"Imposter, I've thought of something!"
It spun around. Serena was running up to it.
"You know, I was feeling pretty bad when I found out I'd be taking the Mega Ring from you. But Imposter! You're using Ditto! If one of them just Transforms into a Mega, then you can use a superpowered Pokémon just like I can."
She discreetly reached backwards, continuing on: "So, battle me! I'll decide to use my Mega Absol and you can get to see what it's like, too."
Imposter had no qualms - this would be a good time to prove it could win after their last battle. It tossed out a Ditto, and she sent out Meowstic, who immediately used Fake Out.
Trying to think smart, Imposter remembered the kinds of moves Meowstic could use, and realized it could defend against these.
Ditto put up a Light Screen, and Serena's Pokémon followed its lead. From there, the two exchanged Psychics and Dazzling Gleams, the trainers occasionally using items to heal, until Meowstic failed to be able to stay up.
"Alright, then - as promised, here's good ol' Absol! You can duplicate him, but that doesn't mean we'll be going easy on you. Go get 'im, boy!"
Absol leapt from his Poké Ball with his Mega Stone already glowing. The rock was located on a headband wrapped around his forehead like an ivy wreath; the Absolite itself rested on a sliver of blue skin in the center.
Imposter watched in awe as Serena hoisted her Mega Ring into the air and the two radiated multicolored light. Wings sprouted from Absol's back and his one large horn curved into a larger scythe. The Pokémon was looking absolutely unbeatable.
This caused poor Ditto to panic: "Oh my goodness what was that that just happened!?"
Or, in battling terms: Ditto used Disarming Voice!
Absol took the Fairy-Type attack well enough, and returned with a Slash - critical, as always. Imposter shook its head as it called back the first of its fainted battlers.
When the next Ditto Transformed, Imposter's amused grin was rivaled tenfold by Serena's bright smile. "There you go! Now you can use a Mega, too, sort of. Absol, go for another Sl-"
"Quick Attack."
"-Well, okay, that's fine," Serena restarted when Ditto's move interrupted her. "Now, Absol, use Slash."
He did, Ditto mirroring him directly afterwards, and he finished it off with another Quick Attack. A rotation of Ditto occurred, it Transformed, and it Slashed. Imposter now wielded the remaining Mega Absol, and Serena reluctantly called back her own.
"Heh, this is... embarrassing. Anyway, the fight's not over yet! It's Amaura time!"
A quadrupedal Pokémon that reminded Imposter of Grant's Gym yelled a battle cry as he entered the field.
Imposter looked at Serena quizzically. Her choice in Pokémon made no sense. He was much smaller than Ditto.
She shrugged. "Amaura resists the hits. He's slow, but I want him to get some nice training in."
Imposter nodded, and using this information, determined the smartest choice to be to use Swords Dance.
(It also just wanted to see a Mega Absol use Swords Dance again - or even better, it wanted to Transform and use the move itself, but that would have been a dead giveaway.)
"Plus," Serena continued, sharing determined looks with her Pokémon. "...Amaura can also do this! Hidden Power!"
The small Rock-Type spun around and blasted Ditto with a beam of concentrated energy - unlike Aurora Beam, the move Grant's used, this one was huge and seemed to require utmost concentration from its user. Shocked at the damage, Imposter could only watch as its unprepared friend fainted before its eyes.
This Pokémon was tough. There was only one Ditto for a job like this.
"Do it, Limber!"
"I'll try!" It said this unsurely, but Imposter liked hearing the sentiment.
"Transform."
To Imposter's amusement, Limber was able to do so before Amaura could move. The smaller Ditto did take note of this once the process was done: "Hey, did I-? Awesome... I'm going to finally-"
Serena coughed. "Hidden Power, again."
Amaura did it again.
"Ooooowwwww!" Limber whined, devouring the attack. "What move is that?"
Unfortunately, it was powerful enough to remove Limber from the battle in one hit. Imposter stood there, floored.
Serena explained. "It's a Fighting-Type Hidden Power. Super strong against Absol's Dark, Ditto's Normal, and both Amaura's Rock and Ice."
So Serena was unstoppable, then - at least, that was what Imposter understood from the explanation. That, and a little inspiration for its last Ditto's first move.
"Hidden Power!"
Amaura absorbed the attack like a champ. Imposter's jaw hung down, revealing to anyone who would have looked close enough the beginnings of a shoddily-crafted digestive system; pictures were enough for it to work with in replicating outward appearances, but it had to rely on muscle memory and improvisation for absent subjects' innards.
