Fittingly, we start this update with another timeskip! We did say we were going to have a nap, didn't we...
The first we see of Bethany after waking up is her having gone straight to where Lillie was sleeping, only to find her not there. This entire setup is kind of hilarious, although it does lead to the ultimate outcome of us resuming gameplay in the same place we left it.
No, she doesn't ask why we're here. She knows we're here for Lillie, she happens to know what she's up to, and comes to direct us appropriately. This gets very slightly weird when you try to explain it, and considering what has happened, I'm not sure if it ever stops being weird.
Right, this place is now significantly less evil, regardless of whether that is because it has been redeemed or because all of the evil people have been removed.
From here, we are directed to leave the Aether Mansion. Doing so will trigger the next cutscene.
In which we get introduced to... well, someone one might describe as "a new girl".
But really, it's still the same Lillie, just... no longer under the shadow of her mother.
There's just something about the Lillie redesign that really speaks to me. It's a very personal thing, although this little smile she gives for a second certainly delivers most of the impact.
We get a second camera-pan around for Lillie's new design, also introducing her new, uplifting theme to go along with it. Turns out those clothes she bought in Malie?
They really are her type!
Telling her her clothes don't fit, for some reason, gets a fitting, if petulant, response. I don't think it's the first time Lillie puffs up her cheeks when she's upset, but she's definitely going to be doing a lot more of that now. Should we happen to upset her.
(Incidentally, yes, the Lillie redesign happens in USUM too, despite the change in Lusamine's character partially undermining the purpose of it. Frankly, I shudder to imagine the reality where they did wind up cutting it.)
As for why Lillie's undergone her change in the narrative? Well, that's an awful lot of responsibility she's putting on her own shoulders, and there's only one person she knows who can handle it.
Lillie's picking up a few tricks from us.
The outfit doesn't change depending on the customisations the player picks (although I wonder if the somewhat limited selection in comparison to XY is to make sure the player's aesthetic looks similar-ish to Lillie's new look here), but the intention is readily apparent.
Lillie wants to become a strong Trainer like us, and is very much engaging in the feel of the matter. She's not starting her own Island Challenge yet- she'd rather focus on Nebby and Lusamine in the short-term- but one gets the impression she's ready to get started.
I always called the Lillie redesign "Z-Lillie", but it turns out the official term for it is "Lively Lillie". It also turns out that Lillie using "Z-Powered" to describe her shift is a localisation addition- the original text of this line calls it her " 全力の姿" [full-powered form]. I vastly prefer her tying it into the region itself.
Lillie then does this really clumsy attempt at doing the Normal-type Z-Pose. This really helps the "Z-Powered form" thing, and is also really adorable.
(I feel like I have to make it explicit- by "clumsy", I mean Lillie's movements aren't practiced at all, not that the animation itself is poor quality.)
They hold on the pose for a few seconds, before Lillie breaks and starts laughing. Laughing is another emotion Lillie really gets to start doing more often now. Lively sure is an apt word for it.
Gladion drops on by, and does not react to Lillie's redesign. I'm not sure if this is meant to be "Gladion's already seen the Lillie redesign" or "he just doesn't care about the redesign". Despite her being his sister, I can genuinely see the latter interpretation, especially since Gladion hasn't really seen Lillie too often since his departure from the family unit over a year and a half before Lillie did.
Gladion immediately starts by talking shop, which also happens to be a decent way to get Lively Lillie to start feeling more part of the world.
Gladion gives Lillie a flute themed after the game you're not playing.
This sort of thing is going to be part of the plot of the next island, and whatever it does, it'll probably help.
We just... don't really know how that'll happen.
The most likely suggestion is that it'll cause the Legendary Pokemon- whether that be Solgaleo or Lunala- to appear. Gladion disbelieves this theory, and even if it were true, we still don't exactly have a plan for what we do when said legendary appears.
Well, in SM. USUM did just give us an objective of summoning a Solgaleo or Lunala. At least they got one thing right.
Gladion's pretty sure that, out of anything, one can draw the conclusion that Lusamine did have plans to seize the Legendary.
Gladion also has an item for us, this one more mechanical than narrative.
There is always a single freebie Master Ball handed around roughly at this point in the story. In RBY, Giovanni performed the climactic Team Rocket encounter to get his hands on it, but after that, they mostly maintain the tradition for tradition's sake. Tying it to the villain team is often because the villain team has the sorts of finances and reason to acquire a Poke Ball like this. Having Gladion give it to us rather than Wicke does feel kinda weird in comparison, but considering we know he just went rifling through Lusamine's collection, we can intuit this probably came from the same room.
