“I’m really glad you decided to go with me tonight, Teej,” Vanille says with a small blush as she flies on the back of her Yveltal with her “date” right behind her. “T-though it did feel a bit sudden. I only just gave you that letter today.”
“What can I say,” Viol says with fake bravado, trying to sound like Teej. “It’s what an Elegan/tg/entleman would do, given the chance.”
Vanille snickers a bit, making Viol blush in frustration.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that it feels like you’re trying too hard,” Vanille says covering her mouth. “You don’t have to worry about being a gentleman around me. Just be yourself. No roleplaying tonight.”
Viol forced a fake smile towards her. Yeah, like there was any way he could get through tonight without roleplaying.
“It’ll be nice to finally get a chance to talk to you in a place Viol can’t follow us though,” Vanille says. “But knowing him he’ll still be hanging right outside peeking in the windows at us.”
She sighs.
“He really doesn’t give me much space unless it’s convenient for him,” Vanille says a bit sadly. “He’ll be the first one to ditch me as soon as I stop in a city to do some sight-seeing, but if I talk to anyone interesting like you he’s got to be stuck to me. He’s such an annoying twerp sometimes.”
Viol wanted to call her out too, after all if she took being a trainer seriously rather than doing stupid bullshit and flirting with guys, she could spend more time with him. However, he was able to bite his tongue for a change and responded more sensibly to ease out of the subject.
“That just shows that even if he leaves you behind at times, he does actually care about you,” Viol says, trying to sound like a mentor. “Anyways, let’s not talk about him tonight, it’s just the two of us, remember?”
Vanille’s face turned a bright red at the comment, and Viol felt color creep to his face too when he realized what he said. Fuck he went too far, but maybe it’ll fluster her enough so she’ll shut up.
“R-right,” Vanille says as she eases her Pokemon to land. “J-just the two of us.”
After landing in the crowded streets of Lumiose, Vanille calls back her Murderbird.
“W-was the trip okay?” Vanille says, the color still on her cheeks. “I know you’re not used to flying on Pokemon yet.”
“I was fine, don’t worry,” Viol says haughtily before catching himself. “I mean, i-it’s not like I haven’t ridden mounts plenty of times before.”
“Yeah, I guess,” Vanille says with a small chuckle. “I just remember how scared you were last time.”
“R-right, that was just an off day for me,” Viol says. “I’m usually much braver. I fight Orcs all the time. Barehanded.”
Vanille giggles again.
“Teej, you’re too much sometimes,” Vanille says as she walks up to the counter to ask about their table. “It’s no wonder you and Viol have been getting along so much lately. You two have a lot in common, though I will say you’re a lot sweeter.”
Viol was stunned and blushed instinctively at the comment. Shit was he not acting enough like Teej? And what the hell did she mean he was a lot sweeter than himself? Would she like Viol better if he acted like this from time to time? Wait, was Viol turning his sister on? Holy shit what if he’s been flirting with her without even knowing!
“Teej,” Vanille’s voice called out.
I can’t be flirting with my own sister. And what if she finds out about the switching spell? Hell, she’d never let him live it down if she found out. Okay, just got to let up on the flirting and act more like a loser to make this work, otherwise-
“Teej!” Vanille says staring up at Viol and snapping him back out of his thoughts. “Are you okay? I’ve been trying to get your attention.”
“Huh?” Viol says, his cheeks still burning a bit. “Oh yeah, sorry, I just was thinking about something.”
“Okay, well, the lady needs to see your ID so we can get our table,” Vanille says.
“R-right,” Viol stammers as he pulls out Teej’s wallet and flashes his ID.
“Ah, Monsieur… Teej,” the lady says uncertainly. “I ‘ave not ‘eard much about you in zis city, but if you are accompanying Mademoiselle Pallet, I will say it is a genuine ‘onor to ‘ave you as guests.”
“Suck up,” Viol mutters inaudibly to himself.
“Please, make your way inside,” the lady says pointing to the doorway. “Ze Hostess will be right with you.”
 
Teej was riding a bike to the destination. Viol had brusquely instructed him on how to fly before, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to take a flying suplex from Hawlucha quite yet. Besides, he was making great time already; just a few routes and caves separated him from his destination. Biking was also a lot easier for Teej for some reason. He felt like he had the calves of a professional cyclist.
