After losing to Allison and Chloe in a battle, we gathered everyone else and packed up the tent. Once again, we were off to Rifia Town, the last "checkpoint" before we would reach Floji. It made me wonder what would happen to us next...

"Hey, David?" Ash says. "You've got something on your back."

"Oh, that?" I say. "That's my shield. I finished crafting one after much difficulty."

"Really?! Does it work?"

"Yeah! Although it's made of wood, and I'm pretty sure a Fire- or Water-type move would decimate it. And it's kind of small... But it's better to have a buckler than no shield at all, right? Oh, by the way, Allison and I had a rematch."

"Did you win?" Robert asks.

"Well... unfortunately, no." I could hear Allison and Lynn high-five each other, but I wasn't mad about that. "But it wasn't a total loss! Chloe and I learned some new moves. She learned Play Rough, and I ended up learning how to cast Sizzle."

"Sizzle?" Aaron repeats.

"An enhanced form of Sizz! Lemme show you." I pop a Leppa Berry into my mouth, and focus magic energy into my hands. I thrust both my arms forward to cast the spell, and everyone is captivated by the wave of fire that erupts from my palms.

"That's so cool!" Lynn says, starstruck. "Your magic just keeps growing stronger!"

"How many spells do you have up your sleeve?!" Ash adds.

"Oh, uh... I don't really know. All I really know are the ones I know how to cast... Right, Liana?"

But when I looked at her, something seemed... off. Instead of human eyes, she had... dots for eyes? This wasn't right... Or could she do this all along? I was still confused when another Liana appeared and glared at it.

"Two Lianas?!" Chloe screamed. "What is this?!"

"Well, we've got an imposter," Liana grumbles. "Luckily I've dealt with enough of these to know exactly what to do."

Liana slaps her doppelganger across the face. As soon as she did, it transformed into... something? I could describe it as a living mass of purple goo. I honestly had no idea if it was a Pokemon or a Hybrimon.

"That's a Ditto!" Ash gasps. "It transformed into Liana!"

"Ditto?" I repeat. "Could you read its entry, Rotom?"

"But of course!" Rotom says. "Ditto. The transform Pokemon. A Normal-type. Ditto can rearrange their bodies' cells to change into other lifeforms. Ditto is the only non-legendary Pokemon that can use Transform."

"Transform?"

"Transform is a move that allows the user to look like whatever it wants. It commonly turns into one of its foes in a battle, also copying and learning their moves."

"So that explains it! Ditto used Transform to look like Liana."

Ditto looked like it was trying to say something, but we were unable to understand it for some reason. Weren't Hybrimon able to understand Pokemon, and also allow us to understand them in the process? So why couldn't we understand it?

"Oh, that," Liana says. "I don't really know why, but there are specific Pokemon Hybrimon are able to understand and not understand. But all the Pokemon we're able to understand are also known as 'animal Pokemon.' And every other Pokemon? Well, we just can't hear them. Although there is an exception... if we form a strong bond with them, then we gain the ability to hear them. Not that that's ever happened to me."

"Well, that's really interesting, but weird at the same time."

Ditto looked disappointed when it realized we couldn't understand it. It turned around and started going away. But when it went a considerable distance, it turned back and signaled to us that it wanted us to follow it, then ran off.

"I wonder what Ditto wants?" Aaron thinks out loud.

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Susie says. "Let's follow it!"

Without another word, we run off to find Ditto. We were able to catch up to it, and it showed us a grassy plain with many purple rats while we hid in a bush. But none of them were Ditto. It looked like the Ditto we were dealing with was the odd one out...

"Rattata," Rotom says. "The mouse Pokemon. A Normal-type. It likes cheese, nuts, fruits, and berries. It also comes out into open fields to steal food from unsuspecting travelers."

"So what's the problem?" Wesley asks Ditto.

Ditto signals us to stay put, and it went to the group. It used Transform to turn into another Rattata. We could see it talking to the other Rattata, but their conversation seemed to turn into a disagreement. Eventually, it left in defeat, and returned to us, also reverting to its normal form.

