"And while he was powerful, and sheathed himself in each of my skills, he was no match for my core. At the center of my being, like every teenager, I have a dark pit of hatred and anger at boomers for ruining the world. I dragged him in, and he died.

They had a lot of questions about him. What I had seen in my dreams, if I thought he was coming back. Since I had seen all the films it was pretty easy to answer them and support my slightly made up story. There was always some weird way he was taken down. I dunno the real mechanics of how he was disabled, but hopefully my way would stick.

I eventually emerged from the police station a free man. While I had been caught earlier than I'd expected, they wanted to hide Freddy Kreuger, so it was easy enough to escape. I strolled confidently out into the bright sunny air ready to seize life by the throat.

"I like that idea. Lets seize a child by the neck as well. They sound great when they crack."

Freddy Kreuger was sitting on a stair handrail, looking chipper and alive. His face was as scarred as ever from the fire, his black and red striped jumper as stylish as always, and his finger blades were sharp as daggers. In a flash I had the knife out. I slashed through him. His form dispersed like a cloud. He remained sitting. I glanced around. No one was watching.

"Is that how you treat an old friend? I'm shocked Macgyver. I thought we were getting close. I'm not inviting you to my next slumber party."

The knife should have killed him if he was an astral projection of some sort.

"You can just ask. I'm right here. Hello there!" He waved in my face.

"What are you?" I asked.

"I'm your secret dark side. The dark side that's really into killing children."

"No, no you're not." You never talk to the villains. Why did I forget my own advise?

"You're right. I've returned from the void to consume your soul!"

I could feel a connection with me. I'd kept the base name of the luck stat, but it was still upgraded. Feng Shui Devotee. My luck was stronger per point. I could feel connections and his was tied to me like a chain. It was tied to my stealth skill.

I did a quick internal check. My Explosive Stealth skill was a twisting vortex of fire, with tendrils of plasma binding it together, each pulse carrying information and knowledge. And there at the core was a fragment of Freddy Kreuger. When I had slashed him with the blade a bit of him had come with the fire resistance skill. That part had set itself up in the skill. I could remove it, but it would probably take a month or so to do it without damaging the skill itself.

I needed to keep my mental resilience up. I burnt another 500 perk points, and bought Gamer's Mind A.

Backup Gamer's mind fusing with skill. Calculating...

Gamer's mind A. Gain an advanced form of the gamer's body. You can fully heal your mind in ten minutes, and you gain extreme mental control of your internal nature. You gain increased mental stability from murdering people, with greater gains for more innocent victims. You have a greater ability to forge, modify, or delete multiple personalities, especially from alternate timelines or possession. All physical stat debuffs are reduced by 50%.

You are a real boy. You have forged a gaming body and mind. The next step is the soul.

Gamer's soul E. Gain transcendence. 2 perk points.

That was weird. What was the difference between the mind and body and soul anyway? I directed a prayer to Maturin to ask him what was up with that perk, and worked to isolate Kreuger.

He was running his brain on my expanded Gamer's Mind, and I felt if I let him he would expand to take over more. I couldn't cut him off without damaging the skill, but I made an untainted version of my gamer's mind, so I could restore it if he possessed me or something. I also dumped a pair of points into wisdom, so I could avoid being a dumbass and letting him take over.

I felt layers of myself uncover. I didn't know more, but I felt more about myself. I felt greater. The air was crisper, my mind more focused, and I could sense my body in detail. My first +20 stat. I glanced at the two new and upgraded perk paths.

Enlightened mind. You have mastered your mind to a degree beyond most, and achieved enlightenment. You have enhanced awareness of any deviations from enlightenment. Gain increased resistance to pain, social laws, and once a day you can do a feat of great wisdom with 10 extra wisdom. 50 points.

Common sense. You know what most people in your neighborhood know, and have a good sense of the normal behaviour that is expected for your social role and how to enact it. Once a day you can do a feat of great common sense for +10 wisdom. 50 points.

