Monster Rancher Fan Fiction ❯ The Power of the Stones ❯ Holder of the Sea's, Guardian of Spirit ( Chapter 1 )

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Monster Rancher characters. Only Damien belongs to me. MoonRiver is a character I borrowed from another MR story that I read (can't remember the title or the author). If the author reads this story, e-mail me and I will give you credit for your MoonRiver character.

The Power of the Stones

Chapter 1: "Holder of the Sea's, Guardian of Spirit!"

A dark red figure stood and watched as a woman attacked a young human child on the street. The red armored monster watched and studied the two humans. The women who had dark blue hair was being controlled by the darkness just like all the other humans.......but the boy....Garuda focused his mind on him. He could feel a deep power in him. A very familiar power.

Garuda focused still harder on the dark brown headed boy. He could sense the boys undying courage......Garuda looked closer at the boy's face....the boys eyes....Clear eyes...."It can't be...." Garuda whispered in shock.

In one motion Garuda drew his sword, rushed foreword soundlessly and attacked the unprepared human women. He watched with no emotion as the women's body slid from his sword before turning to the young boy.

Garuda knelt down next to the boy who was now unconscious; he quickly checked the 11-year-old for injuries, and cursed. The boy had at least a few broken ribs, a fractured arm and some very serious cuts and bruises. Wrapping the boy in his cloak, Garuda gently lifting the boy up and swiftly made his way through the dark, deserted streets.

* * *

Garuda stopped at the edge of a partly destroyed park. Kneeling he gently pulled the cloak tighter around the still unconscious boy in his arms. Rising to his feet, boy still in his arms Garuda cautiously continued forward.

"Stop where you are!" a rough, deep voice demanded. Garuda stopped and watched as a Cabalos stepped out of the shadows, his dark purple fur appearing almost black.

"This is our territory! You have no business here!" another said also emerging from the shadows, but this time from behind him.

Garuda frowned; he could feel the presence of five more of them around him. "I am General Garuda, Holder of the Water Stone. I come to speak to Moonriver, Holder of the Wind Stone." The Cabalos in front of him seemed to hesitate but then slowly turned and headed deeper into the park. "Follow me," he whispered over his shoulder.

Garuda followed the Cabalos to a clearing where the moonlight seeped through the green trees. "Speak, Holder of the Stone of Oceans, why have you come here?" a soft female voice said from the shadows. Garuda gently lay the covered boy on the ground.

"Moonriver, I come with a lost spirit..." Garuda said clearly and pulled back the cloak that covered the young boys face. Three Cabaloses and two Rock hounds stepped forward powering up lightning attacks. "You brought a human here! How dare YOU!!" one of the Cabaloses roared.

"Zie, hold your place," The soft female voice spoke calmly as she stepped out of the shadows and approached Garuda and the boy. The moonlight bounced off her, as only the fur of a White Hound could do, the light also reflected off the gold stone that hung at her neck. "He's gravely injured. Why have you brought him here? One of his own kind could better care for his wounds."

Garuda stood. "They wouldn't help him. They are all controlled by the darkness, and his wounds are too severe. The only thing that can save him is the power of the Spirit Stone." The white Tiger known as Moonriver looked at the unconsious boy's face. "He's only a child. How can he possibly tame the Spirit Stone?" She demanded.

"Look's can be deceiving, Moonriver. He CAN summon its power and he has the courage and will to do so! I know you can feel this also." Garuda said in a voice that demanded one to listen. "And how do you know?" Moonriver countered, looking back at Garuda.

"Because he is the one who's courage united the Fire Phoenix's mind with his body in the final battle with Moo. He, like the five Chosen Monsters who are bonded to the Fire Phoenix, is also bonded to one of the Phoenixes," Garuda spoke low, as if it was a deep secret he was not to tell a soul. Moonriver's eyes turned cold. "He could be under control of the Dark one. All the humans are."

"No. He has clear eyes, I saw it myself." Garuda argued.

"Clear Eyes?" Moonriver asked in an awed and disbelieving voice.

Garuda sighed, then answered, "Yes..." Garuda paused as the boy's heart beat slowed. "The child's life is in danger....The Spirit Stone?"

"We can not use the Spirit Stone here, out in the open. Follow me," Moonriver said, then turned and walked deeper into the park. Garuda, carrying the gravely injured boy, followed the pack of twenty into a subway station at the far end of the park. The subway station looked rundown and even more so now that the Tiger pack had turned it into their den. There was straw and old blankets spread out in various places for bedding near the walls.

