Obedience
Obedience is a Pokémon's willingness to listen to its Trainer's commands. While Pokémon usually obey their Trainers, a Pokémon may disobey if it does not respect its Trainer.
In the games
An outsider Pokémon will often not obey the player's commands if its level is too high and the player does not have the appropriate Badge, Stamp, or number of Badges. Having all eight Badges or the Island Challenge Completion stamp always makes all Pokémon obey the player. This mechanic exists to prevent players from trading in a high-leveled Pokémon from another game and easily beating the game.
In Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Emerald, Colosseum, and XD: Gale of Darkness, Mew and Deoxys that were not met in a fateful encounter will always disobey the player, regardless of Badges or being outsider Pokémon. This exists to hinder players who cheat to obtain them.
From Generation V onward, a disobedient Pokémon will rarely ever attack. It appears that the closer the Pokémon's level is to the Trainer's maximum level, the more likely it is to listen. For example, prior to defeating the first Gym Leader, a level 100 Pokémon will almost always ignore its Trainer; however, attempting to control a level 36 Pokémon while the highest level controllable is 30 will result in the Pokémon listening more often, but still occasionally loafing around.
In Generations III and IV, ignoring orders in a Double Battle will allow it to select a different target.
Badges
The Badges or number of Badges that the player has affects their Pokémon's behavior. From Generation I to IV, usually the maximum level at which outsider Pokémon will obey the player is increased every second Badge (in Badge case order); from Generation V to VI, this increase occurs for every Badge instead of every other Badge. In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum only, obedience is determined by the number of Badges, not which specific Badges the player has. This can be attributed to the non-linear way the player can obtain the Cobble and Fen Badges.
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Stamps
In the Alola region, the number of Stamps the player has earned by completing grand trials in the island challenge affect their Pokémon's behavior.
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Disobedience quotes
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: ? cells need confirmation |
The following table may be sorted by generation by clicking on the appropriate header.
| Quote | Effect | Gen I | Gen II | Gen III | Gen IV | Gen V | Gen VI | Gen VII | Gen VIII |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| <Pokémon> used instead, <move>! | The Pokémon uses a different move | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ? |
| <Pokémon> ignored orders! | The Pokémon does not attack | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✔ | ? | ? | ✔ | ? |
| The Pokémon uses a different move | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? | ? | ✘ | ? | |
| <Pokémon> is loafing around! | The Pokémon does not attack | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? |
| <Pokémon> turned away! | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? | |
| <Pokémon> won't obey! | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? | |
| <Pokémon> pretended not to notice! | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? | |
| <Pokémon> began to nap! | The Pokémon goes to sleep | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? |
| <Pokémon> won't obey! It hurt itself in its confusion! | The Pokémon does confusion damage to itself | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ? |
| <Pokémon> ignored orders...sleeping! | The Pokémon does not attack (when using Snore or Sleep Talk while asleep) |
✘ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ? |
| <Pokémon> ignored orders while asleep! | ✘ | ✘ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✘ | ✘ | ? | |
| <Pokémon> ignored orders and kept sleeping! | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ✘ | ? | ✔ | ? |
Mechanics
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: What happens when attempting to take a nap while already afflicted with a status condition Mechanics in Generation I, Generation V onward |
Generation II
In battles in which experience can be earned, an outsider Pokémon may disobey the player if its level is greater than the maximum controllable level M granted by the player's Badges.
If it is possible for the Pokémon to disobey, when using a move a random integer from 0 to T is generated, where T = (Level of Pokémon) + M - 1. If this random integer is greater than or equal to M, the Pokémon is disobedient. If a Pokémon is determined to be disobedient, the effect of Encore immediately ends.
If the Pokémon was using Snore or Sleep Talk while asleep, the Pokémon will ignore orders and do nothing. Otherwise, a second random integer from 0 to T is generated, independently. If this random integer is less than M, the Pokémon uses another possible move instead (it cannot select a move with no PP remaining or a disabled move). If this random integer is greater than or equal to M, another random integer R from 0 to 255 is generated.
- If
Ris less than difference between the Pokémon's level andM, the Pokémon takes a nap and goes to sleep. - Otherwise, if
Ris less than twice this difference, the Pokémon inflicts confusion damage to itself. - Otherwise, the Pokémon does not attack.
The obedience check is not performed during the second turn of a move with a charging turn, or while locked into Bide or a consecutively executed move.
Generation III and IV
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: In Gen IV, check circumstances that skip the obedience check in Gen III |
In battles in which experience can be earned, in the Trainer Tower, and on the Trainer Hill, an outsider Pokémon may disobey the player if its level is greater than the maximum controllable level M granted by the player's Badges. In Pokémon FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald, M is treated as 0 for the obedience check of a Deoxys or Mew that is not met in a fateful encounter, ignoring the player's Badges.
