nuzlocke Ultra Calamity - A Pokemon Ultra Moon Nuzlocke: Episode 3 - The Ultra Grand Trial

[NyxAvatar69]

I'm gonna say one thing before we slide on into Route 3.  Don't be dumb like me and do your grinding right away when you're done with the trial.  Trust me, we're heading to an area where there are encounters that give you much better experience than mindlessly fighting Zubats and Gastly to get your own Zubat and near useless Gastly to Lv. 16.  Earlygame grinding is a chore, but you gotta do it.  Class Act is Lv. 17, though, because it evolves through happiness and I just had him in the party when I boxed everyone else to grind up Bloodwing and Spooky.  Anyway, team updates are out of the way, let's get moving to Route 3 and scoop up our latest encounter.

So Route 3 introduces Flying types that can swoop down on you if you step in the moving shadow.  Luckily, it's only on the first segment of the route, so no real worries about that.  I'm going for the grass for my encounter, though.  Let's hope for something that honestly doesn't suck.

...Cutiefly.  Ok, let me explain.  This thing evolves into a frail Bug type that can put in work.  However, that's not for a while.  Right now, it's just a bit weak for my tastes.  The worst part is that it's evolution can just be caught outright later in the game in a prime grinding area.  On the other hand, if you didn't pick Rowlet, don't want to use Spearow, didn't get a Slowpoke or Zubat like me, and wouldn't want to bother with the Caterpie line or a potential encounter in an upcoming area, you could use this for an important battle coming up.  It gets Stun Spore and already comes with a Fairy type move, but because I already have plenty of usable mons, this one is getting boxed without question.

And because I forgot to turn off the Exp. Share, Tiny got just enough experience to evolve into his second form, Torracat.  It'll be a bit before he reaches his final evolution, but I guess this'll be fine for now.  He still hasn't really wowed me much, so my opinions from Episode 1 still stand.  For now, let's talk about Buzz Buzz, our new Cutiefly.  I honestly like how Sun and Moon allowed you to check the summary of a Pokemon before you send it off to the PC when you have a full party.  He got Shield Dust over Honey Gather, so that's instantly a win.  What isn't would be his nature.  Sure, I'm not really expecting him to live a hit from just about anything, but having lower Special Defense just brings those hopes even lower.  Guess he makes for a good extra in case something bad happens to Spark Plug and I really desire a Bug type for my team.  Let's be real here, though, I doubt a situation like that will ever actually come up.

So with a nice, short stroll down Route 3, we come across Melemele Meadow.  This place right here is a prime grinding spot in case you didn't do any grinding to prepare for an upcoming important battle.  We have to come here for plot anyway because Nebby probably got out of the bag again, so we have to be Lillie's babysitter again.  At least we can score a couple of encounters out of the deal, so let's slide inside and do just that.

I'll admit, it's a nice looking place, but of course, Nebby got out of the bag again.  Even worse, he's playing near weird holes that you have no reason at all to go to in the original games and I swear that you wouldn't even know it exists unless you actually looked around in your first playthrough.  I'm guilty of not knowing that path existed when I played Moon for the first time.  As Lillie says, Nebby has no moves it can use...except Splash.  It's basically a Magikarp, but at least Magikarp learns a move at Lv. 15 even though it still sucks.  Let's stop talking about sucky mons, though.  We got some encounters to scoop up, and the first one is here, in Melemele Meadow.  Let's jump right in and see what comes up.  I swear to Arceus, if I get a Caterpie or Metapod...

...or Rotom can interrupt me and use a free Roto Exp. Points that's probably going to waste.  Anyway, as I was saying, if I get a Caterpie or Metapod...

Please go screw yourself, game.  A Lv. 12 Cateripe that's more than likely going to never see battle.  Even if I had any intentions of using it, Butterfree sucks in this generation, even with Quiver Dance.  Beedrill got a Mega Evolution, but what did Butterfree even get that makes it even remotely good.  Let's look at Serebii.  It gets Sleep Powder, but otherwise most of it's moves outside of the eventual Psybeam and Silver Wind suck until it gets Bug Buzz...at Level 31.  Worse than that, because this Caterpie is Lv. 12, it'll miss out on Confusion.  I'm ignoring TMs because a good chunk of the things that would make Butterfree even slightly decent are either in lategame or are completely useless (except maybe Psychic, but I have Master Derp and there are better users of Psychic out there).

