Starting off on Route 5, and we want to head on south. Mostly.
In USUM, there exists a female swimmer in the north part of this ocean. Yes, she can be fought before Mimikyu. Yes, that made her annoying to figure out when I should be showing her.
Seaking (Moon): Trainers who are crazy for Seaking are divided into horn enthusiasts and fin enthusiasts. The two groups do not get along well.
She uses two evolved forms of the classic fish, the first being the evolved form of Goldeen. Both of these fish are pure Water, and are usually considered pretty passe. Seaking at least does have a niche as being a Water type immune to Electric with Lightning Rod, but that's its HA.
Sometimes I do wish Crysantha was a bit better at dealing with Waters. Maybe I should've gone with Frillish after all.
Lumineon (Sun): With its shining light, it lures its prey close. However, the light also happens to attract ferocious fish Pokémon- its natural predators.
Her other Pokemon, Lumineon, is the evolved form of Finneon. Its cry and design are far too beautiful to be wasted on a Pokemon that has literally nothing going for it. Its Moon entry implies it preys on Starmie, which sets the bar on its power level way too high.
At least she went down in one Giga Drain.
...I'm no swimmer, but come to think of it, is muscle really the bottleneck here? Cross-country swimming strikes me as being more demanding on your lungs.
As you go around the south, there's a stop on a beach here worth visiting, and the reason changes with the game.
In SM, we get an Ace Trainer match and a TM.
Karla has three Pokemon to her name and each one has a single perfect IV, but strangely, no further investment in SM. She did, however, get movesets and two 30 IVs each for USUM.
Also, it's worth mentioning that Karla has moved in USUM, but I'll keep the discussion of her here.
Her lead is Vulpix in SM, and Sandshrew in USUM- you might have noticed that both games have already fought the other one on some generic. The Sandshrew has 30 IVs in Atk and Spd and the moveset of Iron Head and Ice Ball (30 BP, 90% accurate, Physical Ice, it doubles in power each time it is used consecutively, capping after five turns or when it misses). The Vulpix just has a 31 in Sp. Atk.
Not that it has decided to use it.
A nice solid hit is a good counter to Safeguard.
Karla's Haunter has a perfect Spd IV in SM, and her kit in USUM is 30 Sp. Atk/Spd and the moves Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse. Dark coverage on Ghost types is really weird (I guess you really wanted that Normal coverage?), but in USUM, this is basically a "no Ghosts allowed" opponent.
Bernie-Bear scoffs at such notions.
...Well that's irritating.
This was a very confusing turn all around. Sucker Punch doesn't work if it is outsped.
Thankfully this didn't go on too long. Although in hindsight, maybe another turn was warranted.
Kasplashle picked up this interesting move, mostly to see how much distance we can get out of it. Beat Up is a Physical Dark move that hits once per Pokemon that does not have a non-volatile status in your party, with the power of each blow being calculated based on the base Atk stats of each party member (Base Attack/10 + 5, incidentally). This can be an incredibly potent tool with the right setup, although it does suggest I should start actually speccing Kasplashle for physical damage.
Karla's Wigglytuff has a perfect HP IV in SM, and 30 IVs in HP/Sp. Atk in USUM. Her USUM moves are Hyper Voice and Dazzling Gleam.
Technically speaking, this was the correct decision. But I was thwarted by that attack I dismissed earlier.
Seems Karla got the last laugh.
This is why Bernie-Bear taking an extra turn on Haunter would've been OK. Maybe that time Toxic would work.
Nasty Plot it is, then.
Oh come on!
At least this isn't causing any problems.
I think it says a lot that this Wigglytuff humiliated Flambebe so thoroughly but didn't actually manage to deal any damage. What you get when you don't set the Trainer movesets.
Karla deciding to move on. Your USUM team's not terrible, I'll give it that.
Wild Charge is a 90 BP Physical Electric move that does 1/4 damage you deal as recoil damage. Sadly, it is often the best choice in Electric STAB for Physical Electrics. Sometimes the physical/special split really is that disparate.
In USUM, the Trainer on this shore is instead a Surfer.
Mantine (Ultra Moon): Many people have taken up surfing because they admire how magnificently Mantine swims.
Don't get me wrong- this Mantine has 30 IVs in Sp. Atk/Spd and the moves Air Slash and Surf, same as Karla's Pokemon. It's just not as tricky a fight.
Although Surf is 90 BP and not to be underestimated. That's foreshadowing for a different fight, though.
I'll gladly take an 80 BP Special Rock move. Not exactly a Pokemon that's really clamouring for it, but it could come in handy.
Sometimes you have to wonder just how many times it bears mentioning.
There's Ailey's copy of the Acrobatics TM. It's mildly reasonable, although still edging on the part of the game where Held Items are better than Acrobatics tricks. Could've been worse- Ailey's still waiting on her copy of Scald.
For, uh... some reason, there's a Surf Association branch here.
This is not actually a mechanical place, so it's just a place to mention the existence of the final Mantine Surf move, Over-the-Gyarados.
Oh, I'm sure we can find somebody.
...You going to mention where this was? I'd like to see it, but I don't exactly know how I'm going to go about that.
Moving back along, we have a Swimmer circling one of these islands that's too precarious to land on.
Tentacruel (Moon): Although these Pokémon are rare, when a large outbreak of them occurs, all fish Pokémon disappear from the surrounding sea.
He has not invested in his Tentacruel at all, I'm not sure what his plan is for Water-based tactics.
One thing he does have, and is inordinately fond of, is the move Barrier. This is a Psychic Status move that grants +2 Def on use- despite the name, type and appearance, it is not a Screen, it applies the usual stat stage kind of boost.
It's very annoying when you're trying to take him down with Bulldoze.
Also, I'm not debuffing its Speed, so although the game isn't telling me this Tentacruel has Clear Body, I know it does. It only does the "Clear Body! It's stats aren't lowered" message if I do something that only lowers stats.
