Prologue​

A reporter stands amongst a crowd of celebrating people. It's nighttime and old world heavy metal is playing in the background. The area resembles time square but has a futuristic look to it. Cars are flying through the air, and the screens are holograms. A camera is trained on the reporter. At the bottom of the camera's screen the logo N.W.O can be seen by those watching live. "Hello, I'm N.W.O news network's Sarah Diaz and I'm standing in Times Square in New York City! The crowd is packed here tonight as we await the turn of the millennium. The time is 11:59 P.M and we have a minute to go. The band aptly named future invasion is performing their new hit song 'Winter Solstice'. And if this is any sign of the year to come it's going to be a great year for music! This reporter is personally excited beyond words about the year 3000! The last Millennium brought us much pain and much tragedy, but we've nonetheless advanced as a people and I am proud!" said the reporter.

She then walked over to a couple of people. "So, are you excited about the millennium," she asked a man standing with his wife and kid. "Heck yeah! I can't wait for the new monster tamer season to start! But no matter who shows up they'll never beat Lucia Roman! Did you see how that last guy went down. I've never seen someone get slaughtered like that!" said the man. "It doesn't look like any body can beat her, I'll give you that! She's the strongest champion we've ever had," said Sarah before putting the mike up to the woman, "so, do you have any new years resolutions?" "No," replied the woman, "I just think that i'll continue to enjoy life. That's why we're here. That's our purpose, to enjoy life." Sarah put the mike up to the kid, "what about you?" "I'm going to turn six," said the kid. Everyone laughed and then the countdown started.

The camera turned to the ball that was hovering down toward the upside down pentagram that had been placed in Time Square by the illuminate. "The countdown is beginning folks, and history is about to be made!" said Sarah's voice. The ball began to descend. The crowd counted, "ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!" Fireworks started to explode in the sky. Everybody cheered. "There you have it folks. The year 3000 has begun! It-" said Sarah before being interrupted by a flash of white light. An explosion followed it destroying times square and killing everyone there. The holographic screens of the televisions that people were watching the event on went black. Then a message appeared on the screen. It read, "Live Free Or Die! FRA."

Christian​

Christian looked at his tamer band. "Huh, the millennium's started. Do you here that Shadow? Happy freaken New Year!" he said seemingly to nothing. Then, a shadow raised itself from the ground and took the form of a demonic hyena. It laughed a chilling laugh that would strike fear into the hearts of it's enemies but brought warmth to Christian's heart. "We're here by the way," said Christian pointing forward at a vast swampy land. "The New Orleans Bayou, home to ghosts, goblins, and the thing that I'm trying to capture!" he continued, "and I know you're ready to make some monsters bleed! Am I right boy?" The Demon Hyena let out a ferocious laughter in response. "Then let's go kick some tail!" said Christian. They entered the Bayou unafraid of the stories he'd heard from the Cajun's about people being turned into haints (a southern saying for lost soul or ghost.) Glowing eyes followed them from the water, the land, and the shadows. Christian smirked. He was ready for anything.

Adrianne tutted slightly as her Tamer Band beeped, signalling the turn of the millennium. Big, friggin' woop. She hadn't come all the way to Puerto Rico just to be chased by the American Dream. Just as she got to her feet, the creature she had lain down with began to stir. Opening one bleary red eye, the fierce head of a lion turned to face her.
Adrianne made a mocking, flamboyant twirl, before raising her hand as if making a toast. Curtseying for good measure, she grinned and placed one hand on the orange fur of her comrade.

"Here's to another thousand years, big guy."

The beast seemed to snort with indignation, and Adrianne grinned and shook her head slightly. With a loud, doggish yawn, the beast rose onto its hind goat legs before stretching its vast leathery wings and returning to all fours. The blue-ish flame on its tail illuminated the clearing in which they had slept, but didn't penetrate the dense forest that surrounded them.

Both Tamer and Monster circled the clearing, deciding on the direction they should travel in. Both stopped at the same moment, staring at one point in the brush. Adrianne could've sworn she'd seen something moving. They stood still for a full five seconds, before Adrianne shook her head. It was too late; it'd be much too far away now.

