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Aloha ‘oe

Pokemon Go Alola to Alola Special Research: Choose a Path, Collection Challenge, and Rewards

The Season of Alola is ending, but before it does, there's time to complete some missions and grab some great rewards.

Alex Donaldson avatar
Guide by Alex Donaldson Assistant Editor
Published on

The Season of Alola is coming to a close in the world of Pokemon Go, and that can only mean one thing: a new round of special research to close out the season, giving players a unique opportunity to catch many Pokemon from across the Alola region - including some true legends.

The Alola to Alola event features a range of things you’ll need to consider including some challenging special research tasks, a Pokemon collection challenge, and even some branching path action where you’ll be asked to choose a path to forge your way through the quest.

This page deals with everything you need to know about that quest, including:

Cover image for YouTube videoCatching and battling Tapu Fini in Pokémon Go
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How to unlock the Alola to Alola research quest

The Alola to Alola quest is the finale of a series of special research task lists in Pokemon Go, and it’s designed to be a strong farewell to the Alola region as the game forges on into a new season. There’s two ways to unlock the event:

  • Firstly, you can unlock the Alola to Alola quest by completing the three Alola-themed quest lines that already exist: adventures based around Melemele, Akala, Ula’ula, and Poni - parts of the Alola region represented in these quest lines that were added to Pokemon Go across the Season of Alola.
  • If you haven’t completed the quest lines above or are struggling to do so, you can also pay $5 in Pokemon Go’s store to unlock Alola to Alola that way, as a bit of a paid shortcut.

If you want to participate in thest quests, you must unlock and start them before the end of May; after that point they’ll no longer unlock. The good news about these events is that like most Pokemon Go events, once you’ve unlocked them they remain in place, thus meaning you can complete them at your leisure.

Once you’re into the quest, it’s pretty standard Pokemon Go special research fare; it’s broken into a number of different ‘steps’, with each steps having a few different tasks you must complete with rewards. Completing a group of tasks nets you a further reward, and in this instance, there’s also a branching path choice along the way that’ll determine your reward.

Choose a Path in the Alola to Alola Research - picking the best route

At the second step of the Alola to Alola quest, you’ll be given a choice between one of four different paths through the final two parts of the quest. This is a pretty big deal, as you can only choose one of the four paths.

Whichever one you choose will determine what quest missions and rewards you’re chasing in the third and fourth parts of Alola to Alola.

The primary difference between the paths is which Oricorio Hat you get for completing the quest, plus what each quest is more focused on in terms of the missions you’ll need to complete. This also correlates with the rewards, which roughly correspond to the task theme of each path.

Spoilers ahead, but here’s the basic summary to help you choose the best path:

  • Melemele Island Path - Pom-Pom Oricorio Hat, with missions focused on friendship & buddy related actions. Key Rewards include Golden Razz Berries, Poffins, and Lucky Eggs.
  • Akala Island Path - Pa’u Oricorio Hat, with missions focused on eggs, exploration, and field research. Rewards include Incubators.
  • Ula’ula Island Path - Baile Oricorio Hat, with missions dedicated to Pokemon catching and related actions. Rewards include Rare Lure Modules.
  • Poni Island Path - Sensu Oricorio Hat, while the missions are focused on Battle-related actions. Rewards include Rocket Radars, Star Pieces, and Premium Battle Passes.

As with all of these things, the truth is that there is no absolute ‘best’ mission path to take in Alola to Alola - it depends on how you play Pokemon Go. I’m not much of a battler, for instance, so I’m not interested in the Poni Island Path. I feel like I always have a backlog of eggs, and there’s Pokemon I don’t have on the current Pokemon Go Egg Chart, so for me the best path would probably be the Akala Island one.

Which is best for you? The above will help you to decide. Now, the missions themselves…

Alola to Alola special research quests & rewards

The Alola to Alola research is broken into four different steps, with each step having a handful of missions players must complete in order to advance to the next stage of the quest, with rewards offered along the way. Here’s the quest phases - remember, after Part 2, you must pick a path:

Alola to Alola Mission Step 1

  • Catch 1 Pokemon - Rowlet
  • Catch 4 Pokemon - Litten
  • Catch 7 Pokemon - Popplio

Final Reward: 1000 XP, 500 Stardust, 15x Poke Balls.

Alola to Alola Mission Step 2

At this stage, you’re asked to Choose a Path, which is described in the section above.

You’ll need to choose between Melemele Island, Akala Island, Ula’ula Island, and Poni Island. The Island path you choose will determine the missions and rewards you then face. You can hit the island name links above in order to head to the section with that path’s missions.

