Jason ignored the Glimmet that had already spiraled into confusion.
He excitedly tested his new body.
Like a Glimmet, he tried channeling his core strength into the root that touched the rock wall.
A strange suction spread through him, and he stuck firmly to the wall.
Then he tried moving.
Controlling the crystalline nodes of his body, he began to climb the vertical wall inch by inch, like rock climbing.
For the old him, this was unthinkable.
As a Ditto, he could only ooze along the ground. Forget climbing—he couldn't even manage a mildly steep slope.
What's more, Ditto don't exist in Area Zero. If he showed up in his true form, that distinctive color and shape would stand out like a firefly in the night and inevitably draw those terrifying Paradox species to him.
Extremely dangerous.
But now everything was different.
As he climbed, he savored the convenience of this new body. Glimmet may be the bottom of Area Zero's food chain—pitifully weak—but precisely because of that, they were the perfect disguise.
Area Zero is full of Glimmet. Who would notice him?
Blending into the environment is the best camouflage!
Jason felt like he was back in business.
"Totally worth it!"
Buoyed, he kept watching the surrounding Glimmet.
Even with the Glimmet entry completed, he found many parts of it still greyed out—its hidden ability, plus a bunch of moves. Those would only unlock with continued observation.
For now, after transforming into Glimmet, he could only use some basic moves—Rock Throw, Harden, Smack Down, that sort of thing.
So he sprawled on the wall and kept curiously studying the other Glimmet.
As a Glimmet, he blended into the group at once. Not a single Glimmet suspected him—not even the one from earlier paid much attention to this odd newcomer.
…
…
After a full day and night, his move pool was looking very healthy. One move he really wanted still hadn't unlocked, though, so he decided to put "escape Area Zero" on hold and stick around a bit longer.
He even had the leisure to imitate the others—now and then pausing to press his body against the wall, pretending to absorb nutrients.
He gazed at the bottomless gorge below and the distant Paradox shapes roaming the ground, and for the first time felt a surge of wide-open freedom.
It didn't last.
All at once, a high-frequency tremor shook the Glimmet beside him. The little guy was shivering like a sieve, the blue crystals that formed its petals humming with the quiver—"bzzz, bzzz."
"What now?" Jason blinked.
Before he could figure it out, the weird reaction spread like a plague across the entire rock face.
Above him, below him, far away—every Glimmet he could see froze up at once. They all curled tightly into themselves, radiating fear.
Panic swept the whole colony.
Jason instinctively stopped climbing. He might not have the natives' primal sixth sense, but he wasn't stupid: for this many Glimmet to be this terrified could only mean one thing—something truly horrific was coming.
The moment he realized it, a brutal pressure crashed down.
His body jolted.
Stiffly, he turned toward the source of the aura.
Far across the cave, against a "sky" of huge, glowing crystals, a figure was hurtling closer—shaped like a Salamence, but far more savage and feral.
Its body was a dusky blue, but its enormous wings looked dipped in blood, a glaring crimson.
It became a streak of scarlet light, ripping through the air as it arrowed straight for this wall of Glimmet.
Its target was the shivering cluster itself.
"Roooar!"
A deafening bellow burst from its maw, turning into a visible shockwave that slammed into the rock wall.
Pins and needles shot through Jason's whole body. Countless tiny crystal shards rattled loose and pattered down the cliff.
The Glimmet around him shook even harder; a few lost their grip and tumbled into the abyss below.
"Roaring Moon!"
He recognized it at a glance—the ancient form of Salamence. It relies on flight to strike prey everywhere it pleases, vicious to the extreme.
"Are you kidding me?!"
He couldn't fathom why a top-tier Paradox Pokémon had come to bully a bunch of weaklings like them. Picking on the small fry—some "justice," huh?!
Realizing how bad this was, he shouted for the other Glimmet to run. After these days together they'd treated him like one of their own; he'd grown a bit attached, too.
But the instant he yelled "Run," the Glimmet around him flared red.
They were using the very move he wanted most: Rock Polish—buffing their bodies to cut air resistance and massively boost Speed. With this, you could patch over a lousy Speed stat, at least for a while.
Finally!
And then his face fell.
Wait—I haven't used it yet! If you all bolt, won't that make me the perfect target?
He didn't freeze up. Even in the crisis, he watched intently as the others executed Rock Polish.
[Glimmet move unlocked: Rock Polish!]
"Bang!"
Right as the system prompt popped and before he could celebrate, Roaring Moon slammed a Dragon Rush into the rock wall ahead of him. Because he hadn't Rock Polished, he hadn't fled with the herd—and by sheer luck, he dodged the strike. Roaring Moon seemed to prefer chasing the fast ones.
Even so, the impact blast sent him flying.
Compared to the Glimmet that were flattened outright by Dragon Rush, he'd gotten off easy.
One look at Roaring Moon—taunting and slaughtering Glimmet at the same time—and Jason made the only sensible choice: leave.
He fired off Rock Polish. His body felt suddenly lighter, and he scrambled upward with all he had.
I'm out. Later.
Area Zero—see you never!