Entering Route 4, and we have a pretty long stretch of game until we get to Brooklet Hill and our next Trial, and our interruptions will be solely for mini-boss fights and a new Poke Ride. Good for plenty of EXP- and you're going to want it.
Before I go looking in this grass for the new wild encounters, I fight this guy- it wouldn't do to take a circle too wide and hit him with my catching party. This is, incidentally, the only Bellhop in the entire game. USUM added a second one, but he still doesn't use the Bellhop class proper. Bellhops are also only in Alola- there are other classes, like Butlers and, obviously, Janitors, that fill the role of "invisible worker" classes, but Pokemon's hotel workers (where there are hotels at all) are pretty professional.
It's a Drifloon in SM, and a new Pokemon called Fomantis in USUM. I can't tell you what, if anything, these have to do with the duties of a Bellhop.
Starting with the debut of K9- also made of silicon, but there seems to have been a mixup at some point. K9 doesn't get Rock Throw until level 15, but it does start with Bite, which is SE.
Unfortunately, Drifloon knows the move Minimize, a Status move that grants it a whopping 2 stages of extra evasion. This decreases our accuracy to 60% of what it would otherwise be- I only need to land one more Bite, but I'm already sketchy on relying on moves with 85% accuracy as it is.
(While the stat stages of the printed stats count in fractions of 2/X, accuracy and evasion counts in 3/X, resulting in the bonus being less impressive than an equivalent boost to a normal stat. Small blessings.)
Rock Throw has a base accuracy of 90%, which is going to be a bit annoying, but that's part and parcel of being a Rock type. I would have preferred Bite for that fight anyway.
x40 payout. It's not that bad for the poor guy, but on the other hand, what do you reckon his paycheck is?
...You should check that it really is just Pokemon in there. Depending on how you're pricing that.
Lillipup (Moon): The long fur surrounding its face functions as radar, enabling it to probe the condition of its battle opponents.
Lillipup is an adorable and quite beloved pure Normal puppy. Despite how it appears based on its debut in the Unova region, it is not considered the Rattata/Yungoos of the region, and actually turns out with sufficient, but not too high, Atk, bulk and Spd. If you want a Normal type, you could do far worse than Lillipup, and that's never a bad thing when you're talking about a Pokemon you could catch from the word go. It's a little bit late for that accolade in Alola, but it's still worth considering.
Lillipup's Abilities are Vital Spirit (prevents sleep) and Pickup (can occasionally gather items after battle). It loses both Abilities on its first evolution, which happens at level 16- around the point you've caught it up with the rest of your team. As such, I will tell you that Vital Spirit turns into Intimidate (lowers opposing Atk by 1 stage on sendout) and Pickup becomes Sand Rush (doubles its Speed during sandstorms, and also renders it immune to the passive damage). You know which one I prefer, although Sand Rush ain't terrible. Its HA is Run Away (gurantees escape from wild encounters), which turns into Scrappy (allows it to damage Ghost types with Normal moves) on evolution. If you can, this one can lend a hand at the right moment.
Mudbray (Moon): It has a stubborn, individualistic disposition. Eating dirt, making mud, and playing in the mire all form part of its daily routine.
Mudbray is a brand new Pokemon to the Alola region, being a pure Ground type with high Atk and pretty nice bulk- even its "weaker" Sp. Def is still pretty high. Speed's rather garbage, but it can deal with that. Mudbray is an excellent Pokemon, and is even pretty cool on its own merits- Mudbray itself has an Atk stat of 100, which puts it in competition with some fully evolved Pokemon. It should come as no surprise that Mudbray will be on the team.
Mudbray's Abilities are Own Tempo (prevents confusion) and a brand new Ability Stamina (when hit by an attack, raises its Defence by one stage). Never bother with Own Tempo, Stamina turns this already pretty cool Pokemon into an excellent powerhouse. Its HA is Inner Focus (prevents flinches)- good on it, because it's so slow, but hard to recommend over Stamina. Stamina is the greatest.
Igglybuff (Ultra Moon): Left to its own devices, it will constantly practice singing. You should make it take a break so it doesn't hurt its throat.
Igglybuff is a Normal/Fairy Baby Pokemon (so, can call Happiny), and it's a three stage evolution that requires happiness to reach its second stage. A bit unfortunate, but you can get its second stage Jigglypuff from S.O.S., too, which is rather nice. Appearing only while the sun is up, Igglybuff is... honestly not that great. Normal/Fairy gives it a niche, but stat-wise, it's all in on HP and has garbage in its other stats, with only mediocre Sp. Atk and Atk to use that HP with. Igglybuff is probably the poster child for "you can't tank with HP alone", and it doesn't have great prospects.
Its Abilities are Cute Charm (when hit by a contact move, may inflict infatuation on an opposite gender Pokemon) and Competitive (if a stat is lowered, raises its Sp. Atk by two Stages). Competitive is the Special equivalent of Defiant, and all my praise and affection for it applies equally to it. This can make Igglybuff fun, but it only does so much to save it. Its HA is Friend Guard (reduces damage to allies in Double Battles), and it loses it on final evolution. Don't bother.
Eevee (Ultra Sun): The question of why only Eevee has such unstable genes has still not been solved.
Ahahaha... yes. You. Eevee is a very special Pokemon, found only 5% of the time on this route and making my work describing its efficacy very complicated indeed. You see, Eevee can evolve into one of eight possible forms, each with a different type, stat distribution, Abilities, evolution method, and viability. I can tell you that all Eevees have the stats 130, 110, 95, two 65s and a 60, giving it an impressively high BST of 525 and making Eevee's various evolutions excellent additions to your team. Their weakness is the same as Oricorio's- although they do get some choices, their type coverage is somewhat limited by the fact that they don't want to give some coverage options to every Eeveelution at once. Most of them have enough to get by, though.
