A/N: Last chapter, Mike brought up a ridiculously overpowered team of Legendary Pokémon to crush the ghost kids' own team. Now, it's time for the ghost kids to turn the tables on Mike and defeat his ridiculously overpowered team of Legendary Pokémon despite the overwhelming odds.
For the purposes of this chapter not going past 20 pages on Word again, only the ghost kids' winning run will be written out in full for this chapter. Their losses prior to their ultimate victory will be mentioned, however, as well as what the ghost kids learned from those losses.
I'm well aware that this chapter might be confusing for those of you who don't play Pokémon or aren't fans of it, hence why this little mini-arc will only be 2 chapters long. And it's also why I'm trying to write the battles out as epic as possible so that you don't have to be knowledgeable in Pokémon to enjoy these iconic monsters battling against each other.
Chapter 179 – Hardcore Pokémon Battling Part 2
It went without saying that the ghost kids immediately had to go back to the drawing board following their defeat at Mike's hands. They had done better than expected considering how blatantly overpowered Mike's team was and the complete lack of knowledge they had, but the results of the battle couldn't objectively be interpreted as anything other than a decisive defeat.
"We need to find one specific mon to counter each mon on the enemy team," Charlie was quick to realize. "That's the only way we're gonna actually be able to win this."
"Yeah," Gabe immediately agreed. "There were times when some of our mons could sweep the bosses back in normal mode. There is no way we're gonna be able to do something like that here."
"If there is a mon that could somehow sweep Dad's insane team, it's probably banned already," Liz commented dryly.
Of course, finding that mon to counter Mega Rayquaza was easier said than done. Their first few attempts had focused on trying to Paralyze it and try to gain an advantage that way, but with the power of a Choice Band Mega Rayquaza still slaughtered many of them in just one hit, and that early lead was often enough to spiral to a defeat just by itself.
The trial-and-error process was extensive and frustrating, as Mega Rayquaza was only the first of a list of brokenly overpowered legendaries that they needed to battle and defeat. But the ghost kids had defeated three of Mike's team even when they lacked any sort of knowledge or planning, and they knew that if they could coordinate and strategize properly, they could find victory even against these overwhelming obstacles.
"By the way, Dad?" Susie piped up after one of their failed attempts to beat Mike. "How did you get Nightmarionne to agree to all this? Do you actually have all the Nightmares' phone numbers on your phone? Or did you have to call Nightmare and ask for his permission first?"
"I actually had to call Nightmare and ask him to talk to Nightmarionne to set this whole thing up," Mike admitted. He was still wearing his "dark" aspect and using the inhuman voice to match, but the effect was a lot less intimidating whenever he wasn't "in-character" while he was battling them.
"And Nightmare actually let that happen?" Jeremy asked incredulously. "He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to just let you for…let's face it, silly and nonserious reasons."
"Well, it's a good thing that Nightmare respects me more than he does most humans, doesn't he?" Mike asked with a smirk. "It actually didn't take me very long to convince him at all, to be honest."
The Night Before…
"SO LET ME GET THIS STRAIGHT, SCHMIDT," Nightmare growled. "YOU'RE ASKING ME TO RELAY A REQUEST TO NIGHTMARIONNE FOR HIM TO DO BATTLE CALCULATIONS FOR POKÉMON BATTLES BROUGHT TO LIFE BY YOUR IMAGINATION THAT WILL BE TAKING PLACE IN YOUR MENTAL WORLD. IN OTHER WORDS, YOU'RE ASKING HIM TO DO WHAT IS BASICALLY YOUR GLORIFIED MATH HOMEWORK JUST SO YOU CAN ENTERTAIN YOURSELF AND YOUR KIDS."
"Yeah, that pretty much sums it up," Mike freely agreed.
"SCHMIDT, I RESPECT YOU MORE THAN MOST HUMANS, BUT NOT ENOUGH THAT I'M GOING TO JUST SIMPLY ALLOW YOU TO USE ONE OF MY FELLOW NIGHTMARES FOR FRIVOLOUS PURPOSES," Nightmare replied in a dark and menacing tone. "WHY SHOULD I AGREE TO THIS? AND EVEN IF I GRANTED THIS PERMISSION, WHAT MAKES YOU THINK NIGHTMARIONNE, A GREATER DEMON LORD BELOW ONLY MYSELF IN OUR HIERARCHY, WOULD AGREE TO YOUR REQUEST?"
Mike raised an eyebrow. "Because I've already played games with Nightmarionne in my mental world before," he pointed out, "which implies that either you don't really mind Nightmarionne entering my dreams just to hang out and have fun as much as you're letting on, or Nightmarionne does whatever the fuck he wants to by himself whether you give him permission or not," he reasoned. Then, his lips twitched into a smug smirk. "And besides, out of all the people I've met throughout my life, whether they be human or demon, I have never met a person who has given less of a shit about things like dignity or what other people think of them as much as Nightmarionne. If he wants to have fun and play games, he'll do whatever he wants and fuck what other people think. And given that he's a quote-on-quote superior demonic being, I don't have any doubt that Nightmarionne can carry out the complex mathematical calculations behind Pokémon without any trouble whatsoever."
Nightmare stayed silent for several seconds, as if he had been stunned by Mike's brief speech. "I HATE THE FACT THAT YOU'RE RIGHT…" he finally admitted. "YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I HATE THE FACT THAT YOU'RE SO RIGHT. ALL RIGHT, FUCK IT, WHATEVER!" he declared, and Mike got the distinct impression that the demon lord was throwing his hands up in the air in exasperation, "I'LL GO TALK TO NIGHTMARIONNE. IF HE WANTS TO SPEND A NIGHT DOING COMPLICATED MATH ON BEHALF OF MERE MORTALS FOR NO GOOD REASON, HE CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK HE WANTS!"
