smashacademy | Non-Newtonian Logic

Gordon couldn't figure it out. The generator was obviously sabotaged during that snowstorm, but by WHAT? What the hell could slip in and out and leave not so much as a footprint, cut the wires and leave? The door was locked; there were no shears down there to even do it. It had to have been something incorporeal; a ghost wasn't out of the question, much as every cell in his physicist body protested the idea, but then how would the wires have been cut...? They couldn't have brought their own, how would they drag it through a locked door?

It was a puzzle, and Gordon was the kind of man that just couldn't leave a puzzle unsolved. Or maybe it was more accurate to say that puzzles couldn't leave him alone... Pondering it over a cup of coffee in the labs, leaning on the table and scruffing his hair, he found himself staring down the books on the table more than actually forming any ideas. Christ, what is he DOING? There's absolutely nothing in the world that could--

Wait.

He sets down the coffee and leans over the picture book. There on the page is a colorful purplish-pink blob with the legend "This is Ditto! He can turn into ANYTHING!"

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[Gordon abruptly turns on the video, He'd thought about filtering it to faculty but decided to broadcast instead, because he has no idea who would actually know about this.]

That generator sabotage wasn't a ghost. It was a slime. A ditto, I think... Nothing else I know of could go incorporeal to get downstairs into the generator room, yet be able to cut the wires without a tool! Thing is, we don't have any registered dittos in the Academy. Can anyone recall seeing one somewhere before the storm? Meeting one in the city maybe?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Y-You mean you figured something out about th-that incident?!

[ Ron sure does look intense about this, leaning close to the camera. ]

A "Ditto"... Umm, other than being a "slime", what does it look like? M-Maybe I could try thinking of something if I knew what I was trying to remember...

That's the thing. According to my research, it can look like anything. Normally it's a... [He eyes something below the screen again with a confused scowl.] pink blob with a face? But it can change its shape to look like anything it sees. Probably a few things from memory, if it has the cognitive ability, and I have no reason to believe that it doesn't. But if it loses concentration, it'll revert.

I'm not sure if there's a sure-fire way to tell the difference when it's shape-shifted.

[ Ron pauses. ] ...A pink blob with a face? Only... ah. Th-Then, I guess... I won't have any insightful commentary after all. I haven't seen anything like that around, I don't think. No, I'm mostly pretty sure about that.

I'll keep my eye out, okay? I-I'd look at the security cameras, but I've already tried - most of the cameras weren't on during the power outage at all, e-even with the generator on at the beginning. B-But I'll try again!

Thanks, Ron. You're doing all you can, and that's what I'm asking for.

It is possible that there may be wild Dittos in the surrounding area. However, I have not heard of such. They are quite rare, so sighting one would likely be known. Though I cannot rule it out.

Though it cannot turn incorporeal. Are you perhaps unfamiliar with its properties?

Maybe "incorporeality" was the wrong term... "Formlessness" is less specific but more accurate. It could certainly fit under the door or through a vent pipe to get into the room I described, in any case.

Ah yes, its primary property is its plasticity. Though that, it is able to mimic nearly anything.

I say nearly due to the aforementioned issue. Though it is able to mimic, for instance, a Gengar and perform moves as a Gengar, it cannot move through solid objects as that species does.

Now, you have a theory. Define.

[Semantics, Cyrus.]

I'm not sure the motive behind the sabotage. Could have been petty vandalism, could've been a malicious but poorly-calculated attempt to freeze us in that snowstorm, or it could have been a distraction to cover something else they were doing. No power meant no lights and no heat, but it also meant no powered locks and no security network. But if they did pull off something else, I hadn't heard about it yet.

I see. If this is the case, then we are not dealing with a genius, at least not one in technology. There are those present who are more than capable of hacking though such security systems without bringing everything down. It is simply unneeded attention.

Unless, provided that your theory holds true, it is meant to be a distraction.

Ditto's a Pokemon, right? [Cid flips through a small book on his desk. "Alphabetic Pokemon." A beginner's title.] Even if there was one, what's to say it wasn't in disguise the whole time it was here.

Shit, what's to say it isn't here in disguise now?

Nothing. It could still be in disguise here. Obviously this makes the broadcast a problem, but by the same token the students seem to know more about pokemon than the faculty do, and maybe at least one of us will be able to spot the difference.

In any case, if it has a functioning neuron to its name it won't stick around for long.

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