"Level 71, not bad." Gary was quite satisfied with the levels of Brandon's Pokémon.
Registeel's body was humanoid, with a gray spherical torso marked by several black stripes. Its face was a hexagonal pattern composed of seven red dots, its long black arms each ended in three fingers, and its legs were cylindrical.
Compared with Regice and Regirock, Registeel's defenses weren't as extreme as the other two.
Regice's Special Defense base stat was 200.
Regirock's physical Defense base stat was 200.
Registeel was different. Both of its defensive base stats sat at 150 each. Its defenses were very well-rounded, but precisely because of that comprehensive coverage, its offense was comparatively weak.
That was why Ash had been able to trade blows back and forth with Registeel using Torkoal. But Registeel really was incredibly tanky—Torkoal had landed seven or eight effective attacks and still failed to bring it down.
"Tyranitar, use Earthquake." Gary had no intention of recalling Tyranitar. Its physical Attack had been boosted by Power-Up Punch, and switching it out now would waste all of that.
"Tyranitar!"
Tyranitar raised its foot and stomped down on the ground.
"Take it with Iron Defense, then use Heavy Slam," Brandon ordered.
"Regi!"
Registeel's entire body gleamed with metallic light.
Tyranitar's stomp shook the whole Battle Pyramid, and Registeel weathered the Earthquake's shockwave. Then, its body wrapped in shining silver Steel-type energy, Registeel charged straight at Tyranitar. Both were large Pokémon—dodging was essentially impossible.
"Tyranitar, use Dynamic Punch!" Gary was confident. He refused to believe that Tyranitar, with its physical Attack raised by four stages, couldn't knock Registeel back with a single punch.
"Tyran!!"
Tyranitar raised its sturdy arm, focused all its strength into it, and as Registeel closed in, threw the punch.
Pah!!
A loud crack of air split the arena.
Tyranitar's Dynamic Punch slammed into Registeel, its fist like an unbreakable blade. The steel energy shielding Registeel's body was smashed through with ease, and the fist connected squarely with Registeel's head.
Clang!!!
Accompanied by a deafening boom, a shockwave rippled outward from the two Pokémon, and the supposedly immovable titan was sent flying backward, its feet gouging two scratches several meters long into the ground.
Although the Dynamic Punch had landed on Registeel, because it had been thrown as a counter, the hit wasn't fully clean—Registeel didn't fall into confusion.
"Fire Blast!" Gary ordered.
Tyranitar spat out a ball of fire.
"What!"
Even Brandon was surprised. He hadn't expected Tyranitar to be able to use Fire-type special attacks. Its move pool was simply too wide.
The legendary titans were excellent in every respect except their sluggish movement. To be precise, only Regice, Regirock, and Registeel were slow—the other two members of the family weren't.
Boom!!
The Fire Blast exploded on impact.
But Registeel didn't fall. Its defense was unmatched. Even Tyranitar couldn't take it down in just a few moves.
"Flash Cannon!" Brandon counterattacked.
Registeel condensed steel energy between its palms and fired a silver beam.
"Dark Pulse!" Tyranitar instantly spat out a Dark Pulse in response.
The two beams—one silver, one black—collided head-on, each straining to push the other back. After a stalemate of several seconds, Dark Pulse began forcing Flash Cannon back inch by inch. When Flash Cannon was compressed down to a short two-meter stretch, the collision point could no longer withstand the built-up energy and detonated.
Boom!!
A cloud of black smoke billowed upward.
"Regi!"
Registeel still hadn't fallen. With its expressionless face, it was impossible to tell what condition it was actually in.
"Lock On, then use Zap Cannon!" Brandon ordered.
Registeel immediately locked onto Tyranitar, a red targeting mark appearing on Tyranitar's neck.
"Fire Blast!" Gary wasn't about to let the opening pass.
Tyranitar spat out another ball of fire. The flames formed a massive burning shape and roared toward Registeel, striking it once again.
"Regi..."
As the smoke dispersed, Registeel had already finished charging a Zap Cannon, and it fired the attack straight at Tyranitar.
"Protect!"
Against a locked-on Zap Cannon, Protect was the only viable defense.
Tyranitar condensed a Protect barrier around itself.
"Heavy Slam!" Brandon struck without pause.
Registeel's body was sheathed in steel energy as it charged forward. At the same moment, the Zap Cannon crashed into the Protect barrier and exploded, throwing up a haze of smoke.
"Giga Impact!" Gary ordered.
"Tyran!!"
Tyranitar burst out of the smoke, its entire body wrapped in spiraling streams of energy as it charged.
One silver figure and one white figure hurtled toward each other.
Clang!!
The two collided, and a shockwave blasted outward.
In the stands, the impact of the air wave blew back the hair of Ash and the others, briefly exposing hairlines that had yet to recede.
As the smoke cleared, the two Pokémon's positions had crossed—Tyranitar now stood near Brandon's side of the field, while Registeel stood near Gary's.
"Hah...!"
Tyranitar glanced back and could vaguely make out that Registeel still hadn't fallen. But Tyranitar itself was locked in the rigid recovery state from Giga Impact and couldn't move for the moment.
"Now, use Zap Cannon!" Brandon ordered.
"Regi!"
Registeel condensed a Zap Cannon and fired. The attack shot straight toward Tyranitar, moments from connecting.
"Sand Shield!" Gary suddenly ordered.
The moment the words left his mouth, a sandstorm whipped up behind Tyranitar. The swirling sand formed a twister that enveloped Tyranitar completely, creating a counterattack shield of raging sand.
Boom!!
The Zap Cannon struck the sandstorm and exploded, but it only managed to punch a hole through the swirling sand. Only the residual force of the blast dealt any damage to Tyranitar.
"Tyran!"
Tyranitar turned around. With the sandstorm raging on all sides, only its towering silhouette was visible through the swirling grit, radiating an immense sense of pressure.
"Fire Blast entanglement attack!" Gary ordered.
"Tyran!"
Tyranitar spat out a ball of fire, then charged directly into the flames itself, rushing straight at Registeel.
"What! It merged into the Fire Blast!!"
"Is that even possible?"
"As long as a Pokémon is proficient enough with its moves, even special attacks can be used in close combat. It's a dual-attack technique."
"That's basically using two moves at the same time."
"Yes, it's an unbelievable combination. That move is a Fire Blast Tackle."
Watching Tyranitar merge into the Fire Blast, Ash and the others were stunned.