Pokémon Encounters - Trainers School¶

*** indicates Alolan form.**

The Trainers’ School that Kukui suggests you visit is located by the entrance of Hau’oli City. To reach there, first exit Kukui’s lab back into Route 1, then head north to the area just outside your house. Next, make your way west along the dirt path. If you’re confused at all, just follow the red flag on the bottom screen.

Soon, the dirt path will end and you’ll come across tarmac, which means you’ve gone the right way. Ahead, you’ll find Lillie standing in front of the Pokemon Centre. Approach her to be led inside for a tour. If you’re a new Pokemon trainer, be sure to listen carefully!

You’ll find Pokemon Centres all over Alola, usually in towns or right before dangerous locales. Each centre has the same facilities. Smack bang in the middle is the nurse who will heal your party for free. Next to her, on the counter, is a PC that you can use to organise your Pokemon.

Meanwhile, on the right side is the Poke Mart where you can buy useful items such as potions and poke balls. Finally, unique to Alola is the cafe area on the left side. Here, you can buy a drink (which does nothing; it’s simply for atmosphere) and occasionally get a free snack and Poke Beans for your Pokemon.

After the tour, Lillie will leave for the Trainers’ School. While you’re still here, you may want to check out the facilities that she described for yourself. You’ll be coming to Pokemon Centres a lot, so you should get accustomed to the services. Don’t be afraid to chat to the visitors either!

In addition, various options will be unlocked in the menu:

• Quick Link : This allows you to quickly connect with a nearby owner of Pokemon Sun and Moon. Both players need to tap the bottom screen (or hold the A button). From here, you can engage in a single or double battle or a trade.
• Festival Plaza : This temporarily transports you to a festival filled with visitors run by Sophocles. You can access many unique facilities and interact with festival visitors. The first time you visit, you’ll receive a informative tutorial from Sophocles.
• QR Scanner : This enables you to scan special QR code patterns using the 3DS’s (or 2DS’s) external (out-facing) camera. If you scan many patterns, you can earn points to use an “Island Scan”, which may reveal a rare species of Pokemon.
• Battle Video : This lets you access the VS Seeker, which contains recordings of battle videos you’ve elected to save after a thrilling battle in Battle Spot, Battle Tree, etc. Useful for replaying battles to look for improvements or to show off your prowess to other players.

Anyway, before we get stuck here all day, leave the Pokemon Centre when you’re ready. Outside in the streets, follow the tarmac in a westerly direction. It won’t be long before you come across Lillie standing in front of the entrance to the Trainers’ School. Alright, follow her in!

Up ahead, you’ll find Kukui, Lillie and an unidentified person. Walk forward to be welcomed into the school. Since it’s a school, you’re obviously here to learn. Your task is to find the four Pokemon trainers located in the school and, of course, beat them in a Pokemon battle.

To make your life easier, the Prof will hand you an Exp. Share . This useful key item makes it so that all Pokemon in your party receive a portion of experience during a battle, even if they don’t participate. This is a super, duper, easy way of building your party.

At any time during your visit, you can speak to Lillie and she’ll heal your Pokemon for free. You could return to the Pokemon Centre, but it’s much quicker to ask Lillie. Anyway, time to find those trainers! From the entrance, make a beeline east, following the wall below.

As you approach the parking bays, go up to the railing near the corner and search around (by hammering the A button) above it to find a hidden Poke Ball . Finders keepers! After pocketing your find, head north, again following the wall. Soon, you’ll reach an area with short grass.

Pick up the Potion next to the palm tree, then continue ahead while following the wall. At the very end, you’ll find a girl with a tennis racket standing in front of an incinerator. Speak to her to find out she’s one of the four Pokemon trainers, which means it’s battle time!

Youth Athlete Hiromi¶

You must have seen a bunch of these in the wild by now. Sure, it’s a bit higher level, but nothing you can’t handle. Of course, if you’re using Rowlet, be aware of your type disadvantage. In this case, you may want to rely on a (high level) new recruit, especially Pichu if you caught one.

That’s one trainer down! Head back to where the tarmac begins and head west, along the front of the school building itself. You’ll go past the front entrance, but we’ll get there soon enough! After passing the front entrance, you’ll find a courtyard below. Go down to have a look.

