Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon's Big Hint?

*Please note that this is just speculation and opinion. It is not fact, which is why the title has a question mark, because for all I know, I'm probably just overthinking about a feature that they probably put in for nostalgia and for fun.*

So, Ultra Sun and Moon are a wonderful final hurrah for Pokémon on the 3DS and it makes me excited to see where it goes from here, on the Switch. But with all of the cool things they've added in USUM, including a heartfelt little nod/memorial to Satoru Iwata, one thing was probably the biggest of them all: Pokémon interaction, sort of like Yellow, Heart Gold, and Soul Silver, but.. diluted, if you will.

You can't interact with your own Pokémon outside of Pokémon Refresh and taking photos with them, but you can interact with Pokémon in the overworld, like a Rockruff near Iki Town, or a bunch of Pikachu in the new Valley of Pikachu section, and even a Mimikyu to obtain its Z-Crystal. You can wave at them, play peek-a-boo, turn around, and just.. play with them, I suppose. But besides that, there's one huge point that made me think about this.

Throughout the game, Hau's starter Pokémon is almost exclusively seen outside of its Poké Ball, next to Hau, and even as it evolves, it's almost always travelling beside Hau. In my case, you could see Rowlet, Dartrix, and Decidueye with a fully-done model, animations, and all. You'll mostly see his middle evolution - so Dartrix, Torracat, or Brionne - but still, the animations and models are there and functional. Not only that, but starting in Paniola Town, when Hau battles you, his animation where he throws the ball is cut off, instead cutting out like a normal trainer battle, but he then does his attacking animation (typically the trainer waves their hand or something) and Dartrix does an animation while its cry plays, indicating that it was already out, in a similar vein to HG/SS.

This sort of coincides with the fact that, in Sun and Moon's code, data exists for every single Pokémon and even Mega Evolutions having standing, walk, and run animations, but went unused. There's also one more thing I'd like to point out.

While your own starter never pops out of its ball randomly, there is one single instance where this happens, right outside the Pokémon League. As you approach, you're informed that your Poké Ball is shaking really hard, before your starter jumps out and stands next to you. Your character and starter stare at each other, and the following line of text is shown:

"Your Poké Ball is shaking wildly!

[Starter] popped out!

Looking back at your first partner, the first Pokémon you ever chose in your adventure... you are reminded of how far you have come."

And between the 2nd and 3rd sentences, your character and your starter look at each other, and you both nod at each other before you each turn to face the entrance to the Pokémon League, ready to take on any opponent together.

I love this little moment because it acknowledges that you've come so far with your very first partner, although I honestly wonder what happens if your partner was, say, in a box when this happens. But anyways, what if they've been doing this because maybe the feature will return in the newest Pokémon games? I know it's probably a huge stretch, but think about it. With the Switch's higher power, in general, it could easily get your Pokémon moving with you. It would be harder than just animating sprites like in HG/SS/Yellow, but I mean.. if the data exists in the code/files of Sun and Moon, surely it's not impossible to be implemented? I'd love to have my Pokémon follow me again, I think it would be awesome.

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