Why does Youngster Joey have a Metapod when he could have got an Alolan Rattata? Seems a missed opportunity for a Gen 2 callback.
The game developers (probably) don't read Headscratchers on TV Tropes, so your guess is as good as mine. It's probably not a callback, since it would be an Alolan Rattata, while Metapod has been around since the first generation.
Where did you and Lillie learn the song that summons Solgaleo or Lunala at the Altar of the Sunne/Moone?
Possibly on the way back from Exeggutor Island. The game makes the trip sound slow, so that could've been enough time for impromptu flute practice.
Why must you defeat the Elite 4 again before defending your title as Champion of Alola?
It's possible you're testing them to make sure your Elite Four are still in top shape for your challengers.
Acerola actually tells you why when you face her again, it's because you need to prove that you still have what it takes to be the champion.
Where did Gladion find another Type: Null to give to you after beating the game? His was already a Silvally.
If you read the reports on Type: Null that you can find in Lab 1, there were actually three of them that were cryogenically frozen after a failed experiment. Gladion has one, he gave you another, that leaves a third.
On a related note, this leaves the question of what happened to the third one. Are we supposed to think that it's still frozen, or did Gladion rescue it, too?
The scientist in Secret Lab A (post-game) says she's working on reviving and providing for all the Pokemon that were frozen, saying that was a horrible thing to do to them. So the third Type: Null is probably being revived and cared for in the Conservation area.
It's possible they might be saving that answer for a later game, sequel, or even remake. Since at least one will need to be available in order to complete the pokedex for a future player, unless you or Gladion releases theirs and it somehow re-spawns a helmet.
Where did the Flying-type Elite 4 member come from? I don't recall meeting her, and she definitely wasn't a Kahuna.
From the same place the Dragon-type Captain went to, presumably.
She's actually the daughter of the owner of the Hano Grand Resort and a World-class golfer. You didn't meet her because she wasn't in Alola until Kukui got her to come back to be an Elite 4 member.
However, she was mentioned in the demo. Someone notes she's away, and hopes she'll return soon.
There is an unused area in the Grand Hano Hotel that is a golf course, it could be possible that we were originally supposed to meet her there with her potentially being a trial captain (therefore raising the final number of captains to 8) it could be that she was axed due to Akala already having 3 Captains.
A few people inside the Hano Grand Resort hotel mention her when you talk to them. I actually guessed she was the Champion at first.
I get that we're on a tropical archipelago, but why no sweaters, long socks for guys, long pants, or jackets? We even go to an ice-covered mountaintop at one point.
If you went to Hawaii and shopped at a boutique, would they have long sleeve shirts or jackets?
They'd have pants. Just because it's warm there, doesn't mean the land it completely devoid of warmer clothing. Where do you think characters like Plumeria, Guzma, Molyene and others get their pants? And considering there's a huge mountain of ice that's readily available, it wouldn't be unreasonable to have something to help you.
That mountain isn't really inhabited except for the trainers battling the League and the people in the Pokemon Center, and would be pretty unsafe to live on, considering you have to use lifts to even climb it. I guess they could've sold pants and possibly sweatshirts, but definitely not jackets.
Considering you need to evolve your Crabrawler at the top, there are a lot of rare Pokemon on the mountain, and a League is eventually built there, it'd be perfectly reasonable to have them in-game, albeit not as a common article of clothing.
Wild Mass Guessing here: you can consider clothing choices from the protagonist's perspective with the Law of Conservation of Detail in play. The reason you don't find a wider variety of goods is not because the stores don't offer them but because the protagonist doesn't want them and wouldn't consider wearing them in the first place. The massive amount of items in the shops are filtered through their tastes, and then you, the player, buy from the selection that they like. Maybe they don't like long-sleeved articles and wouldn't buy them even if you could see them.
If the Ultra Beasts supposedly destroyed the worlds of older games, then how on Earth is Lillie going back to Kanto to seek out Bill to help her mother? Wouldn't Kanto be in ruin?
There is a bit of a separate timeline thing in the Pokemon world since Gen 6. This video does help explain it, sorry for whose it is though. But in more simple terms, Gen 6's ORAS suggested that the games that have Mega-Evolution are in a different timeline than the ones that don't. XY, ORAS, and SM games are in a different timeline from the first 5 generations, though some theorize that there are actually three: Gen 1-2 earth, Gen 3-5 earth, and Gen 6-onward earth. Regardless of how many earths there are, the Mega Timeline has hints in it that confirm that other game regions do still exist (Steven Stone's home in ORAS has stones from regions of Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova for example), so Gen 6 plus Earth's Kanto and Bill are still there. It's the Kanto that appeared at least during the GBA and DS era that got destroyed.
Additionally, there's the fact that the whole notion of the Ultra Beasts destroying the old timeline is pretty much a runaway fan theory based on a couple of vague lines from the Anabel Episode that only maybe-sorta-kinda suggest that it could be something that happened, if you read into it very deeply and, let's face it, throw all logic out the window (given the "maybe-sorta" evidence is nothing more than Anabel implying the beasts attacked the Battle Tower).
The player character is originally from Kanto and the Sightseer trainers have Kantonian variant Pokemon. The Kanto region is likely okay unless the Ultra Beasts ransacked it when Lusamine opened the wormwoles, which is really pushing it since they were only shown opening above the Alola region.
Plus Kanto is just another region on the same planet in the same universe.
Why does Nihilego, Phermosa, and Xurkitree look like Lillie, Lusamine, and Guzma respectively?
Lusamine is unhealthily obsessed with the Ultra Beasts, and also a very controlling person. She's Lillie's mother, and it's implied she purposefully picked out clothing that would make her daughter resemble Nihilego, while she attempts to emulate Phermosa with her own style. Since Guzma's at her beck and call for a good chunk of the story, she probably had him dress like Xurkitree for similar reasons.
Lillie's similarity to Nihilego seems to be because Lusamine, who was obsessed with the Ultra Beasts, dressed her that way. The rest may simply be cases of Rule of Symbolism, however. Wicke tells us in the post-game that aside from Nihilego and Guzzlord, who have both appeared in Alola's past, the rest of the Ultra Beasts were only sighted for the first time during the most recent wormhole-opening that Lusamine initiated during the storyline.
Wouldn't everyone in Malie City notice four humongous Celesteela wandering around their city's oriental garden?
The Gardens also have Ariados and Gyarados in them. Big death things aren't uncommon. They also probably don't go into the tall grass as much as a trainer does. The hero may also react fast enough that no one notices.
Except Celesteela's 30 feet tall. You'd be able to see it from outside the garden, not to mention in it.
