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What part should death play in pokemon, specifically those of pokemon?
Now I'm not saying things should go full nuzlocke, "every fights is to the death" or shit like that, but I feel it shouldn't be totally ignored either
For instance, an evil team, or at least their leader after their plan falls through, probably would fight to kill, even if doing so is a MAJOR no-no in universe
Should accidents happen, or is it REALLY hard to accidentally kill a pokemon?
I feel it would be, considering pokemon themselves are perfectly fine to fight eachother, and the human society around them also supports it to such a degree, as compared to human combat sports where every precaution is needed to ensure nobody dies accidentally
I once had an idea that, once a pokemon faints/is beaten it enters a fight or flight/defend or die state, and they put all of their remaining energy into shielding/defending their body. Protect would be a deliberate invoking of this state in a controlled manner, but putting themselves into the appropriate mindset would be difficult, hence the chance of protect failing on consecutive uses
Violently breaking through a pokemon's defenses in such a state requires significant, deliberate effort, so accidental deaths in battle are nearly nonexistent, save for things like falling from a great height or into some other environmental hazard
Thoughts?
