Fun fact: for the longest time, I thought Mawile was Dark Type. Based on its looks, I would never, ever have guessed it was actually Steel Type; but upon discovering it, I became even more eager to cruise with it. Not only was pure Steel a Type I had not handled before, but Mawile was definitely one of the best-looking Steel 'Mons out there — heck, it would certainly please my retinas much more than, say, Klink.
The ensuing run was incredibly interesting, and quite surprising at time. I'll say it: pure Steel Type is absolutely terrifying — and terrific. With a whopping eleven resistances and one complete immunity vs. a puny three weaknesses and two normal damages, it's one of the tankiest and most enduring Types out there. In Mawile's case, that sturdiness is balanced by low HP, Sp. Defense and Speed; I didn't have to suffer too much from the latter though, thanks to my Vermeil's Jolly Nature.
What I had to suffer from, on the other hand, was Mawile's learnset. Although Vermeil hatched at Lv.5 — thank you, Gen III! — and could fight right away, I couldn't get past the very first Trainer and his mighty Zigzagoon. Why, you ask? Well, because despite being pure Steel, Vermeil only had Astonish in her arsenal. Yup, a bloody Ghost Move. Grinding until she learnt Bite at Lv. 11 on Route 101 was unthinkable; instead, I resorted to the famous Struggle Strategy, which I'd seen a million times in challenge runs on Youtube but had yet to experience myself. Well, it's done now — and with Vermeil being so sturdy, recoil didn't even hurt that much. 'Didn't hurt that much' was actually a leitmotiv throughout the run: I can honestly count on the fingers of one hand the number of times a hit took more than a quarter of Vermeil's HP bar.
Anyway, I was on a roll after finally learning Bite — quickly followed by Vice Grip and Faint Attack. As time and Gyms went by, though, I came to realize that Vermeil wouldn't learn any offensive Steel Moves. How disappointing! I have a pure Steel 'Mon, and yet I cannot make the most of the STAB? Not fair! Sure, I can see that some STAB on top of eleven resistances would make Mawile a bit too OP — and yet! Steel Moves are so rare in the games, and I was thrilled at the prospect of wielding one. Oh, well.
With no Steel Moves at my disposal, I had to resort to other options. Fortunately, the Mawile learnset is quite awesome indeed: with Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Return and Crunch, my Vermeil boasted great Type coverage and raw power. Badass Move pool, excellent stats and pure Steel Type: with such great assets, it should surprise no one that Vermeil run was smooth sailing from the first Gym to the Champion. Most of the Gyms were one-shooting galore; and rougher foes — such as Wattson's darn sturdy Magneton — were disposed of with the right amount of Battle Items.
The hairiest point was the Lavaridge Fire Gym: although the Trainers were one-shot pushovers, Flannery's Torkoal was another animal entirely. Overheat was totally bound to destroy Vermeil: not only does she have crappy Sp. Defense, but X-Sp.Defenses were not yet a thing in Gen III. I went in at Lv. 45 with a Silk Scarf, dreading the outcome and already bracing myself for a ton of grinding. The two Slugmas went down in one Crunch; then, for some unfathomable reason, Torkoal Used Body Slam instead of Overheat. Once I recovered from the shock, I launched a boosted Return on it; it was left with a third of its HP, and threw a nasty Overheat at me. I thought I was doomed for sure; but to my amazement and gratitude, Vermeil survived hanging onto a mere 1 HP, and I could finish Torkoal off with a second Return. I've seldom been so lucky in a Pokemon fight, I'm telling you.
This was a delightful run all around, and my very first Gen III run featuring a traded Egg. I was pleasantly surprised by how smooth GBA trade proved to be: with the Link Cable, it's even faster than 3DS trade! And since I'm mentioning eggs, I'll definitely have to get my paws on a Lucky Egg in Gen III. (Edit: I did.) Despite her Fast leveling-up rate, my Mawile was only Lv. 80 upon reaching the Elite Four; since I've gotten used to tackling said Elite Four at Lv. 100 to enjoy the best version of my One and 'Monlies, this means automatic grinding and Zigzagoon Rare Candy Farming, which I'm not too eager to do right at end game's doors. The only way to get a Lucky Egg in Gen III is on a Chansey, which has a 5% chance of holding one. Given that Chanseys only have a 4% chance of appearing in FR/LG's Safari zone and have a super-low catch rate, I'm in for a very, very long grind indeed. Keep playing and take care, dear fellow gamers!
