After riding Raging Bull (and hating it--but then again, I did it to humor a friend. I never was a roller-coaster person), we made our way towards Southwest Frontier. Two uninformed food-vendors later, I saw the Pokemon Fun Fest tent.

Words cannot describe how underwhelmed I was. At the Stadium Tour, it took up a good portion of the lower floor at Woodfield, with matches in all categories. Here, it was just two dozen chairs and a few tables in a tent, with the infamous Pikachu car and Lugia PT Cruiser. There were also Game Boys lined up around the perimeter of the tent with various Pokemon games, and some TVs set up for Pokemon Stadium 2.

Sighing, my friend and I get our Celebis from two cute (but underinformed) female volunteers. When I offer a second cartridge, they fall back to the "one Celebi per person rule." Fortunately, my brother was nearby, and with a few not-so-subtle looks, the ladies bowed to my superior logic.

Several rides (and one lunch) later, my friend decides to go on the Giant Drop. Well, it's in the area where the tent is, and I figure I might as well clobber someone while I've got the lineup. We part ways, and I'm approached by this kid who offers to take on 6 of my critters with only one of his. We're about to battle when the trivia contest starts. I'm amazed at how clueless some of the kids are, and how my adversary blatantly looks up the answer to a question ("What is TM 25?" "TM...23..24...Thunder!" *kid is ignored*). I win a light-up "sword," which I promptly give to a little girl next to me. She and her mother thank me profusely, and she also wins a copy of Pokemon: The First Movie.

That finished, we settle to battle. I pick Scizor, Dragonite, Mewtwo, Mew, Poliwrath, and Lapras, all level 100. He sends out...a level 100 Celebi named Pikachu. With Razor Leaf.

I didn't need to be slapped with a Gameshark to know that this kid was cheating his 10 year-old butt off, and I protest (quite loudly, I might add). No way can an official Celebi be level 100 if they were just giving them out--and even if it were, it can't be renamed. He counters that he wasn't using Gameshark...he used a Brain Boy. My response? "That still makes you a dirty little cheater. I'm taking you down!"

(Yes, I've sharked my Trainer ID#, but this kid used his Lamebrain Boy to give this not-so-kosher critter supposedly 999 stats. His ethics were that he wouldn't used modified critters on in-game trainers, but he has no such compunctions against live trainers. He would find out differently about the 999 stats later.)

He Razor Leafs my Scizor, with little effect. I use Agility. Again, he hits me with Razor Leaf, and I use Agility a second time. The jerk mocks me, saying that no matter how many times I use Agility, it still wouldn't be faster than his cheat-Celebi. I Baton Pass to Dragonite, who absorbs a Razor Leaf with no problem. One Flamethrower later (thank you, Move Tutor), his "Pikachu" is down 2/3 of its HP and burned, while getting hit with a Psychic. He does a double-take, saying that his HP was only around 340 instead of 999. I grin evilly as I inform him that Bill's PC resets high stats to certain values (an oversimplification, of course, but it's in the heat of battle). One more Flamethrower, and "Pikachu" is burnt to a nice, fainted crisp.

"Thank you for inviting me to smack you down, you cheater." I inform him using my Flight Attendant voice. "I hope you enjoy the rest of your stay at Six Flags." I stop by a bit later and warn a younger kid that using a Brain Boy (as my opponent is blatantly doing) is nothing more than cheating. One of the workers was battling him, and I warned the guy about his opponent's viewpoints.

I also challenged a worker there to a three-on-three (big mistake) match. I won't go into details, but his Jolteon with Double Team, Toxic, and Thunderbolt ripped through Dragonite, Poliwrath, and Scizor. Realizing that I wasn't going to win this one, I resigned, and shook hands with him. He also admitted that he was fond of the OHKO Poliwrath, but he never thought of using Whirlpool with it.

I should mention that on my second trip back to the tent, the workers were a lot looser with the "one to a person" rule with Celebi. Thus, I now have five of the critters, and my friend has the leafy guy on both his Silver and Crystal games.

All in all, it wasn't bad, but I could've done with more battling.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Biffster:
Where the hell were you?

---

Regrettably, I was all over the place either a) holding things for my friend b) going on two of the rides myself, or c) playing various arcade games. I would've loved to have played against a fellow Azurian, but...it wasn't to be. *sigh*

quote:

---

Originally posted by MewtwoSama:
My god, that post reeks of Fanha-snobbishness.

---

Hmm...snobbishness. That would imply that my attitude is "I'm the best, and you're dirt." I've never thought of others in those terms.

I should point out that I typed out that account immediately after I got back, and thus was both tired, wired, yet strangely articulate. If I seemed unusually enthusiastic in beating that kid, it could probably be attributed to the heat of the moment. As with all things, it's a matter of interpretation. I should remind those reading, however, that I admit that I had my head handed to me by the second combatant. If I were "snobbish," I would have conveniently omitted this fact.

If you feel that you have a legitimate grievance, please keep it off the board. I'm certain that most members would rather read about codes, tricks, and war stories than what amounts to "nyah nyah, you're wrong and I'm right." Of course, you are perfectly free to pursue this in whatever manner you choose...it's just that I doubt that starting a flame war on the board over this would reflect well upon an individual's ability to listen, compromise, and capacity for restraint and rational thought. In other words, said individual would look like an immature, hair-trigger jerk--if they flamed. I'm not going to start, so the rest is up to you.

Thank you,