I think I’ll call this the Purification AU.
Ask and ye shall receive. I think I’ll call this the Purification AU.
To explain the Yveltal/Xerneas/Celebi and Emmet in Orre thing.
From the games, we know that Yveltal and/or Xerneas were found in the mountains (likely) to the south-east of Kalos, beyond this, the exact location is not specified. These mountains are heavily forested with a specific biome, with what exactly is beyond them unknown. The Orre regions northern areas are arguably a similar type of forest, leading into mountains. It is entirely possible that Kalos and Orre could share a border in those mountains, with Orre simply being further down the coast (this is ignoring the landlocked state of Orre in the first Colosseum game, as it was retconned in XD, following the idea that the newest information is presented is the corrected information, then Orre is NOT landlocked.) It is also possible that Unova could be on the same landmass, due to the amount of similar weird-a** trains seen in Orre and Kalos both, that only appear otherwise in Galar, but I digress. I need a Pokémon Legends game taking place in the wild west of Unova and reaching into Orre please, explain the Outskirt Stand damnit!
It is known in the games that when Yveltal and Xerneas go into and wake from their hibernation, that they require frankly massive amounts of life energy. Now, you might ask, what about all the gravestones in Kalos that have carvings of Pokémon? Yeah, those are the Pokémon that died when AZ (That Inexplicably Immortal Idiot King) fired the weapon with Yveltal’s power in order to stop the war, and died from it, either getting shot, or fueling the shot. BUT how does that relate to the desert in Orre?
AZ couldn’t leave the slumbering legendaries in Kalos proper, or life would’ve continued to be horrible due to their conflicting energies, so he moved them, and then over the course of time forgot where he put them. Whoopsie.
The Pokédex for Yveltal and Xerneas say that they can hibernate for 1000 years, so where did they get the life force required to survive that long in their cycle of waking up and going back to sleep? Xerneas is considered the being of Life, so it could get its power by nurturing life, it was found in a tree, what does that tell you? Using X as the canonical game, this would be the Pokémon found in the mountains, and why they are so wild and empty. It was also the easier of the two to get to (although it makes significantly more sense to use the Aspect of Destruction to fire a weapon, but whatever Lysander). Yveltal slumbered on, taking the power it needed to continue its hibernation from the region of Orre, leaving it a deserted wasteland and near the most inhospitable (if not the most inhospitable) place in the world. The region is only now returning to life because Yveltal is in the middle of its hibernation when it is taking the least amount of life force from region. This would explain why the alternate legendary cannot be caught in the same game. Because it’s still asleep. This does also mean that Orre would go through another period with a total lack of wild Pokémon in a couple hundred years. Oh well.
Now for why Emmet would go to Orre once Ingo was gone, besides getting some much-needed battle therapy (maybe at the behest of Elesa or his therapist if you don’t go with the criminal element), is because of the criminal element present there, well known for kidnapping people. Why Cipher would kidnap Ingo is not something he’s thinking about, he’s not at his best okay? While there, he would stumble across a rather annoyed Celebi, basically the only wild Pokémon known for living in Orre long term, (although they are never actually seen in XD, just mentioned a lot). Celebi is annoyed because Volo is fudging up the timeline and who do the Sinnoh legendaries and Volo even think they are? Emmet still gets to punch god, a couple of them actually. Celebi helps. He’s healing, and there is very little angst and unhealthy codependency.
AZ was an idiot and forgot where he put Yveltal and Xerneas. The desert in Orre is there because that’s where Yveltal slept. The mountainous forest to the north of Orre connecting to Kalos is so wild because that’s where Xerneas slept. Pokémon are in neither place in the Orre region because the conflicting energy of the two. Celebi likes Agate because it’s as close to Xerneas as possible and still live, the balance between dimensions and powers that allow them to travel through time is FANTASTIC. Celebi would find Emmet and hop through time to find Ingo and punch god(s) like a BAMF. No Angst for Emmet, codependency healing only for this bamf-nerd. Who is better at purification of the heart and soul than Celebi?
