Monster Rancher Fan Fiction ❯ Fresh Start ❯ Fresh Start ( Chapter 1 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]

Author's Note: Based on the fact that my first true fanfic was in the Monster Rancher genre, I've decided to revisit my roots by bringing as much as I can up to date. For example, all of my previous Monster Rancher fanfics will be considered scrapped- this new story will have nothing to do with my previous fics, or even the anime. That's right, you heard me. This series will be based off of the games, and only the games. I won't even be bringing my two good series (Searching and Beginnings) into this in the slightest, though I have to admit that I may actually use a name or two from them. Oh, and just to warn ya, there will be "Author's Notes" before and after the chapters of the fic.

This will take place about 5 actual years after the fourth game. I don't own any of the characters from the Monster Rancher games, and that includes the monsters. Any similarities between this fic and anything that happens in real life is purely coincidental. Oh yes, italics are for thoughts.


***
Vizley
***

"Ah, so you have a letter of introduction to our school, do you? Let's see, who is this one from, hm?" came the older man's voice as a young man stood in the front lobby of the school. The older man still had hair, no beard strangely enough, and had a rough sounding voice as he took the letter that the younger man had handed to him. With a small frown, the older man shook his head before pulling a pair of glasses from his coat pocket and setting them up so he could make out the small lettering clearly. "Hm... From Age, eh? Nice place, I hear. Someone named Hunter recommended you, huh? Well, I don't think I've heard of that particular breeder, but don't worry. If it got approval from the headmasters, then he must be decent. Have yourself a seat, I'll go ahead and take this to the headmaster and let 'er know you're here."

With that, the older man left without even introducing himself to the younger person. With a shake of his head, the young man glanced to the ceiling, and then along the decorated hallway. So many trophies, he told himself, looking at each one carefully. Of course, only the grandest and shiniest of the bunch were out in the front lobby, to show just how well the school handled itself compared to so many other trainers who had never gone here. Such small-time breeders could rarely ever manage to boast many trophies, let alone ones from the highest ranks of the different organizations! He chuckled softly as he swept a hand through his brown-red hair slowly, closing his eyes as he finally relaxed. It had taken almost three weeks after receiving the recommendation from Hunter, a young man on Age who had started his ascent to becoming well known just as Aroma and Zest had done- and Hunter's reputation had suffered because of it, unfortunately.

Ever since FIMBA, AGIMA, and IMA banded together to form the MGA, things had gotten a lot more difficult for breeders just starting out. Oh sure, there were rules in place to help keep it so that beginning ranchers could do well enough in local tournaments, but what about going up in rank? With a sigh, he shook his head. Without getting a respectable start, it was nearly impossible to maintain a small ranch these days. With stricter rules, even larger ranches had gone bankrupt in their attempt to 'downsize' their facilities, but even with these new rules in place the smaller ranchers were suffering. How well I know, he thought, thinking back to his time as a part-time assistant on one of the run-down ranches on Age Island before the breeder had gone bankrupt. It hurt, to remember saying goodbye to the monsters when he had been fired only days before the breeder declared being bankrupt, and had to sell off his monsters in order to try get them good homes. That was before Hunter had taken him in a year ago to help with his ranch.

"Sorry about the wait... by the way, my name's Mr. Richter." the old man announced, and the younger man looked to the one who had taken his letter and nodded. I don't really want to be here, he told himself. Why here, when I could try to start my own living elsewhere? The answer was simple enough, really. No money. No one would lend an aspiring breeder money these days, no matter what. Not even larger ranches could spare the few thousand required to actually provide a new breeder the chance to enrich the competition. He smiled to the man as he ushered him down the hallway, to the Headmaster's room. The hallway was no longer decorated by trophies, but of powerful monsters of all sorts of breeds. Including some that no one had found in years, the young man saw, even as he smiled at the portrait of a Gaboo. A pile of mashed potatoes with eyes, mouth, and arms, for all intents and purposes, but it was quite a powerful monster. Unfortunately, the last one that I saw was retired shortly after an A-rank battle, he remembered, and shrugged ever so slightly as he heard a knock on the rich brown door before the two of us.

