What even are Pokémon? We just don't know.

In franchise canon, Pokémon are at best described as creatures that inhabit the Pokémon worlds and that have inherent powers to them. Among the very few traits that are ascribed to Pokémon as a commonality are the ability to be befriended and the ability to “shrink down small enough to fit” into a Poké ball.

While Pokémon can have a wide variety of forms including those similar to IRL objects, plants and animals, Pokémon as a medium describes the creatures using mostly the latter realm as a comparison point. For example, the overall talk is that Pokémon can be “trained” or “domesticated”, and even mostly plantlike species such as Bellsprout are spoken of in animal terms. Also Pokémon are described as having more anthropomorphized qualities “than real-world animals”, once again making the comparison there.

And… that's about it. As far as the Pokémon franchise is concerned, a Pokémon is a creature that fits the criteria above and is listed into the List of Pokémon.

For purposes of the Suocéverse canon, what Pokémon “are” is left just as non-descript as in canon. Just about the only two notional divergences are that Pokémon are not relativized as a commonality using IRL animals as a comparison, and that the concept of “shrinking down small enough” is reworked (as is done in eg.: the mainline anime). A Pokémon is a creature that fits the criteria above and is listed into the List of Pokémon.

These articles contain general descriptions as well as notes on notes on differences between the franchise and Suocéverse canon implementation of each concept.

• Pokémon Species
• List of Pokémon
• Pokémon Types - See also Typed Energy
• Omnicrystal
• Pokémon Evolution
• Pokémon Variants
• Egg Groups