Lock-On was a move that made the user's next attack against the target guaranteed to hit.
For example, if Regirock used Lock-On and then used Stone Edge, even if Zapdos tried to flee, Stone Edge would still chase it down and connect.
Right now, Zapdos had been locked on.
Which meant that as long as Regirock used an attacking move, it would have an extremely high chance of landing.
As for why it was "extremely high" rather than "absolutely," that was because Zapdos could still block with its own moves—no one was going to just flap around and run like an idiot.
"Regirock, Rock Slide!" Brandon ordered.
After Lock-On, his commands came one after another without pause.
"Regi!"
Regirock smashed its fists together. A gray-brown glow wrapped around its whole body, and above Zapdos's head, a heavy rumble began to build.
Dozens of massive rocks appeared out of nowhere, hanging directly above Zapdos like a crushing ceiling—oppressive and suffocating.
At that range, it was hard for Zapdos to trade moves head-on.
The distance was too short.
"Pull away," Grey said.
Zapdos snapped its wings tight against its sides and dove like a streak of golden lightning.
The rain curtain dragged a silver trail behind it—only to be cut off in the next instant by the pursuing Rock Slide!
Crackle—!
As the distance narrowed, Zapdos's feathers suddenly blazed with light.
Violent electricity wrapped around its body again, turning it into a falling meteor of thunder!
"Regirock, Stone Edge—full coverage!" Brandon's voice rang out sharply.
Regirock stomped the ground. The earth trembled violently, and countless razor-sharp rock spires burst upward, forming a kill zone with the falling Rock Slide—heaven above, death below.
The stone spikes that stabbed up from underground came from vicious angles, some of them even preemptively cutting off Zapdos's evasive path.
In the blink of an eye, the golden figure was sealed inside a three-dimensional cage of rock!
"Discharge!" Grey shouted.
Zapdos didn't have many moves it could use in that moment.
A wide-area Discharge was the best choice.
"Zaaap!"
Zapdos's feathers exploded outward, electricity surging like a tidal wave in every direction!
Lightning swallowed most of the incoming rock formation, shattering countless stones into dust.
But more than a dozen spikes slipped through.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A chain of heavy impacts slammed into Zapdos's wing, and several golden feathers drifted down from the sky.
Zapdos let out a pained cry—then used the force of the hits to jerk its body upward, wrenching itself out of the encirclement by sheer will.
That one hurt.
Both were legendaries, and Zapdos and Regirock were at roughly the same level.
But Zapdos's physical defense wasn't great. It wasn't like Regirock, with that terrifying bulk—taking a super-effective hit made Zapdos feel awful.
Still, it wasn't fatal.
Just painful.
It didn't stop the fight.
"Zapdos… we're getting serious now," Grey said.
Zapdos screeched nonstop, and the electric light around its body didn't fade—instead, after being hit, it flared even brighter!
"Regirock, stay sharp!" Brandon didn't know what kind of trick Grey was about to pull, but in a situation like this, it was best to prepare for anything. "Use Gravity!"
"Regi!"
A brilliant blue light erupted from Regirock's face.
An invisible psychic field spread outward, like the rain pouring down from the sky.
In an instant, the gravity in the entire space doubled!
"Zaaap!" (What the—?!)
Zapdos was yanked toward the ground as if an invisible hand had seized it. It beat its wings desperately, but could only slow the fall.
Its golden feathers trembled violently inside the psychic field—until it slammed into the battlefield, kicking up a cloud of dust!
But Zapdos wasn't about to take a loss for free.
At the exact moment it hit the ground, countless electric serpents suddenly burst up from beneath the arena, turning the entire battlefield into a brilliant pool of lightning!
The leaping arcs wrapped around Regirock's rocky body, racing wildly through the cracks and grooves on its surface, mixing with the rainwater and crackling furiously.
Rain, Gravity, Electric Terrain—multiple effects stacked on top of each other.
Grey and Brandon locked eyes. Both of them understood what the other was trying to do.
"Thunder!" Grey roared.
"Earthquake!" Brandon fired back.
The two commands exploded almost simultaneously.
But Zapdos's feathers were already engulfed in lightning!
KRAKOOOOOM!!!
A bolt three times thicker than before tore through the rain curtain!
With Electric Terrain boosting it, the lightning turned a terrifying blue-white!
Regirock's heavy fist had only just smashed toward the ground, the shockwave not yet fully spreading—when the thunderstorm swallowed it whole!
"Regi…"
Regirock dropped to one knee, exhaustion visible in its eyes.
Even for it, that last hit was hard to withstand.
And the earthquake wave was right behind it.
"Weather Ball!" Grey shouted.
Rumble—!
Just as the earthquake wave was about to reach them, a milky-white sphere of energy condensed in Zapdos's beak, swelling rapidly under the pounding rain.
In an instant, it became a massive, two-meter-wide surge of water—an enormous watery blast!
Boom!
Zapdos drove the deep-blue water sphere into the ground, colliding head-on with the oncoming earthquake wave!
The explosion from the clash shook the rain into mist, forcibly clearing a safe zone in front of Zapdos!
[Holy—Zapdos is this strong?! It's at a type disadvantage against Regirock, but it's still going hard!]
[Yeah, it's pinning Regirock down and beating on it—so this is what Kanto's legendary birds can do?!]
[Zapdos, go! Don't lose!]
Most of the viewers who'd flooded into Grey's stream were trainers from Kanto, and what they wanted to see was Grey's Zapdos win.
Regirock?
They didn't care.
If it came down to looks…
Whatever. They were about the same.
"Mew~" (Looks like it's basically decided, huh~)
Little Riolu held the phone, its tone carrying a hint of regret.
If it were the Regirock from its own home, Zapdos would have a much harder time dealing with it.
But the Regirock Brandon had caught clearly wasn't the one from its home. Against Grey's Zapdos, it was struggling.
"Even though Zapdos is fighting at a type disadvantage… it's still taking the upper hand in battle. Why…?" Mewtwo's voice entered little Riolu's mind.
In Mewtwo's understanding, at the same level, type matchups should matter a lot.
Yet Grey's Zapdos was forcing its way through all kinds of negative conditions and pressing Regirock into the ground.
"Mew~" (Simple—type isn't everything. You have to look at where each side's advantages are. Regirock is way too slow. At first it doesn't show, but once the fight drags on, that weakness just gets amplified more and more.)
Little Riolu munched on sunflower seeds, giggling.
"Mew~" (And don't be fooled by Zapdos crashing—Grey planned that on purpose. A few more moves and this fight's basically over~)
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