Pokemon Sun Normalium Z: The Trial of Verdant Cavern

Well then. Can't keep the First Trial waiting, can we?

If you're going to make "greeting people" your shtick, you need better than that.

This is your warning that "enter here and you will come out in victory or defeat".

And as such, you can't count on the Pokemon Centre anymore. Whatever your strategy is, make sure you have the resources to see it through.

Some limits cannot be broken. They are usually called "laws of physics."

Other limits are all in your mind. And in a Trial, you will defy those expectations placed on yourself and rise to the challenge.

Yes. My team is ready.

(Because of the nature of Trials, I will be showing stat screens before the boss fight).

He actually leaves us to wander around freely. We are not properly committed to the Trial until we follow him in.

Trials only.

And that's us.

Verdant Cavern is rather beautiful during the day. Those skylights really help bring out the verdant side of the cave.

Now he is explaining it. You know, after we've committed to it.

Our goal of the Trial is to obtain the treasure at the back of the cave.

Step one of that trial is to find and defeat the three wild Yungoos lurking in these little hidey-holes.

This will prove we can step into the final challenge, at the pedestal itself.

And the Yungoos aren't slouches- although they are still Yungoos, after all.

Yeah, uh, you left out a pretty big detail there, buddy. It's the thing that separates the Trial from a Gym, after all.

The Trial is host to a Totem Pokemon, a natural leader and the biggest of the bunch.

And we will have to defeat it to clear the Trial.

It should be noted that the Japanese term for Totem Pokemon, "ぬしポケモン", was later also used for the Titan Pokemon of Paldea ("ヌシポケモン"- it's wholly katakana, but has the same pronunciation and meaning). The meaning roughly means "Leader Pokemon", indicating the role of Totem Pokemon in battle, and doesn't tie in to the word "Totem", which refers to concepts that appear more prominently in north-west America and the Australias rather than Polynesia. I'm not sure if it's sensitivity to the word "totem" that caused the name change or simply to distinguish Alola and Paldea, but considering languages that didn't call them "totems" also gave the two the same name, I do suspect it might've been a factor...

This is a general rule in Trials: You may not catch wild Pokemon. You must defeat them.

I believe every Trial except two turns off random encounters entirely where they would otherwise be present, but one of them is kinda weird about how the Trial is defined and the other one is just weird in general.

In general, assume that if the game is playing this music on the overworld, you are not allowed to catch wild Pokemon, because you are in a Trial state. (Wild battles still play the normal theme.)

If you talk to Ilima, he re-iterates the Trial's goal.

The first den is pretty simple, just peek inside and you'll find a Yungoos (Lv. 11) ready to bite back.

The Y Button shortcut will be missing from the bottom screen, and this is the message that displays if you navigate into your Bag to find your Poke Balls. Now then, how does the team fare against the Yungoos?

It turns out I may have oversold Ilima's Trial- the Trial Pokemon's IV/EV/Nature investment is much more minimal than usual. The "ease you in" part is still in full force here. There were only three options in Fighting type, after all.

Incidentally, while all three of the things we're fighting have 0 IVs/EVs for the most part, they have a randomly generated Nature and Atk IV. This Yungoos also knows Hyper Fang (80 BP, 90% accurate, physical Normal, 10% chance of flinch), an incredibly powerful move for this point in the game, especially from it.

Don't forget to grab this one, it's the easiest one to forget.

Since there's no random encounters, a good chance to snag some pickups, too!

The second Yungoos (Lvl. 11) comes in charging right for us out of that den. This one is identical to the last, but has downgraded Hyper Fang to Super Fang (always does half damage).

Right, so can Snaggletooth win against his equal brethren?

I went for the Leer, it went for the Tackle. Hm, not promising, but I did outspeed.

And also outdamage, it seems.

Already we're almost at our target.

Nothing else in here, just the one Yungoos.

The only hidden item in here is this one, thankfully. I'm not sure this cave lets you use the hidden item detector- it should, but it might not.

Oh, you have come at a good time. Brick Break is a 75 BP Fighting type move with the bonus effect of shattering screens on the opponent's side. If you haven't added Makuhita, Crabrawler, or Hila's traded mon to your team, this will be your SE counter. And even then, they'll like it too.