Back to the Present…
"I'LL ADMIT THAT DOING COMPLICATED MATH CALCULATIONS IS MOST DEFINITELY NOT MY IDEA OF A GOOD TIME, BUT I WAS INTRIGUED BY THE IDEA OF REAL-LIFE POKÉMON BATTLES AND WANTED TO SEE WHAT SCHMIDT HAD IN MIND," Nightmarionne commented, his eyes glowing with amusement. "AND I'M PLEASED TO SEE THAT HE DID NOT DISAPPOINT. AND I'M ALSO QUITE PLEASED TO SEE THAT YOU ARE MAKING EVERY EFFORT TO GIVE SCHMIDT A SERIOUS CHALLENGE. AS ENTERTAINING AS YOUR FIRST BATTLE WAS, SEEING SCHMIDT STOMP YOUR TEAM INTO THE GROUND OVER AND OVER AGAIN WOULD HAVE GOTTEN VERY BORING VERY QUICKLY."
"We're doing the best we can!" Fritz protested. "We'll get there eventually!"
"We're making some progress with our team, though," Charlie reported. "I think with the team that we've come up with, we'll be able to beat Dad's legendaries. Heck, I think our first mon can actually beat Mega Rayquaza in a straight fight!" she declared confidently.
"Oh, really?" Mike raised an eyebrow, clearly intrigued by Charlie's statement. "If that's true, then that's something I've absolutely got to see."
"We're gonna beat you, Dad!" Susie fervently agreed with her sister. "Just you see!"
"Then I wish you the best of luck," Mike replied genuinely, before he reverted back to the persona he had adopted during their previous battles. "Then come and face me, if you dare. You've already tried several times, and every time up until now has failed. Let's see if this time is any different."
[[Start BGM: Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen – Champion Battle! – Rival]]
"YOU HAVE BEEN CHALLENGED BY CHAMPION SCHMIDT!" Nightmarionne declared once more as Mike and the ghosts took their positions. Mike grabbed his first Pokeball, the Master Ball that contained Rayquaza, and threw it onto the field. "CHAMPION SCHMIDT SENDS OUT RAYQUAZA!"
"How many times have seen THAT before," Cassidy commented sarcastically as Rayquaza transformed into Mega Rayquaza, the ghost kids having seen that particular transformation so many times that they only regarded it now with mild bemusement.
"Only this time, we have a mon that can beat it," Charlie declared confidently. She picked up a Dusk Ball and tossed it onto the field. "Go, Weavile!"
The Dusk Ball opened the moment it fell to the field, revealing a diminutive dark grey creature that looked like a cross between a cat and a weasel with a bright red crown and a collar made of feathers. Weavile hissed as she glared up at Mega Rayquaza, looking downright tiny compared to the massive serpentine green dragon, and she made threatening slicing motions with her claws.
On first glance, it seemed utterly inconceivable that the weasel-like creature inspired by the Kamaitachi could possibly take down Mega Rayquaza. But as the Schmidt family had learned thousands of times by now, through experiences based on both the present and the past, looks could be deceiving.
"Weavile!" Charlie commanded. "Use Triple Axel!"
Weavile yowled and leapt forward towards Mega Rayquaza. Despite being known for her razor-sharp claws, it was the kamaitachi Pokémon's feet that started glowing with icy blue energy as she leapt at Mega Rayquaza and vicious kicked it. The first kick was weak and Mega Rayquaza barely seemed to flinch as it struck its abdomen.
"…that's it?" Mike asked skeptically, but Weavile wasn't done. The icy blue energy in her feet intensified as she swung her foot into Mega Rayquaza a second time. This time, the impact was much more significant, and Mega Rayquaza growled in noticeable pain and fury. Mike's eyes widened as its health bar lowered further, but he could do nothing as Weavile intensified the energy in her foot one final time. With a howl of triumph, Weavile savagely kicked Mega Rayquaza one final time with all the energy she could muster. This last, brutal kick was aimed straight into Mega Rayquaza's face, and this time the dragon roared in agony as it staggered backward from the force of Weavile's last kick. Mega Rayquaza struggled to stay in the air, but the unexpected ferocity and power of Weavile's Triple Axel had taken it by surprise and was too much for it to overcome, despite the presence of its Delta Stream and its inherent might. The dragon fell to the ground, defeated, as on the stadium's TV screen its health went straight to 0. Weavile landed on the ground in front of Mega Rayquaza's unconscious body, looking winded but otherwise having suffered no damage apart from a small portion of her HP.
"YES!" the ghosts all cheered as Mike and Nightmarionne both stared at the former's defeated Mega Rayquaza with sheer disbelief.
"What the fuck," Mike mumbled. "Weavile kills Mega Rayquaza even with Delta Stream up? I didn't expect it to be THAT strong." He glanced up at the TV screen and noticed the small amount of chip damage Weavile had suffered. "Ohhh…it had a Life Orb. That explains at least some of it…"
"I was the one who came up with Weavile!" Gabe proudly exclaimed. "I did the calcs, and if Triple Axel hit all 3 times, she can kill Mega Rayquaza!"
"Now WE'RE the ones with the first-turn advantage!" Susie cheered.
"Not bad, not bad," Mike commented approvingly as he allowed a smirk to appear on his face. "But I don't think your Weavile is gonna accomplish much against this next mon." He picked up a Luxury Ball and tossed it onto the field. When the ball opened, Zacian-Crowned leapt onto the field, its giant sword in his mouth as it glared at Weavile, more than ready to avenge its fallen comrade.
The happiness the ghost kids had felt from Weavile defeating Mega Rayquaza instantly faded away as they pondered Mike's answer to their initial victory. None of them were under any illusion that a confrontation between Weavile and Zacian-Crowned would lead to any result other than Zacian-Crowned violently curb-stomping Weavile into the ground. The only way Weavile could have come out on top was if she had Focus Sash and Counter, but they had given up that possibility as Weavile had needed Life Orb to kill Mega Rayquaza with her Triple Axel.
