Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

The Chosen Rex

Chapter 6

The Next Day…

As Katniss started to wake up in a room in the med center, she could hear yelling in the hallway. She could see Journey on the other side of the room, and they were both on a bed. She felt cold, and she was hurt. She didn’t know what the yelling was. Then, someone came in. “Perfect. You’re awake. It’s a good thing you got out. I can’t believe you did that yourself. You weren’t there when I went in. You’re probably the one.” Elaine said. “Who are you?” Katniss said. “Dude. She didn’t get out herself. And if it wasn’t for Queen, she would’ve died along with Journey!” Carno yelled. “You think some monsters care about the one? And besides, what’s the point of keeping Journey?” Elaine said. “I’ll tell you why we’re keeping her. Because they were all captured by Giga Reaper, and we got her out.” Carno said. “Shut up, stupid. If you lay a finger on the Chosen Survivor again, I’ll make sure today is your last day in this universe.” Elaine said. She stormed out of the med center. Gunner walked in just then. “Dude. Who is she? It looks like you know her.” Gunner said. “Yeah. She has a very complicated history. She was in our tribe, but when she felt the volcano rumbling, she thought the Savage Acro was coming, so she made countless sacrifices to the volcano. I told her to stop, and she tried to kill my Carno, Tacet. Then, he bucked Elaine into the volcano. I was mad at Tacet. He decided to run away because he thought I hated him. We reunited last month, and here we are. Same old Elaine.” Carno said. “Wow. Why was she acting like this?” Gunner said. “I think I know, guys. She thinks I’m the key to destroying the Savage Acro that spawns in a year.” Katniss said. “Okay, but why is she specifically choosing you?” Carno said. “I have no idea. Maybe she knows what the Acro can do? Maybe witnessed it before?” Katniss said. “Wait a minute. You know, the day I met her, she was injured. Hungry, cold, and upset. She was on a small raft drifting in the ocean. Maybe that had something to do with the Savage Acro.” Carno said.

“Okay, that could’ve been anything. A Leedy, Mosa, Giga, Alpha Mosa, Alpha Megalodon, anything.” Gunner said. “No. She’s one of the most powerful survivors in the universe. She would’ve taken down them all in seconds. The only thing that could’ve killed her was the Savage Acrocanthosaurus.” Carno said. Journey got up just then. “What’s happening?” She said. “Well, there’s this guy named Elaine, who hates Carno and doesn’t care about taming creatures. She is one of the most powerful survivors in the universe. She almost died twice in the past; once to the Acro and once to the volcano. She knows the Acro is coming here and thinks Katniss is the only person who can stop him.” Carno said. Then, Melvin ran into the med center. “Guys! Okay, I ran into Elaine with my baby Argy, and she did not like it. She does not know that Argys are the most valuable creatures in the universe! I think something’s up with her.” Melvin said. “Okay, we need to talk to her now,” Katniss said as she got up. Everyone ran out of the medical center.

