Chapter CCCLXXII: Against Reputation ~Lich

Lich’s chin hung loosely as his voice caught in his throat, his eyes wide and blinking. He struggled to make words come out, his mouth trying to form words.

“What’s the matter?” Vector asked, his arms crossed and his foot tapping impatiently. “Cat got your tongue?”

He swallowed and tried again, a weak “Y…y…you saw Ark?” his effort.

“Yeah, I saw Ark,” Vector replied. “He was painted up funky, just like you.”

Lich’s mind still refused to comprehend it. He held out an arm to one side, his wrist loose and his hand floppy. “On…the…o-other–”

“On the other side of the planet,” Vector finished. “Don’t seem so surprised, you know for a fact that I can run that far, no problem.”

“But he–” All Lich could do was shake his head in disbelief. And he had thought he had disappeared indefinitely, if not forever. “When?”

“Hmm…about two days ago.”

The robot must have taken him there, Lich decided, as he saw Vector place his hand in a pocket of his clothes, which appeared worse for wear.

Vector noticed his look and told him, “Me and Mecha had a small…er... dispute. Seems he's miffed about me being alive, and escaping Richter's funny farm. He came across Mecha after our fight.”

“Mecha?!” Lich yelped in shock. “Mecha’s here too?”

He had told Ark about Mecha Vector once or twice, but this would have to be the first time the two of them had met. He began to worry.

“Yeah, he is,” Vector sighed. “So’s Richter and the Pentastar, but I don’t think they’re going anywhere.”

“Richter’s here on G’lirer?!” Lich spoke in a near shriek. “And Mecha and Ark…”

“The fight between Mecha and Ark was pretty one-sided,” Vector spoke sternly.

He withdrew the hand from his pocket and threw something towards Lich. In his worrisome state, he failed to catch it as it thumped into his chest. He picked it up off the floor, and felt the strange pyramid-shaped living Presence. “What’s this?”

Vector’s features relaxed, and with a joking smile he said, “Ark gave Mecha a lobotomy. That’s his brain.”

“Eriuch,” Lich whispered to himself. “Gulto, he is powerful if he can make Ark defeat something as quick as Vec…gulto…and Richter’s here on G’lirer…oh, he-ge-ra-tu!”

“I dunno if Richter is even alive,” Vector told him. “The Pentastar got here in quite a wild fashion; its front end is buried in some field.”

Lich struggled to stay on his feet. This was getting to be too much for him. He shakily sat down on the table’s edge, checking first to see that he was not sitting in some stray droplets of paint. Vector had told him about his “brother” before. “So he’s stuck in the newest and biggest slave market in the galaxy,” he muttered, mournfully.

‘Now hold on, and don’t get hasty,” Vector warned. “I don’t even know if he’s alive. When Mecha found me, he was banged up quite a bit.”

Lich blinked. “That explains why Ark could get to him.” Nevertheless, it was still an achievement for his younger brother.

“If he’s as banged up as he was, think of Richter, a frail human.”

The Lord of the A’gul paused. Maybe he wouldn’t have to protect his people after all. “It’s a possibility…one I hope that is right.”

“I hope so too. Good thing is, we’re wayyy on the edge of the galaxy right now.”

“We are?” Lich asked. Nase was right…

“Way behind Earth. Richter couldn’t get his goons here if he tried. At least…that’s where I think we are.”

“So, this is future Confederation space, right?” Lich probed. He knew that it was bad form to ask his friend of future history, but he justified it to himself by that it would put his mind at ease.

“I'm pretty sure. I'd have to get a good look at the night sky to be sure. I've only gotten glances so far.”

“Well…that’s a relief,” Lich sighed as he leant back slightly and closed his eyes for a moment. He felt Ark’s present in his hand once more. He was alive, and that was all that mattered. And, if this was supposed to be Mecha’s brain, then he had found some AI that he could actually physically study…but why had he given it to him? He guessed that it would be for safekeeping, probably from the robot, or because he had nowhere on him to keep it.

He put the chip down beside him. Since it was “alive”, even if it was robotic, it created a large Presence on the Mana Field. That Presence had a certain weight. If he relegated it to Mana Storage, within his mind, its sheer weight would cause his mind to implode – the quickest form of suicide possible. It was why the Boomerang sat on his belt and it was why Ark held the Spear in his hand. When he left G’lirer, he would have to find something he could carry it and the Diamond of Gokar in.

“So, what’s with all the Yoshies with sticks running around?” Vector asked.

Lich opened his eyes. “How well do you know our species’ history?”

“Um…” Vector said as he thought a moment, “almost none.”

