That is quite a selection of Pokemon to train. Good luck.
Now, Shah is finally about to challenge the Pokemon League. Will he be succesful on the first try?
SHAH'S EMERALD ADVENTURE
CHAPTER 8: EVER GRANDER
- Flew to Fallarbor for a bit of an alpine vacation.
- Went to Meteor Falls.
- Went up the waterfall to explore.
- Caught a wild Poochyena on Route 116 and taught it Rock Smash.
- Deleted Rock Smash from Swampert at the Move Deleter's house.
- Setting out for Ever Grande from Mossdeep with my team at level 45.
- Reached Ever Grande without much difficulty.
- Entered Victory Road.
- Ambushed by Wally.
- Battled my new rival:
- Led with Swampert against Altaria. Three Ice Beams did the job.
- Switched to Torkoal for Roselia. Took some Grass attacks and KOed with Flamethrower.
- Switched to Breloom for Delcatty. Assist copied Aerial Ace. Ouch.
- My weakened Breloom took Delcatty out with Brick Break.
- Switched to Shedinja for Gardevoir. Gardevoir used Future Sight. Shedinja KOed it with Shadow Ball.
- Since Future Sight hits Shedinja according to my knowledge, I switched to Torkoal for Magneton.
- FUTURE SIGHT KNOCKED OUT TORKOAL. The tortoise had about 100 HP left! Gardevoir certainly can dish out some serious pain.
- After seeing my firey tortoise faint for the first ever time, I switch to Altaria.
- One Fire Blast knocked out Wally's last Pokemon.
- Rushed to the Pokemon Center to get Torkoal revived.
- Gave Gardevoir an advance training so that I could bring out good ol' Helper the Ninjask to use Flash.
- Gave Torkoal an advance training so that I could bring out Poochyena for Rock Smash.
- Taught Swampert Protect.
- The battles in Victory Road are more challenging, but definitely very fun.
- Flew to Lilycove to stock up on Revives and Escape Ropes.
- Gave Swampert an advance training so that I could bring out Tentacool for Waterfall.
- Half of my on-hand Pokemon are utilities. Amazing.
- Beat Vito Winstrate with Gardevoir and Torkoal.
- After some truly agonizing battles with some Slaking-wielding cooltrainers, I made it to the end of Victory Road.
- Rather than jump to the Elite Four at levels 46-47, I take advantage of the fact that I no longer need certain HMs and train my team as a whole.
- Flew to Lilycove to have the Move Deleter make Breloom forget Strength.
- Taught Breloom Return.
- Flew to Pacifidlog in order to explore Routes 132-134.
- Trained my Pokemon up to level 50 in Victory Road and the Magma Hideout which, despite low levels, provides decent experience.
- Stocked up with huge amounts of potions, revives and status healing items.
- Challenged the Elite Four.
- Battled Sidney:
- Led with Torkoal against Mightyena.
- Took a fair amount of damage from Crunch. Flamethrower nearly took Mightyena out; after Sidney healed, used Body Slam, then after another Crunch-Flamethrower turn Mightyena fell.
- Sidney brought out Absol.
- Brought out Swampert to take the Rock Slide. Tried to freeze with Ice Beam. Took a Swords Danced Slash, then KOed with Earthquake.
- Brought out Breloom to face Cacturne. Hit by Cotton Spore. Nearly KOed with Mach Punch, then after taking a pair of Faint Attacks won with Return.
- Brought out Altaria to face Shiftry. Set up Safeguard. Shiftry started abusing Double Team.
- With no Swagger to fear, brought out Shedinja. Two Aerial Aces did it, though Shedinja got tormented.
- Kept Shedinja in against Crawdaunt. Paralyzed it with Secret Power, but Torment made it near impossible to do decent damage.
- Crawdaunt Swords Danced, so when its HP was very low, I made a potentially disastrous prediction: Sidney would heal.
- If Sidney uses Facade on my switch-in Gardevoir, goodbye Gardevoir.
- Sidney healed. Thunderbolt took out the crayfish.
- Defeated Sidney! Yet the harder battles await.
- Battled Phoebe:
- Led with Altaria against Dusclops. Set up Safeguard. Got Cursed.
- Considerably weakened Dusclops with Dragonbreath + Fire Blast. Switched to Shedinja.
- Phoebe healed. Shadow Ball just missed a KO, and Shadow Punch took out Shedinja.
- Revenge killed with Swampert's Earthquake.
- Brought out Torkoal to face Phoebe's second Banette. Took Shadow Ball well, but Banette Grudged away Torkoal's Flamethrowers. Ouch.
- Swampert beat the second Dusclops in an attrition war (Earthquake vs. Shadow Ball).
- Swampert took down Sableye with two Surfs, then moved up to level 51.
- Brought in Altaria to face Banette. Shadow Ball did quite a bit. Dragonbreath initially got a critical hit and paralyzed...
- ...which means that Phoebe uses a Full Restore.
- Dragonbreath + Fire Blast brought Banette down to 1-2 HP before Altaria fainted. Drat.
- Gardevoir came in for the clean-up Psychic.
- Defeated Phoebe! The rising difficulty was evident in this battle.
- After restoring the PP of Torkoal's vital Flamethrower with a Max Ether, battled Glacia:
- Led with Breloom, who was on a suicide mission to take down as many Sealeo as possible and Leech Seed Walrein.
- Breloom succeeded. One Brick Break each for the Sealeos, plus a seed for Walrein before Ice Beam beat up my heroic mushroom.
- Had Gardevoir set up Light Screen.
