It didn't take too long to rush after the Bibarel, considering he had continued his sedate meandering along and I had dashed off after him in a fright. The noise of him pushing through the overgrowth was almost a relief to find. "Oh, you're coming after all. That's nice. I'm glad you changed your mind." Even his dopey, drawn-out 'Baaaareeeel' noises were comforting after that eerie silence back there.

"So, you come through these woods a lot you said, right, since you're checking up on the Magikarp and all that? Why is that place so darn... creepy? Like, it's just so quiet and it felt like someone was watching me. Not so much now, I guess, but I really felt it back there." I settled in to pace alongside the Bibarel, and couldn't stop myself from peeking over my shoulder back the way I had just came from.

"Oh, well, you're not the first one to tell me that, but honestly, I've never felt weird walking through there. I want to tell folk they're imagining things, but it seems like almost everybody but me says something like that, on the rare time I bump into anyone over here. The only thing I can think of is that there's a cave over there that everybody seems to stay away from. Dunno what's in it, I never cared much for caves, but I've never seen anything going in or coming out. Maybe it's ghosts? Ghosts like to watch people and play pranks. Whatever it is, it hasn't done me any harm, so it's probably fine to ignore it."

Now, I wouldn't mind seeing a ghost, particularly from great distance, so I could just transform into it and experiment with what it was like to fly through objects and all that. But getting involved in a probably-haunted cave? No thank you, I'll pass! By now, the trees had grown more sparse, but we were still in a pretty wooded area, so I tried to keep the conversation moving after that dead-end reply.

"So about the pasture you were talking about? Tell me more about it." The Bibarel perked right up, nodding his head, "Oh, sure. It's great! It's really nothing too special to look at, because it's just a big, fenced in field with some built-up terrain features to let a bunch of different Pokémon feel comfortable and at-home. But the nice part is when all the kids come by and get so excited to be around and play." The goofy grin on Bibarel's face seemed to be reminiscing, so much so that he actually walked straight into a tree before realizing it. He barely reacted, though, not even taking a step back to get reoriented, he merely scooted along the edge of it and kept walking.

I perked up at that. So it might be some kind of Pokémon sanctuary, or something? That might be a good place to get my bearings for a while. "So the kids come around to spend time with Pokémon? They aren't going to catch us, are they? It's just being around them?" I pushed for him to clarify.

He shook his head, then paused midway through. "Well, I was going to say no, but there's special occasions. I think it's about once a year that the kids come by and look to see if anyone wants to travel with them. A lot of Pokémon grow fond of the kids, because they visit and play through the year, and they'll go with one they like. But I don't think I've seen anyone get caught without wanting to go."

I had lost track of time while we were walking, but I felt a sudden tightness in my chest that quickly spread through the rest of my body. I squeaked out in panic, wondering what was wrong, before a sheen of white-colored energy coursed over my body. I felt myself shrink, and slip back into my purple, amorphous-blob of natural form. "I didn't want to do that! Hmm!" I wondered if there was a time limit to my transformation, or if I was just doing something wrong. I didn't remember anything about Dittos only being able to transform for a certain amount of time.

With a quick stare back at my companion, I willed the change to happen again almost immediately. The white light formed, the energy flowed across my body once again, and I managed to duplicate the Bibarel once again... but it felt like the change happened slower, and I was feeling more worn-out than I had been a moment ago. "Okay. Probably... not a good idea to stay changed all the time, then..." I mumbled to myself, trotting forward to catch up again. We passed through a break in the trees and found ourselves on a small lane of grass on the side of a small stream.

Bibarel moved right into the water, swimming across much faster than he had been waddling in his stride, and I called for him to wait. "Hey! I- I don't know how to swim!" He turned around to face me, his head tipping aside at an angle as he examined me. "Of course you know how to swim! You're transformed into me, and I know how to swim." He called back, but waited on the other bank for me to cross.

I stepped forward and lowered my body into the water, peering down to examine the webbing between my digits on my hands. "I guess I probably do... just... swim after me if I sink, okay?" I took a deep breath and swam forward, paddling rather easily across the surface of the water. Honestly, Bibarel fur seemed to repel water, and I felt like I was so buoyant that I wasn't going to sink unless I actively tried to swim downward.

Something bumped me in the water, though, brushing along my stomach, and I screamed like I was dying. I frantically paddled for the opposing shore and whipped around to assess the threat, only to see a dopey, orange-hued and yellow-whiskered face staring back at me. 'Karp!' "Sorry!" A red color crept onto my face, and I avoided meeting Bibarel's gaze. I just had the life scared out of me by what may very well be the least intimidating Pokémon in existence.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

Fortunately, Bibarel didn't tease me about it, merely nodding and giving me reassurance. "See, swimming is easy. We're near the road now, and then we should be able to see the fence soon. I'll have to bring you to my trainer, though. We can't let anyone into the pasture without getting checked, because they let the kids in."

A heavy sigh escaped me at that, but it made sense. I was willing to risk an encounter with a trainer that Bibarel was vouching for over a random encounter, and it might earn me a place to get my bearings and settle down for a bit if all goes well. Now that we were across the river, I was spotting more and more Pokémon as we strolled. Little rabbits I recognized as Bunnelby bounded through the grass and nibbled on the flowers, a flat worm of a Dunsparce scooting around the base of a tree and not realizing it was going in circles, and a lone Farfetch'd winging around overhead.

