I’ve done a couple solo runs of Pokemon, and while they’re exciting Beedrill and Nuzleaf both turned into “find a way to set up and win”, even if Steven turned out to be quite the challenge in the latter one. For this challenge, I wanted to both do a game I haven’t done a run of before and do more of a story-based challenge. I’ve never done a run in the Ultra version of the Gen VII games, and taking into account that the developers made several of the new additions incredibly rare, I wanted to try and make a challenge around it. However, it would just be a normal run with different Pokemon otherwise, so I’m also going to do what I’ll call the “Tread Lightly” challenge. Part of the inspiration for this was from seeing SadisticMystic’s “Dexit” runs, and I thought doing this would be enough of a change-up to go a bit of a different route.
The story goes like this: the player has been recruited by Kukui to help him with his studies, and he wants us to find and study the rarest Pokemon in Alola to complete the Pokedex. He’s gotten most of the way there, but still has some corners of the Pokedex that he hasn’t been able to fill in. That’s where we come in; being a young, impressionable kid, we’re happy to go scout for those rare Pokemon with all the time we have on our hands. The thing is, Kukui is also an environmentalist and gives us strict instructions to leave as little impact on the ecosystem as possible - after all, being an island chain means extra care is needed.
The rules are as follows:
Looking at this sample encounter table for Route 4, we can see that Eevee is available at a 5% chance. No other Pokemon are rarer, therefore I can catch Eevee (and only Eevee). If two Pokemon are tied for the rarest, I can pick one to catch. If nothing on the route is rare enough, then I get nothing. From my initial scans of encounter tables, this appears to leave about half the locations in the game with a legal encounter of some kind.
Jumping into it, the best starter choice here is probably Litten. Even though it’s never going to be allowed to evolve, the fact that so many of our legal catches are going to be Water-types means this is almost a necessity. After defeating Hau in the first rival battle, we can head up to Mahalo Trail to find Lillie, the Professor’s other assistant, and save Nebby, encountering a scripted Spearow in the process. It has to be defeated to advance, so the experience is good to have. Nebby tries to teleport and almost gets us killed before being saved by Tapu Koko. Even five minutes into the adventure, rare Pokemon are already cropping up left and right.
After waking up the next day and sitting through the obligatory capture tutorial, we can make our first addition to the team: Pichu. It won’t be the biggest contributor because it’s, well, a Pichu, but it does come with Charm out of the gate which will be useful for later. I got lucky and it only took about five encounters to get one, and it’s even at Level 3, the higher end of the scale. Armed with my new team member, Iki Town can easily be reached to battle Hau at the festival with his own Pichu and Rowlet, who is trivial, giving me access to the Z-Ring. Kukui gives us the Island Challenge Amulet - no endorsement from someone famous needed here - before being interrupted by the space alien twins.
With the story exposition out of the way, we’re escorted to the lab to get our Pokedex Rotom-ized and ready to receive those rare Pokedex entries, along with briefing on our mission. Next up is the Trainers’ School, where we’re given the Exp. Share. Given that levels will become tougher and tougher to get as the run goes on, this is a very useful addition. The Quick Claw is also available here in case a lucky first move is needed, along with TM01 (Work Up) which can be taught to Litten for a boost if needed. Moving on to Hau’oli City, I’m gifted with the Poke Finder, which while it’s technically part of studying rare Pokemon, doesn’t do anything productive so I don’t need to care.
As for rare encounters, while they can be found more common elsewhere, you can actually catch Grimer in Hau’oli City at a 5% rate. We’ll say Kukui wants me to get the data for whatever the Alolan version of the EPA is. Wild Pokemon can’t be caught here until after Ilima is defeated, and he actually ended up being a challenge. The problem is that his Yungoos just hits way too hard with Tackle, especially after a Leer or two, leaving Litten with too little health to handle the Smeargle that comes in. To deal with this, I led with Pichu and just spammed Charm to get the Yungoos to -6 in Attack and was able to get it to -4 in Defense with Tail Whip as well before going down, getting a paralysis to stick in the process (Ilima has a Full Heal, so it needs to proc twice). With Yungoos properly neutered, Litten had enough time to set up to +6 with Work Up and take down Ilima’s team. Once Ilima has been defeated, I can go into the grass and get a rare urban Grimer at level 9, which comes with Poison Gas for spreading status and some decent moves.
Moving on to Route 2, a man calls me over to check out Big Wave Beach. Surfing doesn’t unlock until after clearing Hala’s trial, but the tutors for Shock Wave or Low Kick are here which could come in handy later. Neither this route nor Hau’oli Cemetery have any legal catches, so for the first trial our team is Litten, Pichu and Grimer. Approaching Verdant Cavern, Litten is at Level 14, just two levels off from where Double Kick could make a joke of this trial. The (TM for Brick Break is also here, but nothing on the team can learn it so it’s useless for now. When the Route 2 trainers and the trial Pokemon have been cleared, Litten comes out at Level 15, half a level off from where it could just sweep the whole thing. Thus, Pichu comes back out to be the designated Charm setter/death fodder to clear the way for the others.
