So remember when I said I would warn you if the chapter was going to be especially long? This is the longest so far, at almost 5300 words. Featuring another instance of Imposter trying to be a different version of Pokémon X; you'll see what I mean. This is the Valerie Gym battle, after all - what could be weird about that? Enjoy!

Imposter blinked.

Work? For Lysandre? Work meant to put in effort to accomplish a task. Lysandre wanted it to do something for him. Why would it want to?

"What you would be doing is simple," Lysandre began. "Every trainer has their reasons - what they want to do in the short time they're on these adventures. What - I wonder - is yours?"

Imposter furrowed its brow. "Ditto," it responded simply, as if he could understand.

Lysandre sat back, gingerly reaching for his tea. "You're doing it for Ditto, then," he interpreted, then tilted a sip into his mouth. "That's good. The Pokémon is the one who wants to go on the journey, and why shouldn't it?"

He gave a semi-confused grimace as he replaced his cup. "More sugar," he mumbled, grabbing a packet and stirring it in. "...Regardless; back to my proposal. Did you know that you're the only trainer in Kalos that I've seen, in all of my travels, that uses Ditto to battle?"

Now that Lysandre said it, Imposter did realize this; it had never seen someone else use them, either, barring Grace. It then wondered what would even happen if it did encounter another Ditto trainer; it knew they could not Transform into each other, so would the battle be a stalemate?

"That's why I find your adventure so interesting. If you would just continue with what you're doing, keeping in mind that you'd report on your experiences to me by the end... you would be compensated."

Imposter, by Lysandre's tone, inferred that this was a good thing. All it had to do was continue? That was easy enough.

"When you are ready, I want you to come to Lysandre Labs in Lumiose City. Not today. I am a patient man, and in fact, very busy. But I wanted to have this conversation with you, so here I am now."

During this spiel, he was seen scribbling something on a thin slip of paper, which he then placed on the table with a handful of prize money. With this, he stood, reminding onlookers of his remarkable height, and excused himself.

"That is all. Remember, I'll be checking in now and then. Au revoir." He then stalked off towards the Poké Ball factory, to be forgotten until the next reminder.

This came more quickly than normal, from Froakie. "Man, you don't thank him?"

Imposter looked down at the small Pokémon. He continued, "Look, he just said he'll start paying you, just to let him see how your journey's doing. Man must be a philanthropist, don't you think?"

A pause; "A humanitarian, I mean," explained Froakie. "Generous. A do-gooder. Who just wants to help people."

"He seems nice," Imposter agreed, albeit confused with the point of it all.

"Anyway, we must owe him one now. When we see him again you oughta be ready to do whatever it is he wants, y'hear?"

"I hear. Hey, you want to do the Gym?"

Froakie looked at it, surprised. "That was a random idea," he observed. "And you know, I like it!"

It was the building fitted into the tree in the center of the town, Imposter remembered.

It was closed.

"Sorry," the Mr. Clyde at the entrance explained, locking up. "Gym Leader went home. No more challenges today."

That was fine. It would find somewhere to camp out and try tomorrow.

(Upon Froakie's insistence not to sleep outside again, it found the local hotel and grabbed a room instead.)

Neither was tired, however; Imposter had slept late that morning, and Froakie had generally lounged all day during its "important but unimpressive" battles. The result was a couple of unsupervised Pokémon cooped up in a hotel room with nothing to do and all night not to do it.

Froakie wiggled his behind and clambered up into the bed, where Imposter, deformed, was making decent progress on a Sitrus Berry. "Whatcha-"

The Ditto knew what was about to happen, and had already pulled one out of its bag for him. "Gee, ya didn't have to," Froakie said, but took it anyway and made a show of gobbling it up. He wiped his mouth. "So we're pretty far from Vaniville Town, huh?"

Imposter stared ahead. "Are we? I don't really know."

"Oh, we're clear on the other side of Kalos. Wonder how - what's your trainer's name again?"

