He left early the next morning. Sneaking out just as the sun began to peek over the eastern horizon. His dreams had once again been visited by nightmares, causing him to awaken several hours before he should have. Zam had insisted that he go back to sleep for at least a little while longer, but Deion, still thinking about what Zach had accidentally let slip the previous night, stubbornly disagreed. Even going as far as to return Zam in order to prevent an argument. This was something he had to do. He needed to see for himself, if only to confirm his fears.
Deion did feel a slight pang of guilt at not thanking or even telling Zach that he was leaving. The kid had been gracious enough to let them stay the night, and he didn't kill him in his sleep. That had to count for something at least. He pushed the thought out of his mind. Zach seemed like a good kid. A little jumpy, excitable and possibly too trusting, but a good kid. Who knew, maybe their paths would cross again.
It'd taken him three days, but finally Deion had arrived. The wall surrounding the city stood tall to greet him, well for the most part anyways. Deion could see that large chunks of it seemed to be missing in places and completely gone in others. As much as he hated it, it didn't surprise him. Every piece of civilization he had come across so far had been in the same crumbled state. Swallowing his doubts, Deion searched the wall for a crack large enough that he could get in.
The interior of the city looked no better. He spent the next hour walking the dead streets of his former home city. From what he could see it looked like nothing above two stories was still standing. Phenac had never really built anything above six stories due to the constant sandstorms that frequented this part of Orre, but not even seeing those felt odd to him. The more he explored the less he uncovered. Some parts of the city seemed to be just gone. Nothing but craters remained to remind him that there was once buildings there. The closer he got to the interior of the city, the more apparent it became that Phenac had been hit much worse than what he had seen at Port Gateon, or anywhere else for that matter.
Deion carefully navigated the city ruins, making his way out of the center and in to the residential areas. He still had an objective. He had to go home, if only to see if there was a home left to go back to. Unfortunately the particular part of the residential area that he has previously called home was as close to the city center as you could get. Upon turning onto his old street, Deion's heart nearly dropped from his chest. The area was covered in ash, black steaks covering what was left of some of the buildings. He walked up the street, counting the buildings as he went. They were mostly two story apartment buildings, separated every two homes by an alley leading to the rear.
Eventually Deion finally reached his number. As he stood in front of his former family home, any last little lingering feelings of hope finally faded from his mind. Ever since he entered Phenac he had tried to trick himself into hope that maybe it was still there, maybe they were still there. Looking at the collapsed and burnt husk of the building in front of him, he realized how stupid he had been. The roof seemed to have caved in and the charred remains of the walls told him that the entire block must have been set on fire. Regardless he tried looking for an entrance without success. The roof had brought down the second floor with it, crushing everything below it in one fell swoop.
Anything that might have survived had probably been burnt up in the fire anyways he figured. 'Anything or anyone' Deion's mind was quick to remind him. He tried to push the thought away but it just kept coming back, almost as if it were taunting him. He could hear it repeat over and over in his head 'Your family is dead Deion. All dead. Every single one of them.' Deion could feel his eyes start to tear up. He knew it was true. No one could have survived, and it was foolish to think otherwise. He had been lucky. He had survived and managed to get this far through pure chance. And from what he had already seen, not a lot of others had had the same fortune.
Starting to feel slightly uneasy, Deion sat down. His watery eyes were now producing a steady stream of tears that were accumulating in the bottoms of his goggles. His hands trembled as he removed them, gripping them tightly as they came off his face. Even through all this, something in the back of his mind was telling him that he needed to stop crying because he couldn't afford the loss of water. However try as he might he couldn't. His mind wouldn't stop hounding him. It kept telling him that he was alone and was going to die alone and that there was nothing he could do to change that.
Deion felt his head fall into his hands, resting it there as the streams of tears continued to leak from his eyes. Minutes passed as he continued to sit there, unable to gather the strength or the will to stop himself. Every time he thought he might be able to break free. his mind would throw another thought at him, causing the whole cycle to start again. It must have been a sad sight to see. A young man bawling his eyes out sitting outside of the scorched ruins of his former home. Deion was kind of glad there was no one left to see it.
