For one, I must apologize that this chapter took more time than expected. I had a family reunion I had to attend and I stayed a lot longer then first anticipated. I did meet a lot of nice people, though, which was cool. ^_^ Anyways, I must thank my amazing reviewers of chapter 1 that consists of ripitupgenki, inu-yusukekaiba102, Butterflygirl1234 and Dark Fox Tailz. You guys reviewed so fast and it was wonderful! Thank you! I have my Tiger plush sitting with me as I type, so he'll keep me on task!

This is set sometime between Grey Wolf's defeat and Naga's defeat.

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.

Deepening Appreciation

Chapter 2: Difficulty Operating

The sky was still a wondrous color mixture of orange and red while the sun still slowly made its decent from the sky. It's warm light, though, lit up the area enough to continue activity and choirs as the campsite in the forest clearing shown with life. The rebels that had made that area their home for the night were beginning to prepare to set things up themselves instead of having their normal coordinator, the girl wielding the Magic Stone, prepare everything.

"Okay, guys, I can't start cooking until Tiger gets back with the firewood." Hare huffed as he dug through the bag containing their food supply. "We'd have to wait until the camp was ready anyways."

"Don't sound so annoyed." Tiger emerged from the darkening woods as he dragged a large branch that had many smaller branches stacked on top. Gathering firewood was a difficult task for any kind of monster without real hands. "I got your wood already, so stop your complaining."

"I wasn't complaining, Tiger. I was merely stating a true fact." The rabbit monster stated with a frown.

"Anyways." Genki cut off the duo before a fight could break out. "I'm gonna go unpack all of the new silverware and dishes. Suezo, you go set up the spot where we'll be eating. Try to make sure anything you bring back for us to sit on doesn't have sap on it like last time, okay?"

"Okay, okay! Sheesh! You mess up one time and you never hear the end of it…" Suezo trailed off with a frown as he hopped off into the woods to find some "seats".

"Golem, could you make us a table? Just chop in half a tree or something." Genki suggested to the large rock monster.

"Of course… Golem will get… us a table… to eat on…" Golem said with a smile as he stomped off in the opposite direction of Suezo. If Suezo spotted the rock monster, Golem was sure he would want his help in getting seats and would probably end up taking advantage of him as usual. Thus going in the opposite direction of the eyeball monster had become a habit.

"Great! Mocchi's getting Holly settled by the lake, so could you and Tiger set up the tent? There could be a chance of rain." The young boy asked Hare as the rabbit monster frowned.

"Set up the tent with him?"

"Yeah! Who says I want to work with that con artist?"

"Oh, come on you guys! We're supposed to be showing Holly we appreciate her by setting things up and allowing her to get some well deserved rest! Can't you guys go just this one night without fighting?" Genki asked with a slight hint of pleading in his voice.

"Oh… fine." Tiger huffed and nodded to Genki. "We'll set up the tent."

"I knew I could count on you!" The young boy said with a grin as he left to unpack the new dishes. After the old dishes and silverware had been ruined by the rebels' pathetic attempt to clean them, the first order of business in the last town was to replace everything. It was an expensive task, but it was the only thing they could do.

Hare mentally cursed at his luck for being stuck pitching the tent with Tiger. Part of him felt like Genki did that on purpose since he seemed to be teamed up with the canine monster quite a bit. With one last glance at Genki, who was now on the opposite side of the campsite, he let out a defeated sigh before taking out the canvas bag that contained the tent. The tent was more like a tarp and was used to shield the rebels from rain and other weather ailments. The tent had originally come with several poles to make the tent, but because of their restricted luggage the rebels had tossed away the poles and now used large branches from trees. It worked just as well.

"Tiger, go fetch some branches, would ya? You seem to be good at that." Hare asked with a smug look as he made fun of Tiger's firewood punishment. Tiger may have agreed with Genki not to fight for the day, but he certainly hadn't.

Tiger held every insult he had back as he glanced over to Genki. He did say that he wouldn't fight, but how could he hold true to that if Hare egged him on? He would do his best not to fight that night, but he wouldn't make any promises, that's for sure.

"I'll go do that." The wolf monster strained every word as he slowly trudged into the woods to get a few branches. He mentally praised himself for biting back a reply, but he knew he wouldn't be able to do it all night of Hare got him going.

With Tiger gone, Hare carefully unfolded the soft fabric until it was completely laid out. He made sure every angle was perfect and he put on a smile of triumph at his good work. His precise and careful work was disturbed, though, when Tiger dropped a large branch on one of the sides of the tent, causing it to shift and become unaligned.

