There's a guide somewhere around here that says so about vanillite, but yeah, most machines will give you a vanillite. As for Blastoise or Sharpedo, I'd go Blastoise just for the bulk and slightly better moveset, and the trick to manectric is breeding for perfect spd IV. I got lucky w/ a 31 on spd and 31 on sp att, on mine, and its only ever been ko'd twice. Once to the ground leader(not my brightest idea using it) and once to Solaris on the volcano. If noctowl is really useless, crobat is really what you need. And definitely get the meinshao, though in later game consider replacing this with a lucario.