Chapter VIII: The Forced Pawn - Lich

A red Yoshi lay down on a beach on South Yoshi Island. He stretched, and gazed upwards at the blue sky, which had a hint of late afternoon green mixed into it. For less than a second, the sun was blotted out. He sat up, and saw a shadow move on the water towards Main Island. He then looked towards the sun, and by squinting, he could see a silhouetted shape, which appeared to be flapping occasionally. He lifted his binoculars to his eyes, and saw a definite Yoshi shape sitting on the neck of some dragon like creature. He then lay back on the sand, looked up at the sky again, and said: "Must be that Manaworld Yoshi."

Indeed it was. Dyluck Thanatos Yoshi von Kippo, more commonly known as Lich, sat between the wings of Nessie, his Dragonite, and held his antennae like reins. He had his trademark strip of pink zinc cream smeared in a stripe behind his nostrils, and his black thongs, with sea green straps, dangled precariously from his feet; Lich practised keeping them on while flying regularly. Around his neck, he wore a PLT, a Pokémon Language Translator, and around his waist, a belt, with his other 5 Pokémon, and on his right, tucked into a loop, the Boomerang of Light. His brown, curly hair flapped backwards and forwards as he looked towards his destination, the mountains of the Main Island.

He took this route often, and was almost able to do it with his eyes closed. He brought Nessie down to a few metres above the water as they flew over the Dinokan Strait, then they started to rise to fly over the jungle, and behind that, the prosperous city of Yoshiville. They continued to rise over the foothills above World 4-2, then they were in the mountains. Twisting their way through a gorge created by Sparkle's Glacier, they started to rise dramatically. They skimmed over the pointy towers of Markior's Lair, then the spectacle they came for was in full sight: The meadows of Yoshi Olympus, and in the heart of them, the Yoshi Sanctuary. Lich pulled Nessie's antennae, and, by many repeats of this performance, Nessie knew what to do. He came down at a gentle angle before, at the door of the Sanctuary and inches above the ground, rearing himself up by fluttering and bringing his feet under him. Lich jumped off, and landed, Blade style, on the grass.

As he looked up, his Manaworld skills alerted him to an absence eminating from the direction of Markior's Lair, across a high, rickety wooden bridge from Olympus. He gathered that the god of the mind must be helping his Protoss friends fight off a wave of Zerg in one place or another. Lich took as a pet one of Markior's captives which he returned with once: a Hydralisk, whom Lich christened Todd, and kept at his house on South Yoshi Island.

He held an orange coloured Pokéball in front of him, and saw Nessie, without a complaint, dematerialise into a red blob of light, and enter the ball. He put it on his belt, and entered the Sanctuary. As he entered, he knew that he was not a god. Although he said he was happy to be the way he was, in his inner, deeper self, he wanted to be one, and fill the position of the god of travel and journeys. But, he would have to do something exceptionally heroic beforehand, and doubted he would be called upon. Many of the other people who frequented the Sanctuary were gods, or the Chosen Few. Some people, like himself, were neither. Perhaps it was because the gods knew they had a destiny affecting the entire island that they were accepted into the council of the gods, the Aurorium.

Lich strode down the corridors of the Sanctuary to the large, oak doors: the entrance of the Aurorium, as always, open. He entered, and found the large table vacant. He picked up a crumpled note on the table beside him, and read, "Fight at Markior's be back later". The writer did not leave their name. Lich studied the handwriting, but could not recognise it. The writer wrote quickly, obviously eager to see this fight. He sat down at the table, and placed his elbows on the edge, his clasped hands propped under his nose. He looked around to check for any signs of life, but could not find any.

He heard a shuffling sound behind him. Near-instinctively, he brought his right arm to his side, and grabbed the Boomerang, then stood up and turned, bringing his arm at the same time to be in line with his mouth, the Boomerang leaving its lightow trail of blue-white for half a second. He then relaxed as he saw the shape to be Klongo, Markior's lisping servant.

