I woke up at 7am to be at the Hilton at 8. My mind was all over the place. This was the day that decided if I was going to participate with the big boys or not. Chris, before returning to Anaheim, let me borrow his Terrakion, which I greatly appreciated. Looking back, the one addition to my team helped me incredibly.
WARNING: The following 3 days are going to be incredibly nerdy, with me detailing how my battles have gone, which Pokemon were used, etc. This is my experience. Deal with it.
So, back to the morning of Friday, August 12th. I packed up the few things I needed to take (My brick-of-a-DS, DS charger, wallet, phone, iPod and comb) and went out the door. Almost arriving at the Hilton, I realized I forgot my camera. I began thinking of where I could have left it, and the worst possible scenario I came up with was that I left it in Chris's car, which would be in Anaheim until the end of our trip. I shrugged it off and kept walking. (Don't worry. I found it back at the hotel the next morning.)
It took 3 flights of escalators to go up to the floor where the tournament was being held. Joining me on the escalators were growing numbers of Pokemon fans, each floor containing more than the last. I, being the incredible dork I am, proudly wore my Spinda hat. I got several compliments on it throughout the day. Anyway, as the escalator approached the last floor, I rose to find dozens of fans, young and old, with DSs or trading cards in hand. The poles that supported the structure of the rooms were decorated with lovely artwork from the video games, and concept art hung from a metal frame in the middle of the room. I'd like to detail it for you all, but pictures speak louder than words. And you'll be able to see plenty of pictures on the next 2 days' posts.
I stood in line for what I thought was the registration for the Video Game Championship (VGC), but after waiting about an hour I found out it was actually the line for the Trading Card Game (TCG). The line for the VGC was somewhere else entirely, and the line wouldn't start forming for another hour. At least, that's what the attendants said. I decided to walk around for a bit. I entered the ballroom and was quickly overwhelmed with the sense of Pokemon fandom. If you loved anything Pokemon, this was the place. Again, I have pictures. Be patient.
I went over to where the line for the VGC was supposed to start and decided to hop in, even though the line wasn't supposed to officially start for another hour. And I am so glad I did. By the time that hour had come, there were at least 40 people in the line.
Sorry, what I should explain is this: What I was waiting in line for was the Last-Chance Qualifiers Tournament (LCQ). There are 256 available entrants for the tournament, but only 8 will be considered "winners". These "winners" go on to participate in the actual World Championship. The people that are already in the Worlds Championship had won their local tournaments from all parts of the world, such as various parts of the United States, South America and Europe. Japan was not able to have its own tournaments because of the recent disasters there. I'm sort of glad they couldn't qualify because Japanese have a tendency to wipe the floor with us Americans on the Pokemon battlefield. Several families and teenagers from Asian countries, including Japan, still came to participate in the LCQ, though.
The people I sat in line with were very friendly and fun to talk with. The registration for the LCQ wouldn't start for another 2 hours. After about an hour, Rob came by with a big paper bag full of bagels and cream cheese. I gladly took one. I was starving since our hotel didn't have a continental breakfast, and none of us had eaten. That made waiting in line durable, at least. A half-hour until the registrations opened, and a staff member came by with numbered cards. I was number four. I was the fourth one to register for the LCQ. I wish I had a picture of the card. It looked incredible. You could call it my Golden Ticket.
5 minutes until registration. I had never felt time last so long. The guys around me were getting jumpy and anxious. The teen behind me, #5, was straight from Japan. I gladly helped him navigate menus and prepare for the final steps to get ready for the registration process.
They invited us to the tables. I was shaking so bad. They connected my DS through infrared sensors to a large white box that entered me into the LCQ. The process was incredible. They wrote my name onto a card that had 4 empty slots on it. Each slot had a green thumbs up and a red thumbs down beside it. I assumed that my opponent's name would go in each slot, and the thumbs up or down determined if I continued on or not.
I walked in and took my seat across from an empty chair. I could have chosen to sit across from one of the guys I was talking to in line, but that's a brain game that would destroy my strategy on the battlefield. A stranger came in and sat across from me. An attendant came by with a Sharpie and wrote my opponent's name, "Stanley M.", on my card. The tournament was to start in 30 minutes. Kitty-corner to my left was the Japanese kid, and to the left of me was one of the few female competitors in the tournament. She was friendly. My opponent and I tried to talk casually to release some of the tension. That didn't work at all. He said he was there as a representative of some small fan-made website, and that he was a "gym leader" on it. He had spent only 2 days putting his team together. It sounded like I was going to have an easy win, but in this community, sometime's people are good enough to compile a dream team in only 2 days. I had no way of knowing if I was lucky or not. Finally, the staff said, "Trainers, select 'Battle' on the screen!" and the battle music began.
