Hi there guys, and welcome to the fourth chapter of my Pokémon Sun Nuzlocke Challenge, an ongoing series of blogs documenting my efforts to play through the latest instalment in the Pokémon franchise with the added difficulty and dynamism of the self-imposed Nuzlocke ruleset. Before this properly gets underway, I feel the need to acknowledge that this is not only my first blog of 2017, but also my 365th blog entry here on Giant Bomb. That's right, over the last eight-and-a-half years, I've thrown enough words up into this space for there to be one of these to read every single day of the year. I know it's an arbitrary milestone, but it's one that I wanted to celebrate in some small way before moving on with what you've all come here to read about - Pokémanz stuff!
As always, if you haven't read one of these before, I implore you to start from the very beginning of the series. Not only does the story make more sense when the chapters are read in order, but the first entry has a comprehensive break-down of what a Nuzlocke challenge actually is and how it's affecting my time with Pokémon Sun. I'm going to mastermind a better way to document this stuff for the next chapter, but for now, you can find Chapter One here, Chapter Two here, and Chapter Three here. When you're all caught up, you'll be ready to rejoin us on our Alola Island Challenge. In this chapter we make our way to a whole new environment in the form of Akala Island, we explore Heahea City and Paniola Town, and gear up for what looks to be our second Island Trial.
Chapter Four - Akala-ful Welcome On A New Island
Alola, Diary! This entry marks my first time writing from a whole new island. Yesterday, I left Melemele Island behind and sailed across the ocean to Akala Island, to continue my Island Trial. I made the journey with Lillie and Hau (and of course Scorch and all my other Pokémon) on board Professor Kukui's own ship. It was a peaceful, pleasant voyage - I spent most of my time out on deck, watching the Wingull soaring overhead as we skittered over the waves beneath them. The only one who didn't seem to enjoy the journey was Nebby, who spent most of it tucked deep inside Lillie's shoulder bag. Maybe the waves made it nauseous.
After about half an hour on the high seas, we weighed anchor at Akala Island, pulling in to port at Heahea City. It's not quite as big as Hau'oli City back on Melemele, but it's still pretty easy to get lost there. Luckily we were met at the port by two of the best guides we could have asked for, two women named Olivia and Mallow. Mallow is one of the Captains here on Akala and has her own Island Trial somewhere over on the other side of the island. Olivia is the island's Kahuna, and it's her we'll be facing in battle for our second Grand Trial once we've completed all of Akala's regular Island Trials. They certainly seemed to know Kukui pretty well, but then I guess his role as professor keeps him in close contact with all the Captains and Kahunas from all the Alolan islands. After all, who better to study moves from than the best trainers out there?
While Professor Kukui went off to do his own thing, Olivia and Mallow gave us the grand tour of Heahea City, taking us by all the main stops. We spent some time in the shopping district and I was able to pick up a nice new pair of shorts to complement the shirt I bought in Hau'oli. Eventually our tour came to its end outside the Tide Song Hotel, a huge building on the outskirts of town. Olivia and Mallow both said they had important Trial business to attend to, and set off for their homes. Lillie broke off from the group too, saying she was planning to stay at the Tide Song until she and Nebby were ready to visit the Ruins of Life located nearby. That left just me and Hau, who was keen to head out of town to try his hand at catching some of the local Pokémon. We said our goodbyes and I made my way to the east, towards Route 4.
On the path away from the Tide Song, I ran into a couple of tourists. I could immediately tell they weren't from around here, with their bizarre dress sense and unusual accents. They introduced themselves as Sina and Dexio, assistants to Professor Sycamore in the far-flung region of Kalos. It turned out they'd come to Alola on the Professor's instructions, to find out more about the local Pokémon distribution. To that end, Dexio asked if we might have a battle, so he could observe my Pokémon and their strategies. I obliged, taking on his Slowpoke and Espeon in what ended up being quite a one-sided battle in light of The Ooze's immmunity to their Psychic-type attacks. As a reward for beating him, Dexio gave me something he called a Zygarde Cube, a mysterious green device that apparently holds the key to unlocking the hidden power of a rare Pokemon native to the Kalos region. Not sure quite what to make of this, I thanked Sina and Dexio and let them continue on their journey.
After recuperating at the local Pokémon Center, I took my team and followed Hau out onto Route 4, in the hopes of finding some new Pokémon to add to my roster. While I encountered a few, the only one I was able to catch was a little Lillipup, who I've named PJ. He's really cute and would make a great guard dog, since he can hear sounds from a mile away, although he is a little bit on the lazy side. I've kept him in the PC, since there isn't really a spot on my team for him at the moment.
