Disclaimer: Don't own nuthin' o' Monster Rancher, though de monsters be me own.

A/N: Check out this site if ya want ta see what all of the Monsters from 1 through 4 look like!

Monster Rancher : Legend Cup - Home of the Online MR Tournaments


An Angel's Light

By Corvus no Genmu the Prince of Slumberland

"GRAAAAA! Fire Uppercut!" Bright orange fire lit the dark tunnel as the sound of fists colliding against clay echoed across it.

"Useless, useless. You truly are weak if your punches barely tickle Dokoo," taunted the purple-skinned Gabu-halfbreed as Squall threw punch after punch at Dokoo's claylike skin. Squall just couldn't understand why his punches weren't working. When he had fought against Don alongside Van and Goliath, Squall easily managed to hurt the altered Gabu, who was easily five times the size of Dokoo. What's more, every time a punch or kick connected, the following move always seemed a mite more sluggish than the one before.

'I can't lose to this jerk, I can't! I gotta be strong! For Tohru! For Phayne! For everyone!' With another loud roar, Squall landed another hard punch at Dokoo's jeering face, sending the purple-skinned Gabu-halfbreed flying across the tunnel. Though he had disappeared from view, Squall knew that Dokoo would soon be back and more than capable of fighting against him. Gasping heavily for air, Squall kneeled down to the ground not failing to notice how much sluggish his movements had become.

"I… I have no strength left… maybe Dokoo's right… Maybe I'm not strong…"

"You don't have to be, Squall!"

Squall's furry head shot up and he looked around wildly. "Phayne? Phayne! Where are you!"

"I'm right here beside you, Squall! Where I'll always be! Now listen up, you don't have to be strong brawn-wise to strong period! It's not just the strength of one's muscles but one's brain that affects the outcome of the match."

"One's brain…? You mean… use my head?" mumbled Squall as he slowly started to stand. "I have been! I've been hitting all the weakspots on that damn Gabu's body and he still won't go down!"

"Then try something else. Use your head you hothead!"

"Hothead!"

"Conversing with yourself is a sign of insanity." Squall looked up to see a grinning Dokoo, whose body was totally unmarred still. Squall growled low in his throat and was about to throw another punch when he spotted something. There was a faint bruise on the Gabu-halfbreed's body that didn't resemble Squall's fist but rather… a stalactite. 'That's it! I can't hurt him but rocks can!'

Squall grinned a Cheshire Cat grin as he jumped up into the air, curling up into a ball as bright orange fire ignited around his body. "Fire Charge!" Squall's flaming body zoomed straight towards Dokoo, who had yet to move and, instead, was laughing quite loudly.

"Stupid Garu. Dokoo does not hurt from your puny attacks!" Imagine Dokoo's surprise at seeing Squall fly past him and rebound off a stalagmite and up towards the roof of the rock cavern. Squall proceeded to a fabulous impression of a pinball as his flaming body rebounded off the many stalactites that covered the rock tunnel's ceiling, causing several dozens of them to fall to the ground below. Dokoo only had time to roar in anger as a particularly large stalactite impaled him completely into the ground.


"Hsssssssss. Do you really think you can esssssscape me little morssssssel?" Punisher's hissing voice seemed to come from all directions in the misty wood. Tohru, however, continued to run, ignoring the Naga's fear-inspiring voice.

'What can I do? What can I do? I can't fight him! I can't!' Tohru's thoughts traveled back to when she had first, and last, fought a Naga. It had ended with her staying an entire week in the hospital and the Naga being expelled from any legal tournament battles. The same Naga attempted to kill her truly at the hospital but was fought off by a very mad Squall, who had been aching for a chance to avenge Tohru's honor.

Thanks to that unfortunate incident, Tohru had acquired a strong fear of Naga's that she'd come to a near nervous-breakdown at the sight of even a baby Naga. Now with one chasing her, it was a wonder that she hadn't had a heart attack. Squall and the others had tried to help her conquer her fear but it always ended badly, especially for Tohru. 'Oh what will Squall think of me now? Running away from an opponent…' Tohru's crush on the Garu-purebred was a secret shared only between the girls of Genki Ranch. Tohru's only regret now was that she never had the chance to share her feelings with the fiery Squall.

"Don't think like that, Tohru! You can beat him if you try!" Tohru nearly tripped in her surprise at hearing Phayne's voice come seemingly out of thin air.

