I always feel like my chapters are annoyingly short... but I also feel like I don't want to end them at an inconvenient point.

I hope this chapter is okay, all the same.

As quickly as he could, Trevor threw on the clothes he had tossed aside, slightly annoyed that a visitor had arrived to see him at what could not possibly be a more inopportune moment; just when the boy had rediscovered the pleasures of "self-gratification" – which was really only his way of referring to masturbating – just like last time, when he was in his own body, Trevor was interrupted moments before a satisfying climax, and was left flushed, sweating and with a sizable, cumbersome erection that remained stubbornly stiff; if he didn't already know that penises were not sentient, he would have very well thought that it was remaining as hard as it could out of spite towards its owner, for stopping so soon.

Fortunately, his borrowed body had for the most part decided to calm back down into a state of normalcy by the time Trevor had descended the stairway, fully clothed to boot. Just as Calem's mother had said, Tierno had come to see his friend, and had been forward enough to enter the house himself without needing anyone to show him in.

"Hullo, Tierno. What a… a pleasant surprise to see you here." In the furthest recesses of his mind, Trevor wondered if Calem's hand was strong enough to slap that obliviously cheerful smile off of Tierno's round face; it was almost as if Tierno had known exactly what Trevor was doing, and was pleased to have thwarted it.

"Hey there!" The black-haired boy waved in a friendly way. "How's it going, Cal… Trevs? I dunno anymore."

"It's still Trevor," replied the other boy, flatly. "And what, if I may ask, is your reason for being here?"

Tierno's grin didn't fade in the least. "Well, y'know, I came to check on you, since you two were actin' all weird and junk yesterday. That's what friends are for, right?"

In spite of himself, Trevor reciprocated the smile; his friend meant well after all, even if he wasn't entirely the best at expressing it. "Indeed. I suppose I should thank you then, and I must apologize in advance if my behavior should prove abrasive. These recent events have been disconcertingly stressful."

"Yup, definitely Trevs," Tierno confirmed, nodding his head. "So you and Cal did get your brains all ker-shuffled after all! Are you guys gonna be stuck like that forever or what?"

That simple statement carried some rather staggering implications for Trevor; what if, even after identifying the cause for their switch, there was no way to reverse the changes? Would he be able to cope with occupying Calem's body forever? And how would Calem fare?

The boy shook his head in an attempt to dismiss those thoughts; it was far too early to lose hope. "I have not yet started to formulate a solution, due to, shall we say… various distractions beyond my control. However, I remain hopeful that I will be able to return things to normal in relatively short order."

Suddenly, Tierno clapped his hands together and his mouth opened in surprise. "Hey, I have an idea! Come with me!"

Trevor couldn't fathom what how his friend had planned something so quickly, but he followed the larger boy out of Calem's house nonetheless.

The short path of Route 1 was as good as empty, and it was there that Tierno stood, waiting for Trevor to catch up. Once he had arrived, Tierno took two of his Poké Balls and brought out the Pokémon within; Roserade the flower-handed Grass-type and Crawdaunt, a Water and Dark-typed crustacean Pokémon that appeared rather imposing, but was ultimately very friendly towards its trainer.

"Alright, Tierno," said Trevor, "what is your plan? You have made me most curious."

Tierno was almost shaking with barely-contained excitement. "Kay, pay real close attention now!"

%%%

Back in Vaniville Town, Serena had quickly made her way over to Shauna's house; rapping her knuckles upon the front door with almost a little too much force. Apparently Shauna had interpreted such vehement knocking as the signal of a terribly urgent message; if she had known prior that Serena would be at the door, up to her usual Calem-centric shenanigans, she would have taken a little more time in coming to answer the door.

Alas, when the brown-haired girl saw Serena at the doorway, absentmindedly fidgeting a little, she could already guess where the conversation was headed.

"Hi, Serena! …This isn't gonna be about Cal, is it?"

