>>52770407There are Pokémon that (going by the Pokédex) are too stupid to feel pain and others that are explicitly beyond human intelligence, but speaking categorically, in general terms, Pokémon are the willing and equal partners of people.
This position has been developed and unambiguously made clear since at least Gen 4 and especially Gen 5 (because how else would they write their way out of the dilemma)
>>52770448>Pokémon aren't peopleNo fucking shit, nobody is arguing about that. That doesn't mean they can't be equals. To reference your dishonest example, a huge part of PLA's story is how people and Pokémon in Hisui came to coexist in modern times — not people dominating Pokémon, coexisting with them. The natives of Hisui already do so, being raised alongside their Pokémon partners "as if they were siblings," and criticizing the practice of keeping Pokémon in Poké Balls as degrading.
I shouldn't have to mention that this is the same Sinnoh region where books describe:
>There once were Pokémon that became very close to humans.>There once were humans and Pokémon that ate together at the same table.>It was a time when there existed no differences to distinguish the two. 