Draco: WOOHOO! Legends confirmed to be a full-blown subseries rather than a standalone entry! I am in a very good mood right now. Even the announced release timeframe makes me happy. Had this idea brewing for a while, couldn't work up the motivation to actually write it, but the prospect of another Legends entry has gotten me in the right mood. (Even if I have two very conflicting hopes for what will occur in Z-A.)

...Z-A doesn't really have much to do with why I'm writing this, I just wanted an excuse to talk about my dual-Alola treatment and my version listing. But it did end up influencing who was here for the conversation.

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Poni Island, Alola

Day was breaking in the Vast Poni Canyon; Midnight Lycanroc were retreating into their solitary dens, while Midday Lycanroc were starting to emerge with their Rockruff pups. As the sunlight started to strike the emblem extending heavenward from the Altar of the Sunne, a seam of white light manifested upon the altar... and then was abruptly thrown open into a shining gate.

A great pteropus figure in blue and gold soared out, and a boy clad in Riding Wear descended from its back.

Elio grinned as he beheld the rays of dawn, a sharp contrast to the twilight shroud he had just left. "Here we are," he mused, glancing up at Lunala. "Thanks for the ride." The Moone Pokémon gave a joyful cheer, and he did a quick limber motion before opening up his bag. "Rotom, how's your connection looking?"

His Rotom Pokédex lifted out of the bag, buzzing happily. "Network'zzz receptive!" it announced. "Seeking... Lookzzz like Selene is here! Connecting, zzzrt!"

The screen changed to a cartoony image of two Rotom zipping past each other; after a moment, it jumped abruptly to show a girl in a knit cap. "Hey, Elio!"

"Selene!" Elio greeted. "Glad we didn't miss each other. Where you at?"

"I'm in Heahea," Selene replied. "Was actually hoping to catch some friends as they got here, you care to join us?"

Elio gave an awkward grin. "This isn't me intruding on a ladies' night, is it?"

"No, nothing like that," Selene insisted, "it's some of the friends I made on Cynthia's project."

"Then sure," Elio replied, "I'll come by."

Selene nodded. "Alright. If they arrive before you get here, we were gonna head to Royal Avenue, so come find us there."

"Sounds good. See you there."

Rotom cut the call. "Wouldn't it be eazzzier to just get her phone number?" it asked. "I thought your phone still workzzz in this Alola."

"It does," Elio admitted, "but I can't ping her phone to make sure she's in this Alola the way you can ping her Pokédex. And if you're already pinging, you might as well call."

"That'zzz fair," Rotom agreed.

Elio drew out his Ride Pager. "Besides," he added, "if her mom's anything like my mom, she's gonna snoop on her phone when she's not looking and ask who the new boy is in her contacts. It'd be kind of awkward to have to explain how she made a friend in another world when Selene doesn't even have precedent from meeting the Recon Squad."

+x+x+x+

When he arrived on Akala Island, he found that Selene had already left; Elio elected to walk to Royal Avenue, finding them approaching the malasada shop. There was another boy there - wearing a red jacket, dark shorts, and a hat that looked like an Ultra Ball - as well as two girls besides Selene - a honey-haired girl in a black-and-red high-waisted outfit and a pink felt hat with sunglasses mounted on it, and a dark-haired girl with a green beret and a gray knitted parka worn over a pink dress.

"There he is," Selene observed, waving to him. "Over here!"

Elio dashed up as the group turned to him. "Alola," he greeted. "Nice to meet you all."

"You too," the boy greeted, offering his hand. "Call me Gold."

"Name's Gloria," the girl in the beret greeted. "Charmed, I'm sure."

"And I'm Serena," added the honey-haired girl. "Pleasure to meet you."

"Elio." He accepted Gold's offered hand and shook it.

"Much as it's ace to meet a friend of Selene's," Glora mused, "I've been wantin' to try out these masaladas."

"Ma-la-sa-da," Selene corrected. "But yes, let's continue this conversation inside."

"Sounds good to me," Gold agreed.

They headed inside, ordered a jumbo pack of Big Malasadas (and a few drinks to wash them down with), and found themselves a booth. "So," Gold asked, "mind if I ask how you two met?"

Elio cracked his can of Lemonade. "That sounds more like the kind of question you ask a couple, not a pair of friends."

Gold shrugged. "Just asking," he mused.

"What," Selene argued, "have you got a story for how you met every odd friend you got?"

"Save for Lyra, being as we grew up together," Gold confirmed. "Ran into Silver when he was still on the wrong side of the law, I was his first battle with a stolen Totodile. I met Eusine in the Burned Tower, he got curious when Suicune seemed to take an in-"

"Ah la vache," Serena sighed, "you know what a rhetorical question is, don't you?"

