Devolution
Member
Pokemon's story was stuck in molasses.
Stop getting distracted Ash! You got shit to do. You'll never be a pokemon master at this rate. Jus go home.
Because there was no real story to be had. They wanted to stall becoming Pokemon Master as long as they could for him. This is what happens when you make a very simple story line and don't know how to flesh out a character. So every episode was some pokemon is stuck in a tree or someone lost their pokemon or team rocket was jacking off in the woods and realized Ash was around so they tried to troll him in some manner.