Pokemon Sun LP, Part 9: Poni Island & Sidequests

Well, last we left off, we've arrived in Poni Island. There's a couple of brief cutscenes that establish that, hey, Lillie exists every time I enter a new area, although unlike Melemele it's inoffensive enough and sparse enough that it's not as in-the-nose as it was earlier in the game. A random lady on a Huntail-themed ship just straight up and gives me an Aerodactyl, which is... freaking out of nowhere but hey, I love Aerodactyl. I'll take it. I used one in my playthroughs of Fire Red and Y, and I'm pretty with my current party, though, so Aerodactyl'll be chilling in the PC for now.

Also while most of the ships in Seafolk Village are visually themed after water-type Pokemon, there's a random Steelix one which felt out of place.

Lillie and I travel north to a patch of grassy area that is identified as the Poni Wilds. We get a brief encounter with Hapu the Mudsdale child-cowgirl trainer, and apparently she's one of the few people who actually live here. She also apparently beat an Ultra Beast off-screen. We also meet her very creepy but well-meaning grandmother, who registeres Machamp to my Pokeride. Strength! And apparently Machamp goes around carrying me around with his lower arms in golden gloves, so the Machamp I saw in the graveyard so very long ago wasn't actually wearing prostheses, he just wears gloves.

Did anyone expect her
not to be important?
She has a unique model!

The trainers in Poni Wilds have Pokemon upwards to level forty, and one lady with a Toxapex actually unleashes a Z-move on me. I love this. It actually makes this relatively late-game area feel like an actual challenge where it's mostly trial-goers and experienced trainers, and it probably takes to heart the criticism about the sixth generation how literally no one but like, four or five people use Mega-Evolution despite it being supposedly the big thing in the game. The fact that a bunch of random trainers just launch Z-moves at me makes battles a lot more interesting.

Honestly getting tired of meeting Raticates and Pelippers, though Poni Wilds mixes things up by throwing like, Granbulls and Gastrodons into the mix. I could go to the East and go into Ancient Poni Path or whatever, but I decide to make a little detour to older areas. We beat Ilima at his house a while back, so I went to see if I can locate the other trial captains' houses. Sophocles and Acerola are still hanging out where I last left them, unwilling to fight. I did finally locate Mallow's house in the restaurant in Konikoni City, where the room is so obviously hers, but she's nowhere to be found. Guess there's like a prerequisite to fighting her?

Lana's house is the fisherman's house that's also in Konikoni City. I have to beat up play with her two younger sisters for a bit, slapping their weak-ass fish Pokemon with my undead grass owl, before Lana shows up and eventually challenges me to a battle. She doesn't actually use a Wishiwashi, though -- unlike Ilima, who uses a Gumshoos (a non-Totem version) in his battle. Lana has like a Shellder, a Chinchou and her ace is an Araquanid, but they're all level 26 so even the weakest member of my team, Boo the Mimikyu, just absolutely sweeps her party. I really wish the levels would've been scaled up, but eh, the dialogue's pretty cool in itself.

Kiawe's house is the Magmar House in Paniola town, where he's training his firedancing in his room... before rushing off to the Thrifty Megamart for work. That's... not what I was expecting from a badass Hawaiian fire-dancer, and the scene in front of the Megamart where the very nice but apologetic boss has to fire Kiawe because they can't spare any more money for extra workers. And Kiawe's kind of sad that he is laid off, but he's also completely understanding, even if he apparently is saving money to go abroad to learn even more styles of dancing.

...

Pokemon just got so real so fast and I'm actually quite sad. Jeez, Kiawe, I can take you to do, like, Pyukumuku chucking or something, that would actually net you a fair amount of money, more than what the Megamart makes. I really feel bad about beating Kiawe's Pokemon up -- and honestly, with a Lycanroc in the lead that's twice as high-leveled as anything Kiawe is carrying, the poor dude just didn't stand a chance.

