After much pacing and much thinking and much backspacing, I have update!

-crowd gasps-

Yes! I know! I said by Monday! well... I lied. Or something. xP Sorry. This chapter may be a little choppy, but meh, I've redone it so many times it's been imprinted in my mind! :O Well, without further delay...

FIC!

"Calm blue oceans, calm blue oceans..."

Giratina inhaled deeply, holding her breath and scrunching her wine eyes shut. It was a practice she had adopted after watching one too many Oprah episodes due to being dragged to a girl gathering set up by Cresselia. While she couldn't get the recipe for brownies out of her head, at least she could resist the urge to behead anyone who approached her, though, to be honest, if it was either one of her counterparts she wouldn't have minded, let alone regretted it. Said dragons were currently watching a game of chess that had started between Mewtwo and Uxie- the two smartest legends- and a tense silence had fallen over the highly intelligent and pensive beings.

Mew and Azelf were cooing over a series of books- this would be the one time when they actually bothered with reading- about the basics of the trade. As Haku had assumed, Wes had heartily agreed to their proposal, and had run around screaming 'yoomtah' until Hige finally bribed him to shut up with Perfect Apples. The Chatot then went into a long rant about the difficulties they were to experience that no one cared about and mostly ignored. Besides, Rade had easily explained in in one statement:

"Do the job, don't get killed, get paid."

In which Haku added a few other things about morals and fighting for justice that the Roserade simply rolled her eyes at.

"It may take some thinking, but every team needs a leader." Nero coached to another group of legends consisting of those that had given up on watching the duel of wits between Mewtwo and Uxie. "The leader gives the orders, thinks up most of the plans and such..." He winked one brown eye. "...But most importantly, they do all of the paperwork."

Manaphy gave a slow nod, green eyes large with wonder. Shaymin was at his side, though she looked more amused than awed with the information. The grass type smirked, paw running along the green fur on her back out of habit. "Well, what's your position on Team Raider, Nero?" She inquired, dark green eyes curious as she toyed with one of the pink flowers on the side of her face.

"Defense." The Rhyperior replied, striking a pose. "I take the hits when needed. I also double as a researcher."

"What's with the pose? You look like an idiot." Rade grinned, approaching her friend, who was shooting her an annoyed glance. The Roserade folded her smooth arms and widened her smirk, shifting her head so her white petals swayed at the movement before continuing, her voice surprisingly cheery. "Waaaay back when we founded our team, we had to think a lot just to figure out what we were good at." The grass type started, waving one rose nonchalantly. "Nero's a good defense because of his size and strength, and he's a researcher because he surprisingly intelligent despite having to stand on two legs to think properly, so he's one of the best researchers I know of-"

"Aw, shucks."

"-But he's slow motion wise, so obviously we didn't make him a scout. That's my job, after all. You know, ninja reflexes and such."

"Yep." Nero started, grinning broadly. "To think she can dodge just about anything, disappear and avoid detection like the best, yet her bane is the staircase in our own base." Ignoring the glower that he was sent, the rock type continued: "Heheheh, just thinking of how many times she's fallen down them makes me chuckle."

"They're cursed I tell you." The Roserade snapped back, "Those and the Guild's steps. I'm surprised I didn't topple down them this morning." She gave a huff, annoyed, before continuing. "Anyway, Haku was the natural choice for a leader, despite the fact that he was a-" She and Nero gave a stifled giggles, earning two looks that obviously thought they were very strange. "-Kirlia at the time." Haku, who had been talking with Hige about recent reports, whipped his head around and gazed disapprovingly at his teammates.

"With the skirt..."

"And the hair..."

"Shut up!" The Gallade exclaimed, flustered as he could feel everyone's gaze on him, imagining him as said Pokemon. "I've told you two a million times! Don't bring that up!" The Rhyperior and Roserade both exchanged glances, before taking on the same expression. Shaymin tilted her head to the side, wondering if the training they had undergone had given them any special link to know what the other was thinking, but then dismissed it. It was probably no different than Mew and Azelf's pranking relationship.

"You can act as masculine as you want..." Nero started, nodding.