Eevee's Abilities are Run Away (guaranteed escape from wild encounters) and Adaptability (increased power of STAB moves). Its HA is Anticipation- when it is sent out, if it notices the opponent has a move that can deal super-effective damage to it or a move that will OHKO if it hits, it will shudder. This shudder does nothing but alert you of the existence of such moves, and thus this Ability is pretty worthless- but still, since all of these Abilities get replaced as soon as it evolves and Eevee itself doesn't have much battling prowess, it's actually kinda good, because it's relatively easy to scout for. Just pack a Fighting move on your S.O.S. Pokemon. It is also worth nothing that all of Eevee's evolutions have a single normal Abilitiy- Run Away vs Adaptability doesn't matter except for Eevee itself.
Eevee has a bit of a terrible catch rate of 45- it's hard to justify catching eight of them. There are easier ways to get eight for all eight forms, especially since Bethany was lucky enough to catch a female.
Look at that page. Look at it. All of them viable- well, except one. I'm not sure why Eevee became a semi-mascot as of Let's Go, but I can tell you it gained its popularity fairly. Ooh, and Eevee can also call its friendship evolutions Espeon and Umbreon in S.O.S. Battles- with Espeon only spawning during the day and Umbreon at night. I'll go into more detail on how they do when I get each form, but a brief mention of each, just so you don't prepare for the wrong type.
- Espeon (Psychic): Special sweeper. Kadabra but better for no-trade runs.
- Umbreon (Dark): King of walls. Not great in the main story, but tough as nails to fight.
- Vaporeon (Water): High Sp. Atk and amazing Special bulk. Awesome bulky Water type, although many options exist.
- Jolteon (Electric): Special sweeper, with higher Spd than Sp. Atk compared to Espeon. Probably the best Electric type around, but its job is a bit specialised.
- Sylveon (Fairy): Amazing Special bulk and high Sp. Atk. Better typing than Vaporeon for many.
- Leafeon (Grass): High Defence, physical sweeper. Bad type to specialise in this manner, but it is beautiful and I love it.
- Flareon (Fire): High Atk and Sp. Def, decent Sp. Atk. It's this one. This is the bad one. Sorry.
- Glaceon (Ice): High Sp. Atk, great defences. Pretty amazing, but you get it way too late in the main story.
For the main story, I would also recommend HA only for Espeon and Sylveon. Leafeon and Flareon also like theirs, but they require setup that's hard to rely on.
Island Scan, while I have a chance to mention it, gives Venipede with Toxic Spikes to SM and Beedrill to USUM on Thursdays. The Beedrill does not have any Egg Moves.
Enough talking about Eevee, let's introduce our new friend Murphy. "Pure Ground", all right, with that set, although two of those moves are useless to it. It gains new level up moves to replace those two blanks pretty fast.
- Bulldoze: 60 BP Physical Ground. Lowers enemy Speed by 1 stage on hit. This thing is one of the greatest moves to be made into one of the early-middle TMs- we'll get it around the end of the second island, but Murphy gets it early and rocks it. Basically any fight Murphy wants to be in wants this move.
- Mud Slap: 20 BP Special Ground. Lowers enemy accuracy by 1 stage on hit. Basically a damaging Sand Attack, which helps in some situations and hurts in others. You're only using it for the accuracy drop, though.
- Mud Sport: Status Ground. Reduces the power of opposing Electric moves to 1/3 power for five turns. It took until XY for this to be a field effect and not applied to the Pokemon- Mudbray is immune to Electric moves and Mud Sport is literal wasted time for itself. Still not great on its own terms, but at least, you know, functional.
- Rototiller: Status Ground. Raises the Atk and Sp. Atk of all Grass type Pokemon on the field by one stage, regardless of side. Actively detrimental in Singles, only slightly good in Doubles.
With all that cleaned up, we can start picking up litter and general moving-forward.
A little hint towards the existence of IVs and Natures, as well as the fact they mean more at higher levels. I am deliberately doing little more than mentioning it- mostly because I hate dealing with it with the official methods.
That's a bit of a bad item to have in a corner like this.
You're not hiding from me that easily, twinkly!
The hard part is making sure you know which ones you've already been down.
Collectors are a Trainer Class that usually holds rare Pokemon, particularly version exclusives or Pokemon found with poor encounter rates and/or in out-of-the-way locations. Collectors are fantastic to battle if you are not following the game with a guide of where every species is located, because they will often provide Seen entries for missing pages in the Pokedex for you to look into. They also used to be rich (x60 in RSE and x64 in DPPt), but they got cut down to x32 now. Must be saving for shopping online.
Collectors are male only.
Yes, that's exactly the kind of Pokemon it's good to see the Dex entry for. Particularly since it's also pretty tough, which will inspire people to go "ooh, I want that".
Also they've traditionally been pretty hard to come by in the series, so veterans might see it as a route encounter and finally go grab one.
Unfortunately for it, all the bulk in the world won't protect you from Woodstock's residual damage.
His second Pokemon is Bagon, another rare one. Great to have in the Seen list, but also might get frustrating if you get persuaded to check the Route 3 grass. I'd highly recommend saving it.
Snaggletooth also rips surprisingly quickly through it.
After winning, it tries to learn the move Bide. Bide will render you idle for two turns, "storing energy", and at the beginning of the third turn, you will unleash double the HP you took in damage upon the enemy. This is a scary move, but it's hard to survive two attacks from an opponent (and it depends on the opponent using both turns attacking you), and much harder to do it more than once. Snaggletooth is not a great user of this move.
