Pokémon/WMG/Open One

General Wild Mass Guessing for the Pokémon franchise. This includes theories that span multiple generations and multiple Canon.

NOTE: To prevent Archive Panic, all new Guesses are to be put on Page Three. Responses to theories on this page are still welcome.

Gym Leaders have varying Parties.
Gym Leader's have different sets of Pokemon that very from easy for beginner or very hard for experts, such as trainers with at least 7 badges. This explains why if a trainer starts in say, Celadon City, they can obtain the same amount of badges as someone coming from Pallet Town in the same amount of time. It would also explain why when you rematch gym leaders, their Pokemon are stronger; otherwise, it would eventually get to the point where no beginning trainers could get a badge until their Pokemon were at level 70.
 * Makes sense.
 * If that were true, then why would Norman refuse to battle the player character until they become stronger.
 * He wanted his child to prove themself as a capable trainer before he would face them, so that it would be a proper competition rather than a parent's lesson.

Team Rocket is never pursued by authorities because they're technically within the law.
Think about it. Every time you beat a Team Rocket trainer? They give you half of their money. Since ALL trainers do this, we can assume that this is simply how things work in the Pokemon League, as an incentive to get even the greediest of trainers to train their Pokemon to the best of their abilities (you can't hold on to cash if you keep paying out half). Since Team Rocket in the game never seems to steal OTHERS' Pokemon, merely misuse their "own", they are sliding under the rules of the League. Negligent monsters? More than likely. Criminals? Not necessarily. Furthermore, Giovanni being a gym leader means he might very well be close enough to the League Officials to have already argued this case, keeping them from being sanctioned, or at least keeps himself far enough away from Team Rocket that he is never found out. This is why Trainers take it upon themselves to fight Team Rocket. The authorities will never step in, so it's up to individual trainers to stop them.

If you look at past events, it becomes clear. A casino owned by Team Rocket (even called "Rocket Casino"), a mountain that seems to be a favorite hiking spot, their own warehouse (in the third generation), a shop that they, once again, own and maintain in Johto.

Even in the Silph Co. takeover, they never hurt anyone. It's likely that they're just beating the officer workers in Pokemon matches, wagering that they must stay out of their way if they lose. This is their plan to go BEYOND their "technically legal" escapades. They are trying to develop a Poke Ball that allows them to steal others' Pokemon. But wait! This, too, could be a loophole. Perhaps a League rule stating ANY Pokemon captured in a Poke Ball is considered "yours".

They don't start breaking laws (and thus, bring the authorities into it) until their schemes in the Johto region, with a new administrator, by a hostile takeover of the Radio tower. How is this different from Silph Co.? Simply put, they were forcing OTHER peoples' Pokemon to react in a way THEY wanted. They were now going beyond their own Pokemon and were breaking League rules.


 * The police were after one of them in Gen 1 for vandalism and breaking and entering. The Rocket palms the Dig TM off onto you.
 * Presumably, Team Rocket played that as one bad egg acting alone.
 * In one operation, they kidnapped an old man and killed a Pokémon (respectively, Mr. Fuji and a Marowak). Any law that allows you to do both of these was probably written in a Crapsack World.
 * No, wait a second, Mr. Fuji mentions he actually was there for completely unrelated-to-kidnapping reasons (praying for Cubone's mother).
 * Or, maybe there are no authorities in the Pokemon world. Or at least, in the games.
 * Then explain to me why there is a trainer class named "policeman".
 * Team Rocket is a mafia, and part of organized crime. I doubt it would be hard for Giovanni to influence the authorities into taking it easy on them.

The player characters' lives are all a Truman Show Plot!
Their journeys as trainers are being filmed and shown on television. They all have the same backstory (kid from the tiniest city in the region gets a fire, grass, or water type starter and goes on to quickly become champion), and all the opponents they face simply stand still waiting to be challenged. The only time other trainers have been seen battling each other was once, and in that case it was just a way to stop Gold/Kris/Lyra from proceeding too far. Notice how contrived blockades of this sort are extremely common in the Pokemon world? This theory would also explain why Professor Oak, Norman and Professor Rowan can contact the heroes wherever they are, how a ten year old can safely cross an entire continent... in fact, it solves most of Pokemon's Fridge Logic. Red found out that his entire life has just been a set up, and so went into hiding... only to become the Grand Finale of the show's second season!
 * And the presence of the TV show crews in R/S/E and D/P/P are a recent development in the network's plans to hold up the Masquerade. After all, battling them gets the trainer to appear on 'TV', and, the more frequently this happens, the less conscious thought the trainer would devote to the concept.
 * This... makes sense. The world seems to revolve around the player in a ridiculous manner, from roadblocks herding you on a pre-approved path to why Pokemon increase in level as you go along. Assuming this is true, it's possible that the Pokemon don't exist outside the Truman Show Plot and are merely manufactured for the show's production. This explains how new Pokemon randomly appear in each game, since the show's creators want to give the audience new creatures to keep viewers tuned in, and the scientists working for the show haven't created them yet! It's also an incredibly depressing theory if you begin to think about it long enough.
 * This also does a great deal to explain the Obviously Evil teams with relatively weak Pokemon who still manage to be treated as threats when they appear and fail to get the attention of everyone whose Pokemon are stronger than the main character's at the time. And even with this theory in effect, they need to find a better actor than the guy who played Volkner. There are so many better ways to portray a growing disinterest in battle than to outright tell the kid that a) you're bored and b) you think he/she can snap you out of it.
 * The original WMG apparently forgot a second battle between two NPC trainers: Eagun's Pikachu vs. Skrub's Shadow Hitmontop in Colosseum, in the only single battle of the entire game.
 * Colosseum most likely isn't linked to this theory, as the main character had plenty of exploits ahead of time.
 * So, we have an in-universe invocation of the MST3K Mantra. Wow.
 * How about when you learn fly? How do they keep ahead of you then?
 * Because you can't Fly to a city that you haven't visited yet.
 * I don't think guys like Cyrus or Ghetsis would play along.
 * Well, they're just acting.
 * This would explain why the TV in my house when I first started Pokemon White featured me...even though I hadn't even left my house....And to the above: They're all part of the show.

Each species of Pokemon carries a piece of an Eldritch Abomination.
That's the source of their supernatural powers, as well as their ability to survive each others' powerful attacks. The Pokemon professors are sending trainers to 'catch em all' as part of an evil plot to summon the abomination. The Pokedex duplicates the pieces of the abomination and combines them inside its data banks. The unlockable text in the Pokedex is just pre-programmed misinformation to make the trainers think that it is a benign data collection machine. However, no one has succeeded in summoning the abomination yet, because there are still undiscovered species of Pokemon.
 * So when you catch them all, you can summon Cthulhu?
 * No, just the satanic devil taking the role of Poké Satan, the dark side of Arceus.
 * Who is Missingno. Or M Block.

The Pokeworld is a separate planet from our world, and is in an alternate universe, but people can go there.
Considering that there are so many references to Earth when the Pokeworld seems to be a very different planet, there's no reason to assume that Earth does not exist. In fact, the Pokedex entries do support it. There are some references that don't make sense with what has been shown, like the Minamata reference for Muk or the Thomas Edison reference. The way they are referenced is obscure enough that it actually calls into serious doubt whether the Pokeworld is an alternate Earth. Furthermore, that Arceus egg creation cutscene could be interpreted as revealing that the real universe exists and is separate from the Pokeuniverse. Arceus is not necessarily the creator at all. Remember Greek Mythology? Well, Arceus's portrayal contradicts Mew's, but it could be explained by Mew creating Arceus to be the most powerful Pokemon. Mew definitely could be an allusion to Gaia, which if true would break down every WMG, because Mew would be the creator.
 * (Nothing contradicts Mew, because not one single ounce of Mew's canon calls it the creator; the closest it gets is 'some' scientists 'believe it could' be the creator. Arceus is the very first Pokemon and the creator by every canon account, no dispute and no contradiction.)
 * You're both wrong. Gamefreak made an 'out' for both monsters by writing all their stories in those vague 'it is said' ways. Arceus is as much the creator of the Poke Earth as Zoroark is the Mayor of Unova or Pikachu is the worlds greatest lover.
 * The areas and regions of the games all explicitly take place within the country of Japan, mirroring actual regions of it. Parallel universe, maybe. Other planet? No.
 * Even considering the geography isn't absolutely the same, take into account that pokémon like Tyranitar exists, which the latter is said to bury rivers and crush mountains, aka. RESHAPE THE WHOLE LANSCAPE.
 * No, this has never been stated in game and while the locales are consistent with this interpretation, the physical geography is completely wrong. It may be very similar to Japan, allowing for it to e described as such, but the geography is clearly not the same. Let's say that the Pokearth is similar to but not the same as Earth in this universe. There has never been any proof that only one Pokegod, namely Arceus, exists so why not have multiple creators. Let's say there are multiple creators. Mew only has all the DNA of the Pokemon from the Kanto region because he, she, or it created them. Arceus created the Pokemon of the Shinto region but did not create the universe. In addition, Dialga and Palika do not have true control over time and space if this is true. The Lati created the Pokemon of the Hoenn region and Ho-oh created the Johto region's Pokemon. It is ambiguous as to who created the Unova Pokemon but the most likely options are Kyruem or Reshiram and Zekrom. (Yes, this idea is totally insane.

