Turning a blind eye to kindness.

Finally the duo had reached the Grassveil Guild.
Panting heavily from the long distance he had to carry Silverdawn on and the high speed he had tried to maintain, the Gengar would almost have charged through the guild's wall but luckily he remembered his passenger's inability to follow him that way in time.
Changing his route to using the normal entrance, the two were quickly positioned in the guild's entrance hall. Now where was someone who might be able to help?
There just had to be someone, but of course the Gengar couldn't find them at the moment.
The situation itself and the great exhaustion had rendered his mental capacities insufficient for now.
They had to find help - he had to find help. And that quickly.

Silverdawn was floating along in a sort of purple and pink mist. She felt light, as if she could float away into the sky. So, she did. She flew through the clouds, soaring high above treetops and plains, until she came to a familiar mountainous region. She sunk, her focus directed towards a small hut on the edge of a slightly larger village. Loud voices arguing rose from the house.

"I don't believe that she would do that, Elder!" that was a male voice.

"Don't believe all you want, Riatche," an older male replied. "The ones who survived the massacre all say the same thing: it was your daughter who led the Kadabra to the village. She seemed happy about it!"

"The little bitch wouldn't dare!" that was Silverdawn's mother.

"Attitudes like that are likely what drove her to bring one of our greatest enemies here!" the older voice snapped. "we turned a blind eye for years, believing that as parents, you deserved to raise your child as you saw fit, but now... we hold you two accountable for the actions of your child and we will hold a trial, accusing you with the murder of thirty of our own!"

Noise exploded from the hut, but Silverdawn didn't notice as she struggled through the sudden gloom, trying to wake herself up. She writhed around in someone's arms. Her eyes -it felt like someone was using fury scratches on them. She moaned in pain.

Finally the Gengar had found someone who might be able to be of assistance.
After his short journey through the guild's halls which nevertheless felt like an eternity, he managed to return with a Blissey.
As they returned to the main hall, the Ekans was already breaking out of the hypnosis again.
Time was running out.
Would the Blissey's healing abilities even be able to fix anything?
Quite some time had passed until the duo had managed to get to Grassveil again after all.
What if the damage had become permanent now?
Many worries went through the Gengar's head as he nervously watched the Blissey tend to the wounded Ekans.  If only he had been a little bit quicker he chided himself.

Silverdawn tried to open her eyes. Nothing happened -she didn't see anything. Her third eyelid slid back and forth over her eyes, but the dark grey over her vision didn't clear.

"I'm sorry, but I can't do anything more," a gentle voice said softly. Fear shot down her spine. Her tongue flickered out of her mouth, frantically tasting the air for a scent, any scent.

The strangely cold and cloyingly sweet scent that numbed her tongue from the Pecha Forest was the first scent that came to her. The Gengar, it had to be. Another scent, sweet as well but less so, seemingly lighter. She did not recognize it beyond knowing that it was a female.

"Who... what?" her voice rasped, confusion running through her.

"You're at the Grassveil Guild," the gentle voice answered her. "I'm Blissey. William here brought you in."

William? That must be the Gengar's name. Strange name, Silverdawn thought. "What... what happened?"

"Well from what William has told me, a Nidorino's poison got into your eyes. Nasty stuff, that poison," The Blissey responded. "Unfortunately, the poison was very violently rejected by your body, and it festered too long in your eyes... I'm sorry, but I can't restore your eyesight..."

Silverdawn's breath died in her throat. BLIND??? The word repeated itself in her head, echoed, bounced back and forth. There was no room for anything other than that horrible word. Blind.... she was... blind. Never to see the setting of the sun over the mountains, bleeding colors across the sky? Never see the vibrant hues of the forest?

"How was this even possible?" she finally asked. "I'm a poison type. I don't get poisoned!"

"Well, you see... Your poison and a Nidorino's poison are very different in nature. If it had scratched anywhere else, it wouldn't have damaged you. But venom excretes from your eyes, and your venom reacted badly when it came in contact with the Nidorino's."

Silverdawn sneered angrily, turning her head away from the Blissey's voice. Why had this happened to her? Just one more awful thing in her life. Typical event for her. She should have expected something like this to happen. Bitterness welled up in her soul, and she bowed her head, tears escaping from her damaged eyes, plopping on the ground.