As an item, the Master Ball doesn't even bother with the catch rate formula: If you throw it, the Pokemon will be caught. Most people tend to save it for a "roaming legendary" (a mechanic nobody found fun and was promptly discarded after BW), so these days, it's for Shiny Pokemon that have a chance of exploding, running away, or otherwise being resistant to standard catching techniques. Odds are good I won't be throwing this with any of the kids.
Gladion's going to be fully supporting us, although this sort of line does imply his helpfulness is also going to stop here.
Gladion's taken on a different, but still important, job, and ultimately does have good reason to continue not being a part of Lillie's journey. Aether Foundation, without Lusamine, has no clear direction. Gladion is going to make sure the direction it finds itself continuing forward in is one that no longer continues the harmful practices Lusamine did. Shouldn't be hard- I mean, what it looked like it was doing was already pretty close to what it should actually be doing.
I'm not so sure it was here you were trying to get away from, but your mother specifically. Not sure if you should be the one fixing your mother's mistakes, but I think that's just as much because of a lack of better choices.
Wicke, presumably.
Lillie probably might be a good candidate on her own, but she's got her own demons to fight. Plus, she's not been independent for too long- three months, if you count the time she's spent in Kukui's loft.
Hau also shows up, and in true Hau fashion-
He completely fails to stick the landing. Granted, I understand it taking a while to recognise her as Lillie, but also "what happened to you" is a choice in question.
He does appreciate it, as one would expect, he's just... Hau on the delivery.
There's just something idly amusing about the fact that Gladion has this response in particular to Hau commenting on Lillie's appearance. It sounds like Gladion doing the protective-older-brother schtick, but a) Lillie has far more of a crush on us than she does on Hau and b) I don't think Hau is capable of comprehending that sort of thing.
Hau does, however, change tack immediately. Maybe he did catch on to Gladion's slightly hostile tone in some manner.
I think this is about where Hau's character belongs. He doesn't want to be the best, but he does want to be good enough to be able to do the same things we do, and his failures have highlighted that his lackadaisical approach to battles has left him ill-equipped to do that much.
His grandfather has, consciously or not, set Hau the goal of being at least his equal. Hau would probably make a great Kahuna, once he's found what that looks like for him.
Oh wow. I guess you lot were supposed to be guarding Lillie while I was busy with Po Town. But still, canonical dialogue that Hau really is going slower at this whole "Island Challenge" thing than us.
Gladion acknowledges Hau's implied sentiment, and takes responsibility for Hau being thrust into this whole conflict and distracted from his own ambitions. Hau acknowledges he'd probably have been better off if he wasn't a character in this story, although I will point out that, if any member of the family was responsible for him getting involved, it was Lillie- and even then, only because he and Lillie have had shared acquaintances for long enough that Hau's "I want to be helpful" instinct was directed at her when necessary.
Again, pretending Lusamine may or may not have wanted to exploit that...
Hau ultimately doesn't mind, of course- because he is Hau, yes, but also because this experience was equivalent in value to the Island Trial proper, in its own ways. The only thing less than ideal to Hau was the timing.
Gladion doesn't wholly approve of Hau's tone, but does acknowledge that yeah, perhaps if you're not related to Lusamine, this could charitably be described as cool.
Once again, a slightly amusing "protective big brother" response when placed exactly in the context it is.
Hau actually says something that requires Gladion responding in USUM. Speaking of, this scene is, of course, instrumental to making Hau more of who he is in USUM.
His attitude to being so far behind is to worry about being behind, this time.
...I'm not the only one slightly confused here, am I? He makes it sound like getting on with Decidueye is what gives him an aim.
Now granted, it wouldn't be the most surprising of revelations...
Be careful, Hau.
Gladion's "sorry for getting you involved" comment changes texture, acknowledging that this whole mess caused a change in Hau before apologising anyway.
Hau's response also changes- rather than praising the experience he had, he instead takes the credit for his own self-actualisation. Which... offers some strange impressions on what Hau and/or Gladion are taking away from this situation.
Yes. The woman who stole something and risked the ambitions of other people to satisfy her own pride is a good person because the aim of the task she is attempting to complete is for the benefit of others. Let no one say these boys have this whole "nuance" thing down.
And there's Lillie praising him for approving of Lusamine. Because I'm not sure what else in that whole speech could be interpreted as "kind".
...Yeah, I'm starting to like SM Hau better.
With the Aether thing now resolved, we can now get to Poni Island by ferry. We will have to use Gladion's offer to get there first, but he starts from the place the ferry out of Aether is otherwise.
Yeah, they just kinda made Lillie the most adorable child ever.
Totally on board with that.