"Makes me wonder if you're just open to multiple partners," Selene mused.

"What?!" Gold looked baffled.

Selene laughed. "It's a joke," she insisted. "Still," she admitted, picking up her maladasa, "I can't tell if you're the kind of guy who doesn't think anything's trivial, or you're just a magnet for weird encounters."

"Oi, I think that goes for the lot of us," Gloria argued. "Near everyone at this table's met a fair few Legendary Pokémon, I don't think we ought call any of those trivial. You don't go writing off the first time you ran into the Moone, do you?"

"That's a fair cop," Elio agreed, raising his drink to his mouth.

Serena grinned. "So you're the one who met Necrozma."

Elio spewed Lemonade back into his can as Selene gave a baffled "Whff?!" through a full mouth. The latter quickly turned into a coughing fit that had her scrambling for her Soda Pop; Gold quickly pulled a handful of napkins out of the table's dispenser as she tried to force the malasada out of her windpipe, giving her something to cough the half-chewed snack into.

Once her airways were clear, she took a long draught of her drink and glared at Serena. "What the Distortion was-?!"

"Oh, come off it," Gloria retorted. "You had that ramble about the Blinding One and how it could 'light up Ultra Space', then got mad at Dawn when she snooped in your Pokédex and found nothing. You didn't expect us to put two and two together? You even admitted it wasn't your own account, I don't know why Cynthia let you keep mum."

Selene groaned. "Would it have killed you to follow her example?"

"Guess the Meowth's out of the bag," Elio sighed.

"Then you are the one who meet Necrozma," Gold mused. "So, what's the story? And how come you never contacted Cynthia about it yourself?"

"Because..." Elio grabbed one of the unused napkins and wiped the rim of his can clear. "...my Cynthia was disinclined to publish anything about it."

Serena blinked. "Quoi?"

"Wh-What do you mean your Cynthia?" Gloria demanded.

"I told you that the Sunne and Moone can travel through Ultra Space, didn't I?" Selene pointed out. "Well, there's a lot of different worlds on the other side of the Ultra Wormholes. And the first time I thought to ask Solgaleo help me see what else was out there... I ran into Lunala." She glanced at Elio. "I woke up on the Altar of the Moone - and this guy was also recovering."

"So... you're from another world," Gold mused.

"I am," Elio confirmed. "From an Alola that's not all too different from this one. Like Selene, I moved to Melemele, crossed paths with Lillie and Nebby, and then started on my island challenge. A visit to Aether Paradise resulted in an unpleasant encounter with an Ultra Beast, and eventually Lusamine used Cosmog to force open an Ultra Wormhole. So we took Cosmoem to the Altar in Vast Poni Canyon, and witnessed its evolution." He closed his hands in front of him. "But mine was different from square one, when I ran into the Ultra Recon Squad."

"Recon Squad?" Serena echoed.

"A group of travellers from a world called Ultra Megalopolis," Elio explained. "Their ancestors are the ones who harmed Necrozma, and in its berserk, light-hungry state, they had no choice but to seal it away in a massive tower. And when that tower started to fail, the Ultra Recon Squad sought out someone who could help them make amends for what their forbears did."

Gold narrowed his gaze. "And they found you," he guessed.

Elio shook his head. "No. They found Lusamine."

"What?!" Gloria exclaimed. "You're tellin' me they expected that woman to help them with sod-all when she...?"

"You'd think something like that would make her worse," Elio admitted, "after the way she treated Lillie and Gladion. And when they planted the idea in her head that she was some hero who could save another world, she did run off completely on her own, instead of gathering strong Trainers like the Recon Squad wanted. She was convinced that she could never be wrong - not with the way she treated her children, not with how confident she was in her and Guzma's battle skills." His gaze fell. "Right up until the Blinding One made them eat Mulch. And then chased them to the Altar, where it could seize the light of Alola. I had to chase it back to the Megalopolis, fight through its Ultra Burst, and force it to let go of Lunala."

"Alpha," Gold muttered.

"She didn't start out any different," Elio mused, "and the Recon Squad put her on a collision course for something a lot worse than what Selene told me about." He sat back. "But you know, when I came back from Ultra Space, she wasn't... on the warpath, anymore. I don't know if she fully understands how badly she treated Lillie and Gladion, but... she's trying to be better, at least. Which is an improvement, I think, over what happened in Ultra Deep Sea."

Selene nodded. "Definitely."

Silence settled around the table for a while as they ate their malasadas.

