An industrial city studded with steam-powered marvels of modern engineering. (Japanese: 蒸気機関を 利用して 近代化を とげた 工業都市An industrial city that was modernized using the steam engine.)
Geography
The city is roughly shaped like the perimeter of a square. The Wild Area exit is south of the bottom right corner, and the Route 3 and Motostoke Outskirts exits are west and east of the top two corners. Several smaller offshoots lead to items or points of interest.
The city is split into a lower and upper tier, but there is almost no overlap between the tiers. The lower tier consists of the right and bottom "sides" of the square plus half of the left side, while the upper tier consists of the top side of the square plus half of the left side. At the two spots where the tiers meet, a lift takes the player between the tiers.
In terms of points of interest, the two Pokémon Centers are at the bottom right and top left, Motostoke Stadium is at the top right, the Uniform Shop is at the bottom left, the Budew Drop Inn is at the top middle, and Motostoke Station is at the left middle just before the upper tier ends. The main road consists of the whole right side of the square.
Role
When the player first enters Motostoke, they must largely stick to the main road and cannot leave by one of the northern exits. The way to the Uniform Shop to the left is blocked by a group of NPCs, the path left of Motostoke Stadium is blocked by a group of fans excited for the upcoming Gym Challenge opening ceremony, and the Motostoke Outskirts exit is blocked by a tired Flying TaxiCorviknight. This requires the player to enter Motostoke Stadium.
The player and Hop sign up for the Gym Challenge and the player picks their uniform number; they are then informed to book a room at the Budew Drop Inn in preparation for the opening ceremony tomorrow. (Upon exiting the stadium and upon approaching the front of the inn, two very brief scenes play where a League staff member shows the player the direction of the inn. After this second scene, NPCs no longer block any part of Motostoke and the whole city becomes accessible. The Wooloo at the Wild Area Station also no longer block the train tracks at this time. The player still cannot leave by one of the northern exits as the Route 3 exit is blocked by a League staff member.)
The inn's check-in desk is obstructed by Team Yell Grunts; talking to any Grunt will have the team offer a battle, which the player may accept or temporarily decline. After all four have been defeated, talking to the receptionist will play a cutscene that automatically progresses to the next morning. (The player's team is healed overnight.)
Upon leaving the inn, a League staff member will offer to escort/warp the player in front of Motostoke Stadium, though the player can decline. After talking to the front desk League staff inside the stadium, the player will automatically change into their uniform; the opening ceremony will then play out. (The entirety of the ceremony is skipped if the player has turned on Skip Movies in the Options.) The player can now head west for Route 3 after a battle with Hop near the exit.
Motostoke Stadium is the official Pokémon Gym of Motostoke. It is located on the upper floor district of Motostoke. Its Leader is Kabu, who hands out the Fire Badge to those who defeat him. It is the third Gym that Gym Challengers have to face. The opening ceremony of the Gym Challenge is also held here.
Motostoke Station
Motostoke Station is located in the southwest of the upper tier.
The player can catch a train from this station to the following locations:
By whistling when hearing "Bworp!" come from the eastern fountain in front of Motostoke Stadium, after accepting the lost Minccino sidequest but before finding Minccino (permanently missable)
A colored background means that the Pokémon can be found in this location in the specified game. A white background with a colored letter means that the Pokémon cannot be found here.
The player may temporarily decline Hop's challenge to heal at the nearby Pokémon Center, though he will not let the player past onto Route 3 until they accept.
Motostoke made its debut in The Bittersweet Truth, where the Rising Volt Tacklers arrived there as their first stop in Galar. While visiting the local Battle Café, Liko, Roy, and Murdock met Mitchell, the owner of the café and a pâtissier who had once run a bakery together with Murdock until their relationship soured following the evolution of Murdock's Milcery into a form that didn't suit the pastries Mitchell specialized in. Liko suggested a Double Battle, with her teaming with Murdock against Mitchell. However, in the middle of the match, the showdown turned into a bake-off instead, following which Murdock and Mitchell rekindled their friendship. It was also at this café where Liko and Roy subsequently met the local Gym Leader, Kabu.
In Kabu's Battle Training!, Liko and Roy followed Kabu to the Motostoke Stadium, where he made them go through some battle training. The first part of the training involved a test where Roy would have to ignite the flames of a group of Litwick, while Liko would attempt to put them out. After Roy had won the test, he and Liko had a Tag Battle against Kabu and Gym Trainer-in-training Wakaba. The battle ended with Roy losing to Kabu and Liko, much to everyone's surprise, surrendering to Wakaba.
Motostoke first appeared in Crackle!! Practice Battle. A televised program was featured live from there, but the guest star, Leon, was late. As it turned out, Leon had gotten lost in the city while trying to find his way to the TV studio.
If the player chose Scorbunny:
