Rainbow Rocks

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Standing at the foot of this humongous mountain of black stone sharply piercing the skies above brought back memories. This was the place where William and Acro had met for the first time. This was the place William had found his Joy Ribbon. This also was the place he had found the Link Cable he used to evolve into the Pokémon he was today.
It was just one mountain in an entire range of them, but this one was special. So many things had happened here already. And that was why the Gengar was almost stunned by the wave of nostalgia that overcame him seeing this mountain again after such a long time.
But he was not here to think of the good old times. He was here to save a poor, defenseless family from the torment of one particular Scraggy.
This should not be too difficult as he was a seasoned explorer.
Unless of course some unforeseen disaster happened.
Something like someone completely inexperienced tagging along.

A smirk crossed the Gengar's features.
Apparently the most recent attack had tired out the Aerodactyl enough to force it to land.
And seeing the grounded Rock type had given the Gengar quite the idea.
After submerging himself in the ground again, William decided to make some more use of his mobility.
Approaching the Pokémon from below, he positioned himself below the unsuspecting enemy.
Ascension was carried through rapidly, the Gengar soon directly below their foe.
Aerodactyl was suddenly lifted up high into the air by the Poison type, who was unable to suppress a chuckle.
At that point in time it happened. The Gengar turned himself upside-down, the Aerodactyl with him.
Angrily the latter screeched as the spectral Pokémon was dragging them down.
Altitude was lost rapidly, the ground getting closer and closer.
As it came close enough, the Gengar let go of the Pokémon, disappearing into the ground only to reappear a short distance away.

(Yes, I have just used a piledriver on a flying rock dinosaur.)

(William used piledrive!)

Sova watched as his ally lifted the beast into the air and slammed it into the ground. The attack clearly hit the beast hard, as it struggled a moment to get back up, but its time being grounded was now over. The aerodactyl stood, flapped its wings and raised its self into the air, its mouth still glowing an eerie black.

Suddenly, the Aerodactyl screeched in anger and charged at William, its mouth wide open, in an attempt to bite. Sova attempted to stall it again with Swift, but this time it just completely ignored the attack. It probably felt cornered and had adrenaline pumping to completely ignore an attack like that. Either way, the prehistoric bird sure could take a hit....granted it had just healed its self too.

Deciding he'd now be better at close range assisting his ally, Sova began a short sprint over to the battle, but stopped momentarily to look behind him, seeing the Poochyena still behind him. "Stay here!" He said, to which the canine replied by sitting down and nodding. With that, the eevee turned to see if his ally was alright.

Having exerted himself greatly with his last move, William found himself panting, not noticing the not-as-defeated-as-he-thought Aerodactyl raising from the ground one more time. And neither did he notice for it to come charging back at him. And thus it came to be that the Flying type managed to catch the spectral Pokémon in its jaws, something the Ghost type could not pass through for some otherworldly reason. Pain was surging through his body, the dark energies certainly not a pleasant sensation. Nevertheless he had to concentrate, focus, channel...
Slowly but surely the Gengar's darkest thoughts, the pain he was experiencing in this very moment, the loneliness he had felt all those years in the forest, the taste of tears, the sting of pain, the smell of fear, the sound of crying, they all were flowing into an eerie, purplish-black orb in front of the Gengar.
Now it just happened to be that there was an Aerodactyl directly in front of him.

Sova stood in awe and surprise for a moment, this was the first time he'd actually seen William hurt, so it was somewhat of a shock to him. To his relief, his ally seemed to still be more than capable of fighting as the gengar created an eerie ball of shadow and sent it flying at the enemy, who was knocked out of flight yet again by the attack, but somehow still standing, barely.

Then the worst happened, the enemy's mouth began glowing white again, a sign of the devastating Hyper Beam seen earlier, only this time it was pointed in the direction of Sova....or so he thought at first, but upon closer inspection, he noticed the aim was slightly off, towards the poochyena, who was simply standing there, paralyzed in fear.

Sova considered simply moving farther away to ensure he wouldn't be hit. If the pooch didn't want to move he wasn't required to help. Besides, it was previously an enemy and probably wouldn't risk its own life for him, so why would he even consider helping? Against all of that logic, he darted forward, tackling the grey canine out of the way, just in time for the beam to hit him instead.

The burn the little eevee felt was worse than any pain he had experienced so far in his life, enough to make him worry for a second that he would die. He was screaming in pain, not that he could hear over the sound of the Hyper Beam around him. He couldn't see to look and make sure his body wasn't being disintegrated with the blinding light enveloping him, though he would have been able to open his eyes enough anyways with the horrible pain.

Then, just a few seconds after the beam began, which seemed like a few minutes to him, it ended and he collapsed on the ground, his fur visibly darker from the attack, barely able to move, all to help a would-be enemy that he had every reason to leave.

(Extremely long post for the sake of being super dramatic! :D)

Only from the corner of his eye the Gengar was able to see what had transpired, his jaw dropping to the ground in an instant. This was the exact reason the Gengar had suggested for him to remain in dungeons better suited to the Normal type's power level. But did he listen? Of course not. So now it was up to William to save yet another Pokémon.
After quickly charging at the exhausted Pokémon to land another Payback attack, the ghastly ghostly Ghost type immediately descended in front of Sova.
His crimson eyes locked straight on the Eevee's, the Gengar began to hum something that definitely was not music, yet sounded strangely soothing. As he did so, his eyes began to emit a strange, equally calming light.
"Rest now. Soon the pain will be over."

