Faller, Noun: Someone Experiencing Interesting Times - Chapter 5

Perhaps it should not have surprised Neil that he had spent a good two hours rambling about the finer details of Italian theatre to his starter, especially when she had been both a willing recipient of said autistic ramble and had spent the entire time making all the right curious chirps to egg him further on. Hell, if it wasn’t for the cook-slash-employee who had been disturbingly cheerful about the fact he had been almost outright forced by their complete lack of ability to keep track of time to play waiter, they wouldn’t have even remembered to get their food.

Bless that boy. He truly was a god amongst all men, the patience of a saint and the attitude of a golden retriever.

In any case, after finishing talking and eating, the unlikely pair had found themselves in a much more busy lobby of the Pokemon Center. Thankfully, given that the foot-traffic had significantly increased in the two hours they had been absent, there were now significantly more employees within the Pokemon Center itself. More than one Nurse, for one, though there was still only one Joy.

Even better, though? The workers themselves weren’t particularly busy, most of the trainers present just hanging out and chatting with each other. That meant Neil got to beeline for Nurse Joy and politely, quietly ask, “How does one go about registering as a Faller?”

“If you’ll follow me to the back?” She immediately asked, all professionalism as she nodded towards the male Nurse who immediately moved to take over for her. Without any fanfare, she then discreetly guided the transmigrator towards what had to be an employee only area. Within a few seconds, the trio of beings were on their own, and the Nurse Joy nodded to herself, “How much do you know about the benefits offered to Fallers and the process behind registering for them?”

“I was hoping you’d tell me.” Neil chuckled, before explaining so the Joy wouldn’t get the wrong idea, “I already know what is given to normal citizens as basic human rights, and that you people are very interested in integrating Fallers, so me signing up is a foregone conclusion.” 

“I see.” Joy hummed, cocking her head to the side briefly as she considered something, “Well, you have come to one of the right places to register. As part of the registration process we’ll have to take some scans, and the Pokemon Center is one of the few places in Lilycove that has the equipment necessary for it.” She paused as she seemingly recalled something, “If you’re concerned about the process being invasive, it is not. We simply are scanning for an energy signature that lingers on all Fallers. Now, more for brevity than anything else, how long has it been since you ‘Fell’ into our world, roughly, and was the Mawile that is accompanying you present with you when you did so?”

“It was roughly midday today, and the Cherish Ball she popped out of appeared in my pocket a few minutes after I took stock and stumbled out of my landing point.” The brown haired man explained with an awkward chuckle. It felt mildly surreal to explain this, nevermind the little chunk of his brain whispering how he’d be called crazy anytime now.

“A Mystery Gift, then.” Joy had, at some point while he’d not been paying full attention, pulled out a Rotomphone and expanded it to resemble more of a tablet. Neil wasn’t exactly sure what kind of technosorcery that could just as easily be pure hardware as Rotom nonsense was going on here, but he desperately wanted one of his own now.

“Huh. That’s a term back home with the media based on your world, but how did it come into use here? Just another Faller?” The suited man asked with an owlish blink.

“A combination of divine revelation via Arceus and the more recent wave of Fallers using the terminology to describe them in such ways often enough that it stuck.” She answered, jotting down another note on the Rotomtablet, “Earth, then? We’ve gotten Fallers from your world on quite a regular basis now, enough that there are dedicated support groups for those who fall into this world from yours to have formed.”

“Yeah. At least assuming it’s the same Earth with Sars Covid and President Trump, anyways. We named our planet so generically it’s hard to tell if I’m from the same place as them.” Neil said with a wan smile, shaking his head softly.

“Unfortunately, I wouldn’t know if it’s the same Earth, but it’s a surprisingly uncommon name for a planet.” Joy answered absently, making one final note before the tablet returned to being a phone. Nodding in satisfaction, she gestured for Neil and Mawile to follow her as she began walking. “If you two could follow me? I’ll be taking you to the specialized exam room, and Doctor Joy will be with you shortly after I take some basic baselines for both you and Mawile to enter into the League’s records. Then, after we’ve verified that you are, in fact, a Faller, I’ll return to provide you with the required paperwork. Once that’s all filed, we’ll assign you a room in this Pokemon Center so that you can sleep and think about your day. Does all of that sound acceptable?”

“Sounds perfect. We already had something to eat at the cafeteria so there’s no hurry, either.” Neil said as he got up, still carrying the beaked dino. Little minx hadn’t touched the ground since he’d entered the computer room for the first time. Very fluffy, very silky, very nice to hold. Given that she hadn’t protested once about the arrangement, Neil was inclined to believe that she too was fine with the way things were going for her.

“Right.” Nurse Joy replied, nodding towards Neil as she began guiding him further into the depths of the Pokemon Center. “Follow me then, please.”

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Flopping onto the warm comfort of a bed with the dead groan of someone who had been dealing with paperwork for far too long, Neil briefly entertained the fantasy of using Mawile as a pillow before he cast that thought to the side for now. The Pokemon in question had also flopped onto the bed alongside him; not that surprising considering that she had also been in the exam room for a couple of hours herself.

“I haaate legalease.” He grumbled into the mattress. Sure, it had been made as plain as possible, but there was a certain level of contrivance and meandering you needed in anything legally binding to make sure everything was watertight.

A chirp of commiseration from Mawile accompanied his own protests.

“I think if I pop in the shower I’m going to pass out the moment the hot water hits.” Neil muttered as he made a half-hearted reach for the one-size-fits-all pajamas laid neatly on the bed, only really amounting to his sore hand falling limp halfway. “You?”

Mawile’s chirps definitely seemed to be in general agreement, though the nuance behind the words was most certainly lost. He couldn’t tell if she was speaking in a deadpan, in emphatic agreement, or just keeping it neutral. Hopefully he’d get a better ear for it as time went on, until then a Rotomphone would handle it one way or another. Even if the Rotom couldn’t act as a translator for some reason, just having a magic floating whiteboard would go a long way bridging the language barrier.

For now, though, he had to force his moldering carcass to get up so he could change into his sleepwear and get some rest after this rollercoaster of a day.