together with Team Rocket. When Pikachu is severely injured, the Squirtle lets Ash out to get medicine from town, but must return soon or his friends will be trapped by the Squirtle Squad forever. In the end, the Squirtle Squad saves the town from a fire started by Team Rocket and Squirtle joins Ash on his further adventures.

When a Krabby that Ash catches disappears, he goes to a nearby lighthouse to see if it reached Professor Oak's lab. The keeper of the lighthouse is Bill, a Pokémon researcher who is searching for a mysterious Pokémon that sometimes appears by his lighthouse. Just as this mysterious Pokémon answers Bill's call and approaches the lighthouse, Team Rocket appears and tries to capture it. Injured, the Pokémon loses its trust of Bill and vanishes forever, though Bill intends to keep an eye out in case it ever appears again.

Ash finally arrives in Vermilion City and is ready to prove that he can defeat its Gym Leader Lt. Surge. However, Ash discovers that many trainers fail to defeat Lt. Surge. Ash is easily defeated in a battle with Lt. Surge and his Raichu. After contemplating evolving Pikachu into Raichu as well, Ash decides to use Pikachu's speed to his advantage in his next battle, defeating Lt. Surge and winning the Thunder Badge.

Ash wins a ticket to take a trip on a luxury cruise ship, the St. Anne. Ash enjoys the journey, even trading Butterfree for a Raticate, but feels guilty afterwards and asks for Butterfree back. However, the whole cruise is a scheme devised by Team Rocket, who plans to steal the Pokémon of all the trainers on board. During the confusion, James purchases a Magikarp from a devious salesman, under the impression it will make him rich, unaware of Magikarp's true nature. After Team Rocket's plans fail, the St. Anne is hit by a powerful storm. Ash loses his Butterfree's PokéBall in the confusion and goes to get it, just as James tries to retrieve Magikarp's PokéBall, and both groups are knocked unconscious while the rest of the passengers escape safely.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and Pikachu wake up aboard the St. Anne, discovering it has capsized and sunk. Elsewhere, Jessie, James, and Meowth wake up as well, and in an attempt to escape only flood the area that they are in. When Ash and his friends find Team Rocket, the group decides to put their differences aside to escape safely, after an attempted battle nearly causes the ship to sink farther. After traversing the ship, they find a weak part of the hull to escape from, using Misty and Ash's water Pokémon to escape, while Team Rocket uses James' Magikarp, unaware that it cannot swim. After making it to the surface on some debris, the group discovers Team Rocket, once more, and after a day stranded, decide to eat Magikarp, only discovering that it has no meat on it. In anger, James kicks Magikarp off the raft and it evolves into Gyarados. It calls a group of other Gyarados to attack the group, and everyone is stranded once more.

After being hit by a Dragon Rage attack from James' newly evolved Gyarados while at sea, the humans are separated from their Pokémon on an island that is inhabited by giant Pokémon. Pikachu, Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Meowth, Ekans, and Koffing try to make their way back to their trainers, while the trainers and their Pokémon escape the giant Pokémon, unaware that they have all landed on an island owned by Team Rocket to house a theme park dedicated to a giant robotic Pokémon. Note: This seems to date to be the only episode in which subtitles are used to help the viewer understand what the Pokémon are saying.

Ash and his friends have finally arrived in Porta Vista, a beachside tourist town. After destroying an old man's ship, they must help in the old man's business. To attempt to pay the man back faster, Misty enters a beauty contest, only to discover she is competing against Jessie and James (with fake breasts - All scenes with this were cut in the U.S. airing, when it was finally aired). Before being broadcast in the U.S. as a "lost episode", this episode was deemed controversial, due to James having inflatable breasts.

