Coupla battles this chapter. They're actually rather tough to write, so any advice on how to make them more interesting would be greatly appreciated.

Also, warning! Major characterization is coming up! Those with allergies to backstory should proceed with caution.

There they were.

It expected to have to walk around the whole way before it found Serena and Froakie again, but it discovered that the two had been making their ways towards it as well, causing them to meet in the middle.

"Ah - there you are," Serena greeted. "Anyway, I uh, got your Froakie back."

The little Water-Type looked up at Imposter and grinned, hopping over. The girl continued. "Yeah, you should have seen us out there - me running up, demanding she stopped in her tracks - Chesnaught had cornered her, and the poor little grunt could do nothing but send out her one tiny Pokémon - Chesnaught pummelled it into the ground. It was awesome."

Imposter bought the story, but Froakie looked puzzled. "Eheh, that's not what actually happened. Really, she just stopped because some random ol' Pidgey came and landed on her. How funny is that?"

Now Imposter remembered the escapade. It nodded. Sure was funny.

"Either way, though, you still should have been there. To get your Pokémon back, I mean. You know you can't expect to get so lucky all the time, I won't always be there. I mean, because I've got my own adventure to do. The only reason I'm in Shalour and not fighting Clemont right now is because I've been waiting for you so we can-"

She stopped right there. "Gosh, the Mega Evolution guru! We've got to get to the Tower of Mastery!"

As if on instinct by now, she reached again for Imposter's wrist. Finally catching on that this meant running, it pulled away.

Serena scoffed. "If you don't want to get dragged along," she replied, pulling out a yellow bicycle from her bag, "then keep up with the journey."

She pedalled off. Imposter turned to Froakie, reaching for its Pokédex.

"Should we follow her?"

Froakie shrugged. "I think you'd better."

"Then what do you think-" It showed Froakie the pages it was scrolling through. "Fast, or stylish?"

Froakie laughed. "Oh, man, fast, baby! The first one!"

Soon enough, anyone paying attention could see an enthused Froakie, complete with a messenger bag, atop the back of a wild Electrike, the two booking it full speed in the direction of the Tower of Mastery.

Once properly humaned up, Imposter walked to the skyscraper's entrance and barged in with Froakie in tow.

Serena was the first to notice. "Okay, he's here now. That's all five. Mr. Gurkinn, sir, could you tell us what you know about Mega Evolution?" She was breathing heavily, probably in excitement.

Imposter took in the room. An enormous statue of what seemed to be a Pokémon stood at the center, and in front of it were three familiar humans, one unfamiliar one, the Gym Leader, Serena, and itself.

The old-looking one - Gurkinn, apparently - answered the request. "Now hold your Mudbray, young one," he instructed. "You'll get nowhere by rushing around with things."

Korrina, who was standing beside him, interrupted. "I mean, that's not always true. Just look at me." She said this seriously, lacking any indication she might be joking.

Gurkinn put a hand on her shoulder. "You'll learn someday, Korrina," he insisted. "In the meantime, these five need to learn something else, don't they?"

Shauna cheered, and Serena quickly agreed. "Mega Evolution," Gurkinn began, "is a very special experience for both Pokémon and trainer."

As the old man continued to speak, Imposter saw the eyes of its friends continuing to grow with increasing curiosity. Human eyes, it was reminded, were fascinating things. As difficult as they were to form (and maintain, as it had learned two days ago), they were powerful as any Pokémon move it had ever been hit with.

For how long it was studying them, only one pair had met with Imposter's. They lingered a moment before the Ditto forced itself to snap back to Gurkinn's explanation. What was he was even talking about?

"...fully-evolved Pokémon can evolve even further..."

The man might have been speaking the language of ancient Ransei, for all Imposter knew. It could focus only on those eyes - now it remembered just why it had not seen these people for so long. Imposter had upset Shauna somehow, and if her eyes had told it anything, she did not appear to be over it.

What it even did in the first place, it was clueless.

There was something else in that look, too - a sense of... forgiveness, or did Imposter just want to see it that way?

"...And that is basically all we know about Z-Power. I mean, Mega Evolution. That's a totally different thing you may learn about in, say, three years, if you keep training on."

"Woah, that's amazing," Serena exclaimed. "So if I give my Chesnaught a Mega Stone, it can become completely superpowered? More than he already is, I mean," she added with a laugh.

"Well, not all Pokémon can Mega-Evolve," Gurkinn explained. "But I do want you five each to travel with a Mega Ring, at the request of your instructor, the professor. If you do, I'm sure you will find some that can, and aid in our research."

"Of course," Serena agreed. "I'd love to help with that!"

