Start new game, choose female trainer and name self Calen, pick Popplio for my starter, the usual drill. Popplio proceeds to wipe the floor with Hau’s Litten. Explore a little more of Rt 1, then fight Hau again at the Iki Town Festival, where he’s added a Pichu to his team. Thankfully Popplio has enough levels to outspeed it, so it goes down easily, and Litten is no threat.

Visit Kukui’s Lab and finally get access to the beach area( go looking for a Wingull. Take so long to find one with Hydration and a decent nature that Popplio is around level 15 by the time we get to the Trainer’s School. (End up with a -Attack Wingull, which isn’t ideal since she’ll be relying on Wing Attack for Flying STAB for a while, but after like eight catches I’m ready to settle and move on. Catch a Slowpoke while we’re at it, and proceed to never once use it.) Popplio levels up and learns Icy Wind just in time to face the teacher and one-shot her Rowlet with it. Explore Hau’oli City and immediately spend too much money on clothes. The Team Skull grunts and their Zubat are more easy prey for Icy Wind, but Illima is by far the hardest battle so far, since I have no super-effective moves and while Wingull only takes neutral damage from Smeargle’s Leahage she’s super frail.

Head on to Rt 2, which is pretty uneventful. Stop in at Sandy Cave when I get to Big Wave Beach and catch a Psyduck just inside the entrance. I’m not really planning on using it, but I want to have something that can learn Brick Break in case things go poorly in Verdant Cavern.

The Verdant Cavern trial turns out to be a breeze, though. My starter, who’s a Brionne by now, two-shots Totem Alolan Raticate with Disarming Voice and takes out its ally Alolan Rattata simultaneously. Head down Rt 3, where Brionne’s Icy Wind is extremely useful against abundance of birds, and into Melemele Meadow, where Wingull gets a chance to shine. Rescue Nebby, explore the cave, then come out to fight Hau again. The addition of Noibat does nothing to make his team more threatening, and Brionne sweeps it again. Hurry through the rest of Rt 3, level Wingull to learn Air Cutter, then return to Iki Town to face Hala.

With special attackers with both Flying STAB and Fairy moves, I’m not remotely worried about Hala. Wingull ends up sweeping his whole team without Brionne needing to lift a flipper. With my first grand trial completed and access to Tauros charge, I do a victory lap of the island, exploring all the areas that smashing boulders opens up, and acquire a Flyinium Z in case Wingull wants it (she’s happy with a Sharp Beak for now).

Mantine Surf to Akala Island. Immediately surf back to have the Big Wave Beach move tutor teach Shock Wave to Wingull, which hugely expands her coverage. Return to Akala and continue on. The abundance of normal types on Rt 4 means my Brick Breaking Psyduck gets to come out and play for a bit.

Get to Paniola Town, fight Hau again, Psyduck takes his new Eevee and Brionne sweeps the rest once more. Immediately hatch the Eevee egg I get at the nursery in order to obtain a Water Stone. Hurry on down Rt 5 to Brooklet Hill. Wingull evolves into Pelipper almost immediately before the trial. The water trial is incredibly easy, as Pelipper outspeeds Totem Araquanid despite its aura and Air Cutter OHKOs.

With the fishing rod and access to Lapras Paddle, it’s finally time to get some more proper team members. Return to Brooklet Hill after the trial and catch a Poliwag. Scare off by Paniola Ranch to access Rt 6. Duck through Royal Avenue to Rt 7’s water area to catch a Staryu (with many curses for this gen’s fishing mechanics along the way) and a Tentacool, then use the latter to get the trade Barboach (whose name is set as “Babo”, but my brain likes to read as “Boba”). Finally explore Royal Avenue properly and trigger the story elements. Return to Melemele, explore all the water areas that have opened up, then finish exploring Rt 7. My new additions are still a ways behind Brionne and Pelipper, so I grind a bit more at Wela Volcano Park until everyone’s around level 30 and Poliwag and Barboach have become Poliwhirl and Whiscash.

Start the fire trial. Totem Alolan Marowak uses Detect to evade attack for the first turn and calls its ally Salazzle. A Magnitude 7 from Whiscash does over half to the Totem and takes out the ally. Marowak’s Cursed body disables Magnitude, so Whiscash finishes it off with Mud Bomb.