It turned towards him. "No, no; I know what you're gonna say, and I meant the human you live with. That chick. Gracia? Graciela?"

"Just Grace," Imposter mused. "Legendary Ditto trainer who's travelled the world looking for the best, as a hobby. Limber's from a place called Johto; the rest of the party are mostly Hoennites, I think."

"You don't even know?"

"I never really asked."

Froakie nodded in its direction. "And you? Did you come from some faraway land I've never heard of?"

Imposter's top shifted, as if trying to shake a head. "No, I'm from here. Somewhere in eastern Kalos, that's what she told me. But I've been outside the region. I don't remember all that much of it, but Grace took me on an excursion to Unova once. It was a good time. Lots of foreign Pokémon over there, it was the most new forms I've tried since - I'm not even sure."

Froakie scoffed. "Did you turn into people over there, too?"

Imposter thought about it. "I mean, probably. It's sort of my thing."

Froakie rocked back onto the pillow, forelegs behind his head. "You know, I'd underestimated you. Like, when we started out, I thought this was going to last maybe an hour. And here we are in Laverre City, waiting on your sixth Gym badge! Who'da thought it?"

"I dunno, I-I guess I'm just going with the flow here. Serena got so excited about this Pokémon League thing, and I thought that was just what humans do. So here we are."

"Hm."

Imposter swatted around the core of its berry. "Hey, wanna play a game?" Froakie splurted out.

"Uh... sure?"

"Great; give me your Pokédex."

Hesitantly, Imposter did. Froakie scrolled through a few pages before settling on one. "Pancham," he said.

"What?"

"Turn into a Pancham! I wanna see if you can do it without looking!"

"I might've battled one once, there's no way I can do that. You turn into a Pancham."

Froakie stuck out his tongue. "You're no fun."

"And you're no fair, so I guess we're even."

Froakie tossed the Pokédex farther down the bed. "Alright, alright. Guess some people just don't like to show off, huh?"

"While true, that has nothing to do with this conversation."

"'Course it doesn't." Its friend sighed. "But you know what I have been wondering?"

"What's that?"

Froakie sat up. "Just how tall are you?"

The Ditto wobbled, emulating a shrug.

"Because here you are now, shorter than me; but as a human you're like five or six times my size. How does that work? With conservation of mass, and all that?"

"Conservation of what?"

Froakie giggled. "Exactly. My question is, how big or small can you get?"

"Really good Transformers can turn into Wailord," it responded. "Don't ask me to show you... The room couldn't handle it."

Froakie crossed his arms. "And there's a guy at Sycamore's lab who has this Pokémon called Porygon-Z. I don't think it's even made of matter. Could you turn into that?"

"It's a Pokémon, right?"

"It's manmade, but everyone said it was."

"Then yes."

"What about inanimate objects?"

"For the most part, sure."

Then Froakie grimaced, and coughed out his next question. "...Food?"

"Why... are you so interested in all this?"

"C'mon, I hardly know that much about you! I've told you all about me. What's your deal?"

Imposter just looked forward. "I'm just a little Ditto doing what it likes to do," it admitted. "There's not a lot more to it than that."

"...Oh. Well, that's - not really a satisfying answer, you know."

Imposter hiccuped. "I don't quite know what else to say," it admitted. "I don't really have a biological family to speak of. Before Grace's it was just me and some other wild Pokémon I got along well enough with, but they weren't really..." it trailed off. "I don't miss them."

Froakie shuffled.

"After I met Grace it was like Vaniville was always my home. Humans are pretty much the best, you know, and I would hang around them whenever I could. I think they mostly liked me. Then she let me go on this adventure, and I met you." It blinked. "Consider yourself caught up."

Froakie nodded. "Alright."

The two sat around. Imposter closed its eyes meditatively; Froakie started humming.

"I'm cold. Are you cold?" Imposter asked. It then flattened its front into the shape of a tiny quilt, the weaves taking form as Froakie looked on in confusion.

"We're on a bed. There's a blanket right under you that you could've used."

