Pokemon Sun LP, Part 12: The Hunt for Ultra Beasts

Cute and psycho.

So, after beating the champion, I got this letter to go to the motel on Route 8 for some mysterious post-game plot. Of course, there are a lot of things I could do. Walking around Iki Town, I see some changes, like Hau training two Team Skull grunts, who now apparently will try to help rescue people as Team ReSkull. The three other Tapus are all up for grabs, and I head off to Akala's ruins to is cute, though, especially in Refresh, and I managed to whittle her down to red, Thunder Wave her and catch her in a Pokeball. That's two down, two to go.
summon Tapu Lele, the most adorable, and apparently the most psychotic, heartless and cruel of the four island guardians. Okay, then. I mean, adorableness usually doesn't guarantee niceness. Tapu Lele

I spent the better part of two hours trying to capture Tapu Fini in a Pokeball and absolutely failing miserably in that attempt. Which is actually honestly a bit refreshing -- after so many legendaries in Generations V and VI that have such an absurdly low catch rate, it seems that the Tapus (bar Tapu Koko) at least are jacked up so they actually might require me pulling out things like Ultra Balls to capture them. Good stuff! I am forced to reset when Tapu Fini struggled herself to death, though, and it was a huge pain in the ass to figure out Tapu Bulu's puzzle... so I'm leaving those two and I'm going off do something less stressful and just enjoy myself.

Which brings me to Route 8... and lo and behold, it's Looker and... ANABEL? Salon Maiden Anabel? In a very swanky, fancy black suit with a super-long ponytail and actual lady-curves that makes her gender no longer ambiguous? Looker I expect to be involved in this game in some way -- I do like Looker tying the various games together if not the character's high-on-caffeine personality -- but Anabel? Holy shit, that was truly unexpected. The Emerald Battle Frontiers are dear to my heart thanks to Emerald being such a huge part of my childhood, Anabel was one of the four Battle Frontier Heads that I actually beat (alongside Tucker, Noland and Lucy) so seeing her back was a huge, huge treat, especially after the Frontier Heads being more or less shoved aside and never mentioned again after Emerald that's, what, a freaking decade ago or some shit? I'm so happy. Like, probably not everyone recognizes Anabel straight off the bat but I did. And I'm so happy.

That suit is fancy as hell, though. I want one.

And apparently Anabel is a member of the International Police -- and more importantly, she's Looker's boss. So we have the calm, cool and more collected Anabel to contrast with Looker's hyperactivity and yet surprising degree of effectiveness. It's a bit of an interesting dynamic, and Looker and Anabel interrogate me regarding one UB-Symbiont, and apparently these are the codenames that the International Police give the Ultra Beasts, as compared to Nihilego and Buzzwole and the rest... so who gave Nihilego its name? Was it my player character?

Whatever the case, my boast that I defeated Nihilego causes Looker and Anabel to recruit me as a field agent against the Ultra Beast threat. Anabel then challenges me to a fight to test my skills, and they recruit me because I'm the champion, not because I'm just some random kid that happens to defeat Nihilego and carry around the legendary herald of the sun. Anabel is... a lot weaker than her incarnation in Emerald. She is missing her Entei (or Raikou, or Latios, if you fought her for the gold badge) and while she keeps her Snorlax and Alakazam, the Alakazam is missing the elemental punches. And neither Weavile nor Mismagius are honestly that big of a threat, and while the Salamence is impressive, I have a little bug pixie. Who quickly takes down the dragon.

They basically tell me to find Wicke in the laboratorium of Aether Foundation, and as I do so I discover that Wicke is apparently, well, a member of the International Police as well! So she's like a sleeper agent or something, keeping tabs on Aether? Well, should've really done something to help fight Lusamine, really.

I get myself some Beast Balls, which are fancy-looking Pokeballs used to capture Ultra Beasts specifically. Finally, after the fourth generation nearly a decade ago, we get some new Pokeball variants! Yes! We also get some lore. Apparently Lusamine's being taken to Kanto because there are rumours of a person who fused with Pokemon... Bill, all the way back in 1996 in Red and Blue. And they're trying to purge Lusamine of all the Nihilego toxin with the aid of Bill's machinery. Good lod, that's a pretty smart and awesome throwback that also makes sense in vein of the story!

