Disgusting Delivery

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The archen of the rescue team flinched when he looked upon the great marshlands before him. It was full of...water. As a rock type the pokemon hated water. He had no ability to float like a duck or a normal bird and he could barely swim. The Archen sighed as he stared at the water, he still had not entered it just yet. He would have to look through all of this liquid to search for the black sludge...how was he going to hold it anyways? It would damage him if he held it...it only healed poison types and damaged others, so why had he accepted the job anyways? He looked at the reward and sighed, "This better be worth it..."

In his newfound high of colours and emotions the Gengar didn't even realize, that the Wooper had stolen the item they had been looking for. Maybe he shouldn't have held it over his head in a "Legend of Zebstrika" manner. Only now, that the colours began to fade into the usual shades of grey of the bog, William managed to shake his head, clearing it of the dull calm, that had inhabited it before.
"Why would any non-Poison type want to steal something like this? I have to say, that it was an amazing feeling, but the Wooper doesn't seem to agree with me. So...I say we blast it as usual. Any objections?"

Acro shook his head, it would be better if they took the item away again anyways. It was poison to the wooper and would just cause i constant pain. The Archen made the first move, he screeched as doubles of himself appeared and screeched as well. The Archen was using double team. The mini-army of Archens leaped into the air, and started to perform all kinds of acts on the nearby trees. As they did so, each one of them obtained a light blue aura as they performed Acro's new move, Acrobatics. The real archen screeched as he went in for the attack.

Shrugging, William watched the Archen perform his...or rather their attacks.
Were he to intervene himself right now, the risk of hurting his dear friend would be far too great.
Thus the Gengar simply stood by, admiring the Flying type's daring Acrobatics in the sky above him.
They many Archen gliding in perfect unison reminded him of some other flying team he heard of. What was their name again? The Wonder Guards? The Thunder Bolts? It was something like that. But it didn't matter right now, as the retrieval of the Black Sludge was more important.
Maybe he'd remember during the battle.

Lately William hadn't been on that many adventures anymore, so his reflexes had suffered a bit. Although he managed to levitate up into the air, the Water Gun hit his leg, causing the shadow to helplessly tumble around in the air for a short amount of time.
The Gengar was ready to vomit, so he decided to politely return the favour to the Wooper.
A quick train of thought later, a shimmering Confuse Ray had been formed and subsequently been launched at the blinded opponent.
An eye for an eye.
A tooth for a tooth.
And a battle for Black Sludge.

William had seen the Wooper twitch as well, so he decided to use an alternate round.
Grinning as usual he descended into the muddy ground, his shadowy hand suddenly appearing next to the Black Sludge, trying to find it.
While it was an interesting ability to be able to move through solid matter without any restrictions, the lack of vision was a problem. Hopefully the Wooper was knocked out - or at least surprised or ignorant enough for the shadowy Pokémon to be capable of picking up the toxic item without too much resistance.
Otherwise the battle would just have to continue on.
Why did the Ground type go through all this trouble for one item that was actively hurting it?

Apparently the Wooper hadn't been defeated completely yet as it indeed was kicking.
However this proved to be less than useful, as kicking a shadow had never accomplished anything yet.
And this essential truth proved itself relevant once again as the Gengar didn't even realize, that he was being attacked. Instead William simply grabbed the item and descended back into the ground, reemerging a few seconds later. Sometimes being a ghost had its advantages.
Now they would only have to get back to the guild to be done with their job.
After so many journeys with Acro, the Gengar figured, that he should go adventuring with his own team again next. They hadn't done too much together lately.

Having never realized, that the Wooper hadn't been knocked out before, William was a bit surprised.
"Huh? Hadn't we defeated it earlier? Well...it certainly is defeated now. So...is there anything left for us to do here or can we go back to the guild?"
Even though regions like this were a Gengar's natural habitat, William did grow bored of these marshes slowly but surely. It probably was just a coincidence, but the Poison type found himself in this dungeon way more often than one would have expected. At least the travels with Acro were much less dangerous than the journey with that Corphish...
Why was that bird even here again? He hated water after all, and this area had the most of it right after the sea...

"I see no reason to remain here..." Acro spoke, "I would prefer that we left as soon as possible!" The Archen smiled. He could not help but feel that he was going to eat those words. He could not help but feel that something bad was going to happen in the near future. He shoved the feeling aside, no way could something bad happen right now. If something bad did happen it would be handled when it came.
"So uh...do you remember the way back? Everywhere I look seems the same, water, marsh, cattails, more water..." The archen laughed nervously at his words.

Even though he tried to supress it, William had to chuckle upon hearing his friend's words.
"Nope. I do not remember the way back at all. But that shouldn't prove to be too much of a problem. Just a second..."
With a single leap, the shadowy Pokémon floated up above the banks of fog, that were drifting through the murky marshes. From this altitude it was rather easy to oversee vast parts of the continent. From Grassveil City to the Icicle Woods and Blackmist Mountain the Gengar's gaze wandered, mesmerized by the sight for a short while.
Finally descending back onto the ground, William pointed in the direction he saw the city of Grassveil in.
"It's in that direction. It shouldn't even be too far away."

Acro nodded sheepishly, "Y-Yeah, let's go get this thing to the muk then. I'm sure he's been waiting an awfully long time for it."
He began to make his way towards the direction the Gengar had pointed. He began to wonder just how useful he had been during the mission. Could the gengar had done it without his help? Surely William was able to do such missions on his own now because of his ability to walk through walls. Acro wondered if William even needed a team! The archen made his way back to Grassviel silently, pondering these thoughts. Was he simply a burden? He should evolve shouldn't he? Evolving would mean he's stronger. He heard that Archeops were one of the strongest pokemon out there, would he fit the bill when he evolved? He sighed, for he was just going to have to wait and see...

Wandering back to the guild, a wide variety of thoughts went through the Gengar's head.
He had become stronger. Stronger than he would have ever imagined.
But what would have happened, would he not have found the magic of friendship?
Probably not. He wouldn't have been able to do this without Nicholas the Delibird or Nate the Pikachu or Tsukishiro the Absol. And he would have never managed to do this without the help of his best friend, Acro the Archen.
William was sure, that Acro though of him in the same way. It made him happy.
In past times, when he still lived in the forest, the Ghost type would never have realized it, but now it was crystal clear.
Strength doesn't matter as long as you have friends.