Time for a big city.
Complete with a few wide shots of the beachfront. Considering Game Freak, I think they are outright shooting the money here. This is a huge improvement over past games' city designs in technical quality. Even if there are things Castelia probably wins in.
When we arrive, this lady calls us over for possibly one of the weirder notes they throw in, and it's something that I'm fairly sure is already kinda weird because of why it's relevant.
The Alola region has a common gesture used in greeting to accompany the actual word- you wave your hands in front of your face to trace the curve of a circle. I'm not sure what it represents as a cultural element- probably the sun- or if it comes from the Hawai'ians, but it is surprisingly not a story thing.
It's probably more common in USUM, for a cute reason- in fact, I think a lot of the characters in the vanilla game introduce themselves with a brief wave, rather than this. No, where this is appears is Festival Plaza- when you talk to someone else's avatar, you do this wave. Wouldn't be too weird... except, you know, we already can go to Festival Plaza. Did they remember not to make our avatar do this wave until we learned how?
Anyway, beachcombing. This one's a visible item.
...I'd honestly rather not think about the fact my Pokemon need to poop. That implies I have to spend some of my time managing that.
The sunbather talks about the type chart, for, uh... some reason. The whole "Ground can get into the air" thing is more than just the Flying immunity, and other airborne things can manage to escape Ground moves. Try not to think about it for Mud Bomb and the like.
Aww, this is a reference to a bit of a thing in the Alola region: Pyukumuku. Pyukumuku is a Pokemon we can't mechanically encounter for quite some time, but they are a common sight on Alola's beaches narratively. They are sea cucumbers, having limited capacity for mobility while on land, and are covered in a sticky mucus. While native Alolans find them rather charming, tourists aren't so hot on them. I think Hawai'i has something similar, but I'm not 100% sure on that.
Preferably not at your girlfriend. The series more-or-less takes the stance that Poke Balls don't actually function on humans, but it is still unpleasant.
This little black blob is Pyukumuku. I'd probably give it a bit of a berth too, but I'll save my mechanical review for when we actually get into a fight with one.
It seems Own Tempo also blocks common sense. I'd comment about Oblivious, except that blocks infatuation.
This one is a hidden item. I don't think I ever knew where it was before now.
Sounds about right. It's bustling, but not too bustling.
"Hau'oli" is Hawai'ian for happy. Hau, incidentally, apparently gets his name from the sea hibiscus? Considering the connection, I would not have been surprised if Hau's name passed through "happy".
....I mean, I have the amulet?
...Do tourists carry island challenge amulets? That sounds like the sort of problems Hawai'i has with their tourism industry.
And right after that joke, a welcoming attitude matched by a not-very-welcoming gift.
There's a certain element to the "Hawai'i kinda resents their cultural niche" angle that I think the game brushes against, but on the whole, I suspect it only does so by accident. I did want to look into that with a different part of the story, but it appears to have already shown up.
That much, I'm good for.
Foreshadowing to the special mechanic, particularly.
Because Megas were too personalised.
Hau'oli has a bunch of random- as in, properly random- pedestrians walking down the sidewalk. Attempting to talk to them just gets you the Alolan greeting.
The Beachfront is just that short street, with almost nothing actually worthwhile on it. The real meat is here, and it isn't even all open yet!
He is telling us about a real move- Karate Chop is a 50 BP physical Fighting-type move that has a heightened chance for a critical hit (1/8). Despite how well-known the real life move is, only five Pokemon can naturally learn it, with another two learning it by a more complex method, and it's one of the moves they decided they could do without starting in SwSh. Feels kinda strange to say it aloud about one of the most martial-arty moves of all time.
Why he felt the need to attempt to break down this wall with his bare fists at all is a question he probably wishes he had asked sooner.
And now we are side-tracked into one of my less favourite diversions, for an alarming number of reasons, really. They tried.
It's impressive, but I wouldn't base my praise of Alola on it. Alola sells itself on the undeveloped parts of the land. Also the weather.
This building is the tourist bureau, as it happens. Ostensibly a guide to all of Melemele's cool tourist spots, it is sadly bereft of actual mechanical information on the topics.
This is the first of my objections. Rotom Dexes seem far too rare and possibly prototypical for a tourist board to have something ready for them.
Also why is it a free product?
At least it's a new deal. My questions would be further raised if it wasn't. Maybe it's outright designed with us in mind.
The name itself is also kinda unintuitive, but it's the least of my comments.
Hau does get a pretty decent shock frame before reacting, at least.
Yeah, sounds like Hau.
The Poke "Finder" has nothing to do with finding Pokemon: It's for taking pictures. So far, sounds like a harmless bit of social media bait, really.
Rather than being a general function, it's isolated to certain areas. All of this bit is probably the most sensible part of the thing. Aside from the part where I wonder why this is a Rotom Dex thing and not a regular device thing. (Probably because Rotom is autonomous.)
You do so when in the area that you're expected to use it. Note, of course, that pressing R doesn't work on L = A Button mode.
Partners, Hau. Zapple and Woodstock count too.
Depends on how important it is to you that it won't use its moves. Of course, considering my team, an Electric/Ghost type won't exactly be missed, but the thought remains.
...You're going to leave me to my own devices? What happened to showing me around?
YMMV.
At least Rotom's happy with his new toy.
This is information only available from the tourist. At this point, I have to ask if Selene can read.
It cuts between various artworks of, I'm assuming, Iki Town, Mahalo Trail, Melemele Meadow and Ten Carat Hill. Not all of them look like in-game renders.
Inside the tourist building, there is one person to talk to with something to give us, and he is more than worth it.
He is one of many people hanging around Alola with "part-time work" for us. He also functions much differently from them and has different rewards, so I suspect he's only related by coincidence.
It is very much worth it to lend him a hand.
...He says "I've been doing research on various Pokemon", phrased as a vague collective, but he doesn't actually care which 10 species go on his paper. I don't think this man fully understands his job. That, or the devs considered making him an overall goal and changed their minds.
This supports the theory he's being lazy and/or sloppy.
Qualities that do not seem to apply to you.
Also fortunately, he just wants to copy our Pokedex data, rather than "borrowing" the specimens himself.
Rowlet, Pichu, Grimer, Pikipek, Yungoos, Caterpie, Ledyba, Grubbin, Wingull, Slowpoke, Magnemite, Meowth, and Metapod. I'm on 13. The maximum possible at this exact moment is 15 (this file hasn't gone back to catch Rattata and Spinarak), giving you a nice bit of space to make this on your first visit.
By the end of the game, odds are you probably got this without trying.
