Tapu Village is a very small settlement- in many regards, this is basically a glorified Route Pokemon Centre. In context, one gets the impression this used to be a lot more expansive a location than it now is, but at this point, the only indication it's a location is the name.
That's certainly one reason. I thought they were going to mention the other thing, though.
Yeah, Kukui told me about it. It's really something, though, to see the entrance to this place in a village like this.
The Elite Four are incredibly important people in the world-building, being stronger than the Gym Leaders and forming part of the onslaught of the Pokemon League Challenge. At the same time, though, they are also traditionally Pokemon's least developed characters, with every region including at least one member who doesn't appear until the player attempts the League Challenge, and usually multiple- in fact, it is often the exception to see Elite Four members outside the League Challenge.
Galar may have been onto something when they decided not to bother.
The Island Kahunas are the members of the Island Challenge who are explicitly equated with the Elite Four. In spite of the fact they are fought during the Island Challenge, I agree with this assertion, and also think the Island Kahunas fill the role of the Elite Four much better than the Elite Four traditionally does. Kinda wish the series would come back to this idea at some point.
Oh, pfeh. Our Elite Four's going to have plenty of Kahunas in it.
OK, that came out of nowhere. The Aether House is our next destination, but it hasn't yet been textually named yet.
Also, seriously, Rotom? I'm not even gonna tell you how much of an idiot you're being. I think that goes without saying.
The Rotom Pokedex changes its line in USUM anyway, but look at how USUM managed to find a place to squeeze a mention in! And it's only slightly forced!
Hau repeats his SM cutscene here, although the cutscene continues a little longer past this.
For one thing, he acknowledges the fact that the group "Island Kahunas" includes his grandpa, and proudly proclaims that he's unbeatable in a test of skill. We'll see about that one.
This conversation is going to be another appearance by the Ultra Recon Squad- and what I think is the only one on the island of Ula'ula!
Both sides do an Alola wave this time. You'd think they'd have Ailey fire back with one more often.
Also, I noticed that the theme took some time to kick in. Not sure why.
As it happens, more than any other, Tapu Village is a place particularly important to the Ultra Recons in particular:
You know that thing Tapu Bulu was fighting against in the distant past to earn this village its name? Sounds like that thing was Necrozma.
Hau actually gets a dedicated moment to change to this animation. Pokemon's pretty bad about making this sort of emoting a background animation.
...That's the origin of Z-Crystals? All the major gimmicks tie in to a display of power in the history of the series- the firs one was Mega Evolution, which was as part of man's hubris, but later ones, starting with the Z-Moves, tie more into the Pokemon just being strong. I've never been one for this sort of plot point in many games- mainly because it tends to owe itself to being hidden out of the way of the plot and themes until it suddenly decides to be relevant at the very end- and Pokemon is no better at it than its contemporaries. The fact that Pokemon has more pieces to juggle tends to explain the issue for it, on top of the series having much lower ambitions- I'd rather Pokemon put more effort into the League/Island Challenge and the evil Team plot than this sort of mystery with the legendaries in the first place, so the legendaries typically getting the short stick is honestly ideal.
Z-Power is explicitly Necrozma's power. How that power gets into the Totems goes unexplained, but perhaps it's how them "holding" the Z-Crystals manifests, as opposed to them getting Z-Moves.
The whole "human" element of the Necrozma thing still gets some focus, at least.
One might call that a pretty horrible idea, in general. Like, greed explains it, but wow.
When they say "their light was stolen"... they mean it. They don't have natural light anymore. It's all artificial light in their world. Necrozma's power is not something to be understated.
They don't go into detail on how they expected this to work, given their failure to do the "stealing Necrozma's power" thing in the first place, but they certainly had no expectations about it being a permanent measure.
Yeah... when Necrozma gets out, it's probably coming to find somewhere else full of light to feast after being isolated for so long.
Thank you for aiming a ticking time bomb directly at us, Ultra Recon ancestors.
While that's probably the right thing to do, it also sounds like the sort of thing liable to end in Necrozma being even more unstoppable on its furious rampage.
We can't ask it for help, can we? I know some Pokemon can communicate ideas, but I don't think we have anything that works here?
...
Mate. We're literal children. I don't know what's worse: the fact you're making this suggestion, or the fact that I think your suggestion has merit.
Yeah, Hau, I'm with you. Or at least, I wish I was with you.
That, at least, is a true statement.
As admirable as that might be, I'm worried about the possibility that won't be an option.
Zossie: An Alola to you!
Dulse: So this is Tapu Village! We will need to investigate it quite thoroughly. According to the records we have left to us, it seems that this is where Necrozma battled against the tapu when it came to Alola long ago, hungering for its light. It may be the case that the power which came pouring out of the Ultra Wormhole at that time is what changes Pokémon's regular moves into Z-Moves. Such theories have been suggested... Our ancestors were greedy, and they sought to control all of Necrozma's light... But what was the result of all that? They only hurt Necrozma, making it lose a part of itself and causing it to run wild and steal all the light it could find!
Zossie: That's why we have Necrozma cooped up in the Megalo Tower our great ancestors built. It contains Necrozma in its rage.
Dulse: But that facility has reached its limit... And Necrozma hungers for light... That is why we came to Alola in hopes of finding a new method to defeat Necrozma. Yet... It seems it will be a difficult mission for us, who are so new to Pokémon battling, to ever hope to defeat Necrozma.
Dulse and Zossie largely talk about the same topics, this time, but have the sole ambition of defeating Necrozma. An ambition I can get behind- we can worry about whether we can tame it when we're not worrying about whether it'll wipe Alola off the face of the planet first.
Rotom, at last, brings up an interesting point that nobody else has- you remember that solar eclipse at the start of the game? That, uh... might've been a more ominous sign than Kukui read it. Not that it surprises me.
Hau hangs around out here, repeating one of his last lines in both SM and USUM.
Shouldn't you be actually working?
Particularly seeing as there's a Trial Guide operating as a roadblock anyway.
In USUM, we are allowed into the base of Mt. Lanakila early, for one important reason. The encounter tables are the same as the ones in Tapu Village, and I'll go over them when Bethany gets into her grass.