Pokemon speak a Starfish Language that doesn't care about the actual phenomes.
Pokemon subspecies can all talk to each other, as seen in the anime. Look at the Pokémon-Speak entry's first example, which shows that Pokemon have idiosyncratic terms for their owners/other beings. Here's the explanation: "Pokespeak" uses a complex system of tones and inflections as words instead of "pi ka chu" syllables. To put it another way: We speak with syllables with inflection as a supplement. Pokemon speak with inflection using syllables as a supplement.
 * Or else the sounds they make are only part of their communication, and not the most important part. For example, when Pikachu and Zapdos were conversing, it was strongly suggested that part of their communication was electrical. It could be that Pokémon-Speak takes advantage of senses that Pokemon have but humans don't, such as some sort of sense of their own element (similar to Toph in Avatar).

Each regional Pokemon League assigns students aged 8 and above to start a Pokemon journey.
The commercials of Professor Oak that appeared in Episode 1 are advertised to children just weeks before they start a journey. Since there isn't really a school, the region's Trainer School assigns going on a 6-month journey as homework, starting from their hometown, ending after they've completed their region's Elite Four, Battle Frontier for extra credit, writing journal entries along the way.
 * The anime could very well be a documented as well as animated version of Ash's journal entries he made, just like various biopics and Lifetime movies.
 * Only HIS entries were documented due to Ash getting a very high grade, as well as exhibiting skill throughout his journeys.
 * Longest. Homework. Ever.
 * Alternatively, the school system has a very good online study system.
 * Technically, we've seen real normal schools, too. Remember the episode with Mira? (The girl you escort in Wayward Cave in DPPt.) Her Sandshrew's Poke Ball had been left in her locker at school. Granted, this school was now at the bottom of a lake and therefore not currently functioning, but meh.

Humans are the first species of Pokémon/the final species of Pokémon.
There is no known evidence of where humans came from in the Pokemon world, yet one Sinnoh Myth explains that Pokemon were very close to humans, and both species ate at the same table (i.e. grew up with each other, if not, from each other), and some humans even married Pokemon. The myth's last line explains that Pokemon and humans were indistinguishable, therefore fueling the possibility of humans becoming the 650th unrecorded Pokemon species.
 * The evolution of Pokemon creatures could very well be akin to that of puberty and metamorphosis, puberty being a change in the appearance, thinking, instinct, behavior, strength and personality of the Pokemon. Not to mention their physical growth.
 * If this were true, someone would have been captured. Between empty balls hitting someone on the head, and Jessie got hit with a retrieve beam in Diamond and Pearl.
 * The anime doesn't count. Besides, wouldn't the trainers who block Poké Balls already be their own original trainers?
 * Of course the anime counts!
 * Speaking of the anime, this could explain why Ash has been travelling for over ten years and has yet to visibly age. He just needs to evolve. And as for pokéballs, that could be explained as Human rights, in the same way it is illegal to keep humans as pets/slaves in our world, but it is perfectly acceptable to keep a variety of other animals as such.
 * This point was once brought up in a Philosoraptor Image. : "If people in the real world are technically animals, then are people in the pokemon world technically pokemon?"
 * I'm sensing an EVA story here. Lillum versus Pokémon.
 * "Shinji used Mope! No effect."

You rarely see any formal government because the Pokémon Trainers are the ruling class, servants to the Gods.
The Pokemon League is an meritocracy-based Empire in which the Gym Leaders are the shoguns of each city, with their disciples, Joys and Jennys and Pokemon backing them up. Team Rocket are the Trainers pledged to Viridian City, of course, but Giovanni has grown too arrogant and is trying to take over other cities. This is why the Pokemon League hasn't bothered trying to take away his license. Only another shogun can take replace him and bring peace, which we all know will be a combo of Ash and Gary in the future. Likewise, Team Magma and Team Aqua are competing not only to expand the continents/oceans, but to become the ruling power of Lilycove City (which was taken over by the pansy Pokemon Coordinators). They hope to please the gods and win their favor so that the people unanimously accept them. Cyrus, leader of Team Galactic, however, is f4cking insane. His megalomaniac mission is the result of being possessed by the god of Veilstone City, Regigigas. You see, Regigigas is pissed off that humans carved away at the mountains to make their precious city, so he took over Cyrus' mind to cause havoc on the city by the Team's presence. Regigigas doesn't give a shit what Cyrus does, as long as he drives people away with his kooky Team. Regigigas only releases Cyrus from his mind control when Hareta begs him to stop.
 * This can be acceptable in the game canon, but not in the anime one. Besides, in the game canon, Steven's family seems to have a good control over Hoenn, which would mean that you can't really just be a trainer to rule, but a trainer with loads and loads of money. Of course, if you don't want to say ZOMG POKEWORLD IS AN ANARCHY, that is.
 * There is also the manga, from which I ripped a lot of the details from. :3
 * In my Fanfic, Kamen Rider Coronet, each region is ruled by its own League due to Pokemon being an integral member of society, as well as humans omnipresent in the lives of Pokemon. Therefore, the league was created to control the well-being of both Pokemon and people, analogous to our governments.
 * In Coronet, the Sinnoh Region's Myth from D/P explains how Pokemon and humans helped each other out, and further backs up the need to create the League. Pokemon were always ready to help humans out and vice versa, which is why if Trainers venture into anywhere with a high population density of Pogeymanz, then that means that the Pokemon you just saw is ready to help you out.

The Rare Candy was common prior to a very grave accident.
The rare candy was once very common. It was a candy company who designed it as an energy-giving candy for Pokémon and people, by using some of the best berries and energetic ingredients. It was once too common. One month of November, trucks of Rare Candies were put to waste and dumped into, well, a dump. The local Grimer, steel Burmy, Skuntank, Meowth and Magnemite were attracted to them, and soon they began searching and feasting on them. They all evolved and reached their highest level, and then started to cause trouble to get more of the addictive candies. This caused a very grave accident where many Pokémon and people were gravely hurt, and even some died. It took a cohort of very competent trainers and Pokémon to capture them. The next day, production of the Candies were made illegal or controlled and the remainder of them got warehoused and supervised by the International Police. The International Police authorized only some battle towers or frontiers to distribute them, so they would only fall in the end of very competent trainers. It is still possible to find a couple of Rare Candies on the ground: those candies dropped by kids, years ago.
 * But if they all reached level 100 via Rare Candy, they'd all be significantly weaker than hand-raised Pokemon of the same level. Heck, level 60s probably wouldn't have that much trouble with them.
 * Maybe back then Rare Candies also maxed EVs, and out of fear that something like this could happen again, they prohibited it and forced manufacturers to make a substantially weaker version of the candy.
 * Problem: the theory states that the ones we find are the ones left over from this years-ago event. So why don't they also do that?
 * And perhaps a few of them DID survive and migrated towards Cinnibar Island...could Missigno be a mutant offspring?
 * Actually, especially given a few species he mentioned, this sounds very much an explanation for Cerulean Cave to this Troper; it even has the nearby water source. The Pokemon were then promptly forced inside the cave and the entrance monitored, etc? :3 As to them being weaker from lack of EVs, wild 'mons always are.
 * Why November?
 * Why not November?
 * Wynaut not November?
 * Because they don't HAVE November. They have one-month seasons.

