AN: Excuse the icky summary... now, I've written plenty of stories before... but I've never submitted them. I was always a big hater and critic of my own writing... but I'm gonna try this time. There's no doubt in my mind that I'll get writer's block somewhere along the line, so I apologize if I don't update often... Lawl, anyway, I forgot to mention this earlier, and it doesn't fit in my description, so: This story is AU. It takes place during Ouendan 2, but I'm gonna be straying from the regular plotline a lot... after all, the EBA are in this. Heard of the EBA download in Ouendan 2? Yeah, that's my inspiration right there.

I realized I should put a disclaimer, hunh?

Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan and Elite Beat Agents belong to iNIS. I don't own them. Blarh. Also, I refer to Ouendanfangirl's translation guide on GameFAQs for any in-game Ouendan scenario... so yeah. Don't own any of this stuff. And this applies to all my chapters, so I don't have to keep writing this stuff. XP

Enough of me rambling, here is your feature presentation. Enjoy!

Agent Spin awoke to the usual sights, smells, and sounds of morning. The sun beamed brightly through the window, the scent of breakfast made itself known, birds sang their joyful songs, backed by the grunts and yells of the Japanese cheer squad in their practice routine...

Well, okay, that was something Spin had to get used to. But it was alright, he was enjoying his time in Japan. Ever since he'd joined the world's biggest motivational organization, the Elite Beat Agents, he would never have expected that he'd be where he was today. It was only four years ago that he'd become an agent, and only a year later, Spin, considered EBA's prodigy, took part in a dance to defeat alien invaders (who would've thought?). Afterwards, he was no longer the rookie. If he hadn't earned the respect and love of his peers by attaining the high rank of BA-5 in less than a year, he certainly had a lot of it now.

And now, here he was, with EBA's cream of the crop, studying in the hometown of motivation: Japan's Yuuhi Town. The Agents' teachers ("Senseis", Spin would say to get in character) were none other than the pioneers of inspirational cheering, the serious, hot-blooded Ouendan -- translated as "Cheer Squad", but they were universally known by their Japanese name. Spin thought it sounded better, anyway.

"Mu-chu-u deeee! Hayaku! Kake nukete kita!" sang a voice from outside that was far from being comparable to your average pop star, but at least it was in tune... somewhat. Immediately following up the single line was an exasperated "Yare yare..." and the Ouendan Captain's obvious, irritated complaints and commands to shut up.

The Ouendan were not as serious and stoic as they seemed to be, Spin figured. Sometimes they seemed even goofier than the Agents did.

"Good t' see you up, sleepyhead," greeted a voice from the doorway. With a hint of a Brooklyn accent, it was none other than the pompadour-bearing Agent J, who had become Spin's closest friend in the Agency. He was the one who showed the budding agent the ropes, and the two became strong friends ever since.

"Sleepyhead? What time is it?" Spin asked as he yawned at the thought, unconsciously finding his signature headphones sitting nearby and setting it on his neck.

"'Bout seven-thirty," J replied casually.

"Seven-thirty, huh?"

"Yeah... we're supposed to be up by five."

"Five?! Aw, man... I don't think I'll ever get used to that."

"Well, we're here for quite a while, so you better get used to it when the Ouendan start training us as well."

Spin sighed. He was excited to learn the methods of another culture, but something about this whole thing bugged him. It was a thought that Spin certainly did not like and he sometimes even felt ashamed for thinking that way.

Was it necessary to study this Ouendan style of cheering, which was quite different from the EBA style? Was it necessary at all to go through all these lengths just to prepare themselves for a future Rhombulan attack? Spin felt that if they had the ability to defeat the Rhombulans before, they could probably very well do it again, especially if the EBA keeps making alliances with other cheer groups around the world. He also didn't think it was wise to send the top agents away for more than half a year. Plus, the Ouendan squad captain, Kai Doumeki, was just plain intimidating. He was even more intimidating than Chieftain's first impression on Spin. (Spin quickly found out after that his impressions were pretty much wrong.)