There are two weathers you can find out here: Light snow, and heavy snow. Heavy snow happens in the 6-12PM timeslot (so, around the time I'm normally playing Ultra Moon for the blog), and causes Hail to happen in battle. This is the more preferable way to get a particular weather spawn.
We're roadblocked from going up further because of the still-in-construction lift, but this at least makes it look like the construction workers are doing their jobs.
...She's talking about something over on Route 14, not that empty lot over next to the Pokemon Centre. I'm amazed there's no hidden items in the latter, actually.
Zygarde Cell here.
...I dunno, saying Tapu Bulu destroyed that place sounds right- just because it was justified doesn't mean it wasn't angry. But yeah, Tapu Village used to be big enough to host a Thrifty Megamart- but Tapu Bulu wasn't partial to that.
This is implied to be so recent that the guy who built the currently-standing Megamart is the same man. Fortunately, Tapu Lele didn't seem to mind Royal Avenue nearly as much.
This sign's still standing, though.
I could honestly believe you haven't seen that yet, but still. We unlocked Pelago ages ago.
(Incidentally, arriving at Ula'ula means that Poke Pelago has chances of giving you Trevenant, Poliwag, Staryu, Pinsir, Fletchling and Pyukumuku in SM, and Pinsir, Hoothoot, Natu, Hawlucha, Comfey and Pyukumuku in USUM.)
I'll get back to you on that. Bethany has a spare Gastly in her Poke Pelago stuff, so I'll just need to get that to level 25.
Considering the existence of the Liquid Ooze Ability? Probably.
He was bragging about that? As far as I know, I do not need to put my clothes in water to make them comfortable.
...
OK, so that's technically laundry, but...
I think it has more to do with Colress not understanding when one is supposed to stop adding functions to his clothing.
...Is it a function of how many Pokemon are on my Pelago? That sounds like a possibility, but one I don't think we've numbered.
In SM, there is no second cashier, but USUM adds one selling the X Items. Again.
Anyway, there's a Veteran standing outside the Pokemon Centre that would like to challenge us to a battle, and he's a tough cookie.
Shiva is a no-brainer for this fight- he uses a lot of Dragon types.
Anna's job is to do a ton of damage with the high Atk power of some of the targets.
And Ridley's job is to tank their hits and Draining Kiss the HP back from them. I think I've decided that she ought to pack Icy Wind instead of Signal Beam since this shot, but I'm not sure I put it on her before this fight.
Shade really loves the Move Tutors on Ula'ula Beach. Pity she doesn't have her Fairy move yet, but Ice Punch lets her hit Dragons SE anyway, and Iron Head means she actually has one of her STABs now. Which makes her a Pokemon with a great defensive typing and the Intimidate Ability.
Moss is here for EXP. I'm aiming to get Oatchi, Moss and Mio evolved in the Ghost Trial.
Crysantha is, if anything, even more important for a Dragon fight than Shiva, for her defensive capabilities. With that said, I think I'm giving the edge to Shiva's Speed. She's in slot six, so Anna will turn into her and avoid Dragon moves. If that helps.
These sound like checks, but I have no idea what he's counting and if it's possible not to qualify for this boss fight. Ray has fewer Trainer battles, oddly, which I think is because of the Battle Buffet.
I'm not showing it this time, but I did have a failed fight with this guy the first attempt. Ailey's team in general isn't exactly what one can call "great".
I wonder if I've got you beat if you count every single game I've ever done.
Angus is one tough boss- he's got actually well-kitted moves to watch out for, too.
Shelgon (Moon): They lurk deep within caves- motionless, neither eating nor drinking. Why they don't die is not known.
His lead is the middle stage in Bagon's evolutionary family, Shelgon. Shelgon is pure Dragon, and makes the Bagon evolutionary chain look like an early game Bug type line. Shelgon is not the joke Metapod and Kakuna are, however, with 95 Atk and 100 Def at base. Angus's Shelgon leans hard into this statline, with the IV spread 30/30/30/15/15/15, 252 EVs in HP and Def, an Impish Nature (+Def/-Sp. Atk), and the moves Dragon Claw, Zen Headbutt, Brick Break and Double Edge. That's an 80 BP STAB move, a 75 BP coverage move for Ice types, and a 120 BP Normal move it doesn't get recoil for (its Ability is Rock Head). And in some ways, Shelgon is the easy one.
Tapu Village seems to be in this permanent state of rain. I think it can also hail, but I've never seen an absence of weather. If you happen to have a Water type with both Swift Swim and an Ice move, now seems like the time to use it. Considering we don't have the Ice Beam TM yet, I wouldn't count on it.
Frost Breath was enough to handle the Shelgon. A lot of my problem with Angus on my first attempt revolved around trying to save Shiva for his ace, taking lots of damage from Shelgon in the process, but the ace is too fast for Shiva to delete.
Ridley makes a better counter for said ace.
Gabite, we've seen before from Ryuki (Pokemon does seem to be aware of the fact that Gabite is the best psuedo-legendary from a statistical standpoint), and it also serves as Angus's ace in this fight. 30/30/15/15/15/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd, and an Adamant Nature, making it dangerously competitive, and knowing the moves Dragon Claw, Earthquake, Iron Head and Shadow Claw. 100 BP STAB and 80 BP coverage on Fairies is the sort of thing you see in the best of the best- Angus should be treated as such.
Gabite has 97 Spd- so, it even outspeeds Anna. My only option, therefore, is to tank the hit. Remember what I said about racking up damage on Shelgon? Ridley couldn't tank a hit when she was taking a bunch of hits from Shelgon, Draining Kiss or no.
Part of the idea of the Big Root is that I need a lot of HP back to land the second hit.
...Gabite has Rough Skin? That's its HA! Rough Skin inflicts 1/16 damage to anyone who lands a contact move, and while Draining Kiss is a Special move, it does count as contact.
Fortunately, Ridley managed to survive the second Earthquake even with that in mind.
I think this says a lot about Draining Kiss + Big Root.
Sliggoo (Sun): It has trouble drawing a line between friends and food. It will calmly try to melt and eat even those it gets along well with.
