Me: And here's Chapter 9!

Rendan: Well, now we're finally going to see who reaches the hotel first.

Zero: Pyramid Head! Pyramid Head! Pyramid Head!

Rendan: -Backhands Zero- Will you shut the fuck up!

Zero: Hey! Fuck you!

Me: You guys pull this shit every fucking time... Gotta say, it's a lotta fun to watch you two argue.

Zero: Well, it wouldn't happen if he left me alone!

Rendan: Where's the fun in that?

Me: Right, there is no fun.

Zero: Ugh, can we please just get this chapter going?

Me: Fine, fine. I don't own Hey Arnold! or Silent Hill. They are the properties of Craig Bartlett and Konami respectively. The only thing I own are my OCs, my created monsters and the plot.

Rendan: Well, let's get this psycho's wet dream under way!

Chapter 9: Keep Going No Matter What

Time had passed... Of that much, Lila was certain. The first time she'd woken up after the transition from the Otherworld, a fair amount of time had passed. So why would it be any different this time? Truth is, it wasn't. What was different, however, was that Lila found it impossible to move her arms. She squirmed slightly, trying to figure out just why she couldn't move. From her squirming, she learned something else. She couldn't move her legs. As Lila's consciousness continued to come back to her, she began to hear voices. An adult's voice, what sounded like a teenager's voice and... AJ's voice.

Slowly, while silently praying she'd be unnoticed, Lila opened her eyes. What she saw was not something she would forget any time soon. It would also cement her fears of just what this town was capable of. She was tied up, her arms bound at her sides and her legs were tied together. In front of her, no more than seven people of varying ages were looking down at her and smirking darkly. They had to be members of The Order. They all wore regular clothes: jeans, shirts, sneakers, etc, which surprised her slightly seeing as how the cultists she'd seen before were wearing mining gear. She looked to her side and saw her companion in the same situation she was in. The only thing different was that while she was scared of the people grinning evilly at her, AJ was glaring at them defiantly.

She finally realized where she was. She was in a small, dead-end alleyway, barely large enough to fit the cultists if they stood abreast. She and her companion had their backs against a brick wall with the only exit being blocked off by the cultists.

"Ah, the second brat finally awakens," a man that must have been in his late thirties stated. He turned to face her bound friend. "I'm glad she's awake. I wouldn't want her to miss the fun!" He pointed at AJ. "You, my little brat, have been a thorn in our side for longer than I care to recall. Your blatant actions against us and God cannot, and will not, be tolerated any longer." AJ spat into the cultist's face, something that the other cultists laughed at.

"He's always been a fighter, hasn't he?" Another cultist questioned.

"Indeed," the first cultist replied. "Good thing we found them in front of the church. It was much easier to apprehend them since they were right in front of one of our bases. Still, there is one thing I must know." The cultist bent down until he was eye level with his male captive. "Why do you defy us so? Why do you continue to get in the way of bringing God to us?"

"You people are insane," AJ responded, his expression never changing from the glare. "You hurt and kill innocent people and for what? Just so your supposed God will favor you? What good has it done you? Your own guardian turned against you and is killing you! Where in your insane mind does that appear to be your God favoring you?" The cultist took a long look at the boy and sighed. He nodded to one of the teenage cultists and, with a nod, the teen ran off with his female partner.

"Another skeptic," the cultist said solemnly. "We've dealt with your kind before. You can't even begin to comprehend what God has in store for us. All we do, we do to gain Her favor. We were close... so close to achieving our goal... when someone had to fuck it up. We think it was you. A brat who came to Silent Hill and messed with our experiments. We believe it was you that gave the Guardian his free will. The one who sent him on a killing rampage... and that's why we believe he pities you."

"The Guardian pities no one! You idiots, of all people, should know that!" AJ shouted. Lila was speechless as she watched the exchange. The cultist turned his head to a fellow member of the Order and held out his hand. The other member walked to him and placed a combat knife, Lila's combat knife, into his hand. The cultist smiled darkly at his male captive and ran his finger across the blade, not pressing hard enough to cut himself or draw blood.

"You're something else," the cultist commented. "You claim to hate our ways, who we are... what we do, but you know just as much about this town as we do... maybe even more so. Tell me, did the Guardian tell you about Silent Hill? Did he tell you how to escape? Did he teach you?" The cultist shook his head. "No matter, you won't live long enough to answer those anyway." He stepped closer and placed the blade against AJ's neck. "Since I'm in such a good mood, I'll let you ask one final question before I kill you. Don't waste it." AJ's eyes looked around before they settled on the cultist.

"Okay, how fast do you think you can dodge a slowly moving figure with a very large weapon that's currently approaching you?" The cultist shot the boy a confused glance as he rose to his feet and stepped back. The man was obviously wondering just where that question came from, though that wouldn't last. Lila's scream pierced the air as a large blade suddenly burst through the front of the cultist's body and stopped less than a centimeter away from AJ's head. He gulped slightly as a bead of sweat was visibly separated by the blade. The wielder of the blade stood behind the pierced cultist and lifted the blade, splitting his victim perfectly in half.

As the body of the cultist dropped to the left and right, the two kids managed to see just what was behind that action. Standing with the bloody blade, ready to kill again, was Pyramid Head. The imposing figure raised his blade and slammed it into the ground. The two kids could only watch in horror as he reached down and grabbed AJ by the bonds that were holding him and hoisted him into the air with his left hand, mere inches away from the pyramid like helmet on his head.

"Kill it!" One of the other cultists shouted. Seconds later a multitude of shots rang out as the cultists unloaded all the bullets they had into Pyramid Head's back. The thing was, he never made any action to make it obvious he'd been hit. He didn't flinch, didn't move, and didn't turn his head in the slightest. He just kept staring at the terrified child he'd picked up. With no noise, no indication, he dropped the child he was holding and turned around to face the cultists. He grabbed the nearest one before lifting him into the air. Pyramid Head grabbed the cultist's shirt before tearing it clean off his body. The next thing he grabbed was the man's skin. With a swift tug, he tore it all off, both skin and his remaining clothes.

As the cultists continued shooting at Pyramid Head, AJ found the sharp end of Pyramid Head's blade and rubbed his bonds against it until he was free. He quickly located the knife that the cultist had been using and rushed over to free Lila. As he got near her, a cultist turned toward them and readied herself to fire. She never pulled the trigger. Pyramid Head grabbed his blade and swung it, slicing the female cultist in half just underneath her bust. Lila could only watch in horror as Pyramid Head slowly and systematically slaughtered the cultists, their bloodcurdling screams filling her soul with dread. Even her companion found he could not move at the sight of the carnage in front of him. Despite all of this, it was Lila that snapped out of her stupor first.

"A-AJ!" Lila cried, trying to snap her companion out of his thousand yard stare. His eyes widened before he quickly regained his composure. He turned to Lila and sliced the bonds holding her and helped her to her feet. He reached to one of the dead cultists and took his hatchet from the cultist's dead hands. Just as the two readied themselves to run, the screams suddenly stopped and they realized something. There was nothing else that could distract Pyramid Head while they made their escape. They were trapped.

Pyramid head turned his body to face them again, this time opting to stare at them. Minutes seemed like hours as the invincible force known as Pyramid Head stared at them. His next action, one that both kids could not expect, would remain a mystery to the two terrified children. He raised his sword and pointed it at AJ before turning and walking away again. Lila had to summon all of her inner strength not to vomit or pass out at the bloody scene before her. One cultist was split in half vertically, several were cut in half horizontally at varying parts of their bodies, and one had his skin literally ripped off his body. To top it all off, it seemed that her companion had been targeted by The Order.

With the second appearance of Pyramid Head, she didn't know what to think. At first it appeared that he was going to kill everyone but then he walks off while she and her companion, miraculously, were left alive. AJ quickly started to search the bodies, noting that at no point during the slaughter did he hear static. On the ringleader, his left side to be precise, AJ found the walkie talkie in the dead cultist's pocket. He switched it back on and the dull roar of static returned. Saying nothing more, he walked back over to Lila who hadn't so much as moved since Pyramid Head left.

'Pyramid Head has a will of his own,' Lila thought, remembering what AJ had told her not so long ago. 'If he does, could he be planning something? Is he actually able to do that? To plan something so far ahead?' Lila didn't realize that while she was thinking about this, AJ was looking at her with concern since her eyes were glued to the gory scene before them.

"Lila," AJ stated softly. It was more than enough to snap Lila out of her thoughts. She looked at him, still scared, and breathed almost haphazardly, as if she were struggling to catch her breath. "You know, he never did answer my question," AJ added as if to lighten the mood with a joke. Lila looked at him incredulously.

"How can you joke when something like this happens?" Lila questioned in just over a whisper. Lila felt a hand being placed on her shoulder, one that she knew belonged to her companion and found herself relaxing at his touch, though why she wasn't sure.

"In a place like this," he said with severity, "you have to do everything in your power to keep your sanity... even if it means making a joke in the most inappropriate of times." Lila looked straight into his eyes and knew from the glow they were giving that he wasn't lying. The thought worried her to a great extent. Silently, though, she was thankful that her companion seemed to be watching out for her, both her physical and mental well being, though the latter state was still questionable at this point. Silent Hill didn't let up on the mental attacks.

Lila turned to look at her surroundings more closely. On the wall she'd be placed against, there was a huge message that appeared to have be scrawled in blood. This wall wasn't here before. Lila blinked at how causal yet nonsensical the message was. The wall wasn't there before... what the hell was that supposed to mean? It was a moment before Lila snapped out of the confused stupor the message on the wall put her in.

"That's right!" Lila suddenly shouted. "We have to get to the butcher shop!" It was then she realized that not only did she not know where the butcher shop was but she also didn't have a map of the town.

"Okay. Next stop, butcher shop," AJ said as he started to walk out of the alley. Lila immediately followed.

"Do you know where it is?" Lila questioned as she caught up to him and began walking at his side. AJ nodded to her.

"I've been here so long I basically know where everything is," he commented.

"How long do you think you've been here?" Lila asked.

"A few days, maybe a week or two," AJ replied. Lila stared at him with no small amount of shock. "Lila, we've barely been here for... an hour, maybe, and we've seen a fair amount of the town already. It's not a very big town." Lila nodded silently and continued following. The duo eventually made their way to the butcher shop, locating a bloody shovel and a metal detector inside. AJ, seeing a potential use for the shovel later, grabbed some rope and tied the shovel to his back. Deciding to forsake conversation for efficiency, they grabbed the gear and headed to the second location they had to search, South Park.

Green grass and maybe a few trees. That's all that really could be said about it. It was rather large, but there weren't many obstacles that stood between the two and the item they needed. Lila switched on the metal detector and began to walk around, hovering the detector inches above the ground. Her companion, on the other hand, held his shovel in the way one would hold a combat weapon. His eyes constantly darted around the area as his ears listened carefully for the sound of static going above its usual dull roar. A sudden burst of beeping snapped him out of his hyperaware state, looking at the spot that the metal detector was currently hovering over.

Lila moved slightly out of the way as AJ thrusted the shovel into the ground and started to dig. As he dug, Lila took on the role of lookout, clutching the knife in her possession closely to her chest. To her joy, however much could be given in a place like Silent Hill, the walkie talkie's static level never went above its dull roar. AJ reached into the small hole and pulled out a key. He looked over to Lila and nodded. She gave a silent nod and placed the metal detector on the floor while he placed the shovel on his back again. The two walked out of the park and headed down the road to the hotel.

Just like the cultist said, the door leading into the hotel was locked. AJ placed the key into the small lock and opened the door, leading the two of them into the place that held the key to help Arnold and Helga. The lobby, just like any other place in Silent Hill, was generally untouched except for dust. Lila walked around the lobby looking for a map or anything that could help them figure out where to go. She eventually found it in one of the drawers in the receptionist's desk along with a health drink. Lila opened the map and sighed.

"We have a lot of rooms to check," Lila said sadly. She looked to her companion, almost hoping that he'd have some sort of a plan. "Any ideas?" AJ nodded.

"We search the entire hotel and hope for the best," AJ answered. Lila's face fell slightly. "Hey, we know for a fact that there's a key here."

"But what if that cultist was lying?" Lila asked. AJ's grinned response was unnerving.

"Do you have any idea how difficult it is to lie when you're absolutely terrified?" He replied with his own question while his unsettling grin never left his face. In fact, it seemed to widen and become even more disturbing. Lila shook her head and AJ's grin grew further, becoming slightly terrifying. "Tell me, Lila, why are you here? What drew you to Silent Hill?" His voice became almost manic.

"I... I heard a voice," Lila replied in a terrified squeak.

"A voice?" AJ questioned as he started approaching her, his grin becoming toothy.

"Y-yes," Lila responded. "It was a soft voice calling to me and told me to come here! I swear!" Lila noticed one thing, in her terror she was giving out the information he'd asked for and then some. She shut her eyes tightly and waited for whatever was going to happen to happen. Nothing did.

"And that's why we can trust his words," AJ stated, the manic tonic completely gone from his voice. Lila opened her eyes to see the unsettling, if not disturbing and terrifying, grin on his face had vanished. Lila quickly slapped him across the cheek.

"What did you do that for?" Lila shouted. AJ rubbed his cheek absently and smiled a soft smile.

"Talk is cheap," he answered. Lila looked toward him in confusion. "When I did what I did, you were scared, right?" Lila could only nod her head. "Well, that's basically what the cultist was going through before. When you were scared, the only thing you could tell me was the truth, right?" Lila nodded again. Honestly, the fact that he knew all this was slightly scary on its own. "It takes someone who has an insane amount of guts to lie despite the fact that he could die at any second."

'Then why do I get the feeling you could do it without a second thought?' Lila questioned only in the chasm of her mind.

"I'm not going to lie to you, Lila. Fear is going to be your greatest enemy which is the second reason I did that." Lila's confusion increased. AJ sighed and picked up her hand that held the knife and put it in front of her face. "What do you think I gave you that knife for?"

"T-to protect myself?" Lila replied unsurely. She was more sure of her answer when he nodded with a smile.

"That's right, to protect yourself. But, you can't protect yourself if you're too afraid to fight back... which is why I'm going to train you."

"Train me?" Lila asked.

"Yes. I'm going to help you get ready to fight anything and anyone that you need to in this place... even if it ends up being me." Lila gasped in shock. "Do you think you'd be the first? This place does weird things to people, Lila. You wouldn't be the first that had to fight or kill someone you met in Silent Hill." He looked at her with sadness present in his eyes. "Even if it was someone you thought you could trust." Lila looked at him with no small amount of fear. "So, once we get your friends back, I'm going to train you so you can take that final plunge to protect not only yourself... but also those you care for."

"I..." Lila began, "I'm not sure if I can do that." AJ placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. For some reason it always seemed to calm her down quite a bit, something both kids noticed but had different ideas as to why.

"You can," AJ simply said. "This place takes away many things, Lila. From friends to family members, lovers to children, this place has no mercy, no remorse and no consideration for the things that it does. The only question is when will you decide it won't take anything away from you?" He looked at her expectantly. Lila's eyes widened slightly when she realized he was expecting an answer.

"Can... Can I have some time to think about it?" She questioned.

"Of course, but let me know as soon as you come to a decision." Lila nodded to him. He began to walk off into the hotel and Lila followed without the needed prompt. She began to wonder just why she was able to trust him like she did. It had almost been like when she thought... No... No, that couldn't be it. On the other hand, she absorbed everything he said like a sponge, she never disregarded anything he said and, for one reason or another, she felt safe with him around. Then again, that could have been because he's been here longer than she has, actually has knowledge about this place, was skilled at fighting and wasn't afraid to when it came down to it. Yeah, that had to be it.

They checked many of the rooms that weren't locked on the first floor. Aside from a few destroyed rooms they didn't find too much. The most they'd found was a simple health drink which was sitting on a sink in the bathroom. Just as they were about to walk up the stairs to the second floor, the siren sounded and the Otherworld was ushered in. Lila looked around as the Fog World was literally ripped up, leaving the hellish, bloody Otherworld in its place.

"I'm never going to get used to that," Lila said lowly. AJ was about to say something when the static level in the radio spiked. They looked around to see the depressed looking creature from before coming from one end of the hallway and what appeared to be a Nurse coming from the other. AJ grabbed his hatchet from his waist and stood protectively in front of Lila. He was slightly at a loss, seeing how both monsters were at a near equal distance away and approaching at roughly the same pace. Seeing the light shining on her face, the Nurse started to move faster, prompting AJ to stand in the Nurse's path. At the rate this was going, he could kill the Nurse and then focus on the other one. Suddenly, the depressed looking creature rushed forward and stabbed at Lila from the side.

AJ quickly moved to get in the creature's way, getting stabbed in the vest as a result. Lila was too scared to scream as AJ grabbed the monster's arm and chopped it off with a swing of the hatchet. It was then that Lila saw AJ do something she'd never seen before. He removed the bladed hand from his vest and stabbed the creature through the head from bottom to top with it. As the creature dropped to the floor, dead, he turned again to intercept the Nurse's incoming strike. He grabbed the Nurse by the arm, pulled her down while redirecting her strike and severed her head from her shoulders in one fluid motion. Lila rushed to her companion as soon as the Nurse's headless body hit the floor and the walkie talkie's static level returned to its usual dull roar. She immediately checked the vest and found that, though it was torn, it hadn't even been pierced by the monster's attack. AJ smiled at her.

"Anything to survive in this place," he repeated. Lila felt relieved that his stealing a combat vest had actually saved his life. She looked up to him and found herself smiling as well. He kicked the feral creature for good measure. "Stupid Jilt."

"Jilt?" Lila asked.

"I don't know why... but they remind me of a jilted lover," AJ explained. Lila gave him a confused glance. "Basically someone who was suddenly dumped by someone that he or she cared about. It... reminds me of that for some reason." Lila said nothing. The two looked back to the stairs to find them completely destroyed with no way up. "Well, back to the rooms." Lila looked back to him like he'd grown a second head. "There should be a hole in the floor somewhere that'll let us get to the second floor." Sure enough, he was right. In one of the rooms there was a stack of furniture and a new hole in the ceiling where one hadn't been before. AJ helped Lila up the makeshift ladder and quickly climbed up after her.