Moonriver motioned with her head to put the boy in the center of the station, between the beddings and entrance that they had entered from. Garuda laid the youth down as Moonriver retrieved the Spirit Stone from her bedding, which was laid out a good ways away from the others, Garuda noted. Moonriver walked back to them with the stone in her mouth. Garuda held out his hand and the White Hound placed the stone in his palm. Garuda studied it for a moment.

The stone was soft silver and was set in a dark gold hoop and hung from a light brown leather cord. Garuda's Water Stone was much the same, but instead of silver his was a dark ocean blue and hung from a black cord around his neck. Moonriver's golden/yellow Wind Stone was set in a bronze hoop instead of gold, and instead of a leather cord it hung on a silver chain.

Garuda turned toward the boy and laid the Spirit Stone over his heart. As soon as Garuda pulled his hand away, the Spirit Stone flared to life, floating up into the air, emitting a light silver/blue light, which filled the room. Garuda and Moonriver backed away as the boy's body too started to glow just as bright as the Spirit Stone, but with a reddish light.

"The Fire Phoenix?" Moonriver asked at seeing the red light.

Garuda frowned. "No, just a small portion of his energy," he said not taking his eyes from the scene in front of them.

Both colors seemed to war with each other for a moment before another light came forth from the boy's body, his body glowing a blue mixed with silver. Slowly the light dimmed, revealing the 11-year-old boy, but he had changed. He was kneeling position on the floor, eye's closed, and relaxed. His dark drown hair covered his face, and now his hair had three silver streaks on the right side. He now had two grate shining silver wings with gold tips coming out of his shoulder blades. They now rested on his back in a relaxed folded position. All his wounds where also healed, and the Spirit Stone was now floating in front of him.

Moonriver started towards him, but stopped when the boy's eyelids twitched, then shot open, bolting up into a sitting position. He came face to face with the slightly glowing Spirit Stone. Then, before anyone could do anything, the light brown cord that the Spirit Stone hung on, reached out towards the boy, who seemed to freeze as the string tied itself around his neck. Then whatever power had possessed the Spirit Stone, left it, and the Stone fell unceremoniously around his neck.

Moonriver cleared her throat and the boy looked up, a confused look on his face. "What is your name child?" She asked softly. 'Garuda was right, the child does have clear eyes.' Moonriver thought as she waited for the boy to respond. The boy seemed to hesitate, but then whispered jest loud enough for Moonriver to hear him. "My name? M-my name is Genki.."

"What happened to me? And where I'm I?? And who are all of you???" Genki asked after a long silence. He was sitting on one of the many beds of hay and blankets. He pulled the dark blue blanket that one of the Hare Hounds had given him tighter around himself. His wings pressed all most flat against his back.

"Forgive me child for my rudeness... my name is Moonriver. I'm the leader of this pack, And Holder of the Wind Stone." Moonriver motioned with her head toward a Hare Hound sitting not far away. Genki recognized her of being the one who gave him the blanket. "That is Nikko, my younger sister." Nikko nodded her head and smiled lightly. Moonriver then motioned to a Cabalos. "This is Zie, he's the leader of the hunting party."

Moonriver then looked at Garuda who stood close to the wall. "And he is..." Garuda stepped forward and interrupted Moonriver. "I am General Garuda, Holder of the Water Stone." Moonriver sighed and looked back to the young boy. "To your second question. You are now in our den in the north side of the park. Garuda is the one who brought you to us, and to what happened to you....It's hard to explain. You see when Garuda brought you here you where close to death. You where too far gone for a doctor to save....You are lucky you are bonded to a Phoenix or you would be dead. I would have never thought a child could be a holder of a Phoenix's mind..."

"Phoenix's mind? And stone holder??" Genki asked, still a little confused. He had a lot of other questions too, but those where the first one to come out of his mouth. Again, Moonriver sighed not able to think of another way to explain it better.

Thankfully, Garuda explained for her. "A Stone Holder is someone who can call the power of one of the Magic Stones, but only someone bonded to a Phoenix can summon a stones full power. Thus a true Stone Holder. You, Moonriver, and I are three of six of those who are bonded to one of the legendary birds."