"...Oh, right." And it corrected itself.

"So since you know so much," Froakie began; Imposter sensed the preface was ironic. "...What do humans do at a time like this?"

"Uh..."

A time like what? When there was little to talk about? Imposter would have been content at this point to attempt sleeping, bringing the morning closer. It knew Froakie would be bored with that idea, though, and decided against it.

"Well, they have these moving picture screens... I think they're a form of entertainment, but I've never been particularly impressed by them."

"You mean television," Froakie interpreted. "Yeah, forget about all that. Let's just-"

He stopped when Imposter reached back for its Pokédex. "What are you doing?"

"...What a Ditto do in a time like this." It flipped through a few pages, leaving purple smudges on the screen. "Did you say you wanted to see Pancham?"

The rest of the night was spent fooling around with Transformations, doing impressions and generally having a good time. The Pokémon raided Imposter's reforming stash of berries, and by the time they had sprawled across the bed - berry pits and contents of its bag dotting the scene - the moon had risen high in the Kalos sky and most of Laverre City was already deep in slumber.

When Imposter woke up, its minds were buzzing. Or, perhaps more accurately, its wings were.

Tentatively it began to slow them down, as it realized it was happening. It tried blinking, in an effort to get used to seeing triple; it did not work, but after some looking around it had successfully located Froakie, who had fallen halfway off the bed.

It had no legs, nor any extremities other than its wings, so it had no choice; if it wanted to move, Imposter would have to do so through Combee's limited flight abilities.

Why had it been Transformed anyway, and of all things, why into this? Then it remembered: Froakie had been curious how it would react to having three minds, but the shift was so complicated that he had passed out by the time was done.

It set itself on the bed, taking a breath. Having three minds was confusing, doubly so having three sets of eyes. Having three intertwining dreams at the same time had made last night one of its less peaceful.

So it deformed, and Imposter's brain - glad it was back in one piece - raced to determine the time. Sun streamed in through the window, and a closer look showed that it was fixed slightly in the west. It had slept late again.

The bed was a mess. Froakie was not a large Pokémon, and Imposter did not remember turning into anything much bigger than a Furfrou, but somehow they had moved around enough that the bedsheets were as disorganized as the items in its bag: spilled about, including some garbage.

It breathed. It wanted to get to the Gym today, but first it would have to do some cleaning.

Halfway through this endeavor, Froakie had rolled over and off the bed entirely, hitting the floor with a smack.

"I gait bingles and riffies! My ki-" he declared, leaping backwards. "...What just came out of my mouth?"

Imposter let out a snicker. "Goodness, that hurts," continued Froakie. "Wouldn't be so bad if it was Pokémon-sized, but this bed is like twice my height."

"Would you have preferred sleeping outside?"

"...Guess you have me there." He hopped back onto the bed. "What's all that you're working on?"

"Just... getting everything together," it explained. "Then we'll be off to the Gym, huh?"

"No way, before breakfast?" Froakie countered, sitting back and crossing his forelegs.

"After breakfast, then. But today."

"Fair enough."

The two stood outside Laverre City Gym within a couple of hours. "Now, I know how we feel about trees here," Froakie began, "but you're going to have to promise me we're just going to go in and - hey, wait up!"

Imposter had already stepped forward, leaving its friend to follow after. "Now what have we here?"

"Looks like one'a those dollhouses," Froakie replied. "And a teleport. Two. Guess we just have to pick one and see which is right."

Pick one? But it did not know which would lead to where. What kind of puzzle was this, presenting it with a decision between two equally ambiguous choices?

"Well, there are two of us," Imposter thought aloud. "I take one and you take the other?"

"Split up?" Froakie looked at it as if it had over-Transformed and sprouted another head. "You sure you can handle this without me?"

"What's there to handle? We've done Gyms before. We just need to find a way to the Leader. It will be quicker if we look both ways at the same time, right?"

Froakie squinted. "Your logic is weird," he observed. "But fine. We'll see how this goes, then. Dibs on the right one!"