Stuck in Porta Vista because they missed the boat, Ash and friends sit around waiting for the next boat and witness a great explosion. They later discover that it is a group of Tentacool that is attacking the city since construction is destroying their reef. Misty manages to appease the giant Tentacruel. She catches a Horsea that was being harassed by the Tentacool.[c]

The boat that Ash and his friends arrive in the port city of Maiden's Peak to attend the Summer's End Festival. Brock and James both fall for a beautiful girl standing by the sea who disappears. Ash, Misty, and Team Rocket learn that she is the ghost of a maiden who waited for her lover to return from an ancient war and eventually turned into stone. While trying to protect Brock and James with some stickers bought from an old woman, the maiden reveals herself as the old woman, who in turn reveals herself to be Gastly, a ghost Pokémon. Ash tries to fight Gastly to release James and Brock from its spell but fails, until the sun rises and Gastly is forced to disappear. It is revealed that the ghost of the maiden actually exists and is a friend of Gastly, and is still waiting for the one she loves to return.

As the group continues on their way to Saffron City, they notice a flock of Butterfree out over the ocean. Brock informs Ash that it is the mating season for all of the Butterfree. Ash decides to release his Butterfree so that it can mate. However, Team Rocket has plans to steal them all. Ash's Butterfree bravely frees all the Butterfree and in the end, Ash releases it.

Ash and his friends finally arrive in Saffron City, but before Ash can enter the Saffron Gym he is warned by a strange man not to go in. Ash enters anyway to discover a strange training facility for people with psychic powers. Ash challenges Sabrina, the Saffron City Gym Leader and her Abra who evolves into Kadabra, and loses. Ash and his friends are transported into a toy box set and forced to play with a dangerous little girl. The group is rescued by the strange man who gives Ash a tip: He may be able to beat Sabrina with a Ghost Pokémon from Lavender Town.

Team Rocket encounters the Ghost Pokémon in a haunted tower while setting a trap for Ash and his friends, and end up getting frightened away. Ash and Pikachu enter alone since Ash's friends are afraid to go in. Inside, Ash and Pikachu are the victims of pranks by a Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar looking for playmates. After being crushed under a falling chandelier, Haunter turns Ash and Pikachu into ghosts where they have some fun, though Ash asks them to send him back after seeing Misty and Brock cry over his lifeless body. Ash and Pikachu are brought back to life and Haunter decides to follow Ash as his new Pokémon.[d]

Ash and his friends go back to Saffron City ready to try again for the Marsh Badge in the Gym. Ash asks Haunter for help to defeat Sabrina but Haunter disappears during the match. Brock and Misty get turned into dolls, and Ash is rescued just in time by the mysterious man. The man (who is really Sabrina's father) reveals that Sabrina has two personalities – one of the cold and unfeeling trainer, the other of the repressed little girl, who also turned her mother into a doll. The only way to defeat Sabrina is to make her smile again. During the next match, Haunter suddenly appears in front of Sabrina while Kadabra and Pikachu are battling. Sabrina and her Kadabra become unable to battle after being sent into peals of laughter by Haunter, giving Ash the victory. Haunter chooses to stay with Sabrina and her reunited family.

As Ash is on his way towards Celadon City, he encounters a Mankey. The Mankey starts chasing him and steals Ash's hat. Ash tries to get it back and fails. Team Rocket arrives to get Pikachu and when Mankey walks by, James kicks it away and in its anger, evolves into Primeape. After remembering the poem Professor Oak said, Ash captures it.

When Ash reaches the Celadon Gym, he is kicked out because of his hatred for perfume, so with the help of Team Rocket (who plotted to steal Erika's special perfume), Ash sneaks into the gym disguised as a girl. In the gym, his disguise is ruined by Misty, Brock, and Pikachu, but the Gym Leader, Erika grants him a battle. During the battle, Team Rocket interrupts and sets the gym on fire. After rescuing Erika's Gloom, Ash is presented with the Rainbow Badge.