Well, at least I have time to take.
Because he's certainly making this take forever. Maybe that's what he was going for?
Still, though. Not the fun kind of fight.
...
...
I beg your pardon? Gonna do any elaboration on why that might be?
...No?
Past this bit, you just need to go around some rocks to get to the north shore. This shore isn't actually connected to the Pokemon Centre, though, it's just for some pickups.
They're apparently enjoying a workout together, although the lady does have some opinions about doing this on a beach and not, say, a gym (the regular kind, although I've never seen one in a Pokemon game.)
Yumi and Jake are actually surprisingly scary in USUM- it took me by surprise when I fought them with Ailey and it took me by further surprise when I checked their stats.
Golduck (Ultra Sun): Even fast-swimming fish Pokémon can be disabled by Golduck. It brings them to a standstill and seizes them.
Slowbro (Moon): Whenever Shellder bites down hard on its tail, it gives Slowbro a flash of inspiration... which it forgets a moment later.
In SM, however, they're an unremarkable team that does happen to give you the Dex entries for the evolutions of Psyduck and Slowpoke. Neither has any assigned moves or stats.
Although they have apparently decided to get rid of any possible sun setters. If we had rain, they might've regretted that more.
Now that is an Ability. Although the camera has changed position dramatically.
Bernie-Bear goes for the Attack buff, although in Doubles, Disguise isn't as great as usual.
That said, this could have been much worse.
Not really making as much headway into their team as I'd like.
At least the same applies in reverse. Kasplashle's high defensive stats are still valuable at this point- it's the Speed that kills.
Bit of a waste of Sword Dance, but I'd rather not take the Aqua Tail.
Kasplashle, meanwhile, is planning on showing off Beat Up.
...That did not go like I had in mind.
Wow, Slowbro didn't wind up doing much to Bernie-Bear. I didn't think she was that bulky...
Oh well, Shadow Sneak ought to be more than enough.
You're distracted by your surroundings and you don't notice the Pyukumuku in your girlfriend's back?
...WOW, dude. On top of asking what that's doing in a Pokemon game... shouldn't that make you more attentive to the fact your girlfriend's been dealing with living things in all the least comfortable places?
I think you need to have a talk with your boyfriend.
In USUM, they use a tag team of both Frillishes- a male and a female- and both have stats. Stats to the tune of 30/15/30/15/30/30 IVs, 252 EVs in HP and Spd, Serious Natures, and the moves Surf and Ominous Wind.
(It's worth noting that right now, I'm using Callie and Anna, not Callie and Crysantha.)
Those Foul Plays did not do as much as I thought they would.
And now for the trick when it comes to these two- both of them have Water Absorb.
Those high HP stats, particularly on a bulky Pokemon like Frillish, are being reinforced by their own attacks. This is the sort of fight where you want to tag-team on one target, rather than spreading out like I did.
This time, I got it.
Although unfortunately, the other one got Anna and Callie.
The after-battle dialogue was changed, but not the overworld dialogue. Which does kinda make Yumi's lines about being pricked take on a different tone- Jake's, not so much.
...Well, of the things to find, that is certainly one of them.
OK, seriously, why are we only now tutorialising that? Is now the point where we're expected to have Poke Pelago online or something?
...This route in general is giving me weird vibes, apparently. Alexandria has three Pokemon in SM, but only one in USUM.
She may have three of them, but her team's not great. Luvdisc, Corsola and Alomomola.
She did manage to stun-lock Haruka with Confuse, but for some reason, she was using Flail rather than a Water move. This is several turns worth of punishment from both Haruka herself and the Luvdisc.
Haruka was doing more damage.
...Wasn't expecting that. Heart Stamp is a 60 BP Physical Psychic move with a 30% flinch chance. I'm used to it being exclusive to Jynx and Swoobat, but apparently Luvdisc picked it up for SM, and only SM. Considering Luvdisc is fast and Haruka is slow, it strikes me as something it should've been using more often.
Alomomola second, that's a surprise.
Alomomola shows off Soak to try and stifle Zapple's power.
Unfortunately, it turns out it did an effective job of it.
More fortunately, the fact that Soak gives you a resistance to Water moves came into play. When you're dealing damage to yourself, you need all the help you can get.
Still, might as well use Psychic to take the pressure of myself.
Corsola was a lot easier to deal with.
You know, I'm amazed you're not using Vaporeon.
Her USUM Pokemon is Bruxish. Hau is actually the only main story user of Vaporeon you can possibly get.
Landing on the beach north of Alexandria is where you can find Ace Trainer Karla. It can be tricky to dodge her if you're not careful.
As an aside, when Ailey fought her, she fell right into a trap I love using myself. Competitive Wigglytuff gets +2 Sp. Atk when she takes a penalty to her stats, but fortunately, Shade happens to resist both Normal and Fairy.
In the far west corner of this map is a particularly strange item, in both history and function. The Normal Gem was a consumable item introduced in BW that increased the damage of your first Normal type attack by 50%. In BW, it was not the only such Gem- you could also find Gems for all sixteen other types (there was no Fairy type). As of XY, the other types go Gem-less, and the Normal Gem was nerfed to 30% power. I'm not really sure why, although the chief theory is that the power of Flying Gem + Acrobatics was too much.
My counterargument is, why not just make the Flying Gem count as a hold item when Acrobatics is performed?
Another mention of Poke Pelago as if it's not an island old at this point.
In USUM, there's instead an event that happens with this man.
...What? That's... certainly something.
It proceeds to scare off a Corsola with a cry. I'm... not sure that's how staring contests work, but what do I know? Starmie doesn't have eyelids.
...At least he brought a fishing pole. Although I hope he goes to the bathroom someplace else.
...It even beat Slowpoke. How can that be legal?
Can't you forcibly recall it into a Poke Ball or something?
Because it feels like a line has been crossed by this point. Yes, do well by your Pokemon, but also let your own voice be heard, too.
