Well, I finally did it. It took forever, but I beat a hardcore Nuzlocke. Normal Nuzlocke rules plus no item usage during battle with set battle mode turned on. Now, I've beaten many normal Nuzlockes and Soul Links as well as started hardcore Nuzlockes, but this was the first one I didn't lose or drop. 

Overall, I definitely could have played better, but I'm proud of actually being able to finish this. I rushed Flannery and was unprepared causing me to lose Hyena the Mightyena and Shroom the Breloom much earlier than I was counting on. Shows how I should have prepared for the fight instead of challenging her damaged and under leveled. 

I lost Mud Puppy the Marshtomp because I let Norman's Spinda Encore my Hariyama into Fake Out instead of just sweeping until my Torkoal could Protect spam. Orb the Electrode was a dumb decision on my part as I used Self-Destruct into Tate and Liza only to not knock out their Xatu or Claydol. Cactus the Cacturne later died to a Claydol in Rayquaza's backyard when the Claydol decided it would rather blow itself up instead of being on my team. 

I think the most embarrassing moment is forgetting that Wally is fought at a different location compared to Ruby/Sapphire causing another battle that I went into unprepared resulting in the loss of Metal Bird the Skarmory, Shark the Sharpedo, and Pig the Grumpig. Shark is really good into the elite four and Metal Bird had been on my team for a long time so both of those stung. 

Going into the elite 4, I brought Jellyfish the Tentacruel, Sumo the Hariyama, Dog the Manectric, Flower the Bellossom, Walrus the Walrein, and Tanuki the Linoone. I planned on Sumo being able to sweep Sydney's team, but when I switched him in after Mightyena's Intimidate, he got hit by Sand Attack and ended up missing 3 Brick Breaks. Luckily Tanuki was able to come in clutch and Belly Drum his way through not only Sydney but also Phoebe's team. 

Sumo redeemed himself by setting up a bulk up and walloping through most of Glacia's team. Sadly, after tanking 2 Ice Beams from her Glalie, I thought he would outspeed Walrein, but she knocked him out with a Surf. I brought in Dog to clean up, but when I thought she was going to heal, instead of making the safe play and going for another Thunderbolt, I went for a Thunder, which missed, leading to Dog being taken out by a surf. 

This is when I started panicking a bit. Dog was going to be my main answer into a lot of Wallace's team with Flower taking on Whiscash and Jellyfish using it's Sludge Bomb and Toxic to handle Ludicolo and Milotic. After Walrus destroyed Drayden with Ice Beam spam, I went into Wallace's room with zero confidence. 

Tanuki was able to set up a Belly Drum and though we had a scare against Wailord's Water Spout, the whale was damaged enough so the move had basically no power and just tickled Tanuki. Wallace tried to save Wailord with a Full Restore, but Tanuki took it out in one hit with a critical hit Slash. Tanuki then took out Ludicolo, Whiscash, and Tentacruel before Gyarados was sent out. Sadly, Gyarados' Intimidate created enough of an opening for Gyarados to knock out Tanuki with a Surf. 

After 2 Full Restores, Walrus was able to chip Gyarados with Ice Beam and Blizzard enough to knock if out. I swapped in Jellyfish into Milotic on a Toxic and was able to get my own Toxic up to poison it. Flower came in to Sunny Day so that Walrein could jump into to Rest stall even though it was probably unnecessary. After another full restore and Toxic, Walrus and Jellyfish were able to stall out Milotic for the win, allowing me to finish my first hardcore Nuzlocke. 

Shout out to Turtle the Torkoal for getting past Slaking and Ghost the Dusclops for helping out with Tate and Liza. 

There were definitely a lot of things I could have done better. I think dedicating an entire team slot for the Elite 4 just for Whiscash was a bit ridiculous post gauntlet. Flower didn't really contribute anything to fight outside of tanking an Ice Beam to set up an unnecessary Sunny Day. I could have brought another Electric-Type like Magnet the Magnemite or even Turtle the Torkoal to make Tanuki's life easier.

Speaking of Tanuki, he was a monster. A true mad lad. Absolutely decimated the Elite 4 and I probably wouldn't have won without him. I'm gonna be banning him in my next attempt because he just completely trivialized half the end game. 

Finished my First Hardcore Nuzlocke - Emerald