Seeing as how I will likely not be active that much the next few days (curse you, university!), I will post the first long chapter of my Emerald adventure now.
SHAH'S EMERALD ADVENTURE
CHAPTER 4: HEIGHTENING HEAT
Long space between Mauville and Lavaridge Gyms, especially since I caught and trained two new Pokemon!
- Gave Shedinja the Quick Claw, basically out of necessity.
- Apart from one Doduo Pursuit, Shedinja breezed through Route 117.
- Taught Shedinja Fury Cutter.
- Broke the rock in Rusturf Tunnel and obtained Strength.
- Taught Breloom Strength.
- Challenged the Winstrates:
- Swept Victor with Kirlia.
- Easily beat Victoria's Roselia with one Confusion.
- Swept Vivi with Breloom.
- Took down Vicky's Meditite with Shedinja.
- Double battle with Gabby and Ty on Route 111 was over before it started because of my Pokemon's levels in comparison to theirs. Breloom smashed Ty and Shedinja beat Gabby.
- Taught Shedinja Spite.
- Ran through the Fiery Path with such speed that I encountered only one wild Pokemon.
- Taught Shedinja Secret Power.
- Made a Secret Base on Route 111.
- Watched the Gabby and Ty interview. My after-battle word was "Amusing". Seeing the words "Shedinja... and Breloom... and Amusing. That's something special." actually made me laugh.
- Caught a Bashful male Torkoal in the Fiery Path. Named it Hearth. May actually consider training it instead of a Ninetales as I had earlier planned. (Altaria should be a good enough special wall.)
- Gave Torkoal the Macho Brace. (Hey, it does not need Speed.)
- Defeated a Black Belt's Level 19 Machop with my new Level 14 Torkoal.
- Went to Route 117 to train Torkoal.
- Taught Torkoal Fire Spin.
- Taught Torkoal Body Slam.
- Trained Torkoal for about an hour on Routes 111 and 112, as well as in the Fiery Path, until it was on par with my other Pokemon.
- Taught Kirlia Psychic.
- Laughed heartily when I switched Shedinja into a Koffing's Selfdestruct.
- Taught Shedinja Dig.
- Taught Torkoal Protect.
- Talked to Lanette.
- Caught a Rash male Swablu on Route 114. Named it Lyre.
- Taught Swablu Steel Wing.
- Taught Swablu Thief.
- Taught Swablu Safeguard.
- Spent a couple of hours on Routes 117, 113 and 114 training Swablu until it was on par with my other Pokemon. Now my team is complete.
- Encountered Team Aqua and Team Magma in Meteor Falls.
- Rode the Cable Car up to Mt. Chimney's peak.
- Cruised past the grunts with Swablu.
- Defeated Tabitha smoothly with Swablu, Breloom and Kirlia.
- Battled Maxie:
- Bulked Up Breloom to beat Mightyena with two Mach Punches.
- Switched to Marshtomp for Camerupt; won with Mud Shot and Water Gun.
- Switched to Kirlia for Zubat; won with Psychic.
- Did some training on the Jagged Pass.
- Challenged Lavaridge Gym with team at Level 28.
- Lost only Shedinja in Lavaridge Gym.
- Battled Flannery, my favourite leader:
- Personal goal: win without using Marshtomp, on the verge of boosting up to Level 30. Could I do it?
- For sheer fun (and because it worked) I Dug her Numel and Slugma into the ground with Shedinja.
- Against Camerupt I tried to paralyze it with Secret Power. Failed and got Overheated.
- Had Kirlia come in, set up two Calm Minds and Psychic Camerupt down.
- TORKOAL SURVIVED A +2 PSYCHIC WITH ABOUT 5 HP LEFT AND GOT A CRITICAL HIT BODY SLAM. HOW? WHY?!
- Sacrificed Swablu in order to steal Torkoal's White Herb and get Safeguard up to prevent Body Slam paralysis.
- Sacrificed Breloom in order to Leech Seed the sucker.
- Beat Flannery's powerhouse with my own Level 29 Torkoal, which nobly fought through attraction and paralysis to deliver the final blow. An epic stall war between her Attract and my Curse.
- Won the Heat Badge, and without using Marshtomp!
- Longest gym battle so far at 10 minutes, 8 seconds (I record them so that I can make this commentary).
- Taught Torkoal Overheat.
- Got the Go-Goggles from May.
- Healed my badly bruised team.
- Off to the Fiery Path to get the TM for Toxic.
Current team:
Level 29 Marshtomp (Fisher) (Impish; Leppa Berry; Torrent)
- Water Gun
- Mud Shot
- Rock Tomb
- Rock Smash
Level 29 Kirlia (Gown) (Modest; Pecha Berry; Synchronize)
- Psychic
- Shock Wave
- Calm Mind
- Flash
Level 29 Breloom (Funga) (Docile; Silk Scarf; Effect Spore)
- Mach Punch
- Strength
- Leech Seed
- Bulk Up
Level 29 Shedinja (Skin) (Naughty; Quick Claw; Wonder Guard)
- Dig
- Secret Power
- Cut
- Swagger
Level 29 Torkoal (Hearth) (Bashful; Charcoal; White Smoke)
- Overheat
- Body Slam
- Protect
- Curse
Level 29 Swablu (Lyre) (Rash; White Herb; Natural Cure)
- Peck
- Thief
- Steel Wing
- Safeguard