"Hey, don't worry too much about it. I saved ya some breakfast, so drop by the kitchen when you're ready," J told the younger agent before departing from the bedroom, leaving Spin to himself.

--

"I'm surprised you came to the Ouendan, most people outside Japan don't immediately associate us with rhythm because we don't dance," explained Hajime Tanaka, still considered the Ouendan's newest recruit despite being on the squad for six years. Hajime and the squad's leader, Ryuta Ippongi, were taking all the agents around town, with the exception of Chieftain, who politely declined the offer and opted to stay at the Ouendan dojo instead.

Both Ouendan members wore a long gakuran coat along with uniform pants and shoes, all in black. The uniform also consisted of white gloves, red bands around their shoulders that crossed on their backs, and red armbands with the squad's symbol on it -- the kanji for "Ouen" encased in a black star-like figure. It was quite different from the black suits the agents wore. Only the squad members' headgear differed; where Hajime wore a military cap over his shaved head and black hard-rimmed glasses, Ryuta kept his crimson-black hair in a spiky stylized topknot, accompanied by a red headband often seen on conventional ouendan.

"Well, yes, there are other cheer groups that move quite well with the rhythm... most notably the Bailadores from Latin America, ne?" started Ryuta, whose statement earned nods of agreement from the group. He continued, "However, that doesn't mean they're any better than the Ouendan or the Agents. They're lots of fun to watch, though. The ladies can really--"

"You can stop there, Leader," Hajime sighed, cutting into his sentence.

"Oh, come on, Tanaka. You act as if I was about to say something dirty..."

"I wouldn't put it past you!"

"I'm slightly hurt! Have you no faith in your leader?"

The Ouendan rookie's only reply was a shake of the head and a groan. Ryuta shrugged it off, the expression of mock offense replaced by a laid back smile.

"But back to what we were talking about before, there's not too much surprise if you know that the Elite Beat Agents were inspired by Ouendan," said the squad's leader, hand raised in explanation.

"They are?" Spin asked, who apparently didn't know the aforementioned and was therefore surprised.

"If you paid more attention during the meeting for this trip, you would've known that, Spin," J chuckled, nudging the younger agent with his elbow.

"Well, sorry," Spin retorted just as jokingly, and continued, "Unlike you, I had a midnight mission the night before and I needed some sleep to actually function."

"I'm sure there were plenty other agents suitable to replace Agent Bass for that mission."

"Aw, J, cut me some slack, will ya? Is it wrong for a guy to love his job?"

"You need to realize your limits, rookie," J joked, patting Spin's shoulder. The headphone-clad agent's amused expression and raised eyebrow betrayed his puzzlement to the old nickname, but he said nothing in response.

"Ah, it's about noon," Ryuta spoke up, glancing at the current position of the sun. "How about some food? Dragon Ramen is around the corner from here."

"Sounds great!" J agreed, excited to eat ramen that wasn't instant and simply made by cooking water, flavoring, and noodles together in a pot. The other agents agreed by nodding (with a quiet "I'm starved!" from Morris).

"Okay, Ippongi-san... which one of us is paying? I can't pay, so I guess that means you have to pay this time," Hajime said, shrugging and heading towards the restaurant.

"This time? THIS time?! I pay EVERY time!" Ryuta groaned in his native tongue, "For God's sakes, I even pay when the Captain's with us and when the girls want ice cream or something! Why don't you pay up for a change?"

"Ippongi-san, you know I don't have that much money. I only carry money for emergency," Hajime replied in the same language, a little nervous with Ryuta's apparent irritation.

"Only for emergency? If we collapse from starvation, I think that's an emergency. If we can't respond when duty calls because we tried to freeload off Tanaka Yasushi-san, that'll be an emergency too! Come on, Tanaka, I know you can handle at the very least four-thousand yen, you get paid better than I do!"