Shrugging, Adrianne tilted her head toward a particularly thick patch of forest, and in the flickering light, it appeared that the beast nodded in agreement. "Right, Tryad. Let's make a move." Adrianne whispered, as the beast knelt before her. Mounting the monster like a horse, Adrianne and her beast set off into the thick of the trees. Perhaps tonight would be the night that they'd finally find what Adrianne had been looking for.

It was strange to be here in the swamps, especially when you're so use to the city life. Nonetheless, one boy and his monster, being the troopers they were, came here, looking for other monsters to catch. All they had to do was keep qui-

BEEP!

As the beep on Michael's Tamer Band rang out through the swamp, he quickly turned it off and turned to the White Manticore cub next to him. Sighing loudly, Michael wiped the sweat from his brow as the cub jumped on to a tree and climbed up it to a branch. Sitting on the branch, Gabriel's ears turned slightly in various directions. He was obviously trying to hear something.

"Well, Happy New Year Gabriel," said Michael, jumping up the tree and sitting on the branch with his best friend. "It's the year 3000. Kinda strange to think humans have survived so long, no?" asked Michael, not really talking to anyone as Gabriel nudged his partner's hand. Michael smiled at the little cub and began petting him, thinking about his home. It wasn't that long ago that Michael and Gabriel left their home in Asheville, NC. Michael had decided that it was time for his journey as a Tamer to begin. He was just lucky that Gabriel wanted to come. Both he and Gabriel were alike, afterall. Michael was the son of two well-known Tamers, while Gabriel was the son of their best monsters, two full-grown White Manticores. In a sense, both of them were prodigial sons.

"My friend... We have a lot of work cut out for us."

With that, Michael reached up to a larger branch and climbed up it, making sure his backpack stayed on. Gabriel, seeing his friend climb up, quickly followed. Evidently, it was time to relax for a bit.

Danny sighed and leaned against a building. His Tamer Band had been left in his hotel room, of course. He didn't need it, as he wasn't looking for a fight or a monster right now. Scarlet curled up in his arms, and he blinked at the noise. He was well away from the crowd. The fire works were deafening, and a very impressive display. He sighed and began to long walk back to his room, ignoring the loud beeping that rng out next to him. However, the noise woke up the young dragonling in his arms, and she screeched her deifence and anger at being woken up.

"Easy there Scarlet... We aren't being attacked. Just someone forgot to turn the volume on their Tamer bac=nd, that's all." Danny said soothingly to the gragon, who blinked her eyes and yawned again, setting her head down. He remembered when he had found her. It had been another day at work, making his way through the world. He had stumbled across her egg, literally. Once he had gotten over the shock of falling on his face, he had quickly searched and found the egg covered by some gravel. It had a hole in it where his foot had been, and the dragon inside had been dying, as she hadn't been ready to hatch, though she was mostly ready. Another month or two perhaps. However, she was alive enough for him to save, as his skill with animals and monsters was pretty high. After he had hatched her by accident, and nursed her to health, he had been quite shocked, yet not surprised to find she had impressed on him. The poor thing thought he was her mother! He was inligated to care for her now, and didn't mind in the slightest. He had eventually registered her and gotten a bracer, only to have to come here. He had in fact been fired from his job because of this, as he had missed too many days while caring for the young dragon, but he didn't care. He had plenty of money saved, and could always find another one later. Life was good. Or it would be if someone wasn't around him. There should be no one out here right now. And Scarlet was on edge too. That meant another monster, and THAT meant trouble.

Christian walked through the swamp playing his built in radio on the tamer band. "There's been a horrible terrorist attack on Times Square New York. There are no survivors. The Freedom Resistance Army has claimed responsibility for the attack leaving this cryptic message on the television and radio," said the news host on the radio. A creepy voice came from the radio, "LIVE FREE OR DIE!"

Christian snickered, "that's the biggest load of BS I've ever heard. The illuminate caused the attack in a desperate attempt to turn the public against the FRA because they know their days are numbered! That's the exact kind of crap that this government would try to pull!" Shadow let out a low laugh. Christian switched off the radio and created a hologram of the creature that he was trying to capture.

