Me: Chapter 19!

Rendan: Took you long enough to get this one up. You've had this written for what... A month?

Me: Somewhere around that. I kept forgetting to get my beta to read it.

Zero: Why's that?

Me: Because my beta is my best friend and honorary brother, plus a Silent Hill expert, and one of the people I can trust to be 100% honest with me. We tend to get really into whatever it is we're doing, being games or just acting like lunatics, so time really quickly escapes us.

Rendan: You're all crazy.

Me: Yep, but that's life. Okay, since I wanna cut the intro short, who wants this one?

Guardian: Mind if I handle it?

Rendan and Zero: HOLY SHIT!

Me: Be my guest.

Guardian: Thank you. Azard doesn't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold. They are the properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett respectively. Azard only owns his OCs, the monsters he's created, myself included, and the plot.

Rendan: Hey, wait a sec, don't we -?

Me: *interrupting* Thanks a bunch, Guardian! Now, let's get to the chapter!

Zero: But-!

Me: *interrupting again* NOW!

Rendan and Zero: Yes sir!

Me: Good. Anyway, read and enjoy.

Chapter 19: Unorthodox

Arnold and AJ walked back into the room, noting that Helga nor Lila moved much since the two left the room. It seemed as if they had just been sitting there waiting for them. Arnold approached the two and sighed. Before he could speak, however, he found himself on the receiving end of the blunt side of AJ's sword, an impact that knocked him to the ground. Helga immediately readied a small iron ball in her slingshot only to be stopped when Arnold put up his hand.

"This is my fight, Helga," Arnold stated. "Stay out of it!"

'Is he crazy!?' Helga thought. She didn't want to, but she reluctantly put the slingshot away. Lila watched what just occurred in horror. Was Arnold right all along? Why did AJ just randomly attack him!? It didn't make any sense. Paralyzed with shock and fear, Lila stood in place and watched. The radio's static suddenly picked up again as barbed wire shot through the floor, effectively boxing them in the room. No way in, no way out. The screams of monsters could be heard on the other side of the wire as they attempted and failed to break through.

Arnold struggled to his feet, trying to get a good look at AJ to determine what he might have been thinking. Scarily enough, he saw something. Determination and something else he couldn't pick out. He gripped his bat and readied himself, finally moving into a full charge toward his attacker. AJ remained still, waiting for the inevitable swing of the bat. The swing came from his left, resulting in the loud clang of the metal bat striking the steel of the katana. AJ pushed the bat away and turned inward, planting a solid kick into Arnold's gut. Arnold hit the floor, hard. The impact was so rough he almost lost his grip on the bat. Arnold pushed himself to his feet again and began strafing around his intended target.

AJ moved only slightly in response to Arnold's strafing. Arnold charged forward again, this time bringing his bat from the opposite side only to be blocked again by the katana. Not wanted to be kicked again, Arnold stepped in and attempted to strike AJ with a shoulder strike. The strike connected solidly but, due to the awkward swing and stance, didn't carry enough force to knock the militant boy off his feet. AJ staggered back slightly and retook his stance, giving Arnold a much better look at his opponent and the weapon of choice. Arnold couldn't piece why, but there was something seriously wrong with how his opponent was fighting.

This time, Arnold stood his ground and kept his distance, keeping a strong batter's stance. Keeping a close eye on his opponent, however, Arnold noticed him smile slightly before starting a charge of his own. Arnold waited until AJ got close enough before he swung, only to have his opponent duck underneath his swing and land a punch into his gut. Arnold, using this situation to his advantage, reared his head back and rushed it forward, connecting with his opponent's that sent him staggering back. As AJ staggered, Arnold moved forward again and managed to land a heavy swing of the bat into AJ's torso with enough force that it knocked the militant boy off his feet and set him flying back a short distance.

AJ shocked Arnold, however, when he used the momentum of his flight back to roll backwards upon impact, almost immediately getting himself back to his feet. He stood up and cracked his neck audibly before taking several deep breaths. And again, there was a small smile on his face. He rushed forward, waiting for Arnold to swing at him again, which he did, but not in the way he expected. Arnold shifted his swing into an overhead strike, forcing AJ to sidestep it before planting his elbow firmly into Arnold's stomach.