"...But-- Eeeeh!" Hajime started to respond, but his leader's glare made him flinch, and the latest recruit of the Ouendan hung his head in defeat, quietly complying with Ryuta's demand.

The Agents weren't quite sure of what had just happened, but they had an idea once they saw Ryuta's content, even victorious expression.

All in good spirits (save for Hajime), the small group entered Dragon Ramen, more than ready to enjoy a good bowl of noodles.

--

It was fairly quiet in the residence of the Kokou no Ouendan, the only sounds being the creatures of the outdoors and the low murmurs of Doumeki and Chieftain discussing world matters over tea.

"Captaaaaain!" squealed a pink-haired pigtailed girl, wearing a blue American-style cheerleader outfit. This girl, Aoi Kanda, rushed into the room where the two powerful figures sat, stumbling a bit as she stopped abruptly and caught her breath, breathing as if she'd just run a marathon.

"What's the trouble?" Doumeki grumbled, not too happy about having Aoi interrupt him; she usually had something trivial to report such as a deficit of cookies in the dojo for example. However, his face remained emotionless, despite his slight annoyance. Chieftain had a similar expression, though he was more curious at what she had to say, since he never had to deal with Aoi or an issue involving a lack of cookies.

"You'll never guess who's back!" Aoi squeaked, still in a bit of an adrenaline rush. No reply came from either of the men in the room, other than a blink from Chieftain, which was obscured by his sunglasses anyway.

"I'll give you two hints," came a more mature female voice, belonging to a blonde with a voluptuous figure wearing the same uniform as Aoi, though she was clearly an American like the agents. Out of the corner of his eye, Doumeki saw Chieftain react. However, the large agent regained his composure quickly, and Doumeki did not get a chance to see how Chieftain reacted. Still, the Captain sensed that something about her made the agent feel something... displeasure, pleasure, surprise, irritation, he wasn't sure. The woman, named Anna Lindhurst, continued, "They're rich and one of their favorite pasttimes is pissing us off."

Doumeki frowned. He knew exactly who she was talking about, and was less than ecstatic about the news...

--

The agents found themselves quite content with their lunch, and had left in a good mood. Hajime, on the other hand, wasn't too overjoyed, complaining about the lightness of his pockets rather than an unsatisfactory meal. The whining quickly ceased due to a scolding from his squad leader. However, the lighthearted banter was suddenly halted.

"OUENDAAAAAAAAAAN!"

Both Ouendan members' heads immediately snapped in the direction of the call. It was a familiar voice, a voice that both of them recognized almost instantly.

"Tsuyoshi Hanada. He's 24 now, and seems to be in search of a job," Ryuta stated casually, as if he hadn't seemingly pulled the information out of thin air. J and Morris stared incredulously while Derek had a more subdued, but similar expression. Spin seemed to be humored by his comrades' expressions instead, perhaps missing exactly why they were making such funny faces in the first place.

"I remember him. He's the same age as I am, and he got into a good college through us," Hajime added.

"Apparently, out of ninety-nine job interviews, he hasn't been accepted by a single one..." Ryuta sighed.

"Hey, didn't he fail the college entrance exam ninety-nine times?"

"Er... yeah..."

Neither of them noticed the three older agents staring at the squad leader's ears, investigating to find earpieces of any sort. Spin, on the other hand, was in awe of how long this Hanada guy could take rejection before resorting to desperate measures.

"Since you were so kind as to pay for lunch today, Tanaka, I'll give you a break and take this one," Ryuta nodded and flashed a thumbs up. Hajime only sighed and rolled his eyes in response, guessing that his leader just wanted to show off.

"Well, then, Leader, show these guys what we're all about!" said Hajime, making a sweeping gesture to the agents, who looked on with curiosity.

