Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 50: The Xenomorph Showdown

Part 4/5: Death by Dawn - Part 2

9:30 PM…

The group continued to walk up the stairs, towards the door. They approached the top of the stairs, then walked towards the doors, leading to the main room. As they continued walking, they heard silent footsteps around the base. Sodden looked around, staying alert. Drake sighed and walked to the front, then Sodden followed him, and both of them took a sword out of their bags. They approached the doors, then Sodden put his hand on it.

“Okay. We are going to need hazard suits to get out of here.” Sodden said. He sat down, then put his weapon down and reached into his bag, then Drake did the same. They took out a set of hazard clothes - pants,chestpiece, helmet, etc. Sodden tossed one to Dorack, then Dorack sat down, gently setting Nal down onto the floor, then took a hazard suit out of his bag. Serenity already had one on, and as they were preparing to leave the base, at the other side of the base, near the spiral stairs to the second floor, which were rising from the ground near Dread’s main office, Dread growled as he stood at the top of the staircase. He sighed as he watched the group start to come out of the dungeon hall. They were all ready, and they were coming out towards the exit. Dread spat on the ground and lifted his left arm, and looked down his implant. He then turned on communicators.

“Go. Now” Dread growled deeply. Sodden was at the main entrance, He opened the door, peeked out, and looked around the place. Sodden sighed.

“Okay. Seems good.” Sodden said. He walked forwards, then everyone else followed him.Then as soon as the last person was out the door, a Megalosaur leaped from the roof, slammed down onto the ground next to Serenity. Serenity gasped and shot around, then the Megalosaur opened his mouth and clamped down onto her leg, then she fell over, screaming in pain. Everyone else shot towards her. Sodden immediately ran back to grab her arm. Sodden grabbed it, and tried to pull away. Everyone else helped him pull, but the creature’s grip on Serenity was too strong. Then Dread ran at the Megalosaur and started pulling his tail. He still had invulnerability and super strength activated, as he was sitting below 25 percent his HP. He yanked the creature inside, but Serenity wouldn’t budge.. She screamed as she tried to kick the head to get released, but it was no use. Sodden groaned as he tried to pull her away. He tried to walk backwards, but he was getting pulled inwards.

“NO! Dread, stop!” Sodden yelled in anger. Dread cackled.

“NEVER!!” Dread yelled. Serenity shouted as her armor started to rip slightly.

“No…” Serenity gasped as she stared at Sodden. He tried to pull away, but Sodden’s grip was weakening.

“Serenity… please… Dread, stop this!” Sodden yelled in anger and concern. Serenity screamed in pain as the Megalosaur crunched down onto her leg, and Serenity groaned, tears appearing in her eyes.

“Don’t let go… please…” Serenity whimpered. Sodden yelled as he tried to pull backwards, but to no avail. Dread then yanked backwards hard, pulling the Megalosaur right into the entrance, ripping off its skin and seriously injuring it. Serenity screamed as she got flung backwards, and fell onto the ground, right in frontn of Dread. Dread then got up and grabbed her by the neck, then stormed to the door and slammed it shut right as Sodden was about to get up and hold it open. Everyone groaned as they tried to get up. Sodden tried to bash against the door over and over. Then someone walked towards them from behind. Sodden gasped and turned to his right. Everyone saw Rod standing in front of them. He was grinning, he was making a gesture telling them to come with him. Sodden gasped as he, along with the others, followed Rod. Then they approached a big, tall wall, wiith stairs on its side. They walked up the stairs, through big metal poles and checkered stairs. They approached a big metal door at the top, and Rod pushed it open. He walked into the doorway and turned around.

