Monster Rancher Fan Fiction ❯ The Searcher Chronicles ❯ Armageddon: pt 1 - Unleashing the Beast ( Chapter 3 )

Armageddon pt 1: Unleashing the Beast

Disclaimer: I don't own Monster Rancher apart from the characters I create

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Monol: But despite their technology, they were not able to foresee the great disasters that attacked the land

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"Look, here it is" the brown-haired girl pulled this white-edged mystery disc out of the hole

"Great, let's go unlock it" the boy kneeling next to her said

Then they were in an unlocking shrine

"Unlock" the girl ordered

A winged shadow burst from the disc, then the girl screamed as the boy was tore from her side and thrown against a pillar, the shrine collapsed and this fire raced across the land, until there was nothing left but a black void

"No" Myst sat up in her bed, the pixie/tiger hybrid rubbed her arms

As the Prophet's Crystal sparkled in the morning sun, Myst sighed, got up, walked to the ledge outside the cave, she closed her eyes, her parents died when she was a baby and her grandmother had raised her, lovingly teaching Myst about the crystal, opening tear-filled eyes, Myst stood alone on the ledge, her grandmother had died last year and passed the guardianship of the Crystal over to her

"Milady guardian, are you alright, I heard you scream" an full-grown male dragon landed besides her

"Rime, I just had a vision…of the end of this world"

"Can we stop it?"

"I don't know"

* * * * *

"Get them, get them" Captain Evil Hare bounced up and down behind his troops

"Yahh" as Genki, Moochi on his back, plunged at one of them, he glanced back at the cave where Browny stood in between Golem's legs, hackles raised and a snarl on his face, Suezo stood besides the Hare Hound, guarding the cave where Holly and Minette were sheltering

"Do you want some?" Kaz jumped to one foot to the other, excitedly, before he charged head-first into the enemy

Blue high-kicked an Evil Hare, while Hare and Nancy were standing back to back, using their Machine Gun Punch Technique, then Tiger and Tigress smiled at each other and they ran towards the enemy, plunging into them, suddenly in an eruption of black fur and a roar, Rialto burst from under the Evil Hares trying to hold him down

"Swarm them" the Captain ordered

Two black-furred Hares grabbed Genki's arms as he kicked furiously

"Let go" he cried

Then in a flash, Tiger and Tigress were dealing with the boy's captors, getting up, Genki saw Kaz disappearing under a sea of black fur as the Evil Hares swarmed forward, the Spot Saurian scrabbled out from under them

"Fall back" Genki cried

"Run" Tiger snarled

"There's too many, ever for us" Tigress stared at him

Backing into the cave, but never taking their gaze from the Evil Hares, the rebels saw the enemy run forwards and line up each side of the cave

"Now" the Captain yelled

They started punching the cliff face, then a shower of small pebbles trickled down in front of the cave

"They're trying to trap us in here" Hare realized

"No" Genki started to skate forward, but suddenly there was a loud rumble and he was thrown backwards, then he slipped into darkness

* * * * *

"Gen...ki" Holly's worried face loomed into his vision as he opened his eyes

"What, what happened?" he asked

"Those blasted Evil Hares trapped us here by causing a landslide" Tiger growled from where he lay next to Tigress

"What?" Genki headed for the sealed entrance

"Let me" Golem started working on clearing the rocks from the cave entrance

Then a small flicker of light caught Genki's eye, at the back of the cave, a new passage had been revealed, there were these little glows that resembled a string of Christmas lights hanging from the walls

"What's that?" he said

"Only one way to find out" Tiger was suddenly beside him

"Right, who's with me?"