Good luck with whatever you were trying to do with that data.
I won't object to these, though. Ultra Balls give a x2 multiplier per throw, and are the best of the standard-purpose balls. These will be important for one catch around now and probably a few we'll bump into before they finally get sold as a general item.
I don't know what my final Pokedex will look like (or how much grinding I'm going to do to get that number up), but one thing's for sure, there'll be a lot more than ten species in it.
Huh. Locals only. Casts aside glance at the fact we'll be let in later.
From top to bottom: Pyukumuku, Minior, Toucannon, and what appears to be a Corsola in a snow globe. Three new-to-Alola species and one classic Pokemon that got some more focus in the Alola games.
I want the Minior.
This counter runs the Loto-ID Centre, a recurring daily event that has only been significantly changed once over the span of the games in which it was run (GSC to SwSh). Once a day, you will draw a random five digit number, and if it matches the Trainer ID of all the Pokemon in your PC, you will get a prize equal to the number of matching digits, ish: They check the rightmost digit first, and if that is correct, they move on left until they find a difference. It doesn't matter what other digits are correct.
They automatically save the game before you draw, preventing "exploits". I'm not sure what these entail, but I have ideas.
The draw doesn't have an associated animation. The fancier the models get, the more jarring this is. The DPPt receptionist turned to face left for the actual draw.
Right now, I only have Pokemon belonging to me, so the odds of success aren't great.
Figures. SM's prizes are:
- 1 digit matched: Moomoo Milk (bag item, heals 100 HP).
- 2 digits matched: PP Up, permanently increases a move's maximum PP by 20% of its base total, can be used three times on one move.
- 3 digits matched: PP Max, has the effect of three PP Ups in one item.
- 4 digits matched: Rare Candy, elevates a Pokemon to its next level up.
- 5 digits matched: Master Ball, catches a Pokemon while completely bypassing the capture formula entirely.
Weirdly, I think 2 and 3 are way better than 4. Then again, Rare Candies are important if your goal is level 100, but in those quantities, you have better methods than this. Trading Pokemon with lots of people will give you lots of Trainer IDs, which will increase your odds of success.
Thanks for sharing. Got anything else? You know, for sale?
Well, that seems to be our cue to leave.
We are quickly joined by Lillie, mostly for the sake of adding a cute moment.
Shortly after telling Lillie about the Poke Finder, Rotom comes out of the bag of its own accord and snaps a picture of the three of us. I'm worried enough about my camera when it doesn't have a brain...
I would like to be clear, I had no say in that. At all. I'm also not entirely sure I can put it back in my bag if I wanted, that's all on him.
And he's off to pick up snacks. It'll be quite some time before we make our way over to see where he's gone off to.
I think about it, often, before remembering it's the Poke Finder.
We'll be by there in a bit.
It is now time to discuss the Poke Finder, and why it's actually kind of terrible.
Because this guy's going to rope us into actually doing a Poke Finder session.
And yeah, when I said "roped in", I mean it. No walking away from doing one of these.
And somewhat annoyingly, the "progress the plot" flag is covering the Poke Finder icon. I'd probably put that the other way around. But we're taking a picture... on the space behind the wall. I've never seen that one before.
In Poke Finder mode, you can look around with the Circle Pad. And that's it.
The Poke Finder is a game of timing and aiming. Of pointing at a (usually active) Pokemon and waiting for the moment when it's sufficiently photogenic.
You get six pics per session before you finish, and you can save only one of them for yourself at the end. This can help a little if you're a bit perfectionist, but since it's more patience, the fact you actually do have to take all six before you can leave is extra frustrating.
And making the Pikachu not move around the tutorial really isn't selling an already mediocre mechanic.
"Which slight variation on Pikachu's idle loop taken from like twenty feet away are you uploading?"
They've perfectly captured the inanity of social media comments, but have completely failed to capture the element of not receiving any comments whatsoever on your hard work. These comments are generated by the game, not by other players- I'm sure there's no one who'd want to comment on all these early mandatory Pikachu photos to let people out of the tutorials, even when the game was new.
That's still way more Likes than I get on my fics. I can't tell if this is the Pokemon devs not understanding social media or intentionally only somewhat copying the mechanics to reflect how the Poke Finder works as a mechanic. I want to say it's the latter, but also the mechanics are pretty terrible.
I really wish you had a sense of context to my achievements, Rotom.
Ah, yes. Poke Finder upgrades.
When you get a certain amount of total Likes on your photos, as determined through esoteric means that I don't believe anyone has ever actually looked into, (although it seems to be partially determined by what Pokemon you're taking a picture of and whether it's looking at the camera), you get upgrades to the Poke Finder. Level 2 allows you to actually zoom the camera. Levels 3 and 4... give you enhanced zooms. Level 5 finally adds an additional feature (I think it's the ability to call Pokemon to you), and it also adds a stamp to your Trainer ID- which is the series' traditional means of judging your progress on "100% completion".
So, in summary:
- A budget mechanic that's better concept than execution. Thank goodness they finally actually did spring for the Pokemon Snap 2.
- A tutorial that forces you through the most boring parts of the mechanic while not actually explaining how it actually works when you try it for yourself.
- A long, pointless grind to eventually unlock the ability to make the mechanic slightly more interesting- Level 2 is 1500. Level 3 is 10,000. Level 5 is 1,500,000.
I'm... probably never doing it again. I'll comment on photo spots, but getting Trainer ID stamps is usually more trouble that it's worth anyway. This is just mindlessly tedious trouble rather than tedium that actually requires thought and effort.
I always liked seeing interesting photos rather than just photos facing the front. Photos facing the front are good in, like, yearbooks, but for wildlife, seeing it actually performing normal behaviours rather than posing for the camera is the better approach. Not to Pokemon photography, apparently.
When you're taking pictures freeform, you can find Pikachu, Growlithe, Rockruff during the day, Meowth at night, and Dunsparce in USUM.
We can also backtrack to the beachfront, where we can take pictures on a patch of dark sand on the south. That spot has Wingull, its evolution, and rarely, Drifloon (but only in the day.)
That is certainly a choice in praise. Especially because of the Hawai'i history thing. Alola is a lot more tourist-friendly than Hawai'i, though.
Anyway, time for a mechanic that's a lot more enjoyable (although sadly not more free of jank): character customisation.
...Weird question, but yeah, usually I'm the one picking out clothes.
That's a choice in response, all right...
If you say your mother chooses your outfits, she instead praises our style. I don't imagine her opinion changes, but she's more focused on the fact it's your own style than the fact she likes it.
