Pokemon Sun Ula'ula East: Spinning Gears and Shifting Stances

The Trial Guide is back, so at last we can make our way past the barricade!

Thank you, Miss. Do kinda wish you could've got on that sooner, but oh well.

Ghost types- weak to Ghost and Dark. We don't have a lot for new options before the Trial, so hopefully what we've got covers us.

Route 12 is probably the biggest Route in the game in terms of physical space, and we're going to meeting a lot of new Pokemon before we get to the next town.

...Gesundheit?

Huh. Well colour me surprised. What this graph is showing is the Pokemon's EV distribution, with the blue colour being, I believe, a Pokemon with the maximum 510 EVs earned. The stats sparkle if you have the maximum 252 EVs, too. This sort of thing is very nice to have on hand, and I can't believe I'm actually learning something from an in-game sign. I thought most of that information would have soaked in by now.

...They're not wrong.

As soon as you get on Route 12, you will be stopped by Hapu.

She's going to give us our next Poke Ride- the newest one since Charizard Glide! Mudsdale Gallop allows us to cross over treacherous terrain.

There's something really weird here that I think the developers missed a trick on. You know how we were prevented from going to Route 12 by the Trial Guide disappearing for some reason? Well, if we got to Route 12, we would find our progress blocked immediately if this cutscene didn't trigger. A much more natural way to roadblock us so we had to do Malie Garden Guzma in between Sophocles and arriving on this route would be to just not spawn this cutscene until afterwards. How hard would that be?

Hapu points out that, really, if this was something for helping her with the Skulls near Royal Avenue, she should have given it to us back in Malie. This leads to a great line of hers:

Hapu being slightly attracted to Lillie. That brings the number of women who have non-zero romantic chemistry with Lillie on at least one side to three.

I'd leave it at that, but this line casts doubt on the idea. I'm not sure if we're meant to take this line at face value, and I'm fairly sure Mudsdale isn't either. But either way, if she didn't give it to us in Malie for the sole purpose of waiting to give it to us now, there were other excuses she could use than "I was too busy staring at Lillie's skirt".

Tapu Village is just about on the south coast of Ula'ula Island. That's how big Route 12 is.

Mudsdale Gallop is a bit of a curious one for shortcuts: I usually decide to drop it for the other land-based Poke Ride, but I recently discovered a mechanic that says you should register Mudsdale as your fourth shortcut.

Mudsdale allows you to walk over paths that look like this. In a way, it's a form of the Rock Climb HM from DPPt. This does have one relatively weird element to it, though: There are no instances of previously-accessible rocky terrain that we can now revisit with Mudsdale Gallop.

...I'd think the kahuna of Ula'ula might object to that, but I know the guy. No, no he wouldn't care.

Time for us to cross the path! In XY, Route 9 was full of rocky terrain you needed to be riding a Rhyhorn to cross. This rocky terrain could trigger encounters. The rocky terrain in this game can't... unless you're in a cave or some other area that has encounters inherently. Route 12's encounters are in tall grass.

Some goodies as soon as we get to the other side.

And a little demonstration: if you attempt to walk onto rocky terrain, the game stops you with the same tripping animation we used on the bridge way back in Mahalo Trail.

Route 12's grass allows us to get three new Pokemon in both games. In SM, one of them is Elekid, but we also get what will be a future potential team member for Bethany: Geodude! Rock/Electric, high Atk and Def, and terrible Sp. Def and Spd, Geodude is a lot better earlier than he is later. With that said, I do believe in Geodude's potential to lend a hand, particularly seeing as my Rock and Electric types (Sturm and Zapple, respectively) have some variance of their own to worry about.

Geodude's Abilities are Magnet Pull (prevents Steel types from switching away) and Sturdy (allows it to withstand an attack that would otherwise have oneshot). While Alolan Geodude is not weak to Steel like the Kantonian variety, it doesn't really have a strong plan for them. Its HA is a unique Ability to it called Galvanise, turning Normal type moves into Electric moves and increasing their power by 20%.

The big problem with using Galvanise is that Geodude like to explode. They're a pain to get a good chain on.

...Oh, wow, a 90% completion on a Pokedex! I think this is mainly because of the trading I've been doing (if you look closely, you'll notice that Bethany's got a Litten from Ailey and has evolved the whole line). You can't 100% any Pokedex until postgame and without trading.

Torkoal (Ultra Sun): You can tell how it's feeling by the smoke spouting from its shell. Tremendous velocity is a sign of good health.

The brand new Pokemon that can be found in SM is Torkoal, a particularly noteworthy find. Torkoal has no evolutionary relatives, gigantic Defence, mixed offenses and moderate HP and Sp. Def (and as you might expect, bottom of the barrel Speed). Overall, a combination of an uncertain movepool and the punishing nature of having low Sp. Def while being weak to Water caused this guy to fall behind, but SM buffed it in a key way. They nearly had to ban this thing in the SV metagame. Unfortunately, it's not making our team- it's a synergy kind of Pokemon.

Torkoal's Abilities are White Smoke (an Ability fairly limited to itself that blocks hostile stat stage drops) and Drought (when it appears, automatically sets up the Sunny weather). Torkoal is the designated Sun setter these days, and while Ninetales made good competition for that rule in competitive, Ninetales isn't available at all here. Unless you're using Water types alongside it, there's little reason not to go Drought. Its HA is Shell Armour, which blocks crits- makes it near impossible to fight with physical moves, but pretty lousy at covering its Special weaknesses.

Manectric (Ultra Moon): It stimulates its own muscles with electricity, so it can move quickly. It eases its soreness with electricity, too, so it can recover quickly as well.

Manectric can be found here in Ultra Moon only (it's a version exclusive find, not a time find). Manectric is a pure Electric type built to be fast and hit hard with Special moves, but most of its natural learnset leans Physical. It can get some good TMs for Special moves, but it suffers a lot from their availability. It's hardly unusable, but I think it's in direct competition with Genevieve and I judged Genevieve the better choice.

Manectric's Abilities are Static (enemies who hit it with contact have a 30% chance of Paralysis) and Lightning Rod (gives it +1 Sp. Atk when hit with an Electric move). Lightning Rod is probably my call, although whether or not you can get it charged is its own issue. Its HA is Minus, which gives it a 50% Sp. Atk boost when in a Double Battle alongside a Pokemon with Plus. Not at all worth it, even though it has two choices in partner.

