Black and White

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A tale about a character from the Pokemon franchise. It's not exactly hard to figure out, but I don't fully reveal who the character is until the end of the story, so I won't spoil it here. Enjoy!

As she looked around the room, a few boxes still strewn about waiting to be unpacked, she couldn't help but let out a sigh of both relief and exhaustion. Even though it was still morning, moving her things into her new workplace had really tired her out. Despite the fatigue, though, there was still an aura of excitement about her. After all, she thought to herself, it's not every day that you get to start a new job, especially not one that you've been looking forward to for so long. Of course, the way the move-in was going so far, she might not actually get any work done today. She decided that was probably for the best, all things considered. It wouldn't do to get too overwhelmed on her first day.

“What do you think, Minccino?” She said, looking down at the small, fluffy creature by her side. “Is it time to take a break?”

A cheerful “Min, min!” was the creature's response.

“Alright then,” she continued. “Since it's such a lovely day, why don't we go and sit outside for a while?”

Minccino gave another “Min!” indicating her approval.

Just then, the young woman heard the door to the building open behind her. She turned around to see who it was. Standing before her was a man approaching middle age, with a hard to read expression on his face. The woman knew exactly who he was. She had been hoping that he'd come by sometime, but with as busy as he was, she hadn't expected it to be so soon. For a few moments they just looked at each other, but eventually she decided she ought to start up a conversation.

“Hi there,” she began.

“Hello, Arthur-” As soon as the words left the man's lips, he turned red with embarrassment, wishing he could take them back, but it was too late.

Looking irritated, she cut him off. “That's not my name, Dad.”

“I know, I know,” he said, trying to recover his wits. “It just slipped out. Look, the past is behind us, ok? I support you one hundred percent. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, I do,” she said sheepishly. “That doesn't make it any easier to forget, though.”

“I know,” he replied glumly, “and I'm sorry.”


Seventeen years earlier...

“What do you think you're doing!”

8 year old Arthur cringed at the sound of his father's voice. His thoughts were running at a frantic pace. Wasn't Dad supposed to be gone until this evening? What's he going to say now that he's seen me like this? What am I going to do now?

What Arthur had been doing was playing by himself with Minccino, his best friend. This was nothing unusual. As shy as Arthur was, he didn't really have any human friends, and Minccino was the only one of Arthur's father's pokemon that he felt safe letting his son play with. What was unusual was what Arthur was wearing. He had frilly little socks on his feet, a cute little ribbon in his hair, and a bright, colorful dress in between, and as far as Arthur was concerned, it was the prettiest dress in the whole world.


The main reason Arthur was so shy was because he never felt like he fit in with the boys his own age. He was intensely jealous of how girls got to dress up all pretty and do so many fun girly things together. He would have jumped at the chance to play with the girls at school, but they never let him join in their games. So it was that every day at recess Arthur found himself playing either alone or with whatever friendly pokemon had decided to visit the schoolyard that day. Sometimes when a pokemon came, though, all the other kids wanted to play with it, so he was still lonely those days.

However, a few days ago, one of the girls in his class came in with one of her old dresses that she had outgrown. She offered to give it to one of the other girls in the class, but none of them seemed to want it. Arthur knew that this might be his only chance to get a dress of his very own, so he offered to take it, saying that his family had been collecting clothes to give to charity. He felt guilty about lying, but there was no way he was going to say the real reason he wanted the dress. He couldn't wait to get home so he could try it on!

Once he put his mind to it, getting the socks and ribbon on his way home from school was easy. They were inconspicuous enough that nobody noticed as he brought them up to the register at the discount store, and the bored looking cashier barely gave him a second glance as he paid for them. He had thought about trying to get some girl's underwear too, but decided that that would be pushing it, and besides, he didn't really like the idea of buying underwear out of the bargain bin anyway.