The current world is the product of an apocalypse.
Long ago, the advanced civilization that existed on that world destroyed itself somehow. This was either caused by Pokemon or created them. Mankind built itself back up, with the help of the Pokemon, over a long enough time for the Earth to prettify itself back to Ghibli Hills and for much technology to be forgotten; almost all the advanced tech in existence is solely for interacting with Pokemon. Many animal species died off, leaving Pokemon to take their niches; alternatively, they may have headed to extinction because they couldn't compete with the superior adaptations and enhancements of the Pokemon. The current habit of having ten-year-olds go off on unsupervised trips is a holdover from the savage times when this was a rite of passage.
 * Possibly, Pokemon in general are aware of this. At least one episode of the series has shown Pokemon actively (re?)constructing their forest habitats (planting trees and even terracing hills); most habitat-destroying development attempted by humans is quickly brought to a halt by the local wild Pokemon in a possible attempt to keep it from happening again.
 * A possible offshoot: Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are types of Pokemon. Officer Jenny is the male of the species.
 * Alternatively, they're two different types of Pokemon, and Male and Female look the same. Or they are two different species that are either all-female or non-gendered. (Since we don't want male Jennys.)
 * There's also a third option: they're different evolutions of another human Pokemon, probably [[media:Game_character_kris.png|Kris.]]
 * Option 4: They are humans. The anime showed an episode where there was a Nurse Joy training school. Jessie applied and was rejected, but still. The Joy look could be part of the uniform. Mind you, it still doesn't explain how all the Kanto and Johto Joys are related, but hey, the anime shows Pikachu aiming for the horn. As for the games, well, Joggers aren't a species of Pokemon, yet they all share the same sprite. One can assume that Joy (I don't believe there is any officer officially referred to as Jenny in the games) is a job title. So instead of, say, Nurse May, they would be called Nurse Joy May, to show a difference between nurses for humans and nurses for Pokemon. Also, the contests in DPPt have a Nurse Joy enter, and she has a different name. Yet she still has the same appearance... Well, guess I have my own WMG to add now.
 * Not quite, 4. Joy is the LAST name of the Joy family; this is canon confirmed, in the Suicune-in-Sinnoh episode. One may assume, then, that Jenny is the same. (Hypothetical examples: "Officer Pamela Jenny", "Nurse Mary Joy", "Sergeant Kim Jenny", "Barbara Joy, R. N." etc.)
 * Additionally, Ash himself may belong to a less common Pokemon "template", which has existed at least as long as Aaron; this may be an alternate explanation to the "Ash's father gets around" theory on its associated page. It would certainly explain why he's been a ten-year-old for the past ten years. He still hasn't encountered the necessary situation to trigger evolution.
 * This would certainly explain the Schizo-Tech mentioned in the entry below. Cloaking airships and teleportation technologies are impressive achievements for a society of people who walk everywhere.
 * Wait... if you had cloaking airships and teleportation... why do you even need roads? No, really--yes, you could walk. Just like people run for fun these days... this is a world with teleporters and easily accessible airships. Maybe this walking thing is merely a recreational activity? Or is this too against the notion of Stop Having Fun to be accurate to Pokemon?
 * So Pokemon is the future of the Mushishi world?
 * No, Ash is still around ten/twelve because the events in each new season only take about a year or less all together. He's, at the most, 14. If anyone is the male species of the humanoid Pokemon, it's the Magikarp salesmen or the guy who runs the Pokémart.
 * What about Mr. Contesta and Mr. Sukizo? There has to be more than one of them; there's no way they can travel to every contest so quickly. Such an act would be nothing short of remarkable.
 * Abra and Teleport says that it is possible.


 * Another thing; while looking through the Creepypasta wiki, I stumbled upon this, suggesting a possible set of events that caused the Pokemon world to become what we know it as. I think it ties in quite well to this theory, personally.
 * Alternatively, Pokemon takes place in an alternate universe where, after the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami, workers were unable to halt the meltdown, and the damage spread globally. Humanity was able to survive and rebuild itself, with the help of new superhero animals created by radiation mutation. After thousands of years, the damage is unnoticeable and technology has advanced (pokeballs, keeping matter in a computer, etc.) Some of the earliest "new creatures" are regarded to as gods in the present day.
 * Building on this theory, the power plant east of Cerulean city is based on the Tokai power plant, one of the first in Japan. This same power plant was also one of those which fell under great threat after the above earthquake. In the Pokemon world, it just happens to be ruined and abandoned...

Building upon the previous: the Pokémon world is a totalitarian society, a product of a massive nuclear war that wiped out our world.
The nuclear exchange has wiped out nearly all pre-existing species and the ones that have survived have undergone significant mutation from radiation exposure. Hallmarks of mutation include very large body size and extremely rapid metamorphosis.

Human beings were hit hard; so-called towns and cities are vestiges of their former glory, what with their insignificant population and total lack of motorized vehicles. The society portrayed in the franchise is one in recovery; signs of an older, primitive society that emerged immediately after the war can be seen. For instance, ten year-old boys are encouraged to venture into the wild in a sort of coming-of-age ritual, the moral equivalent of cockfighting is an obsession, shops still partake in a form of bartering and a multitude of creation myths are common among the populace.

Some great scientific minds have survived, however, and of course, Science Marches On no matter what. This is still a world from the future, as advanced technology is present in this world; technology like the instant transmutation of matter, synthetic lifeforms, and very advanced medical equipment that instantly heals.

Those in the seat of power in this society have recognized the need to keep the populace distracted and under control, lest society break down again. Pokémon are the key. Since the population is so fascinated with Pokémon, it is only natural that the government use them to keep hold of the people. The aforementioned creation myths are encouraged, the Pokémon are treated as if they have been here all along (the fossils you collect are probably your average Cretaceous period critters, the cloning process fills in genomic gaps to produce Pokémon analogues), there is intense funding for research into the very rapid speciation of Pokémon (Is there any other way that Oak, Elm, Birch and Rowan could have possibly established their high-tech labs in such small towns?), and, of course, there is a sanctioned Pokémon League. It is chillingly effective; no one has any memory of what the world used to be like, nor do they have a concept of a world without Pokémon. The use of Pokémon in the government’s subterfuge is why terrorist groups in this world also use Pokémon: using and abusing them is a very effective tool in combating the system and in striking fear into the public.

As for the Legendaries, see below for another troper’s theory on how they are simply animals that happened to spawn/correlate with mythology. Better yet, perhaps they were genetically engineered in accordance to creation myths. After Mewtwo, even Arceus doesn't seem that unlikely.

Alternatively, the series takes place in an alternate reality in which the presence of Pokémon has held back mankind's technological development.
Motor vehicles are a rarity, and power plants play host to a variety of electric Pokemon who could theoretically work there. The strongest piece of evidence, though, is a scene in the second episode showing a backup generator that consists of a group of Pikachu on a treadmill.
 * A more positive spin is that the universe just happens to replace Steampunk with BioPunk (Poké-Punk?).
 * I wouldn't say that mankind's technological growth has been stunted, I think that it's just that with Pokemon they have far better ways of doing things. Pokemon would be both a cheap AND eco-friendly source of energy--any industrialist's dream. Pokemon are an endless source of energy, water, food and transportation, as long as you're just friends with them--there's nothing better than that.
 * That, and their technology just tends to be smaller and less environment-changing because... well, would you want to piss off the beasties that breathe fire by building a factory in their backyard? So there's less pollution, etc.
 * There are several examples of technology higher than the present level, such as warp tiles, digitization technology, and cloak-capable airships.
 * Practical technology proceeds to fulfill given needs, not by Technology Levels. Perhaps an appropriately arboreal academic discovered a breakthrough regarding safe taming and transport of these dangerous critters (Poke Balls), perhaps related to the Johto apricorns of GSC, which eventually was extended to the digital transmission of both these containers and humans via, respectively, the PC system and the Silph Co's warp panels.
 * This has accounted for the complete lack of firearms and other weapons in the Pokemon world. Who would develop a flamethrower when it can be bested ten times over by anyone with a Charmeleon? Pokemon work better. Remember that Lt. Surge used electric Pokemon in a war. Perhaps he's the head of the Pokemon world's equivalent of an occupation of Japan, based in Nagasaki (Vermilion City) after America failed to develop the atomic bomb in World War II.
 * There were firearms in the anime. I assume that firearms may exist, but they're rare, and only used when Pokemon are unavailable.

Pokémon don't evolve, they mature.
Well, think about it. It's a well-established fact that evolution doesn't happen within individuals, and it definitely doesn't involve glowing white light and a transformation sequence. The term metamorphosis is more consistent with what's happening on screen. Admittedly, everyone in the universe is probably aware of this, but it still needs to be said.
 * In an early episode of the Pokemon anime, it is likened to metamorphosis, albeit indirectly, when Koga's Venonat suddenly evolves into Venomoth. The heroes say, "A Metamorphosis attack?" "No, it just evolved!"
 * We already know it's not an actual evolution. The term is only used in the English version; in the original Japanese, the term used is simply "change" or something similar. It is literally just a metamorphosis achieved by growing stronger.
 * Yes, but in an earlier episode, they mention levels, so it can't be that simple. Also, there are baby Nidoqueen and Pikachu, so it can't be just age. (let's pretend for the purpose of this theory that the creators of the show didn't screw up horribly.)
 * The baby Pikachu started out as Pichu, but they became happy through having friendships with other Pikachu and with other Pokemon that they evolved early. However, this early evolution meant that their size didn't change. As for the Nidoqueen, the female Nidoran leveled up to become Nidorina at the normal pace, but they used faulty Moon Stones to evolve and so instead of becoming bigger, they shrunk when they became Nidoqueen.
 * This troper always thought that since the tiny Nidoqueen in question were offspring of Mewtwo's Nidoqueen clone, they are merely small clones of the cloned Nidoqueen.
 * The games say "evolve" because "metamorphosis" would have looked out of place in a Gen 1/2 text box, whose lines are 16 characters wide. "Morphing" is as long as "evolving", but the Power Rangers would sue.
 * The original meaning of the word "evolution" is simply "change". The use of the word meaning the change of an entire species or population is just a modern application, and using the word in its original sense (for example, to say that a caterpillar evolves into a butterfly) is still correct, even if many people avoid it in order to prevent confusion.

Pokémon mature to a higher evolution before hatching in the wild in order to deal with larger threats.
That is why, in daycares, you can hatch either the lowest evolution of Pokemon or a more evolved form. Since there is less threat of attack there, they are safer and can hatch the lowest level. Some Pokemon STILL can't get relaxed enough, though; they need incense to keep them from producing that forced evolution hormone that they presumably make while laying eggs.

