Finally at the top

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They finally had made it.... After traveling at what seemed to be days on end, the two had finally achieved their goal. They both found a Joy Ribbon, and had reached the peak. The moonlight casted on the top of the mountain, a full moon, that was directly aligned with the tunnel of the Black Spiral Staircase. They had fought their way through to make it to the top, and it was a beautiful sight. Pokemon were scattered across the mountaintop, for this was their home. They were all friendly and smiled upon the sight of newcomers. It was pretty strange to see Pokemon of species they had just battled in the tunnels smiling at them and greeting them. It was like a house less village with a pitch black sky, all except for the moon. It seemed as if it would stay night here forever. The earth curved in the distance, and Sosio could see everything. Distant mountains were covered with snow, a deep abyss under them beside the tall mountain. Forests clouded with fog because it was so hard to see through the clouds that floated this high. This place was so wonderful, the Fletchling wanted to stay a while.

Ferocity and anger radiated off of him vibrantly. Unhindered rage that usually was reserved solely for enemies was displayed in to its fullest capacity as the Misdreavous attempted to pacify him. Through narrowed eyes, Ares had found his enemy: a creature that was not of this world and not of the after life that attempted to subdue his rage. She attempted to empathize, to sympathize - anything that would prevent the Charmander from unleashing his brutality upon her formless body. Her plan was risky, and she obviously was attempting to gamble that he was still a mind to reason with. He was (lucky for her), and allowed his aggression to subside slightly. His attack fizzled into nothingness within his mouth, and was extinguished and smothered.

"Lead on, fell creature, but know I shall force your entry into the afterlife should you attempt to harm me or her."

As the Misdreavous floated on, Ares would grab hold of Sosio and drag her along. He was unsure of how sound her mental processes were at the present time, but undoubtedly his ability to trust the witch that levitated before him would depend upon her recovery. He walked, and his ribs hurt. Eventually, they would reach the mouth of a large cave. Confusion naturally set in and he would allow his eyes to settle upon the vaporous form of the female once more. A snarl rippled through his vocal chords, "What is this?"

Sosio dragged along, occasionally mouthing "happy." Literally, she was being dragged. She refused to move her legs, like a stubborn toddler, not that it mattered. The Misdreavus had her caught in a Psychic. She could hear through her purple little bubble of what the Ghost pokemon had to say to Ares.
"This is my home. It's also my brewery. I specialize in potions and of the like."
She floated through the opening. Being a ghost type, all the other homes had no doorways, for the pokemon could just fly through the walls. It was strange, the fact that these pokemon are not solid, and can somehow pass through solids. The pokemon all seemed to fade from the mind as they entered the cavern. There was a lot to take in. Shelves of various stones, gems, and berries lined the wall. Below them, the floor was covered in some sort of silky substance made of weaved substances found on the mountain. It felt like moss, but looked like berry skin. It was a wonderful shade of purple: not too bright, and not too dull. On some stone tables were viles of colorful liquids filled about halfway. In the back stretch was a cauldron. Classic.

She approached her stock, floating up to the ceiling to view the top shelves.
"Let's see... Pecha... Oran... ah, Nomel."
She levitated, using psychic to take a couple. Floating over to her gem section, she looked at Sosio. She then took down a pale pearl-like gem, and Aquamarine off. She cut both in half, hollowing them out, then skinned the berry and put it inside, meshing two halves together, one the pearl and the other aquamarine. She put them into the empty cauldron, and stared a while.
"I'm afraid I'm missing one ingredient..."

Ares was puzzled. He hadn't necessarily considered the fact that Ghost-types would actually choose to dwell in a specific location - they weren't necessarily of this world from his perspective. They were ethereal, apart of the supernatural, and had little more than gas to help them find some form of their own. What separated them from the air was simply their will to linger, to cling onto a world that no longer desired them. Perhaps it did, in the end, make sense that they would attempt to hide away from a world that no longer wanted them. At least they might find asylum and live out their unnatural lives.