(As an aside, if you're in an S.O.S. fight with one, their own Spark and Thunder Fang are redirected into one another if they have Lightning Rod... but at the levels they can be found, they also know Discharge, which will never be redirected and is a Special Attack. This gets terrifying fast if you're not a Ground type.)

Houndoom (Ultra Sun): They spew flames mixed with poison to finish off their opponents. They divvy up their prey evenly among the members of their pack.

The Ultra Sun equivalent to Manectric is Houndoom, a Dark/Fire dog that apparently has designs on being a Poison type. Despite being introduced in different generations (Manectric was introduced in RSE, Houndoom in GSC), they are both canine-like Pokemon with high Sp. Atk/Spd hampered by a movepool weirdly filled with Physical Attacks. Later games love making them version-exclusives, and it's not a bad split. Unfortunately for Houndoom, however, it has three issues- the availability of the TMs it needs is a little less favourable to it, it doesn't have a good Special move to start with, and it's competing against two great Pokemon with mostly the same STAB type- Moss and Theodore. And yes, Houndoom is exclusive to the same game Totem Marowak is.

Houndoom's Abilities are Early Bird (halves the time it spends asleep) and Flash Fire (makes it immune to Fire moves and gives it a 50% bonus to its own Fire moves when hit by one). Flash Fire is the better Ability, but neither of them is exactly winning any awards here. Its HA is Unnerve (makes opposing Pokemon unable to eat Berries), which somehow manages to be even worse.

Graveler (Ultra Sun): When two Graveler fight each other, it fills the surroundings with flashes of light and sound. People call it the "fireworks of the earth."

USUM also changed it so you get wild Graveler instead of Geodude. We've already seen an example of this- Steenee in Lush Jungle- but starting now and becoming especially prominent on the fourth Island, we're going to find a lot more examples of wild Pokemon that come pre-evolved and have no wild spawn for the younger form. You can always just use Ditto to get those entries, but you will have to be mindful of that fact.

Here's Haruka, as she starts out. Smack Down, Thunder Punch and Stealth Rock are respectable starting moves, and I decided to go against my gut and try out Galvanise. I think Sturdy plays more to Geodude's strengths, but Galvanise has its perks.

First battle is another Mudsdale Gallop past the first grass, with a pair of Punks.

They're actually rather polite for an aggressive kind of Trainer Class, all told.

There are two surprises when it comes to the Punk Pair: One, there's a second instance of them in SM. Two, the idea of pairing a male Punk and a female Punk appeared in XY... and there was only one of those (they were called "Punk Couple" instead).

Krokorok (Sun): They move in groups of a few individuals. A female is often the leader of the group, and the males will gather food.

Yoko and Lane have Pancham and Krokorok respectively. Krokorok is a Ground/Dark type, and we won't be able to get our own until after the Ghost trial. Shame- I like it. Maybe Ray'll use it.

Krokorok and Pancham share weaknesses only to the Fairy type. Also, since you haven't seen Krokorok yet, the weakness readout won't ping to weaknesses it has that Pancham resists.

Like Bug Buzz. Bug Buzz is listed "Not Very Effective", but is in fact Super Effective on Krokorok.

Air Cutter can easily handle Pancham.

Not sure those follow on from the dialogue you have, though.

It's what it says on your Class list, ma'am.

Zygarde Cell next to them. There's a surprising number out here.

Down the east side of the mountain are two paths. The one on the left is cramped and full of tall grass, while the one on the right is relatively clear and full of Mudsdale Gallop spots. This girl's the only Trainer on the left.

An admirable sentiment for a Rising Star.

Although YMMV on the cuteness of Tirtouga.

Taking Haruka for a spin. Yes, Tirtouga's Water type hits me SE, but Tirtouga is physical. I should be fine.

Didn't oneshot, but did wind up doing over half.

...Oh. Yeah. It can do that.

Sometimes terrible moves work out for the opponent. And sometimes you second-guess the idea of using Galvanise from the word go.

Oh well, Cranky needed EXP too.

Just as a tip, Carracosta isn't particularly cute.

I'm not saying Carracosta's design is bad, but it's not very cute.

She's guarding this. Not great, although it is incredibly rare. I guess the infinite Leppa Berries make Elixirs hard to feel happy for, or maybe it's the hoarding instinct.

Wow, we're just going over that now? But yeah, Island Scan explanation, for anyone who hasn't found it yet. This is a bit late to start thinking of using an Island Scan mon, though- by the time we get to Tapu Village, normal players should be considering finalising their team, and players like me are pushing over the recommended count of 12-15 mons.

Over on the right, we have a Rising Star patrolling a more clear area.

...Hah, you're both using the Sun versions of the Fossils the Scientist wasn't carrying on Route 8. Cute. I'm not sure USUM covers all ten of its fossils.

I'd be worried, but I'm not sure what Mold Breaker can put past Comatose. I don't think it does, and even if there was, I don't think Cranidos typically carries such moves.

Cranidos is easy prey for a good solid SE hit.

Well that's pretty passe.

When the two paths converge, you get a branching route to go to the Geothermal Power Plant on Route 12. Starting in... DPPt, I think, Pokemon typically sticks to using renewable energy when it shows off a power plant of some kind. Now granted, I don't think it's ever officially stated what kind of power the one in Kanto uses- well at the time. It was also derelict in RBY.

In USUM, the Kahuna has moved here. His team has slightly changed (he has a different lead) and his TM has also changed, but otherwise this doesn't change much.

Well, OK, USUM also adds two Trainers to Route 12- and thus increases the difficulty of challenging him- but this is a side effect of another change.

One of said Trainers is a Surfer hanging around the outside of the Power Plant. He looks at his board occasionally, making it technically possible to enter the Power Plant without fighting him, but caution is advised: The Power Plant is a Fly Point, and if you attempt to fly here, you will find yourself in Robert's field of view. When I tried it with Ray, he was pulled into a battle immediately. I can't confirm if this is always the case.

Nothing too unique on this team, but there is something that isn't Water type to watch out for. Particularly if you went with an Electric type.

...You do sleep, right? I don't want you conking out while you're in the ocean.

Before we go into the Power Plant, there's actually only one Trainer left for SM.

And he's guarding this nonentity of an item.

