>MC doesn't move to Alola for another year
>Lusamine was never saved
>Gladion went missing chasing after her into Ultra Space for Lillie's sake
>while lost in Ultra Space, fused with a more larval Necrozma Lusamine-style to become the one you catch in SM, hence the hand over face animation
>every vanilla SM-style Necrozma is a Gladion who became lost in Ultra Space
>the Z-Ring Gladion originally obtained is instead given to the USUM MC
>Hau was left unable to battle early during the raid, leaving no one to fight Lusamine
>Lillie failed to man up without the MC's presence, her spirit completely crushed at the moment after Cosmog dies instead of becoming Cosmoem because Lusamine pushes it too far with no one to fight her at Paradise
>since then she manned up on her own, but has also become more cold to others, and is an Ice-type specialist
>a very heavy chunk of the story is dedicated to the MC thawing her out
>the absolute disaster that occurred at Paradise makes Hau get Gladion-style edgy
>Kiawe won the lottery and got to go to study dance abroad, does not appear in the game
>the UB attack went on for longer due to no one being able to stop Lusamine, it ultimately turned out fine, but the geography of the four islands has changed significantly as a result
>there are two Anabels, one as part of Interpol still trying to clean up the UB mess with Looker in the main story, and one without the ponytail managing the Battle Tree as part of the Battle Frontier, the post-game story revolves around them meeting
>Ryuki's band became globally famous when he dethroned Hau as Champion for the duration of seven hours
>the Masked Royal is unmasked live on stage after a shocking defeat
>Aether Paradise is rundown and under a quarantine, as Ultra Wormholes open there at an alarming pace, possibly being the aftereffects of Cosmog's death
>when you go there with Mohn to gather the tools he needs to help solve the big conflict it's crawling with random UB encounters
