(Hey guys, this is an idea I had for a shorter multi-chapter work, longer than a one/two-shot, but shorter than a novel-length fic. Do let me know what you think of the story, and hope y'all enjoy! Pokémon and its trademarked items do not belong to me.)


The Black-White Agency

"You fucking idiot! Do that again!

"Stand up! Straight! Tall! Proud!"

Kiernan could only accomplish three out of those four demands. There was a reason why a young, athletic zorua like him was not out engaged in barbaric fist-to-fist combat with some ugly as shit pokémon on Route 4.

He tried the pose again. He walked towards his employer, White, who was staring intently at him while vigorously scrawling notes on paper. He stopped at the edge of the platform stage and gave a confident, piercing stare. White didn't even flinch.

The owner of BW Agency sighed, as if she finally gave in. "Okay, let's break for ten," she said. White scribbled some final notes on her legal pad to seem more "official".

Kiernan stepped off the stage, fixing the neon blue tuft of fur on his head. He didn't feel White's apparent disappointment. He knew that she always pushed the best pokémon models the hardest.

"You're probably on next, Nadia," Kiernan said to the cat-like pokémon standing on the side of the stage.

"Yeah, and I'm a bit nervous, Kir," Nadia said. "White really seems on edge today."

"Probably her time of the month or something," he said, trying to hold back his laughter.

Nadia frowned. "Gee, for a gay zorua, you're really sexist."

"This coming from the pokémon who kicked us out of your last beach party saying 'no male bastards allowed'! I'm still trying to recover from that psybeam," he said, glaring at the female pokémon.

"Well…that was different," Nadia said with an aloof gaze. "…there was money involved."

"If anything, it was your time…" he trailed off.

He looked into the meowstic's eyes. Nadia had been around the longest at BW Agency. Even when she evolved, she had value as a breathtakingly beautiful pokémon. Wow, they the blue accents set off her alabaster white fur, the eyes like raging, life-giving suns—and he never really took the time to recognize it. He looked at his own dark body. Not that he was interested in her. If anything he was…jealous. Like a little sister.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Nadia," Kiernan said, apologizing to the meowstic. "I wasn't…thinking."

"I wonder when White'll take us out to the beach. She promised she would. I'm tired of practicing in this stuffy, windowless theater."

The BW Agency had moved to Undella Town for a three-month retreat, in preparation for the next contest season in Hoenn. White had always depended on other things such as movies and TV shoots for money, but this time she figured she had a chance.

The Hoenn contests were the pinnacle of Pokémon beauty, and to win a medal there would be a golden feather in their caps, for sure. But the costs of preparation were high, and the risk tremendous. One slip up by her twelve-Pokémon team, and their hopes and dreams would be crushed.

So she never let her eyelids fall as she examined her pokémon's choreography. In preparation for the contest season, they were sure to participate in every possible local event in Undella. Today, they were prepping for the beach parade coming up in a few days.

White herself was shaping up to meet Ruby, the new manager and head judge of the Hoenn contest system and with one of the most beautiful contest teams of all time—and who was supposed to be around her age…!

"Nadia, you're going up in two minutes!" White called out.

"Oh…guess I gotta go, Kir," she said. "But we can meet each other at the beach later. Wanna battle with us after practice?"

"Erm…I dunno. I feel…too strong nowadays," he admitted as he stepped nervously in place with his paws.

Nadia consoled him. "I'm sure you'll still be great after you evolve. Besides, you're shiny—that's a very valuable asset."

Kiernan dreaded the day he would evolve. A zoroark looked hideous, with the sharp claws and all. He would also lose the bright neon blue in his fur, instead having a dull purple color. He wasn't as afraid of what others would see in him as what he himself would see every time he looked into a mirror.

He would be much bigger in size than his friends Nadia and Emry. He would be a bigger, darker, more menacing shadow over them. His friends would actually be scared of him. His friends would be forced to call him…dark.

He stared up into the wonderfully bright light until he got blue spots in his eyes.

"You all right, Kir?" He snapped out his daze.

"Oh hey…Emry." Kiernan changed his stare from the fluorescent light above the theater to the cinccino standing in front of him. Not that different, really. They both glowed with an unwaveringly bright light. They were both irresistible to Kiernan.

"Ugh, it's been a long day. White made me practice like two hundred times. But you should come battle with us! It'll be fun."

But then how could a cinccino like Emry not sparkle and shine all the time? Even in the dim light of the theater, his long trail of fur wrapped around his body was unmistakably white. He was just so beautiful. Too beautiful, it seemed. His looks were being wasted on an impetuous, hot-headed pokémon like Emry.

