Our team is now getting stronger by the day and raring to challenge the next route.
No time like the present!
Yeah, you know how we got Pokemon Breeding between "arriving in Akala" and Lana's Trial, and then Battle Royals between then and Kiawe's? Nah, Mallow's Trial is literally just up the road.
I know we're gonna be spending a lot of time on this route.
Right after Wela Volcano Park, SM shows off another of it's absolutely hilarious "so, was there supposed to be a thing here?" sessions. I am skipping absolutely nothing here. The difference between these two screenshots is sliding up on the Circle Pad.
The Dividing Peak Tunnel was added as a proper location in USUM, although all it is is a long pathway and a creepy theme. There are two types of visible encounters that may randomly appear here.
You won't find any of them in the first trip, presumably because the Ultra Recon event is in the way.
Honestly, the Ultra Recon encounter theme is less intimidating than the Dividing Peak Tunnel theme.
Same to you. Fortunately, we're not rematching them yet.
It is never left to understatement, just how much access to the power of Pokemon grants to the quality of life here. The ability to enlist Pokemon to aid in construction work grants them much greater building potential than what humans have managed to get animals to help them with. This is largely because Pokemon are much easier to instruct on what we're working towards, in addition to having greater powers.
Apparently Aura is something that can "rub off" on me. Hopefully it's not too strange.
Er... one. It's funny to think about the distribution of Z-Crystals- Akala has the biggest number of official Island Challenge Trials, but I'm not sure it has the most Z-Crystals to find.
Don't ask silly questions.
...Wait, I thought it was "all light" you lost, not just Z-Power? Maybe it's both.
At some point, we're gonna hear the story of how you lost that...
But not today.
They have an appointment to make, and we'll leave them to it.
Zossie: Wow! The aura readings are going crazy!
Turns around
Zossie: Hey! Ray!
Dulse: Interesting... So this is what you call a tunnel... I would like to investigate it further if we only had the time to do so... Greetings, Ray. It seems your island challenge is going well? It appears that my guess was correct: battling the Totem Pokémon, which are wrapped in aura, is having an effect on you as well. And those Z-Moves also envelop your ally Pokémon in aura, do they not? ...Are you able to fully control aura then?
Ray: Sure I can/Not Really
Dulse: I suppose it does not matter to us either way. But once... long, long ago... our world was also awash in wondrous light, like the light of those Z-Moves that you can use...
Zossie: Dulse? It's about time for our meeting.
Dulse: Yes. We will be getting the aid of a scientist who is well educated in the ways of Pokémon. We will need his help to find ways we might use our technology to achieve our goals.
Waves, leaves
Dulse and Zossie are mostly the same, although Dulse uses the player name while Phyco sticks to "young lady" for Ailey. I'm not sure if it's Zossie's personality as being "close to our age" or a genuine difference between her and Soliera, but I'm getting the vibe Ray's getting along better with his Recons than Ailey.
Anyway, Route 8 is beginning. It's another straight line, east to west this time, although there's a few tough trainers to find and battle around here.
Sometimes, it's worth looking at the movesets of your Pokemon and their evolved stage, and ask yourself if delaying the evolution to learn a key move is worth it. Sometimes it can be. And for Stone evos, it comes up often enough that I sometimes feel I delay too long.
In terms of "stone evos on the team", it is a valid option to evolve Zapple and Eunie now- both Beth and Noah have the required Stones- but I think there's moves just valuable enough to delay for.
There are two boss Trainers we've unlocked now, and this'll do a good bit to shore up the team before Mallow's Trial.
There's not a ton of Pokemon to catch around here.
A lot of NPCs on Route 8 are going to mention Poke Pelago, to try and get you to notice the mechanic's there.
Litter item here, for uh, some reason.
Ah, this is one of the first examples of an Aether Base.
Yes, this is a door. Aether likes its unnecessarily high tech looks.
Aether grunt with a Job for us in here. This is actually a kinda funny job for me in particular.
First of all, the justification is that Aether needs to monitor how the environment works in order to properly maintain it, and part of that is to maintain research on the subject.
In SM, they're looking for a Pokemon called Stufful.
Bethany was planning on adding one to her team.
Unfortunately, Ray wasn't really eyeing Goomy (and also, Goomy is a bit of a pain to grab), but it's nice enough.
It's always a good idea to cite multiple sources. Plus, if the Pokedex is wrong, perhaps we could write a stern letter.
Piece of cake!
Cash'll be OK, but the Stufful itself is the prize.
In SM, this place over here is just some more world-building.
...And they confuse the whole "so is it OK to tear off Slowpoke Tails" issue some more. I think Team Skull probably shouldn't be doing it unsupervised, but still.
Maybe it's a case of "don't tear off wild tails, they need those in the wild." Presumably, they have Slowpoke Tail farms, and the Slowpoke in these environments don't face the problems that Slowpoke might want their tails for.
You know, I'm genuinely not sure if this is the same Vulpix we found in Paniola. It would be neat if so, though, that'd be cute.
But yeah, obviously, this is USUM only.
Now that we're in the room, the Vulpix perks up, though.
Much like the Paniola Vulpix, this one is very impersonable, keeping others at a paw's length.
But if we have helped it, then it's happy to be receptive to us.
This is a nice little skit where we can come back to this Vulpix and give it a little attention.
Much like Paniola Vulpix, it's a day-based sequence.
I'm not 100% sure there's a proper mechanical reward here. But it's nice.
First day, we need to get it something to eat.
I usually wind up failing to commit because I usually don't buy these on my own. With that said...
Remember that weird sales lady in Royal Avenue? We totally do have a freebie handy...
Eat up, little guy.
Fortunately, we don't need to do this on consecutive days. Despite my sluggish schedule playing, I think I'll keep this progress in separate updates, depending on how many there are...
Anyway, as we come back outside, we are interrupted by this strange man in a lab-coat.
His gloves are filled with buttons, and his idle animation involves him pushing them absently. I believe, either in USUM or in both games, these buttons are actually making noises. I heard them best in the USUM games, anyway.
(Oh, this detail is almost not even important, but that scientist the Ultra Recons were going to meet is this guy. Their appointment finishes before ours begins.)
Colress is another nostalgia character, and he appeared as a major character in Pokemon B2W2- specifically the sequels, there. He's mostly just a cameo appearance in the main story, never being battled by the player until the postgame.
In both games, he was big on researching how one goes about bringing out the potential of Pokemon. Part of the reason he doesn't have much to do here is that he already learned what he needed in B2W2.