Ash and his friends arrive at a town where many of the town's children are disappearing. They discover that a Hypno, a hypnotic Pokémon, is responsible. Adults in the town have come to help their insomnia by being put to sleep by Hypno. However there is a side effect, making the children think they are different Pokémon and run away and put real Pokémon to sleep. Ash stops Team Rocket from stealing Hypno and uses the Pokémon Drowzee to bring all the children and Pokémon back to normal. A useless Psyduck follows Misty around, and after she drops a PokéBall, Psyduck activates it and captures itself, much to Misty's dismay. Note: The flashback was originally from "Pokémon – I Choose You!" in the original Japanese and the flashback was changed with "Beauty and the Beach" (which was aired on June 24, 2000 in the United States) in the English dub.

Team Rocket plans a scheme to steal many Pokémon by opening a grooming shop. Ash and his friends meet Susie, a famous Pokémon breeder. In the end, Brock gains a Vulpix when Susie tells him to look after it as she goes off to learn more about Pokémon breeding.

After meeting Rebecca, a girl whose father Anthony is more concerned about training his fighting Pokémon Hitmonchan at the gym instead of Rebecca, Ash enters a Fighting Pokémon-only tournament with his Primeape. Team Rocket also enters and resorts to cheating, stealing another man's Hitmonlee, in order to win. After learning how much his daughter means to him and losing, Anthony promises to train Ash's Primeape, the tournament's winner, to make him stronger, so Ash gives it away and promises to return.

The group arrives in Gringy City where everything is dark and gloomy. A Magnemite follows Pikachu everywhere ever since he caught a peculiar illness. Grimer and Muk block a turbine in a local power plant, which causes the power in the Pokémon Center to go out. Ash captures Muk and Pikachu is cured of his cold.

Ash finds himself among a group of Pokémon Trainers hired to protect a construction site from the interfering ground Pokémon, Diglett. The construction is shut down after it is revealed that the Diglett and Dugtrio are trying to protect their home. Jessie's Ekans and James' Koffing evolve into Arbok and Weezing respectively.

The group finds a strange-looking ninja-style mansion. They explore it and encounter various traps. Soon, they discover that this is the Fuchsia Gym and Ash battles Koga, the Gym Leader, for the Soul Badge. When Team Rocket disrupts their battle, Misty discovers how powerful her Psyduck really is.

The group arrive at the Laramie Ranch where a family of ranchers, with their daughter, Lara and her Ponyta, prepares for an annual Pokémon race. Ash takes over as Ponyta's rider when Lara gets hurt due to Team Rocket's interference. Then, Team Rocket helps a rival competitor called Dario to win the race by setting up traps for other participants. As the race continues, however, Ponyta evolves into Rapidash and wins the race.

Ash and his friends arrive at the Safari Zone, unaware that the part they have entered is a protected preserve when an Officer Jenny disguised as Chansey nearly arrests them for poaching. They come across a wild boy named Tommy that leads a herd of Kangaskhan and eventually find Tommy's parents, who were searching for him since he was only three. Unfortunately, Tommy thinks that the Kangaskhan are his family. After battling Team Rocket, Tommy's parents also become part of the Kangaskhan family.

Ash and his friends get challenged by Team Rocket in seeing who can capture the most Pokémon within the Safari Zone, with Ash catching a whole herd of Tauros. As soon as Ash and his friends head out Pokémon hunting, Team Rocket manages to get the drop on the game warden (Mr. Kaiza) and forces him into giving up the location on where Dratini is (the Dragon Valley). In the end, Ash, his friends, Team Rocket, and Kaiza end up seeing the legendary Dratini and Dragonair, with the heroes saving the day. This episode was deemed controversial, due to the use of guns, which causes confusion because Ash captures thirty Tauros.

Continuing their journey, the group came across a bridge which could be used as a shortcut to the next town. They soon discover that the bridge is too long to walk and they would need bicycles to cross. They go to the Pokémon Center where Nurse Joy asks them to take some medicine to a sick Pokémon across the bridge. On their way, a bicycle gang appears to cause trouble and Team Rocket is helping them. When Ash and his friends decide to cross the bridge during a storm, the bicyclists realize that they are acting selflessly, and help them.

