"Ok, guys, we need to get to the factory in order to take out Roy, who has taken espio's parts and stuff!" Cory shouted.
"Troy." Tim said simply, looking bored.
"But how are we going to sneak in there with so many demon possessed people out there?" Alex inquired.
Tim rolled his eyes, "They aren't possessed by demons, they are just incredibly loyal to Troy and his ideals."
"I can feel it, they are possessed by demons. Soon they'll start to kiss you and implant their eggs into your stomach for breeding."
Tim rolled his eyes, obviously not buying any of this. He pointed toward the factory, "That is where the radiation guns are produced, but it's also the capital of the confederacy of Alabama. We will need to somehow sneak through the town that surrounds it and make it to the factory to face Troy, Maybe I'll be able to reason with him and we can stop this madness."
Cory nodded and began running away with his arms behind his back toward the town. Alex followed suit, with Tim merely jogging behind them. Tim thought about his life before the great divide between Troy and him. Their videos on YouTube were some of the greatest memories he had ever had. Tim remembered all the good times they had following around slenderman through the woods and abandoned buildings. Just him, Troy, Alex, and…. Brian.
Tim remembered the tragedy of Brian. Brian had been Tim's best friend. As much as he didn't want to admit it, slenderman had an effect on Tim. This effect caused him to have multiple personas, two to be exact. At times, Tim would get a strange feeling and become a silent, stalking figure. He would don a mask, hiding in the woods, searching for something called the ark. Often he would follow Brian around, who had the same issue as Tim. Together they searched for the ark.
What was the ark? They never knew. At least Tim didn't know in his regular consciousness. It didn't matter anymore, anyway. Brian had fallen onto a concrete floor from a window, which had killed him. The worst part was that Tim watched him fall, he may have even caused his death.
Tim looked down as he ran, he was just as bad as Troy.
They approached the town and crouched down behind a building. There didn't appear to be anyone on the streets, so Cory figured it was clear to go. He jumped out in the open and ran toward the direction the factory was in. Tim facepalmed at Cory's stupidity, reluctantly following Alex as they ran after Cory.
As if out of nowhere, hundred of people appeared in front of Cory. These people all wore rags and held radiation guns, pointed straight at Cory. Tim rolled his eyes as he held his arms up, surrendering. A man wearing robes walked ahead of them, he had a beard and looked around Tim's age.
"Hm. I see you're doing well Noah," Tim said to the man.
"Ah Tim, I thought you killed yourself or something years ago, good to see you. NOT!" Noah began to laugh, the rest of the people also began to laugh even though it wasn't funny.
"So what are you, some sort of priest now?"
Noah closed his eyes, annoyed, "I am not a priest, I'm a reverend! I teach the people about atom!"
"Who is Adam?"
"NOT ADAM, ATOM! Give me one good reason why we shouldn't kill you right now."
"For old times sakes, anyway this guy right here holds a lot of power, so maybe he'd be useful to you," Tim said, pointing to Cory.
"No! I don't want to join an organized religion!" Cory shouted.
"Be careful Tim, don't want to lose your temper again, remember what happens then!" Noah said, taunting Tim.
Tim pulled out a carton of pills and took one, "That hasn't happened in years, anyway this kid right here killed slenderman, so he has no power over me anymore."
Noah began to laugh heartily at Tim, "you think a chubby kid like that could kill a being like slenderman? No way. Anyway, he's still here. He is seen many times throughout the day."
"WHAT?!" Cory shouted, remembering his climactic battle with the entity within the Japanese monastery, "you're lying!"
Suddenly darkness fell upon the people as slenderman teleported in between the two parties, staring straight at Cory.
"Hehehe, you have a choice, kid. Get killed from an all powerful entity or join us as a child of atom!" Noah shouted over the wind that had now begun to pick up.
Tim fell to the ground, coughing and wheezing. Blood began to come out as he coughed into the ground.
"Looks like his power is still affecting you, isn't it Tim? Guess this is payback for calling me out on twitter all those years ago, hehehe!"
Memories of Brian flooded back to him. He remembered the mask he wore, how it felt. He remembered chasing after Brian, looking for answers. Brian taunting him with the mask. Brian had never been himself since he had encountered slenderman. Unlike Tim, who would always go back to normal, the day Alex took Brian to see slenderman, he had entered a state much like Tim, and had never gone back.
Tim began to scream out as he had a seizure, falling to the ground in pain and shaking uncontrollably. The sky turned dark and rain began to fall on the town as Tim began to change mentally. Slenderman continually stared at him, making it worse and worse.
"I killed you once, I'll do it again!" Cory shouted, drawing his katana and putting on his bandana. Slenderman turned to him, sending a familiar chill through his body. The cold, raspy voice of slenderman invaded his brain, seemingingly infiltrating his mind.
"So the hero returns, thinking he had killed me. Wrong, I cannot be killed. I cannot be stopped. I am a being of pure darkness."
"I have fought the darkness before as well, you should be easy!" Cory entered his seppuku form, a yellow aura flared up around him. He charged at Slenderman, slashing at him with his katana of light. Lightning flashed as the blade my contact with him, silhouetting them within the blinding light.
When Cory looked, slenderman was staring at him, unharmed, "foolish child, you have learned nothing from our last battle."
Alex Jones stared at Slenderman, trying to decide what he should do. This thing had immense power, seemingly infinite strength. Maybe he could use his filtration matrix to lower its power and allow Cory to survive longer.