To note, her current outfit was selected by her mother. I'm not sure if that's literal or Kukui bought a few extra, but that starts getting into the question of "how do people with Only One Outfit do their laundry" that most RPGs don't bother with.
It does leave her without knowing what outfits suit her and her personality. She also doesn't have a grip on what her personality is.
Which does not paint a pretty picture of her early life.
Another thing to add to our collection of miscellaneous knick-knacks and doo-dads. This one's a bit of a funny justification, though.
Lillie already owned these, but she just randomly got a set as a promotional stunt, so she decides we'd probably rather have them. It actually lets them do something they couldn't do if they just made us the recipient of the publicity stunt.
The Lens Case contains a suite of colour contacts, allowing us to change our protagonist's eye colour. This was a feature added to XY, which is also, I believe, the first game where you could get a good enough look at your protagonist's eyes to care about what colour they are.
Only for Selene and Ailey, she also gives over a Makeup Bag, which allows us to change our lip colour as well. I think this was also in XY, but not in a main mechanic, so less people know it's there (for people who played XY and don't remember it, it's in the backstage area of the PR Studio in Lumiose). Considering the protagonist's age, they don't really bother too much with makeup in Pokemon, but they are starting to experiment.
I honestly don't really care, so I'll just leave it.
Lillie gets some warm fuzzies now that she knows the two of us own something in common. It's not much, but it's achievable.
...I'm mostly sharing this because the hell are you talking about, Rotom? Sarcasm, or are you that out of touch? The weird thing is, we don't even need to visit City Hall to progress the plot next... or ever, really.
This kindly old lady has one of the better items scattered around Hau'oli, even if she's flubbed her promotional pitch.
The Silk Scarf is the first passive buff held item in this game, and it is very useful on certain party members. Sadly, Bethany doesn't have any of them yet.
The power of Normal-type moves is increased by 20%. There is a full complement of such items, one for every type (except Fairy- it wasn't introduced when these were and they never wound up going back for it until SV DLC), and they're the early-game buffing hold item of choice for many players, because actually using coverage moves in the same battle comes later. The Silk Scarf will be incredibly useful for Ailey's Buneary, Noah's Rattata, and Ray's Meowth, but none of Bethany's team wants to use their Normal moves- and even then, I think Oatchi already dropped Tackle, so Woodstock's Pound and Sam's Echoed Voice are all I've got left.
And here's the apparel store. The only place to buy clothes is at the counter, the rest is for show and dialogue.
I just say pick your favourites.
Good luck with that. Genuinely- I just can't offer advice because I don't know what you have.
Yeah, this a bit of an unfortunate thing, but we just have to deal with it.
The fitting room is free to use, even without purchase. There used to be a changing room in every Pokemon Centre in XY, but now that space is occupied by the cafe, so you have to use the shop's changing rooms.
You also can't sell items. There's a few stores where you can't sell things and the options sometimes turn up weird, but it's just worth commenting on.
On the top screen, you see a preview of your character wearing the outfits, while the outfits are listed on the bottom. Now then, since this is already going to be a long update and I apparently didn't wind up snapping them, I'll just say that the outfit designs tend towards the more tropical looks, and the variety in hats is still rather wanting. And also: Males and females have separate clothing designs, and Sun and Moon have different choices in colour. While White and Black outfits are shared, Sun can buy outfits in Red, Orange, Yellow, Pink and Beige, while Moon can buy outfits in Green, Blue, Navy Blue, Purple and Grey.
Yes, this does mean Noah is unable to get his iconic red shirt from XC3. There is a way to get the other version's colour choices, but doing it casually is ridiculous. I probably will try and get him in the shirt eventually, and when I do, I'll definitely be short-cutting the process somehow.
And here are our fitting room choices. Clothes allows you to switch between any of the clothes you currently possess. It should be noted that you do already have a single choice regardless of purchasing decisions- a "Tropical Tank", a yellow tank top patterned with the regional variant for Exeggutor.
New to SM, it is now possible to go hatless. Repeat, hatless.
This is the look I went for for Bethany. The difference betwen your 3D model and overworld model was pretty stark in XY, which made some costumes look much different between the two, but SM makes the preview pretty close. Unfortunately, I didn't really like any of the shirts in this store, so we'll just have to accept the hatlessness for now.
Ailey, Noah and Ray. I wish SM had that shirt option Ailey got. This is also my first time really getting to see the male options, so I'm playing that by ear a little.
Your possible eye colours
And your lip colours. This is all you get to go off before you actually change, but fortunately, changing is free. It would be nice to know what you're getting, though, right?
Right next door is the hair salon, which'll give everyone a new hairstyle on top of their new outfits.
The first time you come in, the lass on duty ropes us in for the spiel, but this isn't always the case- later on, she'll just be an ordinary counter NPC.
The only real difference is the price- I think Cut is 3000 and Colour is 2000? Either that or you get a discount for bulk.
The salon was the only place where one could take off their hat in XY, so this line originally referred to her taking off out hat. Here, I think it's just for our bag, but it does feel like a bit of a remnant line from that game.
The hairdresser will also try to start conversation with you. This is also a bit of a remnant from how XY's salon worked: In that game, the only salon was in Lumiose City, and Lumiose had a unique mechanic where doing things around the city increased your "style". As your style got higher, the hairdresser would get more and more friendly in her tone while doing your hair. Without a similar mechanic, this is just a randomly generated line about how your adventure's doing.
"The heck do those options mean?" Yeah, with a high cost and no previews, changing your hair is a bit of a thing. As I discovered for this run, it also turns out that there are some hairstyles only unlocked after beating the adventure. You know, in case you actually wanted to use those hairstyles when all the cutscenes were. For what it's worth, XY's extra options were tied to style, so maybe they just didn't think of anything better in time? At least both genders get options this time.
This one's still gendered: only females have defined bangs. These come under "cut" if you buy them separately.
She will tell you if the option you selected is the one you already have, at least.
...I don't think she actually gives you a confirmation text box, weirdly.
Hair colours. These also have some options only available post-game, which I find particularly frustrating because one of those colours is "redhead". Some decisions I just don't get.
It cuts to black for the actual hair-dressing itself (I'd love to see her change a short-hair to a long-hair). There's a scissors-snipping sound for haircuts and a hair-drying sound for colouring, played one after the other for combinations.
And you get this nice little pan-around of your new hair design when it actually happens. A variation on this hairstyle was the default for the XY protagonist, but a) the male designs already share more similarities than I'd hope, and b) I just like the hair colour, OK?