...You know, it's funny I used a Shiny Pokemon on this guy...
...My impression of collectors is the exact opposite. I... feel like Collectors are very susceptible to marketing pressures.
Especially pressures that the Pokemon IP is no stranger to exploiting. Reminder that every game from XY onwards has had a special Pokemon only available in the first few weeks after launch.
Lopunny (Ultra Sun): Lopunny regrows its coat twice a year. Mufflers and hats made from its fur are really warm.
Over with Ailey, Usagi evolved! Lopunny is the reward for getting along with your particularly tsundere rabbit, and the resemblance to a certain sexual symbol has passed uncommented on by the Pokemon brand itself, but not its consumers. It's the lopping ears, isn't it? As mentioned in TTYD, the bunnygirl look is not as associated with the Playboy brand in Japan as it is in the West (and legally), but even if Lopunny escaped legal consequences, her cry tells me they definitely knew what connotations she had.
(Buneary has a 1:1 gender ratio.)
In battle, however? Lopunny knows what's what. Return is a powerful Normal type Physical move that increases in power based on the user's Friendship stat- it is derived formulaically, as [Friendship]/2.5. A freshly evolved Lopunny has a Friendship stat of at least 220, giving Usagi a STAB move rated at 88 BP. When she maxes out at 255, that BP is 102. That Return will outdamage a Breakneck Blitz off Quick Attack.
(The BP of a Breakneck Blitz based on Return is fixed at 160, rather than being calculated by the same formula as the normal move.)
After evolving a Pokemon for any reason, Rotom Dex will congratulate you and suggest you go do some Photo Club as a commemoration. I repeat, this applies regardless of whether you're doing it for a team member or as a dex filler, and it takes priority over the plot snippet he throws out after important battles. A lot of the irritation I've been throwing at Photo Club that might have seemed unwarranted is having played more than a few playthroughs of USUM and seeing this message on the bottom screen more than was necessary even if I actually liked the feature.
If you click yes, you're taken to the Photo Club automatically. As a fun fact, it is impossible to do a Photo Club on the field in any other circumstances. This feature confuses me on multiple levels.
Of particular note is the fact that, despite being explicitly to allow you to commemorate your evolution, the game doesn't even set the default Pokemon as the one that just evolved. Sure, that means you're allowed to use this opportunity for any reason, but still.
...And you even block the map to tell me to Save? You know, Bethany's Rotom Dex doesn't backseat nearly as much.
Revive behind the Collector...
...Is it just me, or does this part of the route look weird to anyone else? That tourist up there will walk around this rock formation, which is why most of it's like this, but...
I mean, is he wrong? The alternative is finding friends who've been to a place, and it's hard to get this train started if nobody you know has ever been. Anyway, Scotty is the first Tourist- or Sightseer, as this game calls them- we're going to see as a Trainer Class proper. As mentioned in the Battle Buffet, they have a special class gimmick:
Rattata (Sun): Its incisors continue growing until its death. If its Trainer doesn't offer it a file to gnaw on, it will gnaw on door frames, table legs, and so on.
They use the non-Alolan forms of Pokemon that have been redesigned for Alola. It is impossible to acquire many of these in-game, but it does really sell how out-of-place these are. Purple Rattata are pure Normal type, with the possible Abilities Run Away or Guts. Annoyingly, I don't know which one it has, but as long as you don't inflict it with a status, you shouldn't care.
This seems like a good debut battle for Murphy. Rattata can hit surprisingly hard, but only so hard-
And Murphy's Stamina can ensure this doesn't add up too fast.
Of course, Rattata of all shapes don't usually last long under any strong hit. But still, this donkey is nearly fresh out of the box!
Ooh, thank you for that, Razzly! Draining Kiss is a 50 BP Special Fairy move that heals her for 75% of the damage she deals. Makes up for losing Absorb quite handily, and will also be the answer to a lot of her survivability questions in situations where it would be really useful. Well, until the low BP catches up to it.
We use the black ones here. Although I wouldn't say they're much better fit for purpose.
...Uh, I don't think anyone using a travel app cares who made any particular recommendation? Sure, it can be nice to have a few educated factoids about a reviewer's background to inform you whether you will agree with their reasoning, but you can usually glean sufficient data from the review itself if it's in any sort of detail.
In USUM, there is an exit north-west of this little plateau... and on top of that, it seems Scotty has made a friend!
Outside the Battle Buffet, SM won't see their first female Sightseer until before the third Trial. I don't particularly know why they added one here, but I do know that the female Sightseer is particularly cute and picked up enough steam to be the first generic Trainer Class character to be added to Pokemon Masters. So, you know, I'm not thinking too hard about that one.
XY has a similar Trainer Class called "Tourist", but they are not yet present in any other region. There were also three types of Tourist in XY (young man, young woman, and old woman), but these are the only two Sightseers Alola has.
Meowth (Sun): It lies around all day, becoming active near dusk. At night, it wanders the city in search of loose change.
Perdita uses the familiar Meowth, a pure Normal type. Sightseer Perdita was added out of wholecloth, although SM does have a Sightseer that used Meowth- somewhat fittingly, the first female Sightseer mentioned earlier. Strangely, USUM didn't change her at all. Oh well, no real problem with the redundant fight- especially since Sightseers have a x60 payout.
Normal or Dark typing, Shade is the answer.
I absolutely love the way female Sightseers go "ooh, shiny" and take a selfie when they lose. After a lot of the shocked and/or upset expressions you normally get as losing poses, it's hilarious in a bit of a jarring way.
