I really liked the very first episodes of Pokemon where Ash traveled through the first land and then the Orange Islands.
My favorite Pokemon are Squirtle, Zubat, and Ninetales.
And I can't remember if I ever caught any shiny Pokemon though.
I also wrote a few Pokemon fanfiction. I once wrote this series called The Incredible Poke-Odyssey which a lot of Pokemon fans seemed to like very much.