Vs. Boss Guzma

I arrived at the garden after Team Skull.

It's still unclear how the "mansion" fits into the whole thing, but two members of the Skull Gang apparently decided to take a break from living large in order to make vague threats towards Professor Kukui.  Kukui was standing his ground, though.  He said that he only needs four turns in order to dispatch the both of them.  Geez, when you get right down to it, Professor Kuku is kind of a badass.  

Ultimately, though, we were introduced to the Boss of Team Skull, Guzma.  Guzman and Kukui apparently have some history with each other: it seems as though the two both set off on a trial together, but that Guzma was denied a Captainship at the end of it.  Maybe that's why he's such a Grumpy Gus.

Kukui was willing to take on Guzma, but decided to make it a learning experience for me instead.  I'm imagining little greenhorn August trembling in his preppy little boatshoes at the idea.  "Yeh, thanks for throwing me under the bus, Kukui..."

Guzma started the match by sending in what can only be described as the scariest thing that one could possibly find under their stove.  Golisopod, I would later find out, is the evolution of Whimpod, the Bug/Water pokemon that my little brother has mentioned using, and its big, beefy, and strong.

Brionne led the charge.  I wasn't exactly sure if it would also be a bug/water type, so I used my STAB move, Scald.  Scald gains power as a water move and also has a 30% burn chance.  Burn halves an opponent's physical attack...and those are some big, scary looking pinchers...

I successfully burned Golisopod, but it has used Sword's Dance...twice...Factoring both of these aspects in means its attack stat is at a net 200%.  Woof.  The next turn, my foe used Razor Shell, a move that, as a water type, Brionne resists.  It nearly knocks it out in one hit.  That's one strong bug.

Its ability "Emergency Exit" kicks in once I've knocked it down to 50% of its total health and Golisopod immediately switches out for Guzma's other pokemon.  Guzman must have a penchant for physical bugs, because this pokemon is Ariados.

Ariados outspeeds Pako Pako and Knocks it out with Fell Stinger.  I remember this move from my competitive Omega Ruby days when I was breeding and training a competitive Mega Beedrill.  As soon as the attack was announced, I know that I was in a bad position.  Fell Stinger raises the user's attack stat by 150% if it gets a KO.  

The knockouts against Crabrawler and Mareanie were just as easy.  I was down to two pokemon, but both just happened to be perfect for the given situation.  Because of either magic or dark magic, Salandit survived Shadow Sneak and retaliated with a knockout Z-Inferno Overdrive.  

Golisopod outsped Salandit and easily took it out, but with Toucannon in my last slot, it wasn't going to steal the win out from under me.

Who IS the Masked Royal? (it's Kukui)

At the gates if the Bokulani Observatory, I met the childhood friend of Professor Kukui. He referred to by  himself as "Molayne" and assured me that I was in good hands learning things from the Prof.  He challenged me to a pokemon battle--my toughest one yet.

He used three tough steel pokemon in battle: Skarmory, Alola Dugtrio, and Metang.  This is where I realized, for probably the fourth or twelfth time, that my team lacks focus because it's too damn large.  I had prepared for an electric trial and so all I had with me were Grimer, Steenee, Sylveon, and Misdreavus.  Sylveon and Steenee came out of the battle with top marks.  Neither of them was able to do much damage against their opponents (steel resists grass AND fairy moves), but they had the appropriate support moves in order to make the match an eventual success.  I mean, thank Arceus for potions and revives, but I was quite impressed by my packmen's abilities to tank hits and rebuff opponents.  

However, the battle helped illustrate to me how redundant Grimer and Misdreavus were on my squad.  I decided to send the both of them into training with Bagon--to be called upon if I ever need them--and thereby lowering my active team to eight players.

During the battle, Steenee evolved into Tsareena.  I fucking love this pokemon.  It's strong and it's really quite useful as a supporting role as well.  I currently have it with Trop Kick (a powerful physical grass attack which always lowers the opponent's attacking stat), Low Sweep (a strong fighting attack which always lowers the opponent's speed stat), Reflect (which doubles your team's physical defenses for 5 turns), and Light Screen (which doubles your team's special defenses for 5 turns).

Also, it's fucking adorable.

Fukui and Molayne congratulated me on a well-fought match and let me enter the observatory for my next trial.  Apparently the running gag is that everyone knows that Kukui's alter ego is the Masked Royal except for Kukui's wife.  Kukui thinks he's been doing a great job keeping it a secret that he moonlights as the undefeated champion of the Battle Royale league.  He hasn't fooled anyone other than his lady friend.

Current Squad:

Brionne/Pako Pako/lvl 26

Crabrawler/Ppunches/lvl 26
Salandit/Sassy Sally/lvl 27
Oricorio/Ori-chan/lvl 25
Steenee/Bouncee/lvl 29
Sylveon/Star Fighter/lvl 28

On Rotation:
Mareanie/Meanie/lvl 27
Trumbeak/Pip Pip/lvl 27



Pokedex: 126 caught

Bye Bye Butterfree!

The next step was to make my way across Route 2 to meet the professor at his lab.  Professor Kukui likes to study pokemon moves, specifically.  I do like how each professor has their own specialty.  As I recall, Professor Sycamore (Pokemon X, Y) studied Mega Evolution and Professor Rowan (Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum) studied Pokemon Evolution.

On my way there, I managed to snag Wingull, Slowpoke, and the Alola from of Rattata.  I named them Gulliver, Pokey, and Snackers, respectively and added the later two to my party.  I waved "Alola" to Felix, my Butterfree-in-training in order to do this.  I'm always sad to see Butterfree go, but I've used Butterfree so much in my pokemon career, I don't feel too too bad about opening up that team slot for something weird and new.

For example, this cool, Dark-type Alola Rattata.

As an aside, I checked the pokedex entries of these pokemon and they revealed some cool information about the region.  Apparently, Alola Rattata work as mafia droogs for their Raticate boss and Slowpoketail is a popular dish in the Alola region, especially when dried and served in a salty stew.  I can't quite believe that the pokedex entry for my most recent pokemon catch is telling me how I should be cooking it.  I'm glad my Slowpoke's ability is "Oblivious" because those hungry looks I've been giving it might otherwise make training and taming it difficult...


Current Squad:

Popplio/Pako Pako/lvl 7
Yungoos/Chompy/lvl 7
Pikipek/Pip Pip/lvl 8
Pichu/Rai Rai/lvl 8
Slowpoke/Pokey/lvl 7
Rattata/Snackers/lvl 7

Pokedex: 9 caught