In the Pokémon universe, Tim Goodman is a 21-year-old insurance salesman who has given up Pokémon training due to the death of his mother and the absence of his father, Harry. He travels to Ryme City – a metropolis where humans and Pokémon live together as equals – to collect Harry’s assets following his apparent death in a car crash. In Harry’s apartment, Tim encounters a deerstalker-clad Pikachu that can speak and only he can somehow understand; the pair then escape from an attack by a party of Aipom under the influence of an “R”-labeled purple gas that Tim accidentally released upon inspection. They take shelter at a café where Pikachu reveals that he is an amnesiac detective who was Harry’s police partner, and that they were investigating a case together when Harry disappeared. They look for Lucy Stevens, a fluff columnist and aspiring reporter suspicious of Harry’s death, who Tim had previously encountered. She leads Tim and Pikachu to Ryme Wharf and, after interrogating a Mr. Mime there, are directed to an illegal Pokemon fighting arena owned by Sebastian. He demands a rematch with Pikachu, who previously defeated Sebastian’s Charizard. Tim attempts to save Pikachu during the rematch however, after Sebastian gives Charizard a dose of the R gas, which is then mishandled by Sebastian and accidentally released into the stadium, causing havoc. Sebastian then tells Tim that he got the R gas from “the doctor”.