Poké Ball Factory chapter! One of my favorites. Team Flare and some Ditto shenanigans coming up. Let's go!

The Poké Ball factory.

That was where Shauna and Trevor had said they were going; it was where, if Imposter had looked up, it would have seen Serena's Charizard descending to a touchdown. There was a commotion around the gates of the building, and where there were lots of humans, Imposter was always eager to make an appearance.

As it approached, however, it noted the one thing that all these people had in common: stark red suits.

Team... Team Fire. No. Something like that. Flare! It was Team Flare! That confusing bunch that stole all its Sitrus Berries! What were they doing in Laverre?

It picked up the pace. Not Laverre. The Poké Ball factory. Why were they here in such large numbers? Were they going to steal from here, too? All the balls in Kalos were created in this building.

It slowed to a stroll. That was right. Its own was probably manufactured right here. It reached down into its bag; there it was, the Premier Ball it called home.

Still walking, it gave the machine a thoughtful stare. It gazed up and down between the capsule and the base that made it, thinking that in some way, things had come full circle.

But now Team Flare was here. Stealing Poké Balls - if that was what they were doing - was robbing wild Pokémon of their chance to meet a human trainer. How could they?

Clutching its Ball, Imposter began sprinting to the loosely-assembled crowd. Froakie's startled cries to wait up were lost to the wind searing past its ears.

True to nature, Imposter tripped over the first grunt it came to. Panic rippled through it. The scene was almost slow-motion, Imposter tumbling to the ground, the grunt's expression of pure shock, its Ball flying out of its hand. Hitting the ground at this speed would surely result in its deforming, if not instant knockout.

And there was its Premier Ball, flying off somewhere it could not reach with its hand...

Imposter was unsure in the split-second it had whether it made the decision consciously or if it was pure instinct not to get hurt, but the moment it would have hit the ground was spent instead dematerializing completely.

It gained a red hue and lost all shape, feeling itself being sucked up backwards into its Ball. Once inside, it had no choice but to brace for the impact of the sphere hitting the ground.

It may have been the suppressed sense of movement available inside a Poké Ball, but it could feel no such collision. Instead, it heard words.

Pokémon did not entirely lose their hearing whilst encapsulated; everything was muffled, but they could often make out their names or commands of their trainers.

"Gotcha..." a voice reaching Imposter was saying. "Th... ...ld Ditto... ...s caught."

"Abso... ...othing."

Muffled sounds.

"...ust... ...y Pokémon."

Then, more.

"...ack off... ...ould I... ...crets fr... ...andre..."

Any words Imposter could pick up were broken and lacking context. It could not know if a minute had passed, or an hour.

Things were eerily quiet after that. Being so detached from its mind, it found nothing wrong with this, only a weak but unrelenting feeling that it should be doing something.

And so it remained, completely unaware of anything going on in the outside world. Until it felt the nostalgic sensation of being sent out.

It uncurled itself and prepared for a landing - this was a battle, it knew from the start. Battle meant Transforming.

Into what? Its opponent appeared to be a Chesnaught. That it could do.

A shiny Chesnaught, it realized early on. It could do that too.

Say... did it not know a shiny Chesnaught?

Once its eyes fully formed, it checked out the trainer: indeed, this battle was against Serena.

It could not remember the last time it had done any fighting itself, but had recalled that it was substantially good at it. Going from being the trainer to being the trained, however, would take a bit of getting used to.

The first thing it wondered was what Serena was doing here in the first place. The second was why she looked so surprised, and Chesnaught so beat.

The third was, who was commanding it?

It stole a second to glance back; that was all it needed, as even Imposter was able to discern the red-suited grunt behind it.

That was probably bad.

"A Ditto," Serena mumbled. "Hum...

"Wait, is that thing level fifty-four!?"

Imposter itself had not been keeping track, but that number felt right. The look on Serena's face showed that this was a surprise.

Chesnaught growled. "Not that much tougher than Olympia's team was, and it's one of these." His eyes connected with his trainer's, apparently enough confirmation to handle it himself. He lunged forward, right arm extended.

Instinctively, Imposter curled up; it was a Chesnaught now, it remembered, and spun to give the opponent its back. His arm came down on a hasty but effective Spiky Shield.

"Yooww..." Chesnaught massaged his hand. Imposter cringed, glared at the grunt trying to command it, and quickly turned to meet Chesnaught's upset expression.

"I never seem to have any luck with these things," he grumbled.

"Chesnaught... I want you to Seed Bomb it instead."

"Ditto, use Spiky Shield again."

...No.