...That is, if you've got a Pokemon worth teaching the move to. Other choices include Pikachu if you've got it, Drowzee, and Ledyba (snorts).

At least Sam prefers the idea of coming out swinging instead of using its somewhat poor Sp. Atk stat. But still, the same cannot be said of Neo.

Get this far on the wooden support beam (you can't fall off), and the last one peeks out from in front of its hidey hole.

To get to that particular den, you need to crawl through this hole here. There's a few that the protagonists can squeeze through.

And the goodie you can see through the hole...

...Lies.

What do you mean, he's up there?

Incidentally, the roadblock is this guy, a "Trial Guide". These are volunteers who have the job of making sure the Island Challenge remains in the state that it is for the benefit of future children.

Why they are volunteers is a question I have to wonder.

The cheeky little...

We certainly have no shortage of these.

We definitely need to find something that can be used to block these holes, and even then, we still need to shake the guy out...

Oh look, a pair of rocks!

...Weren't you trying to surf on a Mantine?

Telling them you don't recognise them gets another one of those priceless dumbfounded looks.

They actually do a little trick-swap animation where the two Grunts switch positions, just in case that helps us recognise which is which. I don't know what scares me more: That they're in on the joke, or that they're not.

Oh, I was getting stuck anyway, a diversion could be fun.

...Are they talking about our Pokemon or the Totem? Either way, I appreciate Bethany's look of "...they think they have a chance of success."

One of the Skulls runs up to us, and then switches to doing his rapping walk to issue the formal challenge.

I mean... they have the continuity of using Drowzee? This also has the side effect of, if you were using a Fighting type, you now have them facing their weakness. The Gyms and Trials use specific types, and that often prevents them from pulling this trick, but sometimes they figure it out.

The downside being you are facing the exact same Drowzee.

Don't worry, I'm told it's more of a trend in Team Skull than the alternative. Being this brittle may be a boon.

It's a complete mystery to me, too. How hasn't someone else just waltzed up and wrapped you around their finger yet?

The plan to stop antagonising us fails to occur to them.

Sounds like their plan to cause mischief for Ilima isn't going well either.

They poked the Totem Pokemon and it poked back much harder.

Which is alarming.

They run away, jump cut, and run back to shrug at us. I have absolutely no idea what this is supposed to represent. I barely have guesses what it could possibly represent.

They come back, and decide to start making things up to me by giving me a warning.

Don't worry, guys, Ilima already told me. I'm set.

Grunt A has far more guts than Grunt B, and is more than ready to throw hands with the Trial Pokemon I am trying to fight.

I believe his Pokemon is the one that isn't the Drowzee I just bit.

Grunt B decides to go along with it.

Fortunately, this has no effect on their health and safety.

Even more fortunately, they are courteous enough to block two of the holes.

Their ability to block these has been their most useful trait all game, and it could have been accomplished by rocks.

Returning to this last den that neither Skull is blocking...

Hello, Trial Pokemon.

...I wonder what I was supposed to do. It clearly wasn't "invite Team Skull in".

Gumshoos (Sun): When it finds a trace of its prey, it patiently stakes out the location...but it's always snoozing by nightfall.

The Gumshoos has switched out Strong Jaw for a new Ability, Adaptability (changes the STAB bonus from 1.5x to 2x), and has Hyper Fang again.

While it's the same level as the Yungooses, evolving nearly doubles its BST in bulk and a 1.5x bonus to its Atk. Funnily, no change in Speed.

Seems like a good chance to bring out Oatchi again.

Honestly, I think you might've preferred Strong Jaw to Adaptability. Then again, you also wanted to, you know, click on Hyper Fang.

Oatchi had things covered. Although if that was the backup, what's the Totem got?

And that Totem is coming right up. Right, so what do I have to work with?

Woodstock'll take point. It's got the bulk to get started on something, and that Poison will wear it down if he can't keep going.

Oatchi's job is to hit hard. With that said, I have just noticed the stats and since when was Woodstock the harder hitting one? We'll see who gets the last laugh in time...

