Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 31: Preparations for the Destroyer

Note: Story starts in Achatina, The Island ABC order for Section I, Scorched Earth Exclusives and Aberration exclusives for Section II and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Mantis, next chapter in Oasisaur.

Chapters to the end of Segment II: 6

Cave Chapters: Scorched Earth: Part 1/4: Preparations

Day 11 of Scorched Earth

Close to noon on Scorched Earth, inside of the survivors’ base near the green obelisk, the five were inside the base, some moving metal to forges and smithies, some out collecting resources. They were collecting resources in preparation for their first cave. They were set with creatures, so they just needed good armor. Sodden, Serenity, and Nal were out collecting resources, around a few hundred meters west from the base. Sodden was breaking down trees with his metal hatchet, Serenity breaking apart rocks with her hatchet, and Nal picking fibers and berries off of bushes. As Sodden swung his hatchet at a tree, he couldn’t help but feel a burning on his shoulder. It had been getting hotter by the hour that day. “You know, our Jerboa has been acting weird today. Kept calling out some noises.” Sodden said. “It’s trying to say something.” Nal said. “Yeah. I know it detects sandstorms, but never heard anything like that.” Serenity said. “Hmm. What’s the temperature right now?” Sodden said. Serenity looked at her implant and opened the map on it. A small yellow message appeared on the top left corner. “Around 105 degrees right now.” Serenity said. Nal gasped. “Could that mean… a super heat wave?” Nal said. Sodden looked to the dunes. “It’s possible. We have killed almost every creature on the list now. Gotten to Mantis now. But we haven’t gotten a Deathworm because we don’t have very good creatures. I am still not confident Reaper can take down one of those things.” Sodden said. Serenity walked to him. “Dude, this does mean we gotta leave for the cave soon. We don’t have supplies for the desert cloth, so a super heat wave is basically a death sentence for us.” Serenity said. “True.” Sodden said as he turned around. “Well, if one is coming then we should probably get back to the base.” Nal said. Sodden nodded, then the three started walking down to the base.