They did notice. That's why they contacted Looker (or, more likely, they contacted their kahuna Nanu who then in turn contacted Looker).
There are only two Celesteela, not four, and they don't show up in Malie Garden — they're on that Route outside of Po Town and in the Desert. You probably only played Sun, and you're mistaken in assuming that Celesteela does the same in Moon as Kartana does in Sun. It doesn't.
Not quite an accurate correction — Celesteela shows up in Malie Garden and Haina Desert, while Kartana shows up in Route 17 and Malie Garden. It is true that if you catch both Celesteela in Haina Desert, then you won't have to go to Malie Garden, though. Also, it's stated that the Ultra Beasts move around, so even if the player does catch all of them in the same route, it could be that they were in their other area for a little while before then.
Why does Looker give you ten Beast Balls before every single Ultra Beast hunt that you go after in the post-game subquest? When I finished it, I had 37 left, which is 75% of the total that you get, and they don't serve any purpose afterwards because it's not likely that you're gonna go out of your way to try to catch other Pokémon with them when the catch rate is significantly lower. You can't sell them or even toss them (if memory serves), so why is it that you're just stuck with them instead of giving them back after everything's said and done? On the off-chance that you actually would go after other stuff with them?
It's to make sure you have enough ammo. They're not guaranteed catches after all.
Namely Guzzlord - it has the lowest catch rate out of the Ultra Beasts.
Some players like having unusual Pokémon/ball combinations for either aesthetics or the uniqueness factor.
Yeah, I do understand that, but I was kinda more curious about why they just let you keep the balls when they're not going to be good for much else after the subquest is finished.
To be fair, Aether's not going to have a whole lot of use for them after that, either. Either way, the game definitely seems to assume that you used more of them than you "actually" did.
It's outright stated that Ultra Beasts have made their way there before Lusamine opened up all of those wormholes. Nothing's stopping them from reappearing again in the future. Perhaps the Player Character figures they're better off being prepared in case that happens. Beast Balls were said to be expensive to manufacture, after all, so no sense wasting them in case they're needed later.
What IS Necrozma? Was it an Ultra Beast? Gameplay suggests no since it doesn't have Beast Boost and Beast Balls don't work well on it, but you still only see it after the Ultra Beast quest.
Just another post-game legendary like in every other game.
It's probably whatever Solgaleo and Lunala are. Whether that's a Pokemon, an Ultra Beast, or something else completely is up for debate.
A Sequel Hook. Not necessarily a third version (haven't had one since Platinum), but it'll most likely be expanded upon in a future game.
Red and Blue look visibly aged and appear to be either in their late teens or early twenties. This then begs the question... where do these games fall in the series timeline? It has to have been a good amount of time after the Kanto games, and it definitely takes place after XY since Dexio and Sina mention a group of five trainers (referencing the events of XY).
Generations VI and VII are confirmed to take place in an alternate universe to the other games, so there's no one timeline.
Based on Looker's dialogue from both these games and ORAS, it's a bare minimum of 10 years between Hoenn and Alola, likely more. Which leads to another headscratcher, because when you meet Wally in the Battle Tree he only looks a few years older than his last appearance (though admittedly Lusamine shows how people can age really well in Pokémon).
The real question here is why Wally didn't age up similarly. IIRC RBY take place at the same time as RSE so they should be the same age.
I think he does look older, actually, but it's easy to dismiss as simply him looking more confident. He was sick growing up, so that might account for not being as tall as you'd expect, but otherwise I'm willing to accept that he's a young-looking 20-year-old. Even if he seems too young for that, that's honestly Truth in Television: there are plenty of 20-year-olds in real life who get mistaken for mid-teens, especially given that we tend to cast older actors for younger roles on TV, which biases our idea of what people should look like by any given age.
Where is it stated or implied that Guzma's parents were abusive?
In their house, with the dented golf clubs and his father talking about how he tried to "set him straight".
Of course, the father also said that Guzma was the one who beat him up, so it's possible that it was Guzma that dented the golf clubs. It can be read either way.
Besides, whether or not you think the golf clubs got dented by either Guzma or his father using them against the other, the "setting him straight" line implies that Guzma didn't have a great home life (or at least that he and his dad didn't get along).
Additionally, the way he yells at himself in third person when he loses. It sounds like he's repeating something that someone else said to him. He doesn't yell at you, he doesn't yell at his Pokemon, he yells at himself for not being better. There's also the way that he boasts that "All (he) know(s) is violence". Statements from Kukui and Hala imply that he used to be a nice kid, so what would make a nice kid run away from home? He's also super loyal to Lusamine even though it's implied she couldn't care less about him, and it's entirely because she's the only adult to really acknowledge him, which means that his parents didn't. All of these things together paint the picture of Guzma having at the very least an unhappy home life.
Repels work by making it so wild Pokémon weaker than the one you have up front won't attack you. With this in mind, how do repels help Lillie at all, seeing as she doesn't own a single Pokémon? Cosmoem doesn't officially belong to her.
Clearly Cosmog is at a higher level than one might suspect at first glance.
You mean Cosmoem. And again, she doesn't own it, seeing as you end up catching it.
No, that troper meant Cosmog. Lillie only has Cosmoem in the climax of the game, after that part at Aether and before the part at the Altar of the Sunne/Moone.
The same way the repels worked for that guy in Pewter City who used it to keep Pokémon out of his garden. Lore-wise, repels simply keep wild Pokémon away.
So, Gameplay and Story Segregation, then. The player has to go by the level of their Pokémon, but not everyone else has to.
Perhaps there are people who rent out high-level Pokémon so that people can use Repel sprays. The Pokémon just stay in their Poké Balls and don't even come out, and the rental services allow non-trainers to traverse areas like Vast Poni Canyon. Maybe I'll put this under WMG later.
Maybe it is the other way around. You use just enough repel to keep weak pokémon away without bothering your pokémon. People who don't have any can go crazy and spray away as much as they want.
So, the battle against Lusamine gives a bonus to one of each of the five stats to each of Lusamine's Pokemon- Lilligant gets +Sp Atk, Mismagius gets +Spd, etc. So why in Ultra Space does Milotic get +Atk? Why not the Bewear that has physical attacks? Does Bewear really need that +Def?
Maybe they did once do Milotic getting +Def and Bewear getting +Atk but upon playtesting decided it made the fight way too hard for the difficulty level they are shooting for, so they Nerfed it.
Milotic has Flail, which does more damage if the user is low on HP. Considering its bulk, it's likely to end up at low enough health to dish out some serious pain. It's not that Bewear needed the +Def; Milotic just had a greater need for the +Atk.
How did nobody at the Aether Foundation find out that Mohn is currently living in the Poke Pelago? The location is apparently known to the public, and the character makes no attempts to hide their name or identity.
Well, the last time any of them had seen Mohn, he'd gotten sucked into the wormhole. Maybe they assumed he'd never gotten back out? Also, Lusamine and their kids don't know he's okay, so they've clearly never been to that location themselves... Though the fact that it's so close to Alola raises some holes in that Mohn apparently never went back and informed everybody that he was still alive.
Since neither Lusamine nor Lillie seem to be Pokémon trainers, and the point of going to Pokè Pelago is to visit all the Pokémon in your PC, it's entirely possible the only reason they don't know Mohn is there is that they simply never had cause to go there. Besides, the Aether foundation apparently wasn't formed in Alola, so they wouldn't have the ride pagers necessary to get to Pokè Pelago. Since Lillie decides to become a trainer after the main story, maybe we'll be in for a heartwarming moment if Alola gets a sequel?
This might be wandering into Epileptic Trees territory, but consider this: only Pokémon currently stored in the PC can access Poké Pelago, and we know Mohn went through an Ultra Wormhole at some point. What if Mohn ended up inside the PC system? It's possible that the PC system functions on a similar principle, placing your unused Pokeémon into an "alternate dimension." after all, how do you store living creatures in a computer network? this would also explain why he hasn't let anyone know he's alive. Albeit the fact that wild pokemon do wander into Poke Pelago kind of blows holes in the idea that only pokemon in the PC can access it. More likely Mohn simply has technology that allows pokemon in the PC to go there whenever they want.
When Colress appears on Route 8, he says that Poké Pelago are a chain of uninhabited islands in Alola. It seems that they do physically exist in the region.
Given what happened to Anabel, it's safe to assume that Mohn lost his memories when he escaped Ultra Space. He also presumably tanned and gained a fair bit of weight since then, so even if Lusamine or anyone else from Aether saw him, they may have simply thought he was another guy with the same name.
The player character, Lillie, and Guzma seem to be at least mostly fine after leaving Ultra Space late in the game, so it's not a guarantee. I guess it would depend on how long Mohn was stuck in Ultra Space, but the situation around him is so ambiguous that it's hard to tell. The fact that he probably looks different now is something I never thought of, and is a good point, though...
At least partially confirmed: In Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon, Mohn shows up on Route 7 to introduce the Poké Pelago to you, proving he has the ability to return to the main Alolan islands (or at least Akala Island). He is also confirmed to have suffered amnesia, rendering him unable to remember Lusamine, the Aether Foundation, or anything but his name and his scientific knowhow. All he is now is the keeper of Poké Pelago, totally unaware of his contributions to Pokémon World science.
Where was it implied in game that the Ultra Beasts destroyed the world of the pre-Gen 6 games. All that's stated is that Anabel and some other people fell into the Gen 6 and 7 universe and that Anabel was muttering about protecting the Battle Tower. None of that indicates that that universe was destroyed. And yet, so many people are taking it as fact. Is there something I'm missing?
It was just someone's headcanon or fan theory that spread too far, especially during the early days of the game when a lot of people didn't get to that point yet. The Pokedex entries about the Ultra Beasts suggest that they're capable of immense destruction, but we don't explicitly know how much destruction they've caused, if they even caused that much.
The theory seems to have originated from this post on Game FAQS, and many fans (admittedly, including myself) took it as fact. The fact that she said "protect the Battle Tower" instead of something else might provide some evidence, but it is still very, very, scanty.
In fact, she doesn't actually say it herself- it's just mentioned that she claimed to have protected a tower in Hoenn. That actually might imply the opposite- that she prevented some sort of disaster from befalling Gen III Hoenn.
Also, this could simply be taken to mean that, as the Tower Brain, she would protect the Battle Tower if anything bad did happen to it.
There's also the fact that "protecting the Tower from an Ultra Beast attack" does not at all imply that that region or universe was destroyed. It just means that an Ultra Wormhole opened near the tower, some Ultra Beasts came out, and she battled them, much like we see the Island Kahunas doing during the events of Sun and Moon. It's very likely that she's from another universe that was attacked by Ultra Beasts, but that really doesn't mean that the universe was destroyed.
Additional idea, "protect" just means that she, as a Frontier Brain, "protected" the tower from trainers. It's entirely possible that, since she had amnesia, she misinterpreted her job from "battle trainers" to "protect battle tower from things". It wouldn't be that hard to mix up since both of thise things involved battling and her memory was real addled.
Why do Magneton, Nosepass, and Charjabug evolve at Vast Poni Canyon instead of something like Blush Mountain?
Lots of electromagnetic metals in the surrounding ground?
Consider the Altar of the Sunne/Moone just beyond it, plus the energy possibly surrounding it as a result of all those Ultra Wormholes being opened up. All that EM radiation could trickle down into the canyon creating a magnetic field which allows those three Pokémon to evolve.
So there's something I've been curious about that's sort off been bugging me: Throughout the game, Lillie is worried about people finding out about Cosmog and thus keeps it inside her bag. If so, why is it that the option of hiding it in a Poke Ball is not an option? I know she's not a trainer, but surely carrying a Pokeball with Cosmog inside it might be more assuring than it flying out at random intervals. Unless of course the game explains it or something...
Well, looking at it from both a story and gameplay perspective, Cosmog is technically a Legendary Pokémon, which tend to be hard to catch. And it has the same 45 capture rate that Solgaleo and Lunala have; that's high for a Legendary, but still pretty low. Then factor in that Lillie has no other Pokémon of her own, so even if she could buy some Pokéballs for herself, it would still be hard for her to capture Nebby.
A catch rate of 45 isn't too bad. And she wouldn't actually need to battle it anyway, since it willingly stays with her and would probably let itself be captured. The only reason it exists outside of a PokeBall is for it to get lost and have us save it.
Because a Pokéball isn't a total guarantee that the Pokémon won't just leave. If I remember correctly, both Misty's Psyduck and Team Rocket's Wobuffet in the anime often just randomly left their balls. Also, just because Cosmog doesn't mind staying with Lillie, doesn't mean it'd want her to capture it in a Pokeball.
Lillie outright tells it to not escape from the poke ball whenever it wants, implying that it could. Ergo even if she had it in a ball then it wouldn't have made a difference, we just wouldn't have had the funny scenes of Lillie's bag shaking.
