Pokémon is the biggest franchise on the planet. It's been going on for decades, ranging from games to Manga to Anime shows and movies. There are entire generations of fans that have grown up with the story of the Pocket Monsters, and for whom some of the fondest memories of childhood are watching the Pokémon show in the afternoon.

The Pokémon TV show differed in many ways from the video games, which came before it and which laid the foundation for the Pokémon universe. With the show, the focus was on ten-year-old Ash Ketchum, who's one great burning desire is to become the best Pokémon trainer in the world.

To help Ash on his journey, he had the support of loyal friends Misty and Brock, as well as a range of Pokémon to fight at Ash's side. The most popular of these Pokémon is, of course, Ash's personal favorite, Pikachu. The furry little hamster lookalike with the electricity attack has become the most recognizable mascot for the Pokémon franchise.

But as beloved as the Pokémon show is, it is also riddled with plenty of plot holes. Managing to create a coherent storyline for such a gigantic franchise is not always possible. As you grow older, these problems with the narrative become all the more prominent as you rewatch old episodes. Here are 25 times the Pokémon show made no sense, or left huge question still hanging unresolved in front of the audience at the end of a particular story arc:

25 What Happened Between Brock And Professor Ivy?

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In the show, Brock left Misty and Ash midway through their quest in order to work with the beautiful Professor Ivy. The job was a dream come true for Brock since it combined his love of Pokémon with a ridiculously attractive boss.

But things fell apart soon afterward, and Brock rejoined Ash and Misty after leaving his job. Curiously, Brock has never gone into the specifics of why he left Ivy, merely hinting that the two did not part on the best of terms. Brock gets greatly discomfited everytime someone mentions Professor Ivy.

24 The Identity Of Ash's Father

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Despite being the most instantly recognizable protagonist from the Pokémon franchise, precious little is known about Ash beyond his thirst to be the best Pokémon trainer in the world.

For instance, who is Ash's father?

Based on the evidence, the most likely answer is Ash's father is either Professor Oak or an adult trainer known as Silver. Oak spends way too much time with Delia Ketchum for their relationship to be entirely platonic, so maybe the two had an affair? On the other hand, Silver shares a similar love for Pokémon Training as Ash. He might be the guy Delia mentioned meeting and having a baby with before he left to continue his Pokémon journey.

23 What Was Inside The G.S. Ball?

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Ash once traveled to the Orange Islands to locate a Pokeball that could not be opened, and deliver it to Professor Oak. The gold and silver ball had the initials G.S. written on it. Ash traveled far and wide trying to find someone who could open the ball for him but to no avail.

We never did find out what the Pokeball contained. Show creator Masamitsu Hidaka explained in an interview that the ball was originally going to contain Celebi, but that plan was eventually abandoned. We may still see the Pokeball show up in a later episode with a new explanation for its contents.

22 The Age Of Ash

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Ash Ketchum was an optimistic ten-year-old who once set out to become the best Pokémon trainer in the world. 20 years later, his quest hasn't ended, and apparently, neither has Ash's age increased. With the latest episodes of the series, Ash remains the cheerful and determined tween of our childhood.

This despite the fact that Ash is often shown to be celebrating his own birthday. Of course, many popular characters go through the motions of aging without actually growing any older, like with the Simpsons. Maybe Ash is simply too popular a character to age out of the franchise.

21 Pikachu's Crazy Power Levels

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If there's one thing that is impossible to imagine Ash without, it's his trusty Pokémon Pikachu. The show took the regular electric rodent from the games and gave him a personality that endeared him to generations of Pokémon fans like no other Pokémon has ever managed to do.

But that doesn't explain his wildly fluctuating power levels.

In the beginning, Pikachu was depicted as a pretty mid-tier Pokémon. But as his popularity increased, he started taking on bigger and better foes, and still somehow winning. He's even achieved victory over a legendary Pokémon.

