Some people never learn!
They both felt it at about the same time. Two white heads rose, and two sets of eyes glowed an unearthly blue. A disturbance in the balance of ice, lightning, and fire. They decided to wait, to see if it were a random fluctuation, perhaps just a very bad electrical storm, or a massive forest fire. But they both sensed it was more than that.
Lugia had been awoken from a deep sleep a year before by just such a fluctuation, and had been so slow in responding only because of a combination of events-first recognising the imbalance, finding the cause, and then bringing together the elements needed to resolve the difficulty. The delay had almost been fatal. Lugia had found a mate, and decided to create an offspring (to take over upon his and his mate's eventual death, many thousands of years in the future) before returning to his centuries-long sleep from which, he hoped devoutly, he would only be woken from to remedy natural changes.
The King of the Sea was alarmed at such a similar sense of imbalance. Surely the humans had not already forgotten the havoc wreaked by interfering with the three birds?
"Let me go this time." his mate offered. "Perhaps there is a natural explanation for it. If not, I shall attempt to stop it before it begins." Lugia was unsure, but nodded his great head in agreement. She was younger than he, and when he finally did die, she would have to take over from him in controlling the sea currents and possibly sorting out problems just such as this. In a flurry of white wings and the sweep of a powerful tail, she exited their deep sea lair.
Her mate curled up protectively about their egg, flipping his tail over the end of his nose.
It took her some time to reach the surface of the sea, as they were about a mile down, and she also had to detect the location of the disturbance, and swim to that point. During her swim, the disturbances grew more frequent, violent, and pronounced. As expected, it was centred around the islands of Thunder, Ice and Fire. She swam upwards, and flew in a lazy circle, to take in the scene around her.
It was snowing, unusual for a semi-tropical area such as this. There was no sign of the birds, but as they usually sat in their lairs, guarding their own solitary eggs, this did not surprise her.
Turning her head to the right, she saw some strange, mechanical object heading her way. Curious, she angled her wings and changed direction, aiming to glide past it, getting a good look as she did so. Her fly-by told her little more than she had already seen, but she was feeling uneasy about it. Something had to be disturbing the harmony, and this was the only thing in sight. She turned to face the thing again.
She found herself under fire. Black balls were being fired at her. Some hit her others did not. Regardless of whether they were hitting her or not, they exploded, letting forth a rank-smelling, blinding smoke. Within seconds, she could not see a thing. Then she felt other objects hitting her. At first they seemed to do nothing. Then she noticed a faint line, and at the same time felt a strong force pinion her wings. Other objects flew past, and she felt her legs and tail immobilised. Lastly, her head was locked into place. She let forth a cry, of anger and despair. She let loose a powerful aeroblast, but she could not see to direct it, and it zigzagged crazily as she lost the ability to move. Helpless, she began to fall.
Then jerked to a halt. She felt herself rising, and she was glad when she cleared the smoke. She could now see what was binding her . Angled forms surrounded her, and it was not they that restrained her, but the lattice of energy produced between two or more aligned forms. The mechanical construct was above her, and as she watched, the spherical protrusion at the middle opened, and she was drawn inside. Up and up she was drawn until she found herself in a large chamber. There were four circular pedestals in the chamber: three were occupied by Zapdos, Articuno, and Moltres. She came to rest on the fourth empty pedestal, and was held there by the shapes.
She noticed a long pipe nearby was withdrawing into the floor. Atop the pipe was a seat, and in the seat was a wavy haired, blonde man dressed in extravagant and elegant clothing. He was smiling. He got out of his chair, and stood, looking up at her.
"At last, I have Lugia!" he intoned. "This time, no meddling trainers to mess up my plans! My collection is complete!"
"Don't you understand what you are doing?" she called to him. "You put the world in peril! You have disrupted the balance of the world, and imbalance leads to chaos and then oblivion!"
"But the birds do not fight!" he said. "Everything is in balance, the birds are quiescent and controlled, as are you! All the birds, and the King of the Sea, in perfect harmony, displayed in my private collection!"
"No, not in harmony." she said. "Static, and nature is not used to being static. Things will slow down and just end. Please, for the sake of the world, release us!" He laughed. "I don't know if you're just saying that to be freed." He said
"Will you risk destroying the world?" she asked. He waved a hand.
"To possess you, Lugia, I would risk everything." He retreated to his chair, which carried him back up the way he had come.
In their undersea lair, Lugia was getting concerned. His mate should be back by now, for his help if it were too difficult. He decided to see if she had taken on more than she should have. Concealing the egg in the seabed silt, he swam upwards, towards the epicentre of the discord that could now be felt by every Pokémon around the world. It took time, but he got up, and looked around, his mind questing for the feel of his mate.
He spotted the flying machine at the same time as he sensed his mate's presence within it. He roared in fury. This was the same person who had caused trouble last time! Hadn't he learned his lesson? Lugia felt a feeling that was fairly alien to him-anger.
He launched himself at the flying machine, and flew close by it, veering off just in time, and lashing his tail at it. The tail caught the control centre full on, and shook the whole machine from top to bottom. Lugia did another flyby, peering in the window to see the blonde-haired Pokémon collector within reacting in shock.
