Yes, usually. Even if Pokemon may not always be the focus of the story, there's often at least one mention of them at some point, such as describing the taste of the Pokemon that the narrator comes across or happens to notice when passing by, or at least an offhand remark stating why there are no Pokemon in the story.

[Like if it takes place in some kind of weird dystopia where Pokemon died out or something, but those are not fun reads so Cilan usually avoids those.]