I have to confess, I lost myself in the game with the Lotad without paying even a single bit of heed toward the passage of time. Honestly, it felt so very pleasant to just do something absolutely silly that served no purpose besides being fun. From various stressful encounters to my regular sparring practice... when was the last time I had just done something mindless and fun? I wasn't sure, and I doubted that was a good or healthy revelation. I should cut loose a little more. Sure, Mable had tried her best to tell me not to be in a hurry all the time, but I had just sort of brushed off the remarks with a casual acceptance before I moved on. It was only now that I was actually having fun that I recognized how important that advice was.

As I had stopped keeping track of time, it wasn't until I heard an exasperated-sounding Mable shouting out during her approach toward the pond that I stopped participating in the game. "Ditto? Oh, Bibi. Have you seen Ditto? I sent him to find you almost an hour ago!" I swam over toward the edge of the pond and crawled out of the water, the heavy lily pad leaf atop my head soggy from the multiple Water Gun attacks, before reverting to my normal form.

"I'm here, sorry! I got distracted..." 'Ditto-Dit Dit-to.' I rubbed at the back of my head and put on a sheepish grin as I bounded across the well-watered grass around the pond's edge. It was more than slightly muddy, as the enthusiasm with which a bunch of Lotad fired water guns around didn't make for the best marksmen. It had resulted in a healthy spraying of the ground around the pond too.

"There you are." Mable shook her head as she looked me over, taking in my slightly-muddied figure. "It's a good thing that we aren't in a hurry, mister." While it may seem like she was scolding me, she only seemed amused, and her attention wandered toward the Lotad in the pond who had continued their game even with my absence. "I was able to get you in for late this afternoon, so we'll be able to get you into the Pokémon Center today, but since we're heading over to Santalune already, you're going to have to tag along with me while I run some errands. We already needed to stop by the Pokémart to get you a Pokéball anyway. Still, you're small enough that there won't be any fuss if I leave you out of the Pokéball while I do the rest of the shopping I want to get done. That is, if you think you can behave. Most places are a little lenient toward well-behaved Pokémon, even if they technically say that they don't allow them to be out."

I made an unhappy face, then nodded vehemently. I'd be on good behavior. While my experience with Pokéballs is rather extremely limited, the brief time I had spent in one I hadn't particularly enjoyed. Sure, part of that might have been the stressful nature of the events at the time, but the memory of it just reminded me too much of being back in an egg, in the period before I hatched. If I had to spend too much time in a Pokéball, it'd be really boring. I wonder if I can sleep inside a Pokéball? Is that what most trainer's Pokémon do when they're being transported around? It must be really rough on the big, potentially destructive or disruptive ones, like Onix or something similarly large. Shoot, I was getting sidetracked again!

Hooking her thumb over her shoulder toward the house, Mable started to turn away and walk back in that direction. "Come on then, let's get you dried off and cleaned up, then we'll head into the city." She paused, and then addressed Bibarel who was still lingering near the pond's edge. "Bibi, do you want to come shopping with us, today? Ditto decided that he wanted to stick around, so we're going to go get him a Pokéball and run some errands before we go to the Pokémon Center for a checkup."

The beaver Pokémon's eyes widened a bit at that, but his bucktoothed expression eased into a grin as he peered over in my direction. "Oh? So somebody decided that maybe trainers aren't so bad after all?" He asked me, actually managing to look a little bit smug. "I'm glad you've decided to give a trainer a chance, but I didn't think you'd stick around with me and Mable. I'll stay behind and keep watch over the house! After all, you two should have some time to bond with each other on your first trip out, right?" Bibarel shook his head at Mable after speaking to me, and made a vague waving gesture in a circle around the pasture, then pointing downward.

Mable seemed to get his intent just fine, and reached down to pat Bibarel on the head, ruffling the puffed-up tufts of fur on his head. "Alright, you keep an eye on things around here, then. I'm going to set out food for lunch ahead of time, so can you make sure you pass it out later? Get Pansage to help you out if you need it. We'll be back in time to help out with dinner! Let's get going, Ditto." She turned and began to head back toward the house.

I bounded along after her with a nervous sort of excitement. After a brief encounter with a towel that left my purple blobbiness at peak appearance once again, I followed Mable out of the front of the house. She moved to a smallish shed positioned at the end of the dirt path that led to the house and opened a lock on a pair of barn-style doors that slid outward to either side.

Taking up every last bit of space inside was a small pickup truck that I would call old-fashioned. Rather than the sleek modern contours I expected from a vehicle, it looked like it was from the 1950's. The brilliant candy-apple red truck had smaller windows and a big, bulky hood. The shiny, chrome grill and hubcaps gleamed in the sunlight as Mable climbed into it and carefully rolled it out into the open. I suppose that the exaggeratedly curved contours of the car weren't exactly unpleasant to look at, but this didn't seem like a vehicle for a little dirt path. It still sat low to the ground, rather than being raised like an off-road vehicle, and it was a bit bulky.

Some of my doubt must have shown on my face, but Mable seemed to think it was for another reason. "Oh, relax, Ditto. It's nothing to be anxious about, even if this old thing grumbles and rumbles like a hungry monster." My head tipped backward as I rolled my eyes. I hadn't been staring because I was scared of the truck, Mable! "You didn't think that I walked back and forth from town when I went to pick up the food for the pasture, did you? How many trips would it take to walk over enough food for you gluttons for even a single day? It's a little earlier than I'd normally make another grocery run, but none of it will go bad if I stock up a little early. Come on, in you go."