“Get up to the top floor.” Rod sneered and slammed the door in their face, walking away. They continued upwards, until they reached a metal door, and when they went through, they were met with chairs. In rows across the place. It was the arena. In the center was the infamous sandy and rocky ground - and of course, the two Reapers hiding underground. Sodden gasped as he walked down to the fence. No one could speak. Complete silence. They could only watch. Then he heard a loud bang. They shot upwards to see that the gate on the other end of the arena had swung open. Then someone walked through the gate. Dread. He was walking towards the center, holding Serenity in his hands. Rod walked towards him, then whistled softly. The ground then suddenly rumbled, and a Reaper Queen roared as it dug up through the sand, lifting dust into the air and sweeping away rocks. Then it crawled upwards, and got onto the ground. It roared as it walked to Rod, looking down at it.

“Hello, Xenoslayer. How you doing? Well… we have a bit of a predicament. It’s handled, though. They’re finished. Aberration Kingdom… dealt with. Anyway…. Dread. Take it from here.” Rod said as he turned to Dread. Dread chuckled and walked towards the Reaper Queen. Serenity screamed and cried as she tried to kick Dread away, trying to get out. It was no use. Dread just couldn’t budge. His powers were insane. All that could weaken them was biotoxin.

“Xenoslayer. It has been a long time… since I had to use you. I didn’t think they’d return again. But they did. Serenity came back with some others… thinking this would be easy. Heh. It was a little hard. Losing Marison… having our base breached… we won, though. We won. Nothing can kill me under your power. Xenoslayer… you know what to do.” Dread sneered. He then threw Serenity down onto the ground. Gasping and exhausted, she tried to get up, then Xenoslayer sniffed her and roared deeply, then swung her tail and picked Serenity up with it before she could react. The only thing Sodden could hear was screaming. He continued bashing the force field with his sword, and Drake had morphed into a Theri to try and break through. Dread chuckled as he looked up at the force field. Itt blocked out noise from the outside, so they couldn’t hear Sodden panicking and trying to break the force field.

“Go ahead. Bash against the force field all you want. You ain’t going nowhere.” Dread sneered. He turned back to Serenity,, who had a big, thick spike deep in her chest. She kept trying to worm out of the tail, but to no avail. She whimpered as she looked away, gasping. Then the Reaper Queen growled deeply and then the organ in the front of the tail suddenly launched forward, inches from Serenity’s head.

“Ugh. You just won’t cooperate, huh? Fine. I’ll do it the hard way.” Dread sneered. He leaped up onto the tail, climbing up onto it, and he hung from the tail as he grabbed Sernity’s head and jerked it backwards. She started screaming in pain, trying to shake him off. It wasn’t working. Then the organ went all the way in and went straight into her mmouth, causing her scream to become even more high pitched. Blood spattered out of her mouth and her back was bleeding a lot. She gasped weakly as the emmbryo began to sneak its way into her esophagus. Sodden crouched down and looked down, horrified by the sight. He could hear everything, and he had tears in his eyes, praying it would stop. Sodden yelled in shock and terror, as he shut his eyes, covering his head with his hands. Dorack and the others looked away too, closing their eyes. They were too horrified to see the carnage. Blood came out of her mouth and back. As soon as the Reaper dropped Serenity, she was near unconscious and she had lost quite a bit of blood. Serenity was on the ground, sniffling and crying, with blood pouring out of her back. Then Dread grabbed her legs and dragged her into the base, and Rod followed him. They walked through the gates, and the gates slammed shut.

10:15 PM

Aberration Kingdom.

Absolute silence. That was what filled the throne room. Sylveevee was lying on a bed, coughing and gasping. Drake sat near her, and so did Moonhigh. Both were helping her out. Near the bed was Sodden, Skyocean, and Dorack. They sat on the steps to the throne. They were staring at the doors. Nal was in another room, a room designated to assist in recovering essence. Skyocean sighed.

“Well… that was… I honestly have no idea how we’re still alive.” Skyocean said. Sodden nodded.

“I agree. Dread is too strong to be killed manually. Did you see that? We could not do anything to him!” Sodden yelled. Dorack nodded.