“Does the name Recugrian ring any bells?”

“The street you live on?”

Lich smiled. He wondered how his home at 45 Recugrian Street, in Yoshibane, was doing in his prolonged absence. “Right.”

“Besides that, I’m drawing a blank.”

“Well, that street’s named after an ancestor of mine. A direct one, at that. Go back nine generations, five hundred years or so on Yamauchi, there he is.”

“Ooh, awesome. So, what’s he have to do with why this place is stuck in the stone age?”

Lich recalled his Yamauchian Studies class at school. “He was sick and tired of all the tribal wars that went on, so he basically said, ‘What if we all become one tribe?’ A number of tribes said, ‘Yeah, that's a good idea, we're sick and tired of being picked on,’ while others said ‘No’…in a number of ways. So, those who said ‘no’, well, he banished them here. The place is called G’lirer. But, over five hundred years, the name has become ‘G’lirr’, which means ‘Purgatory’.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of that,” Vector nodded.

“This tribe though, the A'gul...they're the ones who spawned Recugrian. They left of their own volition because they didn't agree with how Recugrian was going about unification. So, because I'm his direct descendant, and because there's prophecy written about me, I seem to be their chieftain.”

Vector’s eyes widened. “Wow. Care if I ask one teenie question, though?”

“Go ahead.”

“How'd they get here, at least a couple hundred light years away from Yamauchi, and yet they're still throwing rocks at their enemies?”

“Recugrian had magical powers,” Lich replied. “Powerful sorcerer, strong warrior…er…”

Vector had closed his eyes and was rubbing his head – Lich remembered his lack of understanding about magic. He opened them and changed the subject with, “What kind of junk are they speaking here? I know bit and pieces of it, stuff I learned in high school. Ancient Yoshian, it sounds like.”

“Yes,” Lich nodded.

“I ran into a village about, oh, I think two hundred kilometres from he– oh, damn!” Vector hissed. He drew his breath sharply and held his hand to his face, his eyes closed, as he staggered back and sat on the rock.

“…What is it?”

“Richter’s here, alive,” Vector groaned. “I just remembered; I did see him.”

Lich’s heart sank. “You sure?”

Vector nodded. “He was leading an attack force into the village, rounding up the villagers for... something. I dunno what.”

“Extra hands,” Lich sighed. “He’s got a crashed spaceship, a good portion of his men will be dead…gulto, this is not good…he’s already started.”

“I showed up and spooked his troops,” Vector explained. “They're afraid of me. Anyway, I got a few potshots at Richter's tank with my blaster.”

“Did you get him?” Lich asked quickly.

“No. Ran around, disposed of his junk in my normal way. He yelled and screamed at me, then ran off.”

“I thought you were faster than him.”

“I am, except the villagers got all nutsy on me,” Vector spoke, scratching his head. “Dropped to their knees, and started bowing, saying something about ‘he's come’. And some other stuff, like controlling blue fire, and outrunning the wind. I couldn't get all of it; in fact, I think I told them I was a hunk of cheddar.”

“They bowed to you?” Lich asked, receiving a nod. “I thought I was...maybe I'm not the only one... I read through the Palimpsest once out of boredom...I don't remember anything about anyone controlling blue fire and outrunning the wind in prophecy...”

“Ain't that like our Bible, or something?”

Lich raised an eyebrow. “Bi-ble?” He put the term aside as something out of Vector’s time. “It's a book that basically records Yoshi history and makes predictions for the future...got some poetic stuff about the gods as well, but, apart from that...”

“So you say these guys have been here for five hundred years... doesn't look like they've progressed much. Maybe one of 'em has an original copy. Over the years, stuff gets edited out of books, and stuff.”

“Well, it is a palimpsest…”

“Before two minutes ago I'd never heard of a palimpsest. I just took a wild guess. No, I lie, I have heard of it, but I didn't know exactly what it was.”

Lich nodded. “That’s what it is.”

“It is pretty old, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. No-one knows how old, but, they’re up to the Sixteenth Edition. They’re going to need a Seventeenth when I get back there.”

“So maybe an older edition is different?”

“I ought to ask around to see if they have any.”

Vector nodded. “One more thing; what’s up with the funky paintjobs?”

Lich turned his head and grabbed a piece of paper with his hastily written notes on them. He quoted, “‘Our ancestors were painted as warriors. But we, though warriors we remain, paint for another reason. In our sadness, our skin hath faded, and thus we paint to stay as colourful as the Tribes That Remain. Our ancestors used painted codes to show importance, rank, and identity; we still use these codes today.’ That’s part of what you missed.”

