Current team:
This picture was taken after the Lusamine battle. Fafnir
finally evolved into Noivern during the whole Aether Raid, around the halfway point during it. He also learned Air Slash, which finally gave him a truly nice offensive move. I look forward to teaching it Draco Meteor once I reach Poni Island. Modest Nature + Good Special Attack = Killer Draco Meteors for days! I will be transferring it and Makoto to Sun via Pokebank to teach it some moves: Dragon Pulse for Fafnir and Ice Beam for Makoto.
Now for the all the major battles + the story during the Lillie rescue went:
1st Faba battle:
Still a pushover just like Sun/Moon. He still has only his Hypno and that's it. Siegfried took care of it quickly with two Night Slashes.
2nd Faba battle:
The other Aether Employee who fights with him has an extra Pokemon, though I can't recall what it was. It was pretty easy to take him out. Faba's team is largely the same, but instead of starting with Kadabra, he starts with a Claydol. Bruxish and Hypno are still present.
I took out the Claydol and the other two Pokemon from the other Aether Employee with two Sparkling Arias from Makoto. Hau's Alolan Raichu went down in the process, but it was for the pay off so that he could summon better Pokemon against what's to come: Leafeon could deal with Bruxish, and Incineroar has the Dark-typing. Siegfried knocked out Hypno rather quickly, but then it got two-shotted by Bruxish's Psychic Fangs because one of the hits was a critical hit. The same turn Siegfried went down, Hau's Leafeon Kid the Bruxish, so poor Siegfried didn't get the experience from it. Luckily, I turned on the Roto boost for experience points and used it for Siegfried in the coming battles so that he could catch up.
3rd Guzma battle:
The main changes with his team here is that Masquerain replaces his Ariados, and he also has a Vikavolt now.
This battle went a lot better than my last battles with Guzma. After learning that Makoto resists most of his Golisopod's attacks, including First Impression, and it can deal strong damage with Moonblast, I led with Makoto. First Impression still left Makoto in a good area of the green, and then he delivered a strong Moonblast for Emergency Exit to activate. Vikavolt then came out from it. I withdrew Makoto to send out Sirius. The following attacks constantly put Sirius in the yellow, so I decided to take the risk and go for an attack. Turned out Sirius outspends Vikavolt, so one Flamethrower did the job.
Next was Guzma's Pinsir. This was Fafnir's first battle as a Noivern, and boy did it have a good battle. It one-shotted Pinsir with a single Air Slash. Masquerain was next. Learning my past mistakes with the Pokemon and its Icy Wind, I had Sirius do the job to deliver the KO on it. Golisopod was last, but it went down very quickly with one more Moonblast.
3rd Ultra Recon Squad battle:
Yep, you fight them again, this time in the room right before you run into Lillie and Lusamine (I will get more into what the URS does at this point in the story in the story updates section). Dulse still uses the single Poipole against you. He also used an X Defense from the start, so took a while to take out Poipole with just my Siegfried. He even used a Hyper Portion on it right when it was in the red, so it prolonged the battle even more. Other than that, it wasn't a difficult fight. There were some close calls with the Poison Jabs and even Toxic towards the end, but Siegfried handled the battle quite well.
Lusamine battle:
Largely the same battle from Sun/Moon, except Lopunny replaces her Mismagius.
I started with Rem against Lusamine's Clefable. Clefable didn't go for Metronome from the get-go and instead used Charm. Rem didn't do much damage with Poison Jab. Then, something hit me: "Wait a second, I have Mikasa who deals super effective damage to Clefable AND resists those Fairy-attacks. I should use her instead." I withdrew Rem for Mikasa. Clefable still didn't use Metronome. One Iron Head was all it took to finish Clefable off.
The rest of her Pokemon went down quite quickly. Makoto one-shotted her Bewear with a single Moonblast. It took a few turns to take out her Lilligant with Fafnir, but that's because the Lilligant still survived after a single Air Slash and it used Stun Spore him, causing me to waste a turn to heal Fafnir's paralysis. Lopunny went down to a single Brick Break from Siegfried, and Lusamine's Milotic was obliterated with Rem's Grass-type Z-move.