Totem Raticate
Going up against the Totem, Pichu flinches on the first turn from Bite and doesn’t get to set Charm, but it does manage to get Static to stick on both opponents. Grimer comes out next to get whatever damage it can, which is marginal before it goes down to Fury Swipes. Litten comes out to finish the job, 3HKOing Raticate with Fire Fang and learning Double Kick from the victory to clinch the win. Admittedly, this was a battle in which I got quite lucky with Pichu getting a double activation from Static and multiple turns of full paralysis, but without that I probably would have had to fish for a 10% burn on Raticate to have enough turns to win. If it came down to it I could have just gone to battle the trainers in Hau’oli Cemetery, but it didn’t end up being necessary.
After clearing the trial, we get access to Route 3 after watching the Z-move tutorial. I should mention Berry trees here too, since there’s one behind the grass patch. Since Crabrawler have to be defeated to get the berries if they’re in the pile, and they aren’t a scripted encounter, that means any berry piles with a Crabrawler in them are inaccessible. Heading along the way, we get detoured into Melemele Meadow, where Nebby has wandered off again. We’ll also be adding a new team member here - Butterfree can appear at a 1% rate, a Pokemon almost tailor-made to defeat Hala. An interesting curiosity here - for Ultra Sun players, all the Pokemon in the meadow have a lower level bound of 9, but for Ultra Moon players, the level bound is 10. After what feels like an eternity, I finally get the Butterfree and can move on. Soliera battles us with a Furfrou, which is ridiculously bulky, but lucky Grimer gets Poison Gas to stick and it’s no problem. Pichu levels up to level 13 and learns Nasty Plot to actually be able to do some damage, and Litten levels up to level 17 to begin the B-pressing marathon.
Moving on to the second half of Route 3, perhaps one of the most infamous “rare Pokemon” spawns in recent memory becomes available - Bagon is available in the grass patch past the bridge at yet another 1% encounter rate. While it doesn’t get the terrifying power of its evolved form, it still boasts some useful resistances and a solid movepool. After the 20 minutes it took to catch Butterfree, I’m not looking forward to another long hunt, but that’s basically how long it took to catch Bagon. With that out of the way, I can finally go fight Hala and get off this island. As for Hala himself, the fight ended up being a lot tougher than anticipated. Even with the Sharp Beak from Route 3, Butterfree would just put Machop into healing range and with Focus Energy it was too unreliable, and Makuhita is even bulkier. Fortunately, there were trainers on Route 3 that I didn’t battle in the Growlithe trainer and the route boss (who is useful anyway since beating him gives Roost), so it was simple to go back for those.
Coming back with Butterfree at level 13 and with Roost, Gust reliably 2HKO’d Machop. To deal with the Makuhita, I switched out into Grimer to absorb the Fake Out and hit back with a 100 BP Breakneck Blitz for about a third, then poisoned Makuhita twice to get rid of Hala’s Full Heal and be able to stall it. By wasting his items here on a Pokemon that poses no threat, it makes Crabrawler an easier kill. Litten came in to finish off Makuhita after Grimer fainted, and then it was time for Crabrawler. Pichu was sent in as sack fodder to eat the Z-move and get Butterfree in, and by wasting Hala’s Full Heal on Makuhita Butterfree could put Crabrawler to sleep and get it down to a sliver of health. While Butterfree went down to Pursuit, Crabrawler only went for Leer on the next turn and Litten was able to finish off the fight.
Let me know what you think of this idea! Looking forward to continuing with the run.
Team (after Hala):
Litten, level 18, Double Kick/Fire Fang/Work Up/Roar
Pichu, level 14, Thunder Shock/Charm/Nasty Plot/Sweet Kiss
Grimer, level 15, Pound/Poison Gas/Disable/Bite
Butterfree, level 13, Gust/Confusion/Sleep Powder/Roost
Bagon, level 11, Rage/Ember/Leer/Bite
The story goes like this: the player has been recruited by Kukui to help him with his studies, and he wants us to find and study the rarest Pokemon in Alola to complete the Pokedex. He’s gotten most of the way there, but still has some corners of the Pokedex that he hasn’t been able to fill in. That’s where we come in; being a young, impressionable kid, we’re happy to go scout for those rare Pokemon with all the time we have on our hands. The thing is, Kukui is also an environmentalist and gives us strict instructions to leave as little impact on the ecosystem as possible - after all, being an island chain means extra care is needed.
