Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Arks: Alternative Timeline

ACT 3: No Pain, No Gain

This story was written by Ben (OBJ).

This is a Therizinosaurus exclusive story.

You do not have to read TAOH to understand this story.

Chapter 7: Ben

Before the woman could introduce herself, the metal door flung open once more. A woman wearing metallic, futuristic armor entered, her hair long and white. Her cunning blue eyes pierced the room. She had her arms crossed and was inspecting the slaves carefully. The soldier they called Pigeon approached from behind, his arms behind his back.

“How do you like it General Moon? Caught them all in just a week,” Pigeon claimed. The woman smirked.

“Quite impressive,” the woman spoke, “You’ve always outdone yourself.”

“Of course. You’re our leader, why wouldn’t I?”

General Moon blinked her eyes. They turned brown.

“Though, I don’t like how they are being treated…”

“I’m sorry ma’am, are you referring to the workers?” Captain Pigeon asked, raising an eyebrow, “We can always move them to better facilities.”

General Moon blinked her eyes again. They were blue again.

“Sorry about that. My sister was in my room, bothering me,” General Moon apologized. She paused as she reached Ben and the woman. She studied the woman for a moment, before turning away and nodding to Captain Pigeon.

“Get them in the mines. We can’t be running low on metal anytime soon.”

“Got it.”

General Moon left the room, shutting the door behind her. Captain Pigeon moved to a few storage crates and pulled out pickaxes forged from metal, tossing one to each worker. As Ben felt the pickaxe’s leather grip hit his hands, he smiled softly, though it quickly faded. He had almost forgotten that he would be imprisoned for the rest of his time in this world.

“You will all be escorted to the mines, where you will mine for metal and obsidian; they are the grainy rocks and black rocks respectively. Load them in the haul dinos, and repeat for a few more hours.”

Captain Pigeon began walking around and opening cage doors. One by one, all the prisoners shakily exited, their heads low and their morale dim. As Captain Pigeon opened one of the cages, the desperate man that had begged to be killed suddenly lunged out and swung his pickaxe at Captain Pigeon. The pickaxe hit him on the arm.

“YOU BASTARDS ARE GONNA PAY!” he yelled.

Captain Pigeon reached for his belt and pulled out a pistol. He raised it and then fired it at the man’s head.

POW!

The man’s brains splattered on the cage behind him, and the remaining prisoners jumped at the sound of the gunshot. The sound of a pickaxe clattered to the ground, and there was a shrill scream. Ben blinked his eyes, rubbed them, and then squinted them. The woman remained stoic, rolling her eyes.

“Let that be a lesson to the rest of you!” Captain Pigeon barked, “Stay in line and do as you’re told, and you won’t die like he did.”

Captain Pigeon rubbed his arm, opening the door and waiting for the prisoners to exit. The prisoners began to filter out, and soon Captain Pigeon was out of sight, with Ben and the woman last in line.

Before Ben left, he waited around the dead body, leaning forward and picking up the pickaxe from the ground. He stashed it out of sight.

As Ben caught up to the rest of the crowd, and through the immense hallways, he eventually made it to the outside world, where it was daytime again. Unluckily for him, it was boiling hot outside. The people toiling in the mines were already sweating and turning red. There was a well of sorts near the middle, where people were already beginning to slurp up their rations. Captain Pigeon was gone, but a pair of soldiers were watching attentively, their arms crossed and clubs on their belts.

Ben could see the woman chipping away at a metal rock, and he walked over, his pickaxe resting on his shoulder. Ben noticed the woman was working a lot harder than a recently imprisoned person should be.

“What’s the rush? Not like we’re getting paid,” Ben chuckled.

“Before I got abducted by that guy with the scarf, I was minding my own business and actually getting a few things done,” the woman explained, “Turns out there’s a level system in this world. Doing menial tasks like chopping trees down and killing stuff gets you more levels, so I got to it. I was already Level 15 and trying to tame this creature with horns when suddenly I felt something heavy wrap around my feet and something sharp pierce my back. Then I was out and here.”

“So you’ve already figured out the levels? You’re not that much of a bob,” Ben said. He looked back at the soldiers. They looked like they had fallen asleep standing up. Ben rubbed his forehead.

“Yeah. It’s not that complicated. Only NPC’s can’t figure that stuff out,” the woman stated, “Anyway, you seem to know your stuff too, judging from that look in your eyes.”

“I do know quite a bit, I’m just not really that good at using my knowledge,” Ben smiled, “I’ve never managed to progress to the finale of the world, despite my efforts and the people I ask for help.”

Suddenly, the woman shuddered. Her implant glowed, and she looked at it. The glow shut off.

“What are you leveling up in?” Ben questioned her.

“Stamina, HP, a little bit of Strength,” she responded. Ben chuckled.

“Not bad. Most bobs level up Food and Water.”

“And why would anyone wanna do that?”

“I dunno. That’s just what they do.”

The woman slammed her pickaxe into the rock, and it cracked and broke. Slowly, it began to crumble. The woman pocketed a few of the pieces. Ben noticed it and smiled.

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

The woman nodded, looking back up, “Yeah. We’re gonna find a way to escape.”

“Sounds like a fun plan,” Ben raised his hand out to shake her’s, “Though I think I should know your name, since we’re going to be a team.”

The woman smiled.

“Oh, I don’t really have one. I never bothered; but you can just call me…”

“Mystery Girl.”

