Right then, obedience. Not a mechanic I've ever "had" to learn about in much detail, because I very rarely play any of the games in a way that makes it relevant. I once used the traded Onix you get in Violet City in a Gen 2 playthrough, and I wanted to use Hisuian Growlithe in a run of Violet so I had to cheese Bloodmoon Ursaluna with a team of high-level disobedient ghosts in order to get it... and I think that's it? So I've not much experience of being ignored by my own Pokémon. Thankfully there are people on the internet who know more than me.
I knew it was possible for Pokémon to choose a different move from the one you selected, but I didn't know that stopped being a thing after Gen 4. (Not that Phart would've had any different moves to choose anyway.) So according to this table, there are 6 actions a Pokémon can take when it disobeys you in USUM: it can fall asleep, hit itself as though it were taking confusion damage, or simply skip its turn, with the last one coming in 4 exciting flavours. Cosmog can't learn Snore or Sleep Talk, so that seventh tick is not relevant here.
That's all well and good, but what are the actual odds of Phart disobeying me? Bulbapedia's obedience formulae only go up to Gen 4, so I have to look elsewhere, but I did come across
this post here on Smogon by Amras Anarion that has the most-likely obedience formula for Gen 5 onwards. A bit of fiddling around in Excel later, I cobbled together a chart that (hopefully) shows the obedience rates at each level and for each number of Stamps earned by defeating the kahunas.
I know it cuts off at the bottom, but it wouldn't all fit on the screen at once, and those missing values aren't relevant to me. If Phart reaches Lv. 92 before Olivia I will actually eat my game cartridge.
So as it stands, with one kahuna defeated and Phart at Lv. 36, it has a 48.61% chance of obeying me, which seems about accurate. I wasn't recording the exact rate of obedience/disobedience in the last part, but if you told me it was about 50:50, I'd believe you based on my experience. It also looks like the obedience rate will get a bit lower if it grows to Lv. 37 before Olivia, but not to any degree that I'd expect to notice, so that should be fine.
Referring to the linked post once again, when a Pokémon does decide to disobey, it seems as though the game starts by calculating if the Pokémon will take a nap. In Phart's case, as a Pokémon one level above the obedience cap, there is a 1 in 256 chance it will decide to put its non-existent feet up. Failing that, the game then runs the check to see if the Pokémon will hit itself in confusion - it uses the same formula as the taking-a-nap check, but with an extra x2 multiplier, so Phart would have a 1 in 128 chance of hitting itself in the face. If that also fails to happen, then the Pokémon simply chooses an action that skips its turn, apparently at random.
I'm not 100% certain I've read things correctly, so I decide to do a bit of testing to confirm. I get into fights with 5 separate wild Buneary, have Phart use Splash all 40 times in each fight, and record how often it disobeyed and what actions it took when it was acting up.
In total, Phart disobeyed me 201 times while using 200 Splashes, putting its obedience rate at 49.88%, which is very close to the actual rate of 48.61%. Its choices of actions were as follows:
- 56 turns where it was loafing around
- 49 turns where it pretended not to notice
- 49 turns where it turned away
- 47 turns where it wouldn't obey
- 0 turns where it hurt itself in confusion
- 0 turns where it took a nap
It seems I got a bit lucky having Phart avoid the last two options throughout all those turns, but they
are very unlikely to happen, so I don't doubt the formula or anything.
In summary: when Phart is disobedient, it has a <50% chance to attack. When it decides not to attack, it will usually just skip its turn, with a very small chance of falling asleep or hitting itself in confusion. For every level it gains past the obedience cap, the odds of it choosing sleep/confusion increase slightly, and the overall odds of it obeying me decrease slightly.
Right, enough of that. Something about a grand trial?
There are still 3 Trainers I need to defeat here before I can move on to Olivia, the first of whom is a Fisherman staring out to sea.
Fisherman Vernon
Wishiwashi Lv24 (Aqua Ring/Brine/Take Down, Ability: Schooling, IVs: 30/15/30/15/30/15)
As this Wishiwashi has reached Lv. 20, it immediately transforms into the far more fearsome School Form, meaning Phart will not be doing much damage even if it does obey me.