This theory comes from Pokémon-X: Pokemon, when they defeat an enemy, get some sort of psychological boost that makes them produce a kind of hormone. This hormone may also be produced naturally upon reaching adolescence. It causes slight changes to their cells, making them stronger, until they reach a certain level (as in, a certain saturation of hormones) or meet certain conditions that change how the hormones work. They then evolve into their next form.

Pokémon are alien lifeforms that landed on Earth millions of years ago and adapted to their new home.
This is supported in several ways, especially in the original backstory of the Clefable. A couple of species of Pokemon have shown the ability to construct spacecraft. The cell structure of Pokemon is said to be vastly different from any other form of life on earth. (Not that there are many other forms of life on earth...) The best example is Deoxys, an alien Pokemon that arrives from outer space. The likelihood of two members of the same biological kingdom evolving separately on two different planets is astronomically low; therefore, the other Pokemon species also originated from traces of life that somehow arrived on earth in the distant past, perhaps as early as the Mesozoic era. This also conveniently gets around the "eat massive amounts of food without defecation" problem. They convert food directly into either energy to power them and their attacks, or to matter to form the next generation in their family. Hence why Pokemon food is made of Pokemon! It all makes sense!)
 * And the non-Pokemon creatures? Simple. Pokemon are all invasive species, and much more powerful than most normal creatures. Only plants, bacteria and viruses, some species of normal fish (seen in the anime in the S.S. Anne episode) and of course humans - thanks to their technology - survived the intense competition for food.

The Pokémon are native to the planet the series takes place on; humans are the aliens.
Pokémon existed on the planet for millions of years, remember? Hell, a Pokémon created the planet! And if humans were created by Arceus, they'd be Pokémon, too, and would be susceptible to the effects of Pokéballs.
 * As a development of this idea: a colony ship carrying some humans crashed on a distant planet. The colonists find that they cannot restore their ship for some reason and find that the wildlife is surprisingly friendly or submissive after a minor show of non-lethal strength. As the planet they landed on seemed nice enough and the natives were mostly not too hostile, the colonists decided to stay. Unable to replicate much of their space-age tech, they roll back into more traditional ways of life; the remnants of their colony ship tech are used to make life easier.
 * That ship would have to be the Space Shuttle Columbia, since it is found as an ancient relic in 1 game, until the little, real life accident where it was replaced with a generic shuttle...
 * A time traveler or Reality Warper desperately tried to save the crew of the real life shuttle as the accident occurred, by teleporting them away to a random habitable planet, but only succeeded in creating a parallel timeline, the real world's history continued as we know it. Later, he did the same thing with other disasters from other eras, populating the Pokemon world.
 * And that reality warper was Dr. Clef.
 * Pokemon are the more complex later versions of the robots from WALL-E! They can all say their own name. The reason the Pokemon world is shaped like bits of Japan, but with major differences, is that this all occurs after the returning humans "fix" the earth. The reason they have such technology as Pokemon Centers and teleportation, but still use bicycles, is that the entire planet is ecologically minded: They use bikes (low-tech) and Pokemon and teleportation (super-high tech) instead of electric cars and motorcycles as much as possible.
 * Perhaps it's an Alternate Earth, given that the Pokemon are similar to Earth animals and the terrain is Earthlike and hospitable.
 * Humans have now been around so long that they've forgotten they were colonists, but fragments of Earth culture and knowledge remain- hence why Pokemon are categorized like Earth animals and myths. The Schizo-Tech is a result of most of their technology being made to control and interact with Pokemon, with most other kinds being little-used as a side effect of both teleport technology and the Mundane Utility of Pokemon.
 * Alternatively, Arceus was a Goa'uld. He created the legend surrounding him in order to subjugate the humans he brought to the Pokemon homeworld through the Stargate.
 * The whole theory of humans as the alien lifeforms in the Pokémon comes across as impossible due to the fact in RBY that one NPC mentions watching the moon landing, and gives the correct date. None of the above theories can explain how the planet would have been populated so vastly in just over 20 years. What is most likely, if humans are indeed an alien species, is that a mass extinction occurred on Earth due to a comet impact and a mass exodus occurred. Even that seems unlikely though as the tech to make that happen is not yet available.
 * It's been my impression that with each game they've been removing any 'real world' elements. It makes sense that humans would be the aliens. Alternatively, both are alien. Pokemon are the result of genetic experimentation. Given that some Pokemon are from space or something (Clefairy and the D/P legendaries) it could be that scientists decided to harness that power through genetic engineering and their own supply of terrestrial animals. Some more basic creatures, like worms, still exist the same as they did thousands of years ago.
 * If there's been genetic engineering, it's been done to the humans. Going by theories that humans are Made of Iron, the ancestors of humanity gave them Pokemon genes to defend against Pokemon.

Pokemon are distant descendants of modern Earth animals.
Given the franchise's loose grasp of "evolution", this seems as likely as anything else. Most Pokemon have at least superficial similarities to real animals, and their powers may be beneficial mutations. If the stories are set After the End, there may have been enough time for the wildlife to reach this point naturally.
 * Or unnaturally. The presence of evolution stones, particularly that giant Moon Stone from space, could imply accelerated mutation from extraterrestrial influence or good old-fashioned radiation.

The real purpose of Pokémon Centers is not to heal Pokémon, but to stunt their growth.
Think about it. It's eminently clear that Pokemon in the wild grow and evolve much faster than tame Pokemon. What do all trained Pokemon have in common? Inevitably, trainers have to bring their Pokémon to Nurse Joy for healing -- treatment which is suspiciously free, which must mean it is subsidized by the government. Indeed, almost everything happening in that world is the result of a Government Conspiracy to deal with the existence of creatures of such incredible power. The idea of letting kids run around the country battling wild animals is a way of keeping the Pokemon population from growing too powerful. But that opens the door to Pokemon trainers directing their powerful pets against the government; hence, Pokémon Centers inject the Pokémon they treat with chemicals to inhibit their growth, and the sport of trainer battles -- essentially legalized cockfighting -- is formalized as a distraction from the true potential of Pokemon.
 * Pokémon Battles were designed just so Trainers would be forced to go to Pokémon Centers.
 * Alternatively, the Pokemon have, by and large, gotten into the habit of holding back, especially around humans, with the intent of preventing serious injury or worse. This explains the exceptions much better - the most obvious being the Genetic Pokemon Mewtwo, who in the first movie is clearly shown fighting over and over (and thus getting healed over and over) but still displaying disproportionately high power.
 * In Diamond/Pearl, it's actually canon that Poke Balls act as a Power Limiter. Team Galactic needed a special device in order to control Dialga/Palkia at full power. If they had used a Poke Ball, it wouldn't have been able to create a new universe for them.
 * In the first two generations, you have to go into a Pokémon Center to EV-train Level 100 mons, which suggests this theory is ridiculous.
 * This troper actually relies exclusively on Berries, Fresh Water, Lemonade, Moomoo Milk, etc. in Soul Silver, and has only ever handed her Pokemon to the nurse in the Pokemon Center on occasional slip-ups. Of course, there's still the PC...

Humans don't age, they evolve.
We've seen very few signs that things age in the Pokemon world. If, as suggested above, Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny are some strange Pokemon off-shoot, maybe Pokemon DNA has already infiltrated the human geonome. As a result, when a human is ready for its next life stage, he or she evolves into it rather than aging gradually.
 * Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann pretty much confirms this.
 * Humans are sprites from Re Boot? Does that mean that the symbol on Ash's hat is his icon? And that Poke Balls use "compression algorithms" to make the Pokemon fit inside? This seems fantastically unlikely, since there are no zip-boards. On the other hand, the digitization could have been a carefully harnessed game...
 * This could imply that Pokemon is the future of the Distant Finale given at the end of Digimon Adventure 02.
 * Or The Sims 2, with the University expansion installed (for the "Young Adult" stage).
 * So part of the third movie came from a massive rare candy binge?
 * No, that was a dream. Otherwise Molly would be the first creature in Pokemon to devolve...
 * Except in the TCG, of course.

