Ash
is a boy from pallet town. when a child becomes ten years old they can get a
starter pokemon from 
Professor
Oak and begin pokemon training. Pokemon trainers compete for badges at pokemon
gyms and once they have acquired eight badges they can join the Pokemon League
and if they win they are declared a Pokemon Master. In Ashes excitement he
is late for his appointment at Professor Oak's and all the starter pokemon are
taken all but a very unusual and disagreeable 
Pikachu.
After arguing with 
Gary
Oak Ash's rival Ash begins his journey to become a pokemon master with a disastrous
start while being chased by a flock of spearow Ash steals and destroys a young
girls bike that girl is 
Misty
who wanting ash to pay her back for the bike begins to follow him. The two of
them rush Pikachu, who was injured fighting the spearow flock, to the nearest
Pokemon Center. there they meet up with 
Team
Rocket a gang bent on stealing pokemon for profit after fighting them off and
protecting the sick pokemon in the Pokemon Center they the three of them (Ash,
Misty, & Pikachu) continue there journey to the first pokemon gym there ash
battles the gym leader 
Brock
and defeats him. after Brock is defeated he decides to realize his dream of
becoming a Pokemon Breeder and heads out with Ash, Misty, and Pikachu. This is
the start of the pokemon adventures.
When pokemon started there where 151 known pokemon. There are 251 Pokemon known today information on all of them is stored in Ash's Pokedex named Dexter.
The pokemon story has progressed quite a bit in the years it has been around. several things have happened to progress the plot such as Brock leaving the show and Tracy joining it for the 4 badge orange island adventure later Brock comes back for the 8 badge johto league. Ash has lost and won his share of battles too. he lost in the Pokemon League but won the Orange League. He is currently working on the Johto League.
There has been 4 pokemon movies. The first was Pokemon The First Movie - Mewtwo Strikes Back which told the story of mew and mewtwo's battle for humanity and an understanding of there existence. The second was Pokemon 2000 - The Power Of One which told the story of the four legendary birds Zapdos, Maltress, Articuno, and Lugia and how an evil man wished to catch them all which would destroy the world in the process. The third movie is called Pokemon The Movie 3 - Unknown and tells the story of the ancient pokemon #201 Unknown and #244 Entei. The fourth movie is called Pokemon: Mewtwo Returns and is a sequel to Pokemon The First Movie. In this movie Mewtwo and his super clones find a remote place to live but Giovanni wishes to recapture them so Ash, Misty, and Brock team up with Mewtwo and try to stop him. The 5th movie, is called Pokemon 4ever and is about Celibi(#251) and its ability to travel through time; Hurling a young boy from the past into the future to meet Ash, Misty, & Brock, who then help the young boy to save Celibi from a poacher.
There has also tons of pokemon merchandise and of course the video games and card game. The Pokemon Red, Green, and Blue games are what started the pokemon craze these where followed up by Pokemon Pinball, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Stadium, Pokemon Trading Card Game, Pokemon Puzzle League, Hey You Pikachu, Pokemon Puzzle Challenge, Pokemon Gold and Silver, Pokemon Mini and soon Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. The trading card game has had its share of changes too. It started has the Base Set containing 102 cards followed by Jungle with 64 cards then Fossil with 62 cards then Team Rocket with 82 cards. Then following the discontinuation of Base Set and Jungle came Base Set 2 which replaces 130 cards of those two sets. Later came the two gym leader sets called Gym Heroes with 132 cards and Gym Challenge with 132 cards. Most recently to coincide with Pokemon Gold and Silver and Johto came the Neo sets, Neo Genesis with 111 cards, Neo Discovery with 75 cards, Neo Revelation with 66 cards, and Neo Destiny with 113 cards. Also to meet demands for legendary Pokemon Wizards released Legendary Collection with 110 cards. And a new adaptation to the card game to coincide with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire that makes it digital called Pokemon-e Expedition with 165 cards and uses Card-e. To go with the card game is the official Pokemon Trading Card Game League which is fantastic.
Trading card game information can be gotten from Wizards Of The Coast
If you use IRC come visit us on Undernet at #pokemonleague