Zapple will be lucky to survive the turn it's out, Charm or Thundershock. It's just here for moral support.

Similar story, but slightly better. Struggle Bug is a good move for this situation, and Stun Spore will be an option if Poison doesn't work out, but I don't expect Razzly to contribute, just get the EXP.

You'd think I'd be preparing for the possibility that the Pokemon using Fighting type moves would actually participate in the Normal Trial, wouldn't you?

That'll be one powerful Tackle. And at this point, I think I'll be replacing Pursuit by learning Bite rather than actually going back for it.

Our friends the boneheads have switched which one of them is ready to leave this cave, although this collectively means they're still happy to be here. Still blocking the entrances to a cave no Yungoos or Gumshoos is going to come out of.

Idiots.

Are you ready to face a Totem Pokemon?

Because I am.

The battle begins when you click on the pedestal.

Well, and say "yes I want to trigger the fight."

They have a pretty good "tense theme" for the appearance of a Totem Pokemon.

And it is not going to let us take that Z-Crystal without a fight.

And with the dramatic fight music cued, Totem Gumshoos will serve as the equivalent to a Gym Leader fight in a previous Pokemon game. Totem Gumshoos has the Adaptability Ability, an Ability not normally available on Gumshoos that improves the power of its Normal STAB. Its moves are Super Fang, Bite, Leer and Scary Face, and holds a Pecha Berry.

Totem Gumshoos comes with the same 0 IVs of its minions, complete with the random nature and random Atk IV, but has seen some EV investment. It has 60 Def EVs and 100 Sp. Def EVs, giving it a 2-3 stat edge over an identical Gumshoos with no investment.

And that Defence is even further supplemented by an automatically applied +1 Def stat stage upon starting battle. Consider that most of your early encounters will either be facing that Defense stat or Special Attackers held back by their frail defenses. He may not have invested as well as he could, but he's invested plenty well enough.

Oh, and yes, that opening riff is timed so that it punctuates the Totem Aura being infused.

Are you feeling tense?

Because I'm not. I'm sorry, Ilima, after how well your team in the Marina did, I had high hopes, but I have noticed a bit of a flaw in your Gumshoos's moveset. Super Fang, uh... doesn't count as STAB. It's fixed damage. Did you perhaps not notice?

As mentioned, the Totem Aura applies an automatic buff of +1 Def Stat Stage. You may freely edit the opponent's stat stages as you would any other- after a Leer, that Totem Aura is just for show.

Gumshoos outspeeds (Grimer is slow enough that even a -Spd Totem Gumshoos is Speed-tied), but its actually lethal attack is NVE against an opposing Dark type.

And that's what my Bite is doing.

I'm starting to suspect Grimer is a counter to Gumshoos and not merely a check.

It says a lot when the held item seems to be here to spite Woodstock, and specifically Woodstock. Most other Pokemon that have the ability to land Poison have better things to be doing with their time. Like Paralysis.

Excuse me, what are you doing, sir?

That is cheating! Totem Gumshoos is the first opponent to introduce S.O.S. Battles, a brand new type of Pokemon battle to the Alola region. Totem fights operate under different rules than standard S.O.S. fights, but what you need to know about Totem S.O.S. Battles is:

• If they have an ally Pokemon available and no ally on the field, they will attempt to call it.
• Totem Pokemon will always succeed an attempted call.
• There are typically two Pokemon prepared to be summoned by a Totem Pokemon. These are fixed Pokemon, designed to supplement the fight in some way and usually irritating.
• Totem Pokemon will be able to call one ally at the fight's beginning, and a second ally when their HP is brought to less than 2/3. If the first attack brings them to that damage value, their initial call will summon the second ally.

Totem Gumshoos only has one ally, Yungoos. It is level 10 with the Ability Stakeout, and possesses the moves Leer, Tackle, Pursuit and Bite. Like all Yungooses so far, it has a random Nature and Atk IVs and 0s in all else. In some ways, this is the scary guy.

I thought you two were supposed to be doing that in the opposite manner.

Fun fact about Poison Gas: If there are two opposing Pokemon on the field, it hits both of them. Being cognisant of such moves is the key to success in S.O.S. Battles. Note that Struggle Bug and Growl also have this effect, among the moves my team knows. If you're wondering how you'll know, you can see it in the preview window the bottom-screen targeting shows for two-target fights.

(...Taking a shot of that would have been a good visual aid, wouldn't it...)

Well that's irritating. At least I got the real target, and that Pecha Berry only works once!

What do you mean, Woodstock's still raring to go? You call yourselves a boss fight?

With my Defence halved, Yungoos's Tackle still only brings me down to half. There are good odds that Woodstock could totally survive the next hit.

The same could not be said of it.

What was Woodstock worried about?

In the interests of not just having Woodstock win this entire fight with the power of being Woodstock, I switch out to someone that would at least keep things interesting.

Took a Bite on switch in. Did a little more than that, though...

And that would be the damage from Tackle. Good, but no Woodstock Bite.

And the Poison tick afterwards. So close to sealing the deal. Oh well. If I go first, I win.

Even a +Spd Nature would only put Totem Gumshoos at 16 Spd, so it clocks in as slower than the 18 points Snaggletooth has acquired. Remember that whole "Gumshoos doesn't get any Speed from evolving" thing?

Because Gumshoos sure as hell didn't.

Oh, and for participating in battle, Snaggletooth even gets twice the EXP he would've gotten as a mere participant!

A move that applies a volatile status to Ghost types that makes them no longer immune to Normal and Fighting moves. It also causes moves to ignore any positive evasion stat stages, no matter the Type of the opponent. It's a good move that most Normal types will be happy to pass up in favour of just using Dark-type moves instead- or, in the case of a handful of Pokemon, have an Ability that has the "bypass Ghost immunity" thing innately. Still, though, it's an option for evasive opponents.

Hell no. If you're on the field, I want something better.

Winning a Totem fight follows up with a Pokemon animation and this victory theme, which continues into the following cutscene as the Trial mops itself up. Some of the animations seem weaker than others, and I'm not entirely sure if they actually prepared it appropriately for every possible candidate.

What happens to Totem Gumshoos after a battle? No idea, but it's clearly happy to be prepared for the next Trainer.

And Ilima comes right up to congratulate us.

The Trial Captain seems to have some degree of control over what's going to happen, but it's also completely accurate to call Totems "Wild" and not "Trainer Pokemon". Presumably, part of them being on-boarded is them bonding with the Totem Pokemon and teaching them that they're not a threat, but they will be inviting kids for the Totem to test.

It was all Woodstock.

By the way, you really should get a Normal move on that thing.

But anyway, instead of a Gym Badge, the progress indicators of Alola are the Z-Crystals themselves. While there are more Z-Crystals than there are Trials, the only way to acquire the Z-Crystal of a Type used in a Trial is to complete that Trial.

When you got Badges in BW and XY, the Badge appeared on the screen, and in BW, there was a cool animation of it being inserted into the Badge Case. SM improves upon the "Badge get" animation by making it a full-blown victory animation. SwSh went back to more of the BW thing, but I like this one plenty.

As the Z-Crystal descends, the player catches it, spins into a crouch, and then stands up with a dynamic pose. I love that third frame I caught for Bethany, by the way.

The musical cue for the victory animation. Note that the victory animation will usually be what turns off the "victory over Totem" theme.

One down, seventeen to go. Plus a few bonuses, but those aren't the same thing.

This is a mechanic they're about to demonstrate in just a bit, so I'll skim over the functionality, but this is a key mechanic central to the Alola region. This is Z-Power.

Important: Normal-type Move. Every Pokemon in our party except Razzly can use the power of Normalium-Z, although for some of them, it's less impressive than others.

Trial Captains, and other official Island Challenge Trainers, will teach you the cool pose required to perform a Z-Move. Z-Crystals acquired through other means do not have such a moment, although the player still performs the pose regardless during the animation.

There are two main ways to strengthen moves with Z-Power, depending on whether the move is a damaging move or a status move. Z-Power applied to status moves is far less impressive, and usually not particularly helpful.