I do wonder what numbers the social media posts you make off this selfie are pulling. Slash what form Pokemon's social media takes.
Ideally, you should probably find that boyfriend of yours.
By the way, if he's Scotty, he's over there, on the other side of this waist-high rock.
USUM's brand new area takes the form of Pikachu Valley, a little area filled entirely with Pikachu. I know he's a mascot, but wow.
That is a lot of Pikachu. And also one dopey theme.
I'll take your word on it.
...Where's Zapple when you need her?
This is one of the four special things you can do for Photo Club stickers, and the only frame in the bunch. There's also several better reasons to make a visit in this direction.
Look, I like Pikachu more than the average for Pokemon fans that know what IVs are, but you're not getting me that excited about Pikachu.
There's like four Pikachu you can play with here, it's a little insane. Especially when you try to run through that area.
Poke Finder spot here. It may not surprise you to learn that the only thing you can snap here are Pikachu.
The lady in this corner offers a special, moderate difficulty Pikachu quiz. The prizes are by no means necessary, although it does make good bragging rights.
You won't get told if you're right until the end. Now then, how well can you Pikachu?
Tail- the females have the heart-shaped tip. Gendered differences were introduced in DPPt, but they have maintained them in every single game since.
There do indeed exist Pokemon whose gender difference takes the form of their ears (Meditite and Sneasel) and feet (Shinx). Nothing for eyes, though- well, except those forms that can be more easily distinguished by colour.
The sacs in Pikachu's cheeks have the role of storing electricity. Soot sack might be a reference to Hoenn, where you used an item with that name to gather volcanic ash to make glass objects out of.
Thunder Stone, regardless of whether you want the normal Raichu or the Alolan variant. "Affectionate" is an evolution method, while the Light Ball is a unique item that can double the Atk. and Sp. Atk. of any Pikachu when held.
Strangely, Pikachu Valley does not give the player a Light Ball, despite that being a good way to encourage players to not evolve their Pikachu into Raichu.
The Shiny Pikachu form is kinda tanned, I wanna say? But yeah, it's mostly being a very golden-yellow instead of bright-yellow.
I believe this is true in-universe as well as through the metric of "Pichu were first documented in Pokemon GSC, and Elm was the guy in charge in that game, so sure, it's him that found them." Although since all Pikachu go through a Pichu phase now, this does demonstrate a remarkable lack of diligence in Pokemon's scientific consensus.
And for knowing that mixture of "useful gameplay info" and "rare but mostly recognised historic info", we scored perfectly.
...Neat.
...I'm not sure if there's anything in that at all.
Before claiming that item behind the trailer, a little moment for eagle-eyed Trainers- that's a Pikachu with a Pyukumuku and a Slowpoke up there. Turns out that story from the Trainer's School was talking about a real thing! Or, more likely, the other way around.
Anyway, it was a Magnet. These could only be found as 5% hold items by a somewhat unintuitive choice at the end of Akala Island in SM- so, you know, an early freebie is nice.
This guy mostly has a few bits of things to tell us, some of which we have to unlock first.
Neat. Might be nice to bump into him, maybe.
Trying to enter the trailer gets you faced with a Pikachu, who promptly pushes you aside to exit.
It keeps happening, no matter what you do.
There's actually a special encounter you can get if you keep trying, but unfortunately, I didn't get one in the time I was willing to spend attempting. I did get a triple in one attempt, though.
This guy will track the number of times you have entered this carriage (although I do wonder if he's tracking the triple- I sure wasn't tracking anything). Because, you know... they may or may not have wanted to get out of programming an interior.
There is one more thing to do here... if you open your QR scanner.
If you scan this QR code (it's a different one for JP, CHN or KOR players, although it's the same one for both NA and PAL this time), you will receive a particularly special bonus:
Partner Cap Pikachu (Violet): This Pikachu wears its partner's cap- proof of the strong bond Pikachu and its partner formed as the two overcame many hardships together.
It's Pikachu with a hat! To use the name the game uses, Pikachu in a cap is a special form of Pikachu based on the one used by Ash Ketchum from the anime, and can be encountered in one of seven forms in USUM. The one you get by QR Code will always be this one, wearing the hat that Ash wore in the movie "Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You!". Special events, that are not permanently available by QR Code, distributed the other six, which wore the hats Ash wore in each series of the anime. If memory serves (I actually got one of these Pikachu myself), you could only get one of the special event forms- I picked Sinnoh Hat, personally.
What a coincidence! Arriving at Akala Island is necessary to get the QR Code to count as Partner Cap Pikachu- without doing so, it will be the same as scanning a random QR Code, and will grant you the Pokedex entry of a random Pokemon.
For what it's worth, the Partner Cap Pikachu is worth 20 points too, same as the special Pokemon.
(If you're wondering why I had 40 points charged, it was because getting my camera to accept Pikachu's QR code was an ordeal and a half for no good reason, and I scanned two of the special Island Scan QR codes by mistake in trying to get the one I wanted registered.)
Ray will be the one to collect it, from this delivery man. The delivery guy model only appears for event distributions, I believe.
I have no idea who is giving me this Pikachu, by the way. Ash himself?
Although it is a special form of Pikachu, it is still technically a Pikachu, and thus it actually counts for Ray's completion of the Pokedex. It cannot breed or evolve, however, so it is useless for obtaining Pichu and Raichu's entries in the dex.
Well, OK, not useless- Pikachu in a cap has the Static Ability, so I can always use it to find Pichu that way.
So long, event man.