Elaine was in Carno’s house, looking for any weapons she wanted to replace. Then Carno stormed upstairs towards her. “Hey! We need to talk.” Carno said. They went downstairs. They walked towards the fountain in the center of the village. “Okay, Elaine, you know something that we don’t. We think that you may have faced the Savage Acro once.” Carno said. “You think you’d understand what happened to me that day?” Elaine said. “Yes. Because we all think you and whatever tribe you had were underprepared.” Carno said. “Your original tribe was known as X-Warrior. The tribe fell victim to the Savage Acrocanthosaurus over 70 ARK years ago. There’s only one survivor from that tribe: you.” Gunner said. Elaine sighed and went to sit down. “Okay, whatever. You got me. You see, 73 years ago, I noticed earthquakes all over my island. My knowledge told me that it meant disaster was about to arrive. We gathered the hundreds of survivors we had and built the greatest weapons and armor we’ve ever made.” Elaine said. “Ah-ha! So you didn’t have any tames. That proves you think they’re useless.” Carno said. “Yes. I tried to tame some Theris and Rexes, but everyone killed them because they thought they were useless. But no one can kill the Dragon, Overseer, or the King Titan solo. It’d take way too long and way too many resources. When he came, I knew we weren’t ready. I knew we were going to fall. But my friends forced me into battle. And even the greatest of us fell to the Acro. And I decided to leave, but he attacked the last group. I was in it. I almost died to the Acro. I fell into a ditch right in front of his paw as he was going to stomp. I climbed out, but the stomp hit me hard in the back, and I fell down a cliff on a huge sandy beach. I took the final raft away as he devoured the last of my tribemates. Almost 2000 survivors severed to one in minutes. I sailed through the ocean for hours and ran out of food. I fell unconscious by sundown, and if it wasn’t for Carno, I don’t think I would’ve made it.” Elaine said. “Yeah. I agree. That night, I was on the shores, and during the foggy weather, I saw a raft in the distance. I noticed you on it. You were injured, unconscious, and hungry. I looked at your stats, and they were just insane. But your health and food made me realize you were about to die. I saw so many cuts and blood clots on your body. It’s a good thing I brought a med kit with me. I wrapped around a bandage on her chest, then stitched the cuts on the arms and upper leg. I carried her towards the hospital in our village, and we kept her in until the incident with Tacet. Everything she ever survived in the past is just crazy. Not only is she the only survivor of the Savage Acrocanthosaurus’ 17th rampage, but she’s also the last survivor to live all these years. She remains, to this day, one of the greatest female survivors of all time.” Carno said. “Wow. She does have a lot of history.” Katniss said. She walked up to Elaine. “I just want to ask why you think I’m the one that can stop the Acro.” Katniss said. “Katniss, your stats are so much better than mine ever was. And besides, you have a lot of creatures on your side. Do you think Giga Reaper is terrible?” Elaine said. “What? Do we think it’s terrible? There were over 15000 recorded survivors captured, tortured, and even killed by that tribe!! They hate females so much that they want males to take over the ARKs! I have spent a total of 20000 hours in labor, over the past 30 years! These dictators are ruthless and everyone hates that tribe! And if I told you about every single male and female survivor who was tortured, captured, and killed, it’d take forever!! That tribe is the worst tribe that ever existed in the history of the universe!!!” Melvin yelled. Elaine stormed over to him. “Look. If you want to leave, just leave. You don’t have to yell for no reason. I know what happens when we’re hurt, but you are just insane.” Elaine said. She turned around. “Did he eat too much sugar or something? Or did he destroy his brain?” She said. “Elaine, what he’s saying is true. Giga Reaper R is the deadliest tribe that ever existed. The amount of females they’ve tortured and killed, the amount of males they’ve captured, and the amount of power they have is something NO ONE IN EXISTENCE can handle!! It’s real: the number of people they’ve killed, the amount of people they’ve made slaves, and all that stuff. You’ve never heard of them!” Carno said. “Dude. Look. You’re all going mad. I told you my entire backstory and you’re still making up crap lies about some stupid tribe that did impossible things.” Elaine said. She walked over to the gates. “Hey. You did say you need to protect me, right?” Katniss said. “You don’t believe the amount of independence someone needs to learn to take care of themselves.” Elaine said. She walked out of the walls before Carno could stop her. “It’s okay, guys. Maybe she’ll understand someday.” Carno said.

Chapter 7

Danger on the Volcano

Elaine ran towards the volcano, through the wetlands, and into the redwoods. As she got closer, someone could see her. “Feron. The survivor is approaching the base.” Someone said. They told Feron by using his implant. “What do you mean, “the survivor”? Wait. You don’t mean?” Feron said. He used a telescope to find her. “I knew it. She doesn’t believe the Moonshot people that we’re the deadliest tribe in existence! We’ll show her. Gigas, go out and capture her! Do not let her escape. If she tries anything, KILL HER!!!!!!!!!!!” Feron yelled. He was mad because he knew Carno was the one who did that.

As Elaine approached the base of the volcano, a Giga came out. Then, multiple Gigas surrounded her. “100% imprinted Level 610 Gigas. Average 1900% meele. There’s no way she lives.” Feron sneered.