Annoyingly, I don't believe there's any real way to tell what a Z-Status Move does unless you attempt it. Even the (i) indicator you'd get in battle only applies when you're in a fight, holding the Z-Crystal, and preparing to strike.

"Actually explaining things is Kukui's juristiction. I'm a student."

He is explaining something, although this is an incredibly stupid choice in opening sentence.

Translation: "All Trials end with a Totem Battle". Already been over that, not what he's explaining.

Remember S.O.S. Battles? Remember how I implied they exist outside of Totem fights?

Now every Wild Battle in Alola is considered an S.O.S. Battle.

In S.O.S. Battles, a wild Pokemon may occasionally call for help at the end of its turn. There is a chance of that call for help being answered by another Pokemon, at which point the Doubles mechanics we saw in that Totem fight become relevant. The following are some of the major guidelines about what S.O.S. Battles involve and what you might get:

• Each species (note: can differ between members of the same evolutionary family) has their own call rate, defined as a number between 0-15. This is the base percentage chance of a call for help. Pokemon with a call rate of 0, obviously, will never call for help, and none of the rest of this list applies to it.
  
• Pokemon are more likely to call for help if they are low on HP. This bonus is discrete- there's a x3 multiplier on Pokemon with yellow-coloured HP bar, and a x5 multiplier on Pokemon with red-coloured HP bars.
• The chance of a call for help being answered is equal to four times the call rate, with a couple of bonus effects. The ones you have real control over are a x1.2 for your currently active Pokemon having Intimidate, Pressure or Unnerve as an Ability, and x2 for landing a super-effective hit on the turn it makes the call. The other two bonuses are related to whether it has already successfully called for help (it has more bonuses if it has already tried calling and it failed.)
• The Pokemon that answers a call will, in most cases, be of the same species as the Pokemon who called. If it's not, it's usually an evolution. There are, however, Pokemon that only appear in response to an S.O.S. from a different species. Look forward to those.
• Pokemon can only be caught if there is only one Pokemon on the field- if both slots are currently filled, "it is too difficult to aim".
• Inflicting a non-volatile status condition should (SM)/does (USUM) make a Pokemon unable to call for help.
  
• There are a few benefits relating to secret mechanics for participating in S.O.S. Battles. Any Pokemon defeated after a successful call for help will award double EVs normally entitled, and a Pokemon caught after the end of a long chain of S.O.S. calls will have a heightened chance of having 31 IVs.
• S.O.S. Battles are also the only way to acquire "Hidden Abilities"- Abilities that are not available on regular Pokemon of that species. This technically makes them the most accessible they've ever been in the main story of a game, but they're also absolutely unfun to look for unless you have some way of scouting for them. Some Pokemon are defined by their Hidden Ability, so I will start to mention it (and also use them), but also nuts to actually looking for them.

In summary: S.O.S. Battles are fun in concept, but usually not particularly fun in practice, regardless of whether you want one to be happening or not.

This is a much more minor explanation: Now that we've beat the Trial of Verdant Cavern, we, the player, have permanent access to it and can attempt to catch the wild encounters inside. I'm not sure how diagetically we're meant to read this, but Pokemon doesn't really like one-time areas, especially those containing items.

Those'll be good to have. Poke Balls are starting to wear out their welcome, and Great Balls will be the standard.

And also a free heal. Most people would see this as a chance to go looking for Verdant Cavern encounters. Since I prefer to soak up catching EXP without the main team, I still have to leave anyway.

Once you learn what he means, it's hilarious.

This object loses all significance once there is no longer a Z-Crystal inside. You can't even click on it anymore.

Yup, we're in a cave again. There is one other thing:

This is an encounter with these guys in USUM- and I think we're long overdue on them telling us their names.

They were after the Z-Crystal inside the cave, and are very surprised to learn that kids can just walk in and claim it. Well, they have to fight for it, but it is a fight they are expected to succeed in.

Not only do we acquire Z-Crystals, we can also use them. This is something that they don't understand whatsoever, and are suddenly realising "actually, these facts matter quite a bit to us completing our objectives."

They walk up, and perform an animation where they raise their hands in front of their face, and trace the shape of a rectangle.

