Let's all go to Ula'Ula Island!

"Has anyone been noticing that President Lusamine has been acting a little weirdly these days? ...no? ...Just me? ...okay." -Aether Foundation worker, probably

So I guess we're going to just ignore that strangely poignant diabolical laugh?  And the suspicious explosion that lead to the reality-warping supercreature that just entered our timeline too?

Okay, onward to Ula'Ula Island!
___________
Our wonderful hosts at the Aether Foundation whodefinitelyarethegoodguysmaybe sent us off with gifts: food for Hau and the TM Psychic for me.  Please make up your own jokes for this instance, I've been concentrating on setting myself up for a "Let's all go to Ula'Ula Island" gag later on in this blog post.

When we landed in Malie City, a town that takes a lot of its architectural cues from the Johto region, Hau healed my pokemon and challenged me to battle.  Since our last match, he has evolved his Pikachu into a nifty Alola Raichu and his Eevee into a Leafeon.  His Torracat...well that just stayed as a Torracat.  Raichu was tough, but the rest of his pokemon were outclassed by my trademarked strategy of "Toxic-Protect-Repeat".  I'm forever in fear of the day when I will have to battle someone straight up.

From there, I had a meeting with Professor Kukui in the rest area of the Koi Gardens and a meeting with Lillie in the library.  Kukui told me where to go to get to my electric trial so that I may continue my island challenge.  Lillie was looking for a book about legendary pokemon.  I guess that means that the mission concerning the art on the game's box is going to start to unfold.

While there, we met another side character (there are a lot in this game--between all the Aether workers, the Team Skull members, the captains, and kahunas, Kukui and Scientist Woman, the Kalos kids; it's a lot to keep track of.  This person helped us find the book that Lillie needed and then said that she's a princess and that the book was her dad's.

The story in the book was standard fare for a pokemon game.  As a matter of fact, there is always some sort of macguffin like this in the series.  In Diamond and Pearl, it was a statue inscription "blah blah blah poetry, blah blah blah, a pokemon that can control space/time."  In Black and White it was the legend "blah blah blah poetry, blah blah blah, two pokemon that stand for ideals and will."  In X and Y, it was the Geosenge tale told by the Professor Sycamore "blah blah blah poetry, blah blah blah, a pokemon that looks like an X/Y."  In this game, it was "blah blah blah poetry, blah blah blah, a pokemon that represents the moon."

Glad to see them breaking new ground in the narrative department.

My trial was south, so naturally I went north.  There I found a waste disposal and recycling plant as well as a side quest concerning the manager of the plant and his lackadaisical son.  My involvement in the plot was to defeat his Muk and his son's Grimer, but the resolution of the series of events was that the son was finally deemed worthy of taking over management of the plant.

So heartwarming.

But I guess that heartwarming is the name of the game here on this island: Let's all go to Ula'Ula Island!

Fucking. Nailed it.

/Dabs/

Current Squad:

Brionne/Pako Pako/lvl 26
Crabrawler/Ppunches/lvl 25
Salandit/Sassy Sally/lvl 25
Oricorio/Ori-chan/lvl 25
Steenee/Bouncee/lvl 25
Sylveon/Star Fighter/lvl 24

On Rotation:
Mareanie/Meanie/lvl 24
Trumbeak/Pip Pip/lvl 27
Misdreavus/Missy/lvl 24
Grimer/Sludj/lvl 25

Pokedex: 112 caught

Ben Builds a Grass Gym

I got ready for my gym battle by depositing Ivysaur and bringing-in Kirlia again.  Ivysaur's current role in my squad is as a support/stall-er and he would be walled-out by a strong grass type.

Gymkiller Squad #4: The Lawnmowers

So, I entered the gym to challenge Ramos for my fourth badge...

And I came right back out about 5 minutes later after earning it...huh...that was WAY too easy...

I feel that this time around, the game-designers forgot how to make decent gym challenges, and the proof of this can be found in Ramos' pokemon selection.  His squad lacked focus and coherence--and failed to capitalize on any of the strengths of a Grass-Typed Pokemon.

Ramos' problems all stemmed from him using Grass types to try overpower me rather than outsmart me.  You see, the grass type is not a pure might type.  Ground, Rock, and Steel Types are the physical defensive types, the Psychic type is typically made up of strong special attackers, Fighting pokemon are generally strong physical attackers, but the Grass and Poison types are mostly meant to be tricky stalling or support pokemon.  For evidence, just look at all the grass pokemon out there--the only pokemon that are straight-up attackers that I can think of off the top of my head are Sceptile, Roserade, and Torterra.  Oh, and Breloom, but I am STILL trying to forget about Breloom...too many nightmares...

Even among these we see a lot of chicanery coming in--Breloom is only really threatening with leech seed and spore, which are moves meant to harass you, not beat you outright. 

Ramos was running a Jumpluff that kept attacking with Acrobatics, a Weepinbell who used Acid (heh, heh), and a Gogoat who kept trying to use Take-Down.  This made the fight easy since these grass types are known for neither their strength nor their resilience. 

On the other hand, I recall Erika from Pokemon Red--now that fight was DAMN annoying.  Case and Point: Victreebel with Sleep powder and Wrap ("Victreebel's attack continues...Victreebel's attack continues!"  I still have nightmares about this). 

You can't run a successful grass gym that ignores all the strengths of the grass type: status effects, Growth, health recovery, and other chicanery.

So, I will now adjust Ramos' team to be a REAL grass gym.

Have him lead with Jumpluff as before, but have that Jumpluff run Leech Seed, Poisonpowder, Sleep Powder, and Mega Drain.  This makes it a good harassing lead--status effects, health re-absorption, and all going off Jumpluff's admirable speed stat.  Plus, it is not overpowered since, well, since it's Jumpluff and the only thing Jumpluff fears more than fire is a soft breeze or a Ratatta's Tail Whip or really anything in the world at all.

Next, keep Weepinbell...actually, evolve it into Victreebel...Erika was the fourth gym too and if she
can have a Victreebel, so can Ramos.  Have Victreebel focus less on attacking and more on harassing--give it Stun Spore, Stockpile, Grass Knot, and Acid (if you're so damn attached to the Acid anyways).


Finally, Gogoat is dumb--I know we want to include one of the new guys, but I think someone like Roserade or Leafeon (if you're feeling spicy) would fit best here.  The last one on the Grass Team is the cleaner: while the previous two pokemon are meant to wear teams down, this guy is supposed to finish-off the job. 

A gymleader is meant to yield to a trainer of sufficient skill--but only if they possess the skills necessary to move on.  After battling Ramos I didn't really feel that I had learned anything new since Korrina, I just felt disappointed...and a little bit hungry.

Current Squad:

FROGADIER/Froakles/lvl.28
IVYSAUR/Ivy/lvl.28
FLAERON/Hotfoot/lvl.28
FLOETTE/Pixie/lvl.26
SCRAGGY/Scrappy/lvl.28
AERODACTYL/Scarydactyl/lvl.29

On Rotation: Kirlia, Hippopotas, Pikachu, Lucario