They walked around checking the other rooms without much luck. Most of the rooms, like everywhere else, were locked and appeared to be impossible to open. One thing that surprised the two was that half of this floor was completely blocked off. The floor was split in half where the first half of the floor was connected to the second and it was far too large to jump across. That split, however, didn't appear in the rooms. They turned and started checking the rooms closest to the split to get to the other side of the floor. Unfortunately, there was only one door that was open, and the door to the other half appeared to be blocked by rubble. At the top of the rubble, however, was a small opening that maybe Lila could fit through. AJ was slightly too big.

"What do we do now?" Lila asked. AJ didn't get the chance to answer as the static spiked again. Nurses and Jilts suddenly began to pour into the room, slowly, but enough that kept the two kids from escaping. Lila grabbed onto AJ's vest and began shaking. AJ turned and removed her grip.

"Lila," he began, "I want you to climb up that rubble and get to the other side. You'll be safer there." He pulled out his flashlight and the walkie talkie and placed it in her hands. Lila quickly hid the items and looked up at him, terrified of what he was asking her to do. "I'll get there, Lila, but I can't fight them all and protect you at the same time. Go and, no matter what, don't look back." He smiled softly at her as he pulled the shovel from his back and turned to face the monsters.

Without hesitating, she began to climb the rubble while AJ stayed at the floor and started to fight. She heard a sickening crack and something being broken. She looked back for only a second to see he'd broken the shovel over a Nurse's head. He took the now somewhat pointed handle and slammed it into the back of the Nurse's head, getting it stuck in the process. He quickly pulled out the hatchet and picked up the scalpel the Nurse held, turned toward the others and charged, headlong, into the swarm of approaching monsters. Lila kept climbing until she reached the opening. She managed to squeeze through but just barely. As she landed on the other side of the rubble she could still hear the fighting taking place in the other room as well as the sickening screams of the monsters that were being damaged and killed.

'Please be okay,' Lila silently prayed. A loud noise of something being thrown into the rubble made her jump.

"Lila? What are you still doing here? Get out of here! Run, now!" AJ shouted from the other side of the rubble. She looked up to see AJ looking at her from the small opening in the rubble. She didn't attempt to move as she watched a Nurse pin him before getting kicked off. "GO! NOW!" The sheer forcefulness of his tone had her running away. She ran through the hotel, trying to find a place to hide, and never looked back.

Me: And that's the chapter.

Zero: WHOOOO! PYRAMID HEAD!

Rendan: He's never going to not do that, I think. Still, fucking shock. Now the duo is separated... what happens now?

Me: You'll have to wait and see.

Rendan: -sighs- Well, no choice BUT to wait anyway.

Zero: Who cares about the fucking wait? We got Pyramid Head!

-everyone sweatdrops-

Me: Well, at least someone's happy. Now, let's do our first ever monster dictionary.

Name: Jilt
Description: A hunched monster with skin the color of dried blood. It has no eyes but has a mouth with multiple rows of teeth of varying sharpness. Its right hand is almost nonexistent, instead being 'sharpened' to a bladed point. Its left hand is very much like a club, the bulge that makes up the club pulsates as the creature moves and attacks. While the creature at first moves slow, it is also capable of quick bursts of speed to tackle and catch prey. It mostly would bludgeon its prey on the head first or stab it in a vital area before using its teeth to finish the job.
Speed: Slow-fast
Attack Methods: Stabbing, biting, tearing and bludgeoning.
Symbolism: The Jilt represents a jilted lover, a lover who was suddenly dumped for no discernible reason. Its left hand is a play on the phrase, "You held my heart in your hand," seeing as its clubbed hand pulses very much like a beating heart would. The bladed hand represents the sharp pain in one's heart upon being dumped or abandoned by someone that they truly cared for. The varying sharpness of the teeth are synonymous with how one could describe the events leading to the breakup. Whether it be quick and sharp or dull and long coming.

Rendan: Damn.

Zero: That's some messed up stuff right there.

Me: Well, it had to come from my mind first.

Zero: You are one sick puppy.

Me: If you're only figuring this out now I've got some bad news for you.

Rendan: Seriously, he's been this way for forever.

Me: Damn right. And I love every second of it.

Zero: I suppose that'll do it for this week.

Rendan: Be good and be safe everyone!

Me: I'm outta here!