Hi everyone,
Its been a long time, but its me; Alakazamaster! If you didn't know me when I was active here, I'm a guy who was very into competitive Pokemon and Super Smash Bros. around five years ago. In addition to that, I loved participating in the Victory Road community! I knew a lot of people a long time ago, but I fear many of those people have since left.
Regardless, I want to let all of you know that this community had a large impact on me. Some of you may remember that I moved around a lot when I was younger, but despite that I always had Victory Road as a sort of contact source of fun and fraternity. I spent a lot of my middle and high school years here, and I truly loved the sense of community that this close-knit forum cultivated. I... didn't have a lot of friends when I attended a new high school, and a lot of you comforted me whether you knew it or not. Slowly and surely, though, I became more confident talking to you guys and really grew to love friends I had in high school. I tried to stay involved with Victory Road when I started college but I couldn't; I abandoned the Victory Road Gym League as I progressed through school. Despite that, I am eternally grateful to the friends I made here, as I really felt comfortable being myself around you guys.
Despite the fact that I left Victory Road, this forum had a very large impact on my life. When I couldn't find friends at school I found a ton of amazing people on this forum who would fight me in Super Smash Bros. or indulge me in Pokemon battles. Back when the Victory Road Chatbox existed I had some incredible conversations with members of this forum; both related to Pokemon and related to growing up in general! It really was a great feeling talking about seemingly nothing at all with a bunch of people on this site.
In short; I'm 21 years old now and feel very comfortable in my own skin. Despite that, I want to credit Victory Road with the impact it had on me. I made a lot of friends on this forum whom I lost as I drifted away. Despite that, I want to make it very clear that this forum was a very big part of my life. Cat, you are an incredible forum moderator and though you and I were not particularly close I am eternally grateful that you have hosted this forum throughout the years. Beyond Cat, I don't want to mention people by name because I have met so many people on this forum. If you are excited to see this post; send me a PM and lets talk.
I will happily talk with a ton of people on this site as I miss a lot of you.
Finally; thank you everyone. This forum was great for me. PM me if you remember me and want to talk.