"But how do you know which one is-" Froakie did not bother to answer its question, instead taking off for the circular device on the right. "Well... in that case, I'll see you hopefully soon."

"Hopefully indeed," Froakie agreed, stepping on. "Good lu-u-uc-k."

Watching its friend dematerialize in front of it gave a surreal feeling; it blanched as it realized it would have to go through the same process.

It cautiously approached the device on the left. Here went nothing.

Its heart jumped as light enveloped it. A second later it was in a completely different room... at a completely different perspective.

It looked itself over. The strap on its bag had fallen to the floor, circling it. It was a Ditto again; apparently teleporting reversed Transformation.

This could be a problem, it realized, as there was a human in the room who had taken notice.

"A Pokémon," her stony voice observed. "Is this your trainer's bag?"

It simply stared up at her, its bottom portion quivering slightly.

"Oh, you're probably scared," the furisode girl assumed. "There must have been a mix-up with the teleport. It happens sometimes, what with having so many in the same place. Valerie will know what to do."

She bent down to its level. "Come with me, we'll find your trainer." She lifted its bag onto her bare shoulder, and cautiously scooped the Ditto up.

It felt uncomfortable in her hands, being lifted so high so quickly. The sharp increase in altitude and the possibility of her clumsily dropping it did not help, either.

Her next sentence reversed its feelings of the situation, however. "I know the way to the Gym Leader."

And so it let this human take it along, carrying its bag for it. This may have been a cheap way to advance straight to the end without having to battle other trainers, but Imposter tended not to mind. It was easier.

A few minutes later it arrived in a room larger than all the others before it, and at the center stood one last furisode girl, her pink, extended sleeves giving her the appearance of a Lurantis.

"...Who goes there..." Her voice was a nearly-inaudible whisper.

"It's me, Kali, Leader Valerie. I've brought this Pokémon... I think it lost its trainer."

"...Oh..." She paused. "...Linnea came in earlier saying the same thing..."

"She did?"

Kali and Imposter scanned the room, finding Froakie in the corner. "Hey, you made it," he cheered. "What, didja know you could get here faster as a Pokémon than if you had to do it Transformed?"

It would have explained, but was cut off. "Huh," Kali said. "These two seem like they know each other. I'll just - leave this little guy and the bag here so they can wait for their trainer together. How's that sound?"

"...Good with me..."

As she spoke, Imposter noticed the Gym Leader's giant pupils. She had not once blinked in the time it had seen her, and was beginning to feel squeamish about it.

"Awright. Well, back to my post for me, then."

The trainer teleported away. Imposter expected Valerie to say something to it, but she just stood there, unblinking. Imposter's own eyes watered thinking about it.

"The teleport un-Transformed me," it rapidly explained to Froakie. "She saw me there before I could do anything about it."

"Ah."

They turned their attention to Valerie, who they would have thought to be a statue had they not heard her speak before. "Creepy, right?"

"Exactly what I was thinking."

Then Froakie asked, "How're you going to battle her?"

"Huh?"

"Well, are you going to just Transform right here in front of her face? You know she's going to find out you're a fake."

"I-" Imposter had not thought of that. "I don't know."

So Froakie tried something out. He leapt up and down: "Hey, lady! D'ya see us? How many fingers'm I holding up?"

"Two."

"Not you, 'Pasta, her."

"Oh."

Froakie stopped and the two reeled back when she closed her eyes. No one said a word, waiting to see what would happen.

A number of seconds passed, and then: "...Has your trainer arrived yet..?"

The Pokémon looked toward each other, and she provided a way of answering. "...Ditto for no; Froakie for yes..."

"What does that mean?" Imposter wondered.

"...Then tell me when they are here..." she requested.

Froakie whispered. "What, do her eyes not work or sumpthin'?"

"Guess not," realized Imposter. "This might be my lucky break, then."

It rummaged through its bag, and before Froakie could protest, turned human then and there. Valerie remained silent.

