Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Monster Rancher characters, story or anything else featured in "Monster Rancher". The original characters that appear in this fanfic cannot be copied without permission from the author.

This is set after season 3 of Monster Rancher, which went unaired in the U.S.

Prologue

As dawn broke and the sun began its ascent high into the sky warming the lands scorched by battle. The searchers, along with Holly's father, stood in silence watching the sunrise and enjoying the peace that it seemed to bring. It had been a long and difficult journey filled with many dangers but they had done it. The dark shadow from which Moo was born had finally disappeared from the world.

This group of heroes had saved their world after much struggle. They were an unlikely group. Two humans, a Suezo, a Mocchi, a Hare, a Tiger and a Golem, alone they would have failed but together they triumphed. United the five monsters were the Phoenix, the monster that had driven back the darkness and them all from the brink of extinction.

Now they stood in silence, enjoying the moment and the peace that came with it. However one among remained troubled, Holly stared into the distance lost in her own thoughts. Was the evil spirit that was Moo really gone this time? He'd been defeated in the past and managed to return twice before. How did they know he wasn't going to come back all the stronger? Turning to her father and, after what seemed ages, finally voiced the question that wouldn't leave her head.

"Does this mean, the evil is finally gone forever?" Her father looked down at her and smiled. It had been hard to believe for all of them that this good-natured man had been part of the horrifying monster Moo. He was thankful that he was not held to blame for the horrible acts that had committed but couldn't shake some of the guilt that this whole ordeal had been his fault. However now he was reunited with the one he cherished most and start to make for

"The evil spirit is born deep inside the hearts of human and monsters, if you don't defend against it, the evil spirit will return." He replied with a sigh. It seemed that everything was going to be fine from now on and standing here with his daughter and her friends, he wouldn't trade that feeling for the world. Though he wondered and worried about what Holly had said and it deeply bothered him as well.

Genki spoke up, "Don't worry, if someone is not able to defeat the evil spirit by himself, we'll come and defeat it". This brought a smile to everyone's face and they all agreed with him. Looking to Holly to see a broad smile spread across her face and her head nod in return. Genki always seemed to know how to cheer people up with they were unsure or doubting themselves or the future. She felt now that she could believe that Moo's evil was truly gone and would never return. Even though they didn't know what the future held they had a feeling as this adventure ended, a new one was just waiting to start.

Several weeks passed by without anything eventful happening, Holly and her father returned to their home village receiving a warm welcome. The village was finally after much hard work and a little of luck starting to prosper again.

Genki had a difficult decision ahead of him. Go back to his own world or remain here in this world with his friends. He knew that he'd be giving something up no matter what his choice. It took days wandering around think but he finally realised that he had been through too much with all his friend in the Monster Rancher world to say farewell to them for good. It was true that he would be giving up his past life and his parents but Genki remained true to his beliefs and believed that maybe he would see them again someday. His friends were overjoyed at this news and he too received a warm welcome.

Mocchi and Suezo of course stayed with Holly and Genki during all of this, knowing their place was by their sides. Golem, after promising that he would return shortly, started out back to Mandy to begin preparation for building his own restaurant.

Now Tiger and Hare however declined the offer to stay and set off down different paths to find their own places in the world. Hare decided to journey out towards the nearest town in hopes of starting a business but to everyone's disappointment refused to say what exactly. Tiger, having decided to join his brother in training to win the next Legend Cup, left for the mountain following Greywolf's faint. His brother along with Nina and Hopper had stopped by to see how everyone was doing, shortly after they had left Tiger made his decision.

With only a faint whiff of his little brothers scent to guide him, he wasn't making much progress. He hoped there was a town nearby, he was starving and it had only been by a miracle that he had found this river winding through the terrain. Suddenly Tiger tensed up all over, he was being watched, he could feel it, but looking around the area seemed deserted. He couldn't catch sight, sound or smell of anything unusual. He was alone. Cautiously, he returned to the river to take another drink.

"Tiger of the Wind" a voice stated.

Tiger's head snapped up and he turned to look at the figure standing 10 metres on the ledge behind him. His first impression was that it was just another human; the figure wore a black clock covering him from head to toe. Only his eyes were visible and they were studying him closely.

"Who are you? What do you want?" he growled, annoyed at being disturbed. The cloaked figure said nothing, adding to Tigers annoyance. Then suddenly jumped 20 feet, pulled back a flap on his cloak to reveal a long black wipe-like tentacle. It shot forth toward Tiger with surprising speed, he leapt to avoid it, feeling it brush his fur.

