>>45979024like a (dutifully obedient) slave. it is master-slave relationship.
Though of interest, pokemon WILL disobey they're masters. But only if they think their master is inexperienced i.e. the pokemon thinks it knows better and that its time is being wasted. Cruelty, endangerment, or opposing desires don't seem to factor into it, as we often see in the anime's minor antagonists.
It makes Charmander/Zard a really interesting case study. Literally willing to suffer and die in the rain just cause its master told it to wait on a rock, pretty obviously abandoning it, but because its new master Ash wasn't its rightful catcher OT, and it gained more levels than he remotely had badges, especially properly earned badges, it wouldn't hardly listen to a thing he said.
