JAA Detroit (FiveKRunner)Pre-JAASaturday, June 3rd, 2006: Detroit JAA Things went from bad to good today for me and my Journey Across America competition. I woke up and finally got around to trading my team from LG to Emerald. I was going to use the move tutor to teach my Shiftry Fake Out after he had been not allowed to evolve for Explosion. To my surprise, the move tutors don't work on stone evolution Pokémon. I started to get worried. The drive to the competition was supposed to be around 2 and a half hours but ended up taking 3 hours due to construction, traffic, etc. When I finally arrived at the JAA around noon, I was surprised at how little room it took up. I guess I should've expected that there wouldn't be a tremendous amount of things to do. Anyway, I went over and downloaded 3 Celebis without waiting in a line (the Celebi line never had more than 20 or so people in it all day). I checked out everything that there was to do. They had the movie scenes playing with kids sitting on plushes, coloring, demos, collectible pins, the free Pikachu card, stickers, Pokémon Center Kiosk, Trainer's Certificates, the download stations, and the battling area. While I was registering in line, the younger age group was finishing up. I chatted with a few kids that said they were from Smogon but they refused to give me their names after I had given them mine. The one guy (Nocturn, I later found out) said that he had battled me before and knew my entire team. I didn't let it bother me. The tournament began with us 32 in Group 1 taking to our stations. Before I begin explaining my battles, here is the team that I used: My TeamMy TeamKyogre@Lum Berry Latios@Scope Lens Ludicolo@Leftovers Mewtwo@Petaya Berry Shiftry@Silk Scarf Groudon@Quick Claw (I considered SDEndSalac but figured ES Ray would ruin it) It took a while resetting for natures for 4 legendaries but I got what I wanted. After that, the EV raising and leveling up was smooth sailing. Wasn't too hard to build an awesome team for this. Before I entered the battling area, they had a small sculpture of Ash standing on a rock with his Pokémon. I knocked it on the head for "good luck" before I went it. I ended up knocking the head off and it was barely hanging on him. A bunch of people stared at me, while others laughed. I'm sure that I ruined some little 4 year old's view of Ash as a hero. Do or Die: JAA Detroit BeginsMatch #1: Little kid who didn't look like he was 13Kid's teamThe kid didn't really have that great of a team with Blaziken, Sceptile, Swampert, Rayquaza, Kyogre, and Groudon. I could tell that he didn't know what he was in for. He started the battle by sending out Kyogre and Rayquaza. Turn 1, I send out Kyogre and Latios. My Kyogre had Protected while his Rayquaza used Extremespeed on Protected Kyogre. Latios got off 1 Thunder on Kyogre and was then KO'ed by a Kyogre critical hit Ice Beam. I sent out Mewtwo, wanting to KO the haxing Kyogre. My Mewtwo Thundered his Kyogre to put it deep in the red zone while Kyogre Ice Beamed his Rayquaza for a KO. He then sent out Swampert. I am not sure what I did this turn but I know that Kyogre was KO'ed for him to bring out Groudon. I then used Solarbeam from Mewtwo on Groudon which somehow survived (the kid maybe knew something about EVs). I KO'ed Swampert with Kyogre's Hydro Pump. The next turn I knocked out Groudon with Mewtwo. I almost felt bad for the kid losing since he really didn't seem to know what he was doing. However, then I realized this is a competition and you show no mercy. 3-0 win.
Match #2: Nocturn (the Snorlax tattoo guy that said he had battled me before and tried to intimidate me)Nocturn's teamBefore the match, the guy told me that he had taken a shot of vodka to cool his nerves before beginning battling. Whatever you say dude. He had also said that he had been to Minnesota and Chicago, too. However, he didn't say anything about getting far at either of them, so I didn't really take him as a huge threat. He started by sending out Mewtwo and Lugia. Turn one began with him using Light Screen. I don't remember exactly how the battle unfolded but I do know that I paralyzed his Lugia on turn one with a Thunder from Kyogre. Also, Latios was KO'ed once again by a CH, this time from Mewtwo on turn one. That was then followed by a bunch of Protect, Lugia recovering after a few CMs, and his Mewtwo barely hanging onto life. In between there, his Lugia was fully paralyzed a couple of times. Also during that time, his Mewtwo managed to knock out my Kyogre. I was stuck down 4-2 with Ludicolo and Mewtwo. I finally managed to knock out his Lugia and he sent out a Metagross. I knew that he wouldn't Explode on the next turn because he had Protected with Mewtwo on that turn. I used Hydro Pump from Ludicolo on Mewtwo to knock it out. He set out Rayquaza. My Mewtwo then used Thunder on his Metagross. Much to my surprise, he had selected Explosion, hoping that his Mewtwo would've survived. His Rayquaza, his Metagross, my Mewtwo, and my Ludicolo all fainted. It ended in a 0-0 tie. However, since he had used Explosion on the final turn, I was given the win. When I was down 4-2 there, I wasn't sure if I would come back against that Calm Mind Lugia.
