Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, or any of the Legendaries. If I did, they would probably be a lot like this.

Finally! I am so sorry to the people that liked my little spin-off, but if it wasn't schoolwork, it was a new idea that I just had to work on. So, after, for whatever reason, inspiration came back and hit me last night, and after some considerable typing and editing to make the older and newer parts work, I decided to put this up. Granted, this might not be the last from these two, but like I said, inspiration in this fandom is a flighty thing.

Enjoy!

Before and After:

It could be worse, it could be worse…

That was the newly demoted sea-guardian's mantra as he swam through the ocean towards his new assignment. Due to a pretty nasty incident involving the Tin Tower, the Brass Tower, and a forest fire [which he had been blamed for], Arceus had given him the duty of watching the Titan Trio and keeping them from destroying each other. The birds had gotten something of a reputation when their inability to get along after they had inadvertently almost caused an apocalypse of the elements.

However, he knew that he was in for a rough time when he came up to find a sparking Zaptos currently pinning a struggling Moltres [who had small gouts of fire rising from his beak] to the ground with Articuno ready to jump into the fray.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'I HAVE A SHOCKING PERSONALITY'? I HATE PUNS!"

Now he knew why he had been getting the 'don't want to be that guy' glances from the other Legendaries. Despite the fact that Rayquaza had offered his help, he suddenly wasn't certain that he could do this. He had already barred the idea of running to either the Wind Dragon or Arceus, due to the thought that it would be unnecessarily burdening on both.

He would just have to make do.

Explosions rippled through the ocean, catching Lugia off guard as he stared with a weary shock up at the surface. And here he thought that the last lecture [more like telling Zaptos that he couldn't start a lightning storm just because Moltres looked at him funny] had gotten through to them. The ocean guardian did indeed remember the terms of his demotion; if they got themselves into a world-altering fight under his watch, he'd be stuck with them for another millennia. Even though they were good company [when they weren't trying to tear each others' heads off], he did want to be able to leave the general vicinity of their islands without being responsible for another one of Zaptos's temper tantrums, or Moltres's pyromania [discovered when he triggered a firestorm on Articuno's island; Lugia had never been so afraid of confronting another Pokemon in his life], or, when she was in a mood, Articuno's temper.

At first, he was ready for 'just another argument', but when he noticed the fine layer of ice on the surface of the ocean, a sinking feeling started to come over him.

There's nothing wrong, you're overreacting….

But when he broke through the surface of the ocean, his water spout propelling itself towards the shrine, he couldn't help but get the feeling that he had a real problem on his hands. This was only confirmed when the water disappeared from his vision only to see Moltres, Zaptos, and Articuno going at it, freezing, burning, and electrocuting everything around them. He could only owe it to the time he had spent dealing with Ho-oh that he hadn't outright cracked then and there.

To the humans below, Lugia appeared as a Legendary should, but, if any of the other Legendaries were present, they would have barely noticed a masterfully concealed wince.

And, of course, it figured that the gathering for all of the Legendaries would take place just a few months later. Lugia did pale a bit at the idea of going, and possibly being taken away from the islands and being sent somewhere else. Arceus did not appreciate a problem due to the negligence of a guardian. It was about the reason why Rayquaza was sent to the ozone.

In the end, duty won out over hesitation and Lugia left the ocean to find all three Legendary birds sitting there, as though waiting.

"Yes?"He asked, eyebrow raised as he wondered what this could be about.

"Just wanted to say good luck." Moltres replied, scuffing a foot on the ground awkwardly. Zaptos nodded his ascent, eyes off somewhere in another direction. Articuno remained, silent, frigid as the element she had under her thrall, but when Lugia looked, he saw the faintest hint of a smile.

All of the Legendaries present had to stare a bit at Lugia when he came in. Word traveled fast, and they had all heard about the somewhat miraculous save that the 'Chosen One' had made at the islands, and all had drawn the conclusion of what this would mean for a certain Beast of the Sea.

Ho-oh, despite the amount of time that had passed, was still pretending to be miffed about what had happened over the towers. Mew was off to the side, perched on a pink bubble.