"Phayne? PHAYNE! Help! I can't fight him! I-"

"You can fight him, Tohru! The only thing that's holding you back is your fear! Stand up and fight not for us but for yourself! Win against the fear in your heart! Don't let it control you anymore than it already has!" Tohru was silent for some time as she ran. Suddenly, a fierce light entered Tohru's eyes and she skidded to a stop and whirled around to see Punisher slithering towards her.

"Ssssssso you've ssssstopped running now? Hasssss my morssssssssel finally realized her fate?"

"Eat this you overgrown garden snake!" shouted Tohru, a neon pink glow enveloping her body. "Mocchi Cannon!" A thick beam of pure energy burst forth from Tohru's mouth to fly across and slam into Punisher's chest, sending the Naga flying across the forest to impact upon the sharp trunk of a tree.


"You truly are a disgrace, Van. Letting your instincts have their way with you as they did before in that tournament those years ago. Do you remember what happened Van? Do you remember the blood you spilled?"

"SHUT UP!" howled Van, slamming his lupine body in Centaur's equine legs, sending the purebred towards the ground. Van did indeed remember. How could he not? He had nearly killed and ate a monster that had used an attack that disgraced Van's honor and sent the Tiger into a rage that nearly cost the Hare's life. After having knocked the Hare out of the ring, Van had attempted to rip open his throat but was stopped by Goliath, who had used his powerful hands to hold the snarling Tiger back. What scared Van the most though was that he wanted to tear into the Hare's body, to eat its flesh and drink its blood. Van never really talked about it to anyone but it the thought of him losing control of himself frightened him much more.

"We all have darkness, Van. It's what balances each other of us." The only indication Van gave that he heard his master's voice was the slight hesitation in his step that nearly cost him his left leg. Luckily, Centaur's silver spear merely cut into Van's leg instead of slicing the entire thing off, but Van now had a wound on his leg that would undoubtedly cost him this fight. Grabbing the spear in his jaws, Van sprinted off towards the opposite direction as Phayne-sama's voice continued to speak.

"It's the fact that your are afraid of losing control again that makes you a monster of the light instead of the darkness. It's not the instincts or the thoughts behind the act but the feelings behind them that make us either good or bad."

Van continued to run as Centaur slowly began to catch up behind him. Suddenly skidding to a halt, Van whirled around and tossed the spear high into the air. Centaur stopped his chase after the Tiger purebred and reached up to catch the spear. Bright bolts of lightning suddenly ripped through the air and impacted the metallic spear, filling it with electricity. Centaur's dark eyes widened as the electrified spear landed in his hand, sending him into the dark depths of oblivion.


Goliath was gasping in horror as the memory played across his mind. It was months ago during one of his frequent visits to his Pixie friend Lelola. Lelola was a wild monster that had a home but her rancher had passed away and instead of finding another ranch, she decided to live it out in the wild, despite many offers from Phayne and Rio. Lelola and Goliath had met when the Golem-purebred was out collecting numerous fruits for a special festive event the ranch was planning on participating in. Goliath and Lelola ended up reaching for the same fruit and one heated argument later, the two became the best of friends. They often talked together as they took walks around the woods near the Genki Ranch and had a few sparring sessions together.

It was during one of these sparring sessions that disaster had struck. Goliath had recently learned a new attack that he had been itching to try out and Lelola was more than willing to help satisfy that itch. However, Goliath had underestimated the power behind the attack and was horrified to watch as Lelola's body went flying through the air to impact heavily on the ground. Panicking, Goliath had taken Lelola's unconscious body back to the ranch and nearly went berserk trying to get help for her.

It took two weeks for the Pixie to wake up and many more before she could even fly again. Goliath blamed himself entirely even though Lelola had told him again and again that it was more her fault for doing something as stupid as to say "Hit me" to a Golem. For a time, Goliath had refused to participate in battles for fear of hurting other monsters and it wasn't until Lelola had smack him in the face that he started fighting again, but even then, there was still a great leash upon Goliath's full power.

"Goliath, what happened was an accident that cannot be reversed or altered. I won't say you must use your full strength, only you can be the judge of that, but I will say that it is wrong for you to never want to fight again. There will be times when all you can do is fight and what then? Will you let yourself die because you refused to fight?" Goliath's eyes widened at both Phayne's voice and the rancher's words.

