Chapter 9: The Drained Lake

The last time I was in the town of Lora was two years ago when grandpa took me fishing. The town of Lora is next to a large lake that holds the best tasting fish in Moneo, if not, in all of the lands. We arrived there expecting to smell the water air like we did in Iora, but all we got were sounds of distress. We located Lora and asked him what happened.

"It was just terrible really," Lora said. "Yesterday, three witches came to me asking for the Gem. They said they were sent here by you, Stephan. I asked them what their names were, but they wouldn't give them to me. In return for not giving them the Gem, the witches went and drained the lake!"

"They drained the whole lake!?" I asked. "What about all the fish and plants that live in it?"

"I used my Gem to transport them elsewhere," Lora answered.

"Can't you use your Gem to bring the water back?" Chris asked.

"I tried, but the witches are using magic of their own, preventing me from refilling the lake,"

"We'll go take of them for you!" I said. "Exitilus probably put them up to this and gave them powers to stop you from using the Gems."

"If that's the case then they will be powerful," Lora said. "Do be careful."

"We will. Come on guys, let's go!" I headed out and was followed by the rest of the team.

When we arrived at the lake, it looked completely dry, like there wasn't any water in it to begin with. At the deepest part of the lake lies a structure that the witches possibly created as a stronghold. Halfway across the dried lakebed, I notice something odd about Jennifer.

"Hey, Jennifer? You're looking green? Are you alright?"

"Uh, Stephan, I'm over here," I turned and saw the paler Jennifer, then I looked back at the green one.

"What the...? Two Jennifers?!" I exclaimed.

"It's your worst nightmare, huh, Stephan?" Stan joked.

"Who are you?" Andrew asked the green Jennifer. The copy melted into a puddle of green goop then formed the top half of a woman, though green and bald.

"Relax, I'm not here to fight," she said. "I actually wish to help."

"...What's your name? And what are you?" Andrew asked.

"It's Lacey," she answered. "And... I had an accident at where I worked and I... turned into this."

"You were human?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes, I was. But this isn't all bad, like you just saw; I can turn into anyone I want, albeit with a green skin tone."

"How long ago did this happen?" Helen asked.

"Um... about eight years now," Lacey said. "I can be useful to you guys and I want to help the people here, but I can't do it alone."

"Very well, you may join," Andrew said. "But just so you know, if you decide to stick around, we will be fighting the wizard Exitilus at some point."

"And imagine the power you'll have if I copy him," Lacey said. "Now then, shall we get going?" Lacey decided to take the lead and she moves fairly quickly for having no feet. When we arrived at the structure, we could feel plenty of cold air coming from inside. We went inside with everyone, but Stan, shivering.

Inside, we found a large body of water that looks like it could be the water from the lake. We saw a ledge farther up the structure, but no way to get there. There was just the platform we were on and the water. Looking at the water closely, I saw what looked like a door. Putting back on my Water Armor, I swam down and opened the door. Since it wasn't too deep down, Andrew and Jennifer decided to follow, but the rest kept looking for a way up. Continuing farther, we found a place to come up and breathe and saw another door. We continued from room to room, fighting off the wizards that came to us, until we found a switch. Deciding that it would do something useful, we pulled it and heard rumbling. Water started to fill the room as a hatch above us opened up. Using the rising water as a lift, we went through the hatch and found ourselves in another room. Going through a door, we saw we were on the ledge we couldn't get to earlier. Forming a human rope, we pulled the rest of our team up, though we had some difficulty lifting Stan.

"You mind tellin' the rest of us before you go for a swim?" Stan asked.

"Though we should stick together, only one person can wear the Water Armor," Andrew said. "I doubt you're willing to go alone, Stephan."

"It seems in order for us to continue up, we need to raise the water level," I said. "I can do that, but the three witches at the end will be a problem for me."

"I can be all of you," Lacey said. "I can take care of the witches. Here, give me the Armor."

"You sure?" Andrew asked as I gave the Water Armor to Lacey.

"Yes, I'm sure. Only one can wear the Armor, right? Well, it might as well be someone that can be everybody."

"Very well. We will be outside if you need us, Lacey. But be careful, alright?"

"Don't worry about me," she said. "I can take care of myself." We left the witches to Lacey and she continued into the structure. She used Stan's strength to push blocks onto switches, Jennifer's bow to hit far targets, all to get to the levers that raise the water. Outside, we saw that each time the water level rose in the structure, the water returned to the lake. As Lacey reached the top floor, she saw the witches pull their wands on her.

"So you're the ones who drained the lake," Lacey said. "Unfortunately for you, I returned the water."

"That's fine," one witch said. "We can drain it again as long as we don't have the Lora Gem."

"Did you come to bring us the Gem, goop girl?" another witch said.

"No, in fact, I came to kick you out," Lacey said.

"You? Alone?" the last witch said. "You think you can take on all three of us. I will freeze your soul..."

"...burn it to a crisp..."

"...then blow the ashes into the wind!" they chanted. The ice witch shot out a magic bolt that Lacey melted to avoid. She came back up as Stan as used his mimicked Fire Wand to shoot back.

"This girl's a witch herself!" the fire witch said.

"We'll just try harder!" the air witch said. Ice, fire, and wind were flying around this battle. Lacey turned into Jennifer and used her bow to strike back at the witches, careful not to be hit. As she ran around the witches, she was hit with a blast of air and flew into the wall. Groaning from the pain, she got back up and dodged a fire blast in time. She turned into me and used my Lightning Wand to attack and my shield to defend. The ice witch became paralyzed upon being hit then Lacey blocked the fire witch's attack with the shield and attacked with the lightning wand. The Fire Witch was paralyzed on the spot. Lacey was hit with an air blast again, knocking her off her feet. She shot out several lightning bolts but the Air Witch was too fast. The Witch constantly flew in circles, hitting Lacey with an Air Blast every time she got. Lacey decided to turn into Helen and repeatedly used her whip to yank the witch out of the sky. The whip managed to wrap around the witch's leg and pulled her down. Taking her wand and the other two's, she had emerged victorious.

"You are a very talented fighter," the Air Witch said. "Exitilus would be pleased to have you."

"Sorry, I'm already on a team," Lacey said. "And Exitilus will not help me with what I'm doing."

"That's a shame. Well, we know when we're defeated. It's back to Exitilus for us!" All three of the witches disappeared. "Tell your family Exitilus says "Hi"!" the witch's voice said.

We were all waiting outside at Lora when we saw Lacey emerge out of the water. She looked like she was just a green puddle in the middle of the lake. We helped her out of the water.

"Did they leave?" Chris asked.

"Yeah," Lacey said. "It wasn't easy, though. Here are the wands they had: Fire, Ice, and Air."

"To the victor goes the spoils," Andrew said. "These will be useful."

"Let's head back to Lora and tell him what happened," I said. Lora was overjoyed at the good news and asked us to stay the night. The next morning, we all decided to train together and learn how to use the new wands. Helen took the Air Wand, Jennifer took the Fire Wand, and Chris took the Ice Wand. Kyra said she never liked using Magic and Sobie said she's best with a staff. When the training was done, Lora gave us his Gem and we head for Mora, which has the tallest mountain in Moneo.

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Trivia

• The three witches described in the story are not the final Three Mages used in Power Master 1: A Strange Journey, as they were created after this story's completion.