This is them approximating the greeting of Alola. Whether this is because of them not having the same control over their elbows that others do or because they perceive the gesture differently for cultural reasons is its own question. But either way, I love that they actually bothered to not only include characters performing the greeting (Ilima, in comparison, did a standard "hold one hand up" wave), but performing it in a unique manner. Especially since they're USUM characters and not vanilla SM.

You can tell these people have become quite dependent on this "technology to solve their problems" approach, because they have no idea how wrong they are about this statement. Ailey does not depend on no one and nothing but herself- she depends on her Pokemon, and the people around her. What this man is praising about Ailey that is missing from himself is the passion to take that assistance and do something for herself with it.

FINALLY, NAMES! The other duo is named Dulse (man) and Zossie (trainee), and they also introduce themselves in this conversation.

The fact that they perform the "Alola" greeting is because they are unfamiliar with casual usage of the greeting (ie how natives almost never bother with it), but they have been taught to use the greeting. As such, they expect it to be used regularly, and they will do it regularly. If you're a native speaker of a dialect, even just a cultural one sharing a common language, you can usually pick out the foreigners who have little experience actually using your dialect through foibles like this.

You cannot take mine, if that's what you're wondering.

They do have Pokemon where they're from, but apparently the rules work differently to how they do in our world, and Poke Balls are not relevant. Either that or we use different types, it's hard to tell.

Regardless of what they want with me, they do have an inkling (a rather accurate one, too, even if they are not yet aware why), that we might be a Trainer worth monitoring with regards to what the deal is with our access to Z-Power. This is the start of us being on speaking terms and not merely just overhearing them.

As mentioned, they do the Alola greeting way more than normal people do, and will usually perform one both when they appear and when they leave. Also, since Phyco has an idle animation of stroking his moustache while Soliera stands at attention, Phyco is usually slightly slower than Soliera to start and finish the wave- I believe that is why he is not waving in this shot.

I think Zossie has a similar bit where Dulse can start the wave faster than she can because of her swaying animation. It looks like it takes less time for Zossie to transition to the wave than Phyco, though.

Zossie: Wow! A Z-Crystal!
Dulse: So that is what they call a Z-Crystal! It appears that Alola's mysterious Z-Crystals are received for overcoming trials, is that right?
Walks up
Dulse: I suppose it may be admirable to overcome such trials using your own strength and skill... rather than relying on technology, as we do.
Zossie: I'm Zossie! You're kind of awesome, you know?
Dulse: Ah. This is when you are supposed to say "Alola" to one another, is it not? I am Dulse.
Zossie: And we're part of the Ultra Recon Squad, yup! That ball thing you used there... That is some amazing bit of tech! We might just have to borrow that idea! We're investigating all about Z-Crystals and auras and all kinds of stuff. So I guess we'll probably see you around!

Once again, I find myself liking Dulse and Zossie's scene better than Phyco and Soliera's. Dulse seems to have a more accurate understanding of what the difference between our skill and their dependence is than Phyco- clearly we can see why he got stuck with the trainee. Zossie's explanation of their group not only includes their name- the Ultra Recon Squad- but more accurately reflects their understanding of Poke Balls (definitely "they don't really use them") and also more accurately describes our relationship (we both happen to deal in Z-Crystals, so our paths cross more often than random chance).

The only question of which one is better depends on how important it is to you that the Ultra Recon Squad be established as not understanding this world.

Thanks for the shoutouts, guy. Anyway, so what can we find here in Verdant Cavern?

Little clouds of dirt containing Yungoos at 100% odds. These obey the rules of visible encounters, dropping the occasional Oran or Sitrus Berry. Now, for the actual new stuff:

Alolan Diglett (Ultra Moon): The need to dig through volcanic rock in the ground has made them more powerful than the Diglett of other regions.

Yep, that's not our old friend Diglett- that's his Ground/Steel cousin Alolan Diglett. Diglett is fast and frail, and Alolan Diglett has traded a slight bit of that Speed for a slight extra bit of Defence. On top of the Steel type having resistances to practically everything, that gives Alolan Diglett just enough to go on to weather hits that would've torn the regular Diglett to pieces. Only some hits, though.