The question remained as to why Amaura did not faint to the move, however; this Serena was able to explain as well, between bursts of laughter.
"Imposter, hah - Hidden Power's typing changes depending on the Pokémon, you know. It's based on the user's own personal statistics. Your Ditto may be able to copy most of Amaura's, but not the one that counts for health; such a discrepancy can change - for example - a Fighting-Type Hidden Power to a..."
She placed a hand to her chin. "...To a Flying-Type one."
Imposter was lost, and all it understood was that this battle was about to be as well.
"Anyway, it's funny how that worked out, but we've got to end it now. Hidden Power, one more time."
Amaura did, and Imposter blinked as the attack came and went. Its last Pokémon was knocked out, and Serena still had most of her team left.
"Well," Serena started, laughing awkwardly. "Good game."
Imposter returned Ditto to its Poké Ball without making a sound.
"Hey, you didn't do so bad. You did get to use a Mega-Evolved Pokémon - even took out my own with it! That counts for something. Right?"
Imposter shrugged.
"Well, consider this, also - how many badges do you have again?"
Remembering from when Diantha asked it this question, it held up three fingers. "See, that's the problem. I've just done more training than you, that's all - and I've got a total of five to prove it."
She reached up to put a reassuring hand on its shoulder. "Don't you worry. You'll get there if you really want it - and you can start by destroying the man at the heart of that building there!"
She pointed to the nearest building, then added quietly, "That's the Gym."
Imposter nodded; it may as well do that. It started walking forwards to begin this endeavor, but was quickly stopped.
"Hey, you've got a team full of fainted Pokémon on you! I've found a lot of extra Revives with my Dowsing Machine; let me heal your team up first. It's on me - consider it an apology for beating you that hard."
She was quick about it, then said she would be on her way. Imposter was fine with that. It had somewhere to be, too, apparently.
After a bout or so of unnecessary stalling, Imposter wandered into the Gym.
That is, it thought it was the Gym. Walking in, it realized the place might have been a forest. Or a Safari Zone.
As a shapeshifting creature with unimpressive size in its normal form and the power to spontaneously generate enough mass to become a Wailord, Imposter was unconcerned with how people had fit an entire towering tree in the middle of a building that was not that tall on the outside. It was more surprised by how such an organism could develop in such a building, with such a lack of sunlight.
Nonetheless, it continued onwards, approaching the tree in the center. An arrow inscripted on the bark pointed out a singular vine hanging down, leading up to one of many platforms protruding from the plant.
Imposter was usually content experimenting with different species of Pokémon for forms to take, but now it was curious to experience whatever this tree was.
Later, though; now, it had a Gym to progress through. The logical thing to do would be to climb up the vine and onto the platform, like the arrow showed.
What Imposter did was swat at it like a Meowth until it got bored and asked Froakie what he wanted for lunch.
("A Starf Berry," was his response. Imposter, not sensing the sarcasm, knew it could not supply one, and decided that instead of telling Froakie this and letting him down, a better option would be to say nothing and pretend it did not even offer.)
It was then that Imposter decided that climbing the vine might be a productive idea.
It was not easy, but once the Ditto got a good hold, shuffling up the plant went surprisingly quickly. It was reminded of Viola's Gym, in fact - it kept proceeding, climbing upwards and battling trainers, followed by a bored-looking Froakie the whole time. Imposter considered this to be a fine day.
One trainer near the top of the tree looked different from the rest - older, if Imposter were to judge by his posture and wrinkly face. A quick checkup on the team and the Ditto was ready to battle.
The human gave a little speech before any combat started, but Imposter had to strain its ears in order to make out the meaning. His voice was quiet; slow; shaky - nothing like those of the adolescents and younger adults it was used to.
The old man paused for a moment. Thinking he was done, Imposter reached for its first Poké Ball and sent a Ditto out.
The trainer's eyebrows rose. "Now, challenger," or something similar, Imposter was able to discern. "Patience... old Ramos here did not become a Gym Leader by rushing into all his important battles."
With that said, Ramos sent out his Jumpluff.
You are challenged by Leader Ramos!
The round Grass-Type was fast - he floated towards the shapeshifting Ditto and launched himself forwards in an Acrobatics attack.
Ditto fainted easily to the move, and Imposter calmly switched out another one. Imposter had been learning since its series of battles with Korrina; when the opponent uses a strong move on a Ditto, Ditto can return with the same move to give most of the damage right back.
"Acrobatics, Ditto."
"Jumpluff, Akcerbaticks."