A metallic plated alligator materialized in front of them. "This is the Metal Wani. It mutated from the American alligator when the virus came through the the portal from the enlightened one's world. It and its superior stages are some of the very few things that actually surpass your bite force. Also apparent is it's metallic but water proof armor that makes it highly resistant to physical attacks. I want this thing badly and won't tolerate failure from either you or myself," said Christian.

The Hyena smiled and let out a war laugh ready to fight, but something stopped it. It began to sniff the air and ran toward something. Christian followed it and found Arro's Drateel. Christian checked it's data on his tamer band and saw that it had a tamer. "Don't worry boy, it's just somebodies monster. Come on, let's go find what we're looking for," said Christian.

Christian walked two steps from where he was standing when he heard an unholy howl. It wasn't coming from Shadow. Shadow had his teeth bared as glowing red eyes came from the darkness surrounding the man and two monsters. Christian checked his tamer band. They were ghouls and shadows. Ghouls were violent three foot crawling undead monsters. Shadows were beings made completely from shadow, four feet at their first stage. Ghoul's would be easy to take on. They were at level one and were weak to darkness. Shadows might be more of a challenge but the Demon Hyena has the the ability to move through shadows. Still, it was a numbers game and Christian and shadow couldn't do it alone.

Ave


The echo of her thick-soled brown boots hummed throughout the store as she swam through the air in her natural dance; I closely following her, honestly, in contempt. I don't particularly know why she grew the sudden fondness of "cute little hippie stores," (as she called them) or why we were in this area at all. It was already the dead of night and I personally was becoming very exhausted; something that would be a foreign concept to my mind five months prior.

My Arbiter's attention snagged itself on some cheap lace bracelets shamelessly displayed on the top wooden shelf below a holographic television. As she ran her fingers across the merchandise, she giggled in response to the texture. She picked up one in particular, yellow and white, and wrapped the tacky accessory around her right wrist.

"Hm," she beamed. "What do think of this one, Hally?" She said as she knelt down and displayed it to me.

Hally. Father would've killed me if he knew I was tolerating being called Hally as a nickname. I responded to her question with a blank stare; crossing my arms to make them more comfortable. My Arbiter shot a warm smile as she stood up again and took off the trifle.

"Maybe a different color? Purple sounds good, wouldn't you say?" She said. She doesn't really get that I'm mute, does she? Throughout all the time I've spend with her, my Arbiter seems to have been using me as an excuse to converse with herself. Humans have a funny way of doing that; talking to creatures they keep as pets who can't respond properly. But my Arbiter seems to do it more often than any other human I've seem carrying around small dragons or whatnot. Perhaps it's because those other humans have other humans to talk with as well?

"Hey guys!" a loud, masculine voice said from behind us. I turned to look, and it seemed to be coming from, what I presumed, the manager or cashier of the store. He stood behind the counter, and was a chubby individual with brown-toned skin. Possibly of Mexican descent, but from his accent you knew he was born and raised in the immediate area. From the way he kept himself, you could tell he was boisterous and more than a tad lazy. He was most likely the awkward, annoying kid that everybody knew and generally disliked in varying degrees in High School. If he were to send out a monster, it would definitely be tiny and have a tendency to misbehave, more bark than bite.

….I should stop. He's not that important right now. Unless my Arbiter wants me to sick myself on him.

As he commanded the ears surrounding him, he shouted "It's eleven-fifty-nine! Get ready!" before he then picked up a remote and flipped the channels on the television above myself and my Arbiter. There was a woman standing there with a family on a local news station and they were having a small conversation. I watched passively, wondering what this had to do with anything. My Arbiter had her full attention on it however, but I knew in a matter of seconds a plastic necklace or piece of grass would grab her gaze unless it flashed some pretty colors at her. The humans on the television began chanting numbers backwards for some reason as this large, crystal ball dropped in front of them. I lowered my head in angst before I looked back up, my curiosity more powerful than my frustration.

"Seven…. Six…. Five…. Four…. Three…. Two…. One…. Happy New Year!"

My Arbiter's attention was suddenly snapped to her watch-like device. It beeped very loudly and then displayed a tiny holographic which read "HAPPY NEW YEAR!" while also producing fake confetti and parade noise. Her face grew into a bright, open-mouthed smile. Ugh. What kind of tribal ritual is this. I didn't even like my own race's silly traditional events.