Diglett's Abilities are Sand Veil (increases evasion during a sandstorm) and Tangling Hair (reduces the opponent's Speed if hit by a move that makes contact). Tangling Hair is the way to go- since physical Defence is its weakness, odds are it's going to lose to something making contact, and you're gonna want to cut it down for the next guy. HA is Sand Force (increases the power of Rock/Ground/Steel moves by 1.3x in sandstorms).

Noibat (Ultra Moon): It flies around in search of fruit to eat. It uses ultrasonic waves to detect which fruits are ripe.

Noibat is a Flying/Dragon type found only in USUM. It is fast and has high Special Attack, making it seem like a frailer alternative to Zubat. And in this context, the argument has merit. Unfortunately, however, Noibat has something else hindering its viability: its evolution level. Noibat evolves at level 48, for reasons only known to the XY designers, and until then, it's operating with no stat higher than base 55. There are probably non-Woodstock members of my team right now using 55 as their dump stat, and by the time you're level 48, you're in the game's final areas.

Noibat's Abilities are Frisk (identifies the item that the opponent is holding on being sent out) and Infiltrator (ignores screens when dealing damage). Infiltrator is an amazing Ability, but just remember that it's only the screens it bypasses. I keep thinking its coverage extends further than it does. HA is Telepathy (renders it immune to being hit by its own teammate in Double Battles).

Funnily enough, I don't go back for Diglett or Noibat at all, and that's on purpose. There's an IGT Noibat later, and it's probably better for it to get that bonus EXP for being someone else's Pokemon. As for Diglett, it also turns up at a more advantageous level later, and it's just a bit too frail and hampered for Bethany to fit in her team.

He really is trying to make that a catchphrase.

This is the in-game explanation of the barricade system.

As well as confirming it's an in-universe system as well.

Ilima has way too much fun here, and snaps his fingers.

Behold, the power to open a gate without touching it! Truly, the mark of a Trial Captain.

Melemele is also taking it easy on us by only including a single Trial to complete before the Grand Trial. With that said, we could totally just walk back to Iki Town and talk to Hala without even bothering with Route 3, but he won't actually spawn until we trigger a few plot flags in that direction.

And to help sweeten the argument to wander that direction, Kukui comes out of Route 3, having had his own business there.

With distinction. Did you know you can just find Grimers in the city?

Now for Kukui to give his demonstration on Z-Power.

From the perspective of battle, Z-Crystals are Held Items, and use the Hold Item slot. They obey special rules in that moves that can hinder held items in some fashion have no effect on a Pokemon holding a Z-Crystal, but these rules already existed for Mega Stones in XY. However, in order to function as they do for their dual purpose of being the game's progress indicator, they obey special rules as Bag items.

When you attempt to equip a Z-Crystal to a Pokemon, you do not Give it, but you Use it. You can only Use a Z-Crystal on a "compatible" Pokemon- a Pokemon that knows a move that can be turned into a Z-Move by that Crystal, basically. Once Used, the Pokemon now has the Z-Crystal in its Hold Item slot. This is a lot of complicated rigamarole to basically justify how equipping a Z-Crystal does not remove it from the Bag. They are both Held Items and Key Items, and this is a particularly complicated but effective way of ensuring they function as both.

"Hey, does this mean I can equip the same Z-Crystal on multiple Pokemon?" Yes you can! You can not, however, Trade a Z-Crystal to another game. If your friend wants a Normalium Z, they've gotta beat Ilima on their own. I imagine enabling both of these situations was a happy accident of the system.

Now for the actual in-battle demonstration.

This is, I think, the only other instance of the series of you watching someone else battle as a tutorial.

...Come to think of it, I'm not 100% sure why Z-Moves got one and not Megas, Dynamax or Terastal.

Forgive the Moon, it's hard to take screenshots of two screens at once for me.

This is how to use Z-Moves: If you meet the conditions, you click the left-hand button to perform a Z-Move, and then select the move. If you have multiple offensive moves of the same type, the most effective Z-Move of that type will sparkle.

Z-Status Moves use the move as normal, but also bestow a fixed bonus effect. What that effect is depends on the move, and usually supplements it in some way.