Story updates:
The Lillie Rescue is basically the same... until you break into Lusamine's mansion.
Lots of story changes happen inside that building.
First up, immediately upon arrival inside Lusamine's house, the Ultra Recon Squad is waiting right outside the door. They talk about how they have been learning more about battles and how it could prove to be a possible way to deal with Necrozma aside from using technology, and then Dulse challenges you to battle. After beating him, the two let you inside. Before letting you through, Dulse reveals that they have been working with Colress, who developed a machine that can restrain Necrozma.
When you arrive into the second room where Lillie and Lusamine are talking, the dialogue is mostly the same at the beginning, but halfway through, there are some changes to it. For one, when Lusamine says, "Calling me mother? I don't have any children! Certainly not any wretched children who would run off and reject me love!", she still has the triggered eyes for the first part of the quote, but in the second part of the quote, she doesn't express that statement with gritted teeth, unlike in Sun/Moon. By removing the gritted teeth, it felt like USUM subdues Lusamine's anger during this entire scene, and it shows in what's to come. Lusamine still calls out Lillie for "not having the strength of a trainer," but something new follows between Lusamine and Lillie's dialogue:
Lusamine: "It's so terribly unattractive. But know that my fathomless love will save someone even like you... when I protect this entire world from darkness."
Lillie: "Protect this world...? Mother! What is it you're trying to do?" Is that why you want Nebby? Is that what you would sacrifice Cosmog for?"
Lusamine: "That's right... I will force Cosmog to use its power, and it may very well die. But if it will save the world for all of my beloved Pokemon, then that is what I will do."
This dialogue here gives me the impression that Lusamine isn't as vengeful and spiteful with Lillie for taking away Cosmog as she was in Sun/Moon, especially when Lusamine mentions how her "fathomless love" will save Lillie.
Also, right before Lusamine teleports away, she thanks Lillie for keeping an eye on Cosmog all this time and states that she will now use Cosmog for a "grand purpose"... while having a smile on her face. It isn't even the creepy, evil smile, that makes her chilling but more like she is genuinely happy.
You and Lillie then reach the room with the frozen Pokemon, and instead of Lusamine starting things out by saying, "Hurry. This way.", like she said in Sun/Moon, she now says, "If you want to see, you'd better hurry. This way" (she still has the creepy smile while saying it). You then walk up, and the initial dialogue that introduces the frozen Pokemon is the same from Sun/Moon. But then Lusamine states this:
Judging by the context of what's going on here, I get the impression that Lusamine wants to defeat Necrozma... just so she can continue loving the Pokemon she thinks are "beautiful" by freezing them? Yeah, this is... odd.
Hau and Gladion then arrive, and after Hau expresses his joy to see Lillie is alright, Lusamine still comments, "Ah. Sweet Hau. So you came, too?" Unlike in Sun/Moon, Lusamine does not smile upon seeing Hau. She also doesn't say anything about Gladion showing up and being "untidy." Instead, she mentions "I know better than to expect much from the Ultra Recon Squad, but really, couldn't Guzma even stop a few children."
When Gladion tries to stop his mother, he reminds her about what happened to his father/her husband Mohn, too which she replies that she remember that day all too well and hates the Ultra Wormholes from the depths of her heart because of it. She then states that no one will stop her, not even her son and daughter.
So in USUM, Lusamine
hates the Ultra Wormholes, rather than being completely fascinated with them and wanting to go through one for her own pleasure of spending time with the Ultra Beasts. This gives me the impression that Lusamine never ran into Nihilego in this universe, which could be thus be inferred that in USUM, Lusamine isn't poisoned by Nihilego's toxins to the point she desires to be with Nihilego more than her kids and she sees the latter as insignificant dolls. Rather, Lusamine was so frustrated and devastated with the loss of her husband that she took it out on the kids, and perhaps freezing the Pokemon could be some kind of coping mechanism to deal with her grief from the loss? I mean, Gladion still mentions that he was treated as a "doll" by Lusamine when you talk to him in the secret labs of Aether Paradise, so that's what I'm getting from all of this.
