Progress Report

With Electrium Z and Steelium Z both in hand (prizes after the trial), I was on my way.  First stop would be a pokemon center to heal up.

As I was out the door, Molayne called me back and handed me the mask of the Masked Royal.  He told me to take it to Professor Kukui because he had left it behind.  (Lol)

I ended up battling all the trainers on the Hokulani Mountain trail in order to challenge the veteran trainer at the top.  Just like the Ace Trainers on the previous islands, this trainer had a Z-Ring of his own.  He had with him an Absol which used the move Z-Black Hole Eclipse.
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I think it might be appropriate to take some time to reflect and note a few important bits of progress.  I have had Bagon off training in the Pokepelago training facilities for the past few islands.  Bagon, remember Bagon?  And how I spent hours trying to get him to spawn?  Well he's a level 50 Salamence now and he's unstoppable.  I used him a few times in wild pokemon battles, but he's a bit too much for my current team, considering that my quad is all barely level 30 or less.  Back to the box with this one--to be called upon only when I need him.

Trumbeak evolved into another great pokemon: Toucannon.  It's no secret amongst the people who know me in the real world that my favorite animals are all birds.  While the ordering is always a bit suspect, my top five favorite animals include the crimson shrike, the cardinal, the blue jay, and the toucan.  That my silly woody-the-woodpecker Trumbeak would evolve into a Toucan pokemon has made me the happiest pokemon trainer this side of Johto.  The icing on the cake is that it's quite strong!  It even learned a new move in Beak Blast.

Ori-chan the Oricorio is still in her Akala Island forme, but I plan on changing that whenever I find the local nectar of Ula'Ula Island.  She's a reliable special attacker and a good support pokemon for my team.

My meanie, Mareanie, is performing quite admirably as well.  It's bulky and it's always reliable in battle.  I'm running "Protect", "Payback", "Toxic", "Toxic Spikes" right now and it's been working well.  Hopefully it learns a recovery move sometime soon.  That's the logical next step for such a bulky stall pokemon.

There isn't much to add about Sylveon given its tight performance in basically every trial match that I have ever had.  I hope that it learns some move that would give me an answer to steel pokemon though.  The only damaging moves that it has right now are Draining Kiss (fairy) and Swift (Normal) and, while I probably wouldn't want to leave it in against Metagross or Gengar, it would be nice to have it learn something that could at least hit such a pokemon...does it learn Dark Pulse?  (Editor's note: No, it doesn't.)

Crabrawler can be relied upon to deliver a strong blow and to eradicate anything that doesn't resist Fighting.  Even neutral hits seem to cause massive damage.  Its ability is Iron Fists (which increases the damage of punching moves), so I'm hoping that it will learn Fire Punch or Hammer Arm eventually.

Tsareena, as mentioned before, is my hard-hitting physical support pokemon.  It is walled out by anything "bug" or "flying", but even against these, I can count on it to survive and put up a Reflect or a Light Screen for the teammates.

Sassy Sally...well...things have been a little tough for this one lately...as I mentioned before, its Z-Inferno Overdrive can be a force to be reckoned with...when some crazy bullshit doesn't happen to ruin the moment.  Right now, I can count on Sassy Sally to throw around big damage and to die on a fairly consistent basis.  It's strong and it's fast, but until it evolves into that sexy Salazzle it might have to be part of the "let's see what happens" crew.

Pako Pako may be under leveled compared to the rest of my rotating squad, but thhis is circumstantial to the plot of the game.  I've had more use for the other pokemon recently and it just so happens that Brionne has fallen behind.  Make no mistake though, when I need something dead, Pako Pako always gets it done.  It's a bulky pokemon that hits hard with nearly perfect coverage in Scald, Disarming Voice, and Hidden Power Fire.
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I made my way to the bottom of the hill and finally on to the garden where Kukui would be.  Little did I know that waiting for me there would finally be the main man, the head honcho.

The boss of Team Skull.

Current Squad:

Brionne/Pako Pako/lvl 26
Crabrawler/Ppunches/lvl 28
Salandit/Sassy Sally/lvl 28
Oricorio/Ori-chan/lvl 27
Tsareena/Bouncee/lvl 30
Sylveon/Star Fighter/lvl 29

On Rotation:
Toucannon/Pip Pip/lvl 30
Mareanie/Meanie/lvl 26


Pokedex: 154 caught

What Lurks at the Bottom

You find her far from home in cold, dark corners.  Once you have left civilization, once you have left the farthest reaches of the sun--then you are nearly there.  Deep in the ocean depths--far below the waves and secluded from watching eyes--in a world of its own.  That's where Mareanie lurks.
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Having Completed my Fire Trial and taking the Firium-Z as my prize, I was free to move north to greener pastures.

I took that Firium-Z and made my way south to catch a Happiny.

See, I really do like the collection aspect of these games.  It gives me this perverse sense of joy to see my Pokedex fill up with new captures.  The new pokedex completion interfaces introduced in this game only make this compulsion even more strong.  Not only do they give you a completion percentage for the entire pokedex, but completion percentages for each island you visit.  In addition to these, the game shows you a sort of trophy case arrangement of all your catches.  A lot of the presentation in this game reinforces the gameplay tenets.  I know that Gamefreak has long ago abandoned "Gotta Catch 'em All" as the slogan for the franchise (it is currently "Train On"), but I really relish the thought of working to truly snag one of each.

I found Mareanie in the Melemele Sea.  I suppose "found" would be slightly false of me to say: perhaps "tracked" would be more correct.  Truthfully, I knew it was there because my pokedex had guided me to that spot.  Indeed, it had even indicated that I would need to fish for it.

I hooked a Corsola.  While I was trying to capture it, it called allies.  One of these allies turned out to be the Sea Star pokemon "Mareanie"

Turns out, Mareanie was a pretty horrible ally because the very next turn, the pokemon turned on its partner; it used "Bite" on Corsola.

I looked it up and it is a pokemon that is based on the Crown-of-thorns Starfish.  This is a venomous echinoderm that consumes coral as its primary source of food.  I told my students this and then had to continue by explaining that coral is actually a creature related to the jellyfish (they are both cnidarians) which absorbs silicates from its environment and incorporates them into its body structure.

This starfish, like all starfish, has an water circulatory system.  This means that the water it lives in helps with circulation--and also that much of its body's structure is seawater.  If it is ever taken out of its habitat onto dry land, it would deflate.  Even its sharp spines, so stiff that they could make short work of exposed flesh, lose their stiffness when not immersed.

Luckily, Meanie the Mareanie didn't deflate once I brought it back with me onto dry land.  I added her to my team.

She has an ability called "Merciless".  This ability causes all of her moves to cause critical hits on opponents that are already poisoned.  Coupled with her attack "toxic spikes", she is going to be a fun and brutal pokemon to use.

I arrived at the "Lush Jungle".  Who thinks this is going to prove to be a grass trial?


Current Squad:
Brionne/Pako Pako/lvl 22
Crabrawler/Ppunches/lvl 21
Salandit/Sassy Sally/lvl 21
Oricorio/Ori-Chan/lvl 22
Steenee/Bouncee/lvl 21
Sylveon/Sly/lvl 20

On Rotation:
Grimer/Sludj/lvl 20
Misdreavus/Missy/lvl 19
Trumbeak/Pip Pip/lvl 21
Mareanie/Meanie/lvl 17

Pokedex: 89 caught