>>58263887I think that the way "pokemon" has always worked has been simply sniff-test discrete units. If a metagross is 4 beldum fused, it's obviously 1 discrete unit. If dugtrio is 3 diglett moving as a unit, it's 1 discrete unit. Exeggcute all act together. Tandemaus/Maushold all act together. etc. It doesn't matter if they're separate individuals; they exclusively act together, and that's officially what the species is, regardless of if they could be easily split even without any real issues to the individuals. It's just a matter of "species" being the terminology. If you were to refer to them as "Pokemon World's National Registry #0924, Tandemaus, a set of 2 rodent-like Pokemon that act in unison" and so are listed as a single entry in their database of "legal" pokemon one can use in official battles, it doesn't seem strange at all, just wordy, but I imagine that's more accurate to its meaning, anyway.