"So…the world still in one piece?" Rayquaza mumbled in his direction, trying to be at least a bit inconspicuous for his sake. Lugia did appreciate the gesture, but he did notice the other Legendaries turn to one another, still occasionally glancing back at him like one would a convict on death row. It wasn't the type of thing that made him concentrate fully on the exchange at hand.

"Hmm? Oh, yes, fi-I mean, it is. How are Kyogre and Groudon?" The Beast of the Sea asked once he got his train of thought back on the track. Rayquaza, despite his usually irritable nature, chose to overlook the fumble.

"Same as always, whining to me to make the other one let them expand the sea or the land. I keep telling them its fine as is, but I don't the message has gotten through to them yet." The dragon Legendary grumbled, hissing a bit like an angry Ekans. The aftermentioned Legendaries were across the room, keeping a rather wide berth from each other.

"I've gained a…certain understanding of sibling rivalry over the years."

"Yes, seeing as I've told you that the Titan Trio can be a bit of a handful." Rayquaza replied, a knowing grin sliding onto his face. Lugia couldn't help feeling a little sheepish. After all, he had tried to make his term as a guardian to the occasionally unruly trio less nerve-racking. And they all knew how well that turned out. "Arceus really can't complain too much, I mean, you made it pretty close to the whole term. And it wasn't like it caused the end of the world."

"Almost did." Ho-oh muttered loud enough for them to hear from his spot across the room. Rayquaza threw the rainbow phoenix a glare that would have sent Kyogre and Groudon running, but the other Legendary held firm.

Seeing what could be an escalating argument [with practice honed from years of keeping an eye on Zaptos and Moltres], Lugia decided to simply ignore the jibe and continue the conversation.

"Yes, but I didn't really hold up my end of it, did I?"

"But did the world end? No. Is it a barren wasteland? No. It wasn't like you didn't try to keep things together. If Arceus doesn't at least take that into account…"

Whatever Rayquaza was going to say was lost somewhere in the excitement as light began to gather in the center of the chamber, reflecting off the walls and illuminating the figures of Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, and finally Arceus.

Despite the fact that the latter wasn't even looking at him, Lugia couldn't help but cringe. He had tried to mentally prepare himself for this during the time he spent down in the ocean after the whole mess between the Titan Trio, but suddenly he wasn't so sure that he could sit through this.

Lucky for him, Arceus's attention was elsewhere, more namely on the fact that the two other Legendaries of the Weather Trio had immediately gone straight to the top with their constant arguments over who should expand what aspect of the world.

"Kyogre, Groudon, I believe Rayquaza has told you that it would be disastrous to others if one of you were to upset the balance between the ocean and the land. That should be enough of an answer to your requests." Arceus replied over the noise of their protests.

The rest of the meeting passed with barely any interest, or mention of Lugia's little blunder on the Orange Islands. Although it was unnerving at first, after a few hours, the Beast of the Sea did begin to relax a little.

However, when the gathering was abstained, Arceus did notice the ocean-going guardian trying to slip out with the rest.

"Lugia, may I speak with you for a moment?"

Masterfully suppressing a wince, Lugia turned back to the creator-Pokemon and awaited the verdict. Still, he couldn't help but notice the fact that Arceus didn't look too upset by the error.

"I have heard about your…mishap, in the Orange Islands. Very lucky that the Chosen One was there."

Was that…humor? Lugia hoped so; he didn't think he could stand any surprises.

"Yes, Arceus."

"I have heard many versions of what happened, but I thought it would be much more informative, not to mention honest, to hear it from you." The guardian cringed, and an idle thought couldn't help but wonder just who had tried to explain the situation to Arceus.

"From what I heard from Articuno, Zaptos, and Moltres, a human in a flying machine had come to Moltres's island and took him captive with the intention of upsetting the balance. Zaptos had tried to restore it, but he was soon captured afterwards. Articuno was about to be captured herself when I intervened, along with the Chosen One. The human then turned his attention to capturing me, and I was revived through the old legend. The balance was restored shortly thereafter." Thinking of it as simply telling a story made it much easier, though he had tried to avoid fidgeting under Arceus's unreadable gaze.