- Avoided Sheer Cold to my great relief.
- Thunderbolt took out Walrein in one hit (well, a hit plus two turns of Leech Seed damage).
- Switched to Torkoal for the first Glalie.
- Torkoal sponged up whatever the Glalies threw at him and Flamethrowered them both. Torkoal levelled up as a result.
- Defeated Glacia! Surprisingly easily, too.
- After reviving Breloom, battled Drake:
- Led with Altaria against Shelgon. After being annoyed by Protect, I beat Shelgon down with Dragonbreath. Rock Tomb hurt a bit, and Drake healed.
- Eventually the Dragonbreaths got to Shelgon and knocked it out.
- Switched to Swampert for Altaria. Took a Dragonbreath and a Double-edge. Trying to avoid Drake healing an Altaria with about three Dragon Dances on it, I first used Surf a couple of times.
- The Surf damage + Ice Beam did Altaria in.
- Switched to Shedinja for Kingdra. Drake switched, of course, but Shadow Ball got a critical hit on the switch, nearly KOing Flygon.
- Switched to Swampert in order to heal Altaria.
- Switched Altaria into an Earthquake. After healing off some Dragonbreath damage, took Flygon out with a Dragonbreath. There is a lot of breathing going on in this match.
- Altaria levelled up as a result of the Flygon battle.
- Switched to Gardevoir for Salamence. Unfortunately, switched into a Crunch. It took several Hyper Potions in order to set up Light Screen and two Calm Minds.
- Rock Slide, Rock Slide, Rock Slide. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Hyper Potion, Hyper Potion, Hyper Potion.
- +2 Psychic nearly KOed Salamence. Had to use it three times overall due to a Full Restore.
- Switched to Shedinja for Kingdra.
- Paralyzed Kingdra with Secret Power, then got past the Smokescreens with Aerial Ace.
- Once Kingdra was weak enough, used Shadow Ball for the win.
- Defeated Drake, and without losing a Pokemon, just a lot of Hyper Potions!
- By far one of the most exciting battles thus far in the game.
- The Elite Four is cleared! Only the champion awaits.
- Battled Wallace, the final challenge:
- Led with Gardevoir against Wailord. Thunderbolt did a lot, then Wailord used Rain Dance. Used Light Screen on the turn Wallace healed.
- Another Thunderbolt. Wailord used Water Spout, which did little. Finished it off with Psychic.
- Wallace brought out Tentacruel.
- Got hit by Toxic, then used Calm Mind.
- Realizing that Sludge Bomb would hurt, I switched to Swampert.
- Swampert took a Sludge Bomb and got poisoned. Hydro Pump hurt, but Earthquake beat the jellyfish.
- Switched to Breloom for Ludicolo.
- Surf actually hurt quite a bit. Repeatedly had to heal. Eventually, a Brick Break, a Mach Punch and a Return beat Ludicolo. Cost me 10 Hyper Potions, though, because of Ludicolo's Double Team.
- For Ludicolo: one Double Team = VIRTUALLY UNTOUCHABLE. At least Breloom won.
- Tried to Leech Seed Milotic, but got Ice Beamed first.
- Brought in Altaria to use Safeguard; Ice Beam brought it down.
- With Safeguard up I brought in Shedinja to paralyze Milotic with Secret Power.
- With Shedinja walling and Milotic constantly using Recover, I revived Breloom.
- Breloom seeded Milotic, and due to the paralysis kicking in, got her life spared as well.
- Brought in Gardevoir.
- Set up Light Screen and three Calm Minds. The paralyzed and seeded Milotic fell to a Thunderbolt.
- Could keep Gardevoir in against Whiscash, but Shedinja is safe and needs a level up. Three Shadow Balls do the job.
- Due to Gyarados's Intimidate, I switch to Gardevoir, take an Earthquake, switch back to Shedinja, paralyze Gyarados with Secret Power and...
- ...after watching Gyarados Dragon Dance about five times, take it down with Shadow Balls and Aerial Aces.
- Defeated Wallace, the Champion! In the battle Gardevoir and Shedinja both levelled up.
- Encountered May and Professor Birch and entered the HALL OF FAME.
- Hall of Fame team, in order of obtaining them:
Fisher the Level 51 Swampert
Gown the Level 51 Gardevoir
Funga the Level 50 Breloom
Skin the Level 51 Shedinja
Hearth the Level 51 Torkoal
Lyre the Level 51 Altaria
- Now I can sit back and enjoy the satisfaction of beating Emerald with a Shedinja on the team.
- Will start post-Elite 4 game in a few days.
Current team:
Level 51 Swampert (Fisher) (Impish; Quick Claw; Torrent)
- Surf
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam
- Protect
Level 51 Gardevoir (Gown) (Modest; Magnet; Synchronize)
- Psychic
- Thunderbolt
- Calm Mind
- Light Screen
Level 50 Breloom (Funga) (Docile; Silk Scarf; Effect Spore)
- Brick Break
- Mach Punch
- Return
- Leech Seed
Level 51 Shedinja (Skin) (Naughty; Quick Claw; Wonder Guard)
- Shadow Ball
- Dig
- Aerial Ace
- Secret Power
Level 51 Torkoal (Hearth) (Bashful; Charcoal; White Smoke)
- Flamethrower
- Body Slam
- Toxic
- Protect
Level 51 Altaria (Lyre) (Rash; Amulet Coin; Natural Cure)
- Dragonbreath
- Fly
- Fire Blast
- Safeguard
Post-Champion happenings will be coming soon.