2. No Slight Complication

Raios sat on the bleachers by the side of the pool and watched his first-ever aquatic battle.

The two Pokémon involved fought one-on-one, darting around in the water after each other. Their Trainers stood on opposite ends of the pool, giving out commands. "Aqua Jet!" said one, and her red fish Pokémon blasted through the water in a blurry spray.

"Here it comes!" warned her opponent. He seemed to know it was no use dodging, because he simply told his Sharpedo to prepare for the hit. When the inevitable collision came, the Sharpedo recovered quickly and snapped at the red fish before it could escape.

But rather than watch the Trainers yell the whole time, Raios tuned them out and listened to their Pokémon.

"Aagh, my tail!" cried the red fish as he swam away. He inspected his injury quickly. "Well… it's gonna take more than that to take me down!"

The Sharpedo circled around. "Sorry about that," he called. "If it makes you feel better, you taste pretty good. I think." He charged forward, paying only minimal attention to his target. "I didn't get a good bite though—"

"Eat this!" cried the red fish, jumping from the water to avoid his opponent. When he reentered the pool he did a twisting move, turning the whole motion into a powerful water attack. The Sharpedo got caught in the current, and he cried out when it threw him against the wall of the pool.

"You know what else tastes good?" the red fish taunted. "Victory!"

"What kind of move was that?! I think I broke a tooth!" whined the Sharpedo. The match seemed to be over, so he gently swam to the surface. "My Trainer didn't help me at all."

"It's okay," said the red fish. He followed the Sharpedo, saying, "It took forever for Annie and me to get the hang of battling."

"It's just that… I want to do things, but then my Trainer says to do something else… and then I usually get hit… and then yelled at." The Sharpedo groaned. "And then I lose."

"You didn't do that bad," said the red fish as his Trainer talked to the Sharpedo's. "It's just that you got me as an opponent!"

"I'm hungry," was the Sharpedo's response. "You know, maybe we can train together. I wonder if our Trainers are gonna be friends."

"That'd be pretty cool. Do you have a name?"

"Sharpy."

"Cool. I'm Basco. Wanna be pals?"

"Okay… pals. Eghh, I'm sore all over… and hungry."

As the Pokémon talked on, a black-haired woman in a lab coat approached Raios, drawing his attention away from Basco and Sharpy. "Hey you," she said. "Are you the quote-unquote 'Lugia expert' trying to get into the veterinary wing?" she asked.

"Probably," said Raios.

He was on the front row, so the woman sat on the bleachers next to him and offered her hand to shake. "Well. I'm Lynn. I'm the principal marine veterinarian here."

"Are you the one taking care of the Lugia?"

"I am." She gazed out at the pool, where Basco and Sharpy were playing with each other. "I'll be brief—our policy is that you can only get in the veterinary side of this building if you're staff or one of your Pokémon is in our care. Lugia enthusiasts don't qualify as either, so you can't get in normally… but I'm talking to you right now because you might be in a position to help me. There's a problem with Lugia that none of us have figured out. It's mystery enough for a TV medical drama." Lynn turned to Raios. "What I think is that we need someone who knows about Lugia to inform us. There has to be something we don't know about him at the root of this."

"You can trust me." From the way Lynn presented her problem so vaguely, Raios felt she had yet to do so.

"Good." She stood up. "So, what's your name?"

"Andrew Raios. You can call me Raios."

"Well. I'm sure you won't object if we head to the veterinary wing right now. Follow me—but remember I can kick you out at any time."

"The Marine Center started as a water-type Gym, you know," said Lynn as she led Raios down the wide white hallway. "With Olivine City by the sea and all, I think it would've been a good fit. But we have a steel Gym for some reason."

"Do you battle people?" Raios asked.

"Well. I used to. I've been way too busy for that lately. What about you?"

"I like watching, I guess. Listening to the Pokémon give it their all."

"Listening?"

"You know what I mean."

As they walked down the hall, they occasionally passed other employees. About half were wearing wetsuits, and most of them gave Raios long looks as he went by. The reactions were pretty evenly divided between good humor and suspicion.

"We have a decent number of pools here," Lynn continued. "We use them for Pokémon research as well as care. The city's Pokémon Centers give us any water-dwelling Pokémon they can't accommodate." Lynn turned and pushed open a wide double door. "We rarely take in wild Pokémon, but you can imagine how exceptional this one is."

They came to an indoor pool about as large as the battling pool, but with a long sloping shallow end facing the door. A large white figure rested there at the slope's top, where the tiled floor angled gently into the water. He slept belly-up in a few inches of water, his neck slightly curled. A clear tube went into his nose, but he still breathed regularly, his mouth hung open just a crack.

He had minor cuts and bruises in several places, and bandages attached to or wrapped around his body seemed to conceal any more severe injuries. One wing was hidden in a thick cast. The nose tube and a few waterproof cables trailed from him to a dry corner of the room, where medical instruments reported how he was faring. Raios glanced from those devices to the sleeping figure—everything seemed to be physically okay, but Raios couldn't detect any mental activity.