"But you'll always be our little Kirlia, kiddo!" Rade finished, before turning to look at the two small legendaries. "You see, to be a leader you have to put up with a lot. You'll have to be able to be humiliated in public with grace, which Haku does wonderfully!" Said male only gave a grumble in reply. "Yep. If I was the leader, both of their bodies would be in the basement by now." She gave a sheepish laugh, while Nero and Haku exchanged worried glances. "Joking, joking. Just keep that little fact in mind. Pick someone who can either laugh it off or keep it in and let them destroy them slowly- as long as they don't snap and push you into a river filled with hungry Sharpedo."

"Right." Manaphy said, voice low.

"I'm the leader!"

"No, I'm the leader!"

"Guys..."

"You'll kill us all!"

"No, you will!"

"IDIOTS!" Rayquaza finally roared, causing the other two to jerk themselves to face him. "Would you shut up about this already?! If you can't talk about this civilly, then I'll decide!" There came a second pause. "I'll be the leader, since you're both incompetent!" The orca and lizard both groaned, mutters of 'there goes my fun' and 'but you're so strict' escaping their maws, decorated by a variety of colorful and creative curses. Golden eyes narrowed as the dragon's delicate hearing picked it up. "What did you say?!"

"Nothing." At that moment, the counterparts realized it would probably be best not to edge his rage further.

"Well, I'm going to be the leader, obviously." Registeel started, red eyes flashing as she folded her arms. "Since you'll lead us into a ditch, you'll probably forget where we are and who knows what you'll do to get us killed." Regirock- whom the last comment had been directed towards- only swung his clubbed rock arms to rest at his sides, orange eyes flashing in a pattern of annoyance. Heatran knew this only because she hung out with them enough- as most of the patterns were lost to even the other legends.

"What? Oh hell no, Registeel." The rock type countered. "After one too many fiascos with your insane plans, I'm going to have to vote against that. You're a terrible leader." He ducked as a fist swung over his head, and gave a chuckle. "Heheh, Steely's gotten rusty. I think you need some 'Evapo-rust'." The second time the punch was thrown the male didn't have a chance to dodge, and he crashed to the ground, as usual. Regice only gave a sigh, while Heatran rolled her crimson eyes.

"I know I'd suck at it..." Regice started, sounding meek. "But I think Heatran's the best choice."

"Favoritism!" Regirock croaked from the ground, while Registeel allowed an enraged 'expression' to flash over her eyes.

"There is no way I'm going to take orders from a-a toad thing! Especially a fire toad thing!"

Heatran only gave a huff. "Well excuse me for existing, you over-sized paperweight, but I would make a better leader considering I won't abuse my teammates constantly." Regice gave a hum of approval, while Regirock rose to his legs as quickly as he could- tangerine eyes flashing in agreement. "And plus, I know they'll agree, I'm a lot nicer."

"I'll second that!"

"That's three against one, Registeel!" Regice chirped, swinging his club arms. "So... that makes Heatran our leader from now on! Does that make me second in command?" He then asked the magma legend, who gave a nod of her red head. "Sweet!"

"Conspiracy, dammit!" The steel type exclaimed, hands binding into fists. "I expected it from Regirock, I expected it from Heatran and I even expected it from Shaymin, but you Regice? You're the innocent one!" The ice typed legendary only shrugged his arms- since he didn't have shoulders- golden eyes flashing in a rare expression of indifference. "You've been tainted by the real world!"

"Well... I just want to be second in command." He replied cheerily, "Anyways, we should have fun with this! It's about helping people!"

"Yeah, helping, Registeel, not trying to blast them with deathrays." Regirock confirmed. He ducked another punch, giving another laugh while backing away from his counterpart. "Heck, I'm getting good at dodging. I feel so light! And free!" Registeel only gave a low growl, eyes dimming and taking on a blank sheen as she tried to keep her temper. It didn't even matter that much, considering that they would probably turn back soon. She'd hold her tongue- not really- and then take her revenge when it felt right.

"So... what are they doing exactly?"

Celebi looked up from the Azelf and Mew, who were staring at each other blankly, fluttering her transparent wings. "Having a staring contest. I guess it's for leadership." Jirachi gave a sheepish laugh, pointing behind him at Entei and Raikou, who were wrestling to figure out the same thing. Suicune just looked exasperated.