Chapter 8: Will

Will entered the stone structure, looking around curiously. The place already seemed raided. Drawers open, bloodied footprints… and a dead body. Will stared down at the poor man. For some reason, Will couldn’t find a reason to care about him.

Will would need a new weapon now though. And he was unsure if those men would come back for him. He’d have to get himself a beast as well.

Will kicked the dead body to the side and began to rummage through the mostly empty drawers. There was just scraps of resources, but nothing that would be able to help him. Will sighed, until he opened up the bottom drawer and found a pile of papers. Will picked them up and placed them atop the smithy, inspecting them. They seemed to be notes.

“Broth of Enlightenment,” the note read, “A powerful concoction that boosts EXP for long periods of time.”

Will flickered through the notes. There were more recipes, each one had a capability of boosting him in stats. Unfortunately for him, a lot of them required curated vegetables, something he didn’t have at the moment. But there were two recipes that caught his eye. A red and blue drink: the medical brew and energy brew.

“Both only require berries and easy-to-make narcotics and stimulants,” Will smiled, “They seem easy to use as well. I’ll have to make myself some when I can.”

Will folded up the notes and left them on the smithy. For now, he’d make this humble home his base. It was raided already anyway. He doubted anyone would come looking for him in this base. For now, Will needed better gear. More metal.

~

With a pickaxe in hand, Will headed further into the jungle until the terrain began to incline. Will noticed the sparkly metal nodes scattered about the hill, and got to work. He began mining away at the rocks, shattering them and collecting the heavy raw metal. Will knew that he wouldn’t be able to carry much soon. He’d need some sort of pack animal.

Will looked around at the animals around him. There were large, horned beasts and bipedal creatures with crests on their heads. The horned beasts were a no go, too dangerous. The crest heads, on the other hand…

Will stepped up to one of the crest heads. It was munching on berries. Will took that in mind, and then leaned forward and offered it a handful of purple berries.

“Come on, eat up,” Will ordered it. The crest head looked at Will’s hand and ignored him, continuing to munch on the berries. Will grumbled. He crushed the berries in his hand, and with a devastating blow, slammed his fist into the crest head. The crest head collapsed to the ground.

The crest head let out a moo, and all the other crest heads in the area began to flee. Will leaned forward, taking the berries and shoving it in its mouth. The crest head began to chew reluctantly, and Will smiled.

“See? Not so hard now.”

The crest head whimpered, its eyes adverting away from Will’s. It clambered up from the ground, bowing to Will. Will’s smile turned into a grin.

“That’s more like it. Now here, take this,” Will took a bunch of the raw metal and strapped it to the beast with some hide bags. The beast groaned as it struggled to carry the weight. Will began to make a move back to the base, whistling for the beast to follow.

By the time Will had arrived at the base, it was already beginning to turn nighttime. Will sighed, as cold rushed over his skin. He needed some clothes too. As Will loaded the raw metal into the forge and lit it ablaze, he took some of the scrap metals lingering around and began to craft some metal armor.

“This isn’t so bad,” Will laughed as he banged a hammer into the metal.

Slowly but surely, Will’s levels began to skyrocket. When he finally managed to put on his armor, he was Level 45. And all his points were in Strength.

Chapter 9: Karma

“Hmm,” Karma thought, observing a Tyrannosaurus stomping through the grasslands, its thick hide and skull swinging side to side. Jira, Karma’s Raptor, snuck close by. The two had decided to get closer to the mountain range, and made it to the grasslands where all beasts awaited. Karma had been ambushed by many dinosaurs, but their attention was typically diverted as soon as another predator joined the fray.

This Tyrannosaurus seemed powerful though. Karma didn’t know what it was exactly: but what else could it have been?

A horned Triceratops wandered into the area, huffing and shaking its head like a bull. The Tyrannosaurus noticed the Triceratops, and its eyes immediately sharpened. It opened its mouth and let out a roar. Karma felt her intestines bubble. The Triceratops looked up, and then lifted its front feet into the air and began to pound it into the grass.

As the two dinosaurs had a stand off, Karma only became more curious. She was sure the Tyrannosaurus would win, but, something felt off. The air was crackling with intensity. This wouldn’t be an easy battle for either of them.

The Tyrannosaurus charged forward. The Triceratops stood its ground, and as the Tyrannosaurus began to approach, the Triceratops began to pound its titanic foot on the ground, kicking dust into the air. Red sparks shot out the three horns on the Triceratops’ frill, and with sudden speed, it ran forward like a bull and slammed its sharp horns into the Tyrannosaurus. The Tyrannosaurus let out a howl of pain, as blood spewed out onto the grass. The Triceratops pushed more, its muscles bulging and a red aura dissipating around its body.

The Tyrannosaurus was eventually felled. It collapsed to the ground with a resonating thud, its arteries severed and its tongue out on the ground. Dilophosaurs, Raptors, Meganeuras, and Titanomyrmas immediately began to swarm, ignoring the Triceratops in favor of the giant Tyrannosaurus body. They tore away at the corpse, as the Triceratops trotted away, until all that was left were the uneatable stubby arms.

Jira chittered at the Triceratops, and Karma looked at Jira.

“Yeah. It’s quite strong,” Karma smiled, “Which is exactly what I need.”

Karma took out a crossbow that she had looted from a beacon. Loading it with a tranquilizer arrow, she snuck up on the Triceratops.

If she needed an army, she’d need a powerful one. One that would be able to take down those two bastards with the purple lions. And this beast and any of the other herbivores on the Island would do just the trick.