Silence would greet the Misdreavous's words as she introduced them to her lair, and Ares would simply follow his vaporous host. His claws were locked upon Sosio, dragging her behind him so that she might not waddle off chasing a magical purple dragon or whatever she might be hallucinating. It was a dimly lit cavern at best, but there was a certain homeyness that made it quite nice to be in. Shelves, tables, cabinets: all seemingly filled to the brim with items, papers, and ingredients. She was a witch.

She recited a list of ingredients, and then mentioned missing one. Ares did not like where this was going.

"What exactly?"

"Hmm... Well it seems I need a DNA sample of your friend here. A simple feather should do. She would molt naturally, so no plucking would be necessary."

Sosio hopped around. In her eyes, Ares duplicated and surrounded her. She leapt through the images, going through them because they were fake.
"Look! I'm a ghost too! WHEE!"
She bolted for a wall, but Misdreavus absent-mindedly held her up with psychic, her legs still running as if on land, and the ghost did so like a mother and her hyperactive child.
"I can flyyyyy!!!"

The local sorted through various books and stated,
"Not to mention I'm going to need a sample of the rock."

However dark it might sound, Ares was glad that he was going to be able to horde onto the treasures he had found throughout the cave. The main reason he had approached the phantom with such wariness and caution when the Misdreavous mentioned the missing ingredient was because he did not desire to so willingly give up any of his prized possessions. As much as he admired and genuinely liked Sosio, his dragon-like roots had deeply ingrained into the fertile plains of his mind. He was susceptible to fits of great rage and despair when anything tampered with even the most worthless of his possessions, and it was sadly something that would take time to overgrow.

When the witch proclaimed a need for a feather (what DNA was remained an enigma to him), he was the first on the scene. He would forcefully lift the inebriated bird up and shake her fiercely, hoping to dislodge a loose feather. While he certainly would have throttled anyone who touched her in this mannerism, he was quite alright with it occurring so long as he was the one doing the act. How hypocritical.

Should a feather come loose, he would set his shaken-not-stirred friend aside so that he might pick it up in one hand. If it hadn't, he would look towards the Misdreavous and shrug his shoulders. Oh well.

"A rock sample?" he would inquire with great apprehension, "How do you propose we get that?"

Misdreavus watched in shock as the pokemon shook his friend in the air, attempting to shake of one of her feathers. She didn't exactly mean it like that.

"Whee! Outer space!"
Sosio looked ridiculous with her head bobbing about in the air like she was a doll. A feather did in fact come loose. Quite a few, actually. The violent shaking was too much for the pokemon, and so having been put down and completely ignored just for a few feathers made her topple over and land sideways on the ground.
"Nighty night."

Misdreavus scanned through the feather collection of four and picked the brightest, largest feather. Most commonly a wing feather. She rapped it gently around her strange contraption of stone with berries inside, holding it together, and placed it into her pot.
"About the rock sample, I do not know what to do. I cannot just simply take one off the side of the mountain, and you can't even touch one."
She closed her eyes, as if rubbing her head with imaginary arms when suffering a migraine, and looked about town.
"Whatever one she landed on should be fine. Otherwise, we would have to chip some off the side of the mountain, and Ghost knows how angry that will be..."

With that bit of the way, a small cinder was exhaled forth from his mouth. He didn't like the sound of this: he couldn't touch it, she couldn't touch, nobody could touch it. How on earth were they supposed to get a sample of the rock then? Wait.

"You mentioned," he would begin, allowing his voice to chime in and penetrate her fervent debate with herself, "that I was impervious - somehow immune - to the rock's effects. The dark fog that clouds this mountain must come from those stones, right? That's why no one wants to or can come up here. Yet, here I stand with a sane mind." He would replicate her motion, except allowing his clawed index finger to scratch at his smooth chin. He supported his arm with the other, which greatly inflamed his injury. It would protest as he contorted his body, throbbing painfully as it suddenly dawned upon him. His eyes would instantly flash up towards the Misdreavous, as if he had discovered a great truth, "Does pain have anything to do with it?"

Soiso still flopped about on the ground.
"Rocks are made of awesome WHEE! Rocks are made of you and me!"
She pecked the walls, almost damaging the ghost's stock.

