The Alola region: four islands, seven trials and the region that did away with Gyms

Alola is the region that dared to do away with Gyms. No eight Badges, no Gym Leaders: an Island Challenge, seven trials, four Kahunas and Totem Pokémon. Four islands named after Hawaiian colors, an artificial island, a guardian per island — and a League so new that by the time the player wins it, it has never had a Champion.

Contents

• Four islands, one color each, and a fifth, artificial one
• Few towns, and two of them abandoned
• No Gyms: the Island Challenge
• A League that was only just founded
• Team Skull, the Aether Foundation and the enemy nobody saw coming
• The guardians, the sun, the moon and the stolen light
• Regional forms, an idea born here
• Alola in the anime
• Where to explore Alola today
• The Alola region at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Four islands, one color each, and a fifth, artificial one

Alola is made up of four main islands and one artificial island. Each of the four is named after a Hawaiian color word: Melemele for yellow, Akala for pink, Ula'ula for red and Poni for purple — a nod to the official colors of Oahu, Maui, the Island of Hawaii and Kauai.

The archipelago boasts a remarkable range of climates, and above all a very unevenly distributed one. Melemele enjoys a mild, welcoming climate throughout; Ula'ula alternates rugged terrain with far harsher wilderness. You'll find jungles, active volcanoes, waterfalls, torrential downpours, arid deserts and a frosty mountain.

🏖 Waterfalls, jungles and torrential downpours: nobody crosses the Alola archipelago and stays dry. Our Pokémon bath and beach towels take care of the rest once you're back home.

Mount Lanakila, on Ula'ula, is the archipelago's highest peak and is home to the Alola League. Poni, in the southwest, is the wildest island: a single village, a vast canyon, a reef, and the altars where the plot comes to a head.

Aether Paradise is the only place in Alola that owes nothing to nature. This artificial island, home base of the Aether Foundation, has no Hawaiian counterpart — it's more reminiscent of the islands Dubai or China have built from scratch.

Few towns, and two of them abandoned

Alola has very few inhabited places for an entire region, which heightens its island character. Hau'oli City is Melemele's main city and home to the Trainers' School; Iki Town completes the island, and that's where the adventure begins.

Akala is the most urbanized, with Heahea City as its main city, plus Paniola Town and Konikoni City. It's home to the Battle Royal Dome, where four-Trainer Battle Royals take place, and the Ruins of Life.

Ula'ula has only one town that's still inhabited: Malie City. The other two stand empty — Po Town was deserted because of Team Skull, and Tapu Village was destroyed by Tapu Bulu, the island's own guardian. Few regions show so starkly what it costs to live alongside revered creatures.

Poni has just one village, Seafolk Village. The rest of the island is taken up by the Vast Poni Canyon, the forest, the reef and the altars — the Altar of the Sunne in Pokémon Sun, the Altar of the Moone in Pokémon Moon.

No Gyms: the Island Challenge

It's the sharpest break in the series' history. Alola has no Gym Leaders and no Badges. Instead, there's the Island Challenge: seven trials spread across the four islands, overseen not by Gym Leaders but by Captains. Our guide to the Gym Leaders and Elite Four puts this exception in context alongside the other circuits.

Each trial ends with a Totem Pokémon — an abnormally large creature, wrapped in an aura, that calls for backup mid-battle. You're not facing a Trainer but a natural phenomenon, which completely changes how you approach the obstacle.

The Captains are Ilima on Melemele, Lana, Kiawe and Mallow on Akala, Sophocles and Acerola on Ula'ula, and Mina on Poni — the latter only holding her trial in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. An abandoned trial site remains in the Vast Poni Canyon.

Each island wraps up with a grand trial against its Kahuna. Hala defends Melemele with the Fighting type, Olivia defends Akala with Rock, Nanu Ula'ula with Dark and Hapu Poni with Ground. Trials don't award Badges but Z-Crystals, which unleash a super-powerful, one-time move in battle.

A League that was only just founded

The Alola League didn't exist before the adventure. It's the Professor Kukui who founds it, on Mount Lanakila, while the player completes the Island Challenge. No region had ever brought its most prestigious institution to life right before the player's eyes.

The direct consequence: it doesn't have a Champion yet. The Elite Four is made up of Hala — replaced by Molayne in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon — Olivia, Acerola and Kahili. Acerola holds a seat because Nanu, Ula'ula's Kahuna, turned it down. Whoever defeats this Elite Four becomes the region's very first Champion.

Alola's Elite Four has another distinctive feature: three of its four members are figures you've already met elsewhere in the Island Challenge — two Kahunas and a Captain. The League doesn't recruit from outside: it promotes the people who were already running the challenge.

Team Skull, the Aether Foundation and the enemy nobody saw coming

Team Skull is the least threatening organization in the series, and that's intentional. They're disaffected kids, often Trainers who failed the Island Challenge, hanging around an abandoned town and stealing Pokémon more out of spite than ambition.

The real threat wears a white lab coat. The Aether Foundation presents itself as a Pokémon conservation organization — well-funded, respected, settled on its artificial island — and its president, Lusamine, is pursuing a plan far more dangerous than anything a gang of idle drifters could come up with.