Also, Nebby lets itself out of its Poke Ball when it summons its legendary counterpart to create a new Cosmog for the player to obtain at the Lake of the Sunne/Moone. You even hear the sound of a Poke Ball opening before Nebby summons its counterpart, which outright confirms Pokemon can leave their ball at any time. The fact that your Pokemon don't just break out of their Poke Balls whenever they feel like it is a mix between trust in you as a trainer as well as game mechanics.
And don't forget Lillie rescued Nebby from the Aether Foundation conservation area, which is stated to have technology in place to prevent balls from working. As Lillie was raised in the foundation, it's not surprising she wouldn't like the idea of putting Nebby in a Pokeball.
To build on the above, the implication of having a Pokemon in Pokeball is that this is what makes you a Trainer, and Nebby would therefore be Lillie's Pokemon. Neither of them are interested in that kind of relationship as both of them hate confrontation. It might be inconvenient, but it seems like it would have unwelcome connotations even if it wouldn't technically stop Nebby escaping whenever it pleases.
How have trainers been conquering the Island Challenge up to this point if Poni Island had been without a Kahuna for several years, and the only Captain there hasn't finished setting her trial up yet? It seems bizarre that Kukui and the other characters hype up the Island Challenge so much without once drawing allusion to the fact that there's virtually no endgame for it.
Considering the previous Kahuna's death and Mina becoming a Captain both seem to be (fairly) recent things, it's likely that there are a lot of trainers who are really close to being done with it. There's nothing that would really stop them in the meantime from doing the rest of the island challenge. The PC just happened to get lucky by encountering the new Kahuna right after their initiation, and Mina at all admittedly. By the end of the game that's not really an issue anymore, so anyone who needs to finish off their challenge would be able to do it now.
That's the thing, though. The Kahuna's death isn't recent. Hapu mentions that he died several years before the events of the game. Plenty enough time to trainers to complete the rest of the Challenge, come to Poni Island, maybe complete that unattended trial, and... then what?
Another thing to note about Poni Island is that it has a trial without a captain, so Mina simply handing out the Fairy Z-Crystal isn't that strange by comparison.
Its mentioned by Nanu that several trainers do manage to pass the island challenge each year, so presumably the requirements for it are a bit flexible and you can qualify even if certain captains or kahunas are not available/doing their jobs. Presumably defeating that Totem Kommo-o is good enough.
It's possible that the requirements are just "pass all the trials and defeat all the kahunas", with no hard requirements on how many trials and kahunas that entails. So before Hapu was selected as Kahuna, the challenge simply required trainers to just beat three of them. Also, the lack of endgame is part of the reason that Kukui set up the Pokemon League in the first place; to turn the challenge from an informal local tradition into something more "official".
When things don't quite line up with the "ideal" trial structure, the Alolan people just adapt themselves around it. On Melemele, they say that in years where nobody signs up for the island challenge, they simply hold sumo matches for Tapu Koko instead. Additionally, there are Non Player Characters who talk about how humans sometimes have to live at the whims of the capricious tapu, and it would technically be Tapu Fini's job to nominate the replacement for Hapu's grandfather. It chose not to, for whatever reason, so the people just carry on as best they can without it. The island challenge isn't a particularly rigid system.
In Ultra, when Mina hears about Hapu becoming the Kahuna, she mentions that they did used to call Nanu over to Poni Island to perform the Grand Trials.
Why doesn't Mount Lanakila have any trainers other than the rival fights? I'm guessing it's because they left that to Vast Poni Canyon, but wouldn't it make more sense for the site that leads you into the trial to be devoid of trainers while what is basically the Victory Road of the game has all the scary trainers for you to fight?
Isn't it due to the fact that the Pokemon League was still in development? With this and the above point in mind, weren't all the trainers on Poni Island there because they were far along in their Island Challenge and were near the area of the Dragon Trial to finish it all off? On top of that, trial or no, Poni Island is still full of tough Pokemon and also full of seafaring folk. It's possibly that a bunch of strong trainers just settled here and continue to hone their skills.
When you visit Mount Lanakila, the Alola Pokemon League has literally just opened, and you're among the first people to ever challenge it. The area isn't populated by Trainers because not enough of them have heard about it just yet.
Fixed in Ultra Sun And Ultra Moon: There are lots of very strong trainers on Mount Lanakila in that game. Some of them say they're there because they heard about Professor Kukui starting a Pokémon League and want to check it out.
What's the biological reason for Stufful's tag? At least other odd parts on Pokemon get Hand Waved. Sylveon's ribbons, for example, are said to be "feelers." Stufful's tag doesn't seem to serve a purpose, and presumably gets messy every time it relieves itself.
Maybe being able to develop a useless-looking feature is a sign of good health on a Stufful. Maybe tags are actually scent glands, and Stufful rub their butts against trees and things to mark them. Maybe these things differ in size and markings and so are used by Stufful as a way to identify each other.
Why do the Ultra Beasts have prime numbers as their base stats, as well as the levels for which they learn their moves?
Likely to continue the Eldritch Abomination theme. Most Fully Evolved or Single Stage Pokemon have their Base Stats be a multiple of 5, so having this not be the base with the Ultra Beasts would continue to remind us that they are not of this world.
So wait a moment, Guzma mentions that a Nihilego actually took control of HIM. Yet when you go into Ultra Space, he is perfectly fine. How'd he get out of that?
Judging by the description of the effects, and what we saw happen (Nihilego passing through him), he presumably simply got injected with some of Nihilego's venom when he tried to attack it and it injected him as it passed through/by him. From Guzma's perspective the results (racing thoughts and such an extreme lack of inhibition that he no longer felt like himself) were equivalent to being possessed, but he wasn't actually controlled and the venom injection was small enough that he was able to recover without additional help (unlike Lusamine).
Either that or it just controlled him momentarily and then left to go do something else.
The Nihilego forms a 'partnership' with strong beings who, under its influence, become stronger to protect the Nihilego. It would fit with the theme of Guzma always falling short/never being "good enough" if the Nihilego briefly latched onto him and decided he wasn't suitable.
A TV in the Geothermal Power Plant mentions a trainer called a "Gym Leader". Seeing as its entirely unambiguous that the PC is from Kanto, shouldn't they know what a Gym Leader is?
Are we supposed to assume that means the PC doesn't know what a Gym Leader is? Besides, considering that the program would be aimed at Alolans, who almost definitely wouldn't know what a Gym Leader is, it's not that strange.
Is Blue the only current or former Gym Leader in Alola?
A better question is, who's running the Viridian City Gym now? It's definitely not Giovanni either, since he's a PKMN Trainer in B2W2.
Maybe Silver?