That would probably be cheating. I've never seen tickling my opponent be a valid method of winning a staring contest.
OK, I have a Pokemon that happens to know the move Tickle, but if you might recall, this is technically cheating. Although Mime Jr. should know Tickle at level 1, the way its moveset works means that it doesn't. However, in order to acquire the move Tickle, you must get an Omanyte to level 43 (three levels higher than its evolution), Omastar to 48, or check a Whiscash, Mime Jr. (not Mr. Mime) or Minccino into the Move Reminder. This is a USUM quest- did they not remember that the Move Reminder is so late?
At any rate, I feel like Mr. Mime should have the potential to win a staring contest owing to its creepy, dead-eyed face.
No, they don't actually show the tickling on-screen. When you take into account the possibility of breeding and important rare event Pokemon that know Tickle, there are just under 100 possible Pokemon that can know Tickle. The ones I listed specifically are the ones that a) are available in USUM and b) learn it without breeding. Learning a move by breeding requires you to already have a Pokemon that knows the move.
...
Ladies and gentlemen. An official Pokemon game has unironically used "It's super effective" to refer to a particularly successful strategy and not the technical usage "dealt increased damage due to a positive type matchup". I think this qualifies as an ascended meme.
Again, I'm fairly sure this is considered cheating.
With that said, if it lets this man go home, I accept it.
Easy Poke for Ailey.
I'm not sure if Ray's going to bother, honestly.
Oh, grow up, Starmie.
He does actually go home, by the way. And good for him, too.
In Ultra Moon only, we can find a Youngster hanging out around a Sandygast. This is the Ultra Moon equivalent event to the one we found on Route 14.
I notice we have a little boy paired with a little girl in both events, but the Ultra Sun event uses a Preschooler while the Ultra Moon event uses a Youngster.
...Kid, I dunno how to tell you this... either you have confused "waking up a Sandygast" for building a sandcastle, or a Sandygast has eaten your sandcastle in the time since you last looked at it.
Well, admittedly, sandcastles are typically pretty transient sights.
The Sandygast gets a dramatic pan-around animation to show itself off as such. It turns around three times, which is either the camera doing shenanigans or makes it look far less cool from a single perspective.
You have to fight it as a wild encounter, but you don't have to catch it, just deal with it in any manner. I had Basilissa deal with it, for old time's sake.
...
Sandygast (Moon): It takes control of anyone who puts a hand in its mouth. And so it adds to the accumulation of its sand-mound body.
Yeah, I think I preferred the Ultra Sun event.
Same reward of a single Stardust either way.
Climbing this ramp takes us to Route 16. But before we head there, we must first stop back at the opening of the route.
With the defeat of Yuki, Karla, Jared, Alexandria, and the Yumi & Jake double team, we can now fight this lady, the only female Trial Guide battle in either game.
Trial Guide Katrina has a full set of IVs, EVs, Nature and moves, and uses primarily Steel types. I have to wonder if her removal in USUM is related to a later event involving Steel type users.
Her lead, Klefki, has 15/15/31/31/31/15 IVs, 252 EVs in Def and Sp. Def, a Bold Nature (+Def/-Atk) and the moves Mirror Shot, Draining Kiss, and Spikes. Spikes is the only move to be expected of a Klefki, with the two offensive moves striking me as a half-hearted admission that Klefki's role is mismatched for single-player modes.
Given its defensive stats and Prankster Ability, the odds of it getting the chance to scatter Spikes over your side of the field is pretty high.
Klefki does have a lower Special Defence base than physical, although the difference is 4 BST (accounting for Bold Nature, 11 points on the final stat page). Good, but in practice, it's not like you're hitting a Rock type with a Special move here.
Her second Pokemon, Skarmory, runs 15/31/15/15/15/31 IVs, 252 EVs in Atk and Spd, and Adamant (+Atk/-Sp. Atk) Nature, and the moves Steel Wing, Feint, and Fury Attack. It does happen to carry a Steelium Z, of course, but those moves on the back of 80 Atk? I'm starting to second-guess this entire team's choices in Steel types. Now granted, it's not like the type is known for its variety.
Well, the Spikes could've been worse. With Zapple resisting Steel, it's not even like Skarmory has a good hit in her.
I'm fairly sure it has Sturdy? Usual practice is to act like it does.
Well, so much for seeing Corkscrew Crash. At least we already have seen it.
We both knew Zapple was winning this one on her Volt Tackle, let's do Gigavolt Havoc instead.
...It's a giant electric surge.
I'm kinda disappointed. Electric is your mascot's type, guys.
Well, that was easier than it looked.
...Come to think of it, USUM had a PP Max in Hokulani Observatory for doing the super-hard Charjabug puzzle. Guess we found its SM counterpart!
You. I like you. You and Kukui should have a long conversation.
And also you should be paid by somebody. Haven't decided who yet. Probably Kukui.
You know, sometimes, entering a new route without crossing a loading zone gets weird sometimes. Route 16 is one of the tiniest routes in the series- it will never be possible for a route to be shorter than GSC Route 23, but they sure have tried. It's an important route, though.
We're close to the Meadow, incidentally, which is what I think this is referring to.
My money's on the Tauros. It has good Def while Sharpedo is pretty frail. Plus, Tauros has Intimidate.
Zygarde Cell right next to the Pokemon Centre.
I mean... it's called Merciless here. I feel like it comes with the card.
We can now get Max Potions. Last thing is Full Restores after the final Trial.
She says this, but I have no idea if this is actually referencing a condition we need to meet or is just a coincidental line of dialogue.
It's just a Lemonade either way.
The Aether minion here is looking for a Pokemon, and this one's a doozy.
In SM, it's... Mimikyu. A Pokemon I've already got and am using on the team. Mimikyu's never much of an issue.
I get the impression we're dealing with someone real lazy here. With that said, 5% is a bit of an annoying encounter rate, and it's implied to be even more annoying narratively.
