September 21, 2017
I stopped by Poké Pelago and visited my Alola Pokémon. I found my shiny Fomantis on Isle Abeens helping to harvest Poké Beans. My shiny Staryu was on Isle Aphun gathering items from the caves. Both seemed very happy when I asked them to come with me.
From there, I flew over to Melemele Island to meet with Professor Kukui and update him on my progress. I also asked him to examine my Staryu. After spending some time examining it, he said that it was a rather timid Pokémon, but yet had a mischievous streak. Its stats were not all that impressive, but seemed to be high where it counts. A Staryu's best stats are its special attack and its speed, and my Staryu excels in both of those. The rest, though, it sorely lacks in. Well, at least that makes it clear how I will train it!
I then asked the professor about the different forms of Lycanroc. He said there are two forms, and possibly a third one that he is currently researching. My Lycanroc evolved into the Midday Form. Olivia's Lycanroc was the Midnight Form. He then gave me a Cherish Ball, and inside was a special Midnight Form Lycanroc that he discovered! He said that I could keep it with my other Pokémon.
Suddenly, we heard a strange sound coming from outside the laboratory. Professor Kukui seemed to recognize the sound and rushed outside. I followed with my Pokémon. Kukui seemed frozen in place, his jaw dropped. I followed his gaze and saw what he was looking at. It was the guardian of Melemele Island, Tapu Koko! But… this was not the same Tapu Koko who saved me from the collapsing bridge in the Ruins of Conflict. Its wings are black instead of yellow.
"That's… that's…" stuttered the professor. "A shiny Tapu Koko!"
The Tapu Koko reached out and tapped my Z-Ring. As it began to glow, a Cherish Ball appeared in the palm of my hand. The shiny Tapu Koko entered the Cherish Ball!
"Zzzrt! You registered a Land Spirit Pokémon!" exclaimed the Rotomdex. "If I were you, I'd check it out at once!"
"Tapu Koko, the Land Spirit Pokémon. An electric- and fairy-type. Tapu Koko is the guardian deity of Melemele Island and is brimming with curiosity. It summons thunderclouds and stores their lightning inside its body. It confuses its enemies by flying too quickly for the eye to follow. It has a hair-trigger temper but forgets what made it angry an instant later."
134. Tapu Koko
Professor Kukui seemed very impressed, saying that Tapu Koko typically does not reveal itself to someone who has not defeated all the island trials. As a way to show my thanks, I must resolve to finish the island challenge!
After that, we went back inside the lab, and I placed a call to Brigette to check on my Pokémon from the Kalos and Hoenn regions. During our discussion, Brigette said she discovered a strange crystal. She showed it on screen, and Kukui confirmed that it was indeed a Z-Crystal! She said she would send it over for him to examine. From his research, Kukui believes it to be Mewnium Z, but since Mew is not usually found in Alola, it would be a difficult theory to prove.
One more thing that the professor had been working on for me, was obtaining some Mega Stones from the Kalos and Hoenn region. He obtained a whole bunch of them; however, without a Key Stone, they wouldn't be too useful. And, honestly, I don't have any of those Pokémon in Alola. The Mega Stones he gave me were Mewtwonite X, Mewtwonite Y, Mawilite, Beedrillite, Audinite, Medichamite, Pidgeotite, Steelixite, Heracronite, Houndoomite, Sceptilite, Blazikenite, Swampertite, Cameruptite, Banettite, Tyranitarite, Abomasite, Manectite, Aggronite, Gardevorite, Galladite, Lopunnite, Diancite, Ampharosite, Altarianite, Latiasite, and Latiosite.
And finally, I received my reward for participation in the final Global Mission that was held last month, which included a Fast Ball. I'm still upset about the ones I missed, but at least I got a Lure Ball and a Fast Ball, which are incredibly rare Poké Balls outside of the Johto region.
