The miniature submarine descended for about a minute.
Yet, it still hadn't reached the seabed.
During the descent, its cameras clearly captured a multitude of wild marine Pokémon.
Schools of Mantine and Mantyke glided past, accompanied by Remoraid like loyal satellites—a truly spectacular sight.
As it went deeper...
Qwilfish and Luvdisc flickered across the lens.
The former had a torpedo-like evolution hundreds of years ago, yet in the modern era, that evolution had vanished—a strange biological mystery.
As for the latter..., Kashiwagi had always felt it was perhaps the simplest design in the entire Pokémon franchise.
Deeper still...
They finally reached the ocean floor.
Shellder could be seen opening and closing their shells, while Chinchou hugged the seabed, searching for a late-night snack.
Despite the pitch-black environment, the scene was serene and harmonious.
Kashiwagi felt as if he were watching a nature documentary on national geography, his mind growing calm.
Suddenly, Yanagihara spoke up.
"Do you mind if I watch this at high speed?"
"Uh, please, go ahead."
"Alright then."
He pressed a key, and the footage instantly became a blur.
The fish Pokémon swimming by turned into fleeting shadows, and the speakers began to emit a slightly jarring, high-pitched screech.
What was this?
Sixteen times speed?
Thirty-two?
"Can you even see anything like that?"
Kashiwagi couldn't help but ask.
"I don't need to see everything clearly. I just need to spot the key moments," Yanagihara replied with a smile.
"Isn't our goal to see if the sub detected Lugia and if they were deliberately pursuing it?"
"...Fair point."
Kashiwagi realized he had been so captivated by the vibrant underwater world that he had nearly forgotten his original intent.
The International Police were certainly professional—unswayed by the scenery.
The video continued to fly by.
Someone thoughtfully brought over a chair.
Kashiwagi thanked them and sat down, focusing intently on the screen.
Unfortunately, he hadn't mastered the dao of "high-speed viewing".
After ten minutes of watching the blurry images zip past, he felt a wave of motion sickness.
At that moment, the sub received a command to surface for maintenance.
Yanagihara lowered the speed back to normal to hear the crew's exchange.
Frustratingly, the maintenance staff provided no useful information before sending the sub back down.
The screen went black.
"Is that it?"
Kashiwagi rubbed his temples and asked softly.
"No, that was only the first video. There are eight in total, all of varying lengths. Combined, it's about forty hours of footage," Yanagihara replied, checking the file list.
"Don't worry, it'll go fast. Roughly an hour. If you can't handle it, feel free to take a break. I can handle this."
"...Please, let me keep watching." Kashiwagi shook his head.
He hadn't forgotten his mission.
Even if the search for Lugia was mostly a "hook" or an excuse given to him by Yamamino, he couldn't bear to miss it if the legend was actually right in front of him.
He would just have to endure the dizziness.
Yanagihara glanced at him but said nothing more, opening the next file and resuming the high-speed playback.
Time ticked away.
...
...
Though they still hadn't spotted any sign of Lugia, they noticed through the maintenance segments that the operation was based on a large ship. Each time the sub was serviced, the ship had moved to a different sector for exploration.
Clearly, the sub's deployment wasn't just to test Dr. Akihabara's invention; it was also for the seabed data collection Shelly had mentioned earlier.
She had been honest about that much.
What piqued Kashiwagi's curiosity, however, was what happened right before the sub exploded.
A ship that large... yet those two thieves managed to find an opening to steal uniforms because of the blast?
Something significant must have occurred prior to the explosion.
With that thought, he continued to watch.
Just as Yanagihara opened the second last video, a long, melodic cry suddenly erupted from the speakers.
It sounded like a song, a deep whale-like moan mixed with a sharp, piercing note.
"Stop!"
Kashiwagi shouted.
Yanagihara's hand hit the pause button at the exact same moment.
"What is it?"
the officer asked, turning his head.
Kashiwagi countered,
"Did you hear that sound just now?"
"It sounded like a pod of Wailord. Is there a problem?" Yanagihara looked confused.
Kashiwagi shook his head vigorously.
"No! That wasn't a Wailord! They sound similar, but that definitely wasn't it. That melody—"
As a Pokémon fan who had watched The Power of One countless times, that familiar melody was practically written into his DNA!!
He could never forget it.
That was Lugia's cry.
"You're saying that was Lugia?"
Yanagihara hit play, and a pod of Wailord indeed swam across the screen.
It was an awkward moment for Kashiwagi, but he remained resolute.
"Seriously, that was Lugia! Listen closely—it has a melody. Wailord don't sing in melodies."
He dragged the progress bar back, and the song-like cry filled the room again.
"..."
The ordinary-looking man went silent for a moment.
He turned and shouted toward the back, "Gia! Are you still awake?"
Five seconds later, a woman wearing a sleep mask sat up.
"What is it... Captain?"
"I need you to pull the Lugia vocal data from the database!"
Yanagihara barked.
"Move it!"
"Right away!"
The officer named Gia jumped up and typed rapidly at her station. A sound file popped up on Yanagihara's screen. With a few clicks, he opened a piece of analysis software.
Two waveforms appeared: one from the video, and one from the official International Police records of Lugia.
He pressed the comparison button.
Two cries filled the speakers, and on the screen, the colored wavelengths jumped and merged into one.
"Looks like you were right,"
Yanagihara said to Kashiwagi.
Kashiwagi merely nodded, too focused to speak.
With the presence of Lugia confirmed, Yanagihara slowed the playback from 32x to 8x. The footage was still terrifyingly fast, but Kashiwagi found himself adapting??
He stared at the screen, hoping to catch a glimpse of that specific silhouette.
As if answering his call, just as the sub plummeted into a deep ocean trench, a flash of silver light—almost imperceptible—streaked across the bottom of the camera's view.
Yanagihara paused the video with lightning reflexes, rewound, and zoomed in.
Silver-white downy feathers and a dark blue back fin came into view.
There was no mistaking it: that was Lugia.
Yanagihara remained silent for a moment, then dropped the speed to 2x.
On the screen, the Porygon piloting the sub seemed to have detected it as well.
Without hesitation, it turned and gave chase, increasing its speed to the maximum.
More and more of Lugia's form appeared in the frame.
However, the legendary beast didn't seem to notice the mechanical intruder.
It swam freely, eventually turning into a crevice in the trench wall and vanishing.
The sub followed closely.
As it squeezed through the gap, an incredible scene unfolded!
It was an underwater cave—one that allowed for surfacing into a pocket of air deep beneath the sea!