His third Pokemon is Sliggoo, Goomy's middle stage (and an underlevelled one, Goomy won't evolve until level 40). Sliggoo is the Special wall to Shelgon's Physical, and mostly seems to exist to make sure that Special Ice/Fairy sweeper you're using doesn't have it too good. 30/15/15/30/30/15 IVs, 252 EVs in HP/Sp. Def, Calm Nature (+Sp. Def/-Atk), and the moves Dragon Pulse, Sludge Bomb and Thunderbolt. Another lovely set of much-higher-BP moves than I have, with Sludge Bomb covering Fairy types and Thunderbolt aimed at the aforementioned Water types with Ice moves.
I don't have its Ability on hand, but I can rule out its HA based on what you are about to see, so I'm led to suspect that, if Angus has actual thought put into his Ability, he'll have gone with Hydration. So at least he's benefitting from this perma-rain.
No, this wouldn't really have blunted Gabite enough. And the switcheroo to give Ridley the benefit would cause her to take two Earthquakes without a Draining Kiss in between. I don't think she can handle that even at -1 Atk.
If Sliggoo was HA, that would've lowered my Spd by 1. As is, it's not STAB, but it's still SE, and as a Steel/Fairy type, Shade is immune to both Dragon Pulse and Sludge Bomb.
Thunderbolt paralysing stinks, though. I'm almost certainly going down next turn.
Moss has the Eviolite, so she can probably take two hits.
Like so.
Dangit. Ah well, I think Leech Life is higher BP than Shadow Claw, so that was the better play.
Because now that Sliggoo knows it's aiming at Moss, it can use the higher power Dragon Pulse. Which Moss can take, but the extra HP from Leech Life helped.
But I can finish with anything Moss has.
I'd say I've fought stronger Dragon-type masters, but I had better team options for many of those fights. Maybe Clair's a good comparison here, though.
This is possibly the only instance of a generic Trainer having a line of dialogue go for six lines without stopping. Even in cutscenes where named characters exposit at us for far longer, they usually pause for breath (and clear the dialogue tray) more regularly. Probably a translation thing, or they didn't think too hard about the fact that the addition of Angus's explanation of his prize would cause the sentence to run on too long.
Hah, me criticising a guy for run-on sentences.
Anyway, this item. The Choice Specs are one of the most powerful of all hold items for Special sweepers, and this is the first time they've been available in the main story since HGSS. A Pokemon holding Choice Specs is given a boon of x1.5 Sp. Atk, the highest of any held item (Expert Belt, the traditional second-favourite, is x1.2), but in exchange, you will be forced to spam the first move you click. This means we can't stack these with Nasty Plot, Agility, or defensive buffing moves, but in many battles (both casually and competitively), the sorts of Pokemon that want this item will only need one move before they have to switch out.
There are two variations of this item, boosting Atk and Spd instead. Neither will be available during the main story, with the Atk boosting item having never been such.
Ailey's really feeling the burn with some of these harder fights, but I have the highest of hopes.
Anyway, with that done, it's time to start hunting for new Pokemon. And this grass contains lots of good Pokemon.
In Sun and Ultra Sun only, we can find the Alolan form of Vulpix. This thing is probably my favourite Ice type of all time, so I may be a bit biased, but I love this thing as a choice in Ice type. High Sp. Def and Spd, with a pretty high set of stats on the side, its evolution is an amazing Ice/Fairy type, crippled only somewhat by its x4 Steel weakness it has as a consequence. It loses out on Baby-Doll Eyes and Icy Wind due to its high catch level, but we're getting to the point where those lose value, it gets Ice Beam at 36 (making it one of the best Ice users for the phase of the game between then and when we get the Ice Beam TM), and it gets Dazzling Gleam for evolving. About the only issue is getting its Ice Stone, and there's a freebie not too late if you haven't got one from Pelago yet.
Vulpix's only natural Ability is Snow Cloak, multiplying the accuracy of moves used on it by x0.8 while in Hail- good if it's hailing, less good to go out of your way for unless you're planning on using Aurora Veil. Its HA is Snow Warning, allowing it to set Hail for being sent out. It's not the Pokemon that's intended as the designated Hail setter, but since Kantonian Vulpix was the first non-legendary Sun setter, it inherited that strength. Because Hail is hard to benefit from unless you're an Ice type, its value on a mixed team is somewhat questionable. It's not unworkable, but I wouldn't want to try.
Sandshrew (Moon): An ancient tradition of Alolan festivals, still carried on to this day, is a competition to slide Sandshrew across ice as far as one can.
Its counterpart in Moon and Ultra Moon is the Alolan variant of Sandshrew, a bit of a weird match to Vulpix from a historical persepective, but a welcome one from pure mechanics. Sandshrew, unlike Vulpix, is Ice/Steel in its base form, but like Vulpix, evolves by Ice Stone (instead of evolving by level like its Kantonian counterpart). Ice/Steel is a bit of a weird pick, and Sandshrew doesn't come out of it happy, but it's pretty close to a pure-Steel type, which is not a bad place to be- especially with its high Atk/Def, low Spd statline. And its moves are excellent too. It misses out on Ice Ball, sadly, but it comes naturally knowing Iron Head (well, it does if you catch it at level 30), gets the next-best Ice move in Icicle Spear on evolution, and the only thing worth waiting for in its level-up kit is Swords Dance. There is no reason not to evolve this as soon as you get an Ice Stone, and then it gets more awesome coverage moves like Leech Life, Brick Break, Bulldoze, Shadow Claw and Rock Slide. I think Vulpix is the better choice, but Sandshrew is hardly far behind.
Sandshrew's only natural Ability is also Snow Cloak- unlike Vulpix, this matches its Kantonian form. Its HA is the far more valuable new-to-Alola Slush Rush, which doubles its Speed if it is hailing. Sandshrew's Speed is a little too shaky to call this a reliable method of outspeeding, but its not a terrible base, and if you're the sort of person setting up Hail for it, it's the more appreciated boon compared to evasion. If it's not likely to be fighting in Hail, though, it's not worth going for.
Snorunt (Ultra Moon): Rich people from cold areas all share childhood memories of playing with Snorunt.
