We start our journey in our little hometown of Postwick, where we meet Hop and head together to meet his brother, the Champion Leon. I really like the scenery at the beginning of the game; the colours are so lively, and the atmosphere is just so pretty. We meet up with Leon, who brings us gifts: the three Pokemon starters. I've decided to choose Sobble as I tend to pick fire types way too many times and wanted to make a change for a bit. Here is a picture of our reunion.
After receiving our Pokemon, we were faced with a tough situation. A defenseless Wooloo had broken a gate to the restricted area and needed rescue fast. After getting lost in the foggy area, we encountered a mysterious pokemon. Our attacks had no effect on it, and we were knocked out in the fog. Thankfully, we were rescued by Leon and brought back to safety.
After proper scolding, we get endorsement from the champion himself to compete in Gym Challenges. From my understanding, this allows us to participate in gym battles, having to defeat 8 gyms in total to get the chance to battle Leon. Our first location to meet up with our rival is in Motostoke, which we had to get across the Wild Area to do so. During this time, I was extremely unsure of what pokemon I could battle and which ones I should stir far from. As my pokemon were level 10-11, I accidentally entered a battle against a Level 33 Mudsdale and barely made it out alive. The Wild Area also had dens, some of which had energy pouring out. They emitted a large beacon of light, which at that time I was too scared to even interact with the den and avoided it like a plague, at least for now.
After reaching the city, I've gotten a new makeover and headed straight to the first gym. Before battleing Milo, you do get a chance to talk to him a little since his Wooloo does bump into you by accident. The first gym battle goes smoothly as my Growlithe did all the job. Regardess, Here is the rest of my team!
After defeating the first gym, grass-type, I headed to the second gym, water-type, where I met the Gym Leader Nessa at Hulbury. I love her design, she's looks so cool. My Yamper had evolved into Boltund and was able to wip whip out her whole team. Here's my updated team.
This time the journey was of defeating Kabu, the third Gym Champion and user of fire-type pokemon. We had to return to Motostoke, which meant we had to go through Galar Mine No.2, where we finally learned the name of this kid Bede, and battled him once more. Returning back to our hotel, we are introduced to Marnie, who surprisingly is very nice. I thought she would have the same personality as Bede, but I was very wrong. She even waits for you the next day in the Hotel's lobby, which was a nice surprise. The battle between us and Kabu was very quick, as I used mainly Drizzile to win the battle. I like Kabu's design, it't very well done, and he looks like the average football coach, which is so funny. Before we leave for the next gym, he proceeds to send us off with a "proper, sporty chant" which I love. Milo and Nessa are also there to send us off and wish us well on our journey.
The fourth gym requires you to return to the Wild Area and follow the path to the next city. This time, I decided I was ready to try out the dens and have a battle between the Gigamax pokemons. I was prepared to battle alone, but random NPCs do join in to help you. After getting to the city, Hop feels down after getting into a battle with Bede and loses as Bede says some mean things to him. Either way, his motivation is brought back at some point and he carries on training. Now for the fourth gym, I wasn't sure what gym type this one was. Even though a trainer I've previously battled did mention the Gym Leader wears a mask, so I should have known this was going to be a ghost-type gym. We didn't get an encounter with him before, so this was our first time interaction, and he simply wished us good luck for our next gym battle. The only mistake I regret here was using Hattrem against Gengar, as she died very quickly. Either way, we meet up with Sonia outside the gym and head to the mural - part of Galar's history - which Bede was about to destroy for the sake of finding more wishing stars. We intervene and stop him, right when the chairman arrives and states his disapointment with Bede. He revokes Bede's endorsement, and as a challenger, he is resigned. This is quite disappointing as he believed he was doing what's best for the chairman and learning he has no family. But I believe for the sake of the story, we will see more of him in the future.
