A/N: I'll be honest, I was getting tired of writing Special Delivery stuff (there's only so many ways to write Mike Schmidt stonewalling any and all of Glitchtrap's plans pre-emptively without it getting boring and repetitive), so I'm very happy to shift gears for a change.

I've had a lot of reviews asking for the ghost kids to celebrate Mike's birthday. I want to make it clear that the kids HAVE been celebrating his birthdays in the years since they first became part of his family, I just never wrote a chapter about it until now. Although I probably should've written one earlier than 174 chapters into the fic considering how fundamental birthday party celebrations are to families XD

Anyways, you might have been wondering why I put up a poll asking you to choose between Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, and Mega Rayquaza. Well, the time has finally come to reveal the answer, and as you'll soon see, the chosen Pokemon will have a tremendous impact on how this chapter will play out.

If you think this is going to just be your standard video game chapter…you're in for a surprise 😉

Chapter 178 – Hardcore Pokémon Battling Part 1

As Vanny and Glitchtrap fled the factory, choosing to abandon their plans for Fazbear Entertainment's Special Delivery project in the interest of maintaining their cover and continuing their ambitions into the future, the Schmidt family (who had been maintaining careful and ceaseless diligence in their mission to maintain the security of the Special Delivery project), were ironically enjoying their night without a care in the world. Mike had introduced them to a ROMHack of Pokémon Fire Red called Radical Red, and this had been the video game that had captivated their attention after they went home from work.

Only a few short days after starting the game, Gabe had officially declared to his family that he would never be able to play a mainstream Pokémon game after Pokémon Radical Red ever again, a sentiment that many of his brothers and sisters agreed with. Radical Red was ROMHack that had been designed for competitive and skilled players, with a difficulty level to match. The game included every Pokémon from Generation 1 to 8 along with most of the items and abilities from those games, along with Mega Evolution (and Z-Moves in the post-game). Several level caps had been enforced at each gym and other important boss fights, preventing the player from overgrinding, and the Pokémon in each of those key battles had been given competitive movesets to make them a true challenge for anyone who didn't plan their teams and movesets carefully. Gone were the days where a single Garchomp could destroy entire teams by spamming Outrage and Earthquake.

It wasn't just the increased difficulty that made the game so appealing to the ghost kids. There were several quality-of-life improvements made to the ROMhack that made the game feel truly welcoming for players who were new to the competitive aspects. Pokémon Natures could be changed freely at the Pokémon Center to optimize a Pokémon's offensive or defensive strengths, TMs were infinite-use, and there were in-game ways to manually maximize or zero a Pokémon's IVs, manually change their Abilities, manually record their EVs (which could now be maximized to 252 solely using vitamins) and IVs, relearn moves from anywhere in the game, and so many other features that made keeping track of a Pokémon's competitive-based data so much easier. The game had also come with codes on the Discord which allowed the ghost kids to get Infinite Rare Candies and, by extension, Infinite money to massively help with what would have otherwise been an incredibly obnoxious grind.

Another aspect the ghost kids could appreciate was how the game reworked and rebalanced many Pokémon in terms of stats, types, and movepools to make them all usable or even good. Volbeat, a mon that was widely derided as completely useless, was now a Bug-Electric type with Prankster that could pose a surprisingly deadly threat with Tail Glow and Thunder Wave. Arbok had been transformed into a Dark-Poison type that had been crucial for dealing with Misty's Starmie thanks to Crunch and Sucker Punch. And Mega Sceptile had been completely transformed from a special attacker with a completely useless ability in Lightningrod into a Technician-based Physical attacking sweeper who could slaughter entire teams by himself with Bullet Seed, Swords or Dragon Dance, and Dual Chop.

The ghost kids had eagerly delved into this new game, working together to create teams that could match and overcome the challenges thrown at them. It had taken several nights of intense play, but they had finally beaten the champion and his team of legends, and secured their place in the hall of fame.

"I still can't believe some of the bullshit we saw," Fritz was still ranting. "Really? They gave the Champion fucking Primal Groudon?"

"Somehow Rocky Helmet of all things was what we needed to beat that Pheromosa," Susie commented. "Focus Sash made that thing so much more annoying than I thought it was going to be."

"But damn, that felt so good to win," Jeremy grinned. "We fought a team full of legendaries and kicked their ass!"

"So you've actually managed to beat the Champion finally?" Mike's voice interrupted their conversation, causing them to look up from Charlie's laptop. "Feels great, doesn't it?"

"This is the best Pokémon game I've ever played!" Charlie praised. "It felt so rewarding to beat all these really hard battles and come out on top, especially the Elite 4 and Champion!"

"I know that feeling," Mike nodded in agreement. "I just finished beating Hardcore mode myself. If you thought normal mode in this game was difficult, hardcore mode makes normal mode look like a complete joke."

"How bad was it?" Cassidy wondered.

"Well, a lot of moves are restricted, and the fights are a lot harder. I was seeing legendaries by the fourth gym. As an example, you know how Sabrina's gimmick is Trick Room, and in normal mode the core strategy is to stop her from setting up Trick Room by any means possible?"

"Yeah," Gabe acknowledged. "We won that fight by having our Metagross whack her Hatterene in the face with Meteor Mash."

Mike smirked. "Well, in Hardcore mode, the Trick Room is both instant and permanent, and there's literally not a single fucking thing you can do to stop it. I had to deal with shit like Glastrier and Mega Camerupt...in Trick Room."

The ghosts all shuddered. "That sounds…absolutely horrifying," Liz muttered.

"Oh, it was," Mike nonchalantly admitted. "I ended up bringing mons like Conkeldurr and Dusknoir to deal with them. Which is funny, because Conkeldurr would've been complete dogshit against half her normal team but completely slaughtered her hardcore team."

"I am not ready for Hardcore mode in this game," Jeremy mumbled. "It sounds like an absolute nightmare."

"Well, you've definitely grown in skill, that's for sure," Mike freely acknowledged. "I was watching you guys play whenever I wasn't doing Hardcore mode. I definitely don't think I'd be able to sweep you guys with a single Garchomp now, like I did in the past."

"Is there a way we could battle each other in Radical Red?" Susie wondered. "I kinda wanna do a battle with you with this game's competitive environment."

"We could do Showdown…but I have a better idea," her father answered with a growing smirk. "Why don't we have a Pokémon battle…in my dream world?"

The ghosts' eyes widened at his suggestion, and their eyes lit up with excitement. "Wait, REALLY?" Gabe asked in disbelief. "We can do that?"

Mike nodded, his smirk turning into a grin. "If you guys are down for it," he offered again. "We'd be able to create Pokémon in the world of my dreams, and have them battle each other. I think it'd be a lot of fun."

"Hell yeah!" Fritz whooped. "Let's do this!"

"If Dad can actually pull this off, this'll be seriously amazing!" Susie agreed eagerly.

Mike snorted. "I was able to create a water park in my mind for you guys, I think making two Pokémon fight each other shouldn't be that hard."

"If these fights are anything like the ones in Radical Red, I think this is gonna be nothing short of amazing!" Charlie remarked as the ghost kids followed Mike up to his bedroom.