The young man immediately shifted to look ahead to Mr. Richter as he finished his three-knock on the door before checking myself. He tried not to smile as the door was opened for the two of them by the older teacher, and soon the same man motioned for the young man to enter. With a small shake, his left foot was willed forward, and then the right, and then after a stiff couple of steps his stride broke into a much more casual gait. The nervousness that he felt had been apparent on his face, so apparent that Mr. Richter shook his head slowly as the change came over the person who was heading into the room at a slow rate. Speed increased, the look of nervousness on his face fled only to be hidden just behind a mask that he quickly set up, and past the threshold of the door the young man stepped.

It took a moment to take in the scenery of the room. Unfortunately, since the young man who had just entered the room quickly realized, that moment was not to come anytime soon. His attention was immediately taken to the rich wood desk near the window that let light into the room, and to the person behind it who was dressed in the dark gray robes that the instructors at the school had started wearing over the past few years. The person behind the desk smiled, and stood up. The headmaster was more like the headmistress, he realized, as he saw the certain features on the elderly woman's face. "Welcome to Elives School, young man. I am afraid that though Hunter is a talented breeder, he neglected to write down your name on the invitation. My name is Pan. What might yours be?" she asked with a voice that was casual and yet her words were simply businesslike.

"My name is Arik. I apologize that I hadn't realized my name wasn't in the letter." the young man replied with a small smile. So, Hunter had made the mistake of not providing the name of the person who he was recommending for entrance into the Elives School? That was possibly bad news... But Arik blinked as he recognized the headmistress' name. It was one from quite a while ago... perhaps ten years or more ago? No, this couldn't be the same person, he told himself. Originally, he had lived in the FIMBA region, on the main continent, and could vaguely remember going to several tournaments as an aspiring breeder attempted to make the ascent up the long ladder of prestige and rank. He took another look at the aging woman, and had to wonder, again, if he actually remembered her as the breeder. It was a nod that was given to him by the older woman that cemented it- he remembered from the awards ceremony after the tournaments that she had won that she would only accept the trophies by doing that, and take a photograph with her monster that she had been raising.

"It is not a problem- in fact, it is a test for potential students, to see if they can be trusted to not read something that is not fully meant for them. Some actually write their name in the space provided, and sometimes they are turned away as a result. You passed that test... I wonder, will you pass more?" she asked, and the young man shrugged slightly. He still didn't want to be here, in this school. I want to learn on my own, to do what I can by myself without help! But no, he knew it was nearly impossible for that to happen. Without a starting amount of gold that would have to be about 15,000, one would be without land, house, or barn for their ranch. "Hm... Arik, you said, correct?" she asked, and the young man nodded in reply to that question. "Hmm... ah, yes, here it is." she exclaimed, and I looked to see that she had been busy sorting through some drawer full of files.

"Looks like Hunter sent some information about you here via a Pixie of his. That was about four or five months ago, looks like." she said, and the young man was quite surprised. Hunter rarely planned a whole lot in advance, so he must have had that in mind for a while, he told himself. "Alright, from the looks of things you already have the basics down. You've been assisting on ranches for several years now, which is basically the kind of training we do here for our students. Maybe I could arrange for my old assistant to come down here and check your abilities herself?" She asked herself, and the young man blinked before realizing that she was chuckling to herself. "Nah, Holly's always busy these days." she finished, sighing softly before shaking her head slowly.

It took a moment of her thinking to herself before the young man began to get bored of the wait. Then she smiled a little bit. "I think I know just who to bring in for the test." she told the young man, who just looked very surprised. "You see, according to the information provided by Hunter, you've passed all the basic tests and raising techniques of monsters. You have missed the most recent round of testing by about two months now, and instead of just letting you stay here to raise a monster, I think it would be a better experience to give you a small ranch out in the Togle area. That way, you'll get experience and a chance to raise your monster before actually being tested by a representative of the school." she informed Arik. "It would be unfair to cause you to be two months behind the new students as well, because two months is valuable training time, as anyone who has raised a monster would know. So! I'll definitely get ahold of someone who can test you outside of our normal testing times. However..." she trailed off, and smiled slowly to the young man who was already shocked by her words.