Rotom Dex also has a comment on either Lillie or Hau in USUM, depending on which one you noticed.
We're not going to see Hau again until the fruits of these efforts have been realised. I'll be waiting, Hau.
Now that the Foundation is "back to normal", all of the NPCs have been returned to normal, including this girl, who was laying a false trail about Lusamine that makes no sense now.
Also these NPCs, who still think UB01 is here from the first visit.
And this guy, who isn't even consistent on that.
This is me, looking around the docks and realising the boxes genuinely have been moved compared to the invasion form for the first time.
You, I think, make more sense in the aftermath of the Lusamine event than beforehand.
Ma'am, did you see Guzma co-operating with Lusamine?
This guy no longer blocks us from going further south, so we can still get the X Sp. Atk and the Toxic TM.
And also talk to this guy.
We also have full access to the labs, but there is nobody down here to talk to.
Anyway, we also, finally, have access to the outside. I suspect the only reason we didn't before now is because this is where we spawn when we use Aether Paradise as a Fly point- which is something we can now do- and the game didn't want us to have that before now.
As a result, the NPCs outside also kinda feel like they belong on the first visit.
Also so they don't get eaten. Although I imagine that comes under "further harm".
You, I think, kinda illustrate the whole "knowing when to intervene and when to let nature take its course" thing more than the Corsola/Toxapex thing. Are you sure that helping injured animals is done for nature's benefit, or is it just to make you feel better about undoing "harm" to an individual specimen?
...That too. Although if the animal's too dangerous to approach, they might have this whole "recovery" thing down on their own.
Probably. They seem pretty enthusiastic about doing that sort of thing.
You're having a lot of fun being janitor.
And what do you call dumping a giant pile of metal in the middle of the ocean, then?
You heard incorrectly. They capture Pokemon and then send them here.
Ailey has a bag full of fossils that says otherwise.
This one, in particular, is a line that really makes me wonder whether we were supposed to see this done now or before Lusamine was ousted. "The current president's father" either describes Lusamine's otherwise un-discussed father, or Professor Mohn, depending on whether it accurately reflects this point in the story.
...You know, I have to wonder how much of a double-edged sword that might be. That Pokemon might be effective in such and such environment because it predates on all the other Pokemon in said environment unopposed. This is the whole reason invasive species are a thing.
And a mention of the hydroelectrics to round us off. This is why most dams make sure the water is flowing in one direction in particular.
A litter item that definitely feels like it belongs in the first visit.
And also a Zygarde Cell found her at Night.
Anyway, time for us to get going to that new island.
They even show us travelling from Aether Paradise again! Although I shudder to imagine the line drawn from Ula'ula.
Poni Island is based on Kauai, the Garden Island, and has taken the claim Kauai has to being a pristine, natural place quite literally. However, I feel obliged to point out that this might be a bit misrepresentative of the real Kauai- Kauai is plenty inhabited, with a population measuring in the tens of thousands. You might know it best from the movie Lilo & Stitch- yes, Kauai is the Hawai'ian island on which that movie is set. Lilo's claim that Kauai "has no major cities" is still pretty accurate, but modern development is not unknown to them.
For comparison's sake, this is Seafolk Village. A small settlement not even on the island proper, this place is home to the only Pokemon Centre on the entire island.
Both the Day and Night themes are nice and chill, though.
There's a few people hanging around to show off, and also this place has a ton of houseboats based on all sorts of species. One of which isn't even a Water type!
I was surprised to learn just how accurate this claim was for the blog- the population of Poni is actually a little lower than it seems.
Gladion gives us a decent starting point- if anyone knows what the deal is with the shrine that Solgaleo appears around, it would be the person responsible for it, Drawing any conclusions without their input would be foolish.
What are big brothers for?
Lillie takes this moment to acknowledge a part of her history that she has some... feelings about.
Namely, that the two years minus change that Lillie had as the sole target of Lusamine's attention was not a pleasant experience. The fact that Lillie still struggles with complicated issues about Gladion leaving her to fend for herself in Lusamine's absence does not paint a picture of a particularly redeemable Lusamine.
As an aside, remember Lillie trying to contact someone on Akala Island, and spending the whole time hiding from Team Skull? I strongly suspect that both the person she wanted to contact and the Team Skull member she was avoiding were both Gladion. If this is true, then this probably isn't helping Lillie with her issues.
Gladion does get a nice moment to apologise for, well... the fact that he wasn't there for Lillie.
In reality, I think there was an upper limit to what Gladion could do constructively, with there being a choice between Lillie and Null. Lillie doesn't necessarily have to like his choice, but Gladion doesn't necessarily regret his actions. Merely the fact that he couldn't save both.