"That's the thing, though." Gurkinn stopped. "You see, that's what I want of you, but there is a problem. I only have one Mega Ring, so you all will have to agree who will use it."

Disappointment befell the faces of the children. "Well-" Shauna stepped up. "I know just how much Serena wants it, and I'm no good at battling. You can count me out."

"Yeah," Trevor agreed. "The professor gave us a couple of jobs, after all. Someone else can tackle this; I'd rather work on the Pokédex."

The large boy who helped Imposter out yesterday - Tierno, it realized, now that it saw him clearly, and surrounded by the rest of the group - shuffled his feet. "I guess, as much as I'd love to see my partners go Mega - I'd have no idea how to use it properly."

"Tierno, your Pokémon would just make a huge mess!" Trevor suggested genially. "You all move around so much. No one would be able to keep up."

"So that just leaves... me and Imposter, I guess," Serena observed. "Well, uh... Ditto, I don't know about you, but I sure would love to see what my team can do full-power."

Without even realizing, Imposter responded. "Scared thinking about it." It gave a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of its neck. Then it realized.

They could not hear anything out of its mouth but 'Ditto.'

Serena's mouth dropped, but she recovered quickly. "You feel the same way, huh? Can-Can your Ditto even use Mega Evolution? Well, if you're really serious about this, we'll have to battle for it."

The room became dead silent.

"Serena, you should do it," Shauna decided. "Battle him! You two have never even fought once, have you?"

Serena's face perked up. "Oh yeah, haven't even thought of that," she realized. "Well, now we're doing this whether you want the Ring or not, let's go!"

Imposter saw her reaching for one of the Poké Balls in her bag, and realized it had no choice. It looked to Froakie for encouragement and did the same.

"Go, Meowstic!"

"Ditto!"

Meowstic was a completely new Pokémon to Imposter, and it was immediately impressed by what it could do. With a move called Disarming Voice, it could probably do some damage.

Naturally, it commanded Disarming Voice, but was cut off.

"Meowstic, Fake Out!"

Before Imposter knew what was happening, Meowstic had already pulled off the move. Ditto cringed, allowing Meowstic to follow up with a Psybeam. Ditto was already almost out, and had yet to even do anything.

It Disarming Voiced. In a word, Imposter was disappointed by how much the move did.

Fake Out... That had messed up the battle pretty handily. It knew what to command next.

"Ditto, Fake Out!"

Meowstic seemed to have seen the attack coming, for it was feet away when Ditto tried the move. "Now, Psybeam again, Meowstic," Serena called.

The hit knocked Ditto out. Imposter bit its tongue and sent in another.

"Ditto, Fake Out. Now, Light Screen!"

When these actions were carried out, Serena hummed. "Now you're starting to get it. Meowstic, you put up a Light Screen too."

Meowstic did, then sent out her own Disarming Voice. Ditto took it better than Imposter expected, then sent out a Psybeam.

Meowstic used Psybeam. Ditto fainted.

Imposter's next Ditto used Fake Out, and Meowstic went down.

"'Kay, then. Absol, this is a job for you."

Ditto sent off a Psybeam, which Imposter expected to hurt a lot. It did nothing. Absol Swords Danced.

Afraid, Imposter commanded another Fake Out. Absol did not fall for it, however, and shot off a Quick Attack.

Imposter panicked. It was quickly realizing Serena was no joke. "Disarming Voice, Ditto."

The result was how Imposter first expected the move to go. By now its own ears were hurting.

"That's fine, Absol; it didn't do that much. Bite it."

Ditto fainted scarily quickly.

Two more Ditto. One turned into Absol. The other was Limber.

"Now, Absol, Slash."

"Quick Attack first, Ditto!"

Ditto did, and Absol was looking bushed. Immediately following the attack came Absol's Slash.

It destroyed Ditto's ability to keep going. "Oh, a critical hit, too!" Serena observed. "Nice one, Absol." Sighing, Imposter called it back.

Absol was close to fainting, it figured, although by how much, it was unaware. After him, Imposter just had to defeat two more Pokémon and it would win.

And it would have to do it with Limber.

The small Ditto quaked. "What is that."

"It's an Absol," explained Imposter. "Just Transform into it. Quickly! Go!"

But Limber, whether as a result of its self-doubt or of Absol's superior training by Serena, was not fast enough.

"Slash!" Serena yelled. "Take it out!"

Absol did exactly that. With another critical hit, Absol completely finished off Imposter's team.

"Imposter - I wasn't able to do it. I let you down," Limber complained. "I told you I'm no good at battling."