"However, you'll need to pass the test. Or else, we shall call you back to the school to begin training all over again. You'll lose the ranch you would be working on, as well. Go to the inn that you have a room in, and we'll send someone to give you the information and passage to Togle." Pan told Arik, and he nodded before bowing to the older woman. She just shook her head slowly and shooed the young man out from her office, which Arik vacated gratefully. He was met by Mr. Richter in the hall, but was still in a state of shock that even the gruff old teacher noticed and couldn't shake him out of. The old man merely guided the young student from the office, and down the hall to the lobby. All the while, Arik was walking slowly as he thought of the strange development he was now a part of.. My own ranch... Raise a monster for a year, be tested, and what if I passed the test? Automatically... would I get the ranch?

***
Six days later
***

It took almost a week to get everything established. Arik had gone back and forth between the MGA branch and the Elives School more times than he truly cared to remember at all, not to mention to the land brokers' guild in order to find a small enough ranch that could meet the requirements set by the school. As well as, secretly, planning for the future, in case he did manage to pass the test that the school would set him through. He wasn't too sure as to the monster he would be allowed to raise, however, simply because he hadn't been told what monsters were available from the school to train for the test. Mocchi? Cute, easy to train, and all-around capable of most any training regimen. A Golem would be alright, with their strength and defensive abilities, but they would come up short on speed. A Pixie... no, that would be doubtful. They were always a little too difficult to handle, from what he'd seen when Hunter attempted to raise one or two on his ranch. They always seemed to calm down and do what was required after about an hour of coaxing them into it, though.

The one monster that Arik had been hoping to train was a Tiger, though. Their speed and combination of intelligence and strength made them great attackers, but also their lack of defensive abilities made them vulnerable to physical attacks. Fortunately, a Tiger's agility was usually great enough to cause a great deal of confusion for the opponent. He'd heard that of all the possible monsters in the world, that Tigers were the most loyal to those who treated them well enough to qualify for the loyalty that they had to give. Tigers had pride in themselves and their abilities- Arik had seen that in many battles in the AGIMA arenas. The main problem was that sometimes, if the person training the Tiger couldn't earn the Tiger's respect, then the Tiger might simply leave. Arik had worked with one such Tiger on a ranch before, where the master of the ranch had left the Tiger to be raised by Arik alone while concentrating on some other monster. I managed to keep him to stay for a few months, but then the Tiger left, he thought to himself, a sigh escaping him as he remembered the day that he had had to break the bad news to the breeder. They had waited for months after that, up until the time when Arik had been let go from the ranch, for the monster's return. But it never had.

Arik had gone looking for it as well, but several times there had been a stray monster that showed up wanting to pick a fight with a human. Without a monster for protection or help, of course all he could do was run away- Arik wasn't trained to fight monsters. And the day came when he was fired, when Arik was given a saucer stone as a final means of payment. It was the same Saucer Stone that he carried with him nowadays, and it had never been used yet. The old breeder he had worked for had told him to save it for the day when Arik could truly use it, and become a monster breeder in his own right. That day had been almost a year and a half ago, and here it was now, even while the older breeder was nowhere to be found. The man had been very intelligent, and seemed to have a second sight when it came to the monsters that could be brought forth from Saucer Stones. He was right about the base species of monster about 3 out of 4 times, despite the fact that he wouldn't have used the disc before that anyone knew of.

But the old man hadn't told Arik what could be found inside the Saucer Stone. Which is as it should be, Arik thought as he gazed at the disc that held one out of who knows how many monsters there are in existence. The old breeder had built a name for himself by using his strange ability to discern what was in a saucer stone for other breeders. His ability forced him to change from being a full-time breeder to a part-time one, which had been why Arik had been hired. As a nephew of the old breeder, it was thought by the old man that perhaps Arik had the same ability... but that had never surfaced in the slightest. Instead, Arik retained an ability that was only slightly less odd. Like most Breeder Assistants, he could understand monsters. Not just interpret their whines and sounds and noises that escaped them when they attempted to speak with humans, but actually understand their language in the same way that they could understand humans. As he closed his eyes and put the disc away, he was reminded of his uncle, who was the old breeder who had given him the disc. Then, his mind beganto wander as he remembered him

The monsters on the ranch, of which there were only three at any given time, were never truly given the attention that they deserved. The old man had given Arik the authority to basically be the breeder on the ranch, rather than an assistant, because his time was always preoccupied by other breeders from all over coming to find out about the saucer stones that they would find from wherever. It was Arik who practically ran the ranch, who had taken the monsters to the arenas for their tournaments. Arik, who had taken the monsters out on small excursions into the mountains for training in a more wild area, for several of the monsters he had helped to raise enjoyed the colder climate and the harsh weather in order to train. It helped with honing their abilities as best as they could. The ranch never gained a name though, despite this, because the monsters knew Arik, though a decent assistant, was not their master. It was their master they wanted to have approve of them, the one who had unlocked them all.

