The starter chosen was Chadsten, the Litten. He triumphed in his first fight against the enemy Rowlet.
While exploring Route 1 our first encounter was a Pikipek. After capturing it, I've named him Gmay, and grinded some to increase the odds of everyone surviving the journey.
After battling some people around the first city, we moved on to Route 2 where we captured a Makuhita, which we named Loru. She did excellently at training against the normal types in the area.
After beating up some preschooler, Gmay evolved into a Trumbeak. Good on him.
After Loru beat up some normal types to complete the first trial, we caught Scott, a Yungoos.
Chadsten evolved into a Torracat after we caught Jen, the Cutiefly on Route 3. Shortly later, we caught a Cottonee that we named Mandy, in the Melemele Meadow. Looking for our friend.
With our trial completed, and our friend found we head back to Iki Town to try our hand against the Kahuna.
Gmay was sent out first in our first major fight, against Hala the fighting type specialist. He easily dispatched the first two pokemon sent after him, a Mankey and a Makuhita. Feeling strong, he unleashed one last Pluck to finish this duel and end the Crabrawler standing before him. Unfortunately it was not enough, the crab stared him down before unleashing his Z power and pummeling him to death. Loru came out after, to avenge his fallen friend. A quick Force Palm later, and the deed was done. Unfortunately it was too late for Gmay, may he rest in peace.
Onto the second island we went, and our first encounter on Route 4 had us encounter another Pikipek. This one was a female, and she was named Jaime. Later on while training, she also evolved into a Trumbeak. May she fare better then Gmay did.
Eventually we made it to Paniola Town, on our away to do the fist challenge Hau wanted to have another pointless duel. Mandy handled his Pikachu just fine, and Chadsten took a bite out of his Dartrix with a fire fang, ending the fight before it even began.
At the Paniola Ranch, we encountered a Mudbray, Mandy weakened it and it was caught. We named this one Rachel, and left it in the box for now.
Onto route 5 we had a number of close calls, but everyone lived through it. We also caught a Metapod, that we have named Kristen. Loru evolved into a Hariyama during our training, and with our levels and spirits high we went on to to challenge the totem pokemon. After a couple easy fights with lesser pokemon, we were lulled into a false sense of security as the rain began to come down.
Everything started fine, with a double leech seed up from Mandy, then she got converted to water. Since she also had attack down from the repeated growls, and was just converted to water type, depriving her of her STAB on Razor Leaf I decided to switch her out for Scott, to tank a single hit. Unfortunately the totem Pokemon crit, removing Scott from further adventure. Quickly swapping Mandy back in to tank the onslaught, aided by the double leech healing I began to boost her attack up using Growth. A couple Razor leafs later, both the Totem and his ally were no more. She avenged Scott, but unfortunately he now lays next to Gmay in the cemetery.
Morale low from the loss of an ally, we went back to training as we swapped Rachel into the party. The rain let up, a new day ahead of us.
We moved onto Route 6 and walked through some grass, where an adorable little Eevee showed up. We caught him, and named it Chris. We're trying to become friends so he can evolve into an Umbreon eventually. We did a bunch of training, and leveled everyone up some. In the next area there was a surprise event of a battle royale, a 4 man free for all. Panicked, I was forced to send out an injured chris with no option to heal beforehand. The event even disabled items! Thankfully, the other pokemon attacked each other and Chris lived through the event, walking out badly injured with a sliver of HP remaining.
We immediately rushed to the pokecenter and had everyone cared for, before we set off to the Wela Volcano. In the park there we encountered a Salandit. He was caught, and named Tanner. We traveled up the path and faced down the Salazzle totem pokemon. We beat it up pretty handily with Chadsten, using a couple healing items and playing conservatively, Gmay's death still fresh on everyones mind.
After our trip to the volcano, it was time for a forest. A quick fishing trip got us a magikarp, which was named Kenneth. Eventually some training got him up to a Gyrados, and he proves to be useful so far. After foraging in the forest for the trial, Chadsten easily took down the totem in a single hit. Afterwards we caught a Bonsly which was named Davis.
With the third trial done, we had some side stops at the dimensional labratory to learn some more about other dimensions before going through the Diglett cave. Where we of course caught a Zubat, which was named Erika. Finally we made it to the location of the grand trial of the island, only to be told to go track her down through the memorial site. On our way through there we found a Ghastly, named Serge and Chris evolved into a reliable Umbreon. He will provide an excellent wall for stalling when needed.
After a meaningless fight with some Team Skull kids, and later an admin for the organization we went on to fight Olivia. I let Mandy do her thing for this one, as she easily swept the rock types with Gigadrain + Leech Seed. I swapped in Loru for the last battle, as I wasn't confident in her tanking the Z-Power move from Olivia's final pokemon. Loru easily took it, and proceded to unleash his own Z-Power, easily beating this final challenge on the island. We have some unfinished business with the Aether Foundation before we can move on to the next region, however.
Onto the Aether foundation, we went to their paradise and met an ultra beast.. probably. It fought us, and immediately murdered Mandy. Chris was sent out next against the unknown threat, and he got to work lowering its accuracy and stalling. After a couple more rounds, the beast fled off to its own world, unfortunately Mandy will not be returning to ours. To replace her, we swapped Serge into the party.
On the third island, we immediately went to the Malie garden, where we captured a Poliwag, which we named Eric. Additionally, Chadsten evolved into an Inceneroar. He continues to be a strong asset on this adcenture. Later on while training, Serge evolved into Hauntzer. After a quick meeting with the professor, we moved on to route 10 to work towards our trial. There we encountered a Skarmory, which we named Mario and immediately swapped in, replacing Jen.
The electric type totem pokemon was easily dispatched by Chadsten. A couple of Fire Fangs and it died. On to the next challenge we captured a Ledian named Joe on Route 11. It was sent to chill in the PC, as there wasn't any room for him in the main party. Later in Route 12, we caught a Torkoal, who was named Sean. They were also sent to the PC, as we already had Chadsten for Fire coverage anyway.
Traveling on, we arrived in Tapu city and encountered a regional variant of Vulpix that was ice type. We captured it, named it Davis and added it to the party, giving Serge a rest in the PC. We then went and did the ghost challenge, where we had to take some pictures and fight a Mimikyu. They went down easily enough through a combination of Chris and Chadsten. Afterwards we were challenged by Team Skull to come to their base alone. So we went off to Po City to do that. There we found an Ice Stone and evolved Davis into a Ninetails. He gained Fairy typing too, neat.
After beating up the Team Skull boss, we went back to discover Lillie was in trouble, and set off to go save her and Nebby. Before we could do that though, the Kahuna of the island challenged us to a match. He was a dark type leader, and the combined strength of Davis and Loru easily dispatched his pokemon. That new fairy typing came in handy. We're now off to the Aether Paradise to save Lillie.