Winona sent Pelipper out. It circled down to the water and sat, waiting.
"Return, Skarmory!" Winona shouted. Skarmory vanished into its pokéball, and Winona fell through the air, landing on top of Pelipper, who formed a bubble. Falkner followed. Then, Pelipper began to search the inky darkness.
"How will we ever find Lugia like this?" Falkner asked impatiently. His old, disapproving self had returned.
"Why don't you think about that?" Winona replied angrily. "Do you think I know?"
"Really, no one can talk to you without getting scolded!" he shouted back.
"Sorry." Winona suddenly quietened down. She sighed. If she wanted to get on with life, she had to stop acting so hostile.
Suddenly, Winona spotted a white shape far ahead, lying on the dark seabed, barely visible. Could it be? Lugia? It might just be her wild imagination…
Falkner looked intently ahead as well. He had seen it too!
"Pelipper, straight ahead!" Winona commanded, feeling fresh hope. It had to be Lugia.
As the two went ahead towards the faint shape, it became clearer and clearer. It was glowing—definitely Lugia.
Finally, they reached Lugia, and saw its massive body curled up like it was about to sleep.
About to sleep?
"Lugia!" Falkner shouted. He quickly began to explain why this was bad. "When Lugia sleeps to heal, it takes at least a day. And during that time, Lugia will be unable to defend itself, since it isn't in the glass cavern! Who knows, Mewtwo might have healed by then!"
"Alright, so…there's got to be a way to wake it up!" Winona replied determinedly.
However, Falkner had noticed something else. A darker shape, lying on the seabed. Kyogre, he thought. Maybe there was a higher chance of reviving Kyogre first.
Suddenly, the massive shape before Falkner gave a deep groan.
"Won…the…battle?" it asked weakly. The huge pokémon tried to rise, but fell back to the seabed again, defeated.
"Yes, we won," Winona replied, turning to where Kyogre was.
"Good then," it replied. "Can…you…heal me?"
"I might be able to, with Altaria…" she suggested. "With a new move I invented. Kind of like the opposite of Perish Song. It revives with a song, but it's not perfected yet. One wrong note and…"
"So it," Falkner encouraged. "You must try everything." Winona nodded.
Winona took in a deep breath. "Altaria! Life Song!" she shouted, sending Altaria out. Altaria began to sing a sequence of notes, each note ringing wonderfully, and combining to form a spell-like tine. All this while, Kyogre listened. Winona was concentrating hard to keep Altaria singing the right notes, Falkner could tell from the expression on her face.
Finally, the song ended. Kyogre, completely healed, rose up into the water. Falkner heaved a sigh of complete relief.
"That seems to have worked," Kyogre said thankfully. "It seems I now owe you a favour."
"Alright, we've got to wake Lugia up now, somehow," Winona said, her face in a worried frown.
Suddenly, something surfaced in the back of Falkner's mind, something he had heard from his father long ago…
All of a sudden, the memory came flooding back.
"Falkner, you know, you've got to succeed me as the Violet City gym leader someday?" his father had said to him.
"But I'm not going to be as good!" He had replied.
"Well, son, you've got to try and believe in yourself," his father had said in encouragement. "Our first gym leader, one of my forefathers, was chosen by Lugia, and all his descendants were meant to be good gym leaders."
"But I thought Lugia was the guardian of the sea. Why aren't we a water type gym?" Falkner had replied in disbelief.
"Lugia might rule the sea, but it's actually a flying type," His father had answered. "Its energy comes from the sky. And it will awaken if any of us goes into its glass cavern."
Suddenly, Falkner's thoughts flew back to the present. And now, he knew why Lugia had woken up so easily. But now, Lugia would not wake up, even though he was there. It was resting.
Falkner knew how it would be awoken. "I know what to do!" he shouted. "Its energy comes from the skies, and that will be what will give it energy! We need to get some air to it!"
"I think I can do that," Kyogre suddenly said, swimming upwards gracefully. The surface of the water, lit by the milky moonlight, began to ripple and swirl, slowly at first, but getting more and more violent, until a whirlpool had formed. Then with a final effort, the whirlpool suddenly reached down like a straight arm, and hit Lugia's figure. And it became a column of air, spinning through the seawater, the moonlight shining within it.
Slowly, the light within the path of air and moonlight grew. That was when Falkner realised that Lugia was glowing as well. Its feathers shone like the moon, casting light upwards through the tunnel of water.
The three watched in wonder as Lugia's glow grew even brighter, throwing white light on the seabed all around. Everything was visible underwater.
"I'm sorry I fell asleep," Lugia's magical voice echoed from all around in the blinding light. "You've helped me heal. The moonlight gives me energy." None of them moved. The glow was still increasing, and slowly, everything disappeared in the light, overwhelming and pure.