"Ha ha, of course not, silly!" replied the blond girl, as Shauna led her inside the house, where the two girls proceeded to sit in the living room. Whilst lounging upon the leathery sofa, Serena informed her friend of the situation.

"So Cal came over to my house, and he wanted to apologize to me, and he said he had a surprise for me, but he didn't tell me what the surprise was and I was hoping you could help me figure it out and- oh, and I asked him if he was gay, and he said he wasn't! I knew it!"

Serena hadn't lost any breath running her mouth like that, but unfortunately for her, Shauna was not at all amused or excited about the big news.

"Y'know," Shauna began, pretending to disregard everything her friend had said. "I've been thinking about getting a friend for Goomers. Some small and cute Pokémon would be best… any ideas?"

Serena raised one eyebrow. "Who's Goomers?"

Such an asinine question left Shauna wanting to slam her head against the wall. "Y'know what? Never mind about Goomers. If all you want to do is keep talking about Calem until he finally decides to get in your skirt, then let's just get this over with so I can get back to more important things!"

"Well, if you insist," Serena replied cheerfully. "I was hoping you'd have an idea of what Cal planned for me. It's a surprise, he said."

The girl in the pink shirt shrugged. "I haven't seen him all day, so I have no idea. Besides, if it's a surprise, wouldn't you rather wait until it arrives?"

Serena rubbed at her chin with one finger. "I guess…"

"Then there you go," Shauna responded.

"Then I'll wait as long as it takes!" declared the blond girl. "Say, Shauna, this has nothing to do with Cal, but… have you ever seen his feet before?"

Shauna's face contorted itself to display slight confusion. "…His feet?"

"Yeah!" Serena replied. "I swear I've only ever seen him with boots or socks on before. Eheheheh, what if he's got some really cute feet under there?"

There were several comments Shauna had in mind in regards to Serena's preferences, but she settled on concluding with, "I'm done talking about this."

%%%

"And that's my big ideaaaaaa!"

Tierno had just finished a very complicated dance number with the assistance of his Pokémon; he ended his routine with twirling maneuvers, accompanied by a shower of glistening petals and water bubbles.

Trevor had watched the entire dance, remaining silent and observant throughout. "That's nice," he finally said after digesting what he had just witnessed. "But I am more than certain that nothing about that performance pertains in any way to the situation at hand."

"What situation?" TIerno didn't appear to understand. "I was showing you the dance moves I came up with!"

"I was of the impression that you said you had an idea." Trevor reminded his friend.

"Yeah, an idea for my new dance!" Tierno clarified. "But you got a point there, maybe we should check on Cal too… but later. All that dancing wears a guy out, you know?"

Trevor shook his head; sometimes Tierno could be beyond reasoning with.

%%%

Clemont led Calem to a floor of Prism Tower he didn't remember seeing back when he had come to challenge the Electric-type using Gym Leader for his fifth Gym Badge… or perhaps his memory was currently failing him. In any case, the boy found himself in a room that slightly resembled a mechanic's garage; tools were hung on the walls in a very organized arrangement, and half-completed contraptions were kept in the corners, a constant reminder of Clemont's desire to create, hindered only by his sporadic transitions from inspiration to listlessness and back again; for the technology-loving boy, motivation was always erratic and unpredictable in how often it occurred.

As Calem looked around with some curiosity in the room, Clemont reached into his backpack, and pulled out what looked like a large green sheet with thin, shiny lines of copper emblazoned upon its surface; various tiny components were carefully soldered all over.

"I know you'd really like to talk about your discovery, Trevor," said the glasses-wearing boy, "but I was just about done with this circuit board before I went to bed last night. I have a good feeling about this one, I just know it!"

Calem tried to think of how the real Trevor would respond. "O-oh, that's… that's very interesting."

"Ah," Clemont continued, "but the most interesting part is still to come. I don't suppose I could ask you to reach into those drawers over there and fetch me a quantum acceleration diode, could I?" He pointed to a set of small cabinets next to the shorter, orange-haired boy.