"Surprisingly, it's less destructive. That's new." The golden-headed legend then replied, smiling slightly. The time traveler only gave a slight nod of her head, before turning back to the two small legends and their contest. "Anyways, Mesprit being our leader seems like a good idea, since she's so passionate about those sorts of things." The fairy let a smile grace her face, and she turned to look at the wishgranter.

"Think highly of her, do we?" Celebi then inquired, blue eyes sparkling teasingly as Jirachi only blushed and gave a sheepish shake of his head in reply. The pale green legendary then continued: "Uxie'll obviously be our researcher, considering how much reading he does... I wonder what I'll do. Maybe scouting, that seems like fun."

"Yeah. Fun." Jirachi took the seat next to her, clasping his hands together in thought.

"HA! YOU BLINKED!" Mew suddenly shouted, voice high-pitched with excitement. Azelf gave a groan and collapsed her face into her paws, curses sliding from her mouth. "I'm the leader! I'm the leader!" The pink cat chanted as he did rounds around the room, leaving the Being of Will to pound her paws against the table in disappointment. The blue sprite then floated up from her seat, untangling her tails before giving a pout.

"At least we're doing this civilly." Cresselia commented, before throwing her card down. The golden swan gave a girly squeal as she spotted her card, which happened to be a king. "Beat that, Darkrai! Go ahead and try to beat that!" Said phantom shrugged his black shoulders before throwing down his own card, which landed face down. The moon legendary shot the card an anxious look, before hesitantly grasping it with one magenta paw and flipping it over.

"No!" She gasped in disappointment, as the ace met her eyes. "Y-you suck!"

Darkrai only gave a smug smirk, organizing the cards and putting them back into their container. "Sorry, Cresselia. Rules state that aces beat everything. So that makes me the leader." In a rare moment of childishness, the dark type stuck his tongue out and blew a raspberry, ducking as a chair went flying over his head. "Hey! You managed a weak psychic that time!"

"Only because I was trying to give you a concussion." The female replied, tone moody."I just can't understand... in random card games you win, in poker you win. What the heck!" A shrug was her only reply.

On the other side of the room, a surprisingly calm Zapdos rustled her feathers, rolling her red-brown eyes. "I honestly don't care who the leader is. You guys decide." She lifted her head and looked up at the ceiling, looking regal. "As long as I'm the offense, and as long as I get to electrocute some losers, then who cares about who's giving orders." Moltres lowered his head meekly, navy eyes shifting to look at Articuno.

"Um, you can be the leader Articuno." He mumbled. "You'll be a good one, after all."

The ice type graced her counterpart with a gentle smile, "Alright then. I don't see a problem with it."

"Well, they understand everything, Haku." Nero started, "So should we let them go in?"

"It's still early in the morning, so they have plenty of time." Rade agreed, "Then it'll give me a chance to get some other stuff done." The Gallade only paused, worry flickering over his face. "And don't about them failing or such, they have the badges, they'll be fine." She placed her roses on her hips, shooting him an irritated glance. "We were thrown into our first mission without warning, too, remember? Legends or not, they deserve no special treatment."

Their leader finally gave a sigh, "Fine. But I want you to tailgate the group you think might have trouble, Rade." He finally stated, face firm. "I'd do it myself, but you're the scout, not me." The grass type gave a groan, smacking her forehead and giving an 'oy' of disappointment. There went her plans for the day she had so painstakingly set up. "Perhaps Mew and Azelf. You get along with them, so if anything goes wrong, you'll be quick to defend them, won't you?"

Her imaginary hackles raised. "I don't know what that means, Haku." She growled, edgy. "But fine. I'll follow them." Before the Roserade could stride away, the psychic stopped her, grabbing her wrist, causing her to turn and glance at him. "What now?" She snapped, and her friend only shot her a gentle look in reply, while Nero only grinned- already knowing the two-worded statement he was going to mutter.

"Be careful."

There came a pause that lasted only a second, like Rade had forgotten exactly what she was supposed to say, surprise flickering over her face. Well, she should have expected it, it had been a while since she had scouted without her teammates behind her and it was only natural for her leader to be anxious about it. Of course. Shaking out of whatever had caught her in stupor, the grass type only gave a snort, folding her arms.

