The first "Pokémon" TV series, after it had been dubbed and re-edited, first appeared in North America on September 8, 1998. The series followed a 10-year-old boy named Ash Ketchum (Veronica Taylor), who dreams of being a Pokémon Master. He lives in a universe that doesn't only contain ordinary animals like dogs and cats, but a menagerie of Pokémon — pocket monsters — that possess human-like intelligence and eerie superpowers. Thanks to the high-tech wonders of this world, Pokémon can be converted into energy and stored inside baseball-sized stasis containers called Pokéballs. Owners of Pokémon can release them from their Pokéballs and force them to fight in high-stakes cockfighting matches.

When a kid turns 10 in the world of "Pokémon," they are allowed to adopt one Pokémon of their own, and take to the roads with nothing more than a backpack and a bedroll. They spend their lives wandering the countryside, essentially homeless, challenging other Pokémon owners to duels.