The cold air bit into the man as he scanned the derelict taiga around him, a glint of apprehension in his eyes. All around him were nothing but rocks, trees, and a few broken and abandoned structures. In the distance he could see a formidably large building that looked to be a lodge of some sort. A ski resort, perhaps? Possibly, given the environment around him.

He hadn't been here before. Through all the trials and tribulations this strange cruel world had forced upon him, he was a complete stranger to this one. Such a truth brought him a sense of unease. He would have to learn his way through the layout of this realm. He would need to memorize the best routes and pockets that would conceal him from the beasts that lurked within these plains all over again. Sighing, he flicked his gaze around his surroundings a second time, looking for that familiar tall metal lamp post that guided him towards his survival.

A light flickered in the distance, high above the ground. The man felt a small bit of relief at the sight. That light was what he wanted. He began to take a few cautious steps towards it, wary of any of the demons that might await in the mist, just beyond his sight.

A series of rapid pounding noises began to emanate from within the ski resort as the man drew closer. As he crept up to a hole blown in the wall to investigate, a new sound occured that froze his blood. A sound he was all too familiar with, a telltale sign of impending doom. Softly, dimly, almost in the back of his mind, the sound of a heartbeat began to thump in his ears.

The man knew that sound all too well. In this strange, twisted realm, that heartbeat was not his own, but one of a killer on the loose. And if the killer's heartbeat could be heard, then they were much too near.

The thumping began to grow louder and closer, and in tandem did the pounding in the man's ears. It clicked in his head that the sounds coming from within the resort were the killer's footsteps. Feeling his own heart begin to race, the man quickly ducked behind a pile of debris, well out of sight from the killer and hopefully away from where they intended to go. Trying to keep himself under control, the man listened closely to the footsteps and the heartbeat. They didn't seem to be getting louder, but they weren't fading, either. It seemed the killer was patrolling the ski lodge. Perhaps they had seen signs of a victim to slaughter and were searching the area? Slowly, carefully, the man stood up and crept away from the giant building as quietly as he could. As he did so, the footsteps and the heartbeat slowly grew softer, until there was no more audible indication of the presence of whomever that could have been.

Breathing a sigh of relief, the man continued on his trek towards the overhanging lights. Suddenly, another new sound touched his ears: the sound of an impact, followed by a feminine grunt. Spinning around, the man saw a woman recovering from a fall she had taken from one of the ski resort's second story windows. She was wearing an oversized blue fabric jacket and plain black pants, with some kind of frill poking out from beneath her coat. But those weren't her most striking features. No, the thing that caught the man's eye about the woman was that she wasn't a woman at all, but rather some kind of humanoid dragon. With the hood of her jacket lowered, he could make out a slim, reptilian head adorned with blue scales and a muzzle of a darkish pink hue. Her hands, too, were blue and scaly, tipped with claws that looked sharp enough to kill. At this angle, the man could clearly make out a tail on her, as well as what looked to be dark, leathery wings.

The man almost stepped back. What was this creature? Was it a killer? No, it couldn't have been; there was no heartbeat in his ears. Was it a survivor like him? Was it just another twisted element of this dimension's black fog? Whatever it was, it wasn't human, and he didn't trust it.

The dragon-woman looked up and spotted him. Her eyes widened for a second, then lit up. Her chest heaved a sigh of relief.

Standing up, the dragon-woman hastily made her way to the man. As he stared at her in dazed confusion, his ears began to pick up noise coming from inside his head. This time, however, it wasn't the pounding heartbeat of the killer, but a voice, dry and female.

"Thank Arceus! Another survivor!" the voice exclaimed. It carried a tone of warmth and relief, but all the man felt upon hearing it was fear.

"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, putting a hand up to his head. "Wh-What was that?"

"That was me," the voice came again.

"Who are you?!" the man exclaimed in frustration that only thinly veiled the terror he felt.

"The Vierklosigon in front of you. Who else?"

"Wh… What?" The fear in his stomach gave way to confusion, bubbling up in his chest. The only thing in front of him was that dragon-woman. Could she be the one doing this? He pointed a gloved hand at her. "Are you—"

She nodded. The voice echoed in his head again. "Yes. I'm the one in your head. Don't be alarmed; it's just telepathy."

"Telepathy?" the man looked in her in abject confusion. "You're a telepath?"

The dragon-woman nodded again, her heavy coat rustling as she did so.

The man took a few deep breaths. A telepathic humanoid dragon was standing in front of him and telling him she was a fellow victim of this realm's tortures. Even in this otherwordly place, he never thought he'd see the day that he met a talking dragon. But in truth, given how disgusting and monstrous this land was, a dragon for an ally was a welcome respite.

Sighing, the man straightened himself out and looked at the dragon-woman. "So, you're a survivor like me?" he asked warily.

She nodded. "Yeah," she replied telepathically. "I know it must be weird seeing a Pokémon like me out here. Hell, I'm the only one I've met so far."

The man blinked. Tilting his head, he quizzically asked, "You're a Pokémon?"

Externally, the dragon-woman chuckled. Internally, she said, "Well, yeah. If I'm not a human, what else could I be?"

She had a point. Even so, the man had never seen a Pokémon like her before. So, naturally, he asked, "What kind of Pokémon are you?"

"I already told you. I'm a Vierklosigon."

"A what?"

"Oh, that's right. I forgot most people don't know what a Vierklosigon is. I'll keep it short: Do you know what Zweilous is?"

The man nodded. "Yeah, I'm from Unova."

"Vierklosigon is an evolution of Zweilous. It's a bit complicated, but basically, if the two heads can sort out all their differences and come to terms with the world and each other, they'll evolve into Vierklosigon instead of Hydreigon."

Vierklosigon shrugged. "That's probably why you've never heard of them. It's REALLY hard to get a Zweilous to that level of mental clarity, and they're already rare Pokémon as is."

The man nodded. "I… I see. So your evolution made you a Psychic-type, I assume? Is that why you're able to use telepathy like that?"

"That's right." Vierklosigon smirked. "Useful ability, since you humans can't understand me and all."

The man nodded.

"My name's Susie, by the way," Vierklosigon said. "What's yours?"

The man blinked. "You have a name?"

Susie nodded. "Yeah, I was named by…" she stopped. Her eyes clouded, and her head drooped.

"By my Trainer," she continued, her telepathic voice suddenly forlorn. A sigh escaped her lips and ended in a whimper.

The man stepped forward. "Is something wrong?" he asked, confused and concerned by her sudden change in demeanor.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I haven't seen my Trainer since I entered this strange place," Susie replied sadly. "I know he got pulled in here with me, but I haven't found him." She whimpered again. "And it… it hurts being without him. He was my best friend. I miss him so much."