Over here, we can meet a Pikachu that wants to meet a Pikachu wearing a cap. I haven't watched enough of the anime to say for sure, but I'm fairly certain Ash's Pikachu never got a romantic arc. Could be wrong on that one, though- I have no idea how many hours I'd need to go through to find what this is referencing, although it is at least a finite amount of time.
This Pikachu will give you the Pikachu in a cap's special Z-Crystal, Pikashunium-Z. This will allow Pikachu in a cap that happen to know the move Thunderbolt to use the special Z-Move 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt, a 195 BP move with +2 stages of crit chance applied to it.
This isn't even the only Z-Crystal Pikachu gets- although, funnily enough, Pikachu in a cap can't use the other one.
Pika-Pikachu to you too.
As we leave that, and briefly dip back to Ailey, we can see the Sightseers stick to standing just outside Pikachu Valley after they've been defeated. At least Perdita isn't looking for Scotty anymore.
Nifty. The Adrenaline Orb has two functions. First, and less importantly, it is a consumable held item that grants +1 Spd if the holder is impacted by Intimidate. This is the first of one of many steps Pokemon has implemented to try and nerf Intimidate, since by this point in the series, they were starting to realise just how prevalent it was getting. Considering the most common Pokemon in VGC today is an Intimidate mon added in SM, YMMV on their success at that.
The second, and far more beneficial use is that it may be used as a Bag Item in any wild encounter. After using an Adrenaline Orb, the wild Pokemon's call rate for S.O.S. encounters will be doubled, on top of whatever pre-existing multipliers apply. Useful enough on its own when you want S.O.S. to be happening, but if you've already used an Adrenaline Orb in a fight and attempt to use another, you will waste your turn without consuming the Orb. This is the best way to pass turns to try and get more S.O.S. rolls if you're getting unlucky. Adrenaline Orbs, plural, are a must for serious attempts to acquire S.O.S. encounters.
Oh, and something kinda important about USUM: When they cleaned up how they handled S.O.S., one of the things they added was that wild Pokemon can only call for help once unless an Adrenaline Orb is used. Strictly speaking, this means that we haven't actually been able to find HA USUM-only Pokemon until now (HA only shows up if you've been at it for 10 Pokemon), but you can find S.O.S. exclusive spawns like Sableye if you just happen to get lucky on the one free roll.
I haven't drawn explicit attention to it, but rearranging the order of moves is a feature in every Pokemon game since the very first. It's usually been mapped to "one of the buttons you don't press all the time", but if you know it's there, it's nice to have at hand so you can put all of your good moves in the same location- or split the two moves that share typings, to minimise misclicks.
I am only just now realising this is a case of a feature Pokemon has that other RPGs might want to consider using.
As far as I can tell, there is never anything in this dead end. It looks like there should be, though.
The man standing outside town is a Cook, a Trainer class introduced in XY as "Chef", before being knocked down a rung in the restaurant ladder for SM. It did, at least, become a permanent class for the series afterwards.
I believe he is trying to surpass Mallow on culinary terms, which is evidence to put in the "Mallow can cook" pile.
This one just has a Cutiefly, but there is a class note to make about Cooks: In USUM- and USUM only- all Pokemon held by a Cook are holding the Leftovers item. Sadly, you can't Thief these- Munchlax remains the only way to acquire Leftovers there, too.
Even if the one Bethany fought had a Leftovers, K9 rendered it worthless. I think Basilissa showing it off was more a comment on Ekans' poor attacking prowess (and terrible Poison move- it's still stuck with Poison Sting) than of Rockruff's strengths.
Glad someone appreciates it regardless.
Another bitter herb, this one heals your Pokemon by 120 HP and cuts their friendship by 10. It used to be 200, same as Hyper Potions, but they seem to have been hit by the same nerf bat Hyper Potions were.
In SM, you genuinely haven't found Hyper Potions yet, so this might be useful. The first Hyper Potion is before the next Totem, though. What gets worse is that you unlock the ability to buy more Hyper Potions before you unlock the ability to buy more of these. This game and the Unova games are the only main series games to make this mistake, as it happens, but it's still kinda embarrassing.
This Berry Pile has a lot of Berries to mention, but fortunately, there are only two major types. This exact tree is the only one that drops these five Berries. All of them have the same effect: They will heal the user for 1/2 of their HP when their HP drops below 1/4 (a massive buff over their effect in earlier generations, where they were 1/8th HP at 1/2 health), but "they will confuse the user if they hate the taste". This negative side effect is a lot less terrible than it sounds. By "taste", they mean the same taste mechanic that appears in Malasada shops- ie the one based on Natures- and by "hates the taste", they mean specifically hates it. Just make sure to avoid the correct one and you're golden.
Figy Berries are Spicy (don't give to -Atk), Wiki are Dry (-Sp. Atk), Mago are Sweet (-Spd), Aguav are Bitter (-Sp. Def) and Iapapa are Sour (-Def).
Lum Berries are comparatively less impressive, but also much more widely regarded. They are the panacea of Berries, able to cure any volatile status or Confusion, regardless of which one they specifically got hit by. You can only get Lum Berries as the first Berry in big piles for a while- they appear in several trees, but it won't be until after the sixth Trial that we find a Berry tree that has them as random picks.
Also found this one here while backtracking to try and get all the Berries I needed out of this pile. Honestly, I'm surprised it turned out Bethany got all six- I was fully prepared to have Ailey, Ray and Noah team up to help show all six.
...Cowboys? In Hawai'i? Turns out it's more accurate than you think- it's called paniolo and comes from Spanish cowboys hired by the natives to help them solve the problem "what do we do with these cows Europeans gave us?"