Misdreavus tried to understand the peculiar pokemon who was not affected by the rocks. She was too busy thinking of how this was possible. Only ghost types could resist the affects.
"Pain have anything to do with what? The rock affects? I don't think so."
She didn't understand where this pokemon was getting on, or why this idea came up. She felt like sinking into a nice, hot volcano to relax. She didn't quite get pokemon of other types, oh if only the great Ghost had given them all that gift. She finally confided to him fully.
"This mountain contains a special rock. That rock, when touched, and sometimes through air, can create illusions. The only question is why you are not affected by it. Surely you're not a ghost type."
This was a great mystery, and she wanted to make sure her townsfolk didn't surround this pokemon. He might be all the talk here for moons.
"Besides, if you pick up the rock for the sample, my potion will be done, so I can cure you, too."

Then how - nay, why - was he able to resist the effects the rock had on others? He had figured it was pain, since it kept him tethered to a reality that inflicted him sensation. Perhaps he was smarter, or had a mind that was more bulletproof than Sosio? This couldn't be the case, because he had considered the Fletchling to be of equivalent intelligence and mental stamina as himself. What was it, then, that separated himself from his peer?

"What do you think it is, then?" he would inquire, a bite present in his tone as his idea had been so swiftly shot down without a reason. "That my skin's orange? We have a saying in my clan: 'Pain is the greatest alarm that nature has installed within us'." That was the one thing he hated: a lack of inquisitiveness and experimentation. In fact, as it stood right now, why didn't she go get it if she wasn't affected by the effects of the rocks? That seemed like the best thing to do.

Misdreavus slightly wished this pokemon would stop. He wasn't making any more sense than the bird. maybe he was affected.
"I doubt the color of your skin has anything to do with it. The thickness, maybe, or the fact that you're part dragon..."
Meanwhile, the rocks began to spark. She flew over and used Psychic to hold them together.
"So help me if this thing explodes..."
She flipped through her books, reading the topics.
"Keep maintenance... Must stay in contact... Hold against metal..."
She slightly pressed it against the pot, preventing a bad reaction.
"Just do me the favor, would you?"

"Part dragon!?" he would exclaim, his eyes narrowing in rage as the Ghost-type failed to recognize the glorious species he belonged to, "Look here, ghost, I think your head's a little too full of aether. I'm a purebred Fire-type: a Charmander, through and through. I'm as much a Dragon-type as you are a Grass-type." A puff of smoke was exhaled through his nostrils, his eyes narrowing and his heart and thoughts darkening. Had she missed the subtlety of sarcasm? He was not keen on this Misdreavous at all, and quite frankly wouldn't have minded the rock exploding on her. Ares was slowly, but surely drawing back from this interaction and only maintained a tether to it simply because he wanted Sosio to get well again.

His pupils would slide across his angled eyeballs towards the witch concocting her potion, a look of disdain apparent as he allowed a snarl to apply bite to his words, "Yeah? What am I supposed to do? You seem keen on giving commands, and not explanations or how-tos."

Misdreavus barely had to listen.
"I'm not talking about types, you dim-wit. Pokemon have secondary, and many more classifications, such as size, weight, color, shape, and egg group. You happen to fall under the egg group categories of 'Monster' and 'Dragon.' You can calm down now."

She held the concoction together as the Charmander continued to jabber. The fusion of the things she had put together began to tremble at the verge of rejecting the opposite items, and the pure crafting that came from her psychic powers.
"Just... please! All you have to do is go to the site this bird touched the rock, bring it here, and I can mix it in before this thing explodes!"

She began straining due to her pure effort into putting the mixture together.
This is crazy... They're total strangers... Why am I...
Her own second thoughts interrupted her first.
No... It's worth it, for Ghost's sake...

This Misdreavous was awfully good at pissing him off. Ares let his scowl transform into a murderous, aggressive glower. His arms, which had been crossed in the interim, squeezed tight like a boa constrictor suffocating a particularly rambunctious piece of prey as he attempted to refuse himself the pleasure of throttling the Ghost-type. If this had proved one thing, it was that he hated them - and she was the prime suspect of projecting these emotions. She had insulted him, belittled him, questioned his intelligence and problem solving skills: this was the final straw. Rather than give an obligatory curse-laced lecture at the witch and allow severe profanities to flow out like water from a swollen stream, he would throw up his arms and release a grunt of frustration. 


