Was not expecting to do another update so soon, but after tonight...

So things seemed to start out fine. I caught Venus the Luvdisc in Evergrand and Aggro the Lairon in Victory Road. The Road was tough, especially since both Numa and Athrun hadn't had much of a chance to fight in the last while (and Numa spent a lot of time in the box so we could Dive and Waterfall) but overall things were going OK. We had a really close call with a wild Hariyma, but everyone was fine. 

Then things took a turn. 

It was the double battle against Ace Duo Jude and Rory, the pair with a Cadlily and Armaldo. I was initially having Sarkhan and Spartacus fight them because I figured the two would be able to bring them down with Surf and Earthquake, but they were both sturdier than I assumed and Cradlily did some rather decent damage against Spartacus with Energy Ball, so I swapped him out for Numa. Numa took antoher Energy Ball but survived it while still in the green, but the low green. Still, Armaldo was gone, so I figured I didn't have anything to worry about with Cradlily. But then it hit with another Energy Ball. One that crited. Suddenly, someone I'd had since before the 4th gym was gone. That was a hard one. I sent Taranis out and he and Sarkhan finished off the battle. 

I decided to add Aggro to the team, partially becuase I wouldn't have to spend too much time leveling him, and partially because I figured having a very defensive pokemon would be good for the Elite 4. I took time to level and evolve him, and then made my way through the rest of victory road, and finally came up to Wally. 

This is where things go from bad to terrible. 

The battle starts off well, Taranis paralyzing Altaria and then taking it down with three successive thunderbolts. Roselia is switched in and dies to a single overheat. Then comes in Magneton and I swap in Sarkahn who eats a fairly nasty Flash Cannon. I mega evolve him and use Earthquake, Magenton surviving with sturdy and hitting back with a fairly weak tri-attack. Dragon claw finished him off next turn and then Wally send in Delcatty, so I swap in Aggro for his first major fight. he missed his initially iron tail and gets hit with charm, making this fight last much longer than it should (well, that and putting him to sleep for a turn). After he missed with several more iron tails and hit with two stone edges, Aggro was able to take her down with earthquake. 

Then came Gallade.

I swap in Spartacus, knowing that he'll be able to take down Wally's ace. Afterall, he swept through Flannery, Norman, Winnona's Alteria, and Primal Groudon. Surely a Mega Gallade will be no problem. On the turn I swapped, Gallade used Swords Dance. I don't swat it too much, Spartacus is a pshycial tank, he should still be able to survive. The next turn comes, and Mega Gallade hits with Psycho Cut. 

It was a critical. 

I watched as Spartacus's HP dropped from full to zero in less than a second. It was horrible. I just sat there for half a minute trying to process what just occurred. After everything, all the strong and powerful foes that it survived, the constant struggle that against stronger pokemon and he just...just like that. 

After taking a moment to recover, I consider my options. Both Aggro and Izou are no-go's due to type disadvantage. Sarkhan and Taranis are both very fast and may be able to outspeep Mega Gallade, but they are special attacked first and foremost and that's Mega Gallade's higher defensive stat. With them already being hurt, I can't risk that they don't take him out in one hit. 

So, I send in the only pokemon I have left that is at full health and not at a type disadvantage, Athrun. 

Mega Gallade and Athrun exchange blows, a psycho cut brining Athrun down to 14 HP while X-Scissor brings Mega Gallade down to the yellow. Now I'm left with a choice. Athrun will not attack first and will die unless I heal him...but at that point I'm just heal stalling until hopefully he misses with attacks that have %100 accuracy and won't miss. But, at the same time, Mega Gallade is very low on HP. and I'm certain that at this health, Sarkhan can outspeed him. He's only in the yellow, so I don't' have to worry about him healing like if he were in the red, and there's no way a leaf storm won't kill at this health...And so I make my choice. I take a hyper potion...and use it on Sarkhan. Mega Gallade uses Slash to kill Athrun. 

I send out Sarkhan and I can live knowing that I made the right choice. He outsped Mega Gallade and took him down with a leaf storm. 

This was a very, very heavy session. Half the team I've had since beating Flannery gone. Numa hadn't had too much time to shine, but he pulled his weight. And I could always count on Athrun to hit something hard when he most needed to. And Spartacus...he was my second ever catch. A mainstay of my team, who had done so much...there all going to be missed. 

I have some ideas of who I'm going to bring in as replacements, but I'm not yet married to any choices yet. And right now, I am too tired to actually make that decision. 

SpartenX's Omega Ruby Nuzlocke Part 6: Loss Road