"I think Ditto wants to blend in with those Rattata but can't," I say.

"Maybe a part of the problem is using Transform," Ash says. "When a Ditto transforms into another Pokemon, it sticks out by still having dots for eyes. Some Pokemon are able to notice that, and it sometimes leads to arguments."

"So then... what if we used a mask?"

"I don't think disguising it will work," Liana says. "After all, they probably saw through its transformation. I think I could go up to them and ask what the problem is. Think that'll work?"

"Well... I think. But I'll come with you, and we should pretend we were passing by and heard 'rumors' about this Ditto."

With a little hesitation, Liana agrees to my plan. We casually walk up to the Rattata herd.

"Hey!" One of the Rattata exclaimed. "We've got outsiders!"

"Woah, woah," Liana says. "Calm down. We're just passing by."

"If you were passing by, why don't you go already?"

"That's because we're looking for a Ditto. We heard rumors about it roaming around this area. We thought you knew it."

"Oh, that Ditto? It was pretty clever Transforming into another Rattata in order to blend in with our herd, I'll give it that. But we were able to determine it was disguised, and we kicked it out before it could cause any trouble."

"'Cause trouble?'"

"Yep. Outsiders can't be trusted. It kept coming back, and we pushed it away every time. It's all we can do to protect ourselves."

"I see... And where is it now?" I had to say, Liana was pretty good at acting.

"Heck if we know. It's been a while since we sent it off."

"Okay... well, that's fine. See ya."

Liana and I walk back to the bush where everyone else was hiding. They immediately probed us for details, and I told them the whole thing.

"Well, I'm sure we can convince them," Ash says. "And if that doesn't work, we can have a battle!"

"So are we gonna go back there already?" I ask. "They'd be pretty suspicious if they saw Liana and I."

"Yeah... you have a point. We'll handle this, you two hang back."

But before Ash could step out of the bush, we heard a loud noise. When we peeked out of our cover, we saw some people attacking the Rattata, but we couldn't see who they were from here.

"Who're they?!"

"Doesn't matter, we gotta stop 'em!"

Without a word, Ash started running towards the assaulters. Instinctively, I run after him, and so does everyone else. It was pretty lucky they didn't notice us running towards them.

"Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

"Wesley, use Ink Shower!"

Wesley takes flight and grabs Pikachu, who climbs onto his back. After closing the distance, Pikachu and Wesley fire their moves, but the attackers jump away in time to avoid the combo. When we drew nearer, we saw... Ugh. Yep, Team Noir.

"You just had to interfere!" Robin screamed. "Now how are we gonna make this our secret base?!"

"You never will," I counter. "As long as we're around, Team Noir's doomed to failure!"

"You're wrong, brat," Oliver sneered. "You can't doom nothing but yourself!"

"Then we'll see who can! Sizzle!"

I shoot a large wave of fire from my hands, damaging their Pokemon. Nickit and Stunky take normal damage, but Sneasel is almost KO'd from that attack alone. Ash sends out his Milcery, and I let Wesley join the fight. Lynn signals for Allison and Robert to hang back while she lets Susie enter the battlefield.

I command Wesley to use Double Kick on Sneasel to finish it off, which he does. Milcery uses Fairy Wind on Nickit to deal some super-effective damage, and Susie uses Tackle on Stunky.

"Why're you doing this?!" I yell at them. "You know you're gonna lose!"

"If you're talking about us, we don't plan on stealing all these useless Rattata," Robin explains. "We're just attacking 'em 'cuz we wanna."

"What...?! That's even... Actually, I can't even tell if stealing Pokemon or endangering them is worse!"

"Big words, kid," Nick steps in. "Stunky! Use Poison Gas!"