Genki stared for a minute and then looked down at the stone around his neck. "But...There's only one Phoenix!" Garuda sighed. The child didn't understand. Maybe he would understand if he saw it for himself. Garuda groaned slightly and closed his eyes. He concentrated on his Water Stone, which started to glow an icy blue. Genki looked up as a vision of blue flames threatened to flood his mind. He fought to block it out but the flames over took his vision.

----------------The Vision -----------------

Genki opened his eyes to see that he was surrounded by blue fire on all sides, but the strange thing was that it was not hot. Suddenly, images started to appear in the flames. The first image was of a woman in a lab coat typing something into a computer. Then the image changed to the women looking up at six large, numbered, glass containers. In each one was a large bird, but not just any bird, Genki realized, they where Phoenix's! Genki recognized only two of them though: the Fire Phoenix in container #1 and the Cinder Bird in container #2. The original Phoenix, the one his five monster friends where a part of, was the first Phoenix they created. The Cinder Bird was the second. Genki shifted his gaze to the four on the left. Two the four he did not recognize, but some how found he knew them...

The one in container #3 had smoky black feathers that apeared almost translucent; like a shadow. Its eyes where closed but Genki could almost feel the fierce power and strength that it possessed; The Dark Phoenix as well as the third Phoenix's that was created.

The Phoenix in container #4 was the next Phoenix to be created and was an icy blue color. This one was called the Blue Phoenix due to the blue flames of its body.

The Gold Phoenix was in container #5 and was a soft gold and yellow color; it had a powerful yet calm air about it. The Gold Phoenix was the fifth to be.

The last one in container #6 was somewhat smaller then the others, its feathers where silver with gold tips. This was the Phoenix Genki felt drawn to the most. It was called the Silver Phoenix, and it was also the last one to be made.

Then the images reverted back to the icy fire then shifted again to show only five of the six Phoenix's. The Fire Phoenix not present, but something else was wrong. The women in the lab coat was screaming at a man bearing the Moo crest, as he pressed down on a unlocking button. Genki felt a sickening feeling wash over him as the rest of the Phoenix's started to glow.

The Dark Phoenix glowed a midnight black that sucked in all light, Blue Phoenix was an icy blue, the Cinder Bird a dark green, Gold Phoenix a rich gold, and the Silver Phoenix a beautiful soft silver. They where consumed by their own individual lights before their forms shifted and shrunk to become tear shaped stones.

Genki inhaled sharply, the stones were now floating in the glass containers were the Elemental Stones! Black one was known as the Stone of Shadows. Blue was called the Stone of Water. The Gold was the Stone of wind and the silver would come to be known as the Stone of Spirits. The last was the green stone or The Earth Stone, also called the Magic Stone by Holly's village.

The man started to laugh crazily as the women sunk to her knees and seemed to weep. The man suddenly stopped laughing and stared at the five stones as a very small glowing ball, probably no bigger then a small marble floated out of each of the glowing stones. Each of the multi colored balls of light shot out of the glass containers causing them to shatter, and all vanished from the building. Just as the balls of light departed the building, a purple energy blast struck it. The blast was fallowed by a large birds shriek of fear, and rage as it attacked the dragon beast that had caused the blast that destroyed the building.

Dark rain clouds covered the sky as the Final Gate was activated and all the Monsters where locked away into Mystery disks. That was when the Fire Phoenix's mind split and fused with five of the Mystery disks. Many years past almost a thousand years as many of the Mystery disks where unlocked and the monsters set free.

The scene flashed and changed to show a dark blue and white female Tiger as she slept in a cave with two newly born pups. The gold ball of light belonging to the Gold Phoenix flashed into the cave and vanished in to the white furred pup as she slept next to her sister.

"Moonriver?" Genki whispered as he watched the moving pictures the fire was showing him.

The scene then changed to show an old man as he sat by a fire in an old cottage. A young Garuda entered carrying a load of firewood. Suddenly the blue ball of light that had come from the stone of the Blue Phoenix shot over the armored monster's shoulder looped around and entered the stunned monsters body. The old man turned and smiled in humor as the young monster hastily picked up the wood he had dropped.

The picture changed to show the last three balls of light. They traveled along side each other for a long time before they eventually parted ways. The green ball of light from the stone of the Cinder Bird headed toward a small village. The silver ball of light that had come from the Spirit Stone entered an old shrine and as it entered the unlocking room, a white glowing doorway appeared in the center of the platform. The small ball of light passed through it without hesitation, leaving behind a Mystery disk in its place.