The rules are as follows:
- I can only catch the rarest Pokemon on each route that hasn’t previously been caught, and may only catch it if it appears at less than a 5% encounter rate. Kukui is only paying us to find the rare Pokemon and doesn’t have time to waste on commons.
Looking at this sample encounter table for Route 4, we can see that Eevee is available at a 5% chance. No other Pokemon are rarer, therefore I can catch Eevee (and only Eevee). If two Pokemon are tied for the rarest, I can pick one to catch. If nothing on the route is rare enough, then I get nothing. From my initial scans of encounter tables, this appears to leave about half the locations in the game with a legal encounter of some kind.
- All encounter tables for a certain area are lumped together. Expect to see a lot of fishing.
- SOS-exclusive allies are not considered because I don’t have detailed data on what the actual odds are for a specific Pokemon to be encountered. Weather-exclusive SOS encounters (such as Castform at Tapu Village and other late-game locales) are exempt for the sake of not making this take eight years.
- For fishing encounters, the probability for legality purposes is determined from the non-bubbling spot odds, but I can use bubbling water to catch said Pokemon to make it easier.
- Using wild Pokemon that wander into Poke Pelago is legal - this is a research expedition after all - but won’t be a big difference because the only ones that can be found this way that are legal for this challenge are Mr. Mime, Jynx, Flaaffy, and (at Poni Island) Misdreavus, Electrike and Banette. I can get one when I unlock Poke Pelago the first time, one after reaching Malie City, and one after reaching Seafolk Village on a first-come first-serve basis.
- Totem-sized Pokemon are allowed if I can find a use for them - after all, they are one-of-a-kind so Kukui wants to know about them.
- Kukui wants us to tread lightly upon the environment. Therefore, we cannot defeat wild Pokemon for experience (outside of scripted encounters such as Trials). Experience from catching the designated rare Pokemon is allowed, but other than that only Trainers can be battled. Rule of thumb - if we can run away and it still advances the plot, we have to outside of legal catches.
- No evolution. This clause is effectively just in place to ban Salamence, but also adds an extra dimension of challenge to the run. We’re here to catalog rare Pokemon, not to fight.
- Set mode.
- No legendaries.
Jumping into it, the best starter choice here is probably Litten. Even though it’s never going to be allowed to evolve, the fact that so many of our legal catches are going to be Water-types means this is almost a necessity. After defeating Hau in the first rival battle, we can head up to Mahalo Trail to find Lillie, the Professor’s other assistant, and save Nebby, encountering a scripted Spearow in the process. It has to be defeated to advance, so the experience is good to have. Nebby tries to teleport and almost gets us killed before being saved by Tapu Koko. Even five minutes into the adventure, rare Pokemon are already cropping up left and right.
After waking up the next day and sitting through the obligatory capture tutorial, we can make our first addition to the team: Pichu. It won’t be the biggest contributor because it’s, well, a Pichu, but it does come with Charm out of the gate which will be useful for later. I got lucky and it only took about five encounters to get one, and it’s even at Level 3, the higher end of the scale. Armed with my new team member, Iki Town can easily be reached to battle Hau at the festival with his own Pichu and Rowlet, who is trivial, giving me access to the Z-Ring. Kukui gives us the Island Challenge Amulet - no endorsement from someone famous needed here - before being interrupted by the space alien twins.
With the story exposition out of the way, we’re escorted to the lab to get our Pokedex Rotom-ized and ready to receive those rare Pokedex entries, along with briefing on our mission. Next up is the Trainers’ School, where we’re given the Exp. Share. Given that levels will become tougher and tougher to get as the run goes on, this is a very useful addition. The Quick Claw is also available here in case a lucky first move is needed, along with TM01 (Work Up) which can be taught to Litten for a boost if needed. Moving on to Hau’oli City, I’m gifted with the Poke Finder, which while it’s technically part of studying rare Pokemon, doesn’t do anything productive so I don’t need to care.
As for rare encounters, while they can be found more common elsewhere, you can actually catch Grimer in Hau’oli City at a 5% rate. We’ll say Kukui wants me to get the data for whatever the Alolan version of the EPA is. Wild Pokemon can’t be caught here until after Ilima is defeated, and he actually ended up being a challenge. The problem is that his Yungoos just hits way too hard with Tackle, especially after a Leer or two, leaving Litten with too little health to handle the Smeargle that comes in. To deal with this, I led with Pichu and just spammed Charm to get the Yungoos to -6 in Attack and was able to get it to -4 in Defense with Tail Whip as well before going down, getting a paralysis to stick in the process (Ilima has a Full Heal, so it needs to proc twice). With Yungoos properly neutered, Litten had enough time to set up to +6 with Work Up and take down Ilima’s team. Once Ilima has been defeated, I can go into the grass and get a rare urban Grimer at level 9, which comes with Poison Gas for spreading status and some decent moves.
