game to see how high he can jump into the air. When he is in the air, a giant waterspout forms and sucks up all marine life in the bay except Ecco, leaving him alone in the bay. Upon leaving the bay, Ecco swims around meeting other marine life including other dolphins who tell them they have felt the storm and the entire ocean is in chaos. An orca that Ecco encounters tells him to travel to the Arctic to meet the "Big Blue", an ancient blue whale revered by marine life for his age and wisdom, who might be able to help Ecco on his journey. Arriving in the Arctic after a long journey through the ocean, Ecco finds the Big Blue, who says that the storms occur every 500 years. Though the Big Blue doesn't know what causes the storms, he suggests that Ecco should seek the Asterite, the oldest life form on Earth. Acting on this advice, Ecco leaves the Arctic and travels to a deep-sea cavern, where he finds the Asterite. To his dismay, though the Asterite would otherwise have the power to aid Ecco, it currently can't, as some orbs from its body were lost a long time ago. The Asterite tells Ecco to go to the sunken ruins of the city of Atlantis, where he can use the time machine left behind by the Atlanteans to retrieve the orbs. Ecco travels to the sunken city of Atlantis, where he discovers an ancient library filled with Glyphs, giant crystals filled with information. From the library, Ecco learns about the source of the storms: an alien race known as the Vortex lost the ability to produce food on their planet. According to the texts, when the planets align once every 500 years, the Vortex use their technology to harvest from the waters of Earth. The Atlanteans fought a long war with the Vortex, which only ended when the Vortex fired a beam at Atlantis, sending the city into the depths of the ocean. Learning this, Ecco activates the time machine and travels 55 million years into Earth's past. While Ecco is in the past he learns an ancient song to communicate with a Pteranodon. Ecco locates the Asterite in the past but is immediately attacked by it. Forced into battle, he manages to dislodge a globe from it. This opens a time portal and he is