Imposter had never valued civilization more than upon its arrival in Dendemille Town.

There was no telling how late it was, and navigating the streets in the dark made it too difficult to find anything, but the presence of people was enough to bring its tired spirit back up.

The only building still lit up was the Dendemille Hotel, much to the relief of a certain team of Ditto. All Imposter wanted to do was deform and go to sleep, nestled away in its Ball.

But even as it checked into a room, Froakie's uneven breathing reminded it that it had to keep him warm. In its jacket and under the covers, Imposter would not be comfortable, but at least he would.

Limber, who stayed out when the rest of the party had returned, seemed to take notice. "Imposter," it offered, "let me do it. Fennekin's body heat is much greater than that of a human."

"You want to stay Transformed all night? But aren't you... tired?"

"Not as much as you," it returned. "I can keep this up for long enough; he will be fine in the morning. Go into your Ball. You had a real tough day, and I'm not going to see you sleep Transformed again, not tonight."

Limber's proposal was sound, and Imposter had not the fortitude to resist any temptation at the moment. It would not leave it be before doing one thing first, however.

It reached into its bag. Out came a rectangular canister of a restore that Limber looked unfamiliar with.

"Thanks for all your help, Limber. You deserve this Max Potion."

It shook the container and gave a spray. Limber looked relieved, pleasing its trainer. Imposter allowed the whole thing to empty out before speaking again. "Good night, Limber. Keep him warm for me."

It removed Froakie from its jacket and placed him on the bed's pillow. Limber nodded. "Thanks, I will. Imposter-"

It playfully swatted at its trainer's Premier Ball. "Return."

Imposter did not need to be told twice.

The button on its Ball was being pushed in, all too soon. It clicked, and the Ditto flew out.

There was Limber, still Transformed from last night. "Look, I think he's going to wake up."

Froakie? It swerved its top to where he was nestled on the pillow, half-covered in blankets. It seemed his front paws were contracting, as if forming fists.

Both Ditto approached, curious. His mouth opened slowly, and he coughed up some bubbles; there was water on the pillow, but no one was bothered at the moment.

"Buddy," Imposter started. "Can you hear me?"

"Imp... is that you?"

Limber placed itself next to him. "Froakie!" Imposter realized it was speaking too loud. "It-It's me. Are you alright?"

"What the heck happened in there?"

His voice was quiet and warranted pity. Imposter and Limber looked to each other.

"It doesn't matter," the latter took over. "What matters is we won, and you're safe... Aren't you?"

"I-" Froakie rolled over and finally opened his eyes. "Eh... F-Fennekin?"

Limber shook its head; "No, it's me. It was so cold in the Frost Cavern, and we needed Fire-Types... You knew this one, right? I can go back if this makes you uncomfortable."

Froakie shivered. "No, you're warm..." It sounded like he was whining, and he turned in towards it.

Imposter giggled. "Looks like you two are getting along," it observed. "What time is it, does anyone know?"

"Sun isn't up yet," Limber answered.

"Huh." If it was being honest, Imposter had to admit it was still remarkably tired; plus, it was the one making the decisions, and it did not figure there would be any objections. "How about... We take a day off today?"

The others looked in its direction. "I mean, we more than deserve it after yesterday. A Gym battle, the Poké Ball factory debacle, then everything in the Frost Cavern - I'm a little fed up with all this Transforming and fainting. We have plenty of prize money left to stay for another night. Takers?"

Froakie grunted his quiet approval, and Limber agreed. "The rest of the party has been kinda hoping we could take a break anyway."

"Then I'm returning again," Imposter decided with a chuckle. "You should probably go back to sleep, too. Glad to see you're doing well, Froke."

"Mm. Dag... nabbit. Darnit darnit darnit."

Now Imposter was confused. "W-What?"

"We're tied again, ain't we? With Team Flare? Saving each other's hides?"

Imposter shook its head. "It's not a competition or anything. They had you, but you're safe here now. Just go back to sleep. Everything's fine."

"Mm..."

On that note, Imposter gave Limber a nod and felt itself dematerializing. At least today would give everyone a chance to catch their breath.

Had it been anyone else going through what Imposter did the previous day - for example, Serena or any of the other ambitious young trainers destined for excellence - they may have taken the next day to assess their abilities as a team and perhaps begin a more rigorous system of training. To be certain that if any more close calls had occurred, they would be able to handle it. Yet this time it happened to be the Ditto trainer, and it did things a little differently.

The Pokémon hardly saw any sun that day, vegging by themselves in the hotel room. The entire team was out of their Balls for most of the time, and some conducted battles with each other using the data from Imposter's Pokédex. Other than that, the room remained relatively neat: the berry pits were unavoidable, and the bedsheets seemed to get more disheveled as time passed, regardless of their use; but with nothing broken after a full day of being occupied solely by Pokémon, the place could have looked a lot worse.