"You mind putting me to sleep with a spell?" he asked once he was safely lying down on his bed. "Otherwise, we might be here a while just waiting for me to sleep. Wait about 15 minutes after I'm fully asleep, and then come into the world of my dreams like you've done in the past. I should be ready by then."

"Okay!" the ghosts chorused as Charlie cast a spell to put Mike to sleep. Once 15 minutes had passed, just as Mike had instructed, the ghosts slowly phased into his mind by possessing him just as they had done in the past. When they finally arrived in the depths of Mike's mind to meet up with him, their father had spent his few minutes asleep to form a Pokémon Battle Arena that looked like an ancient amphitheater carved out of black stone, with torches blazing with bright blue flames burning from many braziers that surrounded the outer edges of the arena. To their left (and Mike's right) was a giant TV screen that hung high above them, no doubt intended to showcase the two Pokémon who would be fighting on each side of the battlefield.

"Ooh…this looks so cool!" Cassidy gushed.

"Are we really gonna have Pokémon fight here?" Fritz asked with an excited grin on his face. "This is the perfect place for epic battles!"

"Wait, hold on a sec," Gabe suddenly realized something that might significantly hinder their plans. "Aren't Pokémon battles really complicated, with like a lot of calculations and stuff going into how much damage Pokémon do to each other, how much faster Pokémon are compared to each other, and all those things?" He looked at Mike in clear disbelief. "You're not seriously telling me that you can calculate all of that in your head while being able to battle us at the same time!"

"PFFFFT, no!" Mike snorted. "Hell no! If I tried to do all those calculations in my head, my brain would probably explode." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder to his left. "That's why I brought Nightmarionne here to do all that shit for me."

The ghosts followed the direction of his thumb, and nearly jumped in the air at the sight of the Puppet-like demon that had seemingly materialized out of nowhere. The Nightmare who had assumed a twisted form of the Marionette was focusing intensely on a black laptop with spikes jutting out of it, raising his tentacle-clawed hand towards the ghost kids as a gesture of greeting but otherwise barely registering their presence other than a simple, "SUP?"

"As Nightmarionne is a demon whose intelligence operates on a higher state of mind compared to us mere mortals, he'll be the one who handles the calculations," Mike explained. "That way I can focus on making the actual Pokémon and battles themselves come to life. The less I have to focus on other shit, the more I can focus on making these battles as epic and as lively as possible."

"I'M HOLDING YOU TO THAT, SCHMIDT," Nightmarionne commented, finally looking up from his demonic laptop. "YOU PROMISED ME A SPECTACLE TO BEHOLD, AND I HAVE SEEN THE FOOTAGE OF YOUR RUTHLESS CURBSTOMPING OF WILLIAM AFTON. I EXPECT A HIGH LEVEL OF QUALITY ENTERTAINMENT FROM YOU SCHMIDT, AND I WILL BE VERY DISAPPOINTED IF YOU SUMMONED ME TO DO COMPLICATED MATH FOR NOTHING."

"…Normally, I'd be pissed as hell if someone made an implied threat to Dad like that, but I hate doing math too so I can't blame Nightmarionne for that," Fritz admitted sheepishly.

"So how are we gonna do this?" Jeremy asked his father. "Do we just…pick 6 teams and start battling?"

"Hold on, hold on, you guys are getting ahead of yourselves," Mike reined them in. "First, you need to pick the difficulty. Do you want me to fight you guys me in Normal Mode, or…" his face broke into a sinister grin, "…do you want to fight me in Hardcore Mode? I'm going to be throwing out a Champion level team either way, even if the Champion team isn't gonna be the same as the one you just fought in the game. Just keep in mind that if you do choose Hardcore Mode, my team is going to be blatantly overpowered, you guys will have a lot of restrictions, and I WILL be cheating."

The ghosts looked at each other, but before anyone could say anything, Fritz suddenly blurted out, "Hardcore!"

The rest of his brothers and sisters looked at him like he had grown a second head. "Are you crazy?" Cassidy exclaimed. "Dad's gonna kick our ass!"

"Yeah, but he's gonna kick our ass anyway!" Fritz argued. "Look, Dad is better than us. He's got literal years of experience playing Pokémon, and he just beat the hardest version of a game that we spent weeks trying to beating in normal mode. Do you honestly think that any of us are gonna be able to beat Dad on the first few tries, no matter what difficulty we pick?"

Nobody answered for several seconds, even though the answer was obvious to everyone there. "No…" Gabe finally admitted.

"Exactly!" Fritz replied with a grin. "We're gonna get shit on anyway, so we might as well go all-out! I think it would be fun to see what kind of stupidly OP team Dad comes up with to kick our ass. Then after we get our asses thoroughly handed to us the first time, cause we all know that's going to happen, then we can start coming up with a team that can beat Dad's. If we could beat a team that could carry us through the Elite 4 and the Champion back-to-back, I'm sure we can come up with a team strong enough to beat a single battle! Can you imagine just how AWESOME it would be to beat Dad even though his team is overpowered and haxxed to all hell? I think it would be even more satisfying than actually beating Radical Red itself!"

Nightmarionne lifted his head up from his laptop screen. "CAN I JUST SAY THAT I RESPECT THE HELL OUT OF THE FOXY BRAT'S ARGUMENT?" he helpfully supplied. "YOU HAVE A RARE OPPORTUNITY TO EXPERIENCE A REAL-LIFE POKÉMON BATTLE, SOMETHING THAT MILLIONS UPON MILLIONS OF POKÉMON FANS COULD ONLY DREAM OF DOING. THIS KID HAS THE RIGHT IDEA, GO ALL OUT AND SEE WHAT YOU AND YOUR FATHER CAN DO."

"You know what, let's do it!" Liz declared, unsurprisingly being the first to agree with her rambunctious brother. "Let's do Hardcore mode, guys. I kinda wanted to see what Hardcore would look like anyway if we ever got around to it, so might as well see a preview of what it's like right now!"

The rest of the ghosts glanced at each other. Then, slowly and with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the ghost kids agreed to attempt what Mike's version of a Hardcore champion battle would look like.

"Oh, you guys are actually going for it?" Mike asked, his tone more curious than anything else. The ghost kids nodded in confirmation. "Oh, in that case, I think this calls for a change in personal aesthetics."

Before anybody could say anything, Mike snapped his fingers and suddenly vanished into thin air. "Uh…what does he mean by change in aesthetics?" Susie asked, confused.

Charlie groaned. "I think I know," she mumbled.

Barely a few seconds later, a pillar of purple flame suddenly erupted from the ground in front of them. "Eeeek!" Cassidy shrieked as she stumbled backward, although thankfully Liz was there to catch and stabilize her shoulders. The pillar flared out and vanished, revealing Mike's dark aspect in all of his shadowy glory.

