"Gengar geng gengar," Gengar said, tugging playfully at Morty's hand. The ghost-type gym leader just smiled but did not get up or give in to Gengar's whims – as he usually did.

"No, Gengar. No playing right now. I've got to concentrate," Gengar pouted and shot a malevolent look throught its red eyes, but when Morty did not respond, it went off by itself into the shadows. Morty sighed and felt a bit guilty about leaving Gengar and the others on their own, but he had to concentrate. He put two of his fingers on his forehead and closed his eyes. Something or someone was heading towards the gym, intent on finding him. The presence was familiar but he just could not decipher who it was. It was so infuriating. The answer was just on the tip of his tongue…

"MORTY, MY FRIEND!" The leader winced at the noise but was not surprised. So this was the someone he had sensed. The noise was so very typical of his familiar caped companion. He opened his eyes slowly and found Eusine's face inches from his own, and with a weird and twisted kind of smile pasted on his face. But Morty didn't find that weird, because Eusine always had twisted smiles that indicated he was up to no good. He snorted in laughter at this thought and the other male narrowed his eyes.

"No respond or greeting, eh, Morty? Some friend you are," Eusine muttered, pretending to sulk just like Gengar, though his eyes gleamed with amusement. "Hello, Eusine. It's been a long time since I last saw you, exactly one month and-?" Morty cocked his head to one side, his face scrunched up as he was thinking. "And twenty days," Eusine continued promptly when his friend hesitated. "Ah, yes. I should've known," Morty replied seriously, nodding his head. Eusine shrugged at his friend's underlying mocking demeanor.

"It's good to have a calendar and keep track of time," Eusine said nonchalantly. "But, my friend, I have come here for a reason. A very important reason," He cleared his throat importantly and looked at Morty expectantly. "You've captured Suicune?" Eusine was thrown off balance there for a while. "Err, ah… Not yet. But soon, Morty, I know it," He gulped and scratched his head awkwardly. "You've found info on the rainbow bird pokemon?" Morty's eyes shone and he looked like a hopeful puppy waiting for its treat.

"Ah… No-" Eusine was cut off when Morty continued. "You've taken up a new hobby?" Eusine blanched at this. "Morty!" He spluttered. "My one and only hobby is to capture Suicine and that-is-all. Zip zilch zero," Eusine looked mortified at the idea and also rather insulted. When his friend opened his mouth to say something else, Eusine stopped him. "Morty, stop making guesses that don't make sense! Now why don't you pop the question and ask 'what is it' like any normal person?" He said, scowling at his other companion. "Okay," Morty shrugged. "What is it?"

"It's something that even you can't see with your so-called 'eyes for thousands of miles'! We're going to buy you new clothes and turn you into something else! A new make-over," Eusine added when Morty didn't understand. The gym leader blanched and stared in horror at his friend. "…I'm not 'something else'?" Eusine grinned and slapped his friend's back hard. "Not yet, you ain't! Now follow me and don't look so tragic. My buddies has all got to be well-dressed and cool. Your clothes on the other hand…" Eusine glared at Morty's current clothes with distaste, as if it had just bitten him. Eusine pulled Morty along towards the gym's exit.

"…So all my guesses were all senseless?"

"Yes, they are, Morty,"

"Even the one about you capturing, Suicune?"

"…Shut up,"

"Yep, this is it! The shop which will change your image and maybe even your life forever," Eusine said with a flourish, marveling at a shop which had its name in blinding neon on a sign above. "Best Barbering Beautification," Morty read out loud, stopping in mid-lick of the chocolate ice-cream that he bough outside the complex's entrance. Gengar loved ice-cream, Morty thought guiltily and ruefully. He surveyed the shop from outside. The shop was filled with wigs of various kinds and there were people inside who were having their hair cut. A disturbing thought suddenly occurred to him. "Er… Eusine? Why would a barber's shop change my image and life forever?" He asked his caped friend, dreading the answer, and hoping the answer wouldn't be –

"Why, to get your hair cut of course!" Eusine replied, as if the answer was obvious and Morty was just being dumb. Morty stared at Eusine and stopped licking his delicious treat. "No. Y-you don't think I would ever let anyone cut my hair, would you?" Morty's normally calm face was now horrified and he took a step back from his friend. "I know you pride your hair and all, but it's not what people can call macho, Morty. You look like a female if you grow it too long. And it's getting scruffier now," Eusine said offhandedly, and proceeded to force Morty into the shop. The ghost type gym leader was freaking out by now, but he was a calm person, and he didn't want to make a scene. His reputation could be ruined.

As Eusine pushed him into the barber's shop, Morty rummaged in his pockets for Gengar or any of his pokemon, only to remember that he didn't bring any of them with him. Shoot. "Please, Eusine, you can change anything of mine, but not my hair," He pleaded. "Look, Mort, you'll be amazed at your cool hairdo when we're done. We just… need to trim it a bit, that's all," His short-haired friend reassured him. Knowing Eusine, he wouldn't get out of there with a decent haircut at all, and would end up looking like a total freak. They were at the door of the shop by now, and people were staring at the arguing duo curiously.