“Yep. We’ll have to somehow get biotoxin into his body to damage his attributal essence so he can’t use it.” Dorack said. Meanwhile, Drake sat on a chair, next to a low bed, and Syl was lying on it, She was consicous but very weak. Sodden stood up and walked to Syl.

“Queen Syl… why? Why did you have to do that?” Sodden asked. Syl sighed.

“I… I don’t know. It was mainly impulsive. I… I just wanted to try and distract him. It kinda worked…” Syl gasped in exhaustion. Sodden scoffed.

“Yeah. Yeah. We got Nal back, but Serenity got impregnated again. We have to get that Reaper out as soon as we get her back. And we can’t let her heart stop. Otherwise… well.” Sodden said. Syl nodded.

“Yeah. When your heart stops, that’s enough to trigger a death message. But if you can restart it before essence decay kicks in, well,, that’s going to change the message from golden colored to a red color. But… it doesn’t matter if it involves Serenity’s name and a Reaper Queen. Terad will see it. No matter what color it is, he will know it happened. We cannot have that.” Syl said. Dorack then quickly walked over to Syl.

“Dude. Is Nal okay?” Dorack asked. Drake put his hand on Dorack’s shoulder, and stood up. He then smiled.

“Cooper, bring her in.” Drake said to his implant, sending a message to Cooper. Dorack gasped and shot his head to the door. Then the doors creaked open, and Coooper was walking in, holding someone in his left arm. She was on a wooden crutch, and she could barely walk. Cooper was helping her. It didn’t matter to Dorack, though. Nal was alive, and that was all he cared about. Dorack chuckled and sniffled in joy and relief. He then yelled in excitement and ran at Nal. Cooper chuckled and let go of Nal, then she groaned as she tried to stand up on the crutch, then Dorack grabbed her with his arms, embracing her. Nal gasped and turned to Dorack.

“Oh… I thought you were gone for good…” Dorack said, shedding some tears, his voice breaking. Nal chuckled.

“I saw the Creator quite a few times. I really thought that was it. Thanks, Dorack.” Nal said, smiling. Dorack chuckled.

“You are welcome. Oh, I don’t know what I would’ve done without you…” Dorack said, his voice breaking. Nal sighed and nodded softly. Dorack then let go of Nal, holding her arm, then walked to the bed holding Queen Syl.

“Well… it has been nearly two weeks since we talked. Uh, so Dread, that’s the guy who tried to kill us all, he made a device with organic biotoxin and injected it into some kind of needle, where he put it inside of your left wrist, right next to your implant. That’s how he got you. The rest… well, we’ll explain later. You need to recover.” Dorack explained. Nal nodded and sat down near Sodden, who was still sitting near Syl.

“Hey, Sodden. Did you get Reaper back?” Nal asked. Sodden chuckled.

“Yeah. Dread almost killed her twice. But she survived. Uh, the problem is, Serenity was captured and impregnated again. We have to get in there, kill Dread, and get her out.” Sodden explained. Nal nodded.

“Okay. Okay. And how do we do that?” Nal asked. Skyocean sighed and sat down.

“I don’t know. But we have to think of a plan. We do not have forever. Drake, can you update us on the people who are at Sodden’s base?” Skyocean asked. Drake nodded and stood up. He then walked forwards a bit, and turned to the others to talk.

“Okay. So, I think we just tell them to kill the raiders there. Dread will likely send some more troops to go to that base and raid it. That base is basically bait at this point. Then I think we will have to separate Dread from the others. We have to neutralize him and make sure he cannot fght back. Then we have to inject that biotoxin into his essence. If his essence stability drops below 50 percent, he can’t use his attributes. That’s going to leave him vulnerable to destruction. Sodden, you will use Reaper to distract him. I will help in doing so. Syl, Skyoceaan, Cooper, you guys will hold the outside of the base in case anyone comes back. This is our last chance, guys. Sodden… this is our last option. We lost quite a few soldiers and creatures today. I almost died twice down there. We almost lost our own queen again. Sodden, Dorack, Nal…” Drake said as he walked closer to the three. They looked up at Drake as he crouched down near them.

