I think that may be the same time I returned to Pokemon. Though I also played Pokemon Ruby and Pearl before Soul Silver. I've now bought previous games like Emerald, Platinum and even Pokemon XD: Gales of Darkness. Nostalgia's expensive!
Competitive battling seems like it's a bit late for me to really get into. Especially with people able to manipulate the Pokemon's stats through 'RNG' and what not. Still, could be worth a go, I've only had one (or, two now) battles and it's been a lot of fun!