At home, Arthur was overjoyed to find that the dress actually fit him fairly well. After completing the image, he wanted to jump for joy. Sure, he looked a little funny with his boy's haircut, but he just felt so amazingly pretty and girly, like this was how the world was supposed to be. He knew he had to share this discovery, so he went looking for Minccino's pokeball, hoping that she would still play with him like this. It didn't take long for him to find it, and as he brought his friend out of her ball, he yelled, “Come on out, Minccino!” in the girliest voice he could muster.

Minccino only looked confused for a second or two before jumping up and giving Arthur a hug. She could tell that he was happy, and if he was happy, then she was too. It didn't matter what he was wearing. After that, Arthur spent every moment he could playing with Minccino in his new outfit. He couldn't remember ever feeling this happy.


Arthur's awareness snapped back to the present, and his mind registered that his father was yelling at him.

“...not going to tell me where you got them? Fine, doesn't matter. I don't ever want to see you dressed like that again!”

“But, Dad, I...”

“No buts, just go to your room and take those off, then bring them back so I can get rid of them.” Noticing Minccino standing there, looking as scared as Arthur, he reached for her pokeball. “Minccino, return!”

For a moment, Arthur just stood there, still somewhat in shock. However, another look from his father was all it took to wake him up to reality, and he started trudging up the stairs to his room, looking heartbroken. It wasn't until he got there, though, that the tears started. Why did he have to get so angry? thought Arthur. What's so wrong with wanting to look pretty? More than anything, he worried about what would happen to Minccino. Will I still be allowed to play with her? It was then that the tears gave way to full blown sobbing. He could live with not being able to dress up, but having his only friend taken away from him was unthinkable.

Arthur wasn't sure how long he cried, but it must have been a while, because eventually he fell asleep curled up on his bed.

He never did get around to taking the dress off.


Cedric didn't know what to think when he got home from work that day. At first when he saw the little girl playing happily with Minccino, he wondered if his son had brought a playmate home with him. True, Arthur really should have let him know beforehand, but this was such a rare occurrence that Cedric couldn't get upset about it. Then he realized that the little girl was his son.

“What do you think you're doing!”

In retrospect, Cedric knew that he shouldn't have reacted so harshly. He still didn't feel it was right for Arthur to be wearing girls' clothes, but the kid didn't deserve the reaming out that he got. Something about the sight set Cedric off, though, and after some pondering, he thought he had an idea of what it was.

Cedric loved his wife dearly, she was one of the most important people in the world to him. There were no secrets between them, and Cedric knew that more than anything else in the world she wanted a daughter to spoil. When Arthur, their first child, was born, they were both overjoyed, but she still harbored hope for a girl someday. Even though the first pregnancy had been fairly rough on her, they decided to try again.

Eventually, she got pregnant again. This time, the couple decided that they wanted to know the baby's sex ahead of time, and lo and behold, it was a girl! They were both happy as a Clamperl, and little Arthur marveled at his mother's growing belly. When it came time for the delivery, though, there were complications. Cedric's wife ended up dying during childbirth. The doctors tried hard, but they weren't able to save the baby, either.

Cedric was heartbroken. The love of his life was gone. No one should have to bury two family members at once. They hadn't even decided on a name for their new daughter. Cedric couldn't bear to make the decision on his own, so the grave was left unnamed. Arthur was still too young to really understand what was happening, but he too grew sad when he noticed that Mommy wasn't around anymore.

Seeing his son dressed like the daughter he could never have dredged up old memories in Cedric, painful memories that he did not care to be reminded of. After considering it for a while, he was fairly sure that this was why he went off on the boy, and he felt a little bit guilty. Tomorrow was Saturday; maybe the two of them could go get some Castelia Cones and try to smooth things over.

Coming out of his introspection, Cedric realized that it had been a while since he got home, and Arthur still hadn't come back from his room. He climbed the stairs to see what the holdup was and found his son sleeping peacefully, still wearing the dress. Gently, Cedric slipped off the dress and replaced it with a set of pajamas, took out the hair ribbon, and kissed Arthur good night. The boy hardly stirred.

In the morning, Arthur was surprised to find that he was still wearing the cute, frilly socks.


Present day...

