My time count below isn't going to accurately reflect the lost hours to Pokemon Sapphire for this update. I've been doing a lot of quitting and restarting in my attempts to catch Rayquaza. I also made a few fresh runs at the League with a new team but the spirit just isn't there yet.
Before catching Rayquaza, the most exciting news for my Sapphire game is that I'm now playing it on a onyx-colored GBA SP. Now - except for the two hidden pokemon - the only super-rare legendary asskicking monster I need is Groudon. I haven't done any trading with Ruby yet, so the Ruby-exclusives (like Groudon) and the trade-evolutions now account for a big portion of my missing pokedex members.
Before heading into Sky Pillar for the assault on Rayquaza, I checked my inventory: still full of potions for an eventual League match and plenty of Ultra Balls from the chase for Latios. The Pillar is nothing more than a couple floors to climb, but you have to use the Mach Bike to quickly cover the weak spots in the floor before they fall out from under you. Weaving the bike through a quick series of right angles is annoying, not to mention the random battles against Golbats, Claydols, Altarias and Sableyes. Although I did snag a Claydol and Altaria en route to Rayquaza, so "nothing ventured, nothing caught," I suppose. Rayquaza sleeps at the top of the Pillar, and like all legendaries, this is a one-time-only opportunity.
His big trick is to unleash ultra-powerful attacks, and the Rest back up to full health when you get him in the red. I started my Metagross, who is generally resistant to Rayquaza's attacks... and whose Psychic attack does a reasonable amount of damage. In the many battles I lost (and restarted), I watched my overzealous Metagross knock out the Rayquaza, or the Rayquaza get confused from fatigue and knock itself out. A few times my entire team was knocked out as I lobbed Ultra Ball after Ultra Ball (and occasional Timer Balls) to no effect.
I probably should have brought in a team with status attacks so I could put the Rayquaza to sleep myself. But since I didn't, I figured it was just a matter of playing the odds. At some point I'll get lucky and capture him on an early Ultra Ball, right? And all I need is one Ultra Ball to beat the odds and get through.
In the battle where it happened, it was the second Ultra Ball that did it... you can't ask for much more than that, even though it took me twenty-couple attempts to get there. Now back to evolving and searching. Shroomish, Machop: you're up at bat.
Time: 105:37
Badges: 8
Pokedex: 130 (seen: 179)
Party: Shroomish lv25, Razorbeak (Swellow) lv56, Raichu lv53, Metagross lv54, Rayquaza lv70, Machop lv24