I also made a pit stop in Malie City's huge garden with its Zygarde-shaped river, and the golden bridge that Hau was standing on has been... populated with a very, very, very familiar set of trainers. The kid in front of the bridge notes that this is the Nugget Bridge... and, holy shit, every single trainer has the exact same lines of dialogue and the exact same Pokemon as the trainers in the Nugget Bridge of the original Pokemon Red/Blue, right up to the final trainer who offers me to join Team Rocket... before backpedaling and noting that they're just pretending to be those guys because Team Rocket and Giovanni disbanded years ago. What an unexpected and extremely faithful throwback! I mean, yeah, the movepools are all different and some trainer classes have substitutes thrown in (the final trainer is a Veteran instead of a Rocket, and Rising Stars take the place of Jr. Trainers) but holy shit, this bought a small smile to my face.

There were a couple of other short exploration bits I did throughout Melemele and Akala Island now that I have access to Sharpedo and Machamp as ride Pokemon. It's a bit odd that the lighthouse in Konikoni City ended up being absolutely inaccessible other than the single Will-o-wisp TM. There were a couple of trainers in the waters around Melemele and whatnot that I absolutely trounced. There were also a couple other Pokemon that I added to my box collection.... honestly it's a bit annoying how so many of the new Pokemon are rare encounters but I guess that's incentive for you to actually hunt for them.

Also, I tried to enter Tapu Lele's chamber in the Ruins of Life, but after moving the puzzle pieces into place there's an altar with nothing else there. Tapu Bulu's Ruins of Abundance is apparently in the middle of the huge desert in the middle of Akala Island that's literally just a tiny little area that used to be blocked off before I cleared the island's trials, but in all the hubbub with Aether and Team Skull and everything, I completely forgot about it until now. In the face of the linearity of the game's storyline so far, I'm very happy that there's this little side-area tucked to the side that's actually very hard to explore. Haina Desert functions somewhat similarly to the Lost Woods in Kalos, as well as Giratina's Turnback Cave in Sinnoh, where some exits within mini-areas lead you to previously visited parts of the desert. So far I've only gotten a couple of items, and haven't quite found the Ruins of Abundance, but I guess it'll just be the same with Tapu Lele and Tapu Koko's respective ruins -- inaccessible.

What's accessible is the mall in Hao'uli City, which looks cool. There's a couple of stuff like the trainers that teach the starter ultimate moves, an antiques shop for items of the weather and creation trio legendaries, a super-expensive clothing store, a side-quest where I pick up pokemon shit (no, really) and feed it to a Grimer for a shitty TM (Round or something?) and the return of Kalos's battle restaurant. It's a very pretty and well-made mall, visually, but nothing really important in it.

Who's a good doggy?

There are a couple other smaller areas I explored, but the most significant is the Zygarde restoration machine, which I completely missed. It's in the long route in between Tapu Village and Po Town, and apparently Dexio and Sina are just hanging out in an Aether Foundation mobile lab thing with a very weird chunk of crystal. They talk about how Zygarde is a legendary Pokemon from Kalos (glad that they're not retconning that, at least) and how it's divided into a hundred cells and cores. With the Zygarde cells and cores I have collected, I can create a 10% Zygarde, the cute doggy one, so... yeah. The game just hands me a legendary Pokemon and it's apparently something that I could've feasibly done way, way earlier than this. Apparently I can disassemble Zygarde into cells, and later recreate or add more cells to him to make his... 50%? 75%? Whichever was the big wyrm one that we found in XY, and presumably once we hit 100% Zygarde swaps out his useless Aura Break ability for the one where he basically transforms into Ultraman once his HP hits a threshold.

Zygarde 10% is... kind of weak and not at all worthy of the label Legendary, as much as I love how he looks. His base stat total in the 10% form doesn't even reach that of Lycanroc's, and Lycanroc isn't guilty of anywhere being near the top-statted Pokemon. But of course. It's only 10% of its full form, a fair bit weaker than the hexagon hive worm-dragon we're all familiar with from XY. Also, as a dog made up of cells, he looks nothing like a Ground-type and certainly nothing like a Dragon-type. It's a very cool side-quest, though, and this guardian of the balance of nature will have to chill in the PC box for a while until I can get him transformed into his regal worm form.

