Nuzlocke An Alola Chapter of Summer Scramble Nuzlocke (2024 edition)

SAF · Jul 14, 2024

Howdy! Your girl SAF is back with more Summer Scramble Nuzlocke -- this time set in Alola. Before we start, allow me to lay the rules out as per the event thread:

Emulators are allowed

I mean, it's my only option--

Catch the first Pokémon you encounter on each route, if it faints you lose your encounter for that route

Dupe clause is on, if you encounter a line you've already caught you get 3 attempts at finding a Pokémon from a line you haven't caught yet, if you don't find one within 3 attempts you lose your encounter for that route

If a Pokémon faints in battle it is considered dead and must be released or boxed for the duration of the run

I prefer boxing the fallen mons, thank you very much.

Battle style is set, for games that do not have this option say no whenever asked if you want to switch out

Items in battle are allowed

Everyone on your team have to play a different game

This means my fellow magical peeps need to go for another game for their nuzlocke runs.

Just like last year, I'll record my encounters and other whatnots in this site and copy it in the spoiler tag below. Screenshots of the original tracker will also be provided in my posts.

Starter: Azura the Popplio Brionne

Route 1: Katy the Grubbin

Hau'oli Outskirts: Pollo the Wingull

Trainers' School: Giacomo the Alolan Meowth

Hau'oli City: Lavender the Mime Jr. Mr. Mime

Route 2: Linhardt the Drowzee

Hau'oli Cemetery: Agatha the Gastly

Verdant Cavern: Noire the Alolan Rattata

Route 3: Allen the Cutiefly

Melemele Meadow: Viola the Caterpie Metapod Butterfree

Seaward Cave: Camilla the Smoochum

Ten Carat Hill: Arval the Carbink

For the record, I'm playing as a girl named Sienna (not to be confused with one of Pokemon Desolation's MCs) in Ultra Moon. Given USUM MC's age range and backstory, it is safe to say that Sienna's adventure here takes place prior to the events in Desolation.

New Kid at Melemele (Melemele 1/3)

First Trial (Melemele 2/3)

First Grand Trial (Melemele 3/3)

Well, if you'll excuse me, I need to actually play the game.

SAF · Jul 22, 2024

Sienna's Journey part 1: New Kid at Melemele

Embrace the dark you call a home,
Gaze upon an empty, white throne
A legacy of lies,
A familiar disguise

Sing with me a song of conquest and fate
The black pillar cracks beneath its weight
Night breaks through the day, hard as a stone
Lost in thoughts all alone

I started my game as a princess named Sienna. For some reason Sienna had a dream of friends and foes claiming to be her siblings in a battlefield...

...which was weird, because she didn't even remember having siblings to begin with. Made even weirder when, instead of the Northern Fortress in Nohr, she woke up at her new home in Alola. And she's no princess either -- Sienna and her mom recently moved to Alola from... what, Kanto? So yeah, wrong game prologue.

I'm honestly not sure whether she's a slugabed or just trying to not be a nocturnal...

Also, rude kitty.

Anyway, mommy dearest had Sienna check the nearby Iki Town out... only to be ambushed by a Yungoos and had to be rescued by three cuties: a round owl, a cat, and a sea lion. Professor Kukui then caught up with everyone and had her pick a partner out of these three cuties. So who did she choose? Azura the sea lion Popplio.

Aww~

The thing about Azura is, she's actually a gift from the kahuna -- to whom the professor directed Sienna next. But then she met this boy named Hau who chose the cat Litten and, like Shauna in my last year nuzlocke, jumped straight into a battle. I mean, I'd love to say this was a Scratch/Pound fest, but apparently it's no longer the case with Ember and Water Gun in the mix.

Welp, sorry catto.

Once the three entered Iki Town, it seemed like the kahuna wasn't there at the moment. Sienna went to check the Ruins of Conflict out, north from the little town, where she met a girl in white begging her to save Nebby. Poor thing was attacked by a flock of Spearow on the bridge.

Unlike in SuMo, the Spearow is actually fightable here.

Long story short, both Sienna and Nebby were safe thanks to Tapu Koko -- the local guardian deity. The girl in white introduced herself as Lillie before the girls returned to town. And yes, Sienna got to meet Kahuna Hala by then.

