Pokémon Sun/Moon (Part 3)

Pokémon Sun/Moon: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4 – Part 5 – Part 6

Pokémon Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon: Part 1 – Part 2 – Part 3 – Part 4

Still going through Akala! Time to start the next trials.

Fire, Grass, and Dimensions

....Dude! Get out of the frame, I'm trying to take a picture
of the Marowak!

Salazzle is a cool Pokémon that has the same issue as
Vespiquen: Only female Salandit can evolve, and they're
rarer. Good luck ever getting a shiny Salazzle...

After the Battle Royal tutorial, the kids meet meet Kiawe, the next trial captain, shirtless with hair shaped like fire. He invites the trial-goers to Wela Volcano Park, where his challenge will take place. Bit of a trek, but it allows us to see more creatures from Alola, Fire-types this time. Kiawe waits at the top of the volcano, and his trial is… Dances! Nah, that would be too complicated. You’re shown two clips of Alolan Marowak dancing and must tell the difference. This leads to battles against an Alolan Marowak or, weirdly, a Hiker who photobombs the Heck outta this challenge. Okay, that one got a laugh out of me. The third round ends with the fight against the Totem, a Salazzle. With her defeat (this trial is funny but underwhelming, not gonna lie), Nic is given the Firium Z from Kiawe. We’re also given the Charizard Ride Pager, allowing us to Fly between Pokémon Centers we’ve visited, and thus between islands! With this, we head down the volcano and towards the next stop.

Here's a reminder that most Charizard are 5'07'' on average,
so I wonder if they just have bigger ones on standby for
taller people to fly on.

They seem pretty legit!

Route 8 has a few things of note, such as a small camp for the Aether Foundation, whose employees dress in white and say their goal is to help Pokémon. They look trustworthy! Hm. Dunno why I said that. Our protagonist is approached by a scientist with a long wild strand of hair – Colress, formerly of Team Plasma, happy to observe and study the adventures of other young Trainers. He drops a hint that he’s already seen Mega Evolution in Kalos. Colress is the first person to mention Poké Pelago, a mode available after the Fire-type trial. Past that is the Fossil Restoration Center, whose owner wants to make a park for fossil Pokémon. A… Jurassic Park, if you will. Visiting the motel reveals that Gladion rented a room for two years and “lives” there, when he’s not busy with Team Skull.

Just digging for ingredients in the jungle. Two Gens later,
we'd get a true truffle-seeking pig as Pokémon.

Time to enter Lush Jungle, Mallow’s trial. The green-haired girl gives Nic a Forage Bag and asks him to find ingredients around the jungle using Stoutland’s item detection. Some items are guarded by Grass-types, but they’re otherwise easy to collect. Lana and Kiawe join in with, helping blend the ingredients together to lure out the Totem. We even participate by “pounding” the ingredients into a mushy goo (…an awkward moment, let’s say). This bring out the big one, a Totem Lurantis. (I love that every Totem is either from Gen 7, thus native to Alola, or an Alolan version of a Kanto Pokémon. It gives these species some extra focus.) Lurantis can be tough, with its power herb and its call to allies with confusion-inducing moves.

Didn't think a Plant-type would call a bird for help,
but hey, stranger alliances have happened, or will happen.

The only reference I could make in a joke to this would be
the Langoliers, but I think this might be too niche of a
thing to mention, especially in a Pokémon review.

Victory grants the Grassium Z and access to the Grand Trial battle against Kahuna Olivia. Prof Kukui comes by to congratulate the Trainer and tells him to pass by the Dimensional Research Lab. We meet Lillie at the lab, then go in and up to the third floor, where we meet Professor Burnet, Kukui’s wife and a researcher of interdimensional phenomena. Burnet talks about Ultra Wormholes, which occasionally open in the skies of Alola, like portals into another dimension. There are stories of creatures coming out, things called the Ultra Beasts. Just folk tales, right? Lillie adds that she was taken under the professor couple’s wing due to wanting to learn more about Nebby’s origins.

Nic heads out to resume his island challenge, but spots a hole in the skies, which disappears quickly.

Pelago

Blond hair in locks... Hm... Wonder if...

In this mode presented by the mysterious but friendly Mohn and unlocked after the Fire-type trial, the Pokémon deposited in your PC can chill together on uninhabited islands. You unlock islands with different features over time, and can upgrade each island so that it will be even more useful over time.