If you're not into the Alolan Ice types, you also have the option of using a Snorunt. Snorunt is a pure-Ice type with two wildly different prospects, owing to its two different evolutionary branches. If your Snorunt is male, you will evolve it into Glalie, a Pokemon with flat 80 stats that finds a hard time standing out. It has a slight physical bias, but its Special kit is not without merit, carrying Icy Wind (if you catch one lower than level 32 in USUM) and Freeze-Dry for hitting Water types SE alongside Ice Fang and Crunch. Ultimately, though, I can't recommend Glalie.
Snorunt's Abilities are Inner Focus (blocks flinching) and Ice Body (heals 1/16 HP in Hail). Unless you're using a Hail-heavy team, Inner Focus is the way to go. Its HA is Moody, a powerful Ability that increases one stat by 2 stages and decreases a different stat by 1 every turn- including accuracy and evasion. Moody is banned in most competitive formats, so any Moody Pokemon you can pack in the main story has value, but going that far out of your way for a Glalie with it? ...Well, it would be a great user.
If you have a female Snorunt, you have the option of using a Dawn Stone on it to evolve it instead into the Ice/Ghost type Froslass (there are no freebie Dawn Stones in the main story of SM, you have to get one from Pelago if you want to use it). Froslass loses 10 points in all three bulk stats to shoot up its Spd, and it carries a lot more awesome choices in moves, although it does pivot hard into being more Specially focused. Annoyingly, it does carry Will-O-Wisp, but it has to be caught at level 28 (only possible in SM) and even then I think the evolution glitch might stop it from getting it. I had hopes for it, but SM gets in its way a bit too much.
Froslass's only normal Ability is Snow Cloak. It's one of the more famous users, but doesn't have anything special going for it. Its HA is Cursed Body, giving it a 30% chance of disabling a move it is hit with for four turns. Cursed Body has its perks, but it's too unreliable for me to say to build a strategy around it. At the very least, it does not depend on Hail.
Also in this grass, one can find Absol for your team. Absol is a pure Dark type, and will never be an Ice type, and has a massive Atk stat of 130, held back by its mediocre 75 Spd and poor bulk. With that said, however, put this thing in its element and that Atk can go far- it starts with its perfect STAB of Night Slash and Swords Dance, it gets Psycho Cut at 37, and TMs give it access to some nice types (and even a surprising suite of Special moves, if you thought 75 Special was worth it). Absol is a cool Pokemon in design and narrative, and it backs that up mechanically, but don't expect a miracle worker.
Absol's Abilities are Pressure (causes opponents to use up 2PP instead of 1 for every move they perform) and Super Luck (increases its critical hit ratio by one stage). Absol doesn't have high enough bulk to justify Pressure- it's not likely to change its opponents' options- while Super Luck causes Night Slash to have a 1/2 chance of ignoring Def buffs and dealing 1.5x damage. Any questions? HA is Justified, giving it +1 Atk if hit by a Dark-type move. Absol resists Dark and gets access to X-Scissor by TM, which means it can make a good Dark counter, but I think Super Luck is so well suited to it that I feel justified (pun not intended) in going for Super Luck.
Tapu Village has both nigh-permanent rain and a weather-S.O.S. table, but the unique find in Tapu Village spawns only in hail, so this is the best place to look to find Castform. With 70 stats flat, a gimmick that causes it to depend heavily on the weather, and an awkward list of TMs, I can't recommend Castform very highly, but it does need to be caught for your Pokedex.
Castform's only Ability is Forecast. Could you imagine a Castform without?
Castform learns all three of the weather-setting moves it cares about at level 20, and doesn't overwrite them until level 35. It only has 30 PP at level 25+, though, so be on your toes. (Also, its signature move Weather Ball is 100 BP in the type matching the weather, meaning Parasect has a 2/3 chance of being hit for STAB SE depending on what the last weather it called was. Made it much more annoying with this plan).
For some reason, Castform has a 100% chance of holding a Mystic Water. I think it's supposed to do that as part of being given as a gift in RSE, but they never removed it from its item drop rates.
Vanillite (Ultra Moon): When the morning sun hit an icicle, it wished not to melt, and thus Vanillite was born. At night, it buries itself in snow to sleep.
The Hail spawn for both Tapu Village and Mt. Lanakila is Vanillite- the most convenient way to catch one is to use the mountain base in Ultra Moon, but it is available in SM too. Vanillite is an icicle that bears enough resemblance to an ice-cream cone to have inspired the Unovan Castelia Cone treat, and despite its appearance and reputation, it's a surprisingly solid pure-Ice type team member. Statistically, it's got high Sp. Atk and surprisingly decent bulk, if an annoyingly high Atk stat swallowing its strong BST. It also gets Ice Beam early, carrying Mirror Shot (and later Flash Cannon) as coverage. Unfortunately, however, it does not have a breadth of offensive moves- Acid Armour and Taunt give it a good disruptive kit, but pure Ice isn't the type to be good at that.
Its Abilities are Ice Body (heals 1/16 HP in Hail) and Snow Cloak (increases evasion in Hail). Snow Cloak turns into Snow Warning on reaching its final evolution, having been newly added to its options in the Alola games, making Vanillite the Hail setter to accompany Torkoal, Pelipper and Gigalith. It only reaches its final stage at 47, though, and considering its catching requirements, I think Vulpix is the more reliable Hail setter if that is your aim. Its HA is Weak Armour, giving it -1 Def and +2 Spd when hit with a contact move. Great only if you're in a situation that can be solved by being an Ice type.
All that catching, and a day in Poke Pelago, got me a Haunter to send off to this guy. Weirdly, his dialogue post-confirmation sounds like he's still trying to sell you on the idea.
If you're not picky about the Graveler you have- mainly, if you want one in your Dex- this one's a nice freebie.
Golem (Moon): Because it can't fire boulders at a rapid pace, it's been known to seize nearby Geodude and fire them from its back.
As someone whose first games were DPPt, I'm very used to an old fan "favourite" Mindy, who traded you a Haunter holding an Everstone so you didn't wind up with a Gengar. I remain surprised every time I find out that's an exception and not the norm. But anyway, here we are with our bearded Golem, armed with a very slow but very powerful cannon on its top.
The weird thing about Golem's name is that Unova would later introduce an actual golem Pokemon. Which is no shortage of confusing unless you're intimately familiar with your Ground types.
