Pokemon Ruby: The Ninjask Battle Report

 

I'll admit it: I didn't think this would work out — like, at all. Sure, my Moonstone boasted a solid, healthy Lv. 100; however, his Move pool was nothing to brag about, and certainly nothing to make the Hoenn Elite Four shiver in fear. Leech Life was virtually useless at that point, and Aerial Ace was barely more useful; this left me with Return and Shadow Ball as my best — and only, really — Elite Four-conquering assets. Factor in the complete lack of Battle Items in my inventory, and you'll understand why I harboured serious doubts about the very viability of an immediate Elite Four showdown.

As a matter of fact, my doubts were so immense that I seriously pondered backtracking in order to get Dig and Giga Drain. The former would be a giant ace in the hole against Steven's Metagross; as for the latter, it would allow me to heal while dealing damage. The (giant) problem was that I had no Fly slave; and as far as I know, Hoenn Victory Road doesn't host 'Mons that can learn Fly. Getting those two Moves thus required walking back the whole length of Victory Road, and then walking and Surfing some more to reach Fallarbor and Route 122 — with a stop at Lilycove to snatch some Battle Items. As you can imagine, I was not exactly eager to tackle such a massive trip; and that's why I decided to try as I was and hope for the best.

To my utter surprise,  my Moonstone managed to one-shoot every single Elite Four 'Mon bar Walrein and Salamence. This was an amazing start, and a perfect beeline for Steven; said Steven, on the other hand, proved to be a tad harder. Heck, more like a whole lot harder — yet not so hard that it became unsurmountable, which made for an highly interesting final battle.

 
Steven opens with Skarmory, i.e. the most infuriatingly sturdy 'Mon this side of Miltank — and a Flying 'Mon to boot, meaning super-effectiveness against my Moonstone. It took a whopping eight Shadow Ball to clear the way, because of Steven (obviously) using a Full Restore. Claydol went down quickly with one neat Shadow Ball, after which I healed to be ready against Cradily. My strategy involved letting Cradily use its five super-effective Ancient Power while I healed every turn, after which I could safely pummel it into oblivion. That worked out just fine, and Cradily went down with just two Aerial Ace — meaning that I could have dispensed with emptying Ancient Power's PP; however, I didn't know how much damage Aerial Ace would deal, and I didn't want to risk fainting and having to restart the whole fight.

Armaldo could have posed a threat, wielding Ancient Power as well. I could have used the same strategy as with Cradily; however, I decided to try my luck instead. My reasoning was as follows: if Rock-Grass Cradily went down with two Aerial Ace, then surely Rock-Bug Armaldo would do the same, Grass and Bug being both weak against Flying. This reasoning was laughingly incomplete, conveniently ignoring Armaldo's and Moonstone's stats; and indeed, Moonstone came very close to fainting, but still managed to submit Armaldo.

Aggron and was a major pain in the arse, but not so much because of its stats or Moves: it used mostly the deliciously inefficient Earthquake, and it didn't resist Shadow Ball. No, it was a pain because Steven used three Full Restores on it, effectively undoing my hard and patient sapping work in the blink of an eye. I had to use a Max Elixir at that point, because I was running out of PP for Return and Shadow Ball. Then came the dreaded Metagross; I expected a tedious and arduous ultimate battle, and was left flabbergasted when that most formidable foe went down with two swift, clean Shadow Ball. Well done, you!

 
Bug 'Mons usually make for wildly interesting Pokemon League battles, and Ninjask was no exception. That Elite Four showdown hit just the sweet spot between smooth and challenging, offering me a mighty fine mix of indecent one-shooting and fine-tuned strategies. My King's Rock didn't trigger a single time, which gives me added bragging rights: victory was attained solely with my Moonstone's natural abilities — and not the most stellar Move pool to boot. And now that I'm done with a challenging run for a change, how about another run that's even more challenging? Like, a run in which you literally do or die? Yup, that's right: a Shedinja Solo Run is next. Stay tuned for the upcoming run report, fellow gamers — heck, I'm psyched now!