Rt 8 and upper Rt 5 are uneventful. On to Lush Jungle, and another trial for Pelipper. Air Cutter is a two-shot on Totem Lurantis, the second of which does over half to its ally Comfey, who is easily cleaned up after the Totem is down. Lurantis uses X-Scissor on both shots it gets in, dealing minimal damage.

Back to Heahea City, and through Diglett’s Tunnel (which is a breeze for Brionne - who evolves into Primarina somewhere around here - between Icy Wind and Bubblebeam). Reach Konikoni City, buy some useful TMs and spend too much on clothes again (then hurry to complete the Ditto sidequest so I’ll be less broke), then press on towards the ruins to meet Olivia.

Grand Trial time. Poliwhirl takes Olivia’s Lileep down with repeated Brick Breaks, while Anorith and Lycanroc go down quickly to water attacks. Fly back to Heahea City, but Faba’s going to have to wait a bit, because it’s time to call it a night.

Start new game, choose female trainer, name self Calen, yadda yadda yadda. Pick Piplup as my starter, name him Pengwing, very narrowly beat Barry and his new Turtwig. Obtain Pokéballs and catch a Bidoof and a Starly for future use with HMs.

Get to Jubilife City, get the Pokétch and all that. Go back to Rt 202 and grind till Pengwing learns Peck before leaving the city, because there’s a rival battle coming up and I know Pound and Bubble will barely touch Turtwig’s defenses. (Why is Piplup’s early learnset so bad?) Fight Barry on Rt 203, Starly is nothing to write home about and Pengwing’s Peck 3-shots Turtwig despite Starly having lowered my attack a stage and Turtwig spamming Withdraw.

Pengwing evolves into Prinplup not long after, and learns Bubblebeam before I leave Oreburgh Mine, so the Oreburgh Gym battle is trivially easy, with Bubblebeam OHKOing everything there.

Return to Jubilife City, save the Professor, and head up to Floaroma Town. Get the Pluck TM and upgrade Pengwing’s Peck to Pluck. Catch a Buizel outside the Valley Windworks, name her Marina, and stop to get her leveled up a bit before continuing on. Kick Team Galactic out of the area and continue on to Eterna Forest. Take advantage of the free healing accompaniment NPC to focus on training Marina up some more.

Arrive in Eterna City and challenge the gym. Pengwing outspeeds and OHKOs every one of the gym trainers’ Pokémon, outspeeds and 2HKOs Gardenia’s Turtwig and Cherrim, then promptly gets outsped and one-shot by Roserade, who proceeds to OHKO Marina and Bidoof as well.

Return to Rt 205 to train Pengwing some more. The levels of the wild Pokémon are low enough that it goes super slowly, so after gaining only a single level I decide I’d rather try my luck at the gym again. On the second try things go even worse, as Turtwig sets up Reflect and Sunny Day, losing me the battle before I even get to Roserade. On the third try, however, a lucky crit lets Pengwing one-shot Turtwig, denying it the chance to set up on or Razor Leaf me. Cherrim goes down in two hits and only uses Leech Seed in between, taking a small fraction of Pengwing’s health. I switch in and sacrifice Marina to get rid of Leech Seed and deal chip damage with Aqua Jet before Roserade takes her down. I send Pengwing in, and miraculously that single extra level has given him the edge speedwise. Roserade uses Stun Spore to get a paralysis off, and Pengwing is paralyzed two turns in a row. Amazingly he still manages to hold out until Roserade is in the red after Gardenia spends her Super Potion, but ultimately he goes down again.

The next time we make it to Roserade, we get another stroke of luck when Stun Spore misses. Pengwing uses Pluck to knock Roserade into the red, steals its Sitrus Berry, and heals the Leech Seed damage to return to full health. Gardenia uses her super potion, but it doesn’t completely restore Roserade’s HP. Pengwing keeps spamming Pluck and takes Roserade out in two more hits, while retaining nearly half of his own health. Second badge acquired.

