Legendary Bird XY Won't Reset?

Question

I wanted to catch Zapdos but accidental knocked it out in the Sea Den so I cleared the Elite Four but Zapdos didn't come back. It's about the 3rd time I run through the Elite Four but Zapdos isn't coming back.

Can someone tell me if I'm doing something wrong? I check the PokeDex and it says location Unknown

Comments

Maybe they started roaming again?

---

I thought that would be it but when that happens you can see in which location hes roaming around. In the pokedex it just says Unknown.

---

I did the same thing

Answer 1

Zapdos like most legendary Pokemon that roam or legends in general once knocked out do not come back. I remember when I knocked out my Articuno I had to go back to my last save. Since you have already beat the elite four you have auto saved so your Zapdos is unfortunately lost. This is why your pokedex says location unknown as Zapdos is no longer roaming your world. I would suggest if you don't want to reset your game to go on the gts and trade one.

Sincerely

PuppyAce

Answer 2

Zapdos is roaming again.

As the bird will automatically flee upon encounter, it cannot be caught until after it has been encountered an additional 10 times (not counting the first encounter), and has subsequently retreated to the Sea Spirit's Den in Azure Bay, where it remains as a stationary Legendary Pokémon. However, if the battle in the Sea Spirit's Den is fled from, the bird will begin roaming Kalos again as before.

I would think that fleeing and defeating it would yield the same result, so Zapdos should just be roaming again. Since Platinum, all legendaries respawn, so Zapdos is definitely not lost from the save.

Source