There’s a trainer here too, but he won’t accept a battle until you’ve defeated the other three trainers. Go past him, towards the left half of the courtyard. Inspect the middle of the Poke Ball pattern on the floor to find an unseen Great Ball . Next, run towards the bottom-left corner, for a visible Potion .

At this point, you should notice an item on the other side of the fence, to the left. Head all the way north, following the fence. Towards the further end, there’s a red gate to the left that you can open to reach the other side. Once there, chat to the kid waiting in the corner for your second battle.

Youngster Joey¶

It’s really hard to lose this battle. That said, to swiftly end the battle, focus on using your Special moves (indicated by a blue spiral icon when checking the move information with L+A or otherwise). Just in case Metapod boosts its Defence too much with Harden.

Two down! From the Youngster, make your way south through the grass. Be sure to grab the Antidote along the left side and the Potion in the bottom-right corner that you eyed earlier. After that, go back the way you came, to the other side of the red gate. You should be near the west side of the school building.

From here, go down a few paces and enter the school building via the west side entrance. Inside, you can enter the classroom above to learn about basic battle knowledge, such as Type Match-Ups. You’ll also learn that using a move of the same Type as your Pokemon leads to increased damage, i.e. STAB.

Continue east along the corridor. After passing the lockers, speak to the lady at the front of the play area to receive a Quick Claw . If you give this to a Pokemon as a held item (either via the Pokemon or Bag menu), that Pokemon may occasionally go first in battle even if it’s slower.

Next, carry on east, ignoring the staircase for now. Hiding to the right of the staircase is a little tot. Approach her to be challenged to a battle.

Preschooler Mia¶

An easy battle for Popplio and Rowlet users; trickier for Litten users. Annoyingly, most of the early-game Pokemon you can catch also fare poorly against Rock-types. If you caught a Wingull or Slowpoke, you’re good to go. Pichu is OK as well.

Succeed and you’ll have taken out three of the four Pokemon trainers, meaning you can now challenge the prideful trainer standing outside in the courtyard. From the staircase, head south to exit the building via the front entrance. Outside, you should know where to go. (South-west if you forgot.)

Rising Star Joseph¶

Watch out, this battle can actually be quite tough. Rowlet users should be worried since the grass owl has a type disadvantage. Grimer has a lot of nasty tricks, including a powerful Bite and the ability to inflict poison with Poison Gas and Pound if it triggers Poison Touch.

If you have Pichu, open with Charm to drop Grimer’s Attack two stages, making its attacks hurt a lot less. From here, it’s likely Grimer will poison your Pokemon. Rather than waste time curing the poison with an Antidote, you may be better off causing as much damage as possible, before switching to your starter, etc.

After that potentially tricky battle, you’ll receive TM01 Work Up . For those unaware, TMs (short for “Technical Machines”) are items you can use to teach specific moves (in this case, Work Up, a status move that boosts Attack and Special Attack) to Pokemon that can learn it.

As with all items, they’re accessed from your Bag. By the way, TMs can be used repeatedly, just be sure to try them out! In any case, having bested all four trainers, you’ll have passed your test with flying colours. Right? Why have you been summoned to the teacher’s room, then?

Go back inside the school building and head up the main staircase. Upstairs, approach the woman standing below the next flight of stairs when you’re ready for a final battle. Otherwise, you can wander around and check the other rooms on this floor if you so desire.

Teacher Emily¶

Magnemite is the biggest hurdle here. Litten users can smoke it quickly with Ember, while Popplio can potentially brute force with Water Gun. Rowlet users may struggle though. Some Pokemon that can handle Magnemite include Grimer and Meowth (if you use Dark moves).

Meowth is less of a hassle, although it’s pretty nimble and can sometimes cause your Pokemon to flinch with Bite. In any case, be careful not to overextend your Pokemon especially if Magnemite did a number on them earlier.

Congratulations! To reward your prowess, you’ll receive 5 Great Balls . If you didn’t figure it out before, Great Balls are better versions of Poke Balls. So if you’re finding it difficult to snare a particular Pokemon with the standard Poke Ball, try tossing a Great Ball their way.

Now that you’ve conquered the Trainers’ School, you’re ready to challenge your first real trial–in other words, the first island trial at the Verdant Cavern. It won’t be easy though and its captain, Ilima, recommends that you go around, training your Pokemon and collecting strong Pokemon first.