“I still miss your mom, you know.”

Father, daughter, and pokemon had made it outside, and were in the process of setting up a picnic lunch.

“I know you do. I'm sorry I don't remember her. I'm sure she was the nicest person you'd ever meet.”

“She was indeed. Ah well, life goes on. Besides, it's not like I'm alone. I still have you.” At that, the woman started to tear up, and the pair shared a heartfelt hug. Minccino would have joined in, but she was too busy brushing dirt off of the picnic blanket to notice what was happening around her.

As they broke off the hug, Cedric thought of something. “Say, where's Fennel? I would have figured she'd be around, helping you get settled.”

She smiled. “Oh, she was here earlier today, but she had some errands to run. Said she had to see a man about a Munna. Don't ask me.”

Cedric had to chuckle at that. “Alright then. Well, when she gets back, tell her I appreciate her helping my daughter out.”

The woman frowned. “Tell her yourself, you dolt! At least I hope you're sticking around for a while.”

He smiled sheepishly. “Fair enough.”


Six years earlier...

Fennel was in stealth pursuit. When she'd seen the girl leaving the party early, she was sure she recognized the face. It only took a few moments for her to place it. It was the face of a boy from a few of her classes. Arthur, she thought his name was? Anyway, she knew she had to investigate, so she excused herself and left to find out where the mystery person would go. Luckily, Fennel could still see her (him?) walking away, so she started to follow.

Fennel had always been good at making herself unnoticed, so there was little danger of being discovered by her target. After the chase led her to a boys' dorm, she was almost certain her hunch was correct. She knew it could still be a coincidence, though. Access to the dorms wasn't restricted by gender, and it might have been a girl gone to visit her boyfriend. Still, her curiosity had been piqued, so she kept up the pursuit inside the building.

It wasn't until she saw the girl stop in front of a door and produce a key to a room that Fennel knew she was right. Weighing the pros and cons of revealing herself, she decided that if she scared the girl off, she was no worse off than before, and maybe Arthur would be more careful in the future.

“You know these are the boys' dorms, right?”

The mystery girl dropped her key and looked around frantically for the source of the voice. Eventually her eyes finally noticed Fennel standing there. She looked white as a sheet. “I... I...”

Fennel gave her best disarming expression. “It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you. Actually, I think I'd like to talk to you. May I come in?”

The other girl looked equal parts confused and resigned. “S... sure.” She stooped down to pick up her key and finished opening the door.

Fennel wasn't sure what she was expecting when she entered the room. Would it look like a boy or a girl lived here? In actuality, the room was almost completely bare. Nothing gave any indication as to the gender of the room's owner. The most interesting things in the room were some pokemon toys and food. Something to ask about later, thought Fennel.

Her host was not forthcoming with information, so Fennel decided to get the ball rolling.

“I like your room.”

The other girl raised an eyebrow. “You don't have to humor me. I know it's dreadfully plain.”

“Maybe so,” replied Fennel, “but at least you didn't deny that it is your room. So, what's your name, hon?”

“Um, uh...” She struggled to stammer out a response. “It's, uh, Arthur.”

Fennel couldn't help but let out a giggle. “Come on, neither of us really believes that, do we?”

“Huh?” The blush was clearly visible on the girl's cheeks.

“Just because the college thinks there's a boy living in this room doesn't mean there actually is. At least, no boy I've ever met would use the phrase 'dreadfully plain' unironically. So, let's try this again. What's your name?”

The girl looked about ready to cry. “I... I don't know!”

“Well,” Fennel smirked, “We'll just have to figure that out, then, won't we?”

This time, the girl actually did start crying. Fennel opened her arms, and the hug was readily accepted. “Shh, it's okay. Everything will be just fine.”


Arthur knew he was taking a risk going out dressed like he was, but he thought he had been so careful. When he heard that voice behind him, it was like a repeat of that first time he got caught all those years ago. He had never really stopped dressing up. The urge to feel girly and pretty was too strong. He was a lot more diligent about hiding it though. If his dad suspected anything, he hadn't said so. When he started college to study the origins of pokemon, he began growing his hair out. With the long hair, his slight build, and a little effort, he was actually pretty passable as a woman. He still felt guilty about it though, like there was something wrong with him for wanting to dress like this.

