Thread: Should disobedient Pokemon be disqualified from official battles?

Originally Posted by Caseydia

If a disobedient Pokemon goes on a rampage and atacks everyone causing distruction, then there needs to be some boundries. Sleeping is a cause for disqualifications in the anime unless the trainer uses a sleep berry, Awakening or whatever they're called. Atleast I think it is.

You're right Chesto Berry, Awakening, Full Heal, Full Restore, PokeFlute can be used to wake up a sleeping Pokemon. I think with time that rule has been put out instead of making Sleep a reason for disqualification it is now correctly addressed as a status condition like Burn or Poisoned instead of disobedience. Like Ash sending out his Sleeping Snorlax against Harrison in the Johto League, or all of the Pokemon Tobais' Darkari put to sleep with Dark Void.

Iris' Dragonite won the battle nevertheless. If a Pokémon is out of control to a dangerous level, like Dragonite in the semifinals, then it should be disqualified. The same is the case if the Pokémon is inactive. If, however, they continue to battle safely, they should be allowed to continue, but after the battle be banned from competitive battling and the trainer should use a different Pokémon.

I agree. I'm glad that it didn't cause too much harm like Mamoswine almost did in one of Dawn's contests. I wouldn't have mind seeing that but since it didn't happen there is no reason to put Dragonite in a bag of bad apples just yet.

Yeah, the big thing about Dragonite is probably because it "decided" to let Iris run the battle but when it got hit with Dragon Claw...

You know, I think the main reason it went on that rampage was because it wasn't used to having an opponent that could measure up and actually inflict notable damage and prove to be a challenge. I guess that Dragonite doesn't really know how to handle it. So, it threw a enormous hissy fit because it got pissed off. I guess its true what they say; "You are your own worst enemy."

Think about its previous matches, I think that it tests the power of its opponents and like Flint's battle style it takes on attacks and then hits back harder. I find it interesting that the battle must be on its terms. When its in control it takes on its opponents moves one after another and then in one swoop ends the match with a power hit. Though with its ground-crocodile opponent the power that came with its evolution was more than Dragonite bargained for...

Due to that fit of rage it was completely blind as how to properly defend itself and take down its opponent. I honestly think that if Dragonite was under control I mean if it kept its cool OR listened to Iris it would have won (though I think on its own it could have won because Iris just kept calling out the same attacks, Ice Beam/Flamethrower...)

Not to stray off course of this thread but that battle just proved that Iris needs to grow A LOT as a trainer/Dragon Master like Ash did with Charizard. If the Pokemon doesn't respect its trainer there is no way it will obey them.

I concur. Not to mention, look at the battle Iris had against Ash with her Dragonite vs Ash's newly evolved Krookodile. The dragon went berserk, and everyone there could have been harmed if Ash didn't take it down. That should have disqualified her immediately. However, they are right, it doesn't happen within the games, so it won't happen in the anime I suppose.

Araragi Hakase, I COMPLETELY agree with you. Iris is in no way, shape, or form ready to handle Dragonite.
However, let's draw the line a bit. What about when normally obedient pokemon go on a rampage DUE to their special ability, like Infernape did with Blaze? Under normal circumstances, Infernape was PERFECTLY willing to listen to Ash, same as a Monferno and a Chimchar.

I've never thought about this before but it's a really good point, yes they totally should be. It's dangerous and leads to undeserving wins and losses for the trainers.

If the pokemon doesn't listen to it's trainer it should be disqualified. In fact it should be in the rules that the pokemon you enter with have to listen to you. I still don't understand why Iris didn't switch pokemon after that first horrible match. It should have been humiliating for her when Dragonite didn't listen to her.
Since the bond between trainer and pokemon is such a big part of what battling is about, entering a competition with a pokemon that doesn't trust you should be at the very least considered bad form. It would mean that you care more for the battle then you do for your pokemon.

Originally Posted by Slipstream

However, let's draw the line a bit. What about when normally obedient pokemon go on a rampage DUE to their special ability, like Infernape did with Blaze? Under normal circumstances, Infernape was PERFECTLY willing to listen to Ash, same as a Monferno and a Chimchar.

That depends on what happens. Infernape did go out of control for a short while but Ash made it listen to him again. If the trainer gets control back within a reasonable amount of time then they shouldn't be disqualified but if it continues to disobey like Ash's Charizard or Iris's Dragonite then they should be.

I think that disobedient Pokemon should be disqualified from official battles. Depending on how disobedient they are, it can be dangerous for people in the stands or the other Pokemon in the battle, especially if the Pokemon goes seriously out of control and the trainer can't even call them back in their Pokeballs. There is also the issue of how the trainer didn't do anything to win the match, but just their Pokemon's brute strength giving them a win, which shows that the trainer didn't necessarily have the skills to win the match on their own and that it was only the disobedient Pokemon's actions that led to a victory. I understand the mentality of trying to get a disobedient Pokemon to listen to a trainer through a battle, but doing so during a tournament isn't really the best place to do it. Maybe they could go with that for a Gym battle since they could always challenge the Gym again if it didn't work out, even if the Gym Leader was willing to give them a badge, but for official tournament matches where it would take a lot longer for people to enter again, I think using a disobedient Pokemon should be grounds for disqualification.