Deconstructing the first-generation Pokemon universe

[moussaka]

Originally Posted by Fat pirate0

-About carrying a max of 6 pokemon; perhaps when you buy/use pokeballs, you have to register them using your trainer ID with some sort of system. The system will allow you to carry up to six at a time and if you catch another pokemon while you have six in your party, the system will force it to storage. When you deposit a pokemon, the system knows you only have 5 left and allows you to carry an additional one, whether you withdraw one from storage or go out and catch one. On a somewhat similar note, maybe this same system is what allows you to trade pokemon.

I know we're not counting the anime as canon, but this is exactly what happened there - but through the Pokedex, which only Ash and Gary had...

[Kikuichimonji]

I had entirely forgotten the function that automatically sends Pokemon to Bill's PC when Red/Gold is carrying six Pokemon. It's safe to assume that being able to send a Pokemon to Bill's PC from anywhere in the world is a function exclusive to Pokemon immediately after being caught with a Pokeball, because (IIRC) all situations in which the main character is given a Pokemon require that he have fewer than 6 Pokemon in his party. The only example I can think of is Tyrogue from second gen; I don't recall whether Eevee is the same way.

[DanielG]

How does the Pokemon storage system work? The idea that Pokemon can be stored in a computer system and transported around the world through data cables kind of contradicts the idea that Pokemon in Pokeballs are stored only as 90% energy. Possible explanation: it is possible to convert Pokemon entirely into data that can be stored electronically and retrieved later, but the compression process is too slow to be used on the field. Pokeballs use a simpler compression method, making it possible for Pokemon to pop in and out of them at the blink of an eye.

I have another possibility that could also work with your pokeball theory, It could be that the 90% energy could apply to the PC by making that 90% stored electronically using a compression algorithm much like a ZIP file, but the pokemon 10% weight would have to be stored in a containment facility (Kinda like a warehouse of servers).

I also got a question about how the whole "Pokemon ID" translates out in your world, and why a traded pokemon get an experience boost.

[spies]

Originally Posted by Fat Kikuichimonji

I had entirely forgotten the function that automatically sends Pokemon to Bill's PC when Red/Gold is carrying six Pokemon. It's safe to assume that being able to send a Pokemon to Bill's PC from anywhere in the world is a function exclusive to Pokemon immediately after being caught with a Pokeball, because (IIRC) all situations in which the main character is given a Pokemon require that he have fewer than 6 Pokemon in his party. The only example I can think of is Tyrogue from second gen; I don't recall whether Eevee is the same way.

In RBY they're sent straight to the PC

This happens with Hitmonchan/lee, Eevee and Lapras

[cantab]

Originally Posted by Fat DanielG

I also got a question about how the whole "Pokemon ID" translates out in your world, and why a traded pokemon get an experience boost.

To be honest, the real question is why do all non-traded Pokemon get the SAME experience. (With Natures in RSE, they kind of don't.)

[Game Freak201]

Originally Posted by Fat cantab

To be honest, the real question is why do all non-traded Pokemon get the SAME experience. (With Natures in RSE, they kind of don't.)

Perhaps it has to do with trainer interaction. Since the non-traded pokemon would be used to taking orders from trainers, it would be easier for them to win fights. This would result in them getting less experience points. Conversely, traded pokemon would have less experience taking orders from their current trainers; and as of such, would have to work harder in order to win a battle. This would result in attaining more experience.

[Marche Radiuju]

Originally Posted by Fat Kikuichimonji

Lastly, a few questions that came to mind that could be interesting launching points for discussion:

• The world of Pokemon is absolutely littered with random items. Even areas that are relatively far off the beaten path (like the Seafoam Islands and Unknown Dungeon) have items. In fact, the less-trafficked locations oftentimes have a higher density of items than high-traffic areas. Why is this? One idea: when a trainer walks into a dungeon like the Cerulean Cave or Seafoam Islands, the Pokemon there are savage, having had little exposure to humans. When/if all of his Pokemon faint, the feral Pokemon kill and feast upon the defenseless trainer. Eventually, their remains decay, leaving only a collection of items behind. These items become strewn about, somehow.

I think it would be more realistic to say that the Pokemon consider Trainer's items to be prizes, and certain items perhaps have uses (I could definitely see, say, a Seel balancing a pokeball on it's nose). The reason they're so spread out is because that different mons will sleep in different places.

Originally Posted by Fat Kikuichimonji

• After a Pokeball has been used to attempt a capture, it can never be used again, regardless of whether the attempt was successful or not. If the attempt was successful, the Pokeball becomes permanently "assigned" to that Pokemon. If the attempt was unsuccessful, the Pokeball becomes useless junk. What's the science behind that?