To do that, you'd need to actually have high power moves. He doesn't have any move assignments, and the best his Pokemon can do right now is 80 BP.

Porygon (Ultra Sun): This Pokémon was created using the cutting-edge science of 20 years ago, so many parts of it have since become obsolete.

Now you are an interesting specimen. Porygon is a pure Normal type introduced in RBY (and yes, that was 20 years ago), and is most famous for being the star Pokemon of an episode of the anime that caused a larger-than-usual amount of epileptic seizures. As a mechanical species, Porygon is notable for three things: being a bulky Special Attacker, evolving only by trade, and not being available in the main story at all.

Porygon learns Signal Beam at level 29, but this one's only level 28. Its only offensive move is the 65 BP Psybeam.

Porygon is the first time I started to wonder about the Abilities of random Trainers- I saw both Trace (copies your Ability) and Download (boosts one of your offensive stats, based on which defensive stat of your opponent is lowest) when each of the four kids fought him, but I don't think it was "Bethany and Noah got Download, Ray and Ailey got Trace". There might be a random component to the Abilities here.

Jayson also has the capacity to use X Defends, but he doesn't seem to have attempted it here.

Woohoo! Crunch on Woodstock gives me a good Dark type move, and just before a Ghost Trial to boot!

...Actually, if anything, it's a little early- it needs to fit Knock Off into its kit still. Oh well, when was the last time we used Infestation?

Jayson used an X Defend on Ailey, not that it stopped Usagi.

And on Ray, he showed off another of his irritating party tricks: Recover. It has 10 PP and heals him for 50% HP. Fortunately, Fist Jr. is partial to the move Power Up Punch, so I'll eventually outdamage him.

His other Pokemon is a Magneton, who might have Tri Attack, but probably won't. It's stuck with Electro Ball, Spark and Mirror Shot.

And for some reason I cannot even begin to phantom, it's running Magnet Pull.

And also just... use moves that make sense.

I know him. I frequently tend to need to babysit him.

Entering Blush Mountain just for the Fly Point, but we'll be spending a lot of time here this update.

Incidentally, USUM haven't quite qualified yet, they need to go a shade further south first.

I love "a Route 12 Kahuna". Implying there are multiple candidates vying for the position.

Collector Andrew favours Bug types, in both games.

He seems to be somewhat aware of how terrible Ledian is- his kit is completely unoptimised. 15/15/15/31/15/31 IVs, 252 EVs in Sp. Def and Spd, an Adamant Nature, and the moves Silver Wind, Light Screen, Reflect and Mach Punch. Each of its three assets is focused on a different one of these moves, and it looks sloppy.

Fortunately, he accomplished what he needed to against Haruka.

Less fortunately, he didn't score the KO. Just using Bulldoze to show off.

Haruka levelled up, but I will have to switch her out.

For more reasons than one. Pinsir has 31/31/31/15/15/15 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk and Def, an Adamant Nature, and the moves X-Scissor, Brick Break and Swords Dance. Keeping anything that attacks physically is a bad idea, and something weak to Fighting is even worse.

Sturm, fortunately, resists both of Pinsir's choices. As a Flying type.

...OK, it's neutral to Fighting, but that's the non-STAB one.

It went for Swords Dance. A reasonable plan.

I went for Autotomise. Less reasonable, but I see what I was going for. I think part of the problem with increasing Sturm's Speed is that, once I'm in Core Form, my Speed goes up even higher.

Still, at least I'm showing off "became nimble."

And hey, I outspeed in Meteor Form!

Wow, mate. That was a x2 Atk neutral hit. Not STAB, but... I'd expect at least ~30 HP.

Sturm can easily finish.

Another interesting choice, Nasty Plot is the Sp. Atk version of Swords Dance. If Flambebe can take a hit, she's a good user of this move, but that depends on if I want her not Poisoning with that turn.

Autosuggestion? I believe it is the practice of saying a positive phrase in order to make yourself believe something. It's best used to improve your self-esteem, and is no substitute for actual practice if your aim is to be tangibly skilled. No amount of autosuggestion will let you succeed at something it is possible to measure alone.

Any Geodude caught in the wild will evolve after a single level up- part of the reason they changed it to wild Graveler outright in USUM. But I will have to trade her later.

Oh, uh... I'm not sticking around.

Still, this is nice. We've already seen Psych Up from a TM shop in USUM, but it is now an option for Bethany and Noah. Psych Up is better used on the lategame bosses that have a full set of stat boosts- like Vikavolt did.

...Good luck with that.

Right, time to sink my teeth into Blush Mountain proper. In hindsight, I probably should've done this first...

Because the first thing I find is something that would've been nice to have for Andrew! Turtonator is found here only in Sun and Ultra Sun, and Bethany will be taking it for herself. As a Pokemon, it has high Defence and prefers to attack Specially, and complements this by starting with Flamethrower (95 BP Special Fire) and having, soon enough in its kit, access to Dragon Pulse (85 BP Special Dragon) and Shell Smash (Status Normal, -1 Def/Sp. Def, +2 Atk/Sp. Atk/Spd). It does take its sweet time getting those moves, time it may or may not have on the team, but I can see the value of it in the near future.

Turtonator's only Ability is Shell Armour (blocks crits). Shores up its lovely Defence, but doesn't really give it amazing options. It does not have access to a HA.

This is where SM will get Togedemaru for its 10K Poke. Togedemaru is a Pokemon that desperately wishes it were in USUM- while Zing Zap is a neat party trick, its only Physical Steel move in SM is Gyro Ball. It needs the Move Tutor to get Iron Head. Unfortunately, Ray's a little full on its types, and while Ailey could probably get away with defining the rules such that Totem Togedemaru counts as "unique to USUM", that requires waiting until later. Also, its defences without a Totem Aura aren't much to write home about. Its good stats are 98/96, what were you expecting of its bad ones?

Togedemaru's Abilities are Iron Barbs (does 1/8 damage if hit by a contact move) and Lightning Rod (is immune to Electric moves, redirects them towards itself, and gives +1 Sp. Atk if hit by one). Iron Barbs is better, although whether Togedemaru is going to be fighting things that hit it with contact is another matter. Its HA is Sturdy, which is amazing, but is also Magneton's thing.