Imposter withdrew its Poké Ball. "Sure you are," it said. "Serena's just a better trainer than I am, I guess."

It called Limber back and placed the Ball neatly into its bag.

Serena smiled smugly and Absol returned to his Ball. "Guess I win," she observed. "Anyway, good battle, although I think you can try harder. I do have a question, though."

Imposter looked up, curious. "Are you actually, like - able to speak with your Pokémon?"

She received weird looks from the other humans, prompting her to defend herself. "I mean, it's not that hard to believe. Did you hear all that? 'Ditto, Dit-Dit-Ditto', the whole time. Funny how you can't really speak our language, but the language of your Pokemon..."

"The girl has a point," Gurkinn said, to everyone's surprise. "A very prominent figure in the Unova region is said to be able to understand the speech of all Pokémon, although only because he grew up alongside them. It could be this boy has a gift, to be so close to his Ditto that he is able to achieve the same."

The children gawked, and Imposter gave a nervous cry along with a nod. "That - explains a lot," Shauna noted.

"Yeah..." Serena still seemed suspicious. "Anyway, if you really like your Ditto so much, you should learn how to use it better. For example, Fake Out only works if it's the first move you use."

She giggled. "Ditto's a pretty versatile Pokémon. It can become anything and use any move at all. If you want to use one properly, let alone five, you should really know the Pokémon they're Transforming into and the moves they can use. It pays to pay attention, you know? Just a tip."

Imposter thought it had known most of this already, being a Ditto itself, and zoned out near the end. "Wow, how do you know all that?" Trevor asked in awe.

Serena inhaled. "Well, my parents are both really strong trainers," she explained, sounding remiss. "Guess I've just picked things up from Mom."

"Really?" Tierno piped up. "How strong? Trainers don't get much better than you, Serena."

The teen bit her lip. "Really really. Mom's won a few awards back in Hoenn, and Dad... Well, he's a Veteran trainer now, but three years ago, he was the top-notch. Just like I'll be once I've mastered this whole Mega Evolution deal! Right, Korrina?"

The Gym Leader looked Serena in the eyes. "We'll see. Your Pokémon completely destroyed my team, so maybe, as long as you work hard."

Shauna cleared her throat. "So, where is this Mega Ring anyway? I want to see this thing in action already!"

Korrina shrugged, then turned to Serena. "You. Meet me at the top of this tower and we'll proceed with the bestowing there."

"Okay!"

Shauna raised her hand. "Um, question?"

"Yeah?"

"Can, um - can we come watch?"

Korrina looked over the group. "I mean, you all... won... the Rumble Badge. Don't see why any one of you in particular couldn't come."

Her eyes flickered in Imposter's direction.

"Great, come on," offered Serena, who invited Korrina to lead her up the stairs. She and her companions followed.

The Tower of Mastery's highest balcony overlooked Azure Bay on the left and the bustling Shalour City on the right. Anyone standing there would be at eye level with the lowest cloud layer if they would only jump up a few feet. It was large enough to accommodate the five human teens and four Pokémon that were there, with plenty of extra room.

Imposter and its friends were directed off to the side; they could watch, but not disturb. Serena was singled out, and stepped up to where Korrina was standing in front of one of the Pokémon she had when Imposter had first met her. A quick consultation with the Pokédex confirmed that the species was called Lucario.

"Lady Serena V. W. of Fortree City, Hoenn," Korrina began formally. "It was decided that the place for bestowing the Mega Ring is here, at the very top of this tower."

She stepped closer, withdrawing the small bracelet. Serena's eyes grew in awe.

"Take it. It belongs to you now."

Serena lifted two hands and removed the item from Korrina's hold. She held it up towards the sun, getting a better look.

Then she wasted no time. She slipped the Ring on her right arm, balling a fist to show it off.

"Thank you so much," she breathed. "I'm going to be learning as much as I can, don't you worry."

For the first time in Imposter's memory, Korinna threw her head back and laughed. Much like a crazy person.

"Did you really think it was going to be that easy?"

Serena's smile disappeared, but the Gym Leader's was more set in than ever. "Of course, it belongs to you forever now, and I won't be taking it if you lose - but now that you can finally power up all the way, there's a person you're going to have to fight."

Now Serena grinned. "You?"

Korrina chuckled. "Oh, it won't be just any battle. Lucario?"

The Pokémon behind Korrina, as per his trainer's request, stepped forwards.

"I've seen the way you handle a certain Pokémon," she began. "This will be a one-on-one match. Me and my Mega Lucario, versus you and your Mega Absol!"

Serena accepted the small stone that Lucario was handing out to her. " M-Mega Absol! Really?"