However, the dark version of Mike that appeared before the ghost kids was very different from the warrior and champion who had dueled and defeated Nightmare Springtrap in the world of his might. Some of the aesthetics were absolutely the same as Charlie, namely the glowing blood-red eyes and the purple flames that burned around a body that had been transformed into shadows. But the rest of his attire had changed dramatically from the picture that he had once showed them of his fantasy self. Instead of a purple cloak with black armor underneath it, Mike was now wearing a black leather jacket with a dark purple shirt underneath, as well as a pair of jeans that were so dark blue they looked almost black in coloration. Most importantly, Mike was now wearing a golden belt whose brightness starkly contrasted with the rest of his dark attire, on which 6 different Pokeballs could be seen attached to it. All in all, it was a perfect representation of what Dark!Mike would look like if he was a Pokémon trainer instead of a shadowy reaper ready to destroy all threats to his family with extreme prejudice.

"You look really cool, Dad!" Jeremy praised.

Mike grinned. "Thanks," he replied, his voice now echoing with traces of power, although not nearly as much as his final enraged form or even any of the other Nightmares, including Nightmare Springtrap. "Since you're going to be fighting me in Hardcore mode, it's only right that I adopt a form to reflect that." He snapped his fingers, and all of the blue flames burning from the torches suddenly darkened into the same purple of Mike's own body. "Ready to battle?"

The ghosts gulped, already sensing that they were going to be brutally curb-stomped in their first try against whatever team Mike was going to send out. "Give us a minute to so we can make our team?"

"AH AH AH," Nightmarionne interrupted, as he leered at the ghost kids with unrestrained glee. "WE AREN'T QUITE READY TO BEGIN WITH. YOU SEE, HARDCORE MODE ISN'T JUST ABOUT SCHMIDT'S TEAM BEING MORE POWERFUL AND HARDER TO DEAL WITH. THERE ARE SEVERAL RESTRICTIONS PLACED UPON YOUR OWN POKÉMON AS WELL. AND I THINK YOU WILL FIND THESE RESTRICTIONS…RATHER PROBLEMATIC. HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH…"

Nightmarionne snapped his fingers, and several sheets of paper manifested in front of the ghost kids, highlighting said restrictions. The ghost kids read through the papers, and as they did so their hearts sank as they realized the quagmire they (mainly Fritz) had unwittingly thrown themselves into.

"Are you kidding me?" Susie complained. "This is so not fair!"

"We can't use any setup moves like Swords Dance or Calm Mind, we can't use weather, we can't use Toxic, we can't use any traps like Stealth Rock, we can't even use Protect, what the fuck?" Liz spluttered.

"We can still use things that inflict status conditions and lower stats like Thunder Wave and Will-o-Wisp, but…that's pretty much it," Jeremy muttered. "We also can't use things like Tailwind or Trick Room. Jeez, most of us are options are gonna be just four attacking moves, aren't they?"

"I'm already having a bad feeling about this," Charlie sighed. "Want to just use the team we had to beat Radical Red's normal mode just now?"

"I mean…it's probably our best option, right?" Gabe replied with a shrug. "We don't even know what team Dad's using. I think we should just use this first run to get as much as information as possible, my gut feeling is tell me we're not gonna win anyway."

The ghost kids nodded. After adjusting their Pokémon team's movesets to get rid of the banned moves that had been on Nightmarionne's list and giving the information to Nightmarionne, they turned to face Mike. "We're ready, Dad!" Fritz called out.

"All right," Mike's flames billowed and blazed, mirroring their owner's excitement. "Then let the battle begin!"

All around them, music suddenly began to play, echoing around the arena as though it were being summoned from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. The music was all too familiar to the ghost kids, and it created the intense atmosphere worthy of a true champion battle.

[[Start BGM: Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen – Champion Battle! – Rival]]

"YOU HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED BY CHAMPION SCHMIDT!" Nightmarionne declared, taking on the role of the announcer as Mike grasped a Pokeball in his bed, a confident grin stretched across his face. "CHAMPION SCHMIDT SENDS OUT RAYQUAZA!"

"Wait, WHAT?" everyone exclaimed as a Master Ball came flying out of Mike's hand, opening up to release the green, serpentine legendary dragon of the Hoenn region. The ghosts barely had any time to react to Mike's Rayquaza, before the dragon immediately started glowing with orbs of light flowing into it. A sphere of light expanded out of Rayquaza's body, surrounding it with an aura of brilliance. The kids covered their eyes as the orb of light exploded, revealing that Rayquaza had transformed into a creature even more powerful. Its body had become even larger and more powerful and majestic, its facial horns having grown in front of its head and transformed into a broad, triangular shape with long tendrils glowing with golden power extending from their ends. The transformed Rayquaza let out a mighty roar as the multicolored Mega symbol blazed from its body and glowing purple runes pulsed around its body, before glaring at the ghost kids as it dared them to summon anything that could challenge its might.

The ghost kids' jaws dropped to the floor in disbelief. "…Dad, what the fuck is this?" Liz spluttered once she finally found her voice. "You're telling me that your first mon is fucking MEGA RAYQUAZA?"

Mike let out a bark of laughter at his children's stunned silence. "Welcome to Hardcode mode!" he gleefully declared. "You thought the Champion in Radical Red's normal mode was hard? You ain't seen NOTHING yet!"

As if to confirm Mega Rayquaza's presence beyond any type, mystical winds began to flow around the arena, creating a windstorm that would protect Rayquaza from moves that would have been super effective against its Flying type.

"…do we even have anything that can beat this?" Cassidy mumbled to her siblings.

"I think we all can do is pray," Charlie glumly replied. Not knowing if she had any better options, she picked up a Dive Ball and tossed it out onto the field, revealing Greninja. The ninja frog water starter of Kalos had served them in well in the battles leading up to the champion in the actual Radical Red game, but the ghost kids had a sinking feeling she wouldn't be enough against Mega Rayquaza. Both Greninja and Mega Rayquaza appeared on the giant TV screen that Mike had created above them, along with health bars underneath their portraits and names.

"Greninja, use Ice Beam!" Gabe called out. Greninja opened her mouth and fired a beam of ice straight towards Mega Rayquaza. The Ice Beam hit the mighty dragon straight in its body, who let out a roar of pain and fury. The Delta Stream it had summoned protected the legendary dragon somewhat from Ice attacks but didn't remove its weakness completely, and it actually managed to deal about half of Mega Rayquaza's health.

But it wasn't nearly enough to outright knock out Mega Rayquaza, and the dragon now had the opportunity to retaliate. "Mega Rayquaza, use Dragon Ascent!" Mike commanded. Mega Rayquaza growled in acknowledgement of Mike's command, before soaring high into the sky. The previously pitch-black sky above the arena transformed into a constellation of stars as Mega Rayquaza's body, barely visible from such a height, began to glow with blue-green energy. The dragon suddenly plunged downward and crashed into Greninja with a tremendous explosion, deleting all of Greninja's health bar instantly. Mega Rayquaza let out a roar of triumph as Greninja collapsed on the ground, although it had to pay a price for its first blood as both its defense and special defense fell by 1 stage, signaled by it glowing with a blue aura that fell downward.

"Shit," Fritz muttered as Charlie recalled their defeated Greninja, already regretting his eagerness to jump into Mike's Hardcore mode fight so quickly. "Do we have anything that can outspeed that fucker?"