Jumpluff got lucky and moved first again, but this Ditto had a bit more stamina than the last. It stayed in and pulled off another, but Ramos's Pokémon was not as easy to defeat as Imposter had thought. One more should do the trick, but then, that was only if it could-
"Once mer."
The second Ditto fainted to this Jumpluff, and Imposter was beginning to worry.
The third came in, Transformed, and moved first - Jumpluff was down for the count.
"Excellent work, my friend," spoke the Leader to the Poké Ball containing his fallen battler. He retrieved another. "Yer next."
The Pokémon he was referring to was called Weepinbell, and its appearance amused Imposter. Regardless of the opponent, though, it now understood that Acrobatics was a strong move, and saw no reason not to continue commanding it.
Weepinbell looked hurt by the move, but not nearly as much as Imposter was expecting. Actually, it was unsure if 'hurt' was an accurate way of describing him. 'Dizzy' would be more appropriate.
"Gee, tough move," it heard the Pokémon in question mumble. "Think I'm feeling a li'l sick..."
Weepinbell was right!
Weepinbell used Gastro Acid!
Ditto's Ability was suppressed!
Ditto turned uncomfortably to its friend. "Now that was nasty. I tell you, you've gotta try out battling for yourself sometime, buddy... It's quite the..."
Weepinbell blinked slowly, one eye at a time, causing both Ditto to cringe.
"...Experience."
"Hey, Ditto?"
"Yeah, Imposter?"
"Take that Pokémon out right now and there's a Hyper Potion with your name on it."
"Oh, boy! Gladly!"
Ditto used Acrobatics!
It's super effective!
A critical hit!
The opposing Weepinbell fainted!
Ramos breathed slowly, while Imposter stood with Ditto at the ready for their opponent's last Pokémon.
It was something Imposter had never seen before, but recognized from its experience on the farm last night; similar in appearance to Skiddo, this Pokémon - Gogoat, Ramos called him - was the large, intimidating ending to a Gym battle that Imposter should have been prepared to encounter this far in its adventure.
After taking Ditto's last attack, Gogoat burst out a Take Down, knocking it out.
Imposter was biting its tongue again, it realized, which was painful. For this reason, it decided to stop.
It had two Ditto left; it decided against using Limber this time and sent out the other one. Having experience in the Skiddo-Gogoat evolution family, it knew by the strap of its bag that Grass Knot was a good move, and decided to go for one of those.
Gogoat shook it off, however. He charged up and used Take Down again, dealing some damage to Ditto but nothing Imposter was worried about yet.
So Take Down was a better choice than Grass Knot, then; maybe when the battle was over it would do some Transforming and refix its bag with that instead. But for now, it would have to settle for using it in battle.
Gogoat cringed taking the move, and Imposter ordered another one. So did Ramos; with this last hit, Ditto was taken out.
Just Limber was left. It would have to be the one to finish this.
"Transform."
"Gres Knot."
Gogoat moved in quickly, but Limber still had plenty of energy to go once it was fully Transformed. "Now, use Take Down."
Imposter watched as Limber invested a second to breathe, then went in for the knockout. Gogoat went down panting.
You defeated Leader Ramos!
Ramos, having lost, called back his last Pokémon. "Say, yeh've did it," he observed. "Yeh best give yer Pokémon a big ol' thank ye fer what they've done teh get yeh this far."
Imposter bent down, and Limber looked up. "Hear that?" Imposter asked. "He's right. You just won me this battle. How does that make you feel?"
Limber blinked. "I did? I mean, I just used the last move. Credit for the win should go to everyone involved. Not just me."
Imposter shook its head with a grin. "You're right, but that includes you. Listen, I'll talk with you more later, but the longer I sit here making weird sounds at my Pokémon the crazier this human is going to think I am."
Limber nodded in understanding. "I'll just come back for now, then."
"Good idea."
It did, and Imposter stood up again. "Now that yeh're finished," Ramos concluded, "I must present to ye the Plant Badge!"
He handed over the small piece of metal, which Imposter graciously accepted - albeit with a questioning look.
"I know it ain't sech a creative name, but Forrest was already taken. Just be glad it's not just the name of the Type, like that lass Viola. Or Valerie or Olympia, but I guess yeh'll have to put up with that when yeh battle them."
Imposter stood there silently for a few more seconds. "I'm done, yeh know. Yeh can get teh the entrance down this slide jest to yer right."
Imposter looked, saw this, and left wordlessly.
After its team was fully healed and that one Ditto it had promised a Hyper Potion to had received its reward, Imposter found a private area at the top of a Coumarine cliff and withdrew Limber's Ultra Ball.
