Personality Crises

"Strange..."

"What?" Candela asked, her eyes not shifting away from her 3DS.

"Have you seen Spark?"

"Spark?" The Valor Leader flatly said. "Haven't seen him since the GO festival."

"Why, aren't you completely nonchalent about Spark going missing." Blanche said irritably.

"Why, aren't you completely paranoid about Spark going missing." Candela paused her game, and then added. "Young girl in love?"

"You know very well I'm not." Blanche snapped. "I'm simply concerned about a fellow roommate who has been missing for three days."

"Wait," Candela gasped as she sat up on the couch. "Three days?"

"Great, finally you realize." Blanche muttered.

"I mean... uh...," Candela trailed off. "He does disappear now and then, so I didn't really notice. But seriously, three days?"

"Yes," Blanchd sighed. "Hope he did not land himself into trouble."

"Honestly, I'm expecting everything." Candela said. "From getting trashed by a Rapidash, to getting slammed on by a Snorlax, or maybe kidnapped by his Pikachu."

"No way,"

"Yes way," Candela asserted. "It's Spark we're talking about. You and I should know that better than anyone else."

"Point taken," Blanche agreed. "So that simply means we don't have a start point on how to find him."

Candela perked up. "We can always start with his room."

"Respect his privacy, stupid."

"Do I have to remind you that we have already breached it two months ago?" Candela smirked.

Blanche groaned, instantly reminded of that silly thing she did with her friend. "Fine, just this one more time."

Candela then stood up, and the two leaders meandered their way towards Spark's room. They twisted the doorknob carefully, and they entered the room with soft, wary footsteps.

Flicking the lightswitch on, they were greeted by a horrific scene of the room to have been run over by a literal hurricane, study desk and keyboards littering around. The once utopian, exuberant room of Spark had been transformed into that of a dystopian, despaired one.

"Moltres," Candela slapped two hands on her cheeks. "Who did this?"

"We're gonna find out," Blanche said as she strode over to the crime scene, her eyes scanning across the floor. Hundreds of tiny muddy footprints were rained down onto the floor, looking almost like those from horror films.

"Footprints..." She murmured. "... They look oddly familiar."

"I see burnt marks on the walls," Candela pointed out, her fingers tracing the zig-zagged lines. "It seems lightning struck it."

The Mystic Leader glanced around the room, noticing a rather obvious difference to the shelves and the sheer lack of yellow in the room. Her eyes widened, unable to believe what she was seeing.

"Candela." Blanche uttered, her lips drying up. "All the Pikachu dolls are gone."

"Wait, what?" Candela shouted, her eyes doing a quick scan across the room. "Now that you mention it..."

"Okay, this is getting really weird." Blanche asked urgently. "Can you remember anything odd going on around Spark?"

"Well, I remember Spark saying that he can't stand Pikachu recently," Candela shrugged. "Not sure why though."

Blanche froze. "Please repeat that."

"Spark said he can't stand Pikachu-" Candela gulped nervously, suddenly aware of what she was saying. "Oh my Moltres, am I hearing what I'm saying? Spark can't stand Pikachu?"

"That's what you said you heard."

"Yes, I'm sure I heard it."

"You're positive that you heard that coming out of Spark's mouth?"

"I pretty much remember whatever crap Spark says everyday, thanks to my weirdly useful memory, so yes, I'm positive." replied Candela before she shuddered. "But now I'm doubting myself."

"I won't remove the possibility." Blanche said as she examined the footprints. "A shitload of Pikachu seemed to have raid his room."

"And kidnapped him." Candela concluded and then shrieked. "My prediction came true!"

"I suppose it did." Blanche noted blandly. "But now what? Where would they have brought Spark to? And why?"

"Clearly to exact their revenge since Spark disliked them for the first time in history." Candela shook her head vehemently. "It's not even Halloween so why are things so eff up?"

"That idea can wait," Blanche said before she turned around and headed towards the door. "We need to find Spark, wherever he is. I'll use GPS and try to detect his phone, and you... can... uh, play your game or something till I get a signal."

"Not the worst plan," Candela commented as she went after her friend. "Not the best either."

"Found him,"

"Nn?" Candela plucked her 3DS out of her hands. "Where?"

"He's somewhere near the Bermuda Triangle."

"Okay, great, how are we supposed to get there?"

"No clue."

"Welp, the mission's a lost cause." Candela said and flopped back onto the couch. "Tell me when he gets back."

"Where's the sense of urgency you had ten minutes ago?" Blanche muttered irritably.

"Lost to gaming."

"You are a lost cause." Blanche grimaced, and flipping open her laptop, she attempted to contact Professor Willow via video chat.

"Professor," Blanche greeted when the call connected, the professor's face appearing on screen. "There's an emergency."

"Is it Spark again?" The professor's tired voice said from the other end.