Blue simply says that he and Red were champions "back in their day," which doesn't necessarily mean that he's not a gym leader anymore. Though that sill leaves the question of whether or not he got someone to watch the gym for him while he was gone if he is still a gym leader.
He does have a sister... Maybe she runs the gym while he's out?
As one can remember from Gold & Silver, Blue doesn't exactly have a great track record of being present for gym battles, so this is probably more of that.
A headscratcher regarding Looker. A lot of things stated in the Ultra Beast sidequest seem to explain his appearance in ORAS, namely that him randomly showing up in the Battle Resort with amnesia could be taken to mean that he's a Faller. Yet this raises a few holes in that the way that Looker and Nanu talk about Anabel kind of makes it sound like Looker isn't a Faller, especially since Looker never mentions his ORAS appearance. So... does this mean that there are two separate Lookers running about, or did I miss some detail that ties this all together?
The most common explanation I've seen is that this Looker is not the same one as the Looker found in Mega-Hoenn, there are now two Lookers in this universe, and that the two are unaware of each other. It'd make sense too, considering the Looker found in Alola is not an amnesiac.
That does make sense, though now I'm wondering how XY Looker plays into this. I'd assume that he's the same one as SM Looker, or at least not the same one as ORAS Looker, for those same reasons? Who knows if it'll happen in a later version, but I'd love to see the two Lookers interacting, too (if only so we'd have official confirmation on this).
Maybe I'm not understanding, but why does there need to be two Lookers? Looker in ORAS specifically woke up with Audinite in his pocket, which makes it more likely than not that he knew about Mega Evolution before losing his memory, which in turn makes it likely that he didn't Fall from a non-Mega world, or at all. More likely, he got in some accident on the job that led to memory loss, was eventually found again by the Bureau (maybe started to get his memory back, maybe didn't), and a couple of years later had his incident with Nanu and the Faller. Remember, the time difference between Gen IV and BW is two-plus years, with no finite number given. This means while the total time elapsed between ORAS and SM is at least nine years, it could easily be something like 10 or 15. If we assume it's higher rather than lower, that's more than enough time for Looker to make a new life post-memory loss, develop his career with the Bureau, and also have his incident with the Faller.
Why is the first encounter on Route 1 scripted to be Pikipek? I mean you could run around in prior patches of grass for several minutes and not find squat, then step into the designated patch and hit Pikipek. X and Y did this too with a Pidgey right before the capture tutorial. Is this going to be a running thing in future generations where your first encounter is always a Com Mon bird? Why?
It's not always a bird. ORAS had a scripted encounter with Wurmple on Route 101.
Similarly, in Ultra, said encounter is a Grubbin.
Really? Guess that slipped my mind since repeated playthroughs for me tend to be Nuzlockes and that encounter didn't matter in ORAS(since it happened before you could catch Pokémon). The question still stands, though; why did they bother to make these Com Mon encounters scripted?
Acerola's Trial consists of using the Poke Finder to take pictures of Ghosts. A fair and interesting trial... until you realise one thing. The Poke Finder is explicitly stated to be a function of the Rotom Dex- something that only the player has. How exactly does Acerola's Trial work for Hau or the countless other Island Trial-goers who... oh.
She said that she borrows her own Poké Finder to you for the trial (probably so that you can use zoom even if you haven't updated it yet). She would do just the same for any other trainer participating. And was it ever stated that the Finder is exclusive to your Rotom Dex? There could also be a standalone version.
It's stated when you get the Poke Finder in the Hau'oli Tourist Centre that's it's a giveaway for Rotom Dex owners (they do acknowledge that this is an odd giveaway)- so Hau's not exactly able to get one, even though he's with you when you get yours. The 'on-loan finder', on the other hand, is something I didn't remember (My recollection is that it was some kind of add-on for your Poke Finder).
Pokédexes by themselves are common items. Now what is Rotom's secondary type beside Electric again? Acerola could have put her own Rotom into her Pokédex. Hell she could even be the one who created Poké Finder in the first place.
So Mareanies prey upon Corsolas, they're even based on a species of starfish that eats coral. Then why aren't they of a typing with an offensive advantage against a water/rock-type pokemon?
Type advantage is hardly a necessity for one pokemon to prey on another, especially given Mareanie at least doesn't have to actually defeat or kill the Corsola, only hang onto it long enough to bite off some of the coral that grows on it. Mareanie's many limbs against Corsola's lack of dexterity are advantage enough for that purpose.
How does the player character know all of the Z-Move poses not demonstrated by a Trial Captain or Kahuna?
Rotom-Dex might have some data. They could also notice some of the optional Z-trainers use them and take notes. They could even just wing it.
Of all Pokémon, why is the Poké Ride use for flying Charizard, who is not part of the regional dex?
Wolverine Publicity. Also there probably aren't many native Pokémon that are large enough to carry a trainer while flying and docile enough not to harm him/her.
Also because you get it from Kiawe, so it logically had to be a Fire/Flying-type, meaning the only other non-legendary option large enough was Talonflame - and despite the animation for the Fly HM, if you think about it, a dragon-esque creature is a lot less awkward to ride than a bird.
So has it really been 30 years since Kagetora has seen all the Eeveelution users? Are the people you battle in that subquest the same ones? Because it's safe to assume that Kagetora is in his 40s or 50s with being a Veteran, but there are a few of them who look well below that age, such as the Leafeon user being a female Swimmer, who could pass for her very late teens, the Flareon user being a Janitor and the Espeon user being around that vein, and of course, the Sylveon user being a Preschooler. I find it hard to believe that it's been 30 years and those people are the ones Kagetora is referring to. Then again, the Preschooler with the Sylveon said that the one she has belonged to her late grandmother...
Yeah, the preschooler was explicitly stated to have gotten the Sylveon from her grandmother; she's not the original Sylveon User, her grandmother was. Also, the Leafeon User was said to be a model, IIRC, and still seems to be one. She could be a case of simply being muchOlder Than They Look due to cosmetics and such. And what's the problem with the Janitor? They all have gray hair, so he could easily be around 50-60 (and thus old enough to have known Kagetora 30 years ago).
The Leafeon user explains/implies that it takes a lot of work to keep herself looking so young, the cosmetic medicines, anti-aging technology and such of the pokemon world is quite advanced it seems. She mentions she still feels her real age internally though.
Why isn't Xurkitree an Electric/Grass type instead of just Electric? It's been referred to as plant like and has plenty of grass type moves, plus Electric/Grass is an unusual and unused type, making it perfect for an Ultra Beast.
