>>13818934Checkpoints would be nice, but, the problem is the battery. If your battery is near to end, maybe you can't reach the checkpoint and it would suck.
To stole pokemon is a nice idea, because the player would have to rethink about the combination of his team, pay attention to other pokemon and all. Would be nice if you had to fight your own pokemon when you met the "thief".
Plot according to your main team is amazing, something like "Ditto transforms into *name* and take the *item*" or a fighter NPC invites you to a secret championship if you have a fighter pokemon on your team, like "Shhhh, i see you got a Blaziken, would you like to participate?"