Later that day, I spent some time getting to know my pair of shiny Pokémon, Fomantis and Staryu. Fomantis had a powerful Razor Leaf that it could boost with Growth, but its other moves needed work. Instead of Leafage, we practiced Hidden Power, which was rock-type. And instead of Ingrain, we worked on restoring its strength using Leech Life. Staryu's moves were already diverse, but pretty standard; Bubblebeam was its strongest attack. Swift and Psywave have their uses, and Camouflage is sometimes interesting. (Its Hidden Power was, unfortunately, water-type.) I had a bunch of Carbos from the Festival Plaza, so I gave them to my Staryu. Then I remembered, there are training facilities on Poké Pelago! I had Fomantis and Staryu go to Isle Evelup with over a dozen of my other Pokémon to train their special defense and speed, respectively. That will keep them bust while I'm at work this evening.
September 22, 2017
I won't have much time today with work, so I had Fomantis and Staryu work together on a course with some of my other Pokémon. This course would help them work as a team, and help boost their special attack.
September 25, 2017
I took Dartrix, Torracat, and Brionne with me, and picked up Fomantis and Staryu from Isle Evelup. I tested Fomantis and Staryu by battling against some wild Pokémon on Akala Island, and then decided, finally… it's time to move on! So I headed over to the Hano Grand Resort, where I met the guy from the Aether Foundation who a few months ago offered to take me on a tour somewhere as thanks for helping him out. I was not alone, though; Hau, Kahuna Olivia, and Professor Kukui joined me at the resort hotel.
"So you've come at last," the scientist began. "Ah, but forgive me. I have yet to introduce myself. You may call me Faba. I told you before that I would show you someplace astounding, right? Well, that wondrous place is… Aether Paradise!"
"Aether Paradise?" I repeated. "What's that?"
"Just as the name suggests, Aether Paradise is a veritable paradise for Pokémon that floats far out in the sea surrounding Alola," Faba explained. "It is an artificial island, made entirely by human technology, for the protecting of Pokémon!"
Hau and I followed Faba, as Olivia and Kukui saw us off.
"You go see all the amazing tech that Aether's developing and tell me about it later, yeah?" Kukui said with a smile. "That's right. I'll see you on the next island… Ula'ula Island, yeah? Then let's meet up at Malie Garden!"
Faba, Hau, and I boarded the Ferry and sailed towards the Aether Paradise. As it came into view, it was an awesome sight: a huge, man-made island that essentially serves as a fifth island in the Alola region.
Once we went inside, Faba began to explain the island's purpose. "Aether Paradise is a facility created for the conservation of Pokémon. It has been outfitted with all of the latest technology for this purpose."
Faba went on to explain that we will not be able to use our Poké Balls within Aether Paradise, since a jamming signal broadcast over the whole facility prevents them from working. He then took his leave, stating that as branch manager he had things to do, and handed us off to another woman who worked there. The woman introduced herself as Wicke. She showed us around the different floors, and then took us to the second floor which was the conservation area. She reminded us that the use of Poké Balls in the conservation area is strictly forbidden. She also said that the president of the Aether Foundation, Lusamine, should be somewhere in this area. Wicke then left us to explore on our own.
Eventually, we found this Lusamine in the conservation area. She was talking to some Pokémon, saying that she would protect them with her love. Then she turned her attention to us. She welcomed us to the Aether Paradise, and explain that she created a place like this to protect Pokémon from people who would do them harm.
"I will be like a mother to all of those poor Pokémon and shower them with love," she explained. "Even Pokémon from distant worlds, far from the Alola region, are worthy of my love."
Hau made a comment about how young she looked, but Lusamine said she was over 40. She then made some kind of comment about how Hau dresses badly. That was kind of rude. Hau mentioned Lillie in a passing comment, and I noticed Lusamine made an unusual reaction from hearing her name. Before I could ask more, it seemed as though the whole island began to suddenly shake! As everyone began to look around as if to search for the cause of the quake, all eyes turned as a rift appeared out of thin air! And then… a figure came out of the rift! It was some kind of huge jellyfish-like creature. Is that a Pokémon?