But the old man did nothing. The monsters resented this. The Tiger that had been being raised ran away, never to be found or heard of again. The Night Flyer stayed, believing that by doing so she could gain her master's approval. But even to the end, the master took little time to check on his own monsters. The Golem that he had raised stayed on the Ranch until it turned to gravel at the end of its lifespan. It had been the old man's first monster, the one that had reached class C faster than most Golems ever had. It did everything that had been asked of it by its master... but in the end, even its master had turned from breeding to giving full-time readings of sacuer stones.

Arik opened his after going through the memories, the different scenes- the Golem, the Night Flyer, and the Tiger, all training together in the hopes of receiving some sort of recognition from the man who had unlocked them. They would even spar one another in front of the house, but still the most they got was adulation and praise from visiting breeders. Not to mention my own praise and support, Arik told himself, even as he breathed in deeply. But since I wasn't the one who was truly their master, my support, though appreciated, wasn't what they truly wanted. They'd wanted my uncle's support, his praise... his attention. But they couldn't rouse the old breeder from his favorite pastime. It wasn't much work, all he had to do was look at the saucer stone, touch it, and then guess. It was easier than raising the monsters.

Never... I'll never forget the monsters that would work so hard for me, Arik told himself, even as he pushed himself off the bed that he'd been resting on. The inn was busy, as it usually was on a day of a Grade Tournament. The Grade D tournament, no less, was one that many spectators loved to watch, because it was here where one could get a general idea of how far a monster could truly get in its short career. of course, some breeders left their monsters at this level, to train and bring in money that the breeder could count on. Though it was fairly underhanded by the breeders who did such a thing, it certainly made for bragging rights by newcomers who would manage to defeat those types of monsters.

Down the stairs Arik walked, after leaving the room. Downstairs was a busy place, though thankfully the upper floors were much quieter thanks to specially designed sound-proofing of the walls and floorboards. A few humans and pixies wandered about with platters of food and drink- the maids, as he liked to call them. 'Course, the locals used a term of affection that he wouldn't dare call them, and he laughed to himself as he saw one young lady get patted on the thigh as she passed by an older man who probably had an ale too many by this time. And it was only midday, he told himself with a small grin, as he waited for a Nagisa to walk past him with an empty platter at her side. Of course, this was only the human section- the monster's section was much larger, and as further back. There were a couple of Suzurin and Hares playing music for both parts of the inn, and Arik headed for the door as quickly as he could, while there was still an opening.

Though he'd been told to stay at the inn to wait for the summons to the docks, Arik knew better than to wait forever. He was restless- he needed something to do, and certainly one good thing to do was to simply head out to the nearby Grade D tournament that was taking place soon. Judge the competition... If he was lucky, he'd be there within half a year to 8 months. If I'm good, I might there in even less time, he told himself, which made the hopeful smile broadly as he turned to the street to walk towards the ancient colloseum. Who knew just how long it stood there, but it had been in use since ancient times according to the history books. Though it was old, Arik knew that the relic of the past was kept up to date with the newest technology that could be offered in this day and age. Some said that it may even have pre-dated the ancient civilization that the inhabitants of this island descended from... Of course, no solid evidence of that, however, remained anywhere.

***
The Arena
***

Dammit! Arik couldn't believe his bad luck as he arrived at the large arena. Already packed, no less, with all sorts of fellow spectators who ranged from a group of 5-year old humans all the way up to 50-year old men. Not to mention the many monsters who were lining the ring, save for the larger ones who were in the back of the stands. He shook his head as the announcer began the opening ceremony, and the first two monsters were announced. Of course, they were much smaller than they normally would be, if seen from up close. The first had been announced as a Renocraft, and the other... Well, I didn't catch the name of that breed. It looked like some sort of larger monster, but not a Golem. It had a tail- was it a Dino? Arik was very surprised at that revelation, since he hadn't seen one since he had lived in FIMBA with his family. They were very rare outside of the FIMBA region... in fact, none had been found outside the FIMBA region, so that certainly told him where that breeder came from.

