>>37773870>>37775618In the anime, it was implied that most parenthood have at least one of the couple out travelling somewhere attempting to be a great pokemon trainer and probably failing somewhere along the line and being too embarassed to come back home. The guidebooks state this is what happened with Ash's dad, but there's even direct evidence in the original season with Brock's parents, both of them which left their family to pursue their dreams of becoming pokemon trainers while leaving Brock in charge of taking care of his siblings.
Then there's this old theory that suggested that there was this war between Kanto and Johto that left most children in Kanto fatherless, but there really isn't much evidence to that theory besides Lt. Surge being too young to imply that there might have been a war in recent times.
