I was originally going to combine this chapter and True Betrayal, but it was 24KB long... YIKES!

"JACOB! YOU'RE ALI-" Jeremy was about to run towards Jacob to greet him, before he put the puzzle pieces together and figured it out. "YOU KILLED ICE BEAR!?"

Jacob silently nodded his head. "What do you think this is, a regular ol' axe or something!?" Jacob dropped the axe, and pointed to it.

"But… WHY!? Why would you fake your death, leave SOLGALEO, AND US, BEHIND, and then proceed to BRUTALLY MURDER ICE BEAR!? I just don't get it!" Dylan yelled, trying to hold back the urge to punch Jacob square in the face.

"Yeah, buddy… you've got a LOT of explaining to do…" JJ smirked, his eyes slowly turning blue. This caught Jacob off guard, but he kept his cool.

"Because he star-" Before Jacob could further explain, JJ ran over to him and punched him, causing him to fly back into a tree.

"WHAT THE!? Why'd you do that!?" Jeremy shouted.

"DON'T. LIE. TO. ME!" JJ screamed at Jacob, being completely oblivious to Jeremy and Dylan's presence. Before Jeremy and Dylan could react, JJ ran to Jacob, and grabbed him by the collar.

"I'm gonna ask you again - WHY'D YOU ABANDON SOLGALEO AND KILL ICE BEAR - and if you lie, or fail to answer, I'M GONNA THROW YOU INTO THAT RIVER!" JJ pointed at a nearby river, which was rapidly flowing, and spewing water onto the surface. "Clear as mud?" Jacob shook his head, since JJ said mud, and JJ dropped him.

"You've got 2 minutes. Now, speak, bragger boy." With this, Jacob spent zero time with getting back up on his feet, and with his expressionless face, began explaining.

"I was sick of it. I was sick of all the pressure! Solgaleo dying - no, I DIDN'T abandon him - troubles at home… it was just too much, and as long as you 3 were around, I was trapped. So, I faked my own death by avoiding his attack that just barely missed me, and jumping into a bunch of blood to make it look like I was dead."

"OK, that's problem #1 solved. #2 - Why'd you abandon your best-" Jacob interrupted JJ before he could even react.

"I wanted a better Pokemon, and besides, SOLGALEO DIED ON THE SPOT. I had no other choice! And, no, I haven't found another Pokemon yet.

"Alright, good job. Now, DON'T INTERRUPT ME AGAIN," JJ's eyes turned back into a deep, dark shade of blue. "But why'd you kill Ice Bear? Twas my BIGGEST concern there…"

"Firstly, it's not a holly jolly Christmas yet, so no need to use that language, and secondly… OK, this'll be a long explanation. Can I please get more than 2 minutes?" JJ nodded, and motioned for Jacob to continue. "Long story short, apparently Ice Bear still hates me, and tried to murder me… I had to use self-defense… I'm sorry…"

"Y'know something? I think I forgive you, dude." Jeremy said, fistbumping Jacob. "But that means that Ice Bear faked that indent we saw in the ground… Dylan-" Jeremy turned to Dylan, who was still staring at Ice Bear, motionless. "You ok, pal?" OK? OK!? This is NOT the Jacob that I know! Dylan wanted to scream out loud, but just muttered. "Yeah… I'm fine." Suddenly, a familiar ringtone of the Pokemon Sun theme rang out, and Jacob pulled out a… cellphone?

"Hang on a sec guys, I need to take this. Yello?" When Jacob's back was turned, Dylan whispered to the group.

"This is NOT the Jacob that I know. I've got a-"

"An iffy feeling? Yeah, I feel the same." Jeremy, surprisingly, replied. "There's something off about this whole situation… I mean, for god sakes, Jacob LOVES battling with Pokemon! Usually, when a Pokemon faints-"

"Solgaleo DIED, he did NOT faint!" JJ whisper-yelled, causing Jeremy and Dylan to step back a bit - in synchronization, that is.

"Alright, we'll meet ya there! Cya, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!" With that, Jacob hung up, and the trio quickly turned to face him.

"I assume that was Michael?" Dylan asked, to which Jacob nodded.

"He wants us to come over! Come on, let's go!" Jacob then proceeded to run back into the woods, almost forgetting about Ice Bear. That is, until…

"WAIT! You're forgetting about Ice!" Dylan announced.

"Why you bloody Decker…!" Jacob muttered under his breath. "Alright, take 'em with us!" Jacob said, motioning for the group to follow him.

"But what about his ax-" Before Jeremy could even speak, Jacob grabbed Ice Bear's axe and dove into the woods. "Come on, guys, I assume that we gotta get Ice to-" Once again, Jeremy got interrupted by JJ and Dylan grabbing Ice Bear, and pulling him up to the trail. "WOW, this guy's lighter than Jake 'imself!" JJ declared.

"And why/how would YOU know that, good sir?" Jeremy glared at JJ.

"Remember when I pulled him up by the collar?" The duo nodded. "Yeah… that's how."

"Well, well, well, the more you learn, I guess!" Jeremy sighed, before walking up the trail.

"I believe that it's called 'The More You Know,' and not 'The More You Learn,' Einstein!" Dylan called out, but got no response. "Oh, what the heck's the point?" He sighed, before running after the trio.

|-/

Within half a second of ringing the doorbell, Michael burst through the hallway, and into his porch, where he burst open the door in a second. It was so fast, in fact, that the group had no idea that Michael even opened the door, let alone came NEAR it, until they were all dragged in!

"Woah, wait, where are we?" Jeremy paused for a moment, before realizing that he was inside Michael's house. "Oh, hey dude!"

"Hi guys! Go ahead, come right on in!" Without hesitation, Michael walked into the kitchen.

"But… we're already inside!" Jeremy called out, but the rest of the group just shrugged and followed him in. "Oh, forget it." Jeremy then proceeded to walk inside.

"So, Mike, what's hatching?" Jacob asked, looking around the room and admiring everything like he hadn't ever seen it before.

"Nothing much, really. Just wanted you guys over!" Michael stated, a tint of nervousness in his voice. "Anyways, I need a few minutes to talk to these guys," Michael pointed at Jeremy, Dylan and JJ. "and after that, we can actually start doing something." Michael nervously chuckled, before rushing the group upstairs.

"Alrighty, then! Cya in a few!" Jacob called out. When the group was out of earshot, Jacob immediately went straight towards the knife holder.

Upstairs…

"OK, what's happening to that guy!?" Michael immediately started interrogating the group, his expression being as if though he'd just witnessed a mass murder.

"We dunno! He abandoned us in the forest, and then we found him emerge from the woods, saying he nearly killed Ice out of self-defense, and then you calle-"

"I KNEW IT! I knew that there was something off about him! Cmon, follow me! I got a plan…" Michael rushed down stairs faster than an Olympic runner, leaving the group in awe.

"What was he talking about!?" Dylan turned to Jeremy and JJ.

"He and Jacob are best pals! I guarantee that he knows the MOST about Jacob excluding his family members! If something was wrong with Jacob, or if he had a secret to hide, Michael'd crack it open like he was pick-locking a door. Now, do what he said, and C'MON!" Suddenly, Jeremy ran downstairs even faster than Michael did, with JJ and Dylan actually being decently close to him this time around.

When they got downstairs, they just barely heard the ending of Michael and Jacob's conversation.

"So, you remember how this works, right? I just ask you questions, and you answer them. Deal?"

"Yeah, we got ourselves a deal, Mike!" The group knew that Michael and Jacob never did this questionnaire thingy, which may I add they recognized instantly, and knew that it must've been apart of Michael's plan. Regardless, they tuned in.

Michael asked Jacob several questions, most of which he answered quite accurately. But then, it came down to 1 single question:

"Where/when were we born?" The group immediately saw Jacob's expression turn from a somewhat ego-stricken and confident one, to one of pure dread. Regardless, Jacob kept his smug smirk on his face.

"Same day, same month, same year, same hospita-" Right as the word hospital emerged from Jacob's mouth, Michael snapped.

"IMPOSTER!" Michael screamed as loud as he could, even louder than Jeremy could perform, and ran at Jacob at alien-like speed. It was all such a messy blur, as Michael grabbed Jacob by the hair - and yanked it upwards. But, instead of a hairless Jacob, the group gasped as they saw Jacob's ENTIRE HEAD COME OFF - because it was a mask. And under the mask, was the oh-so-familiar face…

"ICE BEAR!?" Being used to it at this point, Ice Bear only sighed, and ripped the rest of the Jacob costume apart in seconds.

"Wait a second… if the Jacob we found in the woods was Ice Bear… then that can only mean one thing!" JJ spoke up, and the group's eyes widened as they figured out the inevitable truth. "That the Ice Bear that we saw in the forest… was actually JACOB!" The group, obviously, gasped at this. "Which could only mean one OTHER thing…"

"That you left your best friend to die in the woods, just how Ice Bear wanted it to go."

OH SNAP! AGAIN!