"Well... guess the trainer she's looking for is technically here now," Froakie decided as Imposter properly fitted on its bag. "Miss Gym Leader, yes, hello; your challenger is here. Open up those eyes, you're really starting to freak us out."

"...Is the trainer here..?"

"...Yes."

"...Well, then, trainer..." she began. "...Would you mind telling me your name..?"

Whenever asked this question, Imposter knew to hand over its Trainer Card. It held it out, but Valerie did not accept it.

"...Why don't you speak..?" Her eyes opened at half-mast. "Are you perhaps dumb?"

Froakie called out ("Ooohhh!"), but was ignored. "...No offense to your intelligence intended..." she went on. "...It is another way of saying mute; are you unable to speak..?"

Imposter grunted yes. "...Then you and I have something in common..."

Imposter and Froakie exchanged confused glances. "...Your voice does not function... My eyes do not function... Yet I am a Gym Leader, and a successful one, and you are a trainer with... how many badges..?"

She rattled off some numbers, Froakie stopping her when she got to five. "...With five badges... So neither of us could be stopped by our misfortunes..."

She shook her head. "...People always ask me how I could be a fashion designer yet unable to see anything, much less discern beauty... I always tell them that if beauty is there, I will sense it... The result... mystical designs no sighted person could think up... Truly, I have been blessed..."

Imposter cringed; it sounded as though she was telling something personal, or special to her, and it was unable to comprehend it.

"...With that..." continued she, "...We must battle..."

But was she not unable to see? Imposter had gained that much from her speech, but not the part where she explained how she could command Pokémon without being able to know what was happening.

She tucked one hand into the other sleeve anyway, withdrawing from it a Poké Ball. "...Now, go on... My Mawile..."

Imposter caught up to the scene and hastily sent out a Ditto, which Transformed immediately. It was fascinated to see how Valerie was going to manage.

You are challenged by Leader Valerie!

Imposter opened its mouth to begin its first command, realizing at the last second that that would be inconsistent with its story. It was unable to come up with a solution to this before a mysterious pink flare erupted in the corner of the room.

It watched, horrified, as the nearby light switch flipped off by itself. The room was now completely enveloped in darkness.

"...This is how I do battle..." the Gym Leader explained. "...You now have to battle in just the same way as I..."

Imposter was half-paying attention, whipping around to try making sense of its surroundings. The room held no windows, and even the teleporter gave off no light.

Behind it, a tiny bit of silver waved down its attention. It spun around; Valerie's Mawile was now giving off a bright neon aura.

Only for a few seconds. She was turning pale gray in a move Imposter recognized as Iron Defense. When she was done, she made a motion of cutting off as if conducting an orchestra, and the light snapped off.

"...I can sense the majesty of Pokémon's moves when in the heat of battle..." Valerie explained. "...This is what I am simulating, and allowing you to see..."

So Mawile would only glow when it was performing an attack - or, in Iron Defense's case, preparing for one. Could it use this to its advantage?

"Ditto... This is going to be hard," it whispered. "Remember where she is? Try using Crunch."

It guessed that Ditto had at least tried; its huge pair of jaws could be heard clapping together onto nothing but air. It did not emit any light.

Valerie hummed. "...This is as much as I have adapted my blindness..." she breathed. "...Just as you have broken through enough to say the name of your Ditto... That Pokémon must mean very much to you..."

Imposter's eyes widened; how did she know the extent of its vocal ability?

"...I've heard much about you, Imposter, from the other Gym Leaders..."

It shook. Humans were talking about it? What were they saying? It remembered it would have to attack. "Ditto, Crunch."

This time, pink spilled into its line of vision, as Mawile recoiled from taking the attack. "...Although..." Valerie continued, "...It would not be fair to rid you of your sight if I could continue commanding my Pokémon vocally... No more talking in this battle, I think..."

This was interesting. Unlike any previous battle it had, that was certain.

Mawile glowed again, this time a darker gray. Ditto seemed to notice; it narrowly avoided the attack, and returned with another Crunch.

