I woke up from my nap feeling much calmer, and not just because of the lingering sleepiness that I struggled to rub from my eyes as the Bidoof gang all began to stir and head toward the back door of the house. I had released my transformation sometime in my sleep, and now that the shift had ended, the oddities of my attitude during the change were made more clear to me. I was a little concerned, but honestly I wasn't worrying over the behavior.
My forms clearly had an influence on my thoughts, and I had relied on those body-driven instincts to fill in the blanks that my mind wasn't aware of. It just seemed like the fiery nature of Growlithe had run a little bit wild. Thinking about it, most of my transformations had been fully or partially normal-type. I did most of my sparring in a Pidgey's form, after that it was probably Bibarel's form I had spent the most time in. My natural state was also a normal-type Pokémon. Was it deviating from my 'natural' typing that brought on these stronger changes?
I hadn't really wanted to think about how aggressive I had felt during the battle with the Noctowl, and honestly I still didn't want to dwell on the details. But I had definitely been more directed and aggressive. I took risks that were very unnatural for me, like the only thing that mattered was the goal of winning the fight. I rationalized my urge to battle by saying that I had to defend Pidgey, as I couldn't run off and leave her, but I could have played distraction for her to get away and then fled in a faster form on my own. I didn't have to beat them down so severely. I wonder if the side effect of bug-type Pokémon is single-mindedness? If I thought about it from a colony or hive perspective, it made sense. Specializing into a role and fulfilling that duty.
Regardless, I shook my head and decided that I wanted to analyze my own behavior during more radical transformations going forward. I might drag Pidgey or even Mable along to get an outside observation on how I was acting. The changes in demeanor and behavior hadn't been anything too particularly disruptive or uncontrollable up to this point, but having some idea of what mood-swings or whatever I was having for a given form would help me plan around and avoid issues in the future.
I slumped down on the spot and let myself get lost in my thoughts, waiting for the Bidoof to settle in and start eating so I didn't have to mingle with their crowding bodies. Once the path was clear, I moved to my usual spot on the counter and gave an easy leap up onto the surface. Considering I just did a vertical leap of three times my own height, I was getting better at mobility in my own natural state. It no longer felt so unusual to move around in my own body, and I no longer felt the same disconcertment over my missing appendages that I had even just a few days ago.
"Evenin', Ditto. Here's the same as usual, Oran berries." Mable flashed a small grin at me as she maneuvered through and around the gathering Pokémon, pouring kibbles, passing out berries, handing a sack-full of them to Pansage to cart off to the buggies out in the back trees. I waved my thanks and grinned in return, chewing on the plump juiciness of the berries as I resumed my thoughts.
Okay, let's try and form a plan of transformation exploration. Let's see. I need to go over what forms I know and try and decide what needs practice first. Ideally, I want to set a bar of having one Pokémon form for every type of Pokémon. That's not really feasible, so I'll try and settle for having type coverage for all possible types with moves.
So, let's go down the list and see how well I remember my type charts. First up, normal type. Check that one off the list, I doubt I'm going to find any forms more suitable than Bibarel on the ground and Pidgey or Pidgeotto in the sky. And they both branch out to dabble in water and flying, respectively.
Next up, I've got fire covered with Growlithe, obviously.
Water and grass can be covered by the Lotad form, even if it's not exactly what I'd consider a strong contender to have any longevity as the king of its role. It's just so... placid-looking. It leaves me firmly doubting that form's combat prowess, but it might leave me surprised, so put it somewhere on the list for testing.
Electric types, though, have evaded me thus far. I'm not sure I've even got a form that can utilize electricity in any attacks. It's a shame the only Geodude I saw during the kids' tournament wasn't an Alolan variant. Might as well mark that down as my rock-type of choice. Sure, that Dwebble I faced off with was a feisty little hermit crab, but given the choice I was going to enjoy having real, functional hands instead of pinchers. It's also the contender for my ground-typing, unless one of those Bunnelby wants to evolve in the near future and let me grab a Diggersby form.
Ice typing or moves are another one that I remember being relatively uncommon in the games, outside of the TM-taught moves. Oh man, that's a whole 'nother mess to consider, can I learn TMs and how do those work? No, focus. Analyze, and think about cheating to learn new moves later. Ice powers sound both fun and useful, so maybe make a note to ask Mable if there's any of those in the nearby area?
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
Fighting types... I'd love to get my hands on a form from the Machop line. Cheating my way into being a bodybuilder was always a dream in my last life, since I never had the determination to work out and stick to it. I'll have to be content with the assorted moves I can use instead of having the typing directly. A bunch of my normal-type forms and even Growlithe have access to it in some capacity.