I would love to take common sense since I was in public for the first time in ages, but with Kreuger in my head, I needed to stay Enlightened. The new stuff about better awareness about deviations from enlightenment would help. Still. Annoying. I could only take one of the two paths.

"I felt very enlightened when you killed me. I lit right up." Kreuger said.

I sighed, shook my head, and ignored him. I had work to do. It was time to go to school.

I flopped down on the pole next to Lori Campbell. The sun was out, teens wandered all around, and she was crying. She was a fairly pretty blonde lady. She'd been in a few minor things after Freddy vs Jason but nothing important.

"I killed her career as well as her." Freddy remarked, next to me.

I needed to grind some skills. For that I needed a volunteer to help with it. Practising on my own worked pretty slow, it was way easier to get someone. I needed to draw her in.

I leaned in and hugged her. She looked up in surprised, and then collapsed in my arms.

Kia Watson, with red hair and dark skin and a lot of attitude, came in to hug her at the same time. I could feel the narrative logic imposing this.

"I'm so glad to see you two. What happened?" Asked Lori.

I pulled them in close and whispered. "Not here. They're coming to kill us. We need to be ready. Freddy Kreuger is here.

"I heard the police mention him. Is that who did this all? Why were you dressed in tactical gear?" Whispered Lori.

Freddy stroked her hair from behind with his razor sharp nails.

"Her mom cried out my name in pleasure." He said. "I'm surprised she doesn't remember me. I might as well be her daddy."

I sighed. It had not been pleasure. Sharing a head with a serial killer was weird. Shaking my head I spoke again. "We need to go somewhere private. I can tell you everything there."

Kia spoke up. "Tell us now. We gotta know. They said it was just drugs, told me I hadn't seen anything. I know what I saw."

I looked at her and shook my head. "No you don't. Because magic is real. And Freddy is a dream demon. Anyway, come on. I'll explain it all."

I managed to convince them to bunk off school. Using a new perk that came with the 20 wisdom, I found a place where we could be quiet.

Crowd Sourcing. You know the common people. Ask a question once a day and if anyone in the city knows it and is not concealing it, you know the answer. You can recharge this perk with stamina. 6 points.

There was a burnt out warehouse in a shitty part of town that no one used.

We paced down into the wrecked building. There were crates and old boxes of produce for Ohion Produce.

"What is this place? Are you trying to murder us." Asked Lori. She looked spooked, but determined.

Freddy buried his head in his hands. "You asshole. You took me to where I died. Leave it now!" He commanded. I ignored him. I turned back to Lori.

I shrugged. I had no clue. I hadn't really researched this place. I knew we were in Ohio.

Kia spoke. "It was an old business here. The Cahuilla tribe had an offshot and grew the local palm trees. They packaged the food and sold it across the USA."

I glanced at her. "I wouldn't have thought you know that. But yeah I just needed some quiet out of the way place."

She smiled and turned away. "I have a nerdy side." She wasn't showing a bit of fear.

I saw Freddy sitting on a burnt out crate. He looked pretty unhappy, but wasn't speaking.

"We need to go down the stairs. They're not too damaged." I could sense the building with my technopathy senses fairly well, and it hadn't been burnt too well. We went down the stairs into the boiler room. Pipes and conduits twisted all around, and I could feel my Pipeslayer title urging me to rip and rend. I had a job to do though.

I sat on a pipe and spoke.

"We live in a world of darkness and pain full of supernatural horror. Demons, zombies, and worse are hidden in plain sight, hurting people. Your boyfriend, Lori? He saw one. Freddy Kreuger is a demon of fear that murders children. He thought your father killed your mother, but actually Freddy did so. Will was then committed to a mental asylum to prevent him from summoning Freddy. Knowledge of this has been concealed from the general populace by adults, and extensive use of a drug, Hypnocil. I have gained supernatural powers to fight evil, and need your help mastering them. Any questions?"