"Hey! Watch it, Tiger! I just had this perfect!" Hare shouted as he balled his hands into tight fists. "You're so clumsy!"

"Well, don't set up the tent where people are going to be walking!" Tiger countered as he stood over his branch and used his front claw to break off a small, stray twig. "Besides, it didn't look so perfect to me."

With courage and rage that seemed to come from thin air, Hare felt his body move before he could even think. With one powerful motion, the rabbit monster stomped onto the end of the branch causing the branch to fly up into Tiger's crotch. The canine monster couldn't even react as a horrific pain filled his entire body and he felt himself begin to fall over. A loud and slightly high pitched whine came from the bottom of his throat, which was cause for other attention.

"Hare? Tiger? What's going on?" Genki asked as he turned around from unpacking dishes only to see Tiger on the ground and Hare with a look of utter shock. The shock wore off quick, though, and Hare quickly began to laugh like never before.

"Hahahaha! Oh, Tiger! This can be looked at as a good thing! I had doubts if you were really male, but now I guess we all know! Hahahaha!"

Tiger's pain was quickly erased with absolute hatred and revenge as his word about not fighting had vanished. Genki gulped slightly at seeing the sudden change and before anyone could react, the wolf monster decided to go with the revenge style 'an eye for an eye'. Tiger launched himself at Hare before flipping in midair and bringing his back paw straight into Hare's groin. Just as Tiger did, the rabbit monster let out a pain filled yell.


Suezo huffed as he pushed another log to the edge of the campsite before he surveyed his work. Six non sappy logs were now present and now all he had to do was deliver them to the middle of the campsite (because of Golem's size, he didn't need a seat). Man, how he hated this job. With a determined sigh, Suezo slowly rolled one of the logs to the middle of the campsite before he noticed Genki finishing setting up the tent.

"Hey, Genki! I got the logs and none of them have any sap on them!" The eyeball monster stated proudly. "Wanna help me get the other five of them into the camp?"

"Uh, not really." Genki said as he finished staking in the last branch to the tent.

"Pfft. Fine." Suezo grumbled grumpily as he went to hop off, but his attention fell onto Hare and Tiger. Both monsters were on opposite sides of the campsite and both looked rather pale. "I'm not even gonna ask." The eyeball monster rolled his eye before setting off to get the other logs.

After Suezo finished setting up the logs, several loud stomps were heard coming from the forest. The trees in the surrounding woods were pushed aside like grass as Golem came marching into the campsite with a makeshift table in hand. It was clear to see that he had chopped a tree down before taking Genki's suggestion at cutting it in half and rounding the corners. As always, he had done an excellent job.

"At least we can count on someone around here." Genki sighed to himself as Golem placed the slab of wood down in the middle of where Suezo had placed the logs. At least the camp was set up now. All that was left of the choirs was Hare cooking dinner. With the other rebels, though, now they could concentrate on their goal of making Holly feel appreciated.

"Okay, guys. Operation 'Make Holly Feel Appreciated' is now in session!" Genki announced while the other rebels sweated. "The only thing is, though, how do we do that…?"


"Mocchi catch another one, chi!"

A giggle came from Holly's lips as she watched the young monster catch another fish. Mocchi loved to fish and he had a knack for the sport. She was surprised that he liked it so much since he learned it at Undine's lake and that turned out very badly, but the memory didn't keep him from doing what he loved. The only problem, though, was that tonight he had caught over twenty fish just for her. She had no idea why, though.

"Another fish for Holly, chi!" Mocchi squealed with delight as he placed yet another fresh catch into his pile of fish.

"That's very sweet, Mocchi, but wouldn't it be best if we shared these with the others?" Holly tried to reason once again.

"No! These fish just for Holly! Mocchi appreciates Holly, chi!" The young monster announced as he cast his fishing line again.

'He doesn't expect me to eat all of these, does he? I could never eat all of these on my own!' Holly thought to herself as she sweated slightly while picturing herself devouring all of the fish like an animal. '…I have to convince him to share these.'

"Hey, Holly!"

Before Holly could try for the fourteenth time that night to convince Mocchi that she wanted to share the fish, a voice broke her out of her thoughts. The young brunette turned to see Suezo come hopping toward her with a small cup of water. She smiled and waved to him before the eyeball monster pushed the glass into her hands.

"I thought, ya know, since you've been out here so long that you'd be thirsty."

