To the Peak

(Energy - 2. Livin like Larry.)

The clouds around Black Mist Mountain were very dark as usual, as well as the mountain its self, fitting the current state of mind of Sova. If he were on this journey alone and had managed to endure it, it would have been very miserable. It was miserable for him regardless, but being with a friend helped. If only he could tell William what he was actually feeling, but surely the gengar would disapprove.

"Hey, how long do you think it'll take for us to reach the peak?" He called out to William, a bit tired of all the walking. Though he didn't think his ally actually knew, at least it would be a decent conversation starter if nothing else. They had been on the mountain for quite a while after all, he was already guessing it would still take a while to get to the top.

"Not too long I guess. It is not much of a distance after all. But please do not rely on that estimate too much. After all I am basing it off of my own experience. Maybe the terrain here is bad or something similar I would not notice."
There were many places the Gengar would rather be now. At home with a good book for example. Or under his bed for a quick nap. But of course Sova just had to have his curiosity get the better of him and now he decided to go look at some more rocks. As if they hadn't seen enough of those already. But William couldn't just leave him here. There still were doubts he was having concerning the Normal type's competence and the Poison type was not a Pokémon to needlessly endanger the innocent, annoying though they may be...


(E=52-24=28)

Sova sighed in relief. "Good, good....To be honest, my fear's getting worse the higher up we go." He said, then paused to think for a moment. Why was he blindly searching for something his Anticipation deemed so dangerous? "Hmm.... This is an awful idea, I could easily be leading us into something extremely dangerous. So why are you sticking around? After all, my choice back there....I wouldn't blame you if you decided I didn't deserve help." He continued. They weren't far from the peak, so he wanted to get any questions out of the way fast.

The Gengar chuckled.
"Extremely dangerous? This is mountain. Up there is more mountain and down where we came from there still is a lot of mountain. Why should anything be different now? And I think it is not about deserving help. If you are a good being, then you help others regardless of whether they are deserving of that help or not. Oh, and if you get into trouble here one might mistakenly see me as the cause of it, destroying the reputation I have built up over the years."
Slowly the Gengar followed the Eevee further up the mountain. While they traveled, he couldn't help but try to think of how the Normal type's reaction would be once he were to come to see that the mountain looked the same no matter which part of it one were to focus on.

"Oh, and here I was thinking you cared about me." Sova said in a very joking and sarcastic tone. He knew, or at least thought the gengar cared about him a bit, he was simply trying to tease a bit. Though the thought of there being nothing on the mountain did calm him down a bit. Maybe his ability was just malfunctioning or something.

After all, William seemed to always be right, so why would this time be any different? Though he still had trouble believing his ability that had never lead him astray before would suddenly stop working properly. After all, it had just warned him of the threatening scraggy. Or....perhaps less threatening than one would suspect with the type advantage.

"Me? Care for you? Why should I? You ambush innocent Pokémon in forests and force them to travel around with you without ever really contributing much.", William stated in an equally joking, self-depreciative tone.
"Guess we better get going though. I'd much rather prefer to be home again before the sun sets. And I suggest for you to pursue similar goals. Some of the nocturnal Pokémon are...not very polite to use a more civilized expression. Furthermore navigating in darkness can be dangerous and I'd suggest not to go and try to sleep in an area such as this one.
Even if you manage to find a supposed safe spot - there have been a few Ghost types around when I last visited.

Sova giggled a bit at the gengar's return of the sarcasm, then paused for a moment to hear William out. He then rolled his eyes. "It's fiine. We're fiiiine." He said, though he was already hoping to get through with the exploration quickly. "Not that that matters, since you're my prisoner." He joked, referencing the gengar's earlier sarcastic statement.

"Oh, indeed I am, vile creature.", the Gengar continued their little "conversation".
"But not for long. Soon my brethren will discover what you have done to me and drown this dimension in shadows, so we can replace this useless little marble of blue with a family resort or something of the sort."
It is the mark of a great mind to entertain an idea without accepting it.
Someone once said that. Wise guy.
But despite the quick-witted conversation and lighthearted banter William still found it a bit annoying that he had to babysit this brown ball of fur just because he wanted to travel up the entire mountain instead of just completing their mission, which was the reason they had come into this area for.

Sova held back a laugh. "I will fight to the end! As the hero should." He replied, a bit cocky. "But be warned, we will never surrender this plane-- t...." He trailed off, suddenly feeling himself zone out as he began to hear a voice. Sova...., the voice echoed, though he couldn't tell if it was in his head or if someone was actually talking to him. For some reason, he had trouble focusing as the voice echoed in his head, strangely familiar to him. He was so unfocused that he didn't even notice he was in the middle of taking a step, causing him to fall over, snapping him back into focus.