People eat Pokémon.
Not only do all animals in the world seem to be Pokemon, including many traditionally used for meat (cows, various fish, etc.), but most of the world's plants are Pokemon too! If they don't eat Pokemon, than what do they eat?
 * Yes, as people will continue to describe, eating Pokémon is canon, but this does not mean it is common or the norm. Eating Slowpoke Tails, for instance, seems to be regarded with high taboo in GSC/HGSS. As to the rather vast array of real-world animals that quite clearly and canonically do exist in this world despite how little emphasis is placed on them, see this: . Thank you.
 * In the Fire Red Pokédex, an Indian Elephant is mentioned. As is China.
 * This also implies that "Pokémon Food", whatever it is called, is made out of Pokémon.
 * Soylent Green is people Pokémon!
 * This is confirmed as of Diamond and Pearl, where a book in the game reminds people to thank the spirit of the Pokémon after they eat it.
 * Heck, it goes back way further than that. The Official Pokemon Handbook, which is old enough that it only has the original 150, specifies that Farfetch'd are so rare because they were nearly hunted to extinction because people like to eat them with leeks. Which makes their using leeks as swords just a little creepy...
 * Perhaps another marking characteristic of Farfetch'd as a species is its keen sense of irony?
 * *scratches chin* My granps used to make a real good Farfetch'd... back in the day...
 * Slowpoke Tail is also considered a delicacy. Fortunately, it isn't fatal to the Slowpoke. It doesn't feel its tail being chopped off, and it can apparently regrow the tail.
 * Slowpoke Tails are considered as a delicacy because it is believed to be very nutritious, much like Abalone and Sea Cucumbers being considered as such. This belief is rooted upon the fact that everytime a Shellder bites a Slowpoke tail, it will "Evolve".
 * Soul Silver's PokéDex entry for Slowpoke describe Slowpoke tails as "Although not nutritious, the tail is pleasant to chew on." So it's just a delicacy because it tastes good, and that's the reason Shellder bite it... because it tastes good. Which would also be the reason why anything else would eat a Pokémon. It's tasty.
 * Speaking of which, Shellder will have an Alternate Form in the 5th Generation, this will be the Spiral Shellder (caused by either holding or using a Slowpoke Tail)
 * If this happens, I shall name it Lagann
 * ...and mine shall be named Uzumaki!
 * Jossed. Sorry.
 * Pokemon eggs!
 * Vegetarianism is mandatory? There are some plant-type Pokemon, but there are still normal plants like rice, wheat and apples. Therefore, the only people who ate Pokemon would be the bad guys. And Pokemon food is just synthetic or vegetable-based proteins that contain all the necessary nutrients but tastes like cardboard. Therefore, Brock and the other breeders' new blends of Pokemon food would just be mixing chemical flavourings to make it taste less like drywall.
 * Nice try, mate... Some of the games include this description of the Pokemon Sneasel... "Vicious in nature, it drives Pidgey from their nests and feasts on the eggs that are left behind." ...and this description of Pigdeotto... "It has outstanding vision. However high it flies, it is able to distinguish the movements of its prey." ...and this description of Furret... "There is no telling where the tail begins. Despite its short legs, it is quick at hunting Rattata." Need this troper go on?
 * Yeah, it's pretty obvious that wild Pokemon eat other Pokemon. As for why captured Pokemon just eat Pokemon food... it's likely a creation made so that killing Pokemon isn't necessary to maintain your own team.
 * Or, Pokemon food could also be made from other Pokemon, just like dog/cat food is made with other animals. Pokemon food doesn't have to be made with synthetic chemicals. What kind of breeder would be irresponsible enough to feed their carnivorous Pokemon artificial foods?
 * Or, you know, it could just be that Pokemon food is more readily available than whatever the Pokemon would be eating in the wild. I don't go out and catch small game for my dog to eat - I feed him dry kibble and table scraps.
 * Pidgetto was eating a worm when Ash first saw it... so they at least have worms. Mmmm.
 * There's no reason to believe that worm isn't a Pokemon that's just too small and worthless to ever be used. Or maybe they're dwarf Diglett. Or a pre-pre-Diglett.
 * In the episode where Ash goes to Cerulean Gym to challenge Leaders, he wanders around the Gym because he can't find them. There are fishtanks in one room that he goes into, filled with actual fish and not Poké-fish. In that case, there must be real animals, but they're probably endangered since they can't stand a chance against their Pokémon counterparts. Or something like that.
 * Why not? If you think that Pokémon are based on animals and legendary creatures, then would it be a far stretch to assume that a Charizard could come down from a mountain and scoop up a few Miltanks or Mareep, in basically the same way that European dragons were said to eat cows and sheep? Beedrill lay their eggs inside Spinarak; once the eggs hatch, they eat the poor spider out from the inside. Doduo and Dodrio could supplement ostrich meat. Grumpig bacon sandwiches, anyone? The list goes on...
 * In one episode, James attempted to EAT a Magikarp.
 * In at least one episode, but probably far more, a food-laden table is shown to contain meat with bone sticking out of it. Ash and company marvel over the food, mentioning the meat with obvious desire to eat it. Was that a haunch of Charizard?
 * Miltank isn't kept around for show. You milk them at least. But that's an obvious source for the meat.
 * As the anime has shown (and the Pokédex has mentioned,) people drink the Miltank's milk. It's been explicitly stated that Miltank milk is super nutritious.
 * It's pretty clear in the anime that there's a lot of meat eaten, which would kind of pull Pokemon closer to the real world. Lots of people have pets that are otherwise grown for meat (I know someone with a pet pig. Albeit not one that can win a fight with a dragon...) and some cultures eating animals typically thought of as pets, such as dog meat in Korea.
 * There was also a ranch in the first season, recognized by Brock as a supplier of high-quality Tauros.
 * Well, it is mentioned that Feraligatr (the most Badass Pokemon to date) have been known to eat humans, the reverse is probably true as well.
 * It's also been mentioned that Swamperts eat humans on occasion as well, though this isn't due to Swampert explicitly preying on humans - they just mistake the humans for what they would normally eat. Just like sharks in the real world!

Pokémon form mated bonds of 2 or 3 in the wild.
Pokemon can form pair-bonds with their own kind or with Pokemon of the same egg group. In order to maintain balanced numbers of each species, the males of mixed pairs seek out their own kind to reproduce with as well. For example, If Pikachu and Buneary from the anime were a pair, they would seek out a female Pikachu/Raichu to join their family unit, since the Pika/Bun pairing would produce only Buneary eggs. Baby Pokemon have two mommies in some cases through biological necessity.
 * ...this sounds suspiciously like an excuse for, well, you do the maths. Then get the Brain Bleach.
 * Nah, just Bizarre Alien Biology.
 * Pokemon in the wild only mate with their own species. Mating them with other species is an unnatural act that only happens in captivity. The evidence for this is that no wild Pokemon are ever captured with egg moves. "Egg Groups" are just lists of Pokemon similar enough reproductively to be able to produce viable crossbred offspring (under lab conditions). Also, even in your hypothetical (and extremely unlikely) Male Pikachu/Female Pikachu/Female Buneary "family unit", the offspring would not "have two mommies", they'd have one mommy (either the female Buneary or Pikachu)and one daddy (the male Pikachu), and the baby Buneary would be half-siblings of the baby Pichu. It should be noted that the evidence, especially the mechanics of the move "Attract", strongly suggests that all male and female Pokemon are exclusively heterosexual.

There is a heretofore unknown Electric attack that overrides Ground type immunity, and Ash's Pikachu knows it.
Precedents: Miracle Eye overrides Dark's Psychic immunity, Gravity removes Ground protection from Flying and Levitate-ability'd Pokemon, and Foresight & Odor Sleuth make Ghosts vulnerable to Normal and Fighting. When Pikachu is ordered to attack a Ground type, he uses Earth Razer (The Ground-hitting Electric move) instead of what he was told. He "forgets" in order to teach Ash not to give dumb commands. You never see it from others: not Paul's Elekid/Electabuzz, not Gary's Electivire, not Dawn's Pachirisu, not even Ritchie's Pikachu.


 * Or he forgets because Pokemon aren't good at battle strategy - every time a Pokémon is fighting without a trainer, they seem to make stupid move choices, even Team Rocket's Meowth (Fury Swipes on a Haunter, for example, even though Meowth should know Bite as well). So it would follow that a Pokemon using a move without being ordered to do it wouldn't have good strategy about it. Or else maybe Pikachu doesn't realize he's doing this move, he just does it instinctively.

Poke Balls are made of Pokemon.
Specifically, they are the cut out stomach.
 * Nonono, they are killed and dried Voltorbs.
 * But Voltorb only appeared after Poke Balls were invented, as nearly every Pokedex entry of theirs states. (Which is WMG material on its own...)
 * Besides, what would seem to be the canon answer to this question is provided only in G/S/C, where they're apparently made out of special apricorns that grow on trees. At least, the specialty Poke Balls that are better at catching, say, heavier Pokemon or faster Pokemon are; normal Poke Balls seem to be mass-produced. But maybe it's a typical apricorn that's mass-farmed for normal Poke-Ball production anyway!
 * Perhaps they make Poke Balls from both apricorns and Voltorbs, now that there are Voltorbs.
 * Maybe Voltorb were originally apricorns.
 * Well, there are two Gen V Pokemon that look like they're literally made from Pokeballs...

Red is a twisted, sadistic freak.
He captures Pokemon and, after capturing them, records what he learns about them onto his Pokedex. Since he can only do this after capturing them, he must learn what he writes in the Pokedex entry from the Pokemon he owns. However, take a look at some of the entries this 'hero' records: "Raticate - "It uses its whiskers to maintain balance. It apparently slows down if they are cut off.""

To find this out, Red must have got a knife and hacked off the poor thing's whiskers just to see what would happen. "Golem - "Its boulder-like body is extremely hard. It can easily withstand dynamite blasts without damage.""