Holly blinked in surprise several times as she looked from Suezo, to the glass of water, and back to Suezo again. Suezo, the laziest and most self centered monster she'd ever met (she still loved him, though!) had come all the way from the campsite just to bring her a cup of water? The young girl was speechless for several minutes as she stared at her monster in surprise. In all of the years she had been with him, Suezo wasn't the kind of monster that tended to do things for others. He was more of a self gain kind of monster like Hare and most of the time Tiger.

"…you came all this way… to bring me water?" Holly asked in confusion and shock.

"Of course, Holly! Only the best for you!" Suezo smiled with triumph as he patted the young girl's head lovingly with his tongue, although he didn't even seem to notice her confusion. She quickly snapped out of it, though, and a warm smile spread on her lips.

"Why, thank you, Suezo! That was very sweet of you!" Holly grinned as she happily took a sip of the water. This was a strange, but not unwelcoming change.

"Anytime! I'll see you later!" The eyeball monster called from behind him as he hopped off toward the direction of the camp, leaving Holly to still gawk slightly at what had just happened.

"…that was odd…" Holly whispered to herself as she stared down at the cup. She really did appreciate Suezo's act of kindness, but it was still rather unusual. With a shrug, the young brunette drank another sip of water before handing the cup to Mocchi, who drank the rest of it thirstily.

"Suezo being nice, chi." The baby monster said with a smile as he recasted his fishing line.

"He's generally nice, but that was a little above and beyond for him." The young girl said with a smile, but her smile faded as she watched Mocchi get another fish on his line. 'Oh, no… Not another one!'

"Got another fish, chi! This one's the biggest!" Mocchi giggled with happiness as he pulled in a rather large trout. "This one you eat first, 'kay?"

Holly laughed with hesitation as Mocchi placed the fish with the others, and she couldn't tell if the fish was staring at her or not. "But Mocchi, Tiger's a lot bigger than me and needs to eat more. Why not give it to him? I'm sure he'd appreciate it." The brunette tried to reason, but the baby monster ignored her slight plea as he casted his line once again.

"Hey Holly!"

Another voice rang through the forest and Holly could see a fast moving Genki coming toward her on his roller blades. Before she could ask what was going on, the young boy took her hands and had her cup them together before he dropped three ripe strawberries into her hands.

"Strawberries? For me?"

"Don't worry, Holly. When I found these I made sure to check with Golem first to see if they were edible. There were only three and, well, I wanted you to have them." The young boy said with a small blush on his face. Genki could see Holly's face light up with pure happiness as her eyes wavered from his gift. It was a difficult task to find the small fruit, but the look on the girl's face made it all worth it.

"Oh, Genki, I love them! Thank you so much!" Holly exclaimed as her face flushed red, and part of her didn't want to eat the fruit now because of their personal value. "You didn't have to do this for me."

"I know, but I wanted to." Genki said with his trademark grin. "I have some things I gotta do, so I'll catch ya later!" With that said the boy rollerbladed away, leaving Holly to look down at the strawberries in her hands with admiration.

"…can Mocchi have one, chi?"

The young monster stared at Holly's newly received gift with large eyes that reflected his hunger. The brunette smiled as she plucked the green stem off one of the fruit before handing it to Mocchi to eat. The baby monster took it happily as he ate the strawberry in one bite while Holly ate her's slowly to savoir the moment. The last strawberry she gave to Mocchi, knowing that he was always hungry and her mothering instinct couldn't allow her to eat while the baby monster was still hungry.

"That was the sweetest strawberry I ever had." Holly said with a smile as she licked the sweet juice from her lips.

"Yeah, chi! Yummy! Thanks, Holly!"

Holly giggled and patted the young monster on the head as he went back to his fishing. Before the girl could try and convince Mocchi that it was best to share the fish, her name was shouted out once again which caused her to look over with puzzlement.

"…Golem? What's going on?" Holly asked as the rock giant stomped over to the girl's side.

"Here, Holly… Golem found… a flower… for you…" Golem said as he held out his large hand. In his palm was a small pink flower that seemed to sparkle when the setting sun hit it. Holly's eyes widened as a smile formed on her face and she gently took the flower before tucking it behind her ear.

"It's beautiful, Golem! Thank you!" The young girl thanked with a smile as Golem beamed from her reaction before he wordlessly stomped back to the camp. When the rock giant left, Holly felt herself touch the flower gently with the tips of her fingers to feel the soft pedals. 'I wonder why everyone's giving me so much attention? First Mocchi, then Suezo, then Genki, and then Golem. I wonder what the occasion is? My birthday isn't for a while…' The wielder of the Magic Stone thought to herself in slight confusion.

"Holly!"

Suezo came hopping toward the girl with a smile on his face while Holly watched with confusion. The eyeball monster held out a round object for the brunette to take, and when she picked up the item she could see it was a flawless peach.