One of these days we'll understand how that happens. And hopefully make an actual Linking Cord item.
Veler has an Impish Nature, a perfect IV in Def, and gets stuck with the Magnet Pull Ability. If you want a Golem on your team, take one that has Sturdy or at least Galvanise.
In USUM, the trade is instead Phantump for Phantump. Which sounds like an incredibly useful trade. Until you think about it.
You mean trade evolutions are a rumour? Bethany gets Trevenants as pests on her island.
...I think that's a rumour I'd expect more investigation into.
Trevenant (Sun): This Pokémon is said to devour anyone daring to ravage the forest. To the creatures dwelling in the forest, it offers great kindness.
Tumptump also evolves from trading, this time into Trevenant. Aside from Trevenant having multiple nightmarish Pokedex entries to choose form, this is... not the Phantump you have been raising since Akala Outskirts. Yes, you do walk away with a Trevenant, but also there's no real point in using the Phantump you caught if you're going for this one.
(Funnily, he'll say this even if you pull the Everstone trick on your Phantump).
Somewhat fortunately, Tumptump comes knowing the three moves you could care to know on him: Leech Seed, Curse and Will-O-Wisp. Compared to Veler, you could do far worse, but it still feels a little icky to have to rely on IGTs to find a Pokemon you like when you just had one.
Incidentally, Tumptump's perfect IV is Sp. Def.
Speaking of looking at stat menus, Bethany's adopting a Vulpix, and what other name was I going to pick for it? Noah also picked up Sandshrew and Absol for himself.
This assumes your treasures are OK with being submerged in water. This is not guaranteed even if your treasures are not electronics.
Still no closer to answering that one, although I like your solution. This guy is only in USUM, sadly- and you can tell, at a glance, that it was a fix to a poor decision in SM.
He is actually checking how many TMs Ailey has. In order to acquire an item from him, you must possess 50 TMs. There are 100 total, so, you know... that's the margin we're working with.
I think the thing that scares me most, aside from the fact that Ailey doesn't have the Embargo TM yet, is that Ray got 55. At some point I'm going to have to figure out what TMs Ray doesn't have.
And he just unceremoniously dumps an item on you. The Razor Claw gives the holder +1 critical hit- yes, that is identical to the Scope Lens, but its real purpose is that, when held by the Pokemon Sneasel, it can evolve into Weavile. Sneasel is in the Alola Pokedex, even in SM, but there was no freebie Razor Claw in that game- you had to get one from a 5% steal from a somewhat rare Pokemon.
He completely ignores discussing the Razor Claw at all, huh?
...First I've heard of it. So, uh... how do I use a disc? I don't have a disc slot.
You cannot try that.
And off he goes, to distribute rare trading items someplace else.
...Please come back I need King's Rock
Anyway, our next destination is on Route 15. Because as we all know, 15 comes right after 13! Numerically speaking, we finish our business on 14 first, but still.
...Funny you mention that. This is, indeed, the reason we won't be progressing through Route 15 yet.
Way back on Route 5, I mentioned how there are no female Trial Guide Trainers in USUM. This is the one that's in SM- she has no USUM counterpart.
We'll have to come back later to challenge her, though.
The greatest advertising. The working assumption is that this is an orphan care facility of some description (...could I have worded that any weirder), but as descriptions of such places go, this is one of them.
It is also where we are supposed to be going. Because only Beth saw Lusamine's red flags.
Let's put that off for a bit. This guy will be mandatory to get to the beach, but we can go looking around the grass. There's nothing new in that, though, just Pelipper, Slowpoke, and the rodent.
There's something mildly upsetting about a new route with nothing new to look for. Makes you remember all the rare encounters stuffed into other routes.
Even the litter is moderately disappointing.
Yuki's a little non-verbal, but he's got some team-building effort going on. Slightly more in USUM, though.
In SM, his lead is a Sandshrew with a 31 Def IV. Nothing more notable than that, though.
Which makes him easy pickings for a x4 SE Special Fire move from Jigsaw.
His other Pokemon is the much more effective Marowak, with a perfect IV in Atk. Fortunately for it, not having pre-assigned moves means its gets Bonemerang, Will-O-Wisp, Shadow Bone and Thrash. Wish a Marowak I could use could say the same.
This fight in general is the "making a case for my Ula'ula Pokemon" fight.
Especially when that happens.
...Jaws with the surprisingly decent Defence. Then again, Bonemerang isn't STAB, and this guy doesn't have a Thick Club.
Still, no sense in risking him getting another action when Aqua Jet has just been softened up.
I'm not sure if he's non-verbal as a joke or non-verbal as in "actually on the ASD spectrum". The thing about a Trainer I only meet once is, I don't get a ton of insight into his personality.
Gible (Ultra Sun): It reacts to anything that moves- flies right at it and bites it. Sometimes it injures itself, but it doesn't care too much.
Gible is the baby form of Gabite, still Dragon/Ground, and replaces Sandshrew in USUM. Yuki also adjusts his team such that Gible has 30 IVs in HP/Def, Marowak 30 IVs in Atk/Spd, and both also have assigned moves- Dragon Claw and Slash for Gible, Shadow Bone, Bonemerang and Flame Wheel for Marowak.
It's usually the Ace Trainers to watch out for.
Zygarde Cell on the beach.
And a Trainer who mentions something that SM thinks is important, but USUM does not. This man, and another thing we will see later, are both absent, for reasons I don't understand.
He'll turn up. I'm sure, exactly when I need him and no earlier.
Hey, they did it this time! Wasn't something like this supposed to happen with Hapu?
Anyway, there's no real hiding from it, we will have to be entering this place.
Worst part is, I understand how Beth's apprehensions get overruled here.
...The Aether House is literally staffed by a monkey. I feel like one can make commentary on this situation, but I'm not sure what kind. And am worried about trying particularly hard.
How did I get here first? I made an active effort to arrive as slowly as I could.
I'll need to have a look around before I judge it too harshly. But that first word already docks it a few points.
And the fact they're putting the kids themselves on guard duty is hardly encouraging.
I love how Hau's got the same reaction. At least someone is.