During a storm, Ash and his friends arrive at a mysterious mansion. While there, Ash meets Duplica, a girl who is an expert at impersonation, and she happens to own Ditto, a Pokémon that can transform into any Pokémon. However, Ditto cannot seem to figure out how to change its face, a fact that stopped Duplica's variety show. As they all try to help Ditto perfect its transformation, Team Rocket tries to steal the Ditto so it can transform into a Dratini which they can give to the boss.

Satoshi and his friends arrive at Pokémon Center where the Monster Ball transfer machine has been causing problems, as the transferred Pokémon never end up at the other side. Satoshi and his friends decide to accompany Porygon, a computerized Pokémon, used by Professor Akihabara to investigate the problem, only to discover Rocket-dan and another Porygon are to blame. This episode was deemed controversial due to a scene with red and blue strobe lights causing a huge pair of seizures on Japanese viewers. The episode has also since been removed from rotation within Japan.

The group come into a forest where it is quiet and peaceful. They notice a large group of Pikachu that Ash's Pikachu tries to make friends with. After saving a young Pikachu from drowning and rescuing the herd from Team Rocket, Ash's Pikachu is welcomed among the other Pikachu as one of their own. Saddened by this sudden distance, Ash tries to leave Pikachu behind (to Misty and Brock's shock and dismay), thinking that in the long run, it is going to be better off with its own kind. As they attempt to leave the forest with Ash still standing his ground on leaving Pikachu, the three friends are surprised when Pikachu returns to them, flanked by the other wild Pikachu including the younger Pikachu it risked its life to save earlier. The episode ends with Ash and Pikachu having an emotional reunion and hugging one another while the rest of the wild Pikachu cheer for the two of them as Brock and Misty look on.

While traveling through the woods, the group encounters an Eevee that was apparently abandoned near a tree. They take it to its address in Stone Town and find it belongs to a little boy named Mikey. His three brothers are pressuring him into evolving his Eevee into one of three forms—Jolteon, Vaporeon, or Flareon—at an Evolution Party, where everyone uses Evolution Stones to evolve their Pokémon. However, the Evolution Party is disrupted by Team Rocket, and Mikey manages to use Eevee on its own to show his brothers that he does not need to evolve his beloved Eevee.

Ash and his friends arrive at a town which is having problems with their water source. It seems that a Snorlax is blocking the water path. Team Rocket plans to capture the Snorlax, but Ash and his friends find help from an unexpected source.

Upon entering Dark City, Ash and his friends discover that Pokémon Trainers aren't liked due to two rival Gyms who involve Ash and his friends as well as Team Rocket in their feuds to become the city's legitimate Pokémon Gym.

Ash and his friends find a Jigglypuff in the forest who is too shy to sing its hypnotic song. Brock gives Jigglypuff a fruit that heals its throat to make it able to sing, but Ash, his friends and Team Rocket fall asleep to the song, angering Jigglypuff. Team Rocket tricks Ash and his friends into giving Jigglypuff a stage to perform its song for an audience in Neon Town, whose inhabitants Team Rocket intends to steal from. Everyone falls asleep, including Ash, his friends, and Team Rocket, and a miffed Jigglypuff uses the marker hidden in its microphone to draw on everyone's sleeping faces. From this point on, Jigglypuff follows Ash around trying to sing its song to a crowd that will not fall asleep in almost every episode.

After Pikachu gets an apple stuck in its throat, Ash and his friends rush it to a Pokémon Center. After being treated, they hear of a traffic accident (caused by Team Rocket) that has left many Pokémon injured so Ash and the gang are recruited to help treat the Pokémon.

After finding a missing person sign featuring James, Ash and his friends decide to find James and inform him of his parents' death. However James' parents turn out to be alive, and their death was only a decoy to get him to return home to the rich Jessie-look-alike Jessebelle, a girl James was arranged to marry from when he was a little child. James has left because Jessebelle is terrifying, so everyone tries to save James from this fate, including James' old pet Growlithe, Growlie.

