Progress with Pokémon - Trades
I'm a pretty firm believer in the idea that humans and Pokémon will come to better understand each other with time. As a natural consequence, Pokémon will have more of a voice, and more consideration will be given to a lot of elements of Pokémon Training that are taken for granted as the status quo. Let's talk about trading!
When you're playing a video game, exchanging little bits of data sounds innocent, doesn't it? But, in a world where every Pokémon is a living, breathing, intelligent monster, passing them around like bargaining chips is... less than savory. There's an ugly history of many humans seeing Pokémon as tools, but plenty of wiser trainers - and other humans - know better! They're partners, who develop bonds with us!
Could you imagine considering yourself a valued member of a team, and waking up one day to find out that you're with someone else!?
If humans and Pokémon are going to have equal standing, then a system that allows them to be traded off without a care has to change.
The law eventually catches up, as does standard league practice.
With every trade, both Pokémon involved are required to appear and express informed consent, and approval of their new to-be trainer. This must be documented officially, and with a neutral witness present.
Both the approval process, and the trade itself are etched into each trainer's public trainer file, and the same goes for each Pokémon's file. This snuffs out extra-legal trades or otherwise ill-obtained Pokémon. It also gives each Pokémon a digital fingerprint, treating them as agents in their own right with a history worth keeping track of!
Both trainers involved in a trade are expected to exchange contact information; this will be done automatically, at the very least, with the Public Record stipulation, but access to a mobile device or some other means of quick and easy contact is preferred. This way, Pokémon can keep in contact with their old trainers if they'd like, for the sake of their emotional health, if nothing else. If a Pokémon regrets a trade, they're to inform their trainer if possible through any method of translator technology, or otherwise by speaking to any Pokémon Center's Pokémon assistant, who are trained to relay this information.
Although tradebacks can be messy and complicated, it's generally expected within a code of honor and formal procedure to comply with reversing the decision in the event of regrets.
Even without a formal complaint, Nurse Joys and their partners are expected to check with a traded Pokémon upon checking into a center, for a span of time after a trade that varies from region to region, to affirm their satisfaction, and their new trainer's treatment of them; procedure and depth of the check-in varying depending on the trainer's history. If they're seasoned, with a clean record of treating their Pokémon with care, there's less scrutiny, compared to a beginner, or a trainer with marks or warnings for failing to accomodate their partners.
Surely there are more accomodations that could be made to make a questionable practice cleaner! After all, there are countless successful trades that benefit trainer and Pokémon alike, in the long history of Pokémon Training. You can look right to Ash Ketchum's Floatzel, and Dawn Tsumura's Ambipom, for example! So, let's do it right!
In fact, those four in particular bring me to just one more procedure:
Sometimes, a Pokémon just can't choose one trainer! And if they have strong bonds with more than one, why should they have to!?
It's a bit of an arduous process, paperwork and all, but in the modern day, Pokémon can be registered to more than one trainer - legally allowing them to be used on both of their teams, and be transfered freely without the hub-ub of trading back and forth, or sifting through more temporary allowances. Get ahead of all the complications of sharing a partner and register your partner jointly, today!
Ultimately, we prefer to think of Pokémon as athletes belonging to a particular team with a head coach who happens to be their friend. So, keeping this dynamic on the up-and-up is more important than any level of battle aptitude from the Trainer, or the Pokémon!
The Pokémon League Association is always open and willing to expand its horizons, and take in new perspectives to better suit the sport of Pokémon Training. Feedback and suggestions are more than welcome!
