"Let's rest here" said Radcliffe. "We're approaching the Forest Path to Matilda, and this'll be the perfect spot for an ambush, and I want to be rested if that happens."

Long nodded, and sat against a tree. He began meditating to let the flow of mental energy enlarge.

"Long" said Radcliffe, from behind him.

Long snapped out of his trance, and turned around. Radcliffe was leaning against a tree.

"So, how did you get involved with the Temple?" asked Radcliffe.

"I had joined them for a period of time" said Long. "We were on route from South Window, where they were recruiting, to Muse where they had a temple. I was under a mind control spell the whole time. Finally, near Muse, Lord Jeju, the master of the group, told us about a mission, in which I would have to kill a friend of mine. I refused, killed Jeju, I killed about thirty other men, and gained an ally. Then the blood conflict began. They killed a friend of mine, paralysed that ally that I was talking about, and now are threatening to turn my own apprentice against me."

"Wakaba?" asked Radcliffe.

"Yes" Long answered solemnly. "Right now Wakaba's only hope is Genshu."

"Well then she's in luck" said Radcliffe. "Genshu is extremely powerful. He'll protect your apprentice.

"Now," said Long. "You tell me how you got involved with the Temple."

"Okay" said Radcliffe. "But I warn you it's a long story."

"That's fine with me" said Long, as he sat back against a tree.

"Then here I go" said Radcliffe.

"It all began when I was three. I was abducted from my family while they were on a business trip to Greenhill. They were killed by slavers, and I was taken. The slavers sold me into the possession of the Temple. For the next thirteen years, I was trained. After a while, I began to be suspicious about the temple. I looked into several things, and I thought that I wasn't being noticed. Until one day, I was chosen for a mission. . ."

Radcliffe stood on the ledge of the cliff, and looked down. It was a pretty long drop, and a normal human being probably wouldn't survive the fall. But he wasn't a normal human being.

He walked back ten paces, then he shot off like a bullet. He jumped off of the cliff, and fell through the air. He positioned his body so that he would glide into the cliff face, and hit it running. His feet were a blur of motion as he fell. Then he pushed off the cliff face, and flew away from it. He caught the branch of a nearby tree, and then fell to the ground harmlessly. He brushed himself off, then he heard clapping behind him. He turned and saw Master Kin standing there. Radcliffe snapped to attention, and stared straight ahead.

"Good job, my young apprentice" said Kin. "That was quite amazing. That only strengthens my decision."

"What decision, Master?" asked Radcliffe.

"Walk with me" said Kin.

Kin walked off, and Radcliffe followed behind him. They walked on past the other trainees fighting in the courtyard.

"I have chosen you for something special" said Kin. "It is to lead a group of our warriors into battle."

"Where, Master?" asked Radcliffe. "And why me?"

"Do not question my judgement" said Kin. "I will send you to Muse. From there you will go to Greenhill, then to the Forest Path to Matilda. A group of bandits have made their hideout there. I want you to exterminate them."

"Yes, Master" said Radcliffe.

"Good, now hurry off. You must prepare for the mission" said Kin, shooing him off.

When Radcliffe was safely out of sight, a young man walked up to Kin.

"The preparations are ready" said Kin. "You will go with Radcliffe and kill him. He is getting too nosy for his own good. There will be no bandits. It will be you, he and three others that will go there. Do not fail me, Ashton."

"Yes, Master Kin" said Ashton.

Ashton walked back into the shadows, and disappeared from view. Kin walked on into the temple and smiled. It was all finally falling into place. With Radcliffe dead, no one would investigate the temple anymore. He was the leader of these rebels, and with him gone, they would crumble. Radcliffe was strong, but the Temple did not need him.

Radcliffe gathered the things he would need on the mission into his pack. A medi-pack, a lamp, and a pad of paper to record his findings at the bandit camp. He then went to his closet, and pulled out his scabbard. In it was his sword, and specially made sword moulded from a powerful diamond. It was light, and extremely resilient. It suited his combat needs.

He attached the scabbard to his belt, and put the pack on his back. He left his room, and started down the hall, and walked into the briefing room. He saw that the briefing for the other men was over, and they were preparing to leave. Master Kin was conducting the briefing personally.

"Ah, Radcliffe" said Kin. "Just in time. The men were preparing to leave. Accompanying you will be Ashton, Xanadu, Jolius, and this young one named Lyonel. He's new, but powerful, and shouldn't slow you down much. Now go. You much catch the bandits off guard. Attack at night."

Radcliffe nodded, and all of the men left the room. They followed behind Radcliffe until they got to the courtyard. Radcliffe turned to the men.

"Lyonel, you'll travel with me. Xanadu and Jolius will be the rear-guard, and Ashton, you scout ahead. I want to know what we're up against" said Radcliffe.

The others nodded, and Ashton took off at a light jog. Radcliffe and Lyonel walked behind him at a slower pace, and Xanadu and Jolius waited for a few minutes, then walked on. They travelled in silence the whole way.

Radcliffe and Lyonel arrived at the Forest Path, and saw Ashton standing there. They waited for Xanadu and Jolius who arrived a few minutes earlier. Radcliffe scanned the area and announced his findings.

"There is nothing here" he said.

"Very observant" said Ashton. "That way no one will witness your death."

Radcliffe sprung to attention, but it was too late. Xanadu and Jolius grabbed his arms, and Ashton grabbed his legs, he went down hard. Lyonel stood there with a blank expression on his face. They bound Radcliffe in metal bindings, and he lay there on the ground, completely motionless.

"You'll pay for this" said Radcliffe. "I'm one of Kin's favourite apprentices."

"You assume too much" said Ashton. "It was Kin who told us to do this. He knows about your investigation, and wants you to die for it. That's why he sent me on this mission."

With that, Ashton pulled a dagger out of his cloak. It shined in the moonlight.

"With this I will kill you, and forever be favoured by Master Kin" said Ashton.

He raised the dagger above his head, and brought it down, but stopped mid-way.

"I think I'll leave this honour to the newcomer" he said. "Here Lyonel."

He handed the dagger to Lyonel, and Lyonel nodded. Lyonel raised the dagger over his head, and brought it down straight into Radcliffe's chest. Radcliffe cried out in pain. The dagger was inches away form his heart. But, he wasn't dead yet. Lyonel pulled the dagger out of Radcliffe's chest.

"Fool, you missed!" said Ashton.

He took the dagger from Lyonel, and was about to plunge it into Radcliffe's heart, when a animal cry came from about twenty feet away. Ten more cries joined it, and soon, ten more. Ashton dropped the dagger, and got up slowly. Just then, a huge bear shot out of the woods. It was easily twenty feet tall, and weighed a ton, or more. Xanadu charged at it, and he was swatted aside by a huge bear paw.

Seeing this, Jolius ran in the opposite direction, but another bear appeared, and jabbed his claw right through Jolius. The other bears came out, and formed a circle around Lyonel, Ashton, and Radcliffe.

Radcliffe, with his remaining strength, broke free of the bindings, and got up. He unsheathed his sword, and moved toward Ashton. He swiped down at him, and scratched his chest. Ashton stumbled backward. Then, Lyonel exploded into action, and attacked with some sort of magic.

"Dark Gate rune. . . SHOW ME YOUR POWER!" he shouted.

Darkness engulfed the area, and a huge serpent-like monster appeared. It had ten heads, and attacked the bears. One head attacked with fire, while another with earth, another with water, and yet another with wind. A fifth head attacked with ice, and a sixth, with a poison snap. The eighth attacked with lightning, and a ninth with starlight. Finally, the tenth kept healing the other heads whenever they got damaged.

Ashton and Lyonel seized this opportunity to flee.

"But what about Radcliffe?" asked Lyonel.

"The dragon thing will get him" said Ashton.

Lyonel nodded, then they ran off at full speed. The dazzling light display that was the dragon kept attacking the bears. Soon they realized that they should just cut their losses and run, so they fled. Leaving Radcliffe alone with the ten-headed dragon. Radcliffe stumbled to the ground, and fell into the small pool of blood that his wound had created. The dragon crawled over to Radcliffe, and looked down upon him. Radcliffe closed his eyes, and succumbed to his fate.

Radcliffe paused in his tale, and Long looked at him, mouth wide open.

"So what happened next?" asked Long, excited.

"I can't remember" answered Radcliffe.

"What do you mean?" asked Long.

"I mean I don't remember" answered Radcliffe. "I woke up in a house in Forest Village. The villagers claimed they didn't know anything about the dragon. So, I rested up there, and then I set off in a journey of training. And that's what I've been doing for the past 15 years. When I heard about the Temple coming to the village, and went there right away. I was afraid that they were going to be attacked in retribution for me. When I found out what had happened, I was slightly relieved. Then you showed up, and now I've finally got a way to get revenge."

"You mentioned a Master Kin in your tale" said Long. "But when Lyonel was talking to me, he mentioned a Master Sai. What's with that?"

"Sai killed Kin, then said that Genshu had murdered him" said Radcliffe. "Then Sai took control, and he's even more ruthless then Kin. He devious, and cruel. Not to mention he's also as powerful as 100 men. He is a force to be reckoned with."

