Something I've been kicking around in my head is how to adapt PLZA to the original Pokéani -- specifically, for Alan and his Lumiose fam. It's a bit tricky to do since while some things align very nicely (e.g. Lumiose actually DID get wrecked by Lysandre in the anime, whereas in the games it was Geosenge Town that took the hit), others are definitely harder to work with (e.g. AZ is not in the anime at all).
So far, the thoughts I have are:
It would still take place five years after the Kalos arc wrapped up. So Alan would be 20, Manon would be 15, Professor Sycamore would be 40, Bonnie would be 12, and Clemont would also be 15.
I think I would still write Sycamore stepping down from his position and agreeing to hand the keys to the lab over to the city / Mable, with the caveat that the upper levels (i.e. his and Alan's home) not be open to her. This would be for a few reasons: - Despite Sycamore always assuring Alan that his reputation is fine and Alan is not causing him trouble, actually, Sycamore's reputation DOES drop pretty drastically with how he stands by Alan, and so the mayor Wants Him Gone, because Wanting Him Gone makes the mayor look better in the eyes of the (remaining) citizens and therefore will get him a reelection; - Sycamore doesn't really care about that, BUT he is against how the wild zones are being implemented (he and Mable are in agreement with this one) and sees that he can't really fight it, and would rather not be part of it; - Part of him hopes that Alan will choose to leave Lumiose with him and therefore not get caught up in Quasartico Inc. looking to find (and use) the strongest mega evolution trainer, both because he doesn't trust them and also because he doesn't want Alan's trauma to be triggered (because who was the last person who told Alan "in order to fulfill your wish, become the strongest?") - And lastly, 10% Zygarde comes to him to find all of the Zygarde Cells for Bonnie, who at the time is at Ranger School in the Almia region (she comes back don't worry), so he has to go do that anyway
Alan is absolutely LIVID about the whole situation. He's furious (and guilt-ridden) about the mayor pushing Sycamore out because of him (because he is literally an adult by this point, Sycamore, he can put the pieces together); he's enraged by a Team Flare Scientist getting to take over their home; and then he's both confused and outraged that, from his perception, Sycamore is just letting this happen, like, why isn't he putting up a fight, this is their HOME
Because this is their home, and because he doesn't trust Quasartico, but also because he wants to win the Z-A Royale so he can use his wish to kick Mable the fuck out of the lab and reinstate Sycamore, Alan refuses to leave Lumiose with Sycamore and instead decides to enter the Z-A Royale.
I think for ease of storytelling I'd have Alan not be the Champion in this fic, but instead just known as a.) the winner of the Lumiose Conference, and b.) one of the Top 8 strongest trainers in the world, because I feel both of those things are enough to sink terror into his Z-A Royale opponents as it is without having him be Kalos Champion on top of it. (Also, that would feel like cheating.) So he just never took the Champion Challenge here.
AZ offers to let Alan stay at Hotel Z free of charge, and while Alan is suspicious (he's suspicious of everyone after Lysandre), Manon thinks they should take it since it also extended to her, and like, free lodgings, who can say no?
Manon is going to basically be the Urbain / Taunie in this fic, to a degree; she won't tell Alan what her wish is going to be at first, and / or makes up some new silly thing every time she's asked. But her arc is going to be about how she wants Alan to see her as an actual rival, like how he views, say, Ash, rather than as someone just to protect. At some point in the fic they'd be each other's promotion match, and Alan would immediately want to contact Quasartico to get his opponent changed, but Manon would get extremely upset about the fact that he doesn't take her seriously as a trainer. And he'd insist that he does, of course he does, and in his mind / heart he does, but -- and Manon would argue that no, he doesn't, because he never battles her with his full strength, he always holds back, he never even battles with Lizardon. And she wants him to battle her with Lizardon, AND mega evolve Lizardon, and if either of them hold back for even a SECOND she will NEVER forgive them. So they do battle (and I think for extra effect this should be their promotion to A), and Alan does win, and at first he thinks Manon is crying, but it turns out she's actually laughing because she's so happy he finally took her seriously and, hey, she and Mega Venusaur put up a hell of a fight, right?
(Yes I know that Chesnaught can mega evolve now, but I kind of like Hari-san staying a Chespin forever . . . he doesn't need to evolve to be the most capable pokémon in Kalos!)
So it's kind of like when Haru and Makoto raced in freestyle in Free!, and Makoto lost but he was still happy for the all-out race. Manon loses but she also wins because she got what she want: Alan trying his hardest against her in battle, and him now seeing her as a worthy rival instead of just someone he needs to protect.
(And he also gets a moment of like . . . wrow . . . she really is grown up now . . . is this how the Professor feels when he sees me do things . . .)
However, Alan IS the strongest mega evolution trainer (he literally had four whole specials about this and in Journeys is stated to be studying mega evolution like come on), so that means he DOES get stuck in Ange with Floette. Sorry boo, no climactic battles for you, you are getting TOWERED.
However x2, BONNIE is the one with the bond with Squishy, so SHE is the one Zygarde chooses, obviously, and the one who has to race across the city with everyone's help to reunite with Squishy, and mega evolve them to destroy Ange. Manon is very torn because her priority is GETTING ALAN OUT OF THE TOWER WHY IS HE ALWAYS PUTTING HIMSELF IN DANGER, but Alan insists to her that she HAS to help Bonnie reach Zygarde, he's trusting her to do this because he can't, etc etc.
At some point AZ would of course tell his story to both Alan and Manon, including how Lysandre was his great (x20) nephew, but at a point when said information doesn't make Alan say "fuck this shit I'm out" and run in the opposite direction. And Alan will also have to reflect because, if it was Lizardon that was killed, would he really be able to stop himself from doing whatever it took to bring Lizardon back? (Manon is 100% on AZ's side because she knows that no, she would not stop.)
The one problem I have is I can't think of an arc / story for Clemont . . . which is weird because Ange was his gym, but while I know exactly what Alan, Manon, and Bonnie are there for, with Clemont I have just a big ???. Ditto for Blaziken Mask, I just don't think this is that type of story.
Manon is definitely the one who takes out the loan from the Rust Syndicate.
I think I would still have Grisham, but not Griselle. And Grisham has beef with Alan because Lysandre always "favored" Alan despite Alan not even being an official member of Team Flare. Alan, however, has zero idea who Grisham even is.
Grisham: "You took everything from me." / Alan: "I don't even know who you are."
My laptop is lagging like crazy on this post so I'll leave it here, but yeah, those are my basic thoughts.