Everyone around the store was laughing and clapping at this "New Year" announcement. I stood and would have grunted if I could. My Arbiter looked back up at the television when the woman on it started speaking again; being accompanied behind her by flashes of red and blue and white and whatever other color you couldn't care less about if you were me in this forsaken moment in my life.

Then suddenly, it got interesting. The screen was engulfed in white before flashes of crimson fire and screams came from it, silencing everyone in the store immediately. Then it went black, and in bold white letters read "LIVE FREE OR DIE! FRA."

The customers of the store could've easily been confused with wax statues for the next two seconds to come after that. Even I stood still, contemplating what I had just seen. Maybe this was a new, popular movie that had just started that all the humans wanted to watch?

The silence was broken with a loud thud on the floor as some poor helpless man's wife fainted and he quickly knelled down and tried to unsuccessfully to bring her back to conscientiousness, looking like a fool in the process. The store was the exact opposite it was just a moment ago, now uproaring with chatter and rage.

"Those lousy terrorists! Baby killers!" One man shouted in the crowd.

"FRA? Who are the FRA?" The woman who had fainted tried to ask her desperate husband.

"Aunt Millie lives there! Is she okay? Is she alright, Mommy?!" A child asked his stunned mother, who still hadn't become reanimated.

My Arbiter continued to read the message on the television, still having that trademark smirk on her face. She looked down at the bracelets again and picked up the one she had tried on.

"Come along now, Endringhal." She commanded me as she walked away from the shelves. I begrudgingly walked behind her, trying to navigate between the forest of trampling feet and hysterical little creatures who had been tagging along with their tamers that night.

My Arbiter approached the counter where the clubby man I had mentioned before was trying to figure out what to do with himself. "Excuse me." She asked.

The man quickly focused on her, and in distracted panic, asked "What?!" frantically.

"Do you have a purple version of this I could look at?" She queried as she innocently dangled the bracelet she had in front of the man; giggling a little.

In the thick of the woods, Adrianne slid from her beast's back and landed soundlessly on the soft ground beneath her. Beside her, Tryad crouched down as flat as he could, far below the tips of the grass. His large brown wings allowed them to blend into the darkness, and blocked the blueish glow emanating from the tip of his tail.

Adrianne crouched beside her beast, both of them ready to pounce at a moment's notice. The entire forest was still, making any movement instantly noticeable. Static and alert, the two remained as they were for a lengthy amount of time. Or at least, it felt lengthy. The sky hadn't yet lightened, so perhaps it wasn't as long as Adrianne supposed.

Despite the flame on Tryad's tail, the cold was creeping in on Adrianne. She may have been wearing her coat, but still her legs were as exposed to the elements as ever. She could feel her muscles seizing up as she crouched in the damp grass, but she gritted her teeth to stop herself from shivering. It really didn't look like they'd find anything tonight. But just as the thought of moving to another area crossed her mind, she could hear the grass moving.

Adrianne's heart pounded so loudly in her chest that she half-expected her cover to be blown. The rustling grass sounds were coming closer, and she could feel Tryad's fur bristle with anticipation. Of course, Adrianne wasn't scared. She had been waiting for this moment for so long that the excitement was almost too much. And besides, whatever was out there wouldn't be able to see them. They were hidden far too well.

Maybe too well. Neither Adrianne nor Tryad could see the creature, let alone confront it. Cursing silently to herself, Adrianne craned her neck slowly to peer over the grass tips. She barely managed to stop herself from gasping aloud - there it was. There, standing mere feet away from her, was the monster Adrianne had travelled to Puerto Rico for.

It was much larger than she expected; somewhere between a large dog and a small bear. Even in this light, Adrianne could see the bony spine and ribs protruding from under its thin skin. Its spindly legs ended in jagged dirty claws, all four on the ground. As she watched however, the beast straightened as much as its curved spine would allow so that it would stand on its hind legs. The grey-black fur glistened in the moonlight, seeming to be very fine and almost slimy. The monster's back was lined with small, curved spikes, spreading from the base of its neck to the tip of its narrow tail. The skin over the beast's narrow face was stretched tight, its eyes rolling madly in its head and showing the whites. The snout hosted a row of sharp, black teeth and was oozing with a mixture of blood and saliva, only adding to the creature's deranged appearance.