Also c), default Serena is blonde...
Sadly, no ponytail for Noah- I don't even think girls get ponytails in this game (although that was an option in XY). I also don't think Ailey's hair really works for her, but I've got no idea what works with her skin tone. This is why the lack of previews stinks.
Your ID's photo automatically changes whenever your appearance changes, but the stylist comments on it.
Usually it's one and done for me. Ailey had to come back to go back to black, but...
I... think that means mohawk? I really can't imagine that hair on a human being.
Do you see a Farfetch'd? Wait, no, those aren't in Alola...
The lot next door has the shopping mall, but fortunately, this is closed until later. Not that this stops the lady outside.
I'm not sure if this makes team-cycling give me more or less friendship. Definitely less when SV let me change teams on the fly.
This guy's just a friendly item giver.
It's not much, but it's cute.
In USUM, we can see Captain Ilima in front of this Pokemon Centre, here to explain a new mechanic to USUM. Or rather, a replaement mechanic for something in SM that didn't work so great in practice. SM won't receive their mechanic until way later, but suffice it to say this one is better in practically every way.
You can only see one of these stickers before Ilima teaches them to you. The reaction is reasonable.
Another funny thing about this: in SM, there's a conversation just past the Centre which mentions Team Skull you have to listen in on. This new conversation also neatly adds an excuse to sidestep the need for it entirely, and doesn't even have to go out of its way to do so- Team Skull making life difficult for Island Challenge participants in petty ways was already baked into their characterisation.
Avoiding Team Skull taking down stickers isn't a mechanic you have to worry about, but it is worth mentioning that it does get called back to.
Technically, dealing with Skull is one of Ilima's jobs. Him and Hala.
Totem Stickers are a shiny collectible thing, and there are 100 of them scattered around the four islands. For collecting a set number of them, Ray and Ailey will recieve additional free Pokemon. They're not technically brand new additions to the Pokedex, so Ailey will probably not wind up using them, but Ray's definitely got one in mind.
That's nice. I wish I had people to connect to.
Well, that's a fortuitous occasion to mention it. Totem Pokemon are a brand new mechanic to Alola, and the fact they share a name with the Totem Stickers hints at just what kind of Pokemon the Totem Stickers give as prizes.
It should be noted that this model is used for the Beauty class, to explain her dialogue. This is the first real part-time job in the game, and it will be much more similar to the ones we'll see later.
Actually, let me adjust my contacts...
...I think you misunderstood what people were telling you when they said success needed more than beauty alone.
All right, so we'll need to find her something cute. Let's see, there's Pichu... Uh, there's a Pokemon with "cutie" in the name on the next route?
...
...
I have several questions.
Long-time fans of the series who remember Drifloon's Pokedex entries of series past have several other questions.
By description alone, maybe, but I think you're thinking of Jigglypuff there... or maybe whoever you asked was having a massive laugh at your expense. I'm not ruling that out, by the way.
The part-time jobs are literal work- if you obtain the specified Pokemon and present the Pokedex entry, the client will give you a respectable sum of hard cash. Just the fact you even get actual money is a rarity in the series- it's typical to receive cash in the form of sellable items, or just get usable items directly.
...Can't all be winners, apparently.
...Has that been mentioned yet? Bit of a downside to actually knowing the mechanics ahead of time...
This guy is a recurring service in most games, and his presence here has a bit of a funny story to it.
His name is also a funny story, albeit something that was lost in translation and never recovered. In JP, he is known as the "Forgetting Man", which is mostly the same idea as "Move Deleter", except it has the pun with him forgetting his own job. He introduces himself in this manner in every game, and they never went and reintroduced the pun to ENG.
His job is forcibly making a Pokemon forget a move that it knows, leaving an empty spot in its place. In normal play, there's no use for him- a dead moveslot is better filled with something pointless than it is nothing. It instead, however, had a key use with a certain other mechanic... that SM was the first game to remove.
Poor guy doesn't even realise he's already been made redundant!
OK, there is one reason to remember the Forgetting Man, but it's so niche I haven't actually seen the strategy used in practice: There exists a move called Last Resort, a 140 BP physical Normal move that can only be used if a Pokemon has already used all of the other moves it knows. Using the Move Deleter allows you to have a Pokemon that knows less than the standard four moves, allowing you to start using Last Resort sooner than you otherwise would. Very few bother with the move at all, but it is a strategy that exists, and likely the reason (other than tradition) this guy is even still here.
The other Pokemon Centre in Hau'oli (I think the distinction is this one is Hau'oli proper, and the other one is Route 1 and/or Hau'oli Outskirts) has our first instance of the second shopkeep. Let's see what his wares are like here:
A full complement the one use "Battle Items" that apply bonus effects to our Pokemon. The "X Stat" items increase the Pokemon's stat stage in their stat by two stages, the Dire Hit applies two "stages" of additional critical hit chance (giving you a 50/50 chance of landing a crit!), and the Guard Spec. gives your side of the field a bonus effect that blocks all attempts for opponents to reduce your stat stages. These effects can be replicated by existing moves (...OK, strangely, not X Accuracy), but these allow you to use them without using a moveslot on those moves- or not being able to learn them in the first place. Some Trainers do use these, but most players don't, even if they're the sort of person to use Potions. Know what you're doing with them, and they're insanely powerful.
Anyway, back to adventure, we can explore some of the fences scattered around Hau'oli to get some wild encounters in, but not all of them. Any fence that would allow us to go around the next plot trigger is closed by a wet paint notice from Ilima- repainting the fences is one of his jobs.
There aren't actually that many encounters in this grass for SM players- there is exactly one new Pokemon, and it is a doozy of a Pokemon. It's also an impractical team option for multiple reasons, and you wouldn't be blamed for passing it up now.
First, just grabbing the items in the corners of each room...
Abra (Moon): It can teleport itself to safety while it's asleep, but when it wakes, it doesn't know where it is, so it panics.
All of those entries are so hilarious, it seems a shame to pick one... Anyway, Abra is The Psychic type Pokemon, introduced in Generation 1 and evolving into the second-most broken Pokemon in the game, on account of the fact that they forgot to properly design its weaknesses. The fact that Bug, Ghost and Dark types have some teeth to them these days defangs Abra's might, but the fact that it's a powerful special-attacking delete button for anything weak to Psychic, low on Special Defence, or both remains intact. If you want a Psychic type for any reason, you can never go wrong with Abra. Well, with some attached provisos, but none of those relate to its battle potential.