It would not. This person was not Grace, nor had it been properly traded to him. Additionally, he was the enemy, so no Spiky Shield. It would do this how it desired.

Unfortunately, this meant receiving a powerful Seed Bomb unprotected.

It had trouble remembering the last time it had taken such a strong move, especially one strong enough to knock the wind from its lungs. It slouched, but was still standing. It could do this.

"Now, Body Slam!"

What Serena probably did not know was that it was well-versed in human enough to know the hit was coming, so it was able to move out of the way fairly easily. Yes; now it was remembering just how much it enjoyed battles.

Out of pure excitement to be back on the battlefield, it turned back towards Chesnaught and fired off a Seed Bomb of its own.

The angry Fighting-Type whipped around, staring it dead in its copied eyes. Its heart skipped, and it watched as, to Serena's orders, Chesnaught propelled itself forward in preparation for another Body Slam.

"You Body Slam too, Ditto!"

It had a better idea, of course. With Chesnaught's current momentum, he would not appreciate a properly-executed Brick Break.

Imposter was right, but the grunt behind it was livid. Serena just looked confused, and Chesnaught looked ready to keel over.

His face... Imposter knew it could not be the only Ditto who tended to feel sorry for its Transformation subjects. There was something about sharing a face that made their expressions reflect onto the Ditto sometimes, and unlike its party, Imposter was out of practice resisting this.

"Chesnaught..." it started to cave, "I-I'm sorry..."

The opponent looked up in pain. "That voice. You - are you who I think you are?"

"Who do you think I am?"

"Chesnaught, Brick Break!"

He drew his arm back in preparation to heed his trainer's orders. "That is you... You scoundrel! I should have known you were working for Team Flare!"

"Working for..? I'm not-"

Chesnaught cut it off when his Brick Break connected. Imposter rolled onto its side, its form somewhat shaking.

It hardly had time to move before the next Brick Break; the grunt called out to use Spiky Shield.

Maybe it would...

It spun onto its back, extending its quills. Chesnaught seemed to see this coming, but in his rage was unable to fully compensate for the maneuver and came down on its shell.

He grunted. "Serena, I'm losing... any restores?"

"Chesnaught, look! It's almost down! And look at you."

Imposter rotated to see that Chesnaught was expelling some kind of green light, different from the kind it remembered seeing in Valerie's Gym. Chesnaught smirked.

"Overgrow," he agreed.

"Now, Seed Bomb it!"

"Ditto, S-Spiky Shield."

Imposter tried bracing itself, but being kept on the floor, it had little time to do so before the attack made contact.

The exploding projectiles caused rippling pain where Imposter was hit; if it were to compare the sensation to what a human would feel, it would suggest a jab to the gut.

That was it; despite being much older and more trained than Chesnaught, it was unable to resist defeat at his surprisingly brown hands.

It let out a breath. As it felt itself returning to its Ball, it remembered that this was a win against Team Flare, and started feeling better.

Imposter fainted!

Having spent so much time outside of it, Imposter had forgotten how comfortable its Premier Ball was after a tough battle. Being suspended between matter and energy would do wonders for a weathered body.

There was some talking, but most of it was impossible to hear. After a bit, the Ball heaved and bounded along, jumping from one position to another. If it was feeling any healthier, perhaps Imposter would have popped out to see what was happening.

It did not make this decision until it heard Froakie's voice: "'Pasta, we g... on... ...otta g..."

But that was Froakie for sure. Summoning all the energy it could, it burst open and took shape.

"What happened?" Its voice dripped with worry. "What's going-?"

It stopped when it felt itself being picked up, apparently by a human. Its heart plunged when it saw who this was.

Thinking quickly, it tried to fling itself out of the Team Flare grunt's hands. The person was too quick, however, and somehow knew how to catch it every time.

"Imposter-" the grunt was saying, "Imposter!"

"Stop, you," agreed Froakie. "Calm down a sec, and listen."

Confusion settled in. Why was Froakie being so calm about this?

"We have to get out of here," the grunt said, removing their glasses to reveal two tiny, black, pit-like like eyes.

"Limber?"

It nodded in confirmation. "I was able to convince that guy to hand you over, but he's going to come back. Where'd your Ball go?"

Froakie spotted it nearby on the floor, leapt over, and clutched the device to his chest. "You got yours?"

"In my pocket," Limber said.

"Then we have to go."

Without asking Imposter's opinion, Limber replaced its glasses and sprinted towards the exit, holding its friend tight. Imposter was briefly able to see people by peering out from behind Limber's body: Serena, leading her Pokémon in a charge on the evil organization, and various red- or white-suited people rushing in to stop them.

Her face showed conviction, but under it, intense fear.

