The Rest of Melemele...and Beyond (Sun)

Leaving the Verdant Cavern, I head into Melemele Meadow to retrieve Lillie and Nebby. 

It's a really nice meadow. 

Unless you have allergies

One of the things I really like about doing one of the original Generation 7 games and one of the later spin-offs is the differences between the two. For example, there's no Seaside Cavern in this version, and Nebby's just chilling at the back of the meadow. 

It makes finding it pretty uneventful in comparison 

It's definitely one of the more fun aspects of doing both of these at the same time. 

Exiting the meadow, we are challenged by Hau! 

He's just so adorable, thinking he can beat me 

After walloping him (again), I continue to travel Route 3 and beat all of the trainers and get the Red Card from the Ace Trainer. With Route 3 complete, it's time to return to Iki Town and challenge the Kahuna of Melemele Island! 

Half of my team, Rattata, Meowth, and Glaceon are all weak to his fighting type Pokemon. On the other hand, Aerodactyl, Beautifly, and Gastly all have an advantage, which balances the whole thing out. 

And then Aerodactyl sweeps his whole team. 

So majestic 

From Hala, we get the page caller and can call on Tauros to smash rocks! And after running around the Island smashing all the rocks for new areas and items, its off to the Marina! At the Marina, Hau, Lillie and Kukui also board the boat, and we sail to Heahea City! 

At the dock, we are greeted by Olivia and Mallow. Mallow tells us about her trial off in the Lush Jungle. Hau runs off ahead to challenge it, and Lillie and Kukui go off to do their own thing. I prepare to head off to the Jungle, where we play fun and games! 

Let's Get This Pary Start(er)ed! (Moon)

And now for the Starter Team in Ultra Moon! A quick rundown of the rules for this playthrough.

The only eligible Pokemon for this team are those that are the evolutionary lines of the main series games. Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treeco, Torchic, Mudkip, Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup, Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Chespin, Fennekin, Froakie, Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio evolutionary lines all qualify. Pikachu also qualifies, but not Raichu since the one in Pokemon Yellow could not evolve.

In the main series, Eevee and Ralts are starters of rivals, and so they also qualify. Ratls and all of its evolutions qualify since Wally uses all of them between the Generation III and Generation VI games. However, only Eevee, Vaporeon, Jolteon, and Flareon qualify since they are the only evolutions used in Pokemon Yellow.


Both pokemon obtained in game and through wonder trade qualify.


If that pokemon doesn't fit the parameters for the team, it must be wonder traded immediately. Because the qualifying pool of pokemon isn't very deep, if nothing that qualifies comes up after a few attempts, I can skip trading in that round.


If a pokemon received through wonder trade fits the parameters of the team, it must be kept, either on the team or in the PC box. If it does not it must be traded immediately unless its a legendary/mythical pokemon or a shiny pokemon for keeping, but cannot be used on a later team.

All Mega evolutions qualify.


I know in a previous post I said that Poipole and Marill also qualify, but Poipole cannot be used in Sun and Moon, which disqualifies itself and I'm just not going to use Marill when I have so many other powerful water types to choose from.

Before starting, we have a Piplup and Litten that where received during the first playthrough, and a Torchic I got while trading away various Pokemon I thought other people might enjoy. There is also the Popplio from Pokemon Sun, and also in that playthrough I caught and traded a couple extra Pokemon and received a Froakie and an Eevee, which means even before I start, I have a full team ready to go!

Thor knows what's up! 

Firing up the actual game and getting going, I decided to name the player this time around Satoshi, after the creator of Pokemon himself, Satoshi Tajiri, whom without non of this would be possible. 

A god among us 

I start this game with Rowlet because its the only Alolan starter I didn't have on standby. The usual early game shenanigans went down. Saved Lillie, fought Hau a couple of times, met the Ultra Recon Squad and got the Rotom Dex. I caught a Grubbin,  a couple Caterpie's and a couple Rattata's to trade for all the Starters waiting to come over. I chose to evolve Eevee into Jolteon, since I'll be able to have access to plenty of Water and Fire types. 

Will I even need any others? 

I was not expecting to be fully stocked, let alone have an extra, this early with this team. But I'm really glad that I am! Froakie, Torchic, and Litten all have their hidden abilities (Protean, Speed Boost, and Intimidate respectively) which will be nice from the low health power boost the others will get. 

Going forward, I took on the Trainers School where I taught them a thing or two! Next, we will go and explore this city and Island and see what it is that Alola has to offer this group of Starters! 

Magnificent 6 (Sun)

Starting in the new play through in Pokemon Sun, is the Set 6 Team that I get through Wonder Trade. A quick run through of these rules in a bit more detail before diving fully in.


At the beginning, must start with 6 Pokemon, all received through Wonder Trade. Those are the six I must complete the game with. No other pokemon can be used.


The Pokemon cannot be repeated either from the previous run through, or again on this team.

All the pokemon received must be under level 15, that way I can actually use it right away.

For this run, I'll still catch and Wonder Trade stuff, mostly just to see if I get something cool, like Shiny's or Legendary Pokemon or something. Plus, its just a fun part of the game. Non of them I'll be able to use for anything, unless its a starter for the Starter Team that I feel will have trouble maxing out its potential.

With the rules laid out lets start this baby!

Because of the Wonder Trade mechanic being such a big part of this and this team also being made up exclusively of Pokemon from Wonder Trade, I decided to name my character Diana. 

That's why 

I began this game with a Popplio to trade over to the Starter Team. I use almost exclusively that to boost its level a little bit before trading it off. The only exception was against Hau's Pichu when I used a Yungoos and a Caterpie. 

After the Iki Town Festival and saving Lillie from the falling bridge and getting the Rotom Dex, I can finally trade! I get Popplio over to Moon for a Growlithe. I also caught a Caterpie, two Yungoos, and two Pikipek to trade. First to go is Growlithe, for which I get a Gastly that will serve as the starter Pokemon for this run. 

For the two Pikipek, I got an Alolan Meowth and an Aerodactyl. 

For the two Yungoos, I received an Alolan Rattata and a Beautifly. 

And finally for Caterpie, I got an Eevee! 

I decided to evolve Eevee into Glaceon because I feel that it will help provide the most coverage for what's lacking from other parts of the team. I also considered Vaporeon since they can both learn Ice-type attacks and Water-type attacks, and I think I can cover Glaceon's weaknesses better. We'll find out if I'm right or not as we move forward! 

With the Team set and the trainers on Route 1 taken care of, we are ready to move onto the Pokemon Trainer's School! 

An investment in education is an 

investment in the future! 

They weren't to difficult and we moved on to exploring Hau'oli City proper. Eventually, I made my way to the Marina where I met Ilima and had my first encounter with Team Skull! 

After we chase off Grunt A and Grunt B, Ilima decides to see if I'm ready to face his Trial at Verdant Cavern, and it turns out I am. Hooray. 

Moving through Route 2 and beating all of the trainers on the main path and in the cemetery, I come across the Berry Farm, where the two Grunts from the Marina are harassing the Berry Farmer, so I case them off again and reach the Verdant cavern! 

The difference between Moon and this version, is that the Trial Pokemon are Yungoos and Gumshoos. 

Otherwise, the trial functions the same. The two grunts show up and again help corner the pokemon in only a couple of the burrows. The battle this time with the Totem Gumshoos was a little harder than against the Raticate from before because I didn't have a Pokemon with high attack stat and a super effective move. Gastly's Perish Song took care of Gumshoos and its ally Yungoos, though. 

After words, Kukui arrives and tells us that he lost track of Lillie. Next time, we will continue to explore Melemele Island and beyond!