Much risk, no reward

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It was another cold day in the Icicle Forest, which had not been surprising for William, as practically each and every day in this frozen forest was a cold day.
Still it has been quite some time since he last set foot in this icy wasteland - actually he had never "set foot" here at all, as his last visit happened while he still had the form of a Gastly.
It was only a faint memory, but the Ghost type remembered the name.
Sorren.
Sorren was a Torchic, who had been one of the first Pokémon, who made William question his preconcieved notions and assumptions about Pokémonkind, so he gladly took this mission, even though it didn't promise a reward.
William had isolated himself for an extemely long time and he knew the pains it had caused him all too well. Sorren should not have to suffer the same fate.

The archen remained silent as the gengar spoke, having nothing to really say for himself. He had taken the mission because he was concerned for the torchic...what else was there to it? Acro remained silent as he waited for the torchic's reply, the cold continuing to bite into his feet and feather less tail. The archen was not built for this type of cold, and it was getting to him. He blinked as he looked back to the torchic, nodding to back up that William's information was true. They were getting no reward, no items, no poke, nothing. It was a mission that was left for the kindness of a certain pokemon to pick up.

"I- who would post something like that? Wouldn't they just tell you? And I'm actualy out here training. I'm so weak and pathetic, I'm afraid of everything. I've been trying to get that fear under my control, But you can see me shaking. I'm not there yet, So just leave me alone, ok?"

Sorren's tone of voice had turned to that of a sad child. He turned his head away from the two pokemon, not wanting to look them in the eye. He nearly started to cry, but was able to catch himself. He was close, but he wasn't ready to go back yet.

"You. Fearful. Are you kidding me? I know, that I might not be the most comforting creature to be around, and I can say, that the average reaction to my presence has been much, much worse. Also, not being fearful at all isn't a good thing either. It keeps you from ever acknowledging the times in which a Pokémon would have no reason to be fearful as something good. It would completely take away your desire for security. You would just charge from one danger into the next until you wouldn't be able to anymore. Everyone has their fears, and they exist for a reason, Sorren."

As it had been made clear, that Sorren came to these cold lands of his own accord, the Gengar had no intentions of dragging him back to town against his will. The only reason he was still here, was because this Torchick was acting in error. A misconception had found its way into his brain and was wreaking havoc with his soul. And the Gengar knew all too well, how much pain such a single, simple mistake could cause...

The arhcen remained silent as he found he had nothing to say, well more along the lines of he did not trust himself to speak. Last time he had helped a pokemon confront their problems he had been utterly useless and perhaps made the situation worse. The archen merely remained silent and watched, nodding to William's words as if agreeing, although he felt that he should not be the one to talk.
"Useless"
"Can't help your friends"
great...the voices were back. Just what the little bird with tan plumage wanted, something else to make him feel guilty.

"Don't give me that! I've heard it a million times, I KNOW that fears are there for a reason, but when they paralize you, then there's something wrong! SOMETHING WRONG WITH ME! And I'm not leaving until I can get ahold of my fears and Control my actions!" Sorren yelled, anger won out this time against fear of the ghost.

A million times by a million mouths he had heard the same story. It was his fault the fears had gotten the best of him. So he would make it right. No one was going to patronize him.

"Then go somewhere, where you would experience that fear. Right here and right now you are just going in easymode. There are no beings here, that would pose a reasonable threat to you and you know that. Like this you will never overcome your fear. But as you don't seem to be willing to leave, I think that's all that can be done here. What do you think, Acro?"
William now was ready to leave at any second. They had tried to convince him to leave and up to know he had shown no sign of any intention of ever wanting to return. That meant, that the only other option would be to drag him back by force and the Gengar was determined not to let it come to that. He would rather fail the mission. But maybe his avian friend knew of a way?

The archen flinched upon being asked similar to a child flinching when called upon by a teacher. He nodded, "Y-Yeah.." he swallowed and spoke up once more, "Yes, i-if you want to be stronger you have to take o-on challenges....th-this place is f-full of ice types, which are easy to o-over come...although this doesn't really work for m-me I think..." the archen shuffled his feet uncomfortably, feeling as if she should not have had a say in how to become stronger since he himself hasn't become stronger like he had wanted.