"I know he looks fine," said Lynn, "but his state is gradually worsening. Healing has slowed significantly. And he doesn't wake up. Go ahead and look at him however you like, Raios—just don't do anything idiotic." She retreated to a bench a few feet away by the wall, where she picked up a clipboard and watched.

Raios walked up to the sleeping body, making thin ripples as he went. The young Lugia was small compared to his father, but he still outsized any human. Raios guessed the kid would be around seven feet tall if he stood up, and who knows how heavy.

"Well. Here's the specific problem," Lynn said. "Lugia isn't waking up. He's in a comatose state. We are clueless as to how it started, because none of his injuries could have possibly caused this condition."

"Hold on," said Raios. "Who's the 'we' you keep using? So far all I've seen is you."

"Myself… and a couple of other vets from the Marine Center. At first we needed help from the Pokémon Center, but now it's just me. No use having a team of people now, when there are others to take care of."

"A coma… "

"It means he won't respond to anything. He is completely unconscious, and unwakeable."

"I know what it means." Raios feared the worst. "So his mind is gone?"

"If so, it is inexplicable." Lynn shook her head. "None of the injuries are to his head."

Raios felt his shoes soaking through, so he moved to sit next to Lynn. "So the problem is all about Lugia's mind. How much do you know about their psychic powers?"

"Nothing. I know they're supposed to exist, but this Lugia gave no evidence of any psychic abilities."

"They are very powerful psychics." Raios glanced over at Lynn's clipboard, but she placed it on the far side of the bench before he could read anything. "You know this is a young one, right?"

"Well. I considered that, due to the accounts of Lugia being much larger. But if this is a young one, is there a population of Lugia? How rare are they? And if there are multiple Lugia out there, one would think some Trainers would have caught some by now. I'd imagine their strength to be alluring."

"There is only one Lugia," explained Raios, "but before that one becomes too old he raises a son to be his successor."

"Interesting… can Lugia still reproduce if this offspring is lost?"

Raios gazed at Lugia's son. "I don't know."

"I agree. I can't bear to think that Lugia is at risk of extinction here." Lynn stood up, taking her clipboard with her. "Well. It's noon, and I can't stand racking my brain over this all day. I have other concerns to worry about, and I can't have you alone in here with Lugia, so—"

"Wait, why not?"

Lynn paused before she spoke, like a parent dumbing something down for her kid. "If someone finds you here, you'll get kicked out and I'll get in trouble. If you leave now like I ask, then only the former will have taken place." Lynn pushed open the door, and Raios reluctantly followed her into the hallway. "I can only free up my mornings to be here like this, so you'll have to come back tomorrow," she continued. "How can I contact you in case I need something?"

Raios had no phone. "I'll be back tomorrow, don't worry."

"Do you not have a phone? Where are you staying?"

"I… over by the beach."

"Oh no—did the storm compromise your home?"

"No. I just don't live live around here."

"Ah, let me guess—you're camping out like a Trainer. Honestly, I can hardly imagine someone your age going without a phone. It'd be wise to get one, so you can stay in touch with people you meet in your travels."

Raios had hardly any money, but a phone seemed like a useful device to have. "Where can I get one around here?"

"Well. There's a large electronics store near the waterfront. But I'm not sure when it'll reopen… that area experienced some significant flooding." Lynn flipped through the pages on her clipboard. "Do you think there's any connection between Lugia and the bizarre tempest we had a few days ago? The legends say Lugia has some sort of power over storms."

"You definitely found him after the storm… but since he's a young one, I don't think so. The bad weather probably just overpowered him."

"Poor creature."

They reached the lobby, where Lynn gestured at the door. "Well. Thank you for the information. I know we didn't get much closer to solving the problem, but by tomorrow I think we'll have a course of action. And more time."

"Okay," said Raios. He made for the door, but then he remembered something. "Do you mind if I bring someone else, too, eventually? He's as much of a Lugia expert as I am, maybe even more."

"Well." Lynn shrugged. "Sure. But this needs to be as low-profile as possible."

"Is that why you asked me and not some professional?"

"…Yes."

"Well, I'm glad you did."

"…Have a good afternoon, Raios."

Raios left the Marine Center feeling relieved—he was no longer under Lynn's scrutiny, and Lugia's son was safe too. The coma part worried him, obviously—but the mind had to be in there somewhere, and if Raios worked together with Lugia their psychic strength could probably work to save it.

Raios decided to think about it more when he talked to Lugia, and he spent the rest of the day fishing on an isolated rocky shore. He caught several fish, but they were wild and didn't speak. He briefly wanted to capture one, to watch as it miraculously became able to talk like Basco or Sharpy, but he didn't have any Poké Balls. He tossed each fish back into the ocean before they could send any attacks his way.