Although, once again, we are challenged to what is clearly a 2v2 and don't actually get to play Doubles.
Hunter just has an Elekid. I think this is your first one in SM, but USUM added a few more and didn't change his.
Yeah, uh, sorry, kid.
I would say you needed to try a move other than Light Screen, but I'm not sure you have something that can handle Ground types.
I choose to believe that he's not talking about the Yungoos.
Acerola, you need better guards. Then again, I think there is a non-zero implication that Acerola is one of these orphans herself, in which case the blame doesn't necessarily rest on her shoulders, but there is non-zero blame to be given out.
She's old enough to be a Trial Captain, and yet she has the mental capacity of a child. Which says a lot, because I kinda feel like Hau, who is canonically eleven, has more neurons firing, and I can't tell if that's because he's older or because she's more insane.
The kid and the Yungoose are still animating, weirdly, which gives me the mental image that one or both of them are still gnawing on his ankles.
Even Hau knows now is not the time for Lillie to be unaccounted for.
Fortunately, Acerola's answer is "Lillie is with someone more competent than she is". Frankly, I think there's some merit to just leaving Lillie with Hapu and having her Mudsdale deal with Team Skull.
That is, weirdly, where the conversation ends. But yes, we are now directed to be explicitly aware Acerola is the Trial Captain, and she will now run off and start up the next Trial over on Route 14.
Hopefully Lillie can handle herself in the meantime.
If you talk to Acerola, she'll bring this up, but she actually shows up three times on the walk over regardless.
Well, that's a positive. Hopefully. My hopes aren't high, but I'm drawing a blank on non-altruistic reasons for this place's existence.
Just as long as you don't mean that literally. I'm not sure Pokemon Centres can heal a gnawed-off ankle.
The two back rooms have nothing inside them to click on in SM.
But there is one of these. There's also a freebie Gift Pokemon here in postgame, and part of me wonders why we don't get it now.
In UM, instead of a Totem Sticker, we get another of these books. I wound up doing the test for myself, but it turns out that there are more questions than I got, and I'm not up for digging through the entire book for every result.
I mean, it's literally free money. Why wouldn't you?
I love how those are the only types I have the option to answer. Fairy's in my top three, but it's not necessarily my favourite- my favourite types are Fire, Psychic and Fairy, but my answer for which one is my favourite changes depending on when you ask me.
Battling tends to play to Pokemon's strengths more than Pokedex completion, which has a few too many RNG components to it to be inherently engaging.
In this region, Cheris are regrowable for free.
The worst part is, they kinda have got me. Even if I object to being compared to Rotom on principle.
Here's one of the other results I got when experimenting with the book outcomes. I do like how they tell this one to look for Rotom.
Anyway, leaving-
We haven't even left the Aether House and already Lillie is in trouble. Maybe we should just bring her to the Trial.
...Well then. As problematic situations go, this is up there.
Fortunately, it doesn't sound too much like they know for a fact that they've found Nebby, but now is not the time to make that assumption.
I mean, at this point, can you even call the Protag/Lillie chemistry subtext? Only thing missing is that I'm not riding on the back of Mudsdale right now.
Look, Rapidash isn't in this region, OK?
Even the Skull Grunt can see it.
Fortunately, we only have to fight one Pokemon. Which is good, because we did get ambushed, and-
Are you kidding me, it's the Drowzee guy?
Decided this would be a decent debut fight for Keokeo, mostly to give her some EXP.
Mate, Drowzee's evolution was 7 levels ago, this loss is all on you.
Pictured: Forewarn not alerting Drowzee to the most dangerous move in Keokeo's moveset.
It might actually know Physical moves. Not likely, though.
Gave Aurora Beam a try, since that has a chance of taking away Atk stages. No dice, but he's not throwing any physical moves at me anyway.
To be fair to him, this is the first time my plan for him wasn't to use a designated Drowzee counter, and instead use something that Drowzee is actually kinda good at fighting. Which just makes this loss more embarassing.
...Uh, gesundheit? UM doesn't change this line, either, which makes it sound like there's no problem here.
This is another thing related to the Collector's line on the beach in SM- in SM, we get shown the Team Skull Grunt running away in this direction. In USUM, the grunt runs away without the camera panning out much at all.
The tone of voice suggests this line happens with Lillie in Bethany's arms.
Bethany is nowhere near big enough to pull that off.
The facial expression they use here. But yeah, Lillie's still looking up to us and trying to be like us, and while it's great that you're finding your identity considering your circumstances, now is not a great time...
I do like her taking responsibility where Nebby does not. I choose to believe that Nebby is neither aware they were in danger nor that he has just been asked to apologise.
Lillie has another freebie item! She does have a lot of these, but she gives thought to making sure she can keep up the practice. That's nice dear, but not necessarily necessary-
...
How can I say no to that? Although there aren't too many Pokemon that want Luxury Balls around, there is at least one later on, so it's decent.
...I'm not sure if she's still supposed to be crying over the impulse or this was a lucky interruption, but hey, she is still crying a bit.
The part of this arrangement that weirds me out most is that Lillie, previously vehement about not touching Aether Paradise, is OK with this suggestion. Perhaps Aether House is outside Aether Foundation's radar, despite still technically being on its payroll.
That would explain both a lot and very little, come to think of it.
Acerola needs to run off and guide us to the Abandoned Thrifty Megamart, so Lillie guard duties are to be left to Hau.
I'm serious about how much Acerola is leading us over.
...He does bring up a good point. Are we sure the Abandoned Megamart is structurally sound enough to enter? How exactly does one do maintenance on a ruin?
Lillie's cheering us on. Incidentally, Hau doesn't have new dialogue.
Really out to make sure we're aware of that one, are we?
Black sand is a real phenomenon I'm surprised I don't see more often in fiction, and one I have seen, in small quantities, in real life. A fully black sand beach like this requires certain minerals to be present in the soil, like magnetite and basalt, and Hawai'i does have a large number of them. I think Route 14 is specifically inspired by Punalu'u Beach.
I wish they brought over the koas, though. If you stretch it, you could almost claim the Aether House is a reference to the Henry ʻŌpūkahaʻia Chapel, and I certainly would've preferred not having that.
