The two Pokémon's conversations on the way back to Snowbelle City were scrambled and directionless, but meaningful all the same. They spoke of their past lives, of their journey so far, of the slain Team Flare. By the time they got back to the city, their attitudes were jovial enough that they did not notice so much just how frigid the area was at midnight.
The Gym itself was closed for the day, of course, so the hotel would be their home tonight. The bed was rickety and the covers were thin, so Imposter opted to sleep in its Ball and let Froakie have the bed to himself.
Hours later, in the dead of the night, the Ditto felt itself turning over in its space. As light flowed in, it officially woke up and materialized. The room was still almost pitch black, but it could make out Froakie's silhouette.
"Dude!" he cried frantically, "Somethin' ain't right out here. Lotsa noise and I don't like it. It doesn't sound good."
Imposter yawned. "You need my help with something?"
Froakie tripped on his words, clearly still half-asleep. "Well I - your friend, I heard Pigtails's voice. Dunno if she's in trouble or-"
Before Froakie could say another word, the Ditto in front of him had zipped into the form of a human, already bounding for the door. He took a second to bask in its urgency, then hopped along behind.
The first thing Imposter noticed upon throwing open the door to its room was that finally, it felt something warm in this town.
Then it heard her voice.
Coming from the room right next door, wavering as if in fear. It ran, tripped, stumbled up to its feet, jogged to her door, and burst in.
The small column of fire spouting up from the center of the room took it aback for a moment, but Froakie was quicker. While Shauna and her Delphox met Imposter's eyes, Froakie launched a Hydro Pump at the flames.
Within moments, the fire was put out and everyone seemed to relax a little.
"I-Imposter... Hey."
Awkward as ever, Shauna hastily stood up. "Uh, sorry about all the ruckus, that wasn't my best idea yet, was it..?"
Idea? Imposter had to hear this.
"Wait, wait a second, are you okay? You look - I don't know. Pale? I can't place it. But ya look kind of - wrong. Not normal, you know?"
It did not look normal? That made sense, now that Imposter had the time to think of it. It had rushed this Transformation so much that it did not even think to consult its Trainer Card. It would not be surprised if it had accidentally grown a tail.
The gravity of this realization and the embarrassment it caused sent a rush of blood to Imposter's head, its vision going blurry. It tried to take a step and found itself collapsing into the purple blob of its natural form.
"Uh - I'm so sorry, did I do that?" Shauna worried, stepping up to the queasy Ditto. "Well - it's-it's okay now. Right? Sorry if I scared you. It's actually pretty embarrassing, I was cold and I thought having Delphox here make us a fire would make it nicer. But it got a little out of control and I didn't have a Water-Type like you do, so I didn't know what to do."
Imposter exhaled sharply in relief that everything was okay now. It was okay. Nobody was hurt, but now - especially now that Shauna mentioned it - they could all feel the cold.
"Anyway, uh, I'm back." She giggled a little. "I said I wouldn't be long! I still need the badge! Oh, and Serena's doing pretty okay. I was surprised that you didn't want to come say hey, but I can see not wanting to fly so far away just for a short visit. She uh... she says hi."
She did. That was good. So she was not mad for it leaving her underground? Also good.
"I mean, she was pretty cranky for us leaving her underground, and I think she wanted to see you there for her again, but I'm sure it's all okay!"
Imposter's one-dimensional face flattened. If ever there was a human less intelligent than even it, it wondered if that would be her.
"Listen, it's pretty late and I'm getting tired, so I think we should wrap this up. Do you want me to take you to your room? Er, are you good?"
It was good, and it would have liked to express this to her if she was any better at interpreting its gesticulations. But alas, she was not, and it was not spared the unsturdy ride back in her hands.
Neither was Froakie, apparently, although he was taken by Delphox. Shauna quickly said her good-nights and scuttled nervously away. Delphox closed the door behind her, but not before looking coyly at Froakie.
"Yeah, and you're welcome for putting the fire out!" he called, just loud enough for them to hear but not loud enough to disturb everyone. "The one you started, and you couldn't even control it..."
Imposter was about to go back into its Ball when it remembered. "Wait, that's right. Froakie, I have been meaning to ask. You always seem unhappy whenever Delphox and Chesnaught show up. Why?"
Froakie paused. "That was a little out of nowhere," he commented, but went on anyway. "I mean, we never really got along, but you already knew that. It's a little more complicated... to tell the truth, I just find it unfair that them lot is - well, evolved. And you see the way they've been treating me? Like some kid. And I'm older than the two of them. I don't imagine you know what that's like?"