So Red has tried to use dynamite to blow up his own Pokemon. Oh, and there's more. Red is either extremely dedicated to scientific enquiry or just plain likes to hurt things. Therefore, Red's rival is the good guy trying to stop Red's mad experiments. "Staryu - As long as the center section is unharmed, it can grow back fully even if it is chopped to bits."
 * Considering that Professor Oak gives him the Pokedex and sends him on the journey in the first place, Red is working as his lackey, probably to keep Oak ahead of his peers in "the field of Pokemon research." Whether or not Oak condones his more... violent experiments is debatable, but it wouldn't be surprising if he does.
 * So, in effect, Red is Oak's Psycho for Hire?
 * Or maybe Red just made up less... unpleasant explanations for how he got his data.
 * And expanding on that, the data Red collected made Oak so successful that other researchers across the world are adopting similar tactics, recruting children both for their ease of manipulation and less restraint when it comes to harming Pokemon For Science!.
 * However, you guys seem to be forgetting that Golem is an evolution of Graveler, which learns Self-Destruct, where it blows itself up anyway with extreme force, and the only damage done to it after using the move leads to it fainting, not dying.
 * This might also explain why Red becomes a hermit in G/S/C; his experiments were discovered, and he was forced to go into hiding to avoid prosecution.
 * Red Mengele, anyone?
 * Oh god! This explains everything. And Red won't speak because he felt extreme guilt for the sins he committed and now can only scream in fear.
 * AAAH! My childhood!
 * This evidence is from Yellow...

"A peculiar Pokémon that floats in air even though its wings remain completely still. The inside of its body is hollow and utterly dark."
 * ...The man must be stopped.
 * Update: also a possible sexual deviant. "GRIMER's sludgy and rubbery body can be forced through any opening, however small it may be."
 * From Milotic's FR/LG entry: "Milotic is breathtakingly beautiful." Also, the Grimer entry is from Ruby, so both Red/Leaf and Brendan/May are hot for Pokemon.
 * As is Dawn/What's his name for Gen 4. Oh, and Cynthia as well, seeing as she mentions a few times she did the whole Pokedex thing when she was younger. Arceus/Cynthia/Dawn threesome anyone? It brings new meaning to "fuck god".
 * That Milotic one's not a very good one. If one thinks a rose is beautiful, does that mean one is hot for roses? Oh, wait...
 * ...Grimer is Talking Poo! Squick!!!
 * Slowbro's Yellow entry: "Lives lazily by the sea. If the Shellder on its tail comes off, it will become a Slowpoke again." Since Slowbro do not regularly devolve back into Slowpoke, we can only assume Red actively ripped this Pokémon into two pieces.
 * Shellder's Fire Red entry: "It is encased in a shell that is harder than diamond. Inside, however, it is surprisingly tender." Red, you sick, sick bastard...
 * Well, Shellder's shell opens at a narrow angle. So I figure that he stuck his finger and touched its insides.
 * Ooh, and we see a bit of daring-do in the RS entry for Kangaskhan: "If you come across a young Kangaskhan playing by itself, you must never disturb it or attempt to catch it. The baby Pokémon's parent is sure to be in the area, and it will become violently enraged at you." What was he trying to do, steal the baby? Or maybe the smaller ones are easier to euthanize and dissect?
 * This becomes worse than suicidal when you think about that Shedinja rumor about how, "It is believed that this Pokémon will steal the spirit of anyone peering into its hollow body from its back." Now listen to the Emerald description.

Considering the only visible openings are its eye slits and the hole in its back, how would he be able to accurately describe the inside of it?
 * A flashlight.
 * Or maybe he just wrote down the rumors and myths he heard from other people. He would catch a new Pokemon and show it to other people asking for information and then write down the most commonly repeated facts, but we don't see this process as it would be too boring.
 * He used a mirror. As with the giant snake in Harry Potter, it will not steal your soul if you are not looking in its back DIRECTLY.
 * Didn't Perseus pull a similar trick with Medusa?

Red was a lazy kid that made everything up.

 * More pleasant & frankly more plausible explanation. The dex entries are written immediately after a mon is caught, no way he actually took the time to study them. The entries are lies he made up on the spot so he could go back to his fun adventure, because he's, you know, ten! Did the grown-ups really expect him to waste a perfectly good extended vacation on studying? Also, this explains some of the more curious heights and weights (Snorlax sure doesn't look like it's 6'11". And we don't want to think about how morbidly obese it would have to be to weigh half a ton. Maybe they're so uncommon because they're prone to heart attacks.)

Red and Blue's Pokedex is able to draw information from the Pokeballs electronically.
This explains why you get information after captures, the ball converts the Pokemon into energy that is stored as data, that much is already confirmed by the PC box, the Dex could then read that data and Red could come up with his own evaluation. This also explains the problems with weight and such, Red's not too good with math, is somewhat lazy and doesn't grasp the huge change a single zero can make(such as the case Onix's weight) The same is true of Ethan(Magcargo's temperature). The stuff about the dynamite and hacking creatures to pieces can therefore be seen as stuff he wanted to try but hopefully did not.

Pokemon occurs in the future in a quarantined zone around Japan.
See, what happened was that the Pokemon were created, but were far too good at adapting to their surroundings - it threatened to destroy the Earth's ecosystem. So the entire area was quarantined, and eventually people forgot. 1. They have some extremely advanced technology: such as the ability to transport matter through computer systems. 2. No Pokemon game has taken place anywhere except in Japan, but it's all named differently, suggesting a different era. 3. Obviously, Poke Ball technology was reverse-engineered from Samus's Morph Ball, and the technology to replicate it was left in Japan before it was closed off.
 * Problem: Orre is Arizona. California and other parts of the West Coast would have to be in the quarantine zone.
 * Let's just say it's the entire pacific rim/ring of fire zone. Maybe it has something to do with the earthquakes.
 * That, and Meister in D&P has travelled and caught Pokemon from all over the world.
 * And what about Isshu, which seems to be based off the Western area of the US?
 * Could it be that Team Rocket is actually the government trying to collect all the most powerful Pokemon, so that they can make sure no one in the quarantined zone can do anything to stop the eventual bombing of said zone by the government? I mean, maybe Team Rocket got its name from the "rockets" that will be dropped all over the quarantined zone...
 * The part of Japan that will be quarantined will be the area contaminated by the radiation coming from the melting nuclear reactor in Fukushima. (The nuclear power plants in that area were made unstable by the earthquake and tsunami in 2011.) While most of the plants and animals will die from radiation poisoning, some of them in the surrounding area will mutate into Pokemon.

Poke Balls put Pokemon into suspended animation.
In the series, we have seen a few Pokemon that have been in their balls for a while (James's Carnavine, Mira's Sanshrew), so maybe they put the Pokemon in suspended animation.
 * Pokemon seem to hear their Trainers while still in the ball.
 * Wouldn't that mean that losing a Poke Ball could result in And I Must Scream for the poor Pokemon inside?
 * It's been shown that Pokemon can leave their Poke Balls of their own will (such as Misty's Psyduck or Team Rocket's Wobbuffet).
 * The Lucario from the 8th movie was "ASLEEP for a long time" while sealed in Aaron's staff according to Queen Iline; but it managed to "talk" to Ash when he held the staff, probably because Ash and Aaron have the same aura. Maybe the whole Poké Ball thing is similar: A Pokémon in a Poké Ball is awake when its Poké Ball is near or held by its trainer; but when the trainer isn't near the Poké Ball, the Pokémon inside falls asleep. That's why Jessie's Wobbuffet can come out of its ball at will, but James's Carnivine ended up stuck in a box of bottlecaps for years.
 * Actually, that makes pokeballs very similar to binding in Runequest/Basic Roleplaying, in that you trap a spirit or such in an item, and can talk to them while in contact with it.
 * Well, Pokémon are converted to energy while inside their Pokéballs, right? They probably don't age while in that state, and aren't in suspended animation, but can still go to sleep if they wanted to (as evidenced by Psyduck being asleep in it's Pokéball in that Golduck episode).
 * For a while, I've been seeing it as a digitization, so the pokemon exists in the ball in digital form, and yes, thus doesn't age. On the other hand, poison apparently gets digitized as well, which is why it continues to affect your pokemon after battle.

The Pokedex is the Pokemon Wiki.
Meh, pretty Self Explanatory. The Pokedex is just some type of Personal computer with an internet connection, accessing the wiki. Developing technology made the synthetic voice thing, and some sensor knows which Pokemon page to access. That would explain why the info is irrelevant and essentially useless. It also explains why some of the info implies cruelty to Pokemon, as pointed out earlier on the page.
 * Jossed by the series, where Prof Oak is shown deliberately updating Ash's Pokedex on at least one occasion (and outright replacing it on a few more). All the data is stored on the Pokedex.
 * Not necessarily. It could be a time-delayed sort of thing, where people can make edits and then upload them to a database, and then eventually get around to updating their own when they need to.
 * So the Pokédex is the Hitchhiker's Guide?
 * Then explain why Ash's Hoenn Pokedex (also presumeably loaded with Kanto and Johto data) had no data on Electivire, a Sinnoh Pokemon. Ash needed to get a Sinnoh Pokedex for that data.
 * The Pokedex has restrictions; you have a limited number of Pokemon and, when you go to a different region, you need a new Pokedex.
 * Perhaps Oak is just updating the hardware of the 'dex? To update its sensors so it can recognize more Pokemon? You might note that over each version of Pokedex, it changes in physical appearance.
 * Only the anime has a problem with this theory. The manga to my knowledge does not and the games certainly don't. This lines up with a theory of mine that you aren't being sent out to collect data on the Pokemon, you're being sent out to collect as many Pokemon as you can so they can be studied closely by the professors, who can then create new entries with only facts, free of the mythical or fictitious BS. The Pokedex Restoration project.
 * Totally plausible. Or rather, the Dex isn't DIRECTLY connected to the Wiki, but the info downloaded to it is from it. After all, do you really expect Ash to get a Wi Fi signal in the middle of Ilex or deep in the mountains or in the middle of the ocean? It's not auto-updated, but the database Oak uses is a Wiki, with he and the other profs being the admins/mods. Of course, one also needs to ignore the fact that in Sinnoh, Electivire have been around forever and that weird Bulbasaur thing is the "new" species, but that part occurs for everything, so we tend to ignore it...
 * No, Bulbapedia is the Pokémon Wiki.
 * And it contains every pokedex entry heard in the anime, and every entry seen in the games.

