Okay! Hello! Hi. Just popping in to let you guys know that what you're about to read is one of the most important chapters in this story. You're going to be meeting some new people. Maybe in a light you aren't used to. I mean, this is a Team Flare chapter, and when I say Team Flare chapters are some of the best, I mean... well, just give it a read, and again, keep your mind open.

It did not come as a surprise to Imposter that everything was fine in the morning. Froakie had woken up first this time, but to its pleasure, had let it stay asleep.

"Hey, how was the tree?" It blinked its tiny, tired eyes.

Froakie scoffed. "...Tree-like..." he answered. Imposter figured that was probably so.

"Sounds good. So we haven't even really seen this half of Coumarine yet, have we? Wanna hit the town?"

Froakie looked up. "What's there to hit in a small town like this? You already did the Gym and the monorail. And the Center. Only thing left to do is barge into strangers' houses and take their items."

"That doesn't sound..."

"I know. Eh, it's just something trainers do. Point is, there is no point in staying here. It's either keep going forward or linger around here for four hours staring at one random tree the whole time."

It would not be difficult to guess which one Imposter decided on. Fascinatingly, the plant housed a family of Pachirisu.

When Imposter finally did get a move on, it was taken aback by the stark geological difference between the green Coumarine City and the desert of Route Thirteen. This did not bother it, however, save for the constant sand and wind whipping themselves into its eyes. Its hair felt funny, too, as if it was moving - on its own. It pulled its cap down to try to minimize this feeling; it was weird.

The earth was tough beneath Imposter's feet, heavily trodden and torn up by traveling Ground-Types. Running was hard with the wind trying to knock it over, but walking would hardly amount to any progress, for the same reason.

So Imposter tripped along, much to Froakie's amusement. Eventually it tripped over a weird but familiar-looking human.

"Now, listen, guy!" This person was shouting. "Watch where you're going! It's not like there isn't enough space in this huge desert, why you gotta stand right where I'm standing?"

Imposter's eyes widened at his rudeness. If it could see through the man's heavy red glasses, it may have seen his eyes soften.

"Eh, whatever. Just be on your way. You don't have any business interfering with Team Flare."

He reached back for a Poké Ball, and Imposter anticipated a battle. The challenge was interrupted, however, by a voice appearing behind the two.

"Hey, hold it!"

Imposter had never seen them before, but two trainers had ran up behind it: one of each human gender, both wearing all white. The male turned to face Imposter.

"Is this criminal giving you a problem?"

Imposter was unsure - it could have been a problem, but the battle had not started yet. Maybe it could have handled it. It just decided to nod.

His partner piped in. "That's messed up, sweetie," she informed the red-suited man. "Now, we could let you off easy, if you'd just leave. Go tell your admins that we're coming, and they'd better run!"

"Y-Yes, ma'am," he stuttered. He sprinted in the other direction, towards a small building into which he disappeared.

The two trainers met Imposter eye-to-eye, which it was not used to - it was usually taller than the humans it interacted with. The male adjusted his own sunglasses. "Are you okay?"

Imposter nodded dumbly.

"Thank goodness," the female added. "Team Flare is a group of useless thugs set out on stealing people's Pokémon for money. You ought to be careful around them."

It kept nodding, but failed to understand. What was this about humans being useless? Why would they do such insensible things?

"Anyway, sorry for not introducing ourselves earlier," said the first. "I'm Dexio. To my right here is-"

"Sina! A stylish name for a stylish lady, of course!"

"...Yeah. We're a couple of trainers who've been in pursuit of Team Flare for a while. They're usually not hard to beat, but you can't be too careful, you know."

Nod nod.

Sina ran a hand through her purple hair. "Anyway, we've located their activity hub, as of recently, to be in the Lumiose Power Plant over here. You look like a pretty good trainer, huh? How many badges you have?"

It showed them.

"Four. Impressive! You're halfway there, then!" Dexio observed. Sina agreed.

"That's great; we could really use some backup, and it looks like you're lost, so..."

"What Sina's trying to say is, if you come in here and help us out with these guys, we can help you out of these badlands and safe into Lumiose."

"What do you say?"

Imposter shrugged - it had no reason to help, but then, it had no reason not to. More nods signified its agreement.

"That's epic. Follow us," Sina demanded, already walking away. Dexio shared a look with Imposter and lifted his shoulders, then turned to follow.

"They seem to be rerouting the power from the plant," Sina explained as the trio entered. "We think that's why Lumiose has been having that blackout recently. As you know, this is a big problem, because when cities lose power nobody is allowed in until it's fixed."

"Yeah, weird rule," agreed Dexio. "Remember Sunnyshore in Sinnoh? Those were the times!"

"And Po Town in Alola..." Sina smiled, yet was shaking her head at the same time. Imposter was understanding none of their babbling, and decided to keep quiet.

