Rise Of The Master:Chapter 9 greenspun.com : LUSENET : Monster Rancher 2 : One Thread --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Coming Storm Once again, they had come too late. A small army at his back, Justice went after the dark raven in hopes of stoping any further carnage. Unable to keep up with the warship, the monsters now stood on the edge of a lifeless city. It was well after midnight by this time and during the day many more survivers of the masters, attack had been found. Altogether they numbered four hundred now, hardly anything considering there were thousands before the raven struck.

"Where are they?"The durahan wondered as he stared into the deserted city. Nothing was damaged, everything remained intact, yet not a single person could be seen in the night. Taking a step forward he felt something wet under his metal boot, it was blood. A few zuums sent to scout the area returned quickly, they found nothing besides blood. It was everywhere, on the streets, in houses, but not a single body human or otherwise. Justice remembered the raven collecting corpses after attacking the IMA army, did it happen here as well?

"I wonder why he didn't destroy the town,"Celine said.

"I don't know, he's destroyed everything else up to this point."Justice said"I can't figure this 'master' out."

"Commander!"A gali said as he approached Justice."We have found something to the north."

"Well? What is it?"He asked impatiently.

"This you see for yourself..."Gali said.

The warrior called over a nearby zuum and lept on. Upon the monsters back he rode north, ahead of the others. It wasn't long before justice found the place of which the gali spoke. He'd found the humans. They were dead, their bodies impaled upon long wooden shafts. Coming closer the durahan saw that was not all, most had been clearly butalized before death. The ground was black and moist from the blood still dripping from their corpses. Thousands upon thousands there were, an entire forest of the dead. Almost symbolicly, a single black raven stood nearby, unafraid of them, pecking the eyes of a corpse.

"This is horrible,"Beatdown said, her eyes wet with tears."Why would they do this? It's bad enough to kill them but..." She stopped, turning away from the tortured expressions on their faces.

"Does he hate them this much?"Justice asked himself, his rage smoldering within"Why?"

"Can't say I blame him,"Said stone claw turning to the fairy hare. "Don't cry for them, they're not worth it."

"No one deserves this!"Celine screamed at claw"How dare you even

"Stop it! This is hardly the time,"Justice said before turning back to his legions."We will rest in the city tonight and set off again at dawn. We have no food, take anything you can find in the stores."

"Yeah,"Claw chuckled"Not like the stiffs are gonna need it."

The next morning they began the search for the raven once again. Justice looked back at the field of carnage and clentched his blade. He didn't know how they could possibly stop the machine, but he was not about to stand by and let this continue. It was cold, the sky was dull grey, unusual weather indeed for summer but strangly fiting all the same. The land quickly became rocky and began to climb upward.

By midday it looked as though it was about to pour. Dark clouds gathered in the sky, then the thunder began. No doubt a storm was approaching. The surrounding lands had become more rugged, jagged boulders protruded from the earth. Still they went on and lightening flashed overhead. At last it began to pour, the dirt road they were on became slick and muddy. Suddenly justice became aware of anouther sound besides the crashing thunder, the sounds of battle.

He picked up his pace, struggling through the brown mud. At last he found himself looking down into a wide valley. In it's heart stood a fairly large military base, the symbol of moo could be seen on a building. His army fought against a legion of bizzare flying creatures, and appeared to be losing. Justice had no idea what they were, the heavy downpour and the distance between he and moo's base made it impossible for a good look. All he knew was that they had long, slender bodies and wirled through the air with great agility and grace.

"Moo..."Justice said as the battle raged on in the valley. If they were indeed followers of moo then the flyers must serve the master. He had to decide and fast, aid moo's dieing forces againist those things or let the master be victorious yet again. He didn't have to think long."Help them!"

"You sure sir?"A zuum named Begras asked,"Is moo not the enemy? Don't you hate moo?"

"I do...but I hate the Master far more,"Justice raised his blade towards the battle."Aid them, I'll decide what to do with with them afterwards!"

Justice jumped on Begras back and led the charge into the valley. It was difficult to walk, the rain continued above them and made the grass slippery causing many to lose their balance. By the time they'd joined the battle moo's forces had been battered severly and stood on the very threshold of defeat. The strange flying monsters wheeled through the air, cutting down many where they stood. None could get a good look at them as they moved with incredible speed, swooping down and striking before taking to the sky again. One feature that was clear to all was that these creastures had no hands. Instead each sported long, curved blades to cleave enemies with.

Within moments confusion had errupted within both armies. Justice tried to command his forces but it was useless, his voice drowned out by death screams and the loud thunder claps. Rain poured all around them, the creatures made anouther pass and sliced down many, all while avoiding every attack thrown their way. Hundreds of moo's troops lay dead in the mud but justice could not see a single one of the masters.

They made anouther pass, one coming right for the durahan. Justice tried to sidestep but was too slow and took a slash to the side. Ignoring the pain he dropped his sword and grabed hold of the beasts tail, hoping to pull it down. The masters minion proved stronger then anticipated and yanked the durahan, who wieghted a considerable amount, right into the air. It swooped and rolled trying desperatly to break the warriors steel grip. But justice didn't let go and began to climb, useing the rows of cruel spikes on the creatures back. Finally he got to it's head and started choaking it, wraping his arm around it's throat. The creature thrashed violently before finally falling to the earth. In a last ditch effort to kill justice, it fliped over so that the durahan would impact first. Left with no other choice justice released his grip, but not without smashing the creature in the skull for good measure. Almost immediately Justice stopped falling and, looking up, he saw celine, a pixie and a nightflyer.

"You ok commander?"The pixie asked.

"Yes, thank you."Justice watched as the strange monster he'd battled spiraled to the ground. At this point the others regrouped, they had not expected moo's base to be reinforced and seeing they were overwhelmed began to retreat. After landing justice found the body of his enemy. The thing had a long snakelike body, similar to a nagas but much more slender, a muscular torso and was covered with mud brown skin. It had to be ten feet long, no legs, it's hands replaced with blades, it wings huge and leathery. Most bizzare of all was the head. There was no mouth to speak of, just two slits for a nose and two evil eyes. On the forehead was the crest of the Master.

"We have too go after them!"Justice said"We must finish them off!" The army and his companions gathered but stone claw hesitated. He stood perfectly still, rain water running through the cracks in his stone body."Come on claw!"

"No,"He said defiantly"Just how do you plan on stoping them? This is suicide! Your only gonna get killed...if the master wants to kill humans, let him."

"Whats your problem?"Celine asked"How could you say that?"

"Why not?"Claw hissed"They've been using us from the begining. Mostly those damn tournaments. You train your whole life for them, before you know it the fight is life itself. Then, when they get tired of ya they snatch it away. Whats left after that? You should know that better then anyone Justice, in fact you'd probably be melted down into a silverware set by now!"

"Have you lost your mind?"Justice asked"Cid would never allow that to-

"Sure he would, think he cared about you?"Claw grined"Only thing stoping him is the fact he's dead! You should thank the master for killing the poor slob!"

"How dare you!"Justice lost his temper and hurled himself at claw. Pounding his fist into him while the trident clawed at his armor. The durahan unloaded a huge punch to claws chin. Stone claw retaliated with an attack of his own, pinning justice to the ground and raining blow after blow onto the fallen warrior.

"Stop!"Beatdown screamed"What are you doing!? Don't fight, your friends remember."

"Stay outta this!"Claw slid off justice"Fine, if he wants to kill himself what the hell do I care!" The trident turned his back on them and slittered away.

"Your just being a coward,"Celine said and claw turned around, a burning in his eyes. He looked as though he'd attack again, but instead only turn away.

"Shut the hell up!"He yelled as he left. A grey fog was filling the valley. All was silent for several moments, except for the steady beating of raindrops.

"....I'm going after him,"Beatdown said."Maybe I can get him to change his mind."

"No! Wait, he's too dangerous."Justice said but the fairy hare had already run off and disappeared into the rising fog. What had just happened, he wondered. Everything was begining to fall apart at the seems. Now the durahan was faced with anouther decision, go after beatdown and claw or chase the masters creatures and stop them before they struck again."....Everyone, were going west. Our first priority is to stop the master....."

End of Chapter 9

Hope you like it. What do you think of my newest monster?

-- Black Razor (Allanmontalvo@mindspring.com), April 09, 2000

Answers Well...they were...odd. I hardly see how one could NOT be hit if it was over ten feet long. Before you said that I thought they were maybe two to three feet long. If Justice could climb one, it must have been of considerable size, perhaps the general?

-- CHB (cyberhillbilly@yahoo.com), April 09, 2000.

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This "Master"....is it in anyway associated with the concept of "Virus?" In case you hadn't seen it, "Virus" was a sci-fi horror about a lifeform that could control technological equipment. It used it to hunt down humans, seeing them a virus to rid the universe of, and then (strangely enough) rebuilt them using its own technology. These drones were grotesque beings that were missing a head, or legs, or....eeewwwww! They were programmed to kill on site, and drag the carcass back to the "Master Control Room," where they would be disected and salvaged for more drones. That concept alone is what made it frightening. Destroying a person is one thing, but something technologically rebuilding your friend to kill you is just plain SCARY!!! Anyways, I noticed the genetic restructuring of the "Masters" victims into drones, and was wondering if that is where you got the idea. On to the critique! Let's cut this short, shall we?:

Content: A

Mechanics: C (Some descriptive lines lacked cohesiveness with the following sentence)

Language usage: B

Character Development: A-

Recommended Viewing Ages: 13+ (Extensive gore)

Final Grade: B+

-- Eagle Fierce (Eagle1@Citynet.net), April 10, 2000.

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I've heard of 'Virus' but never seen it. I heard it wasn't that great and never got around to renting it ethier.

-- Black Razor (Allanmontalvo@mindspring.com), April 10, 2000.

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Well Eagle, your theory is sopund. But the 'Virus' I saw had a giant computer, not the blob. There was the big robot so, if a Gobi shows up (Golem/Henger), then something is probably up.

-- CHB (cyberhillbilly@yahoo.com), April 10, 2000.

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That is suppose to be sound. sorry.

-- CHB (cyberhillbilly@yahoo.com), April 10, 2000.

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You are correct, CHB! It was a giant robot, but the motives behind the two seem to coincide: Kill, steal, rebuild, kill again You are also correct, Black Razor. "Virus" pretty much sucked in every way.

-- Eagle Fierce (Eagle1@Citynet.net), April 11, 2000.

-- Eagle Dewell Fierce (Eagle1@Citynet.net), April 12, 2000