Chapter XLIII - To the
Sword… ~Richter
Richter stepped out of the shuttle that had carried him down to the planet’s surface. He took a quick look around, and decided on what to take with him. He pressed a button on his left glove, and spoke.
"This is Richter,” he said. “Send down three ‘bots. Send down a Buzz Cutter, a Sky Spy, and EV-700. They should be enough to muscle the natives a bit."
Three red beams formed, grew, and dissipated. Where the beams hit were a robot with treads for feet and buzz saws on its arms, a large mechanical eye with a propeller mounted atop, and a mechanical Yoshi. The mechanical Yoshi stood up, its blood-red optics flaring to life. The sun reflected brightly from its golden skin, and it looked around.
"This is some hole, eh, boss?" it said.
Richter said nothing, as he waved a hand at the other robots. They sprang to life, and started following him as he walked eastward. The mechanical Yoshi followed also. A number painted on its chest identified it. It was EV-700, quite an ill-tempered robot to say the least.
After an hour of walking, Richter had climbed atop EV-700, having the robot carry him. Nearly an hour after that, they came upon a small town, which looked as if it had just been attacked. Richter dismounted from his robotic servant, and looked about. He found a human male walking from a building that was still standing, and approached him.
"Hello, good sir," Richter said, "May I inquire as to the name of this little burg?"
"Of course," the man said. "This is Potos. It usually doesn’t look like this. Two characters came into town, and started causing trouble. Feel free to have a look around."
"Thank you," Richter said, "You have been of some help to me."
Richter walked onward, two of his robots staying outside of the town, EV-700 following close on his heels.
"EV," Richter said, "Do you know anything about this planet?"
"Not really, boss." EV said, "I know it’d be a great place to relax."
"There is a sword here," said Richter, "that controls the energy force on this planet known as ‘Mana’. Perhaps, this sword is one of the Creation Weapons. I am not after the small ones, but the big one. But perhaps having one of the smaller ones would aid in leading me to the weapon that I seek. Much as the coveted Chaos Emeralds attract each other. Perhaps a resident of this burg can tell me where to find this blade."
After some questioning, one of the townspeople told Richter that the Mana Sword could be found at the waterfalls past the northeastern exit of town. Richter left the town, and walked to the waterfalls just outside of it. There were two Yoshies standing in the water, one orange, and the other magenta.
Damn lizards, Richter thought, always
getting in the way of my plans. Bah. After I have the weapon, they’ll all bow
to me as their master.
As he walked, thinking of his
intense hate for Yoshies, he kicked a rock. The two Yoshies,
Lich and
"Lich! By Venus, what are you doing here, you damned lizard?" Richter exclaimed.
"Richter! By the Elementals, why are you on this world? It is peaceful! We want none of your trouble!" Lich yelled, by the same token.
"I am not here to cause trouble. I am here to see the Mana Sword," Richter said, which was only half the truth.
"Well, it’s not here. The Twilighter Council took it." Lich said, hatefully. "Besides. Why would you just want to look at the Mana Sword?"
"Lich, now is that any way to speak to a superior being? I think not," Richter said.
At that time, Artanis made himself seen by Richter, stepping between the human and the Yoshi, facing Richter.
I can tell you are a man of evil, Artanis said in his psychic voice. I, however, cannot determine your intentions. I believe the human, that he did come here to see the Mana Sword.
Lich was at a loss for words. He had never met Richter before, but he knew what his intentions were. Still, if Artanis trusted him, Lich had no reason not to….