It was not until the next day that Imposter had even thought about leaving Dendemille. Apparently the party started developing cabin fever after being cooped inside for so long, although Imposter did not see how it was any different from their lives in Vaniville Town. In fact, the only difference was Grace's presence. Without her, lounging all day had lost most of its appeal.

So Imposter checked out of the hotel and started making its way through Route Seventeen. Only one day of recovering from the Frost Cavern, it soon realized, could not have been enough to prepare for the blizzard raging as far as the eye could see.

It had to shield its eyes from the light reflecting from the five-foot wall of snow that it was met with; how, it wondered, did humans ever progress through here? And more importantly, how would it?

Imposter found the answer to both of these questions in the form of a wandering Mamoswine. It did not feel it needed to introduce itself, or even say a word - it was freezing again, and it knew an easy remedy.

It tossed its bag on the ground and instructed Froakie to stay there for a second; this would be quick. It clutched its sides. At least everyone was together now.

Unlike Bergmite, whose very composition made them favor the cold, Mamoswine was covered in the thickest fur Imposter ever had. After a few seconds, it even felt stuffy enough to start sweating.

"Okay." It faced Froakie. "I'm going to need that."

It watched him realize that it was talking about the bag. "Uh, so I'll just... t-there." The small Pokémon had fitted the strap over one of its tusks, and was now shivering rapidly against the snow.

"You clown," laughed Imposter. "You didn't think I could do that myself? I meant get on. It's frigid out there, and you aren't in any shape to-"

He did not wait for Imposter to stop speaking before leaping for the other tusk and nestling into the hair surrounding its mouth. "Y-Yeah, you better believe it. Are we going in there?" He was pointing to the snow.

"That seems to be the way," Imposter replied. "If only you'd had a Poké Ball to return to, you would be able to ride out the cold a lot better."

Although his voice shook, Froakie said, "When you p-put it that way, th-the cold sure is wo-orth it!"

Imposter only shook its head at this. "Suit yourself," it acquiesced, "and hang on tight."

It would not start moving until it felt him do so.

The snow was difficult to navigate, on the account of that it was higher than Imposter's eye level, but as always, it somehow managed fine. What was unsettling was Froakie's unusual silence. It was not entirely new, for most of yesterday he had spent sleeping and when he was awake, he was much more reserved than normal. Limber suggested it was simply an effect of his unfortunate experience in the Frost Cavern, and Imposter was inclined to believe it, but the Ditto were expecting him to be largely back to normal by the time they resumed their journey. Yet only once had the Water-Type tickled under its whiskers or made fun of its total blindness in the snow.

Eventually they burst out of the mound, and it may have been Imposter's acquired instincts from Mamoswine or the suspicious amount of luck that had taken Imposter this far into its adventure, but Anistar City's gate was standing not ten yards away.

This was exciting! It started bounding towards a few nearby trees, glad it could move more freely now that the snow had cleared. Its movements were jagged and brisk, turning human again and parading back into civilization.

Thankfully, Anistar City was much warmer than Dendemille Town, and stepping into the fresh air it featured had made Imposter feel as though it could do anything.

Even, it would dare to say, a battle. And who but the red-clad trainer making her way eastward would be a better opponent?

It waved gently to her, and it seemed for a second she had caught its eye; then she turned sharply back in the direction she was going, quickening her pace a little.

Confused, Imposter took it upon itself to approach her directly. The moment it tapped her shoulder, her entire figure slouched.

Serena sighed. "...Yes, Imposter?"

It grabbed at the first Poké Ball that it could reach, and she seemed to get the idea.

"A-A battle..." She pinched the bridge of her nose. "Imposter, I can't right now. I need to meet the professor at the sundial, and then I'm off to Victory Road - I'm done with my Gym battles and I'm really close to my final League challenge, okay? There's just too much-"

She halted her speech upon reading Imposter's face. It was dejectedly holding the Ball up, shocked and disappointed that anyone would turn down an offer for a battle, especially Serena.

"W-I..." She squinted up at it, then dug around in her bag. "Ugh, curse you, curse you, Imposter. Guess I can use all the training I can get if I want to take on the Elite Four soon, anyway... I'll just have to sweep you."

She was agreeing? This was great! Imposter saw through every trace of annoyance she displayed towards it. Poké Balls flew.

It was Ditto and Aurorus. It was Hidden Power from the latter. It was defeated and replaced; the next Ditto sent out its own Hidden Power.

Serena gasped: Aurorus was bent over panting. "S-Steel? How'd you manage to get so lucky? Aurorus, just keep it up."

Ditto survived this time, and its next move knocked out the opponent rather handily. Serena mumbled. "That was quick...

"Go on, Charizard."

