for catch em all (more specifically unova dex) there isnt any numbers stated for how many there actually are, so im curious since its called unova dex if that means you have to trade stuff in (other starters, thund/torn, trade evo mons like conk, or if its just tied to max dex for that one game, like how rby catext has Blue 124.

I think it's for Max Unova dex for that one game (so no multiple games required). Not sure off the top of my head what that number would end on. Admittedly the category was added well before I got mod, so I'm not 100% sure, but safe to say that if you were to do a run like that it'd get accepted (and the ruleset adjusted to actually give the correct number of mons)

No trading is needed. The category is just everything obtainable without trading/mystery gift essentially!

Here is an image of the Pokedex counter I used for tracking during the run that was originally on SRC. (Hydreigon is white because it's the last Pokémon and this screenshot is from near the end)