His pistol had now found itself removed from his belt and was instead being firmly held in his hand. Twice now had he raised the barrel to meet with the side of his head and twice had he failed to work up the courage to pull the trigger. 'What's wrong?' His mind continued to taunt, 'Not man enough to squeeze?' Deion could feel his grip tighten as he prepared to raise the pistol for a third time. 'Come on you pussy, do it.' His mind jeered as he slowly brought the gun up to the side of his head. He could feel his hand begin to tremble as he rested the metal barrel against his temple.
'What are you waiting for? Do it.' The thoughts were starting to get louder. He could feel his finger start to tighten against the trigger, slowly starting to squeeze it. His eyes closed as he attempted to work up the courage to pull the rest of the way. 'DO IT!' Deion's mind shouted at him. He could feel himself let out a defiant yell before throwing his pistol, hearing it clatter to the ground a short distance ahead of him.. Deion began to cry a little harder. He couldn't do it, he just couldn't muster the will to kill himself. He wanted to so bad, but something was stopping him.
Deion would have to figure out what it was later however as a slight crunching sound behind one of the alley's caught his attention. His mood had now completely changed, mindset quickly shifting from suicidal to one of survival. Before he had realized it he was standing up and propping himself up against the side of a fallen concrete piece of his building. His family may have been gone, he thought, but that didn't mean he was alone. The crunching noise continued to get louder and closer. Something was coming his way.
Deion decided to quickly peer over his piece of makeshift cover. What he saw caused him to retract his head almost as fast as he put it up. Daring one more look, he peered over again. Standing not five meters away was what Deion could only guess was a Growlithe. Although not one that he had ever seen. This one had dark black fur and even darker eyes. It looked almost mutated. As if the evolution had gone wrong or it was evolving, or devolving, into something else. And by the look of the long and mangled fangs and claws, something not very friendly and quite obviously feral.
Deion had seen this before. After the blast in Port Gateon, Deion had noticed that most Pokemon that had been exposed to it started to become sick with some kind of infection. Some just up and died from the exposure, but most had started to almost mutate, abet slowly. Pokemon with fur or hair started to loose it in clumps. Skin pigments started to change to a flat grey/black. Teeth and claws began to grow longer and sharper and any fur or hair that did grow back did so much coarser and without colour.
Deion had originally thought that it may have been some kind of radiation, but it hadn't effected him in the way he expected radiation to. In fact it didn't actually seem to effect humans at all. However it did effect Pokemon, and one of those Pokemon was still bearing down on his location, whether it knew it or not. Deion retracted his head once more. His first instinct was to flee, and do so as quietly as possible. As calmly and as quickly as he could he surveyed his surroundings for an acceptable exit. He hadn't realized until just then how terribly exposed he was.
Every direction except into the adjoining alley was completely open. Deion didn't like it, but if he wanted to get out unseen, the alley probably was his best bet. He had only taken a few steps towards his objective when he was greeted by the sight of a second Growlithe slowly making its way out of the very alley he was headed for. Deion froze. It hadn't seen him yet, although something had seemed to have drawn its curiosity as it was sniffing heavily at the ground. Cautiously, Deion began to retrace his steps, slowly moving backwards as he watched a third, fourth and then a fifth Growlithe emerge from the alley.
Deion was silently panicking. Eventually the pack would see him and he very much doubted they would just let him leave. He needed to hide. He remembered seeing a hole in the building that looked like it would fit him, all he needed to do was... Deion suddenly stopped when he felt his heel step onto something on the ground. Looking down he saw the worn grip of his pistol. He had almost forgotten about tossing it in a fit of emotion earlier. Deion was about half way bent over when he heard a low growl. Looking up he saw the last Growlithe in the pack staring directly at him, body poised and ready to attack.
He could feel his stomach drop as the other Growlithe turned to join the first in a sea of low growls. Quickly he grabbed the pistol up and pointed it at the lead Growlithe. A tense few seconds passed as each party just stared at the other. It wasn't until the Growlithe that had previously been behind him let out a bark that Deion figured it was time for action. He squeezed the trigger, preparing himself for the bang and recoil that was to follow. It never came however. He squeezed the trigger again, a little more frantically this time, to the same effect. 'Shit.' Was all Deion was able to think. What was wrong with his pistol? It couldn't be broken, didn't throw it that hard... or had he? 'Shit shit shit!' Deion thought again has the lead Growlithe started to slowly walk towards him. It was loaded and it hadn't jammed before so why wasn't it working now?