When Misty's PokéBalls are stolen by Farfetch'd, Ash and the gang investigate to try to find the thief and get all the stolen things back. Note this episode was originally aired out of order.

When the egg Ash found hatches into a brand new Pokémon, Togepi, everyone wants to own it. They decide to have a small Pokémon Tournament. Ash, who found it, claims he should be the one to keep it. In the end, Ash wins the tournament, but since Misty was the first person Togepi saw when he hatched, he thinks she is his mother and stays with her.

When Ash's Bulbasaur gets injured in a battle, it starts to feel and act different. Ash takes Bulbasaur to a Pokémon Center and is informed that Bulbasaur is just ready to evolve, coinciding with an evolution festival where Bulbasaur from around the region evolve into Ivysaur in the Mysterious Garden. Ash's Bulbasaur gets kidnapped by a group of Bulbasaur and taken to the festival against its will, but Bulbasaur refuses to evolve.

It is the Queen of the Princess Festival and Misty and Jessie are going all out for it. After hours of shopping, they both decide to enter the Queen of the Princess Festival Battle Tournament to win the dolls they both coveted when they were children.

Ash and his friends arrive at a small school on Kids' Day and let the children play with their Pokémon. One of the children only wants to meet Meowth after being saved by a wild one from a Beedrill. Team Rocket's Meowth pretends to be his hero, but is soon caught by Misty. Later, Timmy is saved again by the wild Meowth.

When Ash and his friends see a group of Growlithe training against a policeman posing as a robber, Ash decides for him and Pikachu to do the same training to become the best they can be. However, when Team Rocket comes to steal the Growlithe, Officer Jenny's voice gets changed, causing the Growlithe to think that Team Rocket are the Officers as they use their ears to follow command.

While eating Brock's riceballs, Ash hears a shutter which he thinks is a gun. It's really a camera belonging to a photographer named Todd. Todd was hired by Team Rocket to capture Pikachu, but he thinks they want him to capture a picture of him. After the confusion, Todd joins the group.

While traveling, Ash notes it has been a long time since his last Badge, so Todd suggests he takes the Pokémon League exam. Passing the exam would get him an immediate entry into the competition. But Ash being over confident of himself of passing the exam he totally fails in the first and second tests. In the third test, Team Rocket interferes the match and uses their given Pokémon to take revenge on the examiner for giving them a hard time on the first and second tests. In the end the examiner commands their given Pokémon to attack Team Rocket instead of himself, which sends them blasting off again.

After putting Psyduck in a breeding center, Misty learns that she needs it to get some food from a generous chef. But when she goes to get it, Ash and the gang discover a diabolical plot by two other Team Rocket members, Cassidy and Butch, who are trying to steal Pokémon, and in doing so, Ash and his friends get framed by Cassidy and Butch.

After reaching Cinnabar Island, Ash, Brock, and Misty are dismayed to find that the Gym has closed due to crowds of tourists coming to the island and lack of serious trainers. Desperate for his seventh badge, Ash goes around and meets a riddle master who gives him clues about the real Gym's secret location. After finding the Gym in the island's volcano, the riddle master appears and reveals that he is actually Blaine, the Gym Leader Ash has been searching for. Ash begins his battle against Blaine with his first Pokémon, Squirtle who loses to Blaine's Ninetales and Charizard simply refusing to battle Blaine's Rhydon. Eventually, Pikachu wins against Rhydon but Blaine has a secret weapon up his sleeve in the form of the Fire Pokémon, Magmar. With Pikachu's electric attacks rendered useless, Magmar pushes Pikachu closer and closer to the edge of the battlefield. The episode ends in a cliffhanger as it shows Pikachu standing, determined as Magmar's Fire Blast, the most powerful attack that Fire Pokémon have edges ever closer to the Electric Mouse.