Imposter stopped. "Did-Did you want to evolve?"
"Did I - well, of course I wanted to! Who wants to be stuck at one foot tall with just one Type and a high-pitched voice their whole life? Er, no offense."
Imposter laughed. "No offense? Who's stuck at one foot and one Type? I'm a Ditto, silly! I can be any Type, or any size..."
It stopped when it noticed that this was exactly Froakie's problem: that he was the one needing consolation.
"What I meant was, uh - evolving probably isn't that different from Transforming. Like, here, wait a second."
It reached into its bag, grabbed its Pokédex, and loaded a certain page. There. It looked between the device and its friend, closed its eyes, and let instincts take over.
"See, now here I am," it started, now an exact image of Froakie. "I'm you. And you, you want to be-"
It held up its Pokédex, took a good look, and shifted again. "-This." It was now a Frogadier - similar-looking to Froakie, but notably larger, with longer limbs and darker coloring. "See how quickly I did that? You've got it pretty well off, this one's relatively easy. You could have been like Bergmite and Avalugg - they have to double their size, not to mention their whole anatomy flipping upside-down. Some Pokémon have to grow heads or limbs when they evolve, and then others lose them. What you'd be doing is simpler. You want me to show you? I've tutored some of the other Ditto from time to time, helping them Transform better. Maybe it'll work with you?"
Froakie yawned a little. "Can't hurt to try I guess."
Imposter nodded, then turned back into its friend. "Now, lessee... I guess we should start with the outside."
"The... outside."
"Well, yeah. If you started with the inside you'd pop."
Froakie's eyes widened. "Okay then."
"Now what you want to do... uh... Well, whenever I Transform it just kind of comes naturally, but it takes a lot of - focus. It starts in your head. Try to envision your subject, standing right where you are, and try to fill in its silhouette with your body. It's uh... Saying it out loud, it's a bit hard to explain to a full-time."
Froakie nodded as if he had gotten that last part very well. Imposter sighed.
"With the other Ditto, at least they already know how to consciously change their bodies. This is going to be a tad harder than I expected."
Froakie humph-ed. "I'll get it. I'm sure. Wild Pokémon evolve all the time! Under the right-"
He stopped. "...Conditions."
"What kind of conditions?"
"Well, you know - er, you don't evolve, so I guess you don't. But, battling a lot. Levelling up. It isn't exactly that way with all Pokémon that can evolve, but I've been told that for us Froakie, it is. And I know I'm ready for it. I - feel it inside of me. Have ever since, well, the first time we came to Lumiose, I think."
Oh. That was a long time ago. "Well, why haven't you done it yet, then?"
"I already told you! I don't know!"
He calmed down immediately, trying to speak a little quieter. "I mean, I've wanted to, it just never felt right, and didn't happen. It's hard to explain."
Imposter giggled. "We're a mess, aren't we?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, we're just so different, from different places, and we can each do different things. All that you're saying sounds way more complicated than Transforming! After all, nothing I can do can ever be permanent, but when you change, you can never go back. How can they be the same thing?"
Froakie sighed. "I guess that makes sense. Anyway, I'll figure it all out one day. Besides, it's cold! Have you not noticed how cold it was?"
Oh, Imposter noticed. It could see its breath as it said, "Gosh, I thought you'd never say that. Being stick-thin doesn't help much either. And I thought I had it bad in the Frost Cavern - at least I had clothes!"
Froakie's normally genial attitude sunk a little at the mention of the Frost Cavern, and their experience with Team Flare there. Imposter looked down, and slowly deformed. "But I get what you mean. It is late. Big day tomorrow, with the Gym fight and everything."
"M-hm," Froakie agreed. "Uh, Imposter, I was just joking around with the whole evolving thing. It's not really important. It was all a joke. Got you. Should have seen your face. Ha."
Imposter skeptically smirked. "You're delusional, Froakie. If you really were joking, you would have called me a noodle."
Froakie shrugged. "Eh, true," he admitted. "Anyway, I hafta turn in. Frog's gotta sleep."
He waddled over to the bed, placed his forelegs delicately on the side, crouched appropriately and leapt up. The silhouette of his head poked over the edge just long enough for him to say a proper good-night, then he disappeared into the darkness.
With a visible sigh, Imposter turned to its own Ball, comfy and warm as ever. Eyes closed, it started turning red.