Beans everywhere! Beans for everyone!

The first island, Isle Abeens, is all about the Poké Beans. Tap the beanstalk at the center and pick up the fallen Beans. You can spend those beans into the crates of the islands you’ve unlocked, to make your Pokémon work on them! This mode is the best way to collect Poké Beans. Even better, wild Pokémon can come by on this island and join you willingly, with a larger variety of Pokémon appearing depending on your progress in the story, with the most species appearing once you’ve become Champion.

The second island you can unlock is Isle Aplenny, which serves as a garden to plant berries. At first, only one third of the island can be used to grow berries, but you can upgrade it to use all of it.

Not much going on here... for now, anyway.

Next up is Isle Aphun, in which your Pokémon can go on treasure quests. The higher the island’s level, the more paths open for your Pokémon, starting at hunting shards. Later, they can find evolution stones, rock-like items, and precious stones that can be sold at a profit, like Nuggets or Pearls. One of the changes from S/M to US/UM is the addition of the Pokémon fossils, which can be found in the final item hunts and revived at the Restoration Center.

#4 is Isle Evelup, where you can leave six Pokémon (or up to 18, when fully upgraded) and passively increase their experience or EVs, replacing the original Day Care’s experience gain feature with something more efficient. The last one, Isle Avue, is a hot spring, and the Pokémon left there will see their friendship value increasing even faster. Eggs left here will hatch after a while.

Isle Avue... I lav ue... I lo-... Okay, that's clever.

I spent a LOT of time in this mode. It encompasses several gameplay elements that aren’t “mandatory” but can help your progress tremendously. Poké Beans are always good to have (and gaining new Pokémon by doing nothing is sweet, too); and berry-farming, IV training, and egg-hatching are all in one spot now, accessible from anywhere. The only requirement is to have Pokémon in your PC boxes!

Ready to Rock

AND they're too pathetic to make you want to punch them
in the face outright, like I felt for Team Flare.

Konikoni City is accessible past the Diglett Tunnel. We meet a few more Aether Foundation employees, who ensure the Diglett don't bother travelers… and then, some Team Skull grunts. These guys are annoyances. Thrown in there because why not. Every time we saw Team Rocket, Flare, whatever, they were conducting a larger ploy to cause mayhem. The Skull peeps lollygag and wait for someone to come by. The street thugs are just shoved wherever they can be for one quick battle.

We emerge from the tunnel and discover Konikoni. Olivia waits at the Ruins of Life where Akala’s guardian, Tapu Lele, resides. It’s a trek through a graveyard and… scratch what I just said, the Skulls have moved on to stealing Pokémon to get rich. They're confronted by Faba of the ether Foundation, who cowardly forces Nic to battle them in his place. With the grunts beaten, Faba thanks him and tells him to the Hano Grand Resort for a reward. On the following Route, we encounter a Team Skull admin: Plumeria, who’s fed up seeing Nic “pick on” her team, and challenges him to a battle. She’s… not too tough either.

Pikachu: Not the best option against a Rock-type specialist.

Past this are the Ruins of Life, where we’re rejoined by Lillie and Burnet. Cosmog wants to check out the ruins of each Tapu, for some reason. Olivia shows up, thanks the trainer for his interest in getting to know Pokémon and the region, and battles him for the grand trial. Only three rock-types, not so bad. Well, aside from the Dusk Form Lycanroc and its Z-Crystal. As a reward, we get the Rockium Z and the stamp to move on to Ula’ula Island!

Into the Aether

Dude likes his title.

But first, we were promised a reward. Hau got the same invitation! They meet with Faba at the Hano Grand Resort and are brought to Aether Paradise, the lonely white artificial island on the world map. Faba presents the place as a laboratory dedicated to the conservation and rescue of Pokémon. The scientist leaves the kids in the guard of Wicke, a branch chief, who further explains the organization’s goals. After exploring the area a bit, Nic and Hau meet the President of the Aether Foundation: A woman named Lusamine. She chats with the boys, and Hau mentions Lillie in the ensuing banter, which surprises the President.

This statement is missing a few asterisks, Lusamine.

This really has been a trip of fighting inexplicable and
bizarre, unnamed, unrecorded creatures, huh.

