My first attempt at a Monster Rancher fanfic... hope you like it... and if you do or not, please tell me. I love feedback. [demoncougar@hotmail.com] Oh, and Bloodhsed? Hope you don't mind, but I'm putting it under the "Bloodshed's Fanfics" category.

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Dying Days

By Justice

Disclaimer: Monster Rancher is ) to whoever owns it. I didn't make it up. Don't sue me, all I hope to gain from this is a few compliments or criticizm.

2nd Disclaimer: If you recognise some of the names from such books as Tailchaser's Song and from the 6 part animated series Bastard, that is because I couldn't come up with any good names myself so I ripped these. Thus, most of the names herein are not mine, they are ) to someone else.

Characters: The monster design is ) Monster Rancher. However, character design is ) Justice, 2000.

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Chapter 1: Wintertime

"No no NO you STILL not do it good!" Wintertime's harsh voice rang out through the formerly silent winter morning. Amakai, the young Celious straining in the sled's harness, sighed and tried harder.

"Put shoulder down. Pull with back. Try hard now."

While Amakai strained to haul the sled laden with weights to the top of the hill, his trainer continued to bark commands at him. She was a decent trainer, and had been the only one to want to give advice to her monster in the last tournament. It was her shouted commands in the arena that had helped Uroboros win. The dragon was strong, but decidedly stupid, and it had been her suggestions for attacks that had brought him to victory. However, Wintertime was also a stern taskmaster, and had, on mroe than one occasion, taken the initiative to thrash the monsters that exasperated trainers sent to her as a last resort. To this day, Amakai had one ear half torn off from her punishment.

You see, Wintertime wasn't a human. She was a monster herself.

Wintertime had been the Martingale Ranch's last hope. She was the result of a wondrous combining, two of the best monsters the little town of Mukri had ever had. One was third generation, an impressive Balon, strong, smart, and skilled. His name was Champion, and he lived up to it. A statue of him still stood in the town hall, and the trophys he won were still on display at Shadowland Ranch, the place he had been trained at. The other monster had been a second generation Spot Saurian, the only monster of Mukri to ever win a tourney in the International competition. Doe-eyed and pretty, Wytos was a gentle monster who, although not truly strong, was very smart and known for his loyalty. The townspeople had charged admission for the big day when these two retired monsters were to be joined. They had betted on the outcome... and had hoped for a Gali or Gali type monster.

Imagine their suprise when all they saw was a tiny Tiger pup.

Wintertime's career had been an even bigger disapointment. She has been barely a year old when it happened. It was durring a D level competition, and there was much speculation afterwards on whether it could have been prevented or not. Some said she was too young to battle, others said she wasn't good enough to battle regardless. At any rate, what was done was done, and in the end, the broken, battered pup was never to fight again. Her horns had been smashed, her teeth broken, and one of her front legs permanenty lame. For a year she moped around the ranch, her long blue mane becoming matted and dingy, her body thinning since the good food went to those who could earn it. It wasn't untill one of the head trainers took ill that anyone noticed her potential. The assistant trainer had been unable to keep Nei, the Red Eye he was currently training, from cheating on his training drills. Wintertime took over, forcing Nei to run as he had never run before. The story is still told in inns; nothing gets a bigger laugh in Mukri that the tale of the lame Tiger chasing the Red Eye in circles.

From that point on, Wintertime's sole function in life was to train others to be the champion she never was. And for the first few years, Murki was fascinated with the monster who trained monsters. However, in recent months the novelty has worn off, and after the untimely death of Arshes, Wintertime's Fairy Hare champion, the monetary income of Martingale Ranch had diminished. If the Ranch can't raise 10,000 gold by the next fall, the entire ranch and all monsters therein will be sold.

"Pull! PULL!!!" Wintertime's barking cry resumed where is had left off, making Amakai flinch. She jumped onto the sled and snapped her jaws at Amakai's flanks, making the Celious pull as he had never pulled before. If they were to keep the Ranch, they had to win, and to win, Wintertime's monsters had to be well trained. This the broken Tiger swore she would see to, or die trying.

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Well, that's the first chapter... I'll have a new chapter up every other day or so. Well, what do you think so far?

-- Justice (DemonCougar@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000

Answers

Excellent work Justice. Well written, original, I can find nothing wrong. Of course it's always great to have anouther fanfic writter, we are a dying breed these days. I know Torey will like it.

-- Black Razor (Allanmontalvo@mindspring.com), May 11, 2000.

i do like it - quite a bit! i always have a preference for stories where the spotlight is as much on the trainer as on the monsters.

-- torey luvullo (toreyluvullo@hotmail.com), May 11, 2000.

All but a few spelling errors(minor errors) I'd say thats good, I look forward to reading the next ones. Also, I like the last sentence. Adios

-- Aaron Guest a.k.a. Magma Bird (frogmike@excite.com), May 11, 2000.

Thats a cool story, have you ever read one of mine?

-- Bloodshed (psychotic_mage@@bored.com), May 11, 2000.

This is cool.

-- RaPtOr2157 (raptor2157@aol.com), May 11, 2000.