At least she's willing to pay us for the effort. Not that it was an effort, but you know, Noah put in work.
...Look, I can't argue this is a bad idea, but wow you're not trying to make yourself look good in this arrangement.
On the other hand, if your boss happens to be Faba, perhaps I can be convinced to look the other way.
That is a nice pay packet for doing the work of the lazy. Probably more evidence that Faba's the one making her run this errand.
Never mind. All sympathy is gone. At least they're not putting you on any jobs that require you to look after live specimens.
At least she's learned her lesson.
Sort of.
In USUM, she's instead got her eye on Garchomp, a Pokemon that can only be found by first catching it through a weather S.O.S., and then levelling that Pokemon up to level 48.
I'm actually working on it, because of Poke Pelago, but I'll keep that for later.
Both these Ace Trainers are on about Receiver and Power of Alchemy, Abilities that do the same thing. I'm not sure why they're both on about it, and whether they're aware this is actually the topic of conversation.
At which point you remember Power of Alchemy is HA, Receiver is version-exclusive, and both require you to be in a Double Battle.
Almost certainly. If not, they certainly never grew out of it.
This is not actually particularly persuasive one way or the other.
(It is worth noting I couldn't get close enough to the other Ace Trainer to see if he's also got something to say, since the Skull Grunt is proximity triggered).
...Is Team Skull drunk and belligerent on milk?
Well, someone needs to put a stop to them, and if that isn't my job most of the time...
The things that Pokemon somehow manages to make me say.
This Trubbish shall make a fine enough debut fight for Justy. Funnily enough, it was also the first thing that Ray's new Krokorok Terri fought, too.
Justy happens to have a double resist to Poison. Ghost resisting Poison makes intuitive sense, when you think about the mechanics of attempting to poison the undead, but mechanically, this type interaction just gets hilarious fast. I'm not even 100% sure what it is about Poison vs Ghost that has that property.
If Trubbish survives a turn, that Poison damage is probably going to do more than the Sludge Bomb.
Justy starts with Magnitude. I dunno why- possibly because I find Magnitude cool in some way- I didn't wind up replacing it with Bulldoze for quite some time. At least I got the oneshot this time.
Sounds like the hangover struck quickly.
I'm not sure if he's meant to just be saying this or if there's an actual move he's using in Japanese that didn't translate. "Rumble" is not an existing move.
I hope that is of immense comfort to you.
Because it sure doesn't sound like it.
Yes, even water. Turns out that after a point, it's our bodies that form the bottleneck. Our livers and kidneys can only hold so much of anything.
...I'll be honest, the way he's looking at the camera makes me think he's talking to us, not Ailey. Fortunately, Moomoo Milk keeps until we need it, whenver that might be.
Although if they have even one HP less than capacity, they'll gladly go for anything. Although it'd probably be hard to police that mechanic.
Amazingly, nothing worthwhile in this tree. Lum Berries are the big pile prize, and the rest are status cures.
In here... there's something a long time incoming.
Next time, set up shop on Akala Island or something. This is probably a balancing factor of the reward, but we are finally finding a use for all those Zygarde Cells we have.
The irony is lost on these two.
It's hilarious, how this is phrased. We collected 10 so long ago, but we haven't yet hit 50.
It's like this machine just turned up one day without anyone doing anything to facilitate its construction. I shudder to imagine the state of science if this is reflective of reality.
This is a really weird mechanic when you try to think about it narratively, but it mostly has to do with translating a very awkward idea into something the player can actually work with.
And to think, I actually like these two in XY. Now granted, I'm not 100% sure XY is in on the reason why, but they have clearly taken vacation brain to heart.
...This is something that is far, far better explained in practice than in theory.
Did you catch all of that? No? Neither did I, and I know what they're talking about.
I don't think we had an explicit number on that yet, but this is... well, it's pretty close to accurate, but I feel like there are potential arguments to be made on the topic.
Zygarde Cores and Cells are technically supposed to be Formes of Zygarde all unto their own, but this is not true in mechanics because that would be incredibly difficult and fiddly.
The out-of-universe reason is that the developers did not make a Pokemon Z starring Zygarde in the Kalos region and threw all their ideas out into the anniversary game. The anime had its Zygarde arc in the Kalos section. I suspect that Zygarde manifests in all regions, rather than caring about where humans have drawn the borders.
I don't think gathering the Zygarde parts will tell us why it is here. In fact, there are good odds that the opposite will transpire. Anything to get the kids out exploring, I guess?
Anyway, shut up and let me talk this one over.
...How come you address Sycamore by name but his own employees don't? I guess Sina and Dexio are still upset with Sycamore on the subject of his Team Flare apologism.
Considering what Lysandre was cooking, a reasonable reason to take issue with the man.
Right, now then, let's talk about Zygarde Assembly.
Zygarde is a Pokemon that watches over the world of Pokemon in fragments, channeling information through its Cells into its Cores. When a situation transpires, it gathers its Cells into a location to form a powerful Pokemon able to put a stop to it. The Reassembly Unit, however it works, allows us to gather a group of Cells and assemble a Zygarde to put under our command. Now, how does one feel about this morally? It sounds like a disaster in waiting. But, well, when you gotta catch 'em all...
You can assemble a Zygarde using Zygarde Cells in your Cube, or you can make a pre-existing Zygarde into a bigger Forme by combining it with Cells in your Cube. The latter allows you to retain the Zygarde's Nature, IVs, and all the miscellaneous information attached to a Pokemon to make it seem like a character in its own right. Zygarde Cells in the Cube are not Pokemon, and they do not retain memory of such.
