Chapter 18: Endless Chase (TAoA)

**(Author's Note: Prepare yourselves.)**

Both Aaron & Mason were surprised by the pyro guy crashing in. Before they can react, the pyro guy charged and struck Mason's leg with his fire axe.

“ACK! MY LEG!” Mason hissed in pain. Aaron yelled at him to run and so they did. The pair ran as fast as possible--it was easy for Aaron because he can FLOAT but for Mason? Not so much since he is slowed down by his injured leg.

Unfortunately for Mason, the pyro guy dashed towards him and pinned him down. Of course, Aaron did not pay attention as he is too focused on getting away from that pyromaniac.

Once Aaron went into the next room, he heard bloodcurdling screams of someone coming from the previous room. He suddenly realized…

*Oh no, Mason...he's...* Aaron thought to himself. Filled with dread that his companion is dying and he didn’t stop to help him when they were being chased.

However he stopped himself. Now's not the time to grieve over the death of someone. He won't end up in a same fate as him and possibly any other victims the pyro guy has claimed. Aaron has to move forward--and eventually, he may get out of the mansion and/or kill the crazed pyromaniac.

Before he can proceed, Aaron suddenly got hit by a scythe **AND DAMN THAT HURTS!** He turned to look at the culprit who threw the scythe--and saw four grim reaper paintings looking at him evilly.

The other three grim reaper paintings were buffing up the first one so it can inflict massive damage on Aaron and possibly kill him. As the first grim reaper painting prepares to swing it’s scythe on him, he floated out of the way--dodging it's [Death Blow] attack. Aaron breathed electricity on all four of the paintings before floating off, ramming and destroying one of them in the process. He then continued on.

As Aaron traversed through the rest of the mansion, he often ran into trouble either with the pyro guy or a bunch of hostile creatures.

After destroying another living painting, Aaron felt weary and tired. Urk, one more battle and he might probably die from exhaustion. *There HAS to be a safe place somewhere.* He thought, looking for a place to rest.

Aaron opened ***[how do ruff puffs open things again?]*** a door and **BOOM!** The pyro guy popped out, ready to carve the pumpkin puff with a knife. Screaming on the top of his "lungs" yet again, Aaron floated as fast as possible to get away from the deranged killer.

Not wanting the pyro guy to keep on chasing him and tiring him out further, Aaron fired electricity at the pyro guy, knocking him back and stunning him. Aaron then kept on floating and stopped by two stairs. One goes up while the other goes down.

Aaron thought for a moment. Should he go upstairs or downstairs? Back at his home when he was a little boy, there wasn't any good hiding in his basement ***[Aaron is on the main floor of the mansion after all.]*** when he was playing hide-and-seek with a friend. Chances are, there may not be any good hiding spots in the basement of the mansion either.

Then again, he could be wrong. What if there isn’t any good hiding spots upstairs instead?

*What do I do, what do I do?!* Aaron frantically thought to himself. The pyro guy could be close to being unstunned by now. He has to make a decision ASAP!

**CROSSROADS OF FATE. WHAT SHOULD AARON DO? VOTE HERE:** http://www.strawpoll.me/13446191

**(Oh man. This is pretty much all luck by the way. Hahaha.)**

**Two new enemies recorded in the bestiary:**

[Of course, they are fought off-screen along with enemies whose bestiary entries were recorded from previous chapters]

**"The Scream"**

A painting showing a figure with an agonized expression against a landmass with an orange sky. This would be nice to look at--if it wasn't trying to KILL you in the first place.

HP: 6

FP: 4

ATK: 0

DEF: 0

Moves:

Ram (The painting itself charges forward. Deals 2 DMG. 1 if blocked)

Shriek (The figure suddenly turns alive and emits a loud noise. Deals 3 DMG. Pierces DEF) (FP Cost: 2)

**"Starry Night"**

I dunno what to say about this painting but it does look nice with the colors and all. This one isn't really an attacker and focuses on buffing it's allies.

HP: 7

FP: 6

ATK: -1

DEF: 0

Moves:

Ram (The painting itself charges forward. Deals 2 DMG. 1 if blocked)

Moonlight Heal (The stars & the moon in the painting glows. The user or one of its allies recovers 1-4 HP) (FP Cost: 2)

ATK Raise (Increases an ally's ATK by 1 for 0-3 rounds) (FP Cost: 2)

DEF Raise (Increases an ally's DEF by 1 for 0-3 rounds) (FP Cost: 2)

Recover FP (Recovers 0-3 FP)