#249: Lugia

Film poster for the second Pokémon movie.

I am going to have so much fun writing this. This is even going to be the article I'm having the most fun writing since Togetic's entry, because Lugia is my second favorite Pokémon in existence. Of course, I fell in love with this thing when I saw the second Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie 2000: The Power of One. This movie also made me grow more affective towards Articuno, who is one of my favorite Pokémon ever and by far my favorite Kanto legendary. The plot is fairly simple: Lawrence III, a wealthy collector of the world's most valuable antiques, is out to capture the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres, but only in order to capture the more powerful Lugia. After Lawrence provokes Moltres by shooting ice cannons at its habitat and succeeds in capturing it on Fire Island, the world's climate begins to change. It seems that a prophecy, guarded by a talking Slowking, is about to come true and a disaster is on its way:

"Disturb not the harmony of fire, ice or lightning, lest these titans wreak destruction upon the world in which they clash. Though the water's great guardian shall arise to quell the fighting, alone its song will fail, and thus the Earth shall turn to ash. O Chosen One, into thine hands bring together all three. Their treasures combined tame the Beast of the Sea."

Lugia being awesome in the second Pokémon movie. It is using
Aeroblast in order to repel the iron triangles Lawrence III used
for capturing Moltres and Zapdos.

Meanwhile, Ash Ketchum and his friends Misty and Tracey - the latter of whom temporarily replaced Brock in the Orange Islands saga - end up in the middle of a storm, after which they get washed ashore on the beach of Shamouti Island. There, they meet the islanders, who are celebrating their annual festival following the prophecy's tale. When Ash is introduced as a Pokémon Trainer, the islanders become excited because they think he is the Chosen One spoken of in the prophecy (the "And thus the Earth shall turn to ash" part). Ash sets out on a mission and tries to retrieve the three glass orbs also spoken of in the prophecy, bringing them back to Shamouti's shrine where a girl called Melody will play the same tune she played at the festival - a tune similar to Lugia's cry. Of course, nothing goes as planned and Lawrence III even manages to capture Zapdos on Lightning Island, after which Ash teams up with Team Rocket in order to free Zapdos and the already captured Moltres. Once freed, the birds start to fight each other and venture out let Articuno, whom Lawrence is trying to capture at that moment, join the fight, destroying Lawrence's ship in the process. Lugia, noticing the commotion from the very bottom of the ocean, ascends and attempts to interrupt the fight. The rest of the movie shows Lugia getting injured, the legendary birds fighting each other, Lawrence III frustrating Ash's plans and Ash succeeding in bringing the orbs to the shrine. Peace returns and Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres return to their respective caves and Lugia returns to the bottom of the ocean.

Ritchie and Sparky (left) and Ash and his own Pikachu (right)
with the baby Lugia dubbed Silver, an obvious reference to the
game.  

I was absolutely awestruck by the appearance of Lugia when I first watched the movie, and when I caught it in the first game I ever played (Pokémon Silver) I trained it all the way up to level 100. It was the first Pokémon of mine reaching level 100 and I was mighty proud of it, goddammit. From then on, my love for Lugia became kind of an obsession, and I was absolutely ecstatic when Lugia appeared in an anime three-parter, consisting of the episodes "The Mystery Is History", "A Parent Trapped!" and "A Promise Is a Promise". In these, Ash and his friends bump into Ritchie, a boy whom Ash befriended earlier on in the Johto saga. Ritchie says he was told about a mysterious Pokémon and that he had spent extensive time researching the area. His story soon proves to be true when they meet a young boy called Oliver, who is acquainted with a baby Lugia he dubbed Silver. However, the young Lugia is accidentally discovered by Team Rocket (a scientist called Dr. Namba and a Rocket grunt, not Jessie and James), who capture it by luring it with a decoy. They hope to capture the parent Lugia soon, and they succeed when the furious parent whips up a storm upon hearing the news from Ash and Ritchie and falls right into their trap when it tries to rescue its child. Ash and Ritchie try to warn it, but are interrupted by Butch and Cassidy and ultimately end up in a cage in Team Rocket's underwater base themselves, along with Misty and Brock.

Lugia cuteness overload.

The last episode is probably the most action-packed one of the bunch, or at least the most suspenseful one. Dr. Namba enters the room where Ash and his friends are held and explains his evil plan: the head items Butch's Houndour and Cassidy's Hitmontop were wearing earlier in their fight with Ash and Ritchie are actually devices that enhance a Pokémon's energy, and Namba wants to use one of these amplifiers on the parent Lugia. Meanwhile, Oliver is still out and about and decides to go rescue the bunch. Upon entering Team Rocket's base he is helped by Jessie and James, who tell him where Ash and the rest are. Just as Dr. Namba is about to test his amplifiers on Pikachu and Sparky (Ritchie's Pikachu), Oliver quietly breaks into the room and punches in the lock code of the cage, enabling Ash to break out and slam himself into Namba.

After that they try to flee, but Namba sets off an alarm and the bunch is forced to fight Butch and Cassidy again. Luckily, Ash and Ritchie now know what the head items are for and order their Pikchu to destroy them and finish off Houndour and Hitmontop. As Butch and Cassidy flee the scene to ensure the parent Lugia doesn't go anywhere, they run into Jessie and James trying to set the Lugia free. A battle ensues and a dodged Flamethrower from the Houndour destroys one of the supports for the energy barrier that is keeping Lugia in. While Ash and Ritchie are stopped by Namba and his amplified Electabuzz when they try to rescue the baby Lugia, the parent Lugia severely damages the base, causing it to float to the water surface. Meanwhile, Ash's Pikachu distracts the Electabuzz so that Sparky has a chance to electrify Namba and his little controller for the energy amplifier.