No, fighting Zacian-Crowned with Weavile was an exercise doomed to catastrophic failure. The real question was what to do in light of this inevitability.
"Do we switch Weavile out?" Jeremy asked. "Try to save her for someone else?"
Gabe gave the list of Mike's Pokémon another look and frowned. "I honestly don't think that's a good idea," he replied after a few seconds of thought. "Looking at Dad's Pokémon, Weavile really doesn't have a good matchup against any of them. Yveltal and Arceus-Flying might have been good if Delta Stream wasn't up, but Delta Stream pretty much kills Weavile's chances of doing anything to them." He sighed. "As much as I hate to admit it, I think we just sack Weavile for a clean switch."
"Yeah, as much as I hate it, I think you're right," Charlie reluctantly agreed, before turning to Weavile. "Weavile, just send an Ice Shard at Zacian-Crowned and do the best you can."
Weavile grimaced, recognizing the writing on the wall, but tossed an Ice Shard at Zacian-Crowned. The chunk of ice bounced off Zacian-Crowned's body, doing such miniscule damage that it barely registered on its health bar.
The Crowned Sword Pokémon looked utterly unimpressed, and Mike's expression mirrored that of his Pokémon. "You know what to do, Zacian. Behemoth Blade!"
Zacian-Crowned roared and absorbed light into its blade, transforming it into a massive sword of brilliant blue energy. Zacian lunged at Weavile and slashed her body with the sword, the impact of her attack so brutal that it sent Weavile flying out of the arena and crashing into the wall. To absolutely nobody's surprise, Weavile was completely incapable of withstanding the attack, fainting even before her body hit the ground.
Charlie winced as she recalled their defeated Weavile. "Sorry about that," she mumbled as she took out a Fast Ball and threw it onto the field, revealing the same Garchomp that she had used against Zacian-Crowned previously. Mike grimaced as the Garchomp narrowed his eyes at Zacian-Crowned and growled in challenge, a challenge that he could very possibly win.
Unfortunately, Mike highly doubted that he would be able to get away with a Swords Dance on Zacian, as Garchomp could very possibly kill Zacian-Crowned with an Earthquake even without Choice Band. "Zacian, I'm not going to bother with Swords Dance here. Just attack Garchomp again with Behemoth Blade!" he ordered.
"Take the hit and fire back with Earthquake!" Charlie shouted.
Zacian howled in acknowledgment of Mike's order and lunged at Garchomp with the same brilliant blue blade of Steel energy that it had attacked Weavile with. Garchomp growled in pain as Zacian slashed at his body with Behemoth Blade. But the land shark dragon was both far tougher naturally than Weavile naturally and lacked his teammate's Steel weakness, allowing the pseudolegendary to survive with a small amount of HP remaining. Zacian winced as its own HP decreased ever so slightly, thanks to the effects of Garchomp's Rough Skin.
It was now Garchomp's turn to fight back, and he would show his opponent absolutely no mercy. The land shark dragon wasted no time in claiming revenge, slamming his feet and tail onto the ground just as he had done before. Just like their first battle, the entire arena was hit with a devastating earthquake that tore through the entire battlefield, creating a deadly fissure aimed straight at Zacian. As Garchomp hadn't been carrying a Choice Band this time around, it might have been possible for Zacian-Crowned to survive the powerful Earthquake if the hero legendary of Galar had started the round completely healthy. But between the damage it had taken from Weavile's Ice Shard and Garchomp's Rough Skin, insignificant as it might have seemed at the time, ensured that Zacian's fate was sealed.
"Hell yeah!" Fritz cheered as the Earthquake deleted the rest of Zacian's health bar. The canine legendary let out last, pitiful wail before slumping and falling on its legs, the sword tumbling out of its mouth and clanging uselessly on the ground. Garchomp fell to one knee as well, gravely wounded by the raw power of Zacian's Behemoth Blade, but he still had enough energy left to fight.
"In hindsight, maybe I should have switched Zacian-Crowned out for something else," Mike admitted as he recalled Zacian. The man pondered his options for a brief moment, but ultimately decided to take out his Dusk Ball. "I think this will do quite nicely. Let's clean this up, Yveltal!"
The black and red Legendary phoenix of destruction soared out of the Dusk Ball, smothering the field with its Dark Aura as it trained its unholy gaze upon the badly wounded and weakened Garchomp. Yveltal could sense its prey, and was more than ready to go in for the kill.
All hope was not yet lost, though, as Garchomp was inherently faster than Yveltal. Nobody was under any illusion that a low HP Garchomp could defeat a full HP Yveltal, especially with Delta Stream negating the Rock weakness that would otherwise have been Garchomp's only way to hit Yveltal with a super-effective attack. But the dragon could at the very least go down fighting.
"Garchomp, use Dual Chop!" Charlie called out to him, only for her expression to waver uncertainly as Mike only grinned in response. "Yveltal, Sucker Punch!" he immediately retorted.
Before Garchomp could even get a chance to slice at Yveltal with his blade-like fins, Yveltal rushed towards the dragon and smashed him in the face with a fist made from the finger-like black feathers on its hands. With all the damage that he had already suffered from Zacian-Crowned's Behemoth Blade, Garchomp had no chance of withstanding this attack on top of everything else. The dragon staggered backward and fell to the ground defeated, unable to get off its last attack and give Yveltal the fight that the ghost kids had desired.
Charlie winced. "Well, shoot…" she mumbled. "I kinda forgot that Yveltal had Sucker Punch."
"That's okay, Charlie, I forgot that too," Cassidy admitted with a sigh. "And it's not like Garchomp was gonna do much anymore after he beat Zacian-Crowned."
"No problem!" Liz cheerfully replied. "That just means we have a clean switch now to our Yveltal counter!"
"You're not wrong there," Charlie agreed as she took out a Heal ball. Unlike the other Pokeballs, this was a completely new type of ball for a new type of Pokémon. "Let's show them what we're made of, Milotic!"