Its Abilities are Synchronise (if it is inflicted with a status, it attempts to apply it to the offender) and Inner Focus (blocks flinching). It doesn't really want either, but Synchronise has an out-of-battle effect of forcing wild and gift Pokemon to have the same Nature as itself, which is incredibly useful for people trying to get competitive Pokemon on cartridge.
Proviso numbers 1 and 2: Abra only naturally learns the move Teleport. When it joins your team, it cannot earn EXP for itself unless taught a damaging move, but it has a more devastating effect in wild encounters:
It is a guaranteed escape from wild encounters. Since this is its only move, you have to catch Abra in a single Poke Ball, thrown from full health. The odds of doing so are not in your favour, particularly early on (when it is typically encountered):
- 36.6% chance with a Poke Ball.
- 49.5% chance with a Great Ball.
- 61.5% chance with an Ultra Ball.
I almost suspect the Ultra Balls from the Scientist in the Tourist Bureau were for Abra specifically. It is a guaranteed catch with a special type of Poke Ball called a "Quick Ball", but those aren't available yet.
(To add insult to injury, Inner Focus blocking flinching means half the Abras you find can't be hit with flinching moves like Fake Out to weaken them.)
Oh, hello. This was not a mechanic I was planning on explaining... ever, but well, hi, Yungoos, why is your mane purple? This is a Shiny Pokemon, a rare find that can only be typically found on 1/4096 odds. There are many methods of raising the chances of finding Shinies, fortunately, but it is still not that likely, and almost certain you won't find one that fits your team unless you're insanely dedicated.
Catching them is almost obligatory, despite the fact that they have no actual practical differences except their different colour (and a cute bonus animation that plays when it appears). Challenge runs with rules that forbid catching Pokemon often include a "if you find a Shiny, you're allowed to catch that, if not necessarily use it" bonus rule. I don't think anyone can explain that one.
Annoyingly, it did not go in the Premier Ball.
Only needed one more, though.
Snaggletooth will be on the backbench, but I don't know if it'll get much use. At least it's something that wants Bethany's Silk Scarf?
Anyway, back to your regularly scheduled Abra discussion.
Abra is a three stage evolution line, and its stage 2 -> stage 3 evolution is the first example, in the Alola region, of a "trade evolution". In order to use Abra's full might, you need a friend and/or a spare 3DS and copy of the game in order to trade it to someone else and then get it back. These have just stuck around the series as a means of encouraging either multiplayer or double-spending, depending on how cynical you're feeling, and they are not fun to deal with. I don't even know if I can trade with my setup.
For Abra in particular, however, take comfort in the fact that this is only somewhat of a setback. Abra's middle stage is still a good special attacker with high speed (in fact, its Sp. Atk and Spd stats are identical to Zorua's final stage), and it can be just fine used without evolving it. This is not true of some other trade evolutions we will encounter, and it would still irritate my completionist bone.
Mime Jr. (Ultra Moon): When this gifted mimic surprises an opponent, Mime Jr. feels so happy that it ends up forgetting it was imitating something.
USUM adds two new encounters to Hau'oli City's grass, the first of which is Mime Jr.. It is a Psychic/Fairy type, mainly known for terrifying the living daylights out of people and being negatively compared to Abra and Ralts. Fortunately for it, "worse than Abra and Ralts" is hardly damning. It has a bit of a problem with learning good moves, preferring to be more of a screen-setter than an offensive terror, but it can function offensively if required.
Its Abilities are Soundproof, which blocks any move that functions by the opponent vocalising in some way, and Filter, which reduces the damage of super-effective hits by 25%. Filter sounds awesome, but Mime Jr. isn't really bulky enough to be taking them. Soundproof has its uses, though.
Furfrou (Ultra Moon): Left alone, its fur will grow longer and longer, but it will only allow someone it trusts to cut it.
Furfrou is a pure Normal type that's more themed around its special gimmick than it is as a use case. Furfrou's all around middling stats are about as rough as it, but it has one kick-ass Ability to make it absolutely terrifying for an early-game Trainer to be caught possessing (and both USUM and its debut game XY made sure to include exactly that). The problem with it? It doesn't get moves! Its movepool is shallow, barely scraping together stuff that most Pokemon would consider the basics. No, if Magnemite was our Jeigan, Furfrou is the Jeigan our opponent has.
Its only Ability is Fur Coat, which doubles its Defence. This is a surprisingly scary way to treat its Defence stat, and means it can even shrug off Fighting-type moves on your early-game team. It only has a base Defence of 60, though, so it can't get carried away with it.
Furfrou's fur can be trimmed into one of nine fancy Trims with this lady in Hau'oli's Salon for 500 Poke. Trims last for five days until the fur reverts to its natural form, and will also be removed if Furfrou ever comes out of the PC (in XY, it was "when it goes in", but SM changed it slightly so you could keep the Trims permanently so long as you never actually used it). This means it's difficult for me to have one on hand, but after one fight with natural Trim, I'll show off a few uniques, if Furfrou lasts that long.
Island Scan allows SM to catch Klink and USUM to catch Scatterbug with Rage Powder in this grass.
Heading back to Bethany, it's time for us to overhear a conversation pointing us in our next direction.
So, what is "Team Skull"? Team Skull refers to Alola's representatives of a Pokemon tradition to help your (as in, the player avatar's) adventure differ from everyone else who does the same quest- a team of miscreants bent on causing trouble for the region, who the player is tasked with foiling in the midst of their journey. Team Skull, however, differs from the traditional mold in one key manner:
They're not scary. The original evil Team, Rocket, was a full-blown mafia led by an expert of the craft, while all teams following took the form of a cult centering around a megalomaniac.
To the people of Alola, however, Team Skull are a nuisance at best.
Now, don't misunderstand what's going on here- all of the cults were actually perceived as being fairly harmless during the course of their stories, so to say that Skull is pathetic from the first few comments alone is short-sighted. With that said, however, this is where the difference between Team Skull's mockery and the "what's with those weirdos?" previous villains lies. The cults had the occasional failures, most often with their establishing tutorial encounters, but had secret goals they were successfully progressing towards as the game goes on, even as the player stops their most open crimes. With Team Skull, however... they don't seem to have long-term goals like that. And they don't even succeed at what they attempt.
It's hard to be scared of a guy who screws up a mugging.
Tauros, who has teleported across the entirety of Melemele Island to get to this end of Hau'oli City, continues to block our way forward until we complete the plot events at the Marina.
This will be the last time they use the Tauros as justification.
What do you think this update has been?
The street signs are readable, although they only have so much.