Of course, the gang manage to free the baby Lugia and escape the base, but not before persuading the parent Lugia to stop going rampant and gaining its trust. This is demonstrated by a piece of debris falling on the gang, which is stopped by the parent Lugia when it sees they saved its child. In the evening, Lugia and its child head for the ocean, probably never to return.

Shadow Lugia from Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness.

You guys don't understand how much I ADORE Lugia. The three-episode Lugia arc is my favorite part of the anime, the second movie is my all-time favorite Pokémon movie, and the Crystal Lugia I have - although I have to say that I don't collect the TCG cards anymore - is the best card I possess. For the longest time Lugia was my favorite Pokémon ever, until Luxray came along in 2007 and Lugia was pushed back to a solid second place. Although... it might lose that spot to the recently revealed Torracat, because I am absolutely IN LOVE with that Pokémon already. Anyway, can you blame me for loving Lugia? Lugia manages to maintain a certain air of beauty and majesticness while still looking savage. It also seems to get more love from Game Freak, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company than its counterpart Ho-Oh, and rightfully so: it gets a movie and an anime three-parter, and it is the mascot of three games, making it the record holder of most number of times used as a game mascot. Silver and SoulSilver are obviously two of them, but a Shadow Lugia is proudly occupying the cover of Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, the GameCube follow-up to Pokémon Colosseum. In Gale of Darkness, the criminal organization Cipher have rekindled their desire for world domination and created a Shadow Lugia codenamed XD001, claimed to be immune to purification. Naturally, it is your objective to thwart Team Cipher's plans and rescue this Lugia.

Awesome realistic art of Lugia, who resembles a plesioaur in
this picture. No wonder, as it is probably based on one. 

But Lugia's origin plays a big role in my love for this Pokémon, too. As demonstrated by the image on the left, Lugia is probably based on the extinct plesiosaur, although the name could be a reference to the beluga whale. It could also come from 'lutetium', a silverish element, and the Latin lugeo, which means 'to lie dormant', alluding to the way Lugia lies at the bottom of the sea. Speaking about that, Lugia may be based on the Japanese Shintō god of the sea, the dragon Ryūjin, as the two have similarities in mythology and Lugia's shiny colors even match those of the coral Ryūjin's palace was made of. And the ocean floor seems to be a big part of the mysterious 'Guardian of the Seas': it isolates itself in a deep-sea trench and tends to sleep in solitude, because the storms it could hypothetically spawn by flapping its wings can last as long as 40 days and could potentially inflict devastating damage. It is said that even a light flutter of its wings is capable of causing winds powerful enough to tear down cliffs and blow apart regular houses. Because of these traits, many people believe Lugia should have been a water/flying type instead of a psychic/flying type, and I am inclined to agree with them. It doesn't take anything away from my love for it, but psychic is kind of a weird type for Lugia and I think it should have been a water type. Even some TCG cards erroneously depict it as a water type. Go figure.

This artist used Lugia's official art for their work,
but it looks absolutely amazing!

In the games, Lugia is not as powerful. Its base attack and special attack are 'only' 90, which are decent for common Pokémon but seem to be disappointing on a legendary Pokémon with a base stat total of 680. Luckily, base 90 special attack is very decent to work with, although its base 106 HP, 130 defense and 154 special defense make it more of a wall than an offensive threat. With base 110 speed it is even quite speedy, and you don't see a lot of tanks that can move fast in the competitive metagame. Lugia has access to Multiscale, which is an ability that lets Lugia take half the damage from an incoming move when it is at full HP, making it even more defensive. A Bold nature makes it physically defensive, while a Calm nature makes it specially defensive; both make sure its special attack isn't hindered. It is used to set up screens like Light Screen and Reflect, making your whole team take one hit after another. It can use Toxic or Thunder Wave to inflict a status condition on the foe, Whirlwind to remove opponents that are setting up from the battlefield, and Recover for some reliable healing - alongside a little Leftovers recovery every turn. The Smogon set mentions Roost, but I'd recommend Recover; it is easily learned by Lugia at level 71, heals the same amount of HP as Roost does, has more PP and doesn't make Lugia vulnerable to ground-type moves the following turn. And if you do want an offensive Lugia, I'd recommend a Timid nature and the held item Choice Specs, because its special movepool is better than its physical movepool - although on both sides of the spectrum it learns conspicuously many water-type moves. Hmm...

Lugia (left) battling Shadow Lugia (right). And there is even more amazing fan art to
be found on the Internet; I'd recommend you go check it out.

Man, man, man. This Pokémon will probably never lose its spot as my second favorite Pokémon (the Torracat comment was a joke, although I'm absolutely fanboying over that adorable Pokémon already); I thought it was harsh to let Luxray dethrone Lugia as my favorite Pokémon, but I cannot control my feelings for certain Pokémon. This is also one of the longest articles I've written - Pikachu and Eevee's are longer, I think - but Lugia is worth every second I've spent writing about it. Although it has been pushed back to a second place, that second place is still nothing to sneeze at; and in any case, it is still my favorite legendary Pokémon ever. Just sayin'.

Rating: 5/5