Pokemon Sapphire: The Shedinja Battle Report

 

Of course, a 'Mon as special and unique as Shedinja deserves its own dedicated battle report. The least I can say is that the whole run was full of surprises on the battle front: I blazed through Gyms I envisioned as massive hurdles, and was stopped dead in my tracks by roadblocks I didn't see coming at all. Without further ado, dear fellow gamers, I present you with my Unakite's battle prowess!

We're actually starting from Dewford's Gym, because I took down Roxanne while my Unakite was still a cute little Nincada. The junior Trainers' 'Mons all went down swiftly in one neat hit, and Brawly wasn't much more of a challenge. I didn't manage to one-shoot his Makuhita, which in turn destroyed me with Knock Off; however, a lucky Fury Swipes did the trick, and I could sail to Slateport unhindered.

I fully expected Slateport to be a mere formality; however, it was anything but. Instead, I was faced with my first major obstacle: an unassuming Team Aqua grunt in the Oceanic Museum. More precisely, an unassuming Team Aqua grunt with a Carvanha. You know where this is headed, don't you? Carvanha has Rough Skin, meaning instant fainting after one-shooting for my poor Unakite if the Move made contact. And oh, horror: all my four Moves did make contact. In a nutshell: I was in deep, deep trouble.

The thing is, this major obstacle could have not existed at all, had I chosen to cruise in Ruby rather than Sapphire. Team Magma grunts have Numels instead of Carvanhas, which would have spared me the Rough Skin headache entirely. I'd like to claim that I picked up Sapphire for my Shedinja run on purpose, because it offered the highest challenge value; however, the truth is that I didn't factor the villain team's 'Mons at all. I had just cruised in Ruby a couple of times already, and I wanted a change. Pretty hilarious!

Anyway, I needed a non-contact Move to get out of this mess. It so happens that Shedinja can learn such a Move: that Move is Shadow Ball, and it would offer me some welcome STAB on top of saving me from contact fainting. Cherry on the cake, because Shadow Ball is a Physical attack in Gen III, it would take advantage of my Unakite's sky-high Attack. There was just one teeny-tiny problem: Shedinja learns Shadow Ball at Lv. 38, and I was Lv. 23.

Making a Erratic-leveling 'Mon gain 15 levels solely through random battles would have been pure torture; so instead, I resorted to the Zigzagoon Rare Candy Pickup hack. I backtracked to Granite Cave and fought wild 'Mons until I managed to reap enough Rare Candies to raise Unakite to Lv. 38. My five Zigzagoons also snatched a bunch of most welcome Proteins in the process; and with Shadow Ball in my arsenal and an Attack higher than ever before, my Unakite finally managed to make mincefish out of that darn Carvanha. Goodbye Slateport, hello freedom! 

The Mauville and Lavaridge Gyms were a complete cakewalk, with every single 'Mon going down with a clean Shadow Ball. I though I would struggle against Flannery's Torkoal, but it didn't resist Shadow Ball more than anything else before it. I was on a roll, and I fully expected the Petalburg Gym to submit just as willingly; however, I was in for a sore wake-up slap. Things went just fine until Norman; and then, I failed to one-shoot his first Slaking with Return, and it destroyed me with Faint Attack. Yes, his whole team wields bloody Faint Attack! I was in deep water again, and my run grinded to a complete halt.

Once again, I would have to grind my way to victory. I backtracked all the way to Fallarbor to get the highest-level 'Mons available, and proceeded to reap Rare Candies. For the record, I was so unlucky with my pickups that I actually managed to gain two levels solely through battling! I tried Norman again at Lv. 62, but failed to take down his first Slaking by one pixel. A quick visit in Dewford to pick up the Silk Scarf later, I was back at it — and still failed to take down his first Slaking by one pixel. How on earth was that even possible? Slaking doesn't have Sturdy, and Focus Sash wasn't a thing until Gen IV; the only explanation was that Norman's first Slaking boasted ridiculously high Defense. Not wanting to grind again, I resorted to a more luck-based strategy: to open with Confuse Ray, let Slaking hurt itself in confusion, and then finish it off with Return. It took a couple of tries, but it finally worked; after that, both Vigoroth and the second Slaking went down with a single Return. Daddy destroyed, freedom again!

