Journey Through All Creatures

Chapter 18: Caverns of Lost Hope

Note: Story starts in Achatina, ABC The Island for Section I and has a Prologue. Last chapter in Otter, next chapter in Phiomia

Chapters to the end of Section I: 7

Cave Chapters: Part 2/5

After over two hours, Sodden, sitting on the pteranodon soaring high above the island, approached the wetlands shore in the east. He set his pteranodon down on one of the sandy spots of the shore, near the dirty water filled with piranhas and sarcosuchuses. Sodden put his pteranodon in a cryopod and took out another cryopod. He threw it out and a Diplocalus came out. It was purple on the head, orange on the back, and lime on the belly. It was one of Rod’s mutated Diplocaluses. Sodden got on the Diplocalus and swam dowm to the bottom of the ocean. The Diplocalus’ air sac released a tube and Sodden held it in his mouth and nose so that the Diplo could give Sodden the oxygen. They swam towards the cave entrance. “Okay. We gotta go fast.” Sodden said. He rode the Diplo quickly through the cave tunnels and past the eels, who were trying to catch up. There were some alpha Megalodons coming, but they got stuck in some rocks and Sodden was able to make it through the tunnels and into the first large chamber. He saw some tusos coming and went to the ceiling to avoid the tusos, then some plesios and mosas started coming from the front. Sodden went straight for the ground tunnels and got above ground. He looked around to see a hole in the ground, deep under the water, that would lead him to the artifact. But it was getting colder as he got deeper, and the flak wouldn’t protect him against that kind of thing. His health stat was nothing to be happy about, only 210 health. Sodden sat at Level 71, so that wasn’t really the best, but still pretty decent. It still wouldn’t last if he was slowed down, and there were going to be eels, cnidarias, and probably mosas and sharks down in the artifact chamber. He had to quickly grab the artifact and speed swim out of the cave, because he couldn’t lose his levels. He was so close to being able to do bosses, and he still had two caves to do, both of which were insanely difficult. Then he had an idea. He saw a red drop earlier in the cave. If he could grab the artifact and manage to grab the drop, he could get something good. Hopefully something that would help him in the Strong cave. He looked down at the hole in the ground and dived in, speeding through the creatures going for him. He swam through the coming crowd of eels and sharks and went through another hole, and saw the artifact container. He approached it and took out a stick to lift up the lid, and it fell off. He quickly took out the artifact and swam around the mosas and eels and megalodons. He was approaching the red drop when a Tuso showed up and tried to grab the diplo. Sodden threw out a Basilo to distract it and went right for the drop. He opened it and took out a fur chestpiece. He then got caught by the eels, but before they could kill the Diplo, Sodden threw out two more Basilos to kill the eels and stop them from getting Sodden. He and his Diplo swam straight for the cave entrance and left the cave. The Diplo was hurt, Sodden lost 60% of his health because of the cold, but he got out with the artifact and that was all he cared about. He reached the surface, put his hurt Diplo in the cryopod, and sat down on the sandy beaches, dripping wet and bruised on the back. He looked up and took another cryopod out, and threw it, and his pteranodon came out. He got on and was about to fly back when someone came out of the jungle and yelled for him. “Dude! Hey. I haven’t seen you in a while. Wow. You are bruised. What the heck went down?” The person said. He sat on a Giga, who just ran from the trees. Sodden looked to see Nesan on it. “Hey. Been a while. I just finished the Artifact of the Cunning.” Sodden said. “Dang. That’s one heck of a cave. I hear you’re getting ready to fight the bosses and ascend.” Nesan said. “Yeah… I don’t have that figured out yet. How will we do all that under the covers? Like, without Terad seeing?” Sodden said. “I don’t know. Rod might help you a little. I hear he gave you the Diplocaluses. He really likes them. They’re part of a group of creatures Rod has. Is he still here? The Diplo?” Nesan asked. “Oh, yeah. He’s on me and well alive.” Sodden said. “Good. Well, I guess you gotta go, so…” Nesan said. Sodden nodded, then Nesan turned his Giga around to leave. They walked into the jungle. Sodden took out a shotgun, shot down a Paraceratherium and nearby Pachyrhinosaurus, then got on his pteranodon and set out for Nudon.

