Hey folks, and welcome to the third part of my Pokémon Sun Nuzlocke Challenge, a series of blogs documenting my efforts to play through the latest Pokémon game with a set of self-imposed rules to make the experience harder and more unique. Apologies for the delay in getting this one up, but real-life stuff got in the way last weekend, preventing me from writing this until now. If you're not familiar with the concept of the Nuzlocke, or you've missed the series up to this point, you can catch up on the first chapter here, and the second chapter here. For the rest of us, our journey across Alola continues. In this entry we wrap up our time on Melemele Island (for now, at least) by taking on the island's Kahuna in our first Grand Trial. How will we fare against Hala's powerful pummelling Pokemon? Read on and find out...

Chapter Three - Happy Hala-days!

Alola, Diary! Last time I wrote in here, it was just after I completed my first Island Trial, and just after I lost Zeppelin the Drifloon. It still cuts me up now to have had to let one of my new friends go, but the team and I are doing our best to keep going. We've recruited a few new members, overcome some difficult obstacles, and we'll soon be moving on to pastures new. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's start at the beginning, shall we?

Yesterday, the day after beating Ilima's Island Trial in Verdant Cavern, I woke up to a message from Professor Kukui. It said that his assistant Lillie had gone missing on Route 3, just past my current location, and asked if I could spare some time to look for her. Since I was planning to travel across Route 3 anyway, I figured I'd help Kukui out and keep my eyes peeled for Lillie. I packed my bag and left the Route 2 Pokémon Center, heading north to the rocky cliffs of Route 3. It's full of Flying-type Pokémon who make their nests on the cliff faces, dive-bombing anyone who passes by. I was lucky enough to catch one of those birds, a Spearow who I've named Jeanette. She's a scrapper alright, but I've decided to store her in the Pokémon Center's PC for the time being. There just isn't space for her in my team at the moment, since she's so similar to Feathers.

There was no sign of Lillie anywhere on Route 3, so I made a diversion into a nearby cave. It led to a meadow full of beautiful yellow flowers, with Oricorio flying overhead and Cutiefly buzzing around. I managed to catch one of those Cutiefly, and named her Tinkerbell. She's now a permanent fixture on the team and has proven to be a valuable asset in battle, with her determined nature and ability to hear and dodge incoming attacks. In hindsight, it should have been obvious that Lillie would be in a place like this, but when I eventually found her, it turned out she wasn't there to admire the flowers. Nebby had run off yet again and she'd followed the Pokémon here. Once again I offered to help, cutting through the yellow flowers (and upsetting a few Oricorio along the way) to retrieve Nebby from the other side of the meadow. Lillie thanked me and made her way back out to Route 3.

I was about to follow Lillie back through the cave when I spotted a small gap in the rock nearby. I just about managed to squeeze through it, and found myself in a damp, murky cave absolutely filled with Zubat. I braved their shrill cries and pressed on through the cave, even managing to catch one of them (I've named her Clownbat, and she's keeping Jeanette company in the PC). There were a few discarded items along the cave path, but nothing especially noteworthy. The cave led down through the cliffside, emerging at Kala'e Bay. Unfortunately there's not a lot I can do there without a Water-type Pokémon to surf the waves on, so I had to turn around and make my way back through the Seaward Cave, up to Melemele Meadow and Route 3 beyond.

Back out on the main road, Lillie had met up with Professor Kukui and was apologising for Nebby's latest disappearing act. Hau was waiting there too - it turns out he had woken up in time to challenge Ilima's Island Trial after all! We agreed to a battle to see how our Pokémon had developed since our last encounter. His Pichu had evolved since then, but the Pikachu proved to be no match for L'Oréal. My Diglett cut it down with one of her powerful Magnitude attacks. His Rowlet was a little harder to deal with, but Scorch put paid to it with a strong Fire Fang. It just goes to show how in sync we are as partners, since after the battle, Scorch evolved into Torracat. Hau and Kukui both congratulated me on my victory, and Kukui told both of us that the only remaining challenge here on Melemele Island was to battle Kahuna Hala in what's called a 'Grand Trial'. Apparently the same is true of all four islands here in Alola, with the Grand Trial becoming available once all the lesser Island Trials have been completed.

Before we all set off separately along Route 3, Kukui gave me a tip-off that Hala favours Fighting-type Pokémon in battle. I guess this makes sense and I probably should have worked it out myself, since he's so heavily into his sumo wrestling. With this knowledge, I set about training the Pokémon that I knew would stand the best chance against Hala's team - Feathers, Oracle and Tinkerbell. Feathers and Tinkerbell responded well to training, learning new, stronger Flying- and Fairy-type moves respectively. Oracle seemed more interested in chowing down on Poké Beans, though. I did manage to get him to evolve into a Kadabra, but he still hasn't learned any offensive moves, so I ruled him out of the fight. Even so, with a Trumbeak and a Cutiefly on my side, I felt like we were well equipped to take on whatever Hala could throw at us.