I followed the winding path of Route 4 until it brought me to another settlement, the quaint ranch town of Paniola. It looks more like something from the Unova region than the sort of place you'd expect to visit in Alola, with all its curiously styled buildings and dirt roads. It was here that I caught up with Hau, who wanted to challenge me to another battle against his Pokémon. Since our last battle he'd been given his own Z Ring by Kahuna Hala, and I think he was keen to test out his new-found power against my team. First up was his Pikachu, which didn't stand up long to L'Oréal's Bulldoze attack. When he sent in his newly evolved Dartrix though, I knew something might be up. I switched L'Oréal out just to be safe (even with their defensive Steel typing, AlolanDiglett aren't exactly known for their great physical resilience) and brought in Scorch to exploit my type advantage. Unfortunately my Torracat switched into a powerful Z Move from Hau's Dartrix, in the form of Breakneck Blitz. Thankfully it only weakened Scorch without knocking him down, and he was able to react with a punishing super-effective Fire Fang that ended the fight in my favour.
We shook hands after the battle and made our way to the local Pokémon Center, where we rested our Pokémon and bedded down for the night. The following morning I woke up to find Hau had already left. With nothing to go on, I decided to get back on my own path and headed north towards Paniola Ranch. One of Akala Island's most famous exports is the Moomoo Milk farmed on this ranch, and it was a privilege to be able to stop by and taste it for myself. While visiting Paniola Ranch, I ran into Mallow again. She'd been summoned to the ranch to deal with a grumpy Tauros (honestly, every Tauros in Alola seems to have an attitude problem), but took some time out to chat with me. Afterwards, she registered a new Pokémon to my Ride Pager - a Stoutland with the ability to sniff out hidden items on the ground. I haven't used it much yet, but I'm sure it will come in handy as my adventure continues.
After Mallow's efforts (and even a stern telling off from a Miltank referred to as "the Mistress"), the Tauros still wouldn't calm down. One of the farmhands seemed to think that it wanted to battle, so I pitted it against Feathers and his powerful Brick Break attacks. That seemed to be enough to subdue the Tauros, leaving me free to continue my exploration of the Ranch. The land is also home to many wild Pokémon, and while there I was able to capture a young Mudbray who I've named Troy. I'd really like to get him on my team soon, but it's kind of difficult to find a place for him while L'Oréal is covering all my Ground-type needs, with the added bonus of Steel-type coverage as well.
From Paniola Ranch, I continued my journey north across the island's western side, bringing me to Route 5. Once again I set my sights on picking up some of Akala Island's unique strains of Pokémon, but all I was able to capture was a Metapod. I've named her Papillon, but I'm not sure she'll ever live up to that name and evolve into a Butterfree, since I'm reluctant to train her. Call me cruel, but I've had more than my fill of Caterpie and Weedle from my time back in Kanto, and I'd much prefer to give time to the weird and wonderful new kinds of Pokémon I keep meeting here in Alola.
As I reached the top of Route 5, I caught up once again with Hau, only this time he wasn't alone. He was talking to a young man dressed in black, who he'd just lost a battle to, and they seemed to be arguing about their approaches to battling with their Pokémon. As I approached the man in black turned to me, introducing himself as Gladion, and challenged me to a battle. Hi Zubat didn't pose too many problems, but his second Pokémon was much tougher to deal with. He referred to it as 'Null', and it looked completely unlike any other Pokémon I've seen before. It was really tough to deal with too, wearing down half my team with its strong Tackle and threatening Pursuit attacks, but I was able to chip away at it until it eventually gave up the fight. As Gladion called Null back, two grunts from Team Skull joined the fray and seemed to ridicule him for losing. I guess Gladion is involved with Team Skull somehow? Whatever's going on there, I suspect this won't be the last I see of Gladion, or Team Skull for that matter.
Hau thanked me after Gladion and Team Skull had left, and together we made our way to the Pokémon Center on Route 5. It's positioned just outside of Brooklet Hill, where our next Island Trial awaits. Right now Scorch and the rest of the team are resting with the nurse and I'm writing this as I sip on some Tapu Cocoa at the café. Tomorrow Hau and I are going to head to Brooklet Hill and take on the Trial there. I'm a little worried after what happened to Zeppelin back at the Verdant Cliffs, but I'm confident that the team I have now can pull through whatever the next challenge throws our way. Until next time Diary, Alola!
Four chapters down, and who knows how many left to go. If there's one thing I regret about embarking on this blog series, it's that my progress through Pokémon Sun has been a damn sight slower than it would have been otherwise. Even so, I'm still having an absolute blast putting these entries together, and the constant fear of losing Pokémon makes turning every corner pretty tense. I genuinely have no idea what to expect from the next Island Trial, and that lack of expectation could potentially result in a death or two, but therein lies the excitement of this endeavour. If you're enjoying this series then I implore you to come back next week to find out how we fare against whatever Brooklet Hill has in store for us.
Outside of my Pokémon antics, I've started 2017 by picking up another Japanese RPG in the form of the PSOne Classic version of Grandia. I've only put about an hour in so far, so it's far too early for me to pass any kind of judgement yet. All I do know is that I'm glad voice acting is used so sparsely, because what little of it there is grates hard. I'm also dipping in and out of LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, gradually trying to tick my completion percentage up to 100%. You can expect some blogs related to those as the month goes on, but for now, I'm going to bid you adieu until Chapter Five of this series, scheduled for next weekend. Thanks for reading guys, take care, and I'll see you around.
Daniel
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Currently playing - Pokémon Sun (3DS)
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