"Yeah, I've got just one. Our Alakazam," Charlie replied. She picked up a Luxury Ball and tossed it onto the field, the ball opening to reveal the yellow humanoid Pokémon that had been one of the earliest and most iconic Psychic types to ever be introduced to Pokémon as a series. "Alakazam, use Psychic!" she commanded.

Alakazam lifted his spoons and fired a psychedelic pink blast of mental energy towards Mega Rayquaza, blasting it with the power of his mind. As it turned out, Mega Rayquaza's brutal slaughter of Greninja had come back to bite it, as despite being at half health it might have potentially survived Alakazam's Psychic attack if the damage row had been low enough. But with the drop to its defenses, Mega Rayquaza had no chance of surviving Alakazam's Psychic, and the legendary dragon let out a final roar as it collapsed onto the arena. Alakazam had managed to succeed in claiming vengeance for its fallen comrade.

"YES!" the ghosts cheered. "We beat Mega Rayquaza!" Cassidy whooped, floating in the air in delight. "And now we're back to even!"

"Heh heh heh heh heh…" Mike chuckled menacingly, and the jubilation of the ghost kids faded as they realized that the mystical windstorm that Mega Rayquaza had summoned hadn't faded away with its defeat.

"Wait…why is the Delta Stream still there?" Charlie questioned, clearly worried at the implications. "We killed Mega Rayquaza, that weather should be gone!"

"That's what you think," Mike hissed mockingly. "Did I forget to mention that since this is Hardcore mode, the Delta Stream summoned by Mega Rayquaza will last for the entire battle, even if you kill Mega Rayquaza or I switch it out?"

The ghosts stared at Mike with clear horror in their faces. "But…but…that's not fair!" Susie complained.

"Nothing about Hardcore mode is fair, Susie," Mike retorted with clear amusement in his voice. "This Delta Stream is here to stay, which is going to be a big problem for you with the Pokémon that I bring out next."

He reached into his belt and took out a Dusk Ball, throwing it out onto the battlefield. The Dusk Ball opened, and a towering dark phoenix flew out to face the ghost kids' Alakazam. The legendary that Mike had summoned to take Mega Rayquaza's place was a draconic avian that emitted an aura of pure darkness, both as an ability and in its very presence. Its back was black with white spots along its wings and back, while its front was bright red with black branching lines that spread throughout its body. And unlike Mega Rayquaza, the ghost kids had faced this legendary in their normal mode playthrough of Radical Red.

After all, none of them could forget the sheer amount of suffering Yveltal had put them through in the game's champion fight. And now they would have to fight the legendary of destruction once again…

…only this time, with every weakness except for Fairy removed.

"…we're so screwed, aren't we?" Susie mumbled, burying her face into her hands.

"Please don't keep Alakazam in to fight THAT," Liz pleaded.

"No way in Hell," Charlie agreed. She held out the Luxury Ball she had used to summon Alakazam and recalled it back into the Pokeball. In its place, she picked up an Ultra Ball and threw it onto the field, revealing an Electivire. Unlike its underwhelming counterpart in the main series game, Radical Red's version of Electivire had been reworked into an Electric-Fighting type and given Plasma Fists along with the Iron Fist ability, turning it into a potent Iron Fist attacker that had outright one-shot Yveltal in their first confrontation with just a Life Orb. But unfortunately for the ghost kids, they were now facing a Yveltal with its Electric weakness removed, and Electivire was already on the backfoot since it had been forced to switch in.

Mike couldn't change the move that he had selected to hit his opponents' Alakazam, and while he might have been willing to cheat blatantly in some aspects, he wasn't going to break a rule that fundamental. "Yveltal, use Dark Hole!" he commanded.

The black-and-red phoenix let out a hideous shriek and began to channel umbral energies into its body. Yveltal transformed into a shadowy orb that slithered menacingly towards Electivire. The orb stopped right in front of Electivire and then suddenly expanded outward, saturating the atmosphere in a dark red aura before transforming into a ravenous black vortex that hungrily devoured Electivire into its depths. The vortex exploded in a blast of malicious black energy, before finally spitting Electivire back out as Yveltal returned to its place in front of Mike, its assault completed.

Fortunately for Electivire, his new Fighting type granted him a resistance to Dark attacks that he never had in the main series, allowing him to survive with more than half of his health intact. Unfortunately for Electivire and the ghost kids, the sound of snoring began to emanate from his mouth and a "ZZZ" icon next to Electivire's portrait on the screen, confirming that the Pokémon had fallen asleep due to Dark Hole's secondary effect.

"Oh, come the fuck on!" Fritz shouted in disbelief. "Electivire fell asleep? We had to deal with this shit back in the actual champion fight too!"

"A 100 Base Power, 100 Accuracy Dark attack with a 40% chance to put the enemy to sleep and no downside," Cassidy sarcastically snapped. "Who the fuck that was fair and balanced?"

"Do we switch out Electivire?" Gabe wondered. "Electivire's not gonna survive a fight with Yveltal when he's wasting turns being asleep."

Charlie sighed. "I thought about it, but then we're just get another healthy mon slapped in the face by Yveltal. I don't think we can risk it, we just have to hope and pray that Electivire wakes up early enough to hit back."

The former Freddy inhabitant sighed and nodded as Charlie reluctantly gave the fruitless order for Electivire to use Plasma Fists. Mike ordered Yveltal to attack with Oblivion Wing, and the menacing dark phoenix fired a shadowy pulse of black and red energy from its wings upon Electivire. The ghost kids pleaded for Electivire to wake up, but to no avail. As Electivire stood there uselessly for two turns, Mike commanded his Yveltal to fire another Oblivion Wing, and this was too much for Electivire to handle. The Electric-Fighting type that had served the ghost kids so well in their previous battle against Yveltal toppled to the ground, having accomplished absolutely nothing except saving Alakazam from being obliterated by the legendary of destruction instead.

"We're so screwed," Jeremy groaned as he palmed his face with his hand. "I don't even know what we can do at this point."

"At this point, I think we just want to get as much information as possible," Liz remarked, though she wasn't any happier about how badly their team was getting trashed. "What's our best answer against that Yveltal?"

"I think we still have our Garchomp?" Susie suggested. "I know Stone Edge won't work that well on it because of the delta stream, but it might still be able to overpower it with its STAB physical attacks."

"That's as good of an idea as any, I guess," Charlie mumbled. She reached into her pocket, picking up a Fast Ball, and threw it onto the battlefield, revealing the pseudolegendary dragon who had terrorized Gen IV in the Sinnoh era, and the first mon that Mike had used to completely sweep them years ago. Garchomp let out a roar that would have struck fear into the hearts of many a casual and even competitive player, but Mike looked completely unfazed. "Garchomp, use Dual Chop!" she commanded.

The land shark dragon prepared to strike at the legendary bird, but Mike suddenly frowned. "Hold on, I think I'm going to withdraw my Yveltal here," he declared as he held out the Dusk Ball he had used to release Yveltal. The dark phoenix transformed into light and returned to the Pokeball, which Mike placed back onto his belt. He promptly replaced it with a Luxury Ball, which he hurled out onto the field. "The good news for you is that the mon I'm going to be replacing Yveltal with doesn't benefit from Delta Stream in any way." The mouth on his shadowy face opened to reveal a malicious grin filled with razor-sharp fangs. "The bad news for you is that this next mon doesn't need Delta Stream to kick your ass."