Have another meeting with the obnoxiousness that is Barry, meet Cyrus, meet Cynthia, and obtain the Cut HM. Bidoof now knows Cut as well as Rock Smash.

• After received the Exp. Share from Alexa, I turned it off, and caught myself a Ralts on Route 4 that I named Relegation. I went back and beat the trainers that I hadn't to get her some EXP. I skipped the trainers on Route 4, and didn't waste much time in getting to Professor Sycamore's Lab in Lumiose City!
• To put it short, it came down to his Charmander, who got Relegation to 1 HP…and he used Smoke Screen, but I hit through it and finished him. I picked Squirtle for the starter, not that it matters. We found Lysandre, and Diantha, and didn't take long to get a move on after discussing some things with Serena and then a bit more exploring.
• On Route 5, I caught an Abra that I named Encyclopedia. I then went back and fought some of the trainers on Route 4, but not the three Gardeners with the Corphish, thinking those could deal some damage.
• Tierno's Corphish, however, wasn't quite as troublesome. So yeah I could beat those Gardeners but I'd save them for later team members. After him, I skipped all the trainers on this route, as well, and quickly made my way into Camphrier Town. I did get Encyclopedia to evolve into Kadabra, though.
• Taking care of matters there, we were sent to Route 7, where we met with the sleeping Snorlax, which in turn sent us to the Parfum Palace. But before doing any of that, I caught an Espurr that I would name Sleeper.
• Going through Parfum Palace and helping some dumb owner save his dog, we were then given the Poke Flute and a TM. That Poke Flute was used to wake up the Snorlax, and I had Sleeper steal its Sitrus Berry and then fled, knowing I wouldn't be able to beat it very easily, if at all, what with my team being special.
• I skipped the trainers on Route 7, too, except the double battle with the rivals. That went easy enough. Then in Connecting Cave, I caught myself a Meditite named Randori, and after meeting with Sina and Dexio once again on Route 8 and getting the Coastal Kalos Pokedex, caught a Spoink named Springy and an Inkay named Supertron. I made way into Ambrette Town and got Rock Smash…
• …And THEN I went back to fight all those trainers that I skipped - the Gardeners with the Corphish, Routes 5, 6 and 7. Most of them were simple enough and gave good EXP, but as for the Furfrou duo, Randori certainly helped in that regard, even though they did hit hard on a few of my other team members. There wasn't much that I remember on Route 8, either.
• We met with the researcher in the fossil lab, and were sent to Route 9, where after going through the Spikes passage, we entered Glittering Cave, and caught a Lunatone named Luma. Unfortunately, Lunatone doesn't get Power Gem in this generation. In the back was Team Flare, who we had to deal with for the first time, and double battle with Serena, where - GASP! - she ACTUALLY USED PSYBEAM ON THEIR CROAGUNK!!! HOLD ME, I DON'T THINK WE'RE IN REALITY!!! …Not that it mattered much though because mono-Psychic and all. Randori dealt with the Scraggy. After getting a fossil that won't serve any use, I made my way back.
• On lower Route 8 we got the Dowsing Machine, found some items, and arrived in Cyllage City. I didn't waste any time in going to Route 10 and catching an Eevee, which I named Unit. I got it to evolve into an Espeon, but it was unfortunately caught at Level 20, so it wouldn't have a direct Psychic-type attack for a while. No big deal though, it's mostly just for Synchronize and not a dedicated team member. I used it to aid me in catching a Sigilyph that I would name Temple. I added the Sigilyph to my team, and I had what I would use for the time being. I beat the trainers on Route 10, they weren't super tough and gave some nice EXP.
• Then we had the Gym! As far as tough stuff went, the only thing that was much of a hassle was the Lunatone with Hypnosis, but even that didn't last very long against Supertron. And once we were all set, we took on Grant, the Gym Leader!
• As he began with Amaura, I opened with Springy. Psybeam didn't do too much, and he used Thunder Wave, which paralyzed me. Aurora Beam did 1/5 as I used Confuse Ray. He hit himself, and I scored a critical hit to get him to healing range. As he healed, Psybeam did alright (around 1/5). He hit through confusion for another weak Aurora Beam, but Psybeam got him near half. Thinking he'd snap out of confusion, I used Confuse Ray again… But he hit himself. He snapped out of confusion then, though, and hit with a weak Aurora Beam that lowered my Attack as I was fully paralyzed. THEN after all of that he used Take Down and finished me, but recoil had him low. I brought in Randori… And I was faster, so Rock Smash got the finish.
  Tyrunt was next, and I stayed in for a Rock Smash that did a little under half and got the Defense drop. Rock Tomb did 1/3 but lowered my Speed. I switched in Sleeper, who was OHKO'd with Bite. I brought in Randori again and used Rock Smash, which scored a maybe not needed critical hit for the win.
• With that, I got the Cliff Badge and TM39 for Rock Tomb, so that's good. But I think that's good enough for this part, so we'll continue the next time!