It was at this point he began not to care. His ribs were openly protesting by surging his system with pain, his lungs were deprived from their usual amount of oxygen, and it was growing so dark that he could hardly see past his own tail flame: it was all a recipe for disaster. Why he kept subjecting himself to these comments was beyond him, and it was becoming increasingly more apparent that Sosio was the only reason he hadn't left. As the Charmander pivoted on the spot and started marching out to find whatever stone she had rested upon - which was quite peculiar, he had never heard of stones having this sort of effect on critters - his thoughts would drift to her well-being and the less than savory character he had left her with. Regret and anger pulsated from his mind and into his extremities, causing a rigidness to become associated with his gait. He was a fool, and his search for iron had only landed him internal injuries and a downed companion. Fantastic.


There was also the issue of locating what stone it had been she landed upon. It wasn't exactly the easiest thing to do when the light of the moon had once more been smothered out by the rolling fog, and now his own fire hardly penetrated the darkness. He was careful not to touch any rocks as he searched for feathers, smolder marks, or anything that would indicate that this was the stone they had been near. Why the heck did they have to find the original stone, too? The drake couldn't help but feel a bubbling sense of irritation at how silly some of these requirements were. Irksome witch...


At long last - for it had been quite awhile since he had initially set out - he would locate the stone. His eyes shimmered in the dim light of his tail's blaze as he identified it against the blackened scenery, and then dulled once again as he realized he would have to carry this back. If logic stood to reason, then he would be in the same boat as Sosio if he touched that. He would have to find out some sort of immunity, some sort of tether that could hold him back from the delusions that would certainly warp his mind into that of a melted substance. He would lift his claws and examine them, a sort of sad realization coming to him as he analyzed their curled sharpness. Ares would then rake them across his deltoid, allowing them to inflict lacerations against his orange, scaled skin. A grimace morphed his face, causing it to turn ghoulish as he attempted to maintain his composure. With that injury inflicted, he would initiate contact with the stone.


His hands had made contact with the black surface for but a mere few seconds prior to the effects being inflicted. For a moment, it seemed as if he had fallen asleep and had only just woken up; however, about him was the warping, swirling darkness that had been projected forward by the fog. Around him there were voices - haunted, ghoulish tones - that coaxed him into a sense of anxiety. For a brief moment, he believed himself to be as insane as Sosio had become; yet then came a sharp yank from his arm. He snarled, and investigated, only to find the weeping wounds of his own cause. Pain: it was, indeed, a way to combat the mists. Ares would rally his strength and lift the large rock - of which was bigger and heavier than himself - up, his stubby arms shaking ominously as liquid gushed forth from the injuries. He hazarded a step forward, staggering into it as he attempted to trust his own strength. 

Success.

Once more he would walk, his mind in a constant tug-of-war over his perception of reality. Pain dragged him in one direction, while the effects of the rock pulled another. Both were ferocious combatants, yanking and dragging upon his sanity for as long as they possibly could. Time was slowed as his muscles screamed, yet further he would push himself until he would reach the gaping mouth of the cave. Down he thrust the boulder, allowing it smash into the ground like a falling log crushing bone, and then down he went, falling onto the ground as darkness swelled about his vision. His wounds wept with tears of red, iron-rich liquid, and his claws were curled and attempting to root themselves into the cave floor. Slowly, his tail's flame dimmed, and the hallucinations grew bright. His jaws were agape, his breath staggered as his ribs complained and overwhelmed his sense with sharp jabs of pain. He would have preferred the sweet embrace of unconsciousness, but remained alert and awake as that witch did whatever she had to.

That was for you, Sosio.

