Disclaimer: Monster Rancher, Monster Rancher Advance and related copyrights are properties of Tecmo and I do not work for them. In other words I do not own Monster Rancher or any related concept, this work of fiction is done purely for fun and not money. Don't sue me I'm poor!
Episode 5: The Aroma of Defeat
Kanar and Mei were back to meditating, hoping to still get a raise in their intelligence score, even a small and insignificant one. Holly had resumed her reading and Metin was observing the tablet that used to be a Psiroller that he was holding.
"We'll keep this and in a year we'll regenerate that monster, but I don't know what we'll do with it then." He then said, pulling Holly away from her book.
"We won't be able to keep it here, not without a bigger barn, and we don't have the budget to get a bigger one yet." She explained.
"How much money do we have anyway? I know I don't have any, unless they take ATM cards at the store... wich I doubt." Inquired the boy.
Holly reached to her pocket and produced a small leather bag, the sound of coins hitting each other was heard and she checked it. " We have about 3000 G. I got more in a FIMBA bank, if we ever need more... I just didn't want to bring too much with me on travel."
"No... keep your money, we'll just win some in the tournament next week!" Boldly declared Metin."I want to get back at the arrogant Chiroh guy."
"Be careful, the Heruno family is renowned for it's brutal fighting and lack of compassion. You saw how he finished that poor Psiroller didn't you?" Replied Holly, in a calm and wise manner.
"Yeah...something wasn't right with that fight tough... I checked his monster's stat, and his INT score was his lowest... so why was his Meteor, an INT move, so powerful?" Asked the boy.
"It's because of a trait only the Heruno family know how to grant their monsters... UpCritic
." Started Holly. "Their monster can target the weakest spot of an opponent and deliver 4 times the normal damage if they suceed at a critical hit, instead of the usual double damage... but it comes at the cost of accuracy. Hitting a particular spot on an opponent is much harder than simply hitting an opponent."
(AN: No, that trait doesn't exist for real, I made it up, if there is something similar that exist I don't know about it. )
Metin was rubbing his chin. He then opened up his Mon Unit and checked his monster's data. He had TufArmor and UpFire, and his speed was very low. He then started to rub his chin, then removed his hat to scratch his head.
"I GOT IT! In order to beat this guy we'll do something unexpected!" He suddenly declared, almost breaking the monster's transe. "I will make Kanar train in speed rather than defense! It's not his natural strength, but since he got TufArmor, he already take less damage than an opponent with equal defense! If we boost his speed, not only will other not expect a speedy Ducken, but we'll also have the edge on Chiroh's Darkalon!"
"It's a nice plan, but how do you expect to raise your monster's SPD score high enough so it will matter in the tournament? If you don't get it at the right level before the tournament, both your defense and speed will be too low to be useful, it's a huge risk." Pointed out Holly.
"If you want to suceed in life you gotta take risks! Don't worry... I'm sure it'll work out fine, and with my guidance Kanar will win his battles easily!" Replied the boy, putting his hat back on.
Holly could have sworn she saw Kanar smirk mockingly, but she dismissed the tought, the Kokkung was too deep in his trance to notice...right.
"What we need is a new training, something that would boost Kanar's speed AND his inteligence score..."Commented Metin, looking toward the sky pensively.
The rest of the day went without trouble, the monsters finished their training by dinner time and both had won 3 points to their INT score. A slow but fair begining. Altough Metin wasn't very satisfied. He stayed silent during the entire dinner and he barely wished Holly a good night before he went to bed. Finding a new form of training was top priority, something that would make his monster's scores raise at incredible speed! But what? This question lingered in his mind until he finally fell asleep.
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Metin awoke with a start, sweat running down his forehead. He had a nightmare, an horrible one where he was being chased through a dark forest by what appeared to be a Joker monster. The creature was shooting balls of fire at him and he was running away, trying to dodge the attacks, but they were getting harder and harder to dodge and yet Metin was getting better and better at dodging the dangerous projectile. He wasn't sure what that dream meant but he put it aside, deciding concentrating on the training they had to do. Once again he ate in silence and once breakfeast was over he and Holly when out to meet their monsters.
"You ready for some speed training today Kanar?" Asked Metin to his Kokkung.
"Meh... if it help me defeatin' that arrogant Darkalon guy you betcha I am!" Answered the monster.
"Speed's my highest score!" Bragged Mei, raising in the air for a few seconds, as if it was emphasizing her point.