I use an X Attack, and Wishiwashi uses Aqua Ring in response, not attacking just yet. Phart's first Struggle only does about 20%, not enough given Aqua Ring is active, and Take Down deals 18 damage in response. So I use another X Attack, followed by a Lemonade as Phart dips into yellow HP, lest it get oblierated by Brine. The second Struggle knocks Wishiwashi into yellow, but Phart requires healing again afterwards. Another Struggle can't quite KO, but it does cause Schooling to deactivate, weakening Wishiwashi to the point where Phart can spend 3 turns ignoring me before KOing with a final Struggle.
That was trickier than I expected, but I suppose it did have 620 BST. I pick up the Leech Life TM just past Vernon, heal Phart back to full, then take on the next challenger.
Black Belt Kenji
Crabrawler Lv25 (Leer/Pursuit/Bubble Beam/Power-Up Punch, Adamant nature, IVs: 15/31/15/15/15/15, EVs: 252 Atk)
Phart is immediately struck by Pursuit, falling to 90/110 HP, and pretends not to hear me for 2 turns before eventually Struggling, dealing about 20% once again. That's not really enough, so I use a Lemonade and an X Attack, and once Phart decides to attack again, it leaves Crabrawler in range of a KO. Actually getting that KO takes a few more turns of grumpy pouting, but Phart finally knocks it out with a third Struggle.
I stop for a bit of foraging in the grass, picking up two Tiny Mushrooms and a Big Mushroom before heading on to the Ruins of Life. But I don't get very far, as my criminal past soon catches up to me.
By "criminal past", I of course mean my past experiences beating the snot out of wannabe criminals, not any rule-breaking on my part. Word of my exploits has reached Plumeria, Team Skull's resident big sister, and she's tracked me down to deliver some payback.
Team Skull Admin Plumeria
Golbat Lv26 (Poison Fang/Wing Attack/Confuse Ray, Ability: Inner Focus, Jolly nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Salandit Lv27 (Flame Burst/Dragon Rage/Poison Gas, Ability: Corrosion, Hasty nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
I know by now that a disobedient Phart is not going to be winning without X items, so I lead with an X Defense and an X Attack. Golbat lands a Confuse Ray and a Wing Attack, dealing 10 damage, but as you'd expect, the combination of disobedience and confusion makes it very difficult for Phart to attack. It eventually deals 20%-ish with Struggle, so I use a second X Attack while Phart handily dodges a couple of Wing Attacks. The second Struggle does more respectable damage, though it takes another 6 turns before Phart can land another blow, and it falls just short of KOing Golbat. Another Lemonade and some loafing around later, Golbat finally faints, bringing out Salandit.
With Phart on 52/110 HP, Struggle will KO it if Salandit uses Dragon Rage, so I heal it up once more as it dodges a Poison Gas. It can't dodge two in a row, though, and after knocking Salandit into yellow with Struggle, a Flame Burst leaves Phart in KO range again. Luckily, a single Lemonade is all that's needed for Phart to use a second Struggle and defeat Salandit, ending the battle just shy of Lv. 37.
Plumeria flounces off somewhere, and I trail after her to go and buy more X items - it turns out using them in every single battle causes them to run out quite quickly. But it's only the X Attacks that are
really running low, so I just buy 10 more of them and head back to Akala Outskirts.
Can't I just complete my grand trial in peace? At least Burnet clears off fairly quickly to go watch the Masked Royal. Lillie, on the other hand, has the audacity to fully heal Phart without asking. Yeah, thanks.
And here comes Olivia at the worst possible moment. However, she's kind enough to let me decline the battle so I can get ready, which in my case means telling Phart to use Splash several dozen times and having it pretend not to hear me around 50% of those times.
Once that's out of the way, the battle can finally begin. Let's hope I don't get silently healed again like when I fought Hala.