"Ssssir Lich," Klongo greeted him, with a tilt of the head.
"Klongo," Lich returned the greeting, likewise tilting his head. "What brings you to the Sanctuary?"
"I bring you newssss of my masssster. He hassss gone to Aiur to fight."
"Hm, I thought so, I couldn't detect his presence."
"But," Klongo continued, "he came back, and wassss having a battle with ssssomeone called Ssssir Pssssseudo Haveling. Ssssir Markior was defeated!"
"Defeated? Is that all? I defeated him in a Pokémon battle, and he gave me the Spirit Badge."
"No, no, no! Not a ssssilly Pokémon battle, a fight!"
Lich suddenly felt a sinking feeling in his heart. He never thought there would be the day when Markior was defeated in a fight. In what he had said of his past, he had been on Aiur, and put into stasis, but never as the guardian spirit of all Yoshies.
"What happened to him next?" Lich said, his voice almost trembling.
"He jussst disssapeared!" Klongo said, throwing an arm into the air, as the other was still carrying his tray, on which was Yoshiade and a bowl of candy eyeballs.
"Into thin air?" Lich exclaimed, then swore.
"Yessss, ssssir Lich."
"Is there anything I can do right now?"
"Yesss, let go of my shirt."
Lich suddenly realised he was holding on to the short green fellow's off-white shirt. He let go and paced around for some time.
"What about the Root of Evil? Is that fine?" he asked.
"Only ssssir Markior would know," Klongo replied, his eyes downcast.
"What about the other Yoshies who went over there?"
"They were in shock when I lassst sssaw them."
"Well, I shall go over and spread some Puipui juice around, if needs be."
Lich tilted his head as he passed Klongo, who turned and watched him leave the Aurorium. "I don't know what to do either," he shrugged.

A sudden storm had swept over Olympus as Lich exited the Sanctuary. Knowing his altitude and the general flatness of the meadows, Lich prayed firstly to Minerva, the goddess of lightning and electricity, then to Sylphid, the Manaworld Elemental of Air, for protection. He then broke into a run towards the old, rickety bridge which was strung across a gorge from Olympus to Markior's Lair. Lightning struck a tree in the distance before, half a second later, a deafening peal of thunder cracked like a whip. Lich covered his ears and continued to run through the blinding, stinging rain.
A grey shape soon stood in front of him: the start of the bridge. He turned to his right and started to run across, delicately placing his enthongéd feet on the wet planks, the hollow sound of his running on it echoing and re-echoing through the gorge. He looked ahead and saw the jagged shape of the Lair loom closer.

Suddenly, there was a flash of lightning just behind him, and the thunder's crack mixed with the sound of breaking wood. The bridge disappeared from beneath his feet. Lich fell about a metre, before he toppled backwards as he made contact with the bridge. After somersaulting once, Lich grabbed onto a plank, and extended his arms fully, to his mistake. He looked through a gap, and saw the gorge wall approaching fast. A shock jolted through his body as the bridge hit, making him let go. He screamed as he fell, then, in a near reflex move, he reached up and grabbed the very last plank of the bridge.
The smell of sizzling sisal filled his nostrils as he dangled precariously, only using his right arm. He brought his left arm up, but his fingers flailed hopelessly, a few inches short of the wet and slippery wood. Lich felt his heart beating, as if it was trying to jump out of his chest. He felt his right fingers slip backwards a fraction, as he looked down. He could see the icy bottom far, far below, a grave dressed in white. He then quickly checked his resources. The Boomerang was useless. His Pokémon would need to be discharged on the ground, except Icydoom and Thunder, but just touching them would either freeze him or shock him to pieces. He then grimaced as he thought about his final option.

Lich looked up at the piece of wood and unfurled his tongue. He wrapped its sticky end around the plank a few times before, in a joint effort between arm and tongue, pulling himself up. As his head grew closer, he reached up with his left arm to the next plank, then released his tongue's grip. For a moment he let it hang out of his mouth, before he shot it up a few more planks. Then, he climbed up with both his hands until his feet were standing on the bottom plank. He retracted his tongue, but not before wrapping his right hand around it and brushing it down. He winced as he gulped the bulk of it back down into his throat.
"I hope I never have to do that again," he muttered in Pandoran, then made a face.
He looked up the bridge, now ladder, towards the seemingly distant Lair. He then started his long, arduous climb through the rain.

When he approached about halfway, his eyes were caught by a paragraph of writing, apparently chiseled by some magical force on the gorge wall to the right of him. He climbed a few more rungs then stopped to observe it. It was far too dark for him too see what appeared to be a very intricate and lacy scrawl, so he reached for the Boomerang with his right hand, then brought it up so the jewel at its bend faced the writing.
"Picture," he ordered in Pandoran.
The Boomerang's jewel flickered yellow for a moment, then returned to its pinky red. Lich placed it back in his belt, and continued his climb.

