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"Old Friend" (Mountains above Ryube) Long awoke to a sense of pain. Extreme pain. It was all he could feel. He cringed, and looked around. He was lying on a cot in some woods. He couldn't remember why he was there. He tried to get up, and propped himself up on his right arm. Bad idea. It gave out on him. He turned to look at it, and saw that there was a bandadge on it. He touched it with his left hand, and felt immediate agony. He layed back down, and decided to stay there for a bit. He thought about why he would have been up here, then it hit him. The only reason he'd be in mountains was to find the Buddha's Temple. Then he remembered what had happened. He had been in a heated battle with Loki, a member of the Temple of the Silver Moon, and it had seemed grim. But, due to luck, he had won, but had been stranded on a cliff. He had been rescued by someone, and then that someone had knocked him out. Long was still thinking about it, when he heard footsteps. He turned to see who (or what) it was, and regretted it. He rolled onto his right arm, and yelled in pain. "It's not smart to do that" said the person, chuckling. "Damn you" muttered Long, while rolling onto his back. The man walked into Long's view, and Long swore. The young man had medium length blond hair that came down to his neck. He had sky blue eyes, and a smile that never left his face. He was short and stocky, and he had an air of cockyness about him. He laughed at Long, and then he shook his head. "Are you always getting beat up?" asked the man. "Shut up, Drake" answered Long, adressing the man by his name. Drake Farloking laughed again, then he looked back down at Long. "You are hopeless" stated Drake. "And once I'm better, so will you" remarked Long. "Is that any way to treat the man who saved your life?" asked Drake. "You also cheated me out of my money, and you knocked me out" said Long. "Maybe" said Drake. "But the money thing is part of my job. And knocking you out was a precaution. You aren't very happy to see me. Who knows what you might have done to me had I let you remain concious?" "Why are you here anyway?" asked Long. "I hoped that you would be out of my life forever. And now you come back suddenly to save me. Why?" "Well" started Drake. "Business was slow in Toran. I missed Wakaba. So I decided to come back. I heard from my information sources that you have been in a few fights lately, and that you are an escaped convict. I heard that you were last seen travelling in the direction, and so I made the deduction." "But how did you know about the Buddha's Temple?" asked Long. "I used to be your student, remember?" asked Drake. "You told me and Wakaba about it, and even brought us there once." "So that's it" replied Long. "Now what are you going to do now tht you are here?" "I was planning on going to Muse" answered Drake. "Lots of potential buisness there. But first, I'll accompany you to the Buddha." "Damn" muttered Long undered his breath. Drake looked at Long with lots of pity in his eyes, then he turned to his pack. "The only problem is your arm" stated Drake. "It'll be fine" said Long. "Just give me a pain-killer. The people at the Temple will help." "Okay, but be careful" said Drake. "Why?" asked Long. "Because I can't protect you" answered Drake. Long chuckled, and got up slowly. The pain in his arm subsided, and he started walking. It was night out, but Long still wanted to move. He needed to meet the Buddha as soon as possible. The two men got up, and started up the forest path that led to the Temple. It was a silent area. Nothing moved. It was nature at its best. The only sign of man was the row of trees that had fallen to the ground. Some of their trunks were scorched, and some were chopped through. There was blood on the ground, as well. It was a battle site. Two men in dark robes walked into this former battle zone. They stepped over the fallen trees, and looked for signs of where the battlers had gone. Suddenly, a hand shot through the trunk of a tree. Sawdust flew everywhere, as another hand came through beside it. Then the trunk was flung away, off of the cliff near there. The two men walked over to that area, and saw a man get up. He had long white hair, which was loose behind his head. His face bore no wrinkles, but the two men knew that he was their senior. The man turned to look at them, and they could see the rage in his eyes. His normally emerald green eyes had turned blood red in anger. "Calm down, Loki" said one of the men. "He's gone." The older man's eyes lightened up, and went from red back to green. He straightened his clothes out, and composed himself. The other two men approached him. "So you met up with him too, eh?" asked the larger of the two men. "Yes, Corinth" answered the man named Loki. "I injured him, but with a lucky shot, he knocked the trees onto me." "Ha!" laughed the smaller of the two other men. "It took two of them to beat me! It shows that you are getting old, Loki." "Watch your tone, Falcon" warned Loki. "I am your superior. Do not speak in such a manner to me. You may find that I am a worthy opponent." "Hmph!" exclamed Falcon. "Besides, I hadn't used my maximum power against him" stated Loki. "I kept myself calm and focused." "Well, either way, he is still our objective" said Corinth. "We have each failed Master Sai once, and we cannot do so again. He is still on this mountain. We must find him. He is here for a reason. And if he is seeking a hiding place, we must find him before he can hide himself. We must depart immediately." "And this time, we will go together" said Falcon. "We are stronger as a unit, not seperately." "Agreed" said Loki. Loki walked over to his crumpled robes and put them on. Strangely, they weren't wrinkled at all. He put his hood on over his head, and joined the other two men. They walked off in search of Long Chan-Chan in silence. Drake and Long walked on towards their destination. It was a tiresome journey for both of them. Drake was not used to such torturous terrain and Long was not 100%. But they kept going onwards. They had to make it to the Buddha's Temple. There Long could seek refuge, and training. He may be a teacher, but it was rumored that the Buddha was hundreds of years old, and knew just about everything. It was due to the "perfect" frame of mind. The legend went that if you attained that, then your lifespan would be greatly improved, and your power would increase tenfold. It was Long's ultimate goal, and nothing would stand in his way. "How