As an aside, Togedemaru is the only Pokemon capable of setting an Electric Terrain during the main story. Considering Alolan Raichu's Ability only works during Electric Terrain, a bit of a weird niche to be claiming- you'd think Zapple could set her own, you know?

Found only in USUM is Dedenne. Dedenne's in a worse state than Togedemaru, and that's saying something. While it's a Special Attacker, it gets no Special Fairy moves- not even Dazzling Gleam (weird) or Hidden Power (they never let that be a Fairy move because of the math involved). Considering most of the people considering it want it for Fairy coverage, not great. It's too high levelled for Charm. While you can get one that knows the awesome move Parabolic Charge (65 BP, Special Electric, hits all opponents on the field and drains HP), you can only get one from a level 29 Dedenne. Similarly, if you catch one higher than level 30, it loses Nuzzle. Dedenne is a Pokemon that wants utility moves to make up for its bad stats, and doesn't have many good moves to please with.

Dedenne's Abilities are Cheek Pouch (heals 33% HP when it eats a Berry, in addition to whatever the Berry was supposed to do) and Pickup (allows it to find items sometimes). Dedenne is one of the few Pokemon to be fully evolved with Pickup, so it's an amazing option, although if you're using a lot of Berries, Cheek Pouch is not without its perks. Do note, however, that you must specifically eat a Berry to get the effect- this does not count using Berries as Bag items. Its HA is Plus (gives +50% Sp. Atk if paired with a Minus Pokemon), which makes it the second one alongside Ampharos. Both require Manectric for the Minus, and none of the three make a compelling argument for it.

Probopass (Ultra Sun): Although it can control its units known as Mini-Noses, they sometimes get lost and don't come back.

This is something I've touched on a few times, but in USUM- and USUM only- Blush Mountain, and the Geothermal Power Plant on it, generate a strong magnetic field required to evolve the Pokemon Nosepass, Magneton and Charjabug into Probopass, Magnezone and Vikavolt respectively. This was added because the location originally designated as magnetic was very late into SM, and this cost all three Pokemon a lot of points on those teams. I stand by Noah packing PRNDL, though.

It is worth mentioning that I do not intend to evolve Veeka into Vikavolt at all.

I know I promised a lot of Blush Mountain, but there is one more thing I want to pick up before I sit down and do that.

And that is over here, on the Secluded Shore. Ignore the darkened location header, that's a screenshot issue. The Secluded Shore is a location that exists only in SM.

Over here we have a Berry Tree,

The top Berry in a big pile is the Apicot Berry, which will give you +1 Sp. Def when you drop below 25% HP. Seems a little late, but maybe if you have some means of self-recovery?

Otherwise, you get these three Berries and the Aspear Berry, which cures freeze. This is actually the first tree you can get Aspears from- although one of my files found one on a Crabrawler.

No, the reason I'm here has to do with this fishing spot.

Bruxish (Sun): When it unleashes its psychic power from the protuberance on its head, the grating sound of grinding teeth echoes through the area.

Bethany has yet another new consideration. Bruxish is a Water/Psychic type based on the triggerfish, particularly the state fish of Hawai'i- a fish known as the humuhumunukunukuāpua'a. We'll stick with Bruxish, since that fits in the character limit. Bruxish claims high Atk and Spd, being a strong physical attacker with access to key moves- including introducing a brand new powerful option in the move Psychic Fangs (85 BP, 100% accuracy, physical Psychic, clears Screens). Its stats are a little on the low side (they are better than Togedemaru's, but the comparison is scarily close), but it makes up for it with better Abilities.

Its Abilities are Strong Jaw (increases the power of Biting moves by 50%) and Dazzling (blocks priority moves). Dazzling gives it a key niche against priority users, while Strong Jaw ups its sometimes lackluster Atk for its favourite moves. You can't go wrong with either. Its HA is Wonder Skin, a rare Ability that reduces the accuracy of any status move to 50%. It is found only on four Pokemon, and of those four, three of them have an awesome Ability in one of their other slots, and the fourth is the notoriously terrible Delcatty. For Bruxish, it's the worst of its three choices, and I say that mostly because Dazzling and Strong Jaw are good.

I want Jigsaw and Jaws to start picking up some EXP. Jigsaw's job is to be a bulky version of Flambebe (seriously, its best choice in extra coverage at this stage of the game is Venoshock), while Jaws angles to replace Kasplashle at the theoretical point in the game where her weaknesses start mattering.

(On a practical level, Bruxish can spawn at any level between 10 and 30, and there are a ton of moves it learns and forgets in that time. Fortunately, its best move- Aqua Jet- wouldn't be forgotten until level 33.)

Now back to Blush Mountain, this guy has been eagerly awaiting the chance to challenge us to battle.

...I'll assume it's funnier in Japanese, this is just kinda sad in English.

And the Psyduck isn't much better.

I mostly show this to show Nuzzle off. Imagine how much damage Nuzzle and Volt Tackle could be doing if I didn't go for the -Atk Pichu.

No. Stop. What are you doing.

Psyduck/Fearow is just kinda weird to be, really.

Although the slowness of Haruka means that went nowhere.

All that needs to happen is to Rock Blast it back down.

I can't imagine either of them in business.

Electrike (Ultra Moon): Static electricity builds up all over its body as strands of its long fur rub together. This Pokémon boasts incredible speed.

Here at the Power Plant, though, these might be good business. Electrike is the pre-evolved form of Manectric, and seems to mostly be there to give Ultra Sun the Dex entry.

Do Crabrawler's pincers molt naturally? If yes, that may be business. If no, that's extortion.

Zygarde Cell in front of the Power Plant here...

And a few shinies here. The Sun Stone is primarily useful for evolving Cottonee and Petilil- although if you want Quiver Dance Lilligant, you need a Pelago Stone. Or to bench Petilil while it's far behind.

Minus the capital needed to build the plant. And the money needed to maintain the turbines. There's a reason we don't have geothermal power here- well, aside from capitalists betting the literal farm on coal.

Togedemaru, Elekid, Magneton and Porygon-Z, along with Dedenne in USUM.

Now then... who likes reading?

This place has signs everywhere.

The geologic time scale refers to the condensed time scale needed to accurately reflect the slow rate at which rocks move about. There is no time dilation applied to the in-game clock- because that's using the real one.

...The Exeggutor Express can go past all that rocky terrain? I wonder what route it takes. Presumably it passes near Tapu Village...

