Shadows of Orre

Dusk was fast approaching. The sun having slipped over the horizon only minutes earlier.

"Shit." Deion mumbled from beneath his bandanna-clad face as he surveyed the twilighted desert in front of him.

He knew he would need to find some kind of shelter soon. Traveling the wastes at night was a very good way to get oneself killed, or worse. The desert was quiet and deathly still, the last of the daylight slowly slipping away.

Reaching into his duster, he pulled out a handheld device which had clearly seen better days. The device's large screen was cracked in one corner, its red paint faded and worn from years of abuse. Barely visible was the word NAV written at the top in worn white letters. He touched the screen and the device jumped to life displaying a digital map.

Placing his goggles on his head, Deion looked over the map. He was soon interrupted by a symbol of a battery with a lightning bolt in its center flashing in the middle of the screen. He frowned as the devices display winked out leaving him staring at a black screen.

"Just perfect." Deion cursed as he let out a long sigh.

At least he had been able to get his bearings. Pyrite should be no farther than a thirty minute walk from where he was. He put the NAV back in his dusters pocket, replaced his goggles over his eyes and continued walking.

It was dark by the time he reached the ruined outskirts of Pyrite. The only light emanating from the pale glow of the full moon overhead. The town had long since been abandoned. Broken glass and discarded metal littered the streets. Deion took care not to step on anything as he quietly made his way along the sides of the ruined buildings, fearing one misplaced step might alert someone or something just out of his limited line of sight.

After ten minutes of shadow hopping and careful movement, a particular building caught his attention. If it hadn't been for the light of the moon faintly reflecting off the letters 'M', 'R' and 'T', hanging just above the buildings front door, he would have most likely not taken a second glance at it. A faint smile started to creep across Deion's shadow clad face as he realized this could very well be the break he had been hoping for.

Days of wandering the wastes had left him quite low on supplies and the possibility of being able to remedy that problem was enough to make him almost excited. He allowed himself another second before refocusing on his task at hand. The building was on the opposite side of the street, meaning that he would need to cross out in the open in order to get to it.

Steeling himself, Deion pushed off the wall behind him and broke into a full sprint across the desolate street, eventually sliding into an alley beside his target building. He quickly propped himself up against one of its outer walls, trying to make himself as invisible as possible.

He took a second to catch his breath and then ever so slowly peeked his head around the side of the building. He wanted to make sure that his sudden movement hadn't attracted any unwanted attention. Once he was satisfied nothing saw him, he began to carefully make his way towards the door.

The front of the building was in a state of incredible disrepair. Parts of the metal sidings had rusted and fallen off, leaving large gashes in the buildings otherwise straight form; the door didn't seem to have been spared any abuse either. It was rusted and worn; a small pile of sand rested up against its base, most likely from one of the regions many sandstorms.

Deion grabbed the doors exterior handles and pulled sideways, slowly creating an opening. Placing his goggles firmly on his head he pulled out a flashlight and stepped inside. The stale air of the building assaulted his nostrils. The inside of the store had clearly seen better days. The floor was littered with broken goods and trash, mostly from knocked over shelves and displays.

Deion slowly walked towards the back of the store, his boots crunching with every step he took. As the darkness further engulfed him, he found himself instinctively hovering his hand over the hilt of his knife, not wanting to be caught off guard and undefended.

Once he was convinced that the store was empty and he was alone he allowed himself to lower his guard and focus on the task of setting up camp for the night. He brushed off the debris on the sales counter and removed his pack, setting it down with a muffled thump. He let out a quiet sigh of relief as he rubbed his neck, happy that the weight of the pack was no longer digging into his shoulders.

He fished around in the back briefly before retrieving an electric lantern. He set it on the counter and turned it on. Yellow light filled the room, obliterating the previously looming darkness. Deion took a moment and decided to take a more detailed look at the interior of the store. At what he saw he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"Jackpot." Deion said out loud, still smiling at the several shelves of undamaged goods.

"Zam's gonna love this." He continued as he reached into his duster, retrieving a red and white pokeball moments later.

Without saying another word he opened the ball in his hand and proceeded to watch as his best friend materialized in front of him. The Alakazam did a quick stretch before turning around and giving him an acknowledging nod.

"Look what we found, Zam!" Deion responded excitedly, all the while giving his pokemon a warm smile. "There's bound to be stuff we can use in here!"

At first the Alakazam simply stood in front of him, unmoving. His eyes staring into Deion's.

'Then we should get to work.'

The words echoed inside his head as the Alakazam communicated with him telepathically. The tired trainer gave his partner another warm smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"I missed hearing your voice, Zam." Deion said as he turned his attention back towards his pack.

The pokemon remained silent, but he knew that he felt the same.

"Do you mind taking a look around while I set up for the night?' Deion asked without turning around, "I'll join you when I'm done."

Zam gave him a telepathic nod and proceeded to search the stores shelves. After ten minutes later the night's sleeping arrangements had been prepared and Deion moved on to assisting his pokemon in collecting supplies. Zam had already gone through most of the shelves, using his telekinesis to separate the potentially useful items.

Deion watched as a box of potions floated silently overhead and landed neatly beside his pack. It seemed that Alakazam had been quite successful in his search. A few boxes of potions, a pack of full heals, a small container of smelling salts, some protein powder and - as Deion's heart almost skipped a beat - water.

He could feel himself almost getting teary eyed as he looked at the three squeeze bottles full of distilled water.

'I thought you might be glad to see those.' Zam's soothing words again echoing through his mind.

Deion turned to face to his pokemon, who was now standing just beside him.

'Just don't forget to share.' The Alakazam continued, holding out a fourth bottle for the trainer.