That was part of why he started crying. He recognized Fennel from some of his classes, and he always thought she looked so beautiful. He hadn't expected her to be so understanding, and until she made her remark, he hadn't even considered that he actually felt feminine, not just girly. Could he really be a girl?

After he'd stopped crying and calmed down, and he and Fennel had sat down across from each other in his room, he put on a serious face and asked, “Doesn't it bother you?”

“Doesn't what bother me?”

How could she be so calm about this? “That I'm a bo-”

“Ah, ah, we've been through this already. There are no boys in this room. No human boys, anyway. I can't speak for your pokemon. If you mean that you're physically male, well, let me show you something.”

Fennel pulled a camera out of her purse and started looking through the pictures on it. Eventually she handed it off to Arthur, apparently having found what she was looking for. What Arthur saw on the screen answered some questions, but it also raised others.

It was a picture of a Sawk that appeared to be posing for the camera. However, instead of the gi that most Sawk wore, this one had on a dress. Arthur looked back up at Fennel. “What exactly am I looking at?”

“Do you know what I'm studying here?” asked Fennel. Arthur shook his head. “Pokemon psychology,” she continued. “Personally, my curiosity lies in pokemons' dreams, but one of the other students in the department is interested in pokemon gender and sexuality. This Sawk,” Fennel pointed at the camera, “is part of his pet project. As you probably know, Sawk are an all male species of pokemon. This Sawk, though, sees herself as female. Fortunately, her trainer accepts her, and because she's capable of wearing clothes, she can actually express her true gender.”

Arthur was wide eyed. “Fascinating,” was all he could say.

“Isn't it, though? My friend has encountered other instances of transgendered pokemon, but this is one of the most visually obvious, so it's the one he likes to show people. For example, from what he's been able to gather, most individuals of genderless pokemon species do in fact have a gender identity leaning one way or the other, particularly in the case of legendaries. Oh, and don't even get him started on Ditto!”

Arthur couldn't help it. He giggled. Fennel looked at him strangely. “What?” he asked.

“That's your natural laugh, isn't it?”

Arthur realized she was right. He hadn't kept up his female voice! Cautiously, he nodded.

“I thought so,” said Fennel. “It is a little lower pitched than the voice you've been using, but that's definitely not a boy's laugh.” Arthur blushed sheepishly. “Anyway,” she continued, “the point is, even in the pokemon world gender isn't necessarily black and white. It's only natural that humans should be the same way. I understand that, and I hope you do too. That's why your biological sex isn't a problem for me. If you want me to treat you as a girl, and I think you do, then I'm happy to oblige.”

That brought on another round of hugs and tears. Fennel smiled warmly. “Easy there, girl. Don't check out on me. We still need to pick out a name for you, remember?”

Arthur lit up. “You're right. I think I need some help deciding though.” He (she?) reached for a pokeball. “Come on out, Minccino!”

Minccino was delighted to see how her owner was dressed, but when she saw Fennel, she got upset and moved to defend Arthur.

“It's okay, she's a friend, and she's okay with me,” said Arthur. “Minccino, this is Fennel. Fennel, this is Minccino. She is a girl, by the way. She used to belong to my dad, but when I came here he gave her to me.”

Gradually, Minccino's expression softened, and she introduced herself. “Min! Min!”

“Pleased to meet you too, Minccino,” chirped Fennel. “We're trying to come up with a girl name for Arthur here. Would you like to help?”

“Min! Min, min!”

“Alright then,” said Arthur. “Let's get started. Hmm, what about Erika?” Minccino said nothing. “No? Okay, what about, umm... Jasmine?” More silence.

“Candice?” Fennel chimed in. “Iris?” Minccino just shook her head.

This went on for a while. The two humans went through whole lists of names, but the pokemon shot down every one. Finally, Fennel said, rather exasperatedly, “How about Aurea?”