And by pushing a series of buttons, Bethany is the first kid to acquire a Legendary Pokemon! Legendary Pokemon are important to the mythology of the Pokemon world, and one can typically only find one of them in a given region. Zygarde is a half exception to this- there is only one Zygarde in SM, in that there is only one 100% Forme Zygarde that can be constructed without trading, but we can totally make ten 10% Zygardes if we feel like it, and our game's Zygarde Cube can hold up to 999 Zygarde Cells by deconstructing Zygardes traded in from other games (including ones imported from the Zygarde found in XY).
Registering a Legendary Pokemon into the Rotom Dex comes with a suitably elaborate pomp and circumstance, with a celebratory text wipe and shinier backdrop. I feel like we were supposed to see this for the first time when we caught the Legendary Pokemon on the cover of the box, but this will do.
Rotom even comments on Legendary Pokemon. He has, I believe, a few different messages based on the type of Legendary and/or its inclusion in a set.
Zygarde, incidentally, is not included in any of the four regional Pokedexes, but catching one does count towards Alola Pokedex completion. Most Legendaries match this description, so it is possible (and pretty likely) that we'll have 100% on all four Island Pokedexes and have to keep going to fill up the Alola Dex.
If you construct a Zygarde at this point in the story, it will be level 30 and know its natural learnset moves.
Bethany decided to separate her Zygarde down. This is so I can keep count of my Zygarde Cells in-game, mostly.
Now then, let's move over to Noah, who will be keeping his Zygarde assembled. You see, while most players like to not use Legendaries, I do not necessarily feel I need to be kept beholden to this limitation. All four kids have a Legendary in mind to add to their team, and Zygarde will be Noah's.
Now then, we can actually do things with our Zygarde Cube now that we possess a Zygarde.
...I'll get to that, but yeah, we'll need the Reassembly Unit if we want to change Noah's Zygarde to a stronger Forme.
As for "teaching moves", this is the function of the Zygarde Cores- each one we collect is responsible for teaching a special move Zygarde cannot learn any other way. Three of these moves are exclusive to Zygarde, but the other two are just particularly good moves players might like Zygarde to know. Incidentally, only one of these moves is signature.
- The Zygarde Core in our house teaches Extreme Speed, an 80 BP Physical Normal move with +2 priority. This is an awesome move to have, and its distribution is incredibly low- the only other Pokemon we can get right now that has access to it is Arcanine, and even in the future, there's only one or two more new finds. Zygarde actually learned this naturally in XY, but it got separated in the Core hunt in SM.
- The Zygarde Core in Hala's house teaches Thousand Arrows, Zygarde's most terrifying signature move. This move is 90 BP, Physical Ground, and if the opponent is not grounded (ie otherwise immune to Ground moves), Thousand Arrows will not only hit them, but ground them. It will deal neutral damage to any airborne target it hits, which technically counts as a weakness, I suppose, although this move was so good that it's part of the reason Zygarde became oppressive in the competitive metagame. As an aside, it's actually considered a spread move, so it hits both opponents in Doubles matches.
- The Zygarde Core in Olivia's house teaches Dragon Dance, the most boring move on this list. Boring does not mean bad, however- Dragon Dance is a Status Dragon move that applies +1 Atk/Spd on use. Most Dragon types have access to this at some point, and Zygarde does the same thing any Dragon type does with it- terrorise anything foolish enough to let it set up.
10% Zygarde (Sun): Its sharp fangs make short work of finishing off its enemies, but it's unable to maintain this body indefinitely. After a period of time, it falls apart.
As a Pokemon you can potentially use in the main story, 10% Zygarde actually comes pretty close to being "fair". 10% Zygarde has a BST of 486, with a physical offense of 100/115- very good for a single-stage Pokemon, but for comparison's sake, Hawlucha has 92/118. Zygarde 10%'s bulk is also fairly terrible, having a laughable HP stat of 54. Zygarde's competitive power is because of its stronger Formes and its unpredictable mindgames, benefits that the single player mode finds little use for. Zygarde also has a fairly shallow list of potential coverage- Rock Slide, Brick Break, and Crunch being an exhaustive list. And even then, it won't get Crunch until level 51 and its only Physical Dragon move, Outrage, at level 80- this is a common thing with Legendaries. Basically, it's a good thing you get Thousand Arrows, Extreme Speed and Dragon Dance out of the box, because it's kinda coasting on that. Land's Wrath, incidentally, is Zygarde's only signature move in XY, and it's a 90 BP Physical Ground move that hits both opponents in a Double Battle. Good in XY, but Thousand Arrows directly outclasses it.
Zygarde's only Ability for now is Aura Break, an Ability that reverses the effects of Xerneas and Yveltal's signature Fairy Aura and Dark Aura Abilities. This Ability was a fitting choice for Zygarde when it was designed as the third and strongest member of a trio with Xerneas and Yveltal (think Rayquaza getting a weather-nullifying Ability to counter Groudon and Kyogre's weather-setting Abilities), but I'd argue that Zygarde's lore has almost (although not quite) outgrown the need for this. It will be absolutely useless to Noah, and while it is possible to find Xerneas and Yveltal in USUM, they don't get Zygarde until it can choose its other Ability. And even then, reversing those two Auras doesn't even help Zygarde fight them.
The Reassembly Unit is still here in USUM, but Ailey currently has no use for it. She will be able to acquire Zygarde, the Zygarde Cube, all five Zygarde Cores and all ninety-five Zygarde Cells, but she can make no progress on that until post-game.
...Oh wow, I think this is a remote example of Ailey expressing an opinion.
...Shrug. Not sure "awesome" is the word I'd pick.
While I was in here, I did notice some Pokemon going in and out of the cages here. How far back do those go? And also why does a conservation site even leave those unattended?
On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, here's some old men fawning over Spinda.
I'm fairly sure all three of those Spinda have the same spot pattern. This is probably laziness on the dev's part, but that would certainly be notable if it were true in-universe, too.
There's a small gap underneath this unit we can crawl through.
