He was on the tower again, looking around him at what now appeared to be a small desert, only a week or so ago a forest. The Nexus, in its self-repairing, corrupted since the Gantrithor II's crash, had sucked the life from the plants around it, decomposing the matter into sand. Lich's eyes were intrinsically lured towards looking north, where his love had flown into the clutches of the Dark Archon, Ulrezaj.
Something touching his side made him jump, and looking down, he saw Telg B'ralku, the ex-KBT spy return his look back up at thim.
"You miss her, don't you?" he asked, his eyes showing pity.
Lich nodded, and turned his head northwards, leaning forward lazily on the rail.
"I just wish that - well, I know it's impossible, but," Lich paused, shook his head as he looked downwards, then at Tob, "I have the power of Mana inside me - a tremendous amount of it - yet I just can't click my fingers and - whoosh, big cloud of smoke - she's here."
"Have you considered going to her?"
"Every waking hour, Tob, every waking hour," he sighed. "But will I return?"
Tob nodded, and followed Lich's gaze northwards.
"You know, you could sneak in…"
"I don't know if you can detect Mana fluctuations or not, but I am like a huge, towering mountain. I could be detected from six miles away with the power I hold. Why do you think Markior has a hard time sleeping? With his presence, mine, and the base's, this place is like a beacon for miles and miles away! And if I were to even get close to Ulrezaj's lair - who knows what lies in store?"
Tob considered this for a moment, as he watched Lich sigh, and look back towards Ulrezaj's lair, somewhere over the horizon. Was that a tear forming?
"I could get her back for you - for a price…"
Lich's arms were suddenly gripping the top of Tob's carapace. "Anything you ask, I would fulfil."
Tob could see the desperation in his eyes…this was going to be easy.
"Even if it was back on Yamauchi?" he asked.
Lich nodded.
"Good. You may or may not know that us Koopas hold family honour, and do not like it to be disgraced. The B'ralkus, fifteen years ago, were once the governing family of the state of Ket'nalkok, which is basically the mountain range to the north of the Koopahari. My uncle was travelling along one of the mountain roads, when a sniper from the Gr'tokoru family shot him with his rifle. He was in a car at the time, with his son, and my father…car swerved, fell off a cliff, exploded into flames."
"I'm sorry to hear that, Tob."
Tob waved a chelonian hand, dismissing the comment, then continued: "So, as my father is dead, this makes me the heir to Ket'nalkok's governance. The Gr'tokorus govern now, so I joined the KBT to get away from them - killing an agent is punishable by death, and family banishment, so he wouldn't dare try.
"That is, wouldn't have dared try. Now, as I've been a certain number of months without signing in, my membership is void as I'm considered killed in action. So, I'm open to attack from the Gr'tokorus. So, that's where you come in: You kill the Gr'tokorus, I become governor again, and this is in return for getting Riu back. How does this sound?"
"Deal," Lich said, shaking his hand.

"By Adun, what did you say?"
Markior had jumped - if one could call a gaseous form agitating "jumping" - when he heard of Tob's plan to break into Ulrezaj's lair.
"You'll be slaughtered!" he cried, one hand to his chest.
"Not if I can help it," Tob smiled. "I've done dangerous stuff before."
"But have you done one this dangerous before? I know Ulrezaj - powerful, cruel, he'll let nothing get in his way."
Tob shrugged. "So are many people I've dealt with. Look, if you don't believe I'm up to it, have a look at these - your 'alliance' with King Bowser may have given you knowledge of KBT honours."
Reaching inside his blue shell, he pulled out three medals. Markior's eyes widened, their milky white colour flashing a brighter shade.
"B'kraktgoto'pekttoru First Class, for spying on you," Tob smirked. "You should do something about that butler of yours, he's not really a good guard to your secrets. Nice candied eyeballs though - I'd like the recipe. Yes, I found and saw the Root of Evil."
Markior's mouth opened wide for a moment, before he pulled it shut again.
"Then, there's the K'titolko Medal of two years ago, for performing and excelling in the year's most dangerous mission - infesting a Kremling base on Kong Isle…oh dear, seemed to have leaked level 1 info there. Also, here's the T'gataltok Medal of two years ago, for bringing the largest amount of information to the KBT in one mission - level 5 classified information there, sorry. But it was the same mission. Now, don't say I'm up to it."
"Well, Kremlings aren't Ulrezaj, that's for certain."
"Do you really think I don't know who the enemy of the pending mission is? As you're on the same side, I can tell you that the KBT's had files on him for years."
Markior sighed.
"If we find your body, you'll get a state funeral - of Aiur, I'm afraid, I believe you're the only Koopa on Zolott, and it's not in my authority to give you a Koopan one, sorry. If you succeed, however, there'll probably be some honour of Aiur for you, as it's my duty as Executor to reward those who serve dangerous missions at my request. So, may Adun go with you, and Adun Toledas."
Tob got down on all fours and took three steps backward: the sign of accepting the mission. He then got up and left. About thirty seconds later, Markior muttered, "En Taro Telg B'ralku."

"My orders only allow me to take you this far," the Arbiter's pilot echoed around the shuttle's rooms.
Outside was a desert - not the same as any other desert on Zolott, but it was made of black sand mixed with strands of red. On the horizon were some towering black cliffs, pointing up towards the night sky - no stars could be seen due to the clouds that shielded this place from the sun's rays.
"Mister B'ralku, this is where you start for yourself," the Zealot, First Class, told him. "The Executor shall keep watch through the observer robots, however, no contact shall me made after this point due to Mana Field disturbance - you're on your own. Just follow the map we've given you, it'll be updated every 5 seconds as the observers scan the area. Once you get inside the lair, just stay out of Ulrezaj's way, for Khas' sake. We believe that Dragon should fly you back to the base."
Writing suddenly appeared on the screen near them, with a ditty of monotonous electronic beeps.
"The Executor writes…" the Zealot read the message, "…yes. He writes, 'Get the Uraj and Khalis crystals. They may be heavily guarded, by Ulrezaj himself. They look like this picture.'"
The Zealot pointed at the image of two octahedrons, one white-blue, the other magenta. Tob nodded, and was ushered to the transport beam.
"En Taro Tassadar," the Zealot said as Tob was beamed down to the sandy floor. As he looked up, all he could see was the Arbiter, its disrupting of the Mana Field causing all objects in its radius to be cloaked in invisibility. With a wave of his hand, the Arbiter, its appearance resembling a cross between a bird-of-prey and a wasp, turned about face and started to make its way back to the base, a distortion beneath it hinting the shuttle's existence.
Tob sighed, pulled out a black, palm-sized plate and switched it on. A screen flickered into life on it, showing his path to Ulrezaj's lair. A yellow dot upon it moving south, away from him, told him of the Arbiter. Pressing a few buttons, which he hoped the Protoss symbol on them was correct for, he zoomed in on his location. A dotted lone extended to the north-east, so he turned and followed it. A few blips happened, before a box of Protoss script appeared on screen. He pressed another button, and the words became Yoshian.
"Warning! Do not stray from path - quicksand."
Great, what's new in a desert, he thought.
A moment later, "Warning! Do not stray from path - you could turn into sand and dissolve."
That's more like it!
He continued on, following the path shown to him, until another warning came up with the words, "Approaching unknown vehicle/person/aircraft! Use caution!"
Tob pulled out his gun, which folded out into a KBT issued MF-7214-A, one of the most powerful laser rifles on the Yamauchi Black Market.
"Come on, whoever you are, I'll take you on!" he yelled, and waited for the blip to approach.