Souvenir towels. In my experience, probably scratchy.

Now those are more usual.

...Wait, Berries cooked in the thermal exhaust of a power plant? Now that is something.

The kinetic energy of the motion is then used to generate electricity. The problem is finding something to spin it. You'll find that nearly every power plant in existence is basically the same idea, just with a different thing doing the spinning.

Yes. There's a step by step guide on the wall.

I think the methods us Pokemon-less real people have are a little more expensive and less reliable? I'm not sure "taking a lot of shovels to it" is much better, though.

Apparently, no matter the world, construction is a lot of waiting.

There is a Step 4, but the kid's in the way.

USUM moves the kid out of the way, allowing you to get to the Step 4 sign, but it's not that worth it. Although it looks like Pokemon is aware of the carbon footprint issue.

On top of the corkboards, we've also got a bunch of dioramas here.

...I'm not sure if Pokemon's made the explanation too simple or there's something off here. I'm not sure why you'd want to be actively separating these.

You need a sort of slanted turbine design in order to stop the turbine from trying to turn in both directions at the same time. That's a very embarrassing result.

...I have no idea what the generator organ in Vikavolt has to do with turbine power. I'm hopeful that Electric types don't really have to worry about turbine power generation.

Hm. It seems they do try and keep the water being used in the system. Probably in your best interests to keep that whole "sustainable" thing.

This scientist has something to give us, but weirdly, it only happens during the daytime period.

The power of the simple interjection "Not again!".

There are two types of Electric types: Those that generate electricity, and those that feed on it. It turns out the latter kind doesn't make good power plant employees.

I love how Magnemite's kinda like "...and?"

How considerate. Embargo is a Status Dark move that locks the opponent out from benefiting from any items- this includes both hold items and Bag items. As nice as it sounds, it's usually not worth spending a move to block Trainers from using Hyper Potions at the wrong time... and honestly, it's not really great for hold items either. Then again, that may be because Knock Off does the same thing and damages the opponent at the same time, too.

And no, Z-Moves are not blocked by Embargo. Although that would be cool.

Sometimes, you wonder if Pokemon's so advanced when it comes to generating electricity because of all the Electric types needing to consume it. Then again, there's no way Electric types would evolve without the electricity needed to make it a viable means of existing.

And what does that mean for those of us in the real world, who have nothing but hindrances on trying to build nice things?

We don't get to explore the real thing. I'm not fully on top of all the power plants in series history, but I think this might be the first example of such a case. This is probably the more sensible direction- the insides of some of the other Power Plants in series history were potential disasters in waiting for a careless eleven year old.

Probably Heatran. Heatran is a Legendary Pokemon introduced in DPPt, but all we get on it is that it lives in volcanoes. I somewhat suspect Heatran is actually a common Pokemon that lives in the planet's core, and its higher power and incompatibility with life on the crust gives it the designation "Legendary" in our mechanics. My basis for this is largely on the fact that Heatran is the only Legendary that can be either male or female.

Samson's here to give us our last Apricorn Ball. There's two in Malie, four on Hokulani, and then the last one's in here.

And also presumably in other parts of the world. I'm not sure its specifically Hawai'ian volcanoes that do that.

Not actually the volcanic rock, but a secret third thing.

And there's the Lure Ball. The Lure Ball is a normal Poke Ball in most circumstances, but has a heightened catch rate when used on a Pokemon found by fishing- unlike the Dive Ball, which works on Surfing Pokemon too. (Both Lure and Dive Balls were impacted by Pokemon narrowing the ways in which aquatic Pokemon can be found.) In SM, the bonus catch rate is 5x- it was 3x back in Johto and was nerfed to 4x from SwSh onwards.

It wasn't bugged in GSC, but it was initially bugged in SV (the new situations in which Lure Balls would work weren't programmed correctly). It is not currently known what patch fixed that.

Fortunately, talking to him makes him go away, allowing us to read the sign he's in front of.

These are some nifty little displays for the other regions' Power Plants, so we can get some more info on them than the games that didn't spring for this detail.

You get the feeling someone on the team was passionate about power generation?

I believe the advantage of this method of solar power is that a lot of the sun's energy dissipates in our atmosphere (you might recognise this as the thing that prevents us from spontaneously combusting like we would if we lived on Mercury). Presumably, the extra cost of getting this energy to Earth is made up for by the greater amount of energy.

I'm not 100% sure real humans are on this.

Porygon (Ultra Moon): It was built 20 years ago by scientists who dreamed of exploring space. Their dreams have yet to come true.

I'm not sure which of you is off, but I'll tell you one thing, the protagonist of ORAS did get to go to space. So somehow, I'm looking at you, Rotom.

...Is that a HGSS picture? It's at an angle you don't typically see the Kantonian Power Plant from, I can't tell.

It was stolen by a Team Rocket Grunt who had not yet been made aware Team Rocket had disbanded. Retrieving it is the only thing that qualifies as an objective in the postgame of GSC- Kanto is open-ended barring this.

The abandonment was in RBY- it was a dungeon in which Electric types could be encountered, as well as the Legendary Pokemon Zapdos. It was refurbished between RBY and GSC (which probably explains why a single Machine Part could break the system.)

...As an aside, I am still not sure through what method the Kantonian Power Plant generates electricity. On either side of the refurbishment, frankly.

This sounds like a you problem. Why bother going on this field trip if you don't even know what the teaching experience is?

True. However, only two Pokemon can get the Magma Armour Ability, and both are unavailable in SM. One was added to USUM, but not in the Alola Dex.

Again, probably Heatran. They did put Heatran in USUM, but not by coming out of a volcano.

I'm told that power generation is capable of running into the problem of having generated too much electricity to store. I'm not sure if that's a standard of power plants, but it can never hurt to be sure.

...Is that one Dugtrio or three? Also, I'm wondering if the Dugtrio are an asset or an issue.

This one intrigues me: The mention of a Gym Leader this directly suggests to me that we should be expected to identify which one, but I'm clueless. My guesses are either Clay (from BW), or one of Roark and Byron (DPPt). The former is typically treated as an oil tycoon, while the latter two seem odd to include in a cameo without acknowledging their familial connection as father and son.

...Also, Roark and Byron live in a region close to Bethany's home region of Kanto, which makes "far-away region" seem slightly weird. That might just be a me thing, though.

