Once his resolve was made, former corporate drone Renan immediately began quietly observing his surroundings, the people, and the conditions, sketching out his escape plan.
In terms of the environment, escaping from here would be easy.
The surrounding fences were nothing more than wood and wire—after all, this was just a rural daycare, not a heavily guarded prison. With Ditto's endlessly malleable body, slipping through the gaps would be a trivial matter.
But in terms of practicality, escaping was actually very difficult.
The Pokémon in this daycare all belonged to Haruto's family. They counted them daily and returned them to their Poké Balls at night. If Renan ran away, it would be discovered almost immediately and he would be chased down. With his current ability, he wouldn't get far.
Thus, the best strategy was clear: Don't reveal any intention to escape. Stay here in the relatively safe daycare, find a way to grow stronger, and only after he had accumulated enough power would he look for the right chance to escape.
Clap! Clap!
Haruto clapped his hands loudly to draw the Pokémon's attention. "Dismissed, free activity."
"Toma, go back to your books."
"Oh."
After father and son left, the Grass-types that had maintained a loose formation scattered like a classroom after the bell, breaking into groups large and small across the spacious daycare grounds.
A few Bulbasaur wrestled each other, apparently fighting to decide who was the strongest boss.
A group of Bellsprout pulled their vines together into a jump rope, lining up to take turns.
Exeggcute rolled around bumping into one another, mixing into a jumble where no one could tell which was which.
Several Paras had more interest in a patch of shrubbery, digging away eagerly at the roots.
…
The lone Fighting-type, Machamp, hauled a wooden training dummy out of a small shed beside the house and began practicing its strikes with loud "hup-hah!" shouts.
Among all the Pokémon present, Machamp was without a doubt the strongest—but Renan couldn't help feeling some psychological trauma when he looked at it.
So instead, he chose to approach the Bulbasaur, who in the anime had always left the impression of being strong, to test the waters and maybe ask how Pokémon grew stronger.
Sliding down from a low crate, Renan wriggled closer to the group of sparring Bulbasaur.
'My base Speed is 48, higher than Bulbasaur's 45,' Renan recalled from memory of the starter Pokémon's base stats. 'But I crawl by squirming, while they walk on four legs—it's much more convenient for them. Better to transform into one of them directly and blend in.'
After all, base stats didn't perfectly represent actual mobility; level and movement style both mattered.
When he was about five meters away, a system prompt suddenly appeared—
[Transformation Dex Updated: Bulbasaur (Ability: Overgrow). Entries: 1]
[Free Stat +1]
'Huh?'
At his thought, Transform activated, and a prism of shifting colors enveloped Renan.
Moments later, the light faded, revealing a green-skinned, toad-like creature with a bulb sprouting from its back.
'So the Transformation Dex expands whenever I transform into a new species?'
Feeling four limbs again, Renan glanced down at his sturdy legs with satisfaction.
"Bulba!"
Even his cry had changed. Not bad.
Renan broke into a run toward the Bulbasaur group, calling out loudly:
"Bulba bulba!" (Hello, everyone! I'm new here, my name's Greenie!)
The nearest Bulbasaur turned at the sound, but when it saw Renan running up, it staggered backward in shock and crashed into another Bulbasaur.
"Bulba?!"
The second one turned irritably, only to let out the same surprised cry when it caught sight of him.
"Bulba bulba!" (Whoa, Greenie, you're so ugly!) the first exclaimed.
"Yeah, yeah, he is!" the second agreed immediately.
"Ugly?"
Renan looked at his body markings—identical to the first Bulbasaur he'd copied. He'd transformed to look exactly like it. They all looked the same, so how could he be ugly?
Soon, all the Bulbasaur except the two locked in a duel stopped what they were doing and turned their attention to the "ugly newcomer."
"So weird!"
"What an ugly Pokémon!"
"Your eyes look funny!"
…Eyes? Wait a second.
"Hold on."
Renan squeezed his way out of the crowd and scurried back to the little house. He pushed a crate beneath a window, climbed up, and used the glass to check his reflection.
Bulging ears, wide mouth, pale green bulb—all perfectly standard for a Bulbasaur.
Only the eyes were different!
The others all had big, bright red eyes with white sclera. But his remained Ditto's beady black dots. It was both uncanny and downright unattractive.
"Damn it! What a trash Transform move!"
Frustrated but helpless, Renan had no choice but to accept his role as the "ugliest Bulbasaur" and return to the group.
"I'm back!"
Just then, one of the battling Bulbasaur collapsed from a Vine Whip and admitted defeat, withdrawing to the sidelines.
The remaining victor scanned the crowd. "Anyone else want to challenge me?"
The others looked at one another, hesitant.
