Although Tyrouge was just caught, Ash still decided it would be better for the new Annihilape to stay with him for now.
In the Lab, it can be trained by many powerful Pokémon belonging to Ash, and his strength will definitely improve by leaps and bounds there. Staying with him will only slow it down for now because they can't fight other people right now.
Regarding the issue of evolution, Ash had a long talk with Tyrouge with the help of his very intelligent Slowking.
Sure enough, this kid absolutely does not want to evolve into one of his three forms. This must have also been the reason why it's previous Trainer abandoned him, all because he refused to evolve.
Although he clearly has such an excellent fighting talent, but he is still very unwilling to evolve, this is very fatal to many Pokémon's and their Trainers.
It is true that evolution is an important way to gain strength. This is the case with Ash's Charizard, which relied on his evolution to obtain the strength it wants.
Now that most of Ash's current Pokémon have completed their evolution, they are also fighting for his dream of becoming a Pokémon Master along with theirs.
To train a Pokémon that does not want to evolve to become powerful, the effort required will be unimaginable!
But now that he has caught him, Ash is willing to take responsibility for it to the best of his abilities!
Moreover, as a Pokémon that has not evolved, its compatibility and Bond Value are already very high.
It has fully recognized Ash as its Trainer and will definitely train hard for him. Ash believe that he will be completely transformed soon and his strength will undergo earth-shaking changes!
As for whether it will complete its evolution in the end, he left it to fate just like his Bulbasuar and Squirtle. Maybe he will change his mind and evolve like those two after feeling that his current strength is not strong enough or maybe he will become like Pikachu, completing his Bond Evolution without evolving into his final form.
After walking out of Mt. Mortar, Ash and his group walked inside another forest. As long as they passed through this forest, they will reach Mahogany Town.
However, Phanpy and Togepi's spirits suddenly slumped to a very low level, and even Meganium was walking a little slower but not enough for most people to notice, but Ash and Molly did. Only Pikachu was able to stay perfectly normal out of all of them.
"Hey, Meganium, what's wrong with you?" Molly was the one of the first to notice the changes happening to Meganium. It carried her on the whole trip. Although it was much much better than the young Phanpy and Togepi, she felt something was up.
A blue light flashed on Ash's eyes when he did a quick scan across the forest, "Not only Meganium and the others, but all the Pokémon in the forest have also become like this!"
As soon as he finished speaking, several Catterpies and Spinarak hung from the tree, which frightened Misty.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, a terrible beast roar came from the other side of the forest.
Ash showed a deep frown when he heard that noise. That roar was from clearly a Pokémon that was very angry and in deep pain!
Aware of this, Ash quickly took Meganium and Phanpy back to their Poke Ball, let Molly hold Pikachu, and ran towards the direction of the sound with her on his back.
After running through the forest, Ash and his party came to a huge lake!
"The sound just now must have come from around here!" Brock's judgment was indeed very correct. The next second, a vicious and violent existence suddenly jumped out of the lake!
"Roar!"
Bright red like a blood-stained beast, Gyarados has long been known for its cruelty across the world!
"It's a Gyarados!" Brock and Misty exclaimed at the same time. Brock deeply understands the horror of facing a Gyarados, and Misty has always had been afraid of Gyarados since she was a child!
First all of those Bug-type Pokémon, and now a Gyarados, Misty felt very attacked today.
Ash looked at the way the Gyarados twisted in the water and said, "This Gyarados is in immense pain!"
However, before Ash could investigate further, the blood-red Gyarados attacked them with a powerful looking Hydro Pump!
Ash quickly set up the an Aura powered Shield to block the Hydro Pump form reaching them.
This attack was very powerful!
After firing a Hydro Pump, Gyarados seemed to sense something and jumped back to the bottom of the lake.
Ash retracted the Aura on his body and looked to his side, "This is indeed those Team Rocket's work again!"
At this moment, the person who appeared next to Ash and his group was a strong man from Team Rocket, followed by a few other Grunts.
The strong guy looked very imposing, "Now that you have seen that red Gyarados, I can't let you go so easily!"
With that said, he threw out his Poké Ball, "Go ahead, Feraow!"
Why isn't his Pokémon affected?
"Pikachu, Thunderbolt!"
Pikachu is the one of the strongest in his team and has Light Ball for extra power, so there was no problem.
In addition to Pikachu's Thunderbolt, their was another attack that hit the Fearow, it was an Ice Beam, which immediately knocked the Fearow out of combat capability.
What appeared next to Ash and his group turned out to be a Dragonite. This was the Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon of the Kanto Region!
Coming off from it was a handsome man with red hair and a long cape!
"You guys hurry up and run away from here for now!" He wanted Ash to run away from here, but how could Ash run away now?
"They are just some Team Rocket Grunts, how can I run away from these morons!" ASH simply stood in front of Dragonite, pointed at the Rockets and ordered, "Ok, you have caused enough problems for everyone here, so get lost, Pikachu, Thunder!"
"PIKA!"
A terrifying thunderbolt struck from the sky, blowing up the Team Rocket Grunts!
After defeating the Team Rocket Grunts, Togepi's spirits improved from that pitiful state.
Molly felt reassured and became excited because she saw the cute and fierce Dragonite!
"Thats a very powerful Pikachu, so you must be Ash Ketchum, right?" Seeing Ash's performance just now, the handsome red-haired guy seemed very surprised.
Ash nodded, "That's right. I'm Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, nice to make your acquaintance Mr. Lance!"
"Wow, so he is really Lance, one of the Kano Elite Four and Johto Champion!" Brock also immediately recognized Lance, "The Strongest Dragon Trainer!"
As Gym Trainers, both Brock and Misty certainly know about Dragon-type Trainer.
"But, Mr. Lance, how do you know Ash?" Misty expressed confusion about Lance knowing about Ash.
Lance just smiled and looked at Ash, "I have admired Ash's work for a long time now.
He independently solved the Crystal Tower incident happening in Greenfield. Single handily destroyed Team Rocket's Dark Poké Ball conspiracy and rescued Celebi. Destroyed Team Rocket's base on Ogi Isle, rescued Lugia, and the one who caught both Suicune and Raikou! There is so much to cover!"
Regarding Ash's various deeds while traveling in the Johto Region, Lance naturally felt that he should be the one to tell all of them.
"Thanks to you, we were able to follow the clues and were able to blow a powerful attack on Team Rocket. I never expected that I would be able to find a Team Rocket's secret laboratory in the Lake of Rage, and I just met you!"
"Ash, if you are willing, I hope to invite you to join the team of Pokémon Investigators!"
Lance actually invited Ash to the organization he was part of!
"Pokémon Investigator?" Misty and Molly both exclaimed out loud, and then their eyes sparkled, it sounded so cool!
"Investigating people everywhere who are improperly using Pokémon and bringing them to justice. This is the mission of our Pokémon G-Men!"
"Ash, your character and strength have been unanimously recognized by The Alliance, and Professor Oak himself highly recommends you! When encountering Pokémon, you care more than anyone else and will never ignore them."
"I know you have to continue your journey. But becoming an investigator will not really delay your journey. It will only make it much more convenient for you to get more support from The Alliance when you act on something!"
"Besides, I can also make the decision and agree to a request of yours within my power!"
It sounded like something that could be done with no harm at all, and since it was Professor Oak's recommendation, he would definitely not miss the chance. Ash pondered for a moment but ultimately agreed to it.
"Ok! I'm in with this Pokémon G-Men thing!"
"Then my request is, I want a Dratini, preferably if I'm can choose it myself!"