Night had settled over the city by now, and looking out, Imposter was straining even its well-focused human eyes trying to discern where Azure Bay ended and where the dark navy sky, littered with stars, began. The mood was quiet, but happy - Imposter was reminded of something it thought Shauna might enjoy.
It was politely waiting for something easy - this ended up being a Chatot - to appear. Then, stashing its bag as usual, it invited its friend out.
Limber opened its mouth to say something, but Imposter interrupted by pointing out the nearby Flying-Type. It took the lead: with no humans around, it was free to show off by Transforming right from a human to the Pokémon in the span of half a second.
It knew Limber got the message when it saw it trying to do the same. Grunting, Limber squinted as the Chatot poised itself for takeoff, out of sight.
Grace and fellow Ditto alike had both been there to help when Imposter was honing its Transforming skills, and it felt an obligation to help its friend in the same way. Using its wings the way a human would hands (forgetting in the process that the different kinds of limbs moved different ways), it molded Limber's body into the aerodynamic shape many Flying-Types shared. Holding itself up for closer inspection seemed to help it along as well, and Limber was finished by the time Chatot was gone.
"Anyway, you wanted to talk to me," Limber reminded Imposter. "What about?"
"What else? What was the whole point of me bringing you along?"
Limber scoffed. "Because I'm your best friend and you'd go crazy leaving me home for so long."
"Regardless of whether or not that's true," Imposter dodged, "I'm talking about what happened today. You helped me beat a Gym Leader!"
"Helped."
"Well... Aren't you proud of yourself?"
"I'm proud of you," Limber corrected. "You beat the Gym Leader. I was just doing what you told me."
"But you were able to."
"I'm usually not."
"I don't think that's true."
Limber looked away, squeezing its eyes shut. Then, turning so that Imposter count the stars reflected off those beady Ditto eyes (there were seven), it continued. "My problem is, no matter how good I can get at Transforming - Ditto like you and the rest of the party will always be able to do it that much better."
Imposter gulped; it knew Limber was not wrong. "Well, whatever, but here's the point. You know there's more to life than just battling."
"Yeah, but more than Transforming? To a Ditto? Pshaw-"
"Listen. Limber. I'm gonna be honest-"
It straightened itself, instinctively preening its feathers before continuing. "There's little more I love in this world than Transforming into something amazing. You know why? Because just like you, there's not much I can do as a Ditto. I just have a lot of experience doing it because I love it so much. That's what most of it is, I think. Sure, me and the team can be considered 'naturals', but genetically speaking, we just got lucky. Stay on this adventure with me - you'll see what a little practice can do."
"That all sounds really wise for someone who spent an hour smacking a climbing vine."
Imposter was quiet. "Do... Do you know why Grace named you Limber?"
"So I never forget the Ability I've been so graciously blessed with?"
"Because of all the Ditto she had with that Ability, she wanted to remember that you were the best," Imposter revealed. "That if she wanted to battle using one with Limber, she should use you. And why I'm named Imposter?"
Limber blushed. "...Because you're that much better?"
"Because I'm always turning into humans. Whenever she saw a Calem walking around, it could be her son, or it could be just an imposter."
Limber looked down; "Did she really tell you all this?"
"She - I picked these things up here and there. Um... You might want to check your wing."
Limber picked up its wing, which to its horror had been turning purple again and embarrassingly dripping off in small amounts.
"Hey-" Imposter reminded it. "Like I said: practice."
Limber laughed a bit at this, collecting the detached pieces of itself and deforming over them for reattachment. "Ah, thanks for saying all that. But boy, am I bushed. Can we get some sleep?"
Imposter followed its lead. "Sure can. You hop in that Ball of yours, I'll take care of where we'll be staying tonight."
"You're the best," Limber admitted, glowing red and retreating away.
Imposter looked around. "You can come out now, Froakie," it shouted.
The Water-Type appeared from the woodsy area that Imposter sent him to explore, munching on seeds he probably found on the ground somewhere. "The nearest hotel is far from here, I think," it said. "But this place is pretty secluded. What say you on roughing it one more night?"
Froakie slouched. "Again with sleeping on the ground? My neck still hurts from last night!"
"I'll let you sleep in a tree."
"Sign me up! Nighty, 'Pasta!"
He scurried up the nearest one, leaving Imposter to chuckle to itself. It slid over to its bag and returned to its own Ball, confident that everything would be fine in the morning.
~End of Part Four~
Imposter Fact of the Day: Ah, Ramos, the most forgettable Gym Leader in the franchise, in my opinion. Except that now I remember him for being so forgettable. Just like I do with Maractus. He should use a Maractus.