Kukui gets to do the Z-Pose! The player always does theirs before using a Z-Move, but enemy Trainers with Z-Power skip right to the Pokemon effect. For using Normalium-Z, you make a Z with your arms, regardless of whether you're using an offensive or a status Z-Move.

The Pokemon gets lit up in a blaze of power. If they are capable of it, they also have an angry expression at the ready.

Status Moves don't have this pomp and circumstance: They are just better versions of what they normally do.

The animation for the damaging Z-Moves is always the same, no matter whether it's a physical or special move as a base. For Breakneck Blitz, it's a very high speed tackle right into the opponent's face.

When the animation is going on, the model of the attacking Pokemon is frozen in place. Ideally, their feet would be concealed by the cloud of dust. Rockruff is not one of those Pokemon. They put this in the very first Z-Move you see. Whoops.

I think that an appropriate reaction.

However, set your expectations: Z-Moves are only an increase in Base Power. The power is set to a certain amount based on the base move, with Breakneck Blitz Tackle being only 100 BP. There are stronger Normal moves than that!

This part is also an important takeaway: You can only use a single Z-Move in battle. It doesn't matter which Z-Crystal, or whether it was a status move: Only one Z-Move. This is why most Z-Status moves don't earn a good reputation: Their buffs aren't worth losing out on a key victory that a damaging move might be able to make...

Presumably, he means in general.

But Kukui answers for specifically right now, and right now he's gone and lost Lillie. Well, that was a bit dumb of him.

Honestly, what I'm more confused about is how. What was Nebby doing and how did Kukui not notice? We need to give her a better guard.

Even Rotom notes there's not much in Route 3 to get lost on.

Hau's still in the Pokemon Centre, and if you talk to him, he notices you've cleared the Trial, and resolves to actually go do it himself. Good luck.

Remembers his team is just Pichu and Litten ...You might actually need it.

The next time you visit a Poke Mart after clearing a Trial, you'll get a little notice that "oh hey, your options have expanded".

1 Trial gets you Great Balls and Super Potions. USUM also gets Poke Toys, a one-use item that guarantees escape from a wild encounter. If you need it.

This is more or less the end of the content, so a notice: Saving the game shows you all your Typed Z-Crystals. Even the ones that aren't strictly progress, but it's not like those matter that much.

A look at Bethany's collection in the Pokedex. Coming along pretty nicely, and we can see mostly the holes we expect to see in regards to evolutionary relatives. After Spearow, things get spottier, but these are presumably things we find on Route 3.

Also, while sitting down and going over all HAs seems like a bit too much, I will mention what our team would have if they could get their HA:

• Oatchi's HA is Long Reach, a unique Ability which will render it immune to the consequences of using contact moves against opponents who can counter them, such as users of the Static Ability. An only-occasionally useful Ability, the only way to get a Long Reach Rowlet in the Alola games is by long-defunct event, or by trading one someone has bred from such an event. Limited-time events are so frustrating to deal with...
• Zapple's HA is Lightning Rod, which forces Electric-type moves to target it, renders it immune to such moves, and boosts its Sp. Atk by one stage whenever it is hit by one. A pretty good Ability to have in Doubles and one that doesn't help that much in Singles, it wouldn't matter when it reaches its final stage anyway.
• Woodstock's HA is Power of Alchemy, a unique Ability that, if its ally is defeated in a Double Battle, will cause it to receive whatever Ability they had. This has some tactical applications, but it requires actually being in a Doubles match. Gluttony and Poison Touch are both better in the main story.
• Sam's HA is Pickup, allowing it to passively pick up items. Useful for us, but when/if it reaches its final form, it would change into Sheer Force, increasing the power of moves with a bonus effect at the cost of not being able to get that effect. This is an awesome Ability, but Pikipek doesn't really get the moves to make use of that.
• Snaggletooth's HA is Adaptability, which we have seen on the Gumshoos in the Trial. Nifty, but the only reason I even have it is because it's Shiny, so why would I go looking for a HA normal one?
  

Next time: How did Ailey, Noah and Ray handle Ilima's Trial?