The man didn't know what to say in response, but he did feel her pain. Having spent most of his adult life off the grid in the woods, the few people that were close to him had been like blood brothers. When he was torn from the world he knew and dropped in this merciless realm, the pain of never seeing his closest friends again hurt too much to think about.

"... I know how you feel," he said after a moment. "I was stripped from my family, too."

Susie shook her head vigorously. "You don't understand!" she replied, her telepathic voice tight. "My Trainer—he cared about me so much! He loved me! He helped me be myself, control all the problems inside of me when I was still a Zweilous, he—he reassured me that everything would be okay! And I knew it would, because he was there for me! He made me feel like I wasn't alone!"

She looked up at him. Tears were forming in her eyes and rolling down her scaly face.

"But now he's gone," she choked out. "Now I really am alone. Nothing will be okay ever again."

"I'm sorry, Susie, I…" the man trailed off. Susie wiped her eyes.

"Let's just get out of this place," she said dismissively, her voice still trembling. "The killer is still in that lodge; I'm not going back in anytime soon. I didn't manage to catch a glimpse of them, but honestly I'm hoping it stays that way."

The man nodded. "Follow me," he said softly, turning and pointing towards the metal spire with lights flickering above it. "There's our ticket out."

"Yeah," Susie sniffed. "I know."

The duo began to trek wearily towards the spire. It was only a little ways away now.

Slowly, the man turned around and faced Susie.

"By the way," he mumbled, "since you asked—my name's Jake. Jake Park."

Susie nodded, but said nothing. Her head was downcast towards the icy earth. She plodded behind him slowly and absentmindedly. It was obvious she was preoccupied by her grief. Deciding not to comment, Jake turned around and continued heading for the spire. It was about thirty seconds away now, surrounded by a jungle gym of broken walls and windows, shielding the base of the post from view. Jake knew what awaited him, however, and he was certain Susie did too.

They came up to a waist-high windowsill with nothing on it, allowing for an entry point inside of the mess of walls that blocked their goal. Jake deftly placed a foot on top of the windowsill and stepped his body over it, coming to a soft landing on the other side. Susie followed suit.

And there it was. Connected to the steel post at its base, completely and utterly frozen, was a generator. It was small, red, and broken in every sense. In its current state, it would not provide power to anything. But Jake had learned to repair these generators through his time here, which was exactly what he intended to do. Once enough generators were fixed, they would power the two giant steel doors inlaying the walls that enclosed their prison, allowing them a temporary escape from this hell and some welcome respite outside of the "trial".

In a practice that felt like second nature to him now, Jake bent down and carefully pushed his hands into the guts of the generator. Beside him, Susie began to experiment with a control panel, flipping switches this way and that, opening and closing steel flaps, and in turn helping to speed up the process of the repair.

Looking over at Susie, Jake studied her curiously. She looked small and thin inside of that heavy coat of hers, which was clearly much too big on her. Her pants were dark, ripped, and skin-tight, but looked thick enough to mask the frigid cold surrounding the two of them to a degree.

He tilted his head. "Hey, Susie?" he piped up, raising his voice a little bit over the sound of the pumps atop the generator beginning to churn into a state of weak activity.

The Vierklosigon didn't break concentration from the generator as she replied, "Yeah?"

"If you're a Pokémon, why are you wearing clothes?"

The way Susie stiffened told Jake she didn't like that question. "My Trainer got them for me," she replied tersely. "We lived in a cold part of the world—a lot like here, in fact—and so he had some clothes custom made for me. He got the size wrong, but they still feel so nice, and…" She stopped.

"And?" Jake pressed quizzically.

"... And now they're all I have to remember him by," she responded with a shake of her head.

Jake nodded, turning his head back to the inner workings of the generator. Grabbing a stray piece of wire, he pinched it tightly as it began to spark electricity from its broken end. Jake jiggled it softly, then gave a tug. The wire slipped out, clearly not a part of the circuitry. Some kind of strange occurrence with the wirings of these machines, their innards mutilated in reality-defying ways by whatever demonic entity controlled them. The generator gave a sudden start at the removal of the wire, and Jake could feel its components beginning to warm up and stir awake.

Looking back towards Susie, he hesitated a bit before asking, "What was his name?"

"Hm?"

"Your Trainer, what was his name?"

"Frank," Susie said, the forlornness in her voice heavy. "His name was Frank."

"What was life with Frank like?"

"He was… a troublemaker," Susie murmured. "He liked getting into fights and being a bad school kid. He didn't like the life he lived, and he wanted the world to know. At least, that's what he was like in public. At home, he was the warmest, calmest, most loving saint I ever knew."

Jake saw Susie smile softly to herself as she recounted the story to him. "I first met him when he was eleven. I was still a Deino then, and I definitely did not like him. But I think he mistook all my anger and frustration for fear, like I felt cornered and had to fight back. Because of that, he was calm in his approach. Gentle. Caring. He wanted me to feel safe around him. And eventually, I did. His demeanor wasn't like any I'd ever felt before. In the wild, all I knew was aggression, violence, and hatred. But for a kid who had a penchant for fighting the referee during basketball games instead of scoring points, he taught me how it felt to understand and to know softness."

"How did he find you in the first place?"

"Frank just wanted a Deino. Thought they looked cool." The dragon chuckled as she added, "I'll admit, he's always been edgy. But I never cared. It wasn't what made him. Not to me, at least."

"Sounds like you two were very close," Jake observed as the generator began to rumble. It was almost fully repaired.

Susie shook her head, some of the happiness fading from her face. "You have no idea," she murmured. "I miss him so much. I—"

Susie was interrupted by the generator suddenly blowing up in her face. She flinched and shrieked at the loud sound. A shower of sparks covered her arms as she shielded her eyes from the blast.

"Careful!" Jake admonished. He'd seen that explosion before; she'd made a wrong move and had caused the generator to short-circuit, setting back some of their progress.

"Sorry!" Susie hissed heatedly. "I just got distracted is all!"

"From what?"

"From talking about Frank!"

Jake breathed an exasperated sigh. "Look, I know you must miss him," he began testily, "And I'm sorry for prying about him. But don't let your emotions distract you. That's how you get killed out here."

"You don't understand!" Susie retorted angrily. "Do you know what I would do to get Frank back? Anything! I'd kill myself if I had to! I just want to see him again! I want him to look me in the eyes and tell me I'm his best friend! I want to feel like I'm good enough to be worthy of being his family! I want to… to…"

Susie dropped her head. The Vierklosigon was trembling.

"I want him to love me again," she choked out.

Jake scoffed. "Sounds like you want him inside you," he gruffly remarked.

A weight crashed into his side, slamming him onto the frozen ground with a painful thud. He let out a cry of pain that was cut off when a sharp weight pressed down on his chest. He looked up to see an enraged Susie holding him down, a look of pure fury on her face.

"One more word like that out of your mouth and I'll rip your voice out of your fucking gullet!" the voice in Jake's head screeched. "Don't you ever accuse Frank and I of that disgusting shit ever again, you hear me?!"

