No matter your views on battle culture, and particularly trainer culture, it would be outright ignorant to say that it hasn't improved vastly over the past couple decades. From wild captures being significantly less common and more regulated overall to the death of the "gotta catch 'em all" mentality in most regions, trainer culture has globally become more and more conscious to the needs of the pokemon over the benefits to the human trainer. However, there is one aspect of trainer culture that, the niche, has remained persistent and problematic throughout years and years of improvement in nearly every other department. This aspect is the concept of "Uncatchable" pokemon.
Now, to clarify, when I refer to "Uncatchable pokemon", I'm not referring to pokemon of legend status, mythic status, extrauniversal pokemon (commonly referred to as Ultra Beasts), or the Paradox pokemon generated by Professor Sada and Professor Turo's experimentation. These pokemon, though extremely powerful with capture heavily regulated by law, do not fall under the trainer-defined category of "Uncatchable". An "Uncatchable" pokemon is one that cannot be captured or otherwise raised independently. More often than not, this is because the Pokemon in question has a parasitic, symbiotic, or parent-child relationship with another Pokemon that would make it unhealthy or even fatal to force independence.
Two pokemon that fall into the latter category, and are often unfairly targeted by poachers and irresponsible trainers, are the infant forms of Kangaskhan and Rellor. Particularly, these pokemon are often targeted by competitive trainers participating in what are known as "little cup" tournaments—often unofficial tournaments where the primary rule is that only very young, low-level, first-stage pokemon may be used. Though these tournaments do have positive aspects, namely their ability to allow beginner trainers to get a foothold in concepts of battle strategy without feeling intimidated, like all aspects of competitive battling, there are a large subset of trainers who are simply in it to win it all costs with no regard to the pokemon that they use.
Baby Kangaskhan is viewed as a potential meta-changer due to the sheer power of its adult form. However, all known instances of separation between mother and child Kangaskhan have led to severe drops in quality of life for the baby that make it impossible for this pokemon to be a viable battler. The only instance in which a baby Kangaskhan can battle healthily is alongside and through the mega evolution of its parent, and ethics of this practice are hotly debated as there are several cases in which the mother Kangaskhan shows the stress at the side of its child fighting. Though these cases may be chalked up to personality differences between different Kangaskhan, the same cannot be said for separation cases.
Nearly 100% of wild separation cases are fatal, with the sparse few survivors living much shorter and unhealthier lives than their properly raised counterparts. With human intervention, the fatality rate goes down, but the baby Kangaskhan still exhibit symptoms of PTSD, as well as severe mental and physical developmental disorders that leave it essentially stuck in a child-like state for its entire life. Even with human intervention, the separated baby will never learn how to battle, and all moves learned will be ineffective. Many separated babies do not even attempt to battle, perpetually expecting their mother to guard them even though she's gone. Physically, even if these babies make it to adulthood, there will be much more frail and susceptible to illness than their parented counterparts. They will also never develop their adult scales, leaving them more prone to accidental injury and infection. The theories on why this occurs range from the baby having a latent psychic connection to the mother to maternal connection simply being a requirement for healthy development in this particular species, but regardless of what the truth is, all separation cases are harmful to the baby, and throughout the rntire history of training as a sport, no progress has been made in changing this. It is hotly debated whether or not it is ethical to raise a separated baby Kangaskhan to adulthood as a result.
Infant Rellor is even worse. Though Rellor itself is currently viable by most little cup standards, it is also disqualified in many unofficial tournaments due to the existence of infant Rellor and the insistence that, since it is such a vastly different form, Rellor as an independent pokemon is an evolution and cannot qualify. However, this is an entirely unfair and harmful assessment to make, as this infant form cannot exist separately from the parent Rabsca, or even the dung ball it exists within. If the infant Rellor is broken out of this dung ball too early in development, it will die in 95% of cases. The sparse few recorded survival cases have only occurred as result of two factors: a Rabsca (not necessarily the original parent) quickly forming a new dung ball around the infant, and human intervention. Even with these factors at play, survival is still dependent on the stage of development of the infant, any injuries sustained during the removal from the dung ball, and the speed at which it is transported either back into a dung ball or into an artificial gestation tank. Infants broken out of their done ball early also tend to exhibit higher rates of developmental disorders, physical disabilities, and neurological disorders. Universally, their ability to manipulate psychic energy is severely impaired, and many do not exhibit the ability to evolve into Rabsca.