Then it had a thought. The creaking bed and Froakie's light but uncomfortable snoring tore it from its luxurious home.
The wooden floorboards underneath it gave noisily, and the splinters it threatened to give made Imposter reconsider its plan; but it kept going anyway.
The blanket and sheets were in complete disarray once it got up there, but that only made it easier to find Froakie, wrapped up in the center of it. Imposter smiled. This, in addition to the body heat, would be plenty warm enough. It snuggled down. For what hours remained tonight, it knew Froakie would not mind.
Something felt - wrong when Imposter woke up.
For one, it was much warmer than it remembered being when it fell back to sleep. For two, it was sure that it was not Transformed while it was asleep, but now it clearly had limbs. Great - it realized suddenly that it was Froakie again. Sleep-Transforming did not happen to it often, but usually it only did when it was especially tired.
Which Imposter was right now, so it opted to give up its consciousness again as soon as it could. Unfortunately, the presence of a third body in the bed made this difficult.
Imposter gently opened its eyes, blinking away crust, finding a human arm wrapped around it. Apparently Shauna had come in at some point and joined them. It would have been completely fine with this, if the situation did not prevent it from getting back to sleep - or moving.
It squirmed a bit. It really was stuck between the two bodies, and although it was warm, it was painfully uncomfortable.
It sighed and reluctantly deformed. It would have to shrink. Deep breath, then - compress!
After reaching about six inches, it tried again - shuffling successfully out of its friends' grasp. Breath released, height regained. Well, it was up now. Especially after its failed attempt to check the time by the sun - its light had reflected off of every snow-covered surface in the town, causing the Ditto's weak eyes to burn. It would try to remember that.
Only thing left to do was wake everyone else up, it figured.
Froakie was first, since he was not always a heavy sleeper. He jolted awake pretty easily. Shauna, on the other hand, needed a gentle Hydro Pump to be stirred.
"Waah!" she cried, "Drowning-! Whuh - wait, I'm-"
She spotted Froakie, who shrugged innocently. She sighed. "Ugh. And I didn't even mean to fall asleep... curse frog Pokémon for always being so dang cute..."
She sopped off the watery bed and gently inspected her clothes. "Aw, c'mon, they're all ruined! And my hair! That was quite rude of you Froakie."
"Heh. Well, it got you up, didn't it?" he remarked, mostly to himself.
She shook her head. "Whatever, I have warmer clothes in my room anyway. I'm going to go change, then I guess you want to head out, huh?"
The two Pokémon eagerly nodded. She sighed again. "Well, I guess this was my fault anyway. See y'all in a few minutes."
So she slowly and carefully dripped water across the room until she was out of sight.
Imposter looked to Froakie and shared a smile. It felt bad that they had caused its friend distress, but apparently Froakie found enjoyment out of it, and seeing him happy again was a promising sign for a good day.
"Are you ready?"
The Snowbelle City Gym was more of a thinking puzzle than any of the others so far, and Imposter knew it had issues with that; so it let Shauna lead the way using a tool she said Clemont invented. If not for that, the two might not have made it to Wulfric's chamber within the week.
But here they were, warm as ever and in a battling mood. Beside Imposter, Shauna was proudly displaying her new Glacier Badge, actively cheering it on.
Since this was only her sixth badge, the Leader decided to battle her first; he would be using a weaker version of the team reserved for Imposter, and letting it go first would unfairly spoil his best tactics for her. But now it was its turn.
Imposter smirked, Ball in hand. "Ditto?"
"Wah-ha-hah!" Wulfric bellowed. "You are funny Pokémon! This will be entertaining battle, yes!"
The foreign accent seeping into his words made them somewhat difficult for Imposter to understand, but Imposter was not bothered. Human language always felt more complicated than Pokémon speak. "Ditto!"
Wulfric smiled, withdrawing his own Ball. "Bring it on, then."
You are challenged by Leader Wulfric!
The Gym Leader sent out his Cryogonal first, and Imposter - as unpredictable as ever - sent out Ditto.
Oh. Imposter grinned mischievously. "Confuse Ray," it ordered. For as often as it found itself confused about everyday subjects, it was uncommon that it experienced move-induced Confusion. When it did... battling was the last thing it was capable of doing properly.
Ditto used Confuse Ray!
Cryogonal was confused!
Cryogonal used Night Slash!
Imposter was confused.
"Uh, what is it slashing with?"
Ditto grunted. "Here, I'll show you."