"Oh." Deion said aloud as he rotated his hand to take a closer look at the side of his pistol, now feeling like a complete moron. "Safety's on."
Quickly remedying the situation, Deion turned his attention back to the closing Growlithe, firing off two quick shots. Both of which hit the advancing Pokemon in the head, causing it to drop mid stride. Their prey's new found power seemed to stall the Growlithe momentarily, but it wasn't long before Deion found a fire ball streaking towards him. Ducking and breaking into a sprint for the street Deion was able to evade the fire attack. His plan now was relatively simple; get the fuck out of there, run like hell and try to lose them in the alleys across the street. He was almost across the street by the time he felt the second fire ball narrowly miss him.
Daring a look back Deion could see that the other four Growlithe were just now starting to chase after him. They weren't as fast as he was expecting, the mutation must have done something to their legs. Nevertheless they were still faster than he was, and gaining quickly. Sliding around the side of the adjacent ally, Deion was somewhat pleased to see that the back alleys had a healthy layer of debris cluttering them. Hopefully it would be enough to slow down his pursuers. He darted down the alley, dodging and jumping over fallen pieces of concrete and metal. Occasionally looking behind him and firing off a shot or two at the stumbling Growlithe.
At least one of his shots must have connected as one of the Pokemon had slowed to a limp and was quickly falling behind the other three. The debris seemed to also be helping in slowing them down, although they still seemed to be gaining more and more each time he looked. The path seemed to becoming rougher too, more and more broken concrete littered his way. Just ahead of him he could see a large blockage where a building had fallen onto the alley. He needed to find a way out lest he be trapped with his back against the wall with a couple of hungry and pissed off Growlithe staring him down.
A quick survey revealed a break in the alley's wall leading to what looked like a catwalk to another street. The path was relatively clear to the break in the wall so Deion started to slow so he could make the turn. One of the Growlithe decided to take advantage of this, sprinting ahead of the pack and jumping at its fleeing target. Deion wasn't sure what had hit him until he was on the ground staring directly at the set of razor sharp teeth that had now imbedded themselves in his left arm. The Growlithe's grip was solid, piercing straight through his duster and into his forearm.
Deion let out a shout of pain as the Pokemon was now attempting to pull him backwards towards its allies who were now just arriving. Deion tried to fight back, but the Pokemon's powerful bite caused him to scream in pain at any attempt to pull his arm back. Not willing to give in however, he pulled out his free arm, gun in hand, and pressed it to the Growlithe's head. Without hesitating he pulled the trigger. The Pokemon let out a small yelp before going limp. Quickly prying his arm from the dead creature's mouth he focused his attention on the last two Growlithe.
The death of their comrade seemed to have made them hesitate, a temporary advantage that Deion was all to happy to exploit. He fired two rounds into the nearest one, killing it before either had time to react. He turned his attention to the last Growlithe.
"You want some too?" Deion yelled at the Pokemon, adjusting his aim to meet it head on.
The Pokemon continued to growl at him, but instead of attacking it started to slowly back up. Eventually it turned and ran down the alley, retreating the same way it had came.
"That's right you better run!" Deion shouted at the fleeing Pokemon.
Deion decided it would be a good idea not to wait and see if it came back with more friends. Carefully picking himself back up he continued to jog down the catwalk. The flat out sprint had taken quite a bit out of him, but the cramps and exhaustion was nothing compared to the now shooting and burning pain coming from his left arm. He needed to get somewhere where he could hide and assess the damage. After a few minutes of labored half-jogging he found what looked like an entrance to the city's underground.
The underground was mainly used by the city for maintenance on the water pipes that lead from the massive reservoir that laid just under Phenac. He had been down there a few times in his youth. It was quite a popular place for young children to play despite the adults telling them how dangerous it was. Stories told of the Terror that lived in the deep of the reservoir. And that it would steal away disobedient children who wouldn't listen to their parents.
None of it was true of course, at least Deion was pretty sure it wasn't. He had heard a news story of some city workers who found a nest of Totodile in the sewers once, but that was a long time ago. Regardless, Deion didn't particularly care at that moment. He needed to get somewhere that wasn't out in the open, somewhere safe and the reservoir seemed like a safe as place as any.
The service door opened fairly easily, much to his surprise. The hall in front of him was dark, the only light coming from the crack in the door he had just opened. From what Deion could tell the hall seemed relatively untouched. He had been worried about the possibility of the ceiling have collapsed, but as far as he could tell with his limited range of sight, that didn't seem to be the case. Retrieving his flashlight from one of his dusters internal pockets, he proceeded to use it's light to survey farther down the pitch black descending hallway.
'So far so good' Deion thought to himself. After closing the door behind him to ensure that he couldn't be followed, he began to cautiously make his way down the darkened hallway. The underground was dead silent, the only noise coming from Deion's increasingly labored breaths. His arm had since stopped throbbing in pain and was now instead simply numb. He continued to walk down the hallway for several more minutes, all the while fighting to keep his focus.
His head had started to become plagued with bouts of dizziness, probably thanks to his exhaustion or blood loss or both, making it increasingly difficult to completely concentrate on the path in front of him. It wasn't much father to the reservoir though. Deion was sure of it. Eventually his determination was rewarded when the hallway he had been following opened up into the large room that housed the city's water reservoir. Relieved that he had finally made it to his objective he proceeded to unsling his pack, setting it against one of the reservoirs walls nearly falling over in the process.
Propping himself up against the same wall, Deion began to look over his arm with the flashlight. His duster's sleeve was soaked through with blood causing the light brown cloth to turn dark. His hand was also stained with red streaks, showing where his blood had rolled down his arm and off the tips of his fingers. By the looks of things the Growlithe had done some serious damage, but there was only one way to find out just how bad it really was.
Holding the flashlight in his teeth, Deion began to slowly pull away the sleeve of his duster. Small spikes of pain arced through his arm as the cloth stubbornly detached itself from his open wound. Deion winced at the sight. His arm was a mess. A medley of dark red, black, blue and jagged holes, most of which were still oozing. It was enough to make him feel extremely uneasy, although that could have just been the blood loss. Not wanting to waste anymore time, Deion quickly began to search his pack for anything that might help, eventually retrieving a bottle of extra strength pain killers that he had always kept for headaches during his travels.
Without hesitating Deion popped a few pills in his mouth, not actually bothering to count how many he took. Taking a quick swig from his canteen to wash down the pills, he then began to pour the rest of the containers contents over his arm. The water stung as it flowed over his arm, causing Deion to let out a yelp of pain that echoed throughout the underground room. He could feel himself continue to wince in pain as the luke warm water slowly finished running off his arm, letting the canteen clatter to the floor once the stream had ended. He allowed himself a brief reprieve from the pain before he was once again in his pack, roughly searching for the next item he needed.
Deion could feel himself starting to get lightheaded, the disorientation continuing to make his focus on the task at hand difficult. At one point he had even thought he had caught a glimpse of movement in the corner of his eye out in the dark of the reservoir. When a quick look turned up nothing he chalked it up to nothing more than a shadow cast from his flashlight playing tricks on his hazy and fatigued mind. It wasn't until he had heard what sounded like a splash that Deion stopped his frantic search through his pack and focused his dwindling focus on the blackness of the reservoir.
From his sitting position propped up against the wall of the underground room, he began to slowly sweep his flashlights beam from one end of the reservoir to the other. In his haste to tend to his arm, Deion hadn't thought to do a proper search of the area. He was starting to regret that now. The water appeared to have small ripples spread out in a large pattern that seemed to be emanating from somewhere close to the middle. Slowly he followed the ripples with his light, watching as they got progressively smaller and closer together.
Eventually his light came across the source of the ripples, a very large dark black looking shell with what looked like a red gem flanked by two much larger ones on each side. The object looked extremely familiar to Deion, he knew what it was. He had seen them before on his travels, if only he could focus. He fought with his mind to remember. If this was any other circumstance he would have been able to come up with the name in no time flat. And then it clicked, much to Deion's horror. The three red gems, the dark shell. He was staring at the floating top of a Tentacruel.
'You have got to be shitting me.' Was the only thing Deion was able to think. At least it didn't seem to be awake, or just hadn't noticed him yet. Slowly Deion began to lower his flashlight. This area was now suddenly not as safe as he thought it had been. He needed to make a speedy but silent exit, not wanting to wake up the sleeping behemoth if it was in fact sleeping. Deion had been able to get half way to a standing position before his legs gave out. Causing him to drop his flashlight and land straight on his injured arm. The shock of the impact caused him to let out a short cry of pain. His eyes teared up as he attempted to grit his teeth at the pain. He was simply too weak to move.
His energy had been slowly draining for the past hour and he was now running on nothing but fumes. He attempted to stand up again but with even less success this time, never actually making it off the floor. Nevertheless he knew needed to leave, and soon. Gathering his strength for one last try, he attempted to stand for a third time. This time however he froze when he heard the sound of bubbling and splashing water off to his side. Redirecting his energy to turn to his side he regarded much to his horror his flashlight had fell and was pointing directly at the floating Tentacruel, which now appeared to be waking up.
Deion could feel his breath stop as he watched the large creatures black and red eyes shoot open. It began to splash violently, the flashlight beam obviously irritating it. He could see the beasts eyes darting around the room for the source of its rude awakening, eventually locking gazes with Deion. The water around it began to bubble furiously as the Tentacruel raised its tentacles out of the water into what Deion could only assume was an attack position. The Tentacruel appeared to be effected by the Pokemon mutation as well, sporting what looked like razor sharp claws at the ends of its tentacles as well as an extra beak under the Pokemon's hardened shell.
Not willing to waste another second, Deion shot his hand into his duster and grabbed the first pokeball he could find, quickly releasing it's contents. Materializing a split second later was the familiar outline of his fourth slotted Pokemon floating just next his head, Haunter. The Haunter was at first overjoyed to see its trainer, brandishing a large warm smile. That smile quickly faded to concern as the Pokemon began to look over its trainer's crippled state. The concern soon turned to anger as it finally turned around to see the oozing back body of the looming Tentacruel. Mustering what little strength he had left, Deion managed to prop himself back up against the reservoir's walls. Satisfied with his position he turned his attention to the two Pokemon. Both sides were staring each other down, waiting for the other to make the first move.
"Haunter! Shadow Ball!" Deion ordered, breaking the stalemate.
The ghost-type acknowledged the command by letting loose a shadowy ball of energy which quickly connected with its target. The Tentacruel reeled at the hit, flailing and splashing its tentacles in the water in an attempt to regain balance. It found it a moment later and returned the favour of the attack by swinging its tentacles at Haunter.
"Haunter! Go transparent and evade then follow up with Dark Pulse!" Deion quickly ordered.
His Haunter carried out his command to the letter, phasing itself so the Tentacruel had a harder time seeing where it was in the dark room. Using its foes temporary confusion Deion's Haunter pushed its own attack, releasing a dark shock wave seemingly from nowhere. The attack must have had some effect as the Tentacruel seemed to flinch at the hit, retracting its flailing tentacles to protect itself. This was just the opening Deion was looking for. Haunter's attacks weren't as effective as they could have been, but they did make for a good distraction. Not wasting time, Deion grabbed another pokeball from his belt. This time knowing full well which one he was choosing. No more than a split second later his Alakazam had materialized and was standing directly in front of him, his angular features silhouetted in the dark room.
"Zam, we need some help here!" Deion said quickly, catching his friends attention.
'You are injured. Why did you not call on me earlier?' The Alakazam's concerned voice echoed though Deion's mind.
"Not now Zam." Deion said, focusing his attention back to the Tentacruel which was in the process of re-extending its tentacles in preparation for another attack.
'If you had simply heeded my advice and not insisted on this venture, you would have most likely not have been in this position right now.' Zam's voice said in almost a mocking tone in Deion's mind.
"Look, are you going to help or not?" Deion said, slightly annoyed at his Pokemon's way of saying 'I told you so', regardless if it was true or not.
'Just give the word.' The Alakazam's voice replied.
Deion took a moment to assess the situation. The Tentacruel had finally fully recovered from his Haunters Dark Pulse and was poised for another attack. It seemed to be looking over the newly arrived Alakazam as well, apparently unsure which intruder to target first.
"Zam, I need you to work with Haunter to take that thing down." Deion said, pointing at the mutated Tentacruel.
As his Alakazam turned to face what the trainer was pointing at, Deion felt what he could only guess was pang of curiosity from Zam.
'How did it get down here?' Deion could hear that same curious feeling say.
"Hell if I know." Deion replied, not exactly caring at that moment how the large creature made it into the closed off water basin of the reservoir. "Just... make it go away!"
Almost if on cue, the Tentacruel finally selected its target. Deciding to take another swing at Haunter. Using the same method that worked before, Haunter became transparent and quickly avoided the incoming attack. Annoyed that its attack hadn't succeeded once again, the mutated Pokemon switched its focus to the Alakazam, sending two razor sharp tentacles directly towards the psychic-type. The Alakazam, working off the simple order of 'make it go away', extended one of its arms, using its psychic abilities to catch the incoming attack rather than evade it. Surprised by its tentacles being stopped mid flight, the water Pokemon began to shoot the rest of its razor sharp arsenal at Deion's Alakazam. Raising his other arm, Zam proceeded to catch the rest of the Tentacruels tentacles, effectively immobilizing it. Seeing the opening his Pokemon had given him, Deion switched his attention to his remaining Pokemon.
"Haunter!" Deion shouted, his voice becoming slightly raspy, "Hit it with Hypnosis!"
Accepting the order with what Deion could only assume was a grin, his Haunter shot forward a pulse of psychic energy, hitting the immobilized Tentacruel directly in the face. It took a moment, but before long the giant Pokemon's eyes started to droop and then close. Taking advantage of his opponents unconscious state, Zam extended his psychic field, quickly encompassing the Tentacruel in his telekinetic control. Deion allowed himself a moment of relief, they might have had the advantage, but the battle wasn't over yet. The mutant Tentacruel could still pose a massive danger if it wasn't dealt with soon. Thinking quickly, Deion once again switched his focus to is Haunter.
"Haunter! Use Dream Eater!" Deion ordered, hoping that the attack would be enough to weaken the creature for a final blow.
His Haunter complied, shooting another psychic pulse at the sleeping Tentacruel. The attack must have been successful as the pule returned to Haunter followed moments later by what looked like spasms of some kind from the Tentacruel. Deion could see his Haunter clapping while wearing a big grin on its face, obviously quite pleased at the results of the attack.
"Zam," Deion said turning his attention back to his psychic friend, "Finish it off with Psycho Cut!"
Giving Deion telepathic ping of acknowledgment, the Alakazam proceeded to seemingly effortlessly lift the giant tentacle Pokemon out of the water, exposing its soft underbelly. Deion could see Zam's psychic aura intensify as he gathered enough energy to propel himself at the Tentacruel. The Alakazam jumped at the mutant jellyfish, forming a blade of psychic energy around his right arm as he did so. Right before he reached his target, the Alakazam let the telekinetic field around the Tetacruel to drop. Deion watched the water Pokemon's eyes shoot open at the sudden feeling of falling, a split second before his Alakazam released his psychic blade.
The attack ripped through the defenseless Pokemon's exposed underbelly, effectively cutting the flailing giant in half with explosive force. The Tentacruel let out what Deion could only assume was a cry of pain which was cut short as the massive Pokemon crashed into the water below. It flailed around for a while, causing its oozing black blood to fly all over the underground room. In an attempt to shield himself, Deion curled up as best as he could and used his one good arm to block the incoming black liquid. He achieved partial success, deflecting the majority of the Tentacruels internal fluids away from his face and core body.
It wasn't however until a moment later that he realized that he had not been as successful as he thought he had been. Directly covering his wound was a warm and wet sensation. Daring a look Deion saw that a decent amount of the Tentacruels black blood had landed directly on his arm and was slowly seeping into his open wound. It wasn't long before a burning sensation began to creep up his arm. He started to have trouble breathing, his mind became even more clouded than before. In a desperate attempt to wash his arm, Deion grabbed his canteen only to realize that he had already expended its contents in an earlier attempt to clean his wound.
Then it hit him, probably the worst pain he had felt in his entire life. He began to scream, almost involuntarily as the mutated Pokemon's blood mixed with his own. Before he knew it he was laying completely on the reservoirs hard concrete floor, convulsing uncontrollably. The last thing Deion consciously remembered was an attempt to call to Zam for help before his world went black.