In this four chapter Monster Rancher fanfic, a sequel to my "Arachnophobia", fanfic, Tiger has his sight taken from him during a heroic act he is committing and is left blind! Will he be able to get through, and if so, will he ever be able to get his sight back? Find out in this story centered around my favorite MR character that is also an ode to the Marvel superhero Daredevil, whose movie partially inspired this story.
I own none of the characters. All of them belong to Monster Rancher.
EYE OF THE TIGER
Chapter 1-Blinded By The Luck(Or Lack Thereof)
The goodies had most definitely had it good since Gray Wolf had overcome his fear of spiders(though spiders still made him uneasy)and destroyed the infamous Tyrant-Ula. They all were feeling much better, especially the aforementioned Gray Wolf, and the normal swing of things was pretty much back to what it was. Okay, no "pretty much" about it.
But this was not to last. Why? Because at one point, the Monster Rancher gang was called on over by a village to visit them and to answer some long wondered beliefs or legends about them and whether they were true or not. While they were happy to do this, they did not know this would lead to their worst catastrophe yet, and particularly in the case of Tiger. How was this so? Well, let's just say you will see in due time.
Anyway, once they got there, they began answering the questions and tying up quite a few loose ends in the process, when suddenly who should show up but Lilim! She had not, as it turned out, been killed by General Durahan way back when, but rather had managed to escape him before he could kill her and fly off in hiding for a while. Now she was back, and, having as of yesterday, while still hiding, heard of all that was so at this point since she last was seen, from beginning to end, was pissed, and was going to show it in the worst way. She didn't have any of her baddy troops of the past, but she didn't believe she'd need it for this particular restart of her evil ways.
"Hello, you insignificant maggots!" Lilim said. "Bet you thought you were rid of me, didn't you? And I'm talking to both the goody rebels down there, traitors or otherwise, and you puny humans, by the way!" "LILIM!" exclaimed the goodies in unison. "That's my name! Don't wear it out!" she said. "Anyhow, I've heard, since disappearing and seemingly dying back when Durahan meant to kill me, but I escaped, about all of what happened between then and now, and I am very angry indeed! Especially at you, Pixie, Gray Wolf, Big Blue! How dare you betray the cause of Master Moo!" "You're a fine one to talk about betrayal, bitch!" Gray Wolf snarled.
"You and your insolent mouth!" Lilim shouted. "Though considering your brother, it's not surprising you'd have one!" "That same mouth is going to chow down on you, Lilim, along with my own!" Tiger snapped at her. "Only if I choose not to stay in the air, and I won't!" Lilim retorted. "But the point of my being here is still for a fight. So, if you're all as powerful as you seemed to be before, let's see if you've still got it, hmmm? Especially since this village will for sure depend on your defeating me…IF IT WANTS TO GO ON EXISTING!"
"All right, everyone," Genki said, "I think it's safe to say it's go time!" So everyone got ready to fight, and Lilim said: "My, this will be fun! Don't you humans go anywhere, by the way! Once I'm through with them, you'll be my dessert!" She tried to hit them with a blast of explosive force, but Pixie countered it with one of her own. "Give it up, Lilim!" she said, flying into the air. "You couldn't take me or Tiger one on one, let alone all of us at once!" "Oh, but I've well prepared for this, you wannabe whore!" Lilim said, and she flew into Pixie. But Pixie put a kick into her gut after this and said: "Not so well from the looks of things!"
But Lilim slapped Pixie aside and then unleashed another blast: "But believe it or not," she said, "I didn't come here to ACTUALLY fight you! No, I came here to put you all to death in one go! And to pay you, Tiger, back for the way you humiliated me in my first major mission as a baddy leader! Simultaneously, by the way!" "What?" Golem exclaimed. "Oh, you'll see!" Lilim laughed. "Look where the damn blast is going! Not at any of you, not at any of the measly humans, but, rather," She pointed to a large stack of barrels which were full of acid, and these were usually used for the making of a special kind of fuel this particular village used for important reasons but kept in check to make sure it wouldn't become disastrous.
"In just seconds now, this whole village and everyone in it will be bathed in a shower of acid and you'll all melt quicker than ice cubes on a frying hot summer day!" Lilim cackled. The goodies all yelled: "NO!" in unison, and while everyone else fought with Lilim to keep her from trying to stop anyone who'd try to prevent this, Tiger ran like he'd never run in his life, which of course was saying something, to blow his ice breath on the barrels and the acid within so that it'd all be turned to solid ice and there would be no acid shower. He reached them in time so that he was able to do exactly this, but just as the last barrel was being frozen solid like the others from the inside out, fortune took a turn for the worse.