Adrianne's pulse quickened and a manic grin spread over her face. This was it. She looked at Tryad, about to give him the signal to-

BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP BEEP!

Adrianne fell backwards as the band on her arm squealed at her, demanding that she answered it. Ripping her jacket from her, Adrianne's shocked and fumbling fingers found the 'answer' button, picking up the phone call which had ruined her hunt.

"WHAT?!"

"Oh, Adie, thank goodness!" The nervous voice of Adrianne's mother rushed out of the Tamer Band. "I just saw on the news about the explosion, I thought you were dead!"

Explosion? Adrianne's disappointment and anger was temporarily replaced with intrigue. She looked at Tryad, who still seemed to be recovering from the shock of the interruption.

"What do you mean? What explosion?"

"The explosion! In Times Square! It's the FRA again!"

It took all of Adrianne's energy not to tut at her mother's ignorance. She believed all of this government propaganda, wouldn't question it for a second. Adrianne saw right through it, but to convince her mother otherwise was a task she didn't have the energy for.

"No, no. I'm fine." She said flatly. Probably something to do with her being in a different country, but hey. "It was er, close."

Adrianne's mother thought she was elsewhere, obviously. Rather than call her up on it, it was probably far easier to just nod along and smile.

"Look, mum. I'm going to have to call you back. I'm fine though. Talk soon."

Her anger for losing the beast returning, Adie hung up without waiting for a response. She got to her feet and made a futile scan of the area. The beast was nowhere to be seen.

"Thanks man, and I whole heartedly mean that. Ghoul Grunts are known to hunt in packs. There'll be more of them soon!" said Christian. His attention then shifted to the battle. The first order of business would be to take out the grunts. That was easy.

"Shadow, use the Demon's Laughter on the grunts!" he commanded. Shadow let out a freaky laugh and fired a dark beam of energy from his mouth hitting one of the grunts blowing it to pieces instantly. It was violent, blood and guts were everywhere. Ghoul Grunts were fragile creatures and could lose limbs and body parts easily. That's why they had to hunt in packs, they were weak, especially against darkness type attacks.

Of course, they aren't totally useless, thought Christian. Their body parts grew back after losing them and they couldn't die unless their head was removed or they were completely disemboweled. They were also legendary for their speed and agility, and their superior stages had the potential to be very powerful.

The other Ghoul Grunt lunged at Shadow and used its Corrosion Claw annoying the Demon Hyena and causing skin deep necrosis in the shape of claw marks. The Hyena didn't wait for an order; it bit the ghoul in half. Christian summoned the black hole ball and tossed it at the Ghoul Grunt before it could recover and captured it. You never know, it could come in handy later, thought Christian

The Shadow Spectre Child let out a piercing howl. Christian looked at the thing. It was four foot and man shaped. It had glowing red eyes and a jet black shadow like body. There was nothing below it's waist but a Shadowy ghostly trail of fog. It was an incorporeal monster which meant that physical attacks had little to no effect on it. It would be tough to beat, but with the help of the new guy he just might be able to do it.

"Alright new guy, what say you we tag team this shadowy son of douche?" said Christian to Arro cockily. Shadow laughed demonically and stood beside the Drateel. Crap was about to get real now!

Danny sighed and leaned against a tree. As he didn't have his tamer Band, he didn't know anythoing had happened, but he had a very bad feeling about things. Scarlet crawled up to his shoulder and made an odd, half meow half croon, and wrapped her tail gently around his neck.

"I don't know Scarlet... Things just don't feel right..." he said. He then began to keep walking, slipping his hand inside of his vest and putting his hand on his knife. This place was dangerous, he could feel it.

​

[FONT=&quot]Ave

3:11am, January 1st, 3000. Martha's REAL Italian (Restaurant); Groverdale, Connecticut.​

"Here you are ma'am, table for two." I said to the blonde woman. She insisted on sitting at the table next to the big painting we had on the wall when she came in, and awaited patiently two hours for it. I didn't understand it, was this table really that important? We could've sat her at one of the bar stools since she was a party of one. But no, she had to have that table and had to have a seat for that weird little dog that followed her.