The Heal Ball opened, releasing a beautiful serpentine Pokémon out onto the field. Milotic was a Pokémon that many players recognized as the "Ugly Duckling" of Pokémon, one that started out as the hideous and weak fish Feebas but a wise trainer could evolve into the amazingly beautiful and powerful Milotic.
But this Milotic was not the sea creature that most Pokémon players would be familiar with. She was still beautiful, but she was now a sand worm that dug and swum through the Earth rather than through water. Milotic leapt into the air and burrowed into the ground, before popping her head back up to stare at the Legendary Pokémon of Destruction, cautiously waiting for it to attack. The Milotic that Charlie had summoned following her discussions with her brothers and sisters was a Seviian-Milotic, an alternate form of Milotic introduced within Radical Red specifically.
And most importantly for the combatants, this new form of Milotic was a Ground and Fairy type, making her a perfect answer to Yveltal.
"Dark Hole might not be all that strong against your little sand worm, but that's not everything that Yveltal can do!" Mike shouted. "Yveltal, hit her with Oblivion Wing!"
The dark phoenix flew into the air at its master's command and blasted Milotic-Sevii with a pulse of blood red energy from its wings. Ironically, despite its malevolent appearance, the attack was actually Flying-type in nature, and thus wasn't resisted by her. But the retrained sand worm still shared her original counterpart's natural special bulk, and thus she was able to endure the hit while losing about 30% of her health.
"Fire back with Moonblast, Milotic!" Charlie ordered.
Milotic let out a groan and fired back at Yveltal with a pulse made of moonlight and fairy magic. Yveltal shrieked as it the Moonblast hit it squarely in the chest, making it stumble in the air a bit as it lost around 40% of its health from the super-effective attack. To make matters even better for the ghost kids, the Leftovers on Milotic-Sevii went into effect, restoring a small amount of the HP it had lost from the Oblivion Wing.
"Ha!" Jeremy cheered. "Delta Stream doesn't cover Yveltal's Fairy weakness! Our Milotic outdamages Yveltal's Oblivion Wing with her Moonblast! Combined with our Leftovers recovery, we can take that Yveltal down no problem!"
It wasn't quite as straightforward as Jeremy might have hoped, as while Yveltal's Oblivion Wing was absolutely weaker against Milotic-Sevii than the latter's retaliating Moonblasts, Oblivion Wing did come with the benefit of healing half the damage done to the Milotic, meaning that Yveltal wouldn't go down quite as easy. Unlike the earlie"r stages of the battle which had featured Pokémon brutally slaughtering each other in single turns, what followed was a battle of attrition as Yveltal and Milotic-Sevii exchanged Oblivion Wings and Moonblasts, with both Pokémon having their own forms of sustain.
But despite being slower than Yveltal, Milotic-Sevii absolutely had the advantage, especially when her next Moonblast caused Yveltal's aura to weaken and falter. "YES!" Liz cheered. "Milotic brought down Yveltal's special attack! There's no way we lose now!"
"That is…very unfortunate," Mike grumbled, realizing that his Yveltal's chances of beating Milotic-Sevii had just gone from slim to nonexistent. "I guess do the best you can with your last Oblivion Wing, Yveltal."
The wounded phoenix of destruction fired one last Oblivion Wing at Milotic-Sevii, who despite looking battered barely seemed to notice the damage caused by this last, weakened attack. Not even needing a command from the ghost kids, Milotic-Sevii fired one last Moonblast at Yveltal, causing the dark legendary bird to fall out of the sky and collapse onto the ground in a disorganized heap. Yveltal had fallen, and the ghost kids had once again taken the lead.
"Impressive," Mike admitted. "You've definitely done your research when it comes to what mons beat what." A cold smile emerged from the shadows of his face. "But calculating a victory in theory doesn't translate to that same victory in practice. Let's demonstrate this to them, Arceus!"
He threw out the Master Ball containing Arceus in its Flying aspect, who once again took to the field in all of its divine glory. "I'm not taking any chances, Arceus. Wipe out that Milotic-Sevii with SUPERSONIC SKYSTRIKE!"
Just like it had done last time, Arceus channeled the power of its Flynium Z crystal, and its entire began to glow with crystal blue energy as it flew high into the air. The divine creator of the universe plunged towards the ground and the already weakened Milotic with breakneck speed, colliding into her with force great enough to shatter the earth once again with a force that no mere Earthquake could hope to match. Predictably, what little remained of Milotic-Sevii's health vaporized on the spot, leaving behind an unconscious and defeated sea worm smote by the power of Pokémon's God.
"Was that REALLY necessary?" Susie complained as Charlie retreated their defeated Milotic-Sevii.
Mike smirked. "Maybe not, but it was certainly satisfying," he commented dryly. "Besides, if you had decided to switch out your Seviian Milotic, and I had managed to catch whatever you're about to replace Milotic with on the switch, I could have possibly gotten a free kill right then and there."
To his surprise, Charlie smirked. "Oh, really?" she retorted. "Somehow I very much doubt that."
"We noticed something about your Arceus-Flying and Delta Stream," Gabe pointed out with a confident grin. "Sure, Delta Stream protects your Arceus-Flying from any of its weaknesses, none of us are gonna argue that."
"But Delta Stream doesn't do anything against a Pokémon who can hit it hard with powerful STAB neutral hits," Jeremy added smugly. "And together, we found a Pokémon who can fight your Arceus in a straight battle and come out on top without any super effective hits at all!"
Charlie grabbed a Heavy Ball and tossed it out onto the battlefield. "Come on out, Melmetal!" she declared.