After so much backtracking, I return to Ancient Poni Path to continue with the island trial plotline. I honestly am bummed that apparently the Kahunas have all dealt with the Ultra Beasts in other parts of the region, but hey, at least they're earning their keep as the strongest dudes around. There's a brief reminder of the Ultra Beast plotline (which I hope will still get continued, because that interests me so much more than the island trial) with the remnants of Team Skull confronting me and Lillie, but after beating up their grunts, Plumeria shows up, gives me the Poisonium Z and basically apologizes and asks us to help rescue Guzma if possible. I like how much more... people-like Team Skull are compared to Team Flare, where basically everyone other than Lysandre are interchangeable and lifeless, whereas Team Skull's Plumeria and various grunts have so much more personality.

We go through another very cool beachfront where the rocks are all black and choppy due to the waves crashing onto it, and as someone who lives near the ocean it's nice to see variations of coastlines that this game shows. Comparing this to the pretty static oceanic rocks and beachfronts we see in Hoenn, I'm definitely pleased. This is the Poni Breaker Coast, which leads into the Ruins of Hope, upon which we are treated to even more Lillie cutscenes. Honestly. I get it, she's more proactive and her dialogue has extended beyond variations of 'I don't like fighting but I'll watch you guys this one time' and 'Nebby get in bag', but shit, I get that she's travelling with me. No need to have every single damn area transition be a twenty-dialogue-long cutscene.

Slightly before we came around, Hapu apparently just received the Z-ring that allows her to be kahuna of Poni Island, succeeding her grandfather that died... years before? What? So how did people complete the island challenge if we're missing one kahuna? And Nanu's apparently a deadbeat one too. No wonder Professor Kukui needs to set up the league, apparently the island challenge trial system is just not maintained very well. Granted, if the criteria of becoming kahuna is being selected by the Tapus, well, it's not every day that extradimensional alien muscle-mosquitoes invade Alola to allow you a chance to show off your battle skills.

A COCONUT NUT IS NOT A NUT

There was a brief talk about the Tapus and the kahunas and the legendary pokemon of the sun (SOLGALEO! YOU CAN SAY HIS NAME, YOU KNOW?). Lillie has the moon flute, and apparently we need the sun flute to try and get Solgaleo to revive Nebby from his coma. So Hapu recommends that we go to the chief of the Seafolk Village to ask him to grant us access to the resting place of the sun flute... Exeggutor Island.

Yep. The sacred flute that summons the Pokemon of the Sun, the legendary beast that came from a realm beyond humans to protect Alola, who apparently beat down all the four Tapu guardians in combat, the great and mighty Solgaleo... and the relic that summons him is in... Exeggutor Island. As in, an island for goofy, doofy Alolan Exeggutors.

Another needlessly long cutscene of Lillie talking to the Seafolk chief (who doesn't even have a unique model!) later, we arrive at the Exeggutor Island, an island roughly shaped like an Exeggutor inhabited by Exeggutors, and to hammer this point home, Lillie gets a cutscene where she is surprised by a particularly vigorous Exeggutor. I caught the event Exeggutor, and am very, very tempted to add him into the team. I love Alolan Exeggutor! It's just so silly! But I really like my team of six, and I still have a Vikavolt I need to add into it, so... sorry, Exeggutor. Maybe next time.

We get another long cutscene about Lilie hiding out from the rain (pussies! I braved the rains of a rampaging Primal Kyogre himself!) inside a cave, before returning to Poni Island. Blah blah blah more Lillie talk, before I head towards Poni Canyon... upon which I am confronted with Hapu, newly-minted Island Kahuna.