"Oh, I will," was the confident reply as Ryuta ran towards the Hanada residence. The sideline cheerers, the mohawk-bearing Ittetsu Suzuki and the eyepatch-wearing Atsushi Saitou appeared from opposite ends of the street at a junction as Ryuta ran past it, the two joining him on the way to the site. Hajime looked toward his American companions and nodded to them, gesturing to follow to the Hanada house.

When the agents and the Ouendan rookie arrived outside the house, they could already sense Sukima Switch's "Zenryoku Shounen" playing. Of course, no one other than the agents, the Ouendan, and Tsuyoshi could hear it; they were the only ones who were musically connected to the cheer at the time. Shortly through the piano intro, through the doors burst the Ouendan--Ryuta, Suzuki, and Saitou--who opened with their signature "Osu!"

The agents watched with interest as Tsuyoshi started to burn with ambition and determination, a big difference from how the agents' targets would radiate enthusiasm as they waved their arms in the air.

"Ikuze! San, ni, ichi, sure!!"

The observations continued as Tsuyoshi started rewriting the resume that was ruined by his family. In the background, the squad was throwing out punches, yells, and other powerful martial art-like movements--the usual for a Japanese cheer squad.

"Quite different..." Morris idly commented.

"Kinda reminds me of Without a Fight," J added, "But the movements seem to be much sharper."

"It's nothing like how we go about cheering," Spin sighed, feeling a bit intimidated by the idea of practicing Ouen.

"Don't worry about it too much," Hajime said, placing a gloved hand on Spin's shoulder. "If you have the ability to cheer, then all that's left is getting into the mindset and learning the moves. I think there's a Latin ballroom dance that has a similar concept to cheering like this, if that helps any."

"I guess..." Spin shrugged, still feeling uncomfortable with the task of cheering like an Ouendan member looming ahead. Meanwhile, Tsuyoshi was about ready to zoom off to the job interview. Unfortunately, he'd left his wallet in the house. Thankfully, through the Ouendan's cheering, Tsuyoshi's mother had provided him with emergency money. Tsuyoshi thanked her, and went on his way to the interview. Another "Osu!" rang out and the Ouendan continued to cheer.

"...Hm. I saw a more complicated routine at practice earlier this morning," Derek muttered a bit after the Ouendan started the third segment of the cheer.

"Well, Hanada-san only ever really needed a little push in the right direction and for things to fall in his favor. Why expend all our energy on a tough cheer when the target in question doesn't need that much motivation?" Hajime explained.

"...I see," Derek nodded. "So you're not using one-hundred percent of your energy?"

"Well, we're always completely focused, if that's what you mean. Your agency has plenty of fill-ins, so if one squad gets tired, another can easily take the next mission. There's only eight of us total, so it's hard when there's a flood of calls. Sometimes Ippongi-san or I have to fill in for Saitou or Suzuki when they're sick or something like that... so while we motivate all the way, we try to use a minimal amount of energy to cheer. We can't help it if the job is something really big like helping someone defeat a giant rat, though."

The agents nodded in understanding, remembering how tiring Good Charlotte's "The Anthem" was and how star baseball player Hulk Bryman took down a fire-breathing golem with that song.

Tsuyoshi, with the Ouendan's help, did an excellent job, impressing the interviewers, especially with the answer about how family was a treasure that could not be bought. Even though the results wouldn't come in until later, the Ouendan knew that all would be excellent for Tsuyoshi in the future. And so, their cheer was concluded with the following phrase:

"Ouen! Dai-sei-kou!"

--

The trio that had been cheering just moments before gathered back with the spectating group, and they had decided to relax for a bit by the river.

"Wicked cheerin' job, guys," J grinned, giving Ryuta, Suzuki, and Saitou a thumbs up. The leader breathed out a "thanks" while the two others nodded in gratitude.

"Well, you lot shouldn't worry," Ryuta smirked, "It gets better than that."

