Pilot (Detective Pikachu and Lucario)


 * For other episodes of the same name, see Pilot (disambiguation).

"Welcome to Ryme City, a celebration of the harmony between humans and Pokémon."

- Howard Clifford

Synopsis
Tim Goodman is a 21-year-old insurance adjuster who gave up his dream of being a Pokémon trainer following the murders of his parents and his estrangement from Ansem the Wise. Tim is contacted by Looker at Ryme City, a city where humans and Pokémon live together in harmony and Pokémon battles are illegal. He is informed by Looker, that his parents were murdered. Tim goes to a apartment to sort things out and meets a soft-talking Lucario and a deerstalker-clad amnesiac talking Pikachu whom only Tim can understand; Tim accidentally releases a mysterious purple gas, "X," from a vial he finds in Harry's office; they are then attacked by a party of Aipom who became rabid under the gas's influence.

Plot
At a laboratory Mewtwo (voiced by Gerald Butler), the world’s most powerful Pokemon, is being kept for experiments. He awakens and breaks free from his chamber before destroying the whole facility. Mewtwo flies away from the scene and over a road where he appears to fire a blast at a car, sending it off the road. Just outside of Ryme City, Tim Goodman (Justice Smith) and his friend Jack (Jeremy Irvine) are out in a field where Jack has led Tim to try and catch a Cubone. Tim is not interested in having a Pokemon, but Jack pushes him to try. Tim throws a Pokeball at Cubone, but it bursts back out and tries to attack the guys. After they get away, Tim receives a phone call informing him that his parents has been apparently killed in the car crash from earlier. Tim goes to Ryme City where humans and Pokemon co-exist and work together (Ludicolo are baristas, Machamp are crossing guards, etc). A video he sees explains that the city was established by Howard Clifford (Robert De Niro), who runs his company Clifford Industries. Later, Tim meets Looker (Kenneth Branagh), Looker knew his parents, but Tim was estranged from his parents. It is revealed that Tim was a former Pokemon trainer, but he gave up and is now an insurance salesman. Looker gives Tim a key to his locker to collect his belongings. Tim goes to the locker where he is found by Lucy Stevens (Emma Roberts), a young reporter who works as an unpaid intern for a local news station and has a Psyduck as a companion. Lucy is curious about the circumstances surrounding his parents's alleged murder. Tim then goes upstairs to his apartment where he finds a note from his parents written specifically for Tim, plus a canister containing a purple gas called Serum X that he accidentally spreads outside, affecting a group of Aipom. He hears some noise and soon meets Detective Pikachu (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) and Lucario (voiced by Natalie Portman). Lucario and Pikachu does know their parents since they were their Pokemon partners who was believed to have died with them. Tim can understand them talking while everyone else hears Pikachu's pika noises and Lucario's grunts. As they try to figure out what is going on, they are attacked by the Aipom, who have gone crazy. The three get away just before the effects of the gas wear off and the Aipom go back to normal.