The Luxury Ball opened, and a humongous wolf-like creature pounced onto the battlefield. The lupine legendary was covered in a coat of azure fur with coral pink braids extending from its ears and a similarly colored tail in the shape of a triangle. The noble creature wore golden armor plates upon its legs and additional armor pieces that spread from its back like a pair of golden angelic wings. A crown-like helmet that covered its face, which did little to hide the battle scars it had endured on its face from countless hard-fought battles and victories. And it its jaws, the legendary carried a golden sword adorned with azure and coral pink gems that matched perfectly with the color scheme of the sword's wielder.

The ghost kids felt their heart sink as they realized exactly what Mike had summoned to fight their Garchomp with, and even Nightmarionne couldn't help but stare in disbelief.

"Oh my God…" Fritz mumbled, so numb with disbelief his voice was barely coherent. "First Mega Rayquaza, then Yveltal under Delta Stream, now you're telling me we have to fight fucking ZACIAN-CROWNED too?"

"WOW," Nightmarionne whistled as Zacian-Crowned's aura flared, granting it an immediate boost to its already massive attack just from arriving on the battlefield. "I KNOW SCHMIDT SAID HIS TEAM WAS GOING TO BE BLATANTLY OVERPOWERED, BUT THIS SEEMS A BIT BRUTAL EVEN BY MY STANDARDS."

"Aww…we could've gotten some serious damage in if Dad had switched Zacian into an Earthquake," Jeremy groaned in disappointment. As it was, Charlie had no choice but to continue the Garchomp's Dual Chop, which bounced harmlessly off of Zacian thanks to its Dragon immunity.

A horrible thought suddenly occurred to Gabe. "Uh…wasn't our Garchomp Choice Banded?" he asked, dreading the answer.

Cassidy confirmed his worst fears. "Yeah, it was," she mumbled. "Shit. We're locked into a move that's completely useless."

Charlie groaned. "We don't have a choice, we have to switch out," she muttered. "I think we're going to have to sack a mon to get Garchomp back in, because if this Zacian is anything like the one we just fought, Dad's just gonna keep setting up Swords Dances until he's +6 and then he's gonna sweep the rest of our team."

"…I think we have to sack Alakazam," Liz reluctantly suggested. "We already know that Dad has Yveltal, and Alakazam isn't gonna do anything against Yveltal except die a horrible death. And it's not like Alakazam can do much vs. Zacian-Crowned either."

Charlie sighed. "I just hope sacking Alakazam doesn't come back to bite us in the ass," she muttered as she withdrew Garchomp and sent out Alakazam in his place. It seemed that even Alakazam realized that he was being used as a sacrifice play, as he gave the ghost kids an annoyed glance and slowly lifted his spoons up, clearly resigned to the unholy beatdown he was about to be subject to.

"Zacian, use Swords Dance!" Mike commanded. The lupine warrior legendary howled in response, ephemeral swords materializing around its body and swinging wildly around it as its aura flared intensely, increasing its attack boosts all the way to +3. "Now then, destroy that Alakazam with Behemoth Blade!" he shouted.

Zacian-Crowned howled in response as the blade in its mouth suddenly began to absorb light and grow, transforming into a titanic sword made of bright blue energy. Zacian leapt towards Alakazam and slashed at him with a blade imbued with the power to destroy giants and slice the ocean in two. The Alakazam gritted his teeth and stumbled forward, collapsing onto one knee as Zacian's attack deleted his health bar…all except for 1 HP, as a red Focus Sash fell off from the Psychic Pokémon's waist, falling to the ground as little more than tattered rags.

"A Focus Sash, huh?" One of Mike's red eyes lifted upward in a gesture analogous to raising an eyebrow. "Interesting."

"That's right, Dad!" Charlie responded, a sliver of confidence returning to her voice for the first time since the battle had started. "Alakazam, use Thunder Wave!"

The Psychic Pokémon grimaced at the pain from Zacian's brutal Behemoth Blade, but he raised his spoons and fired a stream of yellow electricity towards Zacian. The electricity wouldn't do any damage to Zacian, but that wasn't the point of the attack. The lupine legendary grimaced in discomfort as the electricity racked through its body, paralyzing it and crippling its speed. Up on the screen, a yellow PAR sign appeared next to Zacian's portrait, signaling that it had been successfully paralyzed by Alakazam.

"Heck yeah, Charlie!" Fritz cheered. "Paralyzing that Zacian should make it a lot easier to beat down!"

"We're not gonna kill it unless we get REALLY lucky, but hopefully I can chip it down a bit first," Charlie replied carefully. The problem was that her only move that Zacian didn't resist was also a move with 70% accuracy. "Anybody have any problems with me just trying to hit it with Focus Blast and praying that it doesn't miss? I think it'd do more harm than good to switch out an Alakazam that's already at 1 HP."

"Go for it, Charlie!" Gabe called back. "We trust you!"

Charlie nodded, then towards her Alakazam. "Alakazam, use Focus Blast!"

Alakazam nodded, then lifted his spoons and pointed them at Zacian. A sphere of powerful orange energy appeared between its spoons, growing larger and larger with each second that passed, and Alakazam fired it towards Zacian. The sphere of Fighting-type energy flew towards Zacian…and missed, flying off-course to its right and harmlessly hitting the wall.

"Are you shitting me?" Cassidy exclaimed in disbelief. "It missed?"

Charlie sighed. "Of course it did," she groaned, resigning herself to Zacian finishing off Alakazam with another brutal attack…but that didn't happen either. Instead, electric waves flowed around Zacian's body and it grimaced in pain, immobilized and unable to take any action. The Thunder Wave had fully paralyzed Zacian this turn, rendering it unable to strike at Alakazam and effectively wasting a turn from both sides.

"Huh," Mike commented bemusedly. "That's kinda awkward."

"AH, THE GOLDEN RULES OF POKEMON BATTLING," Nightmarionne "helpfully" supplied, his eyes glowing with amusement. "IF THE ACCURACY ISN'T 100%, IT'S 50%. AND WHEN IT'S YOUR POKEMON THAT'S PARALYZED, THE CHANCE OF FULL PARALYSIS IS 95% INSTEAD OF 25%."

"I hate Focus Miss so much," Jeremy grumbled. "It's such a shitty move, but so many times the only other option is Hidden Power Fighting cause for some reason Gamefreak just doesn't want to give Pokémon Aura Sphere!"

Charlie sighed. "Focus Blast again, Alakazam, and please don't miss this time."

Alakazam nodded and fired a second Focus Blast at Zacian. This time, the attack struck the lupine legendary straight in the face, knocking off about a third of its health. Unfortunately, Zacian's paralysis didn't immobilize it this time around, and it wasted no time in lunging at Alakazam and chomping down on its body with a vicious Crunch. With it already almost weakened to the point of defeat from Zacian's last attack, the legendary's attack was downright overkill, and Alakazam toppled to the ground, completely out of the fight.