"Whatever." She grumbled.

"This is so exciting!"

Mew did flips in the air, while Azelf only followed behind, looking just as eager. "We're going to beat some bad guys, collect the money and be awesome!" She replied, grin nearly taking over her pale blue face. "So, Mew, where should we turn to first?" The pink feline stopped his spinning, hovering in the ground while unfolding the map, green-blue eyes bright with eagerness. The two members of Team Ownage- they had decided on the name after hours of intense pondering- had decided to take the mission in the small area known as Beach Cave, a wet, pretty cave filled with a series of stalagmites and stalagtites that decorated like giant fangs.

"Well, we should take a left at the big old tree..."

Azelf stopped, frown flickering over the grin that had dominated. "Tree? Mew, we're in Beach Cave, how can there be a tree?" The cat paused, suddenly realizing the same thing. "Here, let me see the map." The Being of Will took one glance at the paper in her paws and instantly spotted the problem, giving a groan as she reread the title written in large, blocky, obvious text. "For the love of- Mew! This is a map to Oran Forest! This is the wrong map entirely!"

Somewhere, a certain Roserade connected her rose to her face.

"Eh?!" Mew floated to look over her shoulders, face alarmed. "B-but!"

The other legend gave a sigh, crumpling up the map and throwing it to the ground. "Oh well. I guess it can't be helped." She threw her paws into the air and gave an indifferent laugh. "Beach Cave isn't that big, so we'll eventually wander into the right place. What floor was it again, Mew?" A pause was her only reply. Thinking he hadn't heard, the female repeated in a louder voice: "Mew? You there?"

"I, um... don't remember."

"Ah." Azelf replied, "Where's the paper we got when we accepted the mission?"

Another pause. "Um... on the table in the living room..."

"Oook." For being the usually temperamental female who mauled people who even dared to disagree with her, Azelf was taking the news pretty well. "That's ok. I'm sure... we'll run into what we were supposed to do... eventually..." She took a deep breath, flexing her paws. "Erm... so... let's go. What direction did we come in? I seem to have forgotten."

"..."

"... I'm guessing you did, too?" She asked, voice dripping with sarcasm. Another pause. "Alright... let's go straight. Worst case scenario we end up at the entrance again." Mew gave a sullen nod, green-blue eyes dull with disappointment. "Don't look so sad, it makes me feel like a jerk." The sprite grumbled, punching his shoulder with one paw playfully. The once legendary of children gave a weak grin, taking the lead as they headed in the decided direction, never noticing the shadow that darted from stalagmite to stalagmite.

"Wait." Mew stopped abruptly nearly causing Azelf to bump into him. The feline looked around him hastily one pink ear twitching. "D-did you hear that?" He stammered, large eyes growing wider still in fear. Azelf paused, then shook her head- as she didn't have nearly as decent hearing as her friend did. "It sounded not nice." The sprite snorted.

"Not nice. Well that's very spec- holy crap!"

Before the Being of Will could finish her chiding statement, she was forced to dive to the ground as a blast of water shot over head. Mew gave a squeal of fear, darting in another direction in a storm of panic, while Azelf righted herself and struggled to figure out who had attacked them. "Hey! Yo! Who did that?! Step out now and I'll let you leave with all of your limbs!" She paused. "Well, I may rip off your arm, or rupture your spleen... but nothing that a little Aspirin won't fix."

She gave a curse as she dodged another attack that came from the darkness, "Dude! That nearly hit me!"

Meanwhile, Mew was flying around in circles, wailing at the top of his lungs. "Don't kill me! I'm too cute and cuddly!"

Azelf gave a growl, forming a small ball of psychic energy in her paws, before shooting a glare in Mew's direction. "Shut up! That's making it really hard to concentrate!" Before she could lob the sphere in the direction she hoped the enemy was in, a stream of high pressured water struck her in the chest, sending the small legend crashing into one of the stone walls. The Being of Will managed to float to the ground and avoid the painful fall that would have followed, but her grimace of pain was clear on her two-shaded blue face.

"Azelf!" Mew wailed.

