A potion (from Latin potio "drink") is a magical medicine, drug or poison in liquid form.

In mythology and literature, a potion is usually made by a magician, dragon, fairy or witch and has magical properties. It is used for various motives including the healing, bewitching or poisoning of people. For example, love potions for those who wish to fall in love (or become deeply infatuated) with another (the love potion figures tragically into most versions of the tale of Tristan and Iseult, including Richard Wagner's opera Tristan und Isolde); sleeping potions to cause long-term or eternal sleep (in folklore, this can range from the normal REM sleep to a deathlike coma); and elixirs heal/cure any wound/malady (as in C.S. Lewis' The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe). Goscinny and Uderzo's character Asterix the Gaul gained superhuman strength from a magic potion brewed by the druid Getafix.

Creation of potions of different kinds was a common practice of alchemy, and was commonly associated with witchcraft, as in The Tragedy of Macbeth by William Shakespeare.

The Gameplay of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games involves the capturing and training of a variety of fictional creatures called "Pokémon" and using them to battle other trainers. Each successive generation of games builds upon this concept by introducing new Pokémon, items, and gameplay concepts. Some of the general concepts were featured elsewhere before being introduced in the games; double battles appeared in the anime long before appearing in the games, and Pokémon abilities are similar to the Pokémon Powers introduced in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, which also introduced Shiny Pokémon as Golden Pokémon.

Game structure

Each of the games in the handheld Pokémon RPG series, from the first games in 1996 to the latest ones in 2014, takes place in a particular fictional region of the Pokémon world, and begins with the player receiving a Starter Pokémon from that region's Pokémon Professor. By traveling around the world, capturing and evolving Pokémon, and defeating other trainers in battle, the player increases the size and strength of his or her Pokémon collection. A major subplot of each game is to defeat a criminal organization trying to take over the world through the misuse of Pokémon. These organizations include Team Rocket, Team Magma and Team Aqua, Team Galactic, Team Plasma, and Team Flare.