Making a quick decision, Morty twisted out of Eusine's grip and faced him. "No, Eusine, I won't let you do it. You can take away my pride but not my hair," He announced, trying to gain a cool demeanor. Eusine looked at him sadly. "Is this really what you want?" Morty nodded, hardly believing he was talking his usually tenacious friend out of it. "Well, I didn't want to have to do this, but…" Eusine lowered his head. Morty looked at him weirdly. What was he doing? "Jumpluff! Spore now!" He whipped out a pokeball and jumpluff appeared from it, scattering small fluffy spores around. "I always have a back-up plan, Mprt, don't you forget! And besides, it's for your own good," As Morty's eyes fell shut against his will and his head began to droop, the last thing he saw was Eusine high-fiving his pokemon, before he fell into a deep sleep.

…

"Hey, Morty? Mort? Wake up, buddy!" Morty opened his eyes and blinked several times. Where was he?.. And what happened to him? …Oh, yes, Eusine used Jumpluff's spore and made him sleep to cut… Morty's eyes shot wide open at that thought and he looked around him bewilderedly. He was sitting on one of the chairs where customers get their hair cut but thankfully, no barber seemed to be near enough to grab his hair and chop it off. He sighed in relief and ran his hand through his beloved hair which took long enough to grow. He liked the style he had and had grown used to it. But now he felt kind of light-headed and very… cool.

His hand stopped when it reached the back of his head, and his heart beat fast. Why had his hair become shorter? Taking a look at Eusine's delighted grin he looked sharply into the mirror in front of him. He gasped in shock when the person who looked back seemed completely different from him. He still had the same face (thank God) and also his same clothes on, but his hair was now… short and rather unruly. His blue headband was still on, though. Some of his hair stuck out from the head band and, Morty admitted silently, he looked good. Maybe even better. "See? I know what I'm doing, Morty! And you look better than before," Eusine said, studying him up and down critically. "Yeah… Sort of," Morty answered uncertainly as he looked at his reflection once more. "Well, you can't sit there all day. Customers are waiting, you know?" Morty looked around him and saw, indeed, some people who looked impatient and kept glancing at their watches with their foot tapping.

Morty got up and Eusine led him out of the shop. He was still marveling at his hair, which felt weird, as they both walked together. "Sorry about your ice-cream. It fell down onto the floor when you fell asleep, so I had to throw it away," Eusine said, flinging an arm around his friend's shoulder. "It's okay," Morty replied. "Well, you see… You look alright now, Morty, but another thing we need to change is your attire," Morty looked down at his long-sleeved blue shirt tipped with yellow stripes and blue trousers. "What's wrong with it?" He asked a little defensively, as he had always loved his clothes. But then, he had loved his hair style too before this.

"It's too big for you, that's one thing. Oh yeah, and it's also dreary and kind of old-fashioned. No pizzazz, if you know what I mean," Morty didn't know what Eusine meant but knew it best to keep quiet. It wasn't safe to question the caped male when he was like this. "So while you were busy passed out and getting you hair cut, I bought some clothes for you!" With a snap of his fingers, Jumpluff appeared out of nowhere with a shopping bag. Jumpluff handed it to Morty, who took it, feeling gratified and also a bit wary. "Thanks, Eusine. That was really very - nice of you. I promise to pay you back," Eusine shook his head. "Nope, Morty. Wouldn't hear of it. But the least you could do is try it on," He continued and Morty sighed. His life was now being taken over by his own best friend who usually disappears for a few months on a search for a legendary Pokémon who was super-hard to capture.

"Yeah, sure. But not here. We'll head back to the gym and I'll try it there," Morty said to Eusine, who agreed at once. As they both flew towards the gym with Jumpluff, Morty couldn't help feeling a bit perturbed at Eusine's eagerness and enthusiasm to see him in his new clothes. He took a glance at the bag and prayed that it wouldn't be anything ridiculous.

"Well, you go change and I'll wait here. Don't keep me waiting, because that's not polite," Eusine spoke once they were inside the gym. Wordlessly, Morty disappeared into the shadowy corners of the gym while Eusine sat on the floor and waited with his pokemon beside him.

"Geng?" Gengar swooped out pf the shadows and tugged at Morty's bag. It seems to forget its sulk because it was far too curious to see what Morty had with him, after returning with a brand new hairstyle. "New clothes from Eusine, Gengar. I just hope I don't look stupid," As Morty changed, Gengar gathered all of its owner's ghost pokemon, and very soon, they were all waiting outside the gym's toilet for Morty to come out. They weren't allowed in there since the incident in which the toilet got flooded and one of the gym's trainers nearly drowned in there. A few mintues later, the door creaked open and Morty appeared… Only now he looked different.

Clad in a black sweater and tan pants complete with a purple headband and scarf, he looked cooler and better dressed than before. His pokemon gathered around him and let out a series of sounds which indicated surprise. "I look weird," Morty said and all his pokemon agreed at once. Glumly, Morty headed towards where his friend was waiting, his Pokémon all floating after him. Morty saw Eusine feeding Jumpluff some poffins while sitting down.

He stepped out of the shadows with his pokemon surrounding him. A smile lit up Eusine's features as he studied Morty. "See? You look better now," Eusine said in an assuring tone to his glum companion. "Except that I wasn't counting on it to look pimp-like," Eusine said absent-mindedly and Morty looked stricken. "But it's suitable for a creepy guy in a creepy city with creepy pokemon, right?" Eusine asked, and all Morty's pokemon nodded obediently. They clustered around him when he sat down nearby Eusine, his head in his hands.

"Geng gengar geng geng," Gengar said, patting Morty comfortingly on his shoulder. Yes, Gengar was right. At least he didn't look like Eusine. He managed a weak smile at his overdressed caped friend, who grinned back expectantly.