The Regions that appear in the Pokemon games are islands off Japan created with Pokemon power; a few years before the games start, all the Pokemon in the world have been put on them.
Related but different to the "quarantine theory" above. The Regions have their own government which is led by the Professors (who spend all their time either managing the great training game or making sure that the whole Pokemon thing isn't getting out of hand), with the Elite Four acting as a sort of military police. Everyone else in the world thinks it's either some kind of big game or a multinational experiment unless they know someone directly involved. People who want to become Pokemon trainers or whatever immigrate to one of the four regions. The "teams" in each game are just what they seem, criminal organizations taking advantage of Pokemon. The trainers we play are second (or probably later, third) generation residents whose ancestors migrated when the Regions were first established - though some of the people have been living there forever, hence their knowledge of all this ancient Pokemon mumbo-jumbo. The Day Care centers are government run centers to track the breeding of domesticated Pokemon, and all that business about "never seen a Pokemon lay an egg" is Obfuscating Stupidity. The reason there are only eight or so cities is that that's the number that can be supported by the region's environment. The careful stepping-up of the level of wild Pokemon is caused by Pokemon of the relevant level range being moved into a specified area where all Pokemon are of the right level set. This makes training a national sport, with the Elite Four being the heads of the league and representatives of that region. Gym leaders are former winners who are assigned control of one of the sectors of this huge game; they get to set up shop in a city. "Red" from G/S/C is the only person to beat all the Elite Fours and collect all the badges and thus can have Pokemon at whatever level he wants. He is the king of Pokemon land. Good thing he doesn't want to leave. The people we play become the Champions of each Region, and thus are free to do whatever they like until there's an opening in the Elite Four or Gym leadership - or they become like Red and hide deep under mountains waiting for some random dude to show up and challenge them, as they become a Folk Hero of sorts.

Pokemon used to be everywhere; but sometime in the past, they decided that the uber-capturable monsters should be limited to a self contained area. There are no airports in ANY of the cities; the only way to leave if you want to (who would, though?) is by boat. There is a set of radar and other detection methods set up around all the regions so that anyone who tries to leave via Pokemon can be caught and placed back in the isolated little environment. If you're too strong to be caught, they shoot you down.
 * Wow, this is almost exactly like a fanfic I'm writing. Only Lt. Surge and the Gym Masters, Brock included, are the villains. Also uses the "Jenny and Joy are clones" WMG.
 * You can't even leave by boat. There are rocks all around each island (possibly made of some sort of nonstick material, and/or something that repels Pokemon), so the only way to get off the islands is to have a ship sail by large enough to send you a small plane or a helicopter. The news crews must be a part of the conspiracy, since they have helicopters in at least the movies.
 * Shouldn't you be able to leave using a Pokemon? Flying or teleportation?
 * In the games, you could only fly to cities you've already been too. Teleport would only take you to the last Pokemon centre you visited. So a Pokemon couldn't take you to a place you've never been before. However, the same couldn't be said in the anime where there's no such limitation. Unless before these Pokemon were released, they had been exposed to experiments that altered their minds to build in this limitation, so that they cannot fly or teleport to any place outside of these regions. As they had many experiments to them done, this limitations if even passed on to their offsprings, so eventually there is no Pokemon capable of leaving if they wanted to.

The Pokemon world is a semi-Utopia.
Why else would they let 10-year-olds run around freely with superpowered monsters? Teleportation technology exists. Pokemon are so useful that vehicles like cars and planes are barely used; people prefer to walk and ride everywhere. Team Rocket/Aqua/Magma/Galactic get away with their petty crimes because people aren't quite used to dealing with crime, and a 10-year-old could beat them if they paid attention or were lucky anyway.

Pokemon evolved from rocks.
Every ancient Pokemon is at least park rock-type, even if there's little reason for them to be. This can't just be written off as a side effect of the fossil-revivication process, either... Relicanth (the coleocanth Pokemon) is also half rock for no reason, and it's not extinct at all. Whether or not there is a connection with this fact and the elemental evolution stones is unclear, though there are still far more types than stones right now.
 * You can have Water/Ground (the Quagsire and Mudkip lines), so Water/Rock isn't much of a stretch. Relicanth may be a red herring here.
 * It could be that only rock Pokemon can be fossilized. Way back in time, there were plenty of other ancient Pokemon that no one knows about because there's no fossil record.
 * It is possible that that the fossil resurrection process is incomplete or, more plausibly, inefficient. To be fair, you are trying to convert a petrified scrap of DNA into a living creature; it is more than likely that the process leaves traces of stone in the target's body, particularly with more ambiguous or biologically vague material like Omastar's shell (calcium carbonate) and Kabutops/Armaldo's armour (ditto or chitin). This accounts for their respectable defences. Incidentally, the fossils with the lowest defences are Aerodactyl, Rampardos and Archeops, who can be explained by lack of protective armour (Aerodactyl), inefficient design of armour-like material (Archeops: keratin may be tough, but feathers are rubbish at stopping attacks), ineffectively placed (Rampardos' bone spikes and skull ram) or just plain balancing issues (Aerodactyl and Archeops are speedsters, so they can't afford to lug around that kind of armour, and Rampardos' brutish Attack and powerful movepool would not be fair otherwise). It could be assumed that the odd one out (Cradily) has sheer bulk and physical toughness to account for, if not an armour shell (i.e.: Barnacle Pokemon).

Humans do not reproduce in the normal way in the Pokeverse.
Almost everyone is clueless about how Pokemon eggs appear. If humans reproduced normally, then at least some people would assume that the Pokemon reproduced in an analogous manner.
 * Alternatively, the society is very conservative, and since the PC is always 10 years old, the old woman running the daycare is just being coy with you.

Pokemon never defecate.
Many Pokemon eat much more than their body mass and nothing ever comes out. This is because, after digestion, the waste products from food in a Pokemon's body dissolve and are forced into the spacial void to be re-circulated as matter into the rest of the world. Palkia oversees this process. It really sucks to be him. It.
 * Poke Balls are based on this process.
 * Alternately, their bodies absorb all waste materials.
 * Not true. In D/P the woman who sells you fertilizer says she mixes it with Pokemon "you know". But in the anime this troper has no idea. Maybe they use Pokemon like Muk as ingredients for fertilizer. It's not as strange as some things in the show.
 * It could also be that the matter is converted to pure energy and stored until the Pokemon uses a fire, electrical, or energy attack; for water attacks and birth, it converts the energy to matter: Hydrogen and oxygen for water attacks, keratin for projectile stings, and Pokemon flesh for baby Pokemon.
 * Then how do you explain the fossilized Pokémon manure found in the episode Attack of the Prehistoric Pokémon?
 * Baby Pokemon gone horribly, horribly wrong.
 * Rock Pokemon may actually defecate. After all, the rocks you need Rock Smash to break through have to mysteriously reappear somehow.
 * Pokemon digest food and excrete Grimers. This is fact.
 * Defecation confirmed in a slightly disturbing pokedex entry from White

Pokemon are living programs.
Pokemon are only capable of learning four attacks, but can forget attacks, learn new attacks from tutors, or learn new attacks from TM's which look suspiciously like ordinary cd's. Pokemon don't seem to follow any scientific logic and are capable of being transported and stored as data in the games. Porygon adds to this theory in that it was a Pokemon originally created as a computer program but can manifest as an actual Pokemon. Trade evolutions, item or otherwise, suggest that normal Pokemon can be altered while in their 'data form' to become new Pokemon. Pokemon either somehow were born naturally this way, thus lending to the idea that the entire Pokemon world is a simulation, or created by some predecessor race to the humans. Mew would have been the first prototype, followed by Arceus, and possibly Ditto as well. From these Pokemon, all other Pokemon would be created. If the Pokemon world is a simulation, then the entire world is literally built around the main character and thus why his/her age, actions, etc are never questioned and why the world seems to ignore most of his/her achievements. This also explains discrepencies in the pokedex and comparisons to seemingly non-existant animals. Another possibility is that Pokemon were originally created by a predecessor race to the humans in an attempt to replace disappearing animal species. It fails, the humanoid race dies off, but Pokemon live on due to being living programs. To deal with their own extinction, pre-humans programmed the Pokemon to recreate the human race and to obey them. Thus why Pokemon seem to be completely obedient to humans, regardless of how they're treated. A Pokemon that despises, or is abused by, their Trainer still seems to serve unquestioningly.