He looked round, Moochi and Minette had curled up against Browny, using the Hare Hound as a pillow, Kaz had also nodded off, everyone could tell because of his snores, lying on his back with his arms curled out in front of him, the Spot Saurian's leg kicked once as he muttered "Come on, I'll take you all on" in his sleep, while Rialto opened one eye, then he closed it again as he turned his head away, that meant Holly, Suezo, Blue, Hare, Tiger, Tigress, Nancy were left

"Coming?" Genki called

They looked on each other, then

"Hey, wait for us" Holly replied

"Wait a min, look at this" Nancy held a chunk of the cave wall

"Bricks, but that means" Holly started

"The wall was fake" Hare finished

"But why?" Genki asked

"Let's find out" Holly replied

As they all walked along the dimly-lit passage, Tiger and Tigress leading the way and the three Hares bringing up the rear, Genki glanced sideways at Holly, Suezo hopping besides her, then they emerged into a large chamber which looked like a temple, the walls were thick with dust and light poured in through several holes in the ceiling

"Whoa" Genki whispered

Then he put one hand on the nearest wall

"Hey, there's something under the dust" he cried

"What?" Holly asked

Genki blew on the wall, coughing as he inhaled some of the dust cloud

"Hey, look, it's us and is that the Phoenix" he exclaimed

The carved image showed all the rebels, but rising behing them was the image of a firebird

"Look at this one" Nancy exclamined

Holly and Genki walked over to take a look, they couldn't believe their eyes

"That's me and, and I'm shaking hands with Moo?" Genki cried

"These symbols are ancient, do they have some meaning?" Holly asked

"Nah, why I be shaking hands with Moo" Genki replied

"You're right, that does sound silly" she smiled

Then she wiped dust from another picture, revealing a young female Mint who stood by a large crystal

"She looks lonely" a deep voice rumbled

Golem stood behind Holly, staring at the carved image

"The entrance is cleared" he said

"Holly, look" Blue was kneeling in the center of the chamber, brushing dust from something

A black mystery disc with a white edge lay in a hole, but there was a series of pictures, in one, a machine reliant civilization lay in ruins, while a small group of men and women in lab coats and dark glasses sealed a winged figure up in a mystery disc, while opposite it, all the rebels helped each other up a mountain where the Mint and the crystal from the wall mural seemed to be waiting for them, the next image showed a woman with pale yellow hair stood with an costumed Evil Hare and a female Lepus while a white circle with a silver S in its center was behind them, then there was another picture of Moo shaking hands with a human and above the hands, the Phoenix did battle with an angel

"Could these pictures be telling a story?" Holly wondered

"Who cares, this could contain the Phoenix" Suezo said

"Yeah" Genki agreed

Holly smiled, pulled the disc from the hole and tucked it under one arm

"Let's go" she said

* * * * *

"See one yet?"

Suezo was secretly pleased that Minette had joined the rebels, she could carry him while in flight and it meant he didn't need to thrown sky high by Golem anymore

"No, turn me south"

Then the eyeball beamed

"There's one half a mile south" he yelled down at the others

Minutes later, inside the shrine, Genki placed the disc in the center of the chamber, then stood up

"All ready" he flashed a thumbs up at Holly

"Here goes" she smiled at Genki, then placed her hands on the control panel "Unlock"

A black ball of light emerged from the mystery disc, it bounced for a second or two, then started morphing into a monster, it grew bigger and bigger, smashing through the ceiling

"Whoa" Genki managed to say

Suezo and Kaz stared up, the creature was as big as Moo's original body, but it was human and two black-feathered wings tipped with white were folded against its back

"Foolish creatures, by freeing me, you have sealed this world's fate" the angelic figure boomed, looking down, then it spread its wings and took to the sky

"What in the?" Tiger exclaimed, looking up through the hole

Holly looked up, then gasped, the sky had turned blood-red with yellow flashes running through in it

"Child" Holly felt a voice echoing in her head

"Who are you" she thought

"You wish to see me, very well"

Holly stared in the direction of the voice, standing a little way off was a ghostly figure of an old female Mint, but the girl knew not to fear this apparition

"Can you help us? That has be a way to stop this"

"Go to Dragon's Peak, child, you and your friends will find what you need there"

Then the ghostly figure was gone

"Holly" Genki's voice cut through her trance

"We have to reach Dragon's Peak" she said, turning to look at him

"Right, let's go" Genki was off like a shot

* * * * *

"We're been walking for hours" Suezo moaned, as the rebels trudged along the bottom of a canyon, heading north, for once Holly was leading the way, her instincts were telling her this was the right way to go