When a Pokemon busts out of the ball, I imagine it breaks the pokeball. Perhaps the hinges on the back lock in place when the ball is capturing, and if a Pokemon comes free they break and become unusable?

Also, this is the best economic choice as well. Silph Co. produces Pokeballs, but if you could just pick up and use the same 6 Poke balls for your amazingly superawesome team, they'd be pratically out of a business.

Originally Posted by Fat Kikuichimonji

• Humans seem to be the only animal in the Pokemon universe that cannot be captured by Pokeballs. Why is this? One explanation is that it's not impossible to catch humans in a Pokeball; it's just very improbable (something absurdly low like a 1 in 10^100 chance). The more highly evolved a species is, the more difficult it is to capture. This, primitive species like Caterpie and Pidgey are easy to catch, while the likes of Zapdos and Mewtwo are harder to catch, with humans being the most highly evolved species (and this nearly impossible to catch.)

I think it's either one of two things that keeps humans from capture; either the pokeballs were built that way (which makes sense; if I had the choice, I would make cages for bears that couldn't catch humans), or humans have some ability to break out of pokeballs that makes catching a human useless. I think the smartest non-legendary Pokemon ever found in the wild is Abra, or perhaps Drowsee; maybe humans are the only species smart enough to immediately break free?

Originally Posted by Fat Kikuichimonji

• Why are trainers limited to carrying six Pokemon at a time? I originally theorized that this was a practical limitation due to the weight, but I'm more inclined to adopt FlareBlitz's wormhole idea. The question remains: what is it that prevents unscrupulous trainers (like most of Team Rocket) from carrying a huge number of Pokemon?

You'll need to make something up to cover this one, since there is basically no canon reason (from ingame at least) that explains this. Perhaps there might not even be a limit, except that most trainers just don't catch more than six (again, the AU fact of this needs to be put in place to explain it).

Although, since this is sort of about fanfiction, I don't feel so bad about recommending Pokemon 0, as it also deconstructs many of Pokemon's ideals. The reason I'm bringing it up is because in this story they have a Zero Ball, that lets the user catch over 30 grouped up Pokemon at a time.

Originally Posted by Fat Kikuichimonji

• Lastly, one fact to throw on the table (I don't think it needs to be phrased as a question to inspire discussion): in the Pewter museum, there is an NPC who says "July 20, 1969! The 1st lunar landing! I bought a color TV to watch it!"

The thing about this is that the first generation of Pokemon was closer to the real world than any of the others. The Pokedex descriptions included real continent or country names, and I believe Gastly's even mentioned that it could topple an Indian elephant. I think that, at least in this situation, it would be better to bring this further away from the real world, because Pokemon is just so out there.

I had actually been thinking about writing a story like this, albeit to a much smaller scale. It would follow Red's travels through Kanto, and it would be in 3rd person to accentuate the fact that he is a coldhearted automaton of a person. However, I hadn't been planning on deconstructing anything else, so this is still bigger than my idea.

To reply to an earlier post, I can see Silver taking all the money from trainers he beats, and that would be how he pays for Pokemon Center visits. The idea that Pokemon slowly heal inside their pokeballs is an interesting one, because it would mean that the pokeball is more than just a containment unit. How do you heal damage to a being that is completely made of energy?

[cantab]

Originally Posted by Fat Juggler

The idea that Pokemon slowly heal inside their pokeballs is an interesting one, because it would mean that the pokeball is more than just a containment unit.

I was going to say that doesn't happen ingame - but it does, in the several locations you can have a nap.
Then again, this doesn't need to have anything to do with the Poke Balls exactly.

[Kikuichimonji]

Regarding narrative structure (since Juggler brought it up): right now, I'm thinking that the easiest way to present things in an entertaining way (both for writer and reader) would be mimicking the narrative style of World War Z, wherein each chapter is narrated in first-person by a different NPC. Perhaps one bug catcher could describe in detail his horrific encounter with the ruthless trainer from pallet, or a Silph researcher could join the table to talk about his involvement with the Rocket incident and also touch on Pokeball mechanics. I'm still unsure as to whether I want to explicitly insert an "interviewer" into the story, or just allow each character to "speak to the camera" without any in-universe listeners.