The two monsters closed to close range with one another, and Arik smiled as the Dino came in for a Tail attack. The Renocraft stood its ground, however, blocking the incoming tail with a swipe from its claw. The Renocraft countered at the command of its breeder, right claw darting forward three times. It connected the first time, but the two subsequent attacks missed as the Dino dashed back and out of reach. Arik shook his head as he saw the Dino move its head up and back a little before darting forward, a fireball escaping its mouth to connect with the Renocraft, knocking the monster down for a moment. As the referee began to count, anyone could see the monster struggling to get up, and Arik shook my head slowly as it seemed to be unable to do so. The count soon reached the eight, and the monster managed to make it upright before collapsing again.

This is over, he told himself, as the referee finished the ten-count. The Dino was announced as the winner, and the breeder who had been commanding the Renocraft jumped from where he had been to rush over to his monster to check on it, even as the Dino was walked out of the ring. Arik shrugged slightly, and headed back out from the arena. There was no real need to watch the battles right now, he told himself. Just needed some air, after all, and he smiled as he made his way past the large crowd that had gathered to watch the D-Grade tournament. The mass of humanity... and a few of the more compact monsters like Pixies, Tigers, and Hares, that lay before him was almost daunting as he made his way out.

In fact, it made it almost impossible to escape the arena! So many people had come to watch the battles that the exits were even completely filled. With a sigh, Arik shook his head and then began pardoning himself to the other people in the way, accidentally forced to brush against a pure-bred Pixie who looked at him with a small smile and a flushed face. After a mutual apology, he managed to squeeze past her and headed towards the only exit he could see was still open. There wasn't much else that he could do at this point other than head back to the inn, and with a shrug he began walking back to there as he escaped the cramped confines of the arena.

Arik couldn't help but to shiver, almost uncontrollably, as he walked back towards the inn, past the few shoppers and passerbys who were still loitering in the marketplace. He smiled a little as he managed to make it out of the marketplace easier than he had been able to escape the arena, finding himself the one place in the town that he could possibly want to go, and yet couldn't yet because of his non-ranking status as a breeder at all yet. It was a tall building, and he sighed as he saw the sign above the large doorway. "The Monster Shrine." he told himself, whispering the words as he closed his eyes. He truly did want to try unlocking the disc he had in his pack, but he knew that he couldn't yet because he had no way to support the monster right now.

There was no way to know what would happen once he unlocked... if he could unlock it, no less. Perhaps it was a monster that the MGA had relegated to a limited breeder status? It was certainly possible, since quite a number of monsters had been relegated to such a status due to the degree of difficulty of actually raising them. If this disc was one of them, it would be impossible to obtain the rank required to actually be allowed to raise the monster yet. Beginners had no possible ability in attempting to raise, say, a Joker or a Dragon, after all. Even Hunter had had a difficult time with them, Arik remembered, and he shrugged slowly.

Finally, he passed by the shrine, wondering all the while as to when he would eventually be allowed to get going to Togle, as the headmistress at the Elives School had said would happen. Finally, he nodded to himself and smiled slowly as his direction shifted, his feet taking him towards the school itself. Perhaps they finally had word on when he would be leaving? He certainly had not received the information yet. With a stretch, Arik's feet took him towards the school, though it would be a fairly long walk from where he was to get there.

***
At the Elives School
***

After about an hour's walk, Arik found himself at the Elives School gate. It was, as always, unlocked and open, and so the young man headed for the front doors to the school. There was a sudden yell to his left though, that caused Arik to stop in place and then find himself on the ground after a rather painful impact of some body part smashing into his face. A groan later and a shake of his head, Arik opened his eyes as he felt something or someone on him, and his face immediately went red as he saw a young pixie of some sort just sitting on his chest, the look on the monster's face playful to say the least.

