This is the Very first episode of pokemon released in Japan. The episode starts off with a battle between a Nidorino and a Gengar. AS it turns out, a young boy is watching the fight on TV. He name is Ash Ketchum, a boy from Pallet town.

Ash wants to be the best pokemon master in the world, but he has not started training yet. He is getting his pokemon liscence the next day from the town's pokemon expert, Professor Samuel Oak, so he is very excited. As Ash is watching the match, Deliah Ketchum, Ash's mother, comes in and sends him to bed after pokemon news. Ash dreams of the the three pokemon available for beginners, and that he will get one the next morning.

In the dead of night, while dreaming of the pokemon squirtle, Ash breaks his pokeball clock, and wakes up at three in the afternoon, making him very late. As Ash runs to the pokemon laboratory in his pajamas, he is just in time to see Gary Oak, the professor's Grandson, leaving with his new pokemon. The professor finds Ash outside and invites him in to recive his pokemon.

As luck would have it, all of the pokemon, save one, were taken. The not taken pokemon was a strange Pikachu the professor got, and it was passed down to Ash. Their first meeting was shocking. The Professor gave Ash pokeballs, and a valuable pokedex. After the lab incident, Ash met a group of supporters cheering him on as he left Pallet town to start his pokemon journey.

Pikachu does not seem to like Ash, as he can't put Pikachu in a pokeball, and that he has to wear pink gloves and drag Pikachu by a clothesline. After Ash removed the line, he found a pidgey pecking in the nearby grass. Ash tried to catch it without Pikachu's help, using a bunch of silly methods. While this was going on, Ash noticed a Rattata trying to raid his backpack.

Frustrated, Ash noticed three pidgeys in the grass, and he threw a rock at them. He also threw a rock at a single pidgey, which turned out to be a spearow. The Spearow attacked Ash, but then Pikachu, who Shocked the Spearow. Spearow, angry, called a huge flock of Spearows that chased ash and Pikachu.

Ash and Pikachu fell into a river, and they were fished out by a girl named Misty. Pikachu was hurt by the spearows, and in need of a pokemon center. After some argueing by Ash and Misty, the Spearows appeared, and Ash took Misty's bike in a effort to save pikachu from them.

After bikeing a while, It began to rain, and the Spearows were catching up. Ash hit a rock, and he and pikachu went flying. Ash defended Pikachu to the end, offering himself to the Spearows. As he was doing this, Pikachu used a Thunder attack, and knocked out the whole flock. As as walked down the road, he and pikachu came to Viridian City, a place that had a pokemon center. Pikachu licked Ash, and their friendship began.