Ok, I'm sorry.  I just had to complain a bit there.  This is easily my worst encounter so far.  Anyway, I'm naming her Butterwing because that's the name I give all my Butterfrees.  It's not being used, ever, but let's see if it has any actual potential.  Well, it's a neutral nature, so no.  No real potential to speak of.  To the box with it.  Now, let's pretend that never happened and go get Nebby back in the bag.

Welcome to Seaward Cave, an area you probably knew existed from looking through the map but wondered how you even got there.  Well, that's how I was in my first playthrough, but not everyone has the same experiences in their first runs.  Anyway, not only are we here to get Nebby back in the bag, but we can snag an encounter here as well.  I know Zubat is here, but we already have Bloodwing, so I'm safe from the hordes of Zubat.  Let's see what we can get.

A Smoochum, Jynx's Gen 2 preevolution.  While I would say this is another viable option for the upcoming important battle, it's an Ice type.  I wouldn't totally recommend it for this specific scenario, but Jynx can...possibly put in long term work if you want to raise it up.  I have Master Derp, though, and Slowbro can last a while if I play my cards right once he evolves.  I'll be boxing her, but it's another encounter on our belts.  For the first time, though, I have no idea what I want to nickname this one.  I looked at some of Jynx's Pokedex entries and chose to just name it Hips.  It's...something, right?

I can never have a good nature on anything, can I?  I got Impish.  To make a long story short, it's probably one of the worst possible natures for the Jynx line.  Looks like I'm probably never using this one either.  Please, game.  There's one more encounter for Melemele (for now).  Give me something that doesn't suck in one way or another.  Let's just go get Nebby.

Welp, found Nebby...and a wild Ultra Recon Squad appeared.  The amazing mustache guy Phyco and the weird chick Soliera.  Apparently, they "made" a Poke Ball and managed to catch something with it?  They get a cool battle theme, I'll admit.  However, all they have is a single Furfrou.  A shame that Tiny showed her that the cat is mightier than the dog.  A Double Kick, a crit Fire Fang, and then another foot to the face and Furfrou was sent back to the pound.  I like dogs more than cats, personally.  Anyway, side facts about me aside, the Ultra Recon Squad apparently seems to know about Nebby.  That's a bit weird, but those two are naturally weird.

Turns out that you don't need to go pick up Nebby right away and you can take the time to explore Seaward Cave for any goodies you find laying around along with some potential grinding because there are Psyducks here, perfect for your Electric type moves to run wild.  If you choose to make your way to the other side of the cave, you'll be spit out in Kala'e Bay, another place people like me probably wondered how to even get there.  However, we can't get an encounter here yet.  The main ways to get something here require a way to surf or a fishing rod, and we currently have neither of those things.  Welp, may as well turn back and scoop up Nebby.

Well, for our efforts and watching Nebby get scolded by Lillie, all we get is a free heal.  After that, we get sort of useful information on Oricorio, a Pokemon you can find here in Melemele Meadow and it's a good source of experience for grinding too.  Be warned, put the Pokemon you want to lead with in the front before you talk to Nebby in Seaward Cave.  Hau wants to be a little jerk and surprise battle us, and from this point forward (at least in Ultra Sun and Moon), he'll always lead with his starter until a select point I'll eventually bring up.  You don't get a choice, either.

But then again, let's be real here.  I grinded to Lv. 16.  His Rowlet is only Lv. 13.  Even if I'm inconviently leading with Spark Plug, this shouldn't be too challenging.  In fact, it was actually worse than that.  I got a turn 1 paralysis with Spark, then spammed Bite.  He has a Sitrus Berry on his starter, so watch out for that.  Now this kid's running around with a Dragon type.  Yes, a Dragon type this early in the game.  Sure, you have access to Cutiefly, which basically means you have a dragon slayer early on, but it's a Flying type too.  Use what you feel will handle it effectively.  I went with the standard Master Derp strategy of putting it to sleep and using Confusion every turn until it went down.  Last up is his now evolved Pikachu.  Seriously, use a Ground move and this thing is finished.  Hau is still no real threat at this point of the game.