Arik smiled slightly in return, and then the thudding of feet from somewhere caused Arik to look over the green-colored Pixie's shoulder to see whoever it was that was running up to them. A young woman, probably my age, Arik thought, as a blonde girl came into view. Not as attractive as some girls were, of course, but certainly not a slouch in the beauty department, either. She reached out and grabbed the Pixie's waist, pulling her off of the young man as he began to pick himself up off of the ground. "I'm really sorry about that! This little one has been trying to run away lately." she told him, and he looked to the Pixie as he tried to determine why she would try to run away.

Then, Arik looked up to the girl who was holding the Pixie and smiled slowly. "I see. Well, why would this little pixie try to run away?" he asked, even as the green Pixie struggled against the girl's grasp. But she must have been holding her to her as if held in place by iron bars, he thought, since her arms didn't give way to the struggling at all. The Pixie told him why, already, but he wanted to know if this girl could hear the Pixie's words as well. So few breeders truly could understand their monsters... Of course, that often left breeeder assistants to do the listening instead.

"I really don't know... I'm not that strict with her, except when she refuses to do as she's required to." the girl said, and Arik shook his head slowly. Not quite the truth, he told himself, after having listened to the Pixie. It was difficult to understand a Pixie that was only a few months old, but the general message was loud and clear.

"Really now? According to the little one here, I think that you might be trying to have it do only the things that it isn't good at, and doesn't like it. She says that you have her Exercising all the time. Is that true?" Arik asked in response, to which the girl blushed and could only nod sheepishly in return. "Alright, there's the problem. You scold her when she doesn't do well, and that's a lot because you have her do the things that she isn't really able to do when she's this young. Pixies aren't very strong, remember? They're fast and very smart. If you teach them early, they can even speak human! But you have to be sure to start our monster friends' training schedules right, or else you may find yourself in trouble with them later." he informed the young girl, who nodded slowly, surprised at the young man's knowledge.

"Now, I think our little Pixie here is willing to forgive you for all this, but you'd better leave her from Exercise and Ukemi training for a while. Let her do all sorts of things, like a High Jump and Meditating and such. Find a good schedule, not just one that attempts to make up for a Pixie's weakness. You need to train their strengths as well, after all." he told her, and reached forward to rub the green Pixie's head gently, fingers playing in the young monster's green hair lightly. The girl smiled a bit and bowed with the pixie in her arms before carrying her young monster off back towards the training areas around the school. With a shake of his head, he could hear the Daina's quiet protests as she was carted away by her breeder.

After a moment of watching the two until they disappeared behind the curve of the school, Arik continued towards the door to the lobby of the school, and in he went. The secretary told him it would take a little while until the headmistress would be available, as she was busy in a meeting at the moment, and so Arik had himself a seat to wait for a chance to speak to Pan again. He closed his eyes and chuckled softly as he considered what had just happened outside, and the young man stretched slowly, head moving from side to side before sighing and relaxing against the wall once more. He disliked waiting... but it had already been six days. What was a few more hours compared to that?

***
Author's Notes,
The New Continuum:

This new storyline will make several changes that will allow things to flow more smoothly. I'm borrowing a bit from an old favorite of mine- "The Experiment", by Richard Ryley. Look him up sometime on Fanfiction.net, he's rather good at this. I'm also borrowing a little from the games and adding my own dash of spice to keep things a little different. So far, here it is:

A) Monsters can live up to four years on average (monsters in MRA 1 and 2 can usually live to this age before retiring). They mature anywhere from 5-12 months after birth, remain in their prime for 12-18 months after that and then decline from that point on until they die. However, thanks to Monster Rancher 2's exploited Tablet regime that was neglected to be kept in Monster Rancher (unless it was in the form of Vitamins), monsters can live even longer than the four or five years, and their prime lifespan is extended by the same amount of months. On the Tablet diet, a monster can actually live up to almost 12 years!

B) The game takes place after Monster Rancher 4, which I have decided that it takes place after the other games. Holly, Aroma and Zest, and Colt are respected breeders now. Phayne is an aspiring breeder, and Rio who works with him as an assistant continue their work despite having become great breeders in their own right. Mr. Karnab is still the FIMBA chairman, and is finally starting to settle down after all of his adventures throughout the different lands.

