Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Arks: Over Heaven

Chapter 28: Worst. Tame. Ever.

Original Post Date: Feb 20, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Desmodus, next chapter in Crystal Wyvern Queen.

~

Ben and Gary continued to wander the writhing swamps, surprised that they hadn’t run into the infamous Kaprosuchus yet. In that book that Skyler was so keen on, the Kaprosuchus in the story was a stalking beast that hid and ambushed its enemies like no tomorrow.

Yet for some reason they still couldn’t find anything.

Gary was twirling his pistol and looking up at the sky. Looked like afternoon, they had been in the swamp for hours already. They needed to hurry things up or it’d turn dark soon. Ben stared into his eyes and noticed a spark of worry.

“You are nervous about something,” Ben observed. Gary looked at Ben with a raised eyebrow, and confusion plastered on his face.

“How’d you know?” Gary asked with wonder.

“Oh, just an old little trick someone taught me way back when,” Ben smiled, adjusting the hibiscus in his pocket. Gary sighed, solemnly looking out into the distance.

“You are right. I am nervous. Well, worried, more than anything. It’s about my sister, Sunny.”

“Sunny? Well what’s bothering your mind?” Ben gently asked with relaxed eyes.

“It’s her implant attribute. Heat manipulation is not combat-oriented,” Gary replied quickly, “It’s not fit for survival here. I’m worried she’s going to get hurt and she won’t be able to defend herself.”

“Well there’s a reason she stays behind at camp and we don’t. Because we’re more fit for the job,” Ben responded.

“But what if one day she has to get into a fight? What’s going to happen then?”

There was a pause in the air, as Ben scratched the back of his head.

“Try not to worry about it, okay? Besides, she’s a tough girl. Just cause she doesn’t have an implant attribute like ours doesn’t mean she can’t fight. I bet ya’ she’s a strong warrior.”

“You’re right on that, she always won in our squabbles back in our childhood,” Gary recalled, “But still. You never know who you can meet out there.”

Gary turned to Ben with a serious look on his face.

“Ben, you’ve got to promise me something,” Gary muttered grimly, “You’re the only one in the Book Club who I can count on. Please. I need you to promise me you’ll ensure Sunny’s safety. If I’m not around.”

Ben looked at Gary, then felt a creeping feeling crawl up his gut, and his vision began to blur. He felt his mind wander and he blinked his eyes rapidly, the memory of what once was echoing within his thoughts.

“I-I can’t make that promise for you,” Ben replied hastily while looking away, “But I’ll try my best. I’ll even help train Sunny. Or at least try, I’m not exactly the best with a blade, but I can teach her a few tricks that someone I used to know taught me.”

Gary sighed, and gave Ben a slight smile.

“Well thanks anyway. I knew I could count on you-”

Suddenly, Gary’s hairs stood up on end and Gary jolted to the side in shock. A giant crocodilian creature had leapt out of the water and almost caught Gary in its jaws, but with Gary’s implant attribute he had dodged just in time. The crocodilian creature had smashed its snout into a nose and let out a cry of fury, turning around and looking at the two spitefully.

“Ah, here we go, another one of those alligator things out to get us,” Gary smirked as he stared the beast down. He took his pistol out and spun the barrel, aiming at its snout. Ben quickly put his hand out to Gary.

“Wait, don’t engage yet,” Ben warned Gary, “I think this is what we’ve been looking for. A Kaprosuchus. It matches the behavior and description of the one in The Obelisk.”

The Kaprosuchus was a sort-of light purple in color, but had burning red eyes. It arched its back like a cat and snarled at the two, preparing to pounce on them. But before it could, Ben snapped his fingers and vines ensnared the Kaprosuchus. It let out a roar of frustration and tried its best to claw and tear away at the foliage, and it seemed like it was making quick work of it. They’d have to act fast.

“I’m running out of plants,” Ben realized as he checked his arms, “I won’t have time to control more. We need to knock this thing out now.”

“Understood, but how? My bow can’t knock it out before it gets free from the vines.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll just knock it out with some knock-out berries,” Ben replied. With what little flora he had remaining, he clenched his fists and concentrated hard. Black berries began to grow all around the vines ensnaring the Kaprosuchus.

“Gary, shoot its tail or something. We need it to open its mouth.”

“Understood.”

Gary aimed his pistol at the Kaprosuchus’ tail and pulled the trigger.

BAM!

The bullet hit home and the Kaprosuchus let out a growl of rage, opening its mouth with rage. Ben’s heart began to race as the vines crawled into Kaprosuchus’ mouth. Two dozen berries began to pour into its mouth, and after that the vines retracted back into the murky waters. Ben let out a gasp, his heart squeezing tightly as he collapsed onto his knees. The Kaprosuchus let out a growl and was going to jump toward Ben, but by now the knock-out berries had taken effect. It fell asleep, falling into the water.

Gary rushed toward Ben, kneeling down to check on him.

“Are you okay dude? I’ve never seen that happen to you!” Gary asked worriedly.

“Yeah. Just my heart. It feels a little numb, I must have overexerted myself,” Ben said, putting his hand over his chest and breathing anxiously, “Ah. That hurts.”

Ben grimaced in pain as he clutched his chest, “Just, feed that thing and we can get out of here, alright? I need- I need a break.”

Gary nodded wordlessly, and he walked up to the Kaprosuchus, gently lifting its head out of the water and onto a nearby rock so that it could breathe properly. Gary took out a few slabs of meat they had harvested from the Sarcosuchus, doing so for the next ten minutes or so…

~

Soon after, the Kaprosuchus’ eyes jolted open, and it stared at Gary. Gary noticed its soulless eyes and got a shiver down his spine.

“The process is done, Ben,” Gary announced. Ben looked at Gary and groaned as he got up from the murky waters.

“Good. Now let’s get the heck out of here. I’ve had enough of this swamp already.”

The two began to head back to the Book Club’s camp, which was easily identifiable because of its close proximity to the Green Obelisk. On the way there, the two were deciding on what to name their tame.

“I was thinking, perhaps we should name it Blaze,” Gary suggested.

“Blaze huh?”

“Yeah, because it has a fiery spirit.”

“Huh. Not bad. Well I have no complaints, I was never good with names,” Ben chuckled, “But hey, I was wondering if you had a name for this guy’s pet Raptor.”

“Oh, that one?” Gary realized with wide eyes, “Well. It is blue and red, but as much as I’d love to call it Blue I feel like that name is too generic. So I’m thinking of something like Stream. Like a stream of water, that’s what I notice about the pattern.”

“Stream, huh?” Ben said, “Sounds great. I guess I’ll tell Samuel about it.”

Before they knew it, they had reached the newly installed gate of the Book Club’s camp, and the sun was beginning to dip down the horizon.