After that, it was smooth sailing until Fortree's Gym. Mind you, nearly all the 'Mons there fainted with a single Shadow Ball or Return; however, my progression was halted by Winona's final 'Mon Skarmory. Not only did it refuse to go down in one hit, but even hurting itself in confusion plus Return or Shadow Ball didn't do the trick; and it wasn't long before I was destroyed by a nasty Aerial Ace. With confusion-induced self-damage being so random and Winona wielding Full Restores, it would have taken a million tries and an insane amount of luck to make it; and so, back to da grind it was! A couple of Rare Candies later, I went back in at Lv. 73 to test the waters. As I unleashed a Return on Skarmory to see how much damage it would dealt, I got a critical hit — and down crashed Skarmory. This was not the most honorable victory of them all, but I gladly took it nonetheless.

Next in line was the Mossdeep Gym, which I actually feared. The issue there was the final double battle against Tate and Liza; if both of their 'Mons had super-effective Moves and if their second 'Mon took my Unakite down while I got rid of their first, I would be in deep trouble again. However, there was no need to worry, as only Solrock knows a super-effective Move; all I needed was to hit Solrock first, and the battle was pretty much over in two swift turns. Next came Wallace — or rather powerless Wallace, as none of his 'Mons wielded a Move that could hurt my Shedinja. And with that laughingly easy victory, the appetizers were over; now came the pièce de résistance, the final showdown that would make or break Shedinja as viable solo run material.

Once again, I was in for mighty surprises. I engaged Sidney with the Silk Scarf and started well despite his Mighthyena's Intimidate; however, I failed to one-shoot his Sharpedo with Shadow Ball. I tried again with the Spell Tag, and it worked just fine. I'm so, so glad I took the time and effort to get that item! En passant, you know your 'Mon's Attack is stellar when it manages to one-shoot a foe with a non-effective Move, which is exactly what my Unakite did to Sidney's Sharpedo. Phoebe's Ghost 'Mons were destroyed by my Shadow Ball, after which I switched the Spell Tag for the Silk Scarf and one-shot Glacia's whole team with Return.

Then came Drake, and the first roadblock in the person of his Salamence. Not only did that darn dragon lowered Unakite's Attack with Intimidate, but I failed to one-shoot it with Return, leaving it free to destroy me with Crunch. Shadow Ball and the Spell Tag didn't do the trick either, and I knew I had to resort to the Confuse Ray strategy again. A single self-hit would suffice, as Return with the Silk Scarf only left Salamence with a few pixels of health; after a few infructuous tries, stars finally aligned and I could finish Drake's Altaria with one clean, smooth Return. 

I switched again to the Spell Tag before Steven, and was immediately stopped dead in my tracks by his opening Skarmory. Shadow Ball only emptied 50% of that bloody bird's HP bar, and boosted Return even less. Yet I alsolutely needed a one-hit KO against Skarmory; otherwise, I'd be the one to go down with Aerial Ace. The Confuse Ray stategy wasn't an option: not only would Skarmory need to hurt itself three or four times in a row, but Steven would undoubtedly heal it at some point. My only option was the cheapest and most shamelessly luck-based strategy of them all: the Lucky Critical, folks. (Special mention to my fellow Pokefan Sieg!) A few tries gave me that much-needed crit, after which Claydol, Cradily and Armaldo went down in one smooth Shadow Ball. Aggron survived Shadow Ball; unfortunately, the poor thing didn't have a single Move that could hit me, and it was reduced to desperately trying to survive on Full Restores while I pummeled it to death with Shadow Ball. Finally, a single Shadow Ball was enough to take down Metagross and land me the Champion title. A bug one-shooting a pseudo-legendary: let that sink in for a moment.

Anyway: well done, you! I've now proved that Shedinja is viable solo run material indeed in its home turf, and it was mightily fun to boot. That's another pair of Gen III Bug 'Mons under my belt; and my, do I love these indeed. Now I just have to tackle Volbeat & Illumise, and I'll be done with the Gen III Bug pairs. Those runs will have to wait for next summer, though; the Pokemon 2020 Summer Season has lasted more than long enough already, and it's time to put an end to it. Thanks for following my Poke-adventures, dear fellow gamers; until next post, keep playing and take care!