“This is all or nothing, guys. If this fails, that’s the end for you guys. You understand what we’re doing here, right?” Drake asked. Sodden nodded.

“Of course. But it doesn’t matter. We will fight until the end.” Sodden stated. Dorack and Nal nodded in agreement. Drake nodded and stood up.

“Okay. If that’s the case, then I guess we’ll be ready. I’ll get more energy brews for Syl. Cooper, you’re coming with me to pick up the device we’re gonna use on Dread. The rest of you… well, you’re going to have to make a plan of your own. This is your fight, after all.” Drake said. Cooper then stood up and walked besides Drake out of the room. Sodden sighed and turned to Dorack, who had his head down.

“Well… what now? What are we gonna do?” Sodden asked. Dorack shrugged.

“I… I don’t really know. I think the best option is leaving Nal here. She’ll be safe with Syl.” Dorack stated. Sodden sighed and nodded softly.

“Maybe. But… she has the best shotgun of any of us. She’s good with shotguns. And besides, what if someone sneaks in here?” Dorack asked nervously. Sodden sighed and put his hand on Dorack’s shoulder.

“She’ll be fine. Okay? We just need to do this one more time. Get Serenity back, get that Reaper out, and get the heck out of here.” Sodden said. Dorack sighed and nodded.

“Okay. Then how do we pin down Dread?” Dorack asked. Sodden looked around the place and then back at Dorack.

“We weaken him with Drake and Reaper, then I get that device into his implant, into his singularity. It’s the fastest way to weaken his essence. We justt need to find a way to distract him, leave him vulnerable. We have to make sure it works.” Sodden said. Then Nal turned around and sighed.

“Guys, what’s been going on? Like… I’ve been gone for almost two weeks. You sure are at a low point.” Nal said. Sodden sighed.

“Not exactly “low”. Just that things are really tense right now. We’ve had to do caves while avoiding Dread. Reaper almost died twice, and so did Sylveevee. Rod has been pushing us to the edge with so many horrible things… stuff they said, all that crap they went on and on about. I need someone to hold him down. And I’ll be the one to end Dread.” Sodden said. Dorack sighed and put his hand on Sodden’s shoulder.

“We’ll help you, don’t worry. Now… about getting in there…” Dorack said. Skyocean stood up and sighed.

“I’ll hold him off. I can’t morph into survivors who are dead for good, so I’ll have to do Dread again. It’s risky. But I am not letting you guys go down like this.” Skyocean stated. Sodden and Dorack looked at each other, then looked at Nal. She shrugged, then they looked back at Skyocean. Sodden then stood up, and looked at Skyocean.

“Do what you need. Whatever it takes to save our friend and get out of here alive.” Sodden said. Skyocean smiled and nodded.

“Got that.” Skyocean said. Then they heard the doors burst open. They all turned around quickly to see Cooper and Drakke walking into the room. Drake held a bag of energy brews, walking towards Syl. Cooper walked to Sodden and took something out of his bag. It was a thin needle, with a bright pristine glint on itts center and a diamond shape on the back. It had a black ring around the center ball, which glowed brightly with liquid organic biotoxin and organic polymer. Cooper then extended his arms to give it to Sodden.

“This is the only one we were able to make. These things are extremely valuable. Use it wisely.” Cooper said. Sodden nodded in affirmation as he picked up the device with his hands and set it down in his bag.

“The creatures are ready outside the gates. Drake will leave with Syl soon. When you’re ready, come out. Okay?” Cooper asked. Everyone nodded, and Skyocean walked with Cooper out of the room. Drake then lifted Syl up to carry her out of the room. They had to act fast. Dorack then walked to Sodden, putting his hand on his shoulder.