10 minutes later…

“Your Tacky (Level 614 Giga) was killed by Elaine (Level 150). Your Racer (Level 600 Giga) was killed by Elaine (Level 150). Your… Oh, forget it. There are too many death messages to read. I need to stop her. If she knows anything about Katniss, she can tell us.” Feron said. He was looking out the window of his tek base. It sat on the top of the crater, above the entire island. The slope on the volcano was for the Giga army and the rest of their tames. Then, more Gigas ran down, but Feron ran towards them. “NO!! Stop! You need to bring her to me. Minions, if she tries anything, kill her.” Feron said. He looked at the Gigas then walked over to some slaves of his. “Get down there.” Feron sneered. “Uh, boss? We detected more survivors near the volcano.” Someone said. “What? Where?” Feron said. “Well, they’re coming out of the west hills. It could be Moonshot.” The survivor said. Feron stormed into his house, up the stairs, and into the main control room. He sat down and looked through his telescope. “Good thing this is a sniper too,” Feron said. He put some bullets in it and aimed at the Gigas coming towards the volcano. “Where is Man? Slaves! Get the Gigas out of the barn and send them to get Man!” Feron said. The slaves ran out of the base and towards the barn. Feron started shooting at the Gigas.

“Okay. If we carefully move up the slope, we can get up there unseen.” Carno said. Katniss nodded and rode her Giga towards the rocks near the slope. Then, something hit another Giga. “Oh, no. It’s the snipers!” Carno yelled. The Gigas ran towards the slope, but then more Gigas were standing there. Everyone yelled. “You thought you could get up here easily?” A survivor said. He went to attack a Giga with his Giga, and Katniss ran towards the other Giga and hit him with her shotgun. As the Gigas started to close in on her, she ran up the slope, shooting down the Gigas. She jumped on one of the Giga’s legs and tampered with his implant. She unclaimed him and claimed him again. She climbed onto the Giga and ran up the mountain. “This is nonsense!! How is she not dead!?” Feron yelled. The slaves shrugged. Feron stormed over to his Titanosaur. Feron got on and went over to the slope. He prepared to attack and the Titan lifted his foot. “If you do not give me back my Giga in the next 10 seconds… YOU WILL DIE!!!!!!!!!!!” Feron yelled. Katniss ran down the slope, the Titan hit the ground hard, and a shockwave knocked the Giga off the slope. “NO!!” Carno yelled. Elaine ran towards Katniss and shot a grappling hook at the wall as she jumped off the cliff. Elaine grabbed her and climbed up the slope. “Don’t do it!” Katniss yelled. “I need to. It’s my job to protect… oh, no.” Elaine said as she climbed the cliff. The Titan was about to stomp again, and then Elaine jumped off and shot a grappling hook toward one of her Gigas. “Okay. Do it.” Feron said. He was about to hit the Titan off the cliff when Carno went up to him. “Don’t! Don’t do it! NO!!! He’ll collapse on the ground and kill himself with his weight!!!” Carno yelled. “So what? Whatever I need to do to stop her.” Feron yelled. “NO!!! It’s cruel and horrible. You torture your tames too much!! It ends now!!” Carno yelled. He grappled onto the head of the Titan. Feron shot Carno down and Katniss grappled under the Titan. Then, a Giga ran up and grabbed the Titan’s leg. He lifted his foot and crashed onto the ground again, and the shockwave knocked the Giga off the mountain. Katniss would’ve fallen into a lava patch had she not grappled on the Titan’s belly. Feron saw her climbing. “Oh, look who it is.” Feron sneered. Katniss gasped as she looked up. Carno jumped and reached for the Titan’s implant as Feron was about to shoot them down. “This ends now!!!” Carno yelled. He grabbed the implant and reversed everything. The Titan was not unclaimed, it was reverted to before he was tamed, and then Feron was about to shoot when the Titan roared and lifted his feet. Carno jumped onto Tacet as he arrived, and Carno shot a grapple at Katniss. She grabbed it and they were taken to Tacet and the Gigas left as the Titan came down and Feron fell off the back. He teleported out of the volcano. But it wasn’t over yet. Carno got a message on his implant. “What? Tribemate Melvin (Level 100)’s Ripper (Level 210 Therizinosaurus) was killed by a Giganotosaurus (Level 591)!! WHAT?!! NO!!! He loved that Theri a lot! Melvin’s in trouble! They’re trying to get him back.” Carno said. “WHAT!? Dude. We need to go now!” Katniss yelled. Everyone except Elaine ran back to their base with their Gigas. Someone grabbed Elaine with their Giga. “NO!!! Dacro, put her down now!!” Feron yelled from the side of the volcano’s slope. But then… “Your Giganotosaurus (Level 547 Giganotosaurus) was killed by Elaine (Level 150)! “Tribemate Dacro was killed by Elaine (Level 150)!” “Just perfect. Let her go now. We cannot fight her right now. It’s not worth the time going full-on. We have Gigas to hatch and raise.” Feron said.

