Returning to the Alola Region

I wanted to play one of the Pokémon Ultra games but I was damned if I was going to pay full price for the thing. This isn't just because I'm cheap (which I am) but because I found Pokémon Moon a bit underwhelming. There was a lot I liked about it, most especially the format chance away from gym battles to the more individualized Trial Captains. Still, the Alola Region felt a bit small and hemmed in compared to the sprawling mass of Kalos.

I've kept myself relatively spoiler free on this one. I know the Rockets are back in the post game, I know there are new Ultra Beasts (who I think I can capture?), and I know there's a bunch more story and side quest content. I'm prepared to give it a go.

And the first job, of course, is to pick my starter.

My starter in Moon was Rowlet because he looked cute and I've always had a preference for Flying types. Also, he was absolutely bloody adorable. I feel I should make a different choice this time around for the sake of variety. My choices are a cat that evolves into John Cena and a sea lion that evolves into Liberace. Also, in common with all Water starters, Popplio's second form looks bloody awful. That said, I have a profound and irrational dislike of humanoid Pokémon which is what Litten ends up as. I'm sorry, they look creepy and it starts to feel a bit too much like slavery.

So, Popplio, I choose you which should be interesting because their final form, Primarina, is dual Water/Fairy and in spite of them being around for a couple of generations now I don't think I've ever used a Fairy type. Also, Water starters are a rare one for me but Bulbasaur was what I used in the very first Pokémon game back in the day and what I'm currently using in my FireRed playthrough so let's come full circle for the last Pokémon game on the dedicated handheld console before it all moves over to Switch.

Let the Trials commence.