So, I have good news. I haven't lost the locke yet. Bad news, I've already gotten two mons killed.
Now, when it came to how the early routes work in Sun and Moon (because Route 1 is massive compared to every other game's first route), I decided to split up potential encounters into seperate sections if the game tells me it's a different portion of the route (like how there's Route 1 proper and then Hau'oli Outskirts is a thing). I'm saying that just to clarify why I have a certain team member.
Episode 1 - Welcome to Alola. Don't lose in three episodes.
So after the normal "let's start up the game and then get Nebby back in the bag" beginning, the time had come to choose a starter. I went with Popplio on my first playthrough, so I thought it was time to change it up and went with everyone's favorite Alolan starter, Rowlet. After getting my Goldeneye and destroying Hau's Popplio in moments flat with Leafage, we were on our way. Route 1 proper came around and I got myself the first addition to our squad, Samantha the Pikipek. Once she was all caught up with Goldeneye and I swept through the trainers on the route, I did some grinding due to being unsure of what level Hau's mons were going to be when I had to battle him again up in Iki Town again. Yeaaah, let's just say I overleveled a little bit and got the squad to Lv. 10.
Do we even need to explain what happened to Hau? Well, the short version is his Pichu got destroyed and his Popplio also got destroyed. It was a grand helping of pain for his team. Fun for me, but not for him. Now, Hau getting destroyed twice in one update aside, over in Hau'oli Outskirts after getting my annoying dex (I'm not a fan of Rotom blathering on every time I catch something), Arceus answered my prayers and didn't give me a Wingull for an encounter, but a Slowpoke. Master Derp has come to me for the first time outside of Stadium 2.
So after even more tutorial stuff, I got screwed for my Hau'oli City encounter. I got a Wingull, but at the time, my Electric weakness was bad enough with both Samantha and Master Derp, so I boxed Scarfed God the Wingull for now. In the event Master Derp dies somehow, his time in the sun will come. Speaking of Samantha, after the Team Skull eradication (even though it was one guy) and I faced Captain Illma, I was an idiot and didn't switch Samantha out after her defense was lowered and this man brought in his Smeargle. It had Tackle, and it killed Samantha. Her defense wasn't good in the first place, but I obviously underestimated Smeargle.
Onward to Route 2 where I would've easily gotten a Smeargle as my encounter and then likely screamed to the heavens, but luckily, Tabitha the Makuhita came on the offensive and attacked me before I could get an actual encounter in the grass. Anyway, after that, we got ourselves Hau'oli Cemetary, which is totally a new area, and the place where Lurker the Ghastly joined the squad. Of course, this screws me out of any encounter in a certain area on the third island due to dupes clause, but oh well. We'll see where this leads.
Speaking of leading, after more Team Skull cracking and grinding Tabitha up so he could destroy our first trial, we come to our first trial. Naturally, Normal types are no issue for Tabitha (except for the Hyper Fang flinch, Curse stalling the first Yungoos since it couldn't touch Lurker and then Drowzee gets destroyed once again), it was time for Totem Gumshoos. At first, it was a fine encounter...until they started using Leer on Tabitha. In my head, I thought "there's no way they can hurt Lurker, right?" so I switched in Lurker, then attempted to switch back to Tabitha, but it turns out the ally Yungoos have Pursuit. To be honest, going into this, I was already expecting ally mons to do something to throw everything out a window planning wise (Rock Blast Trumbeak, anyone?), but not this soon. I think we already know what happened. Lurker dropped like a rock and Tabitha cleaned up the mess.
On the sort of bright side, I got a Zubat as my encounter in Verdant Cavern. I don't feel very happy, though, because it's just a new Electric weak mon in the team. If she lives, then having a Crobat with the upgraded Leech Life would be nice.
Team Ruby
*insert Rowlet sprite here*
Goldeneye (Rowlet)
? Lv. 16 @ Nothing
Nature: Serious
Ability: Overgrow
Moves: Tackle, Razor Leaf, Astonish, Peck
Master Derp (Slowpoke)
? Lv. 15 @ Nothing
Nature: Naive
Ability: Own Tempo
Moves: Confusion, Yawn, Tackle, Water Gun
Tabitha (Makuhita)
? Lv. 16 @ Nothing
Nature: Impish
Ability: Thick Fat
Moves: Tackle, Force Palm, Fake Out, Brick Brick
