Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Arks: Over Heaven (by Ben)

Chapter 86: Cunning

Original Post Date: Jul 16, 2024

Note: Story starts in Wyvern, Aerial ABC backwards filter and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Rockwell, next chapter in Rock Drake.

~

After Samuel and Bob’s groups both merged, they had entrusted Bob and Aurora to both be the navigators to the next artifact. According to Bob, it would be located somewhere deep in the sea in an underwater cave, east of the island. And so they traveled there with renewed vigor, determination in their hearts that they’d finally be able to escape now with this merged group.

Alan looked around at all the people nervously, a hand on his stomach and his lip quivering. Andres seemed to notice his discomfort and walked to his side.

“Something seems to be bothering you?” Andres politely asked, his rippling muscles accidentally pushing into Alan’s tall body. Out of both groups, Andres and Alan were the tallest and the largest. Although Andres was shorter than Alan by a foot or so, Alan still found his stature intimidating.

“Nothing is,” Alan commented, looking off into the distance. Bob seemed to be chatting with Neddy and Ruby about the ARK. Alan sighed, “Frankly, I just want this all to be over with. And I’m worried I’ll end up getting someone hurt.”

Andres smiled at his words. He softly spoke,

“You think you’ll hurt somebody?” Andres said, with an eyebrow raised, “You seem like a nice guy. How could that be so?”

Alan put his hands in his pockets and grumbled sadly,

“Because of my attribute. I’m a monster because of it. I… Do things against my own will. I think I killed a lot of creatures because of it. And hurt somebody too.”

Andres turned away.

“Well I think you’re a nice guy. And if you don’t mean it, then, it’s not really you, is it?”

“Right.”

Tiffany stepped up to the two of them, and then put a hand on each person’s back. She looked back and forth between each man with a sly smile.

“So you two are becoming good friends?” Tiffany asked, looking at Andres’ eyes. Andres nodded.

“I suppose so, if Alan here wishes to become a friend.”

Alan nodded with a smile.

“Yeah I guess.”

Tiffany smiled, closing her eyes gently and looking off into the horizon. They had been traveling along the forest for quite a while now, but she could barely make out the ocean.

“Good to hear.”

Tiffany removed her hands and began to walk forward when Andres grabbed onto her arm.

“Hold on a moment,” Andres blurted, suddenly feeling a bit flustered, “Weren’t we going to talk about how the rest of John’s Adventure will go?”

Tiffany turned around, looking up at the sky, and then nodding.

“Oh yeah. Almost forgot about that. Things get kind of jumbled when you’re busy surviving,” Tiffany apologized, “Sorry. Where were we again?”

The two began to walk off and seclude themselves from the others.

“We were talking about how John was going to meet Helena and Rockwell,” Andres replied, “And they are going to introduce themselves.”

“Ahhh yes. Need some tips on that?”

“Yeah I do. I want to become the best author ever!”

Alan smiled as the two walked off, and then looked ahead at Bob. He began to walk after him next.

“Hey Bob! Wait up!”

~

“Another beacon?” Bob said, suddenly pausing in his steps to admire the green loot crate. Neddy and Ruby stopped too, taking a moment to stare at the object.

“So who should open it?” Ruby asked. Neddy looked over at Bob and nodded his head toward him.

“You should do it Bobby,” Neddy told him, his eyes flashing green and the effects of the clever artifact still in full effect, “That’s your name right?”

Bob gave Neddy a look.

“No, it’s Bob…”

“Right. Sorry, your name’s so similar to this other guy I met,” Neddy chuckled. Ruby laughed alongside him. Bob rolled his eyes and pressed his hand on the beacon. Bob began to glow green, and the beacon disintegrated. A load of materials manifested in his hands: a bunch of crystals, metal ingots, polymer, and silica pearls.

“Not that bad of a drop,” Ruby said, eyeing the materials, “Say, it’s an underwater cave, right?”

“Yeah it is.”

Ruby snatched the materials and began to mold them together until a whole suit of scuba diving gear was left in her hands. She presented it to the group.

“There we go!”

The group eventually made their way up to the beach, and there they began to discuss who should go into the underwater cave. With only one scuba diving suit, only one of them could go.

“Actually, perhaps two,” Tiffany said, stepping forward, “I can just adapt to the underwater and grow a pair of gills. It’ll be helpful for me to come along just in case there’s any dangerous creatures. More the merrier, right?”

Aurora raised her hand softly, her eyes piercing the whole group.

“I guess I should go then. I can use my attribute to chart the underwater cave. It’ll be easy to explore.”

With that, Ruby gave her friend the scuba diving gear, and Aurora began to put it on. She placed the scuba mask over her blue eyes, and then tied her wavy dark brown hair into a bun. Aurora gave Ruby a hug, and then gave Neddy a fist bump.