In B2W2, he had to learn this from Rosa. I prefer to think of it as him having explored alternative hypotheses, only for Rosa to prove that the bond with trainers was too powerful to be matched.
He has come to Alola to explore Z-Power, which is unknown in his home region of Unova.
I don't believe we've been acquainted long enough for that to be an issue. But yeah, sure. You're trustworthy enough... now...
I think this is just for the postgame in SM. USUM expanded his role slightly because he was useful to the Ultra Recons.
For now, he's just giving us a TM- and, rather fittingly, this is a move that was introduced in the Unova games! Flame Charge is a 50 BP Physical Fire move that increases the user's Speed by one stage on use. Surprisingly, a lot of Physical Fire Pokemon are slow enough to want this, with Moss in particular being specifically appreciative. Bethany's Fire type is a Special attacker and fast enough without, but funnily enough, Sam can use it. He's like one of the only non-Fire types that can, though.
"The next Trial is going to feature something weak to Fire and something in which Speed control is going to be a huge factor. Hint hint."
...I don't think he went to Kalos, did he? It is worth noting that he does have a Mega-capable Pokemon, and in postgame, he can randomly roll the ability to use that Mega.
Main story mention of Poke Pelago for the SM players...
Perhaps in better circumstances than you met Rosa.
Colress excuses himself at the end of the conversation by mentioning "oh, I need to contemplate this matter, please leave me to it."
You're saying that now...
Poke Finder under the Aether Base here. Yungoos/Rattata based on time of day, Crabrawler, and in USUM, Stufful.
I think we'll focus on the Trainers first, so we can get access to a home base on Route 8. That Backpacker is walking around this rock in SM, but she got moved behind the Aether Base on a back route for USUM.
Her dialogue and Pokemon doesn't change.
...Is this our first Trainer Eevee?
Whatever it is, Sam didn't do great with the Fighting coverage.
Funny I encounter this.
I dunno, taking a vacation because of your losers' ennui feels like "dwelling on your losses", there. Not necessarily in an unhealthy way, but it's definitely something that's taking your attention.
There's two Rising Stars standing on high ledges, looking down over the route here. Both of them have some pretty tough teams, comparatively.
You can go around them by getting on these ledges for yourself, though.
...
Aside glance.
I dunno, I've heard bamboo grows like weeds.
A Bounsweet and a Trumbeak in SM. It's still a Trumbeak in USUM, but he switched out the Grass type.
Phantump (Ultra Sun): By imitating the voice of a child, it causes people to get hopelessly lost deep in the forest. It's trying to make friends with them.
He went for a Ghost/Grass type, Phantump. We'll get our own in a ways yet, but it's a trade evolution, and also Ghost/Grass is a surprisingly competitive type combination in this region.
In beating the Trumbeak, Zapple attempted to learn Feint. Feint is a relatively important move- it's a 30 BP Physical Normal with +2 priority that will break through Protect. It's annoyingly hard to fit into your kit, but at least it's not still using its DPPt state, where it only dealt damage if it was breaking through Protect.
I like to imagine that this is actually intended in the scientific definition. Objects in high places have a lot of potential energy- that's a fact of physics.
Of course, an object uses its potential energy from being in a high place by descending from it.
This is a surprising edge case, but it is in fact true. Little weird he's mentioning it, though- no Pokemon in the immediate vicinity have it. The closest example is an Island Scan encounter.
This is the item that was nice and prominent.
Tall grass down here, on the south side- it can be hard to spot without keeping an eye on the map.
There's two little cavities, and I always think the one on the left has the item.
20% item for Grass moves. This is usually one of the first ones, huh.
And the other Rising Star has only one Pokemon!
...Miltank. Rising Stars do not specially invest stats in any way- this Miltank just has 15 IVs and the default set of moves. Yeah, uh... Miltank's base moves at level 21 are Stomp, Milk Drink, Bide and Rollout.
The only difference between this one and Whitney's is the lack of Attract. And even then, I'm not sure Attract > Bide is a downgrade here...
It would be really nice if I had a Stufful right now and wasn't relying on a bird for Fighting coverage...
Look at this. This is a route Trainer and I'm going to have to engage my boss fight brain. Good thing I'm carrying six members of the team at a time now.
...Here I am, hoping that Zapple can actually land that paralysis. Rollout, incidentally, is a 30 BP, 90% accurate Physical Rock move that doubles in power every time it lands a hit for five turns in a row, or until it misses the opponent. As a Rock move, it's hard to stop a Rollout rampage cold, you have to hope to kill the combo.
Paralysis can do it.
...If you're lucky.
Another way of pulling it off is to nerf its Atk- double of half is neutral, after all.
Good, killed that combo...
Time to roll for flinch!
...Hm...
Zapple, I think you can have the EXP from this.
It was some pretty nice EXP, and the less time Zapple spends as a Pikachu, the better.
She switches to Stufful for USUM. Normal/Fighting, try to hit it Specially if you can, but a much easier opponent.
...Do you actually have a way down, though? Like... from the ledge?
Oran, Sitrus, Chesto, Cheri, Pecha, Persim, and Lum on big piles. It's really not a good pile.
And one of these just beneath her.
This scientist has quite the habit of walking back and forward across the whole path in his route. It's annoying to sneak past this guy, especially with the terrible camera angle you get stuck with.
Also, encountering him introduces us to an interesting gimmick that happens to be found on this very route.
Archen (Moon): To all appearances flightless, it was able to glide down from tall treetops to snag its prey.
It's our first encounter with Fossils! Archen is a Rock/Flying type that is literally extinct. The details of how they exist in the present day is a subject for when we get our own access, but they exist largely in the possession of Scientists and the occasional major character.
This one went down pretty easy to K9, despite its best efforts. It's typically offensive, but K9 outsped and removed what little Archen had.
Shieldon (Ultra Sun): A mild-mannered, herbivorous Pokémon, it used its face to dig up tree roots to eat. The skin on its face was plenty tough.
His other Pokemon is the defensive powerhouse Shieldon, a Rock/Steel type that lives up to its name on Defence...
And is easy pickings to any half-decent Special attacker that hits it on a weakness.
It has the Sturdy Ability, but when you use your extra turn to raise your Defence higher...
Are we surprised?
Yeah, good idea, mate. I'd suggest making better use of Sturdy.
Amaura (Ultra Sun): It lived in cold areas in ancient times. It's said that when Amaura whinnies, auroras appear in the night sky.