If it is possible for the Pokémon to disobey, when using a move a number A = ((Level of Pokémon) + M)*R1/256 is calculated, with R1 being a randomly generated number from 0 to 255. If A is greater than or equal to M, the Pokémon is disobedient. If a Pokémon is determined to be disobedient and was commanded to use Rage, the effect of Rage immediately ends.
If the Pokémon was using Snore or Sleep Talk while asleep, the Pokémon will ignore orders and do nothing. Otherwise, a second number B = ((Level of Pokémon) + M)*R2/256 is determined, with R2 being a randomly generated number from 0 to 255 calculated independently. If B is less than M, the Pokémon uses another possible move instead. If B is greater than or equal to M, another random integer R3 from 0 to 255 is generated.
- If
R3is less than difference between the Pokémon's level andM, the Pokémon takes a nap and goes to sleep, unless an uproar is occurring or it has the Ability Vital Spirit or Insomnia. - Otherwise, if
R3is less than twice this difference, the Pokémon inflicts confusion damage to itself. - Otherwise, the Pokémon does not attack.
In Generation III, the obedience check is not performed when using Pursuit on a Pokémon about to switch out, during the second turn of a move with a charging turn, or while locked into Bide or a consecutively executed move. In Generation IV, the obedience check is not performed while locked into Bide (other moves skipped in Generation III are unconfirmed in Generation IV).
In Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD, Shadow Pokémon may disobey commands to use any moves but Shadow moves if they are in Hyper Mode or Reverse Mode, respectively.
Gallery
Disobedience in Gen I
Disobedience in Gen II
Disobedience in Gen III
Disobedience in Gen IV
Disobedience in Gen V
Disobedience in Gen VI
Disobedience in Gen VII
In the anime
In The Problem with Paras, Cassandra's grandmother mentioned that Pokémon will only obey Trainers if they respect them. This respect can be earned by obtaining more Badges. As shown in Bad to the Bone, this respect can be lost by losing the Badges. Unlike the games, however, in the anime, this is often overcome through emotional appeals or selflessness.
In the original series
In Pokémon - I Choose You!, Ash's Pikachu was initially very hostile towards him due to having no respect for a beginning Trainer. It wasn't until Ash protected Pikachu from a flock of Spearow that he finally respected and listened to Ash.
Ash's Primeape was incredibly violent and virtually uncontrollable, and thus, Ash rarely used it. However, during the P1 Grand Prix, Ash saved Primeape from a dangerous fall, and it began to respect and listen to Ash.
Although not purposefully disobedient, Misty's Psyduck rarely does what she commands it to do, usually because it simply does not understand. It comes out of its Poké Ball at its own will when Misty wants to call out another Pokémon on her team (mostly for comedic relief).
Ash's Charmander refused to obey him after evolving into Charmeleon, and continued to disobey as a Charizard. When Ash commanded it, it would either ignore Ash's orders and use a different move, go to sleep, leave the battlefield, or attack Ash. In one case, it even managed to attack a Pokémon without Ash even telling it to do so. The rare instances where Charizard does express any obedience towards Ash is when fighting against another Pokémon that it sees as a worthy opponent, such as Zippo, a cloned Charizard, or Blaine's Magmar. Charizard's disobedience ultimately cost Ash the Indigo Plateau Conference when it deemed Sparky an unworthy opponent and refused to battle, causing the Mouse Pokémon and its Trainer, Ritchie, to win by default. In addition, his lack of respect for Ash during that time was such that even after Ash won his Earth Badge, it still refused to obey. After Ash stayed up all night to look after Charizard when it had become frozen in Charizard Chills, Charizard regained its respect for Ash.
In Bad to the Bone, Otoshi's Marowak left its Trainer after he lost and failed to recover his Badges, as Marowak had lost respect for him. Marowak later returned when it saw how happy a group of Trainers and their Pokémon were together.
In the Advanced Generation series
In Candid Camerupt!, Ash's Corphish attacked Vivi's Marill at full force even though Max, who borrowed Corphish, had explicitly told it to go easy on the Aqua Mouse Pokémon.
In Exploud and Clear!, Guy's Loudred stopped obeying him after it evolved into Exploud, and ran off. However, after Guy jumped in front of Team Rocket's cork gun to protect it, it came to respect him.
In Showdown At Linoone, Kimmy Shoney had a Linoone that went around stealing round objects and wouldn't listen to him.