It did an aerial spin, drawing out two icy, whisker-like strands until they were each at maximum length. It then floated out to the opponent, draping its whiskers in dark energy. One, then the other, streaked across the opposing Cryogonal.
A critical hit!
The opposing Cryogonal is confused!
It hurt itself in its confusion!
The opposing Cryogonal fainted!
Shauna's face was flat. "The RNG is strong with this one," she mumbled to no one in particular. Something about that comment made Imposter amusedly proud. She had hardly ever seen it battle, and was just now realizing how lucky it tended to be with these things.
Wulfric sent in his next, a Beartic. Imposter and Ditto looked determinedly at it, persistence in their eyes.
Beartic glared, then stepped back; in front of him stood a small green Poké Doll.
Shauna beamed. "Hah! A Substitute? Imposter here would never fall for th-"
"Ditto, Night Slash again, quick!"
It was pointing directly at the figure, and Cryogonal shot forwards in another move. It slapped around the plush Rhydon until it popped out of existence.
Imposter's eyes widened, then it cheered. "Hey, you really got him... wait."
Its eyes narrowed when it realized the real Beartic was standing right in front of it, forming a large fist and tightening its focus.
"Uh - uh - he's back. G-Get him, it looks like he's about to-"
"No worries, Impo," Ditto spat before Night Slashing again.
The opposing Beartic lost its focus and couldn't move!
"Aw, yeah. Going smoothly, it's all going smoothly. This is great. How many more do you have?"
"Two."
Imposter nodded. "Keep going then."
Ditto used Night Slash!
Beartic used Icicle Crash!
Ditto fainted!
Imposter bit its lip. It was not ready for that.
"F-Fine, okay, come on back then," it said, holding up Ditto's Ball. "You did really well."
Ditto dematerialized, and Imposter rotated in the next one. Immediately the two battlers locked eyes, focusing hard.
Imposter and Wulfric, from behind their Pokémon, locked eyes too. Whoever moved first would be the one to carry on, and Beartic knew a Fighting-Type move; even Imposter knew it would be good to have one of those.
One could hear a pin drop in the silence before either attacked, that was how much the Pokémon refused to drop their guard.
Then Wulfric spoke. "Beartic, n-"
"Now, Ditto!"
The two rushed into each other, fists glowing and teeth bared. When the dust cleared, only one ice bear was still standing.
This one looked Imposter in the eyes, and once it registered, the Ditto threw its own fists up in celebration.
"Woo! Focus Punch! Ditto, I'm so proud of you!"
On the sidelines, Shauna was squeezing Froakie harder than he looked comfortable with. Her smile took up half her face.
Still grinning like a kid, Imposter faced the Gym Leader. He had two more, it had four and a Focus Punch. Imposter liked those odds.
Wulfric sent out his third. Imposter's mouth opened. "Avalugg?"
He was an Avalugg, all right, just like the one Imposter met at the Frost Cavern. But this one did not seem to recognize the Ditto, and he looked a lot - cleaner, too. It was easy to tell the difference between the wild one it knew and this trained one.
Regardless of whether or not it knew the opponent, however, Imposter had a plan, and it was sticking to it. "Focus Punch, again!"
Ditto's eyes narrowed, its fist glowing again; but it seemed Wulfric was not about to fall to the same fate twice.
"My Avalugg, do Crunch."
Ditto lost its focus and couldn't move!
"Hm-" Imposter paused. The move had failed. But it knew Swords Dance and Substitute would not do damage and Icicle Crash would not do enough, so it tried again.
"Focus Punch."
Ditto is tightening its focus!
The opposing Avalugg tucked in its head!
Tucked in its head? His head was glowing in the same way that Beartic's fist was, but he was not attacking yet. It seemed to be a defensive position.
Imposter did not mind though. As long as he was not attacking, it was fine. "As soon as you can, Ditto."
Ditto gritted its teeth, then bolted forwards, reared back, and crashed its fist into the glacier.
The opposing Avalugg fainted!
"Yes!" While Imposter literally felt the cold all over its body, it felt like it was figuratively on fire. Two one-hit knock-outs in a row was better than it had done in a long time, especially in Gym battles. Now all it had left was Wulfric's Mega Pokémon, whatever it was. And it still had four Ditto left to knock it out with.
It finally sunk in; if it defeated this next Pokémon, it would never have to battle a Gym Leader again. Its adventure was nearly over.
