Ok so add on to my take on the phanthop au
(this version hevily relies on a headcannon i have that ghost type pokemon that still have memories from when they were alive, see themselves as if they were alive {with some hints to how they died/parts of their appearance related to the pokemon they became im working on visual examples i swear )
(Also i played sheild so MC gets zamazenta)
•MC and the rivals (bede, hop, marnie) are all 17 when this takes place
•hop remembers everything when he wakes up (exept for that he died)
•he wakes up in the wield and doesnt realise hes even dead until he finds Leon and MC mourning over his death
•Championship battle was postponed after the eternatus thing to give the league time to get things back together, so Leon is still the champion
•Majority of story is hop trying to tell everyone that hes fine
•everyone else sees this as him just being curious
•Allister and Opal are the only ones who can see hop (like as a person) and understand him (it made sense to me because, imaging being around ghost types for so long, that you can actally see and hear who they used to be)(also Opal because weird fairy magic)
•Opal is the one to tell leon and MC that the phantump is hop
•after hearing this and getting annother look at him and how he was behaving, they felt pretty bad that they didnt figure it out sooner
•Post game events still happen, and hop gets kidnapped by the sword and sheild weirdos
•so instead of hop, leon goes with you to help with dynamax
•leon also gets zacian instead of hop
Its not the most put together, but i hope you like it!