"Your waiter will be with you shortly." I said automatically before quickly hustling back to my host's stand. We had tons of people flooding in for New Year's and they were getting pretty restless. Why? I don't know. The food's not that good here.

----
Why are we here. Why didn't we stop somewhere to sleep. I don't understand. I'm tired. It's like three in the morning. What is wrong with you woman.

I was getting pretty aggravated that my Arbiter made us stop to get dinner still after making me stay up all night. Or should I call it breakfast? Because if you've forgotten it's three in the gawd damn morning.

My Arbiter skimmed through her menu but I knew she wasn't actually reading it. She was flipping through the pages carelessly and with a charmed glaze over her eyes, disclosing that she was paying attention to the color, texture, and fonts of the menu versus the actual words.

Sigh. I picked up my menu and read it best I could. Although I could understand their spoken word, the human's written word was something I was still getting used to. There were a couple things that I was able to interpret and consider, like the dishes that had "pasta" or "chicken."

My Arbiter giggled and I lowered my menu in response. "You look funny on that booster seat, Hally." She said.

I shoved my face back into the menu with annoyance. I could feel her fingers tap the table over and over in contemplation and I lowered my menu again to see what she was doing. Her menu was open wide across her appetizer plate, and her spindly fingers were trying to poke through the table.

"What are you gonna get?" she asked.

I decided on one of the random "pasta" dishes. I showed her my menu and pointed to it with my claw.

"Hm. I didn't know you liked alfredo sauce." She laughed to herself and ended with a sigh. "I simply can't decide myself."

I'm going to die here.

----
Her body was perfect. Her hair was like silk. Her dress was magnificent. Who was this woman?

I hopped off my stool immediately and walked briskly over to a nearby pillar to examine this woman further. As I gandered, her radiance was made more potent by her smile and laughter. I must meet her. I must capture her beauty.

I slowly approached her table.

----
I heard the gradually growing sounds of footsteps. I looked back to see a man approaching us with a goofy grin smacked on his cheeks.

Heavens no.

"Hello, Madame." He said to my Arbiter. "Please, I must know who you are."

I searched this guy up and down. His appearance was classy but sloppy. He wore a brown vest over a green shirt and had pale olive pants that were a bit baggy at his calf. Black dress shoes. A pale maroon beret over his thick hair, a trimmed beard wrapped around his face, and small round glasses. His appearance was kind of timeless.... if his hair was brown, you'd think he was twenty-five. If his hair was gray, you'd think he was sixty. But you'd never have to change his face; it was worn but neat. There were stains all over his pants from something oil-based....

Oh gawd. He's a painter.

"And who might you be?" My Arbiter asked.

"Daniel. I'm a painter."

"You live around here?" she asked a little flirtatiously.

"About a block or two away, actually. But enough about me. Tell me about a gorgeous woman such as yourself."

My Arbiter giggled again. "Take a seat, won't you? My monster Endringhal over there can be in my lap instead."

Pardon me while I go try and stab myself with this butterknife. I know it probably won't work but it's worth a shot.[/FONT]

Adrianne kicked the nearest tree with fury, causing it to shower her and Tryad with dewdrops. The beast instantly leapt back and hissed as the water made contact with his fur. Giving her a reproachful look, Tryad retreated to a spot a few metres behind her, where he laid down but continued to glare with his fiery eyes. At this moment in time, Adrianne couldn't care less.

She sunk to the floor beneath the victimised tree, so frustrated that she expected steam to be billowing out of her in the damp air. Years, she'd dreamed of catching the 'Cabra. Years. Ever since she'd been fed horror stories of it as a little girl. It was ambitious, with Tryad being such a low-level monster, but she'd considered it worth the risk. At the very least, she'd manage to get a good idea of how strong it would be for when she finally was powerful enough to tame one. That's just who she was; someone who'd fling themselves into danger rather than live the life of the mundane. She didn't think it was a bad way to be.