"I know... I checked your stats. Your a SPD/INT/ACC monster, and your lowest score is DEF. Your LIF level isn't very high either, you better keep up the work on speed Mei or you'll be easy to crush." Replied Metin, trying his best to sound experienced.
But Mei was clearly un-impressed "DUH!"
Metin was about to ask what she meant by that when a far off voice behind him called: "HOLLY!"
"Hey! We have a visitor!" Chimed the called one.
At the entry gate of the ranch was a girl about Metin's age, but shorter than him, standing. She was wearing red short and a pink shirt, she was waving at Holly with a bright smile. Metin recognized her and noted she looked cuter in person, it was Aroma! From the first game! She was with a strange little monster. It looked like it had a large bell of some sort on it's head, with a little ribbon, it had a large...dress that look very rigid, a big button on the front of it's chest and the from of the dree bottom that looked like a bell. The sleeves looked rigid too, a bit like potery and were large compare to the little ball-like hand he could see from them. The monster had a round pink head with little red cheek and black eyes. It seamed to be in a cross position, bouncing up and down on one feet, alterning betweem it's two ball like feet. As they aproached the duo Metin wonder what type of monster it was. Probably a new monster that got introduced in the instruction manual... darn he should have checked it, maybe there would have been a warning about getting sucked into a paralelle universe.. or the future, wichever it is.
"Hi Aroma!" Greeted Holly.
"Hi Holly! Hi Mei!" Replied Aroma, she had a very cheerful voice and seamed very happy, constantly smiling."I came to see the new breeder! Mr. Bolzoi told me he arrived through a tablet!"
"Hi my name's Metin."Said the boy, blushing as Aroma suddenly ended up inches away from him, looking at him with a piercing glare.
Metin was taken aback by her glare, she looked like she wanted to see right through him, but suddenly she steped back and smile, closing her eyes (like this ^_^ ) "Your kinda cute, even tough your costume is weird!" She said.
Metin blushed some more "Thanks..."But he shook it off "HEY! WHAT DO YOU MEAN WEIRD?" He then shouted, making Kanar and Mei snicker.
"My my, what a temper." Chuckled Aroma.
"Stop teasing the rookie. Metin this is Aroma, she and her brother Zest run the Spring Blossom Ranch all the way in the valley on the other side of town. We met when I was still the FIMBA representative for the Amity Matches" Explained Holly.
Metin knew who was Aroma but decided not to let it show "Nice to meet you, this is Kanar, my Kokkung!" Introduced Metin, tired of the constant poking of his leg that started when they got to the front gate. "You happy now?" The boy asked, looking down at his monster.
"Sure." Nodded the Ducken.
"Well this is Suzi my Suzurin, she's my most recent monster. She's still in E Class." Added Aroma.
"Hi!" Timidly said the little monster, shaking Mei's hand and Kanar's wing.
"So how is the ranch going?" Inquired Holly.
"Very well, we are doing great on her own now that we got experience and fame." Started Aroma, before turning to Metin "Two years ago our Ranch was pretty run down but Mr. Mardoc of the AGIMA invited a breeder from the continent to help us, his name was Keoki, he helped us out a great deal but he had to go back a few months ago."
Metin had to hold back his gasp. Keoki was that name he gave himself in his Monster Rancher Advance game! Somehow he had named it after a real guy! That was SO weird. Altough the last time he played the game he was already up to Year 112! Maybe time is just made faster in the games he tough.
"Hey Metin! I heard you're participating in the Youth Cup next week! Think your ready so soon?" Then asked Aroma.
"Sure we will, Kanar is gonna do great!"Bragged the boy "I guess we'll see each other there then."
Aroma nodded. "Sure will. Lucky for you the tournament had to be postponed." She commented.
Metin turned to Holly quizically. "The Youth Cup is supposed to be held in April, last month, but a stray golem attacked and it had to be postponed to next week. Luckily that stray got captured... I wasn't there but I heard Chiroh was the one who beat it." Answered the older girl, the mention of Chiroh's name made Metin grind his teeth.
The other girl nodded "You're right, I was there and I saw it. That guy is ruthless... not an easy opponent to face."
"He's our neigbhor." Growled Metin, still not over that humiliating rejection from the other breeder.
"Wow...that sucks... well I should leave you to your training. It was very nice seeing you guys. I'm looking forward to knowing you better Metin. " Then Said Aroma, obviously ready to leave.
