Recaps

Lin Hao tried to travel as an ordinary Trainer while his overwhelming Pokémon and their legendary companions repeatedly exposed his power. After defeating Lorelei but leaving Vermilion City without its badge, he set off with May for Pallet Town as the League investigated his identity.

• Lin Hao chose Charmander as his starter and ordered Ho-Oh to hide, while Pikachu’s power drew attention from May and Red.
• Lin Hao retrieved Deoxys from Mt. Moon, then learned a rampaging Gyarados was loose in Viridian Forest and sent Tyranitar to stop it.
• Charmander evolved into Charmeleon, and a mysterious egg hatched into a Runic Eevee that called Lin Hao Daddy.
• Lin Hao defeated Brock’s Onix with Charizard and earned the Boulder Badge, then beat the Cerulean Sisters with Pikachu to win the Cascade Badge.
• May reported Lin Hao’s strange feats to Lance, while Lin Hao and May freed Clefairy from Team Rocket in the Mt. Moon tunnel and received a Moon Stone.
• Red gave Lin Hao and May first-class tickets aboard the S.S. Anne, where Team Rocket stole Pokémon and Pikachu before Lin Hao rescued them with Charizard.
• Lt. Surge excused Lin Hao for the damage aboard the ship but ordered him to battle at the Vermilion Gym, while Lorelei investigated his blank Trainer file.
• Lorelei challenged Lin Hao outside the closed Gym, but Charizard defeated Lapras, and Lin Hao left for Pallet Town with May without earning the badge.

Lin Hao traveled through Kanto, defeated its Gym Leaders and the Indigo League finalists, and won the championship while repeatedly disrupting Team Rocket’s plans. After the League’s repair bill consumed nearly all his prize money, he fled to Johto with May, where Champion Lance pressed them to investigate Team Galactic activity.

• Lin Hao returned to Pallet Town with May, met Professor Oak, and learned that Lance had called about a possible Mythical Pokémon awakening at Cinnabar Volcano.
• Lin Hao released Groudon, Kyogre, and Ho-Oh in Oak’s backyard, then battled Lt. Surge at Vermilion Gym and earned the Thunder Badge and prize money with Pikachu.
• Lin Hao and May sailed toward Cinnabar Island, encountered an injured Greninja carrying encrypted Team Rocket files, and discovered the Mewtwo Project after May decrypted the hard drive.
• Lin Hao challenged Koga and the other Kanto Gym Leaders, collected all eight badges, and entered the Indigo League Conference while keeping his Legendary Pokémon out of the tournament.
• Lin Hao defeated his tournament opponents with Pikachu, Charizard, and Greninja, captured Team Rocket intruders with May, and beat Tatsuya’s team of powerful Pokémon to become champion.
• May rejected the League’s orders to spy on Lin Hao and chose to travel with him, but Lin Hao learned the Indigo Plateau repairs would cost 4.9 million League Coins.
• Lin Hao and May left Kanto for Johto with tickets and a Pokédex from Red, then reached Violet City and agreed to investigate signs of Team Galactic activity near the Bell Tower.

Lin Hao and May uncovered Team Rocket’s experiments in Johto, then pursued Cyrus as Team Galactic moved to awaken powers tied to Arceus. May parted ways with Lin Hao for investigator training while he continued toward Ecruteak City and his journey to Sinnoh.

• Lin Hao and May investigated the Bell Tower and Ecruteak City, where Morty warned that a sealed presence was mimicking Ho-Oh’s aura and Lin Hao was connected to its awakening.
• Lin Hao and May stopped Team Rocket’s experiments in Azalea Town and Goldenrod City, where Lin Hao defeated Giovanni’s forces and Suicune contained the artificial Moltres’s energy crisis.
• Lin Hao revealed his origins and Legendary Pokémon to May, then learned that Cyrus had abducted Giovanni and was heading toward Sinnoh’s Three Lakes.
• Lin Hao and May investigated Team Galactic’s operations near Cianwood City and Iron Island, where they found a mural depicting Arceus and learned Cyrus planned to force its awakening.
• Morty warned that Cyrus’s preparations had left only five days before a meeting at Spear Pillar, and Lin Hao planned to earn his final Gym badge before traveling to Sinnoh.
• May chose to attend League Investigator Training Camp instead of traveling with Lin Hao, and they said goodbye as she got off at New Bark Town.
• Lin Hao continued toward Ecruteak City and received an invitation from Red to go fishing north of the city.

Lin Hao rescued Lugia’s child, fought through the Silver Conference, and joined the League’s effort to stop Cyrus at Spear Pillar. When Team Galactic shifted its Red Chain operation to Hoenn, Lin Hao and May followed the trail to Mt. Pyre and exposed a failed diversion at Devon Corporation.

• Lin Hao and Red rescued Lugia’s child from Team Galactic’s undersea facility, and Cyrus used the stolen life-frequency data to accelerate his plan at Spear Pillar.
• Lin Hao competed in the Silver Conference, defeating a succession of strong trainers before Cyrus attacked the stadium with Dialga and Palkia clones, which Lin Hao and Lugia destroyed.
• Cyrus announced that he would confront Lin Hao at Spear Pillar, and Arceus warned Lin Hao that Cyrus intended to force open a passage that would shatter time and space.
• Lin Hao, Red, May, and Cynthia prepared to confront Cyrus, while May resigned from Investigator Headquarters and joined Lin Hao as his partner.
• After Team Galactic withdrew from Mt. Coronet, Lin Hao and May traveled to Hoenn with Steven and discovered that stolen equipment and rare stones were being assembled into the Red Chain.
• Lin Hao earned Roxanne’s Stone Badge, found signs of Team Galactic near Rustboro, and won Drake’s support by defeating his Salamence with Charizard.
• Lin Hao learned that Team Galactic needed space-time fragments from a rift at Mt. Pyre, accepted Pluto’s invitation there, and prepared to go with May and Groudon.
• Steven revealed that a Devon technician had leaked their plans, then led Lin Hao and May back to repel Team Galactic’s attack on Devon’s Rustboro branch before they set out for Mt. Pyre.