But, no. Adrianne's brainless mother was certain to make sure that wasn't going to happen. What was wrong with her? Why couldn't she retain the information that her little Adie was travelling, busy, with no time for petty phonecalls which held no relevance to her?
But of course, Adrianne thought as she sifted her hands through the mud, she knew why. For right now, Adrianne would bet her tamer band that her mother was barely lucid, stumbling around the empty bottles in that filthy flat with her brains addled by alcohol. It was disgusting. No, it was pathetic. It was just not Zander.

Adrianne shifted slightly so she could trace the outline of her Zander tattoo with a muddy finger. Yeah, it was hard on them all when Adrianne's father died. Okay, the term died seems a little censored. Mutilated by a pack of rabid monsters to make a spectacle of those who defy the Illuminati seems far more accurate. But nonetheless, that was years ago, when Adrianne was only twelve. If the apple of the man's eye could get over it, why couldn't his wife? The woman whose job became to look after her own flesh and blood? I know why, Adrianne thought. She's weak.

Adrianne's stomach grumbled loudly, bringing her back to the forest floor in Puerto Rico. She suddenly became aware of a sharp pain in her palms, as she realised her hands had balled into tight fists. The nail-marks in her skin were caked with dirt, but she couldn't see any blood, so she dismissed them and got to her feet. Tryad gave a small warning growl, to let her know he'd not forgotten about the water.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry, okay?" Adrianne said with a shrug. "Forgiven?"

Tryad got to his feet, giving a solitary flick of his tail as if to tell her it was nothing. The two nodded at each other in silent appreciation of each other, before Adrianne consulted her tamer band. She muttered something incomprehensible under her breath, pushing a series of buttons with thought. It took only a few seconds for the beep to sound, signalling that the food was on its way. Smacking her lips, Adrianne held her left hand out in front of her tamer band, clicking her right fingers impatiently. However, she had barely waited 20 seconds when the green light shone a hologram directly above her palms.

The light formed a 3-D blueprint, taking the form of the raw steak Adrianne had ordered. It filled with colour and Tryad sniffed the air as it became tainted with the smell of bloody meat. Another beep sounded from the band, and the steak dropped heavily into Adrianne's palm. She dropped it immediately for Tryad, quickly wiping her hands before the beep sounded for her meal. She'd barely had time to smell her hamburger however, when a loud snarl sounded from behind her.
One look at Tryad's arched back was enough for Adrianne. She cancelled her order and jumped into defence position: they were under attack.

The Shadow Specter halved as the wind force from the Airborne Fury split it in two. The two halves dissipated into a shadowy fog like substance and floated toward each other trying to reform. Christian snickered and ordered Shadow to fire its Demon's Laughter at the reforming fog. The Hyena gave out that chilling laugh and fired the dark blast at the shadow being.

The shadowy substance tried to reform but seemed unable to put itself back together. The Demon's Laughter's fear effect had unnerved it to the point where it couldn't focus enough on reassembly. It was near beat.

"Well dude with the Drateel, i'll leave this to you. All it'll take to finish this mofo off is one shot. You can either capture it or take it out. It's all up to you," said Christian before leaning back against a tree with shadow waiting to see what he'd do. It goes without saying that they'd have to hury up before they'd be swarmed by grunts. Plus, Christian had a Wani to capture.

Danny paused when he heard a slight whimpering. Scarelt leapt to the ground and sniffed around, as Danny crossed his arms and began heading for the source of the sound. It was a small wolf cub, it's foot caught in a trap. There were a few dark Hyenas circling it, and it began growling. Danny feklt he had to do something.

"Scarlet, get them." he said. Of course, she didn't stand a chance against the pair of them, so he had to act as well. As Scarlet pounced on one of the beasts with a savage growl, he leizurely intercepted the other one and planted his boot firmly in it's face.

"Now Scarlet! Use that smoke attack... Um..." he said, forgetting the name of the move, but she knew what he meant. She belched up a puff of smoke and blinded the creature before sinking her teeth into it's ear. Danny walked over to the wolf cub and knelt next to it, undoing the trap.

"I'm trusting that you won't bust out and attack me. You're smart enough to know I'm helping you." he said with a soft smile, ruffling it's fur.

