Draco: I stopped myself from writing anything more than the introductory chapter until I was at least done raising all my teams in Generation VI, to Level 50 at least. Good Alpha, inspiration doesn't give half a bag of Mulch whether you have time for something or not.

So, full disclosure here. Grand Stage has a bit of a story as a game, but it's mostly just a few battles offered as a "can your team stand up to the Pokétopia Colosseums" test. And it would only show up if your active Battle Pass had an average level of 50 or greater. I'm going to specifically denote which chapters are representative of that story; everything else is just me writing someone enjoying Pokétopia.

...That's not to say none of the rest of the dialogue in this story would be in the game. I'll point out what would be part of the game and what is freedom with me using a written format.

Pokémon and all related properties © Nintendo. Virtual Singers of Piapro Studio © Crypton Future Media.

Reaching the Grand Stage

A massive passenger jet descended on Pokétopia as the sun was setting, landing swiftly at the airport near Arrival Colosseum. It wasn't long before the passengers departed with varying levels of haste; some wanted a moment to shake off the airsickness, while others were all too eager to dash ahead and partake in everything Pokétopia had to offer.

Somewhere in the middle of the spectrum was a tall young woman, with fair skin and light brown hair that reached halfway down her back. Collecting her bag from the luggage pickup, she made her way into the immigration gate... and found an absolutely massive line of desks waiting for her, with a few dozen receptionists awaiting to process arrivals. Most of the desks already had arrivals in place, so she started to walk down the line, keeping her eye out for anyone who was newly wrapping up and catching a few snippets of process (and complaints thereabout) along the way.

"Why can't I have a different room?"
"The rooms are identical, ma'am. The number makes no difference."

"Come on, let me have two of them!"
"Rules are rules, sir. Pick one from this group."

"Can't I access the Pokémon Storage System here?"
"You can, miss, but visitors are required to make a selection of Rental Pokémon..."

"What do you mean I can't go by that name?"
"Sir, if that is your real name, I'm very sorry."

As she was approaching the end of the row, a voice called out to her. "Excuse me, miss! Over here!" A woman with short blonde hair was waving her over to one of the desks; she quickly stepped up. "Welcome to Pokétopia. My name's Anne, and I'll help get you registered for your stay with us." The receptionist readied her hands at the keyboard. "Could I have your name?"

"Jeanne," the arrival introduced herself. "J-e-a-n-n-e." The desk was set up so that there was a monitor facing the receptionist and one facing the customer; Anne quickly tapped at the keyboard, and after a moment, the name popped up on the customer-facing monitor. "Yes, that's right."

"Okay, Jeanne," Anne mused, clearing the customer-facing monitor. "All guests at Pokétopia are required to make a selection of six Rental Pokémon upon arrival. If you have a Pokémon Storage System account, you can make arrangements to have your own Pokémon brought here later on. But for now, please follow the instructions and make your selection from the Pokémon on the screen."

Jeanne turned back to the customer-facing monitor, watching as six... no, twelve... no, twenty-four Pokémon appeared on the screen before her. Along the top of the screen appeared the instruction: Please pick one of the following Pokémon, or choose to skip.

"Hmm..." Jeanne quickly realized it was a selection of Grass-, Fire-, and Water-type Pokémon, and after a moment she spoke up. "Uh... Popplio."

"Not a bad choice," Anne praised. Popplio was surrounded by a glowing circle, and the rest of the selection vanished as the Sea Lion Pokémon moved to a column off to the side.

Eleven more Pokémon appeared on the screen, with the same instruction: Please pick one of the following Pokémon, or choose to skip. "Archen," Jeanne requested, and the First Bird Pokémon was similarly highlighted and moved aside. Nine more Pokémon appeared with the same instruction. "Goomy." Then three more - none of which particularly interested her. "Er, skip."

"No worries," Anne assured her, and the selection vanished without any of them being highlighted. Seven more Pokémon appeared, and the instruction was different this time: Choose as many of the following Pokémon as you like, up to a maximum of six total Pokémon. "There's one more page after this, so don't think this is all the options you have left."

"Just Riolu, then," Jeanne requested. The Emanation Pokémon moved to join her first three; rather than fading out, the screen moved to the side as one last page of twenty-five Pokémon took its place. "Snorunt... and Larvesta."