The two continued to comb over the remnants of the rundown store, stopping only once until they were sure there was nothing left to find. Before then they had been able to find a still sealed container of assorted poffins along with an unspoiled bag of dry pokemon food. It was only after they found the poffins that Deion had realized just how hungry he had become.

He had been rationing his supplies to the point where he hadn't eaten in a day and a half, and even though the food was designed for pokemon he was still hungry.

"I think it's about time for some dinner." Deion declared, grabbing a discarded box and setting it up as a makeshift table on the floor.

'Will anyone else be joining us?' His pokemon asked.

"Yes." Deion replied as he took two small metal bowls out of his pack.

He placed the two bowls on the box and retrieved another pokeball from his belt. He fiddled around with it in his hand before finally opening it.

"Alright," he began to say, "come on out Jolteon. It's your turn to eat tonight."

The words sounded sour and hollow to as they left his throat. It had been almost a week since he had last been able to feed Jolteon. Thankfully due to the technology at work in the pokeball, his Jolteon materialized and looked almost no worse for wear. He felt guilty that he couldn't feed all his pokemon at once, instead having to rotate them every few days.

He knelt down and gave his companion a quick pet before proceeding to fill up the bowls with food and water.

"Eat up Jolteon," Deion said, "I'm going to need your help in a bit."

The spiked pokemon responded with a quick 'Jolt! Jolt!' before stuffing its snout in the food provided.

"Well then," Deion said as he looked over at Zam who was half floating, half leaning against the wall opposite him. "Let's eat."

The poffins were surprisingly tasty considering how old they must have been. That and they were designed to accommodate the palate of pokemon, not humans. Deion made sure to savour every minute of them, knowing full well that he would most likely not be able to eat anything with a decent flavour again for quite a while.

The dinner passed in relative silence. The only real sounds coming from Jolteon as it crunched the dry food. Deion, having finally taken off his duster, goggles and bandannas, was once again back in his pack and searching. The dead NAV had been relocated from the dusters pocket to the top of the makeshift table and was soon accompanied by a palm sized battery charger.

He plugged one of the chargers adapters into the NAV and then unfolded a small metal antenna on the charger itself. Once he was satisfied that the connection was solid, he took the charger and placed it in front of Jolteon, who was now lying next to the box-table.

"Ok Jolteon, I need you to charge this for me." Deion requested.

The Jolteon shuffled itself so that its nose was almost touching the chargers antenna. Small bolts of electricity started to arc themselves from the tip of the Jolteon's nose to the charger.

"Thanks girl." Deion said, giving his pokemon a loving pat on its side. He turned his attention to Alakazam.

"How are you doing?" He asked. "You get enough to eat?"

'I am fine.' The psychic type responded telepathically, 'On both accounts.'

The Alakazam straightened its posture and looked directly at Deion.

'You on the other hand, are not.'

"Oh?" Deion looked at the pokemon quizzically.

'I don't need to read your mind to tell that you are exhausted.'

Zam was right, he was exhausted. Deion couldn't help but think about how wonderful it would be to just be able to sleep for an entire day. He let the daydream continue before Zam interrupted him.

'It appears I was correct.' The pokemon's words almost mocking in his mind.

"You know Zam," Deion began to say, "Sometimes I really wish you wouldn't read my mind."

'I could not agree more.'

Deion shook his head and let out a small chuckle.

"Alright, fine." He said, throwing up his arms in a sigh of defeat. "But you wake me if anything happens alright?" He glanced over at his Alakazam who just continued to stare at him. "Alright." Deion said again, taking the pokemon's silence as a response.

He could feel his eyelids drooping as walked over towards his bed for the night. He wasn't sure if it was just pure fatigue or maybe if Zam was giving his exhaustion a helping hand, because as soon as his head hit the pillow he was gone. Unfortunately the restful sleep he had been daydreaming about did not take him. Instead terrible nightmares plagued him. Previous memories twisted into a hellish slideshow that he was forced to watch, unable to escape.

He was on the observation deck of a ferry. He remembered it as the same ferry he had taken passage on to return to Orre. There were people around him. Families. Individuals. Children. All going about their business completely unaware of him. It then hit Deion that something was off. The sights, the sounds, they all seemed familiar. It was almost like he had seen this – he stopped mid thought. A wave of pure terror washed over him. He knew what was going on, he KNEW exactly what was about to happen.

Deion started to panic, running out into the middle of the crowded deck. He needed to warn them. He tried to grab a young girl who was standing beside him, to tell her to run, but his hand just passed right through her shoulder. Still panicking he tried again, yielding the same result. Determined not to give up he tried yelling, but no sound escaped his lips.

Then he saw it, the brightest light he had ever seen emanating directly from the center of Port Gateon. He tried to shield his eyes to but to no avail. Deion tensed up, waiting for the impending shock wave. But it never came. Confused, he lowered his arm from his face, daring a peek. The crowd of people on the deck was now standing in a semi circle directly in front of him, staring. Well perhaps staring was the wrong word, seeing as how they all now lacked eyes.

Deion was now paralyzed in place, only able to move his eyes. He started to tense up as the little girl from earlier pushed her way to the front of the crowd and began to walk towards him. She started to laugh, her voice twisted and demonic. When she was half way to Deion she stopped.

"Ashes to ashes." She simply said before everything around him burst into flames.

The people started to scream, their flesh melting and falling to the deck. Deion closed his eyes and tried his best to block out the screams, tears running down his face. The girl continued her demonic laugh until suddenly the screams stopped. They were instead replaced by a calming presence. When he finally opened his eyes he was no longer on the ferry, but standing in a black room filled with stars. Before he could get his bearings he heard a familiar voice.

'Master, you need to wake up.'

It was Zam. Deion was just about to ask what was going on when he heard the simple, chilling words.

'We have company.'