"Eat this, demonic overlord!" Alex threw his filtration matrix, a glass vial with a blinking light at the end, at Slenderman, hitting him square in the face. It seemed to be ineffective on the entity, and Alex once again felt useless.
"I remember that you can't harm me unless it is mentally, so why don't you do that?" Cory shouted, his nose beginning to bleed.
Slenderman began to laugh a sinister laugh, "Child, I will no longer need to harm you directly once my slave has reawoken."
Cory looked in horror at Tim, who panted in agony on the ground. He was going to change Tim into some sort of monster. A mask appeared in front of him, it seemed to be a normal white mask with black marker painted around the eyes and lips. Tim got up robotically, seemingly fully recovered from his seizure, and picked up the mask. Slowly he raised it to his face, completing the transformation. Slenderman teleported away to the sidelines to watch his creation kill Cory.
"Remember Alex's final message to you before you killed him. If anyone is left, kill them, then kill yourself."
Tim twitched and pulled out a knife, walking toward Cory. The children of atom watched the scene unfold, most undisturbed by it. Noah seemed excited that Tim had become the monster he once was.
"I-I don't want to hurt you…" Cory shouted, thinking back to the hospital, where he had met Tim. He remembered the piled ash right below the windowsill, guessing how many times he had stood in that exact spot, watching the world change. He thought about the tragedy of the three friends, they just wanted to have fun, but they were permanently changed by this creature.
Lighting flashed again and two bodies appeared in front of Tim, the bloody remains of Alex, who Tim had stabbed, and the broken and twisted corpse of Brian, who still worse his mask. Tim looked down on them momentarily, and continued to walk toward Cory. He raised his knife as he was mere feet away from the boy. Cory dropped his katana, accepting his fate.
Then Cory looked up at the man in front of him. He looked through the mask into the man's eyes. It was then that he realised that this was the same man as before, he had not changed. He had fought the power of Slenderman and wasn't a creature.
Tim threw his knife to the side, hitting Noah straight in the heart. Everything seemed to become a blur to Cory as the cultists flew into a rage, recklessly shooting off their radiation guns. Tim grabbed Cory's arm and pulled him along as they ran through the streets toward their destination: the factory. Alex followed them close behind.
As they neared the facility, Slenderman appeared before them, "Fools, you cannot escape my wrath. I have more power over you than your smug little brain thinks."
Tim pulled out his bottle of pills and handed it to Cory. Cory looked inside to see there was only one pill left. He swallowed it, only choking a little and held his arm up, his katana teleporting into his hand. It is said that katana's are tied to their samurai, forever welded to their soul. This was true for Cory.
Cory closed his eyes, and entered his mind, connecting with Slenderman within his own realm. He opened his eyes to see he was within a forest. Across the clearing was slenderman, but he looked different. On his head he wore a fedora, very classy. On top of his usual suit he had on a trenchcoat that blew in the wind. He turned his head toward Cory, tipping his fedora over where his eyes would be. A 6 foot long katana of dark steel appeared in his hand as he turned 180 degrees to face Cory.
Cory held his katana with both hands in front of him, and entered his seppuku form, a yellow aura appearing around him once more. Slenderman seemed to smirk, "I'm glad you've grown in power since we last fought, I have as well."
A barrage of tentacles came toward Cory from Slenderman's back. Cory slashed his sword in a figure eight in front of him, cutting the tentacles as they came. As they flew off, they vaporized into black dust which disappeared to oblivion. Cory advanced slowly, cutting the tentacles as he went. Soon, he neared Slenderman, who almost caught him off guard with the swing of his dark blade.
Cory backflipped over the blade, narrowly dodging the blow. He held up his sword as the entity swung his own blade around, using the momentum from his slash to carry a ton of force at Cory. The two swords clashed together, sending sparks falling to the ground. They were locked in a standoff, swords stuck together like glue as they glared at one another.
Slenderman jumped backwards, his trenchcoat flying as he landed a few feet away, "Nothing personal, kid." He tipped his fedora and entered a seppuku form, charging at Cory with his blade thrusted out. Cory dodged to the side, increasing the power of his seppuku. The aura turned to orange as he raised his blade and charged at slenderman, jumping and slashing downward at the entity.
Slenderman blocked the attack, but Cory expected that. He quickly spun his blade around and slashed again, this time cutting Slenderman's cheek. Black blood ran down the monster's face as his fedora flew off. Slenderman stood up straight and let off an aura of pure pain and misery at Cory.
It was then that it occured to Cory that none of this was real. Slenderman was manipulating his mind to trick him into thinking this was real. Cory willed his mind to reveal the truth and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the trenchcoat and the katana had disappeared. All that was left was a faceless man in a suit with no power. Not even his seppuku form was real. It seemed as if the pill Tim had given Cory had actually worked.
Cory stood up and began walking toward Slenderman, the souls of Alex and Brian appearing behind him, "You don't have power anymore, but I do!" With that incredibly uncool final sentence, Cory slashed Slenderman in half. When he opened his eyes, he watched as the real slenderman screamed in pain, then fell to the ground, lifeless. His body then disintegrated into dust and was washed away by the rain.
"Wow, you actually did it, kid," Tim said with his hands in his pockets.
"Yeah, that was pretty good for an ametuer demon hunter!" Alex shouted.
"I know, if only a girl had seen that."
"I don't know, the girls around here seem to be a bit too religious," Tim joked as he pointed to the children of atom. Everyone laughed as they walked toward their final destination: the factory.