>>55363556We know for a fact Entei, Raikou, and Suicune aren't unique--we see them used repeatedly by different key members of the Battle Frontiers, and it's said there's an Entei for every volcano
which raises the real question of whether or not this implies a species mutualism with Heatran. Same with Regigigigas being used by Palmer. If it were randomly-generated Trainers using legendaries, it would be one thing, but these are major characters with predetermined loadouts, so it's safe to say this is the real deal. Same deal with Lugia and Ho-Oh. Baby Silver can be debated until the end of time, but I don't think a single Ho-Oh took the time to fly all the way out to Bumfuck, Orre just to fly all the back to Johto in time for Ethan/Lyra/Kris to show up. Likewise, I doubt XD-001 is the same Lugia that seemed content to remain in the Whirl Islands owing mostly to it knowing Psycho Boost while Johto's Lugia cannot.
Groudon and Kyogre are most prrrobably (TM) unique owing to being sealed up by the Orbs, but unless Kyogre is just VERY mobile, its appearances throughout the anime cast a thin shadow of doubt on that. Rayquaza is an unknown variable. We know it wasn't sealed, but we know nothing about its ecosystem in the stratosphere aside from Minior being a prey species. Beyond nullifying Groudon and Kyogre's atmospheric influences, there's actually very little tying Rayquaza to them directly; it's moreso just a case of a species' niche allowing it to fill a vacuum in a foreign ecosystem--Rayquaza is an apex predator that just happens to hard-counter two other apex predators in the rare occasions when it leaves its habitat to enter our own. With potentially 203.6 million square miles of habitat to work with, the upper limit of Rayquaza's population is dependent entirely on just how efficiently it can squeeze its nutritional needs out of space debris--and if its hostility to outsiders like Deoxys is an indication, it's a very delicate balancing act.
