Dododex
ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion
The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)
Chapter 65: Brutality
Original Post Date: May 11, 2024
Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Tusoteuthis, next chapter in Yeti.
~
“OKAY, here’s the plan,” Ben said. He laid a map on a large wooden table, and John, Carlos, and Paul took a look at it. Ben pointed a finger near the midwest at a thick forest.
“So, we’re here, right?”
“Yep. We hid in the forest after our encounter with the scouts,” Carlos said. He was munching on a dodo leg.
“And you said that you saw a huge castle being built near here?” Ben asked again. He put his finger at the southwest.
“Yep,” John replied, “I bet that’s where Ian is being kept. I saw the scouts take him in that direction.”
“So if that’s the case, then all we need to do is infiltrate it!” Ben stated.
“What?!” Paul stated. His eyeballs popped out of his sockets, “Ben, what if we get someone hurt?!”
“We don’t know what those scouts are doing to Ian. For all we know, they could be torturing him!” John insisted, slamming his fist on the table.
“But I don’t want any of us to be harmed!” Paul protested, “Ben has just recovered from a fatal attack. Shouldn’t he get some rest first? Ben, are you feeling light-headed?”
“Okay, okay, everyone stop,” Carlos said, putting both of his hands in the air. All attention turned to him. Carlos looked at Ben, and eyed the implant in his wrist carefully.
“John, we can’t attack the castle just yet. There’s only four of us and who knows how many of them. And Ben told us how they have dinosaurs on their side.”
Carlos turned to Paul, who was hugging himself tightly.
“And Paul? We have to raid the castle. It’s the only way we’ll get Ian back, and Ben’s other friend, Chris. I don’t think they’ll return them to us so easily. This is the only way we can ensure we ever see them again.”
Paul’s head dropped to the ground hopelessly.
“But how will we ever do that if we don’t even know what our powers are?”
“What?” Ben remarked, his eyes widening, “What do you mean by that? Do you… know your implant attributes?”
Paul’s head dropped to the ground in shame, and John shook his head, no. He leaned against the wall of the hut, propped his leg up, and crossed his arms.
“Ian was the only one. Even then, his power could only serve as a minor distraction. He held them off so that we could run.”
John clenched both of his fists, and a vein began to bulge from his forehead.
“I want to help him, as he has helped us.”
Ben’s expression softened, and the mood seemed grim. Ben outstretched his palm to the table, and flowers began to sprout from his sleeves.
“We have to try. For Ian’s sake, and Chris’. We won't just yet. I myself know how to tame the dinosaurs, because of another friend of mine, and because of… past experience,” Ben claimed, his head looking back and forth at his old friends, “If we attack the castle on both fronts? They won’t stop us so easily. We’ll tame an army of them, it should be easy. That’s why I propose we dive into the seas, tame some aquatic mounts. I don’t think they know about the seas’ beasts yet. Half of us will go to the sea, the other half will tame beasts of the lands.”
“And who will it be?” Paul asked curiously.
“I’m thinking me and John will head to the seas. Carlos and Paul should go tame some of the herbivores around here, like the horned ones, Triceratops, and the spiked ones, Stegosaurus. They’re sturdy and hold their own really well against the carnivores. And they’re safer to tame.”
“You sure do know a lot about this place,” Carlos noted, a smile growing, “It’s almost as if you’ve been here before.”
“Yeah, almost…” Ben muttered under his breath. He scratched the back of his head, “Well. Are we ready to go?”
“Of course,” John replied, “Let’s head out soon. We don’t have much time.”
The four packed their essentials, and after a minute’s notice, they were out the door and on their adventure.
~
“Here we are. Fresh sea, the blowing wind, the crisp air,” John said as he stepped foot on the sands of the beach. They were on a small peninsula jutting out of the land that curved like a hook. There didn’t seem to be too many aquatic beasts, that was, until you looked deeper into the water.
Ben took the white graduation robe off of his body and tossed it to the side. John did the same with his clothes, until they were both in their underwear. John put his foot in the water gingerly, and receded it as the stinging cold pierced his skin.
“Dang that’s cold! Even colder than back home,” John shivered.