Annoying and awesome
in the same breath.

We also get some lore about UB-01, Symbiont, also known as Nihilego, as well as Ultra Beasts in general. Apparently the Beast Boost aura that the Ultra Beasts have are radiation from the Ultra Wormhole, energy that seeps into their bodies, and Totem Pokemon of Alola are empowered by Ultra Wormholes opening near them and the energy leaking out. That's a bit darker than what I expected a Totem Pokemon's origin story to be, but a very good way of tying things together. I also learn that Nihilego's toxins aren't mind-control, but rather it awakens its host's capabilties, so everything Lusamine did was just her inner desires, just amplified by Nihilego's neurotoxins, so Lusamine's agency in the whole thing isn't actually just mind-controlled by a psychotic jellyfish, but her actual deep dark feelings, amplified a thousandfold by said jellyfish.

I also got into a rematch with Faba! Who shows up with a team of five. He's demoted into like a grunt or whatever, but he resolves to regain his respect again. I still don't like Faba. He has a team of 60+ Psychic Pokemon, with Hypno still as his ace. His team is buffed with Alakazam and Alolan Raichu, but they're all no match for the dual tag-team of Ribombee and Mimikyu. Also, when Bruxish does a special attack, the little bulb-shaped dorsal fin actually opens up like a flower and that's absolutely gross-looking.

Some random Aether lady briefly mentions how the Pokemon cryogenically frozen by Lusamine will eventually be thawed out once they find a way to do that (lady, just get a Slugma and have it sit in the room) but also gives me a crapton of Legendary-Pokemon-related items like Hoopa's bottle, Latios's Soul Dew and... something, I forgot. 'Kay then.

Looker and Anabel talk for a bit, and honestly they went way too goofy with Looker's dialogue this time around. Basically, International Police wants Looker and Anabel to destroy all the Ultra Beasts because they're a threat to humanity, but neither of them want to kill when they have another choice -- capture. And they recruit me to do so, because apparently not even Anabel is strong enough to capture Ultra Beasts, and they also mention that simply having the power to defeat the Ultra Beasts is a different thing from capturing and subduing them.

So they tell me that Nihilego's showed up in either Diglett's Tunnel or Wela National Park, and it's kind of like the roaming Pokemon past except not really, because Nihilego shows up in like the third or fourth encounter I made. It's a bit weird, just running in the grass and waiting for the music to change... but hey. Nihilego isn't that much of a threat because I park my Steel-type Solgaleo in front of him and he can't do a damn thing with his poison moves, so I chunk a couple of Beast Balls and capture the little jellyfish dude. I am not the biggest fan of Nihilego, so into the box he goes.

GAINZZZZ

I report this to Looker and Anabel, and after a bit of talking, it's revealed that Looker and Anabel pulled some strings so I'm allowed to keep the Ultra Beasts, and it's more of the two of them not wanting the International Police to experiment with the Ultra Beasts, which is a cool bit. We get a groan-worthy sequence where Looker has an obsession with feasts and Anabel asks Looker why he's so familiar with local cuisine, we head off to Melemele to investigate more Ultra Beast sightings. Apparently their contact is none other than Nanu, who has way more information than Anabel or Looker are sharing to, well, anyone. Also, apparently Nanu is ex-International Police, though he's retired now... and also Anabel's direct superior! No idea why Anabel is then so surprised that Nanu knows so much about the Ultra Beasts, because retired or not you'd think Nanu would have some connections. This time around, though, there isn't one, but two Ultra Beasts! It's a bit of a surprising affair, because I thought the Ultra Beasts were going to be like legendaries as far as the game is concerned.

Melemele Meadow it is, and this time around there are two Buzzwoles, which, well, are my favourite Ultra Beasts! And apparently they know this new Bug-type move Lunge, which decreases an enemy's attack, and thanks to some carelessness on my part, Tapu Koko (I bring Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele and Solgaleo as guest party members because they're like, defending the realm or whatever) gets knocked out by a Dynamic Punch and I get to see Beast Boost in action. Basically it's like Moxie, but it boosts the Beast's best stats? Regardless, Buzzwole isn't that much harder than Nihilego, it just actually is able to fight back. Just not against, y'know, Ghost-types and one third of my party is made up of Ghost-types.