“YAHOO!” Dorack yelled, riding his Alpha Raptor across the dunes. The raptor kept lunging at Mantises and destroying them. They were getting decent amounts of organic polymer. Rod was riding Reaper with Dorack, but wasn’t able to catch up because Dorack was running so fast. Dorack dashed towards another group of mantis, then his Alpha Raptor jumped at one. The mantis screeched as he along with the others jumped at the raptor. A mantis caught the raptor’s leg, but the raptor bit the leg off and jumped at it, then sinking its teeth into its neck. It screeched quietly as it fell over. Then the other mantises ran at the Raptor, then the raptor decimated them. The raptor kept biting off the head of Mantises, ripping up their corpses. The last Mantis was behind the raptor, roaring as it ran off. “Ugh. Okay. Run like a coward! I don’t… no I do care. Get back here!” Dorack yelled, determined. The Alpha Raptor growled in agreement and screeched as it ran at the Mantis. It out ran the Mantis well and leaped at it and pinned down its abdomen. Dorack was sure to check the level before killing, so he took out a spyglass. Only a Level 70. He wanted better, so he just let his raptor bite into the Mantis and rip apart its corpse. Then the raptor sunk its teeth into the neck of the Mantis, and it screeched as it fell onto its legs. The raptor stood up. “Oh, so glad you can tame alphas. You know, this is too easy. Let’s give you a real challenge.” Dorack said. The raptor purred in agreement, then they turned around. They could feel the extreme heat beating down onto them.. Dorack was sweating all over his body. “Wow. It is hot today, huh?” Dorack said to himself. He led his raptor up north, then Rod found them just a minute later. He was panting in exhaustion, his raptor was out of stamina and slightly bruised on its body. “Dude… don’t abandon me like that. I know you love your new raptor, but we ran into a Deathworm just minutes ago and it nearly caught Reaper. I swear to god, if your Alpha Raptor is the reason my friend loses his favorite tame…” Rod growled. “Okay, sorry for leaving you behind. I was just distracted. Uh, yeah. Why don’t we get back?” Dorack apologized. Rod nodded in forgiveness and the two walked back east. As they walked, they felt the heat starting to crackle, as if there was magma inside them. Dorack was panting, his hands sweaty and shaking. “Oh, god. I don’t think this is a normal heat wave.” Dorack gasped. “You’re right.” Rod said in affirmation, his body sweating. Then they heard crackling just near a rock they walked past. The two turned to it and walked to the rock. Behind it was a small pile of dust. It was crackling. “Oh, my god. That’s a Phoenix right there. Crackling… that’s confirmation of a superheat wave. Rod, you got something?” Dorack gasped in excitement. “Uh… I don’t know. Maybe we can use the moth?” Rod said. “Well… we could. Let’s get it.” Dorack said, smiling. Rod was at Level 52, so he could make cryopods now. He had a cryopod with his moth inside. He took it out of his bag and tossed it next to the dust. It opened up and a Lymantria came out. Rod hopped off Reaper and got onto the moth. “Okay. We are half a kilometer from the base. Dorack, you’re going to get back. I’m going to wait for the Phoenix to spawn, then I’ll use a rope to get it to the base. Just hurry, okay?” Rod asked. Dorack nodded. Rod hopped off the moth and put Reaper in a cryopod. Then Rod got back on the moth, Dorack rode off towards the base, and they heard loud whooshing as a huge beam of fire shot up from the dust. The dust dissolved and a ball of fire appeared above it. The beam disappeared and the ball spun faster, then decomposed. In its place was a fire bird, known as a Phoenix. “Here you are. Why don’t you come with me?” Rod asked. The phoenix flew close to the ground, then sniffed the ground, and looked at Rod in curiosity. Rod took out a rope and threw it at the Phoenix, then it grabbed its neck as it screeched, trying to let go. “Don’t try to do that. Just stay still or you’re gonna break the rope.” Rod said. The phoenix screeched as it flapped its wings hard, trying to get out of the rope. Rod took off on his moth and pulled the fire bird northeast to the base.

~~~~

Day 47 of ARKtic

46 days before Nal and Dorack’s escape

“Unexpected New Survivor”

The sun was bright that day in Snowball. It was at least 7 degrees out, warmer than it usually was. Some of the snow had melted, revealing some barren, rocky lands. The ground was still cold, but that day, Nal and Dorack would not have to worry about freezing to death, as they could use their flak armor to survive. Nal and Dorack were out on their wolf, collecting meat from dead corpses, finding better sources of water, and whatnot. Nal and Dorack were somewhere in the southeast part of Snowball. Nal and Dorack were riding on their wolf, which was Level 680. They were hunting wolves, purlovias, Yutyrannuses, Rexes, Mammoths, Argies, and even a few Alpha Carnos. Nal and Dorack were on their wolf, leaping towards a Argy that was walking around, not flying. The wolf bit the left wing of the Argy, and it screeched, took off, but all that did was cause its wing to rip, and the Argy fell to the ground. Nal took out a spyglass before the wolf went in for the kill. It was only a Level 45. The wolf sunk its teeth in the Argy’s body, and the Argy choked and perished in seconds. The wolf was holding the Argy in its mouth, Nal and Dorack high-fived each other. “Well, that was a good hunt. Thank god for the warm day today.” Dorack said. Nal chuckled.

