There's some valuable lore and backstory, and it's in everyone's interest to prevent confusion. For the sake of keeping things straight, here's a few helpful snippets of information to help you feel more at home on the Flora Islands. This will be continuously updated for all the regular questions.
Pokémon do not repeat their own names.
Dogs don't say "dog." They bark.
Cats don't say "cat." They meow.
Pidgeys don't say "pidgey." They sing, chirp, tweet.
Just bear with me on this one.
Legends are just legends.
As described in roleplaying rules, legendary and mythical Pokémon are thought of as myths, superstition, and folklore. No one can be sure they exist. They are also one of a kind, with no exceptions. For example, there's only one Articuno and that's it. Most are genderless, but not all.
What we do know about legendary and mythical Pokémon are passed around as myths and story tales and won't differ much from Pokédex entries.
Mewtwo and Genesect have not been created yet.
Cheesy sayings ('mother of mew!') are common. Knock yourself out.
This is an alternate universe to the main game canon.
While this is heavily based in the universe presented by the main game series, we are very much our own thing.
Protagonists of the games (e.g. Red, May, Lucas, Serena) are complete nobodies as far as anyone is concerned. They might not even exist.
Things are very much 'status quo' in other regions outside of Flora (e.g. Cynthia is champion of Sinnoh and that's not changing).
Villains are mostly contained to small-scale operations (e.g. Rocket, Plasma, etc. exist but they're considered petty criminals).
Some things may differ from established game lore (such as the origin of Mewtwo).
Spin-offs are not canon. That means nothing from Pokémon Ranger or what have you (which means no Orre, Almia, Oblivia, or anything else).
This is not on planet Earth.
Should go without saying. Try and limit references to real world things that don't have a Pokémon world counterpart (what kinda Pokémon is a Jesus?).
The islands are relatively close together.
Surfing or sailing between neighboring islands might take less than twenty minutes, while traveling from one end of the archipelago to another might take a few hours.
Pokémon die.
People eat Pokémon. Pokémon eat Pokémon. Pokémon eat people. It's the circle of life, friend.
Deaths in battle are uncommon, but they happen. Be careful out there.
Lifespans vary between species', but it can be expected that the natural lifespan of most Pokémon is about on par with your typical human being.
Technology is slightly ahead.
It's not totally futuristic, but we can store Pokémon as computer data and have greater access to clean energy and flying frigates and other crazy stuff. Compared to the real world, the Pokémon world has a small edge.