"And what was the human's purpose for upsetting the balance?"

"To capture me." Lugia answered truthfully, revealing something had not seen fit to tell even Rayquaza, due to the fact that the other Legendary most likely try to hunt down the human for the incident. As far as he and everyone else knew, it had been an argument gone out of control. Lugia intended on keeping it that way. [He also missed a light rattle at the door behind him, as engrossed in the conversation as he was.]

"What became of the human?" The God Pokemon pressed, head leaning forward slightly as she listened.

"I am not sure. He vanished shortly after the balance was restored."

Lugia felt like squirming, or doing something other than standing there as Arceus considered his answer. Helplessness was not an emotion that he liked to feel in any situation, though he seemed to be attracting a lot of trouble in the more recent years than he had in his whole life. The dark-humored observation was driven from his mind when Arceus suddenly shifted, and Lugia very nearly jumped at the light rustle.

"Lugia." If the mere movement had almost caused him to start, then the sudden speech very nearly made him jump out of his skin. Another factor that contributed to his unease was the tone, completely unreadable and not giving him a hint of warning as to how this was going to go. Nerves loosened his tongue, and before he knew it, the Legendary had started to talk.

"I apologize for my blunder, Arceus, and whatever punishment you see fit to give me I will gladly do in order to make up for it."

His eyeline had been lowering steadily throughout this whole speech, as he was more than a little worried about how it might be received. Once he was finished, however, he found himself looking steadily back up to Arceus, and nearly jerked his head back down when he noticed that the God Pokemon was not looking particularly moved in either direction.

Right then and there, Lugia could not have said if he was relieved or despaired at that fact. At the moment, he settled on a wary indifference, one that was nearly shattered by a chuckle from Dialga by a heroically restrained gasp.

"He was the one captured, tormented by a human, and he seeks punishment?"

"He should. It is disgraceful how he allowed himself to be imprisoned in such a manner, when all he had to do was blow the irritating gnat away with a well-placed attack." Giratina groused, eyes narrowing as he stared the other Legendary down. Lugia, for his part, decided to remain quiet and demure. It seemed to be a remarkably good defense at the moment.

"Disgraceful." Giratina repeated, settling back as he surveyed the partially hunched 'Beast of the Sea' that stood before the quartet.

"You wish for punishment?"

Arceus's voice drew Lugia's eyelevel back up to the four like a fish on a hook. Though Dialga's face was curious, Palkia's impassive, and Giratina's irritable, it was Arceus's facial expression that he was most interested in. Though, unfortunately, the flint in her eyes did not provoke much in the way of confidence. Lugia felt his wings draw close in an involuntary attempt to defend against any threats, though he knew if Arceus did indeed attack [though he sincerely hoped it wouldn't come to that] it wouldn't do him any good. Not that he was looking to get into a fight, but the primeval fear was still there.

"I would like…" Lugia started, feeling something in his throat tighten at the sheer mood in the room before swallowing and trying again. "… to receive what I have coming to me. I have failed in my duties, and for that, I feel I should be dealt with for my transgression. I do not want to be punished, but I feel that I have to be."

After his speech, there was a tension in the meeting hall, to the point where Lugia absently wondered if the gods' powers of dimensional manipulation were going to jump into the fray as well.

"You would make demands of your fate?" Palika finally said, sounding mildly interested for the first time since the proceedings had started. Then again, there had been not a word from the Legendary before then, so it was hard to say. Either way, not a whit of this really mattered to Lugia at the moment, as he was fixated on the face of Arceus, whose eyes were disturbingly unreadable for the time being [which felt even more disturbing to Lugia, as he was somewhat adept at reading expressions than most].

"Ask and you shall receive, then." Arceus finally said, looking down at the nerved Legendary with the same stare one would give a condemned man. Lugia thought he heard something rattle at the door behind them, though that could have been a part of his own heartbeat, which suddenly seemed painfully loud against his ribcage.