A quantum what? Calem was fit to panic; he knew that Trevor would normally be able to fulfill such a request with the greatest of ease. Instead of admitting the truth to Clemont, Calem instead decided to open a drawer at random, and saw that it was filled with what looked like tiny beads with bits of metal poking out. Though he had no idea what they were or what purpose they served, Calem scooped up a few with his small hands and presented them to Clemont.

The blond boy chuckled when he saw what had been brought to him. "Um, Trevor, I'm sure you already know, but those are resistors. I don't need any more of those." Calem began to sweat; even though Clemont didn't seem to catch on to him, it was still a close call. He then returned to the drawers, determined to find the right component.

However, that was a task easier said than done for one with little knowledge in the fields of building electronics and technology, as Calem quickly found out for himself.

"Isn't that a diffusion transistor?"

"This circuit doesn't need any extra LEDs."

"Trevor, that's a paper clip."

No matter what object Calem had brought to Clemont as he sat before the unfinished circuit board, the blond boy was unsatisfied; he insisted that he would accept no less than a quantum acceleration diode.

Eventually, it reached a point where Calem had no choice but to give up. "I… I don't know what it is."

"Hmm?" Clemont's eyes were almost hidden behind the thick lenses of his glasses, concealing the mild surprise they expressed. "But Trevor, I thought you were smarter than that."

"I… I am smart!" insisted the boy, his voice panicked and faltering. "I… I just…"

"Are you ready to admit that you are not as intelligent as you would have me believe, Trevor… or should I say, impostor Trevor!"

Calem's heart plummeted; somehow, Clemont had seen right through him. "But… how did you know?"

Clemont's grin stretched from ear to ear, and he quickly put down the circuit board he was holding to pace about. "Why, it was a simple case of observation! The way you walk, the facial expressions you make… they were different enough from the real Trevor to raise my suspicions." When the glasses-wearing boy thrusted his arm out to point directly at Calem, he flinched as if Clemont's finger was a cannon that had fired at him.

"But when I asked you to locate a quantum acceleration diode… that was when I knew you were a fake! The real Trevor would have instantly said that there is no such thing! Therefore, I concluded that you are an impostor, a fake version of the real Trevor… I believe a 'Q. E. D.' is in order. I am a genius, after all."

Now that the truth was out, Calem fell to his short knees, and clasped his hands together, as if begging. "Please, help me…"

Clemont stopped grinning, and he looked down upon the shorter boy; he was already at least a head taller than Trevor even when the latter was not kneeling down. "Help you? That's a pretty bold request to make of someone impersonating my friend! Why don't you tell me what you did with Trevor first, you fake?"

Calem sighed, and without standing back up on his feet, he explained everything to the best of his ability; he told Clemont about that night at the theater, where he and Trevor had been volunteers – the term loosely used – for Mysterial's magic tricks. All Calem could recall before having his body switched was that the short, squat magician man had planned to subject the two boys to some type of hypnotic spell, and along the way something had gone awry, forcing Mysterial to make a quick escape as Calem and Trevor were left in their current state.

"So what you are saying is that you are really Calem, and Trevor is stuck in your body, just as you are in his?" Clemont seemed unusually accepting of the situation, as though he lived in a world where people were body-swapped on a regular basis.

Calem nodded.

"Hmm… I do remember hearing Bonnie talk of a magic show taking place in this city," Clemont said, as he nodded thoughtfully. "I'm not familiar with this Mysterial person, but if I had to guess, I'd say that he used Pokémon as part of his hypnosis act. While humans with psychic powers are not uncommon, their abilities often pale in comparison to that of Psychic-type Pokémon. Perhaps reversing your changes will not be as hard as you think. In fact…"

The blond-haired boy took something out from his backpack again; this time it was a stack of large rolled-up sheets of grid-lined paper. Laying them on his desk, Clemont began to scribble down symbols and shapes that Calem found indecipherable.

"Hmm, yes… Just you wait, this will be my greatest invention yet!"

Thanks to Calem's crisis, inspiration had come to Clemont in full force.