Island Kahuna Olivia
Items: Super Potion, Full Heal
Anorith Lv27 (Bug Bite/Smack Down/Metal Claw, Ability: Battle Armor, Careful nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Lileep Lv27 (Giga Drain/Ancient Power/Brine, Ability: Suction Cups, Impish nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Def / 252 SpD)
Midnight Form Lycanroc Lv28 @ Rockium Z (Bite/Rock Tomb, Ability: Vital Spirit, Adamant nature, IVs: All 30, EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe)
Phart's PP remains at zero this time, which is good news. I'm honestly not too worried about this fight, as Olivia's team consists of straightforward damage-dealers with no status trickery, and I've got enough Moomoo Milks to last a lifetime. Actually getting Phart to cooperate may be a problem though.
The battle begins with us facing down a washed-up decrepit old fossil, who sends out her Anorith. Bug Bite will obviously sting a bit, so I open with 3 X Defenses. Phart is on 56/110 HP after this, with Bug Bite dealing 12 damage at +6 Defense - a crit will hurt, but it shouldn't KO from full or anything. After a quick Lemonade, I start putting on the X Attacks, followed by a Dire Hit (which won't work against Anorith thanks to Battle Armor, but her other Pokémon will certainly feel it). One more Lemonade, then an X Speed to outpace Olivia's entire team, and Phart is ready for (in)action.
It actually chooses to land Struggle on the first attempt, leaving Anorith just above red HP, but it needs a Lemonade to bring itself out of KO range. Olivia of course uses this as an opportunity for her Super Potion, fully healing the Struggle damage. Phart then uses a second Struggle, but loses interest by the third attempt and refuses to obey. Another Lemonade later, it regains that interest and uses Struggle once more, KOing Anorith.
That 48.61% chance it had to obey me has now fallen to 47.30%. Probably too small for my human brain to notice, but it certainly doesn't help matters.
Olivia sends in her ace Lycanroc next, a nice change of pace from all the games where opponents are often forced to save their Mega/Dynamax/Tera for last. I don't know how much damage it'll deal, so I heal Phart to full again... which proves to be a very wise choice, as it immediately goes for Continental Crush. Sure, it only deals 18 damage, but a critical hit would've been a guaranteed KO had I not healed.
Phart chooses to loaf around as Lycanroc uses Rock Tomb, slowing down Phart to the point where Lycanroc outspeeds it. Not good when Bite has a 30% flinch chance. Still, Phart manages to hit it with Struggle straight afterwards, taking out 60%-ish of its HP. Once it's healed back up to full, Phart dodges Lycanroc's next Bite and obeys long enough to hit with another Struggle, taking the big scary dog thing out of the fight.
Last up is Lileep, the only special attacker on Olivia's team, though you'd be forgiven for thinking otherwise given the lack of Sp. Atk EVs and the
Impish nature. A deliberate nerf, or an accidental oversight? It's hard to tell sometimes.
Whatever the case, I heal Phart to full to gauge the strength of its attacks. Giga Drain, its strongest attack, deals 16 damage to Phart, and it doesn't even have any Sp. Def boosts offsetting that damage. So I decide to just go on the offensive, not bothering with any more X items. Unfortunately Phart is not on board with my plans, and spends several turns pouting and ignoring me before finally using Struggle, landing a possible 2HKO if the damage rolls are kind to me. The Lemonades continue to flow while Phart messes around some more, and at last, Lileep gets hit by a second Struggle, KOing it and winning the battle!
Not nearly as bad as Hala's grand trial, but my resources were more limited back then and Phart didn't have such a big level advantage. Still, the main reward is that it's now obedient again, at least until Lv. 51.
Olivia shows off another fancy Z-Move pose that I won't need, then has a talk with Lillie about the enigmatic gasbag known as Nebby.
Yes, and you don't get shitstomped by them every day either, but here we are.
Hau shows up for his own grand trial next, and Lillie sticks around to watch, apparently not keen on following me to Hano Grand Resort to meet up with the Aether Foundation people. It's not like I'm in any rush to track down Faba either, not while there are Trainers to fight around the resort.