“Yeah. I’m glad we got to experience days here where it isn’t -20 degrees out all the time. Kinda feels like the calm before the storm, honestly.” Nal said.

“True. Don’t jinx it, dude.” Dorack said as he slapped Nal’s shoulder.

“You’re gonna be thanking me for predicting the bad storm because at least you’ll know what to do!” Nal exclaimed. The two laughed. Then they heard quiet humming.

“What was that?” Nal asked, panting.

“Easy, dude. We’re nowhere near the obelisks and no creature here makes that noise.” Dorack said. Then they looked up to see a portion of the force field glowing green. “Drop?” Dorack asked. “No. That green aura is bigger. Wait. That’s a new survivor. We need to go!” Nal yelled. She whistled for the wolf, and the wolf roared as it ran into the direction of the green beacon forming. The green aura formed a ball inside the cloud, then a huge beam of green light shot down from the cloud, hitting the ground instantly. The glow got bright, and they could hear rumbling. The ball then flew down through the aura, glowing brightly. Then they could hear loud humming as the beacon got brighter and brighter until the ball hit the ground, causing the beacon to expand and dissolve as it expanded. Waves of light burst from it and crashed into the surrounding trees. Nal and Dorack arrived at where they saw the beacon touch the ground. Sure enough, as they rose from the trees, they saw a man lying on the ground. All he had was underwear, and there was a light gray implant inside his left wrist.

“Well, I did not expect a survivor to spawn here today.” Dorack said.

“Usually, the Creator doesn’t bring survivors into super hard Arks like this, let alone spawn one here.” Nal stated.

“I did see the Creator for a few seconds on Day 1. All he said was this statement: “Be cautious of unpredictable events. Some may change you…” I guess this is what he was talking about.” Dorack said.

“Makes sense.” Nal said. She and Dorack got off the wolf, Dorack put the wolf into a cryopod, then the two survivors walked to the new one on the ground. The man’s eyes shot open as he gasped for air. He started to groan as he rubbed his eyes, then sat up, He was shivering because of how cold it was.

“C-c-c-c…” The man sputtered. Dorack quickly took out a few rocks and sticks, made a campfire, put it down next to him. Nal did the same and they both ignited the campfires.

“Ah, that’s good. Wait. Who are you two?” The man said as he looked around and saw the two survivors stand near him. “I’m Dorack. This is my friend Nal. We were just out doing things and saw you spawn in.” Dorack responded.

“Hmm. Interesting. This is the Arctic, right?” The man asked.

“Well… yes, but actually no. You see, I don’t know why, but you spawned on Snowball instead of… well, pretty much all other Arks. I don’t know why you spawned on this particular Ark.” Dorack said. The man nodded in affirmation.

“Interesting. Uh, do I have a name?” The man asked.

“No. The Creator doesn’t give names to survivors. Survivors choose their own name. “Sal and Nal” are twin names and one of my friends spawned at the same time as I did. So that’s where I got my name.” Nal said. “I got my name because I’m tough as a rock.” Dorack said. The man nodded and stood up. “Well, you’re gonna help me, right?” The man asked. “Of course.” Nal said. Then the man gasped as he looked at the sky. There were clouds slowly forming. His implant glowed blue too. “There’s a snowstorm coming.” The man said. “What? How do you know?” Dorack said. “I can’t explain it… but my implant can sense weather events coming on. I can feel the cold coming before it’s even here.” The man said.

“Like a Jerboa. Jerboa. Uh, hey, Jerboa. Nice to meet you.” Dorack said. “Huh?” The man said, confused.

“Jerboas can detect weather events. You have an implant attribute, which is very rare. They allow you to do things normal survivors can’t. But it does mean something. You see that black triangle on the bottom of your implant?” Nal asked as she pointed at the implant. The man lifted his left arm and looked at it.

“You cannot respawn, no matter what. Respawning functionality and attribute functionality is incompatible with each other. So if you wanna leave this Ark with us, you’re gonna have to be very careful. We’re around an hour from our base.” Nal said. Jerboa nodded.

“I do have an Otter that will help you with insulation, but the snowstorm will come soon and the temperature today is way above average for Snowball.” Dorack said.

“What?” Jerboa said nervously.