'Phayne's right. I can't just not fight anymore… I got to get back to the ranch and Lelola!' Goliath's golden eyes lit up as he kneel down before Undine, surprising the water monster. Goliath raised a large hand and held it before Undine's face, not failing to notice her imploring look. One flick of the Golem's rocky finger was all that it took to knock Undine back into the water.


Brillig circled the ceiling of the banquet hall, firing jets of flame down at Vesuvius. The Dragon-purebred was in a near panic and was acting more on instinct than anything else. So engrossed was he that Brillig failed to notice that most of the hall was alit in flames and that Vesuvius' attacks were coming closer to home.

"Thou truly art a wicked beast! Thou wast not satisfied with thine own near-destruction of thine home, now thou has sought to strike against mine! Air Shot!" A thin slice of wind-energy flew past Brillig's wings as he rolled through the air, his thoughts focusing back towards an event in his childhood. Brillig was quite young at when he had gotten a bad cold. Unfortunately, Brillig's furnace was beginning to produce fire and the young Dragon was unable to stop himself from shooting out pint-sized fireballs everytime he sneezed. This, of course, led to the near burning up of the entire Ranch and it was only thanks to Van's quick thinking and Squall pyro-powers that there was any ranch at all. Brillig blamed himself for what nearly occurred despite protests from his friends and family.

"It was an accident, Brillig. No matter how much you want to deny it you weren't at fault! You were just beginning to learn how to breathe fire and you had quite a cold to boot. Now you have much better control over your fire than any Dragon has ever had! Prove to yourself that you are in control of your fires, Brillig!" Although Brillig was surprised by Phayne's voice appearing out of thin air, he didn't let that stop him from flying across the air while Vesuvius continued to attack from the ground.

"Phayne's right. I do have control over my fire. Especially enough to do this! SALAMANDER!" Brillig breathed out a large wall of flames and pushed down upon it, causing it to crash heavily against the surprised Vesuvius. The red armored body of the Durahan-halfbreed was imbedded deep in the ground while the helmet was melted into the ground.


Ghars could not help but laugh in dark mirth as his Zan servants helped him focus the spell that plagued Phayne and his monsters. Ghars was a unique Joker for, unlike any other Joker, Ghars delighted in using various dark magics to kill monsters and humans alike. He still used a scythe but hardly had need of it for many of victims died under his black spells and those that didn't ended up as his servants much like the Zan breeds before him.

Each Zan served as a focus point between Ghars and his victim, enhancing and strengthening the spell through their artificial bodies. Ghars was rather thankful that they had stumbled quite literally into his cold embrace for his meals and kills become much more numerous than ever before because of them. However, Ghars failed to notice the tiny smiles that began to grow on his victims' faces as beads of sweat began to appear on his seravants' own. It was not until his servants were blasted backwards and into the ground that Ghars became aware of the sudden twist in the game.

"What is this! How did you escape from my Nightmare-Wave?" Phayne grinned and held the Angel's Light flower closer to his chest.

"Someone like you could never understand. We possess something far stronger than your magics. It's called love, Ghars, and it is something that is shared between all of us!"

"Love?" scoffed the Joker magic-user. "Do you really think love can help you defeat me?"

"No, but we can." Ghars whirled around and saw what were once his servants standing before him, their eyes all reflecting their newly gained freedom.

"What! HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE! You should be under my complete control!" The leader Zan, a purebred, stepped forward and brandished his steel claws before him.

"You're going to pay for what you made us do you cold-hearted bastard," said Zan slowly before sprinting towards Ghars, his sickles held ready. Metal clashed upon metal as Zan's sickles impacted against Ghars' scythe.

"You fool. Do you really think you can defeat me all by yourself?" hissed Ghars, the eyes on his mask glowing dark red. Had Zan a mouth, he would have smirked.

"Whoever said I was alone?" Ghars had only enough time to look up and watched as five pairs of sickles ripped into everything that kept his ethereal body together. His cape and gloves were torn asunder and his scythe sliced into several pieces, the blade included. All that was left of the blood-thirsty monster known to the world as Ghars was his mask and that do was quickly destroyed by Zan.

There was a moment of tense silence as Phayne and his monsters warily watched the Zan breeds for any sign of attack against them as they too did the same. The dark night was already rapidly turning back into day as Ghars' spell followed him into death. However, neither group noticed this as they were too busy watching each other for any sign of attack. It was not until Zan and the other five Zan breeds bowed down to Phayne and the others that the tense moment was broken, especially by Zan himself who spoke on colleauge's behalf.