A bit of beach-combing here unearths 3 Pearls, 2 Soda Pops and 2 Heart Scales. But more importantly, there's a fair few Swimmers knocking about in the water, so I'll sink my teeth into them now. The first one is right next to a soggy Antidote.
Swimmer Chelsea
Pyukumuku Lv26 (Safeguard/Counter/Purify/Curse, Ability: Innards Out, IVs: All 15)
This one might be a bit tricky, as a well-timed Counter can KO Phart from full HP if it hits Pyukumuku hard enough, and if it doesn't, then it still has to be mindful of Innards Out. But since Pyukumuku doesn't actually have any conventional damaging moves, I decide to save my brainpower and just fully stall it out by spamming useless Full Heals, letting it burn through 75 PP and KO itself via Struggle. Hardly the most interesting gameplay, but it works. Maybe the next Trainer will be a little more conventional?
Swimmer Roddy
Gyarados Lv25 (Bite/Thrash/Leer/Twister, Ability: Intimidate, IVs: All 15)
Conventional, yes, but a bit stronger than I'd hoped. Gyarados immediately uses Thrash, hitting for a decent 24 damage, while Phart's Struggle proves to be pathetic in comparison. I have to use a Lemonade, and Gyarados gets confused after the second Thrash, though it still manages to Leer on the next turn (which Phart dodges) as I use an X Attack. The next Struggle hits harder but still doesn't do much, I use a second Lemonade, and Gyarados causes Phart to flinch with Bite. Things get a bit worse when it lands a Leer, making its attacks hit harder, but Phart manages to squeeze out 4 more Struggles between frequent heals to win the battle.
Once I've picked up a Dive Ball, it's on to the next battle.
Swimmer Laura
Goldeen Lv25 (Flail/Water Pulse/Aqua Ring/Fury Attack, IVs: All 15)
Staryu Lv25 (Swift/Bubble Beam/Camouflage/Gyro Ball, IVs: All 15)
Goldeen sets up Aqua Ring straight away, and Phart's Struggle only looks like a 5HKO, even worse than that once Goldeen restores some HP. Things look better when the next two Struggles land critical hits, but that leaves Phart on a mere 9 HP, so I stop for a refreshing bottle of milk before Phart uses two more Struggles for the KO. I use another Moomoo Milk once Staryu comes out, who falls victim to a fairly swift 4HKO from Struggle. To be fair, the AI fucked it over by trying to use Camouflage twice, in an attempt to turn it from a Water type into, um, a Water type. Now, who's next?
Swimmer Lawrence
Red-Striped Basculin Lv25 (Take Down/Crunch/Aqua Tail/Soak, IVs: All 15)
Poliwhirl Lv25 (Bubble/Double Slap/Rain Dance/Body Slam, IVs: All 15)
Another fairly heavy hitter in the form of Basculin, though it instantly neuters itself by using Soak, causing Phart to resist its Aqua Tail and take neutral damage from Crunch. Nice move. Phart manages a 5HKO with help from a couple of Lemonades, growing to Lv. 38 in the process and bringing Poliwhirl into the fray. It opens with Rain Dance as I use a Moomoo Milk, and while its Body Slams do force me to heal Phart again, they don't save it from a second 5HKO.
I come across some Black Glasses on a little island, then, in a slight change of pace, challenge a Black Belt instead of yet another Swimmer.
I wish I could stand on rocks like that. The sequence-breaking potential would be enormous.
Black Belt Ross
Mankey Lv26 (Seismic Toss/Swagger/Cross Chop/Assurance, Adamant nature, IVs: 15/31/15/15/15/15, EVs: 252 Atk)
Not bad for generic level-up moves. Mankey outspeeds and takes Phart down to 90/116 HP with Assurance, while Struggle does about a third of its HP in return. It uses Swagger as I heal up Phart, but rather than causing it to hit itself in confusion, it simply results in the second Struggle nearly KOing Mankey. A third and final Struggle does it in, a belated critical hit on Assurance not proving enough to fell Phart. One last Trainer before I'm done with beach battles.