Lusamine seemed rather calm as it floated in front of all of us. "Did you come from another world?" she asked.
The creature made a chilling sound in response.
"Miss Lusamine, stand back!" yelled Hau. "That thing's… not right!"
Lusamine shook her head in objection. "You poor creature…"
"Zzrt?! I've never seen a Pokémon like that!" Rotom exclaimed. It saw me approach it. "Wait! Are we really gonna fight that… that thing?!"
I assume whatever that is, that it's a water-type, so I sent out Fomantis to battle it. That was a poor choice, since it used Venoshock and immediately knocked out my little grass-type. So I sent out Staryu, and thanks to its speed it used a quick Bubble Beam… which was super effective?! A blue jellyfish… I mean, I doubt it's a fire-type, it doesn't look rocky at all either, so… ground-type? Regardless, it very quickly knocked out my Staryu. Since it was weak to water, I sent out Brionne, and used Hydro Vortex, but it was still just floating there. Whatever this is, it's tough!
However, the strange being began moving weird, and it seemed to just blink out of our sight, as though it returned to where it came from, or maybe just teleported away.
Everyone stood in awe, until Lusamine broke the silence. "So it's true, I still need that Pokémon. I need to get it back."
I gazed at her curiously. What is she talking about? And what's with that evil smile she has on her face?
"That creature we just saw was undoubtedly an Ultra Beast," Lusamine stated. "An unknown being from another dimension that suddenly appears from the Ultra Wormhole. It looked like it was suffering, like it pained it to be in this strange place. I can't bear to see that happen! I will save it. And I will love it!"
She thanked both of for helping with the incident, and then asked Wicke to take us to Ula'ula Island.
Once Hau and I arrived on Ula'ula Island, Hau wanted to have a battle to kick off out exploration of a new island!
Hau led off with his Flareon, which gave my Staryu a good challenge. Since Staryu was still new to batting, it did need Brionne to back it up. For Hau's second Pokémon, he sent out his Raichu, recently evolved from his Pikachu! Wait, is that Raichu floating and surfing on its tail?? That's awesome! Rotom, what's up with that Raichu?
"Raichu, the Mouse Pokémon, and the evolved form of Pikachu. An electric- and psychic-type. Raichu only evolves to this form in the Alola region. According to researchers, their diet is one of the causes of this change. They use psychokinesis to control electricity. They hop aboard their own tail, using psychic power to lift the tail and move about while riding it."
I had my Torracat battle Raichu, and it was close, but we were able to win. Then, finally, Hau sent out his Brionne. I sent Fomantis out first, and had it use Bloom Doom for the first time. It did a good job, but Dartrix was needed to finish the battle.
After the battle, we stopped in the Pokémon Center. Rotom was able to update the Pokédex database to include the Ula'ula Pokédex, which apparently I had already obtained 51 Pokémon that are native to the island. So, I contacted the Poké Pelago, and had Mohn gather the 37 Pokémon that I have that are native to Ula'ula, and began planning new rotation Pokémon for exploring the island!
September 26, 2017
Fomantis and Staryu will pretty much be permanent members of my team unless otherwise specified. So along with those two, the first group of Pokémon I had sent to me was Chansey, Raticate, Grimer, and Parasect. I also decided to work on a new move with my Staryu. Instead of Psywave, it learned to focus its power better and unleash a much more powerful Psychic!
I then began to explore Malie City. The city had a very eastern cultural feel to it in terms of ambiance. There was a large garden nearby, where Hau and I were supposed to meet Professor Kukui. But first, I wanted to explore Malie Garden a bit. There were a bunch of wild Pokémon in the garden, so it was a perfect opportunity to train my team. My Fomantis was struggling to win battles, but when I called for it to use Razor Leaf, it instead moved in for a closer attack and slashed its opponent with one of its leaves. Looks like it learned to use Leaf Blade, which is much stronger!