Arnold doubled over, having lost his breath due to the ferocity of the strike. AJ backed up again, putting some distance between Arnold and himself. Arnold, after managing to catch his breath, reached into the left pocket of his vest and removed the health drink that had been stored away and twisted the top off. He reared back to take a drink when his eyes suddenly widened. He drank nothing! While he drank nothing, his aches and pains vanished without much of a trace, allowing him to stand back up without issue and ready himself once more. The two stared at each other for a time, neither of them ready to make the first move. It was then Arnold finally realized what was wrong with their fight.

'His sword!' Arnold exclaimed in thought. 'He's been using it wrong! But... why?' Arnold tightened his grip on the bat and let out a low growl. "Are you toying with me or something!?" Arnold shouted. At AJ's slightly confused shift in expression, Arnold elaborated. "You've been using the blunt side of your sword... You couldn't kill with that side... if you... wanted... to..." Arnold released his death grip and let his bat hang at his side as his other hand came up to slap himself in the face.

"You're only figuring this out now?" AJ asked. Arnold didn't respond beyond a simple nod, an action that seriously confused both Helga and Lila. "We'll discuss this in a minute. Right now, we've got bigger problems on our hands." AJ flipped the sword in his hands, back to where the bladed side would face his adversary and turned toward the door blocked off by barbed wire.

"That was entertaining,"Arnold heard a voice call from inside his head. Shocked, his head shot up and he looked around, trying to ascertain exactly where the voice came from. His vision finally turned to the opposite end of the room from where the roars and cries of the monsters were coming from and saw the black silhouette of the Guardian leaning against the barbed wire. He said nothing and stayed out of the line of sight of the others, but he could see an odd form of a smile on his shadowy features. "That's right, Arnold. I'm in your head now." The grim smile on the Guardian's face grew. "Best turn around, boy. Don't want anyone to think you're crazy, do you?"

"Arnold!" AJ called. Arnold's head snapped back to the boy in front of him. "Keep your head on straight!" Arnold's gaze shifted back to find the Guardian gone yet again. With a deep breath, Arnold turned around to face the roaring monsters, though they were obstructed by the barbed wire. Suddenly, the barbed wire began to retract into the floor, one length at a time. Helga stood in front of Lila protectively, once more pulling out her slingshot. Arnold regained the death grip on his bat as he held it in front of him.

'If I don't fight,' Arnold thought as the lengths of barbed wire retracted more quickly into the ground, 'Helga and Lila will be killed,' the first sign of a monster's head became viewable through the wires, 'I'll be killed.' As the wires continued retracting a monster's arm tried reaching through the wires to grab one of the kids, even though they were a fair distance from the door. 'Grandma and Grandpa...' the wires began bending as fewer of them stood against the oncoming monsters, revealing the swarm to be comprised of Grey Children, Nurses and Jilts, 'they'll be alone.' The barrier protecting the students was nearly gone. One monster squeezed through, a Jilt, only to end up on the receiving end of AJ's blade as he lopped the beast's head off. 'If I don't...' the last wires retracted, sending the shoving monsters into the room as they started to swarm, 'they will!'

Arnold charged forward, surprising the others as he barreled headlong into the swarm of oncoming monsters. Each swing of his bat was rewarded with the satisfying clang of the bat meeting monster flesh. A nurse threatened to stab him from behind but found her attack cut short via a katana blade through the head. Arnold backed up slightly only to collide with someone else's back.

"Not bad, Arnold," AJ praised, standing back to back with Arnold. "You'll need to work on your awareness though. I can't keep saving your ass." As AJ finished, Arnold juked left and brought his bat down on the head of a Jilt attempting a side attack.

"And you're supposed to be training us?" Arnold quipped with a smirk. AJ snickered and shifted in the same direction, cutting down a Grey Child that was about to latch onto Arnold's back.

"How about we just shut up and kill these damn things? We'll argue later!" AJ shouted. The two split, swinging at any monster that got too close. Amazingly, whenever a monster neared one from a blind spot, the other would appear and take the monster out.

"That's the first good idea you've had!" Arnold laughed as the two passed each other on the pseudo battlefield.

"Enjoying yourself, aren't you, Arnold?" The Guardian's voice called from inside Arnold's head. Arnold paid the voice no heed as he kept fighting the incoming monsters. Helga and Lila watched the battle in awe. These two had been at each other's throats for the majority of their time since AJ returned. Now, they fought at each other's side like fellow combatants.

'What's gotten into those two?' Helga thought. 'Are pigs flying or something!?' She kept her slingshot ready but it didn't look like she'd need it. None of the monsters were getting past the two boys, each of them hitting the floor with a well placed strike with the bat and the sword.

"The boy will become a knight," an eerily familiar voice stated. Helga and Lila, hearing the voice, looked around franticly for the source of it, only to find nothing out of the ordinary, barring the obvious. "Together," the voice continued, "he and the other knight will form an unstoppable duo, cutting down monster and cultist alike. The path has begun, but nothing is set in stone." The voice ended with a laugh that seemed to fade out into nothingness. Helga thought she felt her spine crawl a little as the voice lowered in volume until it vanished.

"What was that?" Lila asked. Helga kept her eyes on the battle before her until the last monster fell, never to arise again.

"That was the Guardian," Helga lowly stated so only Lila could hear. Lila paled slightly but found herself smiling as she saw both Arnold and AJ moving toward them while the static on the radio faded into a dull roar. The static suddenly spiked again as the four turned toward the open doorway, finding themselves face to face with a new monster.

The monster was tall, very tall, and lanky. It didn't seem to have much muscle tone on it, if any at all and had a slightly distended belly. Like many of the other monsters they'd seen, this creature had no eyes but it's mouth opened wide only to reveal a few teeth inside the monster's mouth. It moved slowly but somehow managed to maintain its balance as it moved, considering more of the weight seemed to be focused on the front. Arnold, however, had to do a double-take.

'Grandpa?' Arnold questioned in thought. Helga, acting quickly, loaded a metal shot into the slingshot and fired it, hitting the monster directly in the forehead. The monster fell over, and didn't get back up as the radio's static fell again to a dull roar.

"That was it?" Helga asked. She let out a quick chuckle. "That was easy!" Her voice came out shallow and shaky, however, having noticed that the monster bared a striking resemblance to Arnold's grandfather. Arnold, not saying anything, approached the downed monster that looked so much like his grandfather, and stood off to its side, looking down at the beast. His breathing picked up slightly as memories he wished he could forget resurfaced. He took a step closer to the beast. Big mistake.

The radio's static picked up again as the beast moved, grabbing Arnold's leg with its hand. With a quick jerk, Arnold found himself floored from the monster's sudden action. The monster opened its mouth as it continued dragging Arnold closer, intending to bite him when he got close enough. Fortunately for Arnold, AJ ran in and sliced the monster's arm. While it didn't cut directly through, it did leave a nasty gash on the beast's arm. The beast cried out in pain and released Arnold from its clutches, finally choosing to move to its feet as Arnold did the same.

The two stood on opposite sides of the beast, waiting for someone to come up with an idea for fighting this creature. The monster turned around, getting a good look at the one who'd attacked him. Taking advantage of the monster's movement, Arnold ran forward and swung his bat at the creature's legs. The bat hit the monster's kneecap with a resounding crack, but that only seemed to annoy the creature. It swung its arms back and struck Arnold in the side, knocking the boy to the floor. Before the monster could advance on the downed fourth grader, AJ leapt from his spot and slashed at the monster's back. As the monster turned back to attack, AJ dropped and rolled to the side, narrowly avoiding the monster's strike. After the monster's swing, it fell forward, planting its face in the ground. Once more, the radio's static fell to a dull roar.

After scrambling to his feet, Arnold kept his distance from the downed monster for fear that it'd spring up and attack him again. AJ approached and raised his sword high only to leap away and start backing up when the creature's hand shot out to grab him, once more raising the level of static on the radio. Again, the creature reached its feet and began shambling itself toward Arnold, attempting to catch what it decided was the weaker prey.

As it shambled over to Arnold, he charged over and swung his bat at the beast's midsection. The bat connected well and knocked the monster over again, making the beast hit the ground, hard. Without waiting this time, Arnold rushed over to the creature's head and began swinging vertically, bringing the bat down on the monster's head repeatedly. Within moments, the beast's cries of pain echoed throughout the room as the radio's static finally fell back to a dull roar. The creature, finally, stopped moving.

Arnold dropped to his knees after he was more than certain the monster he just faced was dead. His breathing became ragged for a moment as what just occurred sank in. He said nothing, his eyes becoming slightly glazed over as if he were in a type of trance. Before he could speak, he felt a hand rest itself on his shoulder. Looking up, he found Helga standing over him, giving him a sympathetic look. Without saying a word, she dropped to her knees next to Arnold and gave him a hug. Neither of the two said anything, for nothing needed to be said.

"Well well," the voice of the Guardian began, though his voice was only heard in Arnold's head, "I didn't think you had it in you, Football Head. You've earned a fair amount of my respect. I'd be proud, that's no easy feat."