The Heavy Ball opened, and a massive metal behemoth was unleashed, causing a small tremor in the ground as it landed. The Melmetal that the ghost kids had summoned was a being of liquid metal with many large dark-gray nuts embedded or attached to its body. A single black orb serving as its eye lay atop a large golden hexagonal nut encircling its neck, surrounded by a smaller golden nut functioning as its head. Two of the largest nuts were attached to the end of its hands, giving the impression of fists. Melmetal was a creature that radiated power, power that would only be further enhanced by the Choice Band that the ghost kids had taken off of Garchomp and given to Melmetal instead.
"Your Arceus is a physical mon!" Fritz snickered. "And our Melmetal is a physical BEAST. You're not gonna do SHIT to it, Dad!"
"Oh, really?" Mike asked snidely. "Arceus, use Swords Dance!"
Arceus let out a great cry as swords suddenly materialized and swung frenziedly around its body just like they had for Zacian, greatly increasing the deity's attack power.
"Melmetal, hit him with Double Iron Bash!" Charlie shouted.
Melmetal's hands (or rather, the large nuts that acted as equivalent to its hands) began to shine with the gleam of polished stainless steel. It marched towards Arceus, raised its mighty fist and smashed it straight into Arceus' side. Mike stared in astonishment as nearly half of Arceus' HP dropped from the impact of Melmetal's mighty fist…and then his jaw dropped in stunned disbelief as Melmetal's raised a second fist and smashed it straight into Arceus' chest. The creator-deity screeched in agony as it was forced onto its knees, the destructive power of a single Choice Banded Double Iron Bash reducing the mighty Arceus to only a sliver of health remaining.
Mike incoherently mumbled words out of his mouth, completely caught off-guard for the first time in the entire battle. "Uhm…uh…what the fuck?" he spluttered. "Wow…uh, gee whiz…uh, fuck me, what in the hell was that?"
Nightmarionne was similarly stunned. "YOU KNOW, I KNEW MELMETAL WAS A BEAST AND ALL, BUT I DIDN'T THINK IT WAS THAT FUCKING STRONG."
The ghost kids, on the other hand, were looking incredibly satisfied with themselves. "Choice Banded 120 BP STAB move off of 143 ATK boosted by Iron Fist," Gabe concluded smugly. "I'd like to see what Arceus can do against THAT."
"It can do this!" Mike growled. "Arceus, hit Melmetal with Earthquake!"
Despite the grave injuries that it had suffered, Arceus still had the strength left to fight back. With a furious screech, it lifted its hooves and smashed them onto the ground, releasing a devastating earthquake that tore apart the ground of the arena. The fissure caused by the Swords Dance-empowered Earthquake smashed into Melmetal…and only destroyed about 2/3 of its health, leaving it noticeably wounded but still very much alive.
"Ah, right…" Mike mumbled. "Melmetal also has 143 defense and 135 HP to match that attack power." He processed the information, and there was only one appropriate conclusion to make. "Shit."
Charlie smirked. "You know what to do, Melmetal," she fired back. "Hit'em with another Double Iron Bash."
Sensing its impending victory, Melmetal clashed the nuts that constituted its fists together and landed another devastating punch into Arceus' side. This was far too much for the creator deity to handle, and with one last pitiful screech it collapsed onto the ground, thoroughly defeated.
"Wow," was all Mike could say as he withdrew his Arceus. "I know I probably switched to Ho-oh after you nearly beat my Arceus into the ground with just one Double Iron Bash, but the fact that you found a mon that can beat the shit out of Arceus so thoroughly with its own power and without any cheesing is something I really do have to respect." He shrugged. "Still, as impressive as your choice was, this battle still isn't over yet. Get revenge for Arceus, Ho-oh!"
He threw out a Quick Ball, and a legendary bird that was very different in nature than Yveltal emerged. Ho-oh might have been a phoenix like Yveltal, but unlike the legendary of destruction that had been shrouded in darkness, Ho-oh was a being that emanated with the power of fire. It was a vibrantly colored, brilliant phoenix with a red and green plumage, with prismatic feathers on its tail that glowed with the colors of the rainbow. Where Yveltal had represented the darkness and doom, Ho-oh represented light and hope.
And it was more than ready to avenge its fallen teammates.
"…is there any point to switching out Melmetal for something else?" Susie whispered to Charlie.
"I don't think so," Charlie muttered back. "It's only Ho-oh and Eternamax Eternatus left. They both have Fire moves, and Melmetal's already pretty weak from taking Arceus' Earthquake earlier."
"Yeah, let's just do the same thing we did with Yveltal and sack it for a clean switch," Gabe advised. "Besides, Melmetal's super tough. It was able to survive a +2 Arceus Earthquake, maybe it can survive…"
Mike raised his hand, which started to burn with the same golden flames that he had used when he had been infusing his Arceus with Z-Power. The golden energy began to funnel into Ho-oh's body, causing a golden Z-symbol to glow out of the rainbow phoenix's body. "Ho-oh, wipe out that Melmetal with Inferno Overdrive!" Mike roared.
"…never mind," Gabe immediately retracted as Ho-oh shrieked its might to the sky as it acknowledged its master's command. Giant flames began to form around Ho-oh and be absorbed within its body, creating a sphere of blazing fire that grew larger and larger until Ho-oh's body was completely covered by a fireball the size of a miniature sun. The giant ball of fire that Ho-oh had become flew towards Melmetal, who could do nothing but accept its fate as the fireball collided with it and created a massive explosion of flames that covered the entire arena. Even Melmetal's titanic physical defenses could do nothing to stop its impending destruction, weakened as it had already been from its fight with Arceus, and once the flames had finally dissipated, the golem toppled forward onto the ground, defeated.
"Sorry about that Melmetal, but you did a great job taking down Arceus," Charlie praised as she withdrew the Pokémon.
"It's okay!" Fritz confidently replied. "We have the perfect Pokémon to kick that Ho-oh's ass!"
"Yeah!" Jeremy grinned. "That overgrown sun chicken is going down!"