Shellder is a different story. It is a commonly known fact that Shellder experiences drastic physiological changes after clamping onto a host Slowpoke—changes drastic enough to be considered an evolution by some. In certain trainer circles, this debated evolution is known as "Turban", both in reference to the shells of some non-pokemon mollusks as well as the headwear of the same name. With the form-altering venom produced by these pokemon as well as the sharp teeth and powerful jaws, it's been theorized that this form of Shellder may have a water/poison typing and be able to battle if selectively bred and raised to do so.
Unfortunately for the Shellder and Slowpoke evolutions involved in this debate, separation of a Shellder and Slowpoke after evolution is universally detrimental. The Shellder itself will always die unless it is reattached to another Slowpoke, and will be in severe distress the entire time it is detached. It cannot reattach itself due to its body losing the ability to move, and it will not listen to orders from its trainer, blindly biting the air until a new Slowpoke is found. If it is reattached within a few days, it will more than likely survive, but it will produce higher amounts of venom and exert a notably higher bite force in order to ensure it does not get detached again. This often leads to higher levels of intelligence in the Slowpoke evolution, but also higher levels of aggression and resentment towards other living species, particularly the species that separated it. One case documented a Slowking resulting from a detached Shellder that wiped out an entire seaside town in rage-fueled psychic storm. Though it was eventually captured and sent off to a sanctuary, it never fully regained trust in humans.
Comparatively, the Slowpoke experiencing detachment suffers a much harsher fate. There is a persistent belief that Slowbro will harmlessly devolve back into Slowpoke if separated. Though it will eventually devolve—being the only pokemon known to do so—this process is highly stressful to the Slowbro and may result in death. This is due to withdrawals from the Shellder venom as well as neurological and physiological decay. The symptoms can be as mild as flu-like symptoms such as headaches and nausea to as severe as heart palpitations and seizures. It will also lose the ability to walk in a bipedal manner, and will need to re-learn how to fish using its tail.
Slowking separation is almost always fatal for the Slowking. Unlike Slowbro, it is incapable of devolution due to the Shellder venom being a requirement for proper neurological function, and the Shellder is fused to the skull, causing grievous bodily harm once removed. Galarian Slowking have far higher rates of immediate fatality than Kantonian Slowking, but both pokemon will suffer a drastic drop in quality of life after the separation event. Like separated Kangaskhan, it is widely considered unethical to keep a Slowking alive post-separation as it will be unable to maintain a humane quality of life. It will be unable to communicate its needs, unable to eat or drink without assistance, unable to groom itself, incapable of locomotion beyond a flailing crawl, suffer frequent seizures, and be at a high risk of meningitis among many other complications. Though some pokemon rights activists insist that a separated Slowking can be given a new Shellder or even kept alive without one and still live a happy life, these claims are unfounded in veterinary medicine, and the damage caused by a separation event is largely irreversible.
In conclusion, for the health of these pokemon, we need to demystify the concept of "Uncatchable" pokemon. You may have noticed me using quotation marks around the word "Uncatchable" for the duration of this essay. This is because I firmly believe we should not be using this term, as it generates a sense of challenge for a community notorious for enjoying insurmountable challenges. I propose we push to change the terminology to "unethical pokemon" in order to dispell any sense of challenge or mystique. These pokemon are not physically uncatchable. They are simply doomed to suffer if not kept in their pair bond. For trainer culture to move past this stopping block, this is a fact that must be acknowledged.
—Professor Violite Schist (it/they/fae)