A frown appeared on the Gengar's face.
"I am terribly sorry for what has happened. I did what I could. If you need anything, please let me know."
He had failed. He had not been able to completely save the Ekans. Because of him the poor Pokémon was blind now. If only he could have been a little quicker, then perhaps she would now still be able to see.
"As you were writing in agony I hypnotized you and brought you here. Sadly I am incapable of using any restorative powers myself."
Why did things like these have to happen? Over his long life the Gengar had borne witness to so much pain, suffering, strife and torment. Why?
What cosmic force dictated, that life had to be full of this cruelty?
If only he would have been able to do more for the poor Ekans...

"I am terribly sorry for what has happened. I did what I could. If you need anything, please let me know." That was the Gengar's voice. Silverdawn stiffened at the sound of it.
"As you were writhing in agony I hypnotized you and brought you here. Sadly I am incapable of using any restorative powers myself."

Silverdawn hissed angrily. "I don't want to hear anything from you!" she whispered, voice full of fury. "This is all your fault!" she said bitterly. She knew that she was being unreasonable, but she was angry and hurt, and nothing made sense in her world anymore.

She heard the Blissey gasp in outrage. "Young lady! This Gengar probably saved your life by getting you here so fast! You should be thanking him, not blaming him!"

Silverdawn hissed. "If he hadn't distracted me, I would have never been in the way of that Nidorino! If he had been faster, my eyes wouldn't be gone!"

She started to slither away, trying to feel the room around her with the vibrations through the earth. She smacked into a wall, and fell back, cursing, her pride more hurt than her head.

The Gengar levitated a short distance into the air to prevent the Ekans from accidentally slithering into him. While the Snake Pokémon's behaviour certainly had been offensive and inconsiderate, it definitely wasn't anything William would hold against her. She was scared, frightened and needed something - or someone to vent about.
"As I said, please notify me whenever you need anything."
The Shadow Pokémon might not be able to restore the Ekans' eyesight, but he was determined to do whatever he could do to make Silverdawn's life less difficult.
While removing suffering from the world entirely was impossible for only one creature, everyone should nevertheless do everything they can to further progress towards that goal.

Silverdawn shook her head, ignoring the slight pain that running into the wall had caused. "As I said, please notify me whenever you need anything." The Gengar said from behind her.

She sighed. She had been completely rude to him and here he was, still playing the 'nice-guy' card. "Look, i'm... sorry about what I said. I was... angry. I didn't mean it." She swung her head around to face in the direction of his voice. "I suppose I never introduced myself properly. My name is Silverdawn. Yours is William, right?" she asked, sighing internally. "Do.... do you know anyone who could h-help me learn how to navigate without eyes?" she asked.

Now this was surprising. The Ekans had turned friendly all of a sudden.
Certainly not having expected such a sudden change in attitude, it took the Gengar quite some time to think of a response.
"Don't worry, it's okay. A pleasure meeting you, Silverdawn. Yes, my name is William. I just wish we could have met under more...fortunate circumstances. Now then...let me think..."
Who would be able to teach someone to navigate without using their eyes? Did the Ghost type even know such a Pokémon?
"Absol, Pikachu, Archen, Meganium, Torchic...no...they all use their eyes...", he muttered to himself.
There had to be someone in this town, who knew how to move around without using one's eyes. Being blind was not that uncommon a condition, so why was it, that William did not know a single Pokémon suitable for this task?!
Hesitantly he answered:
"I...I am terribly sorry but I can not think of anyone who might be able to teach you."

The Gengar paused for a lengthy moment, perhaps surprised by her sudden change in attitude. Silverdawn huffed to herself. Just because I'm naturally sharp, doesn't mean I can't ACT nice, she thought grumpily. Finally, the Gengar replied.

"Don't worry, it's okay. A pleasure meeting you, Silverdawn. Yes, my name is William. I just wish we could have met under more...fortunate circumstances. Now then...let me think..."

Silverdawn felt like rolling her eyes when the Gengar started listing off pokemon that he knew, most likely meaning to keep it to himself, but she'd always had better hearing than most.

"Absol, Pikachu, Archen, Meganium, Torchic...no...they all use their eyes..." Eventually, he replied carefully,  "I...I am terribly sorry but I can not think of anyone who might be able to teach you."

