Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 39: Reaper and the Aberrant Adventures

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 Basilisk, next chapter in Featherlight.

Aberration: Night 1

9:27 PM…

The quiet winds whistled softly, brushing along the trees and bushes speckled across the blue zone. The moonlight shimmered brightly as its light flooded across the underground of the Ark. Shining through the cracks in the roof above the green zone, it lit up the area a little. Near the red zone, the ground was hard and rough, slightly radiated, and smelled awful. Reaper slowly grumbled, making a clicking sound. Her eyes then shot open. She growled softly as she slowly moved her legs. She began to lift herself up, whimpering in pain. She screeched loudly and stood up, her legs shaking. Reaper looked at her legs and saw that her right leg was scratched, a wound on her paw and a broken claw. Reaper growled softly and began to walk forward. She looked around the area, and the bright plants made it easy to see where she was. She saw a large, steep path a hundred meters south of her, with strange red crystals speckled across the path. Reaper turned north, and saw a dark area far in the distance, with almost no light except for the moonlight that lit up the place. The green zone. She was kilometers away from Sodden and his friends. Reaper roared loudly in sadness then began walking slowly north. She was trying to make it, but she didn’t know if she had the energy to do so. She winced as she walked, and she was looking around, on the lookout for anything that would try to attack her. Reaper was a lost tame, a lost raptor. Separated from her owners, she hoped she could survive and make it back to Sodden. She walked around the area, continuing to limp and walk further away from the red zone, but things were slightly blurry and Reaper didn’t know if she was getting closer or not. Reaper continued to walk, breathing heavily and grumbling quietly. She screeched loudly, continuing to walk. She walked slowly, her legs, shaking, then she fell over. Her legs had given out. She whimpered quietly, her leg injured and bleeding. She hoped someone would find her soon.

In the green zone, somewhere northeast, Sodden and Nal stood atop a cliff, near a 3 by 2 thatch hut, a campfire was laid near it, along with two big logs. Inside the house was two sleeping bags. Sodden sat on the edge of the cliff, sniffing as he looked around the area. Nal was putting some logs into the lit campfire, then noticed Sodden on the cliff.

“Hey, dude. You’ve been quiet for a few hours. Something up?” Nal asked as she walked to Sodden, then sat down near him.

“No, nothing. Nothing’s wrong.” Sodden said quietly. Nal gasped softly.

“I know that look all too well. You miss Reaper, don’t you? Back on The Island, we had many great tames that we loved. Codred and his Rexes, me and my Giga, Shelly…” Nal said. Sodden then looked up.

“So she was yours? Shelly the Giga?” Sodden asked. Nal nodded.

“Yeah. She did great helping you with the Titano and defeating Cordor. Shelly was my favoorite Giga. One night… we were going on a meat run with Shelly. Then… a thyla came off of one of the redwoods trees and decimated me before Shelly could kill the Thyla. Apparently, Shelly was chased off by something. I spent days looking for her in the jungle. It was terrible for me.” Nal said. Sodden nodded slowly.

“Hmm. Okay. Yeah… it’s kind of the same thing with my raptor. If I hadn’t landed on the surface…” Sodden said. Then Nal put her hand on Sodden’s shoulder.

“Don’t blame yourself. It was not your fault. I don’t know what happened, but it was none of our faults.” Nal said. Sodden nodded.

“Okay. I just hope Reaper is okay out there.” Sodden said.

“Shouldn’t she be in the cryopod?” Nal said.

“Maybe she decided to come out on her own to find me. That is one brave raptor.” Sodden said, sniffling a little bit. Nal nodded.

“Makes sense. I’m gonna continue getting resources. Then we can go out and get more levels.” Nal said. Sodden turned around and looked at Nal, then nodded. Sodden stood up, then he and Nal walked to the campfire. Sodden got some cooked meat off of a stick that was hung over the fire then the two survivors walked away from the small base, looking for creatures to kill for levels.

Dorack’s eyes shot open. He gasped as he began to sit up. He was fully healed and had no torpor, but he still had all his stuff and levels. Dorack looked around and saw a dart inside of his shoulder, which was dark and cold. The poison inside of it was gone. It seemed like the narcotics had dissipated from Dorack’s body. Dorack took the dart out of his shoulder then threw it. He then stood up, looking around the area.

“Uh… Serenity? You there?” Dorack asked. No response. He walked around the area, looking for anyone that may’ve taken her away. Dorack kept looking around trees, bushes, he walked down the paths, but found nothing.