"Yeah!" Korrina confirmed. "We have no use for the Absolite here, and you most certainly do. Now let's get this show on the road, huh?"

"Alright! Go on, Absol!"

"And you, Lucario - let's give it all we've got!"

Imposter and the others looked (and in some cases, cheered) on as the Pokémon took their places. One hand on each trainer began glowing, and so did the stones the Pokémon were holding.

Imposter had seen that somewhere. Where was it? And with whom? It cursed its awful memory. Someone it knew was capable of Mega Evolution, and it had no idea who.

"Lucario..."

"Absol..."

The two humans finished at the same time.

"...Mega-Evolve!"

Imposter and the humans on the sides had to cover their eyes as two blinding Pokémon underwent complete transformations - but not the kind that the Ditto was used to performing. When the light cleared, two completely new Pokémon were standing in ready stance, poised to jump on their orders the moment their trainer gave the command.

"Absol, Swords Dance!"

Imposter had never laid eyes on something more majestic than Mega Absol's display of the move.

"Lucario, Power-Up Punch."

Absol's majesty was cut short by the attack. Serena's mouth hung open. "Woah, are you okay?"

The Pokémon's voice was low and gruff. "Fine," he coughed. Imposter suspected otherwise.

"Good, now... Sllllashhh!"

The Dark-Type lunged forwards. Lucario took the brunt of the attack, spun around, and pounded the opponent with Power-Up Punch.

Absol wheezed, on the ground. Lucario stepped one foot onto his back proudly as the glow from earlier - fainter this time - returned and changed Absol back to normal.

Serena fell to her knees beside her Pokémon. "Absol, he got you, huh?" She sighed, taking out his Poké Ball. "You did well. Come back."

Imposter - along with, it figured, the rest of the humans - was disappointed to see it over so quickly. Lucario glowed and de-Mega-Evolved, respectfully stepping off its quarry.

"Good job, trainer," Korrina remarked. "You may have lost, but you have also just joined the ranks of people capable of Mega Evolution. Champions, royals, Elite Four members, mighty heroes, both of your parents. You have become one of us."

Serena inhaled and exhaled slowly. "That's incredible."

As evidenced by the past weekend, Imposter's friend Serena was not taking much time in conquering her adventure. Now more ambitious than ever, she had said her goodbyes and flew away on Charizard shortly after gaining the Mega Ring, shouting back her thanks as she did so. The show over, Trevor and Tierno had followed Korrina back inside the tower and away from the site of the battle.

That left Imposter and Froakie lingering while Shauna bent over the side of the balcony, taking in the views.

The Ditto did acknowledge Froakie before doing anything, understanding that he was keeping a close eye on it. It moved closer to the ledge too; ironically, while it was the one who had experience flying, it was also the one feeling uncomfortable about the height.

Shauna breathed in. "You know, it sure is... pretty," she offered. "Um-"

She turned around, but refused to look Imposter in the eyes. "I'm sorry for freaking out back in Parfum Palace that night."

This may have been Imposter's only chance. It reached up to rub its chin, looking straight at her when it said the word. "Ditto."

"I-" she stumbled on the words. "I hope you are." She gave a light chuckle, the awkward kind one gives after revealing a big, embarrassing secret.

"Anyway, uh, yeah. I've really missed you."

So it had heard. It glanced at Froakie for a moment, and nodded in agreement.

"I really hope we're good now... okay? Buds again? G-give me a pound."

A Pound? Imposter did not know that move - only Transform, and it could not give her one of those. She was holding a fist up sideways towards it, but stopped the punch halfway through its course. It flinched at this gesture, confused at why she was now attacking if there really were no hard feelings.

"Come on, don't leave me hanging."

Tentatively, it mirrored her and (checking in with Froakie first) touched its hand to hers. The Water-Type looked like something was on his mind.

"Yeah, was that too hard?"

Imposter offered a tiny smile and a shrug. She shook her head, but was smiling too.

"Well - that's a big relief," she said. "Thank you. For being my friend and all. Um, I should be leaving, though. I've been talking with Korrina before, and she's going to start training me to be a better battler. And could you imagine what she'd do if I didn't show?"

The following chuckle was filled with petrified nervousness. "So really, I should run. Love ya. Bye."

She scurried out of there like a Dwebble that lost its shell in the middle of a Wingull attack. "'Love ya bye'?" Froakie repeated. "This might just be worse than I thought."

"How do you figure?"

Froakie looked around for any humans, then placed himself comfortably on the ground. "Come on down here. Let's chat."