Xurkitree might seem to behave like a tree but, unless I'm forgetting something Wicke said, it's not composed of any sort of plant material nor does it absorb any of the things actual plants would. Think of it like Sudowoodo in that regard. Also, Xurkitree actually only has five Grass moves, and only two are by level-up, with the other three (Solar Beam, Energy Ball, Grass Knot) being VERY common among Pokemon that otherwise have little to nothing to do with Grass.
So is it true that Passimian's Hidden Ability currently isn't available? Why wouldn't you just be able to get it from SOS chaining, which Passimian can trigger?
For an unknown reason Passimian was programmed to not SOS other Passimian, nor is Passimian an SOS target for any other pokemon to call, thus there is no way currently to get the hidden ability. It is rather strange admittedly, given how Passimian are all about working together.
It's probably because Oranguru is its version-exclusive counterpart. It would be "unfair" for one of them to be SOS-able and not the other, so they likely decided to have them both behave the same way. They must've judged that it was less out-of-character for Passimiam to avoid SOS-ing than it would be for Oranguru (who don't get along with each other) to start doing it.
So, I read on Serebii that one of the potential Veterans to battle in the Battle Tree has a Kommo-o with the move Shell Smash (source), a move that it doesn't look like it can learn by any means currently. The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard much?
Perhaps it will appear as a Move Tutor move in a later game, or possibly a special Mystery Gift event?
Version 1.1 replaced it with Draco Meteor, so it was probably a slip-up by the programmers.
Where was it stated that the entire Aether Foundation sans Wicke was being controlled by Nihilego? I've seen this theory repeated many times on the WMG page, the Fridge page, and the villainous teams page before the revamp, but it makes no sense. The employees were just doing their jobs of keeping out intruders (perhaps the ones that threatened you and talked about the foundation's "dark secret" did know about and support Lusamine's plans, but not all the employees) and Faba was just being an egotistical tool who did whatever he was told in order to stay in a high-ranking position. Lusamine was the only one who may have been being controlled, and even then it's left up to the player to whether or not she was responsible for her own actions.
It wasn't stated anywhere, as far as I can remember. People only assumed such due to Lusamine's obsession with Nihilego, and guessing that she might have gotten possessed spiraled out of control and got applied to the other Aether employees too.
Until she made it to Ultra Space, it seems like all of Lusamine's crazy came from garden-variety insanity induced by the loss of her husband, which caused her to abuse Pokemon and obsess over the Ultra Beasts to the point that her children ran away from her, which gave her further insanity on account of the loss of her children. As for why Nebby's "purification" switches Lusamine from "on hardcore UB drugs" to "kind of nice but still a bit kookoo" instead of the "garden-variety insanity" she had before meeting Nihilego, either Lillie's words reached her once she was able to think about them clearly, or Nebby artificially (accidentally?) adjusted her brain chemistry to fix whatever was originally wrong with her in the process of expunging the bulk of the Nihilego venom from her brain.
I get that Solgaleo and Lunala are Alola's legendary Pokemon, so it's very likely the people of the region named them long ago, I also get that it was Mohn who gave Cosmog its name according to what we gather from the plot, but how did Cosmoem get its name when it was never mentioned anywhere? Mohn wasn't around to know Cosmog could evolve and none of the characters were even aware that Cosmoem was Nebby's evolved form.
Maybe Kukui/Burnet/Wicke come up with the name when you evolve the second Cosmog?
I actually assumed you, the player, are naming it, as the person discovering the Pokemon (okay, technically a bunch of people were there the first recorded time Cosmoem appeared in Alola, but nobody would have known that it was an evolution and not a Forme Change of Cosmog until the player character evolved the second one.)
Yeah, Lillie simply continues calling the first one Nebby, so even if they figured out after the fact that it was an evolution, giving it an "official" name wasn't exactly a priority at the time. So its name is very likely coming from the player character.
What's with Komala's Shiny palette? Only the log changes. Is the log the real Pokemon and the koala is just independent?
It seems unlikely that the log is the "real" Pokémon, because the Pokédex and the official site say that the log was given to it by its parents, pretty clearly implying that the koala is the creature and the log is an accessory. It's not a helpful answer, but I'm not sure that they really put all that much thought into determining Shiny colors.
The Youngster Trainers have an Island Challenge Amulet. However, it is said that you need to be 11 to do the Island Challenge. The Youngsters are seemingly about 7 at most. How did they all get excluded from the rules? Especially Tristan, who apparently took the Island Challenge while underage, and also completed it, considering he can challenge the player for the Champion title.
I always thought they were about 10-12, but maybe that's just because the German translation used to call them "Teenager". I think assigning them an age would be rather difficult though, since there are some sprites where they look more like 7-9, and some where they could pass for 14-15. I wouldn't put them below 10 though, since their female counterpart is the Lass and those definitely look like they're at least in their teens.
I always assumed that the Youngsters were younger than the player characters, since... well... them being young is called attention to in their titles. And as you said, some of their sprites are pretty young-looking. I guess we can simply chalk it up to Gameplay and Story Segregation, in that not all of the NPCs are going to look the exact same or be the same age.
Sina's and Dexio's outfits are put together from clothing the PC can buy for him- or herself right in Alola. Yet, Lillie's new outfit isn't, even though she specifically says she bought it in Malie City.
Soooo... where's the question?
So why can't we buy it?
Under another Headscratcher about clothes (scroll up), there's a WMG that says the choice of clothing and accessories at stores is seen through the player character's eyes. In short, the protagonist may not be interested in the kind of outfit Lillie bought, so you as the player don't get to decide whether to get it. Sina and Dexio's tastes happen to be more in line with theirs. Out-of-universe, the game developers probably don't want the PC to have the same outfit as another major character in the game. That doesn't happen that often unless there's a narrative reason.
If I recall right, in the story itself Lillie states the outfit she brought was the last one of it they had in the store (thus the player character never gets the opportunity to buy one as Lillie is scripted to get to the store first).
Why don't you get Rotom's Pokedex entry right off the bat? I can understand not being able to use it (since it's what's powering the Pokedex), but since you've at least encountered one, shouldn't you have gotten it's Pokedex entry?
You encounter many Pokémon like Ride Pokémon and various NPCs but don't get their data until you've actually captured one for yourself. So it stands to reason that you must have it in a Ball and in your possession for it to count. That's how the 'dex has always worked.
But there have been cases before when just reading about them in a book was enough to register certain Pokemon to your 'dex. If it's just the need for information and a picture, Rotom should be able to provide those, right?
I took it the opposite way: the reason Rotom doesn't provide its Dex entry is because it's already around. It lives inside the Dex: if the player in-universe needs to know anything about Rotom, they can just talk to it, since it speaks human language, and it can give a first-person perspective unlike most of the other Pokemon the player's researching.