The scene turned back to icy blue fire for a moment before changing once again. The scene showed a girl, about four. Her red hair was tied back into two pigtails and she smiled happily at the doll her father had just made for her.

Genki blinked as he recognized her. "Holly!?!"

The dark green ball of light circled around her a few times then vanished into her body. Once more the fire changed images. The fire showed a woman in her 30's who had long, dark brown hair and brilliant brown eyes, which her long spiky bangs almost covered. She sat on a bench in a park and smiled at her 5-year-old, indigo haired nephew as he played with his friends. The silver ball of light that had come from the Silver Phoenix's stone flew toward her and swiftly vanished into the 4 months pregnant women.

Slowly the images faded and the blue fire became burning hot. Genki tried to back away from it but the hotter the fire got the weaker he became. He was aware of voices that seemed far away, but he could not see anything through the fire, as the blue flames turned black like shadows. "Som...th..ings.....wrong!" a male voice called out in the distance.

Now completely surrounded by dark fire, Genki could just barely make out a young winged form behind the dark flames. Evil laughter echoed throughout Genki's mind and he vainly tried to cover his mental ears. "Who are you?" Genki yelled at the figure as the laughter died down, the voice sounded familiar. "WHO ARE YOU!?!" he screamed at the figure as a black light started to come from a dark stone that hung from the young mans neck.

"You know who I am," The youth spoke calmly. The dark figure reached out a gloved hand toward him, stopping a few inches from the wall of black flames. "I've been looking for you. Come to me, Genki Sakura," The winged figure said in a evil tone. Genki blinked, he barely noticed that the young man's voice sounded like there were two voices speaking as one. A black purple aura was surrounding the winged youth now. The young man then pushed his hand through the dark flames.

As if in response to this intrusion the Spirit Stone around Genki's neck started to glow as if in warning, but then its light flickered and suddenly Genki felt very weak, and then its light died completely. The figures eyes flashed a deep red again and the youth made a reach for Genki.

"The Soul Stone is still exhausted after healing your body. You are defenseless!" The young man gloated. The air rippled around the youth's hand and then burst into red flames. The figure winced in pain and pulled back his singed hand. "Damn you, Fire Phoenix!" he hissed, glaring at the swirling red flames as they slowly vanished. Then slowly a cruel smile twitched at the corners of his mouth. "Is that IT, oh mighty Fire Phoenix! You are foolish to believe you can not protect him with such a weak display of Power. Face it, you've lost!" The youth laughed deep in his throat and turned back to Genki.

"TORNADO!" came a raged female voice. A ball of swirling wind and gold light hit the wall of black fire. The figure jerked back, his eyes flashed a not too happy red, at the unplanned company. "Stay away from him, Dark One!" Moonriver ordered as she came to stand at Genki's side. The figure chuckled as the black stone's light grew stronger. "You will not stop me Wind Stone Holder. Not even IF you can bring all the other Stones together!"

Moonriver growled deep in her throat. "NOW, Garuda!" she yelled. The dark figure chuckled evilly as Genki and Moonriver were surrounded by the blue fire and vanished. The winged youth narrowed his eyes at the spot the two had once been. "You will not stop me again, Sakura....I will see to that," he whispered darkly. His voice taking on two different volumes, one a deep metallic sound and the other was the voice of a human teen.

-------------End of the Vision--------------

Genki groggily opened his eyes. His vision was blurred and he could just barely make out the forms of Moonriver and Garuda, not far away from where he was laying on one of the hay beds. They seemed to be talking about something important, something about other stones. He attempted to sit up but he was too weak to move, so he lay still and closed his eyes. How long had he been unconscious? And who was that guy? He had a stone like his, Moonriver's, and Garuda's. Was he another Stone Holder? And did he say Fire Phoenix?

------Somewhere in the city------

An Allure moved onto one knee in front of a young man. He appeared to be only 17 years old. He wore dark steel armor over a black shirt and pants. His black hair was cut just above his ears and his dark red eyes flashed with humor, his raven black wings where folded on his back lazily. The dark stone that hung around his neck was glowing softly. "So," the youth whispered to himself, "you were able to come through, and protect the young one from me. I thought I finally got rid of you Fire Phoenix. No matter. I still have a few Aces up my sleeve." The Allure looked up at her master. "My lord?" The purple Pixie asked quietly. The youth grinned and griped the black stone gently and spoke calmly. "Nothing. What of your report?"

---End Chapter 1---