Here was my team:
Chandelure, aka "The End"
Ghost/Fire
Ability: Flash Fire. Absorbs Fire attacks, and powers up its own.
Knows the moves Heat Wave, Shadow Ball, Energy Ball and Psychic.
Held a Choice Scarf, which raised its Speed, but only allowed it to use one attack.
Scrafty, aka "Big Boss"
Fighting/Dark
Ability: Moxie. When it knocks out a Pokemon, its Attack raises.
Knows the moves Detect, Fake Out, Crunch and Drain Punch.
Held a Chople Berry, which halved damage taken from Fighting-type moves for one hit.
Terrakion (Borrowed from Chris)
Fighting/Rock
Ability: Justified. When hit by a Dark move, its Attack rises.
Knows the moves Protect, Rock Slide, Quick Attack and Close Combat.
Held a Focus Sash, which left Terrakion with 1 HP if hit by a move that would otherwise kill it at full HP.
Haxorus, aka "Ragnarok"
Dragon
Ability: Mold Breaker. Allows attacks to hit, regardless of opponent's ability. (Example: Hitting a Levitating Pokemon with Earthquake)
Knows the moves Taunt, Dragon Dance, Earthquake and Outrage.
Held a Haban Berry, which halved damage taken from Dragon-type moves for one hit.
Tornadus, aka "Fujin"
Flying
Ability: Prankster. Moves that don't do damage are given priority.
Knows the moves Tailwind, Acrobatics, Extrasensory and Air Slash.
Held a Flying Gem, which multiplied the damage of a Flying-type move by 1.5 for one attack.
Ferrothorn, aka "Thwimp"
Grass/Steel
Ability: Iron Barbs. When hit with a physical attack, the user takes a small amount of damage.
Knows the moves Curse, Leech Seed, Gyro Ball and Power Whip.
Held Leftovers, which heal a bit of health at the end of every turn.
Tournament rules were that you could only select 4 Pokemon to battle, which was why variety and guessing your opponent's moves were your greatest weapon. The battles were also double battles, which means both you and your opponent have 2 Pokemon out on the field at the same time. The battle began.
To be honest, I don't remember the first battle very well. All I remember is that once the staff said to select "Battle", my eyes were glued to the DS screen, and I didn't speak a word. My opponent tried to say a few words before we each sent our Pokemon out, but I didn't budge a millimeter. I'm pretty sure I freaked him out. His voice kind of whimpered away. It finally ended. I let out a huge sigh of relief. Miraculously, after several well-called predictions and smart switching around, I had taken down all four of his Pokemon with 3 of mine still standing. I shook his hand, the attendant circled the green thumbs-up next to his name on my card, and I walked into the zone where round 2 was to take place. I felt relieved, but also incredibly anxious. the opponents were only going to get harder.
My I can fully detail my next battle because I saved the video of it on my DS. So here it goes.
First off, I sat across from a confident-looking guy. We shook hands, and he had an accent that was European. On my card, an attendant wrote "Niklas". I was fighting some mysterious foreigner. We began our fight immediately.
The fight began with Big Boss the Scrafty and Fujin the Tornadus against Mr.NiceGuy the Mienshao and UpInTheAir the Tornadus
Round 1: This first round was probably what changed the tide of the rest of the battle. I made a stupid mistake.
Mob (Niklas' trainer name) had his Mienshao use Fake Out on Fujin. Fake Out is a move that attacks before any other move on the field, unless your opponent also uses Fake Out using a Pokemon that is normally faster than your own. Fujin was hit, which also meant that he flinched. Flinching means that you cannot attack for that turn, if you hadn't attacked already.
My Big Boss then used Fake Out on Mienshao, which was absolutely worthless. The point of making a Pokemon flinch is to stop it from attacking at all that turn, but since Mienshao had already attacked, there was no point in using Fake Out on it. I should have seen it coming, too, because Mienshao is faster than me, and every single Mienshao you'll meet will know Fake Out.
Mob's Tornadus then used Tailwind, which gave his team a Speed boost for the next 5 turns.
My Fujin flinched, so he couldn't do anything.
Round 2:
I started off with Big Boss using Detect. That protected him from taking any damage that turn.
Mob's Tornadus used Acrobatics. Holy crap this attack is broken with Tornadus. Acrobatics is a Flying-type move with a base power of 65. Its effect is that if the Pokemon is not holding an item, the power is doubled. Tornadus was also holding a Flying Gem (which my own Fujin holds). The Pokemon uses up the gem, which lets Acrobatics gain double power. Tornadus also gets the Same Type Attack Bonus for being a Flying type using using a Flying move. Here's the math. Acrobatics x 2 x 1.5 (from Gem) x 1.5 from STAB = CRAZY DAMAGE. Acrobatics kills my Fujin.
