I don't think you've witnessed the best part of the Pokémon franchise until you read the manga, Pokémon Adventures. It always gets a bad rap because of the Arbok scene (the Arbok doesn't even die, yet so many people think it does.) but this manga has better characters and a better Pokémon world overall than then anime. You can check it out by clicking the image.

I'd like to point out that this mini comic was actually published in a real Pokemon Manga and is not fan made. Poor Ash!!

That, and Ruby is so fabulous.