Chapter 8

Race Against Melvin’s Time

The group ran through the forest and bushes, shooting down any raptors that tried to come for them. They ran back to their castle and saw a Giganotosaurus breaking down the wall. Then, Melvin snuck out the back door of the wall with Tacet. “Hey, guys. I need to get my army out, but I can’t! They might be stuck.” Melvin said. The others nodded and ran to their breeding barn. Melvin has secretly raised a whole Therizinosaur army, all of which were fully mutated and super-high level. Ripper was his first Theri, and the main breeding Theri for the army. When a Giga killed her, Melvin ran into his base and got to the barn quickly. The others ran towards the barn gate, and their remaining Gigas pulled the door open, revealing 150 Theris. He’s been breeding Theris for almost two years now, and he had a total of 950 Theris. He only got 150 because he was saving the rest for a huge raid. But they were still no match for N-Terminator, the most powerful Giganotosaurus in the universe. Melvin had one goal: to make the most powerful Theris possible. He had no way to get to Demon Number safety. It was the name of a far island, with creatures reaching Level 666. Creatures of Level 18, then 36, then 54, and so on. It is almost impossible to find max-level creatures there, but if you can find even two separate genders, you will become insanely overpowered. But the dock closest and safest to the island was guarded by Giga Reaper R. If Melvin tried to get there with Moonshot, they’d 100% get destroyed. Melvin would get arrested and thrown in L.A.V.A. or Locking Astronomical View of Annihilation, which is the most dangerous trap in existence. If you were thrown in there, you’d 100% get killed. There is a lock bed there, which is a respawn point that is impossible to escape. You will respawn and die over and over in there. Due to Melvin’s astronomical fear of that trap, he never even tried to get to the dock. Melvin got on one of the Theris. “Everyone, we’re under attack. Destroy that Giga!!” Melvin yelled. The Theris screeched and ran towards the broken wall. “Man! MAN!!! If you don’t come out…” The rider said, then the Giga screeched loudly. He was in rage mode!! He hit the rider off and ate him! The Theris destroyed the Giga and started eating his leg. “We’re not done! There’s more Gigas in there! Let’s go, go, go!” Melvin yelled as he opened the behemoth dinosaur gate to the base. The Theris all ran in and destroyed the Gigas. Not one Theri was destroyed. Well… that is until one of them hit a Giga. Level 1,021. The only Giga from Demon Number Island. “Oh, no. What have you done!? That was 20,000 damage, Hacker Chicken!! He’s going to kill us all!!” Melvin yelled. The Giga roared and ripped the claws off the Theris. So many Theris died that Melvin had to run. “NO!!! Do not let Man get away!!” Feron yelled. The rider nodded as he ran towards Melvin, then Katniss snuck up behind him and threw a taser at him. He dodged it and tried to taser her. They started fighting. “Oh, forget it. You’re too powerful yourself. Let’s make this fair, shall we? Hide shirt and hide pants only. They need to be primitive. And use a spear.” The rider said. Katniss nodded. She put a primitive hide shirt and hide pants on and took off the rest. She took out a spear, and so did the rider of the Giga. “Is she seriously doing this?” Elaine said. Carno ran towards one of Melvin’s Theris and took him away. But the Giga was coming. Then suddenly, Queen jumped down and grabbed the implant. The Giga screeched as Queen crushed it. The Giga collapsed and died instantly. “NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!! That stupid Rex!! That was our best Giga yet!!! Since the stupid N-Terminator hatched.” The rider screamed. “You’re next now,” Katniss said. “You expect me to be fair after you’ve done this?!” The rider yelled. He tasered her, and she hit him with the spear. “How?! That’s an ascendant taser with astronomical damage!!! How did it not stun you? That’s it. I tried to do this the nice way. Now I’ll do it my way.” The rider sneered. He threw a cyropod on the ground, and a Titan came out. He was on the Titan’s saddle. The Titanosaur lifted his feet and Katniss tried to run, then the rider shot a net at her. The Titan was about to come down, then Queen roared and ran towards the last 10 Theris, who barely survived. 8 of them ran towards Katniss and the Titan was about to hit the ground, and Elaine grappled onto his head. The feet hit the ground, inches away from the net, and he hit 3 Theris, killing them all instantly. “NOOOOO!!! This ends now!!!” The rider screamed. He took out another cyropod and threw it on the platform saddle. But this time, it was a Giganotosaurus. A Level 810 Giga, fully mutated. Elaine was about to kill the rider, then the Giga grabbed Elaine and threw her against the wall with all her force. “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” Carno screamed. Tacet roared and tried to stop him, but it happened too fast. They didn’t get a chance to run for her. They didn’t even get a chance to shoot the Giga. “Now… Behemoth Killer, let’s end this.” The rider said. Elaine was lying there, unconscious and very weak. He shot the implant of the Titano, causing it to stumble and fall onto where Elaine was. “Oh, no!” Carno yelled. The Giga jumped to finish all the Theris, and then the final Theri alive, Hacker Chicken, ran towards Elaine to stop the Titan’s weight from killing her. Hacker Chicken grabbed Elaine and threw her away as the Titan fell on her back. “Your Hacker Chicken (Level 281 Therizinosaurus) killed a Titanosaur (Level 1)! Your Hacker Chicken (Level 281 Therizinosaurus) was killed by a Titanosaur (Level 1)!” The death messages showed up on the implants of everyone in Moonshot. It wasn’t over yet, though. The Giga was still there. The rider had grappled onto her. The Giga ran towards Katniss and the rider pulled out an ascendant shotgun. He was about to shoot her, then Tacet ran towards the Giga and hit her leg and the Giga screeched and hit Tacet. Then Queen grabbed the other leg, one with the implant. The Giga was about to grab Queen, then Tacet bit the Giga’s belly and the Giga grabbed Tacet. Then Queen grabbed the Giga’s implant, then the rider tried to shoot her. Queen climbed up the Giga, dodging the shots, then hit the rider off. Then the Giga tried to hit Queen off as Carno tried to get the net off Katniss. Then, suddenly, something hit the Giga in the head. It was a sniper! The Giga screeched, and it fell onto Queen’s mouth, and she bit into the neck of it to finish it. Then she lunged towards the rider and killed him.

