Draco: I know I ragged on catch-'em-all completionism a couple addenda ago... but I do have to admit, Legends straight-up manifested one of my most ludicrous fantasies in regards to the Pokémon series. Every Pokémon in the Hisui Pokédex - common and Legendary and Mythical - is available without trading, without event, but with not-insignificant effort. And with a choice between two Pokémon that were previously version mascots, you make a decision that seems innocuous enough to someone unfamiliar with the originals but clearly makes sense when you look at it in hindsight. I've been dreaming an entire twilight-on-the-world-of-Pokémon fantasy with this precise arrangement since I did my first playthrough of Shield.
Which... does admittedly reinforce my suspicions of "revolution or swansong", but I do hope that Legends will at least be an entire subseries.
All that said, I'm a stubborn motherfricker. I have bent over backwards to leave no Ball unaccounted for with this fantasy, and I will continue to do so for every core series game (and the occasional non-core series game) that comes out before I perish. And with Hisui technically being the Sinnoh region, I had to figure out a way to get Hisuian Pokémon to work with that fantasy.
And while I was coming up with such theories, I figured out what would work to make Hisuian Pokémon appear in any other Pokémon fanfics* I write.
Pokémon and all related properties © Nintendo.
Ramanas Park, Sinnoh
"All patrons, evacuate to Route 221 immediately! I repeat, all patrons evacuate immediately!"
Dawn could hear the announcement from outside as she and Manaphy soared to the site of the threat; whatever that strange light was, forming cracks over Ramanas Park like glass breaking, it wasn't interfering with the PA system. Patrons were already fleeing out of the gates, and as Dawn directed the Staraptor to descend, the sinister light extended with a sound like tearing fabric, forming a web of cracks as dark clouds manifested around it.
She recognized someone who was among those remaining outside, and as she leapt from the Staraptor's back, he turned to face her. "Dawn!"
"Professor Rowan!" Dawn exclaimed. "Please don't tell me you called from inside while this was starting up!"
"Never mind that!" Rowan insisted, confirming her suspicions. "There are still people inside the Park!"
"Professor!" Dawn reprimanded. "Why didn't you worry about yourself first?! You're lucky we were in the villa!"
"And who is the Champion who won't give me the number for her cell phone?!" Rowan retorted
Manaphy set a hand on Dawn's shoulder. "Mama!"
Dawn shook her head, turning back to the matter at hand. "Right. We'll get the people out of there!"
+x+x+x+
"Commander! It's in the pastures!"
Kamado cursed under his breath. "Of all the places!" he scowled, charging across Jubilife Village.
The Security Corps was already en route, and Cyllene kept pace with Kamado as they advanced. "Commander, do you recall Rei's theory about the distortions?"
"I do indeed," Kamado asserted. "Security Corps! Form a perimeter around the distortion! If any people are brought here, keep them within the bounds until it subsides!"
"What of any Pokémon?!" Zisu asked.
"Let them pass!" Kamado insisted. "Pokémon brought here before have survived, and been violent on arrival what's more! Don't endanger yourselves!"
The Security Corps vaulted the fence, and Kamado moved to follow as Cyllene turned to Marie. "Was anyone within the pastures before this began?"
"I don't think so..." Marie started. "Wait, Rei and Akari!"
The captain cursed under her breath, diving between the bars of the fence as she followed the captain inside, finding the distortion already manifest when they approached.
+x+x+x+
There was a solid boundary beneath that hellish cloud, prismatic light forming a dome within which all seemed to be darkened. Whatever was happening, it wasn't encompassing the entirety of Ramanas Park; going by its size, Dawn reckoned there was room enough for anyone who had been on the opposite end of Ramanas Park to go completely around it, though she was less certain of their safety in so doing.
She reached for her Poké Balls, sending out Shaymin and Darkrai. "You two go around!" she insisted. "Me and Manaphy will go in! If there's anyone still in here, get them back to the entrance safely!" As they started to circle around, she seized another Ball and sent out Heatran. "Stay here and keep an eye out!" she insisted. "If it's not a person, don't let it into the gate!"
