Dododex
ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion
The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)
Chapter 100: Over Heaven
Part 4 / 6
Original Post Date: Oct 7, 2024
Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Oviraptor. This is the last chapter of TAOH. Please do not read this first if you haven't read the rest of the story.
~
“AH, YOU’RE IDIOTS. ALL OF YOU ARE,” Dan Walker’s distorted voice echoed throughout the corridor from the implant, “PERHAPS I SHOULD THANK YOU. IF YOU HADN’T TOUCHED THAT CONSOLE YOU WOULD NOT HAVE AWAKENED ME. BUT NOW HERE I AM.”
“Neddy, what the hell did you do with the console?!” Nova shouted at him.
“Nothing! All I did was remove my implant, I was gonna tell you guys so we could get out of here!”
“THAT CONSOLE IS LINKED TO THIS IMPLANT. EVERYTIME YOU RUN A COMMAND, YOU ACCESS MY POWER. YOU ACCESS MY IMPLANT,” Dan Walker’s voice boomed, “AND THAT WILL END IN YOUR DOOM. FOR I AM NOW AN OVERSEER, AN OVERSEER OF THIS WORLD.”
“Oh great, thanks a lot Neddy,” Simon groaned.
“Shut up, we can take him down easily. His implant is fragile, remember? I can just do… this!” Neddy reached for his spear and then hurled it at the Overseer.
Before the spear could even hit the Overseer though, it froze in midair, almost as if it were being slowed down. Neddy’s eyes widened, and the Overseer’s voice laughed.
“INFINITY. IT’S AN ABSTRACT CONCEPT. BUT I HAVE CREATED IT. I HAVE CREATED INFINITE SPACE BETWEEN YOU AND ME. YOU CAN NEVER REACH ME, NO MATTER HOW HARD YOU TRY. YOU WILL NEVER KILL ME. NOW IT IS TIME FOR YOUR DOOM.”
The Overseer glowed, and then with an explosion, purple energy shot out throughout the starlit sanctuary. Everyone who had implants were barely starting to get up, but the waves caused them to shriek in pain and fall to the ground. All except Samuel managed to stand up.
Samuel rushed over to Neddy, looking back at the Overseer to make sure he wasn’t firing up an attack. Samuel looked back at Neddy and placed his shoulders on Neddy.
“Neddy, I have an idea, but I’m going to need your help,” Samuel said.
“What is it?!” Neddy asked.
“You know how Loki’s power is to absorb other attributes?”
“Yeah, what about it?”
“Well…”
“You want me to transfer all of our implants to YOU?! But he’ll get you with the shockwave!” Neddy protested, “Besides, we can just transfer it to Landon’s body-”
“Just do it, okay?! I have a plan but there’s no time to explain!”
Neddy backed off from Samuel, nodding slowly.
“Okay. I’ll do it. You just distract it, okay?”
“Will do. Good luck, okay?”
Neddy rushed back through the door and to the console, where Ruby was waiting with worry.
“What’s going on out there?!” Ruby asked in a panic.
“It’s Dan. We accidentally awoke him. Now he’s possessing the implant and he just sent everyone with an implant into a shockwave,” Neddy quickly explained. He rushed up to the console and began to mash some lines of code in.
“So what now?! Should I go out there and help?” Ruby asked. Neddy shook his head.
“No. You stay here. I need your attribute for something.”
~
The Overseer chuckled as Samuel stood off against him once more.
“Ready for a rematch?!” Samuel taunted him.
“OH. OF COURSE, MY DEAR SAMUEL. I’M READY TO PURGE YOU ONCE AND ALL,” the Overseer roared, “I DON’T EVEN CARE ABOUT GETTING YOUR STORY ANYMORE. YOU’RE JUST A PUNY LITTLE MOSQUITO WHO REFUSES TO LEAVE ME ALONE.”
“It’s a good thing that even mosquitos are capable of killing humans,” Samuel sneered.
“HOW ABOUT YOU SHUT UP AND TAKE THIS LASER FOR ME-”
The Overseer’s orb glowed, and then a huge atomic beam made of hot plasma shot out. Samuel let out a squeal and weaved to the left right as his orb began to glow. Samuel turned to see the beam burning into one the metal pillar, before it finally shot out and stopped right at the glass. The huge atomic beam slowly began to move toward Samuel, and Samuel realized that the Overseer was rotating.