Mienshao tries using Drain Punch on Big Boss, but I'm protected.
Round 3: I send out The End alongside my Big Boss. Mob's team is unchanged.
Big Boss uses Detect again.
Mienshao uses Rock Slide, an attack that would hit both of my Pokemon. Big Boss is protected, but it hits off half of The End's Hit Points.
The End uses Heat Wave, a Fire-type attack that hits both of Mob's Pokemon. Neither of them die, but they're very low on health.
Round 4:
I call Big Boss back and send out Terrakion.
Mob's Tornadus uses a weaker Acrobatics on my Terrakion, and it knocks off more than half of his HP.
Mienshao then uses Rock Slide again. The End faints, and Terrakion has 1/3 of his HP left.
Round 5: I send Big Boss back out.
Mienshao uses detect. LAME.
Big Boss tries to Fake Out Mienshao, but hey. He's protected. Oh well.
Mob's Tornadus uses Tailwind again because the last tailwind stopped.
Terrakion uses Quick Attack on Tornadus and does little damage.
Round 6:
Big Boss begins with Detect.
Terrakion uses Quick Attack on Mienshao. Mienshao is down.
Mob's Tornadus tries using Acrobatics on Big Boss, but he's protected.
Mob brings out his own Terrakion.
Round 7:
My Terrakion uses Quick Attack on Tornadus and knocks it out.
Mob's Terrakion uses Earthquake and knocks out my Terrakion and brings Big Boss down to half his HP.
Big Boss uses Drain Punch and restores a lot of HP while bringing Mob's Terrakion to less than half its HP.
Round 8: Mob brings out his Hydreigon, a scary Dark/Dragon-type Pokemon.
Mob's Terrakion uses Earthquake, bringing back down to half my HP.
I hope I can outspeed Mob's Hydreigon, but sadly, he gets to me first. Hydreigon uses Draco Meteor, one of the strongest Dragon moves in the game, and knocks Big Boss out.
I lost the battle.
I shook my opponent's hand, stood up, and exited the battle area. I was surprise to see Rob and the rest of the gang already waiting for me. Apparently, I was the only person to make it to the second round. I was nothing short of surprised, given my inexperience. Rob told me about his own battle story.
He was able to paralyze EVERY SINGLE ONE of his opponent's Pokemon. Being paralyzed means that your Speed is cut in half and you have a 50% chance of not attacking. Regardless of being paralyzed, though, his opponent was able to connect with every attack. Rob's strategy was washed down the drain.
Shortly after the tournament ended, I was sort of glad I didn't go to the final tournament. It would've been cool, and I could have gotten tons of free stuff, but now I wasn't obligated to be anywhere at a given time. Now I was a free trainer, battling whenever and whomever I wanted. Rob told me about an event that was being held called League. It was a TCG-only thing, but Rob said not to worry. So I went down to a lower level and was given a number. I was about to enter into the best use of my time at Worlds I could have ever done.
I talked to a staff member, and she gave me a number. I was given a small slip of paper with the number 984 on it. I explained to her that I didn't have my own cards, or even knew how to play the card game. She smiled and said, "No problem!" and I was given a large starter deck, no questions asked. She led me to the back of the room, we sat on the floor, and she taught me how to play with Pokemon cards. She played with the same deck I was using, and I beat her. We got in line to record my win.
At a table, staff members held clipboards where they wrote down our numbers and who won and who lost. After having recorded that, we moved farther down the table. Another staff member drew two Pokemon cards from a stack. They were energy cards, but they had words written on them. These were our prizes, and since I won, I chose which prize I wanted. "Binder or patches?" I chose the binder. The "loser" (or non-winners, they were careful to point out) left with whatever the winner did not choose. I began to go on the biggest swag-binge of my life.
About lunch time, I met up with the gang and we set out to find food. We crossed the street in front of the San Diego Convention Center (right next door to the hotel) and went to a small restaurant called the Tin Fish (see the small fish icon on the map). It was delicious. I had a salmon burrito. Rob got Luis hooked on swordfish, which Rob considered "the steak of the ocean". We talked and laughed at how the day was going so far. It was nothing short of a good time. The day went on as I furiously battled to gain more swag. I only won 2 battles out of all the card games I played on the entire trip. But it didn't matter; I still got amazing souvenirs. At 6pm, the day ended, and we all walked back to the hotel in bliss. The funny part is, the main events hadn't even started. The next day, opening ceremonies would take place, and the World Championships would begin.