"Good job, Alakazam," Charlie praised as she recalled the Pokémon that had fought so valiantly against Mega Rayquaza and Zacian. For the first time, she smirked as she threw out Garchomp's Pokeball. "Let's finish this, Garchomp!"

The draconic land shark landed back on the battlefield, glaring at Zacian as he bared his fangs viciously. Though he might have been forced into an unwinnable situation last time, the circumstances had completely changed. He now had free reign to use any move as needed…and Zacian had been both damaged and more importantly crippled by paralysis. Garchomp could sense the kill even before Charlie gave the order, which was more of a formality than anything else.

"Garchomp, use Earthquake!" Charlie shouted triumphantly.

The pseudolegendary of Generation IV roared his fury to the black sky and slammed his feet and his tail onto the ground. The entire arena was hit with a devastating earthquake that tore through the entire battlefield, creating a deadly fissure aimed straight at Zacian. Having already been crippled and weakened from fighting Alakazam, there was nothing it could do as Garchomp's Earthquake tore apart the ground underneath its body and wiped out the rest of its health. Zacian let out a final, plaintive howl as it collapsed onto the ground, defeated.

"Impressive," Mike acknowledged as he recalled Zacian back into its ball. "I could have ruined your plan by switching out Zacian for something else, but since you'd already crippled it I figured I could let you enjoy a minor victory."

"You might be winning, Dad, but we took out two of your strongest mons!" Susie called back. "For a first time, we're not doing too bad!"

Mike smirked, and the good feelings immediately faded away from the ghost kids. "Oh, have you now?" he asked mockingly. "You think you've beaten the two hardest mons in my team? The battle is far from done, and you've already lost 3 Pokémon while I've only lost 2. And this next mon I'm about to send out…let's just say that a true deity has no weaknesses."

Mike picked up another Master Ball from his belt and tossed it onto the field. The Pokeball opened up, and the field was graced with the presence of divinity. A white equine legendary with a cross-like wheel attached around its abdomen, radiating with holy power and an aura of majesty that even the other legendaries hadn't emitted. Instead of the golden colors typically associated with the creator legendary, however, the angelic being's hooves and wheel were colored the blue of a clear sky. Arceus had taken to the field, adopting its Flying type aspect.

Nightmarionne's jaw dropped at the sight. "OH, THAT IS FUCKING EVIL…" he gasped.

"Why?" Fritz asked, tilting his head in confusion.

"Because Dad's Delta Stream is still up!" Gabe frantically explained, having realized the horrifying implications earlier than his brother. "Which means that we're basically fighting an Arceus form with LITERALLY NO WEAKNESSES!"

The kids gaped in horrified disbelief as Mike started laughing menacingly. "HA HA HA HA HA! That's right, Gabe! You'll have to find a way to take down this Arceus without any super effective attacks. And right now, that's the least of your problems, isn't it?"

Liz groaned. "We're Choice locked into Earthquake. Against a Flying type," she resignedly summarized. "This is the same problem we had before, we literally can't do anything to that Arceus!"

Charlie sighed. "I don't think we have a single good mon to use against Arceus, especially when it has no weaknesses. We might as well just switch out to something that isn't weak to Flying, at the very least." She held out Garchomp's Fast Ball, removing the dragon from the field. The former Marionette replaced the Fast Ball with an Ultra Ball. She tossed the Ultra Ball out onto the field, which promptly opened up to reveal a Typhlosion. The Fire starter of Johto let out a roar like the eruption of a volcano as flames blazed around his neck, and he glared at the creator deity of Pokémon with his mouth open in an eternal snarl.

"A Typhlosion, huh? Well, it certainly got buffed in Radical Red to make it more viable," Mike acknowledged. "But let's see if you recognize its potential and how to use its newfound power. Arceus, use Swords Dance!" The kids all groaned as the Arceus-Flying started to glow with the same frenetic energy Zacian-Crowned had, with spectral swords materializing and swinging frenziedly around its body as it massively boosted its attack just as the warrior of Galar had a few turns ago.

"Why do I feel like we're about to get completely destroyed?" Cassidy mumbled.

Liz sighed. "Because we probably are. I have a really bad feeling about this Arceus."

"Well, we can at least get one attack in. Typhlosion, use Fire Blast!" Charlie ordered.

Typhlosion opened his mouth, and thanks to the new Blazing Soul ability bestowed upon him by Radical Red, actually outsped Arceus-Flying despite the deity's naturally higher speed. Typhlosion unleashed a mighty burst of flames before the creator deity could react, and even more miraculously, the Fire Blast actually managed to hit Arceus square in the chest, the alpha legendary screeching in pain as it was consumed by flames, the attack surprisingly powerful enough to knock a little less than half of its health away.

Mike clapped his hands approvingly. "Not bad, not bad. You actually managed to damage my Arceus a decent amount. But unfortunately for you, this Arceus is even more dangerous than you know." The shadowy incarnation of their father lifted his right hand up into the air, which suddenly burst into golden flames. Golden energy started to flow out of his hand and into Arceus' body, and the ghost kids' jaws dropped in stunned disbelief for the umpteenth time in a row as a golden Z symbol materialized out of Arceus' body as it began to glow with golden flames. "Arceus, crush them with SUPERSONIC SKYSTRIKE!" Mike bellowed.

The divine creator of the Pokémon universe let out a great cry as it acknowledged Mike's command, before its entire body began to glow with crystal blue energy and it flew high into the air, just as Mega Rayquaza had done. Arceus roared its might one last time, before plunging back down towards the ground and crashing straight into Typhlosion with so much force that the impact unleashed a pillar of dirt into the air shattered the ground of the entire arena in concentric rings, demolishing the earth with a force that put Garchomp's previous Earthquake to shame. The devastating impact of the Z-move obliterated Typhlosion just as quickly as it destroyed the ground, completely deleting its health bar without any chance to even unleash a single move.

"…you have no chill, Dad," Charlie grumbled as she withdrew her team's defeated Typhlosion. "No chill at all."

Nightmarionne merely laughed at her irritation. "WELCOME TO HARDCORE MODE, LITTLE PUPPET GIRL," the demonic puppet demon retorted. "YOUR FATHER PROMISED YOU AN OBSCENELY DIFFICULT CHALLENGE, AND SO FAR HE IS DELIVERING ON HIS PROMISE IN FULL. ARE YOU SO SURPRISED THAT YOU ARE BEING SO THOROUGHLY DESTROYED, WHEN YOU HAD NO INFORMATION ON WHAT YOUR FATHER WOULD BRING TO THE BATTLE? I DO HOPE FOR YOUR SAKES THAT YOU ARE LEARNING AS MUCH AS YOU CAN, BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOUR EFFORTS TO DEFEAT YOUR FATHER'S TEAM ARE DOOMED TO FAILURE."

"We know!" Cassidy snapped back. "That still doesn't mean we like to get our ass kicked this badly."

"Honestly, I don't think we're doing as bad as you guys think we are for our first try," Gabe pointed out, trying to be positive. "I mean, we managed to take down both Dad's Mega Rayquaza and Zacian-Crowned, and we had no clue what we were doing or what we were up against."

"Gabe's right," Susie agreed. "I'm honestly just glad we didn't get 6-0'd with a team as overpowered as what Dad's using."