"All those idiots at the beach are gonna mess with us again," Emry said, seemingly oblivious to Kiernan's continuous stare. "This time we're gonna whup their asses, aren't we, Kir?"

"Oh, I'm sure," Nadia rolled her eyes. "Gosh, you're so aggressive, Em. If you didn't have that nifty little ability to clean yourself, you wouldn't even be here!"

"I'm not ugly!" Emry rebuffed.

"Oh yeah? Well—"

"Nadia!? What're you doing there! Get the fuck on stage already. We don't have time to waste!" It was White calling for her.

They stopped arguing, but retained their dirty stares as Nadia went up to the stage. Her evil gaze quickly disappeared, and she began her performance.


"I'm sorry, Em," Kiernan said when they were at the beach. For a moment it was quiet, and all he could hear was the waves lapping at the shore, and Emry's heavy panting.

"It's okay, I…I asked for it." The cinccino was barely standing after the battle.

Kiernan regretted not taking it easy on Emry. But when Emry asked Kiernan to battle with him—how could he refuse a friend? At least that's what Emry said to persuade him.

"Wow…you're really strong, Kir. And you're not even at your final form yet like I am."

He flinched, his paws dragging in the sand. "I'm…I'm sorry Em, I didn't mean to—"

"Don't cry, Kir. Instead, put your strength to good use." He pointed to the pokémon on the other end of the beach. They all were owned by local trainers, but left free to roam while the human trainers socialized with one another.

"I…I…don't wanna mess with them if I don't have to," Kiernan said in response. "It's not like they even know us that well, do they? What reason do we have to approach them?"

"Look at them," Emry said, leaning in close. The only reason Kiernan bothered to listen was so he could smell Emry up close, feel his soft trail of white fur tickle his own comparatively rough fur. "They're spoilt by their trainers. Look how they're stealing the humans' stuff. See, see? Did ya see that? Did ya see that? That sandile just snatched that woman's bracelet while she's asleep! Look at that! I'm gonna whup their asses[EC1] ."

Emry continued looking at the spectacle unfolding before him. "Yeah, just…look at that! Did that braixen not just take that man's wallet!? That's it, I've had it, I'm going—"

"Oh, look, the faggots are cuddling each other," a voice giggled.

Emry quickly stepped away from Kiernan. "What d'you want?"

The sandile they had seen stealing the necklace confronted them. "Well well well, it's been a while, hasn't it? Almost thought the Pussy Tribe had left Undella Town already, heh heh."

Emry immediately turned to Kiernan, hoping he'd say something. The zorua curled his dark body into a tight ball and tried to be inconspicuous in the pearl-white sands of the beach.

"We…we're the BW Agency!" the cinccino blurted out ineloquently.

"A faggot harem, more like it!" the sandile snickered.

"Professional pokémon modeling agency…!"

"That's just an excuse for being a pussy that can't battle."

Emry bristled especially at that last remark. "Look, just 'cause we're pokémon models doesn't mean we're useless in battle, y'know," Emry said to the sandile, then turned to Kiernan with a needy look. The dark type suddenly had an awful pit in his stomach.

"Show 'em something, Kir," Emry demanded. "Prove that bastard wrong."

Kiernan curled up even tighter into a ball.

"Aww…your little boyfriend a'int gonna save your little ass, huh?" The sandile laughed, unrestrained.

"He…he's not my boyfriend!" Emry blushed, only briefly though. He became worried as the sandile began to approach him. Emry slowly backed away. Kiernan curled up even tighter—to hide his tears.

"Well, I a'int gonna show you any mercy. I was gonna have two of my pals come and help me out, but now I see that that's not necessary."

Even with his eyes closed, Kiernan could hear Emry's desperation. "K…Kiernan…help…!"

Kiernan opened one eye to see. Emry was hit with a sand attack, which was only strengthened due to the sandy surface of the beach. He watched as the spaces in Emry's white fur began to be filled with the particles of sand.

Kiernan gasped. Something was telling him to do something about it. He shapeshifted into a miniature sandshrew and burrowed himself into a dark hole in the sand. And he hid there, motionless. He couldn't bear to see Emry getting hurt.

When the ground stopped shaking, he used his claws to burrow back up. He saw Emry collapsed on the ground. The sandile had left. Kiernan ran towards Emry, expecting the cinccino to respond gratefully.