The Lava Dome nodded, and Dawn and Manaphy charged inside. Her vision seemed to flash as she entered the boundary; the air was sparking with a strange energy that gave Dawn unpleasant memories of Mt. Coronet, but she pushed those thoughts down as she continued inside. To her concern, she did hear someone's voice - a girl's voice, with a hint of a Galarian accent. "Should we not be keeping them within the distortion? With the way they're fleeing-
"We can stay alive long enough to see Jubilife again, or we can keep them in here and make sure they come back with us!" A boy's voice this time, sounding distinctly Unovan. "With numbers like this, I don't think we can afford to do both!"
"And who's fault is it for catching ten of every Pokémon in Hisui?!" the girl's voice retorted.
"It wasn't ten of every Pokémon!" Dawn could see someone by now - a Pikachu, a Garchomp, and two figures in nearly-identical outfits that looked oddly... survival-focused. "It was just the ones that I didn't-!"
"Can you hear me?!" Dawn yelled, fearing this strange event would muffle her voice. "You have to get out of here!"
The two outfitted figures turned towards here. "Who's there?!"
Dawn started when she saw the emblem on the boy's shoulder - a golden figure with points at the top and bottom designed to invoke a spiral galaxy. "Who are you!?"
Manaphy shook her head. "Mama, hurry!"
The girl reacted to the cry. "The prince?!"
"No... a princess!" The boy seemed to realize something. "You're... Dawn?!"
"You know me?!" Dawn exclaimed.
"You have to get out of here!" the boy yelled. "I can't let you two get dragged away from here!"
Dawn shook her head. "That goes for you too!" she insisted. "You have to get out of here!"
"Quite the opposite," the girl reprimanded. "We must remain here!"
"What are you talking about!" Dawn insisted. "You know who I am!"
"Just go!" the boy reprimanded. "Get out of here, and make sure no one else gets in here!"
"I'm not going anywhere until you two are out!" Dawn snapped.
The boy grit his teeth. "Fine," he snapped. "I'm sorry about this!"
He raised something in his hand, and for a moment Dawn thought he was about to throw a Poké Ball - but then it soared straight at her, and she realized it was a ball of mud a moment before it slammed into her face. Manaphy cried out, implying she had suffered some of the splash as well; as she tried to wipe her eyes clear, the darkness within the shroud seemed to become darker still, and Dawn forced her eyes to open.
And terror struck her as she saw a massive black shadow looming between her and the boy, six tendrils extending from its back like whips and crimson eyes glowing in the darkness.
"No...!"
Manaphy managed to wipe her eyes clear. "Mama...?!"
A hellish cry emerged from the darkness, that terrible sound echoing through Ramanas Park, and Dawn screamed, turning round and running. Earth began to rip up to either side of her as she fled, and the shadow seemed to advance after her, chasing her as she fled. Manaphy's touch on her shoulders, the princess' voice in her ears, barely registered in her mind as she fled; the threat she was facing, Antimatter attacking her despite receiving no aggression from her, was too much, and she couldn't bring herself to face it.
She could see Heatran by now, the Lava Dome's fires penetrating that dark shroud and marking the point she hoped she would be safe. To her horror, Manaphy wrenched herself free of Dawn's arms, and she stumbled out of the dome, her vision flashing as she turned; the princess cried out, water forming a ring before her and then pulsing forward, soaring towards the shadow-
And breaking over a baneful fox.
Dawn started as the Illusion shattered; the shadow of Giratina dispersed into the darkness, and Manaphy double-took as she found herself looking at a Zoroark. But it was a Zoroark like neither of them had seen before - its fur was pale grey with splotches of bloody red, and its mane a deathly white with crimson tips, rising into the air rather than hanging behind it. Its eyes were voids of gold, and even as it recovered, it maintained a hunched stance, looking at Dawn and Manaphy as though uncertain.
