Peaked Interest

Finally the duo had emerged from the tunnels that formed the Black Spiral Staircase again, the sunlight shining on them once more. Or rather it would have, would they not be standing on the Dark Void Peak now, the sky completely black for no discernible reason.
At least there weren't any feral Pokémon to be expected anymore, as William wasn't sure for how long Sova would be able to hold on. He certainly didn't look all that well. And still the Ghost type had no idea what it may be that was causing this in the Normal type.
But now that they were here maybe he would quickly realize that nothing of interest was to be found here and finally get on the way back home again. This had been quite the boring and disconcerting intermission thus far.

The peak wasn't as pointy as Sova expected it to be, in fact it was a flat top big enough for a battle, if one were to arise. Though that wasn't what he was paying the most attention to. He was more worried about the hazy feeling in his head and the voice he kept hearing, calling his name. He almost forgot William was there with him for a moment and began to consider trying to explain it as he realized the gengar was still there.

Instead, he decided to try a different topic first. Perhaps what ever was messing with his mind would fade away if he distracted himself. "Well, we're here...." He said, trying to focus. Though it was still obvious he was not focused.

"Yes we are. Was it worth it? As I said - it's just some more rocks."
Maybe the disappointment of nothing being here would reduce the Eevee's thirst for adventure at least.
And with his thirst for adventure minimized there would be less incentive to get oneself in danger like this again, leaving less work to be done for the Gengar and a reduction of the probability of Sova being seriously wounded. But in the short tim the Ghost type had come to know the Normal type he already had come to know enough to know that this weas just wishful thinking. Most likely the Eevee would not change in the slightest, maybe even finding a justification to become even more adventurous. Someone really should tie the Normal type up somewhere before he would become even more of a danger to himself.

Sova shivered for a moment, beginning to recognize the voice echoing in his head. He hoped continuing to ignore it would make it go away, but it didn't seem to be working. "Define....worth it...." He said, wondering what the gengar actually meant. He had indeed found something....sort of....something the gengar apparently wasn't experiencing. Though he was regretting coming to the peak, now seeing what was happening to him. The voice he was hearing was becoming more clear the longer he stayed on the peak, he could now recognize it as....his mother's.

The Gengar shrugged.
"Usually the definition is a pretty obvious one.
Given the chance to choose differently and not come to visit this place, would you have done it?"
Now this was surprising. The Eevee didn't seem to be able to think straight anymore. To forget the meaning of a question like this certainly was no sign of a healthy mind. What was it that had caused this? It couldn't have been fatigue - the onset was too sudden and far too strong for that to have been the case. But there wasn't anything else. A Confuse Ray from somewhere the Gengar had overlooked maybe? But if that had been the case, then why didn't the assailant keep attacking afterwards?

Sova paused for a moment, zoning out again. "....I don't know what's going on." He said, sounding as zoned out as he was. He attempted to gather his bearings and try speaking again. "I'm not weak....I can handle what ever's going on. If....if I had the chance to choose differently....I'd still come." He said, pausing occasionally in his struggle to focus.

The haze in his mind was beginning to spread to his eyesight, making everything look....odd. Mostly just a bit blurry, hard to focus on. It was at this point that he noticed his Anticipation-induced fear was much worse than before. He was so distracted he hadn't even noticed it. Clearly, what ever was making him hallucinate was what he was anticipating.

"Well, I don't know what's going on with you either but I'm willing to bet my ectoplasm that it isn't anything good. Just so you know, if you faint I'm getting you out of here and getting you to someone versed in the field of medicine."
What was happening? The Gengar was feeling completely fine and the symptons the Eevee was showing didn't correspond to anything the Gengar had ever heard about. And he had heard about a lot of things in his lifetime, considering that pretty much the only thing he had been capable of doing over the time of his exile was to read books.
So what was it? The place was just like the mountain had been further down, but the change Sova had shown was more than just obvious.

"Alright." Sova agreed, knowing he wasn't on the verge of fainting. By this time he had finally realized he was hallucinating. He would have realized sooner if thinking clearly wasn't so much more difficult than normal. Now all he had to do was figure out why. It wasn't from exhaustion, or he would have felt it earlier. No attacks had recently hit him that would cause hallucinations or confusion. He was fairly certain he wasn't schizophrenic.