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Mable climbed back out of the truck and picked me up, before settling me into the passenger seat. Man, this was really reinforcing the sensation of being in a giant's world. I couldn't even see out the window from my seat. Well, I could see out an extreme upward slant, but all that did was let me see sky and treetops. I started to hop up onto the edge of the window to peer outward, but Mable tutted at me, "You've gotta stay in the seat, Ditto, so I can buckle you in. Safety first!" I groaned and pointed at the window in retort. Was I not even going to be able to watch the view as we headed off? Mable wasn't having any of it, and a narrow belt draped across my short, blobby form rather uselessly. What was this going to do to keep me in place?

Finally, after seeing how ridiculous it looked to have me perched down with a slack belt barely touching me, she relented. "Fine, fine. I'm used to having to buckle up Bibi, but he's a fair bit bigger than you. Alright, you don't have to be buckled in, I suppose." I briefly entertained the idea of transforming in order to fit the seat better, but there was no way we were going to do more than trundle along this little path at a sedate pace, so I didn't feel like it was worth the effort. I wonder if Mable thought the same, but given her insistence on safety, I doubted it. It was more likely she just hadn't thought of it.

Regardless, I hopped up again and perched on the headrest of the passenger seat. Once I let my body relax and slouch down in place, I was able to grab onto the headrest and keep myself steady enough, and I was actually able to see out the windows for the trip now! Much better. After buckling herself in, Mable began to roll forward down the dirt path. It was about a vehicle-and-a-half wide, so we wouldn't run into any issues unless there was a car coming up the... driveway? I suppose it might as well be, considering it only led to the pasture. Mable glanced back and forth at the underbrush and the trees on either side of the road, and we rolled along at a rather sedate pace.

I suppose it made sense. Most Pokémon were probably smart enough to stay out of the road and not jump out in front of a car, but there was always the risk of them wandering into the path and not realizing. All told, it was a relaxing little drive, and I kept my head on a swivel looking for Pokémon I hadn't seen before, at least initially. When we turned onto an actual paved road, there were actually other vehicles in sight for me to examine. It seems Mable was just old-fashioned or didn't see the value in replacing this pickup truck, as none of the other vehicles stood out as particularly old-fashioned like hers.

Most of what we passed seemed to be modest-sized box-trucks. I suppose that while Pokémon, particularly fliers, can deliver the important things at a rapid pace... they can't be responsible for all deliveries. In order to haul enough cargo, you'd need an entire armada of Pokémon, and at that point the roads and trucks would be less of an impact. Still, the trip wasn't without any benefits. At one point, a brilliant bright-yellow convertible sped past in the opposing lane, heading in the opposite direction of us. The roof was down, and a shaggy, white-haired dog-like Pokémon had both front paws dangling over the side of the car, head stuck out and enjoying the wind ruffling its fur. It was colored a similar yellow as the car, and the fur atop its head had been styled to look like a sun hat.

A Furfrou! That was all I had time to see as the car sped past, but it was enough to score me one more form to experiment with. After my time playing around as a Growlithe, four-legged forms shouldn't be quite as difficult to adapt to since I had already done it once before. I hope that I don't have to keep the fur-styling pattern, though. I vaguely remembered that people seemed to enjoy styling their Furfrou almost as a hobby, but I wasn't sure if the distinction went so far as to differentiate it as an actual 'form'. The last thing I wanted to do was strut around as a copy of some rich folk's pet and get harassed for imitating their style.

That was the only time I spotted a Pokémon that I hadn't seen before on the trip, but the real fun was going to start once we got into the city properly! Mable spoke up, though she fortunately kept her eyes on the road rather than look at me as she spoke. "We're nearly there. We'll park over at the kibble supplier's place and head off to the rest of our errands on foot, alright?" I nodded my agreement. It wasn't like I knew the area enough to offer an alternate plan. The truck pulled into a small yard that seemed to be acting as a parking lot. This area wasn't even paved, it was just an area of dirt where the grass stopped growing from frequent visitors, out in front of a brick-walled, single-story shop. A large sign above the door read 'Jerry's Feed and Berries'.

With a sputter of protest, the engine drew silent as Mable turned the truck off, and she peered over at me with a stern expression. "Now I know you're a little glutton, and we're going into a berry shop. Be on your best behavior, and don't just eat anything that catches your eye, alright, Ditto? Technically, I should go to the Pokémart and get a Pokéball for you first, but no one's going to raise a fuss if you stay well-behaved. If you keep your hands off the berries and don't stuff your face the moment I'm not keeping an eye on you, I'll pick up some extra berries for you to eat while we're walking around today. Deal?" I rolled my eyes, but nodded my head. Come on, Mable, I have some self-restraint! Sure, I really liked berries, but I wasn't going to lose control in their presence.

... Not unless the berry looked really, really good, anyway. I'm kidding! Kidding! We both climbed out of the truck and I took a glance around the area. There were other similar-looking brick-walled buildings in the distance, generally two or three stories high. They all had rather generous spacing between them, and no matter what sort of building it was, they all seemed to have flower beds and greenery. For all I knew that Santalune was called a city... at least the outskirts where we were reminded me more of a small rural town than anything else.

It made some sense to me that a Pokémon feed store would be on the fringes. Places like this probably had a lot of shipments coming in and out, and being on the edge of town like this meant they could get their deliveries done without dealing with the traffic further in... if there even was traffic. Mable mentioned parking here and going on foot for the other errands. Maybe vehicles typically parked in designated areas, and parts of the town were for foot-traffic only? I suppose I'd find out. For now, I hurriedly hopped after Mable as she went in the front door of the feed store.