Chapter 9

Broken Base, Broken Army, and Broken Hearts

Talon ran down to save Katniss from the trap, and Melvin walked over to Hacker Chicken. “No… he was one of my best Theris ever…” Melvin said. He started crying, and Gunner went up to confront him. “Hey. It’s okay. We can get our army building again. And besides, the raid is over. No one is going to die for now. We can repair everything, right? Oh, no.” Gunner said. He saw the walls crashing down onto the ground, some houses were broken, and a lot of Theris died. There were dino corpses all around. Katniss walked over to Melvin, and so did Carno and Talon. Journey came out of one of the houses. “Hey, guys… oh, my god. Those Gigas did huge damage to our base. Oh, no. The walls! Melvin!! What’s wrong?” Journey said as she ran towards him. “My… my Theris… no…” Melvin said. Then, a Giga came into the base. It was Katniss’s Giga. He started eating the Titan’s corpse, then he pulled it away. At least he tried to. Then, more Gigas came to help, and they pulled the Titan’s corpse out of the base and into the woods. Everyone gasped as they looked down, under Hacker Chicken’s body. It was an implant. When it’s gold, it means the survivor is dead. But it was glowing red, so Elaine was still alive, but barely. Melvin took off the Theri’s saddle and pulled him away. Carno picked Elaine up and he started crying. “Dude. This is terrible. Look at what they did. They tried to kill her. They almost destroyed the entire base with that Titan. That Giga ruined everything. Hacker Chicken… he sacrificed himself to save her… no…” Melvin said. He kept crying and holding Hacker Chicken, and Katniss and Journey came up to confront him. Gunner nodded to Carno and he walked towards Tacet. He got on and walked over to the med center with Elaine.