It feels weird, seeing a Fisherman on a walk cycle. They usually tend to stick to just angling whenever you walk past.
Particularly since their eyecatches show them as having their line cast before the fight.
Hisato opens with Feebas. This route also tends to be rainy, so Hisato in particular is a tricky customer.
Fortunately for Haruka, Feebas tried Splash. Its other options were Tackle and Flail, anyway...
That, on the other hand, Haruka is not fighting.
Especially since it has, you know, Intimidate.
...Come to think of it, Zapple's Electric moves are physical right now...
I went for Nuzzle, just in case. With Intimidate and Zapple's poor physical Attack stat in mind, I don't have confidence in a Volt Tackle oneshot.
Although that reminds me I still need to perform Gigavolt Havoc sometime.
Gyarados does know Aqua Tail, and if you're unlucky, you'll find yourself on the wrong end of it. Fortunately, I was not.
Also he missed.
I was genuinely worried there.
On the plus side, I didn't take too much recoil.
On the minus side, Zapple is so frail I wouldn't be surprised if no recoil was required to score a oneshot.
...You know, when Lana ages out of Trial Captaincy, I wonder if she could make money selling fishing rods. It doesn't sound like a career option, but somebody's gotta be a fishing rod crafter.
I am highly concerned that's where your mind went.
There's a little bit of a gap in this broken down road that you can climb up to grab this Max Potion. We're at the point these are litter items now, and still not quite at the point where Hypers are outclassed. Even Guardia, one of the highest-HP Pokemon on my four teams, has only just broken 100.
There's also a Night-only Zygarde Cell near this road.
I could've sworn there was something on this ledge. Other than those Murkrow, of course.
I'm remembering UM, where the Collector on this route was moved on top of the ledge.
Also the Totem Sticker on the ground next to the Murkrow, too.
Kawika has only one Pokemon, a Larvitar, in UM. He, uh... took a huge downgrade. Let's see if this fight will be any more robust...
Togedemaru, of course. We haven't seen that yet in SM outside the wild encounter.
Bold plan, considering the rain, but Jigsaw should be fine.
...Also because it resists Electric moves. It's more the EXP thing- Huggington and especially Murphy can also do that, but Jigsaw's here for some EXP.
Even if he needs a second hit.
Huh. I didn't even know Togedemaru could do that.
As evidenced by the fact I went with the non-weakened HP Ground to finish it.
Fine, fine, I'll use the Flamethrower.
Surprisingly, this is the only place to find a Gabite on a Trainer in SM, at least according to my quick search of the datamine. I've kinda been feeling sick of it after seeing it on Ryuki and Angus, but I guess that's because those two are bosses.
Gabite is the one you can find in the wild, and it's one that it's really hard to look for, so it's nice we do get the entry.
But yeah, this exact situation is why Keokeo was here.
I mean, collecting cool Pokemon is often not necessarily connected to success in battle. There's a lot of common Pokemon that do well and rare Pokemon that do poorly, even though instinctively it sounds the opposite should be true.
From an evolutionary perspective, "common Pokemon are good and rare ones are bad" is actually the more sound outcome. That's literally survival of the fittest in practice- if the rare ones were good, they'd start outproducing the common ones.
You're gonna have some trouble with that one, since the Ula'ula Pokedex requires climbing Mt. Lanakila. And the less said about the last entry, the better.
How far are you, by the way?
Acerola's hanging around outside the Trial site. Funnily enough, that's not a loading zone behind her- mostly because there's like nothing in the area behind her. I'm not disturbing her until next time, though.
There is a Surfing Pikachu available in USUM, and this guy's dialogue does change to reference that fact there, but here it's more to talk about the semi-recurring case of Surfing Pikachu being given for events or for achievements in random games. The last time it was available was in the fourth-generation games, where it could be obtained either by defeating Master Mysterial in Battle Revolution or by finding one in the Yellow Forest Pokewalker Course and transferring it to either DPPt or HGSS (the Pokewalker only being compatible with the latter).
Pokemon transferred from DPPt and HGSS to later games are required to forget any HM moves they happen to know, which means that these Pikachu cannot carry Surf with them. A pity, but fortunately, USUM offers a reprieve. Until SwSh cut the middleman and added Surf to Pikachu's learnset.
Zygarde Cell back here. They replaced it with a Max Revive for USUM, rather than a TM.
In Ultra Sun only, there's an event here with a kid and a Sandygast. There is an equivalent event in Ultra Moon, but it's on a different beach.
I'm gonna go with "lost". Freaking out because you're on a black sand beach instead of a golden sand beach is... well, I wouldn't say I don't understand the idea at all, but also what the hell.
It really does kinda go flailing around. It doesn't move, but it does pivot sharply.
I'd complain, but to a Pokemon like Sandygast, the different minerals in the soil probably are problematic to it.
It turns out that yes, Shiny Sandygast are black! It still feels weird to joke about such a rare mutation, though.
Fortunately, we've got some options.
We are teleported instantaneously over to Ula'ula Beach- no complicated escort mission or whatever to get him here.
I love that reaction in context. The "I LOVE SAND!" of it all.
Not a long or an involved quest, not an involved prize. 1000 Poke isn't impressive compared to the prize payouts we're getting from Trainers around now.
I mean... yes? Most living things do.
We are, fortunately, teleported right back to Route 14 after that. Just a nice Stardust pickup with a little text to it, although not that substantial...
There's plenty of water to surf around in, but no litter items at the bottom of the water and the encounter tables are mostly familiar. In SM, you can get Tentacool, Pelipper and Finneon. USUM added a new encounter, but it won't be necessary to look for it.
In SM, there's a Swimmer around here boasting about his torpedo powers. In USUM, he's south of the Megamart, but otherwise identical.
He has a Pyukumuku both times.
Well, OK, the USUM one is high enough level it replaces Counter with Pain Split. Both moves are its only offensive move in both games, its other moves are Curse, Gastro Acid and Purify.
Oatchi's doing much better at chipping through Pyukumuku's stats.
Oh no, not my Overgrow.
...That Innards Out kinda stung, actually. Oh well, he was the last Trainer in SM.
I'd say it didn't, but Swift Swim has been terrorising Pokemon fans for generations.
