Hopefully things will pick up from here a little bit. This is still just setting up the story, though, so please be patient with me! ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't claim to own Monster Rancher or the characters. I'm just a huge fan. Tecmo owns everything. I just own the plot.

Delusions of the Heart

Chapter 2. Fallen Path

Holly smiled as she finished getting ready for the day. The sun was already rising steadily and she didn't want to waste the day. The sun beams shined intensely through the windows of the cabin as if telling Holly to hurry up and head outside into the fresh air. With one last brush of her hair, the young woman tied her hair back into her signature loose ponytail before going out for the day.

The brunette did all her usual chores first including getting water, cleaning clothing, and weeding the surrounding fields and gardens. Most of her day would be spent like this, though Holly never complained. Today was a little different, however. Once she changed her outfit for a clean set, the women headed out toward the center of town.

The town was always busy and full of life. There were many merchants and shop keepers trying to make a sale just to have enough gold for the day to get food. Several kinds of monsters, though mainly Worms and Dinos, wondered the town with their masters. Holly couldn't help but frown as her eyes fell on several beggars roaming the streets looking for a meal or some money. She only wished that she could help the people, though she knew last time she had spared them some gold, the next moment she saw them they were drinking booze and acting like fools.

Her dismay was washed away when she made her way to a large building with fancy doors and a clean front. In large and bold letters, the words "Golem's Gourmet" were displayed proudly, and Holly couldn't help but smile. Some dreams really do come true.

Before she could enter the restaurant, the bells from the town's church rung loudly before the doors flew open. Holly watched as people in fancy wear flooded out of the church like a mass of ants flocking over fallen crumbs. From behind the people, Holly could see a handsome man dressed in a tuxedo. His eyes gleamed in happiness as his hand clutched another hand; that of a beautiful woman dressed in a gorgeous gown. The women looked like a goddess as the wind ruffled her hair, and Holly could see her jewelry shining in the sunlight.

'A wedding… How beautiful…' Holly thought with wonder and admiration as she watched the couple leave in a classy chariot. The spectators all dispersed one by one, before Holly was alone. Part of her wished that someday she would be the woman walking down the aisle with her true love, but she highly doubted it.

'I don't think I'll ever be the woman in the beautiful gown.' The brunette thought with a slight frown as she gentle kicked a small pebble in the road. Her mood lifted when she caught sight of the restaurant again and she put a on a smile as she headed over.

Holly entered the restaurant and was immediately waved at by one of the Fairy Hare (Hare/Pixie) waitresses. She bounded over to the young women quickly and gave her a tight hug.

"Miss Holly! It's good to see you!" The Fairy Hare said with a grin.

"It's a pleasure to see you, too. I'm here to work my shift." Holly said with a smile, though the Fairy Hare couldn't help but frown.

"Miss Holly… you're working too hard. You need to relax and take a vacation. I can see you're already worn out."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about me." The young women replied with a nod. "I appreciate it a lot, though."

"I… I guess so. At least I know Golem won't work you too hard. He's such a softie." The rabbit monster said with a giggle as she bounded away to take someone's order.

Holly gave on last wave to the waitress before making her way to one of several back rooms in the restaurant. She quickly grabbed one of the spare aprons before heading out to the furthest room in the building.

"Golem?" Holly asked as she gave a small knock on the door.

Before the women knew it, she could feel hard vibrations on the ground along with loud stomping noises. The door was opened for her, and there stood a tall rock monster. The Golem purebred was as sturdy and powerful as they come. His entire body was made of boulders, and he had the ability to disassemble himself to create a rock tornado attack. Although he was extremely powerful, however, the monster was also one of the most gentle and kind hearted beings that Holly had ever met.

"Holly! Golem is glad… to see you." The rock monster said with a smile, his sentences always slightly dragged out, though said with care.

"It's great to see you, too. How's business been today?" Holly asked as she finished tying the apron on her body.

"Business… has been… good. It has been… busy at times… but we get through. People… miss your cooking… when you're gone." Golem said with a smile. Holly always knew Golem had hoped she would work everyday at the restaurant instead of doing all the work in the fields, but she didn't want to leave her father with that burden. She would love to work at the restaurant instead, for she loved to cook, but with the current situation it wasn't an option.

Holly and Golem had always had an extremely close friendship. Both were similar in personality, and the two grew even closer when Golem began to take it on himself to protect Holly against everything. Even once all the baddies were gone and the group split up, the two stayed close and made it a point to spend time together.