"Wait!" Suddenly called the boy. "I have an idea! Why don't we battle! Your Suzi against my Kanar!" He proposed.
Aroma stopped dead in her track, Holly could have sworn she saw a sparkle of excitement in the younger girl's eyes "Oooh... the rookie want to challange the experienced breeder... allright pal! Challenge accepted!"
"Time to show what I can do!" Cheered Kanar.
It took the two breeders and two monsters a few second to get into place. The ranch had the perfect spot for a battle. A large round patch of dry dirt with only a few grass sprouts here and there. Metin wasn't sure how exactly to proceed but he got into position behind Kanar and opened up his Mon-Unit. He did a quick scan of Suzi.
Name: Suzi
Specie: Suzurin(Suzurin+Suzurin)
Breed: Suzurin
Age: 2 Month
Trait: UpIQ, HiAim
Moves: Pokorin, Pokkorin, Aim Hit
But this wasn't what Metin was interested in, what he wanted to see was her stats.
POW: Level 2
INT: Level 3
ACC: Level 4
SPD: Level 3
DEF: Level 4
LIF: Level 2
"ARE YOU READY?" Asked Aroma, getting into the same kind of position behind Suzi, opening her Mon-Unit as well, her was a cheerful magenta color, but it wasn't metallic, meaning she couldn't scan Kanar's stats. This could give them an edge.
"I SURE AM!" Replied Metin.
Suddenly his Mon-Unit's screen went black, save for a little rectangle in the center of the screen.
"Press 'A' to initiate Battle Protocol." Read Metin.
Not wanting to be left behind he pressed A and the screen switch to a familiar screen, the pre-battle screen like in the game, where players can see their opponent's stats, but this time it took a few seconds for Suzi's levels to appear. The boy guessed Aroma couldn't see Kanar's data that way either. Then the screen changed again to the battle screen! With the ranch background! It was just like in the game with the LIF bar, the guts point, the timer, EVERYTHING, the only diference was that this time you would have to order directly. The signal for the begining of the battle appeared on the screen.
"Kanar, do you hear me?"Asked the boy in his Mon-Unit.
"Sure I can, so what do I do now... BREEDER." Replied the ducken.
"Allright! Stay back until I figure out what to do, she got no far range attacks and I don't know much about Suzurins!" Ordered the boy.
"GO FOR IT SUZI!" Shouted Aroma on the other side of the field.
Suzi dashed forward, bouncing toward Kanar who dodged to the side, trying to keep away from the little bell shaped monster. She was fast. Metin looked at his screen, they were stuck in middle range but she wasn't attacking yet. Kanar backed away, but she dashed again, as Kanar avoided meeting Suzi she almost went crashing into Aroma before she slided to a halt and turned back toward the Kokkung. Kanar tok this chance and managed to get back to far range.
"ALLRIGHT KANAR! MISSILE ATTACK!" Ordered MEtin dramatically.
"Sheesh...no need to shout in your unit, I hear you fine!"Complained Kanar, stopping his backward movement.
The Kokkung opened his beak and inhale before shooting out a missile from his open beak. The little missile looked like a primitive rocket, barely big enough to come out of a ducken's throat, mimicking Kanar's color scheme. The blow from the missile's sudden departure sent the monster backward. Kanar collapsed into his diferent pieces to the ground but quickly got back together as the missile sailed through the air toward Suzi. She didn't even tried to dodge and just stood there dancing! The missile hit and the explosion created a HUGE smoke cloud.
"HIT!" Cheered Metin, before he looked down at his screen.
"WHAAA?!? 1 DAMAGE ONLY?!?" He gasped, realising what had happened... the Missile was a gut depleation move! "She only lost 20 guts point!"
As the smoke cleared, Suzi appeared, unharmed, her hat brought down and her arms crossing in front of her body, she had endure the hit.
"KANAR! Get in there with you wing slap! "Then ordered the boy.
It took a few second for Kanar to realised what the order was before he dashed toward Suzi. Once again she didn't move! She took the same position she had when she appeared from the smoke cloud. Kanar was now in close range and shouted a battle cry before unleashing a quick series of slaps. Left, right, left, right, left and right again. Metin could see he was using a series of attack rather than just one, because his Mon-Unit showed Kanar's guts quickly depleating! But still, Suzi was enduring the hit, take 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 damage points only from the series of slap, then 6, 7, 8... but then the attacks started to get slower. Kanar was running out of guts, he was getting tired! Metin realised how foolish he had been, Suzi's defense was this, even if her LIF points weren't high, she could whistand most attacks. Now Kanar's guts were down to zero and the poor Kokkung hand to stopped his attack, he was panting heavily as he let his wings hand to his side.