Coming back later to pick up his dialogue, but it's far too funny not to mention.
...Also, Poliwrath is a good swimmer? I guess it is the only one with Swift Swim...
Ooh, that is a prize. Shadow Ball is an 80 BP Special Ghost move with a 20% chance of lowering the opponent's Special Defence. It's a shade on the low end of damage, but it is without question the best option any specially-attacking Pokemon that wants to benefit from Ghost moves can choose, and it is well-distributed to many such Pokemon. And look! We're about to fight a Ghost Trial!
The reason Keoni has moved in USUM is because this broken lighthouse has an event on it now.
Ailey found a female Swimmer being attacked, while Ray found a male one. I'm not sure off-hand if this is because of the version or the kid- I feel like I should know, because I've played a lot of Ultra Sun as a female, but I guess not.
Frillish (Ultra Sun): It wraps its veillike arms and legs around prey swimming by and drags them down to the depths of the ocean.
In Ultra Sun, one can find Frillish by surfing on Route 14, but there's also a free one available for capture here. Frillish is a Water/Ghost type that leans heavily on high HP/Sp. Def, with mediocre Sp. Atk paired with some pretty usable moves. This is a Pokemon I came surprisingly close to fitting on Ailey's team, but ultimately I decided to stick with Chip and Ridley. The decision did come down, in some ways, to the fact that I'm planning on picking up a Ghost type after the Trial.
Frillish's Abilities are Water Absorb (being hit by a Water attack heals them for 25% HP) and Cursed Body (being hit has a 30% chance of disabling the move used). Water Absorb is the way to go, although Cursed Body's not a terrible alternative. It's just Water Absorb being that good. Its HA is Damp (causes explosions not to work)- pretty terrible on it, because it's immune to the three common methods of explosion (Self-Destruct, Explosion and Aftermath) and the fourth- a signature move we won't encounter until postgame- is a Fire-type move, and thus resisted.
As an aside, Frillish is one of the most sexually dimorphic Pokemon in the series. Male Frillish are blue and are decorated in a princely fashion, while female Frillish are pink and decorated like a princess. This extends to their evolutions, too. Unlike other distinctly gendered Pokemon we can encounter, there is no mechanical difference between male and female Frillish.
The ones attacking the swimmer tend to always be female, regardless of what gender the Swimmer themselves is.
S.O.S. battle trouble? I've been there.
...Yeah, that wasn't playful. I think that's genuine danger there.
The worst part is, there's actually a generic Trainer on this feature now. And he has a Water type.
Lady, I'm 11. I think.
Not helping matters is the fact that she gives us an item related to infatuation, the Destiny Knot. When held by a Pokemon, if they are inflicted with infatuation, the Pokemon that did the inflicting will become infatuated too. A pretty terrible item even at the time, XY gave it a huge buff for aspiring breeders by making it such that, if you generate an Egg where one parent is holding it, the Egg will inherit 5 IVs from the parents, rather than 3. I don't fully understand this mechanic either, but basically it makes breeding easier. There was no freebie Destiny Knot in SM, so they threw one here, and it's actually a shade more seamless than the Razor Claw.
I bet you won't.
The male dialogue is slightly different, but not meaningfully so.
So anyway, where were you when that Swimmer was being attacked? Just because your wife's dead is no reason to leave someone else for dead!
I joke about his neglect of his fellow woman, but Brone is no joke. His team has proper investment, and should be treated as such. His Whiscash has 30/15/30/15/30/15 IVs, 252 EVs in Def and Sp. Def, a Sassy Nature (+Sp. Def/-Spd), and carries the moves Scald and Earth Power. 80 BP moves in its STABs, with no chance of wasting its time, and it only has one weakness.
Crysantha's here to do most of the damage here. Fortunately, its Ability isn't doing much, but to be fair, Whiscash is strapped for choice.
Although unfortunately, that's just "most" here.
That's mildly irritating, but it's workable. It's not like Crysantha cares about the Atk drop, and it'll be leaving soon-ish anyway-
Brone, what? Seeing a generic Trainer switch is so rare that it throws you every single time.
Honchkrow has 30/30/15/15/15/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk/Spd, an Adamant Nature, and the moves Night Slash, Aerial Ace and Steel Wing.Honchkrow (Ultra Sun): It will absolutely not forgive failure from or betrayal by its goons. It has no choice in this if it wants to maintain the order of the flock.
I, uh... didn't see that last one coming, and thought Crysantha's Fairy move could do some damage against it- it is a Dark type. It finished off Crysantha- probably just as well, that Fairy move was Fairy Wind.
Right, Sue, you can handle this, right?
...Sometimes I wonder if my observational skills are up to snuff. I think it's mostly because I think of Honchkrow as being a relatively slow find, but Brone's Speed value is 89.
Fortunately, Genevieve proves to be a bit hardier.
Isn't it great when you see what you should have been doing after you try the riskier strategy and fail?
I had to take out Genevieve for Whiscash, but that leaves me without a dedicated finisher.
Lopunny's lower Atk stat is starting to become alarmingly relevant. Fortunately, her Sp. Def was enough to take the Scald, and she wasn't Burned.
Your wife may have needed to go through a few lessons with you a bit more than she did.
Anyway, before we finish up, there's two regenerating Pearls on this beach, too.
And in USUM, you can find King's Rocks by fishing in Malie Garden, Routes 13, 14 and 15. The King's Rock makes every attack you have get a 10% chance of inflicting flinch, and is also required to evolve Slowpoke and Poliwhirl into Slowking and Politoed respectively. I underestimated the rarity of this thing- the freebie in both SM and USUM is post-game locked, for some weird reason (they really love postgame-locking King's Rock), and the ways to acquire more are to buy it from the postgame facility for 32 BP, or to steal one as a 5% steal from Poliwhirl, Poliwrath, Politoed, Slowbro, Hariyama or Hawlucha. The only one of those that isn't an S.O.S. find that is in SM is postgame locked.
I had naively assumed that the King's Rock would be more reasonable than that. Not sure what could possibly have given me that impression.
Next time: Remember how I said Baby-Doll Eyes's value is on its way out? Yeah, don't ever let me say that again.
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