This conversation has moved on entirely from Team Skull to something completely unrelated. I like to imagine this an intentional way of highlighting how utterly harmless Team Skull is.
Unfortunately, the Ice types are still a ways off. As they always are.
This big fancy house next to the Pokemon Centre is the one in which Ilima lives. I have no idea what conclusions you're drawing from that. /s
Well... acquaintance, but don't say that aloud.
They have a Machamp heling around the house. Ruby and Sapphire have a Machoke moving service, and the Machop family in general is a common sight in the construction industry. Or indeed, any industry in which "moving heavy things" is a common concern.
None I have met.
...So what is his involvement in the school?
I'd believe it.
I have absolutely no idea why she gives out a Lumiose Galette.
In-universe, it's apparently because Ilima spent time studying in Kalos, although Kalos's schools never really had a reputation in XY. Do French schools have a reputation in Hawai'i?
...Although this line hints this might be a reference to Kalos's Pokemon Showcases, from the XY anime. In which case he probably went as a family thing.
The only room we can visit in the house is Ilima's, and his room's door is conspicuously more detailed than the fake doors for worldbuilding.
It's also upstairs.
...They let you get in the bed to click on it?
Well, doesn't someone have pride in their achievements? At least he's not the type to gloat to others.
You have your own pool?
I'm taking this.
Despite the NPC and pet Yungoos up there, that particular part of Hau'oli is actually completely inaccessible.
...Then what's the other sign say? Do we really need a street sign on a one way road anyway?
This is what Rotom was referring to with "government offices", by the way. City Hall doesn't have anything for us, but it is an essential service other people need.
Ribbons are a semi-recurring mechanic. They don't do much and there aren't that many ways to get one, all told, but they do stick around as they get imported from game to game (a likely reason for point 2) and denote that this specific Pokemon accomplished something. There are only seven Ribbons you can get in Alola alone.
I'm not counting the number of them, but there's 20 alone associated with games that have Contests (and often a different set for different contests).
Does your City Hall have to make sure the roads are OK after Tauros stomps all over them?
I don't believe I know what I'm applying for.
This guy's main job seems to be world-building: Back in the opening, Kukui said he'd get our Trainer Passport organised for us (it is why he asked us what we looked like), and this man seems to have been the person who actually made it. Kukui may be a big name, but he's not in charge. And everyone is grateful for that.
Yeah, they're slightly less evil. Crafty, rather than stuck-up. Also not so weak to Bugs. Can't take a Psychic, though.
That's a location we'll visit on Route 2. I don't think the Berry fields are in trouble, these guys just need to do their shopping.
Another free Revive from talking to random strangers. Beats the alternative.
But I can't disagree with your sentiment.
Ah. Do I need to pay taxes on my winnings, by the way?
Congratulations.
In USUM, this couple mentions a Gastly in specific. Later on, you'll actually get involved with them actually applying, and the fact that conversation also mentions their Gastly clues you in it's the same couple. I don't believe the event is in SM, incidentally.
I dunno, sometimes you just really shouldn't change what works. If it's good now, it's good now, and start asking questions once we know why it doesn't.
Speaking as someone who apparently doesn't have the documents my government office wants, I can relate. I have often been stuck in loops of applications for one service requiring documents I don't have, but applying for those documents requires the first service. You don't fully appreciate how normalised driving is until you deal with that...
It's not that often you get encounter-generating tiles in cities in Pokemon (other than ponds), so an acknowledgement of it is rather cool.
Maintenance is also probably counted, although maybe it is just paint. Either way, it seems to be an actual job of his.
Can't deny he's that.
This is where the wet paint sign from earlier comes out. Now that we've overheard the rumour about Team Skull, we can use it.
Now, our next plot trigger is here, where Hau's wandered off to at some point. Of course, it's the malasada shop.
What are you, their spokesman?
...If the grandson of the kahuna makes a big deal out of loving my food, I'd probably try and capitalise on it too.
I never looked into it much, but it's a way of spending money to buy affection, the mechanic you get from giving Pokemon scritches, not friendship.
I'd attempt to persuade you otherwise, but I know it would fall on deaf ears.
At least he's trying.
Your priorities continue to fail to make sense to me, Rotom...
You're like the third guy I've found who tells me that. Surely there are other mechanics you could comment on?
There are five types of flavoured Malasada, and their availability is based on store- there are three stores, and Hau'oli is the unfortunate one stuck with the rounding error. Each Pokemon has a preference in flavours, and as it happens, it has a 1:1 relationship with their Nature. Pokemon like the flavour that matches the stat increased by their Nature, and dislike the one that matches the decrease.
- Spicy foods are influenced by Atk Natures.
- Dry foods are influenced by Sp. Atk Natures.
- Sweet foods are influenced by Spd Natures.
- Sour foods are influened by Def Natures.
- Bitter foods are influenced by Sp. Def Natures.
A Pokemon eating their favourite Malasada gets a +10 boost in Affection, neutral +5, and disliked +3. For comparisons sake, a normal Poke Bean gives +3 Affection. Note that Pokemon will be immediately full after eating a Malasada, and cannot eat another until their "Fullness" has been reduced to level 3.
The other counter gives you the Big Malasada, which is the Alolan equivalent of all the regional items the Cafes give you. You can only get one a day.
From the sounds of it, this is only one interpretation of the origin of the word malassada, attributed to the Gastronomia Tradicional da Madeira e do Porto Santo (the dish is a variation of a Portugese dessert developed in the Azores). Another interpetation is that "mal" comes from the fact that molasses is often used as an ingredient. (The "poorly cooked" version makes more sense to me read as "badly baked", since as a doughnut, it's not typically served warm).
Yes, Hawai'ians did wind up important and loving the treat for themselves, that's not on Pokemon.
...Do people do that?
Hau will fight you tooth and nail for it.
I never liked hot doughnuts. Can't say if malasadas have a similar improvement.
I hope someone does know what you're building, preferably before you start putting down bricks.
In USUM, it's a Photo Club, but it's not open yet.
This is an important stop for some. Echoed Voice isn't great on everything, but at this stage, it'll probably be good on whatever can get it.
...Zapple just appreciates having something to throw at things that resists Electric. And also to replace Tail Whip.
Do I want to know why the policeman is laughing?
You can say it until the Miltanks come home, it ain't gonna happen.
...Although wait, there are also items you can use outside of battle to get stronger. Those are fine. Hey, Zapple needs one!
...Apparently Alola has a police truck. Although I'm not 100% sure there's any non-trucks in the game, so maybe this is just a lack of assets.
Still, though, gonna be tough to put a perp in the back seat of this.