'Shut up,' Arnold thought back, unsure if the Guardian could even hear him.

"You didn't kill your grandpa, idiot," the Guardian replied. "Say hello to a monster brought out from your own mind. I call it, the Oldman."

'Did you-?'

"No, I didn't. It created itself from your mind. I just named it. Have fun, you'll be facing more of them as time goes on. Speaking of, you seemed to be enjoying yourself when you were fighting those monsters earlier."

'Shut up... Just shut up.'

"Well done," came a voice Arnold had been waiting to hear. He released himself from Helga's embrace and stood up again before turning to the speaker.

"This coming from you, AJ, I suppose I should be thankful... or proud. I'm not sure which," Arnold commented sarcastically. AJ rolled his eyes.

"Back to that already, are we?" AJ asked with a smirk.

"We're not killing... I mean fighting monsters, so basically, yeah. Anyway, why were you going easy on me? I thought you said you weren't going to hold back."

"If you're referring to using my sword backwards, I wasn't going easy on you. I was taking a step in keeping myself from killing you," AJ explained. "Training isn't going to do you any good if I kill you before you learn anything." Arnold narrowed an eye at the second boy of the group.

"So what was the point of that sneak attack?"

"Lesson one, Arnold. Lesson one."

"And lesson one is...?"

"Always be alert and aware of your surroundings."

"Isn't that what the radio is for?" Helga questioned, holding up her radio for emphasis.

"Those don't work on cultists, and if you're trying to kill someone quietly, would you run around shouting who knows what at any volume, let alone your loudest possible volume?" AJ paused for a moment as he waited for an answer. Unsurprisingly, there wasn't one. "That's what I thought."

"So you're going to be randomly attacking us with the back of your sword until we can... do what exactly?" Arnold questioned.

"Until you can successfully block my sneak attacks and, even better, if you can hit me with one. Until then, I'm not teaching you a damn thing."

"I see..." Arnold and Helga groaned.

"Well, I don't know about you three, but I think we need to get some stuff done. Don't you?" Without saying another word, AJ turned and walked out of the room, whistling a jaunty tune as he stepped out.

"Did you ever get the feeling we're putting our lives in the Devil's hands?" Helga asked. Arnold looked to Helga, then to the open doorway, and finally back to Helga.

"Every single time he speaks and we listen," Arnold replied. Lila sighed and shook her head. She looked down to the knife in her hand and then to the dead monsters on the ground. In her mind, she began to question her resolve. Could she really do what Arnold just did? Could she overcome her own inhibitions and shortcomings and actually fight? She didn't have to lie to herself to know that she desperately wanted to help the group, she just didn't know what she'd be able to do. She walked out of the room, following the one she knew would be able to teach her. After a few moments, Arnold and Helga did the same.

Me: And that's the chapter.

Rendan: So the training starts and more hell is set to break loose. Now I know why the Guardian asked to do the disclaimer.

Me: Yeah, he's going to be playing a bit more of a role now.

Zero: I can see why. He's fucking with everyone's minds.

Me: That is his job.

AJ: Hey guys, what'd I miss?

Rendan: Aside from the Guardian, not much.

AJ: He's here!? Where's that bastard!? *readies katana*

Me: Chill, he left already.

AJ: *disappointed* Damn! Oh well. Next time for sure. *sheathes katana*

Me: Time for the next monster dictionary!

Name: Oldman
Description: A very tall and lanky monster with a distended belly. Large mouth with few teeth inside, none of which are actually sharp. Though appearing very skinny, the Oldman is very slow and easy to run away from. Seemingly easy to defeat, the Oldman is an expert deceiver, able to fool human and radio alike.
Speed: Slow
Attack Methods: Sneak attacks, grabbing and beating, biting.
Symbolism: The Oldman represents Arnold's grandfather, Phil. It's seemingly easily defeated due to Arnold's knowledge of his grandfather's belief that he is not long for this world and will die in when he turns 91. This is also supported by how weak the beast looks and walks. His grandfather's tricky nature is expressed through the creature's 'play dead' routine that it uses to hunt prey. The beast represents all of Arnold's fears surrounding his grandfather, as well as any hidden fears he may not realize he possesses.

Rendan: Holy shit, man.

Zero: Seriously. Fucked up.

AJ: Silent Hill.

Rendan and Zero: We know.

Me: Well, that'll do it for this time.

Rendan, Zero and AJ: Be good and be safe everyone.

Me: We're outta here!