The problem isn't the rom, but rather the emulator itself. A simple solution is to run it in No$gba. Although it doesn't have savestates, it seems to be a smoother emulator anyways, plus it is capable of playing DS games. I'm a little disappointed that I made it so far while using VBA, but now I've pretty learned not to bother with it and use an emulator capable of properly running roms.
Version 1.7.3 or 1.8 coming out ever?:dead: