Powerless Pokemon are anthros that are born through normal childbirth rather than hatching from Pokemon eggs. At first powerless Pokemon were thought to have absolutely no Essence, which is the spiritual energy that powers Pokemon moves and magic. The discovery that all living beings had some form of Essence led to further investigation, and finally the concept of "Gap Essence" was first coined 40 years before the main events of SoO. Although Gap Essence mainly sustains one's life, it can have additional benefits that accelerate natural growth and abilities instead of creating unnatural ones. It can strengthen trees and give berries their designated effects when consumed. In the case of both anthro Pokemon and humans, it can improve memory capabilities, strength, healing, and very small resistance to basic Pokemon attacks. Note the strength of these abilities varies between anthros, and some might not develop these abilities at all. At its strongest, Gap Essence is comparable and responsible for everything the player of Pokemon: Legends Arceus can do in the official Pokemon games, as well as the cartoon violence in the anime. Any stronger than that, and a human would be an aura guardian or psychic. By then, this would be considered normal Essence, so an anthro Pokemon with this amount of power would just be a weaker Pokemon at birth. In any case, powerless Pokemon make up around a hundredth of the anthro Pokemon in SoO, and almost all of them have at least one of the attributes above. The more powerless Pokemon are in an anthro's bloodline, the less powerful Gap Essence a child will have at birth. Gap Essence is not strengthened via use and practice but age, and it is unknown how one could strengthen Gap Essence to the point where a powerless anthro could use regular Pokemon moves as of SoO, though it is inching closer to reality. In any case, Ryan believes he should be around twenty by the time the operation becomes accessible to him. Note that no amount of Gap Essence alone doesn't allow an anthro Pokemon to shift. See more about shifting here: https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/813137064/ - SoO belongs to me - Pokemon belongs to Game Freak and the Pokemon company.
