"Are you alright, Meester?" asked the child.

Long rubbed his head, then sat up. He looked the child eye-to-eye. He nodded, and got up. He looked around, but could not see Wakaba anywhere.

"Are you looking for someone, Meester?" asked the child.

"Yes, I am" answered Long, clearly annoyed.

"Is she a fighter?" asked the girl.

"Why yes, she is" answered Long surprised.

"They all left to go somewhere" said the girl.

Long rubbed his chin for a second. He thought about what the girl said. Wakaba could be anywhere. More importantly the Temple of the Silver Moon people were everywhere, and Long wasn't too popular with them. He now had to find Wakaba.

"Momma said they was goin' ta Muse city, wherever that is" continued the girl. Long had completely forgot she was there.

"Muse?" asked Long.

"Ah huh. Yep. Definitely" said the girl.

"Hmm" mumbled Long. "Quite an unfortunate turn of events. But I'll have to leave to go there immediately."

"Um. . ." started the girl. "Mister fighting man, would you please except my invitation to stay at my house. You look beat up and tired, so please stay. Mommy will be okay with it."

Long thought for a second, then he nodded. It wasn't everyday that people were welcoming him into their towns. In South Window he ended up on the street, in Muse he had a bad premonition, and in Greenhill he got thrashed by Lyonel. At least here, in the calming serenity of Forest Village, he could relax.

"Okay" answered Long.

The young girl smiled, and motioned for Long to follow her. She skipped along up the road, but almost ran into a cloaked figure standing beside a building.

"Sorry, mister Radcliffe" said the girl. "I didn't see you there."

"Yeah, well just go away" said Radcliffe, dismissingly.

The girl backed away slowly, as if she was frightened. Long looked angrily at Radcliffe, and stepped up to him.

"You could be more polite" said Long. "She's just a child."

"And who are you?" asked Radcliffe, snickering. "Protector of All Things Annoying? Begone. I don't want to waste my time on you."

Long snorted and turned around. He walked off, dragging the girl behind him. They walked on in silence, and he let the girl go. He turned her around to face him.

"Who was he?" he asked.

"A powerful man who just arrived" said the girl. "He's scary, and was asking about the Temple of the Silver Moon. I don't like him."

Long nodded quickly, and motioned for her to walk on. They finally arrived at the girl's house, and they entered. Long saw that it was the largest house in the village. He turned, and saw an old man sitting at a table.

"Grandpa!" said the girl.

She rushed over to the man, and he scooped her up onto his lap. He bounced her up and down, then set her back down on the ground.

"Hello" he said to Long, never looking in his direction. "Please come. Sit down."

Long walked over to the table, and sat across from the old man.

"My grand-daughter says that she offered you shelter for tonight. Do you want it?" asked the old man.

"Yes, please" said Long.

"I'm the village chief" the old man said as he extended his hand across the table to shake Long's. "I guess you're here to see the Silver Moon people. They're gone."

"No" Long said, while shaking his head. "I was here to see my apprentice, Wakaba."

"Aah, yes. Her" said the chief. "She went to Muse. My daughter is gone their on business, as well."

"Dang" said the girl. "Mommy's gone."

"I'm going after her" said Long.

"I didn't doubt that" said the chief. "But I think you should know about what you're up against, so I'll teach you about them. You may learn some important things."

"Why not?" said Long. "I've got all night."

The girl got off of the chief, and sat in a chair beside him, but when the chief shook his head, she nodded solemnly and walked off.

"This may be too much for young Daria. I don't want her knowing what they are like" he said. "By the way, you may call me Fram. It is my name."

Long nodded and got settled in, but Fram motioned to the sofa and the plush chair beside it. Long nodded and moved over to the sofa, while Fram sat in the chair.

"These men are ruthless, yet honorbound. Most of them are innocents, but their higher ups and elites are cold and cunning. Few have ever been able to leave the Temple. Genshu is one, and Radcliffe, the man who is in the village, is another. Genshu left after winning a duel, but Radcliffe was thrown out. They left him for dead, but miraculously he survived. He was originally from this village, and that is why he has returned. Their goal is world domination. They want to rule with an iron fist. They want only the strong, and they believe that the weak should die" said Fram.

"Is there any way to get out of a blood conflict with them?" asked Long.

"Yes" said the chief, and Long sighed in relief. "You must either be killed, or you must defeat every last one of them."

Long swore. He couldn't defeat all of them. Even with Radcliffe, Gen-whatever-his-name, and Wakaba. It would be tough, but now he was in it until the end. He couldn't run from a fight, even if it meant his own death.

"I take it from your reaction that you are in a blood conflict with them?" asked Fram.

"Yes" answered Long. "And what's worse is that Master Sai is curious about me."

"That's not good. Sai is the most evil creature ever. I doubt you'll ever escape this" said Fram.

"I didn't plan on escaping. I'm going to fight" said Long.

"That's not very smart, but I commend your courage" said Fram. "And for that I will help you."

"How?" asked Long.

"Radcliffe will listen to me" said Fram. "You'll need his help. He is a master with his sword, and he has a unique combat style. It combines martial arts and swordplay. He would be a powerful ally."

"I don't know" said Long. "He's conceited and selfish, and I don't know if I want to work with someone like that."

"Hmm. . ." said Fram. "Your personalities are very similar, and that could cause a problem."

"What!?" yelled Long. "I don't need him, and I definitely don't need you!"

Long got up, and stormed out the door. That mayor had insulted him, and he wouldn't take it. He walked down the road, and saw the entrance of the village. It was being blocked by two men wearing silver robes. Long turned to walk away, but three more men came out of hiding.

"Long Chan-Chan?" asked one of them. "My name is Ashton. Come with me or die."