After blowing up Hau, we get the story that I've been dancing around this whole time.  We have to go and face the island's kahuna when all our normal trials are done.  It's the Grand Trial, and let's be real here, this first one is going to be a cakewalk with my current team.  So, there isn't much left but to just blast through what remains of Route 3 and rush straight back to Iki Town.  Before we do, though...

I never brought this up and I really should've.  When you go to buy items after finishing the first trial, the Poke Mart guy will be like "oh my gosh, you beat Captain Ilima's trial because he loves to introduce himself as Captain Ilima.  Here, you can buy some better stuff.  Not too much better because you can't handle Hyper Potions and Full Restores yet."  Anyway, I'm gonna stock up on potions and then slide on over to Iki Town.

You know, I think Kukui has some sick fetish for moves like Hau has a thing for malasadas.  At least Kukui brings up that Hala uses Fighting types, which are no worry for me because I have two mons that resist Fighting.  So, without further delay, let's get this show started.

To be honest, for the big scary kahuna, the music that plays is quite the opposite.  Sure, it starts kinda like "yeah, this is gonna be an intimidating fight," then goes to something that...totally isn't.  Give it a listen if you want.  We're gonna talk about how I intend to blow him up.

I like the music that plays before the battle, despite my earlier complaints about the battle music itself.  First off, he leads with a Machop.  If you have a Zubat like me, this thing is no challenge at all.  Spam Wing Attack, which you should have since for some reason, Zubat learns it at Lv. 13 in this generation.  Yes, two levels after learning Bite.  Revenge might kind of hurt a bit, but it depends on your nature.  Makuhita is second on his team, and once again, not really challenging if you have a Zubat or even a Slowpoke.  Anyway, Makuhita will pretty much always start off with a Fake Out to ruin your turn, so unless you're keeping Zubat in or switching in something else, your first turn will be wasted.

I went with standard Master Derp strategy, but Hala has a Full Heal to heal a status condition.  Master Derp strategy works wonders on Makuhita since it likely can't do much of anything to you, so it'll spam Sand Attack to lower your accuracy.  Not like it mattered for me since I landed all my attacks.

Now, it's time for the big dog, his ace, Crabrawler.  Be very careful with switching in mindlessly on this thing.  Not only does it have Pursuit, which will do more damage when you're trying to switch out, but this particular Crabrawler is carrying the Z-Crystal we'll be getting at the end of this battle, the Fightinium Z.  While it doesn't sound intimidating on paper, an All-Out Pummeling can likely deal tons of, if not, kill something in the right situation.  If you're doing a nuzlocke like me, that's very bad.  At the same time, the AI is sort of smart about when to use their Z-Move.  They normally won't mindlessly use it in a situation where it'll be wasted.  I have two Fighting resists, so I won't need to worry much about the Z-Move.  However, with tons of low damage and a Leer lowering Bloodwing's defense, this Crawbraler proved to be a bit of a problem that could've potentially been avoided if I had chosen to keep Master Derp in.

Although, thanks to that same Leer and a high roll with Pursuit (and confusion being bad), our Zubat, Bloodwing, was brought to an end with another Pursuit because I thought he could live.  I'm sorry, Bloodwing.  You will be missed, and Master Derp will avenge you.  Pursuit hurts, but Master Derp has his title for a reason.  He was born to take the hits and finish the job and complete our first Grand Trial.  To be honest, my hopes for Bloodwing's survival may have been too high considering that important trainers have EV trained mons.  It would explain why Crabrawler was eating Wing Attacks like it was nothing.  Anyway, we're another Z-Crystal and pose richer and we are officially done with all of Melemele Island's trials.  We get a few words from the jerk who murdered my Zubat and suddenly Tauros again.

