Chase Through the Spiky Mountains

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(Energy - 11)

The Black Spear mountains looked menacing as expected. The cloud cover was thicker than usual, showing signs of a possible storm to come. That certainly didn't help with the overall menacing image portrayed. Who would ever want to venture to this place? Sova, having had a bad experience in this area in the past, didn't fancy coming back. But if he stayed away, that would make him a coward. That was something he just couldn't handle being.

Besides, he had a mission to do and he wouldn't have to go all the way to Black Mist Mountain. And there was a torchick with him, since it was an escort mission, so it wasn't really lonely. Though he was pretty sure the torchick wouldn't be a very capable fighter. At least the mission seemed easy. Find Staraptor and get her to stay and chat.

William had probably never seen Sova this upset before.
Was it because he would finally have to admit that he couldn't do everything on his own?
Well, in any case it was obvious that this friend of his was in need of some help. So they were now on the hunt for this Flying type.
But to figure out how to get her to stay they would first have to figure out why exactly she was leaving all the time. It was at times like these that William envied Pokémon who had moves or abilities for this sort of thing. Shadow Tag for example. How did that ability work anyway? Well, now wasn't the time for that.
"So, should we get going? Want me to carry you?"

"Yeah, we should get going. Because of you I can't bait her down, so we'll have to go about it a different way. You sneak up to her from under the ground and put her to sleep. I know it's mean but I don't see any other way to get her to stay." Sova calmed down as the gengar stopped verbally accusing him of needing help. He needed to focus on the mission. Maybe now that he had a walking disabling machine with him, it would be easier to stop the staraptor from running away....or maybe William would refuse to do it for moral reasons. Hopefully not, but probably so.

Sova should have known William better than to honestly believe that he would do this sort of thing unless all other options had thoroughly been exhausted before.
"I know it's mean too, but I still do see other options for us to go about this. And I would much rather prefer to exhaust those first before we get to the violent ones. Especially since we ourselves could get into quite a bit of trouble if we simply hypnotize and restrain a Pokémon of whom we know that she is harmless. Now then, if you could give me a second?"
Not even giving the Eevee a chance to respond, the Gengar levitated into the air, overlooking the mountain range. From this high up it wasn't difficult to spot their target, the Staraptor, so the Ghost type approached her, politely asking:
"Hello there, miss. A friend of mine has a problem he would need your assistance with, so may we please inquire for your help?"

Sova sighed. He knew William would have to be seriously persuaded to use any attacks to get the staraptor to stay, even just hypnosis. Perhaps letting him witness the rudeness of the bird firsthand would be the only effective way to persuade him. He waited patiently for William to return, having a conversation with his torchick client about ways to get the staraptor to come down while he waited. They weren't thinking of anything new, of course.

As the gengar approached the staraptor, she turned to him for a moment. Whether to hear him out or because she was already getting sick of flying away, who could tell? No later than he finished talking, the bird responded. "If you want me to go talk to those two, no." She replied before flapping her wings and beginning a flight away. She had seen the gengar helping and talking to the two that had been trying to get her to speak with them and pieced together what he wanted. Or perhaps she just assumed it.

Now this was disappointing. But there was no way to fix a problem if the reasoning for it was not known. And so the Gengar tried to get some more information out of the Flying type.
"Very well then. But may I inquire for your reason not to do so? If you were to tell me, I might be able to discourage them from following you around any further."
Not only would this give the Flying type a good reason to give William the required information, but if her reasoning was sound, then continuing this mission regardless would be breaking several laws and aborting it would be a neccessity.
Convincing Sova would not be an easy task, but maybe threatening to tell the guildmaster would be enough of an incentive for the Eevee to give up.

The staraptor stopped her flight, deciding to continue the conversation a bit longer. If she could stop the annoying pursuers from chasing her everywhere, it would be well worth a short talk. "I don't like company. Speaking of which, thanks for saving the eevee, I was worried I'd have to do it. Then I'd HAVE to talk to him to make sure he was alright." She didn't fly away instantly after saying what she had to say this time. At least William had made more progress with her than Sova had.

Meanwhile, the eevee in question was considering a nap. He didn't really know what to talk to his client about and had nothing to do but wait for William to get back. Maybe he'd be able to rest for a few minutes before the gengar got back....

"Ah. An understandable reasoning. I'm familiar with it myself. Didn't end well for me though. Since I never really talked to anyone, noone really knew me. And when one day something went wrong in my home village, they needed a scapegoat and chose me. I look scary and noone talked to me, so I was the perfect target. Ended up being chased away and having to live in the forest alone for a few hundred years. It wasn't a nice time, that much was sure. So - I guess what I am trying to say is that it's nothing bad not to like company, but that I'd like to warn you that something like this doesn't happen to you as well. One Pokémon having to live through what I did is enough."
William's reasoning for telling the Staraptor his lifestory was twofold. Maybe she would now actually reconsider her opinion and go talk to the two. And if not, then maybe he had at least saved her from a fate as horrible as the one William had had.