That is, until Sina decided to pry. "So, Imposter-" She coughed over its name after receiving a harsh glance from Dexio. "I mean, you're a trainer, too. You have to have had some funny experiences. Troubling situations. Spill! I'm always interested in other people's journeys."

Dexio looked it up and down. "Yeah, he added. "What's your story?"

Imposter would have loved to tell them all about how it met Froakie, got its badges, and ended up here, but the problem was as simple as it was impossible: it lacked sufficient vocal ability.

So it shook its head.

"What do you mean? You've done nothing to get this far?"

"Oh, I get it, you're one of those trainers," Dexio laughed.

"You mean the silent protagonist type?"

"What? No! I meant the one who saunters through their adventure saying they're the best and aren't even trying!"

"Well, whatever it is, I think we should get a move on."

With his response, Dexio's steely eyes flickered, underneath their aviators, towards Imposter. "Ditto," he agreed.

Sina turned sharply, before the Pokémon could react. "Aren't we supposed to be looking for Team Flare? They'll probably find us soon," she reminded everyone. "The main generator is down this hallway. Let's go, guys."

Imposter thought not to question how Sina knew the layout of the plant, as this knowledge was more important to it as a convenience than as a mystery. It followed the two along, checking in quickly with Froakie to make sure that he was both present and ready to deal with these humans.

Regardless of whether Froakie was ready (he was: "Any time, any place, they mess with us, I spit in their face"), Imposter would never have been prepared for the number of grunts that awaited them.

It was a sea, but Sina had a plan. "You go ahead, Imposter! We'll take care of these guys!"

The Ditto never looked back and barely noticed how all the grunts seemed to just let it through.

It stepped up to the generator, one hand already clutching a Ball. Huge electrical wires hooked up to the machine were brimming with energy. A thumping noise sounded as the generator rocked back and forth. One woman was standing with her back to Imposter when it appeared.

"And who might you be?" She turned around, and Imposter was able to get a good look at her outfit.

It was no less gaudy or pompous than those of her grunts, nor less red. Like Sina and Dexio, she wore eyewear, but Imposter could not discern the purpose of this piece; it looked more like a machine than a human's accessory.

"Don't answer me, then, that's fine, too. Well, you aren't wearing Team Flare's stylish outfit, so you must be an intruder, huh? Or, an infiltrator, or an invader... or an imposter! Either way, I - Team Flare Scientist Aliana - was tasked to take you out, trespasser, and that's exactly what I'll be doing!"

She pulled out a single Poké Ball, and - always ready for a battle - so did Imposter.

A Mightyena leapt out: yet another creature foreign to it. It did not care. Ditto Transformed into her, and the battle started.

Both Pokémon Intimidated each other, starting the battle on equally weakened grounds.

Scary Face - that would make Ditto faster by comparison, without having to worry. So Ditto used that.

Mightyena crouched, then let out a Roar. Another Ditto switched in - unfortunately nullifying the Scary Face, but draining Mightyena's strength even more.

"Now, Swagger," called Aliana. Like it did many things, Imposter failed to understand exactly what Mightyena was doing, but it did recognize Confusion in Ditto's face.

"Use Assurance," it decided anyway. Mightyena bent from the hit, but stood up and returned the move as per her trainer's orders.

The two - with slipups here and there from the dizzy Ditto - exchanged attacks until Imposter's Pokémon was knocked out.

Mightyena could hardly touch the next one, due to her Intimidated state. Imposter was relentless, cueing attack after attack, while Aliana vainly attempted the same.

Mightyena fell, and Imposter lifted Ditto's Ball. For the first time, it had been serious about teaching a human a lesson, disgusted by the information it had received about their antics.

It stared down at the Ball. There was something going on here that it did not understand, but Imposter knew enough to dislike it. And all it had to stop it were the Pokémon in these balls.

"So, you're a strong Pokémon - trainer, that is. Oh, no! It seems I have been defeated! Your scientist needs backup, you filthy grunts! Call the admins!"

She dramatically cupped her mouth as she cried out, and suddenly Imposter was surrounded by a string of grunts. It could take them, it was sure - Sina and Dexio said they were weak. It knew from experience that regardless of their Pokémon's strength, the grunts could be stopped easily just by messing with their hairdos.

It stood poised and ready for more, but none of the grunts went to battle it. They must have been cowards, then.

The couple in front of Imposter parted, and from behind them emerged two completely new humans, white-clad, donning brightly-colored Team Flare masks and long, flowing scarves. So these were the admins.

"Miss Aliana, we've come," said the first.

His partner lightly touched her dark purple hair. "Is this the human that was giving you trouble?"

Aliana nodded, exaggerating pity. "Stop him!"