"Stop bullshitting us." Said Kia. She stepped towards me, looking down on me. I gestured with a hand, and a pipe flew up into my hand, landing neatly. "Woah, not too close." I dumped the pipe into my inventory, making it vanish from the air. "See, magic."

She stepped back, holding her head. "I knew I shouldn't have taken that spliff. This can't be real. I'm sitting at home, high off my ass."

It was a long process. I took out a hacksaw and cut into my hand, showing them how I could heal almost instantly and how the hacksaw dulled cutting me. I took my hand, snapped my fingers back and broke them and showed that they functioned just as well broken as set. I made fire earth water and air displays. I told them tales of the zombies chasing me down. I transformed myself from one form to another, showing them each of the bodies I had gained.

I picked up a machine that weighed as much as a fridge and made it vanish. I summoned a flower for Kia from the air using my Gacha perk. I navigated perfectly through a maze of broken machines and crates with my eyes closed, relying on my boosted senses to let me navigate.

Eventually I got through to them. In the film they'd had a day or two to get ready. I needed them faster and got them faster.

"What do you need us for?" Asked Kia. "You have all this power. Which you never told us about. You should have let us in."

I opened my hands out wide. "Because I need your help to train my powers."

I tossed out two bundles of money of 1000 dollars each. "I'll pay you."

Ohio was a pretty pro gun state. It was a swing state I remembered from my viewing of American politics, with a mostly pro gun Republican government, and I'd seen enough advertisements for the Buckeye firearms association to see that gun rights in the area were pretty valued. If I had a week, I could have probably got a legal gun and practised with a few thousand rounds on a range.

Kia and Lori had actually done this. It wasn't that uncommon to have a hunting rifle in the boot that you'd use to go hunting after school. This was wildly outside what I was used to in Britain, where you'd get arrested for that. I had bought a load of ammunition with my foreign world money, and in this fairly sound proofed underground room, we fired off a lot of rounds. They corrected my stance, showed me how to aim better, and generally advanced my skills a lot.

I managed to get some driving practice done as well. I'd acquired a motorbike and stuck it in my inventory, and practised driving around.

I talked to them a lot, telling them every bit of lore I remembered about this world. It wasn't my first rodeo breaking the masquerade. Kia was very straightforward and once I'd prove everything just wanted to advance forward and learn more, and was very into violence. Lori was pretty lost because I'd just whammed her with the knowledge that a demon killed her mom and her dad had locked her boyfriend up and drugged her. They both had a lot more knowledge than me on guns, which helped.

All good things came to an end though.

I was trying to drive my motorcycle and shoot. Kia had set up a bunch of bottles, and I had to drive through big boilers and pipes and broken and burnt floor parts.

I aimed the pistol and fired a shot, missing the bottle by an inch. I swerved around a pipe that sought to slay me, putting on some acceleration. The kick was pretty hard, but I'd adjusted to it. I aimed again and fired. The glass bottle exploded.

Skill level up! You have advanced shooting to D grade! Skill upgraded from Shooting to Ohio shooter (uncommon).

As I grinned at my success, I heard Kia speaking from behind me.

"Think fast!"

I turned back and caught a bottle to the face.

Dex check failed! You take motorbike burns. 10% debuff, negated by Gamer's Body.

I fell off the bike, skidding to the floor. A moment later I popped up. "No fair." I pouted.

"Zombies aren't gonna wait for you to find a fair moment Gibbs. You gotta be ready always."

I grinned. "Fair. This is working pretty well. I think I am now decent ish at guns."

I rubbed the side of my face, as the burnt off skin quickly regenerated thanks to Gamer's Body. "We should celebrate. I got some drinks-"

The door upstairs was flung open. I looked up and I saw the figure I had seen in the rain. There was more sunlight now. He had Jason's mask, and a new machete.

I looked back to Kia. "Jason is back. Get behind me."

I looked back. He was gone.

Freddy looked up, and pointed.

"Woah. What a twist. I did not expect that. I guess you'll be joining me down here."

I drew my shotgun again, as Kia came close to me.

"I thought you killed him. He's not dead?"

"I did kill him. He's not normally back this fast."

I looked around for an exit. Freddy leaned in, running his nails across my shoulder, and spoke. "Since this is our body now, why not go up? The fire burnt out bits of the floor."

"That's your first good idea. Grab onto me."

"You have a plan?" Asked Lori, nervously. "I want to see Will again. I need to know."

I nodded. "Just grab on." I put the motorcycle back in my inventory, grabbed them both, and pulsed my strength perks. I was pretty strong now, when I really pushed it. I leapt up onto a boiler, making sure it stayed together with my technopathy, and leapt up out onto a burnt floor, carrying both women. I glanced around. No one here. I pulled out the motorbike again, and Kia hopped on the front seat.

"You're a shitty driver. Get on."

I got in behind her, and Lori followed. Kia accelerated out.

"Twist left." I said.

"Why?"

"Magic." She swerved around a weakened spot of floor. I could sense the stability of buildings. I guided her out, and we sped away into the night.

I felt Freddy pushing out against my mental defenses. I instantly isolated him, and cut off any access he had as well as I could. I felt him twist around my mind, and he stabbed his fingers into my head.

I saw my own hands reach out, claws extending. I tore Kia's face off with a single fluid movement, blood exploding outwards.

"Join me on my ride to hell!" He said, as the bike swerved onto the road. Lori was thrown off, and I heard a crack as she landed.

"My ankle is broken!" She said, crawling back. I watched helplessly as I crawled towards her, claws extended. She tried to move away, but couldn't go far on her broken legs.

"Why are you doing this?" She asked me with pleading eyes.

"Generational trauma. Like mother like daughter. Let's end the cycle of abuse." Said my voice.

I reached her, and with a hard push shoved my claws into her chest. I tried to resist, pulling with all my strength, but my body wasn't mine any more. I was a monster. With a hard yank, I pulled out her still beating heart.

Another form of Freddy then slowly paced back to me. "I know, it hurts. You did all this." I blinked, and shook my head.

He walked up to me and spoke. "I can help end the pain. Just surrender to me. You won't have to feel you caused them to die. It'll be easy. Just surrender and give in. I was summoned for a reason. You don't have to hurt any more." He said, scratching a bloody line on my neck with his claws.

I blinked again and looked around. This didn't feel right to my wisdom senses, now enhanced. I triggered my Gamer's Mind contingency.

A backup Gamer's Mind in an extra dimensional space popped up, replacing my current one. My vision cleared.

New skill gained! Mental combat. You can fight entities which have the ability to break you more fluidly.

There was a little blood, but it was mine. I touched my face. I was starting to get burn scars on my face, like Freddy. I pushed them down, returning to my normal form. I was still on the bike behind Kia, her red hair flapping out in the wind. Everything that had happened had been a hallucination. This had just been an attack by Freddy. I could fix it still. One thing stuck me though.

Freddy said he'd been summoned? By who?

The new Jason was actually stalking them but he wasn't really able to keep up with a motorbike. A lot of horror stories would be a lot quicker if people just drove away on motorbikes.

In the original film Freddy was short of power. Here, he and Jason have been on top form from the start. But why?

IncognitoMinerals. Kramer has rent free space in my brain. I fixed it but several times I felt an urge to write Kramer here. It's hard having a serial killer parasite in your brain.

FaintestMist. They were already powered up a bit, but they're notably weaker atm, at least for now.

Dice-King. I could do lots of things, and have vague ideas for a lot, but each story takes time to do. Lots of people want me to do lots of different stories.

LoudOpinions. Restricted choices allow you to flourish.

Next time the mystery of Freddy vs Jason can be solved.