Adrianne and Tryad stood in silence, poised to fight. Nothing had shown up yet, but Adrianne daren't doubt her monster's instinct. Maybe nothing would turn up if they stayed still. She moved her head a fraction of an inch so her eyes locked on Tryad. Both of them had the same look of defiance on their faces, each one saying the same: Don't. Move.

BEEP.

Everything seemed to be in slow motion as the hamburger Adrianne had ordered formulated and dropped to the ground. She barely had time to contemplate destroying that good-for-nothing Tamer Band before the attack begun.

With a loud screeching, the attackers flew in from every angle. They pounced on everything; Adrianne, Tryad, the bomber jacket, the mushed burger lying in the mud. Tiny claws scratched every revealed surface of Adrianne's skin, small, pointed teeth sank into her flesh. She could hear Tryad's roar beside her, but could barely see from beneath the brightly coloured fur that surrounded her.

It appeared that they had walked straight into the territory of a pack of Elemental monkeys. She couldn't see much from where she was, but Adrianne knew enough about these things to identify their ferocious behaviour and bright fur. They lived in pretty much any forest or jungle across the world, so that certainly didn't rule out Puerto Rico. She could feel herself being burned, shocked and soaked as the different breeds attacked them. Metal raked her skin; gusts of wind whipped her hair around her face. Yup. They're all here.

Peeling a bright blue monkey from her face, Adrianne could see Tryad was holding his own. This seemed to ignite something in her belly, and so she gave a battle cry and started punching little furry faces left and right. The blood on her face was a mingled concoction of her foes' and her own, and she could imagine that it, combined with the fury on her face, made her look quite deranged. A winged monkey flew at her from the trees, but she held out an arm and swiped it to the ground. To her side, Tryad was using 'maul', and was ripping any monkeys that came his way into tiny shreds. An icy blue beast flung itself at Adrianne, its mouth wide open as it prepared to sink its frozen teeth into her cheek. Instinctively, Adrianne grabbed the monkey's jaws and ripped them apart, splitting its face in half and splattering her with blood. Between her and Tryad, the numbers had decreased significantly, but those that were left continued to advance.

"Alright, let's have some fun!" Adrianne yelled, twisting the neck of a metallic monkey climbing her arm. "Tryad, Combustion Whip! Let's go!"

Tryad whipped its tail around in a large arc, scorching five or six opponents in one fell swoop. Three of them returned to their feet, advancing along with another six. The focus was entirely on Tryad now, so Adrianne was free to command.

"Nice one! Now, use Air Strike! But use Maul when you reach the ground!" She yelled, adrenaline rushing through her veins. Oh, how she'd missed this. Tryad sprung into the air on his magnificent brown wings, dipping effortlessly in and out of the branches. The monkeys were looking up, transfixed, when he attacked.

Tryad dropped to the ground at an alarming rate, landing amidst the monkeys. Adrianne watched with pride as Tryad's strong jaws ripped the primates apart, his fearsome claws tearing through the tiny limbs. Occasionally he would let out a roar, which Adrianne put down to the Water Monkey that she could see amidst the others. Maul lasted less than 20 seconds, when Tryad looked up to Adrianne with achievement. The one monkey left, electricity crackling from its yellow fur, was stumbling weakly through the blood. Tryad looked ready to finish it off, but Adrianne held up a hand.
She pressed a button on her tamer band, which let out a small ball of nothingness. It swallowed the Thunder Monkey before returning to the band.
Adrianne shrugged. "You never know."

Adrianne walked over to the hamburger, trodden into the ground and drenched in blood. She nudged it with the toe of her boot, before turning to Tryad. The beast was panting, his fur clumped by the sticky red substance. Like Adrianne, he was covered in a completely indistinguishable mixture of enemy and his own blood. The ground was littered with monkey carcasses, swirls of blood mixing with the mud and leaves underfoot.

"C'mon, let's get out of here." She said, patting Tryad's head with gratitude. If that one raw steak attracted all of those monkeys, there was no telling what horrors would sniff out all of this blood. Returning Tryad to his pocket dimension, Adrianne tapped a button on her Tamer which transported her to Boston.

She really needed a shower.