Need an opinion on this.

[McKnight]

So, I've started writing the first chapter (not yet posted) to a ficseries, and would like anyone's opinion on something if they're interested.

The situation at hand, is that after the main character captures a Rattata on Route 1, it is already out of HP and needs to be healed before it can fight. Originally, I was gonna have her need to head directly to the Pokemon Center in Viridian City in order to allow it to continue living. However, let's consider the following factors:

One, since Pokemon need to hurt in order for a successful capture, and since any Pokemon captured by a Trainer w/ a full party go directly to a PC box, some kind of healing process obviously needs to take place to each Pokemon captured before they actually end up in the box, so that they don't die. (A friend of mine told me that the boxes don't heal Pokemon when I brought the issue at hand up with him, but also mentioned that he never uses the boxes.) Second, I've decided, based on episode 13 of the anime, that Trainers can use their Pokedexes to transfer Pokemon to and from PC boxes, instead of having to access a computer somewhere.

That said, the aforementioned friend of mine said that it isn't possible to transfer a Pokemon to a box if the Trainer has less than six Pokemon. However, even in the games, where you need to access a PC in order to withdraw or deposit Pokemon, we know that this simply isn't true. Logically, Trainers should be able to send Pokemon to boxes via their Pokedexes. He did say that it would make for good drama if the main character actually had to hurry to a PokeCenter, but as a rule, I will not allow the Rule of Drama or anything the plot might demand at any point to override logic. Logically, Pokedexes (or for that matter, pretty much anything) should be designed with convenience for the Trainer on mind, which would mean that there would be an option to do things the easy way, and not what the Rule of Drama would require.

Does anyone here disagree with me, or think that there would be any reason why a Trainer would have to access a PokeCenter to get their Pokemon healed, when PC boxes are also both capable of and required to do that? If anyone's got any suggestions for me to make things work better, I'll be glad to hear them.

 

[AetherX]

Personally I don't think PC boxes do healing. In the end it depends on what you want to happen in your own story, but if PC boxes could heal then there wouldn't be much of a purpose for Pokemon Centers anyway. In anime canon there aren't PC boxes at all, but I'd bet Prof Oak patches up the Pokemon himself. In game canon, no healing goes on since Pokemon seem able to survive indefinitely with injuries. I like to think that when Pokemon are in a ball/PC, they're in stasis. Wounds don't fester and blood doesn't... well... bleed. Poison can still wreak damage, though, as it is a foreign substance.

Like I said, it depends on what you want to happen or what the story/characters demand. That's what's cool, you get to make up your own system. Hope this helped.

 

[Lost-Tresure]

In my opinon PC boxes don't heal but since the only access points to the boxes usually are near a place where a Nurse Joy is I just take it as one of her Chansey (or someone else) helpers takes the pokémon out and heals them before putting them back in the box. The daycares also have access to the boxes but I take it as they only care for the Pokémon you left there.

If we go by the anime all the characters that we see with more than 6 pokémon seems to send them home or to the professor who gave them their starter, in which case someone who lives there takes care of them.

But if he needs to heal up his Rattata then using a potion would be the most logical thing to do. Though this depends on how you think potions work. Like if you do it game style and their back to health just like that (I don't recomend this as it would be boring to read if the trainer stocks up on potions) or that it's like normal medicine and he has to let it rest and use another pokémon.

 

[Gama]

Well, I think with a universe as versatile as the Pokemon one, you certainly have a lot of artistic license to play with as there are a lot of unclear things so, in a way, it is up to you.

I would say, though, if trainers are capable of sending Pokemon to and fro the PC by their Pokedex and this instantly heals them, doesn't this just mean that trainers can use whatever Pokemon they want from their PC instantly and fully heal all of their Pokemon instantly, rendering all healing items, Pokemon centers and the rule that you can only carry 6 Pokemon at a time entirely redundant? While it may be convenient to have things that way at this point in the story, I would suggest that it may become inconvenient later in your story, when the trainer doesn't just instantly heal all of their Pokemon or switch to a Pokemon that they have boxed away if it is more advantageous.

You could do what Lost-Tresure suggests and have him use an item. You could even have him capture the Rattata with a Heal Ball... Or you could just make it so that Pokemon are healed by all Pokeballs or that this particular trainer keeps something in his/her Pokeballs that heals Pokemon?