Do not disturb the God of Fire, the God of Thunder, or the God of Ice lest the heavens and the earth become angry and the world will head toward destruction. The God of the Sea will appear to save the world from destruction it will not be able to stop it. A great trainer will appear and be the only one capable of quelling the gods' wrath.
Lugia
Morphs [Oak Catalog #]
- Lugia [249]
Physical Descriptions
Lugia is an enormous flying Pokémon whose body combines the features of both avians and cetaceans, resulting in a streamlined creature capable of surviving equally well in the air or beneath the sea. Lugia’s flesh is predominantly white with a blue underbelly. Its head rests atop a long and muscular neck, and in addition to a pointed crest at the back of its skull, two smaller blue crests run along its eyebrows; it possesses a rounded beak, not unlike that found in dolphins, which houses two large fangs on the lower jaw. The great beast’s arms terminate in four broad, flat fingers and a thumb, and are so strong that they can swiftly propel Lugia through the remarkable water pressure of the abyssal plane against even the strongest currents, or keep Lugia aloft while flying by flapping no more than once every ten seconds—six times a minute. The creature’s powerful hind legs end in three-toed feet that lack noticeable talons but provide excellent thrust while underwater and stability while on land. Finally, two parallel rows of four navy blue dorsal plates run down Lugia’s back, and its sinuous tail features two similarly-coloured spikes which form a rudder; these seem to function as ailerons, improving the great beast’s manoeuvrability while airborne and flattening to reduce drag when swimming against powerful currents.It is uncertain how many Lugia exist in the wild; while the inhabitants of the Whirl Islands claim that infant Lugia roost on the isles near their home, no evidence in support of this has ever been recovered. The creature’s gender, if any, has not been determined, although it is known to communicate telepathically in a calm, collected male voice; as such, most tales and legends which focus on Lugia refer to it by masculine titles and pronouns.
Lore and History
In Johto myth and legend, Lugia is considered to be a sacred animal and is worshipped as a god of the sea, the underworld and the weather, second only to its brother Ho-Oh. It is known by many names and titles across the world—the Great Dragon, the Guardian of the Sea, the Leviathan, Singer in Darkness, He of the Silver Wings, Soulstorm, the Fulcrum, the White Wanderer, the Living Moonlight and The Titan of the Abyss, to name but a few. It is the Lord and Master of the Triad of Fire, Ice and Lightning, and is the only being that can calm these Gods when the balance between them is disrupted.In addition to this, Lugia is the supreme deity of the predominant faiths of the Orange Archipelago, particularly the Jaffarange people of Shamouti Island. In one particular creation myth, Lugia is said to have fallen from heaven in a shooting star, and arrived on a barren, unformed lump of earth and chaos at the beginning of time. He used his phenomenal powers to shape this lump into the world, flapping his wings at gale force to carve mountains and flooding the lump with water to form the islands. When his labours were completed, Lugia looked upon his creation without satisfaction, for while he had created a paradise world, the weather was wild and untamed, and it lacked life.
To rectify this he impregnated the sea, the sky and the land with his divine essence, and the three each bore him a son—from the sea, Frost; from the sky, Lightning; and from the land, Flame. Once his sons were born, he took a lump of clay, fashioned it into many small figures, and sang to them in a voice so beautiful and perfect that the heavens themselves wept at its glory. Soon the figures responded to his song and began to sing as well, their forms changing and their clay falling away to reveal flesh; and thus were the first humans and the first Pokémon born into the world. His task complete, Lugia took to the sea to rest as his creation began to flourish and grow.
Interestingly enough, in addition to being the creator god of these myths Lugia is also the patron of musicians and song. One legend states that the Beast of the Sea was slumbering beneath the waves when he was awakened by a faint sound, carried into the depths from the surface far above. Intrigued, Lugia arose from the sea and cast his eye about the world, eventually finding the source of the noise—a young girl, blowing into a hollow bone and an empty shell. Lugia was impressed with the melody and power of the sounds, but felt that the girl could do better; and so he revealed himself to her, took the shell from her hands and put holes into it, thereby creating the first ocarina. He then sang with her and taught the girl the melody and lyrics of the world’s first song, the Cry of the Waves;
this stirring and powerful melody is held sacred by the Jaffarange people, and it is passed down from mother to daughter in the bloodline which eventually descended from that girl.
As a corollary to the above, the Cry of the Waves is believed to have the power to summon Lugia during times of crisis, and in tandem with the magic of the god’s shrine on Shamouti Island, can bring peace to turbulent weather and calm the Three Legendary Birds should their delicate balance be disrupted. Also, it is a widely-held belief amongst sailors that if one hears the distant melody of Lugia’s song while at sea, they shall be blessed with a long and peaceful life, and their death shall be painless and occur while they are with family and friends.
Known Sightings
As it spends much of its time far beneath the waves, Lugia is rarely seen by the people of the world. While it has been known to lair within the deepest caverns of the Whirl Islands and appears to have claimed the entirety of the Orange Archipelago as its demesne, the Titan of the Abyss has no real fixed abode; as such, numerous non-profit organizations dedicated to tracking the creature’s movements have sprung up over the years. Their findings have revealed that Lugia prefers to swim along El camino del dragón blanco, the vast current which circumnavigates the globe and appears to have a profound effect on Earth’s weather patterns; whether this is a result of Lugia’s presence or a complete coincidence has never been determined.The most well-documented sighting of Lugia occurred during what historians are now referring to as “the Millennial Crisis”—the period of chaotic and dangerous weather brought about when billionaire collector and international arms-dealer Geraldo Anthony Lawrence III—also known by the pseudonym Giraldan, or simply Lawrence III—captured Moltres and Zapdos in an attempt to claim the Guardian of the Sea for himself. The criminal’s selfish and egotistical actions drove the Gods of Frost, Lightning and Flame into a mindless frenzy which not even their Lord and Master could break, and the rampaging avians would surely have laid waste to the earth were it not for the intervention of a mysterious Pokémon Trainer and a priestess of the Jaffarange, who managed to fulfill the terms of an ancient prophecy which had foretold this catastrophe and calm the Legendary Birds with an unequalled performance of the Cry of the Waves. The Guardian of the Sea returned to its home beneath the waves shortly afterward, pausing only to honour the unnamed Trainer with a brief ride on its back.