“Shoot!” Samuel swore, looking at the door. If the laser reached there, it would cut right through Neddy and the console. Their plan would be foiled otherwise.
Samuel noticed the laser separating into multiple tiny ones. There was no way he’d be able to dodge by jumping over them or going underneath. He had to think of something…
Just then, Samuel felt a sharp pain pierce his wrist. He let out a gasp as he looked down at his left wrist. An implant was implanted right inside. Samuel noticed the implant humming.
“I must have gotten Neddy’s attribute,” Samuel thought, looking at Landon’s body, “And I must have gotten his too. If that’s the case, then can I…”
Samuel briefly remembered Landon in the fight against Jerry. He had some sort of voodoo attribute. It worked on the physical body, but how would he use it against the Overseer, who was nothing but an implant?”
“Perhaps I just need to…”
SLASH!
Samuel felt an invisible cut slash at the implant, and then he could hear the Overseer howl in pain. Samuel’s implant was cut in half, and he tried to create another cut on the implant, but realized he couldn’t.
“Great. Looks like I lost the attribute,” Samuel thought, “Without an operative implant I won’t be able to use it.”
Samuel looked up at the Overseer. A large gash was located, cutting straight through the metal but leaving the purple orb intact. At least the Overseer had stopped producing a hot laser.
“Still, now that I have the implant I have to be careful of the purple energy that he shoots out,” Samuel thought, “Still that leaves the others room to attack… and figure something out.”
Samuel felt more attributes flow into his brain, and he looked down to realize that Neddy had replaced his implant with a new one. The implant hummed once more, and this time his brain felt more alert. The hairs on his arm ruffled, and his hair began to glow a slight orange. Samuel looked to his right to see Gary and Chris rise from the ground. They seemed to be unaffected by the shockwaves now. Sunny rose afterwards.
“Samuel!” Gary called out to him, rushing over. The other two followed suit, “What’s the game plan now?”
“We need to distract him,” Samuel explained, “One way or the other.”
Sunny nodded, her eyes darting to the implant in his left wrist.
“What about you though? With that implant he can easily stun you.”
“See, that’s where you all come in,” Samuel planned, “I need your help avoiding his energy bursts. I noticed something crucial… it can’t pass through solid objects. I need you to cover me so that I don’t get stunned. Other than that though, attacking him will be difficult. He’s created some sort of barrier so we can’t hurt him, and the only way we can do that is through Landon’s voodoo attribute…”
“Okay. I understand,” Chris decided. His eyes darted over to the console. He knew that Neddy and Ruby were there doing their console magic, “I’ll relay information between you and Neddy and Ruby. Does that sound good?”
“That’ll be helpful, yes,” Samuel replied.
The Overseer glowed once more, its orb shining brightly. Signals began to fire into Samuel’s brain, warning him to move, and his hairs stood on end as warm air blasted out into the cold starlit sanctuary.
“He’s firing a beam, move!” Samuel cried out.
The three began to clamber away as the Overseer fired another hot beam at the survivors. The three jumped and rolled out of the way of the beam attack. Samuel gritted his teeth, and then pressed his back up against the glass window.
With that, he became shrouded in invisibility.
The Overseer scoffed.
“HOW SAD. WHY DO YOU HAVE TO MAKE THINGS SO DIFFICULT FOR ME?”
Samuel refrain himself from speaking a word. He noticed Sunny and Gary sneaking up toward their friends, blending in with the crowd. The Overseer seemed too focused on attacking Samuel to notice that Sunny and Gary were digging through Simon’s backpack and grabbing an array of materials. Samuel saw Sunny pull out a mirror. Snowy Mole and Chris’ dodo, who had remained relatively quiet throughout the fight, groaned and buckled at the fierce pull of the shockwaves. They would be out of commission for the fight. For now, at least. Not until Neddy and Ruby found out a way to get rid of it.
~
“So what’s this secret plan of yours going to be?” Ruby asked as Neddy frantically typed away at the keyboard on the console.
“Well first of all,” Neddy commented, “We need to be out there helping. One way or another. The more out there to put pressure on him, the less likely he’s going to win.”
“So how are you going to do that? We need to be here to run the console-”
As soon as Neddy pressed the enter button, the console shrunken down, warped, and then snugly fit onto Neddy’s arm. It was like a metal sleeve, and the keyboard was located on the right of the metal sleeve, with the screen near the top.
“I’ll do that, and then…” Neddy continued to mash buttons, pressed the enter button, and then afterwards looked out past the door.
Ben, Tiffany, and Alan were the next ones to rise from the ground. Alan cracked his knuckles.
“Oh you’re in big trouble now,” Alan snarled.
Samuel clenched his fists, and his muscles began to grow at an exponential rate. His eyes became bloodshot, and vines encircled his body. The Overseer shot out another purple shockwave, but the vines protected Samuel from the shock. Neddy pumped his fist in the air.
“That part of the plan worked!” Neddy cheered, “Now that Samuel can take care of himself, I can free the rest of our friends easily.”
CLICK CLICK CLICK!
SHOOM!
Within half a minute, Neddy managed to free the rest of the friends from the clutches of the Overseer. Now everyone was dancing around, twirling and avoiding the hot laser beams that the Overseer shot out of its body in a futile attempt to kill them. As the Overseer shot a beam at Samuel, Sunny came in out of nowhere and then redirected the beam with a mirror toward the Overseer. The beam almost hit the Overseer, but the Overseer cut off its fire before it could.
Carlos’ eyes widened at this.
“Hey, aren’t we unable to hit it because of the barrier it has or whatever?!” Carlos questioned.
“Yeah, you’re right. That is kind of weird,” Patricia stated.
“Maybe it can hurt itself,” Paige suggested.
“That’s all we need to do everyone! Redirect the attack toward the Overseer,” Bobby realized. Rick twirled his knife around, and then threw it at the Overseer. The knife slowed down as it was about to hit the Overseer, and then clattered to the ground.
Perhaps they were correct.
“YOU THINK YOU KNOW MY WEAKNESS? THAT REALLY IS FUNNY. I HAVE NO WEAKNESS FOOLS,” the Overseer glowed.
“Just because you don’t know your own weaknesses like the bum you are doesn’t mean you don’t have any!” Ian shouted with his fist raised in the air.
The Overseer rumbled, and with a sudden attack, hot laser beams shot out all throughout its body, cutting across the starlit sanctuary like a knife with butter. Most of the people managed to dodge out of the way with ease.
Ben, who was near the front of the starlit sanctuary, weaved out of the way of a laser. He sighed, looking on ahead at the Overseer with sweat pouring down his forehead.
“Close call-”
The laser that he had dodged then promptly came down and then cut right through his right arm.
~
Neddy and Ruby rushed into the starlit sanctuary, and it was then they noticed Ben’s body lying on the ground not too far away.
“Oh shoot-” Neddy gasped as he saw the sight. The two rushed over to him. His eyes were closed, and blood was pouring from his lips. He looked up at the ceiling weakly, as his body was doused in a pool of blood. His eyes wandered to the two who stood above him.
“I KNEW I HAD TO GET RID OF YOU FIRST. IT’S ONLY FITTING FOR THE MAIN CHARACTER OF THE BOOK I SO DEARLY LOVED TO BE SLAIN UNDER MY HAND. I SUPPOSE LASERS IN THIS CASE. BUT YOU GET WHAT I MEAN,” the Overseer cackled, “YOU NEVER DESERVED A HAPPY ENDING BEN. THAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN ME.”
“What is he even talking about?!” Ruby whispered to him. Despite not knowing him too well the sight was making them teary-eyed. He seemed quite jubilant the day they met.
“I have no idea,” Ben muttered, “Listen… I think I know how to kill him. It’s like fire against fire. I think.”
“Ben! No no no no!” Paul cried out as he rushed over to Ben. He knelt down and looked down at him, his eyes filling with tears, “You can’t die on me. Not yet. Please.”
“I’m afraid it’s the end of the line for me,” Ben whispered, looking up at the ceiling again.
CLUMP.
Ian and Carlos landed next to him, taking a kneel. Ian nudged Carlos on the shoulder.
“Come on, give him the medical brews,” Ian barked.
“I gave the last one to Tiffany,” Carlos insisted. Ian grabbed him by the collar.
“You what?!”
Carlos opened his mouth to speak, but Neddy merely reached for his console and then typed some lines of code into it. Then, a bottle with a red liquid manifested in Neddy’s hand.
“Come on, drink up,” Neddy told him, bringing the bottle to his lips.
Ben weakly opened his mouth, and he downed the liquid in a few seconds.
Regardless, the effects didn’t seem to be kicking in.
“It’s not working,” Paul yelled, “WHY ISN’T IT WORKING?!”
“It’s not infused with Carlos’ attribute,” Ian realized, turning white.
“Come on guys. Just get back to fighting. The others need you. I’m dead,” Ben muttered, “Just give up. Please. I did.”
“But… I don’t wanna-” Paul choked, as he felt tears stream down his face, “I don’t want you to die! I won’t let you! I’ll tell Samuel right now to make a medical brew, I’ll tell him!”
Ben closed his eyes.
“It’s going to be okay.”
“No it’s not,” Paul said, exasperated. Ian put a hand gently on Paul’s arm. Paul jerked away from him.
“Don’t touch me!”
“We need to help the others,” Ian told him, “We can mourn later-”
“HOW COULD YOU NOT CARE?!” Paul shouted, “You didn’t care when John died, and now you don’t care that Ben is dying right now! You never cared, you never cared at all! None of you care!”
“I do care!” Ian shouted back. His eyes were getting watery, “I’m trying my best, okay? I’m TRYING! I’m trying my best to cry but I can’t! You have to believe me!”
“Guys, please, can we calm down here-” Carlos was interrupted by Ian, who shoved him hard.
“Just shut up dude! You wasted your medical brew on someone we didn’t even know, and now Ben can’t-”
Neddy knew that they needed to solve their problems on their own. He slowly backed away, dragging Ruby along with him. Neddy reached for the console on his arm again, when suddenly Chris manifested in front of him.
“Neddy!” Chris shouted. Neddy jumped, startled.
“Yo, what is it?” Neddy asked.
“Did you see what happened to the Overseer?” Chris asked, his eyes darting back and forth. The Overseer seemed to be firing lasers at the others in an attempt to kill them, whilst spikes shot out from the ground. They seemed to be protecting Samuel.
“No, not really. I was busy turning this console into a portable one,” Neddy answered.
“Well, it seems to me that the Overseer’s infinity can be bypassed with its own attacks,” Chris explained. Neddy’s eyes sparkled.
“You don’t say, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Neddy scratched his chin for a moment. The walls were closing in. He had originally thought of a plan involving Ruby’s attribute, but it sounded too costly and risky. They could focus more on using Landon’s attribute to slash and eventually destroy the Overseer.
“But, if ‘imaginary matter’ exists, then can I use it to create a weapon capable of bypassing infinite space? An imaginary weapon that could bypass ANYTHING.”
Obviously, the console would not be able to create such a thing. It was only capable of creating ‘real’ matter. Reality.
But Ruby… She could craft ANYTHING.
“Maybe she can craft imaginary matter,” Neddy thought, turning to Ruby. He spoke aloud, “Ruby, you know there’s a reason why I chose to keep your implant. You’re the only person I can trust to be able to carry out this task.”
“What do you need me to do?” Ruby asked, curious, and somewhat excited.
Neddy took a deep breath.
“I need you to make imaginary matter.”
~
Samuel clenched his fists tightly. A laser came right his way, and with unexpected speed he did a backflip and landed safely away from the laser. A spike almost struck him in the leg, but vines encircled the spike and brought it down. He could feel his heart hammer against his chest like drum beats.
BUM BUM BUM! BUM BUM BUM!
Tiffany and Alan were to his left, while Rick and Patricia were to his right. They had helped shield him from most of the purple energy shockwaves, but they were beginning to get exhausted from the lasers.
“JUST STOP RESISTING ALREADY,” the Overseer boomed. The stars outside the glass pane sparkled brightly, cheering the survivors on. The Overseer’s voice echoed once more, “CAN’T YOU SEE? THIS ISN’T LIKE HIS STORY. YOU CAN’T WIN. THE CONSTELLATIONS CAN’T HELP YOU NOW.”
Nova gritted her teeth, at the other side of the starlit sanctuary with Sunny and Gary. She was sweating a storm.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about…” Nova gasped, “But I do know one thing. We WILL win. Because we have each other, while you have no one on your side.”
Samuel glanced to the left. Ruby seemed to be crafting something. It was purple in color, yet was bright and didn’t seem to fit in the world. It was similar to the purple orb implanted in the Overseer.
While Nova distracted the Overseer with her words, Samuel eyed Ruby carefully, and then noticed that she was crafting some sort of gun! It was a long, slender rifle made of a purple essence similar to the shockwaves the Overseer sent out.
Chris suddenly manifested behind Samuel, tapping him on the shoulder.
“Samuel!” Chris shouted.
“Woah! What is it?!” Samuel asked in a hurry.
“Neddy told me to tell you that he’s going to craft an imaginary weapon,” Chris gasped for air, “With it we should be able to destroy the Overseer. The problem is… it’ll take a while for Ruby to make it. Around five minutes. We need to make sure she isn’t harmed whatsoever until then.”
“Got it. I’ll try my best,” Samuel said, looking ahead at the Overseer. Nova would eventually run out of things to say. The Overseer had thought it had won, it could afford to taunt them as much as it wanted. Little did it know that their plan would result in its demise. Samuel couldn’t let the Overseer figure it out, no matter what.
For just a split second, Samuel recalled the implants. How they were made. What they were made of.
“All of the implants combined should share the same amount of essence as my own,” the text claimed.
And it was then an idea struck Samuel.
Samuel grabbed Chris before he could camouflage with the rest of the starlit sanctuary.
“Wait,” Samuel told him, “Tell Neddy to give me ALL of the implant attributes, from everyone dead and alive.”
Chris’ eyes widened for a bit, but he nodded.
“Will do.”
Chris turned invisible, and moments later, Samuel felt his mind tingle. Samuel’s implant began to glow immensely. He felt his blood boil, his head felt lighter, and fire coursed through his heart. He could feel his strength grow, and poison claws shot out of his knuckles.
The Overseer let out a chuckle, and then the metal around Nova warped and bended, pulling her down onto the floor. Metal wrapped around her mouth, preventing her from speaking.
“THAT’S ENOUGH TALK FROM YOU, NOW IT’S TIME I-”
The Overseer suddenly floated into the air, and was then slammed into the ground. The Overseer let out a howl as cracks and chips were left on the tip of its structure. A blue flame sprouted from the Overseer and Samuel’s left hand.
“I have Loki’s telekinesis,” Samuel realized. Samuel clenched his fists, and blood shot out of the Overseer. The Overseer continued to cry out in pain. The blood was suspended in midair.
“And Jerry’s blood manipulation.”
Fire shot out from the ground, and while the flames couldn’t touch the Overseer, it trapped the Overseer from moving around any further. Samuel smiled happily. They had gotten the edge once again. The power of creativity burst through Samuel like waves. Samuel felt as if he could do more with this power. This ‘essence’.
“Maybe… I can bring them back,” Samuel thought, melancholic. His frown transformed into a smile, and then, as the realization came crashing down on him. He COULD bring them back.
“Like this,” Samuel thought.
He concentrated on everything he knew about her. Every single little detail was engraved in his memory, never leaving his mind. Everything she had gone through, everything she had cried about, laughed about. Her long, wavy brown hair, and her contagious smile. The white robes that covered her body while she stood so proudly on that stage.
And then, reality in front of him began to crackle. He felt life twirl in his fingertips, and it shot out into the world, and with a big bang, a white light flashed across the room.
Glitches shot out across the room, reality was turning unstable from the presence of a new creator. Regardless, Samuel’s plan had worked. His idea had come to fruition.
Standing in front of him was Aurora.
“I’m not afraid to die anymore,” Aurora said. White blobs seemed to cover her eyes and face like a parasite. Samuel couldn’t believe his eyes. He stepped up to Aurora.
“You’re alive,” Samuel cried, tears coming forth from his eyes.
Aurora didn’t say anything.
“I’m not afraid to die anymore,” she repeated. Samuel’s eyes wavered.
“She might not be fully back,” Samuel thought, “But please… I hope you’re watching.”
Samuel could feel more life course down his fingertips. He thought of everyone that had perished. Everyone who had fallen to the hands of Dan Walker. Samuel clenched his fists, and reality continued to crackle around them. Everyone around him stared in awe at the sight. Even the Overseer was silent, speechless from Samuel’s power. His might. The love coursed through his veins, and with closed eyes more figures manifested in the starlit sanctuary, their faces covered in white blobs similar to Aurora’s.
Andres crackled next to Tiffany, and her lip quivered as Andres stepped forward, his fists raised once again. A grim smile was still plastered on his face.
“Tiffany, you’ve gotta snap out of it. Come on, we need your help! You’re the strongest out of all of us,” Andres cheered.
Loki and the one he called Chloe also manifested next to Samuel, their grins turned to glares.
“I’m sorry,” Loki apologized, his voice shaky, “For killing your friend.”
“We should-” Chloe paused, and spoke again, “We should-”
“We should all be burning in hell,” Jerry finished off, appearing behind the two of him with a sadistic grin. Sophie and Brad turned up to their sides, their fists clenched, but oddly silent.
Samuel concentrated further, and more lost souls began to sparkle, dotting the starlit sanctuary with hundreds and hundreds of people. He could feel Warren’s cold yet comforting voice echo in his ear behind him, and his hand on his shoulder.
“You can do it.”
Another hand
“I’ll give them all a second chance,” Samuel thought, opening his eyes, “ALL OF THEM!”
“NO, NO, NO! YOU CAN’T DO THIS! YOU CAN’T JUST… JUST BRING THEM BACK!” the Overseer howled, “HOW COULD YOU- GRAHHHHHHH! JUST DIE ALREADY!”
The Overseer shot out giant beams of hot light out, but the lost souls stood their ground, and despite hitting them physically, nothing happened to them. They seemed tickled more than anything.
“DIE DIE DIE DIE DIE!”
The beams grew stronger, and Samuel shielded his eyes. The lost souls sparkled like stars in the night sky, and he smiled at the sight. They were winning. They were winning!
“Dan…” a familiar, gruff voice called out.
“...HUH?”
“Why can’t you just leave it behind?”
Bob stepped forward, getting closer to the Overseer’s infinite space. Samuel squinted his eyes, and he noticed that Alan was behind him, pushing him closer and closer to the Overseer. Alan opened his mouth.
“I just want things to be how they were…”
The laser that the Overseer was shooting out began to glower. The light diminished, and the Overseer’s voice crackled.
“I-I DON’T KNOW,” the Overseer answered, “I DON’T KNOW WHY I DID IT.”
“Please,” Alan begged, “Please save me…”
The Overseer’s laser beam turned off. The orb inside flickered for just a moment.
“I’M SO SO SORRY BOB. I DIDN’T MEAN IT TO BE THIS WAY. I DIDN’T REALIZE HOW MUCH STRENGTH IT TOOK TO MOVE ON,” Dan Walker apologized, “MAYBE THAT’S WHY I STOOPED SO LOW? MAYBE ALL I NEEDED TO DO WAS-”
KABOOM!
A huge shockwave was sent throughout the entire starlit sanctuary, causing all of them to topple down to the ground. The lost souls flickered briefly, but returned back to life as Samuel’s implant glowed purple. Samuel gritted his teeth and looked at Neddy and Ruby. Ruby was holding onto a longneck rifle made of a purple energy similar to the one that the Overseer would send shockwaves out of. The rifle seemed to be glowing with power.
“Woah,” Neddy gasped, “Y-you did it! Now we just need to get this to Samuel-”
Metal warped up from the ground and toward the gun, grabbed it, and then pulled it into the floor. Ruby let out a screech as she was dragged down. Neddy let out a yelp of surprise, holding onto Ruby’s hips and pulling her up.
“OH shoot, hold on, hold on!” Neddy cried out.
“DAMN IT. I WAS FOOLED,” the Overseer glowed. Neddy’s eyes widened, and instinctively he reached for his console and typed some lines of code into the keyboard. He mashed the enter button, and it was then that the Overseer sent lines of spikes rushing up to kill everyone that was currently alive.
SHING!
CLANK!
As the spikes made contact, they bent and distorted out of shape. In fact, nobody was hurt. Everyone looked in awe as they didn’t even feel a scratch on their bodies. Neddy chuckled.
“Ha! It worked! So it is just like a game!” Neddy cheered, “Modifying the defense stats to 999,999. Neat!”
“WHAT?!” the Overseer howled, “THIS IS IMPOSSIBLE! IMPOSSIBLE!”
Ruby took the imaginary rifle and gave it to Neddy.
“Get it to him!” Ruby told him.
“Will do. Stay safe,” Neddy said. He gave her a quick peck on the cheek, and was about to rush over to Samuel when metal bars rose from the ground, trapping him and Ruby from going anywhere.
“OH NO YOU DON’T.”
Sunny ran up to the bars and banged on them, holding her hand out for Neddy to give it to her.
“I got you,” Sunny said. Neddy handed the rifle over to her and then she threw it as hard as she could at Samuel. Samuel lifted his hands up to catch them, but then a metal pillar came flying in to block its path.
CLANG!
The imaginary rifle clattered to the ground, and then the Overseer cackled as it prepared a laser blast to incinerate the gun. The Overseer’s purple orb glowed, and then a hot laser shot out to destroy the weapon.
SHOOM!
Bobby and Simon rushed in, and it was then Bobby slammed his hammer into the ground. A large metal wall manifested, blocking the beam from going any further. Bobby noticed the metal melting and nudged Simon.
“Quick, pick it up!” Bobby told him. Simon snatched the gun, and the wall broke, sending the bits flying everywhere. A metal fragment went flying at Simon’s eye, but Paige came rushing in and whacked the fragment away.
“Woah, that was close,” Simon gasped, “Thanks Paige!”
“No problem,” Paige replied.
The laser beam began to dissipate, and they looked on to see dozens of lost souls blocking the way. The Overseer growled and roared in frustration as it pushed further and further past the lost souls. But they didn’t budge.
“GET OUT OF MY WAY ANTS,” the Overseer screamed.
Simon looked on at Samuel. Now was his chance. He began to make a run for it toward him. He was at the other side of the starlit sanctuary.
Suddenly, a piece of metal jutted out of the floor, causing Simon to trip and fall to the ground. Simon dropped the imaginary rifle in the process, and it clattered away a few feet from him. Simon heard a whirring noise, and he looked above to see an attack drone manifest and drop down to the floor to pick up the rifle. It snatched it with its claw hands and then went flying over to the Overseer, when a gunshot rang out throughout the starlit sanctuary.
BANG!
The attack drone went flying to the ground, and it collapsed into a heap of metal scraps and wire. Simon looked to his left to see Gary had shot the drone down. He gave him a thumbs up, and Patricia ran in and snatched the gun up from the ground, hugging it close to her body like a football player huddling the ball.
“Go go go go go,” Patricia murmured under her breath.
The metal on the floor began to warp and bend once more, and then a dozen humanoid figures made of metal got into a fighting stance. Patricia paused in her steps, and she took a step back as they began to charge at her.
WHAM! BAM!
A bunch of the humanoid creatures were sent flying and tumbling to the ground. It was Alan, Tiffany, and Rick! The three of them were doing their best to fight off the humanoids, and the distraction made them redirect their attention to the three of them.
“GO!” Tiffany screamed at her.
Patricia nodded her thanks at them, and then began to make a rush for it to Samuel. He was standing still, sweat pouring down his forehead as he concentrated on the lost souls.
She was around ten feet away from him when a huge laser came flying in out of nowhere. She let out a gasp and dived out of the way, looking to her right to see that the Overseer was pulsating wildly. It had redirected its attention to the rifle, knowing now where it was.
“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING?!”
Metal bars rose from the ground, trapping Patricia in a 1x1 space with nothing but the rifle by her side. She let out a scream for help, banging her shoulder into the bars. The hot laser got closer and closer…
WHAM!
The bars suddenly broke, and Patricia looked to see that Ian had smashed the bars of the cage. Music seemed to be radiating from his body. Ian grabbed Patricia, and then jumped out of the way.
“Thank you for saving me-” Patricia let out a grunt as Ian landed on the ground. Patricia was still holding onto the rifle tight. Ian was sweating profusely, before Carlos and Paul rushed in. Carlos was holding a bottle with a blue liquid inside.
“There’s no time for thanks,” Carlos said. Paul nodded softly. His face was still wet with tears. Carlos lifted the bottle up.
“A lost soul who was really buff and kind-looking gave me the recipe, and I managed to make it just in time. One of us can drink it and you should be able to run long enough to get to Samuel-”
Paul grabbed the bottle and yanked it out of Carlos’ hand, popped the cap off, and then chugged the whole thing like no tomorrow. As soon as he swallowed it all down, he immediately began to look jittery.
“I-I’ll do it,” Paul stuttered.
Wordlessly, Patricia gave Paul the rifle, and then Paul made a mad dash for Samuel. He was so fast and his strides were so great it almost looked like he was flying. For a moment, the fighting stopped as everyone looked on in awe as Paul sprinted full speed toward Samuel.
“Come on Paul!” John shouted, the white blobs on his face intensifying, “You can do it!”
“We believe in you!” June yelled out to him. He looked at the lost souls and smiled at the sight.
“Thanks…” Paul thought.
Paul looked onward at the goal. Almost there.
Paul took a step forward…
And tripped.
Paul let out a gasp, and so did everyone else as he went tumbling to the ground. The rifle went clattering toward the glass pane, near where the constellations were watching. The constellations all began to sparkle wildly. Distressed.
Nobody was close enough to grab the rifle.
“PFFT. HILARIOUS,” the Overseer giggled, “HILARIOUS! YOU REALLY THOUGHT YOU COULD BEAT ME? ONE OF YOU WOULD MESS UP EVENTUALLY.”
The Overseer’s metal hands came rushing in from the ground to snatch the rifle.
“TOO BAD. I WIN.”
And it was then a squawk rang out throughout the starlit sanctuary.
A dodo came flying in, flapping its wings wildly as it landed next to the rifle. It let out a squawk, looking around at the spectators, before finally it pecked the metal hands that were trying to grab at the rifle.
“HEY!” the Overseer howled, “GET AWAY FROM THAT THING!”
And then, Snowy Mole came waltzing in, fervor in his eyes. And a rumbling in his stomach. As he looked down at the hand, he opened his mouth and unleashed a torrent of vomit onto the metal.
“EWWWWW. THAT IS NASTY! NASTY! DO YOU HEAR ME SCUM?! NASTY- WAIT, WHERE IS THE RIFLE?!” the Overseer realized. The imaginary rifle had seemingly disappeared from where it dropped.
“Right over here, wise guy,” Samuel said.
The Overseer turned to see Samuel pointing the imaginary rifle directly at him. The purple rifle glowed, increasing its power by the second. Chris was standing next to him, waving at the Overseer with a grin. He had camouflaged just in time, and with Chris’ dodo and Snowy Mole’s distraction, had managed to get the rifle away in time without being noticed. Chris winked, and then turned invisible. Samuel closed one of his eyes, aiming down the barrel. His implant began to crackle, and the gun began to hum with so much power that it rang throughout the metal corridors of the observatory. The Overseer could only look on, as Samuel put his finger to the trigger.
Neddy smiled wildly at the sight from his cage, and typed in one last command into the console. Neddy smashed the enter button, and immediately power surged throughout Samuel’s body.
Samuel smiled.
He could hear his friends’ laughter, the good times they had gone through. And the bad times.
In the end it wasn’t so bad. Without the ARKs, Samuel wouldn’t have been who he was today. In this current moment. Someone who made a difference. Someone who was… good.
“Eh. Sparing him would be lame though. That stuff only happens in the books,” Samuel thought, “Zero.”
He pulled the trigger.
And as the bullet hit the Overseer, the Overseer instantly began to evaporate from reality. Dan Walker let out a screech, and all that was left was the purple orb that had been responsible for all of their hardships. Everything happened so fast that it was unperceivable by the others, because as soon as the Overseer was erased from reality, the large red orb above them popped out into view, glowed, and then shot its beams of green, blue, and red light down onto the scholars.
And then, everything turned to black.