In an instant, the bike suddenly skidded to a halt and Teej froze in place. Was this the work of some dark magic in this world? Maybe a Pokemon was doing this to him?
“Hey kid!” he heard someone yell out, his eyes darted to perceive the source of the voice only to see a man in light green overalls running over to him. Shit was he about to be attacked, Viol never said anything about this.
“Hey, I’ve seen you around before. You like breeding Pokemon too, right?” the man asks Teej. “My Tauros is my pride and joy. Sometimes I like to stick my face in its fur and take a big whiff.”
“What?” Teej asks, but before he can focus on what was just said, the guy sends out a Zangoose. Wait, how did Teej know it was a Zangoose? And what the hell is going on? Is this a battle? Why? All he said is that he likes to smell his Tauros. Is that really how trainers start battles?
“What’s the matter?” the trainer asks. “Aren’t you going to send out a Pokemon to fight? Or do you give up?”
Teej’s blood froze at that instant. Shit this was a battle and if he didn’t do something Viol was going to lose.
“I-I’m battling, just gimme a sec, alright?” Teej says digging in his pockets for a Pokeball. He grabs one and tosses it out to find a Gengar.
“Alright, let’s start,” the breeder says getting into a stance. “Zangoose, use Shadow Claw.”
The Zangoose runs straight at Gengar and hits it, knocking it back from the blow.
“Shit, I forgot what I’m supposed to do,” Teej hisses to himself. “I don’t know what Gengar’s moves are.”
A beeping sound coming from his pocket catches his attention and he pulls out what he remembers is called a Pokedex. On it he can see the information for his whole team, including Gengar, whose health was in the red already from the Shadow Claw.
“Well, if a ghost type move did that much to Gengar, then it should do as much to that Zangoose,” Teej muses. “Gengar, use Shadow Ball!”
Gengar gives a surprised look at the command but complies anyways. It fires off the ball of energy which strikes Zangoose head on… and passes right through them.
“What!?” Teej yells. He looks at the Pokedex and realizes he used a ghost move on a Normal type that was immune to it.
“This is our chance!” the breeder yells. “Zangoose, use Shadow Claw again to finish it off!”
As Zangoose raced towards Gengar, Teej panicked. If Gengar went down, did that mean Viol lost the battle? Did Gengar have anything to help in this situation? He looked through Gengar’s attacks until finally something in his head clicked and gave him the answer he needed.
“Gengar, use Destiny Bond!” Teej called out. Gengar began to glow with a dark aura, but nothing happened. Zangoose raced towards Gengar and knocked it away with Shadow Claw, KOing the ghost Pokemon. However, to Teej’s surprise, Zangoose was engulfed in the same dark aura as Gengar and fainted aswell.
“It seems you do have some fight in you,” the Breeder says as he recalls his Zangoose. “Alright, the next matchup decides who wins. Go, Tauros!”
Teej brings back Gengar and tries to figure out the best course of action. He looks at his team on the Pokedex, seeing he had a Rotom, Aegislash, Garchomp, and Klefki on hand, along with… that’s it!
“Come out, Los Tiburon!” Teej shouts as he sends out Hawlucha. The breeder was about to shout out a command, but before he could, Teej was ready to make the first strike.
“Los Tiburon, use your body of justice and perform a Flying Press!” Teej shouts, the blood in his veins coursing at a fever pitch. Hawlucha leaped into the air as Tauros charged towards it and skidded to a halt. Finally, the bird Pokemon came down from the sky chest first and slammed into the side of the bull Pokemon, getting a crit and sending the hapless Pokemon flying. The breeder looked in disbelief at the event and threw down some money on the ground before running towards the newly made trench where Tauros had finally stopped.
“Alright, great job, Los Tiburon!” Teej says to the Pokemon. Hawlucha was happy for the praise but seemed to regard Teej as a bit strange, to which Teej noticed.
“I-I mean, I guess that was good, for a TM Slave,” Teej says, crossing his arms. “Now how about you fly me over to that new restaurant, okay?”
“Haw,” the Pokemon says with a nod as it locks its arms around Teej’s abdomen and jumps high into the sky, flying towards Lumiose City.
