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"The Silver Moon" (In South Window) Long Chan-Chan shuddered as a breeze blew through the streets. He was lying on the cold ground of the streets of South Window, since he ahd no money. After Drake's con of him, he had returned to South Window to beat up Joku. So, now, Joku was in a body cast, and he was sleeping on the streets. He didn't like the situation, yet he could make due. Soon, he'd have work, and then he he'd follow Drake to Toran, and get the rest of his things back. "Soon" he said aloud. A man who was sleeping across the street cursed at Long and told him to shut up. 'Oh, great. What a life' he thought grimly. Long awoke to a kick in the chest. He groaned and looked up. Standing there was a man dressed in silver robes. "Move out of the way, ya' bum" said the man. "The Temple of the Silver Moon waits for no man. So, GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Long looked around and saw that he had moved to the middle of the street during the night, and that he was blocking their chariot from passing. He got up, moved to the side of the street and grumbled. "That's better" said the man, he turned to the chariot driver. "You may pass now." The chariot drove down the street and out of Long's view. A man came up beside him and tapped Long on the shoulder. He saw that it was the bum from last night. "Buddy, you're lucky" he said, smiling. "That was the Temple of the Silver Moon. They're expert martial artists from Harmonia. They travel the world looking for possible candidates. That guy who kicked you was Lyonel Kingsley. He's a sub-lieutenant in their order. He's their recruiting agent, and master trainer. I'm hoping to get in, so that I can get off the street." "A martial art group?" Long asked skeptically. He knew that true martial artists didn't form "groups" with others. "I'd like to join, too." "Maybe we'll see each other there" said the bum, he stuck out his hand, and Long shook it. "Name's Jarreth. Jarreth Youngsfried." "Long Chan-Chan" said Long. "Pleased to meet you." Jarreth walked off, and Long stayed there for a bit. He needed to find out more about this place. If Harmonia really had a group of feared and respected martial artists, then Long needed to know about it. Heck, maybe even Wakaba had gotten involved with them. Long got up and walked in the direction that the Jarreth went in. He had almost rounded the corner where he had passed, when he heard a big crash from inside a nearby house. Long knocked on the door to check what had happened, and when nobody answered, he went in. On the floor he saw an old man under a pile of mechanical gizmos. He ran over to the man, and helped him out. "Hello" said the man. "And you would be?" "The name's Long Chan-Chan" said Long. "What happened here?" "Well, it's those Temple bozos. I know something's up with them, so I piled up all these things so, I could look out the window without being noticed. That's when I fell. . . but where are my manners? I'm Kam, a great inventor." said the man. "Well, I'm trying to be an inventor. I'm no Adlai, but I'm getting there." Long decided not to ask who Adlai was, since he had absolutely no idea what Kam was talking about. "I think something is wrong with them, too. Which is why I need to get in and impress them fast. But I don't know how" said Long. "Well, my friend. For helping me out from under there, I owe you a favor. To impress them, you need to be a good fighter. Now, I see you have a Killer rune. I could power it up for one fight with one of my machines. That way you could impress them!" said Kam, getting excited. "I like the way you think, old man" said Long, smiling. "Let's do this! I will get to the bottom of this, and then I'll come back and help you with anything you need! Gods, I haven't felt this excited for months!" Long laughed loudly. He WAS excited about this fight. He could join, and impress them, then he'd get high ranked, and find out their secrets. NOW, this is a life! Long walked out of the house looking quite satisfied. He walked down the road, and saw the Silver Moon people standing in a circle. He saw Jarreth standing in the middle of the circle panting hard, and in front of him was Lyonel Kingsley. Lyonel lashed out with a quick punch-kick-punch combo, and Jarreth went down. "Enough!" yelled an old man dressed in the Silver robes. "You've done well, young man. Get up. You should be proud to have lasted that long with a great warrior such as Lyonel. You may join us." Jarreth got up, murmured something to himself, then he stepped out of the circle. Long waved at him, and Jarreth walked over. "Good show" said Long. "You could have done better. It seemed as though you held back." "Naw" said Jarreth, laughing. "It may have seemed that way, but I tried my hardest." Suddenly the old Silver Moon man stood up and looked over the crowd. He spotted Long and smiled. He pointed at him, and the crowd parted. "You!" said the man. "You shall attempt to beat Lyonel. I can see your power. Come, enter the circle!" Long walked through the crowd, and entered the circle. He looked from Lyonel, to the old man, and back to Lyonel. He smiled and took up his fighting stance. "Now, come and show me what you got!" yelled Long. Lyonel just stood there watching. Finally, he took up his fighting stance, but still made no move to attack. So, they stood there for five minutes just staring at each other. Then they smiled at each other and Lyonel faked a step towards Long. Long didn't even flinch. "Already, you have proven yourself" said Lyonel. "You have waited for me to make the first move, and when I did, you didn't even flinch. You have already made it, but from the looks of it, you still want to fight. So, en garde!" Lyonel charged at Long and he stood his ground. "Byt the power of the "Killer" rune!" yelled Long. He lashed out with one powerful punch. Lyonel dodged out of the way, but he didn't move fast enough, so the punch only connected with his left wrist. Long heard something crack, and right away he knew that Lyonel's wrist was broken in three places. Lyonel went down, craddling his wrist, and the crowd went silent. "Enough!" said Silver man. "You are very powerful indeed. You may come with me." The man walked off, and gestured to three of his men to attend to Lyonel. The man entered his tent, and Long followed. As, he was enetring though, he heard the crowd suddenly chant his name. He smiled and entered the tent. The old man had sat down at a table. He gestured for Long to sit, and he did. "How did you get so powerful?" asked the old man. "You look like half of what you showed out there. Tell me, NOW!" Long shuddered at the man's voice. Something was compelling him to say the truth, but he had to fight it. He couldn't let this man in on his plans! Long fought against the impulse and thought he won. "I had an old scientist power up my "Killer" rune, so that I could impress you" said Long. "Then I'd join and figure out what you were up to, because I don't trust you." 'No!' thought Long. How could he have said all that? Was his mind fighting against his mouth? He needed to shut up, now! Soon, he might be telling the man Kam's name. "Is that so?" said the man. "Well, then I'll have to put you in our Elite forces. We need someone like you. And with the right mental control, I can make you do anything." 'Mental control?' thought Long. What could he mean? Was it possible that Long was being controlled? "Yes, you are being controlled, my good friend" said the man.
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