Swap: Occupation

As his thumb slowly lowered onto the purple button, Ash took note of its placement on the remote. There were multiple categories with the same sets of various colored buttons, seemingly only differentiated by the labels above them. The one he had chosen was in the category labeled "Swap", whatever that meant. No remote he'd ever used had any function specifically related to swapping something, not to mention with this many options. And while he didn't actually expect anything to happen without something for the remote to control, Ash still ended up pressing the button out of curiosity.

It seemed as though the only result of him pressing the button was, in fact, the clicking sound produced by it. Even though it was to be expected, Ash was still a little disappointed as he turned his attention away from the remote and looked straight ahead once more. Only this time, the sight in front him had changed somewhat, compared to before he had used the remote.

In front of him was still Mallow, kneeling at the side of the path by the bushes. Only now, she was no longer inspecting and picking the berries sprouting from them. Instead, she was using her hands to move the foliage to the side, leaning in as if to get a better look at what's behind the greenery. Was she trying to find berries further in the back? No, Ash had watched her gather ingredients quite a few times in the past, and she had never gone about it like this. She didn't even seem to pay any attention to the berries anymore. But what was she doing then?

As if to answer the questions beginning to form in his mind, Mallow pulled herself out of the bushes and slowly got back on her feet. Turning towards Ash, she scratched the back of her head and gave him a wry smile before speaking up.

"Looks like I misheard, there weren't any Pokémon back there after all," she said before letting her hand fall back to her side. "But at least there seem to be lots of berries here! You think you can make use of them?"

That was strange… Ash was certain he had seen Mallow plucking berries and not looking for Pokémon. And what was that about him making use of the berries?

"Uh, weren't you just collecting some to cook with?" he asked with slight confusion audible in his voice.

Mallow, however, responded with a short giggle. "We both know I wouldn't have any idea which ones make for good ingredients," she stated matter-of-factly. "That's your thing after all."

Her response only confused Ash even more. Mallow had always been very proud of her cooking skills and it was something she never joked about. So for her to say that she couldn't pick out ingredients was completely out of the ordinary. And on top of that, she once again claimed that this was something that he should be capable of.

"What do you mean?" Ash finally decided to ask. "I don't know a thing about cooking."

Now it was Mallow's turn to look confused. "Are you trying to pull my leg, Ash?" she asked with a questioning look. "You're the one who grew up with a family restaurant. It's barely been a day since the last time you made something for us."

Ash had no idea what was going on. None of what Mallow had just said made any sense, yet she seemed completely sincere the entire time. Furthermore, now that he got a better look at her, the pouch at the top of her overalls looked to be distinctly empty now. He had seen her fill it with berries earlier, but now, just a short moment later, they had disappeared without a single trace. Just what was going on?

Thinking back over the last few moments, Ash tried to figure out if he could come up with any sort of explanation for Mallow's behavior. Everything had been just as usual, right up until… No, that couldn't be the cause, could it? Mallow started acting strangely right after he had pressed the button on that remote, but could it really have done that?

Without any other explanations in sight, Ash pondered what exactly it was the remote could have done. Whatever it was, Mallow believed the result to be how things had always been. Could it have hypnotized her? No, that wouldn't explain the berries just vanishing without a trace… What about something more drastic, like changing reality? That seemed absurd, but the last few moments had been nothing if not absurd themselves. He was still fairly doubtful, but without any other explanations in sight, he decided to keep pondering under the premise of a reality change.

With that, he moved on to what that change actually was. Having pressed one of the buttons in the "Swap-Category", it would follow that the remote had swapped something of Mallow's with someone else, most likely him. Just earlier, Mallow claimed that Ash had been working at a family restaurant for most of his life, which really should have described herself. So did it swap their occupations?

"Hey Mallow, could you humor me for a second?" Ash asked, hoping to get confirmation. "What was it you were planning to do in Kanto again?"

"What's with you today, Ash?" the Alolan girl sighed, slightly annoyed. "You know well enough that I'm going to challenge the gyms here!"

"Sorry! I was just joking," he replied apologetically, his suspicions confirmed.

It really seemed as though the remote had swapped their occupations, but how? Ash was at a loss, the idea of a simple remote possibly changing the fabric of reality simply too much to process. He was about to get lost in his own thoughts when the voice of his companion fortunately snapped him out of it.

"It's fine. By the way, what is that thing you're holding there?" she inquired, her eyes directed right at the remote in Ash's hand.

Shit, she'd seen the remote! What should he do? He could tell her about it, but he would also seem crazy trying to explain that he had apparently rewritten part of their very identities. On the other hand, he could try to hide it and figure things out on his own, although Mallow would definitely be of help in achieving that. Then again, he would need to somehow convince her of its apparent power for that to work…