JMJ

Shadow Games

NOTE: The third of four stories I want to make about Team Rocket. This story is set after the events of More Than a Good Feeling. Musashi and Kojiro are married and reformed is mainly what carries on from the first two stories, for the story focuses on the rest of Team Rocket too, especially Kosaburo (Butch) and Yamato (Cassidy) as the story goes along. Haruka (May) and Masato (Max) also make an appearance. As with the other two stories this is a bit of an AU. Musashi and Kojiro have their older pokémon because I said so, though there are references to them having Wabafet, Chimecho. Also I keep most of their Japanese names except" Giovanni" and many of the people from Orre. I also have all pokémon names in English, because although I like the Japanese version of this show way better, I don't want to have to relearn all the pokémon names (except Nyaasu). Lastly this story is the most AU-ish because, although there are some vague mentions of Team Rocket sneaking around Unova, the Unova plots from the BW series of Pokémon are pretty much completely disregarded; in its place is Team Rocket's activity in a region that I made up with my brother, a little like a smaller version of Canada and is simply called the Northern Region. Its team, Team Polsar is named with the combined words "Polaris" and "pulsar". The pokémon of this region are mostly made up by my brother and are used with his permission. Again, most Japanese phrases are courtesy of my sister (though I am starting to memorize a lot of the ones used more frequently in these stories), and also the entire plot was originally co-created with my sister. She especially should be credited with the part of the plot pertaining to Kosaburo later in the story. Lastly, of course, there are some of the game stories mixed into the plot a bit in my own way, mostly having to do with the Orre Region, but I also have the characters Athena, Apollo, Lambda, and Lance (from the games), whom I have adapted into the story the way I wanted to.

PROLOGUE:

Quickly, the girl ducked into the shadows. She watched with eyes piercing as the pair of oblivious grunts walked her by. Clothed in black from head to toe, even their eyes shielded in black by the way their caps were designed to arch over the brow, they looked decently menacing when one was forced to confront an army of these people, but the girl knew better. She did not want to be seen by them, but she was not threatened by them. If they were any decent or had any skill they would have been field agents.

The girl grinned, and once the unmindful passed, discussing lunch like a serious computer malfunction in hushed whispers, she crept out of the shadows and stole across the corridor in the opposite direction. She paused then, listening to what she thought to be someone else coming, but when no one appeared from either direction, she then pressed her ear to the door and listened. She did not think anyone was inside. Even still she would have to keep her wits about her.

Opening the door very carefully, she slipped inside, and yes, she did hear someone scuffling around in here behind one of the many rows of lockers. The girl walked naturally right past another girl with her back to her who was just pulling up a Rocket boot over a foot. The girl then slipped into an empty row, and reaching into her own boot, she pulled out a pick, for she found just the sort of lock she wanted, not a number lock, but a key lock, and she stole into it pretty handily with her pick.

She pulled out the black uniform and was surprised and delighted to see that it in fact to be a real agent uniform! It should not have surprised her, though; for though the male population in Team Rocket outnumbered the women from nearly four to one, almost all female members were field agents or working toward that goal (and secretarial positions did not count).

How wonderful anyway! She would have been happy for a mere grunt getup, but this just made her day. How easily she would get upstairs now! The field agent uniform even had a card!

Katana Eto.

Well, I guess Katana's not so sharp, after all, thought the girl giddily, and she nearly let out a snicker as she found a spot to change into the uniform. It proved a little too long for her and bunched up in a few places, but in the darkened halls of the base outside the locker room no one would notice. Now she did not have to be as careful as she strutted out of the locker room, card neatly tucked away.

The girl reached the elevator, and in order to go up she needed a flash of a card, so swiping it through the proper slot, she pressed the upward button to the top floor. Up, up, up, she rose to the very tippy top of the base, and here she exited out into a clean white hall very different from the dark ant tunnels below. Everything felt spacious, and the bright light of day glowed warmly though the skylights. For a moment she felt a little like a cockroach having just crawled out of some dark, cold hole.

Once her eyes adjusted, she strode straight forward toward the normal looking office door at the end of the hall. It was here that she stopped and here that she opened the door.

A tall woman stood up behind her desk. She seemed to take in the misshapen look of the girl's attire, for her eyes arched with disapproval of some kind.

Calmly, confidently, and nonchalantly, the girl flashed her card, the woman obviously not looking deeply at the card as the thin, dark-haired woman on the card looked nothing like the girl. The girl looked the complete opposite, petite, baby-blue hair bobbed twenties' styled graced curled around her near plump, pink cheeks. She looked a rather innocent cherub for a field agent, but looks could be deceiving, deceiving looks would be of excellent value, and the girl smiled with full innocence now at the woman.

"Aren't you a little young to be a field agent?" demanded the woman; her voice sounded gruff, almost masculine in a way.

"I'm in training," said the girl with a disdainful huff. "I work as go between. My superiors sent me with an urgent message for the Boss."

"And who might they be?" the woman wanted to know.

"Katana and her partner," said the girl.

"The Boss won't be happy if it's another failure," said the woman lightly.

"Oh, I suppose not, but that's why they sent me," said the girl, quickly playing along. "It's very urgent, the whole thing is a bust, and we'll need cover-ups and—"

"Oh, just shut up and go in," grumbled the woman, and pressing the button, she announced to the Boss himself that Katana had a message for him.

"Send her in," a dark voice replied.

"It's a go-between," the woman warned, eyeing the girl with a knowing sneer that made the girl more annoyed than afraid.

"Very well," said the voice without hesitation.

Then with a pompous flaunt, the girl made for the second pair of doors. She took hold of the knob and dared to go inside, and there she saw him. The Boss himself. Mitori, his personal secretary stood near at hand just writing something down a clipboard, and the persian looked up lazily from the floor but with a warning in his eyes that told the girl that if he saw any suspicious movements he would not hesitate to stop her himself. Those big claws and sharp teeth were more than just for looks. And the Boss, well-suited and ringed fingers folded together over his desk, sat in such a way that his face lay in shadow with his back to the sunlit window behind him. He was directed towards the girl. That much she could tell.

Only now did she tremble, but only a little.

"Naomi. What was your time?" asked the Boss, his voice emotionless as his body was motionless.

The girl checked her watched. "Twenty-two minutes exactly."

"The fastest time we've had in a while and security has been updated not long ago," said the Boss.

The girl, Naomi, glanced briefly to the secretary. She seemed more like a statue than a person as she stood in silence with eyes glaring through her glasses very much like the eyes of the Persian. Although both dangerous in their own way, they were both held back by the hand of their master as accessories to his magnificence.

The girl returned to the Boss.

"Are … you impressed, Boss?" asked the girl a little more timidly than she would have liked.

"You have my approval for your own sake," said the Boss. "Don't lose it. Potential does not equal the skill needed for the field, and I want only the best."

"Hai!" exclaimed the girl, and with that, she made to leave the room.

"One more thing," said the Boss in a low and very dangerously voice.

Naomi spun around. "Hai!"

"Whose uniform are you wearing and whose card did you use to reach the top floor?"

"Katana's," said Naomi.

The Boss closed his eyes, but otherwise made no response, though the girl could not even see this with his face still in shadow. She only heard him say, "You may go."

Naomi bowed respectfully and withdrew.

Spinning the chair around then, the Boss glared out the window at the lovely flowers in full bloom in the sheltered garden just below his office. The sun shone brightly with puffs of white cloud dabbing the sky above the blossomed sakura and ume trees rocking gently in the spring breeze.

"Have the security updated again," said the Boss.

Bowing, Mitori wrote on her clipboard.

"Too many pokémon trainers have made a fool of Team Rocket, and it will end. Trainees can get in here, and even with their pre knowledge of the base, it's too easy. I want the security doubled in fact, and Mitori …"

"Boss-sama," said the secretary with a very low bow.

"Contact Katana … have Apollo deal with her."

The secretary wrote in proper silence.

This was when the com told of a new visitor.

The secretary anticipating her master's wishes, pushed the com button on the desk for the Boss' reply.

"Who?" asked the Boss, still musing out the window and watching with a cold, predatory leer the small pidgey landing in branch close to the window.

"Dr. Shiranui."

The Boss nodded. Just on schedule.

"Send him in."

As the door opened, the first thing of the good doctor that could be seen was the tail end of a knowing smile toward Naomi who was just leaving for the corridor.

Turning to the room, Dr. Shiranui continued to smile, though with a tad more reserve now in the presence of the Boss. Even still, no one in the world was exempt from his half-mocking eyes, perpetually languid, and disturbingly comfortable, as if he stood apart from the world and the world was his to observe at his leisure as some sort of god.

That was good. Team Rocket benefitted greatly from his cold, mockery of the world. Giovanni only cared about results, and no one in the room was affected by the eerie chill he brought with him as if he was little more than a spider on the other side of the window pane; though, the Boss himself did not even turn to look at Shiranui. He saw his form well enough in the reflection of the glass to see when he stopped with a polite bow before his desk.

Mitori took it upon herself to close the door behind him as Shiranui had not taken the liberty himself to do so. This would need privacy however very little the good doctor cared about the rest of the world.

"Are the operations in the Orre Region going as planned?"

"Yes, Boss," said the doctor, his smile growing wild as he lifted his head from his bow. "Everything will be ready to be brought up into Kanto and Johto within the next couple months as planned. Dr. Namba is already setting up shop in northern Kanto as we speak."

"You could have told me such things just as easily over the phone," said the Boss, indicating that he wished the doctor to get to his point now.

A strange growl erupted from the persian as he lifted his head from the floor to Shiranui. The pokémon felt instantly his master's irritation, but as the Boss made no movement for anything serious, the pokémon lay his head back down on his arm; though, he did not entirely relax. Even he did not particularly like the doctor.

"Why have you come?" asked the Boss.

"For permission," said the good doctor, "permission to set up in Orre."

"Nothing of great value other than the information on the Shadow project is necessary."

"Except the cloak of rural security," said Dr. Shiranui.

Only now did the Boss' interest rouse, and turning his chair slightly, he leered at the doctor out of the corner of his eye.

"What do you propose?" he asked.

Outside the office, the woman listened intently at the door, but the woman was apparently no woman at all. Without the mask that had previously shielded the face, a lanky, but quite masculine face appeared with large, dark-rimmed eyes and receding, deep purple hair. He listened with interest, this master of disguise, to every word.

"Permission granted," the boss said at the end of the interview.

The man disguised, Lambda, pulled his feminine mask back on.

"For experimentation only," the Boss added. "I want to see the results before I think about the rest of your proposal."

"Of course, Boss," said the doctor. "I would have expected nothing less, but I promise you, I will not disappoint."

"We shall see," said the Boss. "And I want no word of this to get out to anyone outside of the project. You may go."

"Arigatou gozaimasu."

Returning to his desk, Lambda forced a smile, and resumed his womanly facade. The doctor hardly graced him with more than a quick glance; though, he certainly saw him as the woman he pretended to be.

Perhaps if Dr. Shiranui in his shrewdness would have seen past the disguise had he looked more carefully. As it was, the master of disguise retained his title and kept the secret he had not been meant to hear for himself. For now…