🥼 Team Skull makes the noise, but in Alola the real threat wears the white coat of Lusamine, president of the Aether Foundation. In your closet, our Pokémon jackets play the same role: the top layer, the one people notice first.

At the heart of it all are the Ultra Beasts: creatures from another dimension that come through rifts torn open in the sky. Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon add the Ultra Recon Squad, then an opponent designed for veterans: Team Rainbow Rocket, which brings together the bosses of every criminal organization from previous generations.

The guardians, the sun, the moon and the stolen light

Each of Alola's islands has its own guardian deity, and the people revere them. Tapu Koko watches over Melemele, Tapu Lele over Akala, Tapu Bulu over Ula'ula and Tapu Fini over Poni. Each one has ruins dedicated to it — the Ruins of Conflict, Life, Abundance and Hope.

The heart of the myth lies elsewhere. Cosmog, a tiny, defenseless creature, becomes Solgaleo in Pokémon Sun or Lunala in Pokémon Moon, and serves as the key to opening the Ultra Wormholes. Poni's altars are where this transformation takes place.

Necrozma is one of the strangest villains in the series: a creature of light robbed of its own, which seizes Solgaleo or Lunala to get it back and plunges the entire region into darkness. It's at the center of Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon.

Alola has twenty-five Legendary and Mythical Pokémon in total, the all-time record for the series — a figure swollen by the eleven Ultra Beasts. The full classification is explained in our guide to Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.

Regional forms, an idea born here

Alola adds only 88 species, but it invents a concept that would never leave the series again: the regional form. Species known since Kanto reappear there adapted to the archipelago — new type, new look, sometimes a new evolution.

The three starters are Rowlet, Litten and Popplio. You'll find the details of each regional trio in our feature on the starters.

The generation also does away with HMs and streamlines exploration by handing obstacle-crossing over to Ride Pokémon. It's a region that takes away as much as it adds — and that deliberately slows the pace to tell more of a story.

Alola in the anime

The anime changed both its art style and its format there. Season 20 puts Ash in Alola's Pokémon School instead of on the road, with Lillie, Mallow, Kiawe, Lana and Sophocles as classmates — the games' Captains becoming everyday characters here.

✏️ Season 20 sits Kiawe and Lana down at the desks of Alola's Pokémon School, Trial Captains turned into Ash's classmates. Our Pokémon pencil cases bring that classroom right to your desk.

Season 21 turns the class into a task force against the Ultra Beasts, and Gladion joins the group. Then season 22 showcases the Alola League — which Ash wins, becoming the region's first Champion after twenty-two years on the air.

It's the anime series that divided viewers the most, for its art style and its pacing, and it's also the one that finally gave Ash his first official title. Every season is covered in our guide to all the seasons.

Where to explore Alola today

Alola exists only on Nintendo 3DS, in Pokémon Sun and Moon followed by Pokémon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon. No remake, no playable return since.

The Ultra versions are no mere rehash. They move Necrozma to the center of the story and add a trial on Poni, the Ultra Recon Squad, Team Rainbow Rocket and a whole layer of exploration between dimensions. It's the last "third version" the series ever produced.

Alola also marks the end of a technical era: it's the last region designed for a dedicated handheld console before the move to Nintendo Switch. The full order of the saga is laid out in our guide to all the games.

The Alola region at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Why are there no Gyms in Alola?
  Because the region replaces them with the Island Challenge: seven trials overseen by Captains, each ending with a Totem Pokémon, then one grand trial per island against its Kahuna. The rewards aren't Badges but Z-Crystals.
• What is a Totem Pokémon?
  An abnormally large creature, wrapped in an aura, that closes out each trial and calls for backup mid-battle. You're not facing a Trainer but a natural phenomenon, which clearly sets trials apart from a Gym battle.
• How many islands does Alola have?
  Four main islands — Melemele, Akala, Ula'ula and Poni — plus an artificial island, Aether Paradise, which serves as the Aether Foundation's base. The names of the first four are Hawaiian color words.
• Who is the Champion of the Alola League?
  Nobody, when the player first arrives: the League has only just been founded by Professor Kukui, and whoever defeats the Elite Four becomes its very first Champion. No other region brings its institution to life right before the player's eyes.
• What are Ultra Beasts?
  Creatures from another dimension that enter Alola through rifts torn open in the sky. They're at the heart of the generation's plot, and their number largely explains the region's record of twenty-five legendaries.
• Why are two towns on Ula'ula abandoned?
  Po Town was deserted because of Team Skull, which moved in. Tapu Village, for its part, was destroyed by Tapu Bulu, the island's guardian deity — a harsh reminder of what living alongside revered creatures can cost.
• What do Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon add?
  They put Necrozma at the center of the story and add a trial on Poni, the Ultra Recon Squad and Team Rainbow Rocket — which brings together the bosses of previous generations' criminal organizations — along with a whole layer of exploration between dimensions.

In short

Alola is the region that took the series' machinery apart to see whether it could stand without it. No Gyms, no Badges, no reigning Champion: instead, seven trials, four Kahunas, Pokémon revered as deities and a League you watch being built.

It's also the region that invented the regional forms, an idea so obvious in hindsight that every generation since has adopted it. To see where it fits among the others, check out our overview of the regions of the Pokémon world; to explore it, our guide to all the games.