Though I'd probably lose my collective mind if such a situation would ever befall the Pokemon universe, I'm all for trying to make the series a bit more relevant to an older audience, at least the possibility of a spin-off series like how Capcom split the Mega Man series with the original series and the X Series for older players (or I suppose you could say younger audience as they were easier then their counterparts). It seemed like Nintendo was going to go somewhere in that direction when they made Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness but nothing else happened of it.
Though I'd never wish a series like Pokemon to get all "grim n' gritty", I'd love to see the series go along to have the much more of a story behind it other then "here's your first Pokemon, collect the rest of them and fight a bunch of dudes along the way. Maybe a gang or two as well, I don't know." I'd love to hear a definitive explanation as to why Pokemon exist, who thought of capturing them in small hand-held devices and to have a "gang" that seemed like an actual threat (I know that Team Galactic was attempting to destroy and remake the universe and all that but it's kind of hard to take them seriously with what they wear and also once defeated give the "Next time gadget, next time!" speech).
My feeling is that Nintendo should have a separate series based in a Medieval fantasy setting, with humanity not having the technology or manpower at this time to tame the creatures on mass. The four island nations of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn and Sinnoh are in an uneasy trust with one another (Or maybe they're NOT island nations but were part of a larger continent at one point *hinthintnudgenudgeatdeeperbackstory*) with trade and commodities put on a stand still, allowing the player to start off at any of the island nations to call his own.
Your character would be a kind of Pokemon Hunter, a warrior whose job it is to keep the areas around town settlements and cities safe from the more vicious monsters, selling their fur, meat, horns and etc. for profit, starting off like a typical J-RPG scenario and during your first journey into dungeon to stop one of the first big bad Pokemon, you come across a magical artifact that looks to have existed either long before your time that when activated, binds a Pokemon to your whim, the game turning back into the regular Pokemon formula with a twist as combat is now always like the Double Battle feature from Ruby/Sapphire accept that the second Pokemon is your character.
As you travel through the world, you'd be viewed differently by the various people you meet and help out. Some welcome such an ability, even picturing ways to profit from it or even mass produce it (*hinthintnudgenudgeatdepperbackstory*)while others view it with contempt, finding the ability to make all but the strongest Pokemon do exactly as you will unnatural and unethical. However, as your journey continues, both to stop a potential all out war between the four nations as well as gathering a collection of Pokemon for study by a zoologist, you are joined by other "trainers", those who spent much time with certain types of Pokemon to join your party, dividing the Pokemon you own to your allies so that they're grow stronger under their care and to battle along side you. Now tell me that doesn't sound awesome!
Tl;dr version: I want Pokemon to be more like Jade Cocoon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNpRWHXzNiM
