Deion awoke with a jolt, causing him to sit up so fast it made his head spin. His heart was still pounding furiously in his chest. Screams from the nightmare continued to echo in the back of his mind. He was still tired, figuring he only got a few hours of sleep, not nearly enough. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. The electric lantern had now been lowered to a dim glow, giving off just enough light for Deion to see.
Jolteon had curled up and was now asleep next to the box-table, while Zam was floating, legs crossed and eyes closed, in a corner just across from where he had been sleeping. Deion also noticed that Zam had also donned his personal beige hooded cloak which he used for meditation. Once the disorientation of the quick awakening had worn off, Deion was left with a sense of dread. What had Zam meant by they had company? Pyrite was supposed to be abandoned. He didn't have to wait long before hearing the pokemons familiar voice again in his head.
'I apologize for waking you so quickly.' The Alakazam's flat voice began. 'But there are three men approaching.'
'Shit.' Deion thought, now standing and replacing his previously discarded duster and headgear. He turned to face his Alakazam who was also standing.
"What can you tell me about their intentions?" Deion asked aloud. Fearing he already knew.
'Not honourable.' The pokemon replied.
He sighed. "They never are..." Deion muttered to himself while reattaching his knife to his belt, placing it just in front of Alakazam's pokeball. "Anything else you can tell me?"
'Only that they are right outside and seem to becoming increasingly curious about a set of footprints.'
A chill ran down his spine. They needed to leave, and soon. Jolteon, who had sensed the commotion caused by Deion, was now awake. It started to emit a low growl in the general direction of the stores front door, the spikes on its back now erect, each one coming together into a razor sharp point.
"We need to leave." Deion said, quickly pulling out Jolteon's pokeball and returning the still growling beast. He was about to do the same to Alakazam when the electric lantern suddenly winked out, leaving the room consumed once again by darkness.
'I believe it is too late for that.' The Alakazam transmitted to him, its eyes glowing a deep blue.
No more than five seconds later, Deion heard the metal front door begin to slide open. Immediately he slid over the sales counter and scurried behind a row of shelves. Propping himself up, he slowly began to unsheathe his knife, gripping it firmly with his palm. He could hear footsteps now slowly crunching the debris that littered the floor. Deion's breath shallowed as the intruder drew ever closer. He needed to see what he was up against.
'Zam, I know you're listening.' Deion began to say in his mind. 'I need to see what you see.'
No sooner had his thought ended then Deion was able to see in a whole new perspective. Perhaps see was the wrong word since he still couldn't physically see anything. More like perceive. He knew exactly where the approaching man was. He could feel every movement, hear every breath. Zam was transmitting what he could gleam about the intruders positioning to Deion from what he was able to read in the man's mind. Several tense moments passed, eventually the man was standing almost right next to him. He tightened his grip on the knife, getting ready to strike.
Deion heard the man let out what seemed like an annoyed sigh along with a few choice curse words before turning around and starting to head back to the front of the store. An immense feeling of relief washed over him. It was short lived however, as what Deion would consider to be in the worst possible timing, his NAV became fully charged. The small handheld device, still resting atop the makeshift table, proceeded to beep twice followed by short flashes by a small green LED on the devices side.
The formally leaving man immediately turned around. Deion's previously relaxing body tensed up again, even more so when he heard the tell tale sound of a pistol being cocked. To say he was scared was an understatement as he had to now consciously remind himself to breath. The man walked over to Deion's NAV and picked it up.
"Nice little gadget you got here!" The man said turning on the NAV and examining it. "I wonder if you have any more?"
Deion was now able to see the intruder in the light of the activated screen. He wore an extremely torn leather jacket, his face was dirty and scared. Around his neck he wore a necklace of, what he could guess, fingers. The man was a bandit, an outlaw. The kind that would steal everything you owned and then murder you for entertainment. Deion had run across many bandit and outlaw gangs in his recent travels. Always being able to avoid them, until now.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" The man taunted. "I only want to kill you and steal all your possessions!"
Deion knew it was either fight or flight, but seeing as there were still two more of them just outside, the flight option had all but gone out the window. Besides, Zam was still in here, feeding him the man's location. Deion readied himself, slowly standing up.
The bandit had his back turned to him, a weakness he wouldn't even think twice about exploiting. Deion ran at him, tackling the unsuspecting man from behind, causing him to fire off a shot from his pistol before hitting the ground. Now on top of him, Deion proceeded to bring his knife down on the raiders exposed neck. Stabbing him three times in quick succession, twisting the knife as it entered the third time resulting in a satisfying 'CRACK'.
As he retrieved his knife, he noticed that the man was not quite dead yet, even though he was gushing blood from the newly inflicted wound. He also appeared to be paralyzed, if it wasn't for the bandit's eyes staring up at him and the occasional blink he would have mistaken him for dead. 'Good' Deion thought, still feeling the effects of his adrenaline rush.
"Now you listen to me." He began to say, picking his NAV up off the ground and swiftly pocketing it. "Nobody steals my shit. Nobody. That includes you."
The man just continued to stare up at him, Deion could see the fear in his eyes. He wiped his knife off on the back of the raider's jacket and re-sheathed it. Before standing up he noticed that the gun the raider had been carrying was still loosely in his hand. Leaning over he began to pry the dying man's fingers off the grip and trigger.
"I am going to take your gun though." Deion said quite nonchalantly, retrieving the pistol and slowly standing up. "Since you won't be needing it anymore."
He stepped over the man and walked back to the sales counter. He held the gun up in his hand, looking it over in what little light was available in the store. He pulled the slide back and released it, watching as it slid back forward. He was so entranced with his new toy that he didn't even notice his Alakazam step out of the shadows beside him, still shrouded in his cloak. It didn't take long for the novelty of the gun to be broken by shouts from just outside the store. Deion snapped back into reality, he had never used a gun before, let alone held one. He would have to figure it out later. Sticking it in his belt, he turned to face the door. The shouting was getting louder and more frequent.
'How do you plan to proceed?' Zam's telepathic presence once again asked.
"We fight them." Deion replied. "But not here. We need to get outside. Take them by surprise."
'How will we accomplish that?' Zam asked again even though Deion was convinced he already knew.
"Like this." Deion smiled and reached into his duster pulling out another pokeball. He threw the ball down in an open area of the store, watching as the pokemon it contained was released with a flash of light.
"Alright Graveler! Rollout through that door!" Deion commanded.
The giant rock pokemon let out a roar before curling into a ball and launching itself at the stores front wall. There was a mighty crash as the wall buckled and broke from the force of the impact. Graveler launched itself into the street, nearly flattening one of the shouting bandits.
Deion, with Alakazam in tow, ran out of the new hole in the store wall. He could see that dawn was approaching as small amounts of light could see seen on the horizon. Still running, Deion drew his new gun and squeezed off two shots at the nearest bandit. Both shots went horribly wide, but was enough to get the outlaws attention. The man drew his own pistol and proceeded to aim at Deion.
"Reflect!" Deion shouted, diving back to where Zam was as the outlaw opened fire.
The psychic pokemon stuck its hands out creating a barrier in front of itself as it ran to cover its master, reaching him just in time. The incoming bullets bounced harmlessly off the Alakazam's mental shield, causing the raiders jaw to drop. On the other side of the street, Deion's Graveler had finished its rollout and was now proceeding to uncurl and stand up.
The second bandit was fixated on the stone creature, standing no further than a few arms lengths away. Not knowing what to do when he came face to face with the massive Graveler, the small man grabbed his pistol and took a single shot. The shot hit Graveler and caused a small piece of its rock hide to fall off. The Graveler, now more angry than hurt, let out another deafening roar. The lone bandit, now unsure what to do, decided to take another shot at the pokemon in front of him.
The man simply continued to stand in one place, almost as if he was too terrified to move. When Deion noticed his pokemon's predicament he issued the simple command, 'Get him!' which was all the Graveler needed. The terrified bandit, now coming to his senses, decided that it might be in his best interest to turn and run. He didn't make it very far. As soon as he turned, the Graveler grabbed him by the back of the head, lifting him up off the ground with relative ease. In one fluid motion the rock pokemon reeled the flailing man back and proceeded to bring its arm forward and down, crushing the his head against the concrete below.
Deion watched in awe as his pokemon let out another series of roars as it continued to smash the mans already crushed skull against the ground. He was so caught up in watching the brutal actions of his Graveler that he didn't notice the bandit that he previously shot at had now reloaded his pistol, and was taking aim at him with a smile on his face.
The reflect barrier was gone, Zam had only being able to hold it for a few seconds. There was now nothing in place to protect them from another salvo. Suddenly the bandits smile faded, instead replaced by an expression of confusion. His hand started to tremble, causing the gun to fall to the ground.
The man then fell to his knees, the expression on his face now twisted into one of pain. Blood started to trickle from his nose, and then from his ears followed up by the corners of his eyes and mouth. Deion looked around, trying to find who was responsible. What he found was Zam standing perfectly still just off to the side of him. His pokemon had one arm outstretched, eyes glowing the same deep blue that they had earlier in the night, just staring at the outlaw in front of him. He returned his gaze to the bandit, who now had blood gushing from his face.
Deion almost couldn't watch, he remembered thinking how the man was still alive. The bandit attempted to scream, but all that came out was a gurgling noise as he chocked on his own blood. Eventually he went limp and just collapsed, blood pooling around his head. Deion looked back over at Zam who was replacing his hood back on the top of his head.
"Thank you," he said to his Alakazam.
At first, Zam didn't respond. He just continued to stare at the dead bandit A few silent moments pass before he finally heard his friend.
'You are welcome.'