Imposter curled up into Limber's chest.

Within a few minutes, the three Pokémon were safely outside the Poké Ball factory and in the nearby woods, where the bag and the rest of the party inside it were waiting.

Limber tumbled to its knees, grass stains forming on its flagrant red pants. Alarmed, Imposter hopped down to avoid getting hurt.

Poor Limber was panting. "That... was... wow... and you do that... all the time..?"

"Me?" What did it mean? Imposter hardly ever did things like that. "I mean, running... No, that's really hard."

"I mean-" Limber groaned, extending an arm to the ground to hold itself up. A deep breath, and it slowly started deforming.

Froakie watched with repulsion, and Imposter with pride, as it successfully controlled the process. Its Ultra Ball clattered to the ground, off to the side. Limber still looked exhausted when it was finished, but it also looked relieved.

"I mean," it repeated, "being a human. That was - very - complicated. Bipeds are already tough to pull off, but one that big - how do you handle that?"

Imposter shrugged. "You get used to it. Anyway, you still haven't answered my question - what is going on around here?"

Froakie inhaled. "We rescued you, and now I'm up by one again in saving you from Team Flare." He seemed proud. "See, I don't know why or how, but you thought returning to your Ball in the middle of a Team Flare takeover was a good idea, huh?"

"It was either return, become incapacitated, and blow my cover, or get really hurt, become incapacitated, deform, and blow my cover. You would have done the same."

Coughing into his fist, Froakie continued. "Well, the grunt right next to you saw what was up and stole your Ball out of thin air, before I could get anywhere close. Then he up and shot out of the place, didn't even touch the bag. By the time I got there, I'd lost him completely, and the only thing I could do was make sure it and the party were safe.

"Infiltrating their operation was Limber's idea. It seemed to know something was wrong and came on out to help me; I was ready to march on in there, but it thought it could handle becoming one of them grunts. So we improvised."

"We came in just as Serena beat you," Limber recounted. "Then I'd offered to trade Froakie for you, and I guess he was fed up with you not listening to him, because he agreed."

"But I'm a released little froggy, and I make my own decisions! He had no Ball to keep me in, so it was easy getting away."

"Anyway, you know the rest. Then we ended up back here, and... we should make sure everyone's still accounted for."

The three moved toward the bag, Imposter dictating that everything seemed to be present and unharmed.

"We need to go back."

Limber and Froakie jolted at the abruptness of the statement. "Say what?" spat the latter, while the former's face hardened.

"Why would you want to do that?"

"Guys..." Imposter was ready to plead with them. "Did you see Serena's face in there? She was really having trouble, and I don't think she has a lot of help. Other than her team of six, she's in there by herself."

Froakie crossed his forelegs. "Young people take down evil teams by themselves all the time. Ever hear of Dawn?"

"Or Gold," added Limber.

"Or stinkin' Sun. He got two in one go. This may be Serena's time to join them."

Imposter looked down. "I-I knew that expression though. You think none of those people had any help at all?"

The two were quiet for a few seconds, as if thinking it over. "I don't want you to get hurt again," Limber admitted.

"I appreciate that," returned Imposter, "but this one time was just a fluke. When else have we really been in trouble with these guys?"

"Route Thirteen," Froakie reminded it. "They took everything. We're lucky that VW guy showed up, or else we never would have seen it again."

With this, he stuck a thumb out in Limber's direction.

The two Ditto locked eyes. "If you're really sure," Limber decided, "then there's no stopping you. But you need to be extremely careful, you got that?"

Imposter nodded blindly. "And I'm going to need you to do your best as well. Before you say anything else... I want you to know that I wouldn't be able to run half the distance you did. That was very impressive."

Limber's mouth formed a straight line. "T-Thanks."

"...Okay." Imposter took a deep breath, then sped to where Limber's Ball had rolled onto some sticks. "Froakie, I'm going to need an Oran Berry, and Limber..."

The Ditto looked up, and Imposter held its Ball in place.

"...Return."

Limber nodded, mouthed "Good luck," and did so.

Imposter smiled fondly as the contraption clicked shut. "All right," it began, gingerly placing the Ball in its bag and accepting its berry.

"You ready?"

Froakie seemed reluctant at first, but ended up giving in. "Let's storm this castle."

The tough part of pulling off a disguise as a Team Flare grunt was that they tended not to wear bags like the one Imposter needed to have at all times. A brief period of peoplewatching, however, showed that some females were carrying purses; logic convinced the Ditto to go for one of those.

Imposter was no stranger to either human gender, but being so used to its usual height made adjusting a tad harder. Nonetheless, it pulled through, and Froakie seemed to approve.