"We owe you a great debt Master Rancher Phayne, for breaking Ghars' spell and giving our lives back to us. Ask whatever you wish from us and will grant it without hesitation." Phayne and his monsters exchanged bewildered looks that soon turned into mutual grins.

"You guys up for a quick spar?" Zan looked up at Phayne, surprise quite evident in his red eyes. However, had he a mouth, Zan would have grinned as he stood with his sickles at ready.

"Whenever you're ready…"


Rio sighed tiredly as she watched the waves splash against the sandy shores of the lake. She was resting on log near the sands of the lake's beach as the sun began to set just past the Kageryu mountain range. After abandoning all thoughts of chores, Rio had thought of visiting her friends in Togle but found she didn't even have the energy for that. With nothing else to really do, Rio simply went down to the lake and stared into its blue depths for hours, silently thinking back to fond memories between herself and Phayne.

"I wonder what he's doing right now…"

"He's standing right over here watching how the sun makes you look far more beautiful than ever, even though that seems near impossible." Rio gasped and whirled around to see Phayne and their monster friends standing not far behind her, all looking a little worse for wear.

"Phayne! You're back!" exclaimed Rio happily. Phayne smiled and nodded, carefully hiding the Angel's Light flower behind his back. Rio, however, noticed this. "What are you hiding behind your back?"

"Oh… nothing… Just something I thought could cheer you up a bit," said Phayne as he took the flower out from behind his back and held it before her. Rio's chestnut eyes widened as tears began to form. 'That's an Angel's Light… but they only grow on-Oh my goodness! He didn't!'

"Phayne… you didn't climb Infinity Mountain did you?" Phayne laughed and shook his head, sending small patches of dust flying.

"No, no. Just one of the Plateaus of Dorugora," said Phayne, like he was talking about the weather. Rio's eyes widened even further as she stared incredulously at Phayne.

"The Plateaus of Dorugora! You… You…" Tears began to flow down Rio's pale face and Phayne immediately became worried.

" Rio? Rio, what's wrong? Don't you like the flower?" Rio shook her head and wiped away her tears.

"No, I love it's just… no ones ever done something like this for me and I… I just realized…" Rio choked back a sob as she sprinted forward and wrapped her arms around Phayne's torso, causing him to drop the flower on the ground where it landed quite safely on a patch of sand.

" Rio…" Phayne's eyes softened as he hugged the sobbing girl and stroked her chestnut-colored hair, whispering sweet words into her ear. Once her tears had died away and she continued to keep a firm hold on his torso, Phayne dared to ask her exactly what she had realized. Rio looked up into Phayne's brown eyes and smiled before whispering gently into his ears the words he had been hoping to hear for quite some time.

"I love you." Phayne's eyes widened before he placed his lips upon hers shortly aftering whispering the words right back. Off to the side, the monsters of Genki Ranch watched their rancher and his assistant 'suck lips' with sappy smiles on their faces.

"C'mon, let's give them some privacy," whispered Tohru, turning away from the spectacle.

"Awww… But I wanna watch!" whined Squall playfully. Tohru merely smiled before skipping up to him and placing a gentle kiss on his fuzzy cheek.

"Would you rather watch or participate?" Tohru giggled before racing off back towards the ranch, leaving behind a gaping Squall whose face was redder than his fur.

"Squall? You okay there?" asked Brillig, a grin on his draconic face.

"No," said Squall slowly. "I just died and entered heaven. I'm off to meet my angel guys!" Squall raced off after Tohru, leaving behind a trail of dust in his wake. The remaining three chuckled at the sight.

"You know…" said Goliath, "I think I'll go with the flow." Without another word, Goliath run off towards the woods where Lelola resided. Brillig and Van stared after the Golem before turning to look at each other.

Brillig opened his fanged mouth and said, "I-"

"Don't."

"But-"

"NO. Go find yourself a female Dragon or something."

"That sound like an idea to me!" With a massive flap of his large wings, Brillig took off into the air and headed towards Philia's ranch. Van chuckled to himself as he walked away towards the woods. Brillig was most likely going to go see Alice, a female Dragon and one of the few monsters that Van could call a friend who lived on another ranch, Philia's to be specific, entirely. He did think that the two of them were rather cute together really. And speaking of cute…

"I think I'll go visit Anna. I haven't seen her snowy fur in a fortnight!"

Love was most definitely in the air that night.