Route 3 wraps around the north of Melemele Island and comes out on the eastern side of Iki Town. It was early evening by the time I arrived back in the place where Scorch and I met, and my journey began. It's weird, since it feels like it all happened only yesterday, but it also seems like this adventure is all I've ever known. I met with Kahuna Hala in town, and we both walked to the ceremonial arena outside his house for our Grand Trial battle. Hala opened the fight with a Mankey, and I sent in Tinkerbell. I used Stun Spore to try and paralyse Hala's Pokémon, but it dodged the spores and came back with a Karate Chop. Thankfully Tinkerbell resisted the damage, coming back with a couple of strong Draining Kisses to beat down Hala's Pokémon, restoring her own health in the process. Sensing this might be a strong tactic to stick with, I employed it for Hala's next Pokémon, a Makuhita, which went down in a single critical hit. Finally he sent out his ace in the hole, a strong Crabrawler with a Z Crystal wedged firmly in its pincer. Hala drew on his Pokémon's power to hit me with his most powerful Z Move, but even his All-Out Pummelling couldn't break Tinkerbell down. She dodged the hits, sucked up her strength and obliterated the Crabrawler with her Draining Kiss. We'd done it - we beat our first Grand Trial!

Hala congratulated me by giving me another Z Crystal to add to my collection - the Fightinium Z his Crabrawler had been holding. He also bestowed upon me a device called a Ride Pager, which allows me to call on Hala's Tauros whenever I need it to give me a ride around the islands of Alola. It's an incredible gift, and one that will allow me to access a lot more of Melemele Island than I could before. Kukui also had a winner's present for me - a TM containing False Swipe, which should make it a lot easier for me to wear down and capture the wild Pokémon throughout Alola. Hala explained that with his Grand Trial beaten, there was nothing left for me to do on Melemele Island, and I should consider making my way to Akala Island as soon as possible to continue my Island Challenge. Finally, Lillie congratulated me on my win, and said that she'll be coming with me to Akala Island to try and find a way to get Nebby home. That seems like a smart move - it's plain to see the little Pokémon is completely restless here, and wants to be somewhere else. Hopefully we can find a place for it on our travels.

I spent the night at the Pokémon Center on Route 1, then set off the next morning for one final loop of Melemele Island before I move on. It's a beautiful place and I'm sad to be moving on, but I know that I'll be back again someday. I decided to make this last lap with Tauros in tow, both to save time and to get access to some parts of the island I hadn't been able to see up until now. Tauros' horns allow it to charge through boulders, which meant I was able to visit some new places including Ten Carat Hill, a cavern just west of Professor Kukui's lab. While there I managed to fill a few more entries for my Pokédex, and even caught a Roggenrola which I've named Emma. She's currently in the PC with Jeanette and Clownbat, mainly because I'm struggling to deal with her stubborn, sassy attitude. Hopefully she'll calm down with time and I'll be able to gain her trust enough to train her. Right now I'm happy with the team we have - Scorch, Feathers, The Ooze, Oracle, L'Oréal and Tinkerbell. There's a lot of variety and strength there, and I think we're going to do really well moving forward.

When I'd finished exploring every nook and cranny of Melemele Island that I could reach, I returned home for what's likely to be the last time in a while. I told Mom about my plans to go to Akala Island and she was really supportive and seemed really proud of me, even though I could tell she was a little upset. She cooked a big homemade dinner for both of us, and we stayed up late watching TV together (there are so many adverts for malasadas on TV here in Alola!). As I write this, Mom is asleep and I'm about to spend what may be the last night in my own bed for quite a while. Tomorrow morning I'm setting off back to Hau'oli City, where I'll meet up with Lillie so we can catch the ferry from the marina and continue our journey on Akala Island. I'm really excited and can't wait to find out what new Pokémon and new challenges await me. Until next time Diary, Alola!

I'm pretty happy about where we're at right now. Granted, it's still early days, but we have an early-game team with a lot of strength, type coverage and strategic depth. I think The Ooze is definitely going to be one to watch, since her extra bulk is going to be extremely useful in the Nuzlocke format. I'm also really excited to get to grips with Tinkerbell - she's an unknown quantity since she's one of the new Alolan Pokémon, and I really like her type combination of Bug/Fairy. Here's hoping whatever she evolves into has some decent stat distributions. Now that this post is done I can move on with playing the game. Hopefully I'll be able to get another one of these up before next weekend, but I'm not going to promise anything since I'm also putting my free time into playing Demon's Souls. Until next time, thanks very much for reading. Take care duders, and I'll see you around.

Daniel

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Currently playing - Pokémon Sun (3DS)