~~~~

Sodden, Serenity, and Nal were in the kitchen, sitting at a table and next to a AC they had set up there. They were sweating a little, but at least the heat wouldn’t destroy them. As they sat, they looked around, wondering where Dorack and Rod were. Then they heard a slam, and then footsteps. Dorack was panting as he ran to Sodden and Nal. Sodden stood up just then.

“Dude, where were you?” Sodden asked.

“Don’t worry. I’m good. I got my raptor home safe. Same for your raptor.” Dorack gasped. Sodden put his hand on Dorack’s shoulder.

“Where’s Rod?” Sodden asked.

“He should be here right about now. He found a phoenix about to spawn, or in this case respawn, since it was a pile of dust, so he wanted to bring it here.” Dorack said. Serenity looked at her implant and opened the map. She looked at the temperature on the top left of the screen, then gasped.

“130 degrees out there right now. Our good hide armor is not going to be enough. Rod’s gonna get scorched out there.” Serenity said.

“That’s not good.” Sodden said worryingly. Then they heard a ding, and looked at their implants. Rod had sent a message. His moth had ran out of stamina, and he was forced to land around 700 meters from here.

“Rod’s trapped. What are we gonna do?” Dorack asked.

“I don’t know.” Sodden said. Then Dorack gasped and put his bag on the table. He started looking through it.

“I got some polymer from the dunes. We can make a desert cloth set.” Dorack said. Serenity gasped.

“That’s perfect. It’ll deter the amount of damage the heat will do to us.” Serenity said. Dorack nodded.

“Good.” Sodden said. Dorack took out some fiber, the organic polymer, and some hide, then crafted them into 5 sets of desert cloth armor. He took the sets to the smithy and hardened the cloth so it would last a while. Then he gave one set to each survivor, then put the spare set in his bag. Everyone put their desert cloth sets on just then.

A few hundred meters from the base, a Phoenix was flying east to where he thought he saw the other survivors go. Rod lay unconscious on his back, and as the Phoenix got closer to the base, he could see the four survivors leaving the base, then he screeched as he flew down. Sodden looked up. “Oh, it’s the Phoenix. What’re you doing here?” Sodden asked. The phoenix screeched then landed on the ground, and turned around. Rod then slid off the back, with a crack in his back and a bruise on his chest. “Oh, god.” Dorack said. Sodden picked him up then moved him inside ad he put Rod on his back. When he walked in, Dorack walked to the fire bird. “Thanks, dude. We don’t have a good way to tame you right now. So once the heatwave ends, we’re not seeing you again for a while.” Dorack said. The phoenix purred in agreement as it walked to Dorack and Nal and sniffed them. “It does wish we could tame it.” Serenity said. Nal nodded. Dorack then walked a little away from the base. Nal turned to him. “Dude, where you going?” Nal asked. “We could just sit here and do stuff. But here’s the rub. I still don’t trust Rod. I feel like once we get to Aberration, he’s gonna do something terrible. We gotta keep him away from the Obelisks. He’s an Explorer, so he can contact survivors on other Arks as long as he was allied with them. We need to ascend from Scorched Earth as fast as possible. That means we get started on caves now. So once the heatwave ends, we’re going to get explorer notes and supplies for a Rex trap. We also need a Wyvern.” Dorack said. Serenity walked to him. “You are right, but here’s the problem. Terad brainwashes anyone who allows Rod to harm anyone or anyone who tries to find the Assassin Heart. Sodden is risking us trying to get to Aberration and risking himself trying to surpass Extinction’s shield. We get to The Island without Rod’s interference, we’re fine. But Rod interferes, Sodden returning could mean Terad catches him. I don’t want that.” Serenity said. Dorack turned around. “Me either. But don’t worry. We’ll keep him safe.” Dorack said. Serenity nodded.

After an hour, Rod started to groan as he moved his head across the bed. He lay on one of the beds in the bedroom. The others sat with him. There was a second AC in there, so Rod was able to cool down nicely. Rod started to move his body as he opened his eyes. Sodden was next to him, holding a water jar. Rod began to rub his eyes as he sat up. “Hey, you good?” Dorack said. Rod nodded, breathing hard. He took the jar out of Sodden’s hand, took off the lid, and gulped down the water. “Okay, now that that’s over with, let’s talk about our plan for ascending off this Ark.” Dorack said. Rod looked at him deeply as he put the jar down. “Okay, so Dorack thinks we should start caves now. We also want to get Rexes and Wyverns as soon as we can.” Sodden said. “Yeah. On this Ark, it takes like two days for a Rex to fully mature, so we can tame a bunch of good Rexes and get an army quickly. Now we just gotta worry about tributes.” Serenity said. “That’s where the caves come in. I think when the heatwave passes, we’re going to go out into the desert and find ourselves some Rexes. We can use them for the caves.” Dorack said. “Good idea.” Rod said. He took off the ice pack that sat on his chest then got up and walked to the forge room. Everyone followed him there. When they entered the room, Dorack and Nal walked to the smithy just near the back wall. “We’re gonna need a bunch of tranqs, a good crossbow, and a trap. Dorack, I hear you’ve been collecting resources for upgrading the crossbow?” Sodden asked Dorack as he walked to Dorack.