For the rest of the day, Holly cooked along side Golem as the restaurant filled with life. The young woman was extremely skilled in the kitchen because of her mother's death. Once her mother was gone, Holly had taken over all the responsibilities that had been abandoned. This had forced the girl to grow up fast, and so she began to understand life and what it held at an early age. Once her father was banished from the village, she had to grow up even quicker. Although this made her become strong and efficient, it also made her lack a normal life. Holly would be a social outcast in her village until the day it burned to the ground.


"See ya, old man!" Suezo yelled out as he left the cabin and headed into town to fetch some oil used to light their oil lamps. Normally Holly would fetch the oil, but Suezo wanted to help out the young women in any way possible. Besides, being alone with Yosho tended to get a bit awkward, so any excuse to leave was worth it.

Yosho watched the eyeball monster leave with a grunt before he set out to cut more firewood. The axe lay stuck in the ground where he had abandoned it the night before. With a scowl, he picked the tool up with ease and placed a large piece of wood in front of him. Yosho brought the axe down with extreme force, and the axe head embedded itself into the lumber like a knife in butter. The older man had stayed up late trying to come up with a solution to their financial and life difficulties, and dark bags lined the bottom of his eyes.

"Maybe if we sold Suezo we'd make some coin. Nah, no one would want to buy him." He joked with himself as he lifted the axe again and split through another piece of wood. Stress and aggravation seemed to be all the man was feeling lately, and it was eating away at him.

"I was once treated like a king. I was treated like royalty. Now what? I'm just some peasant?! The rest of my life can't be like this…" Yosho whispered with frustration as he leaned his axe against a nearby tree. "I can't live like this…"

"You don't have to."

The voice came so suddenly, that it jerked Yosho out of his trance and he quickly scrambled to pick up the axe. The older man held the tool like it was a sword as he felt himself shiver slightly. The voice had been extremely deep and sounded almost like an echo.

"Who's there?! Don't come any closer! I'm armed!" Yosho shouted as his hands grasped the axe handle so tightly that his knuckles were white.

"There's no need to get hasty. Your axe could do me no harm anyways, so I wouldn't bother gasping it so tightly." The voice mocked.

"Who are you, then?" Yosho asked again, though his grip never loosened on the axe.

"Hahaha. I'm surprised you need to ask that. Close your eyes and try to remember the sound of my voice."

Although part of him screamed not to do as the voice said, Yosho closed his eyes and thought back to where he had heard the voice before. Suddenly, he felt his whole body shiver and his eyes opened in shock. The voice echoed in his head and made him feel sick. He knew that voice. He knew that terrible, yet wonderful voice.

"…Moo?"

"Yes, my soul has returned. No one can defeat evil forever. Evil lives in the hearts and souls of all beings, even if they don't know it. One can only mask it for so long before the darkness escapes. You are the reason that I am able to exist, Yosho. " The voice spoke with triumph.

Yosho was unsure what to do in the current situation, though he knew his mere axe could not hurt the soul, so he rested it up against the tree. His mind raced with mixed feelings, and he could feel the soul gazing at him even if Yosho himself couldn't see the soul.

"Is that so… then why have you come to me? Last time I checked, you betray me." Yosho said with venom staining every word.

"Ah… You are right, Yosho. It is true that I completely took you over, but things are different now. I am far weaker than I was before after the rebels defeated my soul four years ago. You and I both suffered from that defeat, because with peace came the news that heroes were no longer needed. You are a powerful man, Yosho, who wields the power of the Magic Stone. You should not be at the level of a peasant." Moo's soul spoke, slight disgust in his voice.

"…And what do you suppose I do? This is my life now. I live peacefully with my daughter, who was kind enough to accept me back into her life."

"Your daughter suffers everyday. She is forced to slave away just to have enough money to buy food. How can that be happiness? Yosho… We could take over everything and by doing so, your daughter will become royalty along side us. You cannot stand this new life of yours. Why continue to live in such a disgraceful way? You're daughter will hate you at first, but she will come to enjoy being treated like royalty. She'll never have to work again."

Images of Holly slaving away weeding and planting crops until she almost passed out from exhaustion filled Yosho's mind, and he felt himself clenched his hands together.

"How do I know you wouldn't betray me?"

