Dododex

ARK: Survival Evolved & Ascended Companion

Under Nirvana - An ARK

Chapter 9: Greater Good

Story by Bria!

Find the last chapter in SINOMACROPS and the next chapter in ROYAL GRIFFIN!

A smile came upon Nova’s face.

She laughed. She laughed, until tears spilt from her eyes. She laughed, until there was nothing left to laugh about. Borealis looked at her with a mixture of confusion and… fear.

“What’s so humorous? Spit it!”

“Yeah. You’re right. It is just a pathetic bird, is it not? I guess Ruby and Neddy will die. And Twinkle too. What a shame. It’ll be only us left, huh?”

“What are you doing—”

Nova ripped her arm away from Borealis. Borealis lunged his hand out to grab her again, but Nova swatted it away with all her might. She flashed a grin at him.

“Got ya,” Nova teased. “I don’t have a reason to stick around with you. So…”

Nova turned around, walking off. Borealis’ heart dropped. He took a step forward.

“Wait!”

“Wait what?” Nova smirked, looking back. “That was your ultimatum wasn’t it? I chose the second option. I will do just fine out here with my power.”

Nova placed her right hand in her pocket, her wrist still coarse to the touch against the white graduation robe. She knew otherwise, but Borealis didn’t.

“But you won’t. You have none.”

Borealis glared. “How did you know— it doesn’t matter! I am the greatest wrestler in all of Aqua High! I have dealt with pitiful things before. I am fine on my own!”

“Are you though? What about your little mess-up with the raptors? Hm? I’m sure you’ll be just fine out here, where even more sick things reside.”

Borealis thought he heard the roar of something big just then. He shook, his eyes widening again.

“Face it, Borealis, you need us more than we need you,” Nova said. “But!”

Nova turned around, walking back toward him. She held her hand out, a sly smile spreading across her lips.

“I would be lying if I said I’m not entertained by your current helplessness. Work with me… as an equal. And I won’t leave you to die whatever may be out here.”

HISSS! Something was coming. Nova lowered her hand.

“No? Fine by me. Your loss—”

“Okay! Okay, fine. We’re equals,” Borealis declared, firmly grabbing her hand and shaking. “But this does not change a thing about Ruby or Neddy. They are still below me. And now? They are below you too. Unless you wish to give up your status as equal…”

Nova scoffed. She knew Borealis was trying to gain advantage of the situation, with what little room he had to work with, but she didn’t mind this change of attitude if it meant keeping him under control.

Besides, it’s not like he knew what she really wanted out of this world anyway. She did not seek a greater good like Borealis did.

“That is fine by me. Twinkle is off limits. Ruby and Neddy are fair game.”

Borealis let go of Nova’s hand. Nova wiped it on her robe. Borealis let out a huff, looking back at the hill they had just run down.

“We best head back now, lest there be nothing but remains.”

Nova nodded in agreement. “That’s one thing we can agree on…”

She drew her bow. Borealis cracked his knuckles. The two rushed up the hill again, holding their breaths in.

~

“Okay… I just gotta breathe,” Neddy muttered. He aimed at a microraptor, and released the string from his weak grip. The arrow dropped right onto the grass beneath him. The microraptors all looked at one another with chuckles, walking past Ruby’s body and toward Neddy instead. Neddy cursed to himself and readied another arrow.

“Gosh diggity darn it Neddy, stop being so useless!” Neddy howled at himself.

Just then, warm rays of light struck her on the shoulder, and he looked back to see the little dodo bird’s chest aimed at him. Twinkle let out a squawk, and Neddy’s mind suddenly cleared. It was like a state of calm in the moment of the storm.

“I feel… awakened,” Neddy mumbled. He aimed at the same microraptor and fired an arrow at it again. It soared through the air and struck it right in the head! The creature collapsed to the ground, and the other buggers let out shrill cries and began their attack.

Neddy, in a state of panic, began randomly shooting arrows at the incoming horde. Seven ended up dead but the other four still remained. Neddy tried to fire another arrow at one of the microraptors, his mind still cleared of all things bad, but…

SNAP! The handle of the bow shattered. Neddy whimpered. He pulled out the small stone arrows as the other four microraptors closed in. Neddy’s arms began to shake as one lunged at him. SHRIEEEK! Neddy let out a cry and slapped the microraptor away. When it fell to the floor, Neddy stomped it with his barefoot, surprisingly squishing it. The second and third microraptor lunged at the same time, but Neddy jumped up and smashed his soles into the birds. Blood squelched from underneath, coating his feet.

“WOAH!” Neddy shouted, slipping and falling onto his back. The final microraptor shrieked and lunged at Neddy’s lower body, toward a place incredibly unsuitable for wounds. Unhinged jaw, Neddy closed his eyes and braced for the imminent pain…

POW!