“I’m sorry, Feron. I couldn’t do it.” The rider said. He was at Level 2, at his base. He was in the control room. “No. That was perfect! You damaged the base, so that’s something! Sure, you didn’t kill her, but you still dealt significant damage to that base!! We raid them again tomorrow morning. I’ll help get your XP back.” Feron said. The rider nodded. He got up and he and Feron walked towards their Argies. The rider’s name was Crackon. He was a slave who was forced to work for Feron after he tried to kill him. He was thrown into L.A.V.A and he gave up all his memories of even wanting to be outside of Giga Reaper R just to get out of that trap! This showed that people would do anything to get out of L.A.V.A.!

A few hours later, Melvin was seen in the back of the base, near the waterfall down to the shore. Next to it was a gravestone. Hacker Chicken, Level 281 Therizinosaurus, 2,050% melee, 25,000 HP, and 1,100% move speed. Melvin sat in front of it. Carno and Katniss walked up to him. “Hey. It’s okay. We can get better and stronger Theris. They don’t even know about your army.” Carno said. “Yeah. But… that Theri was the strongest I have ever gotten. She could destroy a wild Giga that was Level 150. She definitely would’ve killed that Titan. And… well, she did, but not in the way I wanted.” Melvin said. “Yeah, well… it’s been a long time since I had a tame like her. I once had a Rex. And Queen is amazing too. But that Rex… she was my first Rex ever. And the night of a raid, a Titan destroyed my old base, and that Rex… well… I never saw her death message, but I never saw her either. That Titan… the Rex tried. I’m still really sad I lost her. And she isn’t one of my own either, since when you die, you lose your personal-owned tames. So I never saw her death message, but I know she’s still alive. She’s still out there. The island I tamed her on is called Eternal. Creatures of up to Level 450. But that place is so far away.” Katniss said. “We all used to have tames like her. We sometimes lose them. But it’s okay. We lose a great friend, either a survivor or a dinosaur, and we get really sad. But we can get tames better than these. You’re never going to be alone. You have us with you. And yes, there may not be another Theri quite like Hacker Chicken, but you loved her, and that’s all that matters. If you show love to your friends, then their lives will be great.” Carno said. “Yeah, well, I’m someone who’s been tortured by Giga Reaper R for years! And they are making me do you-know-what to the girls!” Melvin yelled. “Yeah, but we will do whatever it takes to stop them. The volcano erupts when the Savage Acro spawns. That will destroy their entire base. And the thing is, they don’t even know about it! The only problem is that it doesn’t happen for another year.” Carno said. The Savage Acro spawns every 3 years, on a random island. Recent data has proved that The Island: Primal (the island where this takes place) is next. The volcano erupts and the Savage Acrocanthosaurus will spawn, and he will destroy the entire island. He’s been rampaging islands for over 80 years. It’s been 2 years since the last rampage, which means one year remains until the 28th rampage of the Savage Acro. “Yeah, which is plenty of time to prepare!” Melvin said. “NO! Listen, Man… I mean Melvin! Melvin, look. There’s no way in heck we will thrive that long. We have a weakened base, and we’re going up against the strongest tribe in the universe! The only way to possibly destroy them is to make an entire super-mutated army of Gigas, which can take weeks!! Or even months!! We wouldn’t get through even a day without them finding out!! You’d get arrested! Or worse! You’d get thrown into L.A.V.A and forced to do what Crackon did to get out!! We cannot afford to build an army now. That time is over. The tribe is closing in. It’d be far too risky to make a Giga army like that in secret. So many survivors could be captured or killed!! We’d lose our entire base, every single one of our tames, and we’d all either be captured or killed!! All we have now is what we already have. The cost to get that army is too high.” Carno yelled. “Yeah, but I have an idea. They want to kill all females, right? Well… we can lure them into a fake trap.” Melvin said. “What?” Carno said. “We pretend that there is an entire island next to us filled with girls. For real, it has a lot of males, and they’d stop at nothing to find the girls in there. A hidden group, hundreds of female survivors, and they’re hiding in a cave. If we can make them think that, we can distract the dictators long enough to get Demon Number’s Gigas.” Melvin said. “Well, that’s a great idea, except there’s a problem. We’d also have to distract the rest of the dictators. They usually send only 3 maximum on missions. We can use N-Terminator as bait.” Carno said. “Yeah, and then Journey, Katniss, Tacet, your Gigas, Gunner, Elaine, and Queen will go to Demon Number and tame two opposing gender Gigas which need to be at least Level 632. We bring them straight home into the underwater base. Then, you and Gunner will spend however long you need to breed up a huge pack of super-mutated Gigas. Then we use that army to demolish Giga Reaper R and their stupid dictators!!” Melvin yelled. “Yes! That’s perfect!! We need to talk to everyone now!” Carno yelled. He was about to run back to base when Melvin grabbed him. “Hold on! Giga Reaper R just sent me a message. They said that if I don’t come back to base by midnight, they will raid Moonshot again tomorrow morning!” Melvin said. “Go. We cannot afford any more casualties. We’ll save you from the barn later.” Carno said. “I don’t think I’m going to the barn. I think I’m going somewhere even worse.” Melvin said. “Well, we’ll send in our current Giga army to save you from whatever torture device they put you in, okay?” Carno said. Melvin nodded and ran towards the volcano. Carno ran back to base.