 
Back at the restaurant, the hostess had seated both Vanille and Viol at a table together. Vanille had asked specifically for one in the non-battling section so they could both talk without interruption, to the disappointment of Viol who wanted to try out the battles.
“This place is nicer than I thought it would be,” Vanille says. “For just opening up, it looks like it’s been here for years.”
“Yeah, it’s alright,” Viol says as he looks at the menu, not really paying attention.
“Hey, what was up at the doorway anyways?” Vanille asks. “You kinda rushed in front of me to get in and then opened the door for me.”
“O-oh, I was just trying to be a gentleman?” Viol offered. Really he did it for the bet. Sure he couldn’t tell Vanille he won it, but he might as well have the satisfaction of knowing who really won.
“Usually gentlemen hold open the door for the lady to go in first,” Vanille says, not sure what to think. “Though maybe things are different for you. I mean, you’re used to helping hold doors for Dwarves and Elves, right?”
At that moment, Viol felt a sudden uncontrollable rage build up inside of him. He didn’t know why but hearing the word “elves” really pissed him off.
“I wouldn’t hold a door open for an elf,” he finally mutters. “Ever.”
“Not even if I dressed up as an elf?” Vanille says playfully.
“Please, don’t make jokes like that,” Viol says, fighting to retrain this annoying hatred he felt.
“O…kay…” Vanille cautiously says. “I-I didn’t realize elves were so contentious for you.”
“It’s a long story,” Viol says, lying. “Too much time to waste on tonight.”
“Oh, okay,” Vanille says taking a sip of water as the waiter comes by with their bread.
Damnit, was Viol being too insensitive? The elf thing wasn’t his fault, but he was trying not to make Vanille think he was flirting. As the waiter retreated, Viol made his next move.
“So, was there anything in particular you wanted to talk to me about?” he asks, hoping to get her to talk more so he can talk less.
“Well, there are some things,” Vanille says looking down at her lap as a blush begins to creep back on her face. “But now that I have you here alone, I feel a bit too embarrassed to talk about it.”
Shit, if she doesn’t talk then Viol’s going to have to keep acting, and he didn’t have Teej’s charisma to lie his way through this kind of thing.
“Come on,” Viol says with a forced smile. “You can talk to me about anything. Viol tells me stuff all the time.”
“Ugh, Viol again,” Vanille says, seemingly upset. “No matter what happens the topic always seems to come back around to him.”
“What do you mean?” Viol asks, genuinely confused.
“It’s just, everything recently has been so focused on him,” she says. “I needed Viol’s approval to go to the ball with you, Viol and you had some issues and now spend time together all the time, when I’m with you he butts in, and when I’m finally rid of him he’s the only one people want to talk about. It’s stifling at times. Sometimes I just don’t want to think about him. I want to be the only Pallet in the house.”
Viol should have felt anger at her words and called her out on it, said that she was the one who got invited to the ball first, but mostly he just felt a bit baffled and sad at her words, and the anger he felt was suppressed by a desire to not upset her further. Was he really that much of a pain to her? Did she really feel that shunted out of the limelight by him? This was going to be a long night.
 
A short time later, Teej was finally dropped off in front of the restaurant after white-knuckled trip in the arms of Hawlucha. He couldn’t see how the Pokemon could feasibly fly like this with its arms wrapped around him and its wings acting more like a cape, but somehow it managed to baffle the laws of physics.
“We finally made it,” Teej said a bit out of breath as he recalled Hawlucha. He looked at his watch to confirm the time. According to the character sheet Viol had used to cast the spell, Mind Switch should last around three hours, which gave them 45 minutes to get back together for the switch back. As long as nothing happened, the spell should wear off with no ill effects.
“Hey Mr. Champion of Kalos,” Teej hears a gruff voice say from the alley behind him.
Teej turns to look to see a gang leader and his followers coming out of the darkness towards him. Oh great, not these fucking autists again? Wait, again? He never met these guys before… unless…
“Oh god, we’re bleeding into eachother,” Teej realizes. The spell must not have been cast properly. He needed to find Viol fast and figure out a way to reverse the spell before their personalities and memories blended too much to be undone.
“No, you haven’t started bleedin’ yet,” the gang leader says as him and his cronies surround Teej. “But you’re going to be seeing a lot of red in a sec.”