Everyone turned to glare at him and the eyeball wisely shut up

"Honestly, Suezo, we're trying to save the world here" Hare replied

"He's not changed a bit" Blue whispered to Browny, glancing at Suezo

The Hare Hound just smiled and shook his head

"Hey, look, what's that?" Genki pointed, in the distance and heading straight for them was a dust cloud

Suezo blinked and zoomed in on the approaching cloud of dust

"It's some of the Evil Hares we ran into yesterday" the eyeball cried

The rebels tensed to do battle, but Moo's evil Hares obviously had other things in mind, they ploughed right through the Searchers and just kept running

"It' s coming, it's coming" they shrieked

"What's coming? Genki asked

"Uhh, that is" Hare pointed

A tidal wave of brown muddy water was heading straight towards them

"Move it" Tiger yelled, swooping Genki up on his back and racing up the side of the canyon

Then Browny, Holly riding on his back suddenly appeared besides the blue wolf, while Minette and Rialto flew above them, Golem, carrying Hare, Blue, Moochi and Suezo pounded past them, his footsteps making the earth shake, then Nancy tripped on a rock, Kaz, who was right behind her, stopped

"Come on" the Spot Saurian pulled her up and together they ran for the slope, as the two monsters reached the top, he pushed Nancy up in front of him for willing hands pulled her up, but Kaz was about to haul himself up, the water hit and the last that they ever saw of him was his hand reaching from the water for one brief second before it sunk

"No" Nancy realised it was her screaming

"Nancy, come on" Blue gently placed one hand on her shoulder as he also stared at where Kaz had disappeared

She got to her feet and joined the others, casting a sad look back behind her

"Whoa" Genki whispered, suddenly stopping.

Moochi and Suezo crashed into the boy's back, sending him stumbling forwards

"What's the big idea?" Suezo demanded

"Look" Genki replied, pointing

The ground in front of them was a bog, the rebels looked around at the pools of mud and quicksand

"Look, a path" Tigress's sharp eyes had picked it among the muddy ground

"If we do go in, be careful, one wrong step and it's all over" Hare warned

Genki was about to lead the way, when suddenly the earth exploded, sending the rebels flying in all directions

"Is everyone ok?" Genki looked up

The explosion had been the result of the creation of a really tiny volcano

"I'm sinking" Holly cried, she had landed in a pool of quicksand

"Holly" Genki ran forward

"Stop" Golem put one huge hand in front of the boy "You can't save her if you die too"

"Quick, take the bag off my back" Suezo yelled

Genki untied it and spread it on the ground

"Here, but who?" Suezo stood up, a coiled up rope in his mouth

"I'll go" a quiet voice replied and all eyes turned to Browny

"Right" Genki nodded agreement

Then he and Hare quickly tied one end round his chest, then the boy picked up the other end and skated around this tree, bracing himself against the trunk, the rope in his hands

"All ready" he called

Browny nodded, then he plunged into the quicksand, striking out towards Holly, when he reached her, she grabbed the rope and looked at the others

"Holly, pull yourself along the rope" Hare yelled

The girl obeyed, as she reached the bank, Golem extended one finger to her, she grabbed it and he pulled her out, then gently set Holly back on solid ground, no-one noticed the rope was splitting because the pressure put on it, then as Browny was swimming back, it snapped, sending Genki flying backwards

"No" Holly gasped

Browny's eyes were fixed on her as he continued to sink, then Holly screamed as the Hare Hound disappeared under the quicksand

"Holly" Suezo started forward

But she continued screaming, rocking back and forth

"Holly, we're got to find someway to save this world" Genki gently took her by the shoulders

She stared into his eyes and nodded, slowly calming down

* * * * *

"The Dark Angel, are you sure?" Moo spun round

Captain Evil Hare groveled in front of him "Yes, Majesty" he replied

"If it has been released, then" Moo turned his back on Captain Evil Hare and stared through the window at the unnatural storm raging outside his floating castle "We need to find the rebels"

To Be Continued