@99 Problems: That actually plays nicely into my own wheel-house. I only have experience with pokemon up until the release of Pokemon Emerald. After that I stopped playing, and all the new regions I don't particularly like. Any and all information you need will be provided in the roleplay. Any references to pokemon lore beyond what I provide you via Birch/Oak will be at most entertaining allusions to the original material.

@frankenmouse: That's exactly what I was thinking! Oak was part of the Mewtwo experiment, and read the original Nazi research notes on Mew. He was forced into hiding because of his refusal to continue with research that could cause the mass destruction pokemon are able to inflict. Birch, on the other hand, came in after all of this, probably doesn't know about the Nazi research, and is in general younger and less experienced than Oak. While Oaks 'big breakthough' was Mewtwo's development, Birch still hasn't had his. 

As far as characters go, the only requirement is that you all are students in a top research institution that major in biology, or some subfield of it. This gives you relative open in creating your characters.