Manaphy set her face, making to strike with another Water Pulse - but with a rush of shadows, the Zoroark was up in her face again, and it struck her with a backhanded claw, throwing her out of shroud. Dawn cried out, moving to catch her, and Heatran retaliated with a fierce stomp, causing flames to swirl around the Zoroark's feet; a blast of magma surged out of the ground around it, throwing it back, and it seemed about to strike again before the boy approached.
"That's enough. Fall back!"
He was holding something in his hand - it looked like a Poké Ball, at first glance, but it seemed to be made of wood. He held it up to Zoroark, withdrawing the unfamiliar Pokémon, and turned to Dawn. "You believe me yet?"
"What's going on?!" Dawn demanded.
"We came here with the distortion," the boy insisted. "And I'm hoping that if we stay in the distortion when it fades out, we'll go back - to a Hisui that barely even knows what a Pokémon Trainer is!"
"Then how do you know me?!" Dawn asked. "How do you know what a Pokémon Trainer is?"
"Because I went the other way," the boy proclaimed. "By choice - by preference! Don't try and take this from me!"
Dawn bit her lip.
"I'm sorry about the Illusion," the boy insisted. "But I'm not leaving Hisui - and I'm not about to let either of you get separated from the people you care about! I'd sooner face off with Time and Space again!"
"Excuse me!?"
The boy chuckled, reaching into a pocket. "That reminds me," he admitted. "Give this to Cynthia for me, would you?"
He tossed something towards Dawn - and as it passed the boundary of that dark shroud, the dome seemed to grow opaque. The hellish clouds looming above dispersed, and the cracks of light vanished into the air, leaving Dawn standing alone in Ramanas Park.
Darkrai and Shaymin approached as she tried to recover herself; after a moment, she glanced around at the park, concerned for what was to be found. There were several Pokémon that seemed familiar at first, but also very different - pale Sneasel with claws of a venomous colour, Growlithe with dark fur and manes that masked their eyes, Voltorb that seemed to be wooden like the boy's Poké Ball. A few Braviary in black and white, with crests of purple flames, were roosting in the distance; recovering in the meadow were Lilligant in much less consuming leaves than the Unovan variety. Near the trees, Dawn saw what she at first thought were Scyther, but where the scythes should have been were a pair of massive axe-blades that looked like they were made of stone; up at the cliffs, there were a pair of what seemed to be Stantler with heavier coats and more impressive antlers.
Dawn glanced down at the object the boy had thrown - a rectangular shape, with two arcs connected to its body by spikes that formed an X.
+x+x+x+
"I'm so sorry. I should have been here to back you up."
Lucas' frantic apology only earned a shake of the head from Dawn. "I didn't think to call you. It's not your fault." She and Rowan had run into him as they returned to Sandgem Town, and his discoveries at the Sendoff Spring seemed insignificant after he heard about what happened at Ramanas Park.
Rowan was currently searching the bookshelves in his lab as Lucas got the story on what happened; as he stepped into the side room, Lucas ran a hand under his cap with a sigh. "So... what's this about weird Pokémon?"
"Same," Manaphy insisted. "But... different. Like... Raichu. Know Alola?"
"Yeah, Selene showed us some Alolan-form Pokémon," Lucas confirmed. "You mean...?"
"More or less," Dawn confirmed. "Most of them looked like familiar Pokémon, but at the same time, they were so... variant. I'm pretty sure they were regional forms from... wherever they came from. I think that boy said 'Hisui'?"
"But the Pokémon didn't go back with him, you said?" Lucas asked. "What's going to happen to them?"
"The clerks at Ramanas Park said they were gonna shut down for a while, to make sure... it was an isolated incident," Dawn mused. "But from the sound of it, they might reopen it as a Safari Zone type of thing."