Oh yeah, I've got one of these now, don't I?

That sounds like a good way to get paralysed. Make sure you've got a cure handy. And that you can get your hands on it.

Nice healthy pay packet.

...You too?

Heading back to the Secluded Shore to fight the Trainers, and, er... who do I need to yell at?

Just an Alomomola, nothing special. Although not something I want to see paired with that intro line.

Problem with using a recoil move on something with high HP: Recoil scales based on the number of damage you do.

Fortunately, Alomomola tried something NVE. Which was probably Wake-up Slap- not sure why she thought that would beat a Water move.

A Water move would probably have actually finished me.

Won't deny that one. But I am still winning one on one, even if I do have a full team of six on standby.

I know a few Pokemon that would love to take credit for that. Not many of them Water types, though.

...Well, OK, it's in a pretty treacherous part of the island, but is it really that "secret"?

Whiscash (Ultra Sun): Whiscash shakes the ground at high intensities to intimidate its opponents. It swallows its prey whole- along with mud from the swamp floor.

He's carrying a Whiscash and a Sandygast. You may have noticed that the Surfer in USUM had the same name and Sandygast as this guy- he is intended to be a replacement. The Whiscash is Water/Ground- so sadly, it's already chasing away the Electric types Sandygast is meant to surprise. Oh well. Can't all be winners.

The Sandygast did make a pretty effective showcase of Jaws's abilities, though.

Well, at least we're doing this joke equal opportunity?

The male version of this joke is so much worse than the female.

I will collect the litter if I please.

Also, you wouldn't know what to do with this Zygarde Cell anyway.

(There are two, one during the Day, and one at Night.)

Four Pearls on this beach.

And before Bethany moves on out of Route 12, a PP Up in this corner.

Ailey's going to be spending a smidge longer down here.

Much like Robert, Sara has been moved off the Secluded Shore to challenge us on Route 12. Important to note- Robert and Sara do not count towards accessing Collector Andrew in SM, but do count in USUM.

Starmie (Sun): Its shining core is thought to receive and transmit enigmatic signals. It has been known to cause headaches in those who approach it.

Her Alomomola has been upgraded to a Starmie, though. Water/Psychic type, Starmie's high Sp. Atk and Spd are undercut by the fact that, as a generic Trainer, Sara is using the basic level 1 moves of a stone evolution.

So, Water Gun, Swift, Rapid Spin and Recover.

You've gotta consider getting Water Pulse, at least.

Andrew hasn't changed much, although he has adjusted his lead.

Larvesta (Ultra Moon): It protects itself with flame. Long years ago, people believed Larvesta had a nest on the sun.

Larvesta is a Bug/Fire type that evolves into a significant Pokemon in the Unova region. As a Larvesta, its highest stat is Atk, although its evolution prefers Special Attacks. Andrew's Larvesta is running 30/30/20/20/20/30 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk/Spd, Adamant Nature, and the moves Flame Charge and Bug Bite- about as good as you can get it.

Incidentally, if you've been paying close attention to a filled in Pokedex, you might notice that there's a missing space in USUM's Akala Pokedex for a two-Pokemon evolution family. Larvesta is that family, and we won't find it until we get the last Poke Ride from the fourth island.

Well, that's inconvenient.

Fortunately, the second Aqua Tail successfully hit and oneshot. I was worried for a moment there.

Pinsir's IVs have been adjusted to 30/30/30/20/20/20, but this Pinsir is otherwise identical to the SM version, down to the moves.

Come on, Hawkeye, don't fail me now...

...Well, that's one way to accomplish that objective.

Dialogue's identical, but the TM's different. Although Dragon Tail is of much less help to Ailey compared to Psych Up for Bethany.

Once again, Ray was the only one hit by the Z-Move. These kids, I swear.

That is a Mantine Surfing sign...

And similarly to Big Wave Beach, we are approached by Samson Oak. For... some reason.

Apparently, it's a hobby of his.

Gogoat is a Pokemon native to the Kalos region. It is not available in Alola at all. With that said, the kimono-clad fellow will be encountered later.

Can do. Hey, could you slip Ray his next Totem? Please? ...No?

(Funnily, the fact that he walks around Ailey implies that he Mantine Surfs back to Heahea.)

In USUM, the Secluded Shore is instead Ula'ula Beach, the stop for Mantine Surf in Ula'ula. We have now unlocked Stage 3 in the Mantine Surf minigame, the new Tutors, and so on and such forth. There are no wild encounters here (we cannot Surf, nor can we fish). Bruxish can be encountered on the next few routes, if you were wondering.

The high score board actually has the kimono man (Big G) and Samson on it. That's cute.

I think this is the same cop as I failed to remember to talk to in SM. He's right that there's no Slowpoke in the water on Secluded Shore, but he's even more right that there's nothing at all to catch here on Ula'ula Beach.

This is the exact same Berry Tree in both games.

Another beach also means another letter to pick up. Although admittedly, we didn't find Melemele's on Big Wave.

...And what do you want me to tell him once I get the letter there? This letter has a lot of instructions to me and few for him.

In addition to the Pearls, there's also a Revive and Dive Ball in place of the Zygarde Cell. Although that Dive Ball may not have been litter...

A ton of awesome moves available in this one! A lot of them are amazing because of their good BP and type coverage options, though. Also a lot of physical moves, I'm noticing.