Was this in any way beneficial to Valerie? Imposter and its Pokémon could see hers, but Mawile had no way of knowing where Ditto was.

...Right?

Lost in thought, it saw as Mawile landed her first Crunch. Straining its eyes it was possible to see Ditto's startled expression. They went on like that until Ditto was knocked out.

The bag. Ditto's Ball was in there. It hurriedly reached in, called it back, and fumbled for the next.

This happened to be Limber, who took the time to Transform as Mawile set up another Iron Defense. Now both battlers had doubled Defense stats, and Imposter was ready to take advantage of that.

"Crunch, Limber."

Pink flew off of Mawile again, turning red at the flare's floral tips.

It's a critical hit!
Mawile fainted!

"Yeah, Limber!" Imposter whisper-yelled. "You got this."

"I have no idea what is happening," it responded. "Why is it so dark?"

"Long story. Look, she's sending in another."

"Gym Leader, right?"

"Yeah."

Limber breathed, more heavily than Imposter was used to. "You're doing really well," Imposter told its battler. "Go get em, Ditto."

"I-I'll try!"

That was a better attitude than had recently come out of Limber, pleasing Imposter greatly. It found its arms crossing in satisfaction.

Another burst of light signified Valerie's next Pokémon, whose Light Screen and accompanying saturated pink aura revealed she was a Mr. Mime.

Imposter stepped back, still not used to battling like this. Even in Reflection Cave, light would stream in from cracks in the ceiling and it could see very well compared to now. Another step backwards, and relief came in a bright pillar rising around it.

The teleporter. It had warped out of the room. "Shoot," it spat, although the situation was slightly funny. It smacked the ground underneath, trying to reactivate the device.

It worked - it found itself back in the dark room again, and all it had to do was Transform to get back into the swing of things.

It was about to start - or try to, that is - when it saw Limber swiftly knocking its opponent out.

Was that really what had happened - was Limber handling this that well? Even without Imposter there to say what to do, it was able to defeat the enemy in record time.

"Yep, just keep doing that," Imposter recommended. What did Limber need it for?

Valerie's next Pokémon was new to both Ditto. A quadruped that reminded Imposter of Eevee, after instinctively beginning a Transformation. It tended to do that when a new Pokémon was introduced, if it happened to still be in Ditto form.

This time it caught itself when it realized it had very little to work with - it could not see or feel this Pokémon, and had only glanced it for a second. That was fine, as it had no intention to become the opponent at this time, but it did realize that in the dark, becoming human again would be incredibly hard.

None of that was important, it reminded itself. It had a battle to win.

"Imposter, where is he?" Its attention snapped back to Limber. The Pokémon it was battling was nowhere to be found, and had not used a move in an uncomfortable number of seconds.

"I don't know... Do an Iron Defense."

It did, and the opponent took this opportunity to strike. Oh, Imposter got a good look at this Pokémon as it delivered the Dazzling Gleam that knocked Limber against the floor.

"Th-That's gonna be the end of me this battle," Limber announced. "Thanks for letting me try, though."

In truth, Imposter had not even meant to let Limber out, but once it had, Limber had carried almost the whole battle up until that point.

"You did really well," was all Imposter could think to say. "Return."

Limber, still taking the appearance of a Mawile, glowed faintly and did so.

Alright. Back into the bag. Thankfully Imposter had chosen a Ball containing a Ditto at full health, able to battle.

Ditto Transformed; Imposter guessed it did so using the light given off by the pink, highly-decorated evolution of Eevee that it realized it was battling. This one took the attack much better than Limber had, as far as Imposter was aware.

And it had yet to Transform back into its human form; it had the Trainer Card there, but without visual access to the image, that was useless.

"Ditto, use Dazzling Gleam. Keep them up. Don't stop!"

Imposter thought itself a genius: each attack would add another layer of light to the pitch-black room.

Ditto and its attacker were relentless to each other, both exchanging the lightning-fast light eruptions. Vaguely, Imposter began piecing together the picture and felt its most familiar Transformation taking shape.