Apparently, this random Tauros is Hala's.  Since when the hell did he own a Tauros?!  Whatever.  We get a cool little tool that basically replaces HMs called the Ride Pager, so now we can ride around on Tauros and break rocks.  The riding outfit sucks, though.  Suddenly, it's Captain Ilima again.  Now we're going to be forced to go take pictures at the Alola Photo Club, a new place added in these games.  It's like that one part in Black 2 and White 2 when you're required to go to Pokestar Studios.  And before I get any comments about the White 2 Nuzlocke, these things take time, ok?

So while Kukui and Lillie go and get the boat cleaned so we can move on to the next island on our island challenge, we're not going to the Alola Photo Club yet even though the game forces you to.  We have one spare encounter to get, and we need to put Bloodwing to rest.  Those take priority over some silly pictures.  First, Bloodwing, then to the place we can score an encounter.

Poor Bloodwing.  You weren't in the squad very long, but you still put in the work when it counted.  I should've just stood in with Master Derp instead of putting you at risk, but that's the game we play.  Sometimes we need to make risks and pray to the gods of RNG for good rolls.  Today was not one of those days.  Maybe in another locke, you will prove you're the boss.

Anyway, Bloodwing's funeral service aside, there's an area near Kukui's lab that we couldn't access without the ability to use Tauros.  This area is Ten Carat Hill, and I'm pretty sure it was in the Sun and Moon Special Demo.  You know, the one where you use Battle Bond Greninja.  Anyway, let's get ourselves an encounter...and hope it isn't something bad, otherwise we're going to the second island with a party of five.

Not even ten steps in and I get an encounter.  A Mawile.  Now Mawile is a bit iffy, to be honest.  It got a Fairy typing in X and Y, sure, but...mega evolution isn't available in the main story of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.  Mega Mawile is a physical monster, but regular Mawile...it's iffy.  It's moves are pretty trash until it gets Crunch at Lv. 29.  On the other hand, though, it has access to Iron Head and Play Rough, two really good STAB moves.  They come pretty late, though, and having to cart around this thing for most of the run with a subpar movepool until lategame kinda has me on both sides of the fence.  I'm gonna name him Danger Zone because it tricks people with the innocent look, then goes to town with it's other mouth.

Sadly, I got Hyper Cutter instead of Intimidate, so that kinda sucks.  At the same time, Sassy nature.  It's like Bloodwing's legacy lives on in Danger Zone.  Maybe this is a sign.  It can learn Brick Break for any pesky Steel types later down the road and the promise of good moves if you put in the work is a tempting offer.  If I use Danger Zone, I'll still have an all male team, but...it's probably the only thing I've caught this episode that both doesn't suck and would be able to replace Bloodwing.

Thinking about it for a few moments, I think I will use Danger Zone.  Considering all I have in the PC is two mons weak to Fighting, a useless Caterpie, a Cutiefly who takes time to reach actual potential, and a Smoochum that sort of suffers from the same problems as Cutiefly, Danger Zone is my best possible choice at the moment.  Sure, we'll have more encounters later down the road, but it's just more power in the PC.  Speaking of power, before we go to the next island, I'm gonna grind up the team a bit at Melemele Meadow to be ready for anything.  This may be a bit of a shorter one than the last two episodes, but you know how it goes.  We'll do some fun stuff next time.  Leave nickname suggestions if you want and I'll see you at the Alola Photo Club for forced picture taking.

 

[lVergill]

Oh! I have some! I don’t if the nicknames will be good or not since I never use that for my Pokémon. xD

[NyxAvatar69]

5 hours ago, lVergill said:

Oh! I have some! I don’t if the nicknames will be good or not since I never use that for my Pokémon. xD

There are no bad suggestions, but I'm currently on Ula'ula Island, so...you know.  I still have 5 episodes of backlogged episodes to post on here :P

[lVergill]

Damn, what Pokémon do you want me to name? >.<

[NyxAvatar69]

Just now, lVergill said:

Damn, what Pokémon do you want me to name? >.<

I don't know.  I still have a few spots left for encounters, like Haina Desert after Ghost trial, Tapu Village, the route near Po Town, the static Frillish and Sandygast.  I can't remember any other spots at the moment.