Swimmer Alicia
Pelipper Lv25 (Mist/Water Pulse/Payback/Brine, Ability: Drizzle, IVs: All 15)
Pelipper opens with Mist, Phart uses Struggle twice and does very little. However, Pelipper speed ties Phart, and it moves on the second turn
after Phart has recoiled itself to half HP, very nearly KOing it with a rain-boosted 130-power Brine. Oops! Time to heal up. I play a bit more cautiously until the rain expires, then let Phart get a bit more Struggle-happy. Even then, a critical hit on Brine at an untimely moment manages to reduce Phart to 1 HP, with it only surviving thanks to its affection bonus kicking in. After I heal it one last time, it defeats Pelipper with a seventh Struggle, finishing off the last Trainer after a messy fight.
I manage to ninja my way between a couple of angry Tentacool to pick up a Pearl String in the water, but they still just ambush me right afterwards. Luckily there's nothing stopping me from fleeing the encounters.
Tourists apparently don't like seeing Pyukumuku all over the beach, so they're hiring people to chuck them back into the water when they wander ashore. Completing my shift is simply a matter of tracking down 6 Pyukumuku along the beach and tossing them off into the distant sea - it's a slippery gooey job, but someone's got to do it. I get paid a cool $20,000 for helping out, and I can come back once a day to repeat the work, making it a nice source of income if I need it.
Now done with Hano Beach, I double back to the outside of Hano Grand Resort, where I receive a Rose Incense after watching a mock-wedding between two Pikachu. I also come across another Pikachu, this one seemingly some sort of celebrity, being bothered by a nosy Reporter.
Reporter Rita
Miltank Lv26 (Milk Drink/Bide/Rollout/Body Slam, IVs: All 20)
Milk Drink and Bide present a bit of a dilemma: either don't boost Phart's Attack and fail to break through it, or boost Phart's Attack and risk getting splatted by Bide. I start with an X Defense instead, since Body Slam might hurt no matter what, and Miltank uses Bide. This gives me a chance to use an X Attack and get a free hit in, which sadly only does about 20%. So I try another X Attack, and Miltank locks itself into Rollout, dealing 3 damage. Phart gets in 2 Struggles before Rollout misses, bringing both Pokémon into the red, and I heal Phart as Miltank uses Milk Drink. It then goes for Rollout again, and by hitting 3 times in a row, it can't use Milk Drink to prevent Phart from 3HKOing this time.
Rita runs off, leaving Master Chuuster to express his gratitude by gifting me a Pikanium Z and teaching me the pose. I mean, even if I
did want to use a Pikachu, I'd just give it a Light Ball, but thanks anyway?
Faba's waiting for me in the lobby, as promised. He'd like to whisk me away to Aether Paradise to show me how cool it is, but I've still got battles to complete, so he gets very stroppy when I decline his request for now. I'll let him seethe for a bit while I finish up here. First on my list is a battle against a travelling songwriter.
Veteran Kiara
Trumbeak Lv27 (Echoed Voice/Supersonic/Screech/Growl, Ability: Keen Eye, Modest nature, IVs: 30/15/15/30/15/30, EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe)
The musical theme is cute, but it might get dangerous if it chooses Echoed Voice enough times. Trumbeak leads with Growl and renders Struggle almost useless, so I use a Dire Hit to bypass the Attack drop. It then opts for Supersonic, and Phart hits itself once before dealing a decent chunk with Struggle. Phart does need healing after this, and though another Struggle brings Trumbeak into the red, it's now hitting quite hard with Echoed Voice. However, the AI blows it by trying to reapply Supersonic instead of continuing the Echoed Voice chain, letting Phart KO with one more Struggle. We receive a Metronome as our prize for winning.
The next Trainer is a bit like the man with the Clamperl from the last part, in that you need to use a Z-Move during the battle to properly "complete" it for the purpose of the sidequest. So I fly back home once again, heal up, find a Buneary, use Splash 39 times, fly back, give Phart a Normalium Z, then proceed with the battle.