Hajime nodded in agreement. Not a few moments later, the ground started to rumble. The Ouendan got to their feet and looked around, puzzled. The agents, on the other hand, thought it was probably wiser to stay closer to the ground. They were sitting upright on the ground, looking just as confused as their Japanese companions. A sudden "Iya..." came from Hajime as he finally set his gaze in one direction. Spin's stare matched Hajime's, and he gasped slightly, slowly lifting a finger to point towards the cause of the ruckus.

It was a yacht. Well, it probably couldn't even be called a yacht--more like a small cruise ship. It was a brilliant white and blue, sailing across the Yuuhi River, water splashing up against the hull. Along the left of its bow, near the rail, were the following words emblazoned in gold: "THE ASAHI SUNRISE III".

Spin glanced back at the Ouendan. Judging by their expressions, this probably wasn't a good thing.

"Ippongi Ryuta!"

Ryuta's brow furrowed, and he looked in the direction of the call. Atop the boat stood three people, all wearing the same blue uniform.. The guy on the left was bald, and the one on the right had a long orange braid. However, Ryuta was currently only concerned with the man in the center; a long-haired blonde who, by appearance and posture, seemed to embody the word "noble". Unlike the two at his sides, he had a white headband, armband, and shoulder bands. Before anyone else could make a comment or ask questions, Ryuta spoke irritably and quietly, knowing fully that the trio up there wouldn't be able to hear.

"Gentlemen, the great dumbass Hayato Saionji has arrived."

The agents grimaced at the tension. Spin got the feeling that whatever would happen with these two, things would just not end well... Things would not end well indeed.

AN: Some notes which aren't really necessary unless I lost you somewhere in some cases (WARNING: it'll probably be really ranty and long, so you can skip this stuff if you want):

-The single verse near the beginning of the chapter is the first line in the chorus of READY STEADY GO.

-"Yare yare" means something along the lines of "Oh boy".

-I honestly couldn't think of anything other than "Bailadores" ... sorry, heheh. I didn't wanna be unoriginal and be like, "Mariachis!"

-I actually debated on naming the random agent Spin mentions Bass, Forte, Serenade, or Blues...

-Yasushi is the protagonist of Linda Linda from OTO1. (not sure if she made that obvious)

-From various translations I've read, "Kokou" means "Aloof", making the name of the Yuuhi Ouendan the "Aloof Ouendan" ...

-"Ikuze! San, ni, ichi, sure!" means "Let's go! Three, two, one, go!" and "Ouen! Dai-sei-kou!" means "Cheer! Big-Suc-cess!"

-Excuse my SYTYCD/DwtS dorkiness... the dance Hajime refers to in the middle of the Zenryoku Shounen sequence is the Paso Doble, the dance of the matador. The man is expected to be very masculine in his dancing.

-"Iya", as far as I know, is another sound of exasperation. Or amazement, maybe. (should go look at Japanese Ouendan fanart again and check some manga pages)

-I usually just call ALL of the Ouendan members by family names other than the Cheer Girls, but I decided to write the rookies and the leaders with their given names (along with the Cheer Girls). I'll generally write the younger characters by given name, and the older characters by family name. I guess it helps to put some of the characters on a more personal level... maybe. Perhaps I don't know what I'm talking about XD. Though, Tsuyoshi Hanada, Tsuyoshi Moriyama (baldy on Noble squad), and Karizou Moriyama (barber in Julia ni Shoushin) make things a mess anyway.

-Some of the characters WILL be speaking in Japanese, but seeing as I don't speak fluent Japanese, and I doubt many readers really understand Japanese fluently, the dialogue will still be written in English. A Japanese exchange will almost always be labeled as such, and names under those will be in Japanese name order. For example, in an English exchange it would be "Hajime Tanaka", and in a Japanese exchange it would be "Tanaka Hajime". Makes sense, I hope.

--

Bah, I rambled again, didn't I?

Anyway, in regards to the story, how was it? Please review, compliments and criticisms are really appreciated and encouraging. Flames are... helpful to the Ouendan... yeah.

-'Taru