“Oh,” Vector smiled. “I'm glad I don't know my ancestry too well. I don't wanna be painted up. I like being blue. Coolest colour in the universe.”

Lich looked down at his myriad of markings. He was a walking neon sign with all of his colours.

“So! That junk's out of the way. Let’s forget about Richter, and junk; I’m hungry. I’ll go ahead and assume they eat a…’traditional’ Yoshi diet here.”

“Wild beasts and fruit,” Lich nodded.

“No burgers? Fried chicken? Nothing that's not good for me? I guess I'll have to learn to stomach our food again.”

Lich laughed. “Let’s head over to the storehouse.”

The two of them got up. Lich headed towards the door. As he reached it, he saw that Vector had not moved at all.

“I ran into a group of Impies outside the village,” he spoke sullenly.

“Impies…Richter’s troops?” Lich asked urgently. “Where? How many?”

“Seven. East of here. I’d say…four kilometres outside the edge.”

“The other side of the hills…”

Vector gulped. “I...I...Lich, I gunned them all down.”

Lich cocked his head. This was an unusual tone of voice for his loud-mouthed friend. “You alright, Vec?”

“And, that's not the worst of it; I shot them in the back.”

Lich blinked. “…Vec?”

“They didn't do a thing to me... they were running away from me, and I killed all of them.”

Lich approached him. “I thought that was what you did for a living. Are you okay, Vector?”

He looked down at the ground, his bottom lip quivering. “I’ll be…okay…”

Suddenly, Vector lunged. He wrapped his arms tightly around Lich and buried his face in his shoulder. “I killed six people for no reason at all!” he sobbed.

Lich took half a step back, perturbed by his friend’s actions. He had never done this before.

“I hate killing people!” Vector wailed.

Unnerved, Lich shivered. He had always seen Vector as considering himself to be invincible, with incredible strength of will to back this up. Now, he had fallen into a mess on his shoulder. Vector’s body shook as he heaved his sobs; he could not feel the tears through his paint, but he knew they were there. Uncertain of what reaction he would get, Lich cautiously brought his arms around and gingerly placed his hands on his friend’s back. He felt Vector ease into them, and he replied with a few pats.

“In a fighter…in a fighter it's different,” Vector blubbered, “they're shooting at me…and…I'm not shooting at a person! I'm shooting at a machine!”

Lich patted his back again and brought his arms around further so that he was now hugging him. Still taken aback a little, he spoke quietly after a moment as the sobs began to subside, forcefully injecting sympathy into his voice: “Wh-what made you do this, Vec?”

“One of them…one of them shot a kid…and I killed all of them for what one did...” Vector gulped. “I don't know what made me do it...I just...I just got so mad, seeing that little guy dead...”

This brought on a fresh wave of crying. Lich tightened his arms in a friendly squeeze. “How many fights, how many battles have you been in?”

Vector sniffed. “I’ve been in…I don't know, a lot of fights.”

“Too many?”

“Yeah…too many is a good number. But…in my fighter…in my time, I know what I'm fighting for...”

“What’s that?”

“I'm a soldier, I'm upholding the Articles of Confederation…But here… I don't know…Maybe we're destined as a species to serve tea to some rich snob at noon…I don't know why I'm here, why I'm fighting what seems like a private little war…”

The bulk of his crying gone, Vector relapsed into quiet sobs.

“I believe there is something about ‘accessories to a crime’?” Lich suggested after a moment.

“I don’t know,” Vector cringed, shaking his head. “I’ve done a lot of bad things in my time.”

“I’ve done a lot of bad things too,” Lich cooed. “We were never made to be perfect.”

Vector pulled back, and Lich released his arms. He could see the redness around Vector’s eyes. “You…you ain't gonna hold it against me that I killed seven guys are you?” he asked, sniffing. “And that I said what I said?”

“That would be hypocritical if I did,” Lich answered, and sighed. “I was on the streets of Va'kotiku, in the Koopa Kingdom. Six soldiers came around a corner. With a flick of my wrist, they were dead. They hadn't even opened fire, they were simply there.”

“Yeah, but in this time, don't Koopas kill us just for being there too?” Vector asked, wiping an eye with his shirt.

“No,” Lich spoke with a shake of his head.

“Oh,” Vector nodded, continuing to wipe his eyes. He cracked a small smile. “You never saw this. I have a reputation to uphold. Vector Sprint doesn't cry.”

Lich raised his hands defensively and returned the smile. “My friend, trust me, I saw nothing.”

Vector’s face brightened, and it was as if nothing had happened at all: he seemed even more cheerful than before. A weight had been taken off his shoulders – Lich wondered how many more his futuristic friend held.