But when Kiernan reached to touch Emry, collapsed in the sand, he heard Emry say "Get your paws off me." He so complied, too much in shock to object.

"What're you, Kiernan, a coward?" Fueled by anger, Emry quickly stood up on his feet again. "You could've helped me, Kiernan. But instead, you just retreated like a fucking coward."

He was trembling a lot recently. It was because he was about to evolve. He figured the previous battle with Emry was enough for one day.

But this time Kiernan was sure he wasn't trembling because he was evolving. "I…I tried my best," he lied. "That sandile was very strong, y'know."

"What the fuck are you saying!? Can you even hear yourself!? Look Kiernan, I may be immature at times, but I'm certainly not stupid," Emry said. "You could've fought them off. But you didn't. You didn't even try. Instead you left me to fend for both of us. What the hell's the matter with you!?"

Kiernan kept looking down, his eyes half-shut. He couldn't bear to see Emry scolding him.

"Well, at least help carry me back to the apartment. Or can't you do that either?"

Kiernan shapeshifted into a ponyta, and offered Emry his back to rest on.

"Why don't you transform into a rapidash?" Emry mumbled as he lay on Kiernan's back (in the form of the horse pokémon). "Rapidash are faster than ponyta."

"I…I…I dunno," he said as he trotted down the semi-crowded evening streets of Undella. "I like to take things slowly sometimes. Everyone just rushes their life too much y'know?"

"Like waiting anxiously to evolve?" Emry said, adding a smug grin. He had regained some of his energy, and was able to sit straight on Kiernan's back.

The zorua-spirited ponyta smiled. "Yeah, I guess."


By the time Kiernan arrived at the apartments they were staying at and shifted back into his normal form, it was almost dark.

"Well, let's hop on the elevator and get some rest," Emry said. BW Agency always treated their talent well, and that meant all eight pokémon currently employed in her agency being treated to three sixth-floor apartments to share amongst themselves.

"Hey Kiernan! Hey Emry!" White walked by, in a noticeably more cheerful mood than she was that afternoon.

"Zoru, zorua," Kiernan replied. [Hey White.] White treated herself for the three-month long term stay in Unova. Instead of camping outdoors, she opted for a ground-floor one-bedroom apartment at the bottom of the ten-floor building.

"G'night, guys! Stay safe!" And with that, White left the two pokémon. They heard the door to White's apartment close. Kiernan started walking away from Emry.

"Kir…are you not going back to the apartment?"

Kiernan had walked away from the bright light emanating from the building and stepped into the dark night surrounding it. "Nah, it's nice out tonight. I think I'll…take a stroll," he said, not looking at Emry.

The cinccino sighed. "Look…I'm sorry for snapping at you, Kir. I know you're going through a tough time and…"

"No, no, it's my fault. It was my fault all along."

Emry stepped into the darkness where Kiernan was standing. The zorua was crying. "Look, dude, I'm sorry. It's okay."

Kiernan looked up. Even in the dim of the night, Emry's chocolate brown eyes emanated a rich light. He could never explain it. Why even in the darkness, Emry was s glowingly beautiful.

The dark-type stroked Emry's fur in admiration. Even streaks of neon blue at his head didn't shine as brightly as the ivory white of Emry's fur. Then they kissed. In the darkness, no one would see them.

"Th…thank you," Kiernan whispered to the cinccino. A brisk wind suddenly blew, and Emry used his long trail of white fur to shield Kiernan from the cold.

When it was no longer cold, the zorua carefully unraveled the fur wrapped around his body. After the minutes of stifling warmth, the cool of night was refreshing.

"Bye, Em." Kiernan walked away into the night, leaving Emry at the entrance to the apartment block. The last time he looked back—about 100 meters out—Emry had gone inside.

The last kiss he ever had with Emry was not a good one. When he opened an eye to take a peek, he saw the cincinno's eyes wide open, during the whole kiss. In fact, there were a lot of things that Kiernan didn't like about Emry.

Beyond a little kiss, he wouldn't let Kiernan touch him. Come to think of it, there was always a part of his brain that had nasty feelings for the cinccino—was that the only reason he stayed with Emry? He almost wanted to shout "I hate you" at Emry, but that would just be as difficult as trying to get him to fuck. So, Kiernan didn't any qualms leaving Emry behind and going out for walk by himself.

He wasn't sure how long he walked through the empty streets of Undella, or far he had gone. An hour, two hours, four. One mile, three miles, seven. He had a lot of things to think about and too few hours of darkness to relish.