That got a reaction out of Minccino. “Min min min!”

“You like that one?” said Arthur. “Very well, Aurea it is!”


Present day...

Aurea looked over at her father. In between bites of her sandwich, she said, “You know, I still can't get over how quickly you changed your mind about me.”

Cedric cleared his throat and replied, “Well, you were willing to battle me over it. You never wanted to have a battle with me growing up. After that, I knew that this really was important to you. You're family after all, and once I realized how serious you were, I couldn't not support you.”

Aurea was beaming. “I love you, Dad”

“I love you too, Aurea, my darling daughter.”


Two years earlier...

“You can't do this, Arthur. I won't let you!”

Aurea grimaced. She'd come into the city to get her gender officially changed on her records. She'd hoped her father wouldn't make an appearance, but she had a feeling he'd show up, so she'd come prepared. She hadn't expected him to act so brashly, though. She hardly looked like an Arthur anymore. She'd been on hormones for over two years now, and her body was now unmistakably a woman's. Her surgery was already scheduled for a few weeks from now. She imagined that her father probably looked a little silly to any passersby. She turned around to look at him. “My name is Aurea, Dad, not Arthur.” Her voice was almost eerily calm.

Cedric snorted. “I changed your diapers, young man. You were Arthur for twenty years. No amount of hormones is going to change that!”

Aurea let out a sigh. “Open your eyes, Dad,” she continued. “This is who I am now, who I always was, really. This is the true me. I can't keep lying to myself, and I'm certainly not going to keep lying to you.”

Cedric deflated a bit, but not much. “That may be, son, but the way I see it, there's a certain set of principles that the world is supposed to follow. One of those is, boys are boys, and girls are girls, and nothing in this world can make a wit of difference.” Then his eyes lit up. “How about this. Let's have a battle, you and I. One pokemon each. Your truth against my ideals. Then we'll see who's right and who's wrong.”

Aurea smirked. She'd been planning on this. “Gladly,” she replied.


“Let's go, Minccino! This is the most important challenge we've faced!”

“Come on, Beartic! Let's show them a real battle!”

“Okay Minccino, use Tail Slap!”

“Counter with Aqua Jet, Beartic! Don't let Minccino get off her Tail Slap!”

“Aargh! They interrupted our attack. Alright, let's try this. Use Swift, Minccino!”

“Quick, Beartic. Aqua Jet, again! ... So, we couldn't stop Swift, could we? Alright Beartic, let's go on the offensive. Icicle Crash, now!”

“Dodge it, Minccino, and give Beartic another Tail Slap! ... Good job Minccino, we've got them on the ropes!”

“That's what you think, son. Now Beartic, use Superpower, and don't hold anything back!”

“Ah, Minccino! Are you alright? … We're not done yet. Use Sing, Minccino!”

“Don't let them put you to sleep, Beartic! … Aargh!”

“Taking a snooze, are we? Let's take advantage, Minccino. Use Wake-Up Slap!”

“Beartic, wake up before she hits you! … No! Okay Beartic, I know you're tired, but so is Minccino. Finish her off with Brine!”

“Quick, use Swift! … Ha, ha, looks like Beartic is down for the count. We win! Good job, Minccino, return!”

“Come back Beartic, you put in a good effort.”


Father and daughter were both panting after the intense battle. Cedric was the first to speak. “We... we lost.”

“You're right, you did lose. Now, are you going to let me walk in there and make my new life official, or do we have to go another round?”

Cedric looked forlorn. “No, go ahead. I know when I'm beat. I might be stubborn enough to cling to my beliefs, but I'm self aware enough to recognize the possibility that those beliefs are wrong in the face of overwhelming evidence. That battle was the most alive I've ever seen you. If being a woman is what it takes to draw out that kind of passion, then who am I to stand in the way. Maybe after you're done in there, I can spend some time with my new daughter. That is, if you're not too busy?”