"You mean that Greninja?" Mike asked skeptically. "I'll admit that it's strong and faster than Ho-oh, but I'm fairly certain that one Brave Bird would take care of him quite easily."
Liz smirked. "Nope," she replied blithely. "We've got something a lot better."
Charlie's expression mirrored Liz's. "You've used so many broken overpowered mons, it's only fair we get one of our own. Go, Dracovish!"
She threw out a Dive Ball onto the field, which opened to reveal a rather deformed, fossil-like creature that looked like a cross between a water and dragon. Dracovish was a creature that was frankly bizarre in appearance, with a large fish head with a giant jaw mounted atop a dinosaur's tail. It looked like a hybrid creature that had been improperly revived from two different creatures mashed together, leading to a Pokémon that oddly looked both goofy and horrifying at the same time…
…and Mike's glowing red eyes widened in horror when he saw it. "Oh, shit…" he mumbled.
Charlie grinned at the brief look of panic in Mike's eyes. "Dracovish, hit Ho-oh with Fishious Rend!" she ordered.
"Ho-oh, hit it with Brave Bird!" Mike shouted back.
Ho-oh prepared to charge…and it was completely caught by surprise as Dracovish rushed forward, moving far faster than either the rainbow phoenix or Mike himself had expected. The deformed draconic fossil lunged at Ho-oh, chomped down hard upon the Rainbow Phoenix with a vicious jaw filled with water, and shredded the legendary bird as it swung its maw from side-to-side. Mike could only watch helplessly as ALL of Ho-oh's HP was deleted instantly from this one single attack, and Dracovish carelessly flung its defeated enemy's body from its mouth onto the arena floor.
"Ha!" Gabe cheered. "Dracovish demolished that Ho-oh in just one hit, just like we calculated!"
Mike's lips twitched and a smirk formed in the shadows of his face. "Are you so sure about that?" he challenged.
"Wha…?"
Golden orbs of light began to flow into Ho-oh's unconscious form, and the Rainbow Phoenix abruptly opened its eyes. The legendary bird shrieked as it flew back up into the sky, and its previously empty health bar was restored back to half health.
"What?" Cassidy spluttered. "How?"
Mike laughed mockingly at her confusion. "My Ho-oh's special ability was Phoenix Down!" he declared. "When it gets knocked out the first time in battle, it comes back to life with half health and all of its status reset to normal. I'll admit that putting a Choice Scarf on your Dracovish was a good move, but this won't be the free win you thought it was. Ho-oh, fire back with Brave Bird now!"
Ho-oh lunged towards Dracovish with breakneck speed, and this time, Dracovish couldn't do anything to stop it as it had already attacked. The sun phoenix crashed into the draconic fossil Pokémon sending it flying backward. The ghost kids' Dracovish stumbled backward, but quickly regained its feet, showing that while it had been battered and wounded by Ho-oh's Brave Bird, it was far from outright defeated. On the arena's TV screen, Dracovish's health dropped to around 45%, showing that Ho-oh's Brave Bird hadn't been powerful enough to defeat the fossil in retaliation. It certainly didn't help Ho-oh that Brave Bird was a recoil move, causing it to take a small amount of damage back from its own attack.
"Hey, Dad?" Charlie raised an eyebrow. "You know that our Dracovish is still faster thanks your Ho-oh, right?"
"Yeah?"
"And Ho-oh doesn't get any priority moves, right?"
"Yeah?"
"So, uh…what's stopping us from just killing it again with Fishious Rend?" the former Marionette questioned.
"Nothing, I knew Ho-oh was fucked when I realized you chose Dracovish to counter it," Mike admitted with a sigh. "I was just trying to get some damage in before it goes down."
"Oh, okay," Charlie shrugged before turning back to Dracovish. "You know what to do."
Dracovish acknowledged its master's command by lunging at Ho-oh again with another Fishious Rend. Just like before, the legendary bird's health was completely wiped out by the brutal fossil dragon's jaws. And this time, when the Rainbow Phoenix fell to the ground, it did not get back up again.
"I didn't realize there were mons who could kill Ho-oh that easily even under Delta Stream," Mike groaned as he withdrew Ho-oh.
Nightmarionne chuckled. "PERSONALLY, I THINK IT'S HILARIOUS THAT YOUR LEGENDARY WAS STOMPED BY A MON TARGETING ONE OF THE VERY FEW WEAKNESSES THAT WASN'T NEUTRALIZED BY DELTA STREAM," he amusedly remarked. "AND THE ONLY REASON WHY YOUR LEGENDARY WAS ABLE TO PROVIDE ANY MEANINGFUL RESISTANCE WAS BECAUSE ITS ABILITY LITERALLY ALLOWED IT TO RESURRECT, ONLY FOR IT TO DIE AGAIN IN SHORT ORDER."
Mike grumbled in irritation. "I should have gone with Ultra Necrozma instead."
"Oh, please no…" Jeremy groaned. "We don't need another overpowered dragon to deal with."
Mike smirked. "Speaking of overpowered dragons…you've brought me down to my last Pokémon. Considering how badly the odds were stacked against you, both in terms of how powerful my Pokémon were and the many restrictions I forced upon your teambuilding and movesets, that deserves plenty of praise just by itself. But now the question remains…do you have what it takes to defeat Eternamax Eternatus?"
He tossed the Master Ball out onto the field, and the skeletal draconic abomination took the field, flying high into the air. And just like the last time Mike had summoned it, Eternatus absorbed the powers of darkness within itself and transformed into its true eldritch and horrific form that had once brought the Darkest Day upon Galar. Eternamax Eternatus stretched out its giant hand towards the ghost kids, the glowing eyes on each of its fingertips glaring menacingly at their Dracovish.
"Uh…Dracovish is just fucked, right?" Fritz asked, knowing full well what the answer was.
"Yeah, he's screwed," Liz replied bluntly. "We're locked into Fishious Rend, and Eternamax Eternatus can just blast him out of existence with a Dynamax Cannon."