Imposter gave a questioning look, removed its bag, and shrunk down to the shape and size normal for a Ditto. "What-what's happening?" It was almost scared. "Did I do something wrong?"

Froakie shook his head. "Maybe not. You handled that pretty well, actually, I'll admit. You are making sure not to give her any ideas, right?"

"I still don't know what you're talking about."

"What I'm talking about is this. You want to know why it matters to me so much that you don't break that stupid little girl's heart?"

Imposter was unsure if it really did want to know. Its face wobbled slowly upwards and down.

The Water-Type took a deep breath. "My mother was a Ditto." He kept that in the air for a bit.

Imposter was floored. Now self-conscious about its species, it considered Transforming into Froakie now to save itself the embarrassment, but that would lead to more problems. Instead, it spoke. "You... You have Ditto blood in you."

Froakie cringed a little. "I-I guess you could say that," he realized. "Interestingly enough, it was a six-IV-er like yourself. Some weird test Sycamore did says, lucky me, I only ended up with Attack. Yay."

He shook the thought away. "Anyway, they were a Ditto and a Greninja. Never met it, and haven't seen him in a long time. Whatever, we were never really close, but my dad had thought that he'd really liked this Pokémon, and never completely recovered from the fact that it... didn't really care."

Imposter felt itself shrinking as it took this all in, and chose not to stop the sensation. Froakie's words continued to be cryptic to Imposter, but his tone revealed this was a source of conflict for him. "I-I'm really sorry to hear all that."

"I mean, it's not your fault. Unless-"

"I promise, I've never even seen a Greninja."

Froakie giggled. "Well, who knows? You might one day," he suggested, puffing out his chest. "Anyway, I'm not saying like all Ditto know each other, or that you're all the same or sumthin'. But I do know humans love your being able to copy anything. There are these people called breeders-"

He stopped. "Well, that's a conversation for another time. The point is, for a lot of Pokémon, it's not hard to fall into the Ditto trap. Most of 'em seem to get over it, I think - Dad was just a little soft on the inside. That's all. But here you are parading around with humans who don't know any better. So you could see why I'd want to look out for everyone?"

Imposter's mouth straightened and it nodded the best it could without a head.

"Good. Now, you remember none of this, okay? One word outta anyone about how I had a family at Sycamore's and you are the deadest of meats, do you understand?"

It gulped. "Yes."

"Er, good, because I just realized... Are y'all even made of meat? Like how does that work?"

Imposter looked itself over, flattered by Froakie's curiosity. "Well, if by that you mean muscle... we technically have something else. Different material, same function, basically."

Froakie nodded. "In that case, you'd be the deadest of that. By the way, I caught onto your stunt earlier. That was kinda cool. So you really do care about me, huh - random ol' Pidgey?"

Imposter had never anticipated feeling embarrassed for its actions in saving Froakie from those people, but Froakie just had a way of making everything it did seem laughable.

"I mean, of course. Was I just going to let them take you away?"

"That's exactly what you did. You must not have noticed - they'd gotten me last night, while you were off doing your Gym battle. Kept me for hours before Serena found 'em this morning trying to train me up, or something. Turns out they're part of this whole big organization, planning a-"

He froze.

"You'd better grab that Trainer Card and human up. Someone is coming."

"What!?"

It scrambled for its bag and Transformed again. "The girl's done for today," a voice announced from behind it. Korrina. "Now it's your turn."

Imposter spun around, seeing her flipping through a stack of prize money in her hand. "See, this is what your little Hoennite friend bribed me with to throw that Gym battle," she explained. "I'm afraid that badge is null and void until you beat me for real."

Imposter nodded slowly, leaning back; it could see the Gym from where it was standing on the balcony. It pointed.

"No, not in there. You've already beaten my lackeys," Korrina insisted. "If you really want that Gym badge, you're going to battle me right here and now. And there won't be anyone to keep me from pummeling your team into the ground this time."

Imposter reluctantly accepted that this was about to happen; it grabbed a Poké Ball.

You are challenged by Leader Korrina!

~End of Part Three~

Imposter Fact of the Day: Let's take a moment just to establish everyone's ages in this, okay? Serena is 16; Trevor/Tierno/Shauna are 15; Sycamore is 25; Diantha is 21. Calem, having started his adventure at 16 three years ago, is 19 now; although not stated in the story, Imposter often gets his height mistaken, however, and itself looks closer to 17 or 18. (Hence the references to its looking taller than most of the adolescents it adventures with.)

Hehe... I've forgotten how fun it is to create OCs. Have never really done anything with a backstory as extensive as Froakie's, so let me know how I did. That one's always stealing the show and I can't get enough of it. XD Have a nice day!