"And that makes six," Anne mused. The selection vanished, and her six choices lined up in the center. "You sure you're satisfied with these ones?"

"Yes, thank you," Jeanne confirmed.

Anne nodded, and the customer-facing monitor was cleared. "Alright. Could I get you to look here?" Jeanne followed her hand to find a protrusion atop the now-empty monitor that she only realized was a camera when Anne said "Thank you" and moved her hand away. "You're all set." Two machines behind the monitor each dispensed something, which she quickly seized. "A room at Gateway Inn comes complimentary to all guests. You are in Room 0139; here is your keycard. And here is your Battle Pass; scan it at any PC to access the Pokémon Storage System. Enjoy your stay at Pokétopia!"

Jeanne accepted them gratefully. "Thank you so much."

She made her way through the immigration gate, and out into Pokétopia proper. There was a giant city sprawling out before her; another immigration gate could be seen nearby, which she assumed to be for those arriving by boat. A few cabs were visible, one already taking off with a passenger, and a large directory signpost was standing nearby, which Jeanne quickly approached. After a moment of observation, she turned in the direction that it indicated Gateway Inn to be, finding a towering hotel with an impressive topper of arches and rings.

With a grin, she started towards the hotel with her bags in hand, eager to sleep off her jet lag, so she could explore everything Pokétopia had to offer.

+x+x+x+

Check-in at Gateway Inn was a simple matter of having the receptionist scan her keycard to double-check that she hadn't been mistakenly assigned an occupied room. Jeanne quickly made her way to Room 0139, where the card did indeed let her into an unoccupied room with no difficulty.

The room itself was quite the sight to see; a king-sized bed sat with the headboard against one wall, and a large TV rested upon a stand opposite. A dinette was mounted along the same wall as the TV, and a PC stood beside the bed, leaving the massive picture window unobscured; Jeanne's room happened to have a nice view of the ocean. A full-body mirror was mounted on the wall near a closet, and the washroom was rather near to the room's entrance.

She closed the door behind her and set her bags down. Despite her jet lag, she found herself looking at her Battle Pass; it had her face in profile to one side, with her name above six empty circles that she reckoned would host her Pokémon team once she actually accessed the Storage System. "Should probably set this up first," she muttered to herself, approaching the PC.

In addition to the row of mounts on which Poké Balls would appear or vanish as accessed, the Pokétopia PC also had a slot labelled Battle Pass. Jeanne booted the system and inserted hers, prompting the menu to pop up.

Access Rental Pokémon

Log in to Storage System

Clicking on the first option brought up the six Pokémon she had chosen; choosing Confirm caused their Poké Balls to appear on the mounts before her. Jeanne quickly took the Poké Balls and mounted them on her belt before making to exit the PC; her Battle Pass emerged from the slot, and as she received it she found that it did in fact feature the six Pokémon she had chosen - Popplio, Archen, Goomy, Riolu, Snorunt, Larvesta.

A grin appeared on her face. Somehow, seeing the faces on her Battle Pass made it feel real - she was really here, in Pokétopia.

Draco: Disclaimer - all business names in Pokétopia are named for a #MythologyGag, or otherwise pulled out of my ass. Any resemblance to any real businesses is purely coincidental and should not be taken as indicative of intended #ProductPlacement.

So, remaining character setup. You take control in the immigration gate, and walk forward. You know how, when you pass or approach certain NPCs in Sword/Shield or Legends, they have dialogue pop up without interrupting your gameplay? You'd get a few bits of that on your way to meet with the last receptionist at the end, preempting every minor irrelevant complaint you might have about the registration process to come.

Enter your name; maximum of 12 characters, with a filter to block inappropriate words (and possibly certain names if you suffer from #TheProblemWithPenIsland).

