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"Unlikely Help" (Forest Path) Long Chan-Chan and Radcliffe walked into the clearing and sighed. They had been travelling through the Forest Path for what seemed like an eternity. They had been attacked by almost everything that was alive in there, and now they were out. They walked up to a group of knights standing there. But they moved in their way and blocked the path! "What's the meaning of this" asked Radcliffe. "Let us pass." "I'm sorry, but I cannot do that" said the lead knight. "By orders from our capital, Rockaxe, no one may pass." "What!?" said Long, extremely annoyed. "We've come all this way for nothing!?" "I'm afraid so" said another of the knights. "You cannot pass. Sorry." "Damn!!!!" yelled Radcliffe. He advanced toward them slowly. He began unsheathing his sword, but Long placed a hand on his arm. Radcliffe looked toward him, and Long shook his head. Radcliffe nodded, and slid the sword back into its scabbard. They walked away around a tree, so that they could talk in private. "We'll just go back" said Long. "We could to Matilda by way of Muse. It may be the extremely long way around, but we'll get there, and that's all that counts." "But, we've come all this way" said Radcliffe. "We defeated the dragon, the Temple's people, monsters, and even those frickin' bugs. I'm not going to contend with those bugs, again." "Either way, we're not getting to Matilda through here" said Long. "So we should go back." "Okay" said Radcliffe. "But I'm not happy about it." They exited from behind the tree, and turned to the guards for one last time, but they weren't there! They walked over to the guards former position, and saw why they weren't there. They were all dead! Some with limbs missing, and some with deep wounds, but they were all dead. "Amazing" said Radcliffe. "For somebody to do this to three knights, as silent as they were, is utterly amazing." "Yes" said Long. "And they could still be nearby." "Well, they are dead" said Radcliffe. "And that means we can pass. I don't want to sound cold, but it's true." "Yeah" said Long, hesitantly. "Let's go." They left the clearing, and headed for Rockaxe. Long was unsure about this now, and decided to keep his worries to himself. They would have a difficult battle ahead, and they didn't need anything else to worry about. They set up camp outside of Highway village. They didn't want to tip off anybody about them being there, so they didn't enter the town itself. Long crept into his sleeping bag, while Radcliffe took first watch, as usual. Long closed his eyes and drifted off into a deep sleep. Long was standing in the blank space, again. He looked around, but no one was there. So he waited patiently for him to appear, and when he did, Long sighed. Lyonel Kingsley walked up to Long and smiled. "You're getting close" said Lyonel. "Soon you will face a very difficult battle. You can't face it alone, so take good care of Radcliffe." "Why do you care?" asked Long. "Wouldn't you want me to fail?" "Yes" said Lyonel. "But I want you to fail with honor." "Honor?" asked Long. "I didn't think you knew what honor was." "Ha ha" said Lyonel, sarcastically. "You wouldn't even be where you are if it weren't for the Temple's honor." "The knights?" asked Long. "No, that wasn't my doing" said Lyonel. "That was some of Sai's special agents' doing." "And he's stupid enough to give an order that could very well start a war?" asked Long. "No" said Lyonel. "But Master Sai wants you for a special event involving you and another. So, you never know when we might attack." "If that's a threat, I'm not very scared" said Long. "Confident aren't we?" asked Lyonel sarcastically. "When it comes to you, sure" said Long. "You can't stop me. Me, Radcliffe, and Genshu are the peoples' hope. Not even fate can stop us." "Hope? Fate?" asked Lyonel. "I believe in neither. Hope is for the weak, and fate is for the foolish. Nothing controls my destiny, except myself." "Very limited vision" said Long. "After this, we'll see who's beliefs are more correct." "Well, either way, your fate is not in my hand, right now" said Lyonel. "Master Sai has sent a few special agents your way to defeat you and Genshu. You have three coming after you, and he has one. But you still stand a better chance at surviving then he." Long thought about that for a second. He had too many unknowns now. He didn't know what he would find in Rockaxe. He didn't who these new assailants were. He didn't know when they would attack. He didn't know how Wakaba was doing. He didn't know how Jarreth was doing. He didn't know if Genshu would accept his help. He didn't know if he would meet Genshu at all. "What's a matter, Long?" asked Lyonel. "Are you scared?" "Maybe" said Long. "But I'm too preoccupied with thinking how good it'll feel defeating you to be scared." "Confident as always, eh?" asked Lyonel. "Well, I must be leaving now. I can only keep this connection open for a short time. So, I'll leave you with this nightmare to keep you aware of our power." He disappeared, but Wakaba reappeared in his position. She was wearing dark black robes. She looked at Long and smiled. Then she charged. She attacked furiously. Long could barely keep up with her. She punched and kicked with amazing speed and power. It appeared that she had gotten more powerful. "Yes, Long" she said, as if reading his thoughts. "This is how powerful I would be if I were trained by the Temple. Imagine how powerful you could've become. But you lost your chance." She came at him even more aggressively. She hit with amazing force, and Long soon found himself on the ground. Wakaba walked over to Long, and stood over him. She unsheathed a sword, and brought it up over her head. She held it there. "Now, die Long!" she yelled. But then, Radcliffe appeared. He walked over to Wakaba and cut her in half. Long yelled, and got up. He knelt over Wakaba, and began