Both Buzzwoles are captured, and it's actually a bit of a strange yet welcome feature because I think they're giving us two Buzzwoles because Buzzwole and Pheromosa are exclusives to both games. It means you can freely trade your free Buzzwole for a Pheromosa so it makes collecting all the unique one-off legendaries (like Latios and Latias in Generation III, as well as most version mascots) a lot easier.

Looker and Anabel goes through the 'oh let's go a feast' 'how do you know food' before, of course, naturally, disaster strikes. It's going to get tiresome if we go through the same charade of Looker talking about feasts, Anabel second-guessing Looker, Looker going out, Anabel saying some things, Looker running back in shouting in French and then we go to a different motel. But eh.

This time around, though, Looker voices some concern about being left behind as backup, but Anabel notes how Looker doesn't have any partner Pokemon. No idea why you can't just lend him like an Alakazam or something. I mean, I have like 40+ Pokemon I'm never going to use sitting in my box, I could lend him like, I dunno, a Hariyama or a Dugtrio or something he can use, but it does strike to the popular fan theory that Looker's Croagunk from Platinum died off-screen. Maybe we'll do one of these cross-game continuity stories sometime soon?

The third mission takes us back to Akala Island's Route 8 motel, and apparently while Nanu has a small guest role in the Buzzwole mission, this time around Mina, the ditzy trial captain without a trial, shows up. UB-03: Lightning is our target now, and Mina is sent by... someone? She challenges me to a battle, and, well, I wasn't quite prepared with my full team because I'm carrying Solgaleo, Tapu Koko and a Buzzwole around to look at their animations and whatnot, but hey, at least my little legendaries have enough levels to stand up against Mina's army of fairies.

That Klefki, though! I'm having Generation VI Wi-Fi battle nightmares. I just said fuck it and had Solgaleo wall the Klefki and spam Zen Headbutt. The rest of Mina's team isn't much of a problem, levels aside. My newly-acquired Buzzwole carries Poison Jab, my Magnezone carries Flash Cannon, and it's honestly just triviality sweeping through her relatively weak team. Granbull? Shiinotic? Wigglytuff? Not the most powerful examples of Fairy-types you can find out there. Her last Pokemon is a Ribombee, but Tatl it ain't.

Also, Buzzwole got put into sleep, and sleeping Buzzwole in Pokemon Refresh is just adorable. Hell, Buzzwole himself just keeps flexing no matter what, and the poses he strikes, fucking hell, Pokemon did a great job with this one.

Honestly, I have no idea what the purpose of the Mina fight was because she just peaces out straight after that, and Looker gives me even more beast balls before sending me off. UB-03, Lightning, is, well, a lightning beast sighted in Lush Jungle and Memorial Hill. There are two of them, too, and, well, shit, Xurkitree is apparently how you spell it? I'm never getting it right without looking it up. Also, something I apparently forgot to do is that Wicke has information on the two Ultra Beasts I captured before, so there's that to check out in Aether Foundation after we catch Xurkitree.

Also, I randomly met Colress near Route 8, who talks about Genesect, and gives me Genesect's drives. Jeez, that's like the second huge pile of legendary-Pokemon related items someone's given me. Colress mentions the Battle Tree, and he's like the second or third person to mention the Battle Tree after... Anabel? Hau? Someone, anyway. It's apparently in Poni Island and like the Battle Tower equivalent in this generation. We'll check it out eventually.

I like Lush Jungle better, so I enter it, Solgaleo, Tapu Koko and half of my Elite Four team ready to defend Alola from this evil invader that takes the form of a bunch of wires. Yeah, Nihilego and Buzzwole looks alien and all, but Xurkitree always strikes me as one of the weirdest Ultra Beasts. Especially when I realize it's got christmas lights on its arm-tentacles. Not that I dislike it, mind you, and I guess being super-weird is like a prerequisite of being an extradimensional invader. So yeah, who am I to judge Xurkitree? I mean, I have a floating pile of magnets as my second-strongest Pokemon in my team.

