Faller, Noun: Someone Experiencing Interesting Times - Chapter 16

The battle froze. Neil couldn’t blame them for it, given that from what his on-and-off online research had turned up? You just plain did not see anything like Mega Evolution, Z-Moves or Terastalization outside professional matches or the Gym Circuit. Several people in the crowd were visibly rebooting their minds after having them be blown, and even Raiko and Eevee were sharing a nervous glance with each other.

There was no grand announcement. No catchphrase stated as Lesya touched a finger delicately against her Keystone. What Neil assumed was Aura so dense it bled into the visible spectrum linked the trainer and Pokemon, Lesya’s yellow meshing cleanly against Sableye’s blue. As the two distinct threads of light collided with each other, the Faller could see the Pokemon changing, a brilliant glow overtaking the Ghost Type and morphing their silhouette. Almost, but not quite, the videos of ordinary evolutions he had seen online. Faster, brighter, and with a presence he couldn’t quite articulate into words.

Mega-Sableye emerged onto the battlefield with a cackling declaration, eyes fixated upon their rival’s own. Briefly, they stumbled over the huge gem that had manifested in their hands before they got it under control. Trainer and Pokemon locked eyes even as Raiko’s lips morphed into a delighted smile.

“I was wondering when you’d finally pull out that particular card, Lesya.” The local girl admitted, her electric blue eyes practically sparking with anticipation. “I hope you don’t mind if I pull out my own in that case!”

Aaaaaand she had a Tera Orb. Because of course she did. Neil would ask if he had wandered into a shonen anime, but tumbling into the Pokemon World was arguably just that.

“Shine, oh crystallization of our oath!” Raiko cried and there were the catchphrases and poses he’d been half-expecting. It was a bit of a cultural thing, he had gathered while poking around online, and kind of a huge faux pas to interrupt someone’s little cool moment. Use it to brace or get the fuck out of the way? Sure. Interrupt? That was unsportsmanlike.

While that train of thought chugged merrily along, Raiko had pitched the Tera Orb over her Starter Pokemon. White crystals sprung forth from the ground, surrounding Eevee briefly before they burst outwards. What came forth from the crystalline cocoon was still easily recognizable as Eevee. Of course it was. Terastalization fundamentally wasn’t about changing a Pokemon like evolution, but rather enhancing them through a still not well understood natural phenomena that occurred in Paldea.

Prismatic yet clear crystals covered the fox-cat from ear to tail, creating an oddly geometric carapace over her. Yet that was not what immediately drew Neil’s attention. No, what drew his attention was the huge gaudy crystal crown thing. It… wasn’t quite as bad as in the game, especially this design of orbiting color-coded crystals, but it was still hilariously and hideously oversized on the Eevee’s head.

He studiously ignored Esmeraldina’s snickering at his barely suppressed cringe, the left side of his neck twitching as it tried to pull at his cheek into a grimace.

Two voices cried out their commands in tandem, uncaring of Neil’s artistic agony.

“Power Gem!” “Trailblaze!”

Darting through a deluge of crystalline-white beams cascading upon her position, Eevee rammed herself against Sableye. A corona of ‘grass’ erupted from her ‘crown’ as she did so, the Mega-Evolved Pokemon managing to take the blow on the giant crystal that also served as something akin to a tower shield. Once more, a pair of commands erupted forth from the rivals.

“Low Kick!” “Alluring Voice!”

Even as Eevee’s feet were swept from below her - the fox’s expression twisted into one of determined pain - she breathed deeply and sang. The waves of Fairy Type energy clashed against Sableye - who’d left themselves vulnerable to a counterattack by leaving their shield. Skidding backwards more in an effort to make distance than from the force of it all, Sableye finally stabilized themselves upon their tower shield.

For a moment, there was calm.

It was shattered in an instant, moments later, as Eevee sprang forward without a command from Raiko - at least, not a verbal one. That twitch of her fingers was telling, especially to someone who was training a Mawlie and thus intended to exploit the backward stance they favored.

Blurring across the battlefield in a blaze of white, the Quick Attack Eevee was utilizing carried her directly behind Sableye.

“Tera Blast.”

Then, it was over, in a radiant burst of prismatic light.

__________________________________________________________________________

“They wasted that Mega Evolution. Should pick up some tricks from a Conkeldurr, learn how to properly leverage the massive crystal which is the entire point of that particular Mega.” Neil grunted quietly to Esmeraldina once the dust settled, leaving the pair of trainers to their post-battle chat.

“That was definitely the deciding factor, yeah.” One of the bystanders agreed, his attention still firmly fixed on the pair of trainers now meeting at the center of the field, “Lesya got cocky. No one’s gonna let her live this down for a while. Funny how it was a mistake on the part of the master that had the student so decisively overcoming her.”

“Takes a lot of work to get a Mega Evo to activate, nevermind keeping it stable, so I can see why they wanted to whip it out.” Neil agreed as conversation just sprung up around him and he simply decided to roll with it, “Hell of a statement and bragging rights even if there’s a lot more training to do.”

“True that. Shame she and Sableye didn’t practice enough with the crystal to really use it. Supposedly that thing can even retract back into their chest if you put enough work into it.” Another bystander offered, nodding in agreement with Neil’s point, “Haven’t seen Raiko pull out her Tera Orb in a hot minute though. Most people forget that she has it, these days.”

“Helps that Paldea is halfway across the world, so it isn’t exactly the kind of thing you see around here often.” The Faller grunted with a nod. Sure, graduates of the Academy got around as far as he knew from the net, but that was just a tiny trickle in the grand scheme of things. It was a ‘you can only get this in this Region’ kind of thing, like Z-Crystals. Whereas Mega Evo bits and bobs were something you could find tumbling out of a dig site anywhere in the world. Sure, the highest concentration of those funny gems were found in Kalos, but it was the principle of things.

“Uva Academy and the Paldean League do maintain their semi-monopoly on the manufacture of Tera Orbs quite well, yeah.” Another observer added, his eyes sharpening into focus as he turned towards Neil, “You know a lot for a rookie trainer. Where’d ya go to school?”

“Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona.” Neil replied with a crooked grin, switching to Catalan silky smooth.

The man blinked. Then he blinked again. He opened his mouth, closed it, and raised a finger, before scratching his chin with it. “...Faller, got it.” He stated after a few moments of baffled silence, “Hopefully you aren’t like the infamous ones, then.”

“One of the career options I’m considering is deckhand Trainer to keep wild Water Types off of the daily haul, that should tell you enough.” Neil chuckled, only not shrugging on account of the Steel Type perched on his shoulder doing Arceus-knew-what out of his field of view.

“Smart.” Yet another bystander interjected themselves into the conversation, “Good pay, long hours, and keeps your own battling skills sharp. You can generally still participate in League Season if you want to as well.”

“Easy pass into just about any ship, too, with the skills I’d pick up.” The brunet added, a note of bemusement starting to bleed into his face as the crowd’s attention steadily shifted from the pair of Trainers and towards him.

“Less easy than you’d think, since that job has a fair amount of competition.” Raiko interjected, evidently having finally finished exchanging pleasantries with Lesya. The girl looked extremely smug as well, “I’m glad you’re socializing well, Neil. You struck me as the type to not if given the opportunity.”

“It just sort of happened on its own. Was chatting with Maragda here, then someone else threw in their two cents and it snowballed from there.” Neil chuckled sheepishly, patting the steel-furred dino on his shoulder.

“Behold, the power of Pokemon.” One of the bystanders chanted, their voice an utter deadpan yet somehow entirely serious.