Now, can I say Paniola is adopting from paniolo's unique stylings rather than the mainland variety? Less confident.
Hi, Hau! You didn't seem to make it too far ahead, hm?
Ah, another matchup, hm? Found your third team member yet?
This line is actually kind of interesting, for something we're going to see later. For now, though, it does feel kinda interesting in terms of Hau's story that he's already challenged his grandpa...
Right away, there's something that I'm kinda skeptical about. Most stories I've seen about paniolo don't really suggest their culture included the "showdown at high noon" part of the mainland Westerns.
Also, Alola isn't west of much.
You do get a free heal before you get the showdown.
Also, that old lady with the Miltank is watching us excitedly too.
Hau's fourth battle sees him add a Z-Ring to his toolkit- prepare to be hit with a Z-Move from your buddy. There's just one problem (aside from the fact I don't see it on his overworld model)...
Hau, mate, where the hell is your third mon?
No, serious question- in our next battle with Hau, he will have added an Eevee to his team. Why doesn't he have that yet?
Hau's Pikachu has trained its Speed since last we met, now having 252 EVs in Spd alongside its flat 15 IVs and neutral Nature. He's also had some specialisation in his moveset: He's lost both Growl and Play Nice, focusing purely on Electro Ball and Quick Attack. He'd be absolutely frustrating to deal with...
Or would if I wasn't using Murphy. Other Ground types are available, but both Mudbray and Diglett have Abilities that do something when hit with Quick Attack. Mudbray has the better one, though.
Hm, where have I seen those exact numbers before?
Bulldoze has a much better result now that it's got that x2 SE multiplier, though.
Murphy learned Double Kick from that fight- a 30 BP Physical Fighting move that lands twice in a row. Perfect to replace Rototiller, and probably sticking around a lot longer than it sounds.
Leftovers sounds extra helpful when you realise that the HP it gets back is actually harder to take away the second time. Not quite fast enough to make it as dangerous as it sounds, but still worth worrying about.
It's a non-issue in this fight, though, since Murphy wants nothing to do with this Brionne. With that said, Brionne's set isn't that bad for Murphy, but still, it would be unpleasant.
Brionne (Ultra Sun): It gets excited when it sees a dance it doesn't know. This hard worker practices diligently until it can learn that dance.
There's something kinda funny about how Hau's managed to get his second starter stage before I did. I guess that's what happens when he sticks to a team he's comfortable with while I spread around like ten species. Brionne has some solid all-around BST improvements over Popplio, and has gained 252 IVs to join its 15 flat IVs and neutral Nature. It is holding Normalium Z, and knows the moves Aqua Jet, Disarming Voice and Pound. Unlike Pikachu, I think having a properly assigned moveset (rather than just one naturally generated from its level up pool) has hurt Brionne. And also means it's somehow found Pound again despite having "forgotten" that.
Zapple's going in for round 3 on finally getting to fight this starter without Oatchi's help.
So far, it's going well.
Zapple takes the chance for the +2 Sp. Atk.
And with that damage output, the decision was quite justified. With that said, if Brionne uses Aqua Jet next turn- and successfully performs it through paralysis- Zapple loses.
...Brionne didn't even attempt to use Aqua Jet that turn. If it had, it would have shown the "Brionne is paralysed, it can't move" message before Zapple fired. What, was Hau so worried about safety that he decided to go for the always-accurate Disarming Voice? Or was he going for... Breakneck Blitz?
Huh. I wonder what that number means.
It's called catching Pokemon that live further from your house than ten yards.
...Seems Oatchi didn't want to get left out of the evolving fun. As a matter of fact, not only did Oatchi evolve off this fight, but Moss, Mio and Sirehound all did too.
I could not have deliberately planned that.
Dartrix (Ultra Moon): Supremely sensitive to the presence of others, it can detect opponents standing behind it, flinging its sharp feathers to take them out.
Dartrix, of Doctor Who fame, has much the same qualities of evolution as Brionne did. It remains Flying type, as Rowlet was, and there are no special moves for evolving into second stage. For now, it is just a nice power upgrade.
You can say that again. Zapple's still sweating like mad. Or maybe that's just water from Aqua Jet...
Freebie. We could buy these, but still, freebie.
That's one way to put it. Since critical hits ignore stat stages it doesn't like, landing a critical hit on a Totem will ignore the defence bonus applied by a Totem Aura. The problem is that these defensive bonuses are usually the least of your worries in the fight.
...Considering where Hau, as a character, goes, I find it fascinating that this is his philosophy towards the beginning of his journey. Hau has what looks like really thick skin and brushes off any defeat... but there's the faintest hint of judgement on the game's part for this attitude.
You almost get the sense that Hau could stand to treat the fact he keeps losing a bit more seriously.
We won't see him there.
...That was fast, Rotom.
...
This is not paniolo.
This is super not a comfortable thing to say about "the time before cowboys". You know who lived in Hawai'i before paniolo? Polynesians. Those people matter. Real paniolo only came to Hawai'i because the natives asked for help dealing with all these cows.
Pokemon's sensitivity is... firmly in "needs work".
Tauros makes good livestock, at least.
Mine doesn't. I have to look for them myself.
Something else to dip into Ailey's run for, this pond has a special event in USUM.
...Team Skull are getting into a fight with a Vulpix over a literal bottle cap.
And they are losing.
I think it's meant to be the lady saying this, not us, although the timing definitely sounds like it's us.
...
The worst part is, Bottle Caps have an actual use in the Pokemon world.
I still think Vulpix would use the Bottle Cap better than Skull.
The lady asks us to do something for the poor fox. And possibly the Skulls.