Lucas hummed in concern - and then Rowan cheered from the next room. "Here we are!" He stepped out, holding a rather worn-looking book. "I knew that name sounded familiar!"
"What's that, Professor?" Lucas asked.
"This, Lucas," Rowan replied, "is a Pokédex."
Dawn looked at Lucas. Lucas looked at Dawn. Both of them looked at Manaphy, who looked between them and shared their bafflement; then all three of them turned to the professor with a simultaneous "Huh?"
Rowan chuckled. "Oak may well be responsible for the first modern Pokédex," he conceded, "a digital device that can record Pokémon data automatically upon witness or catch. But 'Pokédex' was a pre-existing term when when he made them, and gave them to Red and Blue. And this is what that term referred to - a record of all Pokémon to be found within a region. This one was compiled by a Professor..." He checked the cover of the book. "...Laventon, in a region called 'Hisui'."
"Why haven't you mentioned this before?" Dawn asked.
"Well, because old Pokédexes like these are more renowned for their concept than their content," Rowan replied, opening the book. "The entries are written in a much less professional manner, and even those that have photographs rather than artwork aren't exactly the epitome of quality camera work. Modern Pokémon Professors take anything written in an old-fashioned Pokédex like this with a grain of salt, until confirmed by modern research. That said..."
He turned the book to face them, revealing the page he had settled on. "...perhaps we might make use of it all the same."
"That looks like the Stantler I saw," Dawn confirmed, stepping forward. "Wait... 'Wyrdeer'?"
"It... evolve," Manaphy observed. "Stantler... Wyrdeer."
"Indeed," Rowan confirmed. "The Pokémon that appeared in Ramanas Park were recorded in Laventon's Pokédex. With evidence that the Pokémon exist, we know his research to be genuine - regardless of his lack of professionalism. And I'd wager that the boy you saw aided him in completing this Pokédex - just as you two have aided me."
He handed the book to Dawn, who accepted it and turned the pages - carefully, so as to not damage them. Most of the entries were familiar enough Pokémon from her own Pokédex, but there were the Pokémon she'd seen in Ramanas. "Kleavor... it's a Scyther evolution. I knew that wasn't a coincidence. Dark/Poison-type Qwilfish... and it evolves into 'Overqwil'? Lilligant's part Fighting-type in Hisui..."
Lucas interrupted her search. "What's that sticking out of your bag?"
"Hm?" Dawn glanced down. "Oh, that boy gave me this." She handed the Pokédex to Manaphy as she drew out the slate - on closer inspection, it looked like a smartphone, but with a weird design. "Sounds like he got time-warped to Hisui, and he knew Cynthia's book. Said I should give this to her."
"A phone?" Lucas mused. "It... kinda looks like familiar. But why would Cynthia want it?"
Dawn tapped at the button below the screen, causing it to light up. "Love to know how he was charging this thing if he was working for someone writing a paper Pokédex..."
"Mama, Papa," Manaphy interrupted. "Look."
Lucas and Dawn turned to see the page she had stopped on - a photograph of her own image.
"...You were right," Lucas murmured. "There were others."
Draco: *I am trying so damn hard to NOT write a literation (novelization whatever) of Legends: Arceus because if Legends DOES turn out to be a subseries I am going to get sucked into an entire literation series again.
So... yeah. Instead of having Pal Park or a legendary encounter zone, I'm doing this piece of absolute audacity. Ramanas Park is a borderline Safari Zone for temporally-displaced Hisuian Pokémon. Growlithe, Voltorb, Qwilfish, Sneasel, Lilligant, Zorua, Braviary, Basculin, Sliggoo, and Avalugg. Wyrdeer, Kleavor, and Ursaluna. Maybe Typhlosion, Samurott, and Decidueye.
Call me daft, but I kind of hope that if Legends does turn out to be a subseries, the other entries don't all introduce regional form Pokémon. Hisuian forms already felt a bit... unnecessary. Clever, but unnecessary.