Ben cracked his neck, did a few stretches, and then leaped right into the water.
SPLASH!
Ben stayed submerged for a few seconds, his hair floating to the top, before he finally emerged. He let out a gasp, and shook his hair around.
“That’s cold!” Ben gasped. John groaned.
“Alright, I’m coming in.”
John ran forward and jumped into the water too. As his body splashed into the cold ocean, he opened his eyes to see a myriad of sea life beneath the depths. Coral reefs and seaweed hung around at the sea floor, and there were small dolphin-like creatures that roamed about.
John lifted his head out of the water to take a gasp of air, and he turned to Ben, who seemed to be getting used to the freezing temperatures.
“So, what exactly are we taming?” John asked Ben. Goosebumps raised off his arms. Ben shrugged.
“Anything, really. But preferably something big enough to carry a big platform on its back,” Ben replied back. Ben’s implant glowed, and a ball of watertight kelp grew along his spine. A tube of kelp sprouted from the ball, and Ben grabbed the tube.
“It’s not much, but it’s better than holding our breaths. The plants will slowly produce oxygen. Think of it as an oxygen tank.”
The makeshift oxygen tank grew on John’s back as well.
“So what’s the plan if we run into something to tame?”
Vines that carried black berries sprouted along Ben’s arms.
“The knockout berries. I’ll just pop them in whatever’s mouth, and it’ll fall asleep,” Ben explained.
“And what about me? What am I going to do?”
Ben smirked, “You’re still good at swimming, right?”
John smirked back, “Yeah… Why do you ask?”
“Nothing. You’re just gonna be bait.”
“Wait what?!”
Before Ben could explain himself any further, he put the tube in his mouth and submerged himself. John rolled his eyes.
“Oh Ben. Fine!”
John dunked his head into the water as well. His brown hair floated like seaweed. John turned to Ben, who was already swimming far below. John pushed his arms out and made a powerful stroke, propelling his body toward him.
Ben waved his hand toward the seabed, and John nodded back.
As they swam further and further down, the waters got colder and the waters darker. It was getting harder to see, but Ben and John could still make out the shapes of the creatures and plants below.
There were these giant Anglerfish that roamed about. The lights sprouting from their heads lit the way. John pointed at the Anglerfish and looked over at Ben. Ben shook his head. Not powerful enough.
They continued swimming around, looking for something big and strong, until a shrill cry struck the water. Their bones reverberated and John’s eyes widened. Water poured into his sockets and his eyes began to sting.
John looked over at Ben, who was smiling. Ben pointed at something. John clenched his fists as he saw the aquatic beast make its way over to them. It was a Plesiosaur. Its long neck stretched so far that it was as long as a house, and it had razor sharp teeth that were crooked and jagged. It opened its mouth and began to swim faster at the two, its limbs acting like paddles. Ben prepared an array of vines, and John began to make a swim for it.
CRASH!
A beast even more gigantic than the Plesiosaur rushed in and locked its jaw around its fragile neck. With a bone-crunching SNAP, the Plesiosaur’s neck hung limp inside the predator’s jaws. Ben’s eyes widened as he spotted the beast. Brownish in color, its slender long jaws were so large that it could fit a dozen men. Its flippers were as large as the Plesiosaur, and its body so big and large it’d take hundreds of men to take it down. Its flippery eel-like tail swung around aimlessly, when suddenly it almost went flying into Ben. Ben quickly dived under the tail.
John looked at Ben and then back at the beast.
“What IS that?!” John seemed to be asking Ben with wide eyes.
Ben smiled back. Ben knew, but he couldn’t tell John. But John already knew…
That was the thing they were going to tame now.
The big beast did not seem to take care of the two humans, however. Its large eyeball stared right at John, but did not take its time to attack him. John knew he’d have to provoke it. But would he even be fast enough to swim away from it?
No. He wasn’t. He needed to find a different way.
John quickly looked around the surrounding area. He needed to be fast, or else the beast would just swim away with its prey. As John checked every crevice on the seafloor, or anything that could help him, his eyes brightened as he saw it. A small opening that was big enough to fit him, but too small that the beast couldn’t go through. A cave!
John began to swim toward the beast’s eye. Daringly, John reached his finger out and poked it.