"That... didn't hurt." She replied, proving otherwise when she keeled over and fell onto her face. Her partner dodged under another strike of water, managing to come to her side. He shook her by the shoulders, face clouded with panic, still in fear of what the invisible enemy would do next. He was practically a sitting duck, not that he could have done much anyway.

Mew suddenly gave a desperate laugh. "T-the badge! That's right!" He lifted his paws up, expecting to see the pink and white object that had the power to get them out of trouble, but he grasp nothing more than air. "W-where'd it go? I had it! I did!" His bottom lip trembled as he felt around for the egg-shaped curio, eyes starting to fill with tears of fear as his tail lay limp beside him. "A-azelf! Please wake up! I'm scared!" The spirit stayed silent, but his ears perked as he heard something move behind him.

The feline looked up, face pale under his fur as a number of Pokemon finally appeared in the light that filtered through the ceiling. It took him a moment to remember- heck, with so many species, who could blame him-before he classified them as Gastrodon- the nasty, slimy, overall disgusting slugs, as Mesprit called them.

"H-hi..." He stammered, paws flying up in the universal gesture for stop. "W-wait! D-don't attack! It's me! You know, M-mew?! The cute and lovable legendary of children? Ring a bell? Please?" He gave a squeak as the herd of ground and water types started charging their attacks- which he had finally identified as Hydropump, a move he had known before the curse- and cowered in his paws, eyes scrunching shut in despair. "Don't hurt us!"

There came a sound like shattering glass, followed by a sickening thud, and the blush colored legendary snapped his eyes open to see that three of the Gastrodon had been knocked out. A moment of confusion flickered through his mind as he wondered what had just happened, before an all too familiar caped figure dropped down in front of him, taking on her usual battle stance. Mew couldn't help but give a fangirlish wail of happiness. "Rade!"

The Roserade ignored him and kept her intent glare on what was left of the herd, maroon eyes narrowed into slits. Never giving them a chance to charge another one of their combined attacks, the grass type darted to their left, causing their attention to be dragged in that direction, before charging another Shadow ball. While it normally would have been smartest to use a grass attack- despite the fact that she never paid attention to the lessons the Guild taught, she knew type match-ups- the sunlight that filtered from the ceiling wasn't enough to fuel them, and she didn't want to use up her energy for no reason.

She threw the sphere of black energy into the face of the closest Pokemon without mercy, smirking slightly as it slammed into the one behind it, then turned to face the four Gastrodon that were still left. "Do you really want to get me upset?" She snapped, folding her arms. "Scram before I get out the salt!" Taking the hint, the remaining slugs turned tail and fled back into the darkness, leaving their herdmates to fend for themselves. Rade rolled her eyes and turned back to look at the two legendaries, face indifferent. "Psh. Gastrodon."

Her tough image was ruined, however, as a certain pink cat attached himself to her face, sobbing hysterically like the time when Wes ran out of apples for an entire week. "I-I was so scared! Why did they attack us, Rade? We didn't do anything! And Azelf is hurt and I'm really scared and I can't find the badge and what if they come back and I don't want to die!" Rade attempted to pry the feline off of her, but he only tightened his hug.

"Do mhph hmdd!" Her snap was softened by his fur. "I chmph brephm!"

Despite the fact that it all sounded like gibberish, Mew managed to understand ("Do you mind? I can't breathe!") and detached himself from her face, floating down to look worriedly at Azelf, who was still knocked out cold. "This is all of my fault..." He mumbled, face overwhelmed with guilt. "I'm the leader, yet I couldn't do a thing right..." Rade widened her eyes, trying to figure out where she had heard such a managed to shake of the feeling of deja vu long enough to retort:

"Don't be stupid. Even leaders make mistakes." Despite the fact that she wanted to yell at him for being such a coward and for panicking at the worst possible moment, she didn't- or rather, couldn't. Something about him was so familiar- his watery, big eyes, his trembling figure guilty and worried for the health of his friend- reminded her of someone, she just couldn't figure out who. Rade sighed. "Just hurry up and look for your badge, alright? Azelf'll be fine, she just got knocked over the head, is all."

Mew gave a sullen nod before searching the floor of the cave for his team badge, while Rade only thought silently over who could possibly mirror him.

Well, I should have an update by Sunday, maybe. So yep. And stuff xP SU out!