The chapter order will almost certainly be anachronic to some extent, because I'd like to devote a few chapters to discussing "pre-game" stuff. Ordering would still roughly match in-game discovery, though. A specific example I'm thinking of is the Mewtwo project: it's something that obviously took place before the events of the game, but discussing it toward the end of the story makes more sense than putting it at the beginning. The question that remains is to what extent I'll deviate from the game's chronology, because as an author it makes sense for me to write about things in the order that ideas come to me, but I might not necessarily publish them in this order. For example, I might write up a chapter about Silph right away, but not post it until I'd reached that point of the game's "story." Holding off on posting stuff that is chronologically later would also give me the freedom to edit things out in the event that I found myself making factual contradictions earlier on.

I will probably not start writing until I come up with an explanation for "trainers can carry a finite number of Pokemon, less than or equal to six in (practically) all cases" that satisfies me.

[FlareBlitz]

Regarding random items: I've always thought of it as stuff left behind by trainers who are fleeing from Pokemon, given that the items tend to be near grassy areas or inside caves. I believe the explanation for why you lose money when you faint in a Pokemon battle is that you drop it as you try to escape, which would fit in well with this.

Regarding pokeballs "breaking": this is pretty easy to fit with my theory. If that idea is that pokeballs create mini-wormholes using a small charge of energy within every pokeball, then it could just be the case that any pokemon which escapes the wormhole uses up the entire charge, leaving the pokeball completely powerless and useless.

Regarding pokeballs not catching humans: I don't like the proposed solutions to this that involve intelligence. There are several dex entries suggesting that some pokemon are far more intelligent than humans (see: metagross). The explanation that "it's built to ignore human DNA" makes a bit of sense to me, but then you have to think...how easy would it be for unscrupulous people to override that? Still, that's probably the best explanation I can think of...none of the other ones make much sense.

Regarding trainers only being able to carry around 6 pokeballs: if my wormhole idea is true, it could simply be that occupiedpokeballs produce small amounts of radiation, associated with storing a pokemon in an alternate space. 6 pokeballs would be the highest you can go without reaching unsafe levels of radiation, while you can carry any number of unused pokeballs because they don't produce radiation until they are used to store pokemon.

[cantab]

Originally Posted by Fat FlareBlitz

The explanation that "it's built to ignore human DNA" makes a bit of sense to me, but then you have to think...how easy would it be for unscrupulous people to override that?

Think of instead as Poke Ball's design being based on the properties of Pokemon, their functioning depending on something that all Pokemon have and humans don't. The not catching humans isn't an artificial lockout, it's a natural limitation of the tech.

[Sharpteeth]

Originally Posted by Fat cantab

Think of instead as Poke Ball's design being based on the properties of Pokemon, their functioning depending on something that all Pokemon have and humans don't. The not catching humans isn't an artificial lockout, it's a natural limitation of the tech.

Or, the obvious answer, there's a button inside for emergency release and kids are taught to use it very early. Any company would make a safeguard against misuse of Pokeballs, and TR doesn't know how to make them (which also explains why they had to take over Silph). Wild Pokemons "can" hit it accidentally, but the odds are low for something like Pidgey, while a Mewtwo can probably figure it out.

Again, I have to stress that humans have to be "taught" to avoid capture. A wild Pokemon, no matter how smart it is, will probably not hit the button.

[Manafii101]

A few questions:

Why can pokemon only be caught while conscious?
Shouldn't 'Blue' actually be called Green if we're being strictly canon?
I'm going to assume that Charmander is Red's starter, due to the box art and of course the name.

Another assumption I will make is that Master balls have no 'release button' as explained by Sharpteeth and as such are controlled materials that can in fact be used to ensnare humans.
I think Mew should stay in the journal entries of Cinnabar and the African jungle for the purposes of this fanfic.

I'm warning you, may get a bit speculatory in this paragraph.
As for the finite amount of pokemon issue, I think that this may be because the pokemon universe is in actuality an MMO and each player only has a certain amount of data available, hence the massive bags and limited pokemon space.
Or it could be the fact that after six pokemon, you can't really train them evenly to a high level. The reason NPC's have so few is because pokemart items are heavily subsidized for those with pokedexes, as shown in the quest where you must deliver Oak's package.

I always pictured Green/Blue as the bastard, and red as the silent but good-hearted protagonist, from his conversations with Giovanni.

[Thund91]

Just posting to say this is pretty interesting and has been a fun read.

Just something to bring up though; if Pokemon eventually end up dying while fainting in the wild, wouldn't ANY Pokemon poisoned end up dying without being healed or without access to something like an Antidote? What if a trainer's Pokemon gets poisoned and they has no cash to heal it? Seems a bit grim don't you think? This could also explain why Team Rocket/other evil organizations primarily use Poison-types.

[cantab]

Originally Posted by Fat Manafii101

Shouldn't 'Blue' actually be called Green if we're being strictly canon?

