Mina: the Alola Trial Captain who forgot to make her trial

She's the only Trial Captain in Alola who gives the player no trial to complete in Sun and Moon. Mina paints, wanders, and specializes in Fairy types — roughly in that order. Her first appearance, in Sun and Moon, amounts to a handful of scenes in which the game shows her far more absorbed in her canvases than in her duties as an examiner. The Ultra versions would later make up for the oversight.

Contents

• The Captain Who Forgot to Make Her Trial
• A Snubbull, a Shredded Portrait and a Calling
• The Rainbow Flower, the Ultra Versions' Trial
• The Missed Boat in Vermilion City
• The Anime, the Alola League and a Utility Card
• Mina at a Glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Captain Who Forgot to Make Her Trial

The Alola journey is called the island challenge, and you work through it one trial at a time, each one entrusted to a Captain. Mina holds that role for the Fairy type, and the player first runs into her in the Vast Poni Canyon, where she has come looking for inspiration for her painting.

The problem is that she hasn't prepared anything. Too wrapped up in her canvases, she let the moment to design a trial slip by, so no course awaits the player at the end of the road. A short conversation is all it takes, and she hands over the Fairium Z as if nothing were amiss: she remains the only Captain who gives the player nothing to clear.

The game still gives her two chances to battle: during the investigation led by Looker into the Ultra Beasts, then on the road leading to the Battle Tree. It's Looker who comes up with the best description of her, calling her a "dynamic young lady", a frankly ironic label for someone so laid-back. She drawls her words, peppers her sentences with "peace," and makes a point of taking everything nice and slow.

A Snubbull, a Shredded Portrait and a Calling

Mina lives in Seafolk Village, on Poni Island, and her parents are happy to tell the story of how she got started. Her mother credits the family Snubbull with her daughter's calling, since it had torn to pieces the very first portrait she ever painted.

The teenager drew the wrong conclusion from it. Convinced the painting had been destroyed because it was bad, she threw herself into getting better. Her father doesn't dispute the talent all that effort produced — what he mostly laments is that his daughter will eat just about anything.

The same Snubbull turns up in a second family anecdote. Mina's trial was originally meant to consist of nothing more than drawing the Totem Ribombee; she changed her mind the day the Snubbull brought her a flower, which she has kept ever since. The game lists her height as 1.68 m, in Sun and Moon and the Ultra versions alike.

🎨 Fairy types have their own section: check out our Pokémon plushies.

The Rainbow Flower, the Ultra Versions' Trial

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon give Mina her job back. There, she finally offers a trial, built around collecting rather than a dungeon: you have to gather the petals held by the other Captains to rebuild a flower, then face the Totem Ribombee she summons with it.

Before that, she acts as a guide. The player meets her in Seafolk Village, where she and Lillie help the player track down Poni's kahuna and then make it to Exeggutor Island. The battle against her only comes after the Ultra Necrozma affair in Ultra Space: she's the one who calls for it, at her own home, once the player is back.

The order of events is unusual. Mina loses her battle first, and only afterward does she run her trial. Once the seven petals are brought back, she assembles the Rainbow Flower and summons the Totem; the Fairium Z only changes hands once the Totem is defeated, before she sends the player off to the grand trial held by Hapu.

The Missed Boat in Vermilion City

Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee take her out of Alola. Mina is visiting Kanto, and the player finds her in Vermilion City once the S.S. Anne has sailed. The game puts her at around thirteen to fifteen years old at that point.

Her presence on the dock has an explanation that is very much in character. She meant to board a ship home, but she gazed at the sea for so long that she watched the boat sail off without her; so she's camping out at the port to make sure she doesn't miss the next one. You can battle her once a day, and her daily rematch unlocks after the Pokémon League.

The mobile game has featured her since launch, in two guises. In her canonical outfit, she forms a sync pair with a Granbull; in her Sygna Suit, it's Tapu Fini who joins her to paint the colors of the sea. Her official description sums up the character better than any long portrait: she wanders and paints landscapes to delight whoever looks at them, humans and Pokémon alike.

The Anime, the Alola League and a Utility Card

The anime brings her in late in the Sun & Moon series. Her meeting with Ash revolves around the hero's Poipole, which she senses is carrying a burden too heavy for it. Their exchange leads to a tag-team battle against Team Skull, in which she sends out her Ribombee.

She also has a place in the Alola Pokémon League, but her run there is short-lived. She comes up against an opponent whose Vikavolt gets the last word, and the competition ends there for her. The series limits her to those two moments, one encounter and one elimination.

The trading card game, for its part, opened its doors to her on November 2, 2018 in France, with the Sun & Moon—Lost Thunder expansion. Her card lets you search your deck for an Energy card and attach it to a Pokémon, with the deck shuffled right afterward. An acceleration effect, with no damage and no battling — for a Captain who never ran a trial in her original game, the role makes a lot of sense.

Mina at a Glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why doesn't Mina have a trial in Sun and Moon?
  Because she forgot to create one, completely caught up in her painting. She is the only Captain who gives the player no course to complete: she hands over the Fairium Z after a simple chat.
• What is her trial in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon?
  You have to gather seven petals held by the Captains and bring them back to her so she can assemble the Rainbow Flower, then defeat the Totem Ribombee it summons. That's when the Fairium Z is handed over.
• Where can you find Mina in Let's Go Pikachu and Let's Go Eevee?
  In Vermilion City, after the S.S. Anne leaves. She missed the boat that was supposed to take her back to Alola and is waiting for the next one. You can battle her once a day, and the daily rematch unlocks once you've beaten the League.
• How did Mina become a painter?
  The family's Snubbull shredded her very first portrait. Believing her painting had been destroyed because it was bad, she started working tirelessly to improve.
• Which Pokémon are associated with Mina?
  The anime gives her a Ribombee, which she sends out against Team Skull. In the mobile game, she forms a canonical sync pair with Granbull and a Sygna Suit sync pair with Tapu Fini. The often-mentioned Snubbull belongs to her parents, not to her.

In short

Mina holds a special place in Alola's lineup: Sun and Moon makes her a Captain without a trial, busy painting while her colleagues set up their courses. The Ultra versions give her role back and, along the way, hand her her loveliest idea: that flower rebuilt petal by petal with the help of the other Captains. Everything else tells the same story, from the missed boat in Vermilion City to the landscapes of the mobile game. She looks before she battles, and that is exactly what defines her.