"Who sent you?" he snarled, his horns crackling and his fur standing on end. He was ready to take on anything this guy could throw at him.

"That is not your concern and soon nothing else will be ether" the figure sneered, this time lashing out with both tentacles.

Tiger leapt, dodging the blow and jumping to a higher ledge on the cliff. He sent off his lightning attack. The blast rocketed towards his opponent and for one moment Tiger thought he'd got him. However much to his dismay, new tentacles shot out to block the attack. Not wasting any time Tiger leapt into the air and launched a Blizzard ice attack from his mouth. The cloaked figure simply shifted to the side to avoid it, this time launching a fierce counter attack.

"None of my attacks are doing anything, who is this guy? It's like he knows what I'm going to do before I do."

Tiger sniffed the air, despite first appearances, this was definitely not a human but he didn't smell like a monster ether. So what was he, but Tiger had no time to brood over the mystery further because his opponent had decided to switch to an offensive strategy.

Again and again, the cloaked figure attacked and Tiger was finding it harder and harder to evade his attacks, much less counter them. He was starting to become exhausted with the effort but he refused to show it to this new adversary who hadn't even broken a sweat.

As Tiger prepared himself to jump for another attack he suddenly let out a yelp of pain. Looking down at his right fore paw, he saw blood seeping out from a wound that stretched across his clawed foot. The cut looked deep He hadn't noticed it before but now the strong scent of blood couldn't fail to reach his nose.

Looking at the supposed "Warrior of the Wind", his opponent smirked. His master had said Tiger was the fastest monster in the team of searchers and one of the most powerful too. He'd been foolish enough to believe that this furball might actually be a challenge. It had been fun tormenting him and watching him wear himself out but now the stranger felt the time was near for him to complete his task.

"My lord demands you and the others like you out of the way and it will be my pleasure to fulfill his wishes,"

"And who is this lord?" Tiger roared getting angrier by the minute. He wanted answers. Who was he fighting? WHAT was he fighting? And who had ordered this assassin to come after him and why? His anger only intensified when he received no reply.

Locked in a stare down, the blue wolf inwardly gasped and stepped back as he looked into blood red eyes with a gold pupil, which stared emotionlessly at him. Now while he was still in shock, the cloaked figure, the assassin, chose to strike. Extending his limbs left and right then without warning at least four or five more tentacles erupted from his torso. Like lightning they shot towards the angered monster. As before, Tiger jumped to avoid them but the tentacles followed his every movement and skillfully caught him in mid air. In less than the blink of an eye they had entangled all four of his legs as well as around his middle and holding his muzzle shut.

Tiger thrashed about wildly, trying to free himself but failed to even make a scratch in the seemingly solid tentacles with his claws. Coiling around his legs and middle, the tentacle began to cut off his breathing, forcing him to take more rasping breaths.

"Ahhh…..Ack..Torpe….do", he managed to choke out, charging his horns with all the power he had left and firing the bolts of electricity at the tentacles that bound him. The blast hit its mark with full force and Tiger found himself having to shield his eyes from the bright light it caused. Not even feeling the tentacles around him loosen; Tiger opened his eyes to stare at the tentacle that appeared completely unharmed by his attack.

Turning his attention to the deadly weapon's owner and even though his mouth was hidden because of his cloak, Tiger could tell he was smirking.

"Oh, how easy it would be to end your existence now, however yours is a fate worst than death" he said with a sneer. A shadowy red light emitted from his body and spread to the tips of bindings that held Tiger.

Tiger roared as pain overtook him and the dark red light enveloped him sapping his strength with every movement he made. On top of the pain he felt like a dark force was trying to subdue him, he tried with every last ounce of he had but was weak from the battle. It coursed through his entire being as his form finally shifted in defeat and a mystery disk dropped to the ground.

Withdrawing the tentacles, the cloaked figure extended a black-clawed hand from under his cloak. He walked over to the disk and examined it, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth when he saw the emblem on the front. It was the monster insignia spellbound in chains.

"It is done master, his disk is sealed, phase one complete" he whispered into the wind before tossing the disk into the chasm below and walked away, confident in the knowledge that soon the other four monsters would meet the same fate.

Sorry to anyone who was even remotely interested in this story that it's been so long. After all this time I will hopefully be able to put up new chapter soon. This update was about a few corrections.

As always, reviews are very much appreciated.