No. His name in Japanese is オーキド・グリーン, which literally translates as Green Ōkido, but his name in English is Blue Oak.

[moussaka]

Originally Posted by Fat FlareBlitz

Regarding trainers only being able to carry around 6 pokeballs: if my wormhole idea is true, it could simply be that occupiedpokeballs produce small amounts of radiation, associated with storing a pokemon in an alternate space. 6 pokeballs would be the highest you can go without reaching unsafe levels of radiation, while you can carry any number of unused pokeballs because they don't produce radiation until they are used to store pokemon.

I like this explanation a lot!

[FlareBlitz]

Originally Posted by Fat cantab

Think of instead as Poke Ball's design being based on the properties of Pokemon, their functioning depending on something that all Pokemon have and humans don't. The not catching humans isn't an artificial lockout, it's a natural limitation of the tech.

Ah, that would make more sense...but what would such a function be?

Maybe it's that there's some part of a Pokemon's genetic code that lets it quickly experience massive changes in physical form (this would be required for it to survive Evolution anyway), and this is what lets it be transported into the small wormhole. A human body is more "brittle", meaning that the pokeball/wormhole will at most break off a piece of skin and absorb it.

Regarding why Pokemon can only be caught while conscious: That is a tricky one. In fact, given the current wormhole theory, it should be easiest to catch a Pokemon when it faints. Maybe we could work the part of the above theory into this? i.e. If a Pokemon faints, its ability to be transported into the wormhole is somehow compromised, making any pokeballs thrown at it fail immediately. Or it could just be that "fainted" Pokemon are basically comatose or near-dead, and no trainer would want one anyway; only if a Pokemon has already been caught and is conditioned to "give up" before it REALLY faints can it be put back in its pokeball and healed later on.

The Master Ball probably just has a REALLY powerful, and extremely expensive wormhole system. I would assume that a single master ball costs several billion dollars, which is why only highly famous and respected Pokemon researchers and trainers are able to obtain one.

[Aura Guardian]

Or the wormhole slightly injures them. Those that haven't fainted can withstand it easily, but those that have can't withstand it, so you don't bother trying.

[SRS]

A question: How is it that every Pokemon you catch after 6 automatically go to your PC no matter where you are in the world?

[Arcticblast]

^ We're working on this right now.

Sharpteeth's explanation for human capturing and the release button makes sense, but there are pokemon like Rhyhorn that are difficult to catch and have a low IQ.

[cantab]

Because Rhyhorn charges around like mad and is more likely to hit the button by accident.

On not catching a fainted Pokemon - possibly being knocked out overwhelmingly often makes the Pokemon utterly untrainable, attacking its trainer as soon as it's released, that no-one bothers.

While we're deconstructing - how do Voltorb and Electrode relate to Poke Balls?

[Staraptor Call]

TMs and HMs are CDs which are put into a special slot in the Pokedex. They contain videos which show Pokemon how to use the moves they contain. This explains why most trainers do not use TMs and sometimes just give them away: the trainers do not have Pokedexes, so they cannot use TMs. TMs stop working after one use for copyright reasons, to make sure the trainers who buy TMs do not start selling the TMs' tutoring services and put TM-manufacturing companies out of business. HMs are illegally modified software that does not break after one use, and since they are illegal they are "hidden" and harder to obtain.

[cantab]

Problem: Department stores sell TMs. IIRC a character, not sure in what gen, says something like "An attacking move, or a defensive move?", implying they are considering buying a TM. Also, the guy in the burgled house in Cerulean says he "decided to teach Diglett to Dig without using a TM", implying that he would have been entirely able to use it.

Since in RBY it's strongly implied that Red and Blue are the first people to use Pokedexes, the idea that TM's functioning depends on the Pokedex doesn't work out.

[Obsessed]

Originally Posted by Fat Arcticblast

^ We're working on this right now.

Sharpteeth's explanation for human capturing and the release button makes sense, but there are pokemon like Rhyhorn that are difficult to catch and have a low IQ.

The biggest problem with the button hypothesis is that it means that even incredibly intelligent Pokemon like Mewtwo (who can plan world domination) are dumber than even the dumbest humans. If Mewtwo breaks out of 30 Ultra Balls and they all use the same/similar button system then how on earth does the 31st ball finally work? Does he just forget how to do it after doing it 30 times in a row?

[TaiCrunch]

The Pokedex doesn't necessarily have to be the only piece of technology in the Pokemon universe with TM/HM playback. If it's just video playback, who's to say they can't play on, say, just an ordinary TV? Remember, the Pokedex is meant to be like the iPhone of the Pokemon world.