(M) "Natsu", Level 24
Stats: 64, 36, 41, 53, 40, 36
Moves: Ember, Fire Spin, Flame Charge, Psybeam

(M) "Sleeper", Level 23
Stats: 65, 33, 30, 40, 34, 39
Moves: Disarming Voice, Fake Out, Light Screen, Psybeam

(F) "Randori", Level 23
Stats: 53, 30, 29, 27, 30, 35
Moves: Confusion, Detect, Meditate, Rock Smash

(F) "Springy", Level 23
Ability: Thick Fat
Stats: 61, 19, 22, 44, 49, 38
Moves: Confuse Ray, Magic Coat, Psybeam, Psywave

(M) "Supertron", Level 23
Ability: Contrary
Stats: 61, 34, 29, 23, 31, 29
Moves: Foul Play, Hypnosis, Psybeam, Topsy-Turvy

(M) "Temple", Level 23
Ability: Magic Guard
Stats: 68, 35, 47, 54, 46, 54
Moves: Air Cutter, Psybeam, Tailwind, Whirlwind

Storage:
Ralts (F) "Relegation", Level 15, Mild, Trace
Kadabra (M) "Encyclopedia", Level 19, Naive, Synchronize
Lunatone "Luma", Level 17, Calm
Espeon (M) "Unit", Level 21, Bashful

Am about 5 badges into the journey. Got a Totodile (BIRDFEEDER), but replaced him with a Pidgey (AIRFORCE 1), Hoothoot (HOOTERS), Zubat (NOT BATMAN) Spearow (LAGANN), Hoppip (ALLERGEN), & Ledyba (MIRACULOUS) basically immediately. Trained them up and used them to beat Falkner and Sprout Tower, then moved on to Azalea Town. Actually had a bit of trouble there, because Bugsy managed to land nothing but critical hits on every one of his attacks somehow. Eventually won and moved on. Around this time, Togepi (OMELET) hatched and I fished up a Magikarp (POSEIDON). Level grinded them until they evolved and moved on.

Beat both Whitney and Morty with ease, rotating my Pokemon around a bit. Did all the Lighthouse business, got the medicine and beat Chuck, then went back to catch the Red Gyarados and beat Team Rocket before challenging Jasmine (Her team is gonna be what kills me, I'm sure)

Team:
1. NOT BATMAN, the Crobat (Level 27)
2. LAGANN, the Fearow (Level 25)
3. OMELET, the Togetic (Level 30)
4. POSEIDON, the Gyarados (Level 26)
5. NEPTUNE, the Red Gyarados (Level 30)
6. ALLERGEN, the Jumpluff (Level 27)

In Box:
HOOTERS, the Hoothoot (Level 13)
MIRACULOUS, the Ledyba (Level 5)
AIRFORCE 1, the Pidgeotto (Level 21)
BIRDFEEDER, the Totodile (Level 7) - Cut slave
Random Geodude - Caught as a Strength slave
BUTTERS, the Caterpie (Level 10) - caught with the intention of a Butterfree, decided not to use

i started my run today! i didnt do much aside from beating the first gym and getting my two party members! current team is:

Vanessa the Mild Snivy, lvl 12!
- Vine Whip
- Tackle
- Leer
- Wrap

salad the Bold Sewaddle, lvl 12!
- Tackle
- String Shot
- Bug Bite