You get kicked out of the conversation, and can move around wherever you want. Talking to anybody involved in the altercation starts the fight, including Vulpix.
Although they both challenge you to a fight, only one of them appears in the fight. He doesn't even have two Pokemon to pretend the Female Skull Grunt is helping.
Oh yeah, this is the first time either file has seen a Female Grunt. Those do exist- I believe evil teams got female Grunts in GSC. The first one we fight is much later.
He's just packing a Rattata. I think this is new for Skull Grunts, but, well...
When you go for Focus Energy and let yourself get oneshot by a Flabebe, you're kinda just going to have to deal with not being a threat.
I'd be upset if I got beat by a flower the size of my fingernail too.
Leave the poor little fox out of this.
Ailey actually steps in to tell Skull, to his face, to back off. She has her moments.
I'm sure next time, Vulpix will be happy to sprinkle some Powder Snow on you herself.
Hopefully Skull has outright forgotten this. I wouldn't put it past them.
Unfortunately, Vulpix doesn't exactly prove itself amiable to us any more than Skull.
No freebie Vulpix for us.
Something to keep in mind, then.
This guy, by the barest definition of such, is a utility NPC. He will tell you what the weight of your Pokemon is.
The sole thing he's concerned about is Grass Knot- a move that has the same BP calculation as Low Kick, but uses the Grass typing.
He also mentions that, if you're really worried about weight, you can always check in your Pokedex.
No, seriously, he's only worried about Grass Knot. 110 pounds is the point where Grass Knot goes from 60 to 80 power, so the idea is somewhat sound, but there's something else that Flabebe doesn't like: Heavy Slam. Heavy Slam is a Steel type move that changes in BP based on the difference between your weight and that of your opponent.
Flabebe is tied for "lightest Pokemon of all time", at 0.1 kg: the minimum weight the game can think about. Even in its final form, it's only 10 kg, Heavy Slam is at full power on 50 kg. Being light does not help Flabebe.
Litter items the Tauros guy, quite literally, brushed over.
This stall has a Tauros in SM, and a Miltank in USUM. The Tauros just roars, and you can't even talk to the Rancher (he's too far back). In USUM, though...
Talking to Miltank nets you a daily free bottle of Moomoo Milk for USUM players. Moomoo Milk heals 100 HP a gulp, and it's often the best healing item to have around until you get to the point that Hyper Potions become king. Sadly, this is not one of its best games- you can't buy dozens of milk from a farmer in either game, so Hyper Potions themselves are kinda this midgame item now. Still, though, they're the healing item of choice for DPPt and BW.
Well, that's a mention of something that you really wish would've showed up earlier. This is the game's fast travel system, allowing you to instantly teleport to a number of important locales at the push of a button. This was governed by the HM Fly in past games, requiring you to carry either a Flying type or something else that "flies" to access fast travel. ORAS was the first game to allow you to "fast travel" with a Key Item, but tying it to Poke Ride in this game makes it as convenient as it ought to be. SwSh later decided "you know what, just make it a taxi service." The things you don't realise they should've been doing all along...
It's going to be slightly annoying not to have this after the second Trial, as it happens.
Not really. Route 5 has a bit of a beeline once you get past the Ranch. The Ranch itself is kinda annoying, but not that long...
Paniolo is a tradition measured in centuries, but "way long back" kinda implies it was here since the start. Nah, that wasn't a thing, the Hawai'ians didn't start with cows.
There's an old man who sometimes appears here in USUM. Ray got him, but he was missing from Ailey's visit. I missed his explaining line, but he has a... weird function.
He will request to buy a random Bag Item for the fixed price of 5000 Poke. It's usually worth it, although I'm not sure what the pool of things he can attempt to buy. Don't sell anything you can't buy.
...I'm going to pretend that's what you want it for.
He'll only show up once a day, I believe.
...I think you should look into alternative theories.
Huh. Sounds important, but I don't think I've ever looked into the sorts of cattle training this would be looking into.
New Poke Ball variants!
- The Repeat Ball has a 3.5x multiplier when used on a Pokemon registered as "caught" in your Pokedex. This is rarely useful in the sorts of ways I play, but if you're going to catch multiples of a species to look for the right stats, these can be nice.
- The Timer Ball has a multiplier that increases the longer the battle goes on. The bonus is calculated as (1 + turns x 1229/4096), or roughly 0.3. The multiplier caps at x4, achieved on Turn 10. This is an excellent ball for both S.O.S. Battles and the toughest catches in the game.
- We've seen the Net Ball- it has a 3.5x multiplier on Bug and Water types.
This is the only place to buy Repeat and Net Balls, and coming up is a place filled with new Bug and Water types, but they're not that common.
...I'm not sure if "deign" is the word I'd use, but sure.
Kiawe's house is the one the Youngster is standing next to, and it's full of Magmars.
Magmar's a pretty neat Fire type. Maybe I'll see if Noah can fit one on the team. Pity it's not one of the teams that actually, you know, want Magmar for the bellhop.
Doesn't sound like a champ at cooking your food there. Sounds like you're putting food in front of Magmar and the cooking is an incidental process.
Up on the top floor, we can find a Magmar who's swallowed a Quick Ball for our use. Quick Balls have a x5 multiplier when used on the first turn of a battle- if you just want a species registered as caught, this is not a bad way to do it.
Over in here we have two empty rooms with nothing to even click on. There's a Totem Sticker in here in USUM, at least.
Now, there's a bit of a weird thing for me here- Paniola Ranch takes me too long to fit in this update, but this update isn't big enough if I don't include some of it. As a result, I'm only covering half for now- there's a semi-natural cutting point, at least.