And, well, things seem to be going well for Lillie now. It may not necessarily be the most comforting thing, but sometimes things work out that way.
Yes, USUM changes this moment so it sounds less like Lillie is blaming Gladion for genuine harms and more of a "Lillie misunderstood his intentions" manner. Even within the context of USUM, I'm not 100% sure what to make of this shift.
Particularly since the way this changes Gladion's response turns it into making him come across as having made a bad option, rather than SM's takeaway of "neither option was great".
Also, now Gladion passing the burden onto Lillie is phrased as actually passing said burden to Lillie, rather than SM's version going with "Lillie has found her own thing in Gladion's absence and is stronger for it." This one I definitely miss. Makes Gladion a bit too important to Lillie.
Gladion walks off, and the couple on the Sharpedo Jets move along so slowly it kinda startles me.
I know you're fine, but I'll still be there every step of the way. That's what I'm for, you know?
You go ahead and feel that way. You deserve to.
Let's just hope there's something to be excited about in the end.
And of course, can't forget our fourth and final Island Pokedex! We should be roundly completing these things now.
There's actually a surprising amount of cool stuff to grab here, particularly a great TM, a cool Pokemon, a new Z-Crystal for Beth, and some important items for Noah and Ray. We'll be here a bit.
As an aside, here are Bethany and Ailey's Poni Island Pokedexes as of this point. Considering both the fact that we've been filling up on evolutions and this is a bit late into the story to start adding new team members in general, we're already over 70% complete in SM, and just a little under it in USUM.
Murkrow was available to SM through Poke Pelago. Speaking of, SM can now acquire Metang, Skarmory and Klefki, while USUM has added Misdreavus, Banette, Lapras, and whichever one of Electrike and Houndour is correct for their version. This is the only way for USUM to get Misdreavus before postgame, and Lapras is also new (although it is available in the wild relatively soon).
This is Ailey's tooltip from Pokedex evaluation. I'm not 100% sure what it's referring to, but I do kinda think it might be a spoiler. It's nothing compared to the tip Bethany got, though.
This ship, the only one not designed like a Pokemon, is the ferry.
...Wait, hold on, we can't go to Malie from here? I mean, yeah, it's the furthest island, but still!
The Magikarp boat cannot be entered. I believe it is purely a vessel for transportation, and will be available as such later.
As we walk forward, we can see Lillie chatting with some fairly standard Sightseers.
No dialogue, she's just making some friends all of her own. Nice she gets the chance to finally do that for once, without worrying about her mother over her shoulder.
This cutscene is going to get a little awkward for me, because of how USUM changes it.
In SM, we meet someone using the generic Veteran design.
In USUM, it's now this uniquely designed painter lady.
These are distinct characters, both make appearances in in both games, and the content of the following discussion is going to be mostly the same. But this is an annoying thing to have to preface.
In both cases, Lillie is taken aback by seeing someone standing on top of a houseboat. I'd like to know how they both got there.
They come down for introductions, which does mean a few distinctions.
This particular Veteran is "chief of the seafolk". Having his dialogue here replaced means most of the lore he's going to share about said seafolk is actually absent from USUM. I'm a little upset about this one, but also the replacement character is cool, so...
Incidentally, her name is Mina and she's a Trial Captain. There's a semi-valid reason she's not doing this introduction in SM specifically, but we'll discuss that later.
So then, who exactly are the seafolk for whom this village is named?
These guys are nomadic ocean wayfarers.
In some ways, these guys have their own part to play in the Hawai'ian tradition- these guys are modern-day Polynesians, of the sort that the native Hawai'ian peoples first descended from. But the fact remains that, technically speaking, the seafolk aren't even Alolan residents.
Fortunately for us, the player, Seafolk Village may be treated as a permanent residence, and every NPC who appears here- especially those with presents- will remain here indefinitely in player time.
Their stated reason for coming to Alola is Berry gathering. As it happens, the area immediately north of Seafolk Village grows a crop of 21 (mostly) hitherto unseen rare and cool Berries. I'm not sure how useful they'd be on the seas, though- seafarers strike me as making more use out of Sitrus, Lum, and other restorative Berries.
That we are. So what does Mina say to replace all this world-building?
She gets right down to business and asks which of us is her to complete her Trial. A bit of a funny line for Mina, considering her characterisation, but it is one way to interpret her.
Lillie quickly apologises and tries to get the conversation back on the correct tack.
Pausing slightly to acknowledge that yeah, eventually, I will need to complete Mina's Trial, but right now, something more important has come up.
Incidentally, yes, we won't actually complete Mina's Trial until after we've figured out what's wrong with Nebby.
