Milotic Help?
Based on the thread title, the assumption is probably going to be that I was lazy and didn't spend any time googling for the solutions, but my case is a bit tricky and Google wasn't providing me any results. Let me explain.
During the summer I bought a used copy of Emerald and started a playthrough, which I abandoned about halfway through because I got fed up searching for a Feebas, who I was determined to put on my team. A friend of mine generously offered to mail me his copy of Ruby, where he managed to catch many Feebas, so I can trade myself a few, breed them, etc and get to work on a Milotic. Reading up on exactly the best way to do this, I've come across the information that the Pamtre Berry is the best bet, which you can only get by saying 'challenge contest' to the Berry Master's wife...and that you don't get the word 'contest' until you've beaten the Elite 4.
Well, I'd like to get my Milotic in my Emerald file NOW, so getting the berry in Emerald was out of the question. Fortunately I still have my (ancient) copy of Ruby, the save file for which I've never erased...loooong since beaten the Elite 4 numerous times, and have about 250 hours logged into that save file. However, I go to the Berry Master's wife and discover that the word 'contest' is still not in my dictionary. Google isn't giving me much assistance in finding out how to get 'contest', especially since it seems the method is slightly different in Ruby/Sapphire vs. Emerald. Why exactly don't I have this phrase, and what do I need to do to get it?
My other issue is that sadly, the battery for my Ruby cartridge has run dry, meaning time-related events (ex. berry-growing) will no longer occur. I doubt this has anything to do with me being unable to get a phrase, though...it just means I wouldn't be able to grow berries in my Ruby cart. I should be able to get the berry and trade it over to Emerald, though, and plant the berry there...but would this issue possibly be related to the phrase 'contest' not appearing for some reason? Sorry if this is a stupid question.
Also, I AM aware that I can use a few other berries (Kelpsy, Cornn, etc) to get a Milotic, but that it's not as easy as a Pamtre. Worst case scenario if I can't get the Pamtre berry, I do have some of those and will try doing it that way, but as far as I know the quality of a Pokeblock is limited when you're blending them solo (which I am). Is it still possible for me to use the other berries by myself and get a Milotic? I'm willing to put the effort into doing it that way, mind you, I just don't want to spend time trying to do something that might be impossible (like if I need to do multiplayer blending).
Sorry for all the questions. It feels like I'm deep in a multi-tiered quest just to get this Milotic, but I'd really like to have one, and I'm just not sure what I should do to make that happen.