The same way as Battle Revolution requires you to pick a Rental Pass regardless of whether you intend to copy Pokémon from a DS game, Grand Stage would require you to make a selection of Rental Pokémon regardless of whether you intend to transfer Pokémon from elsewhere. You make your selection as follows:
-Up to one of any traditional starter Pokémon, from any region.
-Up to one Fossil Pokémon from Kanto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, Unova, or Kalos. (The Galarian ones are not included, because Cara Liss is a stupid bitch and I really hope those four Fossils get treated with proper revival techniques in Scarlet/Violet.)
-Up to one base form of any pseudo-legendary Pokémon from any region.
-Up to one Magikarp, Feebas, or Wishiwashi if you want to struggle for your Water-type.
-As many as you like of the following Baby Pokémon: Togepi, Tyrogue, Wynaut, Happiny, Riolu, Munchlax, Toxel.
-And finally, fill the remaining slots in your team from the following Pokémon: Pikachu, Jigglypuff, Eevee, Lapras, Mareep, Wooper, Slugma, Shroomish, Ralts, Snorunt, Shinx, Buneary, Zorua, Larvesta, Deerling, Flabébé, Pancham, Rockruff, Alolan Vulpix, Alolan Meowth, Rookidee, Galarian Ponyta, Galarian Yamask, Hisuian Sneasel, and Hisuian Growlithe.

Once you have your Rental Pokémon set up, you get assigned a random room at the hotel, between 0001 and 9999 inclusive. The hotel room serves as what I've decided to call "Between Mode"; various idle animations play when you're choosing... well, between modes. On first arriving, you automatically access the PC to set up the Pokémon on your Battle Pass, because once you have a Pokémon, you are not allowed to walk around without a Pokémon.

I've written the PC options to make more sense from an in-story perspective; as a game, the options would be as follows:
-Access Rental Pokémon, which is... well, your Rental Pokémon.
-Access Personal Pokémon, which is non-Rental Pokémon (the availability of which will become clear in a moment).
-Transfer from [Region], with an option popping up for every game you have saved on the console. Being as I'm imagining this as a tail-end-of-Gen-VIII game, it would be on the Switch, so those would be Transfer from Galar, Transfer from Sinnoh, and Transfer from Hisui (we're going to shamelessly ignore the temporal questionability involved with that, because the core series doesn't give a bag of Mulch about whether two communicating Trainers are in the same time period if their games can communicate directly)... and maybe Transfer from Kanto, I'm not sure. I've seen a bit of argument on whether Let's Go qualify as Gen VII or Gen VIII. Since the possibility exists for one system to have both games, those would pop up as i.e. Transfer from Galar with the Pokémon Shield logo next to it, so as to differentiate between games.

Yes, that is Transfer, not Copy. Because you can raise the Pokémon in Grand Stage, they are being moved to Pokétopia and will thus be unavailable in their origin region until returned. Despite the phrasing, you would be able to transfer the Pokémon to a given region where compatible. Which, by necessity of the mechanics, means you could technically use Grand Stage as an offline Pokémon HOME by proxy. Speaking of, you would be able to transfer Pokémon to and from Pokémon HOME, but that would be handled via Pokémon HOME itself.

Aside from "Pokémon Storage System", other menu items in Between Mode would include "Trainer Mode", "Play Mode", and "Colosseum Mode", which I will be explaining in chapters to come, as well as "Battle Mode", "Trade Mode", and "Customize Character".

Battle Mode is, of course, Trainer-to-Trainer combat with the teams of other human players. Note I said "teams" - in addition to Local Play and Online Play, there would also be a "Proxy Play". You can save the Battle Passes of friends, random encounters, and other users on the same system to be controlled by the AI, or a Player 2 if you have enough controllers for that.
...Going with Battle Revolution as precedent, you should be able to play Grand Stage with just one Joy-Con, but let me know if anything in future chapters looks like it should require two.

Trade Mode, naturally, allows you to trade Pokémon with other Trainers in Pokétopia. That said, there is a level of strictness to that statement: you cannot trade Rental Pokémon for Personal Pokémon or vice-versa. You can trade Rental Pokémon for Rental Pokémon, if you want to i.e. try and put Red's team together in Pokétopia, or you can trade Personal Pokémon for Personal Pokémon.

And yes, you will be able to customize your player character. Your body type and skin tone are fixed on starting up the game, but clothing and hairstyles will be fully customizable. I want to say that clothing items in Grand Stage should be more-or-less universal. At most, specific Pokémon costumes for each pair of body types because, let's be totally honest, an Electivire Costume is built on the assumption that the wearer has the muscle mass to look like an Electivire.