I'm definitely fine with keeping up with Pokemon and items!
As for anime only locations, I'm cool with leaving them out, to be honest. Kalos's anime only locations aren't that great in my opinion anyway, so I think that'd be not worth it in the long run. I'll probably have Ash's background be similar to pre-Kalos when it comes to traveling to Hoenn/Sinnoh/Unova, but I'll try to explain that well IC.
Starting in Shalor is fine! Seems like one of the easiest places to start, too!
As for anime only locations, I'm cool with leaving them out, to be honest. Kalos's anime only locations aren't that great in my opinion anyway, so I think that'd be not worth it in the long run. I'll probably have Ash's background be similar to pre-Kalos when it comes to traveling to Hoenn/Sinnoh/Unova, but I'll try to explain that well IC.
Starting in Shalor is fine! Seems like one of the easiest places to start, too!