"Will do," the blonde and fair one replied. In his right hand, draped in a stark blue glove, he grabbed a Poké Ball; and in his left, the red-clad hand of his comrade.

"We are the Masked Villains of Team Flare!" The two declared in unison, "Fear us, for there is no telling where we lurk, what we know, and what we are capable of! Surrender or brace yourself for the fight of your life!"

Now that Imposter was paying attention to the intensity of the situation around it, its body was feeling sensory overload. Perhaps it had already met too many new people today.

Imposter's legs shook and it felt its feet sinking into purple goo. But it had to battle.

It shakily reached backwards for a Ditto's Ball, and Froakie must have sensed its fear.

"Dude, 'Pasta, you feeling okay? You're turning a little pale, not to mention your feet-"

Its feet was right: they were the first to go. Glares from beneath the red and blue masks in front of it penetrated its mind, and it felt itself crumbling.

"'Pasta! Hey, keep it together, man!"

But the disguise was too tough to keep up, and there was no way to make it out surrounded by all these people.

And its own Poké Ball was looking very cozy right now.

"Imposter, deform at once," spoke Team Flare's scientist. "We have you surrounded. You'll be taken in shortly for research: our leader wan..."

All noise became muffled as it collapsed, taking on a red hue and retreating into energy.

Imposter fainted!

Here it was again, floating about in an equilibrium of energy and matter. Where all was calm, noise was suppressed, and time flowed in and out without a care.

In an environment such as this, why was Imposter's tiny heart thumping so hard?

There was no way to find out, so Imposter accepted that and stopped paying attention. All it felt, all it heard, all it knew was that beating, the feeling of exertion when nothing was moving.

Imposter would have been afraid if it was in any way aware of this. It faded in and out of thought for a while.

Eventually it felt an opening: someone had poked the button on its Ball and it was being invited out.

Exhausted as it was, it knew right enough to follow through. Materializing was easy, but as for what lay ahead, it had no idea, no plan.

It had to blink a couple times to discern its surroundings; it was back in the desert. Route Thirteen. Surrounded by two rock walls, and little else. As far as it could see, no humans were around.

Froakie was, however, and he looked like he was panting. "You. Tell me your name."

"Imposter?" It was not questioning its own identity as much as Froakie's ignorance of it.

The Water-Type looked skeptical. "Who's your trainer?"

"...Grace of Vaniville Town..."

His brow furrowed even more.

"...Myself, actually. I'm - my own trainer."

Its friend heaved a sigh of relief. "I chose the right one," he gasped, lowering himself in shock. "The right one! Oh, 'Pasta, I'm so glad to see you!"

"You-You saw me just a few minutes ago, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah, but-" He stopped. Imposter looked around.

"Hey, where's - where are-"

"Listen, I'm going to tell you what happened," Froakie interrupted. He felt around Imposter, and placed his forelegs where the Ditto's shoulders would have been. "You aren't going to like it."

Considering that its bag and the party of Ditto inside it were nowhere to be found, Imposter figured that would be true. Even it was able to realize that whatever happened, it had to be bad.

Froakie inhaled deeply. "So, I don't know where they are."

"You don't mean-"

"I do mean. I-I'm sorry, but I'm just a little froggy and I couldn't carry your bag. There was only a few seconds - I hardly had time to pick a Ball and leap on out of there, hoping it was you I'd nabbed. They probably have the others by now."

Imposter performed the Ditto equivalent of sitting down. "Gosh. I - well, thanks for saving me, at least. It was crazy in there. I didn't know what was happening - maybe I'd just been Transformed for too long, but with all those people... there was no keeping it up."

Froakie shook his head. "Can't say I understand, 'cause I've never been anything but moi," he explained. "Anyway, consider it getting even for Shalour City. That's one time each we've saved each other from those baboons. You sure you're all right now?"

"I think. But the team... Limber... we've gotta get them ba-"

Imposter's heat skipped and dropped into its stomach.

"My Trainer Card," it wheezed. "The Pokédex. I can't Transform into anything until we get them back."

Froakie was quiet. "Well - perhaps it's for the better. Whole thing seems to be really wearing you out."

Now Imposter was the one panting. "But how are we - the humans - if I could just shift I could get Serena's help - and these Team Flare people! They have an army! Serena can handle them, I'm sure, plus Sina and Dexio seem reliable, but weaker trainers like Shauna... Fennekin might be in trouble."

Froakie rolled his eyes. "If that's the case, Fennekin has what's coming to her. Anyway, Sina and Dexio? You saw what happened in there. They - you really didn't see the resemblance?"

Resemblance, what did that mean? "What are you talking about?"

"I mean... Man, we're in some deep trouble, aren't we?"

"Knee-deep."

"...You don't even have-"

Froakie stopped when a shadow befell the two Pokémon, and they looked up to the face of yet another new human. Froakie lept back.

