Lizabeth's family takes the heroes through the river system, and Jackie tells the heroes that they have to leave, because this is Pokemon Ranger's job. Even though he's happy to involve Lizabeth's family and he wouldn't have succeeded thus far without the heroes' help. And Manaphy is only comfortable with May. At a port town, Lizabeth's family takes their boat (that they never mentioned before) and leave the heroes behind. To no one's surprise but the characters in this movie, Manaphy immediately starts screaming as it leaves May, so Manaphy switches Ash's and Jackie's bodies because... uh... Well, that is, I...
Cut to the next scene, where the heroes are on the boat and Ash and Jackie switched back. Jackie explains that Manaphy has an ability called Heart Swap that swaps peoples' bodies for a short time. Believe it or not, this is the last time Heart Swap will be mentioned in the movie. Once they're out at sea, May lets Manaphy into the ocean to guide the boat, which it does for a few days, the lunar eclipse drawing ever closer.
There is now a preposterous amount of padding. It’s several minutes of Manaphy leading the boat and playing with wild water pokemon, it’s just that. At one point, Ash asks Jackie why he became a Ranger, but other than that, nothing. It’s just Manaphy dicking around.
Finally, Manaphy learns the phrase "I love you" from May and manages to repeat it, so he tells May that she needs to separate herself from Manaphy: if it grows too close to her, it won't want to leave her. It's destined to become the leader of all the Sea Temple pokemon (no, I didn't cut that out earlier, it was never mentioned before), and May realizes that she might be causing a problem. As May mulls this over, Manaphy keeps telling her that it loves her.
Cut to the pirates, who are following the heroes. What a necessary scene.
Cut to the ship anchored for the night as Manaphy sings. Yeah, apparently it can do that. It attracts a huge audience of water pokemon that want to listen to it while May continues to think about what Jackie said.
The next day, May loses her bandana to a sudden gust of wind, so Manaphy goes after it. The heroes think it got lost, so the four of them and Lizabeth take the submarine (I guess they have a submarine, too?) to follow it. Yes: none of the adults go in the submarine, but Max, a seven year-old child, does, and this is after Jackie explained that as a Ranger he’s the only person suited for this kind of thing. When the heroes find Manaphy, May realizes that she can’t let it go, and decides to ignore Jackie’s advice.
Manaphy leads the heroes into the Sea Temple (which I guess they were right next to?), and Phantom follows them in a minisub by himself, not taking the larger submarine with all of his men because... Well, because. Even though it was light outside a few minutes ago, the lunar eclipse begins, and the Sea Temple is now visible.
When they reach the temple, Manaphy sings again, and the temple sings back, and a way opens for them. Manaphy leads the heroes to the Sign of the Sea Crown, a tablet written in ancient... People of the Waterian, I guess. None of them can read it, but Phantom shows up and just so happens to be literate in an obscure, ancient language that even the descendants of the people who wrote it can’t read. He translates: whoever wears the crown behind the doors behind this tablet shall be the King of the Sea. Ash is ready to attack him, he warns everyone that even if they all attack him at once, he would still win, and everyone seems to take his word for it, I guess, even though none of them have seen him fight. Then again, if they did, they would probably try attacking him, given that he owns a Parasect, Pinsir, and Chatot.
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Not changing this sig until I decide to change this sig.
Started: July 6, 2005