Paniola Ranch is a nice proper route on its own, really.
Although I'm not sure this Madame is "working here". Not sure what she is doing, though.
I'm going to go around her, please and thank you. I have good reason, at least, albeit reason which will have to wait.
This guy will call us over when we pass by, and we'll be entering the meadow behind him. This is where I'm staying.
Oh, uh...
(Which one?)
One of the Miltank hurries over to tell her we got here. So it's Mallow, then. They really put this one at the front. And with good reason.
...Milk as a sauce? I mean, I'll take your word for it, but that's an unusual source of lactose in your diet.
The Miltank seem happy with it.
Mallow, following along with Hala, gives us our second Ride Pager, and one of the only ones that doesn't correspond to a HM.
Stoutland is the equivalent to the Dowsing Machine, a recurring Key Item that exists to tell you where all the items that aren't represented by visible Poke Balls are.
Stoutland, passively, moves at a speed slightly faster than Tauros's passive (slower than Tauros Charge). When holding the B Button, Stoutland slows down and starts sniffing, and the closer you are to an invisible item, the more alert Stoutland becomes. It's very much a Ride Pokemon of finesse than of strength.
There are three hidden items in this paddock, and four beyond it. They definitely wanted you to start Stoutland searching.
Lana is the Trial Captain of the first Trial of Akala Island, and we won't meet her until the time comes to do our Trial.
And off she goes, to go be lesbian somewhere else.
...Well, it's not terrible at that...
Stoutland has appeared! Stoutland is the final evolutionary stage of Lillipup, and when it came to choosing my mons, it really came down to "one of the boys is using Stoutland or Tauros, I can't really justify both". Tauros won, by a nose.
Not that Stoutland's nose is terrible. When the ! mark over your head is blue, you're close to something. When it is red, you're so close that pressing A will cause you to collect it.
I didn't guarantee they were good items.
No. I have heard something about being able to go there, though...?
I'd object to the redundant Trumbeak causing a disturbance, but if your neighbour's alarm clock is loud enough to be an issue, I don't think anyone's going to be complaining about the Trumbeak.
...The old-timey wagon is amazing, though.
Obedience tutorial. How much of a problem is that with trading Pokemon for farm work?
If you talk to the Tauros in the top-left corner of the paddock, an event will begin.
He's a new Pokemon here at the ranch, and taming him so he's in line with the other Tauros is an ongoing process.
So, probably someone I should be keeping back from.
Yeah, the insurance premiums would be nightmares.
...The who?
I've seen more than enough examples of "weak little girls" like you knowing exactly the right knots to push to get a vicious beast in line. It seems Paniola prefers techniques with a little bit more safety. As should most people.
Presumably, a relative of the Miltank Whitney owns.
"Do you really want to go another round with the Attract + Stomp + Milk Drink + Rollout wheel of pain?"
I want my money back.
And you know what, beating you in a fight is worth some prize money. That'll do.
This is, outright, a Trainer Battle against the rancher who owns the Tauros. Functionally, though, the Breeder himself is useless in this arrangement- all he does is pay us his prize money once we win.
Tauros (Moon): Although it's known to be a fierce Pokémon, Tauros in the Alola region are said to possess a measure of calmness.
Flat 15s, no investment. It's just like any other Tauros. Tauros is one of the tougher single-stage Pokemon, although time has not been kind to him.
The solution to an angry single-stage? Clearly another single stage!
Growl ought to be enough to make the right headway into this fight once it begins in earnest. Glad he started with Rage, though.
That's him after two attacks, once of which was before Growl. Tauros is tough, but Oricorio can manage him.
That one could hurt, though... that's a 65 BP Physical Normal move with no bonus effect. Tougher than most other things in our toolkit right now.
Excellent, that should be just the thing.
...
Ah.
That is what we call a very big problem. +12 Atk not only means Growl is worthless, but also Tauros can probably oneshot anything it outspeeds. Which, unfortunately, included Dottie- an ill omen for what else is in my bag.
Save me, Murphy!
Look at how much damage I took from a (STAB) 20 BP move. On a Pokemon that's supposed to be good at taking hits. Tauros is probably one of, if not the best user of the Anger Point Ability, it just sucks for Anger Point that it has better.
Bulldoze would either slow it down enough for something to outspeed it, or defeat it outright. Thankfully, "defeat outright" won out.
This one's a neat one. 60 BP Physical Flying, and if the opponent happens to be holding a Berry, eats it itself. Upcoming Totems are going to be holding Berries, and having the option to just say "no, you can't have that" is delightful.
Well, aside from the part where Tauros got crit. That wasn't fun for either of us.
It would've been funny if I actually caught a Miltank and then challenged this bull. Sadly, I have to leave the paddock to go catch one and then walk back. Seemed a bit too far to go just for a joke, especially since none of the runs want to use Miltank proper.
This Miltank will have to content itself with its accolades here.
Just as long as nobody drives it over a rock, it should be fine.
The Scope Lens, when held, grants the user +1 stage of crit chance passively. Best used on Pokemon that have access to other crit chance bonuses, so you can get those coveted 50/50 and 100% crit chances. Dottie, with her Air Cutter, sounds like a good such choice.
Funny he should mention that-
This is legitimately the same Breeder who brought us into the paddock in the first place! He has moved location, but his dialogue still displays what he was already saying about Stoutland.
This Breeder is new, though- the other female Breeders around here are all still here even after this event.
And this is what it said on the sign just outside we were rushed past. They love that "Moomoo" thing for Miltank farms- the very first one was called Moomoo Farms, that's why the item is called Moomoo Milk.
Next time: New features and new opponents.
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