"We are both weaker than we once were, Yosho. We cannot rely on anyone but each other. I learned that lesson too late last time. Here's my proposition: I will give you my power just like last time, except this time half the time you'll be in charge and in control and the other half of the time I'll be in control. This way, we have equal times of being in power. Sounds fair, yes?"

"Yes, it does… but why did you come to me? Why choose an older man like myself? Haven't we done enough dealing in the past?" Yosho asked gruffly.

"Hahaha… Yosho… You don't give yourself enough credit. Not only do you have the power of the Magic Stone, but you already know how to use my power. We already know everything about each other, so we already have an advantage. I've already tracked down my floating castle; all that's left is your agreement."

Yosho had to stop and think about what direction to go. If he joined Moo, he would lose Holly for sure. If he didn't take Moo's offer, he would live an average life as a simple farmer. Both felt bleak to the older man as he shook his head with uneasiness. He didn't want to lose the trust if his daughter, but…

'With Moo's alliance, I could become powerful once again. No one would dare to cross my path, and revenge would come swiftly to those who ridiculed and harassed me in the past four years. Those pathetic villagers would regret the day they messed with me. I would be invincible.' The man thought with a grin, all thoughts of Holly now forgotten and replaced with revenge. Yosho looked down at his battered and worn hands, before he swallowed the lump in his throat and clenched his fists.

"Alright, let's do it."

Yosho could feel Moo's soul basically smile at these words as it let out a hiss of enjoyment. He had made his choice, and he wouldn't back out now. To Yosho, gaining power was his top priority in life. With Moo as his comrad, there would be no end to what he could do, and he would have everything he ever imagined.

"Excellent choice, Yosho. Come; let us head off to the floating castle. When we get there, we will merge as we did before. Don't worry, Yosho. Your life is about to change forever and with it, you will gain the power of the gods."

Yosho nodded as he quickly went back into the cabin and grabbed some clothing for the journey. Before he left, he scribbled down a messy note and left it on the kitchen table for Holly to find to put her mind at ease to his whereabouts. When done, he headed off to the floating castle's location with Moo's soul as his guide.

Power is a dangerous poison that some people cannot help but drink.


Suezo hummed energetically as he hopped along the road with a barrel of lamp oil. He had been able to not only obtain the oil, but he got it for an excellent deal. Pride filled the eyeball monster as he hopped joyously down the path that led to his home. The money he had saved would be put away for emergencies, though he wouldn't tell Yosho where he would hide it. He had Holly promise not to tell the man where his money stash was hidden, and she couldn't help but agree. Suezo almost dropped the barrel because he was in deep thought, but he quickly regained his balance and continued down the road.

'Maybe I'll have enough to buy Holly a nice dress someday. I'm sure she'd like that.' The monster thought with a smile as he saw his home in view. His smiled quickly turned into a frown, however, when he saw a distraught Holly in the front yard yelling for her father.

"Holly?! What's going on!?" Suezo asked with more concern for the young women than her father.

Holly rushed up to the monster as she brought him into a tight hug. Suezo quickly placed the oil barrel down before returning the embrace with his tongue. He lovingly stroked her back as he quietly comforted her as best as he could. Seeing her distraught was one of the worst things in the world for Suezo, and he would die to make her happy.

"Holly… Can you tell me what happened?"

"Oh, Suezo. I returned home from the restaurant several hours ago, just to come home to find a note from my father. All he wrote was that he was going out, but he didn't write for what reason or when he'd be back. I know it doesn't seem like a big deal, but I'm worried that he had a run in with an evil monster or maybe the villagers attacked him or-"

"Holly, don't worry. I'm sure he's fine. I couldn't get rid of him even if I wanted." Suezo cut her off with a joke to lighten the mood. As usual, it worked.

Holly let out a sniffle and a laugh as she hid the tears that had threatened to fall, but never did. Suezo had a point; Yosho had been through a lot in the past four years and nothing seemed to keep him down for long.

"Yes, I guess you're right. Still, though, since I've gotten my father back from Moo, he's never just left like this." The brunette said with a frown as she nervously played with the hem of her shirt.

"Don't worry, Holly. Trust me; he'll be back for you."

'He'll be back for you.'

'He'll be back.'


Okay! Second chapter done. Sorry for the wait! Anyways, I'm hoping that next chapter will get into more of the action and stuff. This was just setting up the story. I know it's predictable, but give me a break. It's my first chapter based fanfiction. Anyways, hope you enjoyed it and reviews are loved!

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3