“Yes I have. I’ve gotten it to Apprentice tier. I’m working on getting it to Journeyman. It’’s on 171% right now.” Dorack said. “Good, good. Okay. Let’s just chill in here until the heatwave passes. Okay?” Serenity said. Everyone nodded.

~~~~

The dark clouds began to get closer. They could hear rumbling and quiet whipping. The darn clouds had begun to cover most of Snowball, and was approaching the gray obelisk, which Nal and Dorack’s base was close to. Nal and Dorack still had a half kilometer left to go. Jerboa was wearing some ascendant fur armor that Nal had given him. The three survivors were riding on the wolf, up north towards the gray obelisk. They were running as fast as they could, trying to out run the storm coming. The dark clouds were moving west, in the direction of the gray obelisk. They could hear rumbling and it was getting colder too. “Oh, my god. It doesn’t sound good. Sometimes, Yetis can spawn in snowstorms.” Nal said. “True. We gotta be close.” Dorack said. The wolf was running hard, but its stamina was beginning to decline rapidly. The wolf was breathing heavily, getting tired. The storm was getting closer by the minute and the temperature was quickly dropping as the Ark began to be encased in darkness. “Come on, Tundra, let’s go! You can do this.” Dorack yelled at the wolf. The wolf growled as it kept running. Then they heard deep growling. Nal gasped as she looked around. There was a strange red glow in the distance. It sat beneath the nearby trees, waiting to ambush any that wandered in the snowy plains of Snowball. Nal was breathing hard. The red glow was still there. The wolf started to slow as the red glow got bigger. As the wolf walked past the creature, Dorack reached into his bag, took out his spyglass to check the surroundings, then looked through it towards the forest. He saw the red glow, but there was nothing. “What’s that?” Jerboa asked. Dorack shrugged. He kept staring, then the red glow disappeared below the snow in an instant. “Oh, no.” Nal whimpered. “Alpha Purlovia. Run!” Dorack yelled as the wolf roared. It started dashing closer to the base. Dorack put his spyglass in his bag, held onto the wolf’s helmet and collar, and so did Nal. Nal held onto Dorack’s bag, then Jerboa held onto Nal’s. “What Purlovia?” Jerboa asked. “Normal variants are bad enough, since they can burrow underground and ambush people when they get too close. Basic Alphas are miles worse. They’re insanely fast. You can’t outrun them without a high level wolf like Tundra here. So if one catches you, the best you can do is find high ground. But it can climb cliffs if they’re not too rocky.” Dorack said. “That’s bad.” Jerboa said. “Yeah. Almost died on my first day here to one of these. Dorack here nearly killed himself while getting me to safety.” Nal said. “Dang. You two must be good friends, huh?” Jerboa said. Then they heard snuffing and growling, then the snow started to pop as waves of it burst out of the ground. Nal looked to the right of the wolf and the red glow was there. “Tundra, leap!” Dorack yelled. Tundra growled and leaped into the air as the purlovia dashed through the snow and just below where Tundra was. When she hit the ground again, they kept running as the purlovia followed. The Alpha Purlovia was still chasing them when the wolf got back next to the cabin near the gray obelisk. The clouds were now above the survivors, and a huge wall of snow descended upon them. The snow whipped quickly as it began to cover everyone. “Get to the pen!” Dorack yelled. He, along with Nal and Jerboa, were shielding their eyes from the snow and couldn’t see much. The snow was thick and loud, but the purlovia was still nearby. The wolf growled as it sniffed the ground, going to behind the cabin, then finding the pen. Dorack held out his hand, and felt the gate. He pushed it forward, and it creaked open. The wolf ran into it, then Dorack got off and closed the gate. The snow was still pushing everyone. The three survivors got off, and slowly made their way against the wind and snow and to the door. They opened the door, jumped into it, and closed it. They had made it into the base. Everyone sat against the wall, breathing heavily. “Okay, that was stupid not to bring extra fur armor for all of us.” Nal gasped. “Yeah. Add the stupid Purlovia in the mix, okay, fine. I think I’ve almost lost my best friend more than enough times for one eternity!” Dorack yelled in anger as he slammed his fist into the wall. “Okay, Jerboa, the food is in the kitchen. We also have armor stands upstairs.” Nal said. Jerboa nodded, then walked towards the stairs. “Well, at least our new friend is safe.” Dorack said. “Yeah.” Nal said.