Gladion then does his "angry eyes" face, but he looks to the side while doing it instead of staring straight at his mother. Hau then realizes Gladion, Lillie, and Lusamine are all family. Lusamine still replies with, "Perhaps once we were... Sweet Hau. But then those wretches beside you left me." Then, she states, "But I will still save them. With all the endless love of the president of the Aether Foundation, as someone who tasked with the protection of all Pokemon... Lusamine then walks toward Cosmog trapped in its crate and talks about how she experimented on the Pokemon. Much like Sun/Moon, Lillie tries to stop Lusamine by bringing up what will happen to it, but after hearing Lillie's input, Lusamine replies, "I... I am Lusamine." I guess this is Lusamine's way of saying, "I am Lusamine, and you won't change who I am, Lillie."
Lusamine then walks up and activates the cube. Cosmog screams in pain, and an Ultra Wormhole is formed for several seconds. It then disappears after a short bit, and Lusamine realizes that Cosmog stopped it because it cares about Lillie. She turns Lillie and Gladion and mentions that perhaps the two really have grown up since the left Aether Paradise. She then reiterates her goals and states nothing will sway her.
Another change that goes on during this whole scene is that not once does Lusamine becomes viciously angry during it. Unlike in Sun/Moon, she doesn't get all "gritted teeth" angry while calling out how her children stole away two Pokemon important to her, nor does she scream how "annoying" Cosmog is as it screams out of pain inside its cage. She also doesn't rage out upon losing to the player.
When Guzma arrives inside the room, she doesn't order him to fight the trainers that are present (also, while this is going, Lillie freaks out by nodding her head in anxiety, as if she is fearful of Guzma's presence). Instead, she immediately challenges you to a Pokemon battle in order to prove she is capable of defeating Necrozma and put Lillie and Gladion's fears to rest should she beat you.
Upon being defeated, Lusamine ignores what she said prior to the battle and still insists she will fight Necrozma even though you defeated her in battle. She then invites Guzma to join her with the task of defeating Necrozma, to which he excitedly accepts. Gladion tries to stop her one last time by mentioning how he trained his Type: Null to this very moment of fighting Ultra Beasts. Lusamine ignores him again, and she finishes things off by saying something she previously mentioned when you saw her in your first visit to Aether Paradise: "Children really would be all much happier... if they'd only listen to the adults around them."
The cutscene plays, and Lusamine exits into the Ultra Wormhole. She turns around and takes on a Jesus-like pose before disappearing. Guzma then runs into the portal in a funny fashion before it is closed. It is worth nothing that Hau is grabbing Lillie by the elbows during this whole scene; perhaps he is trying to stop her from running into the Ultra Wormhole.
Everyone then notices how Cosmog has evolved into Cosmoem just like in Sun/Moon. When you arrive back in the previously Wicke is still there just like in Sun/Moon, but then the Ultra Recon Squad arrives during the middle of the whole conversation. They learn that Lusamine doesn't want to beat Necrozma just to help out the URS in light of a common goal, but rather because Lusamine wants to beat Necrozma for her own satisfaction. Disgusted with the news, they mention how they planned on using the device that Colress prepared to restrain Necrozma would've been given to someone strong enough to safely use it, but Lusamine intends on using it herself. They then suggest that everyone should head to the altar in Poni Island to summon the legendary mascot to reach Necrozma's world, or else if someone doesn't fight Necrozma properly, it could lead to Necrozma stealing all of the Pokemon world's light.
Aftewards, everyone rests up for the night. Lillie's dialogue before heading to bed is slightly different from Sun/Moon. Rather than saying she wants to sleep on her mom's bed to be reminded of the good days she had with her, she wants to sleep on Lusamine's just to process what her mother was thinking.
The next day, you see Lillie's Z-powered form just like in Sun/Moon. The dialogue surrounding it is basically the same for the most part, but the only difference is that Hau does not comment on how good Lillie looks in her new look to the point Gladion gets a bit angry at the comment. Instead, Hau states, "You're all... amazing!"
I'll be taking the ferry to Poni Island shortly, but after going through the whole Aether Raid arc... I can see why there has been come mixed reception amongst the Pokemon community regarding the story changes in USUM. Even I will admit these changes leave me feeling rather confused and unsettled. It might take a few days to form a proper opinion on them.
