Route 1: Hau’oli Outskirts¶

Leave your house and this time head east from the dirt path. At the bend, carry on north where you should see Kukui’s figure in the distance. So far, you’ve battled with Pokémon, but you can’t call yourself a proper Pokémon trainer until you’ve personally caught some Pokémon of your own.

Route 1¶

Kukui will step into the tall grass and show you how it’s done. For those of you new to this, you must weaken wild Pokémon with your moves. Once their HP (Health Points) are low enough, you then open the Item menu and navigate to the Poké Ball tab to select a Poké Ball to try and trap the wild Pokémon.

However be warned that reducing a wild Pokémon’s HP to 0 will cause it to faint and disappear from battle. So you need to be careful with the Pokémon you’re using–their strength, as well as the strength and Type of their moves. You can also press the Y button to immediately access your Poké Balls for convenience.

Generously, Kukui will hand you 10 Poké Balls and 5 Potions so you can go on a catching spree. Afterwards, you can buy these items yourself when you visit a Pokémon Center (and you can even occasionally find some lying on the floor).

To begin with, we recommend catching every new Pokémon you find, because you never know when they might be useful. Starting from Pokémon X and Y, catching Pokémon awards experience points just like defeating them, so there’s no disadvantage to catching, besides some extra time and effort.

For reference, Pokémon you’ve caught will have a small Poké Ball icon to the right of their HP bar. So if you encounter a Pokémon that doesn’t have the icon there, that means you haven’t caught it yet. Useful if you’re somewhat forgetful.

Pokemon Encounters - Path Leading to Iki Town¶

In any case, wade your way through the tall grass just ahead. Immediately you’ll be attacked by a wild Grubbin, which you can catch if you’d like. Once you’ve made it past both strips of tall grass, don’t forget to pick up the Poké Ball lying in the corner to the east. Past here is a dirt path leading up a hill.

Halfway along is a Pokémon trainer looking for a fight. As you approach, horizontal black bars will appear above and below the top screen, indicating a battle is nearby. If you speak to the trainer or the trainer catches sight of you, you’ll be forced into a Pokémon battle. The life of a Pokémon trainer sure is demanding!

Lass Audrey¶

Buneary is a Pokémon introduced in Diamond and Pearl, which did not inhabit Alola during the time of Sun and Moon. There are roughly 100 of these “legacy” Pokémon found in Alola, which should be exciting for those who played Sun and Moon to death.

Anyway, Buneary is a pretty weak Normal-type Pokémon. You can easily win by using your Pokémon’s matching Type (STAB) move, just like during your battle with Hau. Alternatively, you could consider training up one of the new Pokémon you may have just caught.

Having survived your 2nd trainer battle, keep following the hilly path up. As the path bends further west, you’ll bump into another youthful Pokémon trainer. This time, however, you have the option of sneaking past him, by navigating through the strip of tall grass above the big rock.

Skipping trainers let you travel around Alola faster. But on the other hand, you’ll miss out on a lot of easy experience points. You see, the experience earned from defeating Pokémon owned by trainers is higher than that of defeating wild Pokémon, even if they’re the same species and level. Plus you get money from beating trainers.

Regardless of your choice, we’ll be listing every possible trainer you can battle for reference purposes.

Youngster Jimmy¶

Caterpie is a common Bug-type Pokémon that you can find around these parts. If you picked Litten, this will be an easy win since Fire is super-effective against Bug. Rowlet owners will need to be cautious as Grass is weak against Bug, so attack with Tackle instead.

Beyond Jimmy, there’s a Potion sitting cozily to the north of the tall grass. Continuing west along the dirt trail, and up the hill, should eventually lead you to a familiar intersection. This is where you visited not long after picking your starter Pokémon!

You’re not alone this time as a small dog Pokémon–Rockruff–and its young owner are hanging around here. If you’re not in a hurry, you can go up to Rockruff and press the A button to play with it. Choose an action you want to perform to try and increase Rockruff’s affection. After a while, you may be encouraged to mimic Rockruff’s actions.

This is all for fun though, so don’t linger too long unless you’re a huge Rockruff fan. Although if you increase Rockruff’s affection high enough, it will follow you around in this small area. Once you’re done playing, travel west on your way back to Iki Town.

Along the way, a third trainer will challenge you. To skip him, head into the tall grass above and quietly sneak behind him.

Preschooler Oliver¶

Don’t bother questioning whether preschoolers should be battling with Pokémon… Anyway, you may have already fought an Alolan Rattata at the very beginning of the game and this one’s really no different. Just try not to make the little tyke cry when you beat him.

From here, the coast should be clear. Well, besides the dubious-looking duo standing just by the entrance. Fortunately they appear to be mere tourists and aren’t looking for a fight. After that chance encounter, enter Iki Town like previously.