YoshiDude and Drakonis Yoshi the Tenth sat in the stoop of the Lair, facing each other, but staring blankly past. They had witnessed first hand of what had happened to Markior, and now knew not what to do next. Thunder rumbled outside the closed area as Drakonis looked through a side opening which looked towards Yoshi Summit.
"He just..." he mumbled.
"I know, Dra, you don't have to remind me, geez..." YoshiDude snapped, looking at him, then looked for the first time towards the gorge. Although the sky was darkened, he saw the absence of the bridge.
"Oh," he said, then swore, "the bridge's fallen down!"
YoshiDude got up and walked quickly towards where it should have started. Drakonis snapped out of his state and followed him, and was presently standing beside him.
"Well, at least I can fly," he said, "but that doesn't solve Markior."
Suddenly, a hand from below grabbed his foot.
"Is that you, Dra?" came a voice. "Could you help me up here please?"
Thunder rumbled a moment as Drakonis looked at the hand.
"Lich? What by gods are you doing down there?!" he asked.
"Lich?" YoshiDude asked in general, surprised.
"Don't ask now, just get me up," Lich replied to Drakonis' question.
Drakonis and YoshiDude reached down and grabbed an arm each, and helped Lich onto the flat ground, who then lay flat and motionless, except for his panting chest. He allowed a portion of his tongue to droop from his mouth as he waited to regain his breath.
"As I was crossing, the bridge was struck by lightning," Lich panted. "Enough said?"
He looked up to see them nodding their heads.
"And I also found some writing on the wall of the gorge. I think only myself here could be able to read it, it looked slightly like Koopan, but I'm not sure as yet." He then got up and said, "Let's go inside."
They got up as a bolt of lightening scarred the sky momentarily, and entered the Lair.
The door opened up into the foyer of the Lair, obviously designed by someone who enjoyed the colour grey. Through a door on the other side, and down a long grey hallway, brought them to the battle room. Here, the decor was changed, and the place was a mixture of colours. The room was indoors, as there were rafters in the ceiling and Drakonis' hammock strung between two of them, but outdoors as well, with full grown trees and Lake Delacroix, a lake filled to the brim with blood. The room defied fundamental laws of physics.
Near the fire sofa, there was a wooden table with some chairs. Lich sat down on one of them, and placed the Boomerang, face up, in front of him. The other two stood interested behind him.
"Display," Lich commanded in Pandoran.
The Boomerang's jewel glowed yellow as it projected the image of the writing above it. The room was brighter than the gorge, so the image also appeared to be brighter. Lich looked at the writing, and started to mutter in Pandoran.
"I was wrong, it's not Koopan...my training in Dryad has made me susceptible to the writing of Mana itself...Rhenzin..."
"Lich," YoshiDude asked, unable to understand his muttering, "what are you saying?"
Lich was too involved in reading the passage to hear his question. He muttered in Pandoran as he read.

"Greetings to you with the cyan arc, the six beasts and the ways of water, light and essence. Why do I write? I have someone here who longs to see you, apart from myself, of course. In fact, two people, both asking why. They want to meet you. However, you must get to them first. So, I have created a little game for you to play. There are no rules, except one. I say what goes.
"Yes, yes, Mana exists here too, so you can use your little toys, but, if you come, you will find the truth of Mana, the real secret.
"So, do you accept?
"If yes, seek the sunken city of Dinokan. You will find your next instructions there. If no, well, let's not think about that."
"Signed, Sir Pseudo Havering of the Seventh Circle of Whyr-Roh-Tin."

Lich shouted and jumped backwards out of the chair, startling Drakonis and YoshiDude. He pointed at the image as if it was some demon.
"It's...it's that Havering person!" he shouted in Yoshian.
"The same one as that beast who defeated Markior, I trust?" Drakonis asked.
"I trust so!" Lich answered and covered his eyes with one hand, but peeped between his pointing and middle fingers.
"What did he say?" YoshiDude asked.
Lich calmed down slightly before saying, "He said he wants me to go to Dinokan."
"Dinokan? But that was sunk by Golden Robo-Yoshi!" Drakonis said startled, then spat. It was now tradition, and formally acceptable, to spit on his name.
"Yes. So I'm going to have to get diving gear."
"Why are you going, then, if you are afraid?" YoshiDude asked.
"It's not so much what happens if I go, but what if I don't," Lich replied.