"Yes," Blanche said with a twang of guilt. Usually both Candela and herself can manage and tackle Spark by themselves, but often, Professor Willow gets dragged into their daily mess, in which Blanche felt sorry for.

"What is it this time?"

"He supposedly got kidnapped by his own Pikachu."

"Oh!" The professor said, his face lighting up. "That's Niantic's fault, I believe."

"Do you mind elaborating more?" Blanche inquired.

"Remember that they remodeled you guys into your alternate models during the GO festival? Seems like the guys back in Niantic accidentally tweaked Spark's personality to that of a Pikachu-hating trainer when they tried to change him back.."

"What!?" Blanche gasped loudly, causing Candela to sit up and look at her incredulously.

"And with Pikachu getting increasingly over-rated, it seems that it has become wilder than before, and glitchier. So when Spark, their main spokesperson turned against it, it's no wonder that it will kidnap him."

"What's gonna happen to Spark?" Blanche asked, frowning.

"No worries, Blanche. The staff is working hard to revert him back to normal and eliminating the glitchy Pikachu." Professor Willow said with a calm tone. "He'll get back home eventually."

"I see, thank you, professor."

"My pleasure."

They ended the call sooner than expected, and the two Leaders exchanged glances, not knowing what to do next.

"So... we don't have to do anything?" Candela asked.

"I guess we don't." Blanche answered.

Suddenly, the door at the main entrance slammed open, alarming the Leaders who immediately stood up, hands armed with their Pokéballs.

"I'm home!" A familiar cry came, and the Leaders relaxed. Speak of the devil.

Spark ran in, his face sparkling with excitement. His whole face was muddy, clothes filthy, hair amok, but otherwise, safe and sound.

"Guess what?" He said with an air of fantasy around him. "Pikachu brought me to an uninhabited island. And it hung me over a fire! Isn't that so cool?"

"Um...," the two Leaders said in unison, not knowing how to respond. They nudged each other at the same time, and both then answered their eager fellow Leader, "Yeah, real cool."

"And Niantic made me hate Pikachu!" The boy suddenly took a turn in his emotions, looking irate at the next second. "How dare they make me hate Pikachu." Sparks of electricity flickered around him dangerously.

"It was a mistake, Spark." Candela said, trying her best to appease the Instinct Leader.

"True," Spark agreed, his anger dying almost immediately. "They gave me a Mimikyu as compensation. Said that it will arrive in the mail in a week."

"Great! Everything worked out in the end then!" Blanche said cheerily.

"Yep!"

"Go shower then," Candela sighed. "You're utterly unhygienic right now."

Spark nodded, and was ready to head towards his room to grab a change of clothes when he noticed something clearly out of the ordinary.

"Wait, is it just me... or...," Spark's gaze shifted between the two other Leaders. "The two of you seem different?"

"Huh? What?" Blanche gasped, confused.

"Please be rational, Spark." Candela murmured.

"Okay, give me a second." Spark gave a time-out sign with his hand. "Did Candela just talked about hygiene and rationality?"

"What the eff?" Blanche said. "She never does that."

"And you would never speak so casually, Blanche. And rudely." Spark pointed at her with a quivering finger. "It's not April Fool's is it? You two are not pranking me, are you?"

"You must be under the weather, Spark. Pikachu must have roasted you to the bone or something." Candela shook her head, a serious and concerned expression on her face.

"Pikachu will never roast me!" Spark interjected. "And please stop talking like Blanche, it's creeping me out."

"Well, I apologize for being me," Candela muttered irritably.

"Anyways, go off to shower so that we can play some games later!" Blanche said as she waved the 3DS in her hand.

Spark trembled, weirded out by the cheery tone in Blanche's voice. Blanche was never this jolly. Never.

Before he could voice out his thoughts to the Mystic Leader, the laptop buzzed, Professor Willow's face appearing on the screen at the next moment.

"Goodness, Blanche, Candela, I received updates from Niantic - Hey, Spark! You managed to get back!"

"Yes, professor!" The Instinct Leader said with a salute.

"Sorry, professor, what updates did you receive?" Candela said as she stared at the screen, looking very focused and almost intelligent.

"Yeah, professor, what is it?" Blanche chirped from the side.

The professor smacked his palm against his forehead, exasperated. "Looks like it really happened."

"What happened?" Blanche and Candela asked in unison.

"Shit happened," the professor groaned. "Niantic messed up with the system again. When they revert Spark back to his correct personality, they accidentally altered something else."

"What is it?"

Spark pursed his lips, knowing exactly where this is going, for once.

"Blanche, Candela," the professor announced grimly. "They switched your personalities."

In all due seriousness, Niantic honestly has nothing to do with the events that occurred in this chapter. This is a fanfiction. Nothing within it actually occurs in reality, so please don't come after my head, Niantic. Thank you.