"Ah, Raios!"

Lugia had noticed Raios immediately this time. "I was wondering when you would appear," he said. "Sleep continues to evade me, so I devoted the spare hours to physical reduction. Observe how I have become smaller, just as I promised!" He spread his wings, as if demonstrating their reduced span. "What an exhilarating development! The world around me has become twice as spacious! I feel light and agile, as well."

"You're still big as a boat."

"I am not finished, that much is true." Lugia looked himself over. "By tomorrow, however, I will likely be small enough to walk beside you."

"So, for what I found out today," Raios said. "Some good news and some bad news."

"As is always the case..."

"The good news is that I got to see your son today. They let me see him, I mean. He's hurt, but they're taking care of him, and none of his physical injuries look like anything to worry about in the long run."

"They?"

"This veterinarian named Lynn. She's like a doctor for marine animals. She's kinda stuffy, but I think she cares a lot."

"He is healing, then." Lugia gave a small sigh of relief, but then he asked, "Did you not speak to him? Is there still a problem?"

"That's the bad news… he was out cold the whole time. He had no mental activity at all. Lynn said he's in a coma."

Lugia sighed, and what remained of his cheer evaporated. "If there is such a thing as luck, mine has been rather cruel these past few days," he reflected after a minute. "Is the condition permanent? Indefinite?"

"I don't know. And they don't know how it happened. None of the injuries were to his head."

"So now we must deal with this as well. This is no slight complication." Lugia didn't bother to conceal his feelings of bitterness and frustration—anything to avoid falling into despair. "I know you're a persistent advocate for the humans, Raios, but I just can't bring myself to believe that this isn't their doing!"

"We should just worry about the coma itself for now, not who started it."

Lugia shook his head. "Regardless, I refuse to wait here any longer," he declared. "I am intimately connected with my son—and until I can reestablish that bond in person, we are stumbling around in the dark and squandering our time."

"I know... but you're still too big to come with me, Lugia."

"As a human, perhaps. But I have devised another plan—I can pose instead as a creature belonging to you. I can transform tonight and locate you in the morning—not as Lugia, but as a common animal! And most importantly of all, I can leave the human interaction to you."

"But if I'm going to be your owner, you'll have to actually obey me." Raios couldn't imagine Lugia taking orders, let alone commands from humans.

The not-so-big guy nodded gently. "I'm happiest to obey you of all people, Raios, never fear. Just protect me from those capture spheres of theirs."

"I have no idea how they work. But if you stick by me, no one should throw any at you." Raios was a bit wary of them, too—he had been inside one once, but all he could remember was breaking free and fleeing as fast as he could.

"They seem like portable prisons... but the effects that they have on the captured animals are quite interesting," yawned Lugia. "They border on the miraculous. And even I cannot deny that strong bonds sometimes form between humans and their caught companions."

"You know, you should probably start transforming now," Raios prompted. "The sooner the better."

"Yes. We can discuss things at length later." Lugia watched Raios expectantly. "Good night, friend!"

"…What, I can't watch?"

"I can assure you that you won't want to observe my clumsy motions, as I get accustomed to my new form, for the rest of the night," said Lugia. "I can locate you on my own tomorrow—just enjoy a dream or two and allow me to surprise you."

"Before I go, I have a question for you," Raios said.

Lugia tilted his head. "What kind of question?"

"Can you control the weather?"

"Oh. To some degree, yes. What I have over the weather is influence, not control. It is an unusual power—when a storm brews, I sometimes feel it should be stronger or weaker, and I exert myself to make it so."

"Why would you want to make a storm worse?"

"My son would… ask the very same question. I know not of a strictly logical reason, but when I magnify the weather's intensity I experience an exhilarating catharsis. I like to imagine it has the same effect on the ocean. These inclinations are primal, from deep within—inexplicable perhaps, but I do not question my role on nature's stage."

"What did you feel about last week's storm?" Raios asked. "Lynn said it was bizarre."

"Indeed it was." Lugia floated on his back, staring up at the distant jagged ceiling of his flooded cave. "I… I quell storms on occasion too, that should be clear… but I can't strive to make the weather perpetually clement! Surely you know about such concepts as nature's balance. There will be beautiful days, and there will be storms. Who am I to interfere with that system? I simply act on my instincts."

Raios nodded slowly, letting Lugia's somewhat flustered argument sink in. "I guess you're right. It's just that the storm ruined some human settlements…"

"I'm a guardian of the sea, friend. Not of humankind." Lugia looked stern, but after a few moments he shook his head. "That sounded crass. I apologize, Raios. I know you care about their well-being."

"Good." Raios yawned, which was interesting because he was already sleeping. "I'd love to go back and forth about humans yet again, but I think I need some real sleep."

Lugia laughed. "Yes, of course! The brief exchange of last night was certainly enough. We have more pressing matters to fret about." After Raios vanished, he sank into the water and prepared himself for another sleepless night.