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// Chapter 6: The Ice Witch/Sculptor 
// Story: Beyond the Mirror Pool 
// by Sin Kurtiz 
//------------------------------//

Oasis was a very large and very sandy town. The town had appeared to go by a central hub design, with a fountain being the center. The buildings appeared to typically be one story with a few 2 story buildings. They were all white and made of smooth stone. All down the streets there appeared to be merchants similar to the previous town, but with more sand. 
Lucario, Kirby, and Pinkamena made their way a through the streets. Kirby and Lucario appeared to be looking for something, but Pinkamena was left in the dark about what. "So, what is that we're looking for exactly?" she asked
"What do you think? We're going into the desert, how about we bring loads of pretzels and forget about the water when we're halfway through it?" Kirby answered sarcastically
"We need to look for something to hold a lot of water." Lucario said "We need it to pass the plains; I thought that was obvious enough"
Pinkamena's cheeks burn from her embarrassment. She should have known that."Oh, I knew that. I meant if there was something in particular we're looking for!", Pinakeman said falsely
"Actually..." Kirby began
"What?" Lucario asked
"Maybe if we send her to, you know, get something cold?"
Lucario's eyes filled with shock. "No... We can't send her to see that...thing..." he said.
"Really? So I guess being dehydrated isn't good enough of a death for you. You need to burn up in the desert heat as well?"
Lucario groaned angrily. He spoke quietly to Kirby "I wish there was any other way around this. But there isn't. We pissed her off enough last time we went through the Scorched Plains. She doesn't know Pinkamena, so maybe she could convince her to give us something to let you absorb to use your Ice powers." Lucario turned to Pinkamena "Pinkamena, you need to find a human named Sarah Castor. She's not hard to find. She's somewhere in the bazaar, the big area with a lot of merchants. And she has powers of frost. She might even be one of the merchants. Just go find her and see if you can get her to give you some ice cubes or anything with ice, alright? Take my bag to put it in."
Pinkamena nodded her head and trotted off. When she was no longer in sight, Lucario punched Kirby. "What did you do that for?!" Kirby yelled.
"Because you know that Sarah will kill anyone working with us since you ate her most famous ice sculpture! Why would you even think about ever sending Pinkamena to see her to get ice?!" Lucario explained
"I didn't. I was going to find something else, but that was the only source of ice I could think of. And besides, you sent her to see Sarah. Not me."
Lucario thought about that. He had sent Pinkamena, not Kirby. He sighed and shook his head."Alright, then what do we do until she gets back?" he asked.
"How about we get directions through the plains? We lost the map last time and I'm sure that neither of us remember the route."
Lucario agreed and they questioned everyone around for directions through the Scorched Plains.




Pinkamena trotted along the streets of Oasis looking for Sarah Castor. When she finally arrived at the Bazaar, she heard yelling and saw that there was something going on. She walked up to the noise and saw a lot of humans pushing and shoving each other to reach a stand. They were blocking Pinkamena's view of the merchant at the stand. She stepped around the crowd and caught a glimpse of who was running the stand.
The merchant was a woman with long blonde hair and wore light blue robes that went down to her knees.The robes seemed to slightly shimmer in the light of the sun, it reminded Pinkamena of diamonds.The woman spoke very soothingly to the swarm of angry customers even though they were all yelling at her. And as she spoke, everyone began to quiet down.
"Everyone, please calm down." the woman started, "I know the recent drought has brought nothing good and made us all panic to get water to drink, but I can't supply enough for all of you. I have been working as fast as I can. I will continue to make ice and let it melt into water for you all to drink. But, I need my rest. If you come back tomorrow morning, I promise that there will be more water."
The crowd groaned angrily and slowly dispersed away from the stand leaving only Pinkamena and the woman there. The woman sighed and sat down on a stool behind her. She closed her eyes and looked down towards the ground.
Pinkamena walked up to the merchant and asked, "Excuse me?"
The woman at the stand glared up towards Pinkamena. Her eyes were a light blue and they sparkled like the robes she wore. She spoke in a less gentle voice and sounded almost hostile towards Pinkamena."Yes? What do you want?" 
"I'm looking for someone named Sarah Castor. Are you her?" Pinkamena questioned
"Yeah I am." the woman responded, "Why are you asking?"
"I'm planning on going through the Scorched Plains with my friends and we need something cold to beat the heat."
Sarah squinted her eyes as if she was considering something. She then looked down and reached for something underneath the counter of the stand. She then placed a clear glass bottle on the counter. It was a simple glass bottle with a cover that was also glass. Inside was filled with water and a few ice cubes floating around as well. "There, that should last. There's a spell on it that makes it refill whenever the cap is on it, but the glass can't be full or else the spell won't work.And if you break the bottle while the cap is on, the cap will continue to pour water out and won't stop unless the cap is broken as well.." Sarah pushed the bottle closer to Pinkamena.
"Okay, thank you!" Pinkamena quickly grabbed the bottle, put in in her bag, and turned to leave. Sarah coughs loudly to grab Pinkamena's attention.
"I'm giving you that for free, so you need to do something for me. As you can see, people here are thirsty and I can't provide for all of them. I need you to refill the well in the Scorched Plains. When it's refilled, all the water will be restored to Oasis. Here, this is something for you to use to fill it up." She pulled out a glass ring that looked like the rim of the bottle Pinkamena had. Pinkamena grabbed it and placed it in her bag as Sarah explained. "I can't do this myself because if I stop making ice to melt, people here will die of thirst and I can't let that happen. And that' the only bottle I've got with that spell. And the only one in this dimension. If you put the rim on the cap, the cap will shoot out the water like if it was on the bottle. It shoots out at a high velocity rate. Not to mention, it makes great pest control."
Pinkamena tilted her head, confused about the statement Sarah just made. "What do you mean by that?"
"You'll see when you get to the Plains with your friends... Wait, who are your friends?" Sarah asked
"Pinkamena smiled and replied, "Oh they're a Pokemon and a big, round, circular...thing."
Sarah's eyes went wide as she asked, "Infernape, Lucario, and Kirby?"
"No just Lucario and Kirby. They're helping me get home to Equestria." Pinkamena explained.
"Those guys... They ruined my career! I used to be a famous ice sculptor until that fat Kirby ate my best piece!" She began to rise from her seat, literally. She was floating while a thin layer of mist surrounded her. She moved her hand towards Pinkamena. Pinkamena went to step back, but her legs were frozen in place. When she looked down, she saw that they really were frozen. A patch of ice replaced the ground Pinkamena was standing on and it rose up from Pinkamena's hooves and continued up. It was at her knees at the moment.
"I swore I would kill anyone involved with them. They ruined my career and my life!." Sarah laughed quietly. "Maybe I could just freeze you and make you into a sculpture? I should actually thank them for sending you! It's going to be a masterpiece! Those people aren't grateful for what I give them, I won't help them anymore. I'll make my dreams come true before I save their lives!" Her laugh escalated to sounding like a maniac. "How does that sound? You're going to love it!" Sarah continued to laugh and every laugh sent fear down Pinkamena's spine. She screamed for help, but she knew that Lucario and Kirby were probably halfway across the city from her, thought it was the only thing she could think to do in a situation like this.
The ice had risen up to Pinkamena's neck and slowly began to cover her head. She felt the ice around her cheeks. There was no escape from this... She was doomed. Pinkamena didn't want to struggle against the ice, it would be pointless. She closed her eyes as the ice covered her entire head and she was frozen alive.