Inside the flooded cable car, Sapphire shoves Flannery out of the way of Sharpedo's attack, much to Matt’s amusement. He taunts the girls, asking whether Sapphire is going for a world record by holding her breath for over four minutes. Flannery is losing consciousness, though, and Sapphire realizes she needs to find a way to let them both breathe before she can hope to counterattack. Matt sends Sharpedo after them again to finish them both, but Sapphire calls out Rono, and its Iron Defense takes the force of Sharpedo's bite, breaking off many of Sharpedo's teeth. Matt isn't fazed, explaining that Sharpedo's fangs grow back immediately, and a weakened Sapphire falls against the glass window of the cable car, apparently unconscious.
At the top of Mt. Chimney, Amber calculates that Matt should have finished off Sapphire by now and notes that his mission is complete as well; only Shelly's work remains. He calls her and learns that she has met Professor Cozmo at Meteor Falls. The professor has been mining for meteorites to study, and thanks Shelly and Team Aqua for their generous funding of his research as he extracts a meteorite from the ground.
Back on the cable car, Matt declares that their first task as subleaders of Team Aqua is complete, but a sudden rush of noise announces that the water is draining out of the cable car. Sapphire and Flannery gasp for breath on the surface as one of the windows shatters, expelling the rest of the water. A baffled Matt wonders how this happened, and Sapphire snarls that she used Sharpedo's broken fangs to pierce the glass. Furious, Matt sends Azumarill and Sharpedo after Sapphire and Flannery, but Sapphire hits both Pokémon and Matt with a powerful Take Down from Rono, sending them smashing through the back window of their cable car and into the front of the empty one coming up the cable behind them.
Sapphire leaps out of the destroyed cable car with Flannery on her back, then unties her. Flannery apologizes for telling Team Aqua about Sapphire, but admits that Sapphire is just as strong of a Trainer as the rumors said. Flannery sets off for the top of Mt. Chimney, saying that it's her job to protect her Gym's town and that Team Aqua's plan must have something to do with the volcano. Sapphire didn't realize that Flannery was the Lavaridge Gym Leader, and they decide to go stop whatever is going on together. To help them get up the mountain quickly, Sapphire calls out a Pokémon of her father's that he uses for flight transportation: a Tropius.