"Your punishment for your lapse will be to remain as a Guardian to the Legendary Birds until I see fit to remove you of the title."

Lugia then let out the breath that he wasn't aware he'd been holding, trying not to let the air make too much noise as it whistled past his beak.

"You are dismissed, Lugia." Arceus said, startling him back into the conversation, and he noticed the flickers of amusement in her eyes. Had this been a trick of some sort? Lugia did not stay to find out, pushing out the door with more force than was probably necessary, completely missing the muffled exclamation from behind the panels as he made his exit.

"Hey. Thanks for hitting me with that door, by the way. Really knocked the sense out of me for a bit." Rayquaza later said as he came upon the still shaky Lugia

"S-Sorry, sorry," The silver bird stammered for a moment before the exact context of what Rayquaza said caught up to him. "You were listening?"

"Was hoping you wouldn't notice that….Heard just about every word though, either way." The serpentine dragon remarked, and Lugia was certain that if he were human, he would have buried his head in his hands. Right now, all he did was sigh deeply and try not to look too irritated. He was already feeling both relieved and unsteady, no need to add anger to that list.

"Though, honestly, I'm not sorry I did, with you throwing yourself on Arceus's wrath the second you got an opportunity. Didn't you realize that they were going to let you off? But no, you had to insist on being a martyr. I mean really…" Rayquaza trailed off momentarily, too angry to properly vocalize what he wanted to say. Lugia wrestled for a moment with shame at the lecture, and mild irritation at the fact that Rayquaza was getting himself involved in the first place. Then came a mild amusement, as then it had occurred to him that it would not be like Rayquaza to not become a part of this mess. He was, loyal, for lack of a better word [though the more aggravated part of Lugia insisted that the word for him was 'stubborn']. Nevertheless, that thought was jolted from his mind when he registered the words coming from the other Legendary's mouth.

"-And were you even going to take into account that a human, apparently, got you into this mess, not any idiocy on your part? Though the way Giratina was going on you would have thought you allowed him to do…whatever." Rayquaza's coils flicked for a moment before he fixed a steely amber gaze on the demure Lugia. "He did not…hurt you, did he?"

This was a loaded topic, Lugia was no fool as to think Rayquaza would simply take his account of what had happened and simply not do anything with it. If he told him everything, including the part about being captured and electrocuted into unconsciousness, it was nearly certain that the very next thing that the serpentine Pokemon would do was hunt down the human responsible. And if there was anything that Lugia could be sure of, it was that he did not want his friend out there getting his claws dirty for him. He would rather the other just let the issue lie, though that was not likely to happen.

And it was more likely to happen that he would simply go out and get the human anyway, from the steadily building anger in the other's face as the silence dragged on. Momentarily, Lugia felt guilty about allowing him to assume the worst, which was what spurred him into speaking.

"No, no, I am perfectly fine, I was not hurt." He blurted out, stopping himself before he rambled too much. Rayquaza, while not seeming to entirely believe the reassurance, did not push it.

"If you say so. At any rate, looks like you're a permanent guardian now. Congratulations."

"Thank you." Lugia replied mildly, not certain if Rayquaza was actually praising him, or being sarcastic. He decided to be thankful anyway.

"Welcome. So, now that you're official and all, how about we do something?"

"Like what?"

"I don't know. Humans usually celebrate by going out and drinking that weird stuff that makes them act like a Slowpoke that's been dropped on its head."

"I…don't particularly want to do that."

"Figured you wouldn't. Want to make another run for the city?"

Lugia thought for a moment, remembering the sights, sounds, and sensations experienced, especially that strange 'smoothie'. He wondered if it were possible that Rayquaza would show him where he had gotten them this time, as the last time the answer had been a vague description of a human store with a giggly young girl working behind the counter.

Either way, things certainly seemed to be looking up.

Yep, like I said beforehand, the beginning of this is decidely older than the middle and end. If it flows a bit strange, that could probably be why. Please leave reviews, as those definitely help keep up my motivation!