Pikachu successfully dodges Magmar's Fire Blast but is left hanging over the edge and is left injured. Upon realizing that no Gym Badge is worth losing Pikachu and that he would be disqualified if he continues, Ash forfeits the match but vows not to leave Cinnabar Island until he has beaten both Blaine and Magmar in a rematch and won the Volcano Badge. But when the Gym and island come under threat after Team Rocket's interference, Ash, Ash's friends, and Blaine's Pokémon work together and eventually triumph in preventing the volcano from blowing which would destroy the island. As thanks, Blaine agrees to have a rematch with Ash. Ash's Charizard decides to battle Magmar in a one-on-one match to the surprise of Ash and his friends. After an intense battle where Ash looks set to lose, Charizard manages to turn things around by using its Seismic Toss which results in Magmar being knocked out and finally granting Ash his Volcano Badge.

On their way back to the mainland, Ash accidentally runs into a Wartortle that is trying to help its king Blastoise, a ruler of a small island that will not awake from its slumber. Squirtle dons his old persona as head of the Squirtle Squad to solve the case. It turns out Jigglypuff is stuck in one of Blastoise's blasters.

Upon returning to Cerulean City, Misty is asked by her sisters to help out with a new underwater show. She decides to help for this underwater play with her Pokémon, but Team Rocket arrives and try to ruin things. At the end of the episode, Misty leaves her Starmie and Horsea with her sisters to assist in further shows.

In Viridian City, Ash and his friends are victims to several thefts by some Clefairy. While investigating with Mr. Oswald, they discover the Clefairy are building a spaceship.

Ash goes to the Gym in Viridian City, but Gary gets in there before him and challenges the Gym Leader for his own satisfaction, as he has already won ten Gym Badges. The Gym Leader, Team Rocket's commander Giovanni, agrees to the fight, eventually using a never before seen Pokémon (Mewtwo), which the Pokédex cannot identify, to easily defeat Gary. Team Rocket kidnaps and tries to give Togepi to Giovanni, but Giovanni thinks it is useless. Giovanni leaves the Gym with Mewtwo to sort out an emergency and puts Jessie, James, and Meowth in charge. Ash challenges them and wins the battle, but Team Rocket refuses to give Ash the Earth Badge, his eighth and final badge. Togepi sends them blasting off when it plays with the controls, and Team Rocket drops the Earth Badge for Ash to catch.

Upon heading back to Pallet Town, Ash and his friends see a Mr. Mime trying to escape from a trainer who runs a circus. Unable to get the circus' overweight Mr. Mime to act, Ash and the gang have to find another one to take its place. The gang choose to dress up Ash so he can look like a Mr. Mime. Meanwhile, the Mr. Mime from earlier comes to the Ketchum residence and is mistaken by Mrs. Ketchum for Ash.

Ash, Misty, Brock, and their Pokémon must return a lost Jynx to Santa before Christmas, with the help of a Lapras. Meanwhile, Jessie attempts to take revenge on Santa for stealing her favorite doll when she was young

Ash and his friends are trapped in a snowstorm. Brock suggests that the group uses his Onix to create a bivouac. They are about to start when a strong gust of wind blows Pikachu away, and Ash tries to save him. After saving Pikachu who is about to fall off a cliff, Ash finds himself separated from the rest of the group. He and his other Pokémon must brave out the rest of the storm together in a cave.

Back in Pallet Town, Ash finds Gary, already there, waiting to partake in the Pokémon League. Always having a bitter rivalry with Gary, Professor Oak tells them both the meaning of Pokémon. Meanwhile, Team Rocket is trying to get inside the lab to steal the Pokémon after their headquarters is destroyed by Mewtwo.

Ash goes to Seafoam Island to help Professor Oak to discover the mystery of how Slowpoke evolves into Slowbro. There, Professor Westwood V is also trying to solve the mystery. Jessie captures Shellder, and tries to rush a Slowpoke's evolution, forcing Psyduck to stall the evolution.