"DIDN'T YOU LEARN YOUR LESSON LAST TIME?" he roared as he flew past, swinging his tail again, this time at the compartment that held the great display chamber. The wall could not stand up to the force of that tail, which caved it in like an egg. Lugia swung his tail again, which broke the chamber wide open. Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres fell out, entrapped by the shapes, followed by his mate. Two swipes of the tail de-aligned the shapes, releasing the captives. Lugia saw the remains of the mechanism, heading for a splash-landing in the sea, and he and his mate dove for it, catching the top in their hind feet. Slowing it's descent, they guided it to a rough but non-lethal landing on Lightning Island.
Screams of rage from behind them drew their attention back to the birds, and both Lugias knew there was still much to be done. The three birds were fighting. Lugia turned to his mate. "Fly to Shamouti Island and bring the music maker to the Slowking's shrine. I will fetch the Chosen One."
Ash faced the blackbelt, who had brought out a Machoke. Ash brought out his Heracross, which squared off across from it. The Machoke attempted a karate chop, which Heracross managed to avoid. It ducked under the Machoke, caught it under the belly, and used it's horn to send it flying. Heracross was about to repeat the manoeuvre when a wind whipped up, sending Ash's hat flying. Ash grumbled and chased after the hat. The weather was wild these days, and Pikachu-and his other Pokemon for that matter-were disturbed by something. He'd seen mass migrations of Pokemon over the last day, and wondered if they had sensed an earthquake or something. Ash heard Pikachu cry "Pikaa?", just as he heard another voice from above.
"Chosen One! Your assistance is required once more!" He saw the Blackbelt look up, and saw his jaw drop open. Looking up, he could understand his shock. The imposing form of Lugia filled the sky, and was coming closer as he watched. Ash realised Lugia was landing.
"Lugia, what's up?" he called. Lugia settled, then crouched, looking at Ash with a benign smile in his eye.
"Some people never learn and we need you to bring the treasures together once more." Lugia told him. "Come, Chosen One!"
"What, now, I'm in the middle of a fight!" Ash protested.
"Look, when I'm sure I haven't dreamed this, I'll call you and arrange a rematch." said the Blackbelt weakly. "If you're needed by that Pokémon, go. Something that big and powerful has to be important."
Lugia's mate reached Shamouti Island quickly, The people of the island seemed to know who she was. Even the two non-natives knew her.
"Lugia! What's it doing back?" breathed the pink-haired woman.
"I don't know, but it must be serious!" said the blue-haired man.
"I have come for the music-maker." she said. A taller woman nudged a smaller brown- haired woman with her hair in two pigtails.
"That's you, Melody! Go get the instrument!" The smaller girl ran to a house, and came back out a couple of minutes later with the instrument. Crouching, Lugia's mate indicated that Melody should climb on her back. Melody did, and Lugia's mate
conveyed her to the Slowpoke's shrine. On the way, Lugia's mate recalled Lugia saying that the pair she'd seen on the island, along with their talking Meowth, had aided the Chosen One in his task. Leaving Melody, she flew back to Shamouti, bringing everyone out again. Addressing Jessie and James, she instructed them to climb upon her back, and took off.
"Hey! Wait for me!" cried a voice behind them. The Meowth had come out, and was running behind them, waving its arms. She U-turned, and scooped him up in her mouth. Not quite closing it, she returned the way she'd come, and dropped the three next to Melody. The Meowth was not pleased.
"It's allright for you two! You got ta fly on it's back! Me, I had ta ride in it's mouth! It's wet in there!" It immediately proceeded to wash itself.
"Oh brother." Said Slowking, who had come out to chat with Melody while they waited. "The world is about to end, and all he cares about is wet fur."
It wasn't long before Lugia returned with Ash and Misty-who had been watching the fight and had insisted on coming-and dropped them off by the shrine.
"I will take the Chosen One to one island, you take two of the others and drop them off on the other islands, then return for them." Lugia said. Lugia's mate used her mouth to redeposit first Jessie, then James, back on her back. Then the two Lugias took off, one heading for Fire Island, and the other for Ice Island.
Lugia's mate dropped Jessie off on Ice Island, and James on Lightning Island, while Lugia took Ash to Fire Island. After dropping off James, Lugia's mate swung back for Jessie, who had the Ice Treasure by then, and then for James, who by then had retrieved the Lightning Treasure, (and reassured the miserable Lawrence III that he'd send someone out to rescue him) then she set off back for the shrine.
Ash retrieved the Fire Treasure, which lit up in his hand, and Lugia flew back to the shrine with him. Ash placed the Fire Treasure on it's stand, and Jessie and James handed him the other two. When Ash's hands touched the two treasures they lit up like the first, and he placed them on their stands. Melody came up, stood beside him, raised the shell-flute to her lips, and began to play.
Lugia flew into the air, and also began to sing, his song a sweet reflection of the shell-flute's tune. The birds ceased their conflict, and returned to their islands.. The inclement weather that had been building in the area cleared, and the atmosphere itself seemed less oppressive. Lugia flew back, and he and his mate gave their thanks. Melody and Jessie were taken on Lugia's mate's back, and James rode Lugia himself back to Shamouti Island, where they were dropped off. Then Lugia returned, found Ash and Misty taking advantage of being alone, and tactfully went for a fly around the area to give them time to finish. Then he flew them back to where the Blackbelt was waiting.
Lugia and his mate checked that the stranded Lawrence III was safe on Lightning Island, and then returned to their lair and their egg.