Legendary creatures like Moltres and Articuno are considered as Legendary Beasts because they possess ability values far exceeding those of ordinary Pokemon and exist in extremely limited numbers. Among the Legendary Beasts, those with divine powers are called deities.
Sea God Lugia belongs to the Divine Domain of the Johto Region.
It is on the same level as Ho-Oh, and together with Ho-Oh, they are referred to as the Gold and Silver Twin Gods of the Johto Region.
However, due to certain events, Ho-Oh became utterly disappointed in humans and has never appeared before them again. To this day, it has been centuries since anyone has seen Ho-Oh's trace.
While Lugia appears slightly more often than Ho-Oh, its appearances are still relatively scarce, only slightly better than Ho-Oh.
The divine power Lugia controls is ocean currents. Because it has resided in the sea for many years and can control the currents of the ocean, it is called the Sea God, although it does not actually possess the Water Attribute.
Every region has its resident deity, except for Kanto...
This information was told to Ash by the experts in the group. When Ash learned that Kanto didn't have its own deity, he was stunned. What? Is Kanto so lacking in prestige? Other regions generally have two or more Legendary Beasts, and yet Kanto has none?
The only Legendary Beast Kanto could claim would probably be the man-made deity Mewtwo. Who would have thought that Team Rocket's creation would be Kanto's biggest name...
The power possessed by deities is incredibly terrifying, and having divine powers means that their strength has at least reached the Divine Domain Level.
Not all Legendary Beasts can reach the Divine Domain, but Legendary Beasts with divine powers are certainly at the Divine Domain Level.
For Pokemon like Moltres, it's extremely difficult for their clan to produce a Divine Domain Level existence, almost impossible except for the clan leader with divine powers.
But for top-tier Legendary Beasts like Lugia and Rayquaza, their clans can still produce two or three at the Divine Domain Level.
This is the advantage brought by the clan, an innate talent.
For clans like theirs, even a newborn is likely to possess Gym Level strength or higher, and it won't take long to become an Elite Champion. Advancing before reaching the Divine Domain Level is as easy as eating and drinking.
But now Cynthia is saying... Ash doubted his ears; otherwise, why would he hear the champion speaking nonsense?
"Um, Cynthia, did you misspeak? You want us to protect Sea God Lugia? Lugia could just blow a breath at us, and we would likely be sent flying eighty thousand miles away, probably the other way around." Even the usually lighthearted Brock had to get serious in front of Cynthia.
Isn't it an absurdity for them to protect the Sea God?
"Indeed, I made a slight mistake in my wording. To be precise, it's not the Sea God, but only Lugia."
Upon hearing this, Brock and the others let out a small sigh of relief, but then they were flabbergasted again. Sea God and Lugia... what's the difference?
Cynthia finally stopped keeping them guessing. She took out a black and gold Pokeball, walked to the center of the living room, and opened it in front of everyone.
A presence appeared in front of everyone, looking much like a bird-like Pokemon but completely black.
Its wings resembled large hands, and behind it were small tail fins in dark blue. Even though its overall color was black, it couldn't hide the fact that this Pokemon looked quite adorable.
However, upon seeing this Pokemon, Ash and his friends' expressions changed dramatically. While it was indeed cute, this shouldn't be this Pokemon's true form at all, because aside from its color, this Pokemon looked exactly like Sea God Lugia!!
But Lugia's size should surpass that of Pidgeot, even approaching twice its size. Currently, Lugia's size can only be described as tiny, comparable only to Pidgeotto, and the size difference is too vast compared to the real Lugia.
And the external color is different, too. Is this really Lugia?
"No need to doubt. This is indeed Lugia, just in its juvenile stage. Moreover, look at its condition. Ash, come over." Cynthia beckoned Ash over. Ash, who was already ready to inspect, swiftly moved in front of Little Lugia.
Cynthia paid no mind to Ash's nearly sticking-close presence, instead focusing with him on the seemingly inert Little Lugia on the ground.
Ash placed his hand on Lugia, closed his eyes, and both his Power of Viridian and Aura Power surged in. Almost instantly as both forces entered, his Aura Power faced repulsion, while the Power of Viridian smoothly went in.
However, the moment the Power of Viridian entered, it seemed to be getting transformed by some force.
Ash's expression tensed, and his Aura Power surged forth, scattering the slight resistance away.
Aura Power successfully entered Little Lugia and firmly repelled the force observing the Power of Viridian.
A moment later, Ash opened his eyes and withdrew his hand from Little Lugia.
"There's... a force of Dark Attribute within Little Lugia, constantly eroding it. This force has already transformed the Psychic Type inside Little Lugia. Now Little Lugia's attributes are Dark and Flying, but this force is still continuously eroding Little Lugia's Life Force. If left unchecked like this, Little Lugia might be in life-threatening danger."