"I thought since Hare won't be done with the stew for awhile that you may want something to snack on." Suezo stated with pride as Holly only blinked at him for a moment. What was going on?

"Oh! Uh, thank you Suezo! I could wait to eat like the rest of you…"

"Nonsense! We had a long journey so eat up and relax." The eyeball monster responded with a wink before he hopped back toward the campsite, leaving Holly to sweat slightly. The girl looked down at the savory fruit and she felt her stomach almost scream to eat it. Her body was still weak from the illness so she slightly craved for the nutrients. With a shrug, the girl used her dagger to cut the fruit in half before giving the other half to Mocchi, who ate it graciously before getting back to his fishing concentration.

The moment the duo finished eating; Holly's name was called out once again from the distance. Genki came barreling through the trees on his rollerblades before he skidded to a halt in front of Holly. "Hey, Holly! How are you doing?"

"Oh, I'm doing very good, thank you." Holly replied with surprise. He came all the way to the lake to ask how she was doing? "So… um… how are you, Genki?"

"I'm doing great! I gotcha something!" With that Genki tore through his book bag before he pulled out a small blanket. "The sun's setting and the nights are cold so I brought you this to keep you warm." The young boy said with a grin as he unfolded the blanket and placed it over Holly's shoulders.

"You didn't have to do that! Thank you so much! You're quite the gentleman." Holly thanked as she blushed and held the blanket closer to herself. "…thank you…"

"Hahaha, anytime, Holly! I'll be back soon!" Genki said bashfully before he, once again, headed off back to the camp. The area fell silent once the boy was gone and Holly already missed his company.

"Holly…!"

Golem's footsteps could be heard as he broke into the clearing and smiled down at the girl, who returned his smile. "Hi, Golem. Do you guys need any help at the camp?" Holly offered, but Golem quickly shook his head.

"No… everything is under… control for now… I came to… bring you this…" The rock monster said as he handed Holly a small cup of tea. "Golem knows… how much Holly… loves tea…"

The warm cup was taken into Holly's hand as she felt the steam rise into her face and allowed her to smell its wondrous scent of green leaves. Golem knew her well and he knew of her love for simple teas. "Wow! Thank you, Golem! Did you make this yourself?"

"Yes… Golem knows many… kinds of herbs… and plants…" The rock giant replied with a smile. "Golem will… see you later…" With that, Golem slowly stomped away leaving Holly to blow lightly onto the hot tea. She felt happy to be treated so nicely by everyone, but something felt off. Again she felt like she was left out from the group since everyone seemed to know something she didn't.

She didn't know what was going on, but she intended to find out.


"NO, I WAS GONNA GIVE HER A MANGO!"

"THAT WAS MY IDEA AND YOU STOLE IT!"

Suezo and Genki scowled at each other as they argued about what to give Holly next. They were running out of ideas, and it was becoming more difficult to find her things to please her. Golem emerged from the woods to see his companions fighting again and he felt himself sigh softly.

"YOU TOOK MY STRAWBERRY IDEA!"

"NO WAY! THAT WAS MY IDEA FROM THE START!"

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!"

Tiger's shout snapped the fighting rebels out of their bickering as they turned to the wolf monster. He grinned slightly as he gave the other rebels a smug look. "There's no need to fight, now is there?"

"Okay, what's gotten into you?" Suezo asked curiously as Tiger let out a low laugh. The eyeball monster almost added that maybe his mood changed after he was hit in the groin, but he wanted to live to see tomorrow, so he held off.

"Me? Well, I only have an idea that I've been working on that will make Holly so happy that it'll make you guys look as pathetic as Monol." The wolf monster said with a grin as he strode back under the tent. He had been in the tent for awhile now since he had been working on Holly's gift.

"…he's gotta be bluffing." Suezo mumbled as he hopped away from the other rebels.

"Yeah, he couldn't possibly make Holly happy." Hare muttered as he stirred the stew slowly and allowed it a moment to simmer. He was still feeling the pain from his earlier fight with Tiger so his mood was a little sour. "He's just pulling our legs. My stew will make Holly feel the most appreciated."

"Pfft, you wish." Genki huffed as he leaned up against Golem's leg. "Holly liked my ideas the best."

"Now way, Genki. She liked mine best!"

"In your dreams! You gave her water and a peach! My strawberries and blanket were way better!"

"Enough arguing… we need to… prepare for… dinner…" Golem stated wisely. The last thing they needed was another fight to break out.

"My stew should be done within a half hour, so set the table you guys." Hare replied.