So yeah, conversation convergence now.
...I notice you did not say that Hapu is the kahuna, here.
Mina makes this connection more explicit by remarking that the fact we're looking for Poni's kahuna is "a problem".
The Chief gives us these lovely, helpful indicators as to what to look for to find Hapu's house in-universe- acknowledging, on a similar note, that Hapu and her family (of which she does have one) are currently Poni Island's sole residents.
Mina does not do this- she says "maybe you should talk to Hapu?" and then immediately stops. Yep, that's Mina, alright.
We do know Hapu- we've bumped into her two or three times in our adventure- but it has never actually been discussed that she's a resident of Poni Island before. With that said, that does give us a leg up, and she'd definitely be interested in lending us a hand.
Plus, they're nice people.
When Hapu isn't trying to turn people she doesn't like into pavement.
Anyway, with that done, we can explore Seafolk Village unhindered.
Lillie and the Chief/Mina will stay here, repeating their last dialogue. Mina repeats her "Kahuna, that's a problem" line in USUM, which is kind of amusing.
Anyway, first of, the Wailord house the Chief/Mina was standing on top of.
It is, of course, the local restaurant. This place only gives one Heart Scale a day by default, it's not that worth it compared to Akala's (two/four) and Ula'ula's (four/eight).
There is a Zygarde Cell in here- amusing, given I missed one under a table earlier. This village is also kinda covered in Totem Stickers in USUM, it's insane.
The upstairs is not an explorable space. Customers only.
Good for you, Tim.
Pity only two regions had Dive, and only one of them had Pokemon to find while Dived. I strongly suspect the reason Pokemon hasn't given significant attention to Dive (other than the fact that the deep sea creatures of the real world are largely unknown and not Pokemon-cute) is because most of them would be Water type, and Pokemon has a problem with "too much Water" when limited to Pokemon found at a reasonable pressure level. I personally believe the Water type could benefit from being split, although the fact there are 18 types already is a good reason not to.
As an aside fun fact, every single Pokemon found while Dived in the Hoenn region is available in the USUM Pokedex. The only one missing from SM is Clamperl.
In USUM, this lady is given a small sidequest, in which you must identify and show her three Pokemon she gives by vague, half-remembered description.
The first one is Magneton. Annoyingly, Ray and Ailey don't have a Magneton- I evolved mine to Magnezone back in Blush Mountain, remember? Bethany and Noah still haven't had the chance to evolve theirs, but they're not the one doing this. If you're like me, there are level 25-29 Magnemite on Malie Cape.
I'll save showing off this sidequest for later- Ray and Ailey will have to wait to obtain the third Pokemon they need.
The house in the south-west of the Pokemon houses is Huntail. It is not the only houseboat to be designed after a species not native to Alola, but it's the only one to be added to the USUM Dex.
Both NPCs in here have some nice goodies on offer.
Nice to meet you. Is he OK?
...Hopefully not the produce.
Oof. Wanna buy some of my spare loot?
...Or, uh... you got something else in mind, then?
Pelly the Pelipper has more sense than his Trainer, and has decided not to have any part in whatever shenanigans he was trying to do.
I don't think it's boredom that's got Pelly crying out...
Anyway, enough of randomly possibly-abusive storekeeps, freebies.
Noah and Ray thank you most graciously. The Electiriser and the Magmariser are the evolution items necessary to evolve Noah's Magmar Arsena and Ray's Electabuzz Ghondor. Arsena's been doing decent thus far, but Ghondor could really use the boost.
Plus, the other kids want them to evolve their own Magmars and Electabuzzes for Pokedex completion.
Poor Pelly.
Maybe there's stuff around here to sell. Probably not to the people here, but...
The Ace Trainer in the back pulls the mother of all "random presents" on us, giving us not only a freebie Gift Pokemon, but also a rare specimen found nowhere else in the Alola region. Admittedly, randomly "hey, want a rare Pokemon" isn't unknown to the series, but usually the NPC doing the giving has been helped by the player beforehand.
Aerodactyl (Ultra Sun): Restored from DNA found in amber, this Pokémon exhibited ferocity that was greater than expected. Some casualties resulted.
Aerodactly is a Rock/Flying type typically found by restoring Old Amber at a fossil-restoration facility like we're actually doing Jurassic Park, although the last non-remake game to include this method of acquiring Aerodactyl was XY. However you get it in your party, Aerodactyl is a speed demon. The list of things that outspeed it in their natural state can be counted on one pair of fingers, and its Atk stat of 105 is hardly worth scoffing at. Sure, it's a little frail, but of the dedicated fast Pokemon, this one might just be the best. I couldn't quite fit it into my teams (Noah has Taion already, while Ray already has plenty of Rock options), but it's another one fairly worth it. Do note that it doesn't get Acrobatics, weirdly, and its coverage outside Steel Wing/Iron Head is a bit wanting.
