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. Note: The English dub for this episode was initially banned because James was crossdressing with inflatable breasts, among other sexual themes. It did not air until June 24, 2000 on Kids' WB, albeit with all suggestive scenes edited. Misty and Jessie are go all out for the Queen of the Princess Festival. 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.

Indigo League • Adventures in the Orange Islands • The Johto Journeys • Johto League Champions • Master Quest The episodes of this season were originally released as a collection of 26 individual DVDs and VHS released by Viz Video and Pioneer Entertainment between December 13, 1998, and January 23, 2001. [3] [4] The Indigo League single releases were released by Warner Bros. in the United Kingdom on VHS. Only the first 33 episodes of Indigo League have been released on VHS in the United Kingdom.

Note: This episode was not dubbed into English, due to scenes involving guns being pointed at one another. However, the exclusion resulted in continuity errors, and guns had been featured in the English dubbed season previously and after. Directors: Kunihiko Yuyama , Masamitsu Hidaka , Jim Malone , Tony Salerno , Jason Bergenfeld , Eric Stuart After losing to Ritchie in the fifth round, Ash is moping around, annoyed that he lost. He is convinced by Misty that he should support Ritchie who is now in the quarterfinals. However, when Ritchie loses, they both have to look inside themselves to see if they are good trainers. Note: This episode was controversial due to a scene with red and blue strobe lights causing a wave of seizures and other ill effects in viewers; [1] as a result of the controversy, the show took a broadcast hiatus for four months. The episode has since been pulled from rotation worldwide.

Ash finally arrives in Vermilion City and is ready to prove that he can defeat its gym leader, Lt. Surge, along with the leader's Raichu. However, Ash discovers that many trainers nearly lost their Pokémon to defeat Lt. Surge, who taunts Ash for not evolving his Pikachu. Ash must train his Pikachu's speed to defeat Lt. Surge and win the Thunder Badge.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 ( ルミカ, Rumika), 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. Note 2: Originally scheduled to air in Japan on December 23, 1997, the week after Cyber Soldier Porygon, but was preempted due to the broadcast hiatus that followed the airing of that episode. Ash and his friends finally arrive in Saffron City, but he is warned by a strange man not to go into the Gym. Ash enters anyway to discover a strange training facility for people with psychic powers. Ash challenges and loses to Sabrina, the emotionless Saffron City gym leader, and her Abra, who evolves into Kadabra. 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, after failing to convince Ash to give up on defeating Sabrina, gives him a tip: He may be able to beat Sabrina with a Ghost Pokémon from Lavender Town. Original series • Advanced Generation • Diamond & Pearl • Best Wishes! • XY • Sun & Moon • New series Starring: Rica Matsumoto , Ikue Ôtani , Yûji Ueda , Shin'ichirô Miki , Megumi Hayashibara , Inuko Inuyama