The next evening, Professor Kukui fetched Sienna for a festival held at Iki Town. He also taught her how to catch a Pokémon along the way, thus netting her Katy the Grubbin. And speaking of festival, turned out that Sienna was there not just as a guest -- she was the freakin' guest star participating in a friendly match against Hau. Both children started out with their newcomers: Katy vs Hau's Pichu. Vice Grip pitted against Thunderbolt and the Pichu was downed at the second Vice Grip. Then it's back to starter vs starter with the same result as last time.

Yeah, Hau, it's already over. Sorry.

One blessing from Tapu Koko (or so the townsfolk interpreted) later, the kahuna gave Sienna her own Z-Power Ring -- never mind that it looked more like a bracelet than a ring. With it, she would be ready to do some island-hopping as a part of the local rite of passage: the island challenge. The journey itself had to wait, however, considering the ongoing festival. So everyone partied and danced their feet off at the festival before calling it a day.

The day after the festival, Sienna got escorted again, this time by Lillie to Professor Kukui's lab, er, home, whatevs. From there, the girls went to the Trainers' School with the professor before heading to Hau'oli City with Hau. Also, Sienna got to befriend Pollo the Wingull and Giacomo the Alolan Meowth along the way.

Dark, darker, yet darker...

Upon arriving at Hau'oli City, the kids went to explore on their own. In Sienna's case, she caught Lavender the Mime Jr. and did a round of dress-up:

Looks good!

Current team

Name: Lavender
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Filter
Moves: Pound, Confusion, Copycat, Meditate

Name: Katy
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Swarm
Moves: Vice Grip, String Shot, Mud-Slap

Name: Pollo
Nature: Naughty
Ability: Hydration
Moves: Growl, Water Gun, Supersonic, Wing Attack

Name: Giacomo
Nature: Careful
Ability: Technician
Moves: Scratch, Growl, Bite, Fake Out

Name: Azura
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Torrent
Moves: Pound, Water Gun, Baby-Doll Eyes, Disarming Voice

PS: Names on the spoiler titles are the mons' in-game names.

SAF · Jul 27, 2024

Sienna's Journey part 2: First Trial

While exploring Hau'oli City, Sienna and Hau took some bandits Team Skull goons down. This, in turn, impressed the one and only trial captain at Melemele: Ilima. To be honest, he'd been rather curious about Sienna since her impromptu attendance at the Trainers' School, but this here at Hau'oli was where his curiosity peaked, thus leading to a battle. For his Yungoos, Azura took them on with Baby-Doll Eyes (to minimize the damage taken) followed by some Water Guns to get the whole battlefield wet. Also, his Smeargle came with Leafage, hence Sienna alternating between Katy, Giacomo, and Lavender to deal with the painter mon. Nobody died here, thankfully.

Indeed!

Moving on, Sienna heeded Ilima's suggestion to take on his trial at the Verdant Cavern which was a bit walk through Route 2. However, a random man showed her the Big Wave Beach near the motel at Route 2, thus delaying her trip a little with more Skull shenanigans ensuing. She also met Linhardt the Drowzee and Agatha the Gastly along the way. And oh, there were also these weird people in... white? Blue? Whatevs.

The trial of Ilima began upon Sienna's arrival at the Verdant Cavern. She had to deal with some rats -- two Rattatas and a Raticate, all three being Alolan -- only to stumble with those two troublemakers again. For this, the girl had Katy and Pollo to deal with both Rattatas, Agatha for the numskulls, and Lavender for the Raticate. And yes, Lavender learned Brick Break for this one (was expecting Giacomo to learn it instead but okay).

"I'd run if I were you."
Gee, thanks for the warning.

"Go stand over that den and catch that skulking Rattata, yo!"
"For real?! Fine! I got no bones to pick with you!"
Can I just love these stooges already?

Eventually, Sienna reached the totem den where she met the Totem Pokémon which was, lo and behold, another Alolan Raticate. Giacomo was sent out for his Fake Out first, then switched places with Azura for her ever-reliable Disarming Voice and a last-minute Aqua Jet for the final blow. And oh, did I tell you that two rounds of the Popplio's Baby-Doll Eyes also helped mitigating the totem's damage output?

Hip hip, hooray!

Now that her business here was over, Sienna made her way out. Yet for some reason Noire the Alolan Rattata wanted to tag along. Welp, okay.