“Sodden, what are we gonna do when we get back to the Island?” Dorack asked. Sodden sighed softly.

“We just prepare to go to Ragnarok. And make sure we do not raise Terad’s suspicions.” Sodden said. Dorack nodded in agreement.

“Got that. And… what do we do if he finds out what’s happening?” Dorack asked. Sodden sighed.

“We just go straight to Ragnarok. Speedrun the Arks. We know what we can do. We just gotta not get caught.” Sodden explained. Nal walked to him and put her hand on his shoulder.

“And what about Extinction?” Nal asked.

“We fight until the very end. No matter what. And that is what we’re gonna do.” Sodden said with confidence. He then walked forward, and the others followed him to the door. This was all or nothing for them.

10:40 PM

10 minutes to sunset…

By this point, the sky had turned deep blue. It became bright pink on the edges, with orange going across the horizon. Aberration remained within the upper atmosphere, so it could see the colors from the sun, but it was nowhere near enough to protect from radiation. This was a rare occurence when it entered Earth’s atmosphere due to its slightly eccentric orbit. Its orbit never stayed the same. When Sodden and his friends left the walls, they saw Syl and Drake both morphed into a Rock Drake, Skyocean and Coooper sitting on Drake’s back, and they were pointed to the north. Sodden sighed as he looked up at Cooper, sitting on Drake’s back.

“Okay, guys. We gotta go now. I already told the raiders about the decision. I saw some golden death messages just now, along with some red messages. So that means the people who tried to break into your base, along with their creatures, are dead. Dread should have some troops going to Sodden’s base. Guys, you ready?” Drake asked. Sodden, Dorack, and Nal nodded in agreement, and Sodden put his bag down on the ground to take a hazard suit out of it. Dorack had two hazard suits in his bag, so he crouched down, took one out of the bag and threw the other one to Nal. Nal caught it and put it on her body.. So did Dorack and Sodden. They stood up, then walked to Syl, climbed up onto her back, and looked up at the sky.

“Okay, guys. Y’all good?” Drake asked. Dorack gasped and tapped Sodden’s shoulder.

“Wait. What about… what about the creatures? You know… it’s not called Journey Through All Creatures for nothing.” Dorack explained. Sodden sighed.

“We will have to return here to kill Rockwell and open the path to Extinction. We need other things for that. That isn’t our concern right now.” Sodden said. Dorack smiled and nodded. Syl yelled as she took off, gliding towards the ceiling, and so did Drake. Everyone held on tightly as they began to turn upside down. They slammed into the ceiling and walked across it, scouting out the area. And after a few minutes, they saw 2 Reaper Queens, along with 10 Rock Drakes, marching towards Sodden’s base. Across the blue zone cliffside, from the Red Zone’s lit up red path. They heard deep rumbling as they sat against the ceiling. They heard quiet beeping, and there were slight crackling noises.

“Uh… what’s going on up there?” Sodden asked. Syl smiled and chuckled.

“It’’s the final sunset and sunrise for almost 5 months for Aberration. This is the last time people can go up to the surface for drops. The Creator will send in 150 supply drops for survivors to collect. But there are way more creatures ready to emerge and of course, there will be conflicts between tribes. It looks even more insane since Aberration went into Earth’s upper stratosphere a few hours ago.” Syl said. Dorack gasped and chuckled softly as he stared at the ceiling.

“At least we have something to look forward to when we leave here.” Dorack said. Sodden grunted.

“That won’t matter if Terad sees a death message, even if it’s red. We need to go.” Sodden said.

“Okay. The troops are going, so we have to get to Dread’s base, break in, kill Dread, and get Serenity. Then we have to get that Reaper out. You ready?” Drake asked. Everyone grunted and nodded in agreement. Then Syl and Drake then began sprinting across the ceiling, into the Red Zone. It was to Dread’s base - one last time.