Chapter 10

Grave Consequences and Tribe Meetings

Melvin ran up the slope into a house. Feron and Core were standing there, right in front of him. “I see you got my message and decided to return. You care about Moonshot too much, don’t you?” Feron said. “Yes, and you are horrible dictators,” Melvin said. “Listen, Man. For years, we’ve struggled to kill all females off. But you may be the one. We can’t lose you. Look, I’ll make you a deal. If you go on the expedition to Carol and find the hidden colony of girls and kill all of them, I will spare all of Moonshot forever. No more raids, no more casualties. No one needs to die. But if you refuse and cheat by tricking me, bringing anything that isn’t a dino army, or anything, I will ensure tomorrow is Moonshot’s last day. We good?” Feron said. “Uh, I was going to ask you to go to Carol for me,” Melvin said. “Ha! No. We have work to do. And besides, you’re Man. You’re more powerful than any female in the world.” Feron said. “How dare you! That’s so inappropriate! You are so darn rude all the time!!” Melvin said. “Man, if you keep protesting, I will raid Moonshot now,” Feron said. Melvin yelped and jumped back. “Please. For the love of ARK, leave my friends alone and stop being racist to my girls!!” Melvin yelled. “Oh? Do you think we’re being racist? Ha! True. And I expect the same out of you.” Feron sneered. “No. This is not happening. You are not being racist to my girls, you are not trying to destroy Moonshot, and you are not torturing me!! No. You know what? You can throw me in whatever torture device you want, but I am not going to kill thousands of survivors just to protect Moonshot!! Unless they’re from your tribe. Which they are not!! I am not killing 5,000 female survivors just so that Moonshot can be safe from you for good!!! You can do that, and I don’t care.” Melvin said. “It’s more honorable if you do it,” Feron said. Melvin was about to say something else, but then he realized something. Wait a second. Carol is closer to Demon Number. Maybe I can sneak the colony out, and hopefully have them help me. No. Giga Reaper R will notice me and the army when I return. I can use the Gigas to hide them. And the survivors can distract the dictators while Moonshot gets their Gigas. Yes. Looks like this plan will work after all!!! “Okay. I will go. Can I just bring a dino?” Melvin said. “Yes. One. No Titans allowed.” Feron said. “Okay. When are we leaving?” Melvin asked. “Now,” Feron said as he and Core walked out. “Now? Can I just message Moonshot before I leave?” Melvin said. “Fine,” Feron said. Melvin ran upstairs and turned on the communicators. He was calling Carno. He sent a message to him. “Carno, Feron, and the dictators are forcing me onto an expedition to kill a colony of survivors. I am going to use this chance to grab the colony and whatever dinos they have to distract the dictators, and when I get back, you guys need to be ready. I should be back in around 9 hours.” Melvin ran out of the house with some weapons. He said he was ready, and he had a ton of tranqs in his bag for taming dinos. And normal bullets in case he ran into an alpha. Carol has creatures of up to Level 450. So if Melvin found a max-level Giga, he could tame it and it would help distract Giga Reaper R. Melvin decided to bring N-Terminator in secret. He was in a cyropod in Melvin’s bag. He brought another Giga with him. Melvin ran towards the arctic shore in the north. Melvin saw Feron’s giant ship in front of him. “Okay. Core is coming to ensure you don’t try anything.” Feron said. “And no taming dinos!!” Core yelled. Melvin nodded. What? No. I can’t have him next to me. And if I kill him, everyone in Reaper will see the death message, and I’ll be thrown into L.A.V.A. I need a way to stop him without killing him myself. Could I trap him there? “Okay. Let’s go.” Melvin said. He and Core walked up the plank onto the ship as the plank went back up. Then, Melvin grabbed the wheel and the ship went off.