Current team

Name: Lavender
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Filter
Moves: Brick Break, Confusion, Copycat, Meditate

Name: Katy
Nature: Lonely
Ability: Swarm
Moves: Vice Grip, Bug Bite, Mud-Slap, Bite

Name: Pollo
Nature: Naughty
Ability: Hydration
Moves: Growl, Water Gun, Mist, Wing Attack

Name: Giacomo
Nature: Careful
Ability: Technician
Moves: Fury Swipes, Growl, Bite, Fake Out

Name: Azura
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Torrent
Moves: Aqua Jet, Icy Wind, Baby-Doll Eyes, Disarming Voice

Name: Agatha
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Curse, Mean Look

PS: Names on the spoiler titles are the mons' in-game names.

SAF · Aug 2, 2024

Sienna's Journey part 3: First Grand Trial

As soon as Sienna got out from the Verdant Cavern, a Lillie hunting ensued. Turned out she was at the Melemele Meadow, looking for Nebby. Said Cosmog turned out to be inside Seaward Cave for some reason. Also, while looking for Lillie (and by extension, Nebby), Sienna got more mons:

Allen the Cutiefly at Route 3;

Viola the Caterpie at Melemele Meadow; and

Camilla the Smoochum in the Seaward Cave.

Some of her mons even evolved along the way:

Lavender into Mr. Mime;

Viola into Metapod and Butterfree (yes, she evolved that quickly); and

Azura into Brionne.

And oh, apparently it's not just Nebby whom Sienna found in the cave -- those two weird people too. No, they weren't those Skull goons from before considering these two had previously introduced themselves as Phyco and Soliera. The latter then randomly challenged Sienna to a battle with her Furfrou whom Lavender quickly took care of.

Then how did things work back in your hometown?

With Lillie and Nebby found, the girls returned to Route 3, though not without Hau challenging Sienna out of the blue. Again. This time his Litten was out first. However, since Azura wasn't around, Sienna had to rely on Pollo's Water Pulse for this one. When Hau sent his Pikachu out (likely because Pollo is weak to electric-type), Allen immediately took over with his Silver Wind and Struggle Bug. And finally, Camilla blew a Powder Snow on Hau's Noibat.

Too bad that's not enough.

With that out of the way, the next thing to do was to partake in the grand trial where a trial-goer would fight against a kahuna. In this case, it means visiting Hala back at Iki Town. Sienna and Hala kicked the match off with Allen and Machop respectively. The latter's Revenge wasn't as effective as it would if Hala already had someone KO'd beforehand. No wonder Allen's Draining Kiss took the Machop down easily. Hala's next mon, Makuhita, was poisoned by Viola's Poison Powder which was then followed up by Gust (Viola missed her Confusion by the time of her second evolution). And then there's the kahuna's Crabrawler who did two rounds of Leer followed with a Pursuit on the assumption that Sienna would switch mons (it was indeed the case with Lavender). Too bad that didn't happen with Azura as she kept up with her Disarming Voice despite her lowered defense from Crabrawler's Leer.

Welp, good game indeed.

Now that Sienna got a Ride Pager with Tauros Ride preloaded in it, one last thing for Sienna to do was the obligatory visit to Ten Carat Hill and Alola Photo Club at Hau'oli. Why Ten Carat Hill? Because Sienna wanted to grab the Flyinium Z sitting on a cliff overlooking the Farthest Hollow with Arval the Carbink being the bonus. And why Alola Photo Club? Because Ilima suggested to check it out while waiting for Hau to finish his grand trial before setting off to Akala via Mantine Surf.

Current team

Name: Lavender
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Filter
Moves: Brick Break, Psywave, Mimic, Meditate

Name: Camilla
Nature: Hardy
Ability: Forewarn
Moves: Pound, Lick, Sweet Kiss, Powder Snow

Name: Allen
Nature: Quirky
Ability: Honey Gather
Moves: Silver Wind, Draining Kiss, Stun Spore, Struggle Bug

Name: Giacomo
Nature: Careful
Ability: Technician
Moves: Fury Swipes, Screech, Bite, Fake Out

Name: Azura
Nature: Jolly
Ability: Torrent
Moves: Aqua Jet, Icy Wind, Baby-Doll Eyes, Disarming Voice

Name: Agatha
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
Moves: Hypnosis, Lick, Curse, Night Shade

PS: Names on the spoiler titles are the mons' in-game names.