[quote=@Prince of Seraphs] In the TV show, as far as the games are concerned the legendaries are the only ones shown to actually possess sentience. Besides, even we forget certain skills when they fall into disuse. [/quote] I'm talking entirely within the games, the various other media have zero bearing on any argument I've made. For example, just look at the various pokedex entries for alakazam. [quote]Its brain can outperform a supercomputer. Its intelligence quotient is said to be 5,000. A POKéMON that can memorize anything. It never forgets what it learns--that's why this POKéMON is smart. Its brain cells multiply continually until it dies. As a result, it remembers everything.[/quote] Isolated incident though, right? No. How about metagross? [quote]METAGROSS has four brains in total. Combined, the four brains can breeze through difficult calculations faster than a supercomputer. This POKéMON can float in the air by tucking in its four legs. It is formed by two METANG fusing. Its four brains are said to be superior to a supercomputer. With four linked brains, it’s more intelligent than a supercomputer, and it uses calculations to analyze foes.[/quote] How about another? Here's actual pokedex entries on slowking. [quote]It has incredible intellect and intuition. Whatever the situation, it remains calm and collected. Every time it yawns, SHELLDER injects more poison into it. The poison makes it more intelligent.[/quote] Note that none of these are even remotely close to being legendary. The one thing they have in common is that these are each psychic type pokemon, but even normal human beings can be psychics in the poke-verse. You can easily scale that level of intelligence down and see that non-psychic are still smarter than most normal animals in real life. They learn, adapt, understand human speech patterns, possess problem solving skills, are capable of thinking outside the standard set by others of their species, and many other signs of legitimate intelligence. Also, I never once stated "sentience," you just did now, and there is a tremendous difference between "intelligence" and "sentience." In short, I see no reason why, with evidence and lore given within the games themselves, a pokemon can only be limited to 4 moves at any one time beyond in-game mechanic balance. I completely support different skills building off from one another (I.E. ember becomes flame burst becomes flamethrower becomes fire blast) but that doesn't mean they should somehow completely forget how to hold back or use an old skill from earlier. Not every situation that needs fire thrown at it will require a full on flamethrower. Not every enemy that needs to be clawed down needs a metal claw when a simple scratch will suffice.