[lVergill]

Wow, you are that far already!? o.o

Well, tell me what you captured then I can think for like 50~10 second for the best name! Even better then I Like Cereal! xD

[NyxAvatar69]

1 minute ago, lVergill said:

Wow, you are that far already!? o.o

Well, tell me what you captured then I can think for like 50~10 second for the best name! Even better then I Like Cereal! xD

Prepare yourself for a long list.
Starter: Tiny the Litten

Route 1 Proper: Spark Plug the Grubbin/Charjabug/Vikavolt (Yes, I'm past Blush Mountain)

Route 1: Hau'oli Outskirts: Master Derp the Slowpoke

Route 1: Trainer's School - Class Act the Meowth/Persian

Hau'oli City: Magneto the Magnemite

Route 2: Styles the Furfrou

Hau'oli Cemetery: Spooky the Gastly

Verdant Cavern: Bloodwing the Zubat

Route 3: Buzz Buzz the Cutiefly

Melemele Meadow: Butterwing the Caterpie

Seaward Cave: Hips the Smoochum

Ten Carat Hill: Danger Zone the Mawile

Route 4: Toucan Sarah the Pikipek

Paniola Ranch: Amphy the Mareep

Day Care Egg: Hex the Eevee (Placeholder name)

Route 5: Watchdog the Lillipup

Brooklet Hill: Mailbird the Wingull/Pelipper

Route 6: Dance Fever the Oricorio

Route 7: Blue Shrimp the Magikarp

Wela Volcano Park: Mother the Cubone/Marowak

Route 8: Gumshoe the Yungoos

Lush Jungle: Miror B. the Bonsly

Route 9: Coralite the Corsola

Memorial Hill: Deadwood the Phantump

Akala Outskirts: Tuff Fluff the Stufful

Static Bewear in Mememele (post Olivia): Haruyo the Bewear

The Theiving Hypno: Lullaby the Hypno

Kala'e Bay, the forgotten area: Joey the Rattata

Fossil 1: Extinction the Archen

Fossil 2: Lord Dome the Kabuto

Hano Beach: Nothing.  Mailbird instakilled the Sandygast with Air Cutter.  Should've Quick Ball'd it.

Malie Garden: Spiderman the Ariados

Malie City Outer Cape: 50 Shades of Trubbish

Route 10: Ms. Fowl the Fearow

Mount Hokulani: Cosmos the Minior

Route 11: Des Koala the Komala

Route 12: Rockzilla the Graveler

Blush Mountain: Muddy the Mudbray

Tapu Village: X

Haunted Thrifty Megamart (post trial, praying for Mimikyu but might end up with Shuppet): X

Haina Desert (post Mimikyu): X

Route 14 Static Frillish: X

Route 14 Sandygast encounter because Ultra Moon: X

Route 15: X

Route 16 (Ula'ula Meadow?): X

Route 17: X

And then because Aether Foundation 2, I don't get any encounters after that until Poni Island.

[lVergill]

Mystery the Mimikyu

[NyxAvatar69]

8 hours ago, lVergill said:

Mystery the Mimikyu

Sounds like a good name...but I'm pretty sure that Mimikyu is a rare encounter (not nearly as bad as Larvesta's 1% encounter rate in Lush Jungle and no other area in the entire game).  If I do get it, I'll give it that name.

[lVergill]

 

1 minute ago, NyxAvatar69 said:

Sounds like a good name...but I'm pretty sure that Mimikyu is a rare encounter (not nearly as bad as Larvesta's 1% encounter rate in Lush Jungle and no other area in the entire game).  If I do get it, I'll give it that name.

I know...

It took me a while to get it so picking a name would be difficult without knowing now. We can talk in discord after I arrive home so when you capture it, I can name it right there. =3

[NyxAvatar69]

8 hours ago, lVergill said:

 

I know...

It took me a while to get it so picking a name would be difficult without knowing now. We can talk in discord after I arrive home so when you capture it, I can name it right there. =3

Yeaaaah, about that.

Because of dupes clause, I'm more than likely to get Shuppet or possibly Klefki over Mimikyu, and I don't have nowhere near enough Totem Stickers to get the totem sized one.