This also raises the point that driving is a bit of a lackluster pasttime in a region that doesn't exactly have what one might call "space".
...That's not one follows the other. The existence of police does not cause crime to stop, and that's not going to change whether the police are you lot or the guardians.
Pokemon, of course, mostly has police because "Police Officer" is a recognisable uniform that can (and will) be used as a Trainer Class. It does not question the existence of police or their priorities, but one can assume that their main role is being someone whose job it is to have countermeasures to "strong Pokemon doing bad things"- filling the important space between "Average Joe" and "Gym Leader". USUM adds two events to police stations to show them in operation, and both of the crimes in question are more misdemeanours than actual threats.
It's McGriff, the crime-fighting Granbull! The policeman's pupper of choice has actually usually been Growlithe, despite being introduced in the same generation that added Granbull, with them also using Herdier, Hoothoot and Machop, depending on region. Granbull's a pretty good choice in police dog, though, with its combination of Fairy typing, Intimidate ability and dog appearance. Detective Pikachu would later give its major policeman character a Snubbull as well, although SwSh's policemen continue to prefer Growlithe. Probably because of Officer Jenny.
How many signs does the Ferry need?
...Actually, these are probably for tourists.
...That is a comment out of nowhere.
Yet more littered goodies, this one at the end of a pretty long dead end.
Unlike usual when it comes to that slogan, this is the only place to get on and off ships!
These tourists are bragging about X Items.
They also give us the items, so I'll gladly take them. And forget to sell them.
You may be exaggerating that. +2 Def isn't that much.
The male tourist gives us the X Attack, failing to mention that half of our team won't benefit from it.
No, these aren't the same tourists, there's just a lot of tourists.
It's not that different in other regions. Difference in Alola is that they sell it as a feature.
The departing times do not appear to be an actual language. I forgot to speak to the actual ferrymaster, but the ferries are, naturally, down, and will be until we coincidentally complete the leg of our adventure taking place in Melemele.
...What the hell kind of gift shop is this?
Rotom-Vending Machine, Electric/Dark typing, and Beat Up as its special move? Hey, something has to take the typing if it's not Luxray, right?
As good a reason as any to abstain. This vending machine will later become operational, and while they have traditionally sold Fresh Water, Soda Pop and Lemonade, this one only has Fresh Water. It's worth noting that a lot of vending machines in Alola sell at a markup, so be on your toes for that.
Well, we could if it was working.
To progress the story, you need to talk to Ilima, who has been politely watching as I pointedly talk to everyone except him.
You know that counts as a greeting, right? Well, I guess it's time for us to actually meet these rapscallions...
Yo, yo, yo, check out deez beats, homie! Rather than uniformly-attired crooks, Team Skull are street punks that have happened to organise a collective identity.
Similar to Team Flare and ORAS Team Magma, the villainous teams who have previous experience with being modelled in 3D, they have a special animation for whenever they want to look impressive. It resembles the Team Skull logo, and it also doesn't look nearly as cool as they think it does. Perfect for purpose.
Ilima fails to notice them. Or, come to think of it, us.
...OK, I did dye and recut my hair and change my clothes, I think we can cut him some slack on that one. I guess that means he wasn't exactly expecting to talk to us, then. I feel less bad about putting him off.
The Skulls run up and start trying to assert that they should be the most important things in this conversation, and utterly fail to make sense. Every scene that gives them an excuse to use those gigantic shocked eyes is comedy gold.
Ilima even has a "shake his head" animation that reflects the tone of his words.
Still, though, if allowed to succeed, what they plan to do is wrong, and someone might as well foil them and send them on their way. With any luck, their next plan might actually have a chance of working!
Separate Single Battles, sadly.
We're even allowed to run around the Marina and save, heal, whatever. I think Skull will yell at us if we try leaving, though.
(Oh, by the way, this entire thing happens with Hau outside the malasada shop instead in USUM. I'll be showing the changed content as a result of this happening in a bonus update, but it's mainly dialogue.)
I don't believe that is, strictly speaking, part of your day job. Although you seem to have taken it to heart nonetheless.
No, this guy won't fight you, he's busy with Ilima. And probably losing.
This I gotta see!
Team Skull has a unique animation for beginning a battle, where the Skull logo appears and is covered up with black graffiti, before their info display appears. The vast majority of villainous teams are identified only by the name "Grunt"- way back in RBY, this was actually the norm across all Trainer classes, but the evil teams kept the tradition. One assumes that such people don't want you to know who they are.
In XY, Team Flare Grunts were fully modelled at the beginning of battle (complete with the cute detail that, if they begin a battle by doing the Flare Pose, they're still posing in the battle opening). ORAS decided this was an absolutely dumb idea and gave their evil team Grunts the same artwork normal Trainer Clases use, and Alola follows suit. Sadly, they don't keep the thing where they keep saluting into the battle opening, but considering what the Skull Pose looks like, that might be for the best.
Team Skull keep their Pokemon in Nest Balls. They also make the most of Trainers appearing in the back of battles now by continuing their hand movements in battle, although not nearly as violently.
Team Skull also have a unique battle theme: a rather bass-heavy street theme complete with "Yeahhhhhh"s. The right mix of being intimidating, like a proper Team Grunt, and trying way too hard to be intimidating, like Skull.
When even Zapple can't take 'em seriously...
Credit where credit is due, I thought that would oneshot.
Zubat (Ultra Sun): It has no eyeballs, so it can't see. It checks its surroundings via the ultrasonic waves it emits from its mouth.
The Zubat our opponent is using is a common sight in nearly every game, and a common favourite of villainous teams the world over. Team Skull doesn't borrow from the usual menagerie of "evil Team starter pack", but for the first battle, they did throw us a more traditional choice. So, what mad skillz will your batty use, yo?
Astonish. Fails to 4HKO a Pichu.
Didn't even outspeed the Pichu, either. Zubat's supposed to be fast, man!
You had to do better than that.
The Grunt's payout is x32, incidentally. I'd thought it'd be lower, although the series standard for Grunts is x40. I can't say it's the lowest, though, because RBY and RSE used x20.
Well, maybe if you had told me the rules of that game, I would've battled you in it. And still won handily.
Nobody except us, I'm sure.
They run away panicked, betraying the confidence they thought they exerted.
Somebody should care about them.
Since he roped us into a fight, he decides to be courteous and restore us for the trouble.
Although he did have ulterior motives on that one.
...It was a Magnemite, I needed to chew on it a little bit.
Remembers I fought it by using the move Bite OK, when I said that...