“See y’all soon,” Aurora said. Tiffany waved goodbye to them, and jumped into the water first. They could see her implant shine, and her heart began to race as gills grew on her throat. Aurora was going to jump into the water next when Samuel rushed up to her.

“Wait, Aurora,” Samuel said, stepping up to her. Aurora looked back with an irritated sneer.

“What?”

“Stay safe,” Samuel told her. Aurora ignored his words and turned away.

“Thanks I guess.”

Aurora dived into the water and followed Tiffany. Samuel sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. Nova walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

“Still trying to make it up to her?” Nova asked, her glittering black hair shining under the sunlight. Samuel nodded solemnly.

“I won’t forgive myself ‘till she does.”

Nova furrowed her brows at him.

“Whatever you say Sammy. I can’t forgive you then until that happens.”

Samuel nodded his head again.

“I know, Nova.”

~

Aurora and Tiffany swam through an underwater maze, and with Aurora leading the way, they easily made it to the artifact inside. Tiffany pointed at the artifact, nodding at her to signal that Aurora should take it. Aurora swam forward and placed her palm on the artifact. The artifact disintegrated and the particles flew into her implant, which glowed magenta. Aurora looked at Tiffany and noticed purple points across her body, more specifically, at her neck, chest, and stomach where the liver was. Aurora pointed her thumb to the roof of the underwater cave. With that, the two swam out of the caves and back to the surface to the others.

~

Aurora and Tiffany submerged from the waters, and Tiffany let out a sigh of relief as her heart calmed down and the gills faded from her throat. Aurora took her diving mask off and wrapped it around her neck.

“So what does the artifact do?” Ruby asked Aurora, walking forward to flick a piece of seaweed out her hair. Aurora eyed Ruby up and down and noticed the same purple spots across her body. Everytime Ruby moved to the side, the spots would move with her.

“I think the artifact tells the user all enemies’ weak spots,” Aurora declared. The others all murmured in excitement. Andres raised his hand to speak.

“That’s a very useful ability. That means we have two artifacts now!”

“Three, actually,” Neddy pointed out, “We found another artifact in the Redwood forests.”

“The Immune artifact…” Bob murmured under his breath. He thought to himself, “They must be really strong if they managed to get that one without casualties. Maybe we can take on a boss early without having to tame hundreds of beasts and breed them for mutations.”

Alan looked at Bob and sensed his thoughts.

“Bob knows a lot about the artifacts. And this island in whole. I think we should let him decide what to do next,” Alan proclaimed. All eyes turned to Bob. Even Samuel’s.

“We have three artifacts. We should be able to take down the first boss with them. We’ll gain powerful weapons once we do and we’d be practically unstoppable,” Bob confirmed.

“What is this boss you speak of?” Samuel asked curiously.

“It’s a giant monkey,” Bob answered him, “Just think of a gorilla that’s super-sized to be the size of a skyscraper.”

Neddy gulped at the description.

“And you’re saying we can take on a beast like that without tames?”

Bob nodded.

“We could. It’ll be hard, but it’s doable. This monkey boss is the weakest out of the three anyway.”

“How do you know all this anyway?” Samuel asked. Bob ignored his question. Andres looked at the others in discomfort.

“Maybe we should hold off on it. Collect some more artifacts. Maybe even tame some creatures along the way,” he suggested. Bob scratched his chin, pondering, and then nodding in acknowledgement.

“I suppose we can collect the next artifact. Let’s go then.”

Bob began to walk along the shore north, and Neddy began to run after him.

“Wait where are we going though? Where is this next artifact?”

Bob turned back, a glint of fervor in his eyes.

“It’s on an island filled with carnivores and deadly beasts. Convenient, huh?”

Neddy gulped again.

“R-Right.”

And so the two groups began to make their way to Carnivore Island, where the fourth artifact would be located.

Little did they know someone else was headed there too.

~

Two Pteranodons cawed and squealed as they flew ahead a small island located off the northeast coast of the island. Atop the two Pteranodons were President Loki and Chloe, and in their claws were Brad and Sophie.

“So this is where Dr. Aston said the next artifact would be,” President Loki commented, looking down at the island. The island reeked even when they were in the air. Squads of Argentavis flew down below, assaulting packs of Raptors and lone Carnotaurus which ran around wreaking havoc. Sabertooth tigers and giant scorpions roamed the lands as well. It was a massacre down below, and corpses and blood scattered about the island. Chloe sighed, and poison claws grew out of her knuckles. Wings grew from President Loki’s back.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Chloe said as the two Pteranodons dived toward the island.