Aerodactyl's Abilities are Rock Head (prevents it from suffering recoil) and Pressure (causes opponents to use 2PP when using a move targeting it instead of 1). It doesn't learn any good moves with which to benefit from Rock Head, and is too frail to get meaningful use out of Pressure. Pressure is probably better, but it's a weak contest. You can't get HA, not that it would be great if you could (it's Unnerve), but frankly, I'd actually genuinely consider Unnerve with this competition.
The SM Poni Pokedex has 100 entries, so you actually gain 1% on this screen with every find, cutely. I'm mostly showing it to show our percentages.
Its default moveset, as it happens. Crunch is the only one of these moves that it might expect to keep once you're done using TMs- we already have Rock Slide, Sky Drop/Fly and Steel Wing/Iron Head on both files.
Sorry, you'll have to watch Taion for that.
If you talk to her again, she talks more about Aerodactyl, this time its typing. She has some interesting lore stuff to say about it, though.
She has some words about the Rock and Flying experts- namely, the seeming absence of a Flying expert in the Alola region to use as a comparison. One could consider Johto's Falkner, Hoenn's Winona or Unova's Skyla before now, though.
Next up, the Whiscash house in the south-east. This one's a residence.
This lore about Snubbull is not found in any of its Pokedex entries, and I do kinda wonder if that's projection on the parents' part. I know I certainly wouldn't like to have my art torn up if it were good.
Mina is not a conscientious cleaner.
Yup. Sounds like Mina. This Trial of Ailey's is going to be interesting.
Mina is a Fairy-type expert, the second in series history. While Fairy made a fairly solid choice as a Pokemon type, figuring out the characterisation of a Fairy type expert took a little more doing. The ones they settled on thus far haven't been terrible, but they do like to go with "kinda weird kid" a fair bit.
I mean, who else would work as a Fairy user?
Their quality is left to the player's interpretation. I'm leaning good, but also very abstract. The paintings this woman makes are an insight into her mind, and by all accounts, her mind is not for the realm of mortals.
Don't litter, kid.
"Harsh"? Kauai's title of "the Garden Island" credits it with more of a reputation of being a more pleasant kind of nature. Now granted, even the more pleasant kind will kill you if you don't respect it, but it never struck me as being unattainable by an average tourist.
The house opposite the Wailord diner is a Steelix houseboat. Not only is Steelix absent from both Alola Pokedexes (it is available in USUM, if you're willing to hunt a 5% Metal Coat drop from Magnemite, Skarmory or Beldum), it's not even a Water type. It is also weak to Water moves and incapable of learning the water-crossing move Surf. And at 400 kg, I doubt it's particularly buoyant. (I'm not 100% sure how easily one could calculate that, though.)
There's some goodies to be found here, though. The quality of which is up for debate, admittedly.
It doesn't matter what you say on the subject of your luck, but I thought Bethany was pretty lucky and Ailey much less so.
As she says, if you give the Lucky Punch to specifically Chansey, said Chansey gets a +2 bonus to its crit rate- so, you're critting 50% of the time. This doesn't work out great for it, owing to its unremarkable attacking stats, but it is an option that exists. Most people stick to Eviolite, though.
If you're wondering what the idea is, Chansey is called "Lucky" in JP. As in, that's its Japanese name. The 1:1 translation of the item would be "Chansey Punch".
I'm running one!
Considering how much of a space cadet it is in comparison to Pikachu, I imagine even the locals aren't too surprised. I mean... fluffy pancakes.
Ah... right. I don't have Zapple on me. Give me a sec...
There we go. One Zapple, duly presented.
That she is. Wish she had Thunderbolt, but what can you do?
Speaking of wishing Zapple had Thunderbolt! Aloraichium Z, when given to an Alolan Raichu specifically, will turn the move Thunderbolt into Stoked Sparksurfer. Unlike most Z-Moves we have seen like this, Stoked Sparksurfer is equal in power to a Gigavolt Havoc based on Thunderbolt. Instead, however, Stoked Sparksurfer will always inflict paralysis on hit. That's a move worth having in our kit, although Nuzzle might serve as competition...
I like the normal Raichu a bit myself, but I do think the Alolan variety is cooler too. Fluffy pancakes.
If you leave to the south of the Steelix houseboat, you can find Seafolk Village's only fishing spot. It's always bubbling, and even if it's not, you can just go in and out of the house to refresh it. It's probably the nicest place to fish in the whole game, and it has a new Pokemon I love a lot.