"Charlie, what do we have left to fight Dad's team with?" Jeremy asked his sister.

"We only have Garchomp and Mega Mawile left," Charlie reported glumly. "At this rate, I think we'll be lucky to take out even one more of Dad's Pokémon before we get wiped."

"…maybe Mega Mawile can do it?" Fritz suggested hesitantly. "I mean…I don't think Garchomp is gonna cut it against Dad's Arceus right now."

"…Mega Mawile probably won't do much either, but at this point, she's the only mon left that we haven't tried." Charlie muttered back. "You guys okay if I send her out now?"

The ghost kids all nodded back at her, and Charlie picked up the final ball in her belt, a Heavy Ball. She tossed the Heavy Ball onto the field, which opened up to unleash the Steel/Fairy Pokémon, a Pokémon iconic for her cute frontal appearance that was contrasted sharply by the large metal jaw on the back of her head filled with razor sharp fangs.

Fortunately for the ghost kids, this particular Mawile had come with the Intimidate ability, and her menacing aura weakened some of the power granted to Arceus-Flying by its earlier Swords Dance. Charlie channeled her power into Mawile, and she began to glow with the same empowering energies that Mike had imbued into Rayquaza back in the beginning of the battle. Mawile let out a triumphant cry as a sphere of energy exploded from her body, transforming her into a Mega Mawile. She now had a second metal jaw protruding from the back of her head to join the first, both of which had grown much larger in size, and her "skirt" had changed from yellow to magenta. Most importantly, however, the Mega Evolution had granted her the Huge Power ability, turning her into a truly formidable threat.

"Ah, so Mega Mawile is the Pokémon you've chosen for your Mega, hmm? A respectable choice," Mike acknowledged, before smirking. "Unfortunately for you, Arceus is perfectly capable of dealing with Steel types. Arceus, use Earthquake!" he shouted.

"Oh, fuck…" Fritz spluttered as Arceus lifted its hooves and slammed them onto the ground, creating a similar ground-shattering earthquake just as Garchomp had done to Zacian-Crowned earlier. Mega Mawile yelped as a fissure collided with her feet and sent her flying upward into the air, before she tumbled to the ground with a crash. The creator deity's Earthquake had wiped out almost all of her health. Almost, but not all of it. Mega Mawile had survived with a sliver of health in the red; she was panting heavily and grimacing in obvious pain, but the fires of determination still burned in her eyes as she glared defiantly up at Arceus.

"Oh, shit," Mike mumbled, having been caught off-guard for arguably the first time in the entire battle. "I honestly thought that was gonna kill her outright."

The ghost kids grinned, relishing in the feeling of achieving some kind of victory over their father, no matter how miniscule it might be. "Mega Mawile, use Play Rough!" Charlie immediately commanded. Without any hesitation, Mega Mawile leapt at Arceus-Flying and proceeded to, for lack of a better term, beat the ever-loving shit out of Arceus. The idea of a relatively tiny Pokémon pummeling the creator deity of Pokémon was certainly amusing to behold, but with the Huge Power ability the pint-sized Pokémon proved to be deceptively and tremendously deadly. Thanks to the damage that her teammate Typhlosion had already inflicted upon Arceus, the relentless onslaught was too much for the Alpha Pokémon to handle, and it collapsed onto its knees before toppling onto the ground, its energy spent.

"We did it!" the ghost kids all cheered as Mega Mawile landed on the ground in front of Charlie, still looking badly wounded and exhausted but nevertheless relishing in the victory that she had achieved. "We beat Arceus!"

"Not bad, not bad," Mike applauded as he recalled Arceus into its Master Ball. "Honestly, beating 3 out of 6 Pokémon with no prior knowledge of my team when that team is as overpowered as mine is? A very respectable first attempt, all things considered." A sinister grin spread across the shadows that constituted his face. "But now I think it's time to bring things to an end. I'm going to summon my most powerful Pokémon now, and you'll soon learn just how badly the odds were stacked against you from the start." He reached into his belt and took out his final Master Ball, before hurling it onto the battlefield. "Let's finish this!"

The Master Ball opened up, and out came a gigantic, violet and red eldritch dragon with a skeletal appearance and a pink energy source buried within its ribs. Unlike Mike's Arceus, which had emitted a divine aura associated with light, the draconic abomination that Mike had summoned seemed to emanate an aura of shadows and darkness that felt similar to yet distinct from Yveltal. The alien dragon and greatest enemy of the Galar region let out an eldritch roar as it arrived on the field, towering over Mega Mawile as it sensed weakened prey ready for it to be destroyed.

"…that's it?" Charlie thought blankly. "That's Dad's strongest Pokémon? We fought Eternatus in the Champion battle for Radical Red, it wasn't that hard." Then, a terrible thought suddenly occurred. "Wait...no…Dad couldn't be…"

Orbs of darkness suddenly began to coalesce into Eternatus' body, a dark mirror of the transformation that Rayquaza had undergone before its Mega evolution.

"No no no…"

A sphere of black energy expanded from Eternatus' body, covering it in the essence of darkness itself.

"No no no no no…"

The sphere exploded, revealing that Eternatus had undergone its ultimate transformation. Gone was the skeletal alien that still had the distinct shape of a dragon. Eternatus's body had completely changed, its upper body transformed into a series of coils wrapped around themselves in concentric circles, its body now glowing a menacing red color with black stripes and spikes intermittently jutting out of its body. The pink energy core that had previously been on Eternatus' chest was now located deep within its coils, surrounded by a protective cage of violent spikes. And most terrifyingly of all, Eternatus' head had transformed into a giant red hand with its fingertips covered in black armor, each finger ending with a glowing pink eye at its tip. This was the abomination that had caused the Darkest Day in Galar, its true form unleashed once more.

"FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!"

The ghost kids stared at Mike's latest Pokémon in abject horror. "Oh my God, Dad!" Liz exclaimed in sheer disbelief. "Are you fucking kidding me? It's not enough that we had to fight Mega Rayquaza, Zacian-Crowned, or an Arceus form without any weaknesses? You're making us battle FUCKING ETERNAMAX ETERNATUS TOO?" she nearly screamed the last four words.

"OKAY, I KNOW AS A DEMON LORD OF HELL I AM LITERALLY THE LAST PERSON HERE WHO SHOULD BE TALKING ABOUT MORALITY. BUT DAMN, THIS JUST SEEMS DOWNRIGHT UNETHICAL," Nightmarionne commented, and this time even he couldn't hide his shock at the sheer amount of firepower Mike had brought to the table.

Mike snickered at their disbelieving reactions. "Not to worry, this isn't the unstoppable juggernaut from Pokémon Sword and Shield," he reassured him. "The Eternamax Eternatus in Radical Red has been heavily nerfed from its original incarnation. It's not NEARLY as tanky in either HP or its defenses, and it's most definitely killable with a single mon. I've done it myself."

The ghost kids breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, thank God," Gabe mumbled. "I don't see how we were gonna kill a mon with a 1125 base stat total without serious cheese and luck."

