After all of that nonsense, Luna heads down to scare off the Sudowoodo from the entrance of Route 6 with her new Waterium Z.
Heading down, she runs into a woman with large eyebrows and some Team Skull Grunts. Again, I choose to recognize them to validate their sense of self-worth. They try really hard at being grunts!
"We're not thieves, yo! It's a legitimate business!" says a Grunt before starting the battle.
If I could make a suggestion, maybe get another Pokemon? You've had only one Drowzee for the last two battles now...
After the battle, Hapu (eyebrow lady) decides to try murdering the Team Skull Grunts with her Mudsdale.
Wow. Rude.
The Team Skull Grunts decide to run away and Hapu leaves as well, leaving Luna to explore the nearby town. Cue some shopping and catching two new party members from a nearby route: Toxica/Salandit (F) and Garamond/Cubone (F).
Afterwards, Luna follows Gladion into a building and finds herself face to face with Rey Mysterio.
"People call me the Masked Royal!" says Rey, to which Luna responds "...Professor?" He seems less than thrilled that I called him out.
I bet The Heroes of Kalos wouldn't like Luna.
Anyway, suddenly Luna is thrust into a fourway battle against Hau, Gladion, and Prof- er, The Masked Royal without the chance to choose her Pokemon or heal up.
Oops.
Given that Trumbeak is out first, at half HP, and The Masked Royal has a Rockruff, things seem pretty bleak already. Not helped by Hau using his first turn to attack me. THANKS, BUDDY
So I take out his Rockruff without mercy, and... the match suddenly ends? Okay.
Hau seems oblivious to The Masked Royal's true identity, or maybe he's just polite. Either way, Gladion excuses himself after posing a bit, and Hau gets a little dig at him as he leaves.
Now it's time to go do Kiawe's trial, the man himself showing up to invite us. After scaling the mountain, battling some trainers along the way and obtaining Rock Tomb, we reach the top of the mountain... where Kiawe has us watch a dance off.
Uh... okay?
The first time Luna gets the answer wrong due to not paying attention, causing a Marowak to attack and be bludgeoned into submission by Garamond. The second time she gets it right... and is still attacked. The result is the same.
But hey, precious EXP for a team that needs it.
The second dance... okay, what even
OBVIOUSLY THE HIKER WAS WHAT WAS DIFFERENT
Well, now is the third dance an-
...
Okay, so the Totem Battle.
This one isn't AS bad as the last one, I think, but it's still pretty tough. Didn't help that my Cubone was too slow and not able to resist Flame Burst's damage.
Totem Salazzle's strategy is to spam Flame Burst on slower Pokemon. If the Pokemon it's up against is faster, it uses Venom Drench to lower their Attack/Sp. Attack and Speed. It can also use Toxic to wear away at your units.
The supporting Salandits it summons will use Poison Gas, Venoshock, or Taunt to support its moveset.
It seems the Salandits may spawn infinitely, so I opted to take out Salazzle with Soprano after Sam ate her Petaya Berry with Pluck. No boosted Special Attack for you, you jerk.
Afterwards, I finished the last Salandit, who had no Fire attacks, off with Carrera.
And with that, I have the Firium Z!
Heading back down the mountain, we now progress to... another trial!?
Jeez... Well, I guess we have to.
On the way, we see a building with the people in white, who belong to an organization called the Aether Foundation.
You can trust people who wear all white, I'm sure.
As Luna heads down the street, she's stopped by Google Chrome.
Oh, wait, never mind. It's just Colress... who is typing constantly on his arm.
Even while his eyes are closed...
W-well, uh... thanks for the Flame Charge TM, buddy.
Continuing down the route, Soprano starts to outlevel the opposing trainers' Pokemon. Maybe I should turn that EXP Share off sometime when Toxica catches up to everyone. For now, I'll box Soprano in exchange for Hocus.
"I'll put my hips into it when I take you on!" says Golfer Marie as she challenges me to a battle.
Pokemon Sun and Moon. A family game.
After beating her, Luna decides to catch Braveheart/Wimpod (M) on the nearby beach and Livewire/Grubbin (F) nearby the trial site.
She also decides to look into the hotel room, finding a familiar face.
"Get out," says Gladion.
What a charmer.
Anyway, the next trial! Mallow wants us to gather some free food for her prepare some ingredients to lure out the Totem Pokemon. During this time, Luna uses Stoutland's nose for the first time, fighting off some Fomantis (and a Parasect) with Tink and Toxica.
After a bit of sidetracking for a Grass Knot TM, the ingredients are gathered, with Lana and Kiawe showing up to lend some help as well. Following that, Mallow tells use to grab a hold of Kiawe's bone and use it to pound what's in front of us to paste.
A family game.
After the pounding, a Totem Lurantis appears... and subsequently is defeated before doing too much due to Pollen Puff being a ridiculously powerful move. I want to say it had Synthesis, Solar Blade, and something else, but I can't remember. It went down too quickly.
The Castform it summoned was a pain, though, before Sunny Day wore off, at which point Sam karate chopped its head in with Brick Break before evolving.
Woo!
After the battle, Lana talks about how much she's enjoying the taste of the Kiawe's bone.
A family game.
It turns out Mallow doesn't know how to calm down with spices, though, and Lana and Kiawe run away, causing her to get upset and chase them.
Kukui then shows up for some free food, handing over a TM for Smart Strike in the process. Neat.
According to him, our next location is the Dimensional Research Lab. So we'll go there after a quick break.
Team:
- Toxica/Salandit (F), Level 23 [Corrosion] @ Poison Barb (Flame Charge, Smog, Sweet Scent, Dragon Rage)
- Hocus/Alakazam (M), Level 25 [Inner Focus] @ Amulet Coin (Psybeam, Hidden Power-Water, Grass Knot, Charge Beam)
- Garamond/Cubone (F), Level 25 [Rock Head] @ Soft Sand (Bone Club, Rock Tomb, Leer, Brick Break)
- Sam/Toucannon (F), Level 28 [Keen Eye] @ Sharp Beak (Pluck, Brick Break, Beak Blast, Flame Charge)
- Tink/Ribombee (F), Level 26 [Honey Gather] @ Silver Powder (Pollen Puff, Draining Kiss, Stun Spore, Silver Wind)
- Carrera/Magnemite (-), Level 28 [Sturdy] @ Metal Coat (Spark, Magnet Bomb, Thunder Wave, Light Screen)