"We have a Choice Scarf on Dracovish," Susie pointed out hopefully. "Maybe it can…"
"Eternatus, crush that Dracovish with Dynamax Cannon!" Mike commanded.
Eternamax Eternatus roared its fury into the heavens and fired a gigantic pulse of eldritch draconic energies towards Dracovish. The Dynamax Cannon hit the fossil creature with such overwhelming force that the Dracovish was sent flying across the arena by the sheer impact of the attack, brutally crashing into the wall. Dracovish slumped out of the crater left by its crash and collapsed onto the floor, unconscious long before it even hit the ground. "…or not," Susie finished glumly. "Never mind."
Nightmarionne winced as Charlie withdrew her defeated Dracovish. "OOF, I COULD FEEL THAT ONE," he admitted. "THAT ATTACK WAS A CRIT ON TOP OF EVERYTHING."
"Yeah, we knew Dracovish had no chance," Gabe admitted. "But switching it out would've probably lost us the battle on the spot."
"So it all comes down to this. We are both down to our last Pokémon. I have my Eternamax Eternatus, and you have one last Pokémon which I have no idea what it is," Mike smiled in anticipation, clearly eager to see what his children had brought to challenge one of the most powerful Pokémon to ever exist. "Whatever it is, I hope you can make it count."
"Oh, we will," Charlie promised. "We chose our last mon to deal with Eternatus Eternamax VERY carefully." She reached into her pocket, and took out a Master Ball. "Go, Lopunny!"
The Master Ball opened, and out popped a bipedal, humanoid, rabbit-like Pokémon with long ears and dark-brown and cream-colored fur. Lopunny was a Pokémon whose visual appearance was clearly more focused on the "cuter and adorable" spectrum of Pokémon as opposed to more "badass or menacing" Pokémon…but Charlie was quick to change that. The former Marionette raised her hand and channeled the power of Mega Evolution into Lopunny, transforming her into Mega Lopunny. The many tufts of fur on her body had been shredded off, replaced with black patterns on her legs, and her ears had been transformed to more resemble braids. The lack of fur in comparison to her base form actually made her appear more like a fighter while not diminishing any of her innate cuteness. Mega Lopunny's behavior had also changed to become much more aggressive in temperament; she had first looked up at Eternamax Eternatus with undisguised fear, but now her hands were clenched into fists as she glared up at the draconic abomination, clearly ready to fight.
"Mega Lopunny?" Mike raised an eyebrow. "Not what I was expecting…but you must know something that I don't."
Charlie smirked. "Oh, we do. Mega Lopunny, use Fake Out!"
Mega Lopunny lunged at Eternamax Eternatus with blistering speed, smacking the legendary dragon in one of its eyes with her feet before it even got a chance to react. The dragon winced and growled, taken by surprise by Mega Lopunny's sudden action and unable to properly retaliate due to its flinching. A little more than a 10th of Eternamax' Eternatus health fell off its health bar as Mega Lopunny retreated back to the side of the ghost kids, as the normally weak Fake Out had done surprisingly respectable (if small) damage thanks to Lopunny's Normal STAB bonus.
"Okay…" Mike muttered. "I mean, I respect the idea of doing chip damage, but I fail to see what this actually accomplishes." He glanced up at his Pokémon. "Eternatus, use Dynamax Cannon again!"
Eternamax Eternatus roared, an unholy sound not meant to be heard by human ears, as it raised its giant hand and fired another pulse of mighty eldritch draconic energy towards Mega Lopunny. The rabbit-inspired Normal-Fighting type grimaced as she was struck by the Dynamax Cannon, the attack wiping out nearly 80% of the Pokémon's health bar in one blow. And then, inexplicably, she started smiling. The cold, triumphant smile of someone who had caught their enemy in a trap…and was ready to go in for the kill.
Mike had noticed this expression on Mega Lopunny's face, and he frowned upon seeing it. "Why...why is your Mega Lopunny smiling like that?" he asked worriedly.
The ghost kids grinned. "She's grinning because you just lost this battle, dad!" Liz triumphantly declared.
Charlie couldn't help but hide a grin of her own. "Mega Lopunny, use MIRROR COAT!" she shouted the last two words that would secure her and her siblings their victory.
Mike's eyes widened in panic as he finally understood what was about to happen. "Wait, fuck, no!" he spluttered.
"Too late, Dad!" Jeremy snickered. "Game over!"
Mega Lopunny's body began to glow with a shiny multicolored aur as she endured more and more of the Dynamax Cannon's power, and with a great cry, she unleashed the aura from the body in an explosion of light. Beams of psychic light fired back towards Eternamax Eternatus, carrying with them the already overwhelming energy of the legendary's Dynamax Cannon multiplied to twice its original power. The beams of light struck Eternamax Eternatus one at a time, the power of the reflected attack so great that even the mighty Gigantic Pokémon in its true form could do nothing but screamed in agony with every single beam that struck its hand and the spiraling cords that consisted its body. The initial Dynamax Cannon had been powerful enough to nearly wipe out Mega Lopunny's health in one blow, and not even a creature as mighty as Eternamax Eternatus could hope to withstand that kind of awesome power multiplied by 2. With a final, hideous wail of fruitless rage and pain, Eternamax Eternatus dropped from the sky and collapsed onto the ground, the eyes on each of its fingers closed, and the red glow from its body fading away. Mike's last and greatest Pokémon had been defeated.
"MIRROR COAT," Nightmarionne pondered the events that had just transpired, stroking the bottom of his mask with his long, pointed fingernails. "INSTEAD OF TRYING TO FIGHT ETERNAMAX ETERNATUS IN A RAW CONTEST OF POWER, YOU OPTED INSTEAD TO TURN THAT LEGENDARY'S OVERWHELMING POWER AGAINST IT. EVEN TRANSFORMING YOUR LOPUNNY INTO HER MEGA FORM THAT SHE WOULD BE POWERFUL ENOUGH TO SURVIVE THE INITIAL BLOW AND STRIKE FIRST WITH CHIP DAMAGE TO ENSURE THE KILL." His glowing white eyes flashed, and his unnatural grin widened. "WELL PLAYED, LITTLE BRATS. WELL PLAYED."