Dhelmise (Moon): The soul of seaweed adrift in the waves became reborn as this Pokémon. It maintains itself with new infusions of seabed detritus and seaweed.
Dhelmise is a Grass/Ghost Pokemon with a cool design and even cooler gimmick. It has a massive Atk stat and solid-ish defences, if a low Speed, and makes out pretty well for itself with its options. The problem? It shares a type with Decidueye, and while both Pokemon possess a signature move, they have the same power and bonus effect. Dhelmise doesn't even really get screwed by its moveset, either- even if you catch it at the high end of its 10-44 level range, it still gets all the moves it wants. Dhelmise would have been a dead cert for Bethany's team if Bethany had not selected Oatchi as her partner. I'm not ditching Oatchi because of course I'd bring the starter along for a blog run. I even tried to fit it in Noah and Ray's teams, but they couldn't fit him in either.
Dhelmise's only possible Ability is Steelworker, which increases its damage when using a Steel-type move by 50%. Dhelmise has three STAB types to work with, thanks to that anchor it carries around, increasing its utility even further. Honestly, if it got Power Whip sooner for Grass, it might have an argument with Alena.
(Incidentally, you can also find Wailmer here, but considering the weirdness of the levels you can get here, I'll mention it when they have a more favourable level range in the next area.)
That TM right next to us contains a delightful Steel-type move to consider as coverage- Flash Cannon. This is an 80 BP Special Steel move with a 10% chance of dropping Sp. Def on use. Somewhat less fortunately, it has a bit of a spotty availability (and is weirdly available to physical attackers like Golurk). Jigsaw found space in his kit for it, at least.
I know that feeling. I've had some real struggles a few times. Ray actually lost to an Island Scan mon I found on Poni.
This Trainer wants a Granbull in both games, but what she gives in return differs.
Neither of us has a Granbull, though so she'll have to wait.
Well, at least the parts of them that don't try to kill them. Dang currents.
Zygarde Cell here, too. This lot remains empty in USUM.
Wouldn't that be nice? Little bit dangerous, though. Not that that stops people from trying.
There's even a few goodies in the Pokemon Centre itself! This guy isn't one, though. Dragon Ascent is a 120 BP Physical Flying move that inflicts -1 Def/Sp. Def on the user on use.
It is learned only by Rayquaza, and is necessary to Mega Evolve it. We'll discuss Mega Evolution later- it is available to Pokemon in some of my teams, but we have none of the things necessary to get use out of it until postgame.
Yes, even if we had a Rayquaza to teach this move to, it would not be able to Mega Evolve until postgame either. This is only here for legacy reasons.
Between you and Lillie, I think Lillie has more of an idea of what she's doing, although I admire the chutzpah.
Some Trial Guide. The Trial status on Poni Island is a topic worth commenting on.
...There's also nobody here. What are you going to do, make sure Hapu doesn't commit crimes?
Remembers her threatening to kill Team Skull actually, that might have merit.
This NPC is the one that teaches us a move we can use. Draco Meteor is a move introduced in DPPt that was named by fan vote, and as such has always been exclusive to a move tutor late in the game. Any Dragon-type Pokemon can learn it, including Pokemon that are only Dragon-type right now- however, it can't be learned by Pokemon who can only achieve their Dragon types with an in-battle transformation. When used in battle, it is a Special Dragon move rated at 130 BP, 90% accuracy, and if it hits, it lowers the user's Sp. Atk by 2 stages. This is the move the White Herb was designed for, and I do intend for both Special Dragons my teams have to have it available as an option.
Incidentally, this move was a better pun in JP. There it is known as りゅうせいぐん, or Meteor Shower. "りゅう", or "ryu", means "dragon"- it's not the same word as the name of the Dragon type (that would be "ドラゴン", or "doragon"), but it's the source of the pun. If you think that was hard to translate, SwSh ran the same contest for an ultimate Steel-type move, and they went with All-Out Resistance, which manages to include characters that represent the words for "steel" and "beam". Yeah, Draco Meteor got lucky.
If you say no for any reason, this is the dialogue you get. I said no because I didn't have Jigsaw on me.
Similarly to the starter-exclusive moves Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn and Hydro Cannon, Draco Meteor can only be learned by Pokemon who have a maximum friendship rating of 255. Jigsaw has not been in the party that long.
But I do have Poke Pelago!
There's something amusing about the fact she neglects to mention that part until after we've learned it. Good thing neither Jigsaw nor Ray's user of the move (who he hasn't yet caught) already knew Dragon Pulse!