The bag was heavier the way women held it, resting on the outside shoulder without support from the back. Thus, walking was impaired; its already unsteady steps were amplified to the point of clumsiness.

For this reason, it took a bit of time to walk around in order to find Serena. When it did, it was by way of sound, rather than sight.

"You'll never get away with this!" Serena's voice came, from inside a storage room. "You've got no right to those Poké Balls. You can pay for them like everybody else!"

Imposter's hand was already on the door handle, but it was quickly interrupted by Froakie; remembering, it ducked down a short hallway and Transformed into its normal human form.

The bag was much easier to carry now. Imposter's steps were now powerful strides.

It glanced at Froakie for encouragement, hand on the doorknob; steeled its eyes; and burst in.

"Oh," two women facing the entrance chanted simultaneously. Of all of the Team Flare outfits Imposter had seen, these two sported some of the most ridiculous. They reminded it of the scientist Aliana; especially the technological headsets they wore.

Serena spun. "Imposter... what are you doing here..."

It stepped in line with her; a battle had not started yet, but if Imposter knew anything about them, one was about to.

"So we have another taker," one of the scientists observed. "Grand! Imposter, you say? Even grander!"

"Sh-Shut up..." Serena bit her lip. "Are you going to battle us, or what?"

One scientist turned to the other. "Celosia?"

"Bryony?"

"You think now's our chance?"

"Yes, I think that's correct."

"So we'll deal with you lot quickly," they decided, taking a step forward.

Serena and Imposter hurled Balls; no one was surprised by Imposter's choice, it only training Ditto, but Serena was using a Pokémon it had never yet seen.

Vaporeon, she had called him. A Liepard and a Mightyena took the field as well, the former being Ditto's Transformation subject.

"Imposter," Serena snapped, "How bulky is your Ditto, or can you protect it somehow?"

Imposter sent her a confused glance.

She scoffed. "In that case, I'm sorry."

Before the Ditto could ask what that meant, she turned to her Vaporeon and shouted, "Surf!"

The blue evolution of Eevee let out a majestic cry, water starting to flow from all directions off of his body. The speed of this water picked up, starting to lift its wielder off of the floor.

Imposter guessed that if it could see the eyes of the women in front of it, they would express terror. It knew its own did.

Water collected at its feet, not doing any substantial damage, as it was standing behind Vaporeon. All Pokémon in battle, however, were doused - it watched the carnage in shock.

A Critical Hit on the opposing Mightyena!

Vaporeon turned to face his trainer, showing a proud grin.

"Guess all that Amie is paying off, huh?" Serena asked to cheers from her Pokémon.

The opposing Liepard fainted!

The opposing Mightyena fainted!

Ditto fainted!

Serena and Imposter looked each other in the eyes, tuning out the exasperated scientists and their reactions to the fact that they lost so poorly.

"I really didn't mean to, but I didn't want this battle to go bad..." Serena explained. "Vaporeon is one of the only battlers I have that still has something in 'im. I hope you can forgive me?"

But Imposter was more focused on how much it could not do to help. It only came because it knew she would need it, and Ditto's immediate loss to her Vaporeon was testament to how powerless Imposter was to provide it. If anyone should apologize, that would be it.

"...Ditto." It sadly pulled out Ditto's Poké Ball and returned it.

"Y-Yeah, you, too, Vaporeon. Get back here."

"Yeah, alright," he said in a surprisingly calm voice, and did.

"Now - Celosia and Bryony, were they? Would you like to tell us exactly what you're doing here?"

A "Hmph" came out of one of them. A "You already know" came out of the other.

"Then you should also know that you have no business here at all. You should leave!"

One of them shrugged. "Guess we have no choice, huh?"

"M-hm," agreed her partner. "As long as you'll give us just one thing."

Serena rolled her eyes. "What's that."

The two scientists exchanged looks, then rushed Imposter.

It had left the door open, so the two were easily able to push the poor Ditto outside, each taking hold of an arm. Serena gasped, turning to follow as soon as she could.

"We've got it... the boss's going to be so happy."

"What do you figure our raise will be?"

The two women snickered to each other, Serena shouting protests the whole time. One pinned down the struggling Imposter against a wall, while the other addressed the girl.

"And what are you going to do to stop us?" One hand was on her hip; the other was poised mockingly in the air. "Beat our Pokémon? You already did that, sweetie, and how much did that do for you?"

Imposter lurched against Bryony's grip. Its mind raced to think of things it could Transform into to allow it to escape, but it knew doing so would destroy its guise as a human, in front of Serena.

Where was Froakie? He had to be here; he had to do something. He was always doing something.