Omanyte (Ultra Sun): Omanyte lived in the seas of antiquity. Its fossils have been found bearing bite marks from Archeops, so apparently Archeops preyed on it.
His USUM team switches Fossils entirely, to the Rock/Ice Amaura and the Rock/Water Omanyte, in order. These guys are on the squishier side, although one thing that gets particularly noticeable for me is that Omanyte has the exact same cry as Machop. RBY had a lot of cry sharing (I remember hearing there's only 18 distinct cries in that game), but I don't know why, this one always stands out to me.
Fossils! Dun dun dun!
There's always a Fossils guy somewhere in each region, and in this region, they've decided the guy who's doing it will be here to try and make a theme park out of resurrected Fossils. Hey, where have I heard that before...
In all seriousness, yes, this might be giving you vibes based on the Jurassic Park movies. This is an intentional reference- on top of "making a theme park out of resurrected fossils" being a pretty obvious connection, Jurassic Park was shot on the Hawai'ian archipelago, so the fact he is here, specifically, and not, say, in the Unova region has a greater degree of intentional Jurassic Park vibes.
Fortunately for the people of the Alola region, this guy (who even looks like Dr. Hammond) never gets any closer to his dream, no matter how many Fossils you show him. Now, granted, the fact that resurrected Fossils are Pokemon probably grants him a greater degree of control over his Fossils than Hammond, but still. Space is at a premium in this real estate.
This is the man to talk to if you wish to turn a Fossil (item) into a Fossil Pokemon (party member). I'm going to save discussing each Fossil for when Bethany is able to acquire Fossil items, as previously mentioned, but because a) Ray and Ailey have access to Fossils early and b) both Ray and Ailey actually plan to use Fossils, I'm going to be taking advantage of the fact the Fossil restorer is early and reviving these team members early.
In literally every game other than the original RBY, the Fossil restoration service is found before the Fossils, like this one.
Turning over a Fossil item instantly gets you the Pokemon. In DPPt, at least, you had to reload the room between turning over the Fossils and getting the Pokemon. I'm not sure when they changed it, but I'm glad they did.
Ailey's new team members will be the Rock/Bug type Anorith and the Rock/Dragon type Tyrunt. As per Ailey's rules of "only use new Pokemon", she is actually allowed to use six of the different Fossils, but this is pretty redundant- every single one of her options is part Rock-type, and she doesn't need six Rock types. I focused on a Fossil I like the design of and don't get to use much, and a Fossil that might just be filling an essential team niche at some point. These two also have two of the better movesets among Fossils- there are Fossils I'd like to get more use out of that Ailey is allowed to use, but they just don't learn good enough moves to justify their places.
I was going to say that you wouldn't have to worry about seeing these Fossils early, based on the fact that they don't strike me as useful in Mallow's Trial, but no, I'm going to admit that they actually managed to (somehow) find a niche.
Reviving those Fossils also got me the 30% Akala marker for Ailey. It's funny to think that all these Fossils count as Akala entries.
Ray's planning on giving Amaura a go. Amaura is a Pokemon fraught with difficulties, and also this team has three Rock-types now, but Candy is setting up for that being helpful to me.
Noah also wants to use a Fossil, but since he's in SM, he has to wait for when Bethany unlocks the feature herself too.
Two litter items of note here. Especially that Thunder Stone- that'll make sure we have the option of evolving Zapple. I kinda want her evolved, but she has a handy move at level 29...
Sadly, it's a Rare Bone in USUM. The Thunder Stone wasn't moved too much later, but still.
If you are very assiduous, you can acquire exactly 40 Totem Stickers and receive the second Totem Pokemon from Samson Oak before Mallow's Trial.
That's a surprise tool that will help us later.
The Pokemon Centre before Lush Jungle! Now I can go catch myself a new team member for Bethany.
Unfortunately for good pacing or taste, Ailey has found herself interrupted by Hau for a brand new event, placed here for... what can most tastefully be described as "good reasons".
The game is intensely interested in the idea of us going to Festival Plaza, and has thrown a sequence here to facilitate that.
I would like citations on both of those things.
If you've never visited Festival Plaza, the game will realise this and happily "correct" this "issue" by sending you that way.
By which I mean automatically send you there. This is the point in the plot where Ailey is going to be sent directly to Festival Plaza and sitting through her exposition dump. It won't send you there at all if you've already been, but the game cares way too much about you having gone to allow you to play the entire single player adventure without having investigated this terrrible, terrible multiplayer.
Honestly, I'm not even 100% sure I'm entirely comfortable with Hau engaging with the multiplayer mechanics. Multiplayer is one of those things that intersects with the idea of a self-sufficient world least well, but Pokemon insists on trying.
I'd guess it'd be neat if he picked up a Pokemon that only evolves by trade at some point, though.
...There are better ways of doing that, miss.
While Bethany was exploring for it, I secured a few KOs and got evolutions that raised me to 50% Melemele completion. Nifty.
Fletchinder (Ultra Sun): It scatters embers in the tall grass. Then bug Pokémon, frightened by the flames, come flying out, and Fletchinder gobbles them up.
The tall grass around here allows you to catch, directly, the evolved stages of Pikipek and Fletchling, Trumbeak and Fletchinder. I'd say this might cause you issues with evolution moves, but Fletchinder gets Flame Charge from evolving. Personal preference, practically, but don't forget about Dex entries. (You can only get Fletchinder in SM, it's Fletchling still in USUM).
Island Scan allows SM to find Luxio with Eerie Impulse in SM and Combusken with Low Kick in USUM on Tusedays.
Stufful (Ultra Moon): Stufful hates to be hugged or touched in any way. It will squirm, thrash, and resist with amazing power.
At last, in a 5% encounter, it's our new team member Stufful! Stufful is a Normal/Fighting type that goes all in on high HP and Atk, with a moderate amount of its other stats. Its real claim to fame is in its Ability, which allows it to have a strong enough physical defence build to be hard to take out without the right moves handy. And even attacking it Specially is only making your problem manageable, rather than completely bypassing that bulk. Its only real problem is that many of its weaknesses already bypass its bulk anyway.
Its Abilities are Fluffy and Klutz. Klutz prevents it from using hold items, ignore that. Fluffy, however, halves all damage it takes from contact moves, in exchange for taking double damage from Fire. All that bulk in exchange for an extra weakness? It's no Fur Coat, but it's as good as in 99% of circumstances! Its HA is Cute Charm (30% chance to infatuate on contact), turning into Unnerve (stops opponents eating Berries) on evolution. Not worth going for and terrible.