It had no more time to mull over this now, for Wulfric's last was finally out.
Abomasnow.
Its thoughts on this were stopped short by a ball of ice landing on its head; then another. Snow Warning. The Abomasnow had somehow made it hail indoors, and Imposter, being a Pokémon itself, was still liable to take damage from it.
"Apologies, lad," Wulfric explained. "Normally I send Abomasnow first, like with friend before. But I know you are Pokémon, and vill get hurt. So I send Abomasnow last. Make hail last shorter."
Imposter looked up. That was - actually really polite. But the constant bonks on its head were not helping its concentration. All the more reason to finish this battle quickly, then.
"Eh, Ditto, got any more? Focus Punch again, let's be done with it."
Ditto is tightening its focus!
Wulfric smirked. "But who said battle would be so easy?"
The opposing Abomasnow's Abomasite is reacting to Wulfric's Mega Locket!
The trademark glow of a Key Stone this time came from the small metal case hanging around the Gym Leader's neck. Once again, Imposter watched in awe as a non-Ditto underwent the temporary transformation known as Mega Evolution.
Ditto was still focusing. Imposter was beginning to worry. Another bonk. Ouch.
"You haff been lucky so far," Wulfric noted, calling back its fortune with Confusion and critical hits. "But now is my torn. Abomasnow. Sheer Cold."
The two Ditto exchanged frightened glances as Mega Abomasnow charged up the move - freezing the very air around it. Imposter had seen this before; the Abomasnow used by Team Flare's Red Mask used the move to knock out the Ditto turned into her partner's Braviary. That one had to sit out of the Gym battle the next day due to lingering damage.
"D-Ditto... I'm so sorry..."
Ditto's eyes narrowed, its still-glowing fist indicating that it was trying to keep its focus. "It could miss," it suggested.
Abomasnow used Sheer Cold!
It's a One-Hit KO!
Ditto fainted!
Imposter gasped and fell to its knees, catching its friend's body. The battler had been knocked backwards a couple yards, and beaten out of form. It was now just a purple blob again.
"Uh - wow - my friend, you were amazing," Imposter stuttered. "I'm sorry. It's all over now."
Third Ditto out. How Imposter wished it could have Transformed into an Ice-Type like its friend did, to stop feeling this terrible hail.
Wulfric's Pokémon moved first, extending roots from its feet deep into the ground. Ingrain. It might as well use that too.
Then Mega Abomasnow reared up and snapped forwards in a nasty Wood Hammer. Ditto rocked back as though the wind had been knocked out of it, but stayed firmly in place.
In response to Imposter's orders, it breathed in deeply and charged a Blizzard. Imposter could see how much power the move had, frozen winds whipping up around the room. Abomasnow took it better than Imposter would have liked, but one or two more would surely finish it.
"Is almost over. Vood Hammer," Wulfric spoke.
Imposter was almost sure that this move would cause Ditto to faint, based on its grunts of pain and uneven breaths. But it still stood. More hail hit Imposter, but it no longer cared. The recoil from the opponent's Wood Hammer put him at just the right level of damage that Blizzard, if it hit, could win Imposter the match.
"Ditto! Do that again."
Ditto smirked.
...
The opposing Abomasnow fainted!
Imposter's eyes widened. This was it - right? It and its team had done it; they had beaten every one of Kalos's Gyms now. This time, its feet were slowly turning to jelly in excitement rather than fear.
The hail stopped.
It exchanged grateful looks with Ditto, then called its friend back for a rest. It fixed its feet.
"Hmph," Wulfric laughed. "I am no good at being eighth Leader. The Ice-Type is glass cannon Type, and can be beaten easily if foe has right Pokémon. I did not zink so, but seems you do, lad. Congratulations."
You defeated Leader Wulfric!
"Whoo! Go Imposter! Eight Gym badges, yeah! So awesome, so awesome..!" Shauna was spouting it all from yards away, but her words were loud and clear.
The Ditto ignored its personal cheerleader, focusing instead on Wulfric. Between his fingers glistened the small piece of metal that signified the Ditto's achievement.
"Take this. You are now first Pokémon to beat all Kalos Leaders vile acting as trainer. Er, any Kalos Leaders, actually," he added.
Imposter received the Glacier Badge from Wulfric!
"Good show, trainer. You are now free to challenge Pokémon League to west uff here. But vill not be easy. Train hard and you might see success in some form."
It all sounded so exciting to the Ditto. Even humans were sometimes unable to do what it just did - it really felt like one of them. It looked sideways to Shauna. One of them indeed.