"Ow...." He muttered as he gained his bearings and realized there was nothing talking to him. He was still trying to figure out why that voice seemed so familiar, not knowing anything of the hallucinogenic properties of the rocks around the peak of the mountain.

(Note - Sova is beginning to be effected by the hallucinogenics on the mountain)

The Gengar meanwhile found himself chuckling. That is until the Eevee abruptly stopped talking.
"Uh, are you okay there? You sure you have the energy to continue here? It's been a long trip and you probably are exhausted. Remember that we can return at any time."
Now this was worrysome. Without any prior indication the Eevee had been on the recieving end of a rather noticeable motoric failure. What was the cause of it? Exhaustion? Carelessness? Simple clumsiness? No matter, at these altitudes any misstep could have horrible consequences. So it was of great importance to determine and eliminate the cause of Sova's distress. Without it this pointless trip would turn into a pointless and dangerous trip - something William was even less fond of.

Sova attempted to explain the situation to the gengar, his mind becoming clouded again. He knew very well he was nowhere near exhausted enough to hallucinate, yet there was no clear cause, perhaps it wasn't even a hallucination. "I....you didn't hear....I don't know what that was. I....um....I-I heard a voice. I felt really....I don't know how to explain it. I feel weird....I'm fine though." He said, stopping, stuttering and skipping around the topic instead of being straightforward. He was clearly very confused.

He looked around the area more, still seeing nothing that could have spoke to him, let alone anything that would know his name. There was something about the voice that seemed familiar to him, something he couldn't quite figure out. He was so unfocused that he could barely grasp what the voice had said. Maybe I should turn around....[i], he thought to himself, before being answered by the voice in his head. [i]Forward...., it said, urging him to keep going. Now he could recognize the voice as female, but he still couldn't tell why it seemed so familiar.

At least this time he wasn't in the middle of taking a step, or he might have fallen over again. He hadn't noticed he was standing still and staring straight forward, his eyes half closed as he was fading in and out of a trance-like state.

"Okay, this answers my question. You most certainly are not okay. I think maybe it would be for the best if we just turn around. You don't seem to be so well. Maybe you are coming down with a fever or something. Or the lack of oxygen at this altitude is getting to you. Whatever the reason, you don't seem to be able to function here."
This certainly was concerning. Never before had the Gengar seen the Eevee this...loopy before. Something was not right. And with no way to determine the root of this problem there was nothing that could be done against it, which in turn made traveling further highly dangerous and returning to the guild to get this problem looked at the best idea. But knowing the Eevee he would not be listeining. Although...maybe in his strange state of mind he'll agree...

Sova began fading back into his trance-like state of mind, barely paying any attention to the gengar. "Uh....yeah...." He said, only knowing the gengar was suggesting they do something, not exactly sure what it was. He began walking forward again when he finally fully realized what William had suggested, stopping.

"What? N-no, we're so far....come on. Just to the peak." He urged the gengar, seeming a bit more sensible than he previously had been as he temporarily snapped back into reality....somewhat. "I'm....just a little out of it." He continued, trying his best to focus and look fine though the haze in his mind was still lingering, only getting worse.

"Well, then better get into it again before I have to get you out of this.  With you staggering around like this you are only threatening youself. Knowing when to give up can be a sign of strength as well."
This was beginning to become rather disconcerting. Obviously something was not right with Sova, but he just kept on pushing himself, probably endangering his health severely for no good reason at all.
And yet there was nothing he could do against it. Short of forcibly removing Sova from this place, which he certainly would not be happy about, there was nothing William could think of that might convince the Eevee to leave this general area. So there was no choice left for him but to follow the Normal type around and save his hindquarters once he inevitably got into trouble.

"I'm...." Sova began, trailing off immediately for a moment as his mind clouded up again, but immediately shrugging it off. "I'm fine." He said, determined to keep himself together as they were almost to the peak. He couldn't help but wander what was happening to him. Was he going insane? No, there was no reason for him to go insane, mind-breaking trauma, no prior signs of it. Maybe he was sick? But why would a sickness set in so suddenly without any warning? Perhaps he was hallucinating from being deprived of oxygen, being close to the peak.

If only he knew about the rocks. Regardless of his current difficult situation, they were very close to the peak, he just had to keep going a little more.