Welcome to the team, Lord Huggington.
You're "Pokemon as elements of the environment". The Pokedex is "Pokemon as things that biologically exist". Only natural the two of you are skilled at different areas.
A nice healthy pay check for doing something we would have done anyway. Win-win!
Meanwhile, my understanding of Stufful is "it cute", "don't hug it" and "tough on the battlefield". Think highly of yourself.
Now then, sweeping around the back here.
This is where the Backpacker would be in USUM.
And now for the cascade of like twelve of these before I caught something at all.
And a few more attempts to catch the rare find.
Chinchcou (Ultra Sun): Its two antennae glow softly to lure in prey, making it a useful Pokémon for night fishing.
Chinchou can be found 1 > 20% in SM, 5 > 35% in USUM. It is a Water/Electric type based on the angler fish, except it forgets to be as absolutely terrifying as it was in Finding Nemo. This, sadly, is matched by its battlefield performance. It has high HP, but only moderate to mediocre Sp. Atk and Sp. Def and terrible everything else. I used it once in a run of Emerald, and it was underperforming so badly that I started using Gardevoir for Electric coverage. When you lose your STAB type to someone running it as coverage, that's not a good sign.
Its Abilities are Illuminate (increases chances of wild encounters) and Volt Absorb (heals 25% HP when hit with an Electric move). Volt Absorb is the better option, but even then, it doesn't really have a plan past that- why is it fighting Electric types, it's not going to do much better back. Its HA is Water Absorb (heals 25% HP when hit with a Water move)- better, since it has a plan for Water types.
For marine biology nerds, it's 50/50 gender ratio. No, they either didn't know about or didn't include the angler fish gender dimorphism.
OK, Basculin was funny. How badly do you want me to use Gorebyss? Bethany can't even catch Clamperl!
It'll be a while before we find the other thing that drops Deep Sea Teeth for Huntail. Basculin can too, but only the Ultra Sun ones.
Heading back to the Pokemon Centre to chat with the locals, and we have... someone who I hope is just drumming up hype on Comfey as a Pokemon.
It's got a cool gimmick, but it's not making the team.
The devs still trying their best to figure out how blatantly they need to guide the audience into finding things. He even tells you to press X to use the menu.
I do think the Mohn cameo was preobably necessary, but it still manages to feel overdone.
The clerk here offers buyable Quick and Dive Balls, as well as an incredibly important type of Poke Ball for players of Moon and Ultra Moon. The Dusk Ball has a x3 modifier if used inside a cave... or if used at all during night hours.
To date, there remains no daytime equivalent. This is just legitimately a superior, cheaper Ultra Ball for Moon players. They clearly sorta saw this coming, since it used to be a x3.5 before SM, but the nerf only does so much.
...So, are we talking a Pokemon battle or the two of them in an actual wrestling match? Crasher Wake is a Gym Leader from the Sinnoh region based on masked wrestlers, like the Masked Royal, but unlike him, the character under the mask is not a distinct plot character. As a Gym Leader, Wake specialises in a type, which might give the more generalised Masked Royal an advantage, but also both the Royal's lead and his ace are weak to Wake's Water type, and he has no Pokemon that resist the Water type (he does have an Electric type, but Wake has Ground types).
In an actual wrestling match, as much as I respect the Royal, Wake has the physical size advantage.
The lady in the Centre who tells us the weaknesses of Grass types misses some. To be fair, Grass has a hefty five weaknesses. The full list is Fire, Flying, Bug, Ice and Poison. It's easy to look at this long list and judge the Grass type as defensively challenged, and while I can't deny that's a valid outlook, consider this: Flying is a type starving for high BP offensive options, Bug is a type starving for respect, and Poison was never considered a valid offensive type until it got Fairy coverage because "something else has Grass covered". By dint of Grass having so many weaknesses, many of its weaknesses got dismissed.
Don't take it for granted you have one. Especially don't take it for granted the one you have can carry you to victory.
...Well, that's blunt and to the point. This is another IGT found only in USUM, and it's... well, it's certainly an IGT. Fortunately, it requires the 30% encounter on this route.
So long, random Trumbeak!
Arbok (Ultra Moon): After stunning its opponents with the pattern on its stomach, it quickly wraps them up in its body and waits for them to stop moving.
And hello, random Arbok! Arbok is the evolved form of Ekans, and Basilissa had already evolved into it by the time I acquired it. The evolution does give Basilissa some extra oomph, but her days on the team remain numbered- basically the only reason I think she's still got time on the team is because two of the Trials found later on are weak to the Poison type.
Sadly, both Arbo and Basilissa are girls, so I can't stick them in the Day Care and produce tangible proof they're OK on their own.
Not that I dismiss the possibility they became partners otherwise, but the mechanics do not allow me to express that.
Basilissa knows Crunch, but otherwise, this is her exact set. The Nature and perfect IV in Defence exists because Arbo's major purpose is to be little more than a free counter to the next Totem, and even then I'm not sure how much of one she is. Glare, though, is a huge help. And of course, one can't say no to 7500 Poke.
There's a Preschooler with a bit of a narrative bit to him just outside the Centre in USUM.
He's... he's quite the little tyke. I'd hate to do this to his brother, but...
I'm sure he'll understand.
This Kangaskhan is actually given a proper kit. Its IV spread is 30/0/30/0/30/0, it has 252 EVs in Def and Sp. Def, and it knows the moves Fake Out, Fling, Reversal and Facade. It has no hold item.
I have some questions for his brother, for designing this set, but Kaleb does a good job playing it to what it's worth. I'm not sure if this is a special setting for Kaleb specifically or the Preschooler AI being particularly bad at this Kangaskhan, but this Kangaskhan is particularly likely to not use Fake Out Turn 1, use Fake Out on other turns, or use Fling at all.
Not pictured: Fake Out. Pictured: Kaleb lucking his way into actually clicking a productive button. Facade is legitimately Kangaskhan's best option. Not that he's got much he can do here.
Kangaskhan was just screwed her even if he was a good Trainer.
On defeating him, he feels more than a mite cheated, since his brother his super strong and how could we defeat his Pokemon so handily?
Oh, speak of the devil! This unnamed fellow is Kaleb's brother, and it seems Kaleb's little deceit has caught up to him.
You've been doing this multiple times? Would I be out of place to suggest the Kangaskhan he stole this time was specifically trained to not be plug-and-play?
It seems he saw this coming.
Perhaps to you, kiddo.
But even the mightiest Garchomp is nothing but a gimmick if it doesn't have the right kit.
