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Pokemon are in place of animals. Pokemon are also in place alien civilizations from other planets, eldritch abominations from beyond the universe, cryptids, ghosts, literal gods, robots, AIs, spirits, fairies, mythical creatures, urban legends, mimes, nurses, construction workers, vehicles, taxis, objects, adventurers, guardians, etc, etc. In order to give consent to sex or marriage, they have to be sapient. Are pokemon sapient? Yes, as was shown numerious times in games (Marowak's ghost, Zoroark, Tapu Koko, etc) and anime (Meowth, Slowking, Ninetales, etc), not to mention side games (PokePark, PMD, Pokémon Channel, etc).
Are there exceptions, where some pokemon are non-sapient or forever-3-year-old-level? In pokedex, yes. In core games, dunno, most likely no. In anime, PMD games, PokePark games, hard no.