Dancer Ronda
Crabrawler Lv26 (Power-Up Punch/Pursuit/Dizzy Punch, Impish nature, IVs: All 31, EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpD)
Crabrawler gets in a Dizzy Punch before the Z-Splash, knocking Phart down to 96/116 HP, and Struggle only manages a 3HKO despite the +3 Attack. Even so, a couple of Lemonades helps Phart emerge victorious, and we receive a whopping 5 Full Heals for inspiring Crabrawler to show a little more confidence.
Phart ditches the Normalium Z for its Eviolite before we move on to the final battle, a couple of Golfers who are getting a bit too excited over a Machamp's muscles. Unfortunately, they're not willing to take turns battling me...
"Are you even serious about this? You've only got one Pokémon that can fight!"
"There's no point in even battling someone like you!"
Retrieving Ralts from the PC is easy enough, so I'm back and ready to battle in no time at all.
Golf Buddies Tara and Tina
Pom-Pom Style Oricorio Lv26 (Feather Dance/Double Slap/Air Cutter, Ability: Dancer, IVs: All 20)
Pa'u Style Oricorio Lv26 (Feather Dance/Double Slap/Air Cutter, Ability: Dancer, IVs: All 20)
Odds are one of them will use Feather Dance at some point, and the other one will immediately use it as well via Dancer, so I lead with a Dire Hit to ignore the Attack drops. Ralts is quickly taken out by Air Cutter, and Phart falls to 71/116 HP after the second Air Cutter scores a crit. I heal it with a Soda Pop, but two Air Cutters bring it back to where it was, so I try Struggle next. It deals a paltry 20% to the Pa'u Oricorio, and I can't even increase that damage because X Attacks won't be able to offset the Feather Dance drops. Not good.
Instead, I try healing Phart to full again and using an X Sp. Def - not a perfect strategy given Air Cutter's high critical-hit ratio, but it does help. After a couple more X Sp. Defs, Phart is only taking 4 damage from each Air Cutter, a notable improvement. This gives it the chance to land a Struggle on each Oricorio as they switch to using Double Slap. A couple of Moomoo Milks later, Phart manages to KO the Pa'u Oricorio with a lucky Struggle.
The battle is much easier from this point onwards, with Phart still needing a couple of Lemonades but otherwise having no issue landing a 5HKO on the remaining Oricorio. The Golfers depart after their loss, the mood ruined for them, and the "Machamp" reveals itself to be a man in a costume, trying to earn some cash by acting as a Machamp caddy. Somehow he was able to pass as a real Machamp. Surely any costume
that convincing would cost far more money than he could ever hope to earn? He gives me the Attract TM and tells me to clear off so as not to blow his cover.
I'm now essentially done with Akala Island, the only things I haven't touched being a few sidequests that lead to wild Pokémon encounters. Given that they're not Trainer battles, the items they reward me with aren't very useful,
and they'd award Phart with more Exp. Points and push it closer to disobeying me, I'm choosing to skip over them. But I do stop to revive the fossils I bought earlier, adding a bit more variety to my PC boxes and Poké Pelago.
Two islands down, two (plus Aether Paradise) to go! I have to say, I've been a bit surprised by how easy I found Akala Island relative to what I was expecting. There have been some challenges, of course (the Battle Royal springs to mind), but it's mostly been a case of "spam X items, use healing items, spam Struggle, use healing items" until the opponent is dead. I suppose that's partly because of all the extra resources that I've had access to post-Melemele: Mantine Surf, better Festival Plaza facilities (which now cover pretty much every healing item I use), Poké Pelago, things like the Eviolite, more money from fighting more Trainers, Pyukumuku-chucking, and probably other stuff I've forgotten. The only things I've really needed to buy from regular shops are X items.
Still, I don't think I'll be changing my playing style. Phart will probably just lose if I don't pump X items into it during important fights, and with Splash as its only move, it's not like I can play it any differently. Well,
technically I could go full item spam and let its opponents KO themselves with Struggle instead of having Phart do it - and that might actually be a better strategy when it starts to disobey again - but it's not like that would make things any less repetitive or tedious. So I'll just slog on as usual. After all, this was never meant to be about "fun".