...Well, that's the classic moral, but really, I think the bigger issue is not being familiar with your Pokemon and their strengths and weaknesses. It's close enough, but...
Being good enough at Pokemon to win with an arbitrary selection is a skill not even every competitive player possesses. That's the entire purpose of some postgame facilities, there.
Depends on whether you had the right matchup against your friends to begin with.
You get better kid. With whatever it is you have.
Glad you two have come to an understanding, then.
...A Lum Berry? Well, we need to get that out of a big pile to get it at all (and in fact I think this was the first Lum for one or both USUM players), but still... I do kinda feel that "only a Lum?" sense.
And with that, off they go to wherever it is they live.
East: Lush Jungle.
South: Some beach area.
West: Motel 8.
This kid talks to us about the Pokemon Wimpod. Wimpod is... certainly a Pokemon, all right, and just catching one is a bit of a thing.
They're normal visible encounters, so they only drop items after being defeated.
Over here, we have two Golfers- one actually swinging as if she were letting golf balls fly, the other waiting his turn.
Golfers are a new Trainer Class to the Alola games, and there's not very many of them all around. You get these two, another one as a boss Trainer in a later area, and a third one added to USUM. There's also a double battle with them as an event. They have a x60 money multiplier, and don't really qualify as interesting in any way inherently. With that said, however, there is rather a lot of evidence that there was supposed to be some kind of golf integration into the game- and keen-eyed USUM players may have seen one of the clues on the subject already.
They use miscellaneous Pokemon in SM, but they got changed to a specialty of "spherical Flying types" for USUM. Uh... huh.
Really, I'm using these two as a demonstration for Lord Huggington.
You have now been introduced to Lord Huggington.
Hug him at your peril.
I'll... sure. Golf isn't a sport that enjoys a spotless reputation, owing to environmental concerns with creating and maintaining the large spaces they require. On Hawai'i specifically, where land is a bit more of a precious resource than it is on mainland America, that could only be even worse. I don't really have a stake in these regards, but considering the rest of the stuff on the subject of Alola/Hawai'i tourism they don't really account for, I'm not too surprised that's not really highlighted here.
Female Golfers are basically Beauties with golf clubs, rather than a unique design. I'm not sure if they would've received a proper design had the golfing system been more properly implemented or what, but Maile is the only stand-alone female Golfer left, so...
Just Ctrl + C what happened to the Rockruff. Both it and Meowth are weak to Huggington's Fighting moves.
Presumably, this is worth penalty strokes in an actual match. I wonder what the penalty is for summoning Pokemon at all, though.
Spare Dive Ball behind here...
In USUM, Maile trains alone in the parking lot.
Alan has been moved over by the Dive Ball, and how he is practicing his strokes too. I do praise his balance, though...
Natu (Ultra Moon): The look in its eyes gives the impression that it's carefully observing you. If you approach it, Natu will hop away.
Hoothoot (Ultra Moon): It cries out at the same time every day. A long time ago, people cherished it and considered it a divine messenger sent to tell the time.
They use the Psychic/Flying Natu and the Normal/Flying-that-thinks-it's-a-Psychic-type Hoothoot, two Flying types added to the Alola Dex in USUM as counterparts of each other, despite not being assigned to the same area. I would rather not think their addition was solely to add more birds for the Golfers to use, considering the implications of them being round.
Oh, and yes, they changed Maile's field text to refer to Natu, rather than Meowth, although kept the subject of her conversation.
I have no idea how the Snubbull line has Intimidate, it really is too cute.
As usual, we can't check in to the motel.
...That... feels like something that should've been looked at more closely by now. Like... I'm sure real motels would ask more questions than that at that sort of transaction.
...On the other hand, it is a large wad of cash. And motels are the sorts of places people can manage to stay to have a roof over their head.
...Somehow, I am even more alarmed.
This vending machine works, but these prices are absurd.
Ah, hello there. It's none other than our old friend Gladion! Imagine knowing you're going to be in a motel for so long you pay for two years in advance... you want to talk about it?
I guess not.
Gladion does not enforce this request, although there's nothing for you to find in here, so you might as well comply.
Hidden litter on a rock behind the Centre...
Either Olivia just has exceptionally exacting tastes, or Mallow's cooking is of questionable quality. Somehow, I'm guessing latter.
Zygarde Cell in the cube...
Ah, off in the distance! It's a Wimpod! And if we get too close, it's going to rush off to a hidey-hole. We'll need to find some other way to snag it...
It's almost like this is the Trainer School and not the fourth Trial leadup.
Lapras Surf gets you the usual seawater fare, nothing new on the tables.
First Water Stone with a guaranteed appearance, in all games too! Water Stones can be used to evolve Eevee into Vaporeon, Poliwhirl into Poliwrath, Shellder into Cloyster and Staryu into Starmie. And we already have all four options!
- There's no real good reason to wait to evolve Eevee, and you'll probably miss a ton of Vaporeon moves if you do anyway.
- Poliwhirl's only good waiting move is Belly Drum at 37, and even that's pushing it.
- Shellder is eyeing Clamp at 25, Ice Shard at 28 and Razor Shell at 32. It depends on how badly you want to start shooting Icicle Spears.
- Staryu can probably get away with evolving now, unless you want Power Gem at 37.
Each stone evo also adds the dual type, and because of varying reasons, each is more or less ready to receive their primary STAB as soon as you evolve them. About the only downside is whether Water types are what you want to have handy right now.
There's a small island off the coast of Route 8 with a unique Trainer Class doubles pairing.
A Karate Family, combining Black Belt and Preschooler. I think this entire class was added for the joke of the Preschooler being the genius.
In both games, they only have a pair of Machop.
Oricorio took it so concretely the second slot is just here for EXP.
Uh, Guy, no you don't. That is clearly a temper tantrum, kiddo.
...Keep at it, you two.
Surfing north from their island allows you to dock back on the mainland, near a hidey-hole.
And behind the Wimpod.
You can run, but you can't hide!
Wimpod (Sun): This Pokémon is a coward. As it desperately dashes off, the flailing of its many legs leaves a sparkling clean path in its wake.
Wimpod is a Bug/Water type that, as made clear by its name, Pokedex entries for Sun and Ultra Moon, and its Ability, is a complete and total wimp. Knowing only the moves Struggle Bug and Sand Attack (it does, at least, have a limited TM pool), Wimpod will try its hardest not to get involved in any battle it encounters. Until it evolves, that is...