The next month unraveled more slowly than the past two and a half weeks.
With Team Flare ceasing to cause problems in the region and those taking the Gym challenge more or less done with it, Imposter and its human friends were now free to move along at their own pace. Of course, Serena was still holed up in Vaniville Town, and the others visited her often; especially Imposter, who stayed in the house next door for most of that time. It had come for its trainer, Grace - she was exuberantly proud of all it had accomplished, naturally - but meeting up with Serena again kept it there.
Shauna popped by often, too, although she was busier; a couple days after Imposter's final Gym badge, it had tagged along with her to watch her get her seventh. This would be Grant's, which confused Imposter: it knew she had passed by Cyllage City before she stopped battling Gyms, but apparently skipped this one. When approached about it, she explained that she was in no mood for battles the first time she was in Cyllage. That was shortly after the Parfum Palace incident, she had said, and refused to talk about it further.
Later she took Serena out to Lumiose City for a bit of shopping - Serena's favorite outfit was utterly destroyed under Geosenge, from the broken lenses of her sunglasses to the torn socks to the missing pleats in her skirt, which had been used in a makeshift tourniquet along with one of Chesnaught's quills. When the two returned to Vaniville, Serena was dressed in a blue and white version of her normally red and black high-waisted dress, with a new hat and bag to match. Shauna said she could not find anything for herself, but curiously brought Imposter back a new outfit. Golden-cuffed blue jeans and a snazzy black jacket to go over its normal undershirt; it did not know how to tell her that it had no need for clothes, since it just Transformed them (Serena said she had tried telling her that, too), and it did not want to sound ungrateful; so it accepted them anyway. As time passed it got more and more used to the new look; practice Transforming without the normal blue jacket and jeans took a while, but it eventually got the hang of it. If only because Froakie kept guilting it into wearing the new things so Shauna did not have to feel bad about spending money on them.
Three days after that was her last Gym: Olympia's. Joining her there gave Imposter the chance to experience going through the Gym itself, which it had never done due to the teleporters causing it to deform. It had unsuccessfully battled Olympia's eighth-badge team what seemed like countless times, but Shauna was able to walk away with the badge after only her first try.
"It's all thanks to my li'l Phantump," she remarked. "Those Psychics never knew what hit 'em!"
Delphox had taken a cautious step backwards at that.
The next day Trevor and Tierno had joined Imposter and a very surprised Serena to give Shauna a proper sendoff for Victory Road. She said she felt bad for everything that happened to Serena in Geosenge, and wanted to grow more - as a person and a trainer - so that if anything happened again, she would be better able to handle it.
(She also added jokingly that if she was ever going to beat the Champion, she would have to do it now before that person became Serena. Serena herself said that was only halfway funny.)
And so the weeks passed. Shauna had come back unsuccessfully every once in a while, but kept trying. Serena said she appreciated that; the younger girl was truly evolving as a person, like she said she wanted to.
And to symbolize this, the next time Shauna appeared in Vaniville Town, Serena had made the girl an offer. She removed the Everstone from her Phantump, explained the joke she had played upon trading her to Shauna, and finally aided in the Pokémon's evolution.
Although Imposter and VW had been keeping her company during these weeks, Serena still showed signs of restlessness - even a few times trying to fly away to Victory Road to make her own attempts at the League. She was always foiled, however; sometimes by her father and his Pokémon, sometimes by the Victory Road medical support staff who would not admit her on account of her arm, even once by Imposter, albeit unwittingly. It was late one night that it stayed over at her house, and the Ditto was having trouble sleeping. If it remembered that it could - and there was room for it - it was able to solve this problem by simply Transforming into Snorlax and using Rest. This night, it happened to do that... right in front of the front door. Even if Serena had a Poké Flute to play, the cast would prevent her from even holding it properly.
But Serena was stubborn. If she could not battle the current Kalos Champion, she would practice against a past one. Imposter often spectated these battles she waged against her father, if only to experience their Pokémon's majesty. Her Absol, his Alakazam; her Vaporeon, his Darmanitan; her Meowstic, his Swalot. He used a lot of Pokémon not native to Kalos, so it was always interesting.
After these battles, and sometimes during them, it would still receive lip from Chesnaught about how he was right about it being a Ditto, and now everyone knew it. These comments mainly unphased Imposter, although Froakie continued to be on edge whenever it came up.