“Where are you? Where’s her little buddies…” Dorack shouted. He then looked out towards the south, and overlooked a large field full of roads, lit up trees and plants, long roads, and whatnot. But nothing he could see, at least not for over a kilometer. Dorack kept going down one of the roads, past bioluminscent bushes and mushrooms, continuing to look for anything. He kept walking for a few hours, hoping to find something. Then he heard something snap. Dorack gasped and turned around quickly. He took a shotgun out of his bag, then he heard the bushes rustle. Then he heard a weird noise. It sounded quiet, and sounded like clicking. Dorack held his shotgun tight, looking around to see if anything was wrong. He then heard snuffing.

“Megalosaur? Yeah, you don’t wanna see what my shotgun can do.” Dorack said quietly. Then he heard a sound. He heard deep and loud howling. Dorack tilted his head, puzzled, then he gasped when he heard the howling grow louder. He turned to the east, and heard the howl come from there. Dorack ran east to find where it had come from. He kept running for a few minutes, and the howl continued on and on. Then it stopped. Dorack could see nothing. The howl stopped abruptly. Then he heard a loud sound.

“SCREECH!” He heard the sound of a Megalosaur. Then he heard a loud crunch. There was another one. He looked around, then heard the deep howl again and saw a glow in the distance. Dorack gasped. He recognized the sound that time. He ran towards where he saw the red glow.

Reaper had her teeth sunk into the neck of one Megalosaur, then the other Megalosaur grabbed Reaper’s tail and swung her around and slammed her into the ground, and she howled in pain. The creature implant inside her claw was glowing extremely brightly. The Megalosauruses then grabbed Reaper’’s tail and shoved her into a bush, and Reaper tried to get up, but her legs were badly bruised and broken. She fell onto the ground again, and the Megalosauruses came into the bush, and a third one showed up out of the trees. It lunged at Reaper and bit into her upper leg, and the others were about to bite in. Reaper screeched loudly as she tried to claw at the Megalosaur and get off. Then there was a loud boom, like a shotgun burst. Then a bullet flew through a Megalosaurus’ neck and it fell to the ground instantly. Then another one was shot down, and the third Megalosaur was caved in by the shotgun too, and their teeth had released their grip on Reaper. Dorack put his shotgun in his bag, then gasped to see Reaper on the ground, bleeding out of her legs. She sat at 380 HP. Her legs were broken. She was in no condition to be put in a cryopod, and the injuries didn’t seem like they would heal in a few hours. Dorack ran to a severely wounded Reaper and sat down near her. Reaper was breathing slowly, growling softly and whimpering. Dorack took a bandage out of his bag, and put his hand on Reaper’s body.

“Hey. It’s gonna be okay. Just stop moving and I’ll help you.” Dorack said. He petted Reaper softly then he ripped a strip off of the bangage roll and pressed it down on her broken legs. Reaper screeched in pain just then. Dorack then wrapped more bandages around her leg, and pressed a bandage down on her back. Reaper screeched loudly and moved her claws around. Dorack then took another bandage and stuck it onto Reaper’s back, holding the gauze down to stop the bleeding. Then Dorack continued to stabilize Reaper’s legs. While he was trying to help Reaper, they heard a noise.

SNAP!

Dorack gasped and looked up.

“That guy again? Stupid idiot. We have infinite Megalosauruses, anyway.” A voice said. Dorack gasped and crouched down, got on his belly, and hid inside of the bush, holding Reaper’s claws.

“Whatever. Get Serenity to the boss. I’ll stay here and find Dorack. He will pay for killing our Megalos. The boss won’t be happy that we failed to kill their raptor.” The other voice said. Dorack peeked out of the bush to see two people in black robes, one with a white mask and the other with a red mask. The white mask guy had a large bag on his shoulder, with someone in it.

“Ugh. Whatever. He’ll bleed out anyway. Or she. I don’t know. Whatever, the raptor’s dead.” The white mask guy said.

“Idiot. Dorack’s probably here and helping him right now. I’ll handle this. Get out of that bush. What, you thought we didn’t see the Megalo corpses?” The red mask guy said. Dorack growled and let go of the raptor, then stood up and walked out of the bush.

“What’s going on?” Dorack growled deeply. The red mask guy laughed.

“I think I’ve heard of you before. You’re one of the Arctic Survivors. I don’t even know what makes you think you can get to Extinction.” The red mask guy sneered. Dorack sighed.

“I’m here with some friends to get to Extinction, so you’d better shut up.” Dorack said sternly.

“We’re not listening to you, buddy.” The white mask guy said.

“Just leave! What do you want with us anyway?” Dorack yelled. The red mask guy laughed loudly, and the white mask guy laughed with him.

“Oh, my god. You must be a dumb — idiot if you don’t know what the Ravage is.” The red mask guy sneered.

