What happens if a Ditto uses Sketch as a Smeargle?

Question

If a Ditto transformed into Smeargle that knows sketch, and then sketched a move from another Pokemon, what would happen?

Comments

Sorry, me being me...

Answer 1

I hate to say this, but the above answers are wrong. I tried this ingame a few months back, and found that Sketch fails when not used by Smeargle used by a transformed Pokémon, even if it's a Ditto transformed as a Smeargle (except in Gen 2, which triggers a glitch which SadisticMystic has covered). Post Gen 2, Ditto can't learn any move through Sketch, not even temporarily.

Edit: Looked it up on Bulbapedia and found that Sketch isn't species-locked like Dark Void, but is rather just set to fail if the user is transformed. Either way, Ditto still can't use it.

Comments

ooh I wonder who's right???

Answer 2

In GSC, Ditto actually did get to keep the move permanently (even after the battle), but starting with the GBA era, they fixed the way Transform/Sketch work so that's no longer the case.

Answer 3

The ditto would learn the move for as long as it as smeargle is in the battle