We don’t dwell on that, though, as the place trembles, which Wicke assumes is due to experiments in the lower floors. An Ultra Wormhole appears where the group stands, and out comes a floating jellyfish. It attacks, so Nic defends the group with his own Pokémon. Since the Paradise emits a frequency that prevents Pokéballs from capturing wild creatures on its premises, there’s no way to catch it, so it’s either defeated, or it flees through another portal. Everyone is stunned, even Lusamine, but her surprise is replaced by a menacing grin and a desire to catch that Beast, whatever it is. The President orders Wicke to take the boys to Ula’ula, where they can resume their island challenge.

I had a shiver run down my spine. Why do I have the impression that all the white in this place is hiding something much darker. (…I mean, we all know. These games have been out for 9 years. That grin was still chilling. The façade cracked.)

First Steps in Ula'Ula

I love how Hau is always looking so happy and joyful and
energetic in the story, then you battle him and his default pose
is "waiting on you to do something", like he's bored.

The boat takes the kids to Malie City, a gorgeous place with Japanese flair to its architecture. Hau wants a battle. Sure, I can do that! Let’s get that rival battle out of the way, and then start exploring the third island! Our rival has evolved his Pikachu into an Alolan Raichu, an Eevee into the Eeveelution strong against your starter, and of still has his own starter. Dude, the battles against you are too easy. You really need more Pokémon in that team.

Before Nic and Hau left for Aether Paradise, Kukui said he’d see them in the garden at Ula’ula. We meet him at an outdoors café in Malie Gardens. The kids talk about seeing an Ultra Beast, then the professor says that they best keep training if they want to properly encounter these creatures someday – more reason to finish the island challenge! Our next stop is the Observatory on top of Mount Hokulani. 

In Malie, Lillie wants to visit the local library to find books that may mention something about Nebby’s origins; she asks the player to someday take Nebby to the ruins housing Ula’ula’s Tapu Bulu. Next, we meet Prof Oak! …Or rather his Alolan variant, Samson Oak. He’ll be found here and there during our journey to tell facts about Pokémon variants discovered in the region.

Yeah, there's no way whatsoever that someone like Lillie
would embark on a serious adventure.

We had  met a girl named Hapu earlier in Akala; we see her again here, offering her Mudsdale as a ride to help Lillie in her goal of seeing the ruins. In the library, Lillie is directed by a young girl, Acerola, to a book discussing Alolan legends, with the story talking about a beast that stole the light, only for it to return thanks to creatures representing the sun and the moon, with one of them (Solgaleo or Lunala, depending on the version) named in the legend.

We reach Mount Hokulani through the bus stop on Route 10 – though we must battle two Team Skull grunts who are throwing AAAALLLLL their gang signs at it. That thing is a bus stop, it’s not gonna sign back, you dunces. After the grunts leave, Kukui shows up, and he takes the bus alongside Nic. At the top, near the Observatory, the professor mentions that Hokulani is the second tallest mountain of Alola’s islands. The first, also on Ula’ula, is Mount Lanakila, visible from their spot. You know that game dev saying, “players will try to climb the tallest mountain in your game”? Well, Kukui says he hopes to establish Alola’s first Pokémon League and Elite Four on top of Mount Lanakila. This is basic foreshadowing, it’ll be ready just in time for us.

Sophocles pretends he'll skip the trial, but then he just puts
the player through a low-effort sound trivia game. Meh.
Do a worthwhile mini-game next time, dammit!

Oh, I'm about to drop a huge rock on this big bug.
Thanks, Kahuna Olivia!

Nic and Kukui are greeted at the observatory’s entrance by Molayne, the trial captain’s assistant, who battles the trial-goer in preparation for what comes next. An off-hand mention is made of the Festival Plaza, a feature I have yet to talk about. In there, we meet Sophocles, the young genius, whose trial begins. His machine that “summons the Totem” goes haywire and causes a power outage, and we answer to four trivia questions about recognizing sounds in the game, with a battle against a wild Pokémon after each correct response. (Kind of a lame idea, but whatever.) This is topped by a Totem Vikavolt that can benefit from calling a Charjabug, whose ability can boost the power of its evolution’s special moves. Upon the bug’s defeat, the power returns and Sophocles gives the player the Electrium Z, while Mo gives us the Steelium Z (and the Masked Royal’s mask, to give to Kukui).

Onwards to the next trial, in Part 4!