As for poison, golly gee I wonder if there's a whole forest full of inspiration for me to take from on that regard. I'm not keen on Beedrill, but if I do need to jab poison into something, foot-long needle-arms are probably the best way to do it.
Psychic is another void I'm really craving a way to fill. I could transform into that Noctowl to have access to some attacking psychic-type moves, but that's a far cry from giving me the telepathy I'm chomping at the bit for. I'd fight that Noctowl all over again, by myself even, if it meant I could get a form from the Abra or Ralts line. Ralts would even cover fairy typing, and I can't even begin to guess where I'd find something from that elusive typing.
Scyther's been my 'it's time to get serious' battle form for a while, so I'd probably stick to it for purely bug-type fighting prowess that doesn't need Beedrill's access to poison stingers. Honestly, I hit the jackpot when I copied the Scyther I saw. It's bigger than I think Scyther should be, and seems like a half-step toward an alpha or a pack-leader. Swarm leader, for bugs? I don't know. But a badass.
Ghosts... ugh. I'd love to have access to a ghost-type form just to see what that's like. The ability to go incorporeal and move through things, or turn invisible, or other potential ghostly shenanigans? Sign me up! The only downside is having to interact with a ghost-type in the first place. Ideally without getting entangled in all sorts of random mischief. That area where I first hatched... didn't Bibarel say something about people talking about the area being creepy? It was so awfully silent, too. At least during the day for the brief time I was there. Maybe that's a place to consider heading back to, to scout around at night and see if there's any haunting going on?
As for dragon-types? I wish. Hey, Arceus, you want to have a trainer with a Dragonite come by and do a little teaching to our local kids? And also have it happen here on the pasture for some convenient reason? I wouldn't turn down a little divine intervention on the matter! Don't be in a hurry to turn me down, I'll wait optimistically and assume that not hearing 'no' means there's a chance!
I've got that one punk's Murkrow as an example of dark typing, and honestly I feel like that's going to be a typing I need outside supervision in. I may be acting too judgmental from a sample size of one, and that trainer could just be a bad example for his Pokémon, but his Murkrow enjoyed taunting and mocking me way too much for it to be polite. The last thing I want to do is to wind up doing stupid, heel-turning villain things. I can't deny the usefulness of some tactics that the typing could allow, though.
... Why are so many of my forms winding up to be birds, anyway? Sheesh. Like probably half the forms I've been considering can fly! Not that maneuverability is a bad thing, but it just feels like flying types are showing up around me more than anything else.
Anyway. Wrapping up the list of types is the Steel type, and honestly I'm quite happy to have gotten a chance to clone the Aron line. I might not have used the form long, definitely not because I didn't want to provoke the two little jerk-bags who beat me up when I wanted to join their play-fighting, but I wasn't going to turn up my nose at getting to spend some more time as a sentient armored tank. Plus, I'm curious if I'll be able to eat metal the way they can, and if that'll have any negative effects on me or make something go wrong when I change back to my natural form. Note to self, get Mable involved in the metal-eating testing too, just in case. I don't know what she could do to help if anything did go wrong, though... alright, scratch that last bit. Ask Mable if she thinks it's a good idea even before I consider trying it. I doubt there's another Ditto out there who's figured this one out for me previously, but it can't hurt to ask.
... Where did everyone go? Seriously? I sat here and pondered so long that everyone else finished up eating and wandered off? I guess I did have a lot on my mind. I even finished off all my own berries! Aw, man! I wasn't even paying attention, so I don't even remember getting to taste them while I ate!
I hopped down off the counter with a sullen frown, glancing around as I tried to make up my mind on what I was going to do for the rest of the night. I had lost track of my enthusiastic new recruit into the pasture's battling scene, mingled in with the rest of the Bidoof, so going back and doing more battle practice with them was off the table unless I wanted to dig through the pile to find 'em. Eh. Too much work, I'll wait for them to want to approach me for battling in the future, instead. Being honest, I still can barely tell different Pokémon of the same species apart! I only managed to easily pick my Pidgey sparring partner out of the flock because she was a particularly large bird, and was an extra head taller than the rest.
Hm. Well, let's go dig around in the rocky terrain in the back of the pasture for the evening, then. I've got a few good hours of light left, and who knows? Maybe I'll find some more forms over there or something. I'd love to see the Geodude or one of the Arons evolve, as that would give me access to a proper bruiser of a tanky brawling form. Not that the unevolved forms can't do the job, but there's no substitute for being a big, heavy honking mass of rock and/or steel, now is there?
Hm. I wonder... do you think I can help 'force' one of the Arons to evolve by feeding it more metal? ... Where can I find metal that no one's going to mind going missing? ... No, no. I probably shouldn't. But maybe...