This is not the Trial, by the way, this is just him doing a test run.
Fortunately, he will allow us to back off, rearrange our team, save, and all that other important business. Good thing, too- this guy means business.
...Are you mimicking him?
Adjustments occurred, battle ready.
Trial Captains get a unique background, but stick to the artwork rather than being modelled. They also don't get a unique theme, either. Something to think about. But anyway, Ilima is a user of Normal-type Pokemon, and has assembled quite the team to form a short difficulty spike.
Starting with this Yungoos. Most Trainer Pokemon we have seen thus far have been neutral Nature, no EVs, and minimal, if not zero, IVs. Ilima has proper stats- and in a sharp contrast from what we've been seeing before, has maximum EV investment. Yungoos is level 9, has the IV spread 31/15/31/15/31/15 (HP/Atk/Def/Sp. Atk/Sp. Def/Spd), 252 EVs in both Def and Sp. Def, and an Adamant nature (+Atk/-Sp. Atk). It knows the moves Tackle, Pursuit and Leer, and has the Strong Jaw Ability. This guy was made to hit moderately hard and be a pain to take down. Fortunately, "maximum IVs and EVs" only translates to like 10 or so points at these levels, but that's still a large swing to be looking down the barrel end of. Particularly since, unless we grinded so much we overlevel him, we probably only have 50 EVs total.
If he's going to be on the field for a while, it's for the best we keep his damage output down.
Unfortunately, he had the same idea.
Oww. I know Woodstock is more of a Special tank, but that's way too much damage to be taking from a -2 Yungoos. I'm told it's Strong Jaw and not Stakeout, but...
That's what Woodstock is doing. 3HKO looks about right, maybe a 4 if roll badly.
Oh, by the way, did you see any Fighting types so far?
To beat Ilima, you really do have to prove your Pokemon can do a little bit more than just click "Super Effective".
75% accurate chance of inflicting Confuse. It's better than Supersonic, although since it's a kiss, it does make contact with the opponent.
Smeargle (Moon): It draws symbols all over the place to mark its territory. In towns with many Smeargle, the walls are covered in graffiti.
Smeargle is a very fascinating Pokemon to use, but Ilima does not use it to its potential- mostly because he's an early-game boss and can't really afford to. I'll go into its signature ability when we can find one, but the one thing to expect from Smeargle is to expect the unexpected.
Ilima's Smeargle is level 10, has the IV spread 15/31/15/31/15/31, 252 EVs in both Atk and Sp. Atk, and a Hasty Nature (+Spd/-Def). It knows Tackle and, depending on your starter, Leafage, Ember or Water Gun, whichever is super effective on your choice, and it has the Technician Ability. Smeargle is Ilima's powerhouse. It has unimpressive base stats- a piddly 20 in both Atk and Sp. Atk- but right now, our team isn't exactly miles ahead. Those extra IVs and EVs give it the push to be threatening on its own, but the real killer is that Technician Ability. Technician boosts the power of moves with 60 BP or less, and right now, that's "all of them". Technician was not an Ability designed to be seen this early, and Ilima is using it against us. That +Spd and Smeargle's own respectable base Speed of 75 let it have a high Speed score of 23.
Brisk enough that even Zapple is outsped.
This reduces the power of Tackle, but sadly, not Ember. Note that Popplio Trainers face a Smeargle with two Physical moves, which not only means reducing its Atk has a larger impact, but also that it's technically wasted its Sp. Atk investment. Whoops.
Still, since this came before the Atk down, Zapple has taken 19 damage. -2 stages aren't gonna let it live another one of those.
No better time to bring out Oatchi, then. That is the sort of damage you expect from a Smeargle.
I love the fact that the starter-counter move comes as a complete surprise. It's exactly the sort of move Ilima would pull.
Oatchi got off a Leafage or two, but was sadly unable to weather unbroken Super Effective hits.
...Although that is not a particularly promising amount of HP.
Fortuantely, the aforementioned Sp. Def Woodstock specialises in lets even one still smarting from the Yungoos to finish the job. And thanks to the -2 Atk, it was discouraged from trying Tackle!
Funny move to have in its learnset. Rock Smash is a 40 BP Fighting move (...you mean you had that the whole time?) with a 50% chance of decreasing the enemy's Def by 1 stage. Despite the name, it is not capable of smashing rocks on the overworld. I dunno about you, I think I want something a bit stronger than a woodpecker trying that...
The response of someone happy to see that we have successfully managed to overcome that spike.
Captains have a nice healthy payout of x120. Few Trainers get higher than that.
Thank you. It'll be even better once I have a few more team-building choices.
And that's us formally invited to attempt the real first boss. But I think we all know where the real hard part was.
...That combination of farewell message and word are hilarious fit together.
You continue to be fascinated by the weirdest stuff, Rotom.
As we make our way over to the Route 2 exit, we are interrupted by Lillie- who, come to think of it, I don't remember seeing again after the apparel shop in either version.
She says she's the one who got lost. In fairness, we did know where we were.
...I was about to ask you where you picked up a self-esteem that bad from, but come to think of it, I'm not sure hanging out with Kukui and being the responsible one is a good environment for growing a stronger one. If you know there's someone important depending on you to have your head screwed on, you don't want to be easily lost in the city he lives next to.
Meanwhile, here's us going right into the Island Challenge on our... second, third day in Alola? The fact that the real-time clock is running doesn't help us with passage of time here.
...I think that one's more myth than truth.
Although knowing Tapu Koko, he'd probably challenge us to a battle anyway.
I don't think anyone knows why Tapu Koko does anything. Except, perhaps, to have a fight. It's the island's god, rarely do humans understand why their gods behave the way they do.
Nebby perks up at his name, although he's not exactly part of this conversation. It is, however, confirmation that he's still in there.
Can't go any worse than what Ilima put me through, can it?
Lillie will stick around here until the next time she comes to see us in the plot, which is after the Trial. USUM also has her give you 3 Revives- you'd think, given that Hau gives us 3 Revives later on in SM, that these would be the same ones, moved around so USUM could give us something else. No, Hau still gives us 3 Revives later, too.
...Hala, if you wanted to give me the Tauros for some reason, all you had to do was ask.
I'd say the feeling is mutual, but also please stop using a rampaging bull Pokemon as a roadblock in a big city.
...I was about to say he's always welcome on the team, but no, I'm not looking for Kanto Pokemon to add. Ask Ray, though, I think he was considering adding one.
Hala's run cycle to chase down the Tauros is charming.
Next time: Rotom's right, there is stuff to do on Route 2.
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