In the Diamond & Pearl series
In An Elite Meet and Greet!, Dawn's Buizel refused to obey her commands during his battle against Lucian's Bronzong, resulting in his defeat. Later, after Lucian commanded Buizel during his battle against Team Rocket, Lucian showed Dawn how Buizel conducts himself in battles, and Dawn adjusted her battling style to fit Buizel's, giving him commands more suitable to the way he used to behave when he was in the wild. As a result, Buizel obeyed Dawn during the rematch. Buizel continued to obey her afterwards, and always obeyed Ash after Dawn traded Buizel to him.
In Luxray Vision!, Marble had trouble getting her Luxray to obey her due to it having trouble with its Electric-type attacks since evolving from Luxio. Once Luxray was able to utilize its Electric-type attacks again, it had no trouble obeying Marble.
Dawn's Piloswine frequently disobeyed her after evolving from Swinub, and continued to disobey as a Mamoswine. In Trials and Adulations!, Mamoswine was injured during a battle against a wild Aggron; Dawn and her Pokémon used the first aid skills Brock taught her in Doc Brock! to help Mamoswine recover, and later attempted to protect Mamoswine from Team Rocket. As a result, Mamoswine regained its respect for Dawn, and under her instructions, it was able to defeat Aggron. After that, although Mamoswine was still a little rebellious, it did not hesitate to help Dawn when she was in danger.
In Try For the Family Stone!, Mitchell's Murkrow stopped obeying and ran away from him when he, out of both desperation to beat his sister Rhyanna and her Misdreavus and frustration out of his and Murkrow's previous failures to beat them, pushed Murkrow too hard in training it to learn Wing Attack by continuously pelting it with stones and denying it the chance to recover when it got hit; this also resulted in Murkrow starting to use its Hypnosis power on unsuspecting travelers in its anger, which Rhyanna believed Mitchell to be responsible for. Murkrow started listening to Mitchell again after he apologized to it.
In the Best Wishes series
In the Best Wishes series, Iris's Excadrill had closed himself off from her, as he was ashamed of when he lost to Drayden's Haxorus and distrustful of her guidance in battle (due her having pushed him to keep battling even though he knew he couldn't win). When sent out of his Poké Ball, he would simply stay curled up as a drill. Following Cilan's advice in Iris and Excadrill Against the Dragon Buster!, Iris apologized to him; as a result, he regained his respect for Iris and began to obey her again.
Later, Iris caught an Emolga who disliked battling, and would use Volt Switch to force another Pokémon into her place when sent into battle. She was also fond of using Attract to infatuate the opponent, and avoid actually battling. Since in the Club Battle, only one Pokémon could be used, Emolga could not use Volt Switch without being disqualified; as a result, she actually listened to Iris's commands, and she continued to in later battles.
Luke's Zorua ran off and refused to listen to him after Luke continued to make Zorua play male characters, when as a female, she only wanted to play female characters. Zorua listened to Luke again after he apologized.
Bianca's new Escavalier, which had just evolved from a Karrablast by trading her Shelmet for it with Professor Juniper, attacked her when she tried to greet it. Professor Juniper recommended that it have a Double Battle with her new Accelgor, which also evolved during the trade, against Ash's Boldore and Cilan's Crustle. Through half the battle, Escavalier refused to listen to Bianca, which resulted in Accelgor being injured while trying to protect it. Seeing what Accelgor was willing to do for it, Escavalier started to listen to Bianca's commands so it could protect Accelgor as well.
Iris's Dragonite initially refused to listen to her, particularly during the Pokémon World Tournament Junior Cup. He attacked with the moves he wanted to use, rather than the ones Iris commanded, which eventually resulted in Iris's loss against Ash. Slowly but surely, Dragonite started trusting his Trainer, and by Unova's Survival Crisis!, he started to obey Iris.
In the XY series
Ash's Froakie, prior to joining Ash's team, was notorious for being troublesome, going through several Trainers that it proved unsuitable for. Either the Trainer would end up returning it to Professor Sycamore for being disobedient, or it would abandon its new Trainer and return to Professor Sycamore itself; the latter had happened when it met Ash in Kalos, Where Dreams and Adventures Begin!. Even willingly joining Ash's party didn't automatically ensure its obedience; in A Battle of Aerial Mobility!, when a wild Fletchling upset Bonnie by stealing a Berry that she was trying to feed to a Dedenne, Froakie attacked the Tiny Robin Pokémon and refused to obey Ash's instructions to back down and leave it to Pikachu. However, Ash realized that the Bubble Frog Pokémon was only trying to stick up for Bonnie and the two came up with a strategy that ultimately resulted in Froakie's payback and Fletchling's capture. This confirmed to Froakie that it had found the right Trainer and it subsequently obeyed Ash without question.
