The Crazy 88's Primary Thread

A word of advice to any 88's who haven't done so yet:

You guys should get each other's contact information, preferably your cell phone numbers as it's the fastest and preferred way to keep informed on inside activity among your clan or for other notices. A great way to get to know each other. You should also try FaceBook, PSN, XBL, and definitely this site. I want us to have a secured web of communication going.

On another topic: I salute the 88's who represented at NEC. Well done to all of you. Special shoutouts to Pig of the Hut, DetroitBalln313, and former 88 Morty Seinfeld for achieving top eight! Congratulations!

Sunday afternoon is going to be HYPE, 88's! Be there to represent our heroes for the finals tomorrow!

The 88's have seized victory in the King of Clans 2011 tournament! Fuck yeah!

I'm so hyped up about what happened, I've simply gotta share my story. So here we go!

I had a ridiculously long weekend. Barely got any sleep. Only managed to get occasional bursts of one or two hours now and then. This would be due to a combination of homework, late-night MK9, offline casuals, an unexpected incident where a friend's car ran out of gas, and some more MK9.

Speaking of the casuals, there will be a separate story thread covering those later. I mentioned an incident with a car. Will explain more there when I get it up.

Anyway, at around 7:40 P.M. in the evening, I told Detroit to call me a half-hour before the war would start since I desperately needed rest. I left my PS3 on so I could charge my controller, then crashed after a long day on the forums.

An hour later, Detroit called...at the wrong time, LOL. It was just past 8:30 P.M. The difference between the Pacific Time Zone and Central Time Zone is two hours, as I told him. He apologized for his mistake and said he'd call back at the correct time. Not that I was bothered, I was grateful for his help.

Got a little bit more rest, then I stirred into awareness again and noticed I got two text messages on my iPhone. I quickly grabbed it and noticed Lord Thunder's summons. That shook me into focus and I immediately turned on my PS3 and popped in the MK9 disc. At that point, Detroit called again and I thanked him for the alarm.

The other text was from Brant (Pig of the Hut), stating that he would be about fifteen minutes late. I told him there would be a grace period and he could still make it, as we usually allow fifteen minutes after the start time for 88's to show before our rosters were locked. He thanked me and said he would be there.

I got in the House of the Crazy Sun text chat and met with my comrades, then turned the game on. When I got to the title screen, my PS3 froze and I had to reset it and endure a system check of the hard drive. Once that irritation subsided, I immediately returned to the chat and restarted my game, then got online to the main menu and came to the room where the war would be happening.

Soon, the text chat was brimming full with 88's hungry for war. Pboardplayer got on his clan tag and invited me to warm up. I accepted and broke out my Sub-Zero against his Ermac. It was a bit of a struggle and we would have played more, but then 10:00 P.M. came and we were called back to our places by Lord Thunder. The current war lobby was completely maximized at 100 occupants and we still needed the other 88's and the EMPERORs there, so we had to relocate ourselves to a new battleground. Not a problem.

As we waited for the EMPERORs to arrive, MARVAZ challenged me for some warm-ups. Again I broke out my Sub-Zero and we had four beast-ass fights before we stopped and returned to the text chat to prepare ourselves.

Remember our previous war with EMPEROR in the King of Clans? At that time, they could not get ten eligible players on their field; the best they managed was eight. For this war, it was more or less the same scenario, only it was seven players who made it to fight for their clan. Bladez arrived slightly past the grace period, but being the fair clan that we are, we allowed him to get his taste of blood in this war.

Also, INFUSION finally managed to get himself in his war against us 88's. Let me tell ya, this man fought tooth and nail just to be at the side of his clan for when we faced off. You gotta respect his degree of loyalty right there. A true quality in a leader.

We had to settle for a 10-vs-7 war that night. The numbers were assigned to the players. Much to my displeasure, I was one of the three who got a bye for the first round. Normally some would consider it a blessing, but not me; I was pissed beyond belief. I'm the fucking Imperial Warlord of my clan, god damn it, I should be out there on the battlefield to lead my 88's towards victory! Alas, there was little I could do.

The other two 88's who had to sit it out alongside me were BW1zZ and King Magus. Lord Thunder decided to have me and BW1zZ face each other for practice, but due to some downloading going on at BW1zZ's end, we couldn't stay connected, so we had to cut it short.

We watched and gave our support as the first round continued. Eventually I learned that we had eliminated all but one of the seven EMPERORs in one round...Dark was the only EMPEROR left standing. He had taken out MyGod 5-0 (good job, soldier, you fought your hardest), and so it was up to the rest of us to halt his advance.

Round 2 commenced and we selected Arch to stride forward and face him. Unfortunately, he was defeated also. As the third round came, I was called upon to put an end to the war once and for all. I promised Arch I would handle things and win it for us, then got out there and challenged EMPEROR_DARK in what would hopefully be the last battle.