are you holding up?" asked Drake, from up ahead. "I'm fine. You?" asked Long. "Great" said Drake, in between deep breaths. Long smiled at Drake's determination. The young man was desperatly trying to hide his tiredness. Long acknowledged the young man's courage, but he hoped that he would keep up. If he collapsed suddenly, Long wouldn't be able to do much in his present condition. They walked on for a bit longer, then they exited the tree cover. They came out on a barren mountain peak, covered in snow. Long looked to the top of the slope, and saw the Temple. He was so close, yet so far. To get there, they still needed to get up the treacherous slope, which could make them slip down at any notice. "Damn" said Drake. "I forgot about this part of the trip. I had hoped that they got rid of it, and installed an elevator. Ah well, let's get going." Long nodded, and started up. He went up one step at a time. Slowly. Surely. He would not force himself to go faster, as that could spell his doom. The cliff was narrowing, and this was the worst part of the slope. The ice was not visible, and it could make even the most surefooted men slip to their deaths. Long creapt up, and took a glance behind him. He saw Drake starting up the slope. He was taking a faster pace, as he did not want to spend too much time here. He slipped, though, and Long stopped breathing for a second, but Drake regained his footing near the bottom of the slope. He continued up the path, and soon the cliff reached its narrowest. He was going up an inch at a time. Cautious step by cautious step. If he layed down right now, his sides would be sticking out on either edge. That was how narrow the cliff was. He past that part, and kept going. Finally, he stopped to catch his breath. He looked back at Drake, but couldn't see him. Long got nervous, but then he looked down a bit farther, and saw why he hadn't made any progress. Drake was standing at the bottom of the slope, and behind him, holding a sword across his neck, was Loki. He had a red glare in his normally emerald eyes. Standing behind Loki, smiling at Long, was Corinth and Falcon. They were laughing and were looking directly at Long. Long swore under his breath, and looked at Drake. He seemed to be calm, and composed. Which was commendable in his situation. "Go Long!" yelled Drake. "Don't come down! Get to the Temple!" "Make one move towards the Temple" started Falcon. "And your friend here gets it. We aren't against killing him. If you remember, he was on our "Wanted" list. Come down here, or he dies." Long was torn. He had to either get to safety, or sacrifice Drake. Now, he didn't like the guy, but he was a friend who had helped Long. Besides, Long's sense of honor forbade him from leaving someone behind like this. "Alright, I'm coming down" yelled Long. The slope shook a bit, and then Long remembered that avalanches were a possibility. He shrugged it off, and began his decent. Drake was squirming in Loki's clutches. He looked like he would try to break free at any moment. "Let me go!" yelled Drake. He stamped down on Loki's foot, and when the man let go of Drake for a brief second, Drake broke free. He began his climb up the slope. He was going staedily faster than usual. He lost his footing a few times, but luckily held on. The three men folowed up behind Drake, but they could only advance one at a time, due to the narrowness of the slope. Loki was in the lead, with Falcon behind him, and Corinth bringing up the rear. Long kept going down to reach Drake. He reached him at the narrow part. Long moved aside to let Drake pass. He did, but following close behind him was Loki. "I've waited a long time for this" he said. Loki brought his sword up, and was preparing (and had every intention) of bringing it down on Long's head. Long had nowhere to go. He was at the slope's narrowest point. Left meant death. Right meant death. Forward would most likely mean death. Backward would definetly mean death, as Loki's blow could easily be redirected. But, maybe left or right didn't necessarily mean death. . . As the sword was coming down, Long rolled to the right, and fell off the edge. But he held on the side. Using the momentum of his role, he let go with one arm, garbbed the other side, and forced up with all of his might. His feet went right through the ice slope. It was thin enough, and the sword had weakened it when it missed Long. His feet drove right up and hit Loki in the face. Long twinged in pain. He knew he probably broke his leg. One more bone to add to the list. Loki, off balance, fell off the edge. He grabbed on with one hand, but really didn't have the strength to hold on for much longer. Drake pulled Long up, and they looked at the slope begin to crumble on either side. Long's kick had really weakened it. This spot held the hole slope together despite its narrowness and its thinness. "Oh hell" said Drake. He and Long scrambled up the slope as fast as they could. They were going pretty fast, considering that Long had a newly broken leg. They took a peek back, and saw Falcon and Corinth sliding back down the slope. Loki, on the other hand, was still hanging on. But the slope couldn't take his weight in its newly weakened condition. It collapsed. Loki fell with the slope down out of sight. Long shrugged, and climbed the rest of the slope with Drake, leaving Falcon and Corinth behind him. They reached the temple without any other obstacles. So, there was only one more left. The temple's people itself. Long approached the door, and knocked. They waited for a bit, but it finally opened, revealing the relatively small first room. Standing there was a tall, well-built man. He was a splitting image of Long, except that he was a bit taller, and he had a disfigured nose. Long gulped when he saw the man. He had his arms crossed, and had a stern look on his face. Who's he?" asked Drake. "Drake meet Master Yin Chiong" said Long. "Oh" said Drake, he turned and whispered to Long. "Isn't that the guy you punched out?" Long nodded, and gulped again. At the bottom of a deep mountain, in a small valley, there was a mess of rock and ice. The ice was melting slowly, but there was a high quantity of rock in the mix. To any normal observer, it would seem as if it was a natural formation after the ice melted. But the observer that found the formation knew it was unnatural. And as he stood there looking at it, he got his proof. A single fist, covered in blood, broke through the rubble, and reached for the sky.
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