Wimpod's only possible Ability is Wimp Out, an Ability found only on Wimpod. If Wimpod is brought below 50% by taking damage (it turns out that Pokemon has a few ways of losing HP that do not trigger this Ability), it will either flee the fight (in a wild battle) or switch out (in a Trainer Battle). There are legitimate tactical considerations one can make about this boon in competitive play, but it can be a right pain to deal with in other situations.
Wimpod is a bit of an interesting Pokemon. I decided against using it because, like many physically-inclined Water types, it doesn't really learn any good Water moves, its Bug situation is a bit weird, and while it does have some decent coverage options, working around the gimmick wasn't something I wanted to deal with. Of all the options I've rejected for Bethany's team, Wimpod has probably been the most viable thus far. However, at least in part, I think I also rejected Wimpod because its evolution is the signature Pokemon of a distinctive Alolan Trainer, and in addition to Wimpod's weaknesses when raised, I also didn't want to take away from him.
67% chance. It's either this or Paralysis Net Balls.
(You have a 100% catch rate if you paralyse it, use a Net Ball, and have reduced it to at least 67% HP. ...Good luck with that.)
90, it turns out.
Oh hey, Wimpod dropped a Big Pearl. You can also get Nuggets.
Speaking of visible encounters, running through the Dividing Peak Tunnel can either get you another Wimpod (it is so hard to catch them in here) or one of these shadows.
Kecleon (Ultra Sun): It changes its hue to blend into its surroundings. If no one takes notice of it for too long, it will pout and never reveal itself.
It's a Kecleon! And we didn't even need the Devon Scope. Kecleon is a pure Normal type new to the USUM Dex, famous for its signature Ability to change types on the fly. Unfortunately, it sure ain't famous for much else. It has weirdly good Sp. Def, but middling Atk and terrible HP and Spd mean it doesn't really have much of a plan, and the way its type changes so readily means it doesn't even necessarily know whether it has STAB. It does, at least, get better with HA, but its low Speed means it can't even enjoy what is otherwise a broken Ability. This is another one I'm passing on (for Ailey this time), but at least this one is pretty clearly not fit for purpose.
Its only normal Ability is its signature Ability, Colour Change. If it is hit by a damaging move, it will turn into a mono-type matching the type of the move it was just hit by. Ideally, this Ability will allow you to resist whatever it is you're fighting by resisting their damage output. In practice, literally anything with a coverage move can probably find some way to hit you either super-effectively or even just neutrally by using their moves in a certain order. And do not send it out against Dragon types. Its HA is Protean, which allows it to change type into the move it is about to use, before it uses the move- meaning it always gets its STAB. This Ability (and its exact duplicate Libero) grant dangerous options to the Pokemon Greninja, Cinderace and Meowscarada (only one of which exists in this generation, as it happens, and we can't even get one with Protean), but Kecleon fails to follow in their wake because, primarily, it's too slow. If the other guy goes first, it'll still know which moves to use- the other three are so dangerous because they get the first move and prevent your opponent from knowing which of their moves will work.
Kecleon can drop Persims and Sitrus Berries.
Anyway, now for the Route Boss. She lives a little further up the route in USUM (about where the Backpacker is in SM, funnily), and will mention her prize ahead of time- not that the prize changes between games.
Bring it.
...You mean that metaphorically, right?
It turns out that no, she means this literally. Look at her right-wrist: That's a Z-Ring she's wearing, and she can and will use her Z-Move with her second Pokemon. The route bosses have stepped it up a notch.
Yes, the class design is actually modified if the Trainer needs to use a Z-Move. Ace Trainers will not be the only users of Z-Moves we encounter, although it will usually be them.
In SM, she leads with a Wingull. IVs are distributed 15/15/15/31/31/31, it has 252 EVs in Sp. Atk and Spd, and a Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk). Eileen is a Flying-type user, and Flying is a type that typically favours Speed. Her moves are, rather expectedly, Water Pulse, Air Cutter and Quick Attack.
Wingull has a Speed score of 66. I don't think anything I have outspeeds that.
So as nice as it is I got the Sp. Atk up, I don't think Zapple is the way to go for the Z-Move.
Fearow (Moon): Drawings of a Pokémon resembling Fearow can be seen in murals from deep in ancient history.
Her ace is Fearow (and is in both games, sorry about the night-time screenshot). Fearow's IVs are 31/31/15/15/15/31, 252 IVs in Atk and Spd, and Jolly Natured (+Spd, -Sp. Atk). Moves are Aerial Ace, Pursuit, and Quick Attack. That's a Spd stat of 75 and an Atk score of 65, for anyone who wants to goggle at raw numbers.
And of course, can't forget that Flyinium Z. A Supersonic Skystrike from Aerial Ace is rated at 120 BP- so, around the power of Fire Blast or Brave Bird. Hardly insurmountable, but still not nice.
...Come to think of it, although Ray and Ailey have had access to the Flyinium Z, I haven't actually used Supersonic Skystrike with either of them yet, huh? Angry Bird's been using Ray's for Z-Mirror Move.
Supersonic Skystrike does exactly what you'd expect a Flying-type Z-Move to entail- soaring high into the air...
And dive-bombing the target at speeds described on the Mach scale.
As a completely unrelated aside that I'm sure has no meaning, Diglett learns Aerial Ace by TM.
Murphy does not resist the Flying type, but has apparently decided that wasn't a good enough excuse to justify losing and decided against it.
I also taught it Rock Tomb. Cut its Speed score down to 50.
Now, do I have the Speed to outspeed that? Probably not, but it's much more likely!
...Probably not sticking around on that.
Fortunately, K9 is exactly what I need as a switch in.
Can take two of them, so will get a hit even if it is outsped.
And more than able to land the final Rock move.
Type advantages? Nah, mate, resists are where it's at.
You put up a good fight. Just kept my Rocks hidden from your Wingull.
USUM changes her team to have 30 IVs on the strong stats and 20 on the weak ones, but otherwise, all hidden stats are identical. She has switched her leading Wingull for a Fletchinder, however, and this causes her problems: That Fletchinder has Ember, Peck and Quick Attack, and Fletchinder is a Pokemon that wants to hit Physically. The real problem is and always will be the Fire type making it both more weak to Rock and also taking away her Rock coverage options. Sure, Fletchinder scares Ice types, but Ice doesn't resist Flying. It's the only one of Flying's weaknesses that doesn't. Ice didn't need scaring.
Their Speed stats are 71 and 79, respectively.