Match #3: Kaleb (Psycho's friend)Well, some NOA guy informed me after win #2 that Kaleb and his friend had shared a GBA cartridge for the first two rounds of the tournament, hoping that one of them would move on. However, they both did and weren't allowed to share a GBA cart in the later rounds since it would slow down the tournament. The other kid kept on battling while Kaleb had to forfeit. Therefore, I got a bye for round three and was deemed one of the final 8. Match #4: Fat Blind GuyFat Guy's teamSurprisingly, this turned out to be my easiest match yet due to my ability to predict and my knowledge of already commonly used JAA sets. Before the match the kid said, "well you have the advantage already, I'm partially blind". Once again, whatever you say dude. The battle begins with him sending out Snorlax and something else. I send out Latios and Kyogre for the third straight time. I took a risk and had both of my Pokémon Protect on turn #1. It paid off. His Snorlax used Selfdestruct and I took an early lead. The next turn saw my Latios faint for the third straight time to a CH Ice Beam. The funny thing is that I gave Latios Scope Lens. All day, he never had a CH. Instead, he had 3 CHs against himself. I believe that he also had a Rayquaza somewhere in his party which I quickly knocked out with a Mewtwo Ice Beam. Overall, it was an easy battle in which I took the win 3-0. I have made it to the semifinals. I am one of only 4 people out of 64 left. One more win and I'm in the finals.
Match #5: Craig or JimboCraig's teamThe kid's nametag said Craig but his GBA name was Jimbo and all of his Pokémon had Jimbo of some sort in their names. Anyway, I don't remember the exact events of this battle very well. I know that it started with him sending out Snorlax and Kyogre. I sent out Latios and Kyogre once again. I double Protected, hoping for an SD but it never came. I don't think that it knew SD at all, it never used it in my match or in the finals. Anyway, I ended up KOing his Kyogre early in the match with Thunders. Latios died on turn #3. The turning point in the battle for him was midway through when his Ludicolo scored a CH Hydro Pump on my Mewtwo to KO it. That put me down to 2 Pokémon, Ludicolo and Kyogre. I KO'ed his Mewtwo midway through the battle also, but I did it fairly. His Snorlax had Paralyzed Kyogre with Body Slam and his Ludicolo had managed to survive a Thunder from my Kyogre with just 12 HP. He eventually finished me off, 0-2. It was a really close match with a lot of Protect used by me. He had the lucky break of getting a CH on Mewtwo and Ludicolo hanging on by just 12 HP. If those two things wouldn't have happened. I would've been left with Kyogre, Mewtwo, and Ludicolo vs. his Snorlax with just 2 minutes (about 3 or 4 turns) left to go. I would've easily won. However, its part of the game and a lot of luck is involved. The damage formula and the CH ratio just wasn't on my side all day and I just couldn't overcome it that time.
So I leave the battling area, and collect my prizes. I got a shirt for just participating, nothing for moving on to round 2, an Emerald guide for getting to round 3, a Treecko pillow for getting to round 4, and a semifinalist medal for being one of the final 4. However, my day still wasn't over. I ended up watching the final match, which was posted online (some guy in a suit was recording it). jeps won the final match vs. Jimbo, using SDEndSalac Groudon which I didn't dare use.
Now comes the funny stuff. After being annoying and critiquing my driving the whole 3 hours there, my dad started being cool. He bought a handful of limited edition 10th Anniversary pins. He grabbed a stack of special Pikachu promo cards, stickers, bookmarks, tattoos, etc. Any freebee or flyer that was available, my dad bought or took at least 10 of. I went back to the Celebi line and got 3 more Celebis. I then downloaded the top ten Pokémon. I got 3 Latias' and a Suicune. The Latias' all had bad natures (Careful, Adamant, and Jolly). Suicune was Relaxed, not bad (-Spd, +Def) but it had outstanding IVs with 28+ in HP and both Defs. Then I had my dad take my GBA back to the Celebi line and get 3 more. They kind of got mad at him. I battled with other kids in between here, them wanting to beat a semifinalist, but I creamed them all. I later went back to the Celebi line yet again, searching for a Bold one. This time, the lady got mad and threatened to get her boss. I said go ahead. While she was gone getting him, another one told me if I got too many, it would erase my game, I just laughed at her. When she came back with her boss and explained everything, he paused for a second and said “Give him as many as he wants”. Yes, she got owned! So I downloaded a few more, bringing my total up to 12. I ended up getting a Bold one and 2 Relaxed ones, not terrible. Anyway, it was about five and the event was winding down, but my dad had to break a few more rules. He asked an NOA lady for her officials button that she was wearing. She said that she couldn't give them away. My dad bought it from her for $10. So, I added an NOA only Pokémon button to my collection of souvenirs. We looked at the Pokémon Kiosk but there wasn't really anything there other than plushes and junk, nothing I wanted. Anyway, I packed it up and went home. A long day followed by my parents now approving of my Pokémon video game habit and thinking that I can do better. Also, thanks goes to IMAWario for giving me some helpful pointers on my team. Sorry, Wario, it all came down to a little bit of luck going against me. |