20 The Tech Behind Pokeballs

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via youtube.com (winder)

In a show filled with magical creatures with amazing powers, the most wondrous thing is not a Pokémon, but the balls they live in. Think about it. These balls are somehow able to shrink the mass of living, breathing animals and teleport them inside a containment area no bigger than your fist.

In every other sense, the Pokémon world appears no more advanced than ours. Yet, this one piece of technology is so ridiculously advanced it might as well count as magic. And yet, we never hear a satisfactory explanation for how these balls came to be.

19 Defeating The Dastardly Team Rocket

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Team Rocket are the oldest bad guys that have been a thorn in Ash's side since the beginning of the show. They are obsessed with stealing Ash's Pokémon, especially Pikachu, and will go to any lengths to get them. Even if means committing theft, arson, or any other criminal activity.

And yet, despite their willingness to do anything it takes, they will always give up if their Pokémon are defeated in battle against Ash. Where does this unexpected moral code come from? And why does it only apply to losing a Pokémon battle?

18 The Unhelpful Professor Oak

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The Pokémon professors in the franchise, most prominently Professor Oak, entrust trainers like Ash to capture as many Pokémon as possible and bring them to the lab for further study. The professors know catching some of the more elusive Pokémon will be difficult, especially if you don't have a specific mon to counter its moves.

So why don't the professors help out the trainers by giving them all the starter Pokémon just lying about their labs? If you ask a young kid to complete the Pokedex, he's going to need a lot of help, which you won't give because of some vague 'teaching him self-reliance' goal?

17 Get A Car Already!

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Cars do exist in the Pokémon universe. Officer Jenny is shown to be using one. Team Rocket has used one. Even Brock used an 18-wheeler once. And yet, despite mobile transportation being a thing, Ash and his friends prefer to hoof it through quite frankly dangerous amounts of forest terrain.

Ash can't rent a car because he's a minor.

But both Brock and Misty have been shown to have jobs, and can probably afford to rent a Honda occasionally. We know that would rob the show of the many, many  Pokémon that the trio accidentally come across while traveling on foot, but it would make their overall journeys a lot more efficient.

16 Are Trainers Making Pokémon Work Against Their Will?

rhyno
via fanfest.com

The whole 'catching and training Pokémon' part of the show is clearly meant to be similar to how animals are kept as pets in the real world. But some uncomfortable conclusions can be drawn from the fact that Pokémon are clearly much more intelligent than regular animals.

In fact, many Pokémon are shown to exhibit near-human intelligence. This puts the whole practice of capturing and owning Pokémon in an entirely different light. After all, every Pokémon puts up a fight at first and clearly does not want to be placed inside the Pokeball.

15 Was Jessie Reunited With Her Mother?

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Jessie was not the first Team Rocket recruit from her family. Her mother Miyamoto was also a member before her. Jessie's mother was a formidable trainer in her own right and is credited with being the first to discover a Mew.

Miyamoto became so obsessed with capturing a Mew that she abandoned Jessie at a young age to continue her search. So, clearly, no one is going to be handing out Mother of the Year awards to Miyamoto any time soon. We wish we could see Jessie reunite her mother so they can work out their issues together.

14 Where Did All Of Gary's Badges Come From?

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Gary Oak is supposed to be a really good trainer. He has more Pokémon badges than even Ash in Pokémon Origins. What we would like to find out is where exactly he got so many badges from? Apparently, there are a lot of gyms in the region that Ash never found, but Gary did.

He has two more gym badges than Ash, and that is even without the Earth badge since Gary was unable to win over Giovanni to collect the badge. How many unknown places did Gary battle in to get so many obscure badges?

13 Mewtwo's Unknown Mission

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During the Battle of the Badge, viewers were finally introduced to Mewtwo. The incredibly powerful Pokémon was used by Giovanni at the Viridian city gym to annihilate his enemies. Neither Ash nor anyone else in the gym was able to stand up against the might of Mewtwo.

Then Giovanni abruptly ended the fight and recalled Mewtwo to him.

