>>52686223I’d say it is both - imagination/time machine thing.
It’s just a time machine what do time machine things what are working according to what Professor’s thought they supposed to do.
And Professor was obsessed with specifically these cryptid mons from dubious novel about exploration of the crater, so Professor thought what these are past/future mons so said time machine gives him/her exactly what they believe was past/future mons.
This also explains why they all have designs are that strange and not realistic at all.
>But what about time machine itself then?It became possible for Professor to build it (as well as robotic copy of themselves) because they believed they are able to make it. Because they did so at the bottom of the crater when your dreams are granted by third legendary powers.
>And what about Heath? Why Paradoxes was already a thing when he explored the crater?So, if we continue with the idea about "beliefs becoming reality” theme it is entirely possible what Paradoxes was made into reality unintentionally, because the team of Explorers & Heath was expecting to face unknown and perhaps monstrous Pokémon inside the crater. Why so? Because according to ingame lore there was lots of people trying to investigate the crater but no one ever was successful and all of them was lost to it, so there is a fear of unknown danger
