Faller, Noun: Someone Experiencing Interesting Times - Chapter 11

The brief silence had turned into a longer one when their food had arrived, placed before the four individuals who sat around the table; though the nonhuman pair of the two remained more on the ‘floor’ than at the table proper. Our intrepid pair of trainers and their Pokemon had eaten their food in relative silence, taking the time to simply partake in the joy of their mutual company and the good food.

Eventually, however, all good things had to come to an end, and the pair had departed the restaurant in good order (if only to ensure that the others waiting in line behind them could have a seat). They had begun to meander around Lilycove City with no true destination in mind when Raiko finally spoke up.

“I’ve enjoyed spending time with you today, Neil.” She began, Eevee giving a trilling agreement from her side with affection lacing through the vulpine’s voice, “I wouldn’t mind doing it again, if you’re planning on being in the area for a bit.”

“Unless Mawile gets some serious wanderlust, I don’t think I’m going anywhere for the better part of a month. Want to get my feet under me before I start really seeing what this world has on offer, y’know?” The transmigrator hummed agreeably, fingers interlaced behind his neck. 

A smile sprung to the girl’s face as she nodded, “Smart. Now, since we’ve established that.” Her posture became a bit more aggressive, the glint of challenge from earlier reappearing in her eyes, “You promised me a battle?”

“That I did.” He replied with a crooked grin. “We’ve spent long enough circling the park like vultures, no?”

A small blush erupted on Raiko’s face as she scratched the back of her head with her left arm, an embarrassed giggle escaping from her lips as she grinned awkwardly, “That obvious, huh?”

“Hahaha, only reason I didn’t randomly take a turn to go right in is that I figured you were sorting something out in your skull.” The suited man laughed lightly, spinning on his heel to do just as he’d said. His companion turned to follow him, Mawile practically vibrating in excitement as the pair approached the park with a determined gait.

It didn’t take them long to find an open battlefield in the park proper. Given how the place was partly designed specifically for casual battles, that wasn't particularly surprising. What was mildly surprising was Raiko gently poking an Ace Trainer within the park and quietly requesting a referee. Given the alacrity at which the red jacketed man acceded to her request, this wasn’t the first time she’d done this.

“Alright, this is obviously going to be a one on one, but beyond that how’re we doing this? Victory condition, any tricks we agree not to use...” Neil trailed off, waving his hand in a ‘so on and so forth’ gesture.

Raiko glanced towards her partner, clearly wanting to take cues from her. Eevee, meanwhile, simply barked back. Evidently getting much more from that than Neil had, “Eevee and I are willing to leave that up to you. You’ll get first strike and Eevee will moderate herself to roughly the level you and Mawile will be at.”

“Alright, let’s aim for tap out or incapacitation, but ringouts don’t count. Mostly because both our pokemon are pretty small and light.” The brown haired man settled on after a moment’s thought. Whatever metals went into Mawile’s makeup, they weren’t that dense. Otherwise the little thing would have left his shoulder creaking after a minute of perching. “Beyond that, just keep it relatively clean, I don’t think any of us wants to come out of this needing to wash sand out of their eyes.”

“So a variation of League Rules then.” Raiko nodded, glancing towards her partner again and smiling once Eevee nodded, “I can agree to that. Fighting dirty is allowed at the highest level but in general there’s still unspoken standards.” With a nod towards the Ace Trainer, she stepped towards the trainer box, “I’m looking forward to whipping your ass!” She cheekily shot towards him.

“Kinky.” Neil drawled out with a playful smile tugging on his lips. Already, his mind was churning. Growl and Astonish ought to go wonderfully together, but Eevee was a Normal type and thus would ignore the latter altogether. Fairy Wind was of no use enhancing Growl, it was pink and sparkly. That gave it its own benefits, though. But in a fight like this where he got the first hit free? No need for smokescreens, “On that note, let’s start with a Bite.”

“Accept the hit but don’t let her trap you, Eevee.” Raiko called as her partner tensed, Eevee’s body tensing in such a way that Neil immediately knew she had been preparing to dodge the moment the move had been called. Relaxing slightly at her trainer’s command, Eevee stilled herself as Mawile rapidly approached her location, fangs within her false jaw glowing an ominous purple-black. Then, in a smooth motion that spoke of how instinctive the move had to be for Mawile, Niel’s starter clamped the jaw around Eevee’s barrel. Before Mawile’s jaw could fully close around the fox-cat, a white glow surrounded Eevee. Disappearing from within Mawile’s grasp at speed, she landed back on her side of the field.

A trill from the fox-cat echoed onto the field, with Raiko nodding moments later. “Alright, I think we’ve got a handle on your strength. Good call trying to trap Eevee initially, it’s definitely the best use of a free hit I’ve seen in a while!”

“Small and quick and fits in those jaws, only sensible to lock ‘er down and start blasting.” Neil replied with a roll of his shoulders, lips starting to peel back into a familiar rictus grin of adrenaline, “Mawile, Fairy Wind, as big and bright as you can make it.”

If he remembered his lore right, Mawile were cave pokemon. That meant needing to deal with sudden, eyesearing shifts in light level and more often than not needing to navigate by sound and smell. Therefore, deploy a bastardized Flash.