“Don’t you dare shout out that language to me!” Dorack yelled.

“Oh, what’re you gonna do? Shoot us with that shotgun? Ha! Oh… that’s sweet. I don’t think you understand just how powerful we really are. Go ahead. Shoot me. See what happens.” The red mask guy said. Dorack shook his head.

“Not until you tell me where Serenity is.” Dorack said.

“I’m not — telling, you dumb — —-, stupid mother—- idiot.” The white mask guy said. Dorack immediately pulled the trigger on his shotgun at the white mask guy, then the bullets he shot then bounced back off the guy’s armor and right back at Dorack, and this punctured his armor badly and he collapsed to the ground. His legs were hirt, his body was bruised, and he had a wound in his left hip. The two guys laughed loudly.

“Oh, my god. I love cursing.” The white mask guy sighed.

“Hmm. You just don’t understand what really happened in the Ravage, do you? Neither does Serenity, Sodden, and your little buddy. And Rod… he’s bound to betray you someday. Mark my words. Sodden is stupid and has no experience with this Ark. Serenity doesn’t remember anything about the Ravage except the little memories we gave her, which are not entirely true. Nal… she’s terrified of everything. And you… you’re just a little — who understands nothing about this stuff.” The red mask guy said. Dorack groaned and fell on his back, clutching his hip and holding a bandage on it.

“Yeah. Roll around like a baby, go ahead. Idiot.” The white mask guy said. The two guys laughed. Then Reaper’s eyes shot open. Reaper slowly got up, and she could hear the two people cursing as they kicked Dorack in the shoulder and body, shoving him around and calling him and his friends names. Reaper saw this and growled deeply.

“SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH!!!! [LEAVE MY FREND ALONE AND STOP CURSING ON MY FRIENDS!!!]” Reaper howled as she lunged at the white mask guy, then crushed his armor. He shouted in pain as he tried to grab Reaper and throw her, but Reaper bit the guy’s neck and began to twiist it, immediately crushing his HP and knocking him down. The bag on his shoulder fell down. The red mask guy gasped. Reaper growled as he slowly walked towards him. The red mask guy slowly backed away.

“Hey… chill. Okay? Just chill… You… you don’t understand these idiots. Just…” The red mask guy said, then Reaper roared and lunged at the red mask guy, then the guy reached into his bag to get his rifle, then Reaper split his neck and chest, almost instantly killing him. Reaper looked up and roared loudly. Then she walked to Dorack, who wrapped a bandage on his hip and got up. Reaper whimpered.

“Wow. I never expected Dread’s minions to be so non-family friendly. To be fair, the guy’s a psychopathic assassin.” Dorack said. Reaper then growled softly and fell to the ground. Dorack sighed and walked to a tree. He took a hatchet out of his bag and began to break down a tree. Dorack continued to break down trees and rocks, then he put together a small 2 by 2 thatch hut, then put a sleeping bag in it, and a campfire outside of the hut. Dorack then lifted up Reaper and brought her into the hut, where Dorack made a second sleeping bag, then put it over Reaper’s body, Dorack sighed and walked to his bed. He then tucked himself into it.

“Hmm. Serenity, you there?” Dorack asked. He got out of the bag and walked out of the hut, and to the bag that was still there on the ground, where the white mask guy’s corpse lay. Nothing moved inside of it. Dorack opened the bag, and put his hand to his mouth and gasped. There was no one in there. It was just a training dummy. Meaning Serenity was still somewhere.

“Oh, no. That’s bad. Those stupid… I’m going to break Dread’s neck if I ever see him. I hear he has an implant attribute, so he can’t respawn. I just need to kill him and it will destroy the tribe. Whatever. I’m just going to go to bed.” Dorack grumbled. He walked back into the hut and put himself into his sleeping bag, then Reaper slowly limped to Dorack and lay on the ground near him. Dorack turned his head to Reaper.

“We’ll be fine. We’ll find a way back.” Dorack said. Reaper growled softly, then moved her sleeping bag closer, then Reaper put herself into it. Dorack put his arm around the bag and closed his eyes. Reaper began to fall asleep too.

Rod had been walking for hours. It was the dead of night. He still hadn’t seen anyone.

“Ugh. Where are the others? People will get suspicious if I’m gone too long, especially now that Sodden is suspicious of me.” Rod said. Then he got two dings on his implant. Two death messages.

“What? Reaper killed two of my friends. Ugh. If someone’s with him… no. They were supposed to bring Serenity… said they found her and Dorack. Dorack must’ve done this. That idiot. I need to find Sodden now.” Rod growled quietly. He then ran further west, towards the mushroom forest over a kilometer away.

What is happening here…?

-RelatingHen8906