“ROARRRRR!”
The beast opened its mouth, and vines grappled out and shot black berries into them. John knew that he didn’t have much time. He had to flee. Now. He looked over at Ben and signaled to him. Ben nodded and swam alongside him. They swam as fast as they could to the cave. They could feel the beast’s hot breath rush onto their skin.
They were almost there.
With one push, John made it into the cave. Ben followed with suit, and the beast let out a bellow as its head crashed into the opening.
BOOM!
BOOM!
It tried, in vain, to barge its way through, but it was pointless. The cave’s walls were too strong, and the beast was too large. Ben pointed his finger at the beast, and vines made its way into its mouth, pouring dozens of black berries inside its mouth. John began to clap his hands in joy as the beast fell asleep.
Ben turned to John. Now they’d have to get food for it. He ushered him to travel further into the cave. Maybe there’d be an easy kill for them.
The two quickly swam into another opening, and were greeted with a large cavity. Large veins of a strange metal ran along the walls of the cavity, and a bright light shone from below.
“What is that?” John thought to himself. There was a glowing object that hung around at the bottom of the cavity. It was made of the same metal as the veins that lined the cavity, and was glowing yellow. It was like an artifact.
Ben looked over at John. He nodded his head toward it. John nodded back. The two began to swim over to the artifact, but as they did the water began to crackle with energy. The floor suddenly lit up with orange. Eels at the bottom with vicious eyes and teeth began to appear. Electricity began to crackle around the eels, and they began to swim at the two of them.
With quick wits, Ben snapped his fingers, and seaweed and kelp rose from the floor and tangled a few of them. Ben’s heartbeat rang across the waters, and more and more kelp continued to appear. But it wasn’t enough. There were just too many of them.
“Darn it!” John thought to himself. He looked back. The aquatic beast was blocking the entrance. There was nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. John looked back at the eels. They were getting closer.
Ben’s eyes began to droop. He was getting tired.
John clenched his fists.
“It can’t be this way,” John thought. He closed his eyes. He could feel his heart hammer in his chest. The world around them began to drown out. Time felt like it was getting slower.
What was he supposed to do?
John’s implant began to hum…
~
An eel lashed at John, and with quick speed, John opened his eyes and grabbed the eel by the throat. The eel began to scream and thrash about like a banshee, and as John’s implant continued to hum, the eel’s eyes rolled to the back of its head. The eel stopped resisting, and its eyes rolled back. Fervor in its eyes, John let go of the eel in awe. The eel turned around, and a bolt of electricity shot out of the eel and hit its own brethren!
ZAP!
The eel that was hit let out a shriek. Its body began to twitch, and then a bolt of electricity shot out of that eel shot out and hit another. And then that eel shot out another bolt that hit another.
This chain reaction of electricity passed around to every eel, until eventually all of the eels had been killed. The eel that sent out the first electricity bolt looked at John in approval. It rushed at him and rubbed its head against John’s chest. John put his hands up in surprise, but then rubbed the eel back.
“I think I’ve tamed him,” John realized. He stared at his implant. The humming had stopped, “Is it because of my implant?”
“Is that my attribute?”
John looked down at the artifact. Ben was swimming toward it. As he reached the artifact, he looked back at John and signaled at him to come over to him. John swam down with his new eel friend. Ben pointed at the artifact.
“You get it,” Ben seemed to be saying. John reached his hand out and touched it. As he did, the artifact began to glow, and then it disintegrated into a million metal pieces. The metal pieces flew into John’s implant, and his implant glowed yellow for a second. The glow faded away. John gasped in wonder as he felt his body crackle with energy. He stared at Ben, who seemed to be staring at John in fear. John raised his eyebrow, but then as he looked into the reflection of Ben’s eyes, he noticed that his face was incomprehensibly shadowy. His body seemed to look bigger too. John looked at his body, but it seemed pretty normal to him. Was this the power of the artifact? Ben let out a sigh of relief. John had returned to normal in Ben’s vision. John let out a laugh, and bubbles floated out of his mouth and into the water. They had a beast to feed now. And once they tame that beast? There was no way that the Crimson Crusader could stop them.