Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Arks: Over Heaven

Chapter 9: Sacrifices for Success

Original Post Date: Jan 18, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Sinomacrops, next chapter in Royal Griffin.

~

Samuel looked at Aurora, and then scoffed.

“Yeah? Seriously? After just ditching your friend you wanna team up with me?” Samuel snorted. Aurora had a look of regret on her face, and she looked down at the rough sands with pity.

“I know I did. But Ruby chose to stay on her own to help the nerd out so that’s her decision to make. I really didn’t want to abandon her, okay? Sacrifices had to be made-”

“No sacrifices had to be made,” Samuel said, “You could’ve stayed behind and helped fight the creatures off, there would be a higher chance that all of us survived, but now the chances of the two of them AND Star dying is much higher now.”

“Okay? And what about you!” Aurora shot back, “You aren’t running back to help them.”

“Because I don’t need to. That’s your job,” Samuel retorted.

“How is that MY job?!”

“Because you’re the boss, right? The leader of our squad. That’s what you said because ‘no one stepped up to the job’. So now your responsibility as leader is making sure everyone’s safe.”

Aurora groaned and shoved Samuel hard. Samuel went tumbling back a little bit.

“And besides, you don’t want to just leave them,” Samuel pointed out, “What if they do survive? The consequences could be fatal, they might want revenge on you. And both of their powers from their gems are useful. You don’t just wanna let that go, do you?”

Aurora frowned for a bit, and then nodded.

“Yeah. You’re right. We should go back then. Help them before it’s too late,” Aurora decided. She turned to Samuel with a glare, “But you gotta help out instead of just sticking to the sidelines!”

Samuel shrugged.

“I never said I wasn’t going to. Just give me a weapon,” Samuel requested. Aurora reached for her belt and took out a blunt hatchet with a stone blade. She tossed it to Samuel and he catched it midair.

“Oh, and one more thing,” Samuel commented, “From now on you’re going to treat me as an equal. Not as an employee to boss around.”

“Okay Samuel, deal,” Aurora said, raising her hand out to shake. Samuel took her hand and shook it. Aurora smiled, and began to walk off.

“Come on, let’s go save the others!”

“Okay, just breathe in, and out,” Ruby muttered. She aimed at an orange-eyed beast, and released an arrow. It soared through the air and landed right in the grass next to it. The orange-eyed beast’s head jolted from the arrow and toward Ruby. Ruby cursed to herself and readied another arrow.

“Damn it Ruby, concentrate!” Ruby shouted. Warm rays of light struck her on the shoulder, and she looked back to see the little dodo bird’s chest aimed at her. The dodo let out a squawk, and Ruby’s mind suddenly cleared. It felt like a state of bli

“I feel… enlightened,” Ruby noted. She aimed at an orange-eyed beast and let go of another arrow. It soared through the air and struck it right in the head! The creature collapsed to the ground, and five other buggers let out shrill cries and began their attack.

Ruby, in a state of panic, began randomly shooting arrows at the incoming horde. Two ended up dead but the other three still remained. Looking around the area, she spotted a bloody spear embedded in an orange-eyed beast. She grabbed it and pulled it out of the corpse, holding it out to protect herself from the beasts of the past. One orange-eyed creature jumped onto her, and she grabbed at it with her hands and pried it away before it could bite her. She threw it at another beast and it hit it so hard it collapsed to the ground. With a hurl of the spear it pierced through both of the creature’s bodies.

The final beast lunged at Ruby’s face, and her eyes widened in horror as its talons were outstretched and its jaw was unhinged…

POW!

“HA HA! Take that!”

Neddy was standing up, and his fist was outstretched and steaming from the punch. The creature’s mouth was bubbling with some weird foam, and Ruby cringed at it. Poor little Star began to gag at the sight.

Neddy looked at Ruby with a goofy grin.

“Did you see that Ruby? I just saved your life!”

Ruby scoffed, and looked away.

“Come on, don’t gloat. And don’t forget I stayed behind so that those things wouldn’t tear away at your half-naked body.”

Neddy put his arms up in the air with despair.

“Oh seriously?! And I just got clothes from you!”

The dodo bird behind began to chuckle, and Ruby turned around with a raised eyebrow. Star looked back and forth at the two of them, and then winked at Ruby.

“What the- Did that bird just wink?!” Ruby stammered.

“I don’t know, you probably just have bad eyesight,” Neddy said. He began to walk around and collect the corpses around the area. Then he pulled out a spear from a body and held onto it tightly.

“Okay, let’s go,” Neddy said.

“Well what about Aurora and Samuel? Aren’t we going to wait for them?” Ruby asked.

“The suckers probably left us, we should probably go confront them about it! Confront them for being cowards!” Neddy decided. Ruby found the idea ridiculous- Aurora was her friend, she wouldn’t abandon her.

“I don’t think so, we should just wait,” Ruby said.

“Come on, we’ll meet with them faster if we just follow their tracks,” Neddy said. Ruby sighed, and then nodded her head.

“Okay, fine. Let’s follow them,” Ruby agreed. The two began spinning around, and then Neddy began to scratch his head.

“Which way did they go?”

Ruby pointed east.

“I think they went that way,” Ruby said.

“Okay, let’s go that way then,” Neddy replied. The two began to walk off, all while Star stayed behind. Neddy turned around and called out to the bird.

“Hey, come with us!” Neddy shouted. But Star stayed put. Neddy and Ruby looked at each other, and they both shrugged at each other.

“I guess she only listens to Samuel,” Ruby declared.

“Yeah, it’s fine though. Once we meet up with those two and chew ‘em out, we can go back to get her for Samuel.”

Unbeknownst to the two though, it turns out they went in the exact opposite direction that Aurora and Samuel went in, because on the way back to the campsite Aurora and Samuel did not meet either of the two.

“Woah woah woah where did they go?!” Samuel asked as they arrived. There was no trace of anyone there except piles of drying out blood, a few giant ants, and… Star?!

“Star?! What are you doing here?” Samuel asked as he walked up to the dodo. The dodo bird looked at Samuel and squawked, waddling up to Samuel. Samuel picked Star up and hugged her.

“You’re alive Star! But where did they go?” Samuel asked her. Star made a weird squeaking noise, and then lifted her wings, then started doing a weird sign with her wings.

“What the? What are you doing?” Samuel wondered. Star shrugged, and Samuel sighed.

“Looks like we aren’t getting any hints,” Samuel shouted at Aurora. Aurora had her arms crossed and was in a judgemental pose.

“Don’t tell me you’re talking to a bird now that has a brain the size of a pea,” Aurora scowled.

“I mean, it seems like she knows English. And on an island of dinosaurs and weird gems anything is possible,” Samuel said back.

Suddenly the bushes behind them began to rustle loudly, and they could hear loud footsteps coming their way. Samuel gripped his hatchet tighter, and Aurora twirled her spear around.

“Who’s there?!” Aurora shouted.

“Don’t worry sweethearts, I won’t bite,” a mysterious voice shouted back. A few seconds later a gang of three boys emerged from the forest, all of them wearing nothing but their graduation caps and their underwear.

“Well well well, look what we have here, boys,” the one in the lead said.

“Who are you supposed to be?” Samuel asked, looking at the three with disgust, “I guess Neddy’s got clones of himself now…”

“Who?” one of them asked with a raised eyebrow, “It doesn’t matter… I’m Lil Jack. And I’m going to make you lovebirds my slaves.”