While exploring, I found an item called "Grassy Seed", which is a one-time use held item that kicks in during Grassy Terrain, so I think I'll pass. I also caught the evolved forms of some bug Pokemon - Ariados and Masquerain at night, and Ledian and Araquanid in the day. (Does anyone ever say "at day"? It doesn't sound right.) Several of the trainers here also use non-Alolan forms of stuff, so that's kinda cool for dex filling I suppose. after avoiding him for a good amount of time, I eventually go talk to Professor Kukui, who's sitting in front of what appears to be an ice cream shop. I say this because there's a big Vanillish statue out front, but the place itself seems to be closed, probably because it was nighttime. I remember reading in the early days of the full game leak that you could get a Vanillite as a gift from there (and that it was the only way to get one in the game), but I'm fairly sure that was just people making crap up.
Upon speaking to Kukui, he notices that we're more excited than usual (well, maybe Hau is, Luna's the same as always), and asks if anything happened. One of the dialogue options is "Only something AMAZING!", which I found kinda funny. Kukui says that one day we might be able to travel through the wormhole, which seems like a bit of a leap in logic, but alright. He also explains that the next trial is on top of Mount Hokulani (or Wannahockaloogie, as I'll probably call it). There's a bus that leads up there on Route 10, and at the top of the mountain, there's an observatory. Hau helpfully adds, "You do know what it is they do at an observatory, right? Hope you do, ’cause I sure as heck don’t", which is one of my favorite lines in the game so far.
I head out of the garden and encounter Lillie again, who says the Ruins on this island are in a large desert, and will need some help getting there but is hesitant to ask me because she feels like it's too much trouble. In the meantime though she's going to check out the library. Alright, have fun, and stay away from Tammy 2. After wandering a few more feet, the Alolan Form of Professor Oak (Samson Oak, he's basically a clone with a tan) shows up, and Rotomdex actually pops out and has a bit of dialogue with him, which is fairly rare. He doesn't really do a whole lot for now though. I'll be meeting up with him again later.
At this point, the game actually gives a surprising amount of freedom. I was genuinely surprised by this, usually there's terrible roadblocks everywhere, but this time they're at least a bit further out than usual. In addition to fully exploring the rest of the city, I also have the ability to go to Route 10 and Route 11 (both of which are fully explorable) and a side area called Outer Cape. There's a policeman in the city that points out where all these locations are, but uses the directions "up", "left", and "down" to describe them, which is accurate only according to the game's camera angle, and wouldn't make any sense in a real life setting. Found that kinda funky. After briefly looking up the wild Pokemon in each area, I decide to go to Route 11 first. I catch a Pancham, followed by a Komala. Oh, and this Komala's gonna be a new team member, by the way.
Yep, this is Dreemurr. Komala goes through its entire life while asleep, so I figured the name was fitting, even though the Undertale reference is completely irrelevant towards it. I considered calling it "PieceOfWood" after the stupid Brutalmoose reference that I always make, but decided against it. One interesting tidbit I enjoyed is the fact that Komala's Alolan Pokedex number is 222, which looks like "ZZZ". Dreemurr's a female, was caught in a Nest Ball, is Lonely, and is "Quick to flee". After catching it, I immediately feed it a rainbow bean (and check to see if you can pet the log and get a reaction. Yes you can), then go through my TMs (and any TMs I haven't bought yet) to see what moves would work well. My original idea was to make use of Facade, which is boosted in power when the Pokemon has a status condition, since Komala is always treated as being asleep. Unfortunately, Facade is only boosted by Poison, Burn, and Paralysis, so that didn't work out.
I end up going with Slam (boosted by the Normalium Z), Brick Break, Swords Dance, and Yawn. I considered Shadow Claw also, but once my team is filled out a bit more I'll have enough Ghost coverage and don't really need any more. This current set works pretty well - I start out by using Yawn, Swords Dance on the next turn, and then can usually KO on their sleeping turn with either Breakneck Blitz or Brick Break. Breakneck Blitz looks hilarious by the way, Dreemurr just kind of rides into battle on the log and it's the dumbest thing ever. I'd like to replace Slam with Return, but the TM doesn't seem to be available until after beating the Grand Trial on this island, so I'll at least get some time to boost happiness first.
With my new team member acquired, I decide not to go any further on that route and instead take the time to explore the city a bit. There's actually not all that much to see. The first thing I find is a guy who mentions that "Grimer eat garbage. But if they run out of garbage to eat, sometimes they start taking bites out of nearby buildings." I dunno, I just found that funny. I also got sucked into another cutscene with Lillie. She mentions that she somehow got lost again, but spent some time at the apparel shop and got pressured into buying this new outfit. Except ... it looks exactly like her old one, unless I'm completely forgetting what she looked like, so I'm not sure what that was all about. Hapu and her Mudsdale showed up for about two seconds and did nothing, then left. Good. Anyway, Lillie's looking for a Pokemon on legendary Pokemon because apparently it will be of some use.