Why aren't there any Rotoms in the wild?
Same reason the other several hundred Pokémon aren't. It's not native to the region.
So what was the shared secret between the starters and Rockruff?
A mistranslation from a magazine scan. It only said they all have secrets, not that the secrets were shared. For Rockruff it was a split evolution, for the starters it was their own unique Z moves for their final evolution stages.
What incentive would Lusamine have for financially backing/supporting Team Skull? It was mentioned elsewhere in the game that Guzma liked Lusamine because she acknowledges how strong he is, but considering Lusamine's character... why would she do it?
To ensure he and Team Skull continue to work with her despite her crazy plans.
Empowering Team Skull also gives the Aether Foundation itself a possible excuse for putting so many resources into the Alola Region by giving Aether an enemy to oppose. Mainly though it gives Lusamine people who will readily do dirty work for her outside of the foundation and not ask questions.
Aether Foundation has a public image to uphold. Team Skull does not. That means if there's anything illegal/immoral that Aether needs done, they can now do it through Team Skull. It would also give Guzma some cause to continue to follow her for reasons other than emotional attachment that has the potential to fade. Guzma is a strong trainer and a good asset to have - it makes since to want to be absolutely certain he won't try to leave at a crucial moment.
Was Game Freak acknowledging hacking in the game? In one of the Pokémon Centers, there's a kid who says he got a Mewtwo through Wonder Trade. But you can't trade Mewtwo over Wonder Trade without hacking it and removing the event flag...
If you assume in-universe Wonder Trading and out-of-universe Wonder Trading to be different, then no. The dialogue needed a legendary-level Pokémon for the kid to be amazed at, and Mewtwo was the go-to. Also, it fits with all the Gen. I references in these games.
Really? You can't trade Mewtwo over Wonder Trade? If that's true, then either it's news to me or a thing to this game, because I've done so in XY before, one that I caught completely legitimately in that game.
The user asking the question seems to have confused Mew (an Event pokemon) with Mewtwo (a pokemon that is caught in regular gameplay and thus can be Wonder Traded).
Minor, but when you transfer from VC Gen I to these games, why is it that the Pokémon's name gets turned to lowercase letters if it isn't nicknamed, but the trainer's name isn't?
Presumably, a matter of visibility. You're going to be seeing that mon's name every time you send it to battle, while the trainer name only pops up in the info screen.
IIRC, the trainer name in Gen I can be made to include lowercase letters out of the players' own volition. Therefore the trainer name is simply kept verbatim while the pokemons' default name is converted.
What purpose does the Totem Kommo-o having a Mental Herb serve? Given its moveset note Clanging Scales, Protect, Sky Uppercut, Flash Cannon, what exactly do they think you're going to try to do to it that would make the Mental Herb necessary? The only thing I can honestly think of is use Taunt to make sure it doesn't use Protect, maybe there's something else I'm not aware of.
It also works against infatuation, Torment, Encore and Disable, which could potentially be used to disrupt its ability to attack consistently, although these tactics tend to be rare to use in an in-game run. It could also simply be to show off different items to those new to competitive battling, though a new player who just uses basic attacks would likely never realize it had a Mental Herb as its held item, or that it had an item at all if not using something with Frisk.
Does anyone know what the criteria are for your Rating Battles results to show up on the Pokémon Rankings at the Global Link website? Apparently, I have double battling's only attack-oriented Furfrou in Rating Battles, but the Pokémon Rankings haven't yet acknowledged its existence. (Or there have been other people with attack-oriented Furfrous but they havne't been acknowledged either.)
Okay, I got the answer. It takes a few days for actions to be noted on the Global Link website's Pokémon-by-species records.
Assuming the protagonist picked Rowlet and by extension received the Decidium Z, how do they already know the pose to make the move work? They recieve the Z-Crystal before they do Acerola's trial where the Ghost-type Z-Crystal pose is taught. Also, by extension, how do they learn the poses for the Z-Crystals that aren't given out by Trial Captains and Kahunas?
Several possible explanations: They created a Z-dance on their own for it. Rotom has videos featuring various dances for such uses. The Z-Crystals taught the player how to use them. Etc etc.
SOS battles. So I'm facing a wild/totem Pokémon and it suddenly calls for help. Now I'm outnumbered two to one. Why can't I call out one of my other team members and turn it into a double battle? I get that from a mechanics standpoint it's to be the battle harder, but what's the in story reason? Maybe your forbidden to with totem Pokémon, like how you're not allowed to catch them, but what about wild encounters? There can't be a rule there! Aside from being impossible to enforce, what would be the point? I feel like someone is going to claim Honor Before Reason, but how does that work? If the other guy escalates the fight why is it dishonourable of me to even things up? Do I not have the right to a fair fight?
Maybe the player is worried about escalating the conflict too much? If you just deal with the two-on-one battle and win quickly before the wild pokemon know what's hit them, you're home free, but if you call out a second, maybe then the wild pokemon could call a third ally, (so continuing to outnumber you) and so on and so forth. Things could get messy and the more Pokemon you're controlling at a time, the more difficult it could become to command them all properly and the higher the risk of serious injuries.
Why is Plumeria with Team Skull anyway? She seems a bit too...normal for the group of abused children, challenge failures, and runaways.
She's described as the "big sister" of Team Skull and is said to care for her underlings. Presumably, she joined it precisely because of this, feeling that the group needed something of a mother figure. The fact that she only grudgingly went along with the plan to kidnap Lillie and ultimately disbanded the group so the members could go on to do better things further justifies this.
Just how do Sableye continue to survive? They only pop up to prey on Carbink... but Carbink have the advantage in Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors. Carbink are more than capable of running roughshod over their would-be predators, and Sableye don't learn any non-TM moves that Carbink is vulnerable to (and, in fact, Carbink resists most of the moves Sableye learns without TMs or tutors). If anything, it seems like Sableye would likely be hunted to local extinction by their would-be prey.
Heatmor is supposed to prey on Durants too, but the suck so badly that Durants can apparently beat them up instead.
Keep in mind that Sableye existed like three generations before Carbink was a twinkle in Miyamoto's eyes. I'm sure they go for other gemstones usually - probably, they pop up in SOS Battles to prey on Carbink specifically because you've already started weakening it, and otherwise they just linger in the parts of the caves that aren't accessible to the player. In nature, they either stick to non-living gems or they beat Carbink through sneak-attack tactics (remember that turn-based battle is a gameplay convention, not how the battles actually go in-universe, so it's not impossible that a Sableye that would normally never win against a Carbink could manage to do so in "story mode", if you will.)