sobbing. Radcliffe walked over to Long, and pulled him up. He then looked him in the eye. "Long, it's not real" said Radcliffe, shaking him. "It's just a dream imposed by Lyonel. Snap out of it!" Long woke up in his sleeping bag. He saw daylight, and cursed. He looked toward Radcliffe, and saw the young swordsman in deep meditation. Then he opened his eyes, and looked at Long. "How'd you do that?" asked Long. "You forget" said Radcliffe. "I was part of them for over ten years. I know their tricks." "Well, thanks anyway" said Long. "I learned a few things during my talk with Lyonel, though." "What's that?" asked Radcliffe. "Well, one, I found out that it was because of the Black Star Squad that we made it past the knights" said Long. "And, two, I found out that we aren't going to be attacked by Lyonel, but by three other operatives that Sai sent." "Interesting" said Radcliffe. "This must be a punishment from Sai. He's failed against you twice before, so he's being punished by not being able to go after you." "Maybe" said Long. "Anyway, sorry for not waking up on time. You had the whole nights' watch." "Nah" said Radcliffe. "The meditation pretty much refreshed me." "Then let's get going" said Long. "We need to get to Rockaxe quickly. When there, we'll get some needed items, and weapons. From there, we'll try to find the Temple. If there even is one." Radcliffe nodded, and packed up his things. Long did the same, then they started on the road to Rockaxe. They had been walking on for a while, when they came to a fork in the road. They saw a man standing there looking at a sign. They walked up behind the man, and looked over his shoulder to the sign. One way pointed to a mountain range, the other to Rockaxe. "Which way ya' headed stranger?" asked the man. "To Rockaxe" said Long. "Going for the trading?" asked the man. "No" said Long. "For a battle." "Against those fake dragon knights?" asked the man. "No" answered Long. "Then you must the men that I'm searching for" said the man. He flipped backwards, onto the sign, and he stood there, perched like a bird. "The name's Falcon, and I'm one of Master Sai's agents" said the man. He threw off his robes, and straightened out his hands. Claws extended from each finger. Each claw was a foot long, and extremely sharp. He crossed his arms, and fell down to the ground. When he landed, he swung his arms out to either direction of himself, and then charged at Radcliffe. Radcliffe unsheathed his sword, and threw off his robes, as well. He prepared himself to ward off Falcon's attacks. Falcon reached Radcliffe, and attacked as soon as he got close. His attacks were a flurry of motion. Radcliffe fell into a kind of trance, though, and parried each attack in a fluid-like motion. Falcon swung for Radcliffe's ribs, and would have connected, but Long pulled out the staff he had taken off of one of the Temple's warriors, and blocked the attack. Then Long joined the battle. Falcon swung one of his claws at Radcliffe, and flipped over the swordsman, then he attacked at his back. Long intercepted the attack, though. Falcon, then, swung around, attacking as he spun. Radcliffe blocked a few, and Long blocked some others. Falcon then backed off, and did an expert cartwheel to end up beside the two warriors. He slashed across Long's chest, and it cut his clothes, but nothing more. Falcon, then, changed his attack focus with his other hand, and slashed at Long's legs. Long back flipped over Radcliffe, and let the young swordsman enter the fray. Radcliffe sliced down across Falcon's chest, but Falcon caught the sword in his claws, and pushed Radcliffe back. Then Long stepped in, and swung his staff at Falcon's head. He would've caved the skull right in, but Falcon ducked, and came up with an uppercut that caught Long on the arm, forcing him to wince in pain. Long dropped his staff, but lashed out with his foot. It connected with Falcon's gut, and the Silver Moon fighter backed off. Or rather tried to back off, as he found that very difficult with his claw stuck in Long's arm. Radcliffe, seeing an opportunity, sliced at Falcon. Just as his sword was about to meet Falcon's other claw, though, Radcliffe changed his attack direction, and sliced across. He got close to Long, when he came back down diagonally, all in a matter of a second. His attack connected lightly with Falcon's chest, and the sword made a small cut along Falcon's chest. Falcon, finally, managed to pull his claw out of Long's arm, and he backed off. "That's enough for now" said Falcon. "I don't want to over-exert myself in our first confrontation. I'm the weakest of the three sent to kill you, though. So have fun!" With that said, he took off like a rocket. Long and Radcliffe decided not to pursue, so they just watched him leave. Then Long stumbled to the ground, clutching his arm. He inspected it for the first time since Falcon's attack, and saw that he had two puncture wounds in his arm. They were pretty deep, and there was a lot of blood. "I need to get to a hospital" said Long. Radcliffe nodded, and helped Long to his feet. They started again toward Rockaxe, hoping they could make it there without another attack. They limped along like that the whole way, with Long stumbling along with his hand strung over Radcliffe's shoulder. Long's other arm, his injured one, was up against his chest, bleeding steadily. They were about half way to Rockaxe when Long fell to the ground. "I just need a break" said Long. "I've already lost a lot of blood. I'm getting tired." "Come on" said Radcliffe. "If you stay, you'll just lose more blood." Radcliffe picked Long up, and strung his injured comrade's arm over his body. He then picked Long up onto his feet, and they walked off, leaving a trail of blood behind them. They made it to Rockaxe, and Long stumbled into the city. Radcliffe held him up, but then Long blacked out.
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