In the library itself, I find Samson Oak again, who wants to see a Garfielf. I'll get on that as soon as I get one. I also obtain the Fly TM from a tourist. She mentions that Fly is an HM in other regions, which is true, so I'm not really sure why it suddenly underwent an Alolan Form change and became a TM after she took it through customs. Then I go upstairs, only to bump into some sort of character that I can only describe as a "loli kawaii-desu" character. Seriously, it looks like she should be from a completely different franchise. Anyway, she has a book called "The Light of Alola" and I'll just go ahead and post the whole thing here:
The empty sky broke asunder, a hole appearing where had been none. A single beast appeared from in it: it was named the beast that calls the moon.
The king of Alola bowed before it: the beast that stole all heavens’ light. The island guardians fought against it, but in the end they lost the fight.
Then did the beast that brings the dark cast its pall on the line of kings. So would the beast that had won mark the path for all such finished things.
Beast of sun and beast of moon. Through their union, they brought new life. A fragile heir in Alola born that island guardians would keep from strife.
The ancient kings sang their thanks for Lunala with song of flute. Two tones rang out across the altar— a perfect pair, ever after mute.
Just gonna be honest, I skimmed that. Even after copying it here, I didn't actually bother to read it or pay attention to anything it said.
And actually, as soon as I wrote that, it also caused me to get distracted for about an hour and a half and put off writing any more of this. This is what happens whenever I have to actually read something in a game. I just kind of dissolve and stop being a real person for a few hours. Ehhh.
Ok, so moving on. Kawaii-chan says her name is Acerola (which may not actually be a name, so I'm just gonna call her Kawaii-chan) and she apparently descended from royalty. So yeah, not a Mary Sue at all then. She drops a hint that the next trial is going to be Electric-based, and then I get the ability to leave, so I ... do. There's a few books here going over the origins of the island guardians and such, and I kind of looked at them a bit but again, reading in video games. I'm fine with it except for when I'm not. Also, this library has a sign out front that says "a facility literally made to facilitate literacy", and I am so done with this place.
The other locations in this town include the Sushi High Roller restaurant, which shares the name of a place in Kalos but not much else. I tested it out and it seems to basically be the same thing as the other place in Konikoni where you just get Heart Scales after eating. Good if you need them, but I don't, so I have no need for it now. There's also, as Lillie pointed out, another clothing shop here. I'm actually not completely happy about this because I feel like I just changed outfits really recently. In terms of how much time has actually passed, it's been at least a couple days, but if I hadn't been intentionally wasting so much time, it would have only been like an hour or less since the last new shop. So I'm actually going to hold off on this for a little bit, and probably change outfits next time.
The rest of the day was pretty much spent just exploring the areas connected to the city, starting with the Outer Cape. The first thing that happened after going there was triggering a random cutscene with the president of the recycling plant and his son. They basically just kind of bicker a bit and then I get challenged to a battle against the president's Muk. After beating it, he tells his son to also battle me with his Grimer, so he does. This all ends with him sort of passing the torch and praising his son for following instructions even though it seemed pretty clear there was no way he would win the fight. Overall, it was sort of an out-of-place scene that didn't really contribute a whole lot. I got a Twisted Spoon out of it, which is something I guess, but is also completely unrelated to what happened.
Also in this area is a guy named Gester, not to be confused with the elusive W.D. Gaster. He apparently teaches people different Poke Ball-throwing styles, and gives me a few to choose from: elegant, girlish, reverent, and left-handed. Since I'm the most manly man that ever manned, I pick the girlish style. I honestly can't tell the difference between it and the elegant one, but whatever. There's a few other styles you can unlock, one of which has very unclear conditions (you should hang around the kind of guy who is always trying to act cool), and one requires getting 50 straight wins in the Battle Tree. So I think I'm probably not going to ever get that one, then.
While in this area, I also caught a Trubbish and got a Friend Ball from Oak. From what I hear, he gives you one of each Apricorn Ball, and I have some pretty awful plans for them. It would be nice if you could get more than one of each, but I guess that's asking for too much. With this area robbed of its usefulness, let's see what's on the other Routes I have access to.
Here's what's on Route 10:
- Eight lost Stuffuls, which I returned to their owner and got a Never Melt Ice and quite a decent amount of cash in return
- Constant attacks from Skarmory and Fearow, which fly at you from trees every time you pass by them (I caught them both)
- Team Skull randomly gesticulating at a sign. They seem to be the key to progress, so I'm ignoring them for now.
Here's what's on Route 11:
- Nothing worth mentioning
- A barrier that blocks you from getting to the next area until you've finished the trial
- That's it
So... I guess I'm going to take the bus on Route 10 next time. Perhaps it'll be a crazy bus. Perhaps I'll be a Bikdip on a bus. And perhaps the only thing I like more than butter and gravy is buses.
Current status (after spending some money on new clothes that I haven't started wearing yet, and still might buy more later):
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