JAA Detroit (jeps)

Introduction

For those of you who don't know me, I'm most commonly known as tehjew, which is my name on net battle. Anyway here's what happened...

My story begins with my good friend Chalkey, who on the morning of the tournament ran a two mile race as a fundraiser for public safety. Being the heavy sleeper I am, I slept straight through my alarm, only to be woken up by Chalkey fifty minutes before tournament registration.

"DAMMNIT JUSTIN WAKE UP!"
"uhh…. What?"
"THE TOURNAMENT IS STARTING IN LESS THAN AN HOUR"
"oh shit."

On a side note… my original destination was Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, but I was unfortunately scheduled to take the ACT's on the weekend of the Pittsburgh competition. In other words, I was forced to enter Detroit's JAA which meant that both of us weren't going to win. I quickly got dressed and brushed my teeth, and we left with about thirty five minutes until the tournament started. We packed up our game boys and pokemon games and set off for the tournament. With little time to spare we raced down the freeway at a whopping 95mph. In what would have been a 30 minute trip, we were able to reach our destination with 10 minutes to spare (and without dying or getting a speeding ticket). We really were driving recklessly- given it was heavily raining and the freeways of Detroit can be a little crazy. After having to slam on the breaks a few times to avoid accidents, Chalkey looked at me and said, "Well, we almost died. So what really do we have to lose now?" I nodded, then it was back to speeding.

At the tournament site, we quickly realized we never signed up legitimately. Chalkey had issues with his stepfather that resulted in him signing up anonymously, and I was using someone else's name- a friend of ours who dropped out so I could play. Things didn't work out so well at first as a result. Since neither of us was technically in their database, we were both thrown in as alternates. Luckily, Chuck was registered as an alternate so he had first priority in getting an open spot. Unfortunately, I had to get my name drawn out of a box of about 13 other kids. I got lucky and was pulled as one of the four alternates.

JAA Detroit

Before we get into the tournament specifics let me introduce to you my team:

After registration they paired us up in group one and group two. Chalkey and I were both put into group two, which was a big disappointment.

Note: These matches may not be exactly the way they happened but I tried re-creating them in my head to the best of my ability. My memory is not perfect.

My Team

Round One: No one.

They screwed up the pairing, and apparently they didn't have anyone for me to play, so I sat around and watched Chalkey's fight. Somehow his opponent's team was rejected from XD's system. She pretty much forfeited at that point, claiming something about getting her guys from trades and not really knowing where they came from (heh), but Chalkey was nice and told her he'd fight anyway, and to at least check her items first. After taking off two charcoals, her team cleared. He pretty much blew the girl away, winning 3-0. She thanked him for letting her play anyway and took off from there. (Chalkey found out later she actually did shark a Ho-oh and Lugia.)

Round Two: One of the Nintendo worker's daughters.

I ended up fighting second round the daughter of one of the women working the event, meaning the other workers watched a good deal. She pretty much used starters (Sceptile, Blaziken and Swampert) and some other guys. For some reason, she had level 68s and 70s. I quickly cleaned house without losing a single Pokemon.

Round Three: Old guy.

This thirty one year old was evidently the father of another competitor there. He was pretty cool guy though, really nice.

Old guy's team

He started with his Suicine and Zapdos. I decided to test the waters for protect first. Me, being the amateur I am, thought Suicine was an Ice-type so I had Mewtwo fire a Flamethrower at Suicune. This was a mistake. Next his Zapdos and Suicine teamed up on my Mewtwo, taking him to red HP. Snorlax Body Slammed Zapdos for about 50% of its HP. Next turn a Protect on Mewtwo, and Suicine attacked the protected Mewtwo while Zapdos missed with thunder on Snorlax. Snorlax cleaned up Zapdos with another Body Slam. He threw down a Mewtwo of his own to replace his Zapdos. That turn I had Mewtwo target his Mewtwo with an Ice Beam and then his Mewtwo took mine out with an Ice Beam as well. Snorlax hurled a shadow ball at his Mewtwo to take it to yellow HP., while Suicine threw an Ice Beam at Snorlax, doing practically nothing. Then I sent out Rayquaza in place of my dead Mewtwo. I protected on Rayquaza, and no surprise Mewtwo, tries to slam Rayquaza with an Ice Beam, while Suicine did practically nothing with another Ice attack on my Snorlax (thank you thick fat). Snorlax then proceeded to blow up the field leaving me with Rayquaza and Groudon against his Latios, which quickly got taken out by the team.

On a side note: Chalkey got knocked out in Round 2 by Synre. It was unfortunate he had to play one of the better players in the tournament. Synre lost to Dusclops imprisonment explosion team. By this time a lot of the Nintendo employees had been watching my matches, and a couple of them approached me to ask me my name and such. One of the guys, Colin, remarked that he was glad he let me in, because I almost did not get into the tournament since I was an alternate.