Mike was similarly smiling proudly, clearly impressed with his children's ingenuity. "Part of me is annoyed that you essentially cheesed Eternamax Eternatus, but I'm the last person who should be complaining about OP and cheap bullshit considering the team that I brought to the table. You guys did great, and you actually managed to beat me! Amazing job!"
The ghost kids cheered and shared congratulations with each other. Mega Lopunny gave the ghost kids one final, tired smile of approval before both she and the defeated, unconscious Eternamax Eternatus vanished, along with all of the Pokéballs that both Charlie and Mike had brought to the battle. The shadows and dark flames surrounding Mike's body vanished, revealing the "standard" human form of the man who had manipulated reality in his dreams to make this battle possible. "With a performance like that, and with how well you built your team to fight against mine, I think you're ready for Hardcore!" Mike praised. "Well, once you learn how to deal with Hardcore's pivoting, that is."
Charlie frowned. "What do you mean by that?" she asked.
"In Hardcore mode, the bosses tend to switch their Pokémon around a lot more when caught in a bad matchup," Mike explained. "If I had really wanted to, I could have been just as obnoxious as the game's AI is at switching my Pokémon out, such as when my Yveltal was caught in a bad matchup against your Seviian Milotic." He shook his head. "I decided not to do that, though, because it wouldn't be fair to expect you to deal with that kind of switching and pivoting when you don't never got any experience with it in Radical Red's actual Hardcore mode."
"Wait…so were you going easy on us?" Gabe questioned, sounding a little disappointed that Mike might have partially handed them the win after all.
Mike shook his head. "Only in that sense, and again, it wasn't fair to expect you to deal with constant switching since you don't have any experience with it. I have to give you some mercy, since everything about my team is so ridiculously and blatantly overpowered. Otherwise, I was fighting the way Radical Red's bosses would've fought you in Hardcore mode. You guys earned this win completely, and you even took me by surprise a couple of times. I genuinely had no idea Life Orb Weavile could OHKO Mega Rayquaza with Triple Axel, or that Choice Band Melmetal was powerful enough to almost kill Arceus with one Double Iron Bash."
"IT WAS QUITE THE ENTERTAINING PERFORMANCE," Nightmarionne added from the sidelines. "SEEING THE BATTLES PLAY OUT IN REALITY, AND YOUR REACTIONS TO UNPLEASANT SURPRISES, WAS MORE THAN WORTH SPENDING TONIGHT DOING MATH CALCULATIONS JUST TO MAKE ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE."
Charlie looked over at her siblings. "If we can beat a team this overpowered, I think we're ready to deal with Radical Red's Hardcore mode starting tomorrow, don't you think?"
"YEAH!" the ghosts all cheered. "If we can beat a team with a Mega Rayquaza and an Eternamax Eternatus, we can beat anything!" Cassidy declared confidently.
"I'm sure you guys will do great," Mike encouraged them, before a thoughtful look crossed his face. "You know, I didn't think of this before, but this battle did teach you a few lessons that are worth learning not just in Pokémon, but for real life too."
"Oh?" Gabe raised an eyebrow. "What kind of lessons, Dad?"
Mike stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Well, one of them, you've already learned from how we've been dealing with Fazbear Entertainment's Special Delivery project. Any challenge, no matter how seemingly overwhelming it might be, can be overcome with careful planning and some good ol' fashioned determination."
"Yeah, we've pretty much made it impossible for Glitchtrap and his possession victim to do anything to the project anymore, so long as we don't slack off," Charlie commented. "But what's the second lesson, Dad?"
"If tackling the situation head-on doesn't seem to work," Mike answered with a knowing smile, "an alternate out-of-the-box approach might be the solution you need."
/
A/N: And with that, the ghost kids have triumphed over Mike's team in the most intense Pokémon battle they've ever faced in their lives.
I think these kids have earned a massive round of applause. Mike's team had 3 overpowered legendaries, and 3 legendaries that were so insanely broken they were banned from the tier with the overpowered legendaries. Without most setup moves, under a weather condition that permanently favored Mike's team. And they still pulled off the win. Even if Mike might not have implemented switches and pivoting like Radical Red's Hardcore Mode would've, the ghost kids deserve some serious respect for building a team that was able to counter Mike's bullshit-OP mons using the tools that were given to them.
The next filler chapter will likely be Mike's birthday party, and I will spend 1 or 2 chapters more or less wrapping up Special Delivery (as far as its relevance towards the Schmidt family is concerned). I'm not sure which one will come first, although all 3 of these chapters will appear in short order.
If you're in the mood for a challenging Pokémon ROMHack, Radical Red is absolutely the game for you. Here's a list of the ghost kids' Pokémon team.
Weavile
Nature: Jolly
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
Moveset: Ice Shard, Knock Off, Brick Break, Triple Axel
Garchomp
Nature: Jolly
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Moveset: Dual Chop, Iron Head, Stone Edge, Earthquake
Milotic-Sevii
Nature: Calm
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Serene Grace
Moveset: Scorching Sands, Moonblast, Mirror Coat, Shore Up
Melmetal
Nature: Adamant
Item: Choice Band
Ability: Iron Fist
Moveset: Double Iron Bash, Thunder Punch, Ice Punch, Earthquake
Dracovish
Nature: Adamant
Item: Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
Moveset: Fishious Rend, Crunch, Ice Fang, Psychic Fangs
Mega Lopunny
Nature: Jolly
Item: Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
Moveset: Fake Out, Triple Axel, Close Combat, Mirror Coat
For all you Pokémon fans out there, I hope you guys enjoyed!