• Iron Head: 80 BP Physical Steel move, 30% chance to flinch. This is a pretty widespread move, and Steel coverage has some value on two of the three remaining Totems. Particularly since USUM has slightly lowered the value of Poison- this is a good way of hitting Fairies.
• Aqua Tail: 90 BP 90% accurate Physical Water move. This is mainly the typical choice in physical Water moves, and doesn't usually appear as a coverage move. And even then, Water isn't exactly winning prizes as a coverage option...
• Pain Split: Normal Status move. Pain Split calculates the mean average of both the user and the target's current HP, and then sets the current HP for both sides to this value. This is a very hilarious move, but it's one that can be rather peculiar to get working in your favour.
• Tailwind: Flying Status move. Tailwind doubles the Speed of your side for three turns. It's a relatively short effect, so doesn't have quite as much value in Singles, but it can be a pretty key component in setting up someone else's winning move in a Totem fight. There are very few Pokemon who can get this that aren't Flying types, incidentally.
• Thunder Punch: 75 BP Physical Electric move, 10% chance of paralysis. This is a pretty common option for physical Pokemon who want to play with Electric types, although a common issue many of them face is that there aren't really better options for physical Electrics. Still, though, this one's not awful.
• Endeavour: Physical Normal move. This will set your opponent's HP to yours, if yours is lower. They both have their perks, particularly Endeavour as part of what's known as the "FEAR" strategy, but I don't really know how much better this is than Pain Split.
• Focus Punch: 150 BP Physical Fighting move. This will strike at -3 priority if and only if the opponent has not landed their own attack on you yet. This is a move that's really good if you can find a way around that downside, but this is hard to accomplish in most situations.
• Icy Wind: 55 BP 95% accurate Special Ice, hits both opponents and lowers their Speed by one stage. The only Special option on this beach, Icy Wind is as good as it's ever been: guaranteed -1 Speed can stop a Totem from landing a sweep, or indeed any dangerous foe. We're edging up on the point where its low power is an issue, but we won't get Ice Beam until later anyway.
• Zen Headbutt: 80 BP 90% accurate Physical Psychic, 20% chance of flinching. This is the move for physical Psychic types, but its irritating accuracy has a tendency to scare a few Pokemon. I'd like to use it, but it doesn't make the greatest case for itself.
• Seed Bomb: 80 BP Physical Grass, no bonus effect. It's a bit of a boring move, but if you really need physical Grass, it's there. It's mainly the domain of Grass types, though, with a few exceptions.
• Laser Focus: Normal Status move. This will cause it so that, unless your opponent is immune to crits, you will land a critical hit on your next blow. Crits aren't really powerful enough to justify setting up like this, though. This move was newly added to SM, which makes me wonder if it's meant for specifically bypassing the Totems' stat stages- especially since it's one of the newer moves that the Switch games decided they didn't need.
• Trick: Psychic Status move. This will cause you and your target to swap hold items, assuming that neither of you is holding a Z-Crystal. This is an amazing competitive move for being able to remove an opponent's hold item and give them a bad one in the same action. In single player, there's fewer hold items to take away and good reason not to give your own, so it loses value, but this can have its perks.
• Drill Run: 80 BP 95% accurate Physical Ground move, has +1 crit ratio. This is a move I love a lot, but rather unfortunately, it suffers from a similar awkward distribution to Smart Strike- including a similar rule of thumb in being learned mostly by horned Pokemon. Bulldoze is just better in most practical regards.
• Magic Coat: Psychic Status move. This is a variation on Protect that bounces back status ailments. The move is pretty bad unless you know a status move is coming your way this turn, and most people who want to benefit from this effect will seek out a Pokemon with the Magic Bounce Ability instead. That's a lot rarer, though, so this might see some benefit in the right situation.
• Magic Room: Psychic Status move. This move will apply a field effect for five turns that causes all hold items to no longer have an effect. Honestly... as much as I kinda wish the Rooms had more value, why would you not use Embargo if you wanted that effect?
• Ice Punch: 75 BP Physical Ice, 10% chance of freezing. This has most of the same pros and cons as Thunder Punch, but the value of Ice coverage is much higher than that of Electric coverage. All three Punches are cromulent in their niches, the problem is that they could stand to be better.
• Wonder Room: Psychic Status move. This move will apply a field effect for five turns that causes all Pokemon to swap their Physical and Special Defence stats. This is a really cool Room that is almost impossible to justify trying to use, although the option is always there. I think stat stages don't change alongside it, though, so it's not really a Totem killer.
  

Now that we have a third Surf spot, we can now go between multiple Islands. Well, we can from Heahea. Big Wave and Ula'ula can still only go to Heahea, but Heahea can choose to go to either one. Note that the course you are on depends exclusively on what beach you start from- no matter whether you go to Big Wave or Ula'ula, you will always do the Super Course when departing from Heahea.

The Hyper Course introduces us to two new obstacles to watch out for: Sharpedo, who will zero in on you and try and ram you, and Wailord, who will burst out of the waves occasionally and be a gigantic wall for you to hit. Sharpedo are the most frustrating things in the whole course...

Still, though, might as well set the record.

Beach Points apparently get exponentially better if you get a really high score, but I've never been much good at those highs. Also a single Mantine Surf takes way too long.

The third extra surfing move is Starmie 720, which involves three alternating side rolls (I think the official one is Left > Right > Left, although the opposite should work), followed by an Up roll. It doesn't seem to have a bonus effect, it's just a "good" trick.

Anyway, Nainoa. He's in the far north-east corner of Malie Cape.

From who now? This is a joke that gets very funny when you remember what we saw last time.

...He's asking me to fight you, not challenging you yourself. I'd tell you to read better, but uh, I'm the one who read the letter to you.

...Might as well.

Nainoa is... weird. You'd think he'd have a good team, but he doesn't. His two Pokemon have flat 20 IVs, no EVs, neutral Nature and default moves. That'd be passable, of sorts...

Until you realise that his two Pokemon are also four to five levels behind the route Trainers we've been fighting on Route 12. Did... did they give Route 12 a level buff in USUM and forget to give it to this guy?

Either way. Delibird isn't much of a threat, and Mudbray'll go down easy so long as you come prepared.

I was prepared.

Arabella, incidentally, is a generic Trainer found in the Viridian Gym... in HGSS. Remember how they didn't go to the effort of giving the Nugget Bridge knockoffs the same names as the originals? They did go to the effort of actually using a random Gym Trainer for this random moment.

Throwing a bottle in the ocean. From Japan. And hoping it gets to Hawai'i.

Screw the mild Gym propaganda here, what sort of odds are you expecting to count on there?

Nainoa acknowledges it, but seriously, don't litter the ocean on a long shot.

Well, uh... thanks, I guess?

15K is certainly... a prize. An underwhelming reward for an underwhelming quest.

...I should hope it's not too late. I know it's a rite of passage for kids, but a) you look young enough and b) why not get the chance to better yourself? The Island Challenge does teach important skills, after all.

Anyway, with all that cleared up, we can at last go to Route 13. Fortunately, we are not being asked to go to Haina Desert right now.

...Hau! I didn't remember you showing up here!

"Da kine" is the Hawai'ian equivalent of "whatchamacallit", except much more versatile- you can use it as more than a noun. Surprisingly not that common in this game, although that's mostly because Hau seems to be the only one using the local slang.