Giovanni ordered Mewtwo to leave immediately on an unknown assignment. If not for the new assignment, Mewtwo would have likely decimated every Pokémon within reach. We never found out what the assignment was that saved the other Pokémon from Mewtwo's wrath.

12 How Do You Battle God Himself?

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Arceus is the Pokémon that legendary trainers whisper about. He is the Pokémon who is said to be the creator of every other Pokémon in existence. Not only that, but Arceus is also believed to be the creator of the entire universe itself, including the human race!

...then it turns out that you can battle Arceus using other Pokémon. And that just feels weird, right? God by his very definition is supposed to be omnipotent. So how can you possibly do anything to hurt an omnipotent being? Or is Arceus not actually the God of the Pokemon universe?

11 The Backstory For Deoxys

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Few Pokémon are as powerful or as mysterious as Deoxys. He showed up briefly during the events of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. According to the Pokedex, Deoxys did not start out as a Pokémon at all. A virus trapped inside a meteorite was given physical form upon arriving on Earth, which came to be known as Deoxys.

That's all we know about Deoxys's origins. He's powerful enough to go toe-to-toe against Arceus himself. But where does he really come from? How was he trapped on the meteorite? We know as little today as we did then.

10 G-Men Assemble!

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There are a lot of secret organizations within the Pokémon world. The most famous among them is Team Rocket. But most of these organizations are quite open about their evil dastardly nature, usually looking to capture Pokémon for their own personal gain.

But one shadowy organization is apparently on the side of the Pokemon.

Lance is a powerful trainer who goes up against Team Rocket in several episodes. He claims to belong to a secret group known as the G-Men who's aim is to protect the Pokémon of the world. We'd like to learn more about the G-Men.

9 The Birds And The Bees

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Pokemon mating rituals. We've all thought about it from time to time. What goes in where and how. Of course, this is a franchise that is firmly aimed at children, so it's not like we're going to get an official guide to Pokémon mating practices, despite the sizeable group of adult fans who would very much like some answers.

But even while official explanations remain deliberately vague, we can't help but be baffled by some of the Pokémon that can apparently reproduce together. Take Skitty and Wailord, for example. They belong to the same egg group, but one is the size of a cat, while the other is the size of a submarine. Weird.

8 How And Why Was Mewtwo Created?

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Mewtwo is ridiculously powerful, but the story behind its creation is quite tragic. In the movie based on the show, it is revealed that Mewtwo was created as a result of experiments carried out by a scientist who is obsessed with bringing his daughter back to life after she passes away.

Then the video games muddy the waters by revealing via lost journal entries that Mewtwo was created by a team of scientists instead of just one. There is also a vague reference to years of horrific experimentation that led to the creation of Mewtwo.

7 Cilan's Great Fear Of Purrloin

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via gamespot.com

We see a lot of phobias when it comes to Pokémon among Ash's travel companions. In the case of Misty, she was freaked out by insect-type Pokémon, because of their bizarre appearance. On the other hand, Iris had a great fear of Ice-type Pokémon because of the power they have over dragon-type Pokémon.

And then there was Cilan.

He was absolutely terrified of a particular Pokémon called Purrloin. The puzzling part is, Purrloin is actually a pretty mild and apparently not very powerful type of Pokémon. Cilan does confide the reason behind his phobia to Ash, but he does so offscreen.

6 Why Was Ash Allowed On His Journey?

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When Ash first set out to be the best, the very best Pokémon trainer in the world, he was ten years old. This was the perfect age to hook young viewers on the hero's journey, but it does force grown-ups to ask themselves why a ten-year-old was entrusted by Professor Oak with defeating and capturing incredibly dangerous, wild animals that are literally called 'monsters'.

As the story has progressed while Ash has remained apparently ten, we keep hoping he'll meet a responsible adult who will take him under his wing and maybe send him to school to learn math and science instead of setting off towards yet another tournament.