Round Four (Quarter Finals): Guy in a suit. (Gabe)

Gabe's team

This guy seemed decent. He had beaten Synre in round three. I had watched their match so I knew what was coming, an Imprison/Explosion team. What gave him the edge over Synre was that he had a Selfdestruct Mewtwo that Synre did not see coming. Anyway, he started out with Mewtwo and Dusclops against my own Mewtwo and Snorlax. I went for the double Protect since I figured after he would Selfdestruct with his Mewtwo, and I was correct. Mewtwo explodeed into my two protects while Dusclops threw down Imprison. In place of his Mewtwo comes out a Gengar. Gengar goes for explosion while Mewtwo hits Dusclops with an Ice Beam, taking out about 33% of its HP. Snorlax and Mewtwo fainted and I sent out Rayquaza and Groudon, while he threw down a Metagross. Rayquaza attacked Dusclops with Aerial Ace taking Dusclops down to yellow HP. Metagross exploded (what a surprise!) and Groudon endured, taking it to one HP. At the end of the turn Salac Berry activated, raising my Groudon's Speed to 399. Now here's the interesting part. Being the amateur I am, I forgot that Dusclops didn't have levitate, so I didn't use Earthquake with Groudon. I used Rock Slide hoping it would KO his Dusclops. Groudon uses Rock Slide and I sigh when I see that Dusclops was still standing with red HP. I said out loud "Well I got as far as I could", and then I read the text on the screen… Dusclops flinched! Holy shit, I couldn't believe my luck / stupid error, at least I got a chance to redeem myself for that error. I threw down another rock slide to KO the Dusclops and made my way to the semi-finals.

Round Five (Semi-Finals): Kid wearing a homestar shirt.

Homestar shirt's team

This match was a joke. His team was something like Sceptile, Starmie, Kyogre, Mewtwo, Groudon, and Latios. I started with Rayquaza and Mewtwo while he sent out Sceptile and Starmie. Apparently his strategy was to counter weather teams with either his Starmie or Sceptile. Anyway, I threw down a Protect on Rayquaza because I knew there was a Ice Beam from Starmie with Rayquaza's name on it. With Mewtwo I used Flamethrower on Sceptile which OHKO'ed it. As expected, Starmie shot right at my Protected Rayquaza. Mewtwo came out in place of his Sceptile. Next turn I switched out Rayquaza with Snorlax because it was obvious another Ice Beam would be heading his way. My Mewtwo shot a thunderbolt as his Starmie, taking it down about 60% HP, while his Mewtwo shot an Ice Beam at my Mewtwo, and Starmie shot an Ice Beam right into my Snorlax. Next turn I protected on my Mewtwo and Selfdestructed my Snorlax, but unfortunately he protected with his Starmie. Mewtwo got taken out after firing another Ice Beam into my Protected Mewtwo. I sent out Rayquaza again in place of Snorlax. Rayquaza used Extremespeed to take out Starmie, while Mewtwo fired an ice beam at Latios for about 40% of its HP. Latios fired an Ice Beam at my Mewtwo (god knows why). Anyway, with a Mewtwo at about 30% HP and Rayquaza at 100% HP we began the next turn. Extremespeed with Rayquaza and another Ice beam with Mewtwo took down the all mighty Latios. End result was me 3 him 0.

Round Six (The Finals): Kid whose trainer name was Jimbo.

Jimbo's team

I didn't know anything about my opponent in the final match, and I can't remember all six of his Pokemon, but I know he did use Kyogre, Ludicolo, Mewtwo, and Snorlax. Before the match began, the announcer did his whole deal with introducing both of us. The mother of the girl I beat in round two who worked for Nintendo wished me good luck, and then I shook hands with Jimbo. We chose our Pokemon, and seeing as he had a Kyogre weather team I chose Rayquaza and Mewtwo to start me out while he chose Kyogre and Ludicolo.

Turn One: I used Protect with Rayquaza and Thunderbolt with Mewtwo on Kyogre. His Kyogre went with an Ice Beam right towards my Protected Rayquaza, while Mewtwo took out 50% of Kyogre's HP. Ludicolo threw an Ice Beam at my Mewtwo for about 29% of its HP.

Turn Two: I switched out my Rayquaza for Snorlax and Mewtwo and threw a Thunderbolt at a Protected Kyogre, while Ludicolo Ice Beamed my Snorlax for close to nothing damage.

Turn Three: I protected on my Mewtwo and threw a body slam at Ludicolo, taking it down to red HP. Kyogre Hydro Pumped into my protected Mewtwo. Ludicolo Ice Beamed into Mewtwo's Protect.

This is where my memory is shot, because at this point my opponent started to take control, and I had to concentrate to win this. All I remember what happened is that his Kyogre OHKO'ed my Mewtwo. One of the Nintendo officials, who was rooting for me to win, looked at me and made some kind of gesture that implied he was angry/sad that I was losing. I just smiled and gave him a thumbs up.

Jimbo ended up switching into a Snorlax at one point but it got killed by my own Snorlax after (I think) a Thunderbolt and two Body Slams. After the carnage, my Groudon stood there at 60% HP and my Snorlax with about 70% HP against his Mewtwo and Kyogre both in orange HP, and his Ludicolo in reserve in red HP. This is when I knew the match was mine. An endure with Groudon set me up for Mewtwos Ice Beam, taking Groudon to 1 HP and activating the Salac Berry, while Snorlax Body Slammed his Protected Kyogre. Next turn I used Protect on Snorlax and Earthquake with Groudon to knock out both his Mewtwo and Kyogre. Jimbo was left with a Ludicolo against my Salac'ed Groudon and my Snorlax. At this point time ran out, but if we had time to finish the match I would have swept up the Ludicolo no problem. The end consensus of this match is that protect is extremely useful even if it's not used against Explosion/Selfdestruct.

After I won they took some pictures gave me a medal, a GameBoy Micro, Pokemon Emerald, and random other things. Jimbo and I shook hands and then filled out some paperwork. I talked with FiveKRunner afterwards a bit and most of all relaxed. I came and I conquered.