When the blast hit, all but a small portion of the last barrel was nothing but solid ice, but there was still some acid left in it. So, as a result, the explosion went off and for the most part, it was nothing but ice shards going everywhere. But what little of the acid barrel remained made it so the acid that was left flew in a straight spray, AND DIRECTLY AT TIGER'S EYES! And in spite of how fast he was, he had no time to dodge for how he was still trying to turn it all to ice even now and wouldn't have had time with how fast it was coming at him anyway, even with his impressive speed. Tiger only had time to open his beautiful amber eyes widely in alarm as the acid splattered right across them, and he screamed in pain.
"TIGER!" Gray Wolf exclaimed as he and everyone else heard this, and then Lilim said: "Oh, dear God! This is just wonderful! Even as your friend managed to stop my acid shower as you held me off so I couldn't prevent that, still do I pay him back and I put you at a major league disadvantage, since he is one of the most powerful and crucial members of your group, along with my pathetic goody counterpart and his brother! I think my work here is done!" And she in the next instant took off cackling before anyone could stop her. The village was saved, but Tiger needed help and everyone, villager or goody, rushed to him. But especially the latter. And the likes of Gray Wolf, Genki, Holly and Hare in particular, unsurprisingly.
"Tiger! Brother!" Gray Wolf shouted as he looked down, as tense as could be, at his writhing brother, who had fallen on his side and thrashed about in pain after the acid hit his eyes. "Please tell me he's going to be okay!" "Hold on, we have to find a way to help him…" Holly said. "Oh, God! I may not like Tiger any more than he likes me, and I wanted him to get his one of these days, BUT NOT LIKE THIS!" Hare yelled in anguish. "Tiger! Can you hear us?" Genki asked. "I CAN!" Tiger roared, unable to control his tone due to his current agony. "BUT WHAT I CAN'T FUCKING DO IS SEE! Where are all of you? I see nothing but black, dammit!"
"Nothing but black?" Pixie asked. "Oh, God…tell me this isn't what I think it means…" "Chi…" Mocchi said. "Mocchi not like the looks of this, Chi…" "He needs a doctor, and fast!" Big Blue stated. "Thankfully, we have an expert doctor here, and well would we be obligated to help him, after the way he saved us so bravely." a villager said. "The rest of you did as well, and we're all equally grateful, but since Tiger was the one who stopped the acid shower, we are in his debt especially." a second one said. "So let's get him to that doctor, then." added a third.
The goodies nodded, and Golem picked Tiger up, telling him: "Tiger, keep calm. We are bringing you to a doctor in this village." Tiger nodded, since his throat was too dry from yelling out in pain to speak anymore right now. He did his best to keep still, but with how much his eyes were killing him, it was not easy to do. Gray Wolf snarled: "I swear to God, if he dies, I will find Lilim, then fucking kill her and eat her organs." "Take a number." Hare said to the silver horned wolf. The goodies were told to wait outside, and they did, then Tiger was brought in after Golem handed him to some villagers. Afterwards, Tiger was laid down on the doctor's table, with a nice pillow for comfort, since he was already in enough pain, and the door was shut.
After a while, with the goodies all being tense as could be, especially Gray Wolf, the door opened and the doctor who had helped Tiger said: "Everyone, I have good news and bad news." All were listening hard as soon as he said this. "The good news is, I have done all I can for Tiger, and it was enough so that he will live and be able to move about and the like as much as he was able to beforehand." Everyone let out a sigh of relief and then Suezo asked: "But if he can do all he could before and will live, what's the bad news?" "The bad news is that despite all I did to help him," replied the doctor, "I was not able to undo the damage the acid did to his eyes. I put a long bandage around them, though it had to be extra long due to his mane. In short, I'm not at all happy to say this, and in fact very sorry, but I'm afraid that he's not only now blind, but he may very well be for the rest of his existence. I wish it were otherwise…"
"Oh, God…Tiger…" Holly gasped, and then the doctor asked, after expression expressed their shock, albeit silently: "But he is, thankfully, well enough to come back with you. He would like to come to join you once more, so I'll open the door enough that he can." The doctor did so, and Tiger then showed up, the goodies seeing the bandage wrap around his eyes. Gray Wolf then lunged at Tiger and hugged him, saying: "Oh, brother…I just can't…find any words at all…" He was hugged back by Tiger, who said: "Your loving care helps though, brother, so thank you…"
The other goodies went over to Tiger and then Holly said: "Tiger, you poor dear. What a fate…" "Yeah…" Tiger said, sighing. He didn't even bother telling her to knock off the overload of sympathy. He was too unhappy as it was, especially with knowing it was possible he'd be as blind as he was now forever. He turned his head to the doctor and said: "Thanks for all your help you gave me, though." The doctor nodded and said: "Of course, Tiger. You saved our village just like these others did, and in a way greater, since you iced those acid barrels, and though we'll be needing new ones for our fuel soon enough, you well deserved the help you got and the rest you will need to get for a few days after this." "What kind of rest are we talking, doctor?" asked Genki.
"He will need to lay down in any safe place for probably the rest of day, then have long rest periods in the next few days. Furthermore, when he's recovered enough to be fully active as he was before again, he will require being taught how to function while blind in whatever ways he can be." "We understand. We'll do all we can." Pixie told him. "And thank you." Big Blue said. The doctor nodded and the goodies decided to leave, especially since the villagers would have to get to work with more acid fuel making now. Tiger walked close beside them, Holly putting her hand on his back to make sure he wouldn't accidentally lose them now that he couldn't see.
"Man, poor Tiger…" Holly said. "Chi…" Mocchi agreed. "I know." Genki nodded. "We are going to have to do a lot to help him, but he's worth it. Especially with how much he helped us and the village against Lilim today…" "And the good thing is, you've got my brains!" Hare put in, "so it should be no trouble finding a way to help him adjust to his new blindness. Though I admit I'll miss how nasty his eyes look whenever he's pissed at me…" "Tread lightly on how you describe how you'll help, Hare, or I'll get pissed at you regardless." Tiger said. "My fuse is shorter than a newborn puppy is in height right now…" "I know, I know!" Hare said. "Anyway, let's just take it easy so he can rest when we get to someplace or other."
"Don't worry, brother. You helped me when I needed it with my fear of spiders, and I'll do all I can to help you with your condition. Especially since these others are here to help." Gray Wolf told him. "That is good to know, brother." Tiger told him. "I just wish I could see you now, or anyone now, for that matter. Yet I know I never will…" He hung his head and Gray Wolf had to fight back tears. So did everyone else, but especially Gray Wolf. Especially since all knew that Tiger was most likely right.
They found a grassland area near a forest that appeared as safe as anywhere, so they stopped there and Tiger lay down to rest, with Holly saying: "Tiger, after a day like this, you need more comfort than just the rest you require, so roll over." Tiger did so, since he was close to Holly and knew she must be offering him something kind, and sure enough, Holly began to give Tiger a tummy rub. She rubbed, stroked and scratched every region of his underbelly, and it felt so good that Tiger not only forgot about the fact his eyes still hurt a little even now after all that had been done by the doctor, but nearly fell asleep and certainly turned very serene, calm and secure. He knew it wouldn't last like this, but for now, his problems were rendered dormant.
"Ah, Holly, that's so nice of you." Genki said. "Hey, he's earned it after the nightmare he's been through." Holly replied. "Even with it being unlikely, though, I just hope there's some way we can help restore his sight after all." "Hey, we'll do all we can to find one!" Genki said. "We've found a way before, and we'll do it again!" "Not now, though." Golem said. "We are all tired right now." "Not to mention that we've had enough excitement for one day, especially poor Tiger." Pixie added. "Oh, I know. I was just planning ahead, even though we can leave this spot right now." Genki said. "All right, then." Big Blue said. "I suppose we should at least have a few of us build a fire and find some sort of restaurant or other source of food, since we'll be staying at this area for the night at the very least."
"Hey, no argument there." Suezo told him. "But only some of us for the obvious reasons, of course." Pixie pointed out. "Well, I don't have a problem with that, but I won't be one of them regardless." Gray Wolf said. "I'm staying by Tiger's side, just like he did with me in my own time of need." "Suit yourself." Hare said. "Though I'd warn both you and Holly, especially the latter, since she's giving him a belly rub…I'm betting he's got quite a lot of fleas." Hare only had time to blink before Gray Wolf blasted him into a tree with lightning for saying such a mean remark about his brother, especially at a time like this. Thankfully, Tiger himself did not hear it, as he was too lost and in a trance from the tummy rub Holly was giving him.
"Serves him right…" Pixie said. "Anyway, I'll be one of the ones to go get some stuff, and Blue, come along with me. I may need your strength." "Of course, master Pixie." Big Blue told the beautiful, winged, horned monster woman, and they went off, with Hare shaking off the impact of Gray Wolf's attack and running towards them, going: "Hey, wait for me! You might be in need of my intellect, you know."
"It's going to be a long night…" sighed Golem. "You can say that again." Genki replied. They did not how what they'd be able to do to help Tiger in the near future, and it would be even harder to find a way to get him back his sight, especially since they knew Lilim was bound to be returning sooner or later, so they had to look out for her at the same time. But for now, they'd all just rest and recover. Things were gonna be difficult and complicated enough as it was, after all.
TO BE CONTINUED…
What did you think of this first chapter? Ratings and reviews for it, everybody!