I almost considered giving up my Bibarel transformation to try out flying, but I was already feeling a little worn out when I did my second transformation, and I didn't know how bad I would feel if I had to do a third. Plus, I'd have to wait for Bibarel to catch up anyway, so there was little point. We stumbled across a dirt path and turned left, trotting along down the path. There weren't any humans around, but the area seemed well-travelled enough that it was a possibility someone could show up at any time.

A picturesque white picket fence appeared down the road a ways, something that would almost certainly not keep anyone or anything from crossing over. Still, when we got close and I approached the fence to examine it, definitely not intending to cross over and sate my curiosity about the inside, there was a terrible stink lingering around the fence. It was so bad it made my eyes water, and I all but coughed out a lung hurrying back to the road.

Strangely enough, the scent didn't seem to carry on the wind or travel very far, sticking close to the wood. "Oh, sorry about that. Yeah, the pasture treats the fences with some kind of spray that's supposed to keep Pokémon from getting in that aren't supposed to be there. It doesn't do much for the birds, but they just chase off any of the fliers. There's not really aggressive birds around here, so it's not a big deal. Honestly, I think it's mostly to keep the Litleo out. They're fighty little buggers."

We followed along the fence until we came across an old-styled ranch house, the sprawling, single-floor structure extending the roof out over the outdoors to create a sheltered area along the edge of it on the inside of the pasture. Underneath the roofed area, many smaller and docile Pokémon lingered and seemed to be idly fooling around. Some of it matched what I had seen in the local area, as a few Dunsparce wriggled aimlessly about, and there were a pair of Bunnelby playing tag, but others I hadn't seen yet.

A blue, slick-looking little mouse was bouncing around on the blue sphere of its tail with hyperactive excitement. Somebody needs to swap that Azurill to decaff. A small cluster of Bidoof lay in a snoring pile out in the sun, "Are they related to you?" I tipped my nose toward the pile to point them out, and Bibarel shook his head. "No, no. I'm just the one who looks after them when I'm around. I'm sure they'll be happy to meet you if you want to introduce yourself."

We wandered in the front lawn of the house, padding up to the door. "You should probably let yourself go back to normal to get introduced. Can't be lying about introducing yourself, you know." Grumbling, I focused on releasing the mild tension I felt through my body, and the sense of weariness grew in me once again. Hopefully transforming would take less and less out of me, with more practice.

I slumped down on the porch in a loose blob of tiredness as Bibarel decided to knock on the door... with his head. Just, ramming himself into the door in firm headbutts that made me wince slightly. Doesn't that... hurt? My eyes were drawn to the slight sheen of white-colored energy that capped the crown of his head. He must be actually using the move Headbutt to make it so it affected him less.

A distant, female voice called out, "Coming! One second!" before I heard someone trotting to the door. When it swung open, I saw a motherly-looking woman with auburn hair tied in a loose ponytail, wiping her hands off on a messy apron covered in assorted cooking ingredients. "Heya Bibi! What's got you- oh! You brought a new friend?" Her attention wandered from Bibarel toward me, and I tensed nervously, ready to bolt at the first sign of wanting to try and catch me or anything of the like.

Her tanned features slipped into a kind, easy-going smile, and she crouched down to get closer to my level. Man, it was going to take some getting used to, seeing people as... well, people, and not giants. I'd like to say that I wasn't affected, but I leaned away from her approach, which only coaxed soothing noises from her. "Oh, it's okay, shh. Don't be scared, I'm not going to hurt you, little fella." She extended a hand toward me, but kept the motion slow, as if worried I would be skittish. I wasn't skittish! Okay, a little on edge, but... oh, fine. I leaned myself forward again in acceptance, "Nice to meet you." 'Ditto Di-di.'

"Well, you don't seem like a dangerous little thing, so I suppose you can come in. That's why you were knockin', right Bibi?" Bibarel nodded enthusiastically, "Yep, they want to see the pasture." 'Biba Reeeeel.' Right. I can't talk to her, and neither can he. Why is it that Pokémon don't have any issues communicating over a species barrier, but they can't talk to humans? That was just frustrating. Idly, I considered needing to find myself a psychic type Pokémon to mimic, like an Alakazam, that might let me communicate through telepathy.

I was rather jarringly interrupted from my pondering as a warm hand all but scooped underneath my blobby body and picked me up from the ground. "Wah~!?" I shouted out in surprise, and felt another hand caress across the top of my head, sending gentle surges of delight through my wobbling form. Okay. That was actually pretty nice. But don't think I'm going to turn around and melt just because of some head-scritching or anything!

"That's a good little fella, I'll bring you around back. And you're lucky, we're still getting ready for dinner, so adding a little bit more on for you shouldn't be a problem. Come on, Bibi, lets go out the back door and you can get your new friend settled in." Her voice dropped lower, almost to herself, "I'll have to get on the computer and check a few things, though. I'm not sure how to examine a Ditto to see if they're healthy or not..."

Huh. Well, I guess my first encounter with a human hadn't been so bad. Maybe this place would be nice to settle in for a while.