"You still have your Volcarona, don't you?"
The man in the white robe asked with a doubtful expression.
"You want to challenge my Volcarona? Do you people even have a world-class Pokémon?"
Nathan responded with a faint smile tugging at his lips.
What a joke. His Volcarona had already advanced into the Legendary tier. If it were to fight against another Pokémon of the same Legendary level, victory was practically guaranteed.
In fact, there was even a very high chance that Volcarona could inflict serious injuries on its opponent. And if that were to happen, then how were those trainers supposed to raise their other Pokémon to Legendary tier in the future?
"World-class Pokémon? Why would you say that?"
One of the trainers who had not yet challenged Nathan frowned and asked.
Wasn't the rule that as long as you had a Legendary-level Pokémon, you were eligible to challenge Nathan? Why was it suddenly being said that a world-class Pokémon was required?
But such a creature—how could humans even hope to capture one?
Nathan did not bother giving them any further explanation. Instead, he simply released his Volcarona on the spot.
The moment Volcarona appeared in everyone's field of vision, all of them froze completely.
"L–Legendary level?"
Nathan's Volcarona had broken through to Legendary?
The whole world knew that Nathan's strongest partner was Volcarona, but in everyone's understanding, they had always believed his Volcarona was still only at the Champion level.
One had to know—back when Volcarona had only been Champion-level, it already possessed the strength to defeat certain Legendary Pokémon.
And now that it had advanced into Legendary itself… did those trainers really think that their so-called Legendary-tier Pokémon could still compete with it?
That was absolutely impossible. Even if Nathan himself were to agree, those trainers would not dare to go through with the battle.
To be more accurate, such a fight could not even be called a battle. It would be nothing but one-sided abuse.
"Let's take a break. Since Nathan's Pokémon needs rest, then we should also rest."
One of the trainers who had not yet fought against Nathan spoke up.
"That's right, I feel the same way. Challenging a Pokémon that is not in its peak condition would be dishonorable."
Another trainer quickly echoed in agreement.
In truth, they were scared. Completely terrified.
After a few more exchanged words, the group dispersed and returned to Grace City. As for Nathan, he made his way back to the mystic realm. These two days, he absolutely had to make sure that his Frosmoth recovered its strength as quickly as possible.
At present, both Mewtwo and Frosmoth only needed to defeat two more Legendary Pokémon each before they would qualify to advance into Legendary tier themselves.
As usual, Nathan released his Pokémon so they could begin training.
But just as he was about to continue with their routine, a thought suddenly struck him.
Hadn't he captured a Pokémon back in that special mystic realm some time ago?
Because things had been so rushed when he left, he had completely forgotten to check what exactly that Pokémon was.
And after returning home, he had been so busy with other matters that he had left that Pokémon sealed away inside its Poké Ball all this time.
Rummaging through his backpack, Nathan found the forgotten Poké Ball and released the Pokémon inside.
The moment he saw what he had caught, he couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Because what he had captured… was a ball!
To be more precise, it wasn't an ordinary sphere, but a formless blob of a Pokémon—Ditto!
(TN: Lmao, did this happen? I don't remember this.)
At this moment, since Ditto had not transformed, its natural form was nothing but a soft, round lump.
Nathan carefully inspected its abilities. When he saw its Ability, he was stunned into silence before laughing again.
Its Ability was… None.
In other words, it didn't have an Ability at all!
This was the very first time he had ever encountered a Pokémon without an Ability.
Normally, Dittos always had the Ability Limber.
But why was it that his Ditto had no Ability whatsoever?
Curious, Nathan called out to Charmander and pointed at it.
"Can you transform into this little guy?"
Ditto circled around Charmander once… and then nothing happened.
At first, seeing Ditto flying around Charmander, Nathan thought it was about to transform into Charmander's likeness.
But who could have expected that this fellow had only been circling for the sake of circling?
"What? You're a Ditto, yet you can't even transform into another Pokémon?"
Nathan stared speechlessly at Ditto.
…
After staring at it for a long while, he still didn't see Ditto make any attempt to copy Charmander.
"Forget it. Then just transform into something. Show me anything at all."
Nathan sighed helplessly.