Stunky releases poisonous gas from its tail. It manages to hit all of us, and we become envenomated. I search within my bag to see if I had any Pecha Berries, but no dice. Dang it...! It's at times like these I wish I'd stocked up on more items... While I'm lost in my thoughts, Nickit uses Beat Up on me while the poison eats away at our life force.

"You guys alright?!" Ash yells.

"Can't... go on..." I choke. "But... I gotta!"

I forced myself to cast Sizzle on the brutes' Pokemon. While the spell managed to hurt them, I collapse in the process. I couldn't move, but... I could scream! I'm not entirely useless. Even though Wesley's poisoned, he could still fight!

"Wesley, use Wing Slash on Stunky!"

Wesley summons his wings and swings them at the poison skunk, dealing damage and splattering red, defense-decreasing ink all over it. But in spite of his best efforts to fight the poison, he loses the strength to keep flying, and he tumbles to the ground next to me.

"This looks serious!" Ash exclaimed. "But we just gotta keep trying! Milcery, use Fairy Wind on Nickit!"

Milcery focuses and fires a fairy wind at Nickit for big damage. But after it finishes its move, it stumbles and seems unable to continue. Were we all going to lie helpless like this...?!

"Well, what, little girl?" Nick sneered at Susie. "Are you gonna follow suit?"

Susie gasped, but Lynn was enraged. "Leave her alone, you brute!" She screamed. "You don't tell her what to do, only I do! Susie, use Tackle on Stunky!"

Susie starts running and hits Stunky, but she falls on her back after she executes the move. Rats...! We couldn't do anything! We were giving them the chance they were waiting for... Is this it?!

"Well, well, well," Robin mocks us. "Looks like you're all tuckered out. It seems this is the end for all of you."

"So, leader?" Nick addresses Robin. "How do we finish them off?"

"You know, guys," Oliver steps in, "I don't think just offing them with our moves is enough. How about... we take them to the boss? Our original mission was to capture the magic dude's Hybrimon, but now we've got all these guys."

"Ooh, that's not a bad idea," Robin says. "Well, then. Guess we'll just take you to the base. The boss will decide your fate."

The trio begins to approach, ready to lay their grubby hands on us. It was hopeless. No matter how hard I struggled, I couldn't break through the poison and fight... Am I really gonna die...?

"SIZZLE!"

Out of nowhere, a wall of fire blazes towards Team Noir and engulfs them in flames. I struggled to look towards the source. It was... me?! No, wait... Those eyes...

"Ditto?!" Ash gasps.

"Amazing!" Rotom bleeps. "It used Transform to turn into David! And what's more, it was able to use Sizzle on them! Data updated!"

"Y-You... saved us!" I cough. "Th-Thank you...!"

"Anytime, human," Ditto says. "Don't mind the fact that I'm talking right now, I can talk because I turned into you."

"How did that Ditto... burn all of us?!" Robin chokes. "Impossible...!"

"I-I'm pretty s-sure you know all my s-spells," I stammer. "So th-then... Use Woosh and send them flying!"

Ditto sweeps its arm, causing it to fire a small whirlwind at Team Noir. When it connects, it sends them blasting off. I had to say... That was really close. If it hadn't been for Ditto, we would have been goners.

"Here," Allison says. "I've got plenty of Pecha Berries. You'll be fine!"

After Allison heals us and we're back on our feet, I turn to Ditto. It smiles.

"I thought you were gonna help me," It says. "But I ended up helping you."

"Yeah," I agree. "How could I repay you...?"

"You don't have to." It points towards a hill, where all the Rattata were watching. They were... applauding? "They've seen what a Ditto can do. I'm sure they'll accept me now. But if I hadn't met you, I'd never blend in with them. So thank you."

"Of course. You're welcome."

After that, we were about to continue on our journey to Rifia Town. It was just around the corner, and we were getting closer to Floji. We waved goodbye to the Rattata and Ditto as our journey continued.


The one in which David meets a Ditto, who helps him defeat Team Noir that attacks a herd of Rattata.

This took a little longer than I would have liked. I was a little confused on what words to write.