Lugia was reported missing for the duration of the Cipher Incident in Orre, and sketchy reports made during this time speak of some manner of dark, corrupted Lugia who had been so thoroughly broken and twisted by the evil organization’s efforts that it adopted an inverted colour scheme and its eyes turned crimson; during the final months of the crisis, it is said that this nightmare beast—purportedly designated as “XD001”—ran rampant across the desert region, causing unimaginable death and destruction at Cipher’s command. While it is not clear whether this entity was the same Lugia—or, indeed, that it even existed in the first place—the Guardian of the Sea has been notably more skittish, less willing to let itself be observed for any length of time; sightings of Lugia have thus decreased exponentially, to the disappointment of Lugia watchers the world over.
Diet (if any)
While its sharp canines would suggest a carnivorous diet, it is not clear what Lugia eats, or if it even requires sustenance in the ordinary sense. If it needs to drink, it is hardly difficult for it to come by water, given that it lives deep beneath the sea. Though, considering marine vertebrates do often need to obtain freshwater from their prey, if it needs ordinary sustenance, it does so almost certainly by hunting.Abilities
It is said that Lugia spends so much time on the ocean floor because its powers are so great that they are incredibly difficult to control while on the surface. One myth of the Jaffarange people holds that Lugia, displeased with mankind’s increasingly corrupt and hedonistic nature, took to the skies and flapped its wings with such force that the entire world was covered in a vast hurricane and biblical floodwaters for forty days and forty nights; while this appears to be little more than myth at first glance, it is known that Lugia is capable of generating winds strong enough to shatter cliffs and mountainsides with a single beat of its wings.It is evident that Lugia is unhindered by the crushing water pressure of the abyssal plane, and even thrives in such an inhospitable environment; as such, its hide is incredibly tough and resistant to many forms of attack. Furthermore, it does not need to breathe while underwater despite having lungs, allowing it to survive with equal ease in nearly any environment. In spite of all this, and in spite of the fact that it possesses a strong water-bladder which allows it to expel potent jets of seawater from its mouth, Lugia is not a true Water-type Pokémon.
Instead, the creature is a potent Psychic-type, and possesses all the powers one would expect of such a being. In addition to the aforementioned telepathy, Lugia has displayed potent aerokinetic and hydrokinetic abilities, and can surround itself with a sphere of telekinetic force which blunts the strength of special attacks. It can also assault an opponent with an invisible barrage of psionic force, and it appears to be somewhat precognitive in that it can foresee what actions those around it will make in the immediate future and react accordingly.
As mentioned above, Lugia is an avid singer, and it can sometimes be heard leading pods of Wailmer, Wailord, and Dragonite in choral whale song; sonar examination has revealed that these songs also function as a form of echolocation, allowing Lugia to navigate the lightless depths of the ocean by sound alone.
Hazards
Lugia is a gentle and compassionate organism, not given to fits of violence or anger. That said, the beast is—quite rightly—considered a god by many of the world’s faiths, and while it is difficult to anger the Guardian of the Sea, once its ire has been roused it will demonstrate precisely why a god is not to be trifled with. Lugia’s power is extraordinary, being equivalent to Ho-Oh and the beasts of the Weather Triad, and it can end a fight swiftly no matter what sort of opposition it may face, be it with or without fatalities: a Team Aqua cell which had been sent to capture the Soulstorm for their own ends was quickly dispatched by a single flap of the Titan’s wings, and they awoke hours later to discover that they had been blown from Hoenn clear to Sinnoh, halfway across the world.As previously mentioned, Lugia’s tough hide and telekinetic barriers give it a potent defence that only the strongest of Rock-types could hope to break through, and it can deal with such enemies by expelling a pressurized jet of nearly one thousand gallons of seawater from its mouth. Furthermore, the devastating power of its signature ability—dubbed the Aeroblast by the media—is well-known from media coverage of the Millennial Crisis: by gathering and condensing air molecules in its mouth while using its aerokinetic powers to churn the resulting wind, Lugia is capable of firing a beam of hypersonic wind and ionized particles with enough speed and force to turn a mountain—or a flying fortress such as the one formerly used by Lawrence III—into a puddle of fine sand and iron filings.
To face down such awesome destructive power is suicide, so if one encounters Lugia in the wild, it is advisable that one does nothing to anger the Titan; Lugia tends to spare those foolish enough to challenge it more often than not, but the beast’s vast power is so difficult for it to control that more than a few accidental deaths have occurred as a result.
Other
Because of its immense religious significance, calm demeanour and tremendous power, Lugia has a recurring role in a number of video games produced by a well-known company which specializes in the roleplaying genre. In such games it typically appears as a powerful entity the player character must subdue late in the game so that he or she might call upon its power to unleash devastating attacks on enemy Pokémon; possessing it is typically optional, but it often makes battling the final boss of any particular game much less of a hassle.Written by Sullen Frog
