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// Chapter 4: Gotta Get Ready! 
// Story: Beyond the Mirror Pool 
// by Sin Kurtiz 
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	Lucario had remembered a town that he had left his supplies from the last time he journeyed to leave this world. And it was very close by as well. He told Pinkamena where the town was and they began their travel. Along the way, Lucario thought about the last time he had gone. Him and his best friend Infernape were hoping to reunite with their trainer, Jay, after he had left them for so long. The laughs the two shared together and the hard times they went through, they were truly best friends. And when they were separated on their last journey together, Lucario was sure he was gone. It was against a large creature that Lucario could not see because it was dark in the large cave the beast hid in and he was exhausted from before so he could not sense it's aura. Infernape grabbed Lucario and threw him out the exit nearby and stayed to make sure that the creature did not chase after his friend. Infernape used Rock Slide and closed off the exit, making sure that Lucario could not enter it and that the beast could not leave. That was the last time Lucario had seen Infernape.
When they arrived in the town Lucario noticed it was about the same as when he last came through it. The streets were crowded with people. Children were playing their games laughing. Merchants saying how great their product was. And the tower in the center. The tower was legendary. It was said that a hero came along and protected the town from all evil that attempted to enter it. The hero had protected the town for many years, but he grew old and frail. But, he thought of an idea to protect the people from beyond the grave. He would build a tower at the center of the town and have his spirit guard the tower.The town had been protected ever since, no crimes had committed, no invaders were successful, and no life was was taken by another being.
Lucario had checked behind him and saw Pinkamena at a merchant's stand. She handed the merchant 3 pieces of gold and walked away holding a mirror in her mouth. Lucario was irritated that Pinkamena had gone against the second rule: She mustn't do anything unless Lucario tells her to. 
"Why did you just purchase that mirror?" Lucario questioned
Pinkamena put the mirror down on the ground and answered, "That nice man said it can show you what you desire! I thought I could bring it along and we can look into it when we need motivation!"
Lucario grabbed the mirror from off the ground quickly. "You know you shouldn't have bot this right? It's probably just going to be a regular mirror with a fancy look. Watch I'll even show you."
He then looked into the mirror and saw a bright white light flash. Suddenly, he was with his trainer Jay and all of his trainer's other Pokemon, Infernape as well. All of them were around a campfire relaxing. It was exactly like the night that they had defeated the Elite Four of Sinnoh.  All of Lucario's old teammates were there. Staraptor was pirched on a tree branch nearby. Rhyperior was hammering on some rocks. Garchomp  was shaking food down from a tree.  And Gyarados was in the lake swimming. Lucario and Infernape were sitting with Jay as Jay laughed and talked to his Pokemon. 
"You all did amazing today!" he said "Infernape and Staraptor, you two destroyed the Bug-types that Aaron used." Staraptor cawed in apprecitaion. "Gyarados, you did great against Bertha's Ground-types and Flint's Fire-types. You did awesome against Flint, too, Garchomp!" Gyarados and Garchomped roared showing off their power. "And where would we be if we didn't have our good friend Rhyperior? He had taken a beating to finish up some of the Pokemon that made you guys faint." Rhyperior  grabbed a chunk of rock and shot it far from the campsite. He did not even hear the compliment. "And Lucario was great going up against Lucian's Psychic-types! Good thing you know Dark Pulse. And you all did amazing against Cynthia. Garchomp took down her Garchomp with ease. Staraptor took out her Milotic. Rhyperior shot down her Togekiss. Infernape scorched her Lucario to a crisp and turned her Roserade into ashes. And Lucario challenged her Milotic and Spiritomb to a fight and won. And now, I am the Pokemon Champion, and you are all my winning team. And we are all going to go back home, the long way. We are all walking there, but it's to remember all of our struggles we passed to get to where we are today. So get your rest you guys, we're gonna need it for the journey tomorrow!" Jay and his Pokemon had continued on with the night, gathering food and then going to bed. That night Lucario dreamt that him and his friends had won against the Elite Four yet again.
Lucario had come to his senses and remembered where he was. He was in the town near where clones are banished and he was with Pinkamena. She was staring at him with a surprised look on her face. "It worked!" she yelled "It really worked! It was worth 3 bits! That was a great deal. Maybe I should go get more?" She had began trotting back to the merchant when Lucario grabbed her tail.
"No, this is all we need right now. We need to head to where I left my supplies from my last travel across this world."
Pinkamena groaned and followed Lucario as he began to walk off.



They had reached a large building that wasn't there last time Lucario was here. Lucario opened the door and walked in. Pinkamena followed behind. Pinkamena looked around and saw many humans walking around. Lyra was right about there existence! Pinkamena thought to herself. Lucario had walked up to the desk and was talking to the human there while Pinkamena was looking around fascinated by what the humans had built. 
The room she was in was a large lobby. The floor was completely red rug and was very comfortable Pinkamena thought. The ceiling was at least twenty feet above her. And she could see people on the second floor walking from room to room up there. The desk Lucario was standing near was a dark brown color and had pens, papers, and little novelty toys all over it. It seemed to have room for more than one person at a time. And behind the desk was a very large fish tank with many colorful fish swimming inside of it. One was red with yellows fins and looked like it had a golden mustache like Gustav. 
Pinkamena walked over to the desk and listened to what Lucario was talking about.
"Can I just talk to Hector? He used to own this place a year ago when it was just a small business, he has to still be here." Lucario says to the man at the desk
"I'm sorry, but would you mind be more specific? We have many employees named Hector, 3 of which have been around since the time you have stated." The attendant replied
"Hector Rivero."
"Oh, Mr. Rivero? Sure, I'll tell him he has a visitor. He's on the second floor in room 237."
"Thank you" Lucario said as he walked away.
Pinkamena began to start walking, then she heard the attendant say into the phone, "Mr. Rivero you have a visitor, it's a blue dog and a pink pony. Okay, goodbye. He is such a freak..."
Pinkamena ran to catch up to Lucario and when she did, they were outside room 237. Lucario opened the door and walked in and Pinkamena hear someone yell, "Hello there, Lucario!" from inside.
Inside of the room was small. There was a desk, a rugged floor, a filing cabinet, and a few extra chairs. And that was it. Pinkamena walked in and sat down on the floor. She noticed the man at this desk was old. He had short, gray hair and wore a blue suit with a red tie. His face was somewhat wrinkled, which reminded Pinkamena of Mulia when she was on the train on the way to the baking competition for the Cakes. Lucario walked up to the desk and held out his hand. The man shook it.
"It's been a while, hasn't it Hector?" Lucario says
"Why yes it has my friend. Are you here to grab your bags to go off on another journey?" Hector asks
"Yeah, I got to take this..." Lucario looks back at Pinkamena "Pony, right?"
"Yep! Earth Pony to be exact!" she answers
"I got to take this pony back to her home world, it's because of a promise I owe Arceus."
"Alright then, I kept your bags with me when they renovated the building. Here they are." He hands a large beat-up backpack of a dark blue color. "Are you sure you want to grow through with this considering what happened last time you traveled to the exit of the world?"
Lucario seemed to be depressed after Hector said that. "Yeah" he says after a minute, "I need to repay Arceus for helping me return safely after I found out my trainer passed away."
"Well, then I wish you both a safe travel." Hector says
Lucario and Pinkamena walked out of the building. Then Lucario had remembered something. "Pinkamena" he said
"Yes, Lukey?" Pinkamena replied
"Do not call me Lukey ever again... What I was trying to say was that where we were before, everyone is immortal. Nobody can die or grow old. But once you're out here, you're back to being mortal. So you need to eat, sleep, and most importantly, stay alive. We can stay at an inn for tonight but once morning comes along we are leaving."
Pinkamena didn't even know what time it was. When she looked at the sun, she did see it was setting so night would fall soon. She agreed to his plan and went to the inn and stayed the night. And it was a peaceful night, with them eating and playing with the other guests, but mostly Pinkamena. Lucario had stayed secluded in the room all night with the mirror. Pinkamena had eventually worn herself out and went back to her room and found Lucario still awake and on his bed looking into the mirror.
"Boy, Lucario, you sure do like looking into that mirror. What is it that you see anyway?" Pinkamena asked.
Lucario looked away very shocked, he wasn't expecting Pinkamena to be there, and then he place the mirror on the table nearby. "I see my life before I got sent here. I'm not even a clone and I ended up in the Hallway of Clones somehow. I just want my life to go back the way it was before." He seemed to be getting tears in his eyes.
Pinkamena quickly said "Well, I want to get home too, but it would be hard for me to start over. I'm an exact lookalike to Pinkie Pie back in Equestria. Seems like we both are stuck with a destination we want to reach, except there's something stopping us."
Lucario looked at her. He wiped the tears from his eyes and thanked her. "Listen, we should get to bed. It would be smart to rest up before the journey."
Pinkamena yawned and then nodded. "Yeah, I'm reeeeaaaally tired." She jumped into her bed and wrapped herself in the blankets. "Goodnight, Lucario"
"Goodnight, Pinkamena" Lucario replied.
And they slept through the night peacefully.