The first Bulbasaur to meet Renan piped up, "There's a newcomer—Greenie! Why don't we let him try?"
"Eh, me? I was just passing by, really didn't plan on fighting…" Renan knew he was only level one. He had zero confidence in winning.
"Wow, so ugly! You scared me!"
The arena Bulbasaur's reaction earned an eye roll from Renan—or rather, a black-eyed circle roll.
"Come on, give it a try! He's already fought three battles, he's tired."
"It's fine, just do it!"
"Every Pokémon has to take a turn!"
Egged on by the crowd, Renan was half-pushed, half-dragged into the ring.
For a moment, he felt just like back in his boxing club days, being shoved into the ring for a spar.
He considered his opponent—probably not much higher level than him. Bulbasaur's base stats were mainly in Special Attack and Special Defense (65 each). Its Attack and Defense were close to Ditto's, and its Speed was even lower. At low levels, battles were all physical brawls anyway, so Sp. Atk and Sp. Def didn't matter.
The key point: this one had already fought three rounds without resting. Its HP had to be less than half.
That made them roughly even.
"Alright, alright, I'll fight!" Renan called out.
"Go Greenie! Go Greenie!" The Bulbasaur chanted, clearing the arena for them.
What a ridiculous "first battle." He had only wanted to learn how Bulbasaur trained, but somehow ended up in a duel.
Still, he was burning with irritation from being mocked as ugly. Fighting would be a good way to vent.
Locking eyes with his opponent, Renan dropped his weight low on all fours, breathing steadily.
Back in the boxing gym, his coach had always said: Staying calm is the first rule of fighting. Panic ruins your fists.
"Bulba!!"
With a cry, the opponent lashed out—two vines snapping straight toward Renan's face.
Recognizing Vine Whip, Renan immediately dove sideways, dodging the strike. Instinct told him to retaliate in kind—only nothing happened.
The vines cracked into the ground, leaving shallow grooves before retracting into the bulb.
Renan stared wide-eyed.
Where were his vines?
Had this Bulbasaur's level been too low to know Vine Whip yet?
Dodging another strike, Renan pulled up his system screen to confirm.
---
[Name: Renan]
Species: Ditto (Bulbasaur)
Ability: System (Overgrow)
Type: Normal (Grass/Poison)
Level: Lv.1 (EXP 0/8)
Base Stats:
HP: 48 (46.5) [+]
Attack: 48 (48.5) [+]
Defense: 48 (48.5) [+]
Sp. Atk: 48 (56.5) [+]
Sp. Def: 48 (56.5) [+]
Speed: 48 (46.5) [+]
Held Item: None
Transformation Dex: 1 entry.
Moves: Transform (Lv.1)
---
It clicked instantly.
The numbers in parentheses were his current stats—averages between Ditto's and Bulbasaur's. Species, ability, typing—all had shifted.
But his only move was still Transform?!
At level one, shouldn't he at least know Tackle? Why hadn't Transform copied moves?
And what was that plus sign next to his stats?
Another Vine Whip cracked past.
"Greenie, why are you only dodging?" the Bulbasaur shouted.
"Tch!" Renan growled, lunging forward aggressively.
Grass/Poison resisted Grass to ¼ damage. With no moves of his own, he had no choice but to tank a hit and charge in for melee.
This time, his opponent swung vines from both sides in a pincer strike to cut off escape.
'If only I could move faster…'
On reflex, Renan tapped the [+] beside Speed.
[Speed: 49 (47)]
'Wait—my system can alter base stats?!'
Suddenly, his pace quickened. It was only a slight boost, but enough to throw the Bulbasaur off guard. Its vines, already committed, landed just behind him—slapping his bulb and sliding off harmlessly.
Renan gritted his teeth, lunging headfirst. His forehead slammed into the Bulbasaur's face between the eyes.
"Bulba!!"
Its eyes immediately watered red, tears streaming down.
Not letting up, Renan pulled back just slightly and delivered another brutal headbutt.
"Greenie so is fierce!"
"Wow, he's so brave!"
"He's ugly so he must fight hard!"
The crowd's chatter only made Renan angrier.
"Stop, stop!" the crying Bulbasaur staggered back, sniffling. "I surrender!"
"Phew." Renan backed off as well. With no real moves, if his opponent had tried Tackle, it might've gone badly.
[Bulbasaur defeated. Gained 14 EXP.]
[Congratulations! Level up to 2 (EXP 6/19).]
[Randomly learning one move from opponent…]
On the still-open screen, Tackle, Growl, and Vine Whip flickered in sequence.
Renan suddenly understood. So I have to defeat opponents to learn their moves.
[Congratulations! Learned Tackle (Lv.1).]