With a chirp of agreement, Mawile did exactly that, tiny arms spread outwards as if to offer an embrace to all. A spark of pink light erupted at the center of the gesture, and moments later the field was covered in a deluge of Fairy Type Energy. As he’d requested, it was definitely bright, so much so that his eyes were watering slightly.

“You know what to do, Eevee.” Raiko called from her place across the field. A bark of agreement resounded from across the field as Neil barely picked up movement through the near blinding light of the Fairy Wind. Focusing, his eyes widened as he picked up on the presence of a shadow in a location where there should be none. Then his hypersensitive hearing filled in the last of the mystery.

“Underground!” The transmigrator warned, trusting his partner to pinpoint where because his ears were only going so far with the sound of shifting soil. Mawile chirped, determination filling her voice and in that moment Neil understood exactly what she had said.

“Got it.”

It was such a small thing, but with adrenaline and something more singing in his blood, he fully understood what Mawile had said. Something older than language. A bond.

Something he also had no time to dwell on as the Fairy Wind faded and the ground beneath Mawile sundered. His warning allowed her to strafe to the side, the respect and surprise that he caught glinting in the fox-cat’s eyes as she began to spin in mid-air making a corner of his mind startle for all the rest simply leant forward hungrily. He hadn’t been able to read the intent behind Eevee’s expressions and chirps so clearly before, but yet in the heat of battle it was easier than interpreting a human face.

He could work with this.

“Pivot into Iron Tail!” Raiko’s command sliced through the air.

The instant he heard the call for the Steel Type Move, Neil’s rictus grin curled up into something downright ghoulish, his command coming without thought. “Trap it with Fire Fang!” 

Spinning dervish of brown fur collided against a hastily raised false-mouth, firelit fangs briefly closing around Eevee’s tail just as Mawile was sent flying backwards. Her body bounced off the ground once before she brought herself under control, righting herself for the next impact against the dirt. Small feet and a singular hand dug into the ground as she brought herself to a halt. His head whipped towards where Eevee had last been in tandem with Mawile’s own, and his wheezing chuckle would’ve put hyenas to shame as he watched patches of her fur crackle and smolder unnaturally. 

“Lucky bastard.” Evidently, his opponent for the day found the situation just as amusing as she did, given the overly fond and excited expression plastered across her face, “Eevee, switch to ranged! Swift!”

Eevee’s response to the command was nigh-on unnatural, leaping back from the moment Raiko had begun to speak. The fox-cat was already in the air with stars hovering around her when the words ‘Swift’ left her trainer’s mouth.

“Fairy Wind, full force! Blast them off!” Neil hollered with a sharp sweep of his arm, a sliver of his mind noting down to teach Mawile a ‘hard’ ranged move like Rock Tomb later.

A blast of pink, sparkling wind met a deluge of star shaped constructs in a detonation that sent their clothing rippling in the wind, Neil’s eyes narrowing as he peered through the small cloud of dust.

“Follow up!” Raiko’s command lanced through the air, and before Neil could react Mawile was sent tumbling backwards once more as a ball of solidified shadow detonated against her torso. This time, his partner wasn’t able to recover as neatly, irritated chirp-like growls rumbling forth from her chest as she slowly clawed her way back to her feet.

“Partner, unless you feel like running off way over there to grab a rock or hide in the trees–” Neil chuckled at the sharp chirp that got, letting the tension leave his frame as the unspoken lull in the battle lengthened, “I think we’re calling it here. We will need to pick up some movement and ranged options for you, we have no proper way to deal with someone happy to play keep-away.”

Fairy Wind had some value as a smokescreen and an interdiction field, but same type bonus or not, Mawile was built to throw hands and bite things in half. The Move simply didn’t have enough oomph to be a serious offensive tool.

Briefly, it seemed like Mawile would protest against the choice. Then, with a sullen yet affirmative chirp, she nodded. “I agree.”

“To confirm,” The Ace Trainer officiating the match called, speaking up for the first time, “You are forfeiting, correct?”

“That we are.” Neil said with a bob of his head. Didn’t feel good, but they had a heading now.

“Then the victor is Raiko.” The Ace nodded, a swipe of his hands ending the battle. Pausing, the man briefly shook his head and smirked towards Neil’s companion, “That’s another one for you kid.”

With a happy nod, Raiko began to cross the field towards her partner, a hand raised upwards, “Up here Eevee!” Without pause, Eevee leapt up and smacked her tail against the raised palm in a high five of sorts. With their obligatory post battle celebrations done, Raiko and Eevee continued forward towards Neil, and the former held her hand out. 

“Well, now I know beyond a shadow of a doubt we’re hitting the Gym Circuit along our Journey.” The transmigrator chuckled as he shook hands with the albino, “Once we find someone to help Mawile pick up some Moves, anyways.”

“...Huh.” Raiko blinked slowly, looking towards him with a confused yet hopeful smile, “Seriously?”

“Like it is some sort of massive surprise after the impression you made on me.” Neil snorted, yanking the slip of a girl into an one-armed hug. Not even a moment passed before Mawile and Eevee joined the impromptu group hug.