As a result of this battle, we are awarded a TM, and one that has a pretty good job counter-attacking the next Totem, as it happens:
Sky Drop is a move I've never felt comfortable using, almost entirely because it has some glitchy behaviour in the BW games (and also SM, too). Both glitches are weird edge cases, though, and should never come up in regular play if you know what the offending issue is. As a move, Sky Drop is a 60 BP Physical Flying move that will take two turns to execute: on the first turn, it lifts the target into the air, and on the second turn, it sends them crashing into the ground. While in the air, both the user and the target are considered semi-invulnerable, preventing them from being hit by most attacks (a few moves that are designed specifically to hit really high up Pokemon will get around this). Most critically, however, the target is rendered unable to act while suspended in the air. Sky Drop is a particularly broken move even if it weren't literally broken, and about the only check on its power it gets is, as of XY, it is unable to function on Pokemon that weigh 200 kg or more.
Incidentally, the glitchy edge cases are:
- In BW and B2W2, if, in a Doubles match, someone uses the move Gravity while two other participants are engaged in Sky Drop, they will both be brought crashing back down. Sky Drop is not supposed to work in Gravity, this is intended behaviour. However, the target of the move is not correctly removed from its semi-invulnerable state, meaning it is both helpless and invulnerable to all forms of attack that wouldn't work if the move were still functioning correctly. This glitch was so bad that Wi-Fi Randoms banned Sky Drop entirely.
- In SM, if a Pokemon attempts to use Sky Drop on a Pokemon that is using the move Spiky Shield, and its HP is so low that, in taking damage from this situation, it faints, the game gets a little confused, since it also didn't really think anything just happened. In this state, the user of Sky Drop is at 0 HP, and is completely immobile and invulnerable. A much more dangerous glitch, but much harder to pull off.
And more of them with Z-Moves, to be sure...
I don't think there's a reward for it in SM, but I do know there's at least one in USUM.
Heading west of Route 8, we find ourselves on Route... 5? Indeed, we are a literal hop, skip and/or jump from Brooklet Hill!
Our final of the Totem Trials will be close to where we began.
But first, let's see what's in the space to its south.
Nice litter item to start us off.
There's a few holes from which visible encounter dust clouds will dart out. All Digletts, of course.
And a small smattering of trainers! This is where we'll find the last few Trainers needed to fight the Route Boss on Route 5 we missed earlier.
Starting off with a Charjabug. Fairly standard Youngster fare, although the Bug/Electric typing giving it unconventional weaknesses (Fire and Rock) and a default kit with basically everything it needs to be a pain in the rear (Bug Bite, Spark, Acrobatics, the works), that's less normal.
Really working on Flambebe, huh?
You'll want to go to Japan for that one, shorts kid.
Zygarde Cell to the east of the Route 5 Pokemon Centre.
Yes, we do need to loop around for it.
...Gesundheit, sir?
He has a Makuhita as well in USUM, which kinda ties in to his dialogue, but also, still?
...Did you miss, or did you just get outsped?
...I both understand you less and more. I am going to go over there now.
Brutal Swing is one of the moves ever made. It is a brand new move to the SM games, and is a 60 BP Physical Dark move that hits everything on the field in a Doubles battle. As far as I can tell, the main reason it exists may or may not be to give Dark types a move that works on multiple targets, although its name and general theme work wonders on Stufful, one of the two Pokemon to learn it naturally. Its animation when using the move is so cute- it just flails "go away!". With all that said, though... 60 BP Dark coverage is a tough sell when a lot of things already have Bite, here...
More litter up here...
And be careful when going this way- that's an Ace Trainer, and while she's no Eileen, she's not far from it.
Ace Trainer Alexis has, like other Ace Trainers before her, given her Pokemon a few adjustments internally to make sure they're threats.
Also, take note of the fact that she's not got a Z-Crystal, so her intro pose doesn't show a Z-Ring. Nice comparison on that, there.
Goomy (Moon): Its source of protection is its slimy, germ-laden mucous membrane. Anyone who touches it needs some thorough hand-washing.
Her lead is the first stage of Kalos's psuedo-legendary family, Goomy! Goomy is a pure-Dragon type with a fair defensive bias, and that shows with a fairly strong-for-a-first-stage base Sp. Def of 75. Alexis has supplemented it with an IV of 31 in HP, and the moves Dragon Breath (60 BP Special Dragon, 30% chance of paralysis) and Bide (to take all the damage it suffers and throw it back). Unless you happen to have a good physical option, particularly an Ice, Dragon or Fairy one, this might not be as easy to defeat as it looks.
USUM kept her team the same, but changed her 31 HP IV to a 30 HP/Def. You know, to make hitting her where it hurts harder.
Draining Kiss may not be Physical, but it got the job done.
Sylveon has come to play. Draining Kiss and Swift with a 31 Sp. Atk IV (30 Sp. Atk/Spd in USUM), this thing uses its own naturally high bulk to invest in offense and hurt you back with one of the more painful times to find resistances and weaknesses for.
I'm fairly sure she's Cute Charm (most ordinary Trainers don't pack HA, and even bosses often skip them), but sometimes that Swift hurts hard enough I question if she's not secretly on team Pixilate...
Woodstock is almost a textbook counterpick, having STAB physical Poison moves, but even he has a Dark subtyping that costs it its Fairy resist.
And Draining Kiss healing 75% of damage output is keen to take advantage of that. Who needs defensive investment when your offense stat heals you so much?
(Idle observation: Razzly might be able to pull this off later...)
Fortunately, Woodstock can hit just hard enough to break past.
...Between you and the largeness of Gabriel's area, this side of the Route hasn't instilled me with a lot of comfort.
Well, that sure was a prize.
With Caleb, Gabriel and Alexis defeated, we now qualify to take on the Route 5 boss Trainer.
Bring it.
...I know Lana's nearby, but what is with this route?
OK, there's something surprisingly funny about this class. Trial Guides are, fairly obviously, rare Trainer Classes that exist only in the Alola region, and they are unisex, so we can fight the females too. SM has only one of each... and USUM took out the female one we can find later. In USUM, this is the only Trial Guide fight in the game. Their payout is x48, putting them equal to Rising Stars and below Ace Trainers. Not bad for a volunteer.
In SM, Bronson's only Pokemon is a Slowpoke. 31 IVs in HP and Sp. Atk, it has 252 EVs in Sp. Atk and Sp. Def, and a Modest (+Sp. Atk/-Sp. Def) Nature. Its only moves are Confusion and Water Gun, and it of course has its Psychium Z. Honestly, I feel like it should've got at least Water Pulse, although maybe Psybeam might've been overkill. I dunno, Eileen was using Aerial Ace for a Z-Move before... maybe Slack Off in a third slot?