He looked up at the moon in the night sky. Even that light was too harsh for him at times. Even as she tried staring into bright object, he still best in dim spaces. He was built for being kept in the dark.

And then while walking down a nondescript suburban street, a voice appeared in his head. "What're you, Kiernan, a coward?"

It made Kiernan snap out of his daze. He looked around him. "Where…where am I?" He trembled. This time he knew it wasn't because he was evolving.

A brief rustle in the bushes was all Kiernan saw of his attacker. He heard a terrible roaring sound, the noise incapacitating his bones. A terrible blow struck him from behind, and he collapsed. It was a feint attack, a dark type move—he could have easily protected himself from it. That was the last thought Kiernan had before he passed out.


Kiernan woke up in an empty room, lined with dirt-soiled concrete and exposed brick. Moonlight shined through the open doorway and a small window next to it. The zorua was not tied up or restrained in any way—as he woke from his forced slumber, he regained the feeling in his limbs and body.

"W…where am I?" Kiernan was about to walk towards the open doorway.

"Relax, dear," one of the voices said. "We're not gonna hurt you." Kiernan turned in the direction of the voices inside the room. Even though it was night, dark types have very powerful vision and can make out objects in very dim light.

However, Kiernan had been training his eyes by staring to the sun and other bright objects, so his vision was not as good as could be expected. He could still pick out the other pokémon in the room: an umbreon was the one that spoke. There was a mightyena sitting beside him, who was also staring intently at him.

"Look at the little bitch. He's so nicely groomed," the mightyena said, almost with a hint of scorn.

"Well of course, he's a pokémon model. See how his fur's been shampooed and combed?"

"You think the bitch cares, though?" the mightyena snickered. "Look at his eyes. You can tell. His true spirit is emanating from him."

"What the hell is this all about?" Kiernan shouted. "It's late and I gotta get back to my apartment before it's too late at night."

"'Before it's late?' Y'hear that?" The mightyena said to the umbreon. "The little bitch is scared of the dark! Imagine! A dark-type who doesn't like the night…who ever heard of that? We'll teach that little bitch something," the mightyena said, before turning to face the bitch. Kiernan shuddered.

"Who…who're you calling a bitch!?" Kiernan mustered the courage to say. If anyone, it was the mightyena that was the bitch.

"Relax, dear," the umbreon quickly said. "You won't get hurt. What's your name dear?"

"K…Kiernan." He stuttered.

The umbreon smiled. "My name's—"

"You're being too nice to him," the mightyena cut him off. "He's plenty old to get a bit of tough love. Here, watch."

The mightyena gave him a smug grin, then unleashed a snarl attack on him. The roaring sound echoed across the walls, so loudly that even the umbreon was hiding in a corner, covering his ears and his eyes tightly. Kiernan's determined stare didn't waver. Without hesitation, Kiernan unleashed a dark pulse on him. The noise stopped.

The mightyena remained incapacitated on the ground where he collapsed. "Oh…my. What…what horrible thoughts…" he muttered to himself. "Oh…no…such…such…such evil."

He turned to the umbreon after regaining some of his composure. "Well, whaddya know, the little bitch bites back," the mightyena snickered. He was obviously hurt by the attack; but Kiernan suffered the most damage—to his ego.

Kiernan retreated slightly. "S-stop it! I only did that in self-defense."

"Just face it, Kiernan. You're a little zorua, and like all of us, you love yourself a little…mischief. And I must say, you do so wonderfully. I haven't felt such horrible thoughts in a long, long time." The mightyena shuddered as he chuckled. "The evil's inside of you, zorua. Just like in inside of all of us."

"Th-that's nonsense!" Kiernan stuttered. "Even we dark-types have morals too!"

The umbreon retreated from the corner. "Wake up, Kiernan. Pokémon like you aren't born to be beautiful. They're born to rape the world with their evil deeds—whether you like it or not. The ones who refuse to accept their fate often get disillusioned…too late.

"Shall I tell you the story about that one time where…?" He paused. "No, no. Even for us dark types, that story is…too painful. But do take our word for it—you can trust your own kindred, after all, can you not? Why don't you spare yourself and join us now?"

"I have nothing in common with you all!" Kiernan insisted. "I have other friends who care about me!"

The umbreon leaned in closer to Kiernan, his menacing stare making the zorua tremble at his slender legs. "Or are they really, huh? They're not really your friends. And you know why, hmm? They all know, 'Kir'. They treat you differently because you're dark. You've seen it, haven't you?"

