Again, I'm not feeling up to finishing Silver's story right now, as it would also give potential spoilers. So now I'm gonna start Shadow's story! Enjoy!

Chapter 1: A Secret Mission

Under normal circumstances, this would have been a calm, peaceful night. The only noise disturbing such a peace was the clanking of a robot legion as it shifted uneasily in place. Smoke from the hidden base in Sinnoh's Route 216 billowed softly into the sky, and the overall atmosphere was conflicted at best and disruptive at worst. Most all was quiet.

Then a zinging noise shook the robots to attention, fully alert, not that this would help them any. Before they could do anything, a blurred figure shot out of the cave that descended under Mt. Coronet and raced towards them. Immediately, they raised their arms and fired, but the figure didn't so much as flinch as he shot straight through their ranks, leaving a trail of explosions in his wake. When he reached the back of the legion, he jumped up over the wall, knocking another robot down as he did so, and paused a moment to gather his bearings. A spotlight slowly glided by him, and he hid from its sight.

A small beeping came from his waist, and he quickly pulled out a mobile video phone. A man's face appeared on the screen. "Are you there?" came the voice.

He nodded. "Yes."

"All right. You know what you need to do. I don't know what that Eggman's gonna do with the wing, but whatever happens can't be good."

He raised an eyebrow, puzzled. "Just what kind of Pokemon are we dealing with?"

"That is irrelevant. Understand, however, that if the wing is in the wrong hands, disaster is bound to ensue. I've been careful with it"

"Fair enough. All right. Where's is it?"

"It's in a dungeon. Apparently someone else got it first, but they were caught and imprisoned. Even so, they still have it. You need to get it from then, then come back as soon as you have it. Go now, and hurry! I'm counting on you...Shadow the Hedgehog."

Shadow nodded. "Understood." With that, he closed down the phone. "Initiating the mission...now." With that, he disappeared.

"Eggman's placement of this secret base on the side of Mt. Coronet was rather smart," Shadow mused as he stole through the defenses. "If I could move faster I would, but instead I have to walk uphill." He smirked slightly. "He doubtlessly designed it like this to counteract Sonic and, inadvertently, me." Normally, he would blast through it all, but his client had requested secrecy, citing serious disaster unlike anything the world has ever seen. "After all the trouble Cyrus caused?" he muttered. "What else could be worse than that?

With that, he continued his infiltration of the base, stealing through corridors and using Chaos Control whenever he could do so without attracting any attention. He checked his radar and saw that the dungeons weren't far off. As quickly as he could, he stole away and found the cell he was looking for. He took out the robot from behind and threw the cell door open. He nearly fell over when he saw who was in there.

"You have got to be kidding me…"

Shadow continued to steal through the base, escapees in tow. His mood had gone from generic to sour in a matter of five minutes because of who tailed him now.

"Gee, ya gotta wonder when was the last time that Egghead did a health inspection of this place," Meowth mumbled.

"I'm going to need to take my pills on double dose from now on," James complained.

"I need a new hairdo," Jessie whined.

"Shut up you idiots!" Shadow hissed. "Unless you want me to throw you back into that cell, you better shut your trap, or I'll shut you up myself!"

The rest of their expedition through the base was remarkably quiet.

Finally, they came to a clearing, and Shadow slowed his pace. "All right," he nodded. "All we need to do now is get back to HQ."

"Please don't tell me we're being arrested," James whimpered.

Shadow turned towards the Team Rocket agent and scowled. "My mission was to retrieve that wing you idiots tried to steal. If you didn't have it, I would have left you for the worms. Consider it my good deed for the decade."

"If this is your good deed, I'd really hate to see a bad one," Meowth retorted.

"You treat us worse than our boss," Jessie grumbled.

"Whatever," Shadow snapped. "Where is it? My client told me I needed to get it back to him as soon as possible."

"Here," James shuffled through his pockets and fished it out, but his hands slipped, and the wing fell a few feet from them.

"Ugh! Nice going, butterfingers!" Jessie growled.

"I had a solid grip, too," James sighed.

"TARGET LOCATED."

They all snapped at that as a small legion of robots flew in on the ball, resting in the snow.

"Aw, great," Meowth grumbled. "And here I thought we'd made a clean break."

"Let's just get this over with," Shadow growled. With that, he jumped up and slammed a robot over the head, effectively destroying it. He easily took out the rest of the legion, using little of his Chaos power, and snatched the wing, tossing it to Jessie.

"Move!" he yelled at Team Rocket. With that, they gathered around him, and they saw their environment fade from view.

When they could see clearly again, Shadow started. "Wait...this isn't right."

"Hm?" Team Rocket looked at him, puzzled. "But you never mess up," James reminded him.

"No, I don't," he agreed. "I was trying to get back to HQ. Where are we?"

They looked around, taking in their environment. The small town was clearly inland, but it had a blue hue to it.

"Say!" Meowth exclaimed. "We're back in Cerulean City!"

"He's right!" James nodded. "Look. There's the gym!"

"Cerulean City?" Shadow repeated. "Where's that?"

"Inland of Kanto," Jessie explained. We're close to Cerulean Cape, the northernmost area in the region."

"How far is Indigo Plateau?"

They regarded him with puzzlement. "It's nearly on the other side of the region."

Shadow facepalmed. "Oh, great. JUST great. I wanted to get over there in one run, and instead I'm stuck over here?!"

"Why doncha just use Chaos Control?" Meowth inquired. "It makes it easier, right?"

"If I knew of Indigo Plateau's exact location, yes. But I've never been there before."

"Wait," James butted in, "didn't you just use it to get here?"

"No."

"Then how –"

"An extractor," he explained. "My client gave me one to get from Eggman's base to HQ. Something must have gone wrong."

"Well, I guess while we're here we can catch up with some old friends," Jessie smirked, although she was being sarcastic.

"Don't even think about making a scene," Shadow growled. "I'm on a top secret mission, and the last thing I need is three idiots screwing it over."

"Fair enough," Meowth shrugged, walking over to a sign. "Ah, the good ol' gym."

Shadow looked at what they were peering at, intrigued. "Gym?"

"Yep. Cerulean City Gym."

Shadow eyes the sign curiously. It displayed some art of an underwater scene, featuring several well-known water Pokemon swimming about, along with a red-haired mermaid.

"And there's the leader," James nodded. "The red-haired twerpette. She's certainly attractive –" Jessie slammed him over the head. Shadow rolled his eyes when his eye caught a notice posted on the gym sign:

Annual Water Festival

This Saturday

Trainers and Coordinators Welcome

Tournament at 7 PM

Shadow looked uneasy. "That's not good. Not good at all. I need to get out of here before then."

"Why?"

"For secrecy's sake. If I'm seen by too many people, there could be an uproar." He'd become quite the celebrity since the Millennium Comet's appearance a year ago.

"Hm…" Jessie mused. "Well, if your extrizor needs any working –"

"Extractor!"

"Right. If it needs help, we can try to fix it for you."

Shadow raised an uneasy eyebrow, but he shrugged. "Fair enough. Just give me the wing so I know you don't plan to run off."

Jessie sighed and obliged. "I guess fair's fair, hm?"

Shadow nodded. "Fair and square."

What do you think? Feel free to rate and review, and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter!