ArtistTale: Ink and Adeleine

Act II: Chapter 10

(Perspective: Ink)

There were high winds as the car zoomed down the road. Adeleine's long hair flowed like a windstorm. But then, it suddenly stopped. Our fast paced riding unfortunately came to an end. The high winds simmered down as a wave of heat came in. The grass we once knew had disappeared into grains of sand. The trees looked a bit more green and spikey than usual. I looked ahead and saw a barrage of cars in front of us.

"Not rush hour traffic," Adeleine said, "It's not even 4:00 yet." She turned her eyes to the ground.

"Is something wrong?" I asked her.

"I wasn't planning on having to stop here," she answered, "I wanted us to drive a bit more. Our time is limited. If we don't get to the city and get the gem apples, Error might as well destroy everything. I suppose we have to walk." She put her head up and smiled.

"But, we must stay determined!" she continued, changing her tone, "Let's walk there. It might even be fun." Ribbon groaned.

"Why did I get the feeling you would say that?" she muttered. After we all got out of the car, Adeleine snapped her fingers, causing the car to vanish into sparkles. We walked alongside the wall of cars like hitchhikers in the desert.

"Out of all the places I've been, the desert has to be the absolute worst," Daroach said.

"I thought rats loved the desert," Ribbon smirked. Daroach's eyes thinned.

"Do you have anything better to do than tease me?" he asked Ribbon.

"Do you have anything better to do than talk about your sad and miserable life?" Ribbon asked back, followed by hysterical laughing. Steam came out of Daroach's head.

"Do you want to have a bad time?!" he shouted at Ribbon, "Because I'll give one to you!" Ribbon gulped, and started shivering.

"Would you two stop it?" I asked politely, "We're going to be together for a while. The least you could do is try to get along."

"Alright, alright," Ribbon said, "If it makes you happy."

"I think you guys owe each other an apology," I said. Daroach and Ribbon crossed their arms and turned their heads away from each other.

"Why should I apologize to a stinky rat?" Ribbon sassed.

"I feel like she deserved to be threatened," Daroach added. I stomped my foot on the ground. Everyone stopped moving.

"We're not leaving, until you apologize," I demanded. They slowly turned to each other.

"Fine," Ribbon said, "Sorry for teasing you."

"Sorry for threatening you," Daroach said.

"Now hug it out," I said. They slowly hugged each other.

"Great!" I said with a smile, "Now we can continue." The smile didn't last long though. After about half an hour of walking, my mouth started to dry. Sweat went down the back of my head. I looked straight ahead and saw an oasis. I dashed in front of everyone to drown my face in the refreshing liquid, only to find that I was drinking sand. I coughed it up, and started choking. Everyone laughed at me, except for Adeleine, who had a concerned frown on her face.

"Ink," she said, "What are you doing?" I coughed so much that I couldn't answer.

"Let me help," Adeleine said as she ran over to me. She swung her paintbrush, creating a bucket of water. She quickly dumped the bucket of water in my mouth. After that, my coughing stopped. All the sand had washed away.

"I'm sorry," I said, "I thought I saw an oasis." Ribbon giggled a bit.

"Hehe," she said, "I can't believe you actually fell for it. Almost everyone knows not to trust mirages." I clenched my fists.