Long nodded, and bowed his head. But when the three men behind him came to capture him, he lashed out with a kick at one, and a punch at another. The two at the entrance ran to help their comrades. Out of the corner of Long's eye, he saw Daria.

"Run!" yelled Long. "Go get help!"

Then the two that Long had knocked down entered the fray, and the chaos was complete.

Daria ran down the road to her house and entered. She bumped into Radcliffe who was standing at the entrance talking to Fram.

"Daria, what's wrong?" asked Fram.

"Grandpa, mister fightind man is in twouble. He's fighting men in silver robes" she said.

"This is my arena" said Radcliffe. "Just stay here and hide."

Fram nodded, and grabbed Daria. He shued her away into her room, and waved goodbye to Radcliffe. He then went to the kitchen and sat at the table there. Radcliffe left the house quickly.

Long fought them off, barely. He was being backed down an alley between a building and a row of trees, and was losing his momentum. He wouldn't last much longer. Luckily for him, though, at least not all of them could attack him now. Ashton and two others were blocked off by two of their comrades. Long blocked, and attacked, but for every of his attacks, they would do five. He finally managed to knock one down, and he still blocked the other three. Long, then attacked the other one, and had almost knocked him down, until Ashton hit him with a fire spell. Long flew back against a tree.

Long thought he was done for. They were closing in with Ashton at the head of them. Ashton raised his hand to cast the spell again, but never got to. Suddenly, and current of electricity attacked all of the ToSM people, and then Radcliffe attacked.

He cut through two of them, cutting an arm off of a third. He then directed his attack to the fourth member, and it cut him in half at the waist. Only Ashton was left standing. Radcliffe stared at him malevolently, and Ashton quivered.

"You!" said Ashton, stunned. "You were dead!"

"No!" yelled Radcliffe. "You left me for dead. You almost killed me Ashton, and then you didn't have the guts to finish the job. I was an inch from death, but now I'm back. And I'm coming after you."

Radcliffe moved aside, and let Ashton get passed him.

"Now go!" yelled Radcliffe. "Go, and tell your people that I'm coming for them. They have to worry about me, too now. Not just Genshu and Long, here. GO!"

Ashton fled at high speed to get away. Radcliffe turned to Long, then he walked away toward Fram's house. Long got up slowly, and limped his way over there, as well.

Long entered the house and collapsed. He hit the ground with a thud. He didn't know how tired he actually, but in the past two weeks, he hadn't rested, and he had taken two beatings during that period of time.

Fram rushed over to him immediately, and motioned to Radcliffe to pick Long up. Radcliffe shook his head, and Long had trouble understanding what Radcliffe said to Fram, but Fram just sighed, and tried to pick Long up himself. He was unsucessful, so he just brought his medical equipment to where Long had fallen.

He tore off Long's shirt, and began applicating some cream to Long's burns. They were pretty severe. Long gasped in pain, and almost blacked out, but he forced himself to remain concious just to spite Radcliffe. The pain subsided soon after, though.

Long, then, looked down at his own chest, and saw the burns himself. His flesh was torn apart, and blackened. Just then, though, Fram applied the disinfectant, and Long passed out.

Long woke up in a bed in Fram's house. He felt his chest, and miraculously he felt nothing wrong. He pulled off the blanket, and saw only pink flesh. Beautiful pink flesh. No burns, no scars. Long shook his head, and got up. He walked outside the room, and saw Radcliffe and Fram drinking tea together.

"Well, you sure slept awhile" said Radcliffe, snickering.

"What, a few hours?" asked Long.

"Try a week" said Fram. "You were so banged up that you were out for a week."

"And since you were too pathetic to get to the bed, I had to help" said Radcliffe. "Now that I see that you are too weak to be a threat to me, I don't see anything wrong with helping you."

Long turned red with rage. He opened and closed his fists numerous times, then he stormed over to Radcliffe and picked him up by the shirt.

"Now you listen, you self-centered, confident, ignorant little prick!" said Long. "If you think that you're so much better, than why don't we go a round outside? If you're man enough that is?"

"You and me?" said Radcliffe, while laughing. "I can see your strength, but it's not enough to beat me. Maybe with a few more years of training, or if you were a few years younger. . ."

"WHAT!?" said Long. "I can thrash men ten years younger than me. And I'm like a fine wine, I get better with age, so don't call me old. I'll take you."

"Ha!" said Radcliffe. "It would be a waste of my time. To beat you up would be far too easy. . ."

"ENOUGH!" said Fram, who said it with enough force to make Long let go of Radcliffe, and both men straightened and looked at him. "You two need each other to survive. Thanks to you, Radcliffe, the whole Temple will know that your coming, and you can't take them alone. You're good for short fights, not long ones. And you, Long, have a blood feud with them. That's as good as being dead. You don't have the power that Radcliffe has, but you have three times the stamina as he. Don't you see it? You need each other. One of you is not enough! You must help each other. Not fight each other!"

Long turned to look at Radcliffe, and Radcliffe turned to look at Long. Radcliffe snickered, then he lowered his head.

"When do you want to leave?" Radcliffe asked.

"That's better" said Fram. "Now get out of here! You two need to catch up with the Silver Moon people. Go to Rockaxe. Muse has fallen, they were defeated by Genshu and his gang."

"Wakaba?" asked Long.

"Probably fine" said Fram. "My daughter got back yesterday, and she told me. So get going quick."

Long nodded and left for the door. But, Radcliffe pulled him back, and stepped in front of Long.

"I lead" he said.

"No, I lead" said Long.

They kept outmaneuvering each other, and kept doing when they left the house. When they were gone, Fram sighed to himself.

"God help them" he said. "They're gonna' need it."

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"Long Chan-Chan" and "Suikoden 2" are (C) Konami This chapter was posted on May 19, 2000