~~~~

That afternoon in Scorched Earth, Dorack, Nal, Sodden, and Serenity were out in the desert, on their raptors, searching for a Rex. They rode their raptors towards a mountain southwest from their base, a mountain that might have some Rexes. There was also a mountain just east of it, that could have a Rex too. As they rode on their raptors, Rod was out collecting resources. He was on his moth, scouting out an Argentavis. The two raptors approached the southeast mountains, then when they were between them, the four survivors looked around at them. “Well, what now?” Dorack asked. “Hmm. Let’s check the smaller mountain first. There should be less creatures there.” Sodden said. The others nodded in agreement and walked towards the mountain path. Serenity had a gate trap inside her bag, and Sodden had a pile of tranqs along with the good crossbow Dorack made inside his bag. Reaper had a ton of prime meat they had collected from a Paracer group they killed on the way to the mountain. As they got closer to the top, they heard some footsteps and roaring. “That sounds like a Rex.” Nal whispered. “That’s what we want.” Sodden said. The group kept going towards the top, and heard the Rex eating something. Then they heard a loud snap, and the Rex was roaring as it crunched through another creature. When the group came to the peak, they saw the Rex crunching down and destroying a Carno. Sodden took out his spyglass and looked through it. He aimed it at the Rex. “That’s good. Level 130, 40 points in melee, a female. Yeah, I think we’re getting this one.” Sodden said. He put the crossbow back in his bag, then Serenity hopped off of Reaper, crawled to the Rex’s back, and put down a stone gate. Then she put down another on its left, then a third on its right before the Rex noticed the gates appearing. The Rex turned around and roared, and Serenity ran to behind the Rex and put the last gate down, then she ran back to the Raptors. The Rex roared as it tried to bite the gates, but it couldn’t do anything. Sodden hopped off of Reaper, walked over to the Rex, took out his crossbow, then loaded up some tranq arrows. “Okay. Let’s do this.” Sodden said. He pulled the trigger, launching the arrow into the Rex’s head. Then Sodden loaded up another tranq arrow and readied the arrow. Then he pulled the trigger again, the arrow soared through the air and struck the Rex in its body. He kept doing this for around 2 minutes. He already shot 51 arrows into the Rex’s body, and as Sodden launched the final tranq arrow into the Rex’s head, the Rex roared as it fell over into the gate entrance, unconscious. “Yeah! We got a Rex.” Nal said. “Let’s give it the meat.” Dorack said. He hopped off the second raptor, went to Reaper, took out the pile of prime meat, walked to the Rex and put all the prime in its inventory. They also put a stack of meat in the Rex. “Well, what now?” Nal asked.

“We aren’t too far from our base. We can get there and wait for Rod to return with a Argy, then we can find another Rex to tame.” Sodden said. Everyone nodded.

“Sounds good.” Serenity said as she walked to Sodden, who put the crossbow back in his bag.

“Yeah.” Sodden said. Then they heard a ding and looked at their implants. Rod had knocked out a high level male Rex, along with a decent level Argy, and he was getting food for them. “Good. We have both Rexes and our Argy. Hopefully he gets an Anky and Doedic too.” Sodden said. “So… we just wait?” Dorack said. “Yeah. Hey, could you give me your Alpha Raptor? I wanna do some things.” Sodden said. Dorack walked to him.

“Okay, fine. You’ll be able to get here fast anyway.” Dorack said. He reached into his bag and took out a cryopod. He gave it to Sodden, and Sodden took it. “Okay. I’ll be right back.” Sodden said. He got on his raptor and ran down the mountain. 10 minutes later, he had killed a Mantis and Morellatops. The Argy was soon to finish taming, and Rod had found a good Anky too.

Preparations were going good, but would it be enough?

I hope you are ready for the Cave Chapters and the Scorched Earth Finale soon…

5 chapters to go.

-RelatingHen8906