Ash and his friends take some time off to go surfing. While surfing, however, Ash passes out, but is thankfully rescued by a surfer named Victor and his blue-eyed Pikachu, Puka. Victor then reveals his plans to surf a tsunami called Humungadunga and become a surfing legend.

Ash goes to a large greenhouse called the Xanadu Nursery to get some fertilizer for his mother, but Bulbasaur sniffs the flowers and becomes paralyzed.

Ash, his friends, and Team Rocket audition their Pokémon for the costarring role in a movie with an all-Pokémon cast. Misty's Psyduck wins the part by default when the other competitors are unable to handle the film's star, a prima donna Wigglytuff.

Ash, his friends, and Delia go to Hollywood to see the premiere of the movie their Pokémon were cast in. Team Rocket follows them to find out that Meowth has history in this town; It is here where he was a member of a gang of street Meowths led by the Persian. He learned to speak and walk upright to win the heart of a female Meowth who was abandoned by her owner. Upon returning, he challenges Persian who was once his mentor for the female Meowth he thought he lost years before.

After watching Elite Four member Bruno on TV, Ash and his friends decide to do training in the mountains to be as strong as Bruno. However, they meet Bruno and he manipulates them to do some menial tasks for him. Meanwhile, a giant Onix is on a rampage.

While training, Ash and his friends accidentally uncover the ruins of Pokémopolis, an ancient city. A giant Gengar and a giant Alakazam who were respectively trapped inside a "dark device" and a strange urn are awakened. The two start to fight one another when a giant Jigglypuff appears and puts them to sleep.

Ash and his friends offer to help Otoshi, a trainer that is heading for the Pokémon League, to retrieve his stolen gym badges from Team Rocket.

Ash finally reaches the Indigo Plateau, home of the Pokémon League conference. Before the tournament begins, they plan on lighting a ceremonial cauldron with the flame of the legendary Pokémon, Moltres. Ash, as a participant, is free to carry the flame but when Team Rocket steals it, the tournament may be cancelled.

Ash enters his first match of the tournament on the water field against Mandi the Astounding. During the battle against Mandi's Exeggutor, Ash's Krabby evolves into Kingler, who he then uses against Mandi's remaining Seadra and Golbat, winning the match and moving onto the next preliminary round.

For the second round Ash battles in the rock arena. Ash's last Pokémon, Squirtle, defeats his foe's last Pokémon, Nidorino, and he, victorious, moves on to Round 3. In the third round, Ash faces a trainer named Pete in the ice arena. Both trainers are left with 2 Pokémon each. Pete uses Cloyster and Arcanine. In the end, Ash is victorious and he moves on to Round 4.

During the 4th Round, Gary ends up losing to a trainer named Melissa after Gary's Nidoking is defeated by Melissa's Golem. Meanwhile, Ash faces against his toughest opponent yet, a trainer named Jeanette, who uses a Beedrill, a Scyther, and a Bellsprout. After a hard fought battle, the match ends with Ash victorious, and he moves on to the 5th round, becoming one of the final sixteen members of the tournament.

Ash meets a new trainer named Richie, who is eerily similar to Ash, including owning a Pikachu. However, Team Rocket makes another attempt to steal Ash's and Richie's Pokémon. Ash and Richie prevent Team Rocket from stealing their Pokémon. Ash discovers his next battle is against Richie.

After making a promise with Richie that he will have the best battle of his life, Ash is given the choice between letting Team Rocket steal Pikachu or missing his battle with Richie. Ash is not about to let Team Rocket make him break the promise he made with Richie, so he is able to eventually rescue Pikachu and get to the stadium in time. However, he loses due to his Charizard refusing his orders in the final stretch of his battle against Richie. Richie moves on to the quarterfinals.

After losing to Richie in the fifth round, Ash is moping around, annoyed that he lost. He is convinced by Misty that he should support Richie who is now in the quarterfinals. However, when Richie loses, they both have to look inside themselves to see if they are good trainers.