And mother of fucks, Hapu is hard. She probably wouldn't be, if I had switched on Exp. Share, but she outlevels half of my party, and the lack of Water-types and Flying-types now that I don't have to structure my team around HMs means that, jeez, my team is very ill-equipped to fight hers. The Gastrodon wasn't too bad since my Decidueye just one-shots it, and the Flygon dies to my Ribombee (Mimikyu needs to learn Play Rough some time soon). But the Dugtrio and the Mudsdale? Hoo boy. Those two hit hard, hit fast, and the Mudsdale has a ton of defense that it buffs with every single hit it receives. Mudsdale's ability triggers after every hit, not after every contact or physical move -- honestly it's a bit broken and I marvel at this horse that I honestly didn't really care about until now. Likewise, Dugtrio's Ground/Steel typing presents a wee bit of a challenge since more than half my team gets royally fucked by it (Magneton, Ribombee, Lycanroc and Mimikyu) while the other remainding two (Golisopod and Decidueye) can't really touch it super-effectively.

He sounds hilarious in the anime.

Suffice to say, when the dust has settled, only Golisopod and Magneton from my side is still left standing. Magneton, who immediately evolves into... MAGNEZONE! I totally forgot that Poni Canyon was the place where these magnet-area Pokemon evolves, so I was so happy! I have always never minded the Magnemite line, finding them cool enough to like but not that awesome that I'd want it in my party until, well, this playthrough of a Sun, so to see wee little Gigaton take his final form... well, I love it! And the stat boosts all over the board doesn't hurt either.

(Also, I have noticed only a couple of hours ago that the two Magnemites making up the lower part of a Magneton actually are missing one of the screws. Apparently this has been a revision in the Magneton's model since Generation IV, something that I absolutely had no idea was even a thing.)

Magnezone is just awesome. It gains so much defense, HP and special attack, and while I think it actually loses a bit in speed, it's not a remarkably huge problem, not when it's landing Thunders that OHKOs everything that doesn't resist electricity.

Also, I ran back to my PC, deposited Xeno the Golisopod and brought out Shrapnel the Charjabug, who has been benchwarming in the PC box for, like, two islands. The first battle in which I activated my exp share, and Shrapnel immediately evolves into... Vikavolt! YES! I mean, I have grown very, very attached to my team of six, but Vikavolt is still a favourite design, and I foresee swapping out Vikavolt with either Mimikyu or Golisopod throughout my playthrough of at least this last leg of the journey. Vikavolt is severely underleveled, easily more than 15 levels lower than Mimikyu, the lowest-leveled member of my team, but it'll catch up.

Coolest. Bug. Ever.

Vast Poni Canyon is, well, a larger route than I thought it would be. It takes the form of several interconnected caves and not just a single canyon, with the individual caves connected with cliffside roads, as well as bridges both manmade and natural. It's pretty cool looking -- if anything, playing through Alola really makes me want to at least find out what real-life parts of Hawaii these areas are based on. The trainers in Vast Poni Canyon are a lot more challenging as well, with a wider variety of Pokemon, and are the source of pretty efficient leveling for my party, especially Vikavolt who has to play catch-up.

There's an irritating cutscene where Lillie tries to be brave and shit, and tries to cross a bridge. While three Murkrows hop on and caw threateningly. Not even pecking her or anything like that. Just standing around and cawing. When Hau grows a backbone, he joins me and Emo-boy Gladion in assaulting a giant facility swarming with powerful trainers. When Bianca from Black/White grows a backbone, she stands up to her father in a shouting match. I'm sorry. I'm just not really giving a shit about Lillie. I get that she's going through a character arc and on paper it's pretty well-written, but when her attempts at emulating me, Gladion or Hau ends up in weak efforts like crossing a bridge... yeah. What, the script couldn't have afforded her taking up the third starter so she can at least have an attempt at being a trainer?

I do like the explanation that Lillie's powers of Pokemon Center emulation comes from an endless supply of Potions, Ethers and Revives, though.

It's a pretty long dungeon, the Vast Poni Canyon, so I'm calling it a day around what I hope is the halfway mark. It's been a fun, fun detour through all of Alola, and despite my criticisms of Lillie I still am enjoying the pretty charming storyline. And most of all, my Magneton and Charjabug have evolved into their final forms!

Current (and most likely final) party:

• Green Arrow the Decidueye
• Ressa the Lycanroc
• Gigaton the Magnezone
• Tatl the Ribombee
• Xeno the Golisopod
• Boo the Mimikyu / Shrapnel the Vikavolt (alternating)