It could not see much of Serena from where it was pinned against the wall, but she sounded furious. "Why, you - what do you want with him, anyway?"

"It's not what we want," Celosia remarked.

From where she was occupied with Imposter, Bryony finished. "...It's what the boss wants!"

A few Pokémon cries sounded, and Serena yelped some commands. "Aurorus, freeze them!"

The ladies smiled sinisterly. "Can't freeze fire," one said, smug. The other withdrew a small item from the side of her electronic headset.

For its size, no one but a Team Flare member could have guessed that it was a flamethrower, much less one with enough strength to defer Aurorus's Blizzard.

Serena gritted her teeth; "Fine, guess we have to put you out, then. Vaporeon, Surf! Then, Meowstic, use Psychic!"

Imposter's eyes widened as the water shot out at its captors, then started moving as if on its own. The fluid wrapped itself around the two, lifting up so that they were suspended in midair.

The Ditto collapsed to the ground. Catching its breath was nearly impossible; its heart was beating much faster than it knew it could handle. Its body was worn, and all that kept it from deforming was the thought that Serena was still here. Still, it knew its color was fading, and could only hope for now that it was not too obvious.

Meowstic's eyes were rolled back, and her ears, completely unfurled, with the effort required for telekinesis. "Unhand us!" Bryony protested.

"We are just doing our job!"

Serena would not hear them. "No; sh-shut it!" To her side, Aurorus screamed. "If you want to play it that way, why don't you tell me what your boss plans to do with him?"

"We don't know!" They were both bawling. "He would never tell us anything."

"Meowstic."

The water seemed to contract. "Honest, honest," Celosia pled. "Just put us down."

Serena's eyes narrowed. "Promise you'll never lay hands on him again?"

Bryony's head bounced up and down like a ball.

"And the Poké Ball factory?"

"It'll be like we never even came."

"...Good. Meowstic?"

The small Psychic-Type released them, sending the two women and gallons of water to the floor. Imposter shook itself to its knees.

"Now, get out of here," Serena demanded. "I don't want to see you or Team Flare in Laverre City again."

"W-Will do. Let's skeedaddle!"

"Right behind you..!"

The scientists, gathering any grunts they could find, shuffled out of the building. Serena and her Pokémon rushed to Imposter's side.

The Ditto was sitting in a small plash of water leftover from the scientists' trap. It coughed; its jeans were soaked, and as it shook its head, water flew from its hair.

"Uh... Ditto, are you okay?" The human trainer grabbed it by the cheek and searched its eyes for hurt. "You look really - beat up."

That it was: it had fainted once today, and felt as though it was about to again. It shakily answered in the form of an affirmative cry.

"Ugh." Serena inhaled. "They're some real awful people, those Team Flare affiliates. Didn't I tell you not to go anywhere near them?"

She might have; Imposter did not remember. "Either way, I'm glad you're safe," she revealed. Her face convinced Imposter to believe it. The two remained in the water, regaining breath, Imposter's eyes closed, Serena crouching on her toes, Aurorus surveying the damage, Meowstic rubbing up against the trainers, Vaporeon rolling around in the water.

With a sigh, Serena was the first to stand. "Well, they're pulling out of here," she noted, "and we should, too. This place probably won't be safe until the original owners come back and take care of the mess."

She withdrew three Poké Balls, returning the members of her team which were out. She offered a hand up; Imposter gladly took it.

"Are you going to need help getting back to town?" Her face was soft, yet behind that Imposter could feel a sense of impatience. "I'd hate to leave you here if you're that injured."

It politely declined, as it had a feeling she wanted to get back to her quest through Kalos. It had caused her enough trouble just by showing up.

"Well... alright. I guess you do have your Ditto if anything goes wrong," she acquiesced. "But please, if these guys give you any trouble again, ring me on the Holo Caster. I should be able to make it pretty quickly thanks to Charizard."

It nodded, despite not knowing exactly what that meant. "Great, then. See you around? I could understand if you want to check out this factory more, but I think I've had enough of it for one day."

Imposter nodded in agreement, giving a small wave. She started walking away; "Bye, then."

The building was eerily quiet after that, Team Flare having been removed and the factory's employees having fled. So it sat back down in its puddle for a while, recuperating. Water was excellent in helping most Pokémon restore their health.

Water... thinking of water, there was someone it had not heard from in a long time.

Its question from before had never yet been answered: where was Froakie?

~End of Part Six~

Imposter Fact of the Day: Many chapters thus far have had some impromptu deviations from what happens in the actual game, to add to the plot. This chapter's was the only one planned out before the writing process had begun.