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Pokémon Chronicles is a side stories Spin-Off of Pokémon: The Original Series that follows characters other than Ash and his Pikachu. Characters like Misty and Tracey get to shine in the spotlight while Ash isn't around. Jessie and James are no longer the main villains here (though they do get a few episodes of their own), instead being replaced by Cassidy and Butch (who everyone keeps getting his name wrong). They appear in most of the episodes, where they wreck havoc by stealing Pokémon of various types and rarities. The series also included the made-for-TV movie The Legend of Thunder featuring Jimmy, the anime counterpart of Pokémon Gold and Silver's Player Character Gold/Ethan.
The series was one of the last things that 4Kids Entertainment ever dubbed with the Pokémon franchise. The series aired on Cartoon Network in 2006, the same year that 4Kids lost the rights (and right in the middle of Pokémon's 10th Anniversary).
The series has a DVD release in the United Kingdom and Australia. Not in America, though.
This series contains examples of:
- And Now for Someone Completely Different: Features a new side-character protagonist in every episode.
- Animal Disguise: Cassidy and Butch disguise themselves as a Nidoqueen and a Golem, respectively, during one of their heists. Cassidy's disguise ends up working a little bit too well when they run into a real Nidoking who tries to court her.
- Attractive Bent Species: In one episode, Cassidy and Butch wear realistic Pokemon disguises during of one of their heists. Cassidy's Nidoqueen disguise backfires when they run into a Nidoking who tries to court her, and thinks she's just playing hard to get when she refuses his advances.
- Bandage Mummy: "Training Daze" has a rare dramatic example after James goes off a bridge, but the drama takes a hit when he shows up afterwards and rips off the bandages to reveal his Rocket training uniform. Maybe he dressed and then re-bandaged himself for the showmanship. Later on, Butch is all wrapped up too after taking a plunge with Cassidy and Raticate during their last mission in training.
- Baseball Episode: "Those Darn Electabuzz!" is about a worn out baseball player who needs help from Casey to get his groove back for the Electabuzz baseball team. The team Charizard, Don, also can't breathe fire.
- Big Bad: Cassidy and Butch are the main villains, though they don't appear in every episode.
- Cannot Tell Fiction from Reality: In "We're No Angels!", a village regularly watches an old TV show about a team of superheroes called Team Righteous and believe it is news footage of real heroes. When Team Rocket shows up, since they are Identical Strangers to the actors, the villagers believe they are Team Righteous.
- A Day in the Limelight: The main gimmick of the series.
- Doom Doors: This sound is used in the episode "Showdown at the Oak Corral" when Professor Oak opens a vertical door in his lab.
- Henpecked Husband: Played for Drama with Brock's formerly Missing Mom and Disappeared Dad Lola and Flint. Lola was an irresponsible womanchild who walked out on the family on a whim to pursue her own goals, while Flint cared for her and the family but disliked confrontation and let her do whatever she wanted before doing the same, with Brock Promoted to Parent in their absence. This comes to a head after Brock returns to the Pewter Gym after traveling with Ash through Johto, only to see that his mother suddenly returned and converted it into a gaudy Water Gym with no argument from Flint (or Misty apparently). Brock then has to beat some sense into her (in a Pokémon battle), but his father convinces him to compromise with his mother and at least keep the decorations up.
- Honor Before Reason: One episode centred around Richie meeting an older trainer named Silver who dreamed of catching a Moltres. Unfortunately, Team Rocket tried to kidnap the Moltres, and Richie and Silver had to team up to rescue it. They succeeded, but Moltres was injured and exhausted from what Team Rocket did to it. Silver knew he could have captured Moltres easily but he chose to let it go. He wanted to catch Moltres fairly, beating it in an honest fight.
- Loud of War: In "Oaknapped", Butch and Cassidy of Team Rocket attempt to torture information out of Professor Oak with the sound of a nail scraping on glass.
- Nice Guy: Georgio, who wants to date Misty. He cares about Misty and is even nice enough to give away some Electabuzz tickets to Casey even after her Elekid lost against Delcatty.
- Rotating Protagonist: The series focuses on everyone except Ash while the latter was in the Hoenn region. It rotates per episode; one episode will focus on Misty, another on Gary, another on Professor Oak, Casey, Ritchie, Tracey, and a few stories solely focusing on Team Rocket. This show might as well be called "Rotating Protagonist: The Series".
- Torment by Annoyance: How Butch and Cassidy torture Professor Oak in "Oaknapped": They scratch a piece of glass with a nail to create a terrible noise.
- Villain Decay: Butch and Cassidy were originally the competent counterparts to Jessie and James, but by the time you get to their appearances in Chronicles, they've become a pair of Suspiciously Similar Substitutes to the main trio.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: In "Cerulean Blues", Hitmonchan falls into water and starts acting like it is drowning. Misty orders her Staryu to rescue it, only for Hitmonchan to sucker punch it and reveal it is perfectly fine.
- In "A Date With Delcatty", Butch and Cassidy use this trick for a short amount of time.
Cassidy: Okay, okay, we give up.Butch: Just let us catch our breath, will ya?(They immediately jump to their feet)Butch: Ha! Faked you out, losers!