What he had seen, he didn't know—the sight of the umbreon in front of him eclipsed the memory with its darkness. He almost looked like Nadia, with the deep pensive eyes, the cat-like figure, and the rings around his body that matched the color of Nadia's eyes. Kiernan realized that the umbreon was actually pretty attractive. He tried to hide his visible response.

"Oh, what do we have here…?" The mightyena giggled, moving closer to him. Even if he shapeshifted into something else, it would still be visible. "Isn't it adorable…?"

"S…stop it!" Kiernan tried to hide it, an embarrassed blush on his face.

"Aww…the little bitch likes you," he said to the umbreon. "Shall we bring your little boyfriend closer, hmm?"

"Y…no! No! I don't like him! I don't like him!" Each time he said it, his blush grew stronger.

The mightyena turned serious again. Then he sighed. "Well, fine, if that's how you're gonna be. You can go, little liar. Go on. Out." Kiernan began to step out of the doorway. "But don't think we've forgotten you."

Outside, at a safe distance from the building he was trapped in, he looked around to make sure no one was looking. It was very late at night, and no one was about. Then he closed his eyes, and thought about the umbreon for ten minutes.

Actually, it only took about eight minutes. Afterwards, he heaved one sigh of relief and went on his way. He shapeshifted into a rapidash and galloped back to the rooms where he was staying.

He never thought about the umbreon the rest of the night.

"You seem out of it, Kir. What's the matter?" Nadia asked. Kiernan tried not to look at the meowstic. Now that he thought about it, the alabaster-white fur on her body was bit bright. It hurt his eyes to look at Nadia. It got to the point where his tears would distort what he was seeing, and Nadia just looked plain ugly.

He stared at the sunlight pouring through the window to practice staring at bright objects. It didn't work. Nadia just ended up with blue spot over his body, making her look even uglier.

"It's so beautiful out," Nadia said, trying to make conversation. "The sun is shining so brightly today, isn't it Kir? Kir? Kiernan? What's wrong?" She went to comfort him.

"Just leave me alone!" Kiernan shouted. He closed his eyes, because that's the only way things would be beautiful anymore. Beauty for him was darkness.

"I'm…I'm…I'm sorry," he heard Nadia say.

"No you're not!" Kiernan blurted out. "I know what you think about me. You don't like me. You don't want me around." He suddenly remembered the umbreon again. He thought he'd shaken off the memory, but that lustful face was there—his face, looking at the umbreon whose name he still didn't know.

"Now Kiernan, you know that's not true."

"What's the matter?" He heard another voice.

"Hey Nadia," Emry said. "Kiernan isn't feeling well."

"No, I'm fine!" He insisted. "I feel fine. In fact, I've never felt better. Never felt more like me. Never felt so…dark. Now fuck off." He kept his eyes shut. He couldn't bear to see the look on Emry's face.

"Morning dearies!" He opened his eyes. White had walked into their room. "Morning Kiernan," White said. "Where's the others?"

Kiernan looked around. "Zoru , zoru, zorua," he said, shaking his head. [I haven't seen them, White.] Emry and Nadia had left him.

"Well, can you find them? I need to talk to the three of you, urgently.

"Zoru zoru zorua!" [Nadia, Emry, the boss wants to talk with us! Come into the living room!] It was silent for at least a few minutes. He was sure they had heard him, the apartment wasn't that big.

"Nadia! Emry!" White called out. The two pokémon appeared in a few seconds.

"All right, guys, come close, this is important." The three pokémon walked closer to White, although Nadia and Emry kept their distance from Kiernan. He sighed woefully. Just as I suspected, the zorua thought to himself.

White was straight to the point. "Guys…I received a telephone call from a fashion designer in Hearthome City, in Sinnoh. She says she's interested in designing a garment for us to show at Pokémon Fashion Show coming up in a few months in Sinnoh.

"Now I know the three of you are my top pokémon at this agency. And I told her that, I said I couldn't possibly choose between the three of y'all.

"But she insisted that she only has time to make two garments. So the designer said she's coming over to Undella to see who'll will be the best pokémon to display her new garment."

Nadia and Emry looked at each other. Kiernan looked away.

White sighed. "So…please don't feel bad if you don't get picked…okay? Promise?"

Kiernan nodded. What did it matter? He was a dark type. You can't break a heart that's already broken. Or rather in his case, you can't break a heart that isn't there.


(To be continued. Hope you liked it, and be sure to comment on your thoughts! Thanks for reading.)