"I'll be right back." Tiger announced and before anyone could question him, the wolf monster disappeared into the woods.

"Of course he leaves then I mentioned setting the table." Hare grumbled.

"…is this some kind of contest?"

All the rebels turned when they heard the quiet voice to see Holly standing at the edge of the camp with Mocchi in tow, carrying a sack of fish. Her eyes shone with hurt as she turned to Genki with a frown on her face, and he knew she had heard his entire argument with Suezo and the other's' comments. "…Genki, would you take a walk with me…?"

Genki felt himself get extremely uncomfortable at being singled out, but he nodded his head anyways and slipped on his boots and put his rollerblades on the back of his book bag. After hearing their talk, he knew Holly wanted an explanation and he wouldn't keep that from her. "…yeah, let's go."

With a small nod to the boy next to her, Holly and Genki slowly marched side-by-side into the woods in complete silence. Mocchi watched the duo go before he placed his batch of his near the dinner table. He could feel the tension between everyone and even though he was young, Mocchi knew Holly was feeling a little hurt.

With Holly, Genki, and especially Tiger gone, Hare felt his curiosity perk up about what Tiger's gift was. With a sly grin the rabbit monster quickly made his way over to the tent where Tiger had been preparing his gift for Holly. "…I wonder what he's making…?"

With one glance to make sure the other rebels weren't looking, Hare quickly entered the tent. To his amazement, he was met with a large ice stature of the Phoenix. The ice shimmered with glory and wonder as Hare's eyes widened in shock. He couldn't even imagine how long Tiger had been working on it with his Blizzard attack and using his claws and horns to carve out the ice, but his work had surely paid off. The rabbit monster felt defeat rise in his chest, for he knew Holly's love of the Phoenix was beyond words and that Tiger's statue would surely fill the girl with hope of finding the legendary bird. Tiger was right when he said his idea would make Holly the happiest. With a frown, Hare slowly turned around to leave the tent, but suddenly he felt his leg hit into one of the branches holding up the tent. The rabbit monster did his best to hold it up, but the other end of the tent came undone and fell straight onto the statue. Hare watched in horror as the wondrous ice sculpture crashed into the ground and shattered into hundreds of little pieces.

"…oh no…" Was all Hare could whisper out as he looked down at the ruined statue.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?"

Tiger's shout of rage and shear shock broke into the campsite as the other rebels looked at the scene before them. Ice splinters covered the ground as Hare shifted in discomfort. He really hadn't meant that to happen.

"Tiger, I can explain…"

"Shut you trap, rabbit! Look what you've done!"

"I know! Tiger, you gotta believe me when I say it was an accident!"

"Yeah right! You got so jealous that your pathetic stew couldn't beat my statue, so you broke it!"

"That's not true! Honest!"

With an angered growl, Tiger stomped over to Hare stew before he kicked the pot over, causing the contents to splatter all over the ground. The other rebels gulped as they looked at each other with looks of uncertainty. Not only was a fight brewing, but now they also lost dinner.

"TIGER! WHY DID YOU DO THAT?"

"BECAUSE YOU DESERVE IT!"

Hare clenched his fists together in anger, but suddenly his expression became extremely calm as he once again untied his red bandana that he had around his neck and tossed it over to where he had the rest of his belongings. "Well, Tiger, how about we take a walk so we can talk things out?"

Tiger looked at the rabbit monster like he had nine ears, but by the angered look on his face he quickly got Hare's drift. "That sounds like a plan. Come on."

The other rebels watched the duo leave with confusion, but they didn't question them. Questioning them when they were in this kind of state was
completely crazy. Suezo shook his head as he looked down at their ruined dinner while Golem slowly began to fix the tent. Mocchi watched the two angry monsters leave the campsite with a frown on his face before he ran over to help Golem.

Operation 'Make Holly Feel Appreciated' didn't turn out as planned.


My Tiger plush really did keep me on task. Even Hare and Mocchi joined him in inspiring me, so I'll give them lots of hugs for helping me with this. XD Dark Fox Tailz had the hit to the groin idea, and when I read his message I couldn't stop laughing. XD This wasn't really funny at all, so I'll probably end up switching the genre from humor to something else. Oh and for some reason when I was 10 years old, when I first saw Tiger use his Blizzard attack, my sister and I made a joke that he would make a great ice sculpture maker. So that explains the ice Phoenix sculpture part. XD My eyes hurt, so I'm done for the night. Thanks everyone for reading and your reviews are LOVED! On to chapter 3 now!

RockyRoadSmith: Signing off! :3