He was tall - more so than Imposter would be as a person, it figured. The Ditto could tell, as an expert in bodily evaluation, that he was built even better than he was dressed. Off of his suit flared the biggest collar Imposter had ever seen on a human, and the whole show was topped with shaggy green hair.

Imposter studied his face as he reached down - those features were well-aged and strangely familiar. The human was now clutching its Premier Ball, but his eyes never left the two.

His voice was scruffy. "Whose?"

It took a moment to register, then Froakie threw a finger at Imposter.

He flipped the Ball upside-down, inspecting it, and Imposter wondered if it should be feeling self-conscious. "0-2-9-5-2," the human read. "Same ID as all the others..."

He bent down all the way to make better eye contact with the Pokémon. "Tell me," he started. "Do you know the trainer named Imposter?"

The two nodded profusely.

"Hm." The human ducked out of sight and reappeared holding its tattered bag. "This should look familiar, then."

Imposter was overjoyed, stretching itself tall and bouncing back. It repeatedly cried out in relief. Froakie seemed just as excited.

"I found some criminals rooting through it and knew it didn't belong to them. Can't promise they returned everything, but it seems pretty full. Was this strap always broken?"

Imposter looked, and its Grass Knot had been removed. "Anyway, I'm sorry to say it, but your trainer wasn't there and I've heard no word of him. At least you have your friends here now, though; I imagine meeting up with party members must be like a family reunion, huh?"

He stood back up, facing away. "Speaking of which, I do want to help you find your trainer, but I really need to be there for my own family. Say..."

He reached into his vest and pulled out an empty Poké Ball and a marker. After jotting something down on it, he placed the capsule in front of the two small Pokémon.

"That ought to be worth something now. When you find Imposter, give that to him. If something serious happened, that should help pay for it.

"I feel bad for leaving, but this must be where we part. Farewell - or, as they say in this region - au revoir."

Imposter was stunned as it watched him stroll away. "Froakie, who was that?"

"Oh, you don't know him?" He was wearing that sneaky face again. "He's the secret ninth Gym Leader of the Sinnoh Region, everybody knows that."

"What?"

"Not really," admitted Froakie. "I actually have no idea who he is. What did he write on that Poké Ball?"

The two turned it so that the sun fell on the heavy black marks. "Oh, I think I know what this is," Froakie decided. "Sycamore explained the whole thing once. Don't know why people do it, or what it means, but sometimes they'll just write their name on stuff. Makes it really special, valuable, legally-binding - something like that."

"You think that's what it is?"

"Well, he also said that they're usually done pretty sloppy, and this definitely qualifies."

"Oh. Well, can you read it?"

"Can you?"

"I don't know how."

"Well..." Froakie rubbed his chin. "I think I've picked up a few things here and there; some letters, at least... Let's see."

He turned the Ball over, picked it up, sniffed it, licked it, grimaced at the taste, set it back down, and put his forelegs to his hips.

"Only the initials are really visible," he concluded.

"Ah." Seconds passed. "Can you tell me what they are?"

"Oh, sure; think so, at least. A 'V' and a 'W', if I'm right. I probably am, but I could be wrong, so no promises."

"VW, then," summed Imposter. "We should remember that."

"What we should do is put this away and make sure everyone's here," Froakie suggested, taking it upon himself to begin. "We are supposed to have five, right?"

"Y-Yeah. The Pokédex in there?" Imposter shuffled around in the bag, finding it quickly. "Let's see... There's that, here's my Card (thank goodness), everyone else seems to be here..."

Imposter shifted itself a brow to furrow as it moved around the other various items, checking to see that it was not missing anything. When it noticed what was gone for sure, it shouted hysterically.

"What? What is it, you?" Froakie spluttered, adding to the panic.

"F-Froakie, my Sitrus Berries! They took all of them!"

Froakie looked down and shook his head. "Freaks."

Imposter Fact of the Day: 02952 is the actual Trainer ID for my copy of Alpha Sapphire, from where I'd imported all the Ditto. (In-universe, that is actually Grace's ID.) Imposter's own ID came out to be exactly 34000.

Yeah, I wasn't really planning on having Sina and Dexio in this story, but while writing this chapter, the idea came up, and I had to. If you didn't catch it, essentially their game versions are to Sycamore as their Imposter versions are to Lysandre. Unsure whether I actually like them better this way, but at least now they are in the story.

Then there's VW. Ironically he's one of my favorite things about this story, and with what I've given you so far, there is actually a bunch of things you are able to speculate about him. Who he is, his name, his role. Just, I won't be confirming or denying any guesses, since I want to keep y'all on your toes.

And Team Flare does know about Imposter being a Ditto. The grunt at the end of chapter seven saw it Transform and reported it. Anyway, thanks for reading! Send a review if you're enjoying it, because I sure know I am. ;)