Was this Ditto really useless? If it couldn't even manage a proper transformation, then what use could it possibly have in battle?
What—was he supposed to keep it around as a pet just for fun? But there wasn't even much to look at—just a purple blob.
Ditto began to wander around, seemingly searching for something to mimic.
It studied trees, flowers, even stones on the ground, for a long time.
But still, there was no sign of transformation.
Finally, Ditto returned to Nathan and started circling around him instead.
"You couldn't even turn into a Pokémon, and now you're circling me? Don't tell me you're planning to transform into me?"
Nathan rubbed his forehead, half exasperated.
Compared to copying a Pokémon, surely transforming into a human should be even harder, right?
But his words turned out to be premature.
Because right after he finished speaking, Ditto's body began to stir!
Its soft purple flesh rippled like putty, as though an invisible hand were kneading it. Slowly, a rough humanoid shape began to take form.
And it didn't stop there. As the rough outline solidified, Ditto's surface began to shift in color.
Today, Nathan was dressed in a simple white hoodie, black long pants, and black canvas shoes. This had always been his favored, casual attire.
Ditto's upper half turned white to match the hoodie, its lower body became black, and its feet darkened to resemble shoes. Already, its resemblance to Nathan had reached about thirty percent.
Minute by minute, Ditto refined itself further, shaping the details with surprising precision.
Nathan stood frozen as he watched himself slowly being recreated before his very eyes.
By the time Ditto's transformation was complete, Nathan only had two words in his mind: Incredible!
It was identical. Absolutely identical. Every detail of his body had been replicated perfectly.
If he hadn't personally watched Ditto transform right in front of him, he would have thought he had been looking at a twin brother he never knew he had.
"Even though turning into me doesn't give you much combat ability, I still have to say—you're incredible!"
Nathan pulled out a pokeblock and tossed it to Ditto.
Ditto accepted the treat happily and stuffed it into its mouth.
While Ditto was distracted eating, Nathan walked around it in a circle, scrutinizing every inch of its body from head to toe.
Flawless. Not a single detail was off. Even the strands of hair were perfectly copied.
This wasn't mere mimicry anymore. This was practically a full-blown clone of himself.
"Since you've become me… can you also speak?"
Nathan asked curiously.
"I… can… talk…"
Ditto muttered between bites of its block.
The words came haltingly, as though it was unused to producing human speech. Still, the fact that it could talk at all was shocking enough.
It must have been its very first time transforming into a human, which explained the awkwardness.
Unable to resist, Nathan pulled out his phone, wrapped an arm around Ditto's shoulders, and snapped a selfie with it.
There's an old saying: When something unbelievable happens, don't panic—take out your phone, snap a picture, and post it online!
Of course, within this mystic realm, he couldn't share pictures with others. But once he got out, he could show it to his friends.
Just imagining the looks on Lily's and his parents' faces made him grin—they would be just as stunned as he had been.
"Other than talking, what else can you do?"
Nathan asked.
Ditto rubbed its chin thoughtfully, then closed its eyes.
A moment later, a fist-sized rock in front of them floated into the air.
Opening its eyes, Ditto controlled the stone, making it circle around.
Nathan's eyes widened.
"This… isn't this my psychic power?"
The resemblance was uncanny. But compared to his own psychic ability, Ditto's seemed even stronger.
"You can use everything that I can?"
He asked in astonishment.
If that were true, wouldn't that make Ditto unbelievably overpowered?
Maybe it wouldn't shine much in actual Pokémon battles, but in other aspects, it could be terrifyingly useful.
"Yes. Everything… you can… I can."
Ditto spoke a little faster this time, clearly becoming more accustomed to its new form.
Hearing this, Nathan felt as though he had stumbled upon a priceless treasure.
If transforming into himself granted Ditto all of his own skills, then what if it transformed into someone else? Would it gain all of their abilities as well?
But then… why couldn't it transform into a Pokémon?
"You really can't transform into Pokémon? If you can turn into me, then why not Charmander?"
Nathan asked with knitted brows. By logic, copying a Charmander should be much easier than imitating a human.
Yet Ditto, who could flawlessly become him, still failed at becoming a little Charmander.
"It's… too high level."
Ditto pointed at Charmander as it answered.
(End of Chapter)