A Power-Up Punch from Charizard, and Imposter's second bit the dust. It sent another, and Serena commanded Fly.

"Follow him!" Imposter chanted. Ditto Transformed rapidly, and took off.

Charizard moved calmly, darting around Ditto until he could not stay airborne.

Ditto nose-dived straight into the red Flying-Type, and both trainers cringed at the impact.

It's a critical hit!

Charizard huffed and shook himself off; Ditto touched down gently. "Now, Aerial Ace."

Imposter's battler followed its orders directly. Charizard fell backwards, landing awkwardly on his wings, and with a groan, he fell unconscious.

Serena tsk-ed. "Charizard, you're better than that," she said, holding up his Ball. "We'll - work on this later. Return."

She uneasily sent out Vaporeon, whom Imposter had itself never battled but had seen in action. This was a Pokémon it could only trust its best with handling.

"Ditto, this isn't going to go well for you," it explained. "Take a break."

Ditto zipped back into its Poké Ball, Imposter exchanging it for Limber.

Serena's face showed confusion at this choice, but she commanded an attack anyway. "Vaporeon, Surf."

Limber's eyes widened as the attack hurtled forward. "Imposter, her? Are you serious?"

This again? Imposter thought it was doing a decent job at getting Limber over its lack of confidence battling. It tried to remind it of this, but the Surf had washed over it and made hearing impossible.

"W-What?"

"I said... Use Transform!"

That was not really true, but it was still in a battle and still needed to give orders.

"Surf again, Vaporeon!"

Like a Deerling caught in headlights, Limber paused mid-Transformation as the water crashed down again. "Limber!" Imposter cried out, not caring how suspicious it must have looked to Serena. She knew it sometimes spoke to its Pokémon. "Limber, are you - listen, you're okay?"

Limber coughed up some water, smoothing out the rest of the Transformation. "I-I'm just fine. Just tell me what to do..."

Imposter grunted. "Uh-huh. Then use Surf right back!"

Vaporeon's Water Absorb: It doesn't affect Vaporeon...

"What!?" Imposter went wide-eyed. "What kind of trick is-"

Serena looked smug. "Vaporeon can turn themselves into water," she explained. "So it just phases through him. Being hit with a Water-Type attack like Surf can even restore his health, if he needs it to."

Imposter just stood there, mouth agape. "Anyway, Vaporeon. Use Aurora Beam for me?"

He did, and Limber stumbled over, helpless. "I-" it coughed again. "Imposter, I couldn't do it..."

"Li... Now, don't say that," Imposter said, concerned. "You put in good work. We'll win this."

"It's a lie," protested Limber as it turned red. "He took no damage, he's unbea..."

The rest of the word was inaudible, as its speaker retreated into its Poké Ball.

Limber fainted!

Imposter sighed and stood up, tilting down the brim of its hat. "Alright, Ditto. Go on, destroy that thing."

"You know I can hear you?" Vaporeon asked; he was ignored. Ditto came out.

"Use Aurora Beam. Don't stop until he's down."

Serena patted her battler. "You get 'em, boy."

The two exchanged moves furiously until at long last, Vaporeon was defeated. Imposter sprayed a Hyper Potion in thanks as Serena sent out her next.

"Go on, Meowstic!"

Okay; this was her third to last, and its second to last. It was still anyone's game, in Imposter's mind.

Meowstic used Fake Out!
Ditto flinched and couldn't move!
Meowstic used Psychic!
It's a critical hit!

"Oh, yeah, good job, Meowstic!" Serena praised. She did not seem to pay any attention to the Ditto panting on the other side of the battlefield.

Imposter finally caught its breath. "It's fine, we can do this," it stated, matter-of-factly. "Ditto, do a Surf."

Meowstic flew backwards, but landed on her feet. "Psychic again," Serena mumbled.

"You want to avoid-"

But it was too late, and Ditto keeled over. Sighing again, Imposter raised its Ball and called it back.

Last one. "Go, Ditto!"

Ditto used Fake Out!
Meowstic flinched and couldn't move!
Ditto used Shadow Ball!
It's super effective!
Meowstic fainted!

"Hmph." Serena called her Pokémon back. "If that's how you're going to do it."

Then she sent out Absol.

"You know what we're about to do." She smirked. "Too bad that's your last Ditto, huh? Or else you could use Mega Absol again, too!"

The Ditto stood in awe as she raised the Mega Ring high in the sky, the twin stones giving off their matching glows.

"Ditto..." Imposter was whispering, not as a tactical measure, but purely out of fear. "If-If you can, I want to see a real good Moonblast, okay?"

But Serena was too ambitious. "Quick Attack, knock it out."

If not for Absol having Mega-Evolved, Imposter would not have expected the attack to do anywhere near enough damage to take out Ditto in one move. In light of this, it was satisfied with how well its friend was able to take the hit.