Mike suddenly smirked. "Of course, to make up for those massive nerfs, Eternamax Eternatus now has a base Sp. Attack stat of 185 and a base Speed stat of 140. So while it may be much easier to kill, it will have a much easier time killing you as well."

The feelings of relief evenly vanished. "We are so fucked…" Fritz groaned.

Susie sighed. "We really are, aren't we?" she mumbled. "Mega Mawile's almost dead, and Garchomp is just too slow."

"Yeah, this battle's over," Jeremy agreed. "Let's just get this over with."

"As you wish," Mike decided not to draw out his opponents' misery any longer. "Eternatus, use Flamethrower!" The great enemy of the Galar region let out a roar that heralded the end of entire civilizations, and unleashed a stream of flames from the center of its hand. The flames completely consumed Mega Mawile, and with her being as gravely wounded as she was she had no chance of enduring the hit. Mega Mawile collapsed onto the ground, defeated, having finished off a godly Pokémon only to meet her fate against an even stronger one.

Cassidy shook her head glumly. "Well, we only have Garchomp left, and there's no way it's gonna beat a full health Eternamax Eternatus."

Charlie nodded, having already accepted the inevitability of their defeat. She took out Garchomp's Fast Ball and tossed it out to the battlefield, sending out their final Pokémon. Although he might have been powerful enough to single-handedly destroy Zacian-Crowned with its powerful Choice Banded Earthquake, Garchomp simply didn't have the speed to get the job done, and he was unceremoniously wiped off the battlefield with a single Dynamax Cannon. A pulse of alien and chaotic draconic energies blasted out of Eternamax' Eternatus hand and slammed straight into Garchomp, deleting all of his health in a single blow. Garchomp fell to his knees and fell to the floor, collapsing onto the ground like the rest of his teammates before him. Eternamax Eternatus let out a bellow of triumph at securing final victory for its master, before Mike recalled it back to its Master Ball.

"Okay, I know I was being a dick throughout this entire battle," Mike commented, the mockery and menace gone with his voice and being replaced with complete sincerity, "but you honestly did not do terribly for your first attempt. You had no knowledge of the mons I was bringing to the table, I was using a team of ridiculously overpowered legendaries, you had a lot of restrictions placed on your team in terms of moves and abilities, and yet you STILL managed to take out 3 of my mons before I wiped your team out. In fact, I'm seriously impressed you managed to make it that far with how badly the odds were stacked against you."

"I WAS HONESTLY EXPECTING YOU TO GET SWEPT 6-0," Nightmarionne added. "I WAS PLEASANTLY SURPRISED TO SEE YOU ACTUALLY PUT UP A DECENT FIGHT…EVEN IF YOU STILL GOT COMPLETELY SHIT ON."

The ghosts rolled their eyes at the demon's snide comment. But despite the thorough defeat that Mike had handed them, the ghost kids still smiled at their father's praise. They had put up a surprisingly good fight, and Mike's encouragement gave them hope that they could overcome the odds and win against his team of overpowered legendaries.

"What was your last Pokémon?" Charlie wondered. "There's no way it can be anything more ridiculous than Eternamax Eternatus."

Mike shrugged. "It was Ho-oh," he replied nonchalantly, "which would only be weak to water and have a normal weakness to Rock thanks to Delta Stream."

"Aww, man!" Susie groaned. "Greninja might've been a better choice to send against that guy instead."

"Well, we didn't know that beforehand, but we do now," Charlie reassured her.

"Well, you now know what I'm bringing to the table," Mike replied. "Since I needed to look up the information on the Hardcore Champion's team to beat it when I fought that battle in Radical Red, I'll do you the courtesy of sharing that information."

He snapped his fingers, and a screen made of light appeared in front of the ghost kids. Listed on it were the 6 Pokémon Mike was using for his team, their movesets, natures, abilities, and items. Mike grinned again, but this time his grin was filled with anticipation instead of the menacing persona he had adopted during their battle. "You now have the information you need, and you have all the reasons that you would have access to in the actual game. I look forward to see how well you do the second time around."

/

A/N: Holy shit, this chapter ended up being over 20 pages and over 10000 words long, for a FILLER chapter.

I've spent the last several months playing Pokémon Radical Red, and the first paragraphs of the chapter ended up being more or less a review of the ROMhack. I think I can safely say I can never go back to playing a mainstream Pokémon game again, the quality-of-life improvements alone are just so damn good. The game itself is free, which makes it even better.

Now, as for the actual Pokémon battle…THIS was why I was asking you to choose among Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, and Mega Rayquaza. The ultimate form of the Hoenn legendaries that you chose would determine the entire nature of the battle and Mike's team. For example, if you had picked Primal Groudon, the battle would have been one in which Desolate Land was permanently active, and Mike would have used a different team of legendaries or Megas that would have benefited from having Perma-Sun active. Since you guys picked Mega Rayquaza, Mike's team was instead a Perma-Delta Stream team with several Flying type legendaries with most if not all of their weaknesses removed. Eternamax Eternatus would have always been in the team though, that was always destined to be there.

Also, surprise appearance from Dark!Mike because why the hell not.

Here is the information for Mike's team. It's every bit as disgustingly overpowered as it looks.

All Pokémon in this battle had no EVs and maximum 31 IVs in every stat.

Mega Rayquaza ( pokemon/rayquazamega)

Nature: Jolly

Item: Choice Band

Ability: Delta Stream

Moveset: Dragon Ascent, V-Create, Earthquake, Draco Barrage (100 BP, 100 Accuracy move. Deals either Physical or Special damage based on Pokémon's highest offensive stat. Does 1/3 recoil damage, but ignores Fairy-type immunity.

Note: Sets up permanent Delta Stream for the entire battle, even if switched out or KO'd

Yveltal ( pokemon/yveltal)

Nature: Modest

Item: Assault Vest

Ability: Dark Aura

Moveset: Dark Hole, Oblivion Wing, Heat Wave, Sucker Punch

Note: Only weak to Fairy thanks to Delta Stream

Zacian-Crowned ( pokemon/zaciancrowned)

Nature: Jolly

Item: Rusted Sword

Ability: Intrepid Sword

Moveset: Behemoth Blade, Swords Dance, Crunch, Close Combat

Arceus-Flying ( pokemon/arceusflying)

Nature: Jolly

Item: Flynium Z

Ability: Multitype

Moveset: Brave Bird, Swords Dance, Recover, Earthquake

Note: All weaknesses removed thanks to Delta Stream

Eternamax Eternatus ( pokemon/Eternatus-Eternamax)

Nature: Timid

Item: Eternamax Orb (enables transformation of Eternatus into its Eternamax form)

Ability: Levitate

Moveset: Sludge Wave, Dynamax Cannon, Flamethrower, Recover

Ho-oh ( pokemon/hooh)

Nature: Jolly

Item: Firium Z

Ability: Regenerator ?

Moveset: Sacred Fire, Brave Bird, Roost, Earthquake

Note: Only weak to Water and a normal weakness to Rock thanks to Delta Stream

This chapter featured Mike curb-stomping the ghost kids with his ridiculously overpowered team. Next chapter, the ghost kids come up with a strategy and the mons needed to beat the ridiculously overpowered team in question.

Hope you guys enjoyed!