Melemele Island Path Steps

  • Alola to Alola Step 3 (Melemele):
    • Catch 10 Pokemon - 5x Razz Berries
    • Make 3 Nice Throws - 15x Great Balls
    • Send 5 Gifts to Friends - 1x Poffin
    • Final Reward: 1500 XP, 1500 Stardust, 3x Silver Pinap Berries
  • Alola to Alola Step 4 (Melemele):
    • Send 15 Gifts to Friends - 1x Poffin
    • Take 5 Snapshots of wild Pokemon - 15x Ultra Balls
    • Trade Pokemon 3 Times - 1x Star Piece
    • Earn 10 Hearts with your Buddy - 3x Golden Razz Berries
    • Make a new Friend - 1x Lure

Final Reward: Pom-Pom Style Oricorio Hat, 1x Lucky Egg, Alolan Raichu

Akala Island Path Steps

  • Alola to Alola Step 3 (Akala):
    • Catch 10 Pokemon - 5x Razz Berries
    • Make 3 Nice Throws - 15x Great Balls
    • Walk 2km - 1x Incense
    • Final Reward: 1500 XP, 1500 Stardust, 3x Silver Pinap Berries
  • Alola to Alola Step 4 (Akala):
    • Walk 7km - 1x Incense
    • Spin 10 Pokestops or Gyms - 15x Ultra Balls
    • Complete 3 Field Research Tasks - 1x Star Piece
    • Earn 10 Hearts with your Buddy - 3x Golden Razz Berries
    • Hatch 3 Eggs - 1x Super Incubator

Final Reward: Pa’u Style Oricorio Hat, 2x Super Incubators, Alolan Marowak

Ula’ula Island Path Steps

  • Alola to Alola Step 3 (Ula’ula):
    • Catch 10 Pokemon - 5x Razz Berries
    • Make 3 Nice Throws - 15x Great Balls
    • Catch 5 different Species of Pokemon - 1x Lure
    • Final Reward: 1500 XP, 1500 Stardust, 3x Silver Pinap Berries
  • Alola to Alola Step 4 (Ula’ula):
    • Catch 30 Pokemon - 1x Glacial Lure
    • Make 10 Curveball Throws - 15x Ultra Balls
    • Use 15 Berries to help catch Pokemon - 1x Star Piece
    • Make 5 Nice Curveball Throws in a row - 3x Golden Razz Berries
    • Catch 15 different Species of Pokemon - 1x Magnetic Lure

Final Reward: Baile Style Oricorio Hat, 4x Incense, Alolan Vulpix

Poni Island Path Steps

  • Alola to Alola Step 3 (Poni):
    • Catch 10 Pokemon - 5x Razz Berries
    • Make 3 Nice Throws - 15x Great Balls
    • Defeat 2 Team Go Rocket Grunts - 1x Rocket Radar
    • Final Reward: 1500 XP, 1500 Stardust, 3x Silver Pinap Berries
  • Alola to Alola Step 4 (Poni):
    • Fight in the Go Battle League 10 times - 1x Rocket Radar
    • Defeat 4 Team Go Rocket Grunts - 15x Ultra Balls
    • Power Up Pokemon 10 times - 1x Star Piece
    • Defeat a Team Go Rocket Leader - 3x Golden Razz Berries
    • Win 3 Trainer Battles in the Go Battle League - 1x Premium Battle Pass

Final Reward: Sensu Style Oricorio Hat, 3x Star Pieces, Alolan Exeggutor

Alola to Alola Collection Challenge Pokemon List

An additional part of the farewell events for the Season of Alola is another Pokemon collection challenge - this time called, naturally, the Alola to Alola Collection Challenge. Like the main event, this will expire at the end of May, so you’ll need to act fast to complete it and get the associated medals that this collection task adds to your rewards.

There’s only a handful of Pokemon in this collection challenge - and they’re all relatively easy to obtain - mostly through evolution of Pokemon that have been common spawns right throughout the Season of Alola. Here’s the Pokemon required and how to get them:

  • Via Evolution: Brionne (evolve Popplio), Dartix (evolve Rowlet), Torracat (evolve Litten), Gumshoos (evolve Yungoos), Toucannon (evolve Trumbeak), Trumbeak (evolve Pikipek)
  • In the Wild: Cubone, Alolan Rattata
  • In Eggs: Alolan Rattata

Catching all of these Pokemon to complete the Collection Challenge will net you a bunch of XP, 15 Ultra Balls, and a chance to catch a Rockruff.

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