In Grooming Furfrou!, Jessica had trouble getting her Furfrou to obey her. This stemmed from the fact Furfrou didn't approve of her due to her not being confident in her skills.
In the Sun & Moon series
In the Sun & Moon series, Jessie's Mimikyu sometimes refused to listen to its Trainer unless Ash's Pikachu is around for it to fight; although sometimes Mimikyu will target Pikachu instead if told to attack something else.
In A Masked Warning!, Ash discovered that his Lycanroc would become enraged whenever its fur is dirtied. Later, during a battle with Gladion, Lycanroc landed in a puddle and became enraged by its muddied fur, causing it to attack Gladion's Type: Null, Silvally, without listening to Ash's commands. The same thing occurred again in Tough Guy Trials!, during Ash's battle with Nanu's Krookodile; Lycanroc was hit by Mud-Slap from Krookodile, causing it to get dirty and enraged once more, leading to its defeat soon after. This happened yet again in the next episode, after Tapu Bulu intentionally hit Lycanroc into the puddle along with Ash's other Pokémon, driving it mad once more. However, Ash was able to calm it down by having it remember everything that they went through together when it was still a Rockruff. Eventually, Lycanroc overcame its rage during the battle with Tapu Bulu, when it got hit by a tree trunk and landed into the puddle again.
In side story episodes
Misty's Gyarados was incredibly hostile to her and everyone else when she returned to the Cerulean Gym and was almost the cause of the Gym being closed down in Cerulean Blues. It nearly drowned her in the pool while she was trying to tame it. Gyarados started to obey her when she protected it against the attacks of the Invincible Pokémon Brothers.
In the manga
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This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Missing Enta's Zangoose from the Pokémon Battle Frontier manga |
In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
In Pikachu, I See You!, similar to the anime, Ash's Pikachu started off as hostile towards Ash. It was not until Ash protected it from a Fearow and a flock of Spearow that Pikachu began to respect Ash.
In The Indigo Finals, Ash's Charizard was revealed to have disobeyed Ash sometime before the 88th Pokémon League. During the League, Ash would have to hold a special flare with the fire of a Moltres to get Charizard to listen. When Ash used Charizard against Ritchie's Charley, it became a brutal battle to the point that Ash had to get his Charizard to stop, but failed. With no other choice, Ash recalled Charizard to its Poké Ball and then forfeited the match.
In the How I Became a Pokémon Card manga
In PW05, Tsubasa trains a Pidgeot which does not obey him as it belonged to his grandfather.
In the movie adaptations
In I Choose You!, Ash's Pikachu started off as disobedient towards Ash when he and Ash first met. After an encounter with a flock of Spearow, Pikachu began to respect Ash when Ash selflessly protected him from that flock of Spearow.
In the Pokémon Adventures manga
There have been some instances where Pokémon don't obey their Trainers. Most commonly, this has been the case for traded Pokémon.
- In A Tale of Ninetales, Red and Blue's Pokémon get accidentally traded between them. Blue's Pokémon do not obey Red because they do not respect him.
- In Ampharos Amore, Silver and Gold trade their Pokémon. In the next round, the Pokémon Gold traded to Silver, Polibo, does not react to his commands.
In addition to disobedience caused by trading, there have been some instances where Pokémon do not obey their original Trainers.
- In Onix is On!, Red's Pika refused to listen to Red due to Red being an inexperienced Trainer. Only after Red saved Pika from an attack did he begin to listen.
- In Gyarados Splashes In!, Misty's Gyarados, now Red's Gyara, does not obey her. This is a result from Team Rocket's experiments involving Pokémon in which the Pokémon in question had been used, causing its rage.
- In A Tale of Ninetales, Blue's new Porygon refuses to listen to him. This is stated to be due to the fact that Pokémon exchanged at the Game Corner tend to be harder to control.
- Pearl's Buizel, Zeller, does not obey him, having turned hostile towards humans after Team Galactic detonated the Galactic Bomb and his home is destroyed.
- Black's Carracosta, Costa, is a stubborn and unresponsive Pokémon. Due to this nature, his original Trainer, Marshal, released him. He displayed the same attitude with Black and only began to listen to him shortly before he evolved.
In the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! manga
In In Search of the Legendary Pokémon Dialga!!, when Hareta first met Piplup, it refused to listen to him. It wasn't until when Hareta attempted to calm down a wild Onix, Piplup began to respect Hareta.
In the Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys manga
In The Legendary Pokémon Appears!, Gold received a Pikachu from the future. It didn't listen to Gold when they first met as its level was too high.
