Chapter Seven: MalevolentSpirit

After Ethan agreed to be Picario’s roommate, Picario transformed his bed into a bunk bed. It was the same proportions as the first but with a top part attached to it. The two of them then wrestled around for who would be on top bunk; but ultimately decided ‘first come, first serve’.

Days passed by without the two of them fully realizing it, as they would spend most of their time inside Picario’s room; either playing with his many toys or with Nessie. Ethan found the toy planes highly interesting because you controlled its actions with your thoughts and will alone. And Ethan enjoyed making the plane do impossible tricks by the standards of normal aircraft.

Neither of them signed up for any tournaments or mini games since their time together. Picario was content to not enter anything for as long as he could until he needed more points to buy sunstones. But Ethan wanted more points so he didn’t have to rely solely on Picario should he want anything. And so Picario took him to sign ups and explained to him what the mini games were.

Inside the sign ups room for the mini games were screens of light with different mini games titled above each one. On the games roster you couldn’t see who else signed up for what, only how many spots were left available to sign up for the game itself. Below the sign up rosters were detailed explanations of these games and their rules.

Picario summarized each of the games for Ethan to save him all the reading. The 'Prehistoric raptor race' was a fun childish game where you get to ride on raptors of three different varieties. But the raptors cost to rent or own, so Ethan avoided that one for the time being.

The game called 'Assassin' was a simple search and destroy the target type of game, but it was easily the most difficult and Ethan barley had any experience in any of that sort of thing so he avoided it. And 'King of the beacon' was the kind of game where only one person could win.

Ethan and Picario signed up for the games, 'Keeper of the orb', which was like reverse hot potato the person who held the orb the longest gained the most points. 'The hunt', where a team of phantom hunters track down and try to kill a total of 40 other unarmed phantoms, which Picario believed with Ethan’s illusionary powers it would be easy.

Then they signed up for a 5vs5 capture the flag game on the same team. Finally the last mini game they signed up for was one where anyone could earn points very easily called, 'Ocean diving', where contestants dived into mysterious depths of water to collect different colored orbs; each orb was worth a set amount of points.

With it being Friday though the only game playing was 'Assassin; so they had the night free to do whatever.

Ethan suggested they could finish the tour but Picario had a better idea. “How about we go outside and see a movie,” Picario said.

Ethan looked at Picario and said, “Out of all the awesome things we can do or see, you want to go see a movie?”

“Yeah, I mean it’s normal.”

Picario looked away from Ethan and Ethan suddenly felt guilty for some reason. He sighed then said, “Yeah your right lets go catch a film.”

Picario faced Ethan again and said, “You don’t have to go because you’re feeling guilty about me. I’m fine with seeing a movie on my own.”

Ethan put his arm around Picario and stared dragging him towards the lobby and said, “Nah you’re right, it is normal. Besides, all of this stuff is going to be here when we return but this may be the last night to catch a film.”

After one glance outside the mansion, Ethan realized that he had no idea where he was. Picario on the other hand knew exactly where they were and was already moving on. “Picario wait!” Ethan called out.

Picario stopped and turned around and said, “Wait for what?”

“Where the hell are we? This isn’t any part of town I know. Not even the movie theater is around here,” Ethan said.

Picario looked around him then faced Ethan again and said, “Yeah I forgot about that.”

“Forgot about what?”

“Well I’m not sure I understand it myself, but the way someone explained it to me is that the mansion resides in many locations at all times. When leaving it you are set into the place your thinking of, or are most familiar at that exact time of opening the mansion door to the outside.

At least I think that’s how it works but I can’t seem to go anywhere but places I’ve been to before. I tried going to China but even after concentrating really hard on the location I saw in China I kept coming out of the door into the big apple here.”

“Wait, we are in New York City?”

“Did the sky scrapers give it away?” Picario asked sarcastically.

Ethan look around once more and for the first time since going outside that day he did realize that there were skyscrapers around him. “How could I be so oblivious?” Ethan asked himself.

“Hey Ethan,” Picario asked. “What does ‘Oblivious’ mean?”

“It means unknowing of the things around you, whether they happened before or are happening now.”

Picario stood in silence thinking about that for a moment then said, “Alright well let’s go to the movies now.”

“Lead the way,” Ethan said while he gestured for Picario to continue.

Ethan and Picario walked freely through the busy streets of New York; they ignored the people, cars, and all of its noises just venturing to the movies. After nearly an hour of walking they made it to a theater and simply walked through the doors and past the person checking people’s tickets.

Picario stopped by every movie poster and carefully examined them for at least a minute each time. After checking every poster in the theater he said, “I don’t know which to choose. What looks good to you Ethan?”

“How about that one with Vin Diesel?” Ethan suggested.

“Who?” Picario asked.

Ethan sighed then said, “The bald guy with the black goggles on his forehead.”

Picario went back to the poster Ethan described; and after another long minute of starring at it Picario shrugged his shoulders and said, “Alright, sure.”

The two of them passed right though the door, as they did with every solid object and came into the room which was mostly empty. The credits were scrolling up and only a few people were staying behind to watch through them. Picario went up the steps and all the way to the back of the theater; then took a seat in the middle section. Ethan followed behind him and took a seat next to him as they both waited for the next showing of the movie to start.

When the last people watching through the credits left, the cleanup crew began mopping the floors and checking the seats for trash. Picario started booing them loudly and said, “Start the movie already. Booooo!”

Ethan laughed a little and pretended to throw popcorn at them. After many more minutes Picario stood up and started jumping around the seats on the top of them. He fell several times before getting to the last row.

Soon enough people starting filling up the seats at random and when almost every seat was filled the movie finally started.

After the movie Picario was all pumped up and hyper. “That was awesome!” Picario said.

“Yeah that was pretty great,” Ethan said. “Although I wish I could have had some popcorn and soda with it.”

“You’re right, next time we should bring our own snacks.”

Ethan and Picario got outside the theater and walked to the middle of the road, ignoring all of the people and cars that passed through them as they did. They stood at the middle of a four-way intersection looking around them for the mansion. But for the first time ever it wasn’t anywhere to be found. No matter which direction they turned to look the mansion was not in their sights. As their confusion set in, they started to hear a low pitched growl that was barley audible over all the other noises around them.

They turned around in time to see a red eyed four legged creature the size of a dog lunge at them baring its fangs. Ethan managed to leap out of the way from the beast, but it grazed his left arm as it passed by.

Ethan’s arm was burning as he saw his jacket was torn; and there was actual red blood coming out from his arm this time. “Hey Picario,” Ethan called out. “What happens to ghosts when they die outside the mansion?”

There was no response. Ethan looked at Picario and saw he was frozen stiff in fear. Ethan turned back to the creature to see it was done deciding who was a bigger threat; the smaller one not moving or the bigger one who was more active.

Ethan had to dive out of the way this time when the creature launched at him. He managed to dodge its attack but Picario wasn’t moving. And his arm was burning even worse now.

When he landed Ethan got up and didn’t bother looking at the creature, he just grabbed Picario’s hand and ran. Picario was moving his feet with Ethan but was still dead silent.

The creature was right behind them and catching up fast, so Ethan ran inside a building going through the walls. He took a sharp turn up a flight of stairs then leaped through the wall again; still holding Picario’s hand leading him.

The two dropped back down to the road and Ethan had to let Picario’s hand go when they landed so he could roll. The drop seemed to shake Picario out of his trance because after he recovered he said, “Come on this way!” And then he led Ethan back into the building. Ethan thought Picario had lost his mind but had little choice but to follow him back into the building with the strange monster.

The two ran through the building and Picario kept leading Ethan forward through other buildings. They ran through walls as if they were small clouds of dust and kept pushing forward; barley able to see in front of them. Eventually Picario led Ethan back outside in an empty alley where they stopped to rest.

“What the hell was that thing?” Ethan asked.

“I don’t know I have never seen anything like that before,” Picario said. “I have also never felt that sort of attack before, I mean I sensed the creature but as soon as I did my body went cold and numb; until you started dragging me along. It still took some time for me fully recover too.”

“Yeah and my arm feels like it’s on fire from where the thing scratched me.”

The low growl of the strange creature echoed into the alley as Ethan and Picario went dead silent. They waited for a long moment for the creature to show. And finally it came into the alley from the streets. It charged at them but this time they were ready, Picario threw his hands out in front of him and hit the creature with an invisible blast that sent it flying out of the alley.

Then Picario launched himself up into the air and hooked his arm under Ethan’s just beneath his shoulder, carrying them both to the rooftops. They touched down lightly and made a run for it, but the creature quickly found its own way up onto the roof and blocked their path. Picario thrust his left hand out throwing a small wave of fire with it. He pulled his left hand back threw out his right hand and some more fire with it.

Soon enough the creature managed to break out of this torrent of flames and ran around Ethan and Picario in an arc. While Picario continued to try and hit it with more flames; only to miss. When the creature was in front of Ethan, Picario had to stop throwing flames at it but Ethan had a plan. “Don’t move” Ethan said.

Just as the creature started heading directly at the two, Ethan summoned up a perfect illusion of Picario and him and made the fake clones run to the opposite side of the roof. While the clones distracted the creature Ethan made sure to have a second illusion up concealing them from its sights.

Ethan and Picario turned to run away but after only a few steps Picario tripped on something hidden in the dark; making enough noise to catch the creature’s attention. Ethan thought fast and made the clones of him and Picario stop running and turn back around to face the creature, then made Picario’s clone shoot flames at it again. The flames passed through the creature harmlessly and Ethan remembered he didn’t know anything more than going invisible and making hollow clones.

The creature turned its head back in the real Ethan and Picario’s direction as its red eyes glared at them with anger. It charged at them again and Ethan instinctively put himself between it and Picario. This time though he was ready and waiting for its attack.

When the creature leaped once more at Ethan he turned to his side and with as much speed and force as he could summon, he uppercut the creature with his good arm. The thing was knocked back only a couple feet and Ethan shook his hand in pain; the thing was small but built like a rock. As soon as it started to recover Ethan ran up to and kicked its head like it was a soccer ball.

The creature skid across the ground several feet and Ethan started hopping on one foot, “Ouch that hurts, oh god why did I just do that again.”

While Ethan hopped around on his foot Picario came up to the creature and hit it with everything he had. Picario’s flames scorched the very rooftop and lit up the place for a few seconds when he was forced to stop. He was breathing heavily as he stepped back from the creature; Ethan stood next to Picario and they both carefully watched the thing.

They could no longer see its red eyes glowing and barley noticed in the dark, that the creature was fading away to nothing but black smoke. The two watched the creature fade away into smoke until that was nothing too. And then they turned around and saw the mansion at the edge of the roof. With a sigh of relief they went back to the mansion.

Neither of them said a word until they got back to their room and shut the door behind them. Ethan’s arm stopped burning but the wound was still there so he went over to the water to wash it off. Picario followed next to him and asked, “How is your arm doing?”

“It still hurts, but the burning is gone so there’s something,” Ethan said.

They got to the waterfall and Ethan shed off his jacket and leaned over into the water so even his shoulder was submerged.

“Why do you think the mansion didn’t show up until after that creature was destroyed?”

Ethan let out a long sigh, pulled his arm out of the water then said, “I don’t know, but for now I’m feeling tired and could use a nap; how about you?”

Picario shrugged but followed Ethan to the bedroom. To Ethan’s surprise Picario crawled onto the top bunk and crashed in a matter of seconds. Ethan plopped in the bottom bunk lay on his back and closed his eye’s; drifting off to sleep.

Ethan woke up to see a frightening wolf man hovering over his face. Its eyes were red, its mouth filled with red drool like fresh blood. It had its claws out ready to attack Ethan and rip him to shreds instantly.

Ethan screamed in horror and struggled to get out of bed only entangling him in the bed sheets and blanket. He fell out of the bed wrapped up in his sheets and the wolf man was in tears laughing. While Ethan managed to get untangled the wolf man continued laughing in a strangely familiar tone.

The wolf man stopped laughing long enough to stand up and remove its mask; revealing Picario’s face. Picario’s head looked completely irregular with the body of a wolf man; the proportions were way off. “What the hell kind of costume is that?” Ethan asked flustered.

“A Magical one, and guess what today is,” Picario said.

“I don’t know scare the afterlife out of your friend day?”

“That too but, It’s Halloween!”