The only possibility he could think of was that he had come across some kind of drug without knowing. Before he could piece together his ability randomly breaking on the mountain, getting worse the farther up they got, and the onset of hallucinations farther up the mountain, he heard the voice again. He turned in a random direction and there was a leafeon, sitting a few feet away from him. He tried to tell himself it was just a hallucination, but it seemed so real.

He began approaching the hallucination, appearing to just walk in a random direction towards nothing. He knew it was fake, but tried to reach a paw out and touch it anyways. His paw went right through the hallucinated leafeon's chest and she faded away, almost instantly. For a moment, he felt sad enough to bring him back to a normal state of mind. "It's the mountain." He said, realizing it suddenly. He didn't know what about the mountain, only that it was the only explanation he could think of.

"Huh? What are you talking about? What is the mountain? It is high, pointy and a whole lot of other things. What could the mountain possibly be that is causing this condition? And if it really is the environment, then either I am suffering from whatever it is you have with neither of us realizing it or I am unaffected for some reason. And if I may be allowed the question - what exactly are you doing or attempting to do over there?"
William couldn't make heads or tails out of what the Eevee was saying. How could it be the mountain? If it was the mountain, then why hadn't anything happened further down? Why had no other companion of his ever been affected? Why hadn't anything happened to him or the wild Pokémon here? And why had there never been any reports of something like this occurring?

Sova decided to completely avoid the question about what he was doing if at all possible, trying to fight back the urge to cry already. "It's not me. It's not from injuries or being high up....it's not from any attacks....it has to be something on the mountain. Maybe it's only up here around the peak...." Sova said, pausing occasionally in a struggle to keep calm and not space out.

"Maybe it's in the air at the peak...." He said, trying his best to figure it out. At least it was easier to stay focused now that he understood what was happening.

Taking a dep breath, the Gengar formulated a response:
"Again this raises another question. Why is it only you who seems to be suffering from this? Unless the things here aren't an Eevee, a Gengar and a whole lot of rocks I don't seem to be any different.
And I don't believe I have been holding my breath since we arrived here. Maybe you are allergic tolow-oxygen environments? I am running out of things I can think of that might be a reasonable cause for this here condition you are finding yourself in."
William would have loved to say that this was one of the stranger things that had happened in his life, but to tell the sad truth this wasn't even close to reaching the top thirty percent.

Sova thought for a moment, still trying to fight off the rainbow rocks. "I've been on high terrain before and been fine. You've got poison typing, right? Maybe you're immune to it, like some kind of poison...." He said, sounding unsure of himself. All he knew for sure was that something on the mountain was messing with his head. Why couldn't he have a nice hallucination? Why did it have to be the most horrible thing his mind could conjure up?

"Poison typing? Not bad - that could actually explain it. But whatever this is - it doesn't act like any poison I have ever seen or heard of. And how would a mountain produce poison anyway? I also can't think of much a reason why it wouldn't occur further down."
Truly what was happening now was a mystery. Maybe the hallucinogen was in a cloud instead, brought here by an uncommon gust of wind? It would explain why William had never observed anyone else suffering from this as well as why it only occurred at certain altitudes. However that would leave the question where those hallucinogens came from in the first place, as there would have to be a place that released them into the air for this theory to stand.

Sova took a moment to think before speaking. "Maybe not all of the mountain is made out of the same thing." He hoped to find an answer to this mystery soon, as he was starting to lose his focus again. He wanted to leave, but at the same time he didn't want to look weak to the gengar he had been trying so hard to impress. What would giving up just because of a little bit of hallucinating show?

Actually, it would probably have been the better choice....if only he knew how to give up.

"Hm, then that material would have to look exactly the same as the rest of the mountain. And why would it all be in one place? Maybe someone brought it up here for some reason. But still, there are other Pokémon up here and I am fairly certain that not all of them are Poison types."
What was up with this mountain? And why had noone ever done any research on it? The Gengar definitely would have to read up on this phenomenon as soon as the two Pokémon would return to the guild. Hopefully that would be soon. The Poison type really saw no point in staying here any longer, not that he would have seen a point in ever coming here. And now that hallucinations were added to the mix, he wanted to be here even less.