Jake shoved at her, but she didn't budge. For such a small Pokémon, she was surprisingly strong. "Fucksake, Susie, alright! I'm sorry!" he hastily backpedaled.

A guttural growl emanated from her throat. "That's better," she muttered, standing up and offering him an outstretched hand. "Come on, let's finish this generator."

Jake silently took her hand and hauled himself to his feet. Giving Susie one last sidelong glare, he crouched back in front of the generator. Luckily, they'd almost finished it before Susie had blown it up. If he could get the last couple of wires to power up, the machine would be back online. Peering inside, he noticed a bundle of wires wrapped around another set, constricting them and mangling their electric pathways. Grabbing one bundle, he gave a firm yank. At once, all the wires came loose and fell into place, and the generator exploded into life.

Jake stepped back and looked down in satisfaction. The generator was fully functional now, bringing him one step closer to escaping. Glancing towards Susie, he gave a nod of approval. He had to admit, aside from that one wrong move, she knew her way around a gen.

The Vierklosigon caught his eye and looked away. Jake rolled his eyes. She was clearly still fuming. That was none of his concern. If she wanted to angst over days past rather than focus on making it out of this place alive, that was her problem.

Jake's contemptuous thoughts were interrupted by a slight thumping sensation in his eardrums. Before he had time to think, the thumping grew rapidly louder, and by the time Jake truly registered it, it was almost all he could hear.

It was the heartbeat. The killer was coming.

Jake's mind raced into a panic. "Susie!" he hissed, flicking his gaze to the dragon. Her expression had changed from anger to sheer dread.

"I know," came her voice, only dimly penetrating the rhythmic thud in his skull. Jake could hear the terror in her tone.

He quickly grabbed her arm. "We have to go!" he declared. "Now!"

Susie's claws shot forward and grabbed at Jake's green jacket. Forcefully, she wrenched him onto the ground, shoving him against a wall. He grunted as the breath left his body. "Susie, what the—"

"Shut up and get behind the generator!" she ordered him frantically. Realizing what her plan was, Jake quickly curled up into a compact crouch and pressed his back against the red machine. Taking a hold of the smaller Pokémon, he wrapped his arms protectively around her and pulled her against him, concealing them both behind the generator.

"Stay low and be quiet," Susie ordered him. "Don't move a muscle."

Jake didn't object. Slowly, fearfully, he turned around to peek behind the generator, watching for the Killer to come through the open window. Almost as soon as he did, a man jumped down from the windowsill and entered the confined space, the snow crunching beneath his feet when he landed.

His mind racing with panic, Jake ducked back behind the generator and squeezed Susie even tighter. The heartbeat in his ears was nearly deafening. The killer was fifteen feet away. He and Susie were going to get caught. There was no way their assailant wouldn't discover them.

Susie whimpered in fear. Jake didn't react to her, only kept his ears as open as he could for any sound the killer made that might penetrate the thunderous racket of his heartbeat. He was scared too. Terrified, even. They weren't even truly hiding from the killer; the second he came their way, he would find them. They were perfectly within his field of view unless his eyes were trained on something else. But why would they be? There was nothing to focus on, only a tiny little room with next to nothing in it. They were going to be found.

Jake's despairing thoughts were interrupted when the sound of an old door flying open cut through the noise in his ears. Slowly, he peeked behind the generator.

Jake was able to get a good glimpse of the killer this time—from the back, at least. He was dressed in a black, faux leather jacket, with the hood of a lighter gray one poking out from underneath it, concealing the head it was drawn over. His legs were covered in dark gray jeans that draped over a pair of everyday lace shoes. His hands were wrapped up in dirty, bloodied bandages, one of which held a large, intimidating hunting knife and the other of which was holding open the door of a large, empty locker.

The killer must have thought Jake and Susie had hidden in the closet. His heart fluttered with relief, then with panic when he realized that their little hiding spot was next on the list of places to search.

Suddenly, Susie let out a loud gasp. Jake's head snapped down to see that Susie too had taken a glimpse at the killer, and was staring at him with wide eyes and a gaping mouth.

The killer stiffened. Jake nearly fainted at the sight. Throwing a hand over the Vierklosigon's mouth, he dragged her back behind the generator and glared at her.

"What the fuck?!" he hissed, unsure and uncaring if the Pokémon could hear him over the generator and the shared pounding in their heads. "Now he knows we're here! Why did you do that?"

She didn't respond, only looked at him with a disturbed expression. She looked… in shock. Mortified. Like she'd just been told something terrible.

Jake didn't have time to ponder Susie's bizarre expression. The sound of the killer slamming the locker door cut through the chaos in his eardrums, followed by the barely-audible sound of the killer's footsteps approaching the other side of the generator.

Jake's breath caught in his throat as the killer drew ever nearer. Within moments, he could see the tip of his shoes coming from around the machine that hid them. Jake tensed up, closed his eyes, gritted his teeth, and prepared to run.

The footsteps stopped right next to them, but nothing came. Jake, still holding Susie close, inched one eye open and looked up at the killer. He was facing straight ahead, paying no attention to Jake or Susie as if they didn't exist.

Stunned, Jake peered at the killer's face. All he caught was a sidelong glimpse of a huge white mask, little more than a hard disc with etchings drawn onto it, namely a vacant white circle where the eye should be and an oversized, morbidly cartoonish smile. In the circle representing the eye was a small slit clearly gouged into the wood that allowed the wearer to see outside.

Just then, it struck Jake. The killer's mask was limiting his field of view. He probably could see little more than straight ahead of him, meaning the two survivors that crouched not inches from him, deafened by the sound of his heartbeat in their ears, remained unseen by him.

Jake nearly cried in relief. The killer still didn't know they were there. His gaze was trained on something else entirely. Jake followed where his eyes went and saw yet another empty locker. He immediately pieced together that the killer thought Susie was inside of it. This suspicion was confirmed when the masked figure rushed up to the locker and swung the doors open. Jake picked up a frustrated growl when their assailant was greeted with an empty space.

Thinking fast, Jake grabbed a hold of Susie's arm, beckoning her to follow him. She didn't budge. Jake looked down at her. The Vierklosigon's eyes were locked onto the killer's back, that same expression of complete and utter disbelief plastered onto her face.

Jake yanked on her arm harder. "Come on!" he hissed under his breath, using the sound of the generator to mask his voice from the hooded man mere feet away. Susie's head snapped to face him, still wearing that flabbergasted look, but she didn't budge.

"Get to the other side of the gen!" Jake whispered urgently. That made something in Susie's mind click, and she quickly followed him as they crept around the generator and ducked out of sight once more. Jake pulled her close, keeping her small frame as hidden from view as he could.