The staraptor hesitated to respond, seeming to at least care about the gengar's sad story. "I'm sorry to hear that. I've been given a much luckier life than you, it seems. I stay away from company yet I'm not looked down on by anyone. In fact for some reason, others still desire to be in my company....I really don't know why. But I can see where you're going with this, you want me to go talk to them. Tell you what, prove that either they need that or I benefit from it and I'll do it." She suggested. She was growing tired of avoiding them constantly, so perhaps this deal would end it. Either she was given a real reason to go talk or, hopefully, they would see there was no reason for a conversation and stop pushing for one.

Meanwhile Sova had decided a nap sounded good. His client, however, was wide awake with anticipation. He figured the gengar seemed very confident in his ability to coax the staraptor into talking to him, maybe he'd actually get to.

Now they were getting somewhere. Hopefully they could reach some sort of agreement.
"There's no need to feel sorry. It's not your fault after all. Now then - to explain.
Sova - that is the Eevee - is one stubborn Pokémon. I fear he will not give up chasing after what he tries to accomplish until he either reaches his goals or really gets himself hurt. He once ignored a bad posioning for several hours simply because he was not yet satisfied with his Shadow Ball attack. So by complying to their mission you would most likely save him from hurting himself. As for your own benefit - you might find an interest in conversation. And if not, then you can at least tell the world that you would rather be left alone. You mentioned that they all want to be with you. So either they care about you, which means that they would listen to that request or they believe for you to be something you are not. In that case you should be able to clear up this wrong image and should then be left alone as well."

The staraptor sighed and flapped her wings. "Fine, lead the way." She agreed, still seeming a bit annoyed that there didn't seem to be a solution as simple as just being left alone. But the gengar made good points. At least good enough to convince her to come along.

Sova was, of course, still being lazy and napping. His client began to doubt the gengar's return and wished he wasn't left on guard duty, so that he could rest too. On top of that, there was nothing to do. Nothing but more waiting.

Finally some good news. However to be honest William might even have preferred for the Staraptor to have kept declining. That would have allowed for the Gengar to teach the Eevee that he couldn't always get what he wanted and that sometimes failure simply was bound to happen. Additionally it would have allowed for the Flying type to keep doing what she would prefer to do.
Well, it was something at least.
"Why, thank you. I hope for you that this will help others to respect your wishes."
Now the Gengar could lead the Normal type back to the other Normal type and finally be done with this mission. Watching the look on the Eevee's face would be...interesting.

"I'm not going over there to complain for them to leave me alone. THAT would ruin my image." The staraptor spoke as she took off in the direction the gengar had come from.

As the bird made her way back, the waiting torchick spotted her and jumped up, shouting "He did it!" and abruptly waking Sova from his sleep. The groggy eevee replied "Who did what?" as he shook off the grogginess from the short nap he'd had. After a moment to gather his bearings and remember where he was, he noticed the staraptor coming towards them. For a moment he thought perhaps he was still sleeping. The bird was so intent on running away earlier....what could William possibly have said to get her to change her tune?

"Never claimed that.", the Ghost type responded.
Then quite suddenly he was surprised by the Torchic's joyful cry. Apparently the Fire type had much better eyes than the Poison type would have imagined. Then again this was something it had been looking forward to enough to actually endure Sova's antics for so long and to get itself into grave danger on a thoroughly exhausting scaling of the mountain. So it was only natural that it would keep watch constantly. Sova however seemed to have fallen asleep. How would he notice oncoming dangers like that? And in this half-asleep state he would be completely unable to defend against them as well. He still had much to learn.

As the staraptor landed, the eagerly awaiting torchick bounced up and down with joy. "HI HI HI." The bird attempted to respond "Hel-" but was cut off by an onslaught of words by the torchick. "YOUREMYIDOLIMYOURBIGGESTFANWHEREDOYOULIVEWHATAREYOURHOBBIESCANIHAVEANAUTOGRAPHANDAFEATHERANDANDAND...." The chick stopped chattering away at 1000 words a minute for a moment to breath, giving the staraptor a chance to respond. Too bad she had barely caught any of it. "Uh....yes?"

Sova didn't really have any interest in taking place in the conversation, however. He was more interested in talking to William and figuring out just how in the world he'd managed to get the staraptor to stop being an antisocial jerk. And so he waited for the gengar.

William groaned. If Pokémon everywhere around the world reacted to the Staraptor as this Torchic did, then it certainly was no surprise that she had no interest in engaging in social interaction.
Heck, William's mind would probably have imploded after being bombarded with this much talking at once already.
"Told you there'd be an easier way.", he told the Eevee.
"But I think you might want to hold your client there back a bit. I fear she might be a bit...energetic to say the least."
Hopefully the Fire type would calm down soon, as otherwise the Gengar saw little hope for the Flying type to ever find any interest in conversation. Just how did she become famous anyway?