Aurea was trying not to cry, but it was a lost cause. She knew that by now the two of them were getting some strange looks, but she couldn't bring herself to care. “I would love that, Dad. More than you know.”

Together, they walked into the building.


Present day...

Cedric, Aurea, and Minccino were finishing up their meal. “So, are you ready for this job? It's a big responsibility, you know. Plus, Nuvema Town is pretty far out of the way. There's barely a dozen people living here. Surely there's some other lab somewhere that you could use for your research.”

Aurea just smiled. “They're nice people though. I've gotten to know them pretty well over the course of my visits. Fewer people just means you get to spend more time with all of them. Honestly, there's nowhere else I'd rather be.”

As if on cue, two young children, perhaps five years old, came running up to where the three of them were having their picnic. They were having a fit of the giggles. Aurea recognized them as Hilbert and Bianca, two members of a trio of friends, though the third, Cheren, was suspiciously absent. Interestingly, Hilbert was wearing one of Bianca's outfits. He looked adorable.

“Hi Miss Juniper, hi Minccino, who's that?” The two of them said, almost in unison. It actually managed to be cute instead of creepy.

“Hi there kids,” Aurea said, looking bemused, “and may I say that you both look very pretty today.” They were both beaming, but Hilbert was shining just a little brighter. “This is my father.”

“Hello, Mr Juniper,” they both said.

“Hello,” Cedric replied, “It's nice to meet you. It's actually Professor Juniper though.” Hilbert and Bianca looked embarrassed. “Oh, don't look so upset. I don't mind. I just wanted to let you know.” They cheered back up.

“Actually,” continued Aurea, “there are now officially two Professor Junipers sitting here.” The children looked confused. “You're looking at the new Pokemon Professor for the Unova region. I'll be doing my research here full time now, and I might just be giving you two your first pokemon when you're older.”

Hilbert and Bianca broke out into applause. “Congratulations, Miss Juniper!” they cheered. “Oops, we mean Professor Juniper.”

“Oh, thank you,” said Professor Aurea Juniper. “By the way, where's Cheren? I figured he'd be with you.”

Hilbert was quiet, but Bianca answered, “Oh, he didn't want to play dress up, so he went home. We told him we could play something else, but he said he didn't mind.”

Just then, Hilbert's mother appeared. “There you two are,” she said sharply. “It's time for lunch.” Then she noticed what Hilbert was wearing. “Hilbert,” she asked, “why are you wearing Bianca's clothes?”

Hilbert huffed and said, “I'm not Hilbert. That's a boy's name.”

His mother smiled, looking amused. “Okay, what's your name then, little girl?”

“Hilda!” was the response.

“Alright then, Hilda, Hilbert, whoever you are, you and your friend had better scoot your butts on home if you want to eat. Now come on!” She walked away, children in tow.

“Bye Miss Juniper!” they called behind them. Then, before they got too far, Hilbert ran back and said quietly, “Thank you for calling me pretty.”

Aurea gave the child a hug. “You're welcome sweetie,” she said. “Now go and catch up with your mother.”

As Hilbert ran back to his mother, Cedric turned to his daughter and said, “You know, I think those kids are going to have some very interesting experiences.”

Aurea smiled wistfully and replied, “I think you might be right, Dad. I think you might be right.”

“Min! Min!”

The End

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Comments

Ignorant

about any and everything poka or any other Mon, I missed all the references. However, I still enjoyed the very strong story.
thank you
Hugs
Grover

Yeah,

some of the references are more obscure than others. None of them are really needed to appreciate the story, though. They're just there as little bonuses. I'm glad you liked it!

cute.

Im not a big pokemon fan, my time in japan kinda ruined it for me, but o really enjoyed this story. It was cute and funny, I dont know if the humor was intended though. It was suprisingly good for a new author but I have the sneaky feeling that this isnt your first rodeo, just a different venue.


I'm very pleasantly surprised!

This is really fun and filled with warm fuzzies. I kept skipping it because honestly, I don't really like Pokémon, but… this is a story about people and it works very well.

Thank you for sharing!