Jake heard the sound of the locker door slam behind them. The sound of the killer's footsteps approached, and as he rounded the corner behind which his prey cowered, Jake saw him turn towards the window, vault over it, and immediately storm out of sight.

Jake did not relax until the heartbeat had faded fully from his ears. When it did, he immediately shoved Susie off of him and stood up, glaring at her.

"You could have gotten us killed!" he berated furiously. "What the fuck were you thinking? You need to learn to keep yourself under control! One wrong move and we'd've been fucked! You understand? Fucked!"

"I-I… I…" Susie's telepathic voice was shaking. Her unfocused gaze stared at nothing.

"You what? You liked his jacket, you dumb fuck?"

"I know that person," she blurted out.

Jake recoiled. "What?"

"I could never mistake those clothes," Susie continued, her voice thick with an unwilling certainty. "Not ever."

Jake fixed her in a shocked stare. "You know the killer?" he repeated.

Susie nodded. "Y-Yes," She shakily confirmed. "That was… that was him."

"Who?" Jake pressed. "Who was he?"

Susie finally looked up at him. She held a look of complete and utter dread.

"That was Frank," she said, her trembling voice barely more than a whisper.

Jake gawked at her. "What?"

"That was Frank," Susie repeated again, the distress in her voice rising. "Arceus, Jake, it was really him."

"Why the hell is he trying to kill us?" Jake stammered out.

Susie's eyes flashed. Her expression changed.

"I… I don't know," she said slowly. Too slowly. Jake narrowed his eyes.

"You were his best friend, weren't you?" he pressured her. "There has to be a reason why he'd sign up for slaughtering us!"

"N-No, there isn't!" Susie growled angrily. She flicked her gaze away from Jake. "I don't know why, okay? I don't know!"

Jake gave an exasperated sigh. "Susie—" he began.

"Dammit, Jake, I don't know!" Susie barked, cutting him off. "Let's just… let's get out of here before he comes back!"

Relenting, Jake nodded. "I think I saw him go left," he said. "Let's get to the opposite end of the ski resort. He won't be over there."

Susie nodded in agreeance, making her way to the window and hauling herself over it. Jake followed suit, and together they exited the mess of walls and headed back into the dreary taiga. They continued straight ahead, staring at the ski resort as they passed by. It loomed over them, the largest thing in the forest by a long shot. It had evidently fallen into disrepair and stayed that way for what looked like decades: half the windows they saw on the two stories were merely gaps in the walls, formed from the collapse of planks from the building's exterior. The front doors were completely caved in, leaving a giant void in the wall for an entry point.

Jake caught the glimpse of another generator when he peered into the building's disheveled foyer, but quelled the urge to head inside and get to business. Looking at all the windows that dotted the lodge, the killer had a myriad of angles to approach unseen, leaving Jake and Susie with no escape. No, it would be safer to find a generator in a more sheltered or even more open place, where they could either hide from Frank or see him coming from a ways away.

Jake turned towards Susie. Her unfocused gaze betrayed just how troubled she was. Her lips were visibly trembling, and her breath came in heavy gasps. He narrowed his eyes at the Vierklosigon. There had to be something she wasn't telling him about Frank. The terrible entity that controlled this reality didn't just pluck random people from the earth to become killers. No, there was an algorithm to it. They had to be worthy of such a role in the Entity's little games. They needed to be strong, fast, or deranged enough to be capable of killing other people. More importantly, they'd had to have done something violent. That was what attracted the Entity to its killers. So what had Frank done to fill out that category? What was Susie hiding?

Jake had to know. So he leaned closer to her and muttered, "Susie?"

"What?" she snapped.

Jake gave her a cold look. "I know there's something about Frank you're not telling me," he said. "The Entity didn't just decide to make him kill us for fun. He had to be serviceable."

Susie stopped. She turned to look at him, a look of deep discontent on her face.

"The Entity came to Frank because he did something violent," Jake continued. "That's how it works. It likes violence. It's what draws it."

He fixed her in a hard stare. "I know what you're gonna say: You don't know. And I wish I could believe you. I wish I could believe that maybe he managed to keep his violence a secret from you. But with the way you're acting, I can tell you're lying. You know what he did. You know why the Entity made him a killer. So what was it, huh?"

Susie snarled at him. "Why do you care?" she hissed.

"I just don't find a fucking murderer in this place congruent with the saint of a person you described Frank as," Jake retorted. "And it makes me suspicious. So what is it about him you're not telling me?"

Susie glared at him for several seconds. Jake stopped moving and met her burning gaze unflinchingly. He wasn't going to back down until he knew what the truth behind Frank was.

Susie's hard demeanor wavered. Her expression changed from anger to a reluctant resignation, and she sighed.

"It all… it all began when he met Jules and Joe," she muttered softly.

Jake tilted his head. "What?"

"A few months before we wound up here," Susie explained, "Frank met up with these two people named Julie and Joey. They were outsiders like he was, and it didn't take long for them to get along. They started hanging out more and more, and Frank spent more and more time away from home and out with them."

"Didn't he care about leaving you home?" Jake asked bemusedly.

"He didn't leave me. I came with him every time. I liked his new friends. They felt like us. We found common ground in a lot of things. We didn't like the world around us. We felt like we didn't belong. And we wanted revenge."

Susie looked away from Jake. "So we got it," she continued. "We started to sneak outside of school—well, they did that, at least—break into places we weren't allowed, hang out late at night out of town—whatever we could do to tell society to go fuck itself. It was all done on impulse for a long time. We just wanted to take our anger out. But Frank saw potential for something different. Something more fun."

Susie's eyes clouded as she recounted her story. "He showed us an abandoned motel on the outskirts of the city. That would be our new base, for us to gather together and plan out our excursions. He wanted us to make a name for ourselves. He wanted the world to know we were rebels.

"He asked us to fashion our own outfits. Frank and Julie wore the same ones, since they saw themselves as the heads of our quartet. Leather jackets, dark jeans, and those masks. Those damned masks."

Jake's mind recalled what Frank was wearing. It matched Susie's description of his gang apparel. Not that he was surprised. But there was one question he had.

"What about you?" Jake quizzed. "What was your outfit?"

Susie shrugged. "Just the clothes he bought for me," she replied simply, "And a mask of my own. A bunch of metal plates fashioned together to cover my face, with a gaping hole in the bonds shaped like some gnarled grin."

Jake nodded. "I see."

"We called ourselves 'the Legion'," Susie continued. "That was what we wanted the world to know us by. We bought a bundle of smiley face pins and defaced them. They were our calling cards, so people could know exactly who'd stolen from them. We tagged buildings we vandalized with our logo. We handmade some more pins that had Frank's mask drawn onto them. We used these for…"

Susie drew in a slow breath, like it was difficult to keep talking. "For intimidation dares."

Jake blinked. "Intimidation dares? What are those?"

"We would go out and rough up the people who messed with us," Susie explained, rue hard in her voice. "Whoever had the pin would be the first one to go up and start fighting our target. The rest of us would only step in if they were losing. Once we'd asserted our point, we gave them the pin to remember us by."

"Damn," Jake marveled. "You guys were a bunch of assholes."

"I know!" Susie growled, her face forming a grimace. "We were a gang. What did you expect?"

Jake shrugged. "Fair enough."

"At the very least, that was the worst of our actions. Bullying, theft, and vandalism—that was all we ever did. That was all we felt we needed to do. And we never got caught. Until one day."

The Vierklosigon looked away as she continued, sounding very much like she wanted to do anything but. "Frank had just gotten fired from his part-time job at a local convenience store. When the Legion met up that night, we orchestrated a plan to vandalise it as revenge. The plan was simple: Sneak around back when it was closed, write some obscenities on the walls, tag it, and then get out. But then Julie decided she wanted to break in and steal some snacks to bring back to home base. We weren't worried about her getting caught because of how late we'd come out, so we let her go in alone. Well, we hadn't come late enough to avoid the janitor. He grabbed a hold of Julie and wrestled her to the ground. We heard her screaming from outside, and we rushed in to help. Before Joey and I could grab the man and throw him off, Frank ran up and stabbed him in the back with his knife."

Susie closed her eyes. Her expression changed to that of pain. "H-He fell on the ground screaming and bleeding everywhere. We all stared at Frank in shock. I asked him what the hell he was thinking. He just looked at me behind that fucking mask of his and told us to help him finish the job. We told him he was crazy, but he said we were a family now. We were a legion—not just a legion, the Legion. We had to do this together. It didn't take long for Julie and Joey to get convinced."

Susie's voice broke. "I begged Frank to stop. I begged Julie and Joey to make him stop. Their only response was to put the knife in my claws and tell me to do my part. When I refused to stab the cleaner, Frank grabbed my arms and he… he…"

Susie let out a whimper. "Fuck… He jabbed the knife straight into his throat for me."

Jake winced. "Holy shit," he breathed.

"W-We mopped up the mess and dumped his body into Joey's truck," Susie went on, her whole body shaking. "We drove him back to our base and got to work burying him. It took us thirty minutes, and when we were finished, we realized Frank had wandered off. We saw his prints in the snow and took off after them into the woods."

Susie drew in a shaking breath. "The last thing I remember before waking up in this place is a dark, murky mist all around us. It was everywhere and everything, like… like it was oozing from the trees. It got thicker and thicker until all we could see was Frank's footprints. Just when they came to a stop, I blacked out."

"And then you woke up here," Jake concluded. That was exactly how he'd found his way into the Entity's realm: Getting lost in an unending, impenetrable black fog that seemed to suffocate him into unconsciousness, where he was then whisked away from the world and brought here.

A sob broke Susie's silence. "Fuck, Jake, I—I still can't believe he made me do that!" she choked out.

Jake didn't reply. He couldn't. He was left speechless by the Pokémon's story. All he was expecting was "Frank snapped and killed a guy", not everything that he was given. He wasn't expecting mischief gone wrong, or broken bonds, or a complete upturning of who Frank had been to Susie.

He wasn't expecting the Legion.

"He didn't even mean to kill him!" Susie went on hysterically. "He just wanted to help Julie!"

Jake felt a pang of alarm at the dragon-girl's distraughtness. He hastily reached a hand out to her. "Susie—"

Letting out a cry of rage, Susie, slapped it away. "Don't touch me!" she shrieked. "Stay away!"

Jake stumbled back in shock. "Woah! What the hell, Susie?"

"I know what you're thinking!" she hissed with a tremulous voice, glaring daggers at Jake with tears running down her face. "You think we're all monsters! You think Frank is a monster! You think he's some cold-blooded killer! He's not! He's my family! I love him! Julie was in trouble! The cleaner was going to call the cops! She was going to be arrested! How can you blame him for what he did?!"

"Susie, calm down!" Jake demanded. "I never said any of that!"

"Shut up! You don't have to say it; I know you're thinking it!" The Vierklosigon's voice was seething with anger.

Jake shook his head. "I wasn't thinking that!" he reassured her. Slowly, cautiously, he took a step closer to her.

"Susie, I'm your friend!" Jake implored. "I don't want to fight with you. Everything is gonna be okay, alright? Let's just go find a gen and—"

"Do the fucking gens yourself!" Susie screamed, throwing herself forward and shoving Jake with a surprising amount of force. Jake stumbled backwards with a grunt and crashed painfully into the side of the ski lodge. Stars exploded in Jake's head and his vision went black for several moments. Through the agony, Jake dimly picked up the sound of Susie sprinting off into the woods.

"W-Wait!" he called out desperately, but it was too late. Susie was gone.

Groaning in pain, Jake picked himself up off the ground, leaning against the wall as his head spun wildly as if an earthquake were going on inside his skull. "Fuck, I think I'm gonna be sick…" he moaned as he forced his eyes open. The world around him was blurry and unstable. He wobbled as his head continued to pulsate in excruciating pain. Clutching his head in both his hands, he slid down the wall and sat in the snow, waiting for his bearings to regain themselves.

After several moments, the world stopped spinning long enough for him to find his feet and trudge inside the lodge. He needed to find shelter from the cold, and take some time to think about what to do next.

His mind drifted to Susie. The bitch was clearly insane; whatever Frank had done to her to make her so gaga over him had unquestionably taken over her better judgment. Jake shook his head. It must have been rough, being that devoted to someone that you would forgive being forced by them to commit murder.

He knelt down by the lodge's generator. He was already in here; might as well get started on fixing it up and powering the exit gates. He began touching wires together, putting trinkets back into place, and working to warm the machine up and bring it back to life.

Jake wondered what Susie was going to do now. She'd probably try to find Frank and make up with him. Not that he'd listen; he was the Entity's servant now. She probably didn't mean anything to him anymore. But Jake was fine with letting her get herself killed if she was that crazy. He didn't need her anyway. He was used to surviving in solitude; losing her was not a hindrance. And so he pressed on, forcing parts back into place, listening absentmindedly to the sound of the generator slowly but surely growing stronger.

Jake stiffened as an all-too-familiar pounding began to resonate within his head. He quickly stood up from the generator, looking anxiously around, scanning for whatever entryway that Frank could use from which to jump him. He couldn't hear his footsteps, but the heartbeat was growing louder.

A pit of cold dread formed in Jake's stomach, he began to back up, still scanning in desperation for a sign of where Frank was. Try as he might, the only indication of the leader of the Legion's presence was that steadily-growing heartbeat. Jake backed into the wall of the lodge, with the nearest exit a window that might just lead to where Frank was.

Suddenly, the sound of slow, heavy footsteps resonated throughout the foyer, somewhere above Jake. His head snapped up to the balcony overhanging the generator, the rest of his body paralyzed with fear. His heart stopped when a white, grinning mask slowly peered over the railing and down at Jake.

"There you are," Frank sneered.

Jake snapped out of his trance. He dashed towards the window.

"Oh, no you don't!" The killer's taunting voice came. A loud slam shook the cabin ground around Jake. He looked over his shoulder to see that Frank had jumped down onto the floor below. He was less than fifteen feet away.

Heart racing, Jake threw himself out the window, landing with a thud on his shoulder into the snow outside. Pain rocketed up his body as chunks of rocks and old wood buried underneath the white powder cut into his skin and disfigured his shoulder. Hauling himself to his feet, Jake glanced back inside the lodge.

Frank was already at the window, with one foot on the sill. As he scaled the waist-high wall, he waved tauntingly at Jake with a bandaged hand.

Jake spun around and sprinted away from the lodge. The pain in his shoulder faded as a surge of adrenaline pumped his body forward. He didn't know where he was running, but he didn't care. All he cared about was putting distance between him and Frank.

He cast another glance over his shoulder. The leader of the Legion was bearing down on him at a frightening speed, his oversized hunting knife raised above his head, ready to tear and shred through Jake's flesh like the teeth of a shark. Jake had to stop himself from whimpering at the sight of that mask's spine-chilling grin daring him to keep running.

Suddenly, Frank lunged forward and threw his knife hand forward in a vicious slash at Jake's back. The survivor heard and felt the fabric of his jacket tear underneath the mercilessly sharp edge of the blade, but thankfully it avoided his flesh by a hairsbreadth. Letting out a squawk of fear, Jake turned back round and realized he was coming up on another broken window. If he could vault over it before Frank caught up, he'd at least have something impeding the killer's path.

Frank slashed again. This time, the blade nicked Jake's back, cutting half a centimeter into his skin. Jake let out a cry of agony, but mercifully, the wound was far from lethal, only excruciatingly painful.

The window was tantalizingly close. If he could outpace Frank for just a little longer, he could clear the vault in time. But he wasn't sure if he would make it. Every slash Frank made seemed to invigorate him. With each passing second, his shoes hit the ground heavier and his speed grew ever faster. Meanwhile, Jake was growing more tired by the second. He couldn't keep up this sprint forever. His heart was pounding and his breath came in heaving gasps. The only thing that kept him going was the adrenaline, the terror, the desire to stay alive.

Jake saw Frank reach back to stab at Jake again; this time would probably be the last time he would have to. But Jake would not allow it. He was not going to die. Summoning every last ounce of fight he had left in him, he dashed forward in a last burst of speed just as Frank's knife audibly sliced through the air, missing its mark entirely.

The window was right there. Jake could clear it. Lurching forward, he put a hand on the vault and jumped. He let his momentum carry him through the air. His body swung forward. His legs flew over the windowsill.

Then he felt a hand grab onto the gaping hole in his jacket, bringing him to a screeching halt.

Jake didn't have time to despair before he was yanked onto the ground, landing with a teeth-chattering thud. He gasped in pain as his back slammed into the ground and his injured shoulder was jostled about on the rocks.

This was it. Jake had lost. The killer had caught him. The survivor lay there, dazed and gasping for the air he wasted trying to escape. From above him, Frank casually strolled into his field of view, twirling his hunting knife like some kind of whirligig. The ear-to-ear grin drawn onto his mask stared into Jake's soul, freezing it solid in the process.

"You should know, fam," Frank jeeringly remarked, kneeling beside the breathless Jake. He leaned down, bringing his façade of a face right up to Jake's until all the survivor could see was the bone-chilling smile of that horrid mask.

"There's no running from the Legion." Frank raised his knife high above his head and brought it down on Jake.

In a last desperate attempt at survival, Jake threw his arms up, trying to protect his throat from the deadly blade. The knife speared straight through his gloved hand, tearing its way through fabric and flesh alike. Fire exploded throughout Jake's hand, as did a spurt of blood. His vision blurred, and he let loose a howl of agony.

The pain in his hand was unimaginable. The knife had gone straight between his finger bones and almost into his eye; even as his sight refocused, his could see the bloodbathed tip of the knife just inches away from his cornea. Such a sight was nothing in the wake of the pain he felt, however. It was as if someone had lit a roaring fire inside the flesh of his palm that burned throughout his hand, bathing Jake in waves of sickening, red-hot agony.

But that pain was all his body needed to kick back into overdrive. Another surge of fear- and pain-fueled adrenaline coursed through his veins, giving him the strength to push himself off the ground and give Frank a frantic shove. The killer let out a grunt of surprise as he was thrown back, the knife being wrenched agonizingly out of Jake's hand along the way.

Jake fell back into the snow. Turning his body over, he scrabbled at the earth, trying to crawl away. All he needed was enough room between him and Frank to stand upright, then he could run to safety.

Agony tore through Jake's leg. Looking behind him, he saw Frank had plunged his knife into Jake's calf. Grabbing the handle with two hands, Frank gave a strong pull, dragging Jake's entire body back underneath him. Jake spun over to face him, ready to sacrifice yet more blood to defend his life.

Frank raised the knife high over his head, ready to bring it down with all the power he could muster. Jake's heart raced. Would he be able to hold back such a vicious blow, or would the blade cut straight through his arms, forcing its way into his ribcage?

Frank snickered down at him. "This is what you get for trying to run," he leered. "Smartasses get killed. We always see to that."

Despite everything—despite the torturous stinging heat in his leg and hand, despite his complete exhaustion, despite the terror of his death being mere seconds away—Jake smirked up at Frank.

"Was that janitor a smartass, or were you just stupid?" he taunted.

Frank growled. "How the fuck do you know about that?"

Jake opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, a voice echoed in his head.

"Because I told him."

Jake blinked in shock. That couldn't have been… could it?

Above him, Frank let out a gasp. His head shot up. The knife he held above him lowered.

"Was that—" he stammered out.

The voice came again, this time with force and urgency. "Now, Jake!"

Jake knew what she meant. Reaching up, he shoved both his hands against Frank's body. The masked marauder stumbled back with a grunt, this time falling backwards several paces, giving Jake ample opportunity to pick himself up and stand.

Jake turned around, and what he saw made his heart soar. There, standing but meters away, was Susie. Jake dashed over to her in relief.

"Thank fuck you came!" he exclaimed. The Vierklosigon only looked at him.

Behind them, Frank stumbled to his feet, but he didn't immediately take off after Jake. Instead, he stood there motionless, staring at the two of them—or rather, staring at Susie. The dragon-girl stared right back, equally as still.

Then Frank spoke.

"... Susie?" he asked, his voice disbelieving. "Susie, is that you?"

She nodded. "Yes, Frank," her voice resounded in Jake's mind once more. "It's me."

Jake briefly wondered why he could hear her. Maybe she telepathized by literally thinking out loud, and she couldn't keep it quiet.

Jake saw Frank take a slow step towards them. In response, he backed away. Flicking his gaze to Susie, he urgently said, "We need to get out of here. Now!"

"Don't listen to him, Susie!" Frank called. "Come this way! Come to me!"

Jake almost thought she would obey him for a second. But, much to his relief, the Vierklosigon shook her head.

"Y-You're not the Frank I knew," she tremulously said. "You're going to kill him. You're going to kill me!"

"No, I won't, Susie!" Frank retorted, the tightness in his voice growing more apparent to Jake's ears. "I would never!"

"I don't believe you!"

Frank stopped in his tracks. Jake saw him raise the knife higher. His mind raced. He grabbed at Susie's arm.

"Run!" he urged her, but she didn't budge. She seemed frozen in place, unable to move even as Frank readied to stab her.

Except he didn't stab her. Instead, he dropped the knife, letting it fall into the snow in a cloud of soft white powder. Looking briefly down towards it, the leader of the Legion gave it a harsh shove with his foot, sending it skidding several feet away.

"There," he said. "No more knife. I'm not going to hurt you, Susie."

Susie remained stony and silent, her face unreadable. Jake flicked his head back and forth between the two Legion members. Every nerve in his body was screaming at him to run, to make his way to safety and escape the masked killer in front of him. But he remained rooted in place. He didn't move. He had to stick around, for Susie.

The aforementioned Pokémon finally spoke. "Why, Frank?" she asked, her voice subdued. "Why? Why are you killing us?"

"There's a… a thing that controls this place," Frank replied. "It lured me into the woods when we were burying that janitor's body. It said it wanted me to help it, to—to help kill for it. I-I didn't want to, but it said that if I didn't help it, I would never see the Legion again. I… I would never see you again."

Frank's shoulders hunched. "So I agreed. I thought that cleaner would be the last time I ever killed a man, but I was wrong. Fuck, Susie, I've sacrificed so many people to the Entity."

"You don't have to!" Susie protested. "You know you're better than this!"

"You don't understand!" Frank barked. "I'm not the only killer! I've seen others. I've talked to some of them. They said that the killers who didn't agree to being here, they—they were brainwashed. They became vessels, Susie. Slaves. I didn't want to be like them! I wanted to be able to still think of you! I wanted to be able to care about you!"

"Frank…" Susie's voice trailed off.

"He's lying to you, Susie!" Jake hissed. "He wants to kill you! We need to run!"

"Susie, no!" Frank protested. The tone of his voice grew ever more contrary to the vacant smile on his mask. "I'm not lying! I still love you, Susie!"

He shoved the mask back, pulling it away from his face. Jake saw dirt, snow, and blood covering pale, rough skin, all of it stretched over a wide-eyed, desperate expression.

"Susie, I'm begging you," Frank pleaded. "Don't run away. Don't make me kill you. I still love you. I don't want to do this. Please, Susie. Join me. Bring the Legion back."

"I-I… I…" Susie's body was shaking just as much as her voice. Her eyes grew unfocused.

"Susie…" Jake warned. She didn't respond, only looked up at Frank with an agonized expression.

"I don't want to kill people, Frank," she whimpered. "I don't."

Frank shook his head. "Neither do I, Susie," he replied grimly. "But the Entity promised me I could go home once it was satisfied. I'm sure it'll say the same for you. We can do this together, then we can go back to our lives. We won't have to kill anyone anymore then."

He reached a bandaged hand out towards Susie, the other one sliding his grinning mask back over his face. "Come on, girl," he urged. "The Entity will treat you well if you do what it says. Join me, Susie. You don't have to be scared anymore. The other killers won't come after you. You won't need to be sacrificed. All you have to do is join me, and then we can get this all done and go home."

Jake's eyes scanned the snow for something he could use as a distraction. He spotted a rock about half the size of his palm. Reacting quickly, he snatched up the rock in his uninjured hand and chucked it at Frank. It raced the few meters through the air towards him and collided against his mask with a loud thwack. The Legion's leader stumbled backwards in surprise, letting out an angry "Ah, fuck!"

That seemed to break Susie's concentration. Jake saw her visibly snap out of her trance. Seizing the chance, he grabbed her purple-scaled arm.

"Run!" he commanded. This time, she obeyed. She followed Jake as he tore away from Frank, dashing into a thickly-wooded square of the taiga that would help obscure them from Frank.

Behind them, Jake heard Frank call out, "Susie, wait!" but didn't turn around to look at him, only kept sprinting through the snow, past more and more trees, until the masked killer was completely out of sight.

Stumbling to a halt, Jake doubled over, placing his hands on his knees and gasping for air. Even if he wanted to keep running, he simply couldn't. He was completely out of energy. He had to stop and rest.

Through his heaving gasps, he managed to choke out, "Thank you for coming back, Susie. I'd be dead if you weren't."

No response. Jake felt a knot form in his stomach. Did they get separated?

"Susie?" he called, turning to look behind him. Much to his relief, she was right there, standing but a few meters away, staring back through the trees. She remained silent.

"Susie," Jake panted, "I know you still care about Frank. But it was really brave of you to turn him away. And hey, look what happened. We're-" he paused for breath "-we're both safe now, right?"

"There's no way out of this," Susie murmured.

Jake blinked. Confusion bubbled up in his chest. "Huh? What do you mean?" he asked. "We got away. There's no way he's finding us."

Susie shook her head. "There's no getting out of this now."

Slowly, she turned to face him. But instead of seeing her scaly face and colorful magenta eyes, Jake instead saw a series of twisted metal plates, wired together into a mold that fit perfectly well over Susie's muzzle and face. There was a gap in the left side of it that almost looked like a horrible, twisted imitation of a smile.

"We're too good at it," Susie continued.

"What are you talking about?" Jake asked. "And what the fuck are you wearing?"

"My old Legion mask," the Vierklosigon replied. "I kept it inside my jacket. I never thought I'd ever put it on again."

"Why are you wearing it now?"

"I told you, Jake," Susie replied, a sinister tone in her voice. She took a step towards him. A slow step. A determined step. A menacing step. Jake found himself stepping backwards in response.

"I would do anything to get Frank back," Susie said.

The realization hit Jake like a sack of bricks. A pit of black, nauseating dread formed in his stomach. He gawked at the masked dragon.

"S-Susie," he stammered, his voice stuck in his throat. "You're not… you aren't—"

Susie raised a hand. Jake saw a long, sharp claw glinting from each fingertip.

"Time to die, Jake," Susie said in a singsongy voice.

Jake spun around to run. But he wasn't fast enough. With an vicious snarl, Susie leapt forward and plunged her claws into Jake's side. The survivor felt ribbons of flesh tear away from his body as Susie pulled her claw back.

Jake felt an overwhelming urge to scream. But his survival instincts kicked in and blocked out the pain in favor of stumbling forward, desperate to find a way away from Susie.

Susie clawed at him again, reaching her arm around Jake's front and spearing her fingers into his belly. Once more, she pulled back, dragging her talons back through the gash she'd made before. Jake felt her claws scrape against bone.

Tearing up from the pain, Jake shot forward as fast as his exhausted legs would allow. Susie sprinted after him, feral, deranged breaths issuing from her throat. Jake looked back at her, tried to read her face. He couldn't. It was hidden behind the mask.

Just when he thought she would reach forward for another slash, Jake saw Susie's head flick to somewhere to her left. Suddenly, she stopped in her tracks and streaked towards a small decrepit shack.

Jake's question of why she suddenly broke the chase with him was immediately answered when she vaulted over a broken section of the wall. From inside, Jake heard a scream of agony. A woman jumped back over the wall, but it wasn't Susie. It was a small, pale Eastern girl in black casual clothes bordered with neon blue. Her shirt was shredded, and underneath, Jake could see a gaping, freshly-made wound that was pouring blood. Immediately after, Susie leapt outside and tore after the woman.

Jake turned back around. He didn't know what the woman was doing there, or how Susie had managed to snuff her out, but he didn't care. All he cared about was getting to safety. He tried to keep running, but his legs were growing unsteady. It was getting harder and harder to go on. He had already lost his stamina, and now he was losing blood.

He stumbled and fell to his knees. Groaning with pain and effort, he thrust his hands against the ground and hauled himself upright. He attempted once more to run, but could only limp, so limp he did, tripping his way to somewhere, anywhere, that was safer than here.

He couldn't believe Susie had backstabbed him. How could she have trusted Frank? He was a murderer now! He was going to slaughter her like he wanted to slaughter everyone else! Why couldn't she see that? Now she had fallen into his trap, and Jake was paying the price.

Jake's vision faded for a bit. He fell forward again, but managed to catch himself on a tree. The world came back into view, but a ring of black remained on the edge of his sight. Forcing himself forward, legs weak, lungs empty, blood spilling from his stomach in a trail so easy to follow, Jake pushed away from the tree and took three more clumsy, limping steps.

Those steps were all his body could manage. He collapsed into the snow, the cold seeping into his skin. He tried to get up, but he couldn't. He was too weak, too tired. He had lost too much blood.

The world was growing dark again. Jake forced himself to stay conscious. He had to get out of here. The Legion was going to find him. The silence of the taiga seemed to grow even quieter for a bit. Then light and clarity returned to him once more for a fleeting moment, flooding his head with sensations he was too weak to feel. Then, as quick as it came, it was gone.

At the edge of his dying hearing, Jake heard slow, methodical footsteps. They sounded far away, but his fading mind somehow knew they were close. Jake turned his head to look. It was all the effort he had left in him, and his body gave in as soon as he managed to turn towards the sound. The blackness was coming back, and Jake knew with a despairing wail that he would never issue that it wouldn't go away this time.

The last thing he saw before the world around him shut down was a woman in an oversized blue coat and skin-tight pants, her hood concealing her face and blood dripping from her hand, walking straight towards him.

—

Susie slowly trudged up to Jake's corpse. The wound she had dealt him had stopped gushing blood—not because it had clotted, but because there was simply no more blood left for him to bleed. That second blow had really done it. If she hadn't gutted him like that, he would probably still be running.

She knelt down by him. A strange sense of finality came over her as she stared at her former friend. This body was the signature she had signed her new contract with. A contract with the Entity. A contract with the Legion.

A contract with Frank.

She took off her mask. The metal was growing uncomfortable against her scales. Unzipping her coat, she slid the metal covering into a large pocket on the inside of her jacket lining and zipped it back up. Slowly, quietly, she stood up, still staring at the body.

"I knew you'd come around, Susie," came a voice from behind her. The Vierklosigon spun around to see a hooded teenager with a knife in his hands observing her.

Frank stepped forward. "I know it wasn't easy to kill him," he gently told his Pokémon. "But trust me, this is the better way. Once the Entity has its fill, we'll both go home and then we won't have to do this anymore."

Susie looked down towards her feet. They were wet with the blood of Jake and the woman she'd attacked. Hopefully Frank had finished her off like he'd promised.

"You're a good girl, Susie," Frank affectionately said, smiling at his dragon.

"... Where are Jules and Joe?" Susie asked, looking up at him with a troubled expression. "Have you met them yet?"

Frank shook his head somberly. "No, I haven't," he replied. "But I'm sure we'll find them. Especially now that we're working together."

Susie nodded, returning her gaze to the snow.

"It'll be okay," Frank murmured to Susie, stepping up to her and wrapping her in an embrace. She instinctively nuzzled into his faux-leather jacket.

"I know it will, Frank," she replied with a soft, subdued voice. "I know it will."

Frank stepped back. "That's the spirit," he chuckled encouragingly, smiling down at her. "You're the best Pokémon a Trainer could ask for, you know that?"

Susie nodded. "I'm glad you think so," she replied in that same soft voice.

Frank nodded summarily, pulling his mask back over his face and turning to walk away. "There's still one more survivor in this place. Once we deal with them, we'll be able to take a break, okay?"

Susie didn't reply, nor did she move to follow after him. She only stared at the ground, watching the cold air dry the blood she had splattered on herself.

Frank turned back round. "Susie?" he asked, concern etching his voice.

She snapped her head to face him. She could feel herself shaking, and not from the cold.

"I-I don't want to be a murderer, Frank," she whimpered plaintively. "How many more people will I have to kill?"

Frank sighed. He hunched his shoulders.

"I don't know, Suz," he replied earnestly. "I really don't know. The Entity seems hungry for sacrifices. I can only assume we'll have to do a lot of killing to satisfy it."

He stepped back over to her and delicately took her claw in his hands. Fixing her with his mask's empty stare he said, "But I promise we'll go home eventually, okay? I promise. Would I ever lie to you?"

Susie slowly shook her head. "N-No," she replied, her voice barely a whisper as she once more dropped her gaze.

Frank squeezed her hand comfortingly. "Of course I wouldn't. So come on, just push through. I know it hurts, Susie. I know it hurts. But it'll all end eventually. We're gonna get out of here, okay? You and I and the others. We're all gonna get out of here. We're the Legion, and we don't walk out on one another."

Letting go of her hand, he spun back around. "Now come help me find this last survivor," he called over his shoulder, waiting for her to follow him.

Susie craned her head back up. With Frank's reassuring words in her mind, watching him wait for her to walk with him caused a strange feeling of calm and comfort to come over her. Taking a step torwards her Trainer, Susie flashed him a small, loving smile before her mask found its way out of her jacket pocket and back over her face.

"Anything for you, Frank," she said.