>>39847053So then, was the ball being crushed described as the only method to release a Pokemon in those episodes? Because there's also been instances of the Poke Ball having a special function for 'releasing' the Pokemon without destroying it, which to me still smacks of a far too convoluted interpretation of a game mechanic, but it's the anime and it's bound to have some inconsistencies with itself and the source material at 1000+ episodes, but eh.
