The next day, the doorbell will ring while you’re basking in the balcony. Head straight through the door on your right to return to the living room, then make your way to the door. Pfft, is Kukui ever going to let us actually open the door for him? Anyway, it’s time to head to the festival in Iki Town!

Well, after Kukui shows you something cool, that is. Head outside and Kukui will hurry you. Go down the steps and follow the path east towards Kukui’s direction. As you reach the corner, you should notice Kukui’s figure further ahead. Without further ado, run north to catch up with him.

As you pass the palm trees, you’ll transition to Route 1. Don’t sweat the details and continue towards where Kukui’s waiting. The Prof will remind you that wild Pokemon may appear from the tall grass. Now that you’ve got a Pokemon of your own, you can battle these wild Pokemon–and even catch them.

Being the helpful sort, the Prof shows you how to catch a wild Pokemon. If you’re not familiar with the process, you need to reduce a wild Pokemon’s HP and then throw a Poke Ball item. It’s easier to understand if you try it yourself. You can also check the Catching Pokemon page at the front of our guide.

After that successful display, it’s your turn. Kukui will hand you 10 Poke Balls and 5 Potions to get your started. You can buy more of each from the Poke Marts in any Pokemon Centre. Or if you’re lucky, you can find a couple just lying around. Still, if you want to catch ‘em all, it’s way easier to buy them.

With that all said, Kukui leaves for Iki Town. You’re now free to explore Route 1 and catch any wild Pokemon you want! Start by heading north into the tall grass. Before long, you’ll be forced into an encounter with a wild Pikipek. Whenever you traverse through tall grass, there’s a chance you’ll encounter a wild Pokemon.

Anyway, if you want, you can practice weakening the Pikipek with your starter Pokemon. Try to keep track of how much damage your moves do and avoid reducing the Pikipek’s HP to 0, otherwise it will faint and you’ll lose your chance to catch it. You can hold the L button and press A to check your moves.

Succeed in capturing the Pikipek and it will be recorded in your spiffy new Pokedex. Afterwards, it’ll be added to your party, immediately ready for use in battle. Although if you reduced its HP, you should probably feed it a Potion via the Pokemon or Bag menu.

For the former, select Pikipek and choose the “Restore” option. Then select the Potion from the list of items. For the latter, select the Potion, choose the “Use this item” option and then select Pikipek. Either way works; just use whichever you feel is more convenient.

If you failed to catch Pikipek (for example, if you accidentally made it faint), don’t worry because you can easily find another Pikipek. If you want, just run around in the tall grass until you find Pikipek again. Likewise, feel free to try and catch the other Pokemon native to Route 1.

Those who chose Rowlet as their first Pokemon should be wary as Pikipek is super-effective against Rowlet, while Rowlet’s Leafage is not very effective against it. It might be useful to have your new recruits take on Pikipek instead or run away from Pikipek encounters.

Pokémon Encounters - Iki Town and Outskirts¶

*** indicates Alolan form.**

While you’re off catching Pokemon, try to make your way north-west towards Kukui’s direction. By the way, if you’re busy and want to avoid wild Pokemon, simply steer clear of the tall grass. In this current area, you can’t really do that, but it’s something to keep in mind for later on.

As you cross the second large patch of grass, you ought to have noticed the Poke Ball shaped object on the ground, to the left of the rock and palm trees. Go up towards it and inspect it with the A button to discover it’s a Potion . Nice! You’ll find other useful items in a similar manner.

After that useful find, continue north-west from the grass towards the path going up the hill. You’ll be alerted to the presence of a fellow Pokemon trainer. Veterans will know this, but when a Pokemon trainer spots you, you’ll be forced to battle them. ’Tis the life of a Pokemon trainer.

Before you battle the trainer, check that your fighting Pokemon are all healed up. As you approach the trainer, the game will warn you by zooming out slightly and applying a black horizontal bar along the top and bottom of the screen. If you see this happen, it means a battle with a trainer is nearby.

Youngster Jimmy¶

Whoa, that’s one peculiar Rattata. A unique feature of the Alola region is that some Pokemon that exist in other regions have different appearances and attributes when encountered here. A normal Rattata is a Normal-type, but the Alolan variant is Dark and Normal.

Either way, an Alolan Rattata is still a Rattata–in other words, a pretty weak critter. At least a low levels anyway, such as this one. Simply use your Pokemon’s matching Type move (like in the Hau battle) to end win this battle fast. Or if you prefer, you can train your new recruits.

Having shown the Youngster who’s boss, carry on following the path in a north-westerly direction. When you reach the top of the hill, there will be another trainer ahead itching for a battle. Some trainers, such as this one, can be avoided if you so wish.

Here, if you want to get past without a fight, simply go behind the trainer, through the tall grass further north. That said, trainer battles are the best source of experience points, so we suggest taking on every trainer in sight. That is unless your Pokemon are low on HP and you want to rush ahead to heal.

Lass Audrey¶

Another reasonably weak trainer to practice on. If you picked Rowlet, you may have a slight disadvantage since Grass-type moves fare poorly against Bugs. Luckily, Rowlet learns Peck–a Flying type and thus super-effective move–at Level 8. Litten users can Ember to victory.

Moving on, if you haven’t already done so, wade through the tall grass up ahead and pick up the item on the floor, next to the palm tree. Funnily enough, this Poke Ball shaped item is actually a Poke Ball . Once you’re done, follow the remainder of the path west and up the slope.

Past the Route 1 signpost, you should notice a barricade to the north. Seems like you won’t be going there anytime soon. Instead, head south after the fence ends, then follow the bottom of the fence eastward. At the far end, pick up the Antidote that was teasing you moments ago.

Head back to the other end of the fence and carry on west towards the wooden sign nearby. These signs are “Trainer Tips” and contain helpful information for novices or experienced players that need a reminder. The one here lets you know that Pokemon gain experience through battles.

While you’re here, cut through the grass beyond the Trainer Tips sign to recover another Potion on the floor. You can never have too many Potions. From here, you can go back down and continue following the path west or you can head west through the tall grass itself.

Either way, there’s a trainer near the west side of the grass. If you went through the grass, you can sneakily avoid this trainer. As you travel around Alola, you’ll notice many, many opportunities like this.

Very often, there will be a choice of paths–one that forces you to fight a trainer and another that allows you to skip the trainer by going through wild Pokemon territory. As we advised earlier, trainer battles are great sources of experience, but it might be useful if you’re doing a low level run or something.

Preschooler Oliver¶

Nothing to report here. Just the same old Yungoos you’ve probably encountered in the wild. Give it a good smack down with your starter Pokemon’s matching Type move. Easy! Not that you can really expect a Preschooler to provide a challenge…

Further on, there will be four flame torches in front of a set of stairs. This is the entrance of Iki Town in case you don’t recognise it. Well, Kukui was doing his best to distract you last time, so… Anyway, before heading up the stairs, go through the grass to the left and fight your way to the Paralyze Heal in the corner.

When you’re ready to advance, head up the stairs, where the drum sounds seem to be getting louder. Oh, there is a festival going on, after all.