"And... now!" it shouted; Ditto was already charging the move.

Ditto used Moonblast!
It's super effective!

Absol looked genuinely hurt, but the determination to win never left his eyes. "It didn't do enough. Night Slash, Absol!"

"No, Ditto! Another Moonblast, quickly!"

It was to Imposter's immense gratification that Ditto was able to move first. Before his long blade of a horn could come in contact with it, Absol fell to the ground.

By now, Serena was appalled. "Wha-What are you doing? A comeback? When'd you get good enough to come so close to beating me, even after how hard we worked to get to this point?"

Her voice was waning, and something glistened in her eyes. With one arm, she wiped her face off; "I know how much Ditto matters to you, but you're a pretty weird trainer, you know that? Keeping us all back for so long. Breaking Shauna's heart. Why she'd have a crush on someone like you is beyond me. How many times have I saved you from Team Flare, and how many times have you thanked me? It doesn't matter that you don't know how to talk like a person. All you've done is - augh! - remember in Shalour City? You probably don't, but I sure do. Korrina's Gym? Because of you, I had to wait a full day before getting this here Mega Ring.

"And-And I know I shouldn't be talking to you like that, but do you even know how frustrating you are sometimes?" She wiped her eyes again. "And here I am being a sore loser. Let's-" she sniveled. "Let's just finish this."

She took out her last Poké Ball, nodded determinedly at it, and flung it into battle.

Chesnaught materialised in a sparkly, majestic blur. In a snap his eyes were focused on Imposter and its friend.

He opened his mouth to say something, but Serena cut him off.

Her words stung like sharp poison. "Seed Bomb."

Imposter was too stunned to give an order of its own, alarming Ditto greatly. The poor battler fell to the ground after the move, unconscious.

"Should teach you," Chesnaught spat. "Mess with Serena again, we'll see how that goes for you."

He turned back to her, and she held his Ball tight. "Thank you," she said quietly. "Return."

This time, Chesnaught would not even look back at Imposter before dematerializing.

Serena exhaled, putting Chesnaught's Ball away. "O-Okay, I didn't mean to blow up at you. We're still a team, you and I and the rest of the gang, but you keep getting in the way all the time... Man, it isn't even your fault, is it? You're so traumatised that you can't even speak, how could I expect you to be on par with the daughter of one of Kalos's C-"

She stopped. "That's - not important. I-I still need to meet the professor! There's a Gym here in Anistar City. Challenge it if you want, just know that I'm going to become Champion myself way before you ever do. The outcome of this battle has nothing to do with it! Goodbye, Imposter."

And she strode off without even giving it a chance to return its fallen Ditto.

Even after Imposter checked to be sure he was still there, Froakie was eerily silent.

To the western side of Anistar City was a sizable river and a balcony overlooking it. Imposter was leaning up against this now, studying the water.

It could Transform into a Water-Type and jump in, and it would enjoy the river much more that way; in fact, there was a Froakie right there that would not be hard to duplicate. But somehow Imposter just was not interested. Its team had been physically healed at the Pokémon Center in town, but it was still feeling something awful.

It felt sick. That was probably it. Was it Pokérus season again? It had just spent a long time in the cold, and being the trainer, could not itself have been given the high-quality medical services available in the Pokémon Center. It closed its eyes, head resting on its arms, resting on the railing. Froakie sat upon its feet, twiddling his thumbs.

Breathing felt good, at least. Maybe a little too good. If not for the approaching human, it might have fallen asleep standing up, right there and then. It could understand if Froakie already had.

"Taking a loss is never easy, is it?" asked a voice that Imposter remembered. It opened its eyes, but did not face him. "But you have never seemed to care as much as you do now. Why is that?"

Froakie leapt off Imposter's feet, causing it to turn. "Dude, it's Lyz! This guy. Man, you came at the right time, my friend."

"You too," Lysandre said, his voice gentle. The Pokémon knew that he could not possibly understand what Froakie was saying, and was simply humoring him.

Imposter stood up straight, adjusting its bag by the strap. It fully remembered this human now as the one it was supposedly working for. "So, have you been using the Holo Caster I gave to you?"

Was it supposed to be? "No; no you haven't." Lysandre had answered himself. Imposter did not question how he knew this. "You know what I asked of you. That I'd like you to come to my lab at some point, to... talk about some things?"

Oh, yes, it did remember this. "Well, I've made up my mind. Soon, Lysandre Labs will be coming out with its greatest new creation... but I'm wondering if we really should be using it. I'm hoping you can give me some of this insight. Now, if you would so please."

Imposter Fact of the Day: In its normal human form, Imposter is actually left-handed; when it remembers to be, that is. Me? Almost completely ambidextrous, although I write better with my right. It's much easier to hold the paper that way.