#but applied to Gameverse and given a few twists for flavor

[theamazingtrainernate]

Quick question! Do you Headcanon Interpol being heavily combat focused? Cause I can't seem to guess why need to Dynamax/Mega-Evolve, etc would be a requirement for the standard agent. Looker never canonly mega evolved anyone and he was still shown to be a fun and proficient agent at his job.

Thanks for the question! I like thinking about interpol related stuff and you bring up a good point. 

TLDR: Combat is dependent on the department and situation, but is definitely a possibility. Nate also happens to be in a specific department that is more likely to get into combat, and he’s a prodigy kid who is also a Unovan Hall of Famer, meaning that he’s got the skills to fight back. Also, he wound up being a strong enough trainer to be enrolled into a program that allowed him to have a Mega Evolution in return for providing data for interpol-hired scientists.

Also Dynamax seems to be Galar only as far as I can tell and is only really useful against other dynamax pokemon or holding off a rampaging legendary. Z moves seem to be isolated to Alola and maybe any other region that has high Ultra Wormhole activity, which is also really damn rare. Still, it’s less region locked than Dynamax as far as we know (unless Sinnoh Remakes happen).

Combat isn’t the only aspect, but it’s sometimes nessecary given the firepower we’ve seen from villain groups in the games and other forms of media. Pokemon can be very dangerous at times and it’s not always a great idea to hire a random untested trainer to be put in a high-risk situation (the protags are hired by interpol were all champion level trainers, even if they are young). It’s better to have agents who are professionally trained in dealing with high-risk situations rather than put civilians at risk. 

I won’t say too much about Looker since I’m not playing him, but I would assume he knows enough for self defense; even still, he did lose his trusted partner in Croagunk, which means he’s possibly seen combat dangerous. Also, he’s been assigned to deal with Ultra Beasts in some capacity, twice. If he wasn’t fit to at least survive an encounter with those things, then he likely wouldn’t be put up to the task. Still, he hasn’t used any special power up combat items, and I would assume his approach is more focused on not getting into combat in the first place.

It also depends on the department. Agents in the Pokemon Crimes divison (what I headcanon to be crimes related to anything pokemon) are more likely to be in a high-risk pokemon battle situation compared to someone working on cyber security or investigating a thief that’s performed multiple heists across multiple regions.

For Nate specifically, he is a part of the Pokemon Crimes division, and is often assigned to pokemon poaching/smuggling cases. Smuggling often winds up being more combat focused as smugglers are after high-value pokemon. The best way to ensure that you get these pokemon in the first place wind up being a combination of high skill and/or power pokemon and illegal pokemon capturing tech. So he’s already likely to find himself in combat situations.

Look at team rocket as a good example. Higher level agents are always going after the best and most powerful pokemon, and they aren’t afraid to use technology to get an advantage in battle. I would assume a lot of this tech is experimental and gives a pokemon more of a power boost than a life orb or choice band would do. So frankly sometimes you need a Mega in these situations.

Also, not every agent is assigned a mega evolution. Key Stones and Mega Stones are pretty damn rare/expensive in lore given their status, and you gotta hunt for the Mega Stones most of the time. Nate was assigned to be part of a group of special agents that get Key Stones, and they were asked to find Mega Stones of one of their pokemon as a further weeding out method. Because of the available firepower, these agents are used for high-risk situations and are essentially “shock troop”-esque agents.