“HA! That’s for the concussion”

Ruby was standing up, her fist was outstretched, and it was steaming from the punch. The creature’s mouth was bubbling with some weird foam, and Neddy gagged at it. Poor Twinkle… twinkled at the sight.

Ruby reached her hand out to Neddy. No words needed to be exchanged. Neddy held onto it and Ruby pulled him up. Neddy brushed the dirt off his bare body, giving Ruby a big grin and two thumbs-up.

“So… a thank you for saving you?” Ruby smirked.

“Yes. I was about to say thank you for the help. I don’t know what I’d do if it…” Neddy trailed off, deeply off-put by the hypothetical. Ruby laughed.

“I’m kidding. I’m the one who should be thanking you for staying back while that grunt ran off…. Wait, where’s Nova?”

Neddy looked around in confusion.

“I’m not sure. I think she went with him.”

Twinkle shook his head, but nobody else seemed to realize. Ruby and Neddy kept talking.

“Really? That doesn’t seem like her. She’d never go with Borealis willingly. She was even trying to help us earlier,” Ruby reasoned.

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t blame her if she did leave though,” Neddy said. “But we still need to find Borealis.”

“We? Do we really, though? We did just fine against the microraptors,” Ruby said, putting her hands on her hips. Neddy looked back with a glint of sadness.

“We barely made it. I… I need to find him. It’s okay. You don’t need to come with.”

“Ugh. Fine. We’ll look for him. But only because Nova is probably with him! I’d like to figure out why she’d ever go with him while leaving us behind.”

Ruby picked a few of the corpses up, stuffing them into her pouch. It was already starting to get full. A few more dragonflies were beginning to fly in to feast.

“Okay, I’m ready to go,” Ruby said.

“Which way did they go…?” Neddy asked himself, looking from the hill to the forest.

“Let’s just go into the forest,” Neddy decided. “I’ll use my implant tracker to see if they’re nearby. If not, we’ll turn back and go the other way.” Ruby nodded.

“Okay. Into the forest we go then.”

The two began to walk off, all while Twinkle stayed behind, unmoving. Ruby turned around and called out to the bird.

“Hey, aren’t you going to come with us?” Ruby shouted. But Twinkle stayed put. Ruby and Neddy looked at each other. With a shrug, they just continued walking away, deeper into the thick forest.

“I guess he only listens to Nova,” Neddy realized.

“Yeah, it’s fine though. We can always return for him later when we regroup with the others.”

~

Unbeknownst to Neddy and Ruby though, Nova and Borealis were nowhere near the forest. In fact, Nova and Borealis had just arrived at their former campsite.

“Where did they go?” Borealis asked as they arrived. There was no trace of anyone there except a few Megaraptor corpses, some dragonflies, loose arrows, and…

“Twinkle! There you are, little guy,” Nova said excitedly, picking the bird up. Twinkle buried his beak into Nova’s neck in a rather intimate matter, like a dog would with his master.

“You know where they went, Twinkle?” Nova asked him as he pulled away from her.

Borealis snorted. “I highly doubt such an unintelligent creature would understand you.”

Twinkle made a weak squeaking noise, lifted his wings, then pointed in the direction of the forest. Nova smirked, turning back to Borealis smugly.

“Or not?” Nova grinned. “Come on. They probably went looking for us.”

Just then, loud footsteps came pounding their way, accompanied by much smaller ones. The dragonflies flew off in response. Borealis raised his fists, and Nova pulled her string back.

“Who’s there?” Borealis roared.

“Don’t worry, bro, I’m here!” a deep, yet rather jubilant voice responded. A few seconds later a gang of three emerged from the forest. A black-haired boy with a buzz cut, black suit, and tie twirled a spear around in his hands. A tall, skinny man with a poorly trimmed goatee raised a stone pickaxe, and the most distinct of all… a huge, shirtless, tattooed man who didn’t look any younger than forty. He had tattoos all along his arms, back, chest. There were even tattoos running down his neck, and some down his cheeks.

“Who the f*ck are you?” Nova questioned. “There’s no way you’re graduating! And you’re not a teacher either!”

“Correct! I was a parent, a spectator!. I rushed into the sea of students, looking for my boy, but I saw him nowhere! NOWHERE! It was outrageous!”

The other two boys nodded nervously, squirming in their shoes.

“Fool,” Borealis spat. “Your son was probably too stupid to graduate. That’s why you didn’t see him.”

Nova shot a look at him. “Hey! Watch it!”

The tattooed man twitched.

“You dare insult my baby boy? Okay then! Show me what you got, if you’re so high and mighty!”

The one in the black suit stepped forward, but the tattooed man quickly stopped him.

“Stay back, Brad, Michael… this one’s on the house.”

The tattooed man pounded his fists together. Borealis tensed up. Nova’s hands shook as the tattooed man flashed a wicked grin.

“SHOW BIG JACK WHAT YOU’RE MADE OF!” he howled.

“TELL BIG JACK YOUR TRUE NAME!”