Thief not taking?

[Missingno mystery]

(EXTREMELY STUPID question, I know :rolleyes: !) I was jest wondering if someone could explain how exactly Thief works :oops: ? No matter if the other Pokemon is damaged or faints, it NEVER works :dazed: ! (I've used it to many times to count but its over 100). I need an everstone badly, and would like some heart scales.

[ashkelon]

Don't smack me for asking, but your thief poke isn't already holding something, is it? It has to be "empty handed" to take things. I've had really good luck with thief in all my games on many different pokes: persian, houndoom and sableye have all worked equally well, and there have been some others. My worst problem with the move was to forget to check and take stolen things away from the poke before using the move the next time.

[mlugia]

That is one of the requirements, and as well, you'd need to find a pokemon with said item first. And no, you would never know if they have it, but if they do, your thief will steal on the first try, as long as it dealt damage.

[AshMistyMayfan]

To my knowledge on Thief, works on Psychic/Ghost Pokemon effectively, and if the Pokemon is 'holding something (IE SPell Tag on ghots, Sun Stone/Moon Stone) the Pokemon you have can take the object. Thief steals the object the Pokemon is holding, like the Sitrus berry/Oran berry/Black Belt/DRagon Fang/ and even in 'Battle Towers', you can steal the opposing Pokemon's object like the Ganlon berry. When you take on Winston and Cindy the rich players, steal the Linone's Nugget, then switch to your Pokemon with Amulet Coin and you'll win 19,400 from each one, that's with amulet coin, 14,400 plus the 5,000 nugget. Covet works just as good as thief and you can get 40 PP on Covet whereas Thief gives you 10. Covet is like Thief as the Pokemon sort of gives the opposing Pokemon an expression to make the opposing Pokemon give up the object if it has it.

[Missingno mystery]

Bettacha's (Mightyena) not holding anything and I know what Pokemon I'm going for (guess my games jest a bad copy {got it from Pokemon center with coin an T}. Ain't never found a single Skitty and I probably never will, and the only Chimecho I found was female so I ran and haven't seen one since). I wont Covet on Derckly (Zigzagoon) but I'm not fond of his evo so I refuse to evolve him which is why I need an everstone (so I don't have to keep pressing B) but I always kill all the Geodudes (why I'm thinking its not working). How bout this, anyone know were wild Graveler are? (P.S. I'm playing Ruby, don't have sapphire or emerald).

[Shuko]

Bettacha's (Mightyena) not holding anything and I know what Pokemon I'm going for (guess my games jest a bad copy {got it from Pokemon center with coin an T}. Ain't never found a single Skitty and I probably never will, and the only Chimecho I found was female so I ran and haven't seen one since). I wont Covet on Derckly (Zigzagoon) but I'm not fond of his evo so I refuse to evolve him which is why I need an everstone (so I don't have to keep pressing B) but I always kill all the Geodudes (why I'm thinking its not working). How bout this, anyone know were wild Graveler are? (P.S. I'm playing Ruby, don't have sapphire or emerald).

You can find an everstone in granite cave. If you press the Button right in front of the rock (it's the one that's up on its own rectangular area; it's easy to spot) you'll pick up an everstone.

As far as thief is concerned, I asked the same question in another forum, and I pretty much got the same answers you did. The bottom line is this: if the opposing pokemon actually has an item, and your pokemon that uses thief doesn't already have a held item, and thief does damage, then yes, it will steal the item on the first try.

And you don't have to use just thief. You CAN use covet, provided you're willing to level up your zigzagoon to level 29 to get it. But keep in mind that covet is a normal move, so it won't have any effect on ghosties.

Another move that you could use is Trick. Trick is a psychic attack that some pokemon like Kadabra learn. Anyway, trick works like this: you have a held item. Your opponent has a held item. You use trick. You and your opponent switch items. Pretty weird, huh? I haven't tried yet to see if it will give you your opponent's item even if you aren't holding anything. Anyone care to try and find out for me? Oh yeah, and if you wanna use trick, understand that it won't work on dark types.

Out of all of them, I prefer covet, because it has more PP. But if you want an all-around, versatile move that will work on every type, you'll have to go with theif. The best you can do as far as PP goes is boost it to 16, but I guess if you use it up, you can always restart and try again. :/ It's just a matter of convenience, really.

Oh yeah! Don't you trade for a skitty in Fortree city? I think there's a lady there that wants a Pikachu... Oh well. I'll shut up now.

Edit: I just realized something; Why, oh why, if you want your zigzagoon to steal things, would you make it hold an everstone? 0_o Just curious, lol.

[Missingno mystery]

You can find an everstone in granite cave. If you press the Button right in front of the rock (it's the one that's up on its own rectangular area; it's easy to spot) you'll pick up an everstone. My tip book says nothing about an everstone there, I'll check it out.

And you don't have to use just thief. You CAN use covet, provided you're willing to level up your zigzagoon to level 29 to get it. But keep in mind that covet is a normal move, so it won't have any effect on ghosties. I already said I'm going to make Derckly (Zigzagoon) learn it.

Another move that you could use is Trick. Trick is a psychic attack that some pokemon like Kadabra learn. Anyway, trick works like this: you have a held item. Your opponent has a held item. You use trick. You and your opponent switch items. Pretty weird, huh? I haven't tried yet to see if it will give you your opponent's item even if you aren't holding anything. Anyone care to try and find out for me? Oh yeah, and if you wanna use trick, understand that it won't work on dark types. Not interested in a psychic poke on Ruby right now, got to many others to pump before the E4 (sad that I don't play as long as most normal ppl).

Oh yeah! Don't you trade for a skitty in Fortree city? I think there's a lady there that wants a Pikachu... Oh well. I'll shut up now. I wont one that I can nickname myself and it has to be a male.

Edit: I just realized something; Why, oh why, if you want your zigzagoon to steal things, would you make it hold an everstone? 0_o Just curious, lol. Till it learns that move and gets to 100, I DON'T wont him to evolve (Linoone doesn't impress me very much and the looks of a Pokemon is VERY importent to me, and I'm not going to use Derckly as a battler any way) and I don't wont to have to press B every few min. (I'm already board with doing that with my Numel Bame-Querk cause I wont him to learn Flamethrower)..

[Wynautfan]

Well, when you get the Skitty in the trade, youcan always breed it. It'll probably be female, so it'll be a good chance you can breed a new skitty, possibly a male one.

And about THeif not taking? Sheer luck. One time I had to spend 3 HOURS in Ever Grande before I finally filched a single heart scale off a luvdise, and my Alakazam with Trick wasn't holding anything the whole time.