"...You said the Cynthia on your side wasn't interested in publishing anything," Serena mused. "Did you never meet her? Or any of us?"

"I met Cynthia at the Battle Tree," Elio admitted. "But it was just as a battle partner; she didn't express any interest in myths and legends. As for Trainers in other regions, who have met other Legendary Pokémon... no, I've never met in person. I did read about them - and the criminal organizations they fought against." He leaned his head back. "But it wasn't by chance, or because I was contacted by anyone. I wanted to know more about the villains who showed up in Aether Paradise - from other worlds. Other other worlds."

"You're kidding," Gloria muttered.

Elio shook his head. "I'm not. Team Rainbow Rocket - an interspacial alliance of criminal organizations, headed by a man named Giovanni. The same man who was a Gym Leader in Viridian City, even as he commanded Team Rocket from behind the scenes. Right up until a Trainer took him down, who'd started out just trying to complete a Pokédex. But he said he had never been opposed, that he had successfully dominated the world with his criminal organization... and then, one day, he found himself in Ultra Space, and decided to expand his vision." He sighed. "His 'admins' were no different.

"Maxie of Team Magma, and Archie of Team Aqua - men who'd headed conflicting organizations in Hoenn, each seeking a super-ancient Pokémon so that the land or the sea could claim dominance. In their own worlds, they said they were consumed by fissure and wave at the pinnacle of their victory, but history said a Trainer who had newly moved to Hoenn took one down and forced the other to open his eyes.

"Cyrus of Team Galactic, whose subordinates captured the Legendary Pokémon of the lakebed so he could forge a Red Chain with which to drag Pokémon of myth into this world. He claimed to be swallowed by a dark void as he was about to reshape the world, but history said he was thwarted on Spear Pillar, captured by the authorities, broke free of captivity... and was reported dead shortly thereafter.

"Ghetsis of Team Plasma, whose abuse molded his own son into a hero, as chosen by the dragons of eld. History said N was overcome by another hero, and when Ghetsis tried to use a different dragon for his own goals, that hero found an ally whose assistance ensured his defeat. But Ghetsis claimed he was perfection, and made it clear that the son he called a 'freak without a human heart' had never been overcome to contradict that belief."

"Lysandre of Team Flare, who uncovered an ancient weapon and intended to scour the world clean, killing all Pokémon and countless humans in the name of putting an end to conflict everywhere. He said the earth shook as the weapon illuminated, blinding him and then depriving him of the world he sought, but history said his weapon destroyed itself and the base built around it, and that Lysandre was last seen inside."

Serena's gaze fell. "Sounds like what happened in your world isn't so different from ours."

"Then... someone did stand up against each of them," Gloria observed. "Each region in your world did have someone encountering legendary Pokémon, and making sure the world didn't go to pot because horrid men and women wanted to have their way. So why didn't they ever meet each other properly? What's so different in our world that drove Cynthia to make contact with us?"

Gold raised his gaze. "It's the Rangers, isn't it?"

Gloria turned. "What?"

"The Ist edition, it was just me and Dawn," Gold mused. "The same Dawn who's traumatized by most of her encounters with legendary Pokémon. The Rangers sent her the Sea Princess' egg, and she and Lucas raised her together. And when one of the worst legendary Pokémon ran into the Ranger Union, they set him right and sent him to Sinnoh." His gaze fell. "What if, in Elio's world, the Rangers never made contact with a Sinnohan Trainer?"

"No Manaphy," Selene mused, "no repentant Darkrai... Without that sort of positive experience to counter the negatives, whoever was dealing with Cyrus... might not have been able to move past that trauma."

"And if Cynthia knew the hero of her own region was traumatized like that," Gloria mused, "she wouldn't exactly think it's a good idea to contact others about the same topic."

Silence fell around the table again as they contemplated what that meant.

Draco: ...That ended up going in a darker direction than I initially intended.

So, when I originally wrote this in Generation VI and dubbed it the "VIth edition" I was mostly just making a cheeky reference to how up-to-date it was. But when I sat down and thought about it for... very stupid reasons, I realized that I have a semi-reasonable progression that WOULD, in fact, result in Kalosian notes being the sixth set of inputs.

Ist Edition: Dawn and Gold
IInd Edition: Red and May
IIIrd Edition: Lunick, Kellyn, and Summer
IVth Edition: Hilda
Vth Edition: Nate
VIth Edition: Serena
VIIth Edition: Selene
VIIIth Edition: Gloria, Rita, and Rei

So far, the IXth Edition is just Juliana, but I expect that to change when Legends: Z-A comes out.