Doing so gives us a TM as a prize. X-Scissor is an 80 BP Physical Bug move with no bonus effect, and its role in the metagame is in a bit of a crisis mode right now. With Leech Life's new buff to 80 BP and presence as a TM move, X-Scissor is a strictly inferior option, and its only strength in comparison is its wider distribution. With that said, most Pokemon aren't exactly clamouring to have Bug coverage- some Pokemon can make good use of it if they want to hit Psychic or Dark types for whatever reasons, but when there's more moves than slots, X-Scissor is usually the one to go...
There's a Trainer in here in USUM. You can catch a hint of her if you walk in the right place, but she will ambush you as soon as you crawl in.
She appears to be a kid who found a cool place and called dibs. Fair is fair, but she doesn't look to have thought any further ahead than this.
She does however, pack a Mimikyu. No set moves, but at this level, it has a ton of good ones lying around.
Yes, I didn't oneshot after Disguise, but 2 > 3 is still bad, even if it's better than 1 > 2.
Especially when it Charms my Attack even lower.
Credit where credit is due: She's someone who realises losing a battle doesn't necessarily mean she has to surrender any information.
Now, I'm fairly sure she's being reticent because she's a child, not because she actually wants to keep this information under wraps, but progress.
She's trying her best. I think?
I feel like I've done it with the Totem Sticker on the Mantine Surfing building on Route 15, but by my count, this is when we get our next Totem Sticker milestone, at 70.
Annoyingly, I was considering both candidates.
Ultra Moon receives Totem Togedemaru, a Pokemon that, technically speaking, is original to USUM. I was so tempted to use it on Ailey's file, but ultimately I didn't even like the niche it gives me.
Although starting with Nuzzle, Zing Zap and getting Iron Head by Tutor immediately does make it work pretty well right off the bat. Sturdy is also cool- it's like a Physical budget Magnezone, if you couldn't already have Magnezone by now.
Ultra Sun players instead receive a freebie Vikavolt- since we're mostly caught up on Totems we've actually seen, both games wind up getting Totems from the same Trial again.
It takes longer than I care to admit to remember to give her a nickname, but Volty is going to be Veeka's replacement. Rather than stat her haphazardly, I made Veeka a strong Physical Charjabug and Volty a strong Special Vikavolt.
It's only after I looked into it that I noticed Vikavolt is supposed to get Thunderbolt as an evolution move, meaning that Volty's going to have to wait a while for hers. Electroweb shouldn't be too awful to tide her over, and at least she has Bug Buzz...
There are two patches of grass, and only one new Pokemon- in USUM only. Before we look for it, though, it might be best to disarm that guy.
Reid will actually make use of X Items, at least in USUM. If he does, it'll usually be on the lead.
The Charjabug itself is otherwise unremarkable.
X Sp. Def, apparently. Aimed right at those Special Fire attackers, not so great against anything that's using Fire Punch or a Rock move.
Like so.
Muk likes to play the Minimise game, but I managed to take him down with a good hit of High Horsepower. Felt lucky on that one.
...On one hand, that's something I can support. On the other hand of me, the part of me that's big on science knows that's not enough data to support the hypothesis to a statistically significant margin.
Scraggy (Ultra Moon): It stretches its saggy skin up to its neck to protect itself. The saggier their skin, the more respect they garner.
Scraggy is a very weird Pokemon to describe- it's a lizard that takes great inspiration from youth culture, which it wears its skin like baggy pants. It makes a lot more sense if you compare it with its evolution. As a Pokemon, it's a Dark/Fighting type with a surprisingly high set of defensive stats, paired with a decent Atk and fairly low HP and Spd. It's surprisingly charming, but in practice, it has some issues. Awesome Abilities, though, and they do work hard to shore up its weaknesses.
Scraggy's Abilities are Shed Skin (1/3 chance of curing a status condition every turn) and Moxie (+1 Atk every time it takes out a Pokemon). Moxie is the better one, although Shed Skin has some utility in a tanking capacity, assuming you get lucky. Its HA is Intimidate (-1 Atk to opponents on sendout), the positives of which go without saying at this point.
Island Scan has a Duosion with Night Shade in SM and a Prinplup with Power Trip in USUM on Tuesdays.
Nice.
North of Route 16 is Ula'ula's Meadow, and there's a surprising bit to find around here.
I'm assuming red, but beyond that... well, we had a cheerleader. It could be anything.
Ula'ula Meadow has this thin patina of mist that gives it a unique look compared to the more serene Melemele Meadow or the bustling Royal Avenue. It's kinda cool.
An inexplicable Golfer, acknowledging that fact and serving as a route boss. This guy actually has a cool prize, and he doesn't use Z Moves as a result.
Strangely, in USUM, they added an event here. I suspect I know why it was added, but it only confuses me as why they did it here.
It's Faba! He's come by to be his usual shady self.
Sure. Why shouldn't I?
I mean... I'll admit, there's only so much one can really expect you to do. You're conservationists, not social workers.
You know, if you cared about Pokemon for their own sake and not just for the aesthetics, you wouldn't phrase it that way. Just saying.
Look, I'm not necessarily going to argue with the idea of usurping the current president.
I'm just going to point out that it's really hard to think of you as a better candidate when you won't shut up about how great you are and actually be great. It's a bit of "methinks thou doth protest too much".
Yeah, I haven't decided who I would rather have in power- you or Lusamine- but I do know that, in a perfect world, my vote goes to neither of you assholes.
Not going to care any more about my well-being? Should've known. Just saying, Faba, your ass-kissing will see you meet with a terrible fate one day.
Zygarde Cell on this ledge.
Also, this ledge is a Poke Finder spot. Ula'ula Oricorio, Ledian during the day, Ariados at night, and Floette and Florges in USUM.
Most of the field is unable to be entered- you can't jump onto or off the wooden bits. There are some stairs to enter one or two fields, though.
Let's just get this lady out of the way, and...
Ula'ula Oricorio (Ultra Sun): It wins the hearts of its enemies with its passionate dancing and then uses the opening it creates to burn them up with blazing flames.