Meanwhile, in Moonshot, Carno was standing on the town square, next to the bell, with hundreds of survivors around him. “Okay. Melvin sent me two messages that changed this plan. He has Core with him. What we need to do is send in our Giga army to distract all the dictators the second Melvin returns with the colony. It’s going to take him around 14 hours to get all this done, minimum. He needs to be back in 3 days because we cannot have Feron raiding us again. If things go wrong, we will have no choice but to force Melvin into hiding. If he gets thrown into L.A.V.A, well, we will get destroyed. This plan determines what happens in the next 6 months. This can go two ways. Melvin succeeds. He gets the colony and their Gigas, they trap Core, return to the Island, and distract Reaper while we get Demon Number’s Gigas. Then, we manage to get an army and we manage to prepare for raids. Or, he fails. Core dies on accident, or Melvin gets caught, Melvin is forced to kill the entire colony, and we get destroyed. Melvin will be trapped in his house, upset about what he did. We don’t want that. We need him to succeed. If this fails, we are in grave danger. The plan might be extremely risky, but it needs to be done if we want a chance at destroying Reaper.” Carno said. Everyone was staring at him. “Look, Carno, there’s a little bit of a problem there. If we trap Core, then Feron will know and Melvin will either get thrown into L.A.V.A or forced to kill that entire colony. We need a better approach to what to do with Core.” Katniss said. “Yeah. Maybe… we could just bring him back. We can trap and stop him from saying anything; hopefully, he doesn’t need to be trapped or killed.” Gunner said. “Yes. The Theri army. We can use that. But we can’t let Core report that army to Feron. If he does, they’ll raid us and destroy that army. We need a way to keep him contained. A way where he can’t do anything. And don’t forget, we cannot kill Core. If we do, everyone in Reaper will see the death message. Melvin will get thrown into L.A.V.A. and Feron will raid us and destroy us all. So we need to keep him alive at all times. And he can’t say anything, either. We may need to force him to do it.” Carno said. “Yes. Perfect. We just need to figure out how we are going to sneak into the ship without Core seeing us.” Katniss said. “We use the power of tranqs!” Carno yelled as he took out a crossbow with a toxicant arrow on it. The crossbow was primitive. “Okay. Well, we can do that, but we can’t kill Core on accident. We knock him out, grab the colony, and leave. What we will do is sail to Carol, knock Core out, and keep him asleep until Melvin retrieves the colony, then when they come back, they will set out their ships. Then we get the tribe leader to put Core in a trap and stop him from communicating with Feron.” Carno said. “Yes. Yes! That’s perfect! Now, who’s going?” Gunner said. “Okay. Me, Gunner, Katniss, and my dinos will come with us. Everyone else stays and helps Elaine.” Carno said. They ran outside of the base walls, towards the Arctic shore up north. It was between the two ice mountains.