"GET OUT OF THERE QUICK!" Warned Metin, but this quick alert only managed to confused Kanar as the '????' sign appeared on Metin's screen.
"NOW!" Shouted Aroma.
Suzi realed back her head and *WHAM!* gave a solid headbutt to Kanar, hitting him with her large solid hat. The attack sent the Kokkung's little head backward, making his whole body fall down on the ground in pieces. It only did 3 points of damage but it took a second for Kanar to get back together, this second was all that Suzi needed to get back to middle range! Metin realised what was going on. The timer was down to 18 seconds, Kanar wasn't badly damaged but he had no guts left, where as Suzi had over 80! And to top it all, his Kokkung was stil confused by the Pokkorin attack he had received!
"Aim Hit! Let him have it!" Ordered Aroma.
Suzi bounced backward and held out her left arm. Suddenly her little round paww shot out of the sleeve, completly disconnected from her arm! It his the confused Kanar in his middle section! Sending it flying back to the ground and his other upper part falling on his lower section. The attack wasn't very strong but it managed to do 4 points of damage. The sphere shaped hand returned to Suzi who quickly held out her other arm and shot her right hand. This time it hit Kanar's head, delivering a critical hit! The hand bounced back as Kanar felt apart once again. He was still in confused state, unable to answer to Metin's frantic command to move out of the way when Suzi's left hand hit him again! This time he held together but the right hand was just second away, at the last mintue Kanar recovered and managed to bring his wings up to block the attack. It did some damage but it was minor. Metin was about to order a counter attack but a buzzing sound was heard. The time for the battle was over. There was a moment of silence as Metin stared at his screen. The two life bar were relatively similar, but Aroma looked incredibly confident and her Monster didn't looked as tired as the panting Kanar.
"Judge..."Started to read Metin " Kanar: 80,3%... Suzi... 81,2%... lost... we lost." He realised.
Kanar let himself fall down on the ground, barely managing to hold his body in one piece as he lay down on his back. He didn't felt pain as he didn't receive that much damage, but he was tired, using so much guts and those hits. Metin walked over his monster and kneeled beside him.
"You allright?" Asked the boy.
"I'll survive." Just answered the Kokkung, turning on his side to get his back to face his breeder.
"Well it's been fun Metin, I just hope you improve before next week. I'll see you at the youth cup. Take care of yourself guys! Com'on Suzi." Declared Aroma, picking up her small monsters in her arm before heading toward the gate. "Thanks for the experience!" She then thanked.
Holly and Mei walked over the boy and his monster, she knew they would feel devastated by this, but she couldn't let them fall prey to doubt.
"Are you okay Kanar?" Asked the Lip Pink.
"Yeah... a good meal and a good night of sleep will be enough." Slowly answered the monster, sitting up.
"I guess we're not as good as I tought we were... "Commented Metin softly, his head was bowed and his hat was hiding his eyes.
"Oh Metin I'm sorry... But it's just one loss..." Started Holly, putting her hand on the boy's shoulder.
Suddenly the boy looked u, his gaze meeting with Kanar's. He wasn't crying as Holly tought he was and he hit the ground his his fist in anger.
"We'll just have to get STRONGER!" He declared, raising his other fist in front of his face "I swear on my honor, I WILL make you stronger and we will make it to Master Class! No matter what obstacle we'll keep on going! What do you say... partner?" He then asked the monster.
Kanar stared at the boy for a moment, seeing fire burning in the young breeder's eyes. "You got it! I didn't believe you before Metin, but now, I'm sure we'll make it to the top no matter what!" He agreed.
"Then tomorow..." Started the boy, getting up. "We train... FOR REAL! Our goal... VICTORY!!"
Holly couldn't help but smile. That boy sure was a number, not only was he weird and mysterious, but he was stubborn and ready to go through any hardship to win. She could only hope that his passion would not die down if he has to face another loss. The tournament was just next week, and Kanar was far from being ready... then there was the matter of the Official at the end of the month. For now she decided to trust the younger boy, maybe he did have what it takes to be a Master... after all, he did get a Platinium Mon-Unit.
To Be Continued...