"Well, then" said Long. "And it appears that you also have a hateful relationship with Lyonel. But, I didn't know he possessed such a powerful rune."

"Yeah, well, Lyonel seemed to be the kind of person who wouldn't make knowledge like that wide-spread" said Radcliffe. "But, no I don't like him very much anyway."

Long nodded. At least now they had two things in common. He got up, and stretched his legs out. He was fully rested now, and was ready for anything. Radcliffe got up, as well, and looked toward the direction of the path.

"Well, let's get going" said Long.

Radcliffe nodded, and walked up ahead of Long. Long sighed, and followed along behind him. They reached the path after a few minutes, but then, suddenly, Radcliffe's chest started glowing.

"What the hell!?" yelled Radcliffe.

Long stepped back to examine the surroundings, ready for anything. Just then, though, the giant ten-headed dragon appeared! Radcliffe jumped backward in shock, but the dragon just watched. Then the strangest thing happened. It started to talk.

"Young warrior, pure of heart" said the dragon. "We let you live because we could feel your greatness. We healed you, and left to be found. You are a guardian of light, and are very powerful. We are from a dark dimension, and believe that once a warrior of pure heart is found, he should be revered. You will face many hardships along your quest. You have already faced many. To pass you must defeat us. Only then will you be able to reach your goals."

Radcliffe nodded, but didn't have time to react as the dragon lunged. It attacked with all of its heads. Radcliffe avoided the attacks, and unsheathed his sword. It was the same diamond sword that he had owned when he was a member of the Temple. He leaped up onto the dragon's healing head, and attacked it. He cut off the head, and the whole neck went limp. Radcliffe was not expecting this, so he fell of onto the ground. He landed hard, and when he did, the other heads attacked as one. Luckily for Radcliffe though, Long entered the fray. He charged at the dragon, and begun attacking it's main body. He punched and kicked for all he was worth, and distracted them long enough for Radcliffe to recover. Radcliffe stood right in front of the dragon, and called out for the power of his rune. Lightning sprayed across the area, and zapped the dragon numerous times. The dragon's head's turned their attack focus onto Radcliffe, and Long seized the opportunity.

"Star Lightning Kick!" he cried.

His foot lashed out numerous times and hit the dragon in the chest each time. Then Long pulled his foot back, and the residual lightning coursed through the dragon.

"Killer rune. . . SHOW ME YOUR POWER!" yelled Long.

Then his killer rune powered his fist up, and he drove it into the mighty beast. His hand plowed through it. Meanwhile, Radcliffe had killed two more heads. He was getting used to the neck going limp thing, and was able to jump off before he lost his footing. He was getting tired, though. Fram had been right, he wasn't prepared for long battles. He was getting slower, and that would get him killed.

Long on the other hand, was perfectly fine. Sure his attacks weren't causing as much damage as Radcliffe's but he was still going strong. The dragon's chest area was weakening, and soon, a killer blow would be able to be done. The dragon was losing a lot of blood, and that would hurt it in the long run.

"Radcliffe, switch spots, you can do a killer blow down here!" yelled Long. "I'll keep the heads busy!"

Radcliffe nodded, and jumped off of a head. He landed on the ground, and rolled under a burst of fire. He came up under the beast's heads, beside Long. Long, then, flipped backwards, and jumped in front of the dragon. He ran back and forth, flipping all over the place. The dragon's heads got dizzy after a while, and their attacks got sloppier and sloppier.

Radcliffe, who was under the heads, sliced at the dragon's chest. He was drawing more and more blood each time. Finally, he called forth all of his strength and plunged the sword right into the dragon. It cried out in agony. Long, seeing his opportunity, ran to the chest area.

"Star Lightning Kick!" yelled Long.

Yet again, his foot lashed out many times. He then pulled back, and lightning coursed through the dragon. The energy reached the area where Radcliffe had made his incision, and the dragon blew up.

Long and Radcliffe went flying through the air. They flew twenty feet, easily. They hit the ground hard. When the blast subsided, they heard a voice.

"Very good young warrior" they heard the dragon's voice say. "Now go, and defeat the darkness."

Long got up, and wiped himself off. His clothes were red with blood. He turned and looked to Radcliffe, who looked very similar. Radcliffe's long blond hair was red now. Long walked over to Radcliffe.

"So, we've done it" said Long. "Now we have clear sailing to Rockaxe."

"Well, except for the other dwellers of the Path, and the Temple people" said Radcliffe.

"You are very pessimistic" said Long. "You know that?"

"Shut up" said Radcliffe.

Yet again, Radcliffe walked away, and took the lead. Long swore, and jogged to catch up. He really had to work on Radcliffe's people skills. He caught up to Radcliffe, and they walked on in silence.

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