Even on the weaker defensive stat, that's still a lot of remaining HP...
That is one badass Slowpoke.
...I notice it doesn't have an angry-eyes expression for manifesting Z-Power. 100% fitting.
Shattered Psyche is running at 100 BP from this Slowpoke, and it's a Z-Move whose availability gives me some cause for concern, so I'm glad we get to see it here.
With that said, I don't think Slowpoke is really selling this part of the move. The Psychic type focuses, harnessing is power...
And shoots out a psychic blast at its opponent, grabbing it with telekinesis and flinging it away. This is something sold much better when the user has limbs.
The target gets flung against several invisible walls in every which way-
Before breaking right through that one.
...
...
Slowpoke: "So, did I win?"
Sorry, Slowpoke. Better luck next time, eh?
On that subject, Bronson may be the only Trial Guide in USUM, but they've shaken up his boss fight rather well here.
Starting off with the fact his Slowpoke no longer has the Psychium Z. It has changed to a 30/20/20/30/30/20 spread, 252 EVs in HP and Sp. Atk, and a Timid Nature (...they were told it was a Slowpoke, right? Timid buffs its Spd from 17 to 18!), adding Yawn to its kit. Yawn's not horrible- it can inflict Sleep from after Slowpoke's defeat- but it's hardly any better here than it was before.
That Sp. Def bulk did go somewhere, though, since Crysantha was unable to finish it off. Admittedly, it's not exactly running STAB here.
That was an unfortunate wait for things to happen.
His second Pokemon is Mr. Mime, and of all the options they had, they went with... this. 20/20/20/30/30/30, 252 EVs in Sp. Atk and Spd, a Modest Nature, and its moveset is composed of... Reflect, Light Screen, Double Slap and Psywave. They were informed that Psywave's damage is a fixed number, right? Its damage range is 12-36 here.
Now, Mr. Mime could attack us with that massive Sp. Atk stat it's got there if it used its Z-Crystal to run the 100 BP Shattered Psyche off Psywave.
Unfortunately for somebody involved, they either forgot Reflect and Light Screen are Psychic moves, or didn't think through the implications of this kit all the way. The first thing this Mr. Mime usually does is use the Z-form of one of its Screens instead. This applies +1 to whichever defensive stat is increased by the Screen, and completely squandering its Sp. Atk stat in the process.
The weird thing that happened here is that it decided Light Screen was the way to go, despite the fact Basilissa is a physical attacker. Does it know it's stuck with Acid?
Or, I suppose, that it was Anna the whole time?
It goes for a kinda mean Double Slap for -Atk, but the real thing that makes this Mr. Mime annoying is that its insistence on maintaining Screens makes it hard to properly get rid of. Brick Break is a double resist, so that won't even help.
Less Double Slap for you...
And now for the long, long process of getting all that HP removed.
One Acid at a time. Maybe I should've gone for more Fake Tears...
And you... could probably use some shoring up on yours, Bronson.
Nature Power is a move I always struggle to remember what it does. It changes its effect in certain situations, which is equally true of the moves Secret Power and Natural Gift, and because all of their effects are so hard to manipulate in your favour, I never use them enough to remember the differences. Nature Power's effect is that it will turn into a different, pre-existing Special move based on the terrain the battle is taking place in.
- Buildings, roads, plains, and Link Battles: Tri Attack (Normal, 80 BP, can inflict Burn, Paralysis or Freeze).
- Grass, field, flowers: Energy Ball (Grass, 90 BP, can lower Sp. Def)
- Caves: Power Gem (Rock, 80 BP)
- "Sand, dirt or rock": Earth Power (Ground, 90 BP, can lower Sp. Def)
- Water: Hydro Pump (Water, 110 BP, 80% accurate)
- Volcano: Lava Plume (Fire, 80 BP)
There are a few other areas we can encounter later, at least one of them is a spoiler, but on top of the fact that there's a lot of cases where Nature Power's move will not be useful because most Pokemon in these environments resist the move it becomes, it can often to be hard to tell what environment this particular battle is counted as until it's too late to decide whether you wanted to bring it.
Sadly, Ailey does not shine as bright as the moon, but still. Shucks, man.
Thanks for the words of encouragement.
Anyway, time for some foreshadowing to pay off. Let's check in on our new Totem Pokemon.
Ailey receives Lana's Totem Araquanid, and... well, it's cool, of course, but it's hardly that amazing. The lack of physical Water options really hurts it- it wants to use that Water Bubble, but all the moves that make it so great are locked behind late- or post-game timings.
But that's not why I wanted all 40 Totem Stickers.
Say hello to the Totem Marowak, 98 kilograms of fury and three levels underneath where the player is allowed to evolve their own Marowak. There are several reasons that even people who want a Marowak would choose to use the Totem instead of one of their own choosing.
- Free perfect IVs in three stats and a save-scummable Nature- or even a fixable one if you have the right Synchronise mon. This matters less if you don't care about this under-the-hood stuff, but this Marowak has a good chance of being better than anything you catch.
- Rock Head for the Ability. It was this or Lightning Rod, which gives it an Electric immunity (and a useless buff), and while Lightning Rod is nice, Marowak's later weaknesses are partially covered by the Rock Head Ability, and already Theodore's securing his long-term prospects.
- Access to the move Will-O-Wisp. Will-O-Wisp is a Status Fire move that applies the Burn status ailment to an opponent with 85% accuracy. Burn is an amazing Totem-control status, applying both DoT and a free half-attack, which can often be equal to or even better than half-speed and turn skip from paralysis. The problem is that Will-O-Wisp is not available for a vast majority of the Totems, or indeed at all until the TM shows up on the fourth island. It's not the move you came to Marowak for, but it turns out it's willing to provide.
- Access to the move Shadow Bone. Shadow Bone is an 85 BP Physical Ghost move with a 20% chance of lowering Defence, almost designed specifically for the Alolan Marowak. It is indeed its signature move, but in what was almost certainly some kind of mistake (whether accidental or structural), it is set to be learned by Marowak only at level 27, and thus no home-grown Marowak may touch it until the end-game Move Reminder. Theodore, however, will achieve level 27 naturally, and may thus learn it conventionally.
I see no bad arguments here. Only thing I'm a little cautious on is the lack of a Fire move, but we have a Flame Charge TM-
Oh, right. USUM.
Next time: Mowing the lawn.
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