Imposter did pity Serena, though. Humans as a species appeared to have side dominance, meaning it was easier to do certain things with a specific side of their body. One of these things was throw Poké Balls, and for Serena, the casted hand was the one she used that for. Throwing with her left like Imposter tended to was not impossible, but the throws always looked clumsy and awkward. And while her Key Stone still worked, it was completely naked - losing the Mega Ring meant she had to hold it up in her hand to use it. She said it was painfully hot to the touch when it started glowing.
Another thing she could no longer do with her casted hand was write. Imposter tried suggesting she do it with her other hand, but the other humans patiently explained that that was not quite as easy as throwing a ball.
Of course, the Ditto did not know what all this fuss was about writing; how important it was or why Serena was so frustrated by the fact that she could not do it. Finally she off-handedly explained that it was an alternate form of communication humans used when normal speech was inconvenient or impossible.
That got Imposter's attention fast. Serena did not seem eager to tell it more, but went on anyway; all a human needed was some paper and an item she called a "pencil." And a working dominant hand, she had added grumpily.
Imposter knew Froakie had some basic understanding of the symbols humans used for this, but upon further consultation he proved useless in teaching it. All he knew about letters, he claimed, he picked up while half-paying attention to Sycamore's scribbles when he lived with him weeks ago.
Of course; Sycamore was the scholarly type, and Lumiose was not far from Vaniville for those going by wing. The professor, previously informed of its real species, was happy to show Imposter everything it wanted to know.
It was never a fast learner, of course, but its love for human culture and Sycamore's willingness to help it kept Imposter coming back for more lessons.
At first, Froakie hated the idea of going back to Lumiose so often, especially to that building. But it seemed that Sycamore was fine with Froakie's decision to release himself, seeing no reason to separate the Pokémon friends. Once he heard that, Froakie would almost beg to go back every day; he usually kept to himself when he went, not bothering Imposter's learning, but basking in the site of his own previous life.
Naturally, it was Serena who started asking it about the Pokémon League first. Still confused about what was meant by this, Imposter shrugged off the question. But then others started taking interest too - VW, Grace, Shauna, on her occasional visits, and even Sycamore. It had beat all the Gyms, and so had Serena and Shauna, who did it with the intention to beat the Elite Four later. Why, then, everyone asked, would it refrain from joining them? The main reason was simply that it did not know exactly what that would entail. Serena and VW sat the Ditto down and had a long conversation with it about the League: what its challengers should expect; how difficult it was; the long and arduous mountain road that preceded it; the enthralling battles that were sure to await the Ditto if it decided to try it. Serena seemed hesitant about whether it would be able to win with only five Pokémon, especially Ditto - gimmicky battlers at best, useless breeders at worst. She then remarked that she would have said that at the start of Imposter's journey, too, and it had proved her wrong so far. If anyone could beat the Champion using five Ditto - only four with a useful ability - Serena reasoned that it would be one of them.
The others all thought similarly. Grace teared up in pride whenever she talked about her own Pokémon aiming for the League. Sycamore said Diantha would love to see it at least try to take down the Four. Shauna said she was expecting Imposter to do it since the beginning, because it was so good at battling.
Imposter was at an impasse. It was curious to try, of course, and its team gradually grew antsy without having a good battle within a few weeks. All but Limber, who seemed down ever since Imposter decided not to use it in its final Gym battle.
Imposter tried explaining that the situation just never called for it; that if the battle got really rough it would have certainly included it. But some battles could have been beaten with less than five members, and this was one of them. The Ditto who had swept through two Pokémon with Focus Punch talked with it later about how it was nothing personal, and besides - Sheer Cold hurt a lot; Imposter was doing it a favor by keeping it safe from that move.
A few weeks of thought and some inspiring words from VW later, Imposter and its whole team reached an agreement: they would try the League, but at their own pace. Secretly Imposter realized how thrilled it was about this. After all, it had wanted to blend in with humans, and this is what humans its age did, so that would be its plan too.
It just had to get itself to go do it.
The happiest Imposter had ever seen Serena was the day she got her cast off. It was told they would be in Shalour City for most of the day, so it decided to spend the time at Sycamore's until it got the Holo Caster call.
It could not have picked up faster. Both parties were aware that it could not speak, and the conversation would be very one-sided, but neither cared.
"Imposter, hey! It's all over, the cast is gone. Looklooklook!"
She held her arm out in front, displaying it proudly. Imposter was skeptical. She said the cast was off, but something had clearly replaced it.