Sableye's pokedex entry itself states that they rarely ever succeed in preying on Carbink, so clearly most of the gems and rocks they eat are normal ones they find in the ground (as stated in earlier pokedex entries). And when it comes to attacking Carbink, much like Mareanie toward Corsola they don't actually have to defeat or kill it but just be able to tear a piece off to eat. Carbink is stated to have a body "draped" in gems, so all Sableye has to do is bite a piece off and make a run for it.
I kinda don't understand what's the deal with Guzma and his throphies. They're only bronze and one silver, which implies that he's not that strong. But in the game he really is a strong trainer. Was his status as always second/third best his motivation to get better? I just feel there's a dissonance.
Those trophies are from years ago when he was presumably not as strong. But yes, it seems through bad luck or bad attitude he always found himself as the second/third best when it came to pokemon competitions. And his problem was that instead of his failures motivating him to get better, they motivated him to blame traditions like the Island Challenge and the ideals it taught.
Playing through Ultra, I just realized that in Ilima's trial, you're only able to complete it because the Team Skull Grunts are blocking off the exits for the last Pokémon Ilima assigns you to defeat, forcing it to come out through the last hole. How does anyone else complete Ilima's trial? Or are they craftier than the player character?
If one goes for in-universe logic then one possibility is the Raticate/Gumshoos would eventually get tired of switching holes and just come out and fight. Or if the trainer has enough pokemon then they could send them out to do the same thing the Grunts do in the game.
Was there a reason to establish Mega Evolution as something horrible and abusive to the Pokemon that undergo it? Mega Evolution was a popular feature from the previous games, with a lot of Mega Evolutions becoming complete fan favorites for all involved, and the feature is still very much beloved, even in the wake of Z-Moves. So why go through all this effort to create Pokedex entries to establish that Mega Evolution is, in fact, evil, when the previous games preached it at a bond phenomenon between Pokemon and trainer?
To be fair, this generation wasn't the first to clue us in that Mega Evolution isn't all it's cracked up to be; between Korrina's Lucario going berserk in the anime, Mega Evolutions losing control quickly in Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, and the emergence of concerning 'dex entries in ORAS (Glalie's broken jaw, Lopunny's anger issues, Sableye's gem tearing straight out of its chest, etc). This generation also shows us that Mega Evolution is beneficial to some Pokémon (Ampharos being able to regrow its wool, Pinsir enjoying its wings, etc) and, being an entire species of Blood Knights, perhaps the other Pokémon are willing to put up with a moment of pain in order to win a battle.
So the SOS mechanic was established as a means for hunting down pokemon with hidden abilities as well as having an improved chance of finding shiny pokemon. Tediousness aside when one's team is worn down and you need to get them to a pokemon center, did anyone at Game Freak consider how cruel it would beto take advantage of this mechanic? Your pokemon would literally be beating on a wild pokemon until they're hurt enough to wanna cry for help, then if help comes, they have to watch as your pokemon takes out the other pokemon who came to help them. This whole cycle will likely continue until a pokemon of desired quality arrives, which could probably take a while...
Sandshrew, and by extension Sandslash, are said to have adapted to their Ice/Steel Alolan forms due to volcanic activity near their former habitat forcing them to flee to the icy mountains of Alola. What volcanic activity? It lives in the DESERT!
Yes, a desert located on a volcanic island.
Speaking of Sandshrew/Sandslash, why does an Alolan Sandshrew need an Ice Stone to evolve into a Sandslash when its more common countrpart just needs to reach a certain level?
During one of the plot beats when you reach the third island, you visit the Aether House and meet two kids who say that they live in here. My question is- why? We don't know who their parents are, because they're never mentioned. At first I thought that they're orphans or were taken from their parents for whatever reason, but the Aether foundation helps pokemon, not people. So why do they live in an Aether facility? My only guess is that maybe their parents are Aether workers, but there's no word on that in game.
Mallow says that once Trial Captains turn 20, they move on. This is probably an In-Universe Mandela Effect. I say it’s one big timeline with just different universes. Watch this video and you might get a better definition. I could theorise that Mina got sent back in time from on of the Wormholes. Her parents are way too old to be like in their 30s-40s age gap. Her father is the Gentleman sprite (which seems like 60s-70s gap) but don’t know how old her mother’s sprite is due to it not being a trainer. But we are introduced to Mustard in the Isle of Armor with a son who’s like a little younger than the protagonist. Perhaps Hyde is older than he looks. Honey, Mustard’s wife, is like in her 40s so she and Mustard have an a gap relation. If Mina is around 11-19 in 2016 then she must’ve got sent back in time or Mallow has a Mandela Effect or mean they need to have new jobs. I, for example, am 20 going on 21 and I still watch childhood shows.
If Cubone only evolves into Alolan Marowak at night in Alola, then what is stopping it from evolving into regular Marowak during the daytime? It's very odd that during a whole stretch of the day Cubone just doesn't evolve when it would in any other region; even odder that taking it to Ultra Space is what allows it to evolve into regular Marowak instead of just the absence of night. This could've been avoided if Gamefreak just created Alolan Cubone.
One of the morals is Growing Up Sucks because you'll have to get a job and/or basically give up your dreams of becoming a Pokémon trainer as seen with Team Skull and the Eeveeolution users. Yet, there's several trainers such as Bellhops and Firefighters who have jobs but still do Pokémon battling on the side. Does anyone else think the moral is lost because of this?
That's less a moral and morea facet of growing up. The real moral could be closer to just because you are growing up doesn't mean you have to give up your passions completely, just adapt around them.
Why back to Pokédex save data on obtained Pokémon?
. But in more simple terms, Gen 6's ORAS suggested that the games that have Mega-Evolution are in a different timeline than the ones that don't. XY, ORAS, and SM games are in a different timeline from the first 5 generations, though some theorize that there are actually three: Gen 1-2 earth, Gen 3-5 earth, and Gen 6-onward earth. Regardless of how many earths there are, the Mega Timeline has hints in it that confirm that other game regions do still exist (Steven Stone's home in ORAS has stones from regions of Kanto, Johto, Sinnoh, and Unova for example), so Gen 6 plus Earth's Kanto and Bill are still there. It's the Kanto that appeared at least during the GBA and DS era that got destroyed.
cruel it would be to take advantage of this mechanic? Your pokemon would literally be beating on a wild pokemon until they're hurt enough to wanna cry for help, then if help comes, they have to watch as your pokemon takes out the other pokemon who came to help them. This whole cycle will likely continue until a pokemon of desired quality arrives, which could probably take a while...