"You think this is easy? I don't even know a single fire move! Back there with that Lairon I froze up, if that happens when I'm on a mission, or when someone else depends on me... I haven't been here fighting. I've been here taking a beating. I need to learn to control myself when my fear gets out of hand." Sorren said, now vissibly crying.

He didn't have the strength, he didn't have the will. He at least wanted to know he was doing his very best. Sorren knew what happens when he didn't.

"Then go try something else. You can see for yourself, that this isn't working. So you're afraid, that this will happen on a mission. What about right here, right now? You are in a dungeon, same as you would be on pretty much any mission. Freezing up here could mean your defeat as much as in any other dungeon. If you want to find a way, I suggest thinking again."
While it was true, that the time he had spent alone had hardened the Ghost type, he had been in grave danger the entire time, the risk of him being attacked always being present, even though he had been able to choose a much more secluded place to stay than the Fire type did or would ever be able to.
There had to be another way to do that...

Unable to think of anything else to say, the archen remained silent. Not wishing to speak and say the wrong thing by accident. He didn't know what he was expected to say, he had no right to rant about strength when he felt that he himself didn't have it. The archen shuffled his feet uncomfortably, he looked to the torchic, wishing they could all just go back to the guild and talk about this, instead of standing around in the cold and being an open target for anything to come and attack.

"You don't know me, don't pretend that you do!" Sorren yelled."I WILL NOT BE PATRONIZED BY YOU!"

Sorren out of anger, kicked one of the still burning sticks from the fire at the ghost. He had had enough. Wimmy had assumed that he knew what Sorren was going through, but he had no idea. It was time to end this.

Seeing the stick fly at him, the Gengar's eyes widened in surprise as he had just enough time to comprehend, what had happened, but not enough to react appropriately.
While the stick itself simply passed through his spectral body, the fire left a burn in the middle of his face.
"Bad idea. Very, very bad idea, my friend."
To protect himself from further assault, the Ghost type launched a ray of confusion at the Torchic, hoping to get the Fire type to calm down in the process. Still, he was slightly annoyed and decided to have his revenge.
His shadowy form merged with the many shadows the fire had been casting on the surroundings, raising up and down in a dance of madness. From all around Sorren twisted shapes with glowing eyes of deepest crimson arose, impenetrable mists of vile darkness surrounding them. A loud, manic laughter filled the air, backed by the sound of claws on a chalkboard. Slowly William's voice took over, disgustingly friendly, yet coldly addressing his attacker:
"So, Sorren, what have we learned? I hope you refrain from attacking beings beyond your comprehension in the future, okay? Having an opinion is one thing, but violently assaulting others is unacceptable. Please keep that in mind."
As the Ghost type finished talking, the sounds quieted down, the shadows slowly returned to their normal shape, the mists dissolved in the air and the dark energies converged at the place William had been standing in, once more forming the Gengar's body, who was chuckling slightly.

The archen's beak was hanging with his eyes wide in surprise, he had not expected William to do...what ever he just did. The archen blinked and shook his head furiously to return his facial expression to normal. He had never seen William this angry, annoyed, yes, but not angry, apparently. He too had been angered by the Torchic's bitter refusal to return, but being the shy archen he was, he had bottled it up and fed it to the voices in his mind. He turned to the torchic, waiting for an answer after the sudden episode of the ghastly abilities of a gengar, wondering if he would start running again.

The torchic just lay there paralyzed, then he started crying. Crying like a baby. He was scared, he was so very scared. But more than that he was sad. Sad that he could get that scared, sad that he still couldn't do anything about it. So he cried.

And he didn't stop.

William meanwhile didn't show much emotion at all.
In a tone completely devoid of any emotion he adressed his friend again:
"So, what should we do? Do you have any ideas?"
It didn't happen often, that William lost his temper this explosively, but just as sadness and fear, getting angry was an integral part of any sane psyche, as it created an outlet for pent up frustration and stress, keeping them from destroying their bearer from the inside. And if that would have happened, then the only thing left would be a depressed wreck, which could very likely turn on other Pokémon, becoming one of the very outlaws they had set out to fight before.
He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster indeed.