Thanks, ladyflame -- yep, my first post in this thread lists all the useful faerie abilities (right at the bottom). maria_... get that level up to 30! Then you should be able to get all the ones I listed. Abilities are definitely required for a decent battlepet. Even if your level drops back down after you get them all, you won't lose the abilities, so don't worry about that.
As for a cheapish set (all pieces buyable except honey potion) that's geared towards 1-player:
-Stone Club
-Ice Club
-Snowglobe Staff
-Greater Healing Scroll
-Downsize!
-Honey Potion (eventually... too expensive for you now -- for now, do a search for "muffin" and/or "snowball" at
IDB and choose a nice cheap one that does a bunch of damage)
-Purple Sticky Hand -- some opponents have things worth taking
-And whatever you like in the final slot... another one-use bomb, a reflector or blocker, whatever. It depends on the opponent. Don't bother with pure shields or dual-duties like Golden Compass; your defence is so low that they won't do any good.
I know that's kinda generic... sorry... I feel like I just keep recommending the same things over and over. But for a 1-player battler with no defence to speak of and a 1 mil budget (which I seem to see a lot!), this is really the cheapest/strongest set I can come up with.