Wire-christmas-tree-jellyfish-octopus-crystal thing.

It took me a bit longer to find Xurkitree than the other three Ultra Beasts, and it landed a critical one-shot KO on my Solgaleo, causing it to ramp up with its Beast Boost... and holy fuck, Xurkitree is a monster of a special attacker. I yolo'd a Beast Ball and caught the first Xurkitree at full health after it murdered even Tapu Koko and Magnezone (Beast Boost is scary!). A pit stop to heal my team, catch a random Bonsly, and I'm back to hunt the second Xurkitree. A peek on the Xurkitree I captured shows that it knows Power Whip of all things, so Ground-types are probably as bad against Xurkitree as anything else. I wandered around Lush Jungle for a bit, and found the Xurkitree chilling in the tall grass at the end of it.

My attempt to capture Xurkitree with regular Poke Balls ended in absolute failure, and apparently it has such abysmal capture rates with non-Beast-Ball Pokeballs. So yeah, if I was a bit more free I'd probably tough it out and spam revives or whatever, but nah. The sight of my Decidueye toughing out moves at 1 HP and dodging shit like Neo kind of makes me feel bad for him so I just chucked a couple of Beast Balls to capture Xurkitree quickly.

I return to Looker in the motel, and apparently Anabel is having dizzy spells. She claims that it gets worse when the Ultra Beasts arrive near her, and apparently while I'm wandering around in Lush Jungle, Anabel is keeping the Ultra Beasts away from town. I know she's on crowd control duty since the first mission, but the references to actually using her Salon Maiden skills into work is great. Nanu shows up again, and this time he calls Looker by '100kr', which is apparently his old codename or something? Nanu gives even more information about the Ultra Beast known as Blade (Kartana, obviously, for us who have seen the entire Pokedex) and it's on Ula'ula Island. Anabel and Looker don't really have a way to verify Nanu's sources, but, y'know, it's Nanu. He knows stuff. He's also mysterious and shit.

I take a break from the Ultra Beast stuff for a bit, though, and head off to Poni Island to wander around the Poni Plains for a bit, which is an area that's now accessible. I caught a couple of Pokemon there like Scyther and Hariyama, but didn't really stick around too long. I made a quick pit-stop at Hala's house in Iki Town, which had previously been inaccessible, to collect the Zygarde Core. The Cores apparently hang out in the homes of the kahunas and trial captains, so that's another one for the collection. One of these days I'll bother to head to the Zygarde lab and turn Zygardoggy into Zygarsnake. Hala's got a fancy bathroom with Pyukumukus on the floor, which I find absolutely hilarious.

Actually a secret agent.

I also bugger off to Aether Foundation to get information on Nihilego, Buzzwole and Xurkitree from Wicke. I really like this! One of the biggest missteps about Generation IV and V isn't just the quantity of the legendaries they introduced, it's the lack of attention on the lore of anything bar the storyline legendaries. Like, they just slap a random 'rescue the legendary' plotline about Heatran and talk about it being a powerful fire type volcano monster. Or Meloetta embodying music, or the kami trio having alternate forms and being the gods of weather or whatever, but scant little lore about them. This thing with the Ultra Beasts where we are told information about them after capturing them and whatnot is so much cooler and makes them a lot more memorable.

I mean, yes, ideally we'd have individualized missions where, say, Xurkitree causes a blackout in the geothermal power plant. Or Buzzwole/Pheromosa re-challenges Tapu Koko and Hala, and we have to help out. Or something. I dunno. I'm not complaining, though -- any time Pokemon takes a step towards trying to tell a story is a good time, so yeah. Also, this kind of legendary hunt with a story is a huge, huge step up compared to the rather boring 'hey, every single freaking legendary in the history of forever is unlockable with magic rings!' legendary hunt in ORAS.

Shit, this went on for a fairly long bit, so we'll head off and capture Kartana and the remaining other Ultra Beasts (Guzzlord and Necrozma?), and maybe the three remaining Tapus and unlock the Magearna event afterwards.