For the first time in minutes, Valerie gave an indication that she was still there. She just hummed; a second later Imposter had convinced itself that it had imagined this.

Ditto fainted!

Imposter had not even realized how badly it was going for Ditto. It rushed through the last of the Transformation - was it right- or left-handed? - and tossed out the next.

The remaining light from the Dazzling Gleam that knocked the last Ditto out, along with the burst of energy from its Poké Ball, gave Ditto just enough to finish the Transformation.

By that point, Imposter was finished abusing the fact that it could make the room brighter, if only for a few seconds at a time. "Swift," it commanded.

Like with Mawile, the opposing Pokémon shot off a pink blossom of light, tinted red at the tips.

Valerie whispered. "...Thank you, Sylveon... Have a nice rest..."

Sylveon fainted!
You defeated Leader Valerie!

Imposter grinned in victory, fishing for Ditto's Ball and returning it.

"...I must concede defeat..." Valerie said. The sound of her sleeve flapping signified an arm movement of some kind; from where Imposter could imagine her arm ended, another pink light shot out towards the corner of the room.

Imposter's eyes were unprepared for the overhead light turning back on, its pupils shrinking faster than it thought natural.

"...You did well battling, even in the dark... But you must be wondering..."

She breathed for a few seconds, her eyes held half-opened. "...Magic... That is what I've learned from training these Fairy-Type Pokémon you so masterfully defeated... How I created those colorful illusions..."

She performed a small curtsy, wearing a soft smile. "...Now you have earned your Fairy Badge..."

This she pulled from the sleeve opposite the one in which her Poké Balls were located, and held it out for Imposter to walk up and take.

"...I designed this, too..." she revealed as it came and did so. "...It is so... abstractly captivating, isn't it..?"

Imposter guessed so, as it pinned down the small metal piece into its Trainer Card.

Imposter received the Fairy Badge from Valerie!

"...From all I've heard of the silent Ditto trainer..." she went on, "...I knew this battle would be quite fascinating...

"...You surely do have a way with Pokémon, don't you, Imposter..? I'll tell you... I've tried and tried to become closer to my own, because I've always wanted to be a Pokémon myself..."

This was where the hair on Imposter's neck stood up. It would have given anything to have the humanity she had. Why would any human want the opposite? Perhaps in another body she would at least have functional eyesight. Yes, that was probably the only reason she had to cast aside such a gift as her own species.

"...Although, it is a curious thought..."

She dropped her arms and opened her huge eyes wide. Imposter shivered, wishing it was still dark.

"I wonder why I was able to sense your presence during that battle."

The Ditto quivered. "Are you perhaps remarkably attractive? In that case, you may make a suitable model... Perhaps I may create a design inspired by this battle..."

She shook her head. "...It might be a good idea for you to leave now. You have things to do, after all..."

Imposter made a hopefully gracious-sounding noise, and proceeded to walk towards the last teleport in the room.

"Trainer, your Froakie..."

That was right; Froakie. It found him curled up on the floor, dozing. It nudged him with its foot.

Perhaps too hard: "Riffies again," he moaned, clambering to his feet. "What happened? I miss anything?"

"Only my latest Gym victory."

"Oh, wait, you won?" Froakie's eyes were large with curiosity. "Shut up! We gotta celebrate!"

Imposter deadpanned. "We have to leave the building first."

"Sounds like a plan. Leh's go."

"Don't wait up."

The two scrambled to the teleport, ready for anything the adventure was about to throw their way.

Imposter Fact of the Day: Complete honesty here... Up until doing the research for this chapter I had always pronounced Laverre as LAH-ver-ay. Additionally, I am full team ARK-ee-us, team RAHY-koo, and teams Kahy-O-gurr, ROH-tahm, MAYN-foo, Drag-AL-jee, Mar-EE-NEE, and DEL-meez. And Luh-SAHN-dray, although I admit to using LAHY-zan-der sometimes because it sounds humorous.