The Misdreavus watched the defiant pokemon reluctantly walked out the doorway to retrieve the rock.
Bored, she lifted up the bird and put her on a table. Now, she shifted all her focus onto the potion crafting. The same magnetic forces as well as a few others pushed each other apart, but she tried to keep them together. It was like trying to mix oil and water, but fortunately she had psychic powers. All she had to do is prevent the whole thing from exploding. The simple answer was to add the Persim berry juice, but that would ruin the concoction unless the rock was in the mix.

A short while passed, which actually felt so much longer to the struggling pokemon, when the Charmander finally arrived. He looked dazed, and dropped the rock, seemingly spacey, yet somehow purely awake like he had eaten medicine with insomnia and got drugged in his head.
"Oh, my."
She lifted the pokemon and the rock, placing the pokemon next to the bird and the rock in the cauldron. Fortunately, the potion would make enough for two. Gently, she used psychic to loosen a scale from the Charmander and put it in.
If I don't have some of his DNA in there, too, he might turn into a crazy reptile-bird. Almost laughing at the thought of such a silly thing, she put the scale in and continued. Second-mindedly, while still holding the rocks together, she pulled the Persim berries and squeezed out their juices, filling the cauldron. She carefully and gradually submerged the mixture in, turning the once-yellow juice blue. With psychic to mix them chemically, it gradually grew another color until it was fully purple.
Done...

She took a carved rock that was shaped like a bowl.
Wait, what am I doing? This will just affect them again. I need wood...
Outside, she floated up to an Acacia tree. Without hesitating, she lifted the tree right out of the ground and ripped off a few roots. At least the roots weren't thorny. She quickly weaved the roots together and rushed back inside. She dipped the new bowl into the potion and put it on each of the pokemons' foreheads, holding them still from spazms with psychic. She muttered a few things, opened their mouths, and tilted the bowls.

Sosio blinked, as if opening her eyes for the first time, and looked around her. Charmander was lying beside her, and a strange pokemon was standing in the corner.
"Where am I? Do I know you? You look awesome and... hey... I'M ALIVE!"
She flew around the room exitedly, looking to Ares.

"Careful, you might not wanna touch the walls. Or any rock here, for that matter."

They watched the Charmander awaken from his brain's temporary slumber.

There was a limpness to his limbs as he lie sprawled out against the rocky ground of the witch's cavern, his fingers curling towards the centers of his palm as he stared up at the ceiling. It swirled and seemed to sink upwards, sagging at the midpoint of his vision as he observed its rocky texture. Darkness loomed at the edges of all he could see like a prowling predator that had just cornered its wounded prey, and it snarled mercilessly in pleasure at finding the Charmander unwilling to fight on. Though the lacerations upon his shoulder had proven worthy in providing some protection from insanity's greatest toys, the pain soon seemed like a medallion that had lost its utility. It had left him alone in a darkening world to suffer and cry.

How far he perceived himself to have fallen. Such a realization made him limp and unwilling to pursue his ambition of evolution, and he became loose and flaccid as the floor's support of his body was removed. Through his gasping breath and shaking sides, through the pain that seared from his lungs and the blood that spluttered out of his self-inflicted injuries, Ares had lost his motivation and allowed hallucinations to pollute his mind. As he was levitated to another solid surface and his arms and legs grew slack and drooped down, distant memories merged into his reality. He barely noticed the painful pull that occurred when the Misdreavous ripped a scale off of his person, for he was there with his mother. 

She had always been nice. It was good to see her again.

All at once, it seemed his foggy mind was flushed away as a strange liquid trickled down the backside of his throat. His claws would instantly flash to his esophagus, scratching desperately at the hardened scales as he envisioned himself drowning. For a moment, this seemed to be the case - for how else would a sufficient amount of fluid enter his windpipe - but the reality pounced upon him as soon as he realized the liquid had stopped draining. The Charmander would push himself into a sitting position, and instantly wince as his shoulder wounds and injured chest reminded him of their existence. Sosio was whirling about the room, and it seemed that everyone was staring at him.

He would snarl, giving the witch a rather murderous look as he allowed his gaze to eventually soften and drift to the Fletchling. Sosio: this was what it had all been for. "How are you?" he would ask, a great tenderness rippling his throat.