Sova watched with his eyes barely open as his ally finished off the enemy. He was fighting off the urge to just pass out in the first place, so the gengar's approaching him with the strange sleep-inducing sound certainly didn't help. For a second, he felt himself fading into sleep off, then he realized what was happening. He was being forced into sleep because William had decided he was too weak and too incapable of continuing, he was certain this was what was happening.

Slowly and very shakily, Sova forced himself to get up with a bit of a stumble backwards, ignoring the almost suffocating fatigue from the hypnosis and injuries. It felt like his entire body was being weighed down, moving was painful, but the only other option was to submit to the gengar and prove he was weak. Slowly, he spoke while hanging his head and looking at the ground. "I-I....am not....weak." His voice was a bit shaky, similar to his body.

He took a step forward and slowly raised his head to meet the gengar, despite the pain. His face was completely serious, he was absolutely determined to finish the mission and prove he could.

Seeing the Eevee's struggles, the Gengar ceased his attempts at Hypnosis.
"Are you sure about that? This is not going to be easy, especially not in your condition. Each step will hurt horribly. I could easily and painlessly get you back to Grassveil right now, where they could treat your injuries."
The Ghost type was surprised. He had not expected for Sova to get up again after having been the target of an attack like that. His stubbornness certainly was an interesting thing.
However he couldn't decide whether that was a good or a bad thing. On the one hand it allowed for him to get up again and fight some more, on the other hand it would frequently get him into dangerous situations that would have been easily avoidable.

Sova nodded, still a bit shaky. "I'm....fine. I've just never...." He paused for a moment as a wave of pain pulsed through him. "....I've never even seen a move that strong before." He continued as he attempted to walk. The pain that persisted and worsened every time he took a step was cause enough for him to open his bag and rummage through it. He bit onto an Oran berry and ate it, feeling the rejuvenating effects begin to kick in almost immediately.

(energy - 23....don't question my maths.)

He knew very well an Oran berry would mostly just replenish his energy, but at least then he would have some energy to move his body that felt like it was being pulled down by gravity.

"Besides, earlier we had a talk about giving up...." He said, almost too quietly for anyone other than himself to hear. He really did want to just give up and getting his injuries treated professionally sounded nice, but he had just finished making a vow to not give up.

Then he remembered the poochyena from earlier and looked around. No sign of it, must have ran off.

"Hyper Beam...nasty move, but it places enormous strain on the user as well. I'm surprised that Pokémon was able to use it more than once. Well, since you are against a tactical retreat - how about we get going before that guy-", he motioned towards the Aerodactyl "gets up again?"
A hand of shadow was extended to the Eevee, who certainly didn't look like he was in any shape to continue this journey. But if William had learned one thing while traveling with Sova, then it was that short of forcibly carrying him back to Grassveil there was not much he could do to stop the energetic ball of fur. So they better get going and finish their mission before Sova would be forced to endure even more serious injuries and grievous bodily harm.

Sova stepped away from the hand. "I can walk, don't worry." He assured the gengar. "Lets go." He began walking back on the path they were on before the battle, his looming sense of fear becoming more and more intense as they got higher up the mountain. Clearly, what ever was agitating him was still around.

The Gengar simply followed the Eevee up the mountain, now keeping closer watch on any possible dangers and the Eevee itself. After another encounter like this one Sova might just not be able to get up on his own again, so a situation of that sort should be avoided.
Why was the Eevee so determined to prove his strength?
Was it some past failure he was trying to make up for?
Was it some female Pokémon he was trying to impress?
Some peers he was attempting to make an impression on?
Or was he looking for some value in his life, something that differentiated him from the rest?

As they scaled the mountain, Sova noticed the silence between he and the gengar. With the pain in his body still lingering and the ominous fear from his Anticipation looming, he really wanted to do something to distract him a bit. "You're quiet....wanna talk?" He asked, more like requested.

They were actually pretty far up the mountain, even though it was large. Surely if the scraggy was still there, they would find him soon. Hopefully....he didn't really want to have to explore the entire mountain.

The Gengar shrugged once again.
"I was unable to think of anything worth talking about and believed that speaking may be painful for you right now. Furthermore I believed that if you were to think of something worth discussing you would be the one to mention it. I'm not good at smalltalk I guess."
They had been here for quite a while now and had made no progress in their mission thus far. Hopefully that would change soon, as William believed for it to be rather unwise for Sova to continue this mission even though he had been wounded heavily.
As for smalltalk - one tends to unlearn communicative skills after spending a long amount of time alone in a forest. There had been a few books to read, but obviously written language was not comparable to the spoken word.

"Actually, I wanna talk to get my mind OFF the pain." Sova admitted. At least talking didn't make him hurt any worse, or perhaps he was just becoming numb from the pain and couldn't feel any difference. To keep his mind off the pain, he attempted to think of a topic. "Alright....do you like having me around?" He said, hopeful. He could tell the gengar had disapproved of pretty much everything he did and had gotten annoyed with him at times, but at the same time William never seemed to show much positive emotion, so it was hard to tell.

Lord E V carried out 1 launched of one Mission Dice :

1

"Thus far? Honestly it depends on what for."
Truly the Gengar's opinion of the Normal type was a mixed one.
"As a combat partner I can not say as you have not yet had a real chance to prove yourself, our enemy thus far having been out of your reach. As a conversational partner I do, as you are not opposed to debate, allowing for me to refine my points. As an escort I do not, as I have to watch out for you not to fall or to get another Hyper Beam to the face and I am sure your stubborn attitude will be getting us into trouble somehow."
It was interesting that the Eevee was asking a question like this. William had not imagined for him to be the type who cared much about what others thought of him. Apparently he had been mistaken.