Ash’s Pikachu Did Not Evolve Into Raichu After All

Fans of Pokemon Journeys were more than a little bit shocked last week when it was teased that Ash’s Pikachu could potentially evolve into a Raichu.

Now, Ash’s Pikachu has long since decided he doesn’t want to evolve, citing that he wants to prove he can defeat stronger Pokémon without having to do so – making him the first of Ash’s Pokémon to choose not to evolve.

So what happened? On August 22, a summary for the latest episode of the anime series revealed that Ash’s long time friend Pikachu might finally take the evolutionary step to become the next stage of the creature.

The synopsis explained that Goh and Ash, known as Satoshi in Japan, stumbled across a small Pikachu outbreak after Goh decided he wanted to catch a Pikachu of his own.

‘A lot of Pikachu have been digging Thunderstones out of the rock face and used their power to evolve into Raichu,’ the episode summary explained. ‘And then Satoshi’s Pikachu finally evolves into a Raichu as well thanks to a Thunderstone discovered by a very obliging female Pikachu?!’

And while the events leading up to the so-called evolution did unfold that way, with the over-eager female Pikachu desperate to get Ash’s Pikachu to evolve, the latest episode of Pokemon Journeys revealed yesterday that the latter didn’t undergo the transformation.

However, it was touch and go for a moment, with even Ash being convinced his friend had evolved against his will after being chased by the female Pikachu.

Thankfully though, all’s well that ends well, with the scene ending with the revelation that Goh’s new Pikachu chose to evolve into a Raichu – not Ash’s best friend.

Check it out for yourself below:

I think I can speak for everybody here when I say: phew.