She must have sensed its question. "What's on there now is just a splint, to make sure it stays protected for the next couple weeks. And guess wha-"
She stopped. "Wait a sec, are you at the lab? Tell Sycamore I say hi, why don't you?"
The professor pulled up next to the Ditto in a rolling desk chair. "He doesn't have to; I'm right here," he explained with a smile. "Let's see it! Looking good. How does it feel?"
"Oh, a lot better. I can move it a lot more, anyway. And I can write again!"
Sycamore clapped. "That's so good to hear. It doesn't hurt?"
"Pshh," Serena rolled her eyes. "Yeah, it hurts a lot, but not nearly as badly. Whatever, that doesn't matter, what matters is now I'm healed enough to get back to Victory Road. And here, I also wanted to show you-"
She opened up her palm, where situated in the black leather was a small red and blue stone.
Sycamore recognized it first. "Oh. Your Key Stone," he observed. "Fantastique, it looks so very nice there! I'm sure you and your Pokémon are excited to be on your way, huh?"
Serena's eyes bulged. "Ohohoh, you don't even know, old man!" she joked. "Dad's making me stop back home first, to say some goodbyes and make sure I'm all ready, but once that's all done, you know where I'm headed."
Sycamore smiled again. "That's great. Good luck, although you certainly don't need it."
"Heh. Glad you're so confident; you should see Dad over here. Oh, he knows my Pokémon are strong enough to handle it, but..." She giggled. "You save the world one time, and all of the sudden it's like you're made of glass. He says the Kalos Victory Road is more tame than Hoenn's (he only says that to brag anyway, 'cause that's where he did a lot of training back in the day), but really, I've made it halfway through before. Nothing I can't handle."
Sycamore shook his head. "Well, he's your father. He's supposed to be like that. His parents probably were, and besides, you and your mother are all he has in this region. He hadn't seen much of you before you moved here with him, so naturally he wants to protect you."
That shut her up, for a few seconds. "Well, yeah, I know," she said slowly. "Anyway, it doesn't really matter as long as I really am going, right?"
"'Atta girl," Sycamore decided. "That's the attitude. Now you go out there and make your parents proud."
She nodded confidently. "I will. And what about you, Imposter? I thought you wanted to try it too?"
Oh, no, attention! Imposter was not ready. Its eyes snapped to hers. "I mean, no pressure or anything, but I thought you'd be more excited to. I at least thought that of the three of us, I'd be the last one leaving, what with the..."
She let that out there, brandishing her arm before the Ditto. "But hey, I don't care. Take as much time as you want."
It swallowed, and nodded. It turned to Sycamore, his eyes gently encouraging. Yeah. It might be taking its time, but it was still going to do it.
It knew it was the only one that understood its own words, but it said them anyway. "Yeah, I'm right behind you. As always."
Imposter Fact of the Day: Since I made it clear a few chapters ago that the eighth-badge teams for each Gym Leader included three Pokemon in addition to a fourth, which Mega-Evolves, and Wulfric already has a potential Mega in Abomasnow, I needed to find a fourth team member for him. I settled on Beartic (this set specifically) as a reference to Brycen, of whom apparently Wulfric is a fan. This set is the Beartic Brycen uses in the World Leaders/Type Expert tournament in Black 2/White 2.
Ahh long chapter is long. Should explain the late update. Also, few things.
It wasn't made clear in the story, so I'll say it here. The reason Froakie can't evolve is because, at least the way I see it, it's different for wild Pokémon. Captured ones have Poké Balls that keep track of their experience and allow them to reach their evolutionary potential at the soonest possible moment for convenience. With wild ones, as evidenced by the fact that some of them are found at levels where they should not have evolved yet (and the more complicated method of evolving in the wild-only PMD series), the rules are less strict for them. Basically, once the level/item/whatever condition is fulfilled, they can evolve, it just isn't automatic. Hopefully that clears some things up.
And yes, I know that's not Wulfric's actual accent... or speech pattern... or personality. But I heard somewhere someone imagining him with the accent, and it was funny, so... yeah.
And if it wasn't clear what was meant by the Gym Leader's "eighth-badge teams," it's a headcanon of mine that all Gym Leaders have multiple teams at specific levels, each designed to match the difficulty of what the challenger is ready for. So someone starting off in a city with a Dragon-Type Gym can still beat it with their level fifteen starter, and someone finishing in a town with a Bug-Type Gym can still have a challenge.