After leaving the house, Luna is awestruck by the size of her house and futilely attempts to enter her garage for several minutes follows Kukui to Iki Town.
"Folks here in Alola get along by living together with Pokemon and working together, too," Kukui says, making me wonder why he's saying this. Isn't this supposed to be true for every region? Maybe Kanto is actually a pretty shitty region...
As I progress along Route 1, which is conveniently absent of any grass, a Youngster tells me to hold B to dash. Kid, I've been playing Pokemon longer than the time it took to code you.
Another trainer mentions how convenient trading is now, but I need some Pokemon to actually get that working.
At the top of a hill, Kukui asks me if I'm loving Alola yet and... I mean, I've only seen the inside of my house and a hill so far, man. Then again, that garage was pretty impressive, so I guess I'll say yes.
After we pass by a Youngster who wants Kukui to recommend him a move and a Lass with her Pikachu, Kukui taunts me by pointing out two shiny item balls behind a patch of grass. Soon.
After some early Route trainers express eagerness at me beating up their Pokemon in the future, we head to the next town... where the music sounds the same but slower?
Okay.
Kukui mentions that people come here to worship a Pokemon named Topu Koko, which makes me wonder how Pokemon religion works. Is it like Greek mythology and you pray to different Pokemon for different things? What's Arceus' role in things? How do Pokemon like Mewtwo fit in?
Also, as I type this, I notice random Pokemon are making noise in the background. Neat.
Unfortunately, the people we were supposed to meet aren't around, so Kukui sends us to go find them.
"The island kahuna looks just like a kahuna," says Kukui, a man intelligent enough to become a widely acknowledged and respected professor.
Anyway, instead of going where the plot dictates, I'm going to break into people's houses to talk to them, a time-honored RPG tradition.
During this time, I learn some valuable facts.
- Rockruff has stones on its neck that it rubs against people it likes. This is as comfortable as you might expect.
- People get sleepy at night.
- Ruff ruff.
After that riveting bit of information, Luna heads upstairs to find the girl from the opening talking to her bag. As it turns out, she seems to be going to the same place as us.
After trailing her for a bit, the girl's bag comes open and a strange Pokemon comes out, bouncing around excitedly. However, some nearby Spearow note that it's NOT a Gen 1 Pokemon and decide to murder it for its non-pandering insolence.
Given that there's no one else to talk to, I guess I should do something about this.
The girl tells Luna to go save 'Nebby' because she's too scared. Upon crossing the bridge to do something, it becomes apparent that it's very rickety and poorly made. Another classic RPG trope.
Anyway, Luna tries to save Nebby from the Spearow. Unfortunately, she has no PP and can only Struggle. Nebby tries to help, but destroys the bridge in the process, causing Luna to fall to her death.
Well. That was a short game.
But it's okay, because Topu Koko a mysterious new Pokemon shows up to smack the Spearow in their faces and also save Luna. Everyone is pretty surprised.
The girl is relieved that Nebby is safe and starts having a conversation with it, completely ignoring Luna. Oh, okay. That's fine. Totally didn't just almost die trying to save it in the first place.
Rude.
"Who are you?" Luna asks, and the strange girl says "I think this stone must belong to you!"
That's... not an answer. But whatever, I have a Z-Ring mysterious object now. Mysterious girl then proceeds to ask Luna to escort her back to town, continuing to evade the question asked earlier.
We finally get the name of the girl, Lillie, after we meet up with Kukui. Seems we just missed the kahuna.
Some nearby people throw out some convenient exposition as the kahuna returns. Lillie tells them about how Luna almost died, and everyone seems really excited about the Topu Koko part and not concerned about the almost dying part. Which, y'know, seems a little bit more important maybe?
But it's okay, because it's time to pick a Pokemon!
After some deliberation, I decide to choose Popplio.
But will it choose me!? It does.
"You'll surely be friends for life," Kukui says, reminding me of how I Wonder Traded my starters in Alpha Sapphire and X.
But I'm sure that won't happen here.
Team: Soprano the Popplio