She shows off the local variety of Oricorio in SM, that being the Baile-dancing variety. This one takes on the Fire typing, and despite the fact that it is (for some reason) the main face of Oricorio from a design perspective, it's pretty easy to see its weaknesses. Or rather, its major weakness to Stealth Rock.
K9 was almost custom-designed to oneshot it.
This happened to be Squishy's first fight, so why not, let's take a peek at how it went. Starting, of course, with the fact that Aura Break pops up whenever it is sent out, regardless of whether there's a Xerneas or a Yveltal to reverse.
Thousand Arrows in action. Oricorio somehow managed to survive, probably because Thousand Arrows is a neutral hit in this situation.
Just an excuse to show off Land's Wrath. The howl into this circular earthquake is actually a pretty cool animation for a move that no Zygarde really has the need to run anymore.
I've got two left feet and my favourite Oricorio form is a) chosen for its mechanical benefits and b) the one based on the least traditional dancing style. I can't argue.
In USUM, she instead uses a red-flowered Floette. Meredith has to have the Oricorio, remember?
Speaking of, the Red Nectar needed to turn your own Oricorio into a Baile style doesn't seem to be time-locked.
...You know, considering the things Meadows offer, not a bad prize to find.
As one might expect, one can find both Baile Oricorio and red-flowered Floette in the grass here. There's nothing else really new in here- you can expect to find similar Pokemon to those found in Melemele Meadow.
Island Scan does add new finds on Wednesdays: Leaf Storm Roselia in SM and Heavy Slam Grotle in USUM.
...I wonder how pollination works in Pokemon. Do Trainers contribute by carrying around their Grass and Bug types?
Anyway, Office Worker Michelle has a Torkoal with Drought, and while her second Pokemon differs between games, both have the potential to have an Ability that benefits from Sun. Neat synergy, although her USUM second only has Sun as a HA.
As a side note, it's uninteresting in SM, but it got a defined moveset (...and only a defined moveset) in USUM. It knows Flame Wheel and Rapid Spin.
In SM, its default kit has Protect in it, which is always an annoying outcome, but I happened to be setting up anyway.
Oh come on... Aqua Tail!
I'm not sure whether I'm pointing out the power of Sun or laughing at the weakness of Torkoal here.
At the very least, this is just making it so the Sun goes away faster.
On the other hand, I doubt I cared about what Sun does for her follow-up.
It went for the non-Ghost type Curse, giving it -1 Spd and +1 Atk/Def.
Let me know how that works out for you.
Her second Pokemon is Leafeon in SM, and Whimsicott in USUM. Both Pokemon have Chlorophyll as a HA, and Leafeon has Leaf Guard (blocks status conditions) as his only normal Ability. The Whimsicott has Energy Ball and Dazzling Gleam, eschewing a Prankster set, although I can't guarantee they sprung for Chlorophyll- particularly on a Trainer Class other than an Ace or a Veteran.
From the fact Keokeo outsped, I'm assuming this one isn't Chlorophyll.
Well, that was unfortunate.
At least I timed out the sun.
Although that's not the greatest policy. Huh, I somehow overlooked the fact that Michelle has three Pokemon in SM. Seaking is actively hindered by Sun, though.
This seemed like a good thing to have Oatchi use his newfound evolved power on.
Huh, nice. The TM wasn't far away from this, but it does make sure I wind up putting Rock Slide in his kit.
Some paintings manage to be delightfully amusing in concept, but beautiful in practice. I'm thinking this is one of those.
There's something funny about using the word "delish" for that one.
...Legendaries? Late bloomers? Heracross?
Amusingly, Rylee is actually the same between SM and USUM- her levels have been bumped up to 35, but she has the same Pokemon, stat distributions and (lack of) moves.
Sneasel (Ultra Sun): They will cooperate to steal eggs from the nests of bird Pokémon, but fights break out to determine which one gets to eat the eggs.
Her lead is a Dark/Ice Pokemon we won't be obtaining for a while yet, Sneasel. Sneasel is a bit weak and very fragile, but particularly fast. I like Sneasel, but being an Ice type doesn't give it much favours for availability.
...You call that a super strong Pokemon?
It did survive a hit from Sturm, which I would consider impressive if Sturm wasn't actually kinda weak in Meteor form.
She follows up with a Komala. Which is, uh... well, Cranky has not inspired confidence in it.
...You can't exactly expect me to understand your private definitions of words.
Not that I entirely understand your definition now. So, by "fluffy Pokemon are super", do you mean Bewear or Mareep? Closest your team has is Komala.
Some litter on the far west side.
Meredith is just before the north exit. Although the fact there's an Office Worker already on this route is slightly annoying.
There's always time to see another Oricorio.
So how does one represent the Baile style in dialogue?
Fire puns and a fiery delivery. Never let it be said Fire isn't a fitting type.
Her third fight gives her Air Slash and also Roost. Meredith's actually got some teeth if she wasn't using a 100% predictable Pokemon.
Although Nemo and Sue are starting to show their age. Their evolutions are soon-ish!
...You know, symbolically, passionate spirits do tend to get stopped cold by the stoic spirits of Rock types. I think. It's the cold spirits passionate folks turn around.
I wonder if this "different moods" thing was communicated better in JP.
We're not going to leave to the north this update. With that said, there's a location we can visit now over in this direction.
Also a Zygarde Cell. I'd say these matter a little more, but I'm not planning on upgrading Squishy to 50% Forme, and it's impossible to get to Complete Forme before postgame anyway.
Over here is a completely optional area that is truly relevant only in the postgame, and the implications of which require fully interpreting then.
It's also influenced by the game version we are playing. In Sun and Ultra Sun, it is known as the Lake of the Moone. In Moon and Ultra Moon, it is the Lake of the Sunne. We'll presumably find the opposite locations later, but I don't think those are lakes.