As he approached Nudon, he set his pteranodon down on the redwoods river shore near the hills to regain stamina. Sodden shot down a nearby parasaur, then took off again when his pteranodon was ready to fly more. As he got close to the volcano, he stopped again at a river right next to the volcano base for stamina, and as he was waiting a pegomastax ran at him and leaped, snatching some arrows. Sodden turned and saw the pego running with a handful of arrows, then got off and shot it down with the shotgun. He grabbed back his arrows and got back on his pteranodon to go back to Nudon.

When he arrived back at the base and put his pteranodon in the cryopod, he walked to the castle, and Red stood in the doorway. “You’re back. Okay. Come with me.” Red said. He walked towards the forge room and Sodden followed him. They both went to the room and to the map on the wall across the room. “Well… you got two caves left. The Swamp Cave is very dangerous. We don’t have very good Megatheriums, but I think Rod would be glad to help you. And the snow cave, the Strong Cave… well, we gotta think about how you’re going to do that cave.” Red said. “We could use cryopods to get a Rex through the cave, destroying every creature there.” Sodden said. “Yeah, but we also have to consider how stupidly cold it is down there.” Red said. Sodden took out a fur chestplate and gave it to Red. Red looked around it. “Hmm. Oh, my god. Yeah, we got good news and bad news. This thing has 210 cold resist, which is insane… but 130 durability, which is absolutely terrible for its level.” Red said. Sodden gasped. “Okay. Even one Purlovia could destroy it super quickly. I think the ideal thing to do is bring two Rexes and a Yuty. The Yuty would be used to get Purlovias out of their burrows, then the Rexes can handle them.” Red said. “Okay. You got some good fur armor?” Sodden said. “Well… we do have leggings and a lot of Angler Gel that we have stored in our storage room. You could use them to keep yourself warm but you still need to be careful. These bears and wolves could break these armor pieces easily. If you want to make it in and out with all your levels, you gotta be smart.” Red said. Then they heard knocking on the door and Red walked towards it. He opened the door and Rod came in. “Oh, thanks for keeping my sweet Renda safe. I worked for weeks to get that mutation! I doubt she’d be any use to you now, so…” Rod said as he held out his hand. “Uh, yeah. Okay. So that’s the Diplo’s name?” Sodden said. “Yeah. It took me over 5 weeks to get these mutations out and on one Diplo. I knew I could trust you with her.” Rod said. “Yeah.” Sodden said. He took out the cryopod containing the Diplo and gave it to Rod. Rod put it in his bag just then. “Okay, so I came here to help you with the swamp cave. That thing is one heck of a cave. I have some good Megatheriums. The plan would be for you to take one Megatherium to clear out the bugs, then use the other to kill the arthros. That way, you’d be able to get the artifact safely. There’s a shortcut in the first chamber and it’ll get you the artifact without having to face the other one.” Rod said. Sodden nodded. “Well… it’s getting late in the afternoon. You want to wait until tomorrow?” Rod said. “Nah. I gotta do this best as I can. The more I stall, the more suspicious Terad gets. I can’t have that.” Sodden said. Then Serenity came into the room. “That is true. I got some of Nudon’s best tribemates to go out and get some good Rexes and Theris. We will need them. I think a good time to leave is when you’ve completed all the caves and we’re about ready to do bosses. I’d be able to leave Terad and go with you, so as long as he doesn’t catch us, we’ll be fine.” Serenity said. Sodden nodded. Rod gave Sodden three cryopods. “These are some of my best Megatheriums. Don’t worry. They’re easily replaceable unlike the Diplo.” Rod said. Sodden nodded and took the cryopods. He walked out the castle, threw his pteranodon out, then got on. The others walked to him and said, “Good luck!” Sodden nodded then took off for the swamp cave.

Two caves down…

Two to go…

-RelatingHen8906

PS: Did you know the Arks, including The Island, are bigger in this story than they are in the normal game?