Moving on to Route 2, a man calls me over to check out Big Wave Beach. Surfing doesn’t unlock until after clearing Hala’s trial, but the tutors for Shock Wave or Low Kick are here which could come in handy later. Neither this route nor Hau’oli Cemetery have any legal catches, so for the first trial our team is Litten, Pichu and Grimer. Approaching Verdant Cavern, Litten is at Level 14, just two levels off from where Double Kick could make a joke of this trial. The (TM for Brick Break is also here, but nothing on the team can learn it so it’s useless for now. When the Route 2 trainers and the trial Pokemon have been cleared, Litten comes out at Level 15, half a level off from where it could just sweep the whole thing. Thus, Pichu comes back out to be the designated Charm setter/death fodder to clear the way for the others.
Totem Raticate
Going up against the Totem, Pichu flinches on the first turn from Bite and doesn’t get to set Charm, but it does manage to get Static to stick on both opponents. Grimer comes out next to get whatever damage it can, which is marginal before it goes down to Fury Swipes. Litten comes out to finish the job, 3HKOing Raticate with Fire Fang and learning Double Kick from the victory to clinch the win. Admittedly, this was a battle in which I got quite lucky with Pichu getting a double activation from Static and multiple turns of full paralysis, but without that I probably would have had to fish for a 10% burn on Raticate to have enough turns to win. If it came down to it I could have just gone to battle the trainers in Hau’oli Cemetery, but it didn’t end up being necessary.
After clearing the trial, we get access to Route 3 after watching the Z-move tutorial. I should mention Berry trees here too, since there’s one behind the grass patch. Since Crabrawler have to be defeated to get the berries if they’re in the pile, and they aren’t a scripted encounter, that means any berry piles with a Crabrawler in them are inaccessible. Heading along the way, we get detoured into Melemele Meadow, where Nebby has wandered off again. We’ll also be adding a new team member here - Butterfree can appear at a 1% rate, a Pokemon almost tailor-made to defeat Hala. An interesting curiosity here - for Ultra Sun players, all the Pokemon in the meadow have a lower level bound of 9, but for Ultra Moon players, the level bound is 10. After what feels like an eternity, I finally get the Butterfree and can move on. Soliera battles us with a Furfrou, which is ridiculously bulky, but lucky Grimer gets Poison Gas to stick and it’s no problem. Pichu levels up to level 13 and learns Nasty Plot to actually be able to do some damage, and Litten levels up to level 17 to begin the B-pressing marathon.
Moving on to the second half of Route 3, perhaps one of the most infamous “rare Pokemon” spawns in recent memory becomes available - Bagon is available in the grass patch past the bridge at yet another 1% encounter rate. While it doesn’t get the terrifying power of its evolved form, it still boasts some useful resistances and a solid movepool. After the 20 minutes it took to catch Butterfree, I’m not looking forward to another long hunt, but that’s basically how long it took to catch Bagon. With that out of the way, I can finally go fight Hala and get off this island. As for Hala himself, the fight ended up being a lot tougher than anticipated. Even with the Sharp Beak from Route 3, Butterfree would just put Machop into healing range and with Focus Energy it was too unreliable, and Makuhita is even bulkier. Fortunately, there were trainers on Route 3 that I didn’t battle in the Growlithe trainer and the route boss (who is useful anyway since beating him gives Roost), so it was simple to go back for those.
Coming back with Butterfree at level 13 and with Roost, Gust reliably 2HKO’d Machop. To deal with the Makuhita, I switched out into Grimer to absorb the Fake Out and hit back with a 100 BP Breakneck Blitz for about a third, then poisoned Makuhita twice to get rid of Hala’s Full Heal and be able to stall it. By wasting his items here on a Pokemon that poses no threat, it makes Crabrawler an easier kill. Litten came in to finish off Makuhita after Grimer fainted, and then it was time for Crabrawler. Pichu was sent in as sack fodder to eat the Z-move and get Butterfree in, and by wasting Hala’s Full Heal on Makuhita Butterfree could put Crabrawler to sleep and get it down to a sliver of health. While Butterfree went down to Pursuit, Crabrawler only went for Leer on the next turn and Litten was able to finish off the fight.
Let me know what you think of this idea! Looking forward to continuing with the run.
Team (after Hala):
Litten, level 18, Double Kick/Fire Fang/Work Up/Roar
Pichu, level 14, Thunder Shock/Charm/Nasty Plot/Sweet Kiss
Grimer, level 15, Pound/Poison Gas/Disable/Bite
Butterfree, level 13, Gust/Confusion/Sleep Powder/Roost
Bagon, level 11, Rage/Ember/Leer/Bite
