>>56107836So, bad news out of the way first: I lost my Sharpedo to Tabitha, because I really thought his Darmanitan would have just used Zen Headbutt again, but Sheer Force boosted Flare Blitz is enough to kill even with a resist
Sharpedo I know does great in Mossdeep Gym and against Phoebe, although to be fair I still have to actually get that far again (if I can)
The good news is, I not only annihilated Maxie's team, I pulled off a successful heist
In the original Emerald, you can steal items off of trainer Pokemon, which was removed in subsequent generations, but this ROM hack kept that mechanic in, so seeing held items on bosses that I REALLY want becomes a matter of HOW to get 'em
And here's how:
First, Shell Smash Cloyster completely dunks on everything, Zweilous switches out due to an AI quirk (and Cloyster has Protect to scout anyway)
Zweilous is the only Pokemon remaining, so we switch Azumarill into a locked Outrage, use Covet to steal the Scarf, and then Throh takes care of it with Brick Break
So I now have a Choice Scarf! Which you can only get through a tough optional battle before Winona
Also, my next two encounters (Jagged Pass and a new area called Ember Path) got me a Hakamo-o and a Larvesta of all things, I know their evolutions are incredibly capable and powerful
So despite Sharpedo's dumb loss, we gained a new tool and some helpful allies afterward, so I just gotta not be dumb