...As it turns out, Jigsaw's going to learn Dragon Pulse at level 41. That... is a little annoying, given what I want to try and use Draco Meteor on.
And there's some good moves to learn from the TM shop, too!
Lot of powerful moves with drawbacks here.
- Calm Mind: A Psychic Status move, this is both the only status move in this list, and the best of the bunch by far. It grants +1 Sp. Atk/Sp. Def on use, making it the Special equivalent of Bulk Up, and finding a much wider cast of viable users- for reasons that make some amount of sense, but also strangely don't. You can bet a fair few members of the teams snuck this into their kits where they could fit it.
- Fire Blast: A 110 power, 85% accurate Special Fire move with a 10% chance of Burn. The standard move of choice for a strong Fire move, that accuracy penalty encourages a lot of people to stick to Flamethrower. Fortunately, it's not a long wait for the Flamethrower TM.
- Blizzard: 110 power, 70% accurate Special Ice move with a 10% chance of Freeze, and also hits all opponents in Doubles. Where Fire Blast is unique is in having the same accuracy at all time- Blizzard has a 100% accuracy when used during Hail. Ice types get better, but it's not really worth setting up Hail for.
- Thunder: 110 power, 70% accurate Special Electric move with a 30% chance of paralysis. This move is rated at 100% accuracy when used during Rain, which means Daj and PRNDL do have some cohesion when used together- although Daj is starting to run into a wall when it comes to being on the team at all. With that said, considering Thunderbolt is a postgame TM for some reason, I might find reason to give the move to Zapple and finally let her use Special Electric moves again.
- Solar Beam: 120 power Special Grass move that requires a turn to charge in power before it is used. If the weather is currently Sunny, this charge turn is ignored, but if there is weather other than Sun, its power is halved. Since I don't really have a decent way of setting Sun, the charge turn will be mandatory to consider, but there may be advantages to it yet. I could give it to Arsena and have her surprise with a Bloom Doom!
- Hyper Beam/Giga Impact: 150 BP Normal moves, one being Physical and one being Special. These are often considered the ultimate moves, but from a practical perspective, being the Normal type does them no favours. With that said, basically every fully evolved Pokemon can get both of these if they need it.
- Sludge Wave: 95 BP Special Poison move with a 10% chance of Poison, and can hit both opponents in Doubles. I always thought there was more of a reason to stick to Sludge Bomb, but the only thing that comes up is the fact Sludge Bomb has a 30% chance of Poison. Guess that's just a me thing, teach this to everyone who can get it.
- Focus Blast: 120 BP, 70% accurate Special Fighting move with a 10% chance of lowering Sp. Def on hit. No tricks, no fuss, just a 30% chance of failure that always seems to happen when you need it to work. It could be an All-Out Pummeling at just the right time, but I try not to be caught needing it. Fortunately, it has higher value in competitive than casual, so I'm not the one worried about it.
- Stone Edge: 100 BP, 80% accurate Physical Rock move with a heightened crit rate. At last, Dawn can use Splintered Stormshards! Compared to Rock Slide, you've got +25 BP for 10% less accuracy- the fact Rock Slide is already somewhat unreliable makes Stone Edge seem more tempting, although I do tend to default to Rock Slide myself. Maybe I can get something out of Stone Edge on the right user.
And yeah, of course I'm evolving Ghondor and Arsena at the first opportunity! I'm waiting a little bit before I do some big trading, but Ghondor in particular really has something to gain out of this.
I always did think there was something odd about the fact there was a XC3 joke in someone other than Noah's party...
Magmortar (Ultra Moon): Magmortar takes down its enemies by shooting fireballs, which burn them to a blackened crisp. It avoids this method when hunting prey.
Arsena evolves into Magmortar, taking a slight hit to Speed to improve its Sp. Atk- and its bulk- significantly. It even manages to be one of the only Fire types with access to the move Thunderbolt- although sadly, Noah's won't be able to enjoy that benefit. Maybe if I waited for Ray to get his copy of Thunderbolt, but that felt a little bit cheaty...
Electrivire (Sun): It pushes the tips of its tails against its foes and then lets loose a high-voltage current. Its foes are burned to a crisp in an instant.
Ghondor, meanwhile, turns into Electivire. Electivire pivots his Sp. Atk into Atk, meaning all my punches should actually do something once they hit, and also changes his Ability. Electivire's new Ability is Motor Drive, giving +1 Spd when hit with an Electric move. Getting hit by one might be a little tough, but if I can pull it off, Ghondor's shaky Speed gets a boost and I can have a little rampage. Not that I know against who I can expect that to work.
Next time: Making a start on Poni Island's wilderness.
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