C) The MGA (Monster Guidelines Association) is the ruling council of monster breeders, who create the rules that the councils of the lesser groups (FIMBA, AGIMA, and IMA) adhere to. The MGA is made of breeders from all three Associations combined, and they make the difficult rulings that the lesser associations are unable to make, if it would prove advantagous to one group over the others. This was decided after certain things were made apparent to FIMBA while Training Gadgets were allowed without restrictions.

D) Training Gadgets (from now on called Training Devices) are often used on ranches- however, just like in MR4, they are limited by the size of the ranch. Also unlike MR4, they do not need to run off of Geonyte, and actually are powered by human creations like windmills and water mills, if the device requires power. However, no matter the size of the ranch, the MGA ruling has decreed that no more than 12 Training Devices may be allowed working on a ranch, and all others that are kept on hand should be dismantled. Training Gadgets are also very expensive now, and inspectors go to ranches four times a year to make sure that the rules are being followed.

E) Some monsters are restricted from being raised by even the more experienced breeders! These include the following Monsters races: Dragon, Zilla, Jokers, Durahans, and Zans. To actually qualify to raise these breeds of monsters, since they are rather rare and difficult to handle compared to many other monsters, the breeder must actually be of a certain Rank and Breeding level (and yes, the two can be rather different). They must also complete a task in order to prove that they can handle whatever these monsters might throw at them (usually by using one of their own monsters to defeat the type of monster in question).

F) In the past, ranches were only capable of raising one or two monsters at a time. However, because a breeder often receives an assistant, they can usually raise as many monsters as their ranch can hold. Most of the time, the combination of a Monster Breeder and Breeder Assistant usually limits this number to 4 or 5, so as not to stretch their resources too thin (larger ranches with more room and breeders/assistants can handle more, of course). The MGA has installed a restriction to the number of monsters that any particular ranch can raise at once, however. This limit is 15 monsters at the most.

G) Because of the number of monster races available in the many games of Monster Rancher that I am taking into account here, I'm also going to keep a growing list of possible monsters, combinations, and a small description of each that will likely follow the end of each chapter of these stories. If I find people are enjoying this expansion, I may even continue listing more and more of them. Because some of the monster races that I'm including were not available in the latest game, I'll have to create some new expansions. Unfortunately, because of the way that Beaclons truly work (remember, in MR 2, they were an 'evolved' form of Worm), they will simply become an otherwise completely different monster from Worms.

H) Hospitals, Markets, and the like will be making a return. I don't know what Tecmo was thinking in MR4, but the Hospital wouldn't have been too hard to put it, would it? I mean, they managed it for the GBA games, after all, and they always helped. They'll make an appearance here as well, I'm sure... but I wonder, should I just make new characters or 'import' old ones to fill the doctor's shoes, hm?

I) Since I'm sure that a bunch of people who are fans who might read this will wonder, I'll put in a list of common and uncommon Monsters. Doing the sub-breeds would be too long to do safely right now, however. Commons: Mocchi, Tiger, Hare, Pixie, Zuum, and Golem. Uncommon: Naga, Garu, Suezo, Worm, Antlan, Ripper, Henger, Madillo, Color Pandora, and Baku. Popular Uncommon: Suzurin, Mew, and Gali. Very Rare: Monol, Arrowhead, and Beaclon.

J) This is long, isn't it? Don't worry, I'm nearly done here. Next up... Monsters thought to be extinct: Undine, Mock, Centaurs, Phoenix, and possibly others...

K) Finally, so as not to mess with what the story seems to be in the games, I'll have to say that not every human is capable of fully understanding monsters. Holly, Colt, and Rio obviously can, and Talt can as well in MR4. I believe that in general, about 10% of the world's population of humans are actually capable of understanding the monster's language. However, certain Monsters can speak Human as well as their normal language: Pixies, Dragons, Centaurs, Henger, Gali, Joker, Suezo, Golem, and Phoenix. Only the more humanoid monsters would have the capability of speaking human, as well as those who do not solely rely on physical means to speak.

Okay, I'm done. I just thought it would be a good idea to set up the things that I figure that anyone really interested in the games might think to ask about before they could get a chance to ask about 'em. Also, if anyone has suggestions, I'm more than happy to take them. I think that my one-time welcome mat to the Monster Rancher Archives have been pulled in (I dunno how I got such a good name in the first place, my first couple of fics were utter crap!), so I'll definitely be trying to prove my worth in this category once more.