This part was not kept into USUM, so one can't even act like this is the reason for the non-specificity.

Please tell me it didn't shut off the power for you too.

In USUM, Hau mostly just says "that Togedemaru was strong, but I pulled through!". Glad he is clearing Trials- I'm starting to doubt him here and there.

...Thanks? This isn't even our first one- thought it might be. Probably our indicator they're about to stop being limited use, though.

...No, Gladion. No he hasn't.

Then again, you're the one with your own theme here.

...Speaking of, I think this is legit the first time we've seen Gladion since the Battle Royal Dome. Kinda took a bit of a backseat there, mate.

...Yes, I believe I have heard that name before.

Fortunately, Hau's learned of operational security.

Less fortunately, he is still incapable of keeping his foot out of his mouth. Come to think of it, I'm a little surprised Hau knows much of anything about that. He's probably learned a little bit from osmosis, but this feels like something not to mention to Hau- not to mention that Lillie has, at least once, waited until Hau was out of the room to bring up Nebby.

Hau definitely does know Nebby, thanks to its refusal to stay in the bag, but there's a part of me that feels Lillie wouldn't have told him at all if not by accident.

The Ultra Recons mentioned that way back in Seaward Cave in USUM, but this is, I believe, new information in SM. If it wasn't for the fact that we saw Lillie being chased by Aether goons in the opening cutscene of the game, it would probably be the first reasonable link between Nebby and the UB plot to begin with.

If "something like that" happened. Gladion is definitely aware this is an involuntary outcome on Nebby's part. It does, however, remain worrying.

That's all very well and good to suggest, but I think I'm going to need to know what I'm keeping it safe from here.

Hey, I'm not gonna call you out for that. Although that does make it sound like Team Skull is ging to be the people we are keeping Nebby safe from.

Which... isn't news.

From the sounds of it, they might actually be trying to get Nebby now. As compared to being a target of opportunity.

He did say he was only going to explain himself once, Hau.

Lillie's been doing just fine for herself so far. But yes, I think I should start caring a little more than I have been.

You do that. My plan is to come up with something Lillie can do to keep herself safe. I'm not going to rely on us two protecting her 24/7. Especially if you're one of those people.

So... you have been completing Grand Trials?  I think it's going to take a little more than clearing the Trial to be Kahuna. Especially if Hala's not that far from retiring.

That, at least, I can get behind. Although I'm not necessarily sure if that's one of the duties of a Kahuna.

...Champions as in the position or champions as in "succeed in the Island Challenge"? Categorically, the former is impossible!

Once again, Rotom's awareness is toned up for USUM, where he actually realises "Cosmog" is Nebby, and the stakes have been raised. Otherwise, he just asks if Tapu Village is named after the Island Guardians.

The talk of the motel is that the current occupant of the open room is a Stufful without its Trainer. We will get the chance to meet said Trainer, but for right now, he's out for the count.

Ew, that's overpriced.

All you get talking to it is the chance to say hello, really.

We seriously have a cop playing Lone Ranger now. Do any of you have real jobs?

Neat. USUM replaced him with a Rockruff. Definitely cuter.

And a Zygarde Cell around here at Night, too.

Not far from the freebie Sun Stone is a freebie Moon Stone, required to evolve Jigglypuff into Wigglytuff and Clefairy into Clefable. For me, mostly just an impetus to actually evolve those Pokemon.

Well this is a random Poke Finder spot. Gible, Sandile, Flygon and in USUM, Trapinch.

Oh, it's one of those areas.

This guy provides a hint for how to proceed, but I'll be honest, I'm not 100% sure how to interpret this hint. I usually just wind up using a map.

He has a Gastrodon instead of a Probopass in USUM.

Haina Desert is to the north of Route 13, but as we can see, that's a Trial Barricade.

And we'll need a future Z-Crystal to open it up.

...I'd run. Fast.

You say that, but also there's a village with Ice-types literally ten steps away. Although your tutorial line comes a) way too late and b) really stretches to fit.

Depends on how quickly you can get back up. I'm not chasing after anybody after being in that position.

Apparently, I forgot to screenshot it as Bethany, but this guy actually does expect you to respond to him. If you don't want to fight, he won't kick you out, but he will stop talking to you.

If you call his bluff, he blue-screens and starts contemplating a way to get out of this conversation.

He tries. So, so hard. But he knows full well I'm the superior battler.

How fitting! Taunt is a Dark Status move that will inflict the opponent with the Taunted status for four actions. While Taunted, they are not allowed to perform any Status moves of their own. Taunting is a good way to prevent an opponent with a dangerous status move from doing their job, but in the main story, I typically find most things are scarier when they're clicking offensive moves. You should see the status-move heavy builds competitive players have that are actually scared of this move.

You just realise I'm only going to get more and more out of your league, right?

The hardest of the ruins for Lillie to visit, and one she won't wind up making. Even from the back of Hapu's Mudsdale.

...That's certainly a valid reading.

Wait, Team Skull is contemporary to the Tapus? I'm not 100% sure who this Kahuna is- I'm fairly certain it's not any of the modern ones, but I don't know what the timing is on this event. And whether Guzma is supposed to have been a founding member.

Sadly, Bethany does not ask to read it.

...That just sounds like a recipe for disaster. An unmotivated kahuna could spell trouble for the Island Challenge.

Zygarde Cell to the south of the oasis here...

And down here is another spot where one can go looking for the Secluded Shore fishing encounters. This is the first time USUM can get Bruxish.

Only in Japan is this ever an impressive number.

This is the only litter item down here, sadly.

Although I did wind up lucking out elsewhere. Ailey's Bruxish came with the 5% chance of holding a Razor Fang, a hold item that gives attacks a 10% chance of flinching. It is also the evolutionary hold item for Gligar, allowing it to evolve into Gliscor. This is the only way to acquire the Razor Fang in the Alola games, but also the Alola games can't find their own Gligar, so it evens out.

Speaking of rare evolutionary held items, we can find Prism Scales by fishing in Malie Garden, Secluded Shore, and the next few routes. It's a pretty rare chance, but all four kids can happen across it. There is a freebie Prism Scale for SM later, but this is the earliest chance you have at one otherwise. Well, unless you want to take your chances with the Pickup encounter tables.

Next time: From summer to winter just like that.