The Muffin is Forever with Me

Being an avid shiny enthusiast, I was ecstatic to find that there was an item that increases the odds of encountering shiny Pokémon in Black 2 and White 2. I was also thrilled that there was a worthwhile reward in store for those who complete the National Pokédex instead of a lame diploma. I'm really glad I decided not to transfer all of my Pokémon from SoulSilver to White... it would've been a massive pain to trade everything over to Black 2. I had completed the National Pokédex in SoulSilver, but I didn't actually own every Pokémon. This time, I planned on creating a "living Pokédex". After I transferred over everything I had (I don't even know how many times I had to play that dang mini-game), I had 412 Pokémon registered in my Dex. At that point, I only had about ten Generation V critters registered. Since most of the Pokémon I was missing were pre-evolutions, I had a ton of breeding to do. It was a tedious process, but my trusty Magmortar sped things up with his Flame Body ability. When I finished hatching all the Pokémon I needed, I focused on completing my Unova Dex. I've played through a total of five Gen V files, so I had a lot of the evolved forms that would've normally been challenging to obtain. Again, I ended up having to do a lot of breeding, and leveling up some of the Pokémon I hadn't managed to train before. My little sister helped by getting me a Leavanny and a Lampent. I had to do some hunting in Platinum and HeartGold for the few pre-Unova critters I was missing by then, and I resorted to using the GTS to get a Plusle (I had to forfeit a level twenty-seven female Eevee, which, considering what people normally ask for on there, wasn't bad at all). On Friday, pretty much a week after I started, I had finally reached my goal; I had 647/649 Pokémon (the only ones I'm missing are Deoxys and Meloetta) arranged in National Dex order in my PC. And at long last, I got my hands on my desired Shiny Charm! I immediately headed to Pinwheel Forest, since I had been dreaming about getting a shiny Scolipede (it didn't help that one of my friends caught one, and bragged about it and refused to trade it to me no matter what I offered to give him). The Pokémon there are also high-leveled, which would provide good training for my team. I hunted when I was watching Madagascar 3 with my family... and then when I was watching Supernatural... and at any opportunity I got, really. On Sunday, when I was waiting for my mom to cook breakfast, it finally happened. A wild double battled initiated, and I expected to run into yet another standard Cottonee and Vigoroth. The first Pokémon was a typical Cottonee, but the second?

As soon as its sparkles lit the screen, I excitedly called my sister from her room. She was impressed and really happy for me, and she watched as I tried to catch it. My Haxorus, which knew False Swipe, had fainted, and I didn't want to risk attacking it (even though I knew several of the moves my Pokémon had wouldn't knock it out). I took down the Cottonee in one hit with my Vaporeon, and used my other turn to switch out so I wouldn't have to attack the Cottonee. I decided to throw a Net Ball at it. Shake... shake... shake... click! I had caught my first shiny in the Unova region, and my first shiny under the influence of the Shiny Charm! I couldn't think of a good name for the female Swadloon, which was promptly deposited in the PC. I'm not sure if I'm going to evolve her or not.
Well, she certainly wasn't a Whirlipede, but it still felt great to catch a shiny regardless of its species. I'm not leaving Pinwheel Forest yet, though... not until I get my elusive shiny Scolipede!

(Originally posted as part of my blog on Bulbagarden.)