The character select screen appeared. Dark picked Johnny Cage. I about went to pick Sub-Zero, but felt my senses freeze right there. I can't quite explain it, but my instincts were calling out to me, telling me to use Sonya. I had said I was going to drop her because I no longer felt worthy to use her after how I lost to RM_Death in the Road to Final Round. At the same time, pboard was right...this was a war, and I couldn't be sure if my Sub-Zero was ready for such stakes at this level.

After a long moment of hesitating and thinking hard, I decided to go for broke. My cursor flew to Sonya and I selected her in her primary costume. Our deadly battle began. My war anxiety began to settle in again, but I forced myself to shut it out. I promised Arch I was going to avenge his defeat, and sure as Hell, that was what I would do.

Things came off to a good start. Dark had difficulty adapting to me and I managed to beat his Cage two times. Then he changed tactics and brought out his Shang Tsung. It came down to the last hit, but thanks to a well-timed Arc Kick stopping his attempt at an X-ray, I won the third game. We prepared to go into our fourth game...then the connection dropped.

I was irritated. We attempted to reconnect for a couple of times with no success. I refused to win this by default, so we waited for EMPEROR_DARK to restart his PS3 and modem in an effort to resolve the problem. At this time, marvaz decided that I had the situation under control, and he left the text chat with the intention to hit up a casino. As much as I appreciated marvaz's confidence in me, I was still hoping that he knew what he was doing. What if I were to lose at that point?

DARK soon managed to return to the lobby and we got ourselves connected again. As the character select screen reappeared, he selected Johnny Cage. Obviously he had decided that his Shang Tsung was not worth the risk, what with me being in the lead at 3-0. Naturally I stuck with Sonya.

The fights remained close, but then things began to look daunting. His Cage kept surprising me with the X-ray and I wound up losing two games to him. I started going into panic mode and decided to change tactics for our sixth game, replacing my Sonya with Smoke. I was in control for most of that fight, but he adapted and beat me with the help of a few mistakes on my part.

With the score tied at 3-3, things were getting intense. The Crazy 88's kept calling out to me with their support as I sat there, deep in thought. Dark was making a powerful comeback. If I did not pull it together, chances are he would plow through the rest of us. As the Imperial Warlord, I knew this could not be allowed.

I decided to call back my Sonya again. I really don't know why I was using her, but I had to put all my trust in her at that point. Of all the characters in the game, she received the largest fraction of my devotion. She had the best chance of defeating his Cage. If this did not work, then nothing would.

The loading screen appeared, with the both of us choosing the No Blood code. As I nervously anticipated the fight...a thought suddenly just screamed in my head:

"You can do this!"

The effect was instantaneous. My focus sharpened, my expression morphed into a scowl, and I kept all my concentration on the game. Losing was not on my agenda. This shit was going to end HERE AND NOW.

Again the fight reached three rounds, with unexpected X-rays on Dark's part and the both of us trying feverishly to adapt to one another. Then I managed to claim the third round and raise the score at 4-3 in my favor. My spirits lifted from the victory and I quickly typed to my 88's in the Crazy Sun chat:

"It's 4 -3 me! There is still hope!"

Soon, the eighth game followed. We kept our characters the same. The fight again dragged to three rounds, but my resolve did not shake. I couldn't let it shake at that point. Lord Thunder and Triumph began saying a prayer for me as the bloody fight continued.

Finally...after a long, lag-infested series of battles between the Special Forces and Hollywood...I won the game.

The King of Clans was finally over.

The tension immediately evaporated and my spirits elevated into the clouds as I pumped both arms above myself in a triumphant gesture. I jumped back into the text chat to discover all the 88's celebrating and praising my name. I could not stop myself from grinning. Not only had we won, I...

No...we had defended our title as King of Clans. Through thick and thin, my jungle of doubts, the support of my team, and our devotion to our duty, we had proven to everyone how we earned our title. Our greatest battle had ended in a victory!

With the war at its end, Arch sent me a challenge and I accepted so as to celebrate my accomplishment. As is to be expected, we had epic games, though the lag was still at an all-time high due to the declining PSN servers. NRS, if you are reading this, please do something about the damn thing!

And do you want to know the one thing that made the outcome even more worthwhile?

@Triumph 88 decided to stick around for a little longer! *hugs Triumph* Even if it's only for the next war Lord Thunder has in mind, I'm happy we won't be losing our brother. It wouldn't have been a true victory if you weren't around to share it, man.

That is my account on what happened. I am very proud of what I helped to accomplish here. We, the 88's, are the best team and family ever to walk the world of MK.

I ask you all this...who is the King of Clans?! Chant it with me!

THE CRAZY 88'S!

@marvaz - glad I didn't disappoint you when you said I had it under control.

All is now well in our empire...

Where did you hear that? I just said the 88's won...?