Both this location and the later location named "Sunne/Moone" have this rather inspiring ambient theme. It definitely sounds like something legendary is due to happen here.
...Are you the Pokemon Centre Cafe guy?
(And I presume this guy still says the same thing even if you don't use Pokemon Centres. As hard as that would be to accomplish.)
We get nuggets of lore about the box legendaries, but I'm not sure they go into what purpose these old ruins have for them.
...If there's nothing here now, there's nothing here now. With that said, we'll need to bring something here later.
These ruins were made for giant sticks. How is anyone that tall getting through those doors?
The only reason to come here at this stage in the game is to acquire a copy of the TM for Psyshock. Psyshock is an 80 BP Special Psychic move that hits Defence to calculate damage. There are some weird edge cases this provides (for example, its damage is reduced by Light Screen and countered by Mirror Coat), but for the most part, this is more valuable on a team that has a surplus of Special attackers. When you have more Physical attackers, it's not much help, and the Psychic type isn't super helpful as utility. Most things that get Psyshock can get Psychic.
There's a giant hallway here. And it continues to be designed for the weirdest proportioned people and/or Pokemon.
Most doors are blocked by the most convenient rubble ever, but others are just locked anyway.
I'm not sure Bethany can push doors this big. Maybe if we burned them...
At the back end is a giant altar.
Other than the big, obvious insignias often associated with Pokemon Moon, there's nothing here.
What do you mean I have to do this walk later?
Ailey and Noah instead find Pokemon Sun's logo, as one might expect.
Other than the Psyshock TM, it's also worth noting that this is now a Fly point. Helpful when we have what we need to go here.
Anyway, enough about cryptic ruins of unfathomable dimensions, let's talk to the golfer.
Let's see what you have to offer, then.
Dean's not kidding: He's going to show off some of the utility available in one of Pokemon's harder-to-use items, the Flame Orb. If a Pokemon is holding a Flame Orb at the end of a turn and not otherwise immune, they will suffer a Burn. There are valid reasons to be Burned, and knowing what these are is the key to making the best use of this item.
Anyone keeping score on how many Hariyamas this is now? Dean's Hariyama is running 31/15/31/15/31/15 IVs, 252 EVs in HP and Sp. Def, a Serious Nature, and the moves Knock Off, Fake Out and Arm Thrust. Obviously, it is holding a Flame Orb, and it is using this item to fuel its Ability Guts.
Dean is using the same Pokemon in USUM, and the only changes his Hariyama has undergone are a change in IVs to 30/20/30/20/30/20 and a level bump from 34 to 39. No idea why Dean got such a big bump.
Dean does correctly understand the move Fake Out, employing it on Turn 1 in order to get the Burn to actually work (it only triggers at the end of a turn).
Shield Dust would work if I was doing a bit more damage than that.
It is worth noting that the Flame Orb does not apply damage when it applies Burn.
Right, let's try the STAB option.
That sure is a HP leech. Sadly, it wasn't a finishing blow.
Hariyama is all HP here.
Rude. But Fairy means I resist it regardless, and there's no more good options in its kit.
Guts doesn't render you immune to Burn damage, incidentally.
Oh, that is a good move. Heavy Slam is a Physical Steel move that increases in base power by comparing the weights of the user and the target. When talking about our giant, imposing draft horse, odds are good we're rolling big base powers on that, especially against the typically tiny Ice and Fairy types that might be weak to it.
Ah, hello, it's Alakazam when it isn't shiny- I've grown accustomed to the pink one. Dean's Alakazam is specced to 31/15/15/31/15/31 IVs (30/20/20/30/20/30 in USUM), 252 EVs in Sp. Atk and Spd, Serious Nature, and the moves Recover, Psybeam and Trick. I believe it is using the Magic Guard HA, to nullify Burn damage entirely, and it can also use the move Trick to give you the Flame Orb and Burn you. And after that, an Alakazam with Psybeam and Recover is not to be underestimated.
Well, unless you brought a Dark type.
Didn't try anything special on Oatchi, and I believe it's long-past time to show off Oatchi's new trick.
Spirit Shackle has Oatchi shoot a feather from its wing like an arrow, one which loops the target before landing on the ground. I believe this is the Spirit "Shackle" part of the move, although the humour of shooting an arrow and not striking the target has been noted.
It remains a physical Ghost move with higher power than Shadow Claw. Of course Alakazam goes down in one.
I imagine that applies more to your golfing prowess than your battling prowess. Although I think your team could use work.
Thanks to Ailey, here's a use of Trick. Sadly, Burn does apply to Foul Play.
And I was trying to Taunt to prevent this outcome. Anna was too slow, I guess.
Good thing she's safe from Alakazam's tricks.
This is actually a very fortuitous fight to also show off Mio's new trick, Sparkling Aria.
Mio leaps into the air, and her hair explodes into a wild flurry of siren locks as she launches a blast of water all around her.
(Forgive the HP discontinuity, I had trouble catching a good splash damage shot.)
Sparkling Aria cures Burns- unlike Smelling Salts or Wake-up Slap, it does not increase in power when it does so. It is 90 BP, so it is stronger than Scald, but the Scald utility is often better.
This stops him benefitting from Guts, but it also prevents him from actually taking Burn damage.
Our prize is, rather nicely, a Flame Orb to call our own!
Unfortunately for his legacy, the Flame Orb is not particularly useful to any of my Pokemon. Maybe for pulling Psycho Shift shenanigans or something, but I don't have anyone with Guts, Magic Guard, or any other Ability that could benefit from Burns. I could use Facade, but that would compromise the Facade user's damage on non-Normal moves.
Huh, never mind, it's the other way around. I guess he really is passing the Flame Orb-tipped torch here.
The ability to apply your own statuses is important- if not essential- for getting the most out of Abilities that require being statused. It's far better to be Burned by a Flame Orb than count on your opponent throwing a Will-O-Wisp your way.
Next time: Po Town's bones.
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