We watched the World's Dumbest Criminals again that night. Another crammed night of sleeping, but we were all excited for the next day.
Mienshao tries using Drain Punch on Big Boss, but I'm protected.
Round 3: I send out The End alongside my Big Boss. Mob's team is unchanged.
Big Boss uses Detect again.
Mienshao uses Rock Slide, an attack that would hit both of my Pokemon. Big Boss is protected, but it hits off half of The End's Hit Points.
The End uses Heat Wave, a Fire-type attack that hits both of Mob's Pokemon. Neither of them die, but they're very low on health.
Round 4:
I call Big Boss back and send out Terrakion.
Mob's Tornadus uses a weaker Acrobatics on my Terrakion, and it knocks off more than half of his HP.
Mienshao then uses Rock Slide again. The End faints, and Terrakion has 1/3 of his HP left.
Round 5: I send Big Boss back out.
Mienshao uses detect. LAME.
Big Boss tries to Fake Out Mienshao, but hey. He's protected. Oh well.
Mob's Tornadus uses Tailwind again because the last tailwind stopped.
Terrakion uses Quick Attack on Tornadus and does little damage.
Round 6:
Big Boss begins with Detect.
Terrakion uses Quick Attack on Mienshao. Mienshao is down.
Mob's Tornadus tries using Acrobatics on Big Boss, but he's protected.
Mob brings out his own Terrakion.
Round 7:
My Terrakion uses Quick Attack on Tornadus and knocks it out.
Mob's Terrakion uses Earthquake and knocks out my Terrakion and brings Big Boss down to half his HP.
Big Boss uses Drain Punch and restores a lot of HP while bringing Mob's Terrakion to less than half its HP.
Round 8: Mob brings out his Hydreigon, a scary Dark/Dragon-type Pokemon.
Mob's Terrakion uses Earthquake, bringing back down to half my HP.
I hope I can outspeed Mob's Hydreigon, but sadly, he gets to me first. Hydreigon uses Draco Meteor, one of the strongest Dragon moves in the game, and knocks Big Boss out.
I lost the battle.
I shook my opponent's hand, stood up, and exited the battle area. I was surprise to see Rob and the rest of the gang already waiting for me. Apparently, I was the only person to make it to the second round. I was nothing short of surprised, given my inexperience. Rob told me about his own battle story.
He was able to paralyze EVERY SINGLE ONE of his opponent's Pokemon. Being paralyzed means that your Speed is cut in half and you have a 50% chance of not attacking. Regardless of being paralyzed, though, his opponent was able to connect with every attack. Rob's strategy was washed down the drain.
Shortly after the tournament ended, I was sort of glad I didn't go to the final tournament. It would've been cool, and I could have gotten tons of free stuff, but now I wasn't obligated to be anywhere at a given time. Now I was a free trainer, battling whenever and whomever I wanted. Rob told me about an event that was being held called League. It was a TCG-only thing, but Rob said not to worry. So I went down to a lower level and was given a number. I was about to enter into the best use of my time at Worlds I could have ever done.
I talked to a staff member, and she gave me a number. I was given a small slip of paper with the number 984 on it. I explained to her that I didn't have my own cards, or even knew how to play the card game. She smiled and said, "No problem!" and I was given a large starter deck, no questions asked. She led me to the back of the room, we sat on the floor, and she taught me how to play with Pokemon cards. She played with the same deck I was using, and I beat her. We got in line to record my win.
At a table, staff members held clipboards where they wrote down our numbers and who won and who lost. After having recorded that, we moved farther down the table. Another staff member drew two Pokemon cards from a stack. They were energy cards, but they had words written on them. These were our prizes, and since I won, I chose which prize I wanted. "Binder or patches?" I chose the binder. The "loser" (or non-winners, they were careful to point out) left with whatever the winner did not choose. I began to go on the biggest swag-binge of my life.
About lunch time, I met up with the gang and we set out to find food. We crossed the street in front of the San Diego Convention Center (right next door to the hotel) and went to a small restaurant called the Tin Fish (see the small fish icon on the map). It was delicious. I had a salmon burrito. Rob got Luis hooked on swordfish, which Rob considered "the steak of the ocean". We talked and laughed at how the day was going so far. It was nothing short of a good time. The day went on as I furiously battled to gain more swag. I only won 2 battles out of all the card games I played on the entire trip. But it didn't matter; I still got amazing souvenirs. At 6pm, the day ended, and we all walked back to the hotel in bliss. The funny part is, the main events hadn't even started. The next day, opening ceremonies would take place, and the World Championships would begin.
We watched the World's Dumbest Criminals again that night. Another crammed night of sleeping, but we were all excited for the next day.
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