Poke Balls are teleporters/communicators.
When you first catch a Pokemon, they can override the containment system by causing enough damage that it could be destroyed and permanently trap the Pokemon inside; if this becomes high probablity, the containment system teleports the Pokemon back to the field of battle. The Pokemon "comes out of its Poke Ball" if you press the button to page it and call its name, as a feature that stops trainers from accidentally releasing their Pokemon if they bump against something with the Poke Ball on their belt, and the Master Ball is so rare and cannot be bought because it has no safety override and is a giant sphere with internal adamantium plating. (The Poke Balls link to different holding tanks based on the size of the captured Pokemon, they do not shrink the Pokemon or convert them to data.)
 * So Misty's Psyduck and Jessie's Wobbuffet are some kind of uber-hackers? Whoa. Calling its name seems to be more ritual or sportsmanlike conduct, though, since they can simply be let out by hitting the button (done by Pikachu at least once).

All of the Pokémon are descendants of Mew, who came from space, and many are closer in genetic relationship to it than others.
A lot of the Pokémon seem to be based off of human archetypes and details from the present time, yet they all share the same qualities of being easy to work with scientifically (notice only these creatures can be transferred electronically, learn similar moves, be healed in the same process, etc...). There are only two Pokémon known of that take on shapes of others: Mew and Ditto. However, Mew is more vesitile, can fly, and is vastly considered a myth, unlike Ditto, who is fixed, common, and underpowered in comparison. So, here's this troper's theory, combining many of the above: Mew is the original Pokémon, and the world of the series is Earth, separated by thousands of years. After the catastrophe that devastated the land, a small number of humans survived in the Pacific regions, i.e., Japan (Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh) and Western North America (Orre). Then, the Mew arrived in a large comet that impacted a mountain in northern Kanto, which later became known as Mount Moon. This extraterrestrial material's impact gave way to mutation among various Earth substances, producing the elemental stones. The Mew would go on to mutate into various human archetypes it psychically sensed in humanity, both to blend in and to better suit their enviornment. Some of the ones that stayed the most similar include Clefairy, due to its proximity to Mt. Moon. All of the other "legendary" Pokémon are based off of human legends, but are faÃ§ades. This explains why even though these legends could allegedly control things like time and space, they don't. Several thousand years pass, before a group of humans who had evacuated after the catastrophe return to the planet. However, unlike the After The End humans, these spacefaring ones had technology to manipulate these mystery monsters. This explains the dichotomy between the highly technological storage systems and the down-to-earth highway-free world. This solves some other mysteries: Voltorb is just a mimic of the PokéBall, not a descendant or somesuch. The authority in the Pokémon world is mostly fend-for-yourself, but the Professors - who are undoubtably part of the group that later returned to the planet - seem to hold power over trainers and are even allowed to march into the Pokémon League as they please. There is also serious evidence to back this all up: Clefairy, for instance, was originally going to be Ash Ketchum's starting Pokémon, which would have increased its importance in the series mythology. You'll also notice that Mewtwo, a clone of Mew, returns to its most natural habitat in the caves of Mt. Moon after fleeing from Cinnibar Island.
 * No canon supports this; it in fact contradicts it. Mew has never once created life, and has been able to restore it only with help from others. Arceus has created life on its own power, hands down. (Even if you call the creation story a myth, the player WITNESSES the birth of a legendary Egg.) Ho-oh has created/reincarnated life, using its own power and a bit of nature it pulled in to enhance powers of the new lives. Mew? Not so much.
 * Furthermore, Zoroark can Transform, too.

The Pokemon lands are all the result of giant terraforming projects, and other experiments.
A spacefaring, planet-building company such as might be seen in Terry Pratchett's Strata built Kanto with one of their prototype Strata machines (terraforming devices retroengineered from alien technology). They hadn't quite gotten them perfect yet, so the land all ended up being patches of terrain about a meter across. The plants are all prototypes that satop growing at a certain depth (thick grass, short grass, trees), and the Pokemon and cuttable saplings are all experimental animals and life-simulating robots that could never exist in real life. Every few years, the Company would have enough new experimental designs to make another set of creatures and another land to inhabit it, so they just freeze everyone for a few months, build another country and fill it with artificial animals and criminals/mental patients/volunteers [delete as you prefer], upload some false memories as necessary, and see how things go. The idiosyncratic technology is a result of the planet only being a couple of decades old, at the most, and many people may in fact be Company workers who vacation in the parts of the world with comfortabel weather (also, the reason Kanto and Hoenn don't have a time of day is that they hadn't yet perfected lighting a disc-shaped world, did a quick fix on Johto, and only just figured it out after they set up Sinnoh).

There are only a few Pokémon "species".
And that means "Pokémon" is simply one huge species with lots and lots of races, and few exceptions. Cutting the "egg coming from somewhere" crap, it is possible for any Pokémon to be an ancestral of any other Pokémon, by means of chain breeding between the many egg families. Thus, they all have, at least, the same number of chromosomes. Incompatiblity between Pokés on different groups can be either explained as physical or even psychical incompatibilities (you might think that it must be hard for a plant-lizard to mate with a fish, and not many things would willingly mate with something already dead). Apparently physically impossible couples, on the other hand, are explained by the fact that, even though they are pretty much different shaped, their sexual organs are actually compatible in size and shape.

On the other hand, legendaries and other "No Eggs" grouped Pokémon are the only ones who are actually species on their own, most of them infertile as they are, probably as result of different group couples (I can see Charizard and Pidgeot giving birth to Moltres, though I really want some Brain Bleach, now...). Manaphy is the only fertile one, but its offspring is not a Manaphy, because of its different number of chromosomes, that generate another species, much like a donkey/mare generating a mule.
 * Dude, this. Right there. Perfect.
 * Well, in Red and Blue, there were only 151 variations of a few different Pokemon cries...

In the wild, Pokémon can reproduce in a myriad of ways
It's only in captivity that they only produce eggs.
 * Hence why you can't breed legendaries-they don't produce eggs

The Pokémon Card GB games are a split universe literally split by a neo Plasma, on the other side of which is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
Since there weren't any Pokémon left, the humans make Pokémon cards so they can still battle and trade Pokémon, because they're sad the Pokémon are gone. Note how there aren't any actual Pokémon at all in the TCG video games - just cards. Over centuries, this becomes their entire way of life. Meanwhile, in the world of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, a pair of Mew realized that they could bring humans back by transforming into them and getting each other pregnant, since Mew has the DNA of humans and all the Pokémon. They tried, and they succeeded in gestating a human baby: you from the sequel. The baby had a Dream World ability "Dimensional Scream". Unfortunately, they did it right before the planet was being paralyzed, and after Darkrai paralyzed the planet, Darkrai had Dusknoir (then still the Duskull from Duskull Bank, tainted by Darkrai's promises of riches, because he loves money) kill the Mew for trying to recreate a species that could prevent his evil plan. The human baby crawled away from Duskull. A Treecko discovered him and took him home, and the baby was raised by Sceptile, so he learned Pokémon-Speak. The Treecko evolved into Grovyle and the baby grew up into a teenager and they decided to do something about the world. So they made a stand, but then Dusclops came and killed Grovyle's parents, too. They made secret bases and did research on Time Gears and also made their plans and met Celebi.

Why Pokémon break free of their Pokéball
When Pokémon break free of their Pokéball, it's because they dislike the living conditions. For example, a Pokéball is simply an apartment, and not a lot of Pokémon wish to live there so they break out easier. A Great Ball is a house, an Ultra Ball is a mansion, and a Master Ball is Heaven. The other Pokéballs are other types of buildings, for example: Heal Ball = Pokécenter, Net Ball = Swamp, Dive Ball = Aquarium (or Ocean), Cherish Ball = Limo (it is how event Pokémon are brought to you), ect. How catch rates are determined is if the Pokémon are living in good conditions or can live on their own. A regular wild Pokémon can usually be caught in a Pokéball because it is homeless and an apartment is fine for it. But legendaries, for example, are fine living on their own in their own enviroment, so they want to live in a mansion or in Heaven. When you chuck a lot of mansions at them, eventually they get tired and just decide to live in the mansion. If they're frozen or sleeping, they probably won't be able to break out of the mansion as easy.

The Player Character Does Off-Screen Acts Of Kindness
As You Know, simply walking with a pokemon boosts happiness. However, other trainers, no matter how long their journey has been, have pokemon with 0 happiness. That would also explain why everyone comments on how kind you are, ect.
 * To expand on this theory a bit, the Player Character actually does various things offscreen in which we don't see because that would be boring. That explains how N in Black and White can figure out the player's hometown and who does he/she live with (and why she was only referred to as Mom) from by simply talking his/her Pokemon. The Player Character must have been talking with his/her Pokemon at various points during the journey, which wouldn't be too far fetched seeing how in the Anime this was done rather regularly. The fact that any Pokemon he/she owns seems to know the Player Character's basic information suggests this was done regularly.