Silverdawn sighed. "There has to be someone in this town able to teach me to see without seeing!" She paused. That had sounded so odd. She winced. "Tell me, Blissey, do you know anyone?"

"I-I don't," came the hesitant answer. "But you could go around town and ask."

Silverdawn hissed in annoyance. "And how exactly am I supposed to do that when I can barely move without bumping into a wall?" she asked cuttingly. "I won't be toted around for the rest of my life like some... invalid!" she snapped angrily. Then she sighed again. Why did everything have to be so HARD? It wasn't fair! She thought, tears  beginning to form again.

It saddened the Gengar to see how a Pokémon that had previously been completely normal, could break  because of a simple injury. If only a few, tiny factors would have been different, then this entire tragedy could have been averted.
"I could try leading you around until we have found someone to teach you. That way it won't be for the rest of your life at least."
There was not much for William to say. The situation was a horrible one and everyone knew it already.
The oppressive athmosphere immediately suppressed any thought, forcing the Ghost type to remain silent.

~time skip: 1 week~

Silverdawn lashed her tail in frustration as she tried, and again, failed, to create even the smallest clicking sound. Her teacher, a zubat William had found in Grassveil, had told her she needed to create clicking sounds to bounce off of objects before she could learn anything more advanced. It had been a week since he had begun teaching her, and Silverdawn was growing more frustrated with each passing minute of practice.

She hissed angrily. Why wasn't it working?! Venom flooded in her mouth, and she spat on the ground disgustedly. She closed her throat off, and then tried to cough without opening her throat. A series of small, choked noises escaped from her, and then she collapsed, actually coughing. She was definitely not trying that again!

She sighed. She was getting nowhere with this echolocation thing. She received a lot more information from the vibrations of the ground beneath her than she did from this clicking thing. Vibrations could tell her if a grounded pokemon was approaching, and how big they were. Smell could tell her if they were female and, if she knew the scent, their species. But, neither helped her tell if she was going to run into a wall.

With interest William watched the spectacle in front of him.
It was astounding how easily the Zubat was able to navigate even though it obviously lacked any optical sensory organs. The Ghost type could not even begin to imagine what life would be like for him, would he suddenly lose his eyesight.
And he would just have the easy version as his spectral form would allow him to simply pass through most objects. How excruciating would a situation like this be for a being that couldn't do such a thing?
Involuntarily the Gengar shuddered.
It was only to hope, that the Ekans would be able to learn how to navigate from the Zubat.
And if she would not...well, it was kinda his fault that she got into that situation in the first place. Then he would just have to remain at her side.

Her teacher was getting frustrated at this point, as well. "Can't you just click?" he snapped in frustration.

"Well, sorry that I'm a SNAKE and thus can't make clicking sounds!" Silverdawn fired back.

The zubat made a disgusted noise in his throat. "Forget it. I'm done with this. You're attitude is horrible, young lady. I'm trying to help you, but you won't let me, so... I'm sorry, but I have to leave now."

Silverdawn felt a rush of air as the Zubat flew past her. She hissed and hit the ground with her tail like she hadn't done since she was a new hatchling. She was so angry! Why had this happened to her?! She could feel the anger building up inside of her, and instead of pushing it down like she always had, she let it out. She screamed. The noise was loud, louder than she had ever been, as she poured all of her frustration, anger, and bitterness into that one sound.

The world lit up around her, awash in whites, blacks, and greys. It lasted only for a second, but for a moment, she knew exactly how far from the wall she was, and she had seen the outline of William as a black shade and the Zubat as an outline of white. Then it was gone. She was disappointed that it had only lasted for a few seconds, but it gave her hope that she could one day "see" again.

It was at this point, that William snapped.
Angrily he floated into the Zubat's path.
"Who do you think you are, just leaving her like that? Can't you tell she is trying as hard as she possibly can? Maybe it has not occurred to you yet, but you are not of the same species. Maybe, just maybe it is more difficult for her to produce certain sounds than others. How would you feel if I were to suddenly belittle you because you can not move through solid objects?"
Just what was the bat thinking?
The Ekans had just turned blind for Giratina's sake!
How could any living being be so inconsiderate?
If there wouldn't be a reputation he had to lose, William would almost have scared the bajeezus out of the Flying type.