Pidove chirped in unison on a tree branch. The rising sun cast a rosy hue across the morning sky. Golden fingers lit up the scene. The just-risen sun shone softly on the entire Unova region, bringing with it a flurry of early-morning activity.
In the middle of a city known as Castelia City, a tall, glass building stood in all its glory. A huge banner on the building read, 'Castelia Mall opening sale! 50%-80% discount for all items!' which no doubt attracted avid shoppers from all over Unova. Sure enough, a long queue snaked all the way from the entrance to the back of the mall.
Black glanced at his Pokegear for the third time with half-closed eyes. 9:00 a.m. Stifling another yawn, the brunette teenager shuffled forward a few steps, completely ignoring his excited blue-eyed friend who was rambling about the newly-opened shopping mall and the opening sale.
Black wanted to scream at White. He was woken up by White at 6:00 a.m. just to queue up in this freaking stupid line for the newly-opened department store. What kind of idiot would queue up in the middle of the night just to get some good bargains at the mall? Apparently, Black was surrounded by all these kind of people. The store sold everything, from plush toys to TMs. Normally, Black would instantly perk up when he heard that this store sold TMs but he didn't have the energy to.
He was so damn freaking tired.
"Hello? Earth to Black?" White called out, waving her hand in front of his face.
"Whaa?" Black mumbled, half-asleep.
"I asked which section are you going to first." White repeated herself, a slight tinge of irritation in her voice.
"I know. The bed section."
Before White could reply, the doors were swung open, and the once orderly queue pushed and shoved to get into the mall first. Black felt himself being lifted off his feet and carried all the way to the entrance. The last he saw of White was her ponytail before she disappeared into the crowd.
A bunch of people clad in white uniforms had knocked out the security guards in the control room. The most distinct feature on their uniforms was the letter 'P' in a tiny shield.
"The explosion happens at 12.00 p.m. sharp. King's orders. Am I clear?" A burly man grunted, obviously the leader of the small team.
The team members saluted, meaning that they understood the orders.
Black sat on a chair, his head nodding as he was on the verge of dozing off. He simply could not wait for the trip to be over. Black could already hear his bed singing out a lullaby to him.
Black looked through the translucent red part of his Pokeball. Inside, Tep was curled up, his tail touching his nose, sleeping soundly. Black looked longingly at him.
"Hey, look, I found all sorts of cute clothes!" White squealed, rushing up to Black and shoving the fabrics into his face. "I'm gonna try them all on, and you can be the judge on which clothes I should buy!"
Black face palmed. He longed to pull out Brav, his Braviary and fly away, but White would somehow catch up with him and make him pay. Looking at his Pokegear again, Black realized it was 12.00 p.m. on the dot. As if on cue, his stomach rumbled, signaling that it was lunch time.
Out of the corner of his eye, Black spotted some people clad in white uniforms glancing around furtively. They whispered over earpieces before all of them hurried out of mall.
'That's weird,' Black thought. 'Why'd they look so ner-?' Black's train of thought was interrupted by a loud 'Bang!' and the shattering of glass. Black was flung against the floor, wincing. He noticed a huge inferno raging behind him. Flames were already licking at Black's sneakers.
Pandemonium broke out as people ran helter-skelter, pushing and shoving to get to the exit first. Pushing himself up, Black sprinted towards the exit.
Around Black, people were jostling around, and it was hard to keep his balance. He kept sprinting forwards blindly, until he felt a breath of fresh air.
He stood there with a horrified look on his face as he surveyed the scene. Whipping out his Pokegear to call White, he punched in the numbers. After a few rings, White answered.
"BLACK! Help me!" White's voice screamed from the other end. White heard a thud and a few crackles. "… hello?"
Black dashed up the stairs, never once stopping to take a breather. As soon as he heard that White was still in the building, he had dropped his Pokegear and dashed like a wild dog towards the mall, ignoring all the protests.
The smoke was getting thicker. It filled the air, shrouding Black's vision. It stung his eyes, making him cough.
By the time Black reached the third floor, his eyes were watering and his throat was sore. With his heart thumping and his mouth dry, he carried on up to the fourth floor.
Black vaguely remembered White mentioning about trying on clothes and made a beeline for the dressing room.
Pounding on the only occupied dressing room, Black shouted, "Prez?! Is that you?"
White wanted to shout, "Yes!" But only managed a squeak because of her sore throat.
"Hang on!" Black shouted taking a few steps back, before sprinting forwards as fast as a Liepard and rammed his shoulder into the door. The door didn't budge.
"DANG IT!" Black was not the kind to curse so openly, but the seriousness of the emergency got him all panicky.
White heard a second bang, then a third, then a fourth. She winced as a bang was heard. Imagine what kind of pain Black was experiencing.
Suddenly, there was a particularly loud bang, and the door inched open before it slid close again. Swiftly, Black jammed his sneaker into the gap to prevent the door from closing and pushed it open.
"Black!" White gasped upon seeing his bleeding shoulder.
"Com'on, Prez! Move those legs!" Black exclaimed, grabbing White's wrist and dragging her out of the dressing room.
The duo sprinted towards the ground floor, side by side. A few tears were already rolling down White's cheeks while Black just gritted his teeth and continued running.
Before long, they saw the glowing 'Exit' sign. Flashing wide grins at each other, they dashed out of the mall.
And just in time, too. The roof of the mall caved into the fourth, third, second and ground floor, leaving nothing but a flattened piece of what used to be a shopping mall.
Overwhelmed by their close shave, Black and White collapsed to their knees, taking in deep breaths of fresh air. Before long, White was bandaging up Black's wounds, while seated on a stretcher, particularly his shoulder. Miraculously, White had escaped unscathed. Black had shrugged off his jacket to make the bandaging more convenient.
Black silently watched the paramedics tend to those who had more serious injuries as he played with his cap. He was pretty sure that this whole mess was caused by those group of suspicious-looking people.
"B-Black?" Black turned to face White, who had finished bandaging his injuries. "Thanks. If it weren't for you, the police would be searching for my dead body by now."
Black adverted his gaze to the flattened mall where policemen and police Growlithes and Arcanines were sniffing around for people.
"Your welcome." White noticed Black looked extremely uneasy.
"What's the matter?"
"… I saw some people who looked very suspicious. They talking on earpieces and hurried out of the mall. All before the… incident."
"You think they caused it?"
"No." Black replied, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
The duo said silently for awhile, Black playing with cap. Before Black could put his cap back on, White reached over and pecked him on the lips.
"That's my way of saying 'Thank you'." White informed him, her face as red as a tomato before she got off the stretcher and walked off to call the BW Agency about Black and her taking leave for a few days.
Long after White had gone off, Black was still sitting there, his eyes wide and his cheeks flushed.
Poor Black. Still as clueless as ever. Agencyshipping forever! X3 I know, it's not my usual standard. I got tired near the end of the one-shot and… yah…
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