RWBY's .A.R.K.

[Kaprodonychus]

3 hours ago, Shadlos said:

Hello everybody I have a quick announcement.

 

When it comes to my Hiatus with writing the story, it is because of the new biome update. The next part of the story is going to take place at the Great Peak, also known as the grand Peak to some. However this area is going to be changing into the Redwoods Forest. I am simply waiting until this update drops so I can see and explore the environment firsthand and see how it will affect my story. If the environment changes to drastically I will at the very least combined the current Great Peak with the Redwood Forest Area. However I will see if I can try and incorporate the non redwoods Forest part of what I have already written as its own chapter. If not then I apologize.

 

Thank you and keep surviving!

I understand. I've paused my chapter too cause I believe that once I finish chapter 7, it'll be too short. So I'm thinking of ways to expand it like the other chapters. But I could be run and I'm going bonkers. Can't wait for your new chapter!

[Kaiju_Lord]

Damn u e3 why do u have to make us wait for the next update. Whatevs can't wait for the next chapter. May the stuff and things be with u.

[rpicardi1]

Have been tied up all week so The Center exploration has been on hold as well. There is a Giga killing everything on the map and I ran into these in the water entrance cave where you can take a raft inside. I'll take Ronda Two into that cave for further exploration soon.

After they get done with the floating island, they will head for this cave.

Ronda Two, the new addition last night.

[Shadlos]

Hello everybody I have another announcement.

 

When it comes to the new chapter, I am tired of leaving you guys have such a long wait. The Redwoods Forest part of the chapter is going to be turned into its own new chapter and the non Redwood Forest Part is going to be expanded to make it a little longer, and thus make more sense as its own stand-alone chapter. I am doing this because on the 21st 22nd and 23rd of this month I'm going to be leaving on a trip. Why? Because the 19th of this month, June, is my birthday. As a present to all of you for being such great supporters and fans I am going to push myself to my very limit to make sure that this next chapter drops exactly on the 19th: my birthday, and thus my present to all of you. Thank you all so much for being so tolerant and understanding!

 

Keep on Surviving!

[Xdrone]

Happy Bday! My bday was at june 8 so have fun on ur trip. I am starting to have patience, since i started waiting for updates in fanfiction . com

 

[Shadlos]

(FRIGGIN LORD! This took forever to crank out! X_X regardless, here it is!)

 

- Chapter 12-

Blake and I continue our trek towards the swamp. After crossing our stone bridge, we continue onward up the coast. It takes a little more than half an hour until we reach our intended destination. There's a massive lake ahead, and beyond that, a deep swamp. In the outer edges of the swamp's forest we see a familiar sight: Paracers, grazing along the forest's perimeter. The lake itself is fairly pretty. I find myself enraptured by it for a moment. Suddenly, Blake whistles. “Hey, steer clear of the lake.”

 

“What's up?” I ask

 

“Look.” She says pointing. I look the direction she's pointing...and I can make out around EIGHT different wild Sarcosuchus. Some are on the distant opposite shore, and some patrol the water of the lake. I shudder “Well then...let's try and keep out of a fight with them, hmm?”

“Only for how long, though?” Blake asks. “We're bound to get in a massive fight with something sooner or later.”

 

“Maybe when we're just better off.” I suggest. “Anyway, there's a really tall tree up ahead.” I say, pointing to a very tall cypress that stands alone in the middle of a field. “Think it could give you a vantage point?”

 

“Shouldn't be too hard to climb.” Blake replies. We ride on over to the base of the Cypress, before Blake dismounts Bari and jumps up onto the trunk of the tree. She takes out her weapons and begins to use the blades on them to help her climb the limbless Cypress to it's upper branches. I keep a watchful eye on her and our surroundings as she climbs into the tops of the tree. Once near the top, she begins to climb up using the branches of the Cypress. Finally at a high altitude, she leans on the trunk of the tree as she stands on a branch, then takes out her spyglass and begins to look around. “See anything?” I holler up.

 

“Somewhat...” Blake replies. “It appears farther up this side of the swamp there's a shallow area...that looks safe enough to cross. To be honest, looks like the safest way across.”

 

“Regardless....it's still through the swamp?”

 

“Yes, Ruby.” She says, with a teasing grin and looking down on me, spyglass on her hips. “It's still through the torpedo-leech-infested swamp.”

 

I shudder. “Greaaaat...go us. Maybe we can move faster than the torpedo leeches?”

“We could....i don't know about Gustave, though.”

 

“True...and we're probably going to be bringing Petra, Gamuto, and Titania through here, too...did anything in Annie's various notes say about removing or dealing with leeches?”

 

“There's something about a 'bug replellant' that masks your detection by certain animals, especially invertebrates. Yet if you still got close, they'd get you. As for direct leech removal...I'm pretty sure it said Fire or Precision Bladework.”

 

“So either burn it off or cut it off?”

“Yeah, from what I saw.”

 

“Alright-!” My eye catches something right above Blake moving in the trees. “Blake!” I holler. “You're not alone up there!”

 

Immediately she turns and looks up into the tree. Something begins to lower down to “greet” her...the head of a massive snake. It hisses and flares out a Dilophosaurus-like frill, before lunging at Blake. Blake easily dodges the attack, only to come face-to-face with another one of the snakes. My eye can make out three in the tree with Blake, each one must be around 25-35 ft long. Blake quickly begins to try and scurry down the tree, but it's a bit of a high jump, even for her. “Ruby!” she yells. “Cut the tree!”

“What?!”

“I'll be ok! Do it!”

 

Without another hesitation, I unsheathe Ancient Rose and deliver a vicious slash at the base of the tree. That one slash cuts the tree completely at an angle, as it begins to fall away from me and our mounts. Blake begins to start running down the tree as it falls, the snakes chasing after her. Just before the tree slams on the ground, Blake jumps, landing deftly next to me. The impact of the tree completely crushes one snake, trapping another, and scaring the hell out of the last. One simple shot from Ancient Rose puts the one surviving snake down, and a few shots from Blake's Final Gambit are what puts the trapped “Titanoboa” out of it's misery. “Heh, Glad you're alright from all that.” I tell Blake. “That...whole moment there kinda remembered me of back on Remnant.”

 

“Just because we're on the ARK, Ruby, doesn't make us any less of Huntresses.” Blake says with a smile.

“I know.” I say, returning her smile. “So. Guess we'll take care of these?”

“I've heard snake is pretty tasty meat, myself...so I'd guess. The hide should come in handy, if anything.”

So, with our mounts on guard, we begin to carve these massive snakes. A few moments later, Blake looks up. “Hey Ruby?”

“Hm?”

 

“Do you know one of the main differences between venomous and non-venomous snakes?”

“Other than....venom?”

“Yes, other than that.”

“Well, don't boas and stuff crush their prey with a death-hug?”

 

Blake chuckles from that. “Somewhat. Take a look here...” She lifts up a Titanoboa's head, and opens it's mouth. Inside there are four rows of sharp, backwards-facing teeth in it's maw. “In the sake of constrictors, they have a mouth full of backwards-facing teeth which grab onto prey and prevent the prey's escape. That's why the first initial strike is so important: get as much of the prey in your mouth as you can. That's when the snake starts wrapping it's coils around you, trying to crush you to death. When you finally die, that's when the snake swallows it's prey whole. Venomous snakes also have the same rows of teeth, but they're smaller, save for the fangs that inject their potent venom.”

“Huh. Cool.” I say, admiring what i'm learning.

 

“Aside from that, what's strange is this boa can barely unhinge it's jaws...the teeth are also meant for digging into flesh, then ripping out, if you can't see here...” Blake says, pointing. “That and the fact that many of the teeth are hollow...”
 

“Hollow?”

“Yes. They secrete a tranquilizing venom, like the scorpion. Did you notice how powerful the muscles in these snakes are?”

“Yeah, I did.” I reply “Cutting through them was a bit of an issue. They were really tough.”

 

“This whole snake is incredibly muscular, even for Snake standards...” Blake says, going off into thought. “That must mean...damn.”
 

“What?”

 

“The way these things must kill sounds like something a Grimm would be doing...”

“What are you saying?”

 

“It sinks in as much of it's fangs as it can, then, using sheer force, rips chunks out of the victim, while also injecting it's tranquilizing venom. So, the victim either gets torn apart, or if lucky, falls asleep before being torn to pieces.”

 

“...that...is a definite no for me.” I say with a bit of a shudder. “Definite, definite no. So...yeah.”

 

“Heh, i'm surprised these things could even be supported by the tree's branches. They look to heavy for the majority of the branches up there.”

 

“I guess that's why they're called Titanoboa.”

 

“Speaking of...these are smaller than the Titanoboa I've read bout.”

“Really?”

 

“Titanoboa was equal in length to a Rex. These are shorter.”

 

“Well, Ark's already thrown us curveballs like that before...like Quru.”

“I swear the majority of these animals were engineered somehow by the Overseers.” Blake notes, beginning to carve the snake in her grasp. “Petra's spikes are uncharacteristic for an Ankylosaurus; Gamuto's tusks defy what's known about how teeth branch and function; Malachi is smaller than an actual dilophosaurus, has a frill, and spits venom; these Titanoboa are smaller and have frills; Scorpions, Ogre Darners, and Snakes have tranquilizing venom....I could go on.”

“You...kinda did.” I said with a tease and a wink, before bending down and helping her with her snake. Our pets are close by, ready to protect us in case of attack. I'm bending down with Blake, when soon I start to hear a buzzing. It's a low buzz, that gets really close very quickly. It sounds like something buzzing in my ear. Blake and I look up to see a large dragonfly, a Meganuera, circling above. It's wingspan is a little more than a foot...and it keeps flying in circles above us. “Ok, now that's annoying.” I say, irritated. “Back off!” I swat the Meganuera with the back of my hand, and it responds by biting the back of my middle finger. “OW!” I shriek, yanking my hand away. Blake, in a quick reflex, pulls out only one of her weapons, and slashes at the Meganuera, cutting it in half. She re-adjusts her focus on me. “You ok, Ruby?” She asks me. I'm sucking on part of my finger, despite my metal gauntlet. “Yeah, I am...that guy got me right between the plates on my glove!”

 

“At least you're ok. How are you feeling?”

 

I check my inventory, and the word next to my “Status” terrifies me. My skin turns white and my blood runs cold “I...I'm poisoned.”

 

“What?!”

 

“My...stamina is going down quickly.” I note. “I...guess that explains how tired I feel.”

 

“ C'mon, let's get you home.” Blake says, helping me to my feet. Just then, I check my inventory again. “Hey...it stopped.” I say, checking over my stats.

“Wait...it stopped?”

 

“Yeah...my stamina's going back up.”

 

Blake pauses a moment, then seems to grasp the concept. “Tranquilizing venom on some creatures, then stamina-draining poison on others?...For something like those Dragonflies, it's ingenious.”

 

“Why do you say that?”

 

“I've seen them on Cragg's island, even had one land on my hand. They're completely passive unless there's fresh meat...i guess they're like Carrion Flies. Attracted to flesh and turns aggressive when near a carcass. If it's fighting for whatever was just killed, it would have to deal with the predator. So the dragonflies swarm both carcass and predator. Each time they bite they hit with their stamina-draining venom. Each time the predator flails to attack, it uses it's own stamina. This happens to the point that the Meganuera cause the predator to collapse due to exhaustion, and then causing them to be eaten....alive...”

 

She trails off at that end sentence. “What?!” I ask “What is it?!?” She's staring past me...and then I hear it.

 

Buzzing.

Lots. Of Buzzing.

 

Then I realize. We're surrounded by Meganuera.

 

They swarm the both of us and begin biting us from everywhere. Immediately our pets try to come to our rescue, but their bites and slashes don't do much, as the Meganuera seem to just dodge them easily. Suddenly, I can hear Blake's voice over the buzzing.

 

“RUBY GET DOWN!”

 

I instinctively drop, crushing a Dragonfly on the way down. I hear Blake whistle, and then all of our pets retreat a decent distance. Then I notice Blake has quickly thread a small rope through a ring at the end of one of her gun's grip. Suddenly she leaps up around ten feet into the air, letting go of the rope. The rope itself is also around that same length. She then begins spinning, swinging her blade around at a speed so fast I can barely even track it. All I see are the splatters of blood from Meganuera everywhere as they're slashed to pieces. I've seen Blake do this before with Gambol Shroud back home on Remnant. It's only a few brief seconds, but Blake's cut down every single meganuera. There must have been around fifty of them! Blake lands deftly, her gun in one hand, and her other hand on the ground, as she's landed in a crouched position. Blake struggles to try and stand, but she's exhausted after having so much poison injected into her body. I try and reach for my inventory, taking out a bowl of stimulant. “Here.” I say weak “It'll help.”

 

She takes the bowl quickly and drinks a slight bit of it. She immediately closes her eyes, scrunches her face, and shakes her head. “Weiss wasn't kidding when she said it has a kick...” she says in disgust, then hands it back to me. “Here. Have a taste of your own medicine.”

“Heh...With...pleasure..” I say hesitantly, before drinking a slight bit myself. The taste is absolutely terrifying and bitter, even gritty. I spring onto my feet, dropping and spilling the bowl on the ground. “Ok that's NASTY!” I shriek, quickly taking out a water jar that I had made to replace my waterskin, and taking a nice, hardy drink. “Hahhh..” I say, wiping my mouth. “Much better...”

 

“at least we'll have Chitin for a while...” Blake says, looking at the mass bodies of Meganuera. The majority of the bodies are sliced up. I take a look around, eventually, my eyes lock on one that Blake seems to have killed by slicing it's underbelly, but it's still enough to keep the dragonfly whole. “Hey look!” I say, pointing “You didn't cut that one up!”

 

Blake turns and sees the dead dragonfly. “Hm. So I didn't.”

“Lemme see...” I say, reaching out to grab the dead dragonfly. I take this as a good opportunity to look at the dragonfly's anatomy and see how different it looks from normal ones. Just as my hand is about to touch it, there's a short, somewhat low sound. Next I know something long and pink grabs the head of the dragonfly and yanks it away from me. I look up, startled, to lock eyes with....a giant frog. About 5 ft away, there's this really big frog, so big it's bigger than me if I were to ball up on the ground...probably big enough to ride. It's got a dark black color with a white underbelly, amber eyes, and yellow stripes on it's body. It also has a few small spines on it's head. Apparently, it's a wild male “Beelzebufo”, a lvl 56 one. We're staring directly at each other, and the frog's throat seems to pulse with it's hurried breathing.

 

“Frog!” I say with a smile. “Superfrog!”

 

The Beelzebufo lets out a long, slow croak. Blake, behind me, looks at our new visitor. “He's...big.” she says “I guess that's because he eats the bugs of the island...”

“Probably.” I say, looking to my left, and picking up half a meganuera. As I expected, the Beelze shoots out it's tongue with another croak, snatching it from my hand. I laugh this time, finding it funny. “Wierdly enough,” I say “I find him cute.”

 

“Cute?” Blake asks. “Giant frog, cute?”

 

“Yup. You try feeding him!”

 

Blake looks down and sees another meganuera body. She bends down and picks it up, then whistles as she stands with it. The frog notices, then lashes out with his tongue again, which flies right by my head, grabs the bug in blake's hand, and then eats it. That tongue is lightning-fast. And strangely enough....it likes us feeding it. We take a few moments to continue to feed it the meganuera and have fun with it. Soon enough, it seems quite content and friendly with us. “Isn't this cool?!” I say, now sitting on my knees next to the big frog. Blake nods “Interesting, for sure...and that tongue of his is quite amusing. Seeing normal frogs do it naturally is interesting enough, but seeing that scaled up to this size is...i will admit, quite funny.”

 

“So. I think if we keep this up we'll tame him.” I say. “What do you think is a good name for him?”

 

“For a frog?....Pierre.”

 

“Pierre The Superfrog...”

 

“Yes, the Beelzebufo.”

“I shall forever call it a Superfrog.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

“Yes!” I say smiling “Victory for superfrog!” I then hug Pierre behind his head, and he seems to like it....but then immediately I note...he's covered in clear, sticky mucus. I slowly pry myself off of him “EWW! Superfrog slime!!” I say in disgust, trying to pry myself off. Blake busts out laughing “Guess that backfired, didn't it?”

 

“I guess...” I say, now free of my sticky bindings. “So I guess I can't hug...super...” I start rocking back and forth, tired, on my knees. Blake tilts her head, visibly concerned. “Ruby??...are you feeling ok?”

 

“Can't...hug.....super....super....sleepy.”

 

and with that, i'm out cold on the dirt.

 

 

I wake up with my face in the dirt. I quickly sit up, spitting a few times and brushing my face of frantically. I hear Blake's laughter. “about time you woke up.” she says, closing a book. I groan “Ok, how long was I out for this time?...”

 

“Hm? About an hour and a half....”

 

“Why is it every time I get konked out I don't take it well?!” I groan, flopping my arms to my side. Blake snickers “Well, you DID hug a Beelzebufo for a solid...what? Five seconds? With the mucus covering their bodies having a narcotic effect...not surprised you were out for so long. Or out so cold. There was another titanoboa attack while you were out...five of them this time, and despite all the roars from the pets, you wouldn't wake up. Guess that means you sleep pretty well then, hmm?”

 

“Sorta...like a rock....hmm?”

 

I just now noticed Blake's been lying on the ground, her head resting on the body of...something. It looks like a large lizard, with a sail on it's back. It seems to like Blake leaning on it. “What's that you got there?”i say smiling “a new friend?”

 

“Mm-hmm.” She says nodding, then sitting straight. “This Dimetrodon here came around shortly after you passed out. I tamed him passively like I did Pierre...i named him Regulus, because of his sail, which regulates the body temperature of himself and others near him.”

 

“Wait, so he's...a living AC unit?”

 

“Yes, basically.”

 

“Cool...speaking of...where's Pierre?”

 

no sooner than I had said that, Pierre croaked, and I turned, seeing him with a saddle on his back.

“Wait, there's a saddle on him?” I ask “Is that safe?”

 

“Actually, yes. The Saddle prevents the narcotic's effects...you should be ok.”

 

“So....I can ride a frog?”

 

“Yes. You want to give it a shot?”

 

“Sure. It's probably something i'll get a huge kick out of.”

 

“Knowing you...” Blake says with a sigh. “Go on ahead.”

 

I slowly get up onto my feet, then walk over to Pierre. I look at the strange saddle, and it appears i'm supposed to ride him sitting on my knees...alright then. I slowly climb onto his back, then grab the small reigns at the top of the saddle. Blake tilts her head as she stands. “Comfy?” she asks me.

 

“About...as much as I think I am.” I say. I look around a moment, and turn Pierre towards the direction which we came from. I give a slight tug on the reigns, and instantly, he hops forwards a distance of about ten feet. I immediately stop, then turn towards Blake. She has a look on her face that tells of the complete ridiculousness she saw, barely holding back any laughter. I've got a similar grin on my face, and I look down at the reigns of Pierre's saddle...i tug on them again, and I start hopping around on Pierre. I've got a huge grin on my face as I find this incredibly amusing. Blake can't contain it anymore, and covers her face with her right hand, laughing, and shaking her head. “That...that just looks ridiculous!” she says.

 

“This is awesome!!” I say, continuing to hop around them in circles. I'm even having so much fun doing this, I'm finding myself saying “Boing” each time Pierre hops. Blake and our pets seem very amused to see me so happy. Just then, I get an idea, and turn towards them.

 

“Boing...boing...boing...BOIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNGG!”

 

On that last boing, I pull up on the reigns of Pierre's saddle. On Ember I do this to tell her to jump. Pierre does similarly, leaping high into the air in one giant superboing, leaping over Blake and the rest of our pets. The entire jump must have been about 50 or 60 feet! Pierre lands easily on the ground, and I turn him towards Blake, who nods, and claps a few times. “Bravo.” she says “You must really be enjoying yourself.”

“I am!” I say with a mischievous grin on my face. “I'm not getting off until we're back home!!”

 

“Very well...although I don't think you'll like our lower pace home this time.”

 

“Why's that?”

 

“Regulus.” she says, pointing. “He is...VERY slow. Even when he 'sprints'.”

 

“Oh? Is that so?”

 

“I'm afraid so.”

 

“Well, then Gustave can give him a piggy back ride!”

 

Just then, Gustave looks towards me quickly and makes a short growl as if to say “Wait, what?”

I laugh. “C'mon, Gustave! Gotta be nice to the new guy!” He growls as if saying “alright, fine.”, then Regulus rises off the ground, and with Blake's help, gets situated on Gustave's back. Once again, Gustave isn't encumbered by having such weight on him. “That's our strong supergator!” I say with a smile. “You go, Gustave!” He seems to give a happier growl with that, as Blake climbs atop White Fang. “Alright,” Blake says. “I'll take these guys back down to the lower part of the compound. You enjoy your ride on Pierre.”

“Oh, I soooooo am.” I say childishly, before turning Pierre back towards Cragg's Island, and starting off. Pierre seems faster than the others, but Blake and the rest of our pets aren't too far behind. Instead of using the bridge this time, I have Pierre do another one of his superboings to try and clear the river. He almost makes it about halfway, before splashing down into the water below. I burst out laughing in delight, it's like a ride at a theme park! Pierre briskly swims across the rest of the river before we continue hopping along, eventually reaching the main entrance of our home. Once again, Pierre does another superhop, and completely clears the wall. He lands deftly with a thud. I smile and sigh, and just as I do-

 

“PFFFTTT! NICE!”

 

It's Yang's voice. It turns out she and Weiss were waiting to let Blake and myself in, but instead, it seems my little hop over the wall on Pierre surprised them. Yang's just as excited as I was to see Pierre first time, and she walks right up to him, crouching and looking him in the eyes. Yang's skin is much darker now, most likely from her tanning. Weiss walks up as well, her skin also darker. She's also intriuged by Pierre, tilting her head with a smile. Pierre croaks as he stares at Yang, who stares back. “So,” Weiss says, turning to me. “What's with this new guy?”

 

“He's Pierre the SuperFrog!” I say with a smile, getting of him. “Or, if you wanna be technical, Pierre the Berzebuffle...uh...Ballzebofo?...ummmm....Beelzebufo! Yeah! That's it! Pierre the Beelzebufo!”

 

“Quite an entrance you and Pierre made.” Yang says, reaching out to touch Pierre. “Ahhh!”i say, stopping her. “Wouldn't do that!”

 

“Why?”

“Found out the hard way: he's covered in sticky, narcotic frog-slime!”

 

“EWWW!” Weiss says with a shudder. “Why did you get him, then?!”

 

I check his inventory using my implant. “ 'Cause when he eats bugs like ants or dragonflies, he turns them into cementing paste!”

 

“Wait, really?” Yang says, looking in his inventory as well. He has quite a bit of cementing paste from the dragonflies Blake massacred. “That's neat. And of course you would be the one to ride him everywhere. Can I?”

 

“Sure, go right on ahead.”

 

Yang hops on Pierre pretty quickly. “Heh, beats walking, my legs are still sore from earlier, Weiss.”

 

“Yeah, at least you're ok.” Weiss replies, a bit of sincerity in her voice. I look at both of them.

 

“Wait...what happened?”

 

“Weiss learned a new engram and decided to test it out. Bolas.”

 

“Bolas?” I ask. No sooner than I do, Weiss pulls out three rocks tied to rope, the opposite end of the rope tied together. “This is a bola.” She says. “Just wind it up, throw, and it snares creatures of a certain size by binding it's legs together. I tried it on Yang to get back at her for a few pranks she's done...worth it.”

 

“Gotta admit, after I was done being irritated by it...it was funny.” Yang says, hopping around on Pierre. “Hella...this is fun.”

“I don't think i'll never not get a kick out of hopping around on him.” I say. Just then, I note a grapple hook fly up and over the cliff, catching on some rocks at the top of the cliff. I walk over and bend onto one knee, seeing Blake climbing up the cliff. Just as she gets to the top, I reach out to her with my right hand. She takes it, and I help her up onto the top of the cliff. “Thanks, Ruby.” Blake says.

 

“Ah, no problem.”

 

“Ey, sis!” Yang said, calling out to me as she turned Pierre towards me. Yang has a big grin on her face. “What's up?” I respond.

 

“You just did that without breaking a sweat, sis!” Yang says grinning. “That only means one thing. C'mon, Ruby. Lemme see.”

 

I know what she's talking about. I sigh with a smile, then reach with my left hand onto my right shoulder. I detach the bindings on my shoulder, and slide off my right sleeve and gauntlet. I hold up my bare right arm and flex, revealing a surprising amount of muscle. “Daaaaang sis!” Yang says. She gets off of Pierre and walks up, and then starts feeling my arm. “I don't think you're so flimsy anymore!”

 

“Heh, well...” I say with a grin “When a dinosaur island apocalypse happens...survival ends up giving you a nice workout.”

 

“I bet. Need to help teach you to use that muscle the right way, though.”

 

“What do you mean by that?”

 

“Aww you know...i need to teach you how to properly fight somebody without a weapon.”

 

“Siiiiis!” I whine. “You know I suck at that!”

 

“You have muscle now though.” Yang says, turning her right shoulder towards me. “C'mon. Gimme a whallop.”

 

“Seriously?” I ask, with Blake and Weiss watching on in a smile. Yang nods, and taps the upper part of her right arm.”Yeah. C'mon. Just one. Gimme your best shot.”

 

I sigh, then nod. I shift stance a little, raising my right fist, and I shake it a few times. I take a deep breath, then step back, and slam my fist into her shoulder with a loud smack. Each one of them reacts. “Daaaaaamn sis!” Yang says with a smile, and rubs her shoulder. “Remind me to pick less fights with you.”

 

“Seriously?” I say surprised. “That hurt?”
 

“Yup. G-friggin-G.” she says, shaking her head. “So, about that physical combat training?...”

 

“Sure. I'm game. If I actually hurt you for once, I think that's a good sign.”

 

“Heh, no matter how strong ya get though...you're still gonna be my little sis.” Yang says with a grin as she suddenly throws one arm around me in a headlock and starts giving me a noogie with another. Irritated, I growl at her, putting my left arm around her back and using my unarmored right fist to start punching her gut to get me to stop. Yang's noogies have turned into hair pulling by then, which I respond by giving a sweep kick to her legs to trip her. Soon enough, Yang and I are in another one of our sibling fights. However, this time I actually feel like I'm doing a bit more to her. Weiss and Blake immediately try to break us up, but they're laughing the whole time. Suddenly, there's a screech....Ember. Even though she knows we're messing around, she wants nothing of it from Yang. She charges right in and starts pushing, shoving, and gnawing on Yang to get her to let go. It seems like at first, nothing happens, and my sister continued to pummel me on top of me. It's turned into one big roughhousing pileup. Just then, Ember growls, then bites. Yang suddenly hollers out in pain, and lets go of me. “AHHH! F***!” she says, rolling onto the ground, her arms crossed, rolling onto her back. “GaaaaaaaaauauUAuaua....” she groans. I get up quickly, standing next to Ember. “What happened?!” Weiss said. Yang's still in pain a bit, but she's smiling. “Gaaaaaahh! Ember got me right on the left one!!”she says putting her right hand across her chest and covering her left chest. I grin and throw my arm around Ember's neck, and pet her with my free arm. “Good girl, Ember! You tell Yang not to mess with me!” Ember gives a contented, happy growl and nuzzles me back. Yang slowly stands. “Owww..” she groans “Ok, I get it. Don't wrestle when Ember's around....and she can't be all the time...so....watch yourself. I'mma RKO you out of nowhere.”

 

“Whaaatever John Cena.” I reply. “Just you wait. One day I might just start pulling your hair back.”

 

“Do that, I'll skin and feather Ember.”

 

To that, Ember gives an aggressive growl, brandishing her claws and teeth at Yang. We all laugh, and I pet Ember a little more. “Easy girl...” I tell her. “She's joking.....she better be.”

 

“I am, I am.” I said. “But hey... I can't lie. I'm not a happy girl when I get YANGRY.”

 

The three of us, even Ember, stare at Yang with blank faces. Yang pauses a moment, and realizing she'll get no applause, sighs. “Welp. That one went extinct, didn't it?”

 

“Booooo.” Blake says, cupping her left hand around her mouth and giving the thumbs down gesture with her right hand.

 

“Welp. Ebony blonde tried.” Yang says, throwing her arms in the air with a sigh.

 

“I will complement you on the tan, though.” I reply. “You do bronze pretty good.”

 

“Yeah I do.” Yang says with a bit of a head shake as she puts her hands on her hips. “Don't know how long it will last, though. So what's the plan now?”

 

“I've been thinking.” Weiss said. “About the upcoming trip to the Great Peak....shouldn't I get a new mount? I mean....i love Pachi, but...i think he's a bit fragile for some fights.”

 

“True.” Blake replies. “We'll want to be prepared for the Redwood Empire.”

 

“Redwood Empire?” Yang says, as we all turn to Blake. Blake nods, and takes out a small field guide, probably one written by Annie. “Yes, it's what Annie nicknamed the redwood forests that cover the Great Peak.” she says, flipping to a page and showing us. There's a pretty detailed drawing of a forest of absolutely massive trees. “Redwood trees?” I ask. “Aren't those the super tall trees?”

 

“Yes, and I bet on the ARK, they got even bigger.” Blake replies. “Annie here notes some trees were even two-to-five Brontosaurus tall. They're huge. Another strange thing she notes is the presence of ruins.” she says, turning to a page that has a beautiful sketch of some stone ruins in the midst of towering trees. “She mentions a lot of unique wildlife. I think it would be best to try and tame something new for you, Weiss, just to be safe.”

 

“I figured as much.” Weiss says, crossing her arms “I love Pachi, its just I dont want him to get hurt.” It's just then, there's a bleat and Weiss is nudged from behind. Sure enough, it's Pachi, and upon hearing his name mentioned by Weiss, he wants some affection from her. Weiss sighs and kneels down, hugging and petting Pachi. “Yes, i'm talking about you. Just want to keep you safe, alright?” Pachi seems to bleat back in agreement. Blake starts flipping through the pages of the field guide. “I think I have an idea on what you might want, Weiss.” she replies. “Didn't you say you were interested in jacks of all trades?”

 

“Yeah. Does Annie's notes say of anything.”

 

“Indeed. I'm thinking what might be up your ally is-”

“If I may?”

 

“of course.”

 

“Personally, I've been thinking Triceratops. They're productive in gathering, decently fast, and those horns of theirs could make for lethal weapons: especially in a charge.”

 

“True, but Annie's notes here in this book talk of something nearby I think might be more of a fit for you than that: and it's even more powerful, and better than a Triceratops.”

 

“Really? What's that?”

 

“I'm thinking what you need is a Direbear.”

 

Weiss blinks a few times. “....A Bear? A 'Direbear'? What's that?”

 

Blake hands Weiss the book, which the open pages showing drawings, and descriptions of the Direbear. “Arctodus dirus.” Blake says “Or, the Direbear. Found all over the island. Almost as big as the body of a trike; Omnivorous; carries a lot of weight; very powerful; and once it gains momentum, lightning fast for extended periods.”

 

“I'd get it if I were you.” Yang says, nudging Weiss. Weiss looks over the book's pages, then nods. “Alright....guess i'm getting a big bear, then. So do we start searching?”

 

“I've had Robin and Raven flying around already.” Blake replies. “As for us....we need to make sure we have enough tranq darts. Annie notes that without them, direbears are notoriously hard to render unconscious without killing.”

 

“If that's the case then.” Weiss replies “Besides, it's probably not big enough to safely use this.” as she says that, she takes out the weapon I made her, which she named her Silver Needle. She holds it elegantly by her side. “Does Annie say where to look for one on Cragg's Island?”

 

“From what I can gather, anywhere from the beach to the forest. There could literally be one right outside the walls-”

 

 

Just as she said that, there's a screech from something. It's Robin, who in a panic flies just over the top of the wall, at a very high speed. Raven is right behind her, and Robin quickly lands on my shoulder in a scared panic. Raven lands on Blake similarly, both of our dimorphodons terrified of something. “Aww Robin!!” I say, a little concerned, as I pet her. “What happened? Why are you so scared?”

 

It's just then, my question is answered...there's something on the other side of the wall...and it definitely doesn't sound like a bear. Whatever it is, it's fairly high-pitched...and it's not alone. Something was chasing the two of them. Just then, something large bounds over the wall and lands on our side, about 50 feet away from us. It's almost 30 ft long, covered in green, featherlike scales that also have a mix of yellow. It's head is red, and it has a crest of feathers on the back of it's head. The creature's back legs seem strong, but what catches my eye is the large, flattened tail-club at the end of the creature's tail. It looks like some sort of dinosaur...but nothing like what I've seen. It sees us, then notes Robin and Raven hiding behind Blake and I, and roars in response. It then rears up a little and gives out a long howl. That's when five smaller creatures crest the wall from climbing it. They look like smaller versions of the larger creature, but without the feather crest, not as large of tail clubs. From what I can see...they're called “Maccao”, and the large creature is a level 62 male “Great Maccao”. “Any idea what THAT thing is?!” I say, stepping back, and putting my armguards back on. Blake's just as confused, quickly drawing her Final Gambit. “Not from what I've read in Annie's notes.” she replies “Maybe the ARK got new creatures, not just new people when it went into autonomous mode.”

 

I give a shrill whistle, and Pierre, Pachi, Robin, and Raven flee back farther into the compound. Ember growls back at the Great Maccao, hissing and flaring her feathers at it. We all seem ready for a fight....except for Weiss. Weiss...she stares at the Great Maccao a moment, then slowly draws her bow. “...Can we try and tame it for me?” She asks. Yang quickly looks at her. “What? You want that?! Over a bear?!”

 

“...something's telling me this thing is special.” Weiss replies “I know it sounds stupid, but please?”

 

“Well, you're the only one with tranq ammo, then!” Yang replies back.

 

“Not me, I've got some!” I say, unsheathing Ancient Rose and loading a dart. Blake and Yang take a step back. “Alright. We'll get some supplies on our end. Keep it busy until then.” Blake says. However, Yang's upset the Great Maccao and it's packmates cleared the wall, and she shakes her head angrily “Gotta do more f***in' work with Petra to build the damn-”

 

“JUST GO!” Weiss I say in unison. At that second, Blake and Yang dash back, and the Great Macaao with it's pack charges. Ember gives a loud, shrill call before she charges with Weiss and I. I know that call: that's Ember's call to the pack. Responding to the call of their Beta, my Deinonychus rush out in time to see the three of us charging the pack of Maccao, and join alongside us in terms of distracting it. By the time i've gotten off my second shot in the Great Maccao, it comes flying over to me in a sort of hipcheck. Rolling out of the way, Ember and the Deinonychus distract it while Weiss begins to pick off each of the individual Maccao. Each one drops fairly quickly, and it appears Weiss is using tranquilizer rounds instead of standard rounds. Does she think she can tame them all? The Deinonychus, alongside Ember, keep doing mock leaps at the Great Maccao to keep it in place. The Great Maccao does a short leap at Blue, swinging it's large claws at her, but she dodges out of the way, and Echo retaliates by nipping the Great Maccao's tail. The Great Maccao whirls around to snap back, and then barks a few times those who surround it. I've gotten off a few shots into this thing, but still, it doesn't seem to fall. Just as Weiss gets the last of the Maccao down, the Great Maccao looks behind itself. It seems to open it's mouth with a smile, then suddenly leaps up, it's tail lifted. It slams it's tail down like a hammer behind itself, and does this a total of three times as it turns 180 degrees. Charlie takes a big hit from the second slam, but he recovers quickly. It's then that the Great Maccao rears up onto it's tail and begins to kick at my raptors from a reared position, balancing on that muscular tail of it's. Weiss then takes the opportunity to give off a bow-shot to the back of it's head. It's an instant hit, and the Great Maccao whirls around on it's tail with a hop suddenly, before flying at her surprisingly quick, using it's tail as a springboard. Weiss attempts to dodge backwards, yet once again, she trips up, and ends up getting a massive flying Maccao kick to the face, which sends her flying. “WEISS!” I scream, as the Great Maccao keeps going a few feet, then lands. She's dazed a moment, but soon rights herself onto her knees. The Great Maccao rears back up onto it's tail and goes for another lunging kick at downed Weiss, but at the last second as I run to her, Weiss suddenly holds up her hand at the Great Maccao, causing a Glyph to form between them. The Great Maccao's feet impact the glyph, and Weiss has a cunning grin on her face.

 

“Your turn.”

 

Immediately the Great Maccao is forcefully rebounded backwards, as it shrieks in surprise, it's back slams into the stone wall that makes our perimeter, before landing on it's side. Weiss gets up as the Great Maccao does, however it sways to and fro on it's feet. It's very dazed after that last attack. Weiss still has her grin as she slowly unsheathes her Silver Needle, then walks forwards to the Great Maccao. She doesn't even have a narcotic file loaded with the injection edge, the Tactical Combat Rapier, as I named that type of weapon, still has it's standard edge. She walks right up to the dazed animal, then puts it's tip on the top of the Great Maccao's head and lightly pushes forwards. The entire creature then topples over, exhausted. Weiss, still having her grin, spins Silver Needle in her hands a few times, then stands with it at her side, holding it like a cane. “Can't make a fool of me that easily, sorry.” she says, jeering. I smirk back “Oh really? Didn't I do that super flawlessly back at Beacon?”

“Ruby Rose, don't start!” Weiss says, pointing Silver Needle at me. I smile, and shrug. “Yo, just stating a fact.”

 

“YOU'RE STARTING.”

 

“Whaaaaaaaaatever.” I say, checking on the smaller Maccao. Weiss then looms over the Great Maccao for a moment. “How's the big guy?” I ask.

“He's dazed, but alright.” Weiss replies. “You don't mind me having a little squad of my own, right?”

 

“Weiss, you're probably the most tactical of us all, so you'd do well leading a group. After all, makes up for the fact you weren't chosen as our team leader.” I say, sticking out my tongue and pulling down an eyelid. Weiss immediately responds by shooting a small ember out of Silver Needle at me. It flies right to me and lands on the tip of my outstretched tongue, immediately burning it. I give a high-pitched squeal and immediately hop a few times, spitting towards the ground and trying to brush off my tongue, while Ember and the Deinonychus watch me amused, as does Weiss. She snickers “Gee, thanks. At least I wasn't the only one who got burned in the end.”

 

“Take...a...joke!!” I say between spits and raspberries. Eventually, I loose balance on one foot and fall backwards, tripping over one of the unconscious Maccao. Weiss bursts into laughter, as do two other people...Yang and Blake, who've walked up by now.

“Sis, leave the jokes to the professionals.” Yang says, tossing her hair back over her shoulder. Weiss gives a sarcastic look “Really? Professional? What planet are you from?”

 

“Regardless...you alright, Ruby?” Blake asks, helping me up. “Yeah...thanks.” I say, rubbing the back of my head. “At least you're having fun, Weiss.” Weiss seems to chuckle a moment, like a child. “Well... you know me. Never had any fun growing up. Finally, after a month, feels like I'm letting my adventurous side come out.”

 

“Should have let something flying drop-kick you in the face ages ago then.” I reply. Weiss snickers, then turns to Yang. “So. What have you brought me?”

“Other than more Narcotics?” Blake replies “Well, Blake said Annie made no notes of Maccao...but it looks the size of a Carno....functions more like a raptor....so we've got parasaur kibble here, with meat for the smaller guys.”

 

“Shouldn't take too long.” Weiss says, taking the kibble from Yang. She then walks over to the Great Maccao and hand-feeds it a piece of the kibble. “Heh, nice guess.” Weiss replies. “seems to really like it.”

 

“That's good.” I say, then turning to my sister. “Oh, Yang?”

 

“Hm?”

“I wouldn't worry about building the walls up. Even if the Great Maccao can climb or jump the walls, so can wild Deinonychus. Maybe we just need more of a daytime guard, like how Sans and Nightshade patrol the place at night.”

 

“Guess the carnivores have that under control until then.” Yang replies “You've got a point, sis.”

 

“Yeah...but I've been thinking....maybe there IS more work on these walls to be done.”

 

“AWW COME ON!” Yang says, obviously irritated. “What else could there possibly be to do?!”

 

“Yang, it's getting crowded. A few more dinos and stables, we'll have no wiggle room.”

 

“And how do you suggest we expand?”

 

“Take out the whole back wall and move it farther back.”

“YOU'RE KIDDING ME???” Yang says visibly upset. Blake puts a hand on her chin. “There IS a decently-sized flat area in the forest a bit farther back...we'd almost increase by about 2 ½ times in size.”

 

“.....I'm not doing that s*** alone.” Yang says irritated. “Petra, Gamuto and I already worked our butts off making the upper and lower boundaries as-is.”

 

“You honestly think we'd let you take on a job that big yourself?” I state. “I got muscles now, for pitty's sake. We'd all pitch in!”

 

“Ya better, too friggin' much work by myself...”

 

Weiss does a once-over of all six tames in progress. “Well, looks like i've got this for now. I'll stay here until they all finish.”

 

“Sounds good to me. I'll go finish your flak-metal armor, do some other things in me shop.” I reply. Yang huffs “Well...better go calm down, think i'll hop on the game console....”

 

“Mind if I join you? The book i've started reading has become a little slow.” Blake asks. Yang smiles “Sure.”

 

A few minutes pass by, and by now, i've finished building Weiss's flak armor. I stand, leaning onto one of my tables, drawing more schematics. I've had a lot of designs floating throughout my head recently. As I ponder over my current drawings, Weiss steps in. “Hey!” I say, smiling. “They tame up?”

 

“Yeah, just grabbing the requirements for the saddle. It's pretty cheap, surprisingly.” Weiss says, walking over to various cabinets to quick-build one using her implant. “How'd the taming go?” I ask. “They tame alright?”

 

“Tamed fine, which is good.” Weiss says, turning to me. “So what are you working on, Ms. Rose?”
 

“Well, I've been reading through various of annie's notes...”

 

“and?”

 

“Well, apparently you can make sharper, honed tools by refining obsidian into their blades. Coupling that with the fabricator, i'm thinking whenever I get one, I give all our weapons a more modern upgrade.”

 

“Sounds useful to me.”

 

“Yeah, although from what i've gathered so far...I might be completely redesigning Yang and Blake's weapons.”

 

“More along the lines of what they're used to?”

 

“Mm-hm. They should enjoy that.”

 

“What about mine?”

 

“Silver Needle? As of now all I can figure out is how to make it sharper and more durable. Don't know if there's dust on the island or not, but if there is, I'd be able to upgrade it for you.”

 

“Thank you kindly.” Weiss says with a smile, then walks out of the shop. I follow behind her, just in time to see her putting the saddle on her tamed Great Maccao. The other five Maccao are gathered around her, standing attentively. “So.” I ask. “What did you name them all?”

 

“Well, granted this guy is known as a Great Maccao, and upon seeing those feathers of his on his head, I named him Monarch. As for those five; i've named them Glaucous, Hyacinth, Lear, Spix, and Scarlet.”

 

“Those sound...familiar.”

 

“Well, they're Maccao, and those names are different species of Macaw...”

 

“...oh! I see what you did there.”

 

“Yeah...not good with names.” Weiss says, climbing onto Monarch. I smirk “Hey, Pachy's name is cute, and Sans is fitting for him. Snowren is too, so I don't think you're too bad with naming.”

 

“Maybe. Now, let's see...” Weiss tugs back on the reigns, and Monarch responds by leaping up onto his tail. Weiss nods a few times “Alright. So you can still do that....now are you still as agile...” She gives another tug on the reigns, and Monarch leaps high into the air using his muscular tail, ONTO my workshop's roof, where he lands on his feet. “Hey!!!” I say in a bit of a panic. “I don't think it's meant to take that much weight!! Do you want to owe me a new roof?!”

 

“Sorry.” Weiss says with a bit of a chuckle, before Monarch leaps down from the roof onto the ground. “He's definitely agile.” Weiss notes “That's useful, and he'll be much better in a fight than Pachy, no offense to my little hardhead.”

 

“Pachi's had it rough recently trying to keep up to par with the other combat mounts. I think he'll enjoy the retirement.”

 

“He should. Say Ruby, what time is it?”

 

I pull up the screen on my implant. “6 PM.” I reply. “Isn't that dinner time?”

 

“Indeed. Guess that explains the setting sun, too. Guess i'll get dinner ready.”

 

“Alright, I'll go inside with ya. It's dinner, after all.”

 

“Mm-hmm.” Weiss replies, climbing down off of Monarch. “Look around if you'd like.” she says to him. “The others can help you figure the place out.” Monarch seems to nod, then calls to the other Maccao to rally them, before dashing past the house and towards the stables. I turn to Weiss “So. That's one animal Annie didn't seem to encounter last time.” I say “Think there will be others?”

 

“It's possible.” Weiss says. “Now, how about that stew, hmm?”
 

“Fooood!!!!” I reply enthusiastically. Weiss shakes her head with a smile, then we both walk into the house.

 

 

 

It's nighttime by now. All of us are in our bedclothes, but enjoying the rest of the night to ourselves. I'm sitting on the couch in front of the TV with Yang. I've got my legs crossed, and a pillow between them which I clench onto tightly. Yang's playing some really creepy and scary mutant and zombie game, which is scaring me. Behind us, on a table, Weiss and Blake are playing a good game of chess. I can understand what Annie meant when she said she liked this house so much. It really does help make ARK feel like home, especially with all of us as relaxed....ish...as we are. Yang's zombie game is scaring me the heck out. She's playing along with a big smile on her face, loving every minute. “Huh, ok, cool.” Yang says out of the blue. “What?” I quickly ask, turning to her.

 

“You didn't see the message on the screen?”

 

“No...”

 

“It said something like... 'Use right Z to sprint, be careful as sprinting will attract enemies'.”

 

I gulp quickly. “Oh...uh...cool.” Yang's been running nonstop every time one of those things gets close to her, navigating the level with surprising ease. She gets to a large open spot in an abandoned street, and sees a garage she has to go through to continue, but there's a padlock on it. She shoots off the padlock and-

 

 

 

GRAAAAARRRRRRRRRHHHh!!!!!!!!!

 

A large, abomination of a creature bursts out through the shutters. My pupils must be near microscopic the second I laid eyes on that thing. “PFFT!” Yang scoffs “Really? That's how you're gonna introduce the first boss-”

 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I shriek loudly, clenching the pillow tightly to my chest. Yang's immediately paused the game, and is looking at me with a confused face of shocked disbelief, with some sort of a weird, tight-lipped smile. Weiss and Blake are looking at me with similar looks, frozen mid-game. I just realize how awkward this is. “S-sorry! G-g-go on!”

 

“WAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
 

Yang bust out laughing, keeling over and holding her stomach. Weiss and Blake also start laughing as well. My eyes dart around to all of them quickly. “Hahahahaha....ohmygod, Ruby.!” Yang says, completely out of breath and gasping for air she's laughing so hard, keeling over on her side with her face buried in the arm of the couch. She slams her right fist into the arm of the couch over and over again. “W-w-what?!” I stutter.

 

“I'm so dead, sis.” Yang responds while laughing. Immediately I shove my face in my pillow and groan loudly, kicking my legs quickly, the my heels hitting the couch.

 

“Oh come on, sis!” Yang says, raising her head and motioning to paused creature on the screen. “Look at that thing! It's a fat blubber!”

 

“WITH A CHAINSAW FOR AN ARM!” I respond, uncovering my face.

 

“It's a buzzsaw!”

 

“SAME DIFFERENCE!” I say, then shoving my face back into my pillow with another drawn-out groan. Once the laughter seems to die down, I slowly remove the pillow from my face and hug it tightly to my chest. “Yo sis,” Yang says, the game still paused “Just gonna let you know none of us were making fun of you, alright? It's just...that was just priceless.”

 

“Yeah!” Weiss says. “I mean...sorry, but still. That was perfect. Sorry, I guess we were...more along the lines of laughing with you?”

 

“I was laughing at her.” Blake says quickly with a grin.

 

“Oooh, cruel kitten!” Yang says, turning around.

 

“Duh. Why do you think I joined the White Fang?”

 

“You are sooo not the same person...” Yang says chuckling a few times, shaking her head. I huff, then sit up. “Well, at the very least, you're having fun too.”

 

“Mm-hm. As you wanted me too.” Blake says with a smile, leaning her head on her left arm, which is propped by the table. “So, on a more important note....” I ask “Is everything ready for tomorrow?”

 

“Filled the food troughs before I turned in.” Yang replies. “With the raptors and Ozpin going out hunting, there should be a good supply of food for the carnivores, and i'll be leaving Titania here, to gather the berries for the herbivores.”

 

“Alright. So who's coming?”

 

“Well, from what i've got here in my notes...” Blake says, pulling out a small notebook. “Ruby's got Ember....I'm taking Bari...Weiss will be on Monarch and bringing the Maccao pack....Yang's grabbing Blade, Petra and Gamuto are tagging along....should we bring Quru for good measure?”

 

“Sounds ideal to me.” Weiss says. Yang and I nod “He could come in handy.” I reply “Especially in the idea of taming.”

 

“He is our only narcotic-inducer.” Yang says. “Plus, he's also our only flier.”

 

“Do we have food for ourselves?” I ask.

 

“Made plenty of trail mix for the journey there, as well as some other food.” Weiss replies. “I've packed a few other things for when we set up a base in the redwoods, too.”

 

“Like?...”

 

“Piping, cooking equipment, bathroom necessities....”

 

“Bathroom necessities?”

 

“Toliet, shower, etc.”

 

“You would, which is appreciated.” Yang replies. Suddenly, there's a look of realization on Blake's face.

 

“Oh, Ruby?” she asks me. I smile “What?”

 

“I did want to ask. Before you turned in for the day, you went out and deforested quite a few trees with Gamuto, and used up quite a bit of our metal...what was that for?”

 

“Oops, sorry.” I say, rubbing the back of my head. “I went and made three wooden tree platforms....that's why I caused massive deforestation.”

 

“Ah, that explains it. Those platforms will keep us high off the ground and away from threats. We'll definitely need Quru then to reach them while we're building up there.”

“Sounds really cool, actually.” Yang says “Mega treehouse with rope bridges, rope ladders...bet you never had a treehouse either, ey, Weiss?”

 

Weiss smirks “Well sounds like I'm about to, and a pretty kick-ass one at that. Only question is, what about the animals?”

 

“We should be able to build stables like what we have here using the abundant trees of the redwoods.” Blake replies. “Plus, if we find a beautiful enough view, it would be great to wake up to something like that every morning.”

 

“Guess my fervor-induced building is worth it after all!” I say with a big grin. “So? Watcha think? We ready to go to the Redwood Empire?”

 

“It's not that far.” Blake says “The swamp will be the worst part, and Annie herself said leeches weren't ever really an issue when she was in the swamp, from what I could tell in her diaries. We should be through and in the clear in no time...worst case scenario, we camp in the swamp.”

 

Just about each one of us shudders at that last utterance. We look at each other a moment.
 

“Lemme guess...” I say “....Leeches?”

 

They all nod in response, which sends another shudder down my spine. “Well...let's just do what we can, ok? We'll...we'll be fine!” I say, getting a bit of determination.

 

“True. Just hope that's not a way I want to go.” Weiss says, turning to the chess board, then moving one of her pieces. “Check.” she says. Blake turns, then moves one of her own pieces, taking Weiss's just-moved piece “As I thought you would...now you're in check.”

 

“Well played...” Weiss says, putting her chin in her left hand, then drumming her right fingers on the table. I turn back around with Yang, towards the TV screen. I sigh a moment, only to suddenly see a controller in my face. I turn and see Yang giving me a smile. “C'mon, Ruby. It's paused. You can join in on co-op if you'd like...” she says, trying to tempt me. I slowly take the controller, look at it, then the boss mutant on the screen. After a second, I gain a fierce look of determination, then set the controller in my lap, crack my fingers, then pick the controller back up and roll my head to crack my neck. “Alright. Let's go, sis!”

 

“MAY THE STREETS BE COVERED IN BLOOD AND BLUBBER!” Yang responds back to me, a sinister grin on her face.

[Shadlos]

Sorry guys, no chapter this time. With college starting back up, i'm also trying to write in my other stories, as well as balance a job....

 

but, that said, I wanted to let you all know I now have something special: a server completely devoted to this fan fiction! Yes, RWBY's ARK is now an ARK server! It's invite-only, and there IS a list of rules that has to be abided by. PVE, modded with all mods featured in RWBY's ARK story. Its not an RP, but a "themed server". PM me if interested in joining the server. As of present, the following people are actually invited, by yours truly, to the server:

 

-Kaprodonychus

-rpicardi1
-Kaiju_Lord

-RaptorKnight01

-IDKLoL
-AvengerOfSquids

 

If you're ever interested in joining the server, PM me for the link to server modlist, rules, as well as server passcode!

Stay tuned, the next chapter is coming up!

[Kaprodonychus]

Sweet. I'll jump on occasionally. Not much of a social person, but in this case, I'll give it a go! :]

[rpicardi1]

I need to get the IT tech nephew over here to set me up with a mike before joining any server. Better yet, link my three computers to run a Lands server game with the three networked together. Meanwhile, The Center adventure has advanced into the Redwood Biome there which is getting quite interesting. The entire tribe of the original 9 are together with the three newcomers as promised by The Keepers. They are now exploring the Redwood Biome with their wolfpack that has expanded to 14 wolves. Should be two more chapters before the final one as everyone returns back home and to the conference at the university which triggered the visit in the first place.

Actual game, I have found a place where I can reach a calm area loaded with metal and crystal that is not infested with Terror Birds. It is a stone ramp at the twin waterfalls. There is a ledge there large enough to build an outpost or complete base there.

The outpost;

The Forest

At night. Too dangerous to land there due to packs of Terror Birds.

 

[rpicardi1]

I am now using the new GTX 1070 card where everything is set to Epic and max on 1080 P. I'm getting from 45 to 60 frames a second on Ark. The 970 card is in the older computer. The laptop needed more ram to get Ark to run.

The Center map has mountains on its horizon. Even the void area looks more realistic.

[Xdrone]

Hey Shadlos! As Ark: Scorched Earth has been released recently, I want to ask do you plan on adding Scorched Earth into your story and how are you going to add it if you will ! 

[Shadlos]

Hello Xdrone! I've actually bought another Server, RWBY's Scorched Earth! It falls in line with what I planned for this story anyway, so don't worry! After a few more adventures and calamities on ARK Prime, Team RWBY's heading out into the wyvern-filled sands of the Scorched Earth!...and somewhere else, as well....

[Kaiju_Lord]

Hey shadlos when can we expect the next chapter? 

[Xdrone]

Thanks for the info! I hope that you will do well both in college and this story!

[rpicardi1]

21 hours ago, Shadlos said:

Hello Xdrone! I've actually bought another Server, RWBY's Scorched Earth! It falls in line with what I planned for this story anyway, so don't worry! After a few more adventures and calamities on ARK Prime, Team RWBY's heading out into the wyvern-filled sands of the Scorched Earth!...and somewhere else, as well....

The great basalt split in the ground that separates the Mountain from the coliseum ruins in the scorpion infested Western Sand Desert. A giant crack in the ground so deep that it reaches the red hot Mantle deep below. A place where Wyvern nest line the walls of that massive crack in the ground. Where anyone foolhardy enough to fly down there to steal an egg will have a hornet nest of angry Wyvern chasing them for miles.

[Shadlos]

1 hour ago, rpicardi1 said:

The great basalt split in the ground that separates the Mountain from the coliseum ruins in the scorpion infested Western Sand Desert. A giant crack in the ground so deep that it reaches the red hot Mantle deep below. A place where Wyvern nest line the walls of that massive crack in the ground. Where anyone foolhardy enough to fly down there to steal an egg will have a hornet nest of angry Wyvern chasing them for miles.

Well, yes, but that's not what I meant...let's just say there's more than just ARK Prime and Scorched Earth (sadly I'm not considering The Center "canon").

 

Beware the Third ARK.

15 hours ago, Kaiju_Lord said:

Hey shadlos when can we expect the next chapter? 

As for you, I'll try to crank it out by the end of the week.

[rpicardi1]

Most of the Wyverm of the SE map are found nesting in a lava filled crack in the ground that is only accessible from a flier. Not a fun moment from Slipgater's You Tube videos when he used a fast Argy to steel an egg.

There will certainly be plenty of story material you can use for the SE adventure. The Death Worms of Dune fame are something else.

Lost my character last night to a sudden heat wave that hit 156*f. Dead from heat stroke in 30 seconds. I didn't get an adobe shelter done in time. Was being distracted by  five raptors that invaded the area.

[Shadlos]

(high-pitched scree-ing)

Well finally got this done. Might be a lot shorter than the other chapters, but it's still a chapter! Cut it like this cause the redwood chapter...es big. Mucho grande.

-Chapter 13-

“NO.”
 

“Aww come on! Really?” I wine.

 

“NO.” Yang said stern.

 

“Just because I did better than you on that level and I never played before?”

 

“YOU DID BETTER THAN ME THE WHOLE TIME WE PLAYED LAST NIGHT!” Yang scoffs “All you do is play that game with the freakin' bird and the bear!”

 

“You KNOW it's a great game.”

 

“Ok, but still-”

 

“You two don't really get the point of this, do you?” Weiss says. The four of us sit at the base of the same coastal waterfall near cragg's. There are five stones here almost perfectly aligned along the base of the crashing falls, and sometimes we'd sit on these rocks, let the water pound on our backs, and clear our minds. I was sitting on the left, Yang on the right, Weiss and Blake between us. We'd been going on like this for a little bit, after I got tired of sitting there with my eyes closed. “Trust me, I do!” I say, defending myself “it's just...well...i wanna get going! I'm tired of sitting here.”

 

“How long has it been?” Yang asks. Blake, who'd been completely fine with the bantering of Yang and I, opens her eyes now, and checks her implant. “Actually, Ruby has a point. We'd been here about fifteen minutes.”

 

“Maybe that's why i'm starting to look like a prune with a six-pack.” Yang says, looking at the undersides of her feet. We slowly stand, then head towards the shoreline, as we dry off, then change into our flak-metal gear. Our pets have been waiting diligently nearby. While the herbivores seemed to be peacefully grazing nearby; Bari was, as usual, trying her luck at fishing. Meanwhile, Ember seemed content with watching Monarch rile up the other Maccao for no apparent reason. The Maccao were bouncing around, chortling, and full of energy. I stood next to Ember, slowly putting myself onto her saddle. “Been getting them all stuirred up, hasn't he?” I ask Ember, who seems to chortle a response, then stand. It takes the others a few seconds to get on their respective mounts as well. When that's done, we begin heading towards the area on our map marked as the “footpaw”. Following Annie's notes, Blake is our main navigator. She's up front with me, leading the caravan. Weiss, Monarch, and the Maccao pack are in the middle keeping things in line, Petra and Gamuto are towards the back with Quru, and Yang with Blade ends up being the caboose of our train, bringing up the rear. Slowly, we proceed past the area where Blake and I had our swampland adventure. The fallen cyprus tree is still there, now with moss growing on it's fallen trunk, slowly being “absorbed” by the ground. As nuch as I enjoy looking around at nature...i'm quickly getting bored. I look around at the environment a little more, and I sigh.

“Oh boy.” Blake said. “That sounded like a bored sigh.”

 

“Yeah sorry....I mean this is all cool and all but.....” I sigh. “...anybody know a travel song or something?”

 

“I am NOT singing the ever-annoying '100 whatever of whatever on the wall' crud!” Weiss responds. I sigh “Ok....then....anybody...maybe know a game or something?”

 

“How about keep your eyes peeled for the route up ahead and making sure nothing rushes us from the front?” Weiss responds again with a bit of smile...but strangely enough the smile is one telling me “Hang on there Ruby.” as if she knows how bored I am. I sigh, then look back ahead. “To be honest...” Blake says “We're on the right track....So I can pretend to be navigating if you want to do something to pass the time.” she says with a smile. I sigh. “Ok....ever heard of 'what's behind the Green Glass Door'?” I ask her.

 

“Not quite....how's that one go?”

 

“I say stuff that works behind the green glass door and you've got to guess.”

 

“Oh, ok. So it's basically a word game?”

 

“Mm-hm. When you think you got it, you have to say one back to me.”

 

“Alright...”

 

“Ok...so behind the Green Glass Door, there's streets but no roads. Behind the Green Glass Door, there's mommies and daddies but no parents. Behind the green glass door there are apples but no fruits. There are also books but no shelves.”

 

Blake pauses a moment. “...ok just to help me clear my mind. I've got two ideas...there's either students but no teachers; or wheels with no cars.”

 

“The latter is true.”

 

“I thought so. If that's the tragic case, there are Grimm but no hunters.”

“There be huntresses though.”

 

“True. There's also bass but no fish.”

 

“Balls but no sports.”

 

“Weiss but no Ruby.”

 

I make an annoyed face. “Kitty but no Blake.”

 

“Ow.” Blake says with a smile.

 

“So...do you know any jokes.”

 

“...more riddles if anything. But I did read up on something interesting in Annie's notes.”

 

“Oh?”

 

“Yeah, one of her tribemates got his left arm and leg bitten off by a megalodon.”

 

“Woah, really?” I say shocked. Blake nods “Mm-hm. Annie said thankfully he's all right now, at the time.”

 

“Ah, well, that's good.” I say. A few seconds later I blink a few times quickly. “Wait... Ohmygod. I get it.....”

 

“Heh...I'm not even going to lie, she wrote that in her notes and then explained later it was a joke. I laughed to myself when I read that.”

 

“I bet. Hey, it's better than the anti-jokes Yang finds funny.”

 

“Anti-jokes?”

 

“How do you fit 100 babies in a box?”

 

“...something tells me i'm going to regret this.”

“Use a blender.”

 

“....totally right on that.” Blake said shaking her head.

“Wanna know how you get them out?”

 

“No but I have a feeling you'll tell me anyway.”

 

“Nachos.”

“Dear lord...”

 

“It's Yang. I worry about my sister sometimes, granted the things she finds funny.”

 

“Babies in a blender? Why wouldn't you?”

 

“I don't know, she's Yang.”

 

“True....do you have any jokes?”

 

“....nope, not something that isn't something Yang told me.”

 

“I have any joke Yang tells you is full of poor taste and innuendos.”

“Yep.”

 

“Alright....know any riddles, then, Ruby?”

 

“I got...one.”

 

“Hm. Wanna hear one from me?”

 

“Sure.”

 

“I fly like a bird, not in the sky, which can always swim and always fly. Say goodbye at night and morning hi, i'm part of you: what am I? I follow and lead, as you pass. Dressed myself in black, my darkness lasts. I flee the light, but without the sun, your view of me, would be gone.”

 

 

“Hmmm...that's your shadow, isn't it? That last part kind of gave it away.”

 

“True. Yours?”

“Mine's a bit more funny.”

 

“Fire away.”

 

“So a man lives at the top floor of an apartment complex. On sunny days, he takes the elevator halfway up, then walks the rest of the way. Yet, on rainy days, he takes it straight to his floor. Why?”

 

Blake....seems legitimately perplexed. “....huh.” she said. “That....hmm....so he...”

 

Blake keeps thinking about it as we head on. I'm actually amused I stumped her. I give her time to think as we keep going a bit more. About an hour later, we enter a fairly large clearing in the swamp. I take a moment to look around. “...looks safe.” I say. “You guys wanna stop here for a quick lunch?”

 

“Sounds like an idea to me, so long as we're on course.” Weiss replies. Blake checks her charts “We are. About an hour or so and we'll hit our crossing. The redwoods are fairly close, so we should be ok. I'm game for a bit of a break, and I think the animals are too.”

 

“I'm not one for getting saddlesore.” Yang says, sliding off of Blade. “Lunch break it is. We should be able to see anything charging in fairly easily.”

 

“True.” I say, dismounting Ember. “So, who brought the campstove?” I ask.

 

“I did.” Weiss replies, walking up to me with it in her hands. “it's got some fuel in it already, so we should be ok.”

 

“Good, i'm getting hungry.” Blake replies. We let the animals rest while we eat lunch. After that, the four of us head alone, leaving our animals back at the clearing, a little bit farther, just to scout ahead. Each one of us wears our color-coated flak, as Blake checks her map. We stop along the riverbank for a moment.

 

“...ok, so...about...fifty minutes or so that way, we'll hit the swamp crossing Annie used, before we step onto the Battleground.”

“Battleground?” Weiss asks.

 

“It's the spot of clear shore right after the swamp crossing, between the swamp and redwoods. Annie named it that because she said it's rare she doesnt get in a fight if somebody passes through due to the local wildlife. On the carnivorous spectrum, there's meganuera, sarcosuchus, beelzebufo, titanoboa, carnotaurus, raptors, dimetrodon, and terror birds there roaming the shores at any given time. While the dimetrodon and beelzebufo are passive, they'll hit back if struck. Then you've got the herbivores: Paraceratherium, Stegosaurus, Pachycephalosaurus who will all hit back if struck. Not to mention Direbears and Gigantopithecus who'll hit back if you hit them, or get too close for their comfort. Annie said it takes literally just ONE death of a wild animal for all hell to break loose. If the carnivores have killed anything, that will have the Meganuera in a frenzy. Regardless, you'll be too busy swatting them off to notice the approaching slew of carnivores. If you hit anything else in the midst of that fight, herbivore or carnivore...you get where i'm going. It just turns into one massive....well, Annie used a bit more vulgar vocabulary, but-”

 

“she probably called it a 'clusterf***', didn't she?” Yang said with a grin. Blake rolls her eyes. “Yes, she did...” she sighs and shows us on the map. “Ok, here we are...here's the swamp passage, and there's the Battleground...we should be able to fight our way through no problem, if need be. You all get it?”

 

“Nothing we can't accomplish already!” I say with a smile.

 

“I'm not one to shy away from a good fight.” Yang says. “Plus all the resources and materials would be nice.”

 

“As long as you know what you're doing with those maps.” Weiss says.

 

“So we're all in aggreement, then?” Blake asks.

 

“Yep!”

 

“Sure!”

“Of course!”

 

Just then there's a fourth voice of confirmation....or, more like a hiss of one. We quickly turn and notice...one of the large fallen logs we were standing next to wasn't a log...but a large brown crocodile: between the sizes of Gustave and White Fang, long legs like White, but a more rounded, taller snout. It's jaws look absolutely vicious, with large, interlocking fangs. We jump back upon seeing it, but it doesn't react....it just sits there, seemingly ok with us. “...is this another...nice carnivore?” Weiss asks. Blake quickly checks through one of Annie's smaller books. “Granted the appearance and the name I can see....” she quickly flips through the pages. “Ah, here. It's a Quinkana...yeah, they're fine with people so long as they aren't attacked....they mainly seem to live on a diet of other carnivores.”

 

“Other carnivores?” Weiss asks. “How does it do that?...”

 

Suddenly there's a familiar shriek from behind us....i know that shriek. Utahraptors! There's a pack of three charging at us. We back turn with our backs towards the Quinkana and pull out our weapons. The raptors seem ready to pounce at any moment, but then the Quinkana lifts off the ground a bit and shuffles forwards a few steps, hissing loudly. The raptors immediately stop, and back up a bit, as if hesitating. The Quinkana continues a low, deep hiss. The raptors, however, don't exactly seem keen on backing down. After a few minutes of a standoff, the Raptors charge. I hear what sounds to be a quick inhale and then-

 

BOOM!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I don't know what happened, but there's a loud sound, a blast of wind, and we all go flying. I land about five feet away on the dirt, and it takes me a moment to start getting up, There's a ringing in my ears, and I feel a bit stunned. Slowly, I take an uneven stand on my own feet. I look around and see Yang on her stomach, slowly getting up. Blake was, ironically, thrown up into a tree by the blast. Weiss lies on her back in a small puddle of mud. The quinkana is between our two groups, Weiss and Blake on it's left, Yang and I on it's right. It stands there fine...with three dead raptors in painful positions after being thrown by the blast. “Ok...ow, what the hell was that?!” Yang asks. Blake jumps out of the tree she was sent flying into. “Ok...can anybody even hear still?” she asks, and we all nod. “Ok, sorry...but the ringing is more than four times as bad for me....but...Annie wrote here...Quinkana clamosus is capable of delivering a powerful sonic blast, similar to that of a pistol shrimp, but on a thirty-five foot long crocodile-sized scale. This is due to the animal's powerful, strangely-shaped jaws, which vaguely resemble the enlarged claw of a pistol shrimp. Before attacking with it's blast, Quinkana often hisses as a warning, before taking a quick, massive inhale of air to create a vacuum, then slamming it's jaws shut, to create a powerful sonic boom for close-range devastation. My fellow survivors and I have heard these sonicbooms for more than a mile away, and people standing next to a Quinkana equivalate the sound to a jet-liner taking off.”

 

“You're telling me!” I say, rubbing my ears. “I don't want my ears to start bleeding again!”

 

“At least you didn't fall in a damn mud puddle!” Weiss says, slowly standing. “I bet my hair's a mess!”

 

“Ok, but hey, isn't mud good for your complexion?” I ask. Weiss turns towards me, her back to Blake.

“Ok yeah, but generally that's your skin.”

 

“Oh...?” I then note...Blake's face...her eyes are...showing that she sees something that terrifies her. “Blake?” I ask “What's the matter?” Yang looks at Blake as I says this, and Weiss turns around

 

“Blake....i don't think I've ever seen you this pale.” Weiss says, concerned. “You're whiter than a sheet. Are you ok?”

 

I...don't think I myself have ever felt this white. Yang's got the same look Blake and I now have, since we can now see Weiss's back. I'm frozen from what I see. Weiss turns, and sees me and Yang like this. “Hey...now you guys too? What is it? Does my hair really look that bad from falling in a mud puddle?” she tries to look over her shoulder...and sees her reflection in the swamp water...there, she sees, attached to the back of her flak chestplate...a large, two foot long Leech.

 

 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!”

 

Weiss screeches at the top of her lungs “Get it off!! GET IT OFF!!!” She panics while flailing wildly. I rush over to try and help her, but Weiss's flailing isn't helping. She smacks me in the face with her hand as she flails wildly. Yang runs over and grabs Weiss's arms, holding her arms to her sides while Blake also runs in and helps grab Weiss. Weiss panics, stamping her feet in place as I come behind her and take one of Blake's Final Gambit into my hands, turning it into it's bladed form, and pry the blade between Weiss's Flak and the mouth of the giant leech. With Weiss flailing and stomping on Yang and Blake's toes over and over nonstop, much to their – especially Yang's – annoyance, I don't have much of a stable grip...so i'm forced to grab the giant leech itself as an anchor. Strangely, it's not exactly slimy...it's hard. It's skin is a flexible layer of keratin! Not that my observations matter right now. I find out, to my dismay, the best place to get a firm grip is just behind the leech's head. I hang on tightly to the invertebrate, before I suddenly pry it free from Weiss. The thing wasn't able to pierce her metal armor in the slightest, as I throw it into the mud. Weiss screams once again, flinging us all away and taking Blake's weapon from me, turning it back into pistol form, then unloading a full magazine on the leech, before then stomping it into oblivion. The three of us sit there, dumbfounded, as to what's just happened.

 

“uh...Weiss... I think you killed it.” Yang said “Like....really...really killed it.” she says, looking at the pile of mush that was once a leech. Weiss shudders, not even offering a response. Blake slowly reaches out “....can...I have my weapon back?”

 

“...huh? Y-yeah...sure...” Weiss says, stepping back and giving Blake her sword back...nearby we see the entirety of our pets, having ran over to assist Weiss after she screamed...and they're also giving blank stares of “what the heck did we just see?”....meanwhile the Quinkana stares directly at Weiss with a very annoyed stare...Weiss looks around a bit, noticing she's the center of all this...

 

“Ok....really...really...awkward...” she says

 

“....you'd make a great Scream Queen.” I say, after blinking twice.

 

“...my throat hurts now...” Weiss replies, rubbing her throat. “Like... I think I might loose my voice...”

 

“Granted as a singer you probably weren't used to a note that high.” Yang says, putting her hand on Weiss's shoulder. “You going to be ok?”

 

“Maybe...” Weiss squeaks...yeah, her voice has gone down, sounding a bit hoarse. I smirk “Well, at least it didnt get through your flak, now did it?”

 

“thank god...” Weiss replies low. I just then notice Blake staring off into oblivion in into the swamp.

 

“Hey, what's up now?” I ask. She points out into the swamp water. “over there...in the water. Do you see it?”

 

Off in the distance, in the swamp water, there's something large patrolling away from the shore...it's a bit longer than Bari, and is black in color, having quite a few spines...or even plates, on it's back. It patrols just offshore, eyeing us from the water. “...what's that?” Weiss asks, putting her hand above her eyes to try and reduce glare. Blake takes a minute or two to fumble through a few field guides. She finally speaks.

 

“Oh. Gojirasaurus.”

 

Yang turns “Wait...Godzillasaurus?!” she says with a mischievous grin.

 

“Yes and no. Gojirasaurus.” she replies. “It does mean Godzilla lizard, though.”

 

“...what's it doing out there?” I ask.

 

“Annie notes Gojirasaurus being one of the island's 'super rares'. It lives in the swamplands, often deep within them. Their diet mainly consists of other predators, so they're harmless to people. They often find their prey by heading towards loud commotions in the swamp, which are often caused by hunting carnivores...it's an incredibly territorial creature that picks fights with other predators and often wins...otherwise, it just peacefully patrols the swamp.”

 

We all look towards Weiss again...Weiss puts her hands on her hip and stomps. “Well it wasn't just me!” she says, her voice still coarse. “The crocodile caused a commotion too!”

 

The Quinkana seems to give a low growl in response to that.

 

“Weiss, I've been to loud rock concerts, seen and heard airships when they take off...” Yang says, putting her arm around Weiss again. “And even if the Quinkana can create a sonic boom...i can 100% guarantee you did a supersonic screech.”

 

Weiss, annoyed, shoves Yang off her shoulder and steps to the left, causing Yang to fall down in the mud....oh no. Weiss huffs “You really know how bad I feel right now with this throat, and you're gonna mess with me anyway?...what's wrong with you?!” Yang....slowly, gets up...there's mud in her hair...and she's not happy. Her eyes are red, as she slowly stands, her angry gaze locked onto Weiss. Weiss's eyes widen. “C-cmon now! I didn't mean...I mean, you don't wanna...there could be other leeches!”

 

Yang's still angry, her head is visibly shaking. Weiss backs up a step, her foot now sinking ankle-deep into the mud of the swamp. “I mean, like....you'd only be getting more mud in your hair, and what if the Gojirasaurus thought you were a predator and-”

 

Too late.

 

With a primal scream, Yang tackles Weiss into the mud.

[WatcherCCG]

Oh Weiss, you should know by now not to bork the hair.

It occurs to me that if the girls manage to bring even half of their tames back to Remnant, all the bad guys are gonna have the worst kind of day.

[Shadlos]

-Chapter 14-

 

Every time I look back at Weiss, she's got this eternal pout that's simply priceless. Yang on the other hand is feeling better, her hair cleaned and back to normal. Once again we're back on the trail to the Redwood Forest. I've been taking in the sights of the swamp when Blake trots up next to me on White Fang. “Hey Blake.” I say. “What's up?”

“...I'm stumped.” she says.

 

“Oh? On what?”

 

“Your riddle. I've ran over a lot of options...nothing I can really think of makes sense.”

“So you give up?”

 

“I declare defeat.”

 

“Ok.”

 

“....so what's the answer?”

 

“To the riddle?”

 

“Yes, to the riddle.”

 

“Oh. The guy's a little person. He's a midget.”

 

“....”

 

“Because of his height, he can only reach half the elevator buttons. But on a rainy day, he has his umbrella, so he pokes the top floor button with it.”

 

Blake stares at me for a few solid seconds, then smirks and shakes her head, before putting her hand on her face and laughing. “Wow....that's...wow.”

 

“I read it in a riddle book.” I say smiling proudly. “It had a bunch of crazy riddles in it.”

 

“You should tell me more of them sometime.”

 

“Definitely. How close are we to the crossing?”

 

“That's it, right here.” Blake says, pointing. In front of us, a small slope which leads down to a grove of Cyprus trees. “We just head through that, and we'll be out into the battleground.”

 

“Want to brief the others?”

“Sure.”

 

I pull on the reigns a little to get Ember to stop. Blake does similarly to White, and I turn around and give a sharp whistle at the others. Yang tilts her head. “What's up?”

 

“This is the Cyprus crossing.” Blake says. “We just hurry through, then we'll be in the Battleground. We'll be really fortunate if we don't run into anything on the way through. Annie said in her notebooks it was rare the area wasn't riddled with carnivores or other already fighting creatures.”

 

“Whatever happens, we'll tear 'em up!” Yang says. “Heck! I'll get off Blade if I need to and deal with some predators personally!”

 

“You've been very eager to be violent ever since you got him.” Weiss notes.

 

“Actually.” I chime in “she's been prone to violence ever since I gave her Primal Conquerors.”

 

Yang snickers. “What can I say? You can't keep the huntress's spirit outta me!”

 

“That's just a scrapper's troublemaking spirit.” Weiss replies.

“Don't make me throw you in the mud again.”

 

Weiss shoots an ice-cold glare at Yang, who returns a mocking, smirking jeer of a glare. I sigh “Can we just please focus on the matter at hand?”

 

“Sure.” Yang says. “So, be prepared to get into a big fight, right?”

 

“Likely.” Blake says.

 

“All right! Let's go!” Yang says, to which Saber gives a war-roar in agreement. I shake my head. “Alright. Blake, you first, or me?”

 

“We'll go together. I'll be right behind you.”
 

Ember and I are the first in. White and Blake follow close behind, the others keeping suit. Poor Petra's sow low to the ground she can barely lift her head above the water, and actually ends up swimming in water I could walk through. I feel bad for the poor girl. She's so pffffft like a pancake, she's not meant for this. We make our way through the cyprus trees...finally we see the light ahead. I'm bracing for whatever I might see on the other side...but it's bizarrely quiet. Maybe something's just waiting for us to come out. Finally the light floods my eyes as we exit the Cyprus grove. I open my eyes expecting to see an abundance of predators...but I didnt expect this. There's nothing but dead bodies everywhere. Blake's the next one to see the massacre of animals, then Weiss and Yang....there's so many dead bodies. I see Titanoboa...raptors...dilophosaurus....carnotaurus....some lythronax...paracers, even...sarcosuchus....beelzebufo....stegosaurus...dimetrodon...scorpions...it's a completely dead wasteland of corpses. I've....never seen so much sheer death. “G...guess we missed the fighting.” Yang says, completely shocked.

 

“I..Is it this bad in Annie's notes?” Weiss said, surveying the sea of dead bodies. Blake slowly shakes her head. “...not this bad usually. I almost wonder what caused such a fight.”

 

“L...let's just get out of here.” I say. “This is giving me all kinds of creeps.”

 

We begin to make our way through the field of dead bodies....yet as we go, we can't help but have our eyes wander, and survey the damage...that's when I notice something. A Carno...it's skin is strangely black, and hard. Then I look over to a nearby Lythronax....it's feathers are gone in some spots. A large portion of bodies in the same area seem to have such black...burns on them. “Hey..G-guys?” I ask.

 

“What?” they respond

 

“W-what could have burned....four...six...eight bodies in the same spot?” I say, pointing. They look over that direction tho the charred corpses. “...I don't want to stay and find out, if that IS burning.” Weiss says. We quickly keep moving on... I see something that makes me stop Ember once more...There's a body of two dead stegosaurus...one looks like an adult mom, the other, a juvenile, possibly male. The mother's body lies motionless on it's stomach, slumped to one side, while the child rests directly next to it, looking at the head of it's dead mother. It's...well, as if they died together. I shake my head, getting that scene out of my head....but then I see it. The juvenile's chest is moving. The young stegosaurus is breathing. It's wounds are heavy, but somehow, it's still alive. I'm not the only one who's noticed. The others have too. That poor young Stego...it just stares at it's mother, as if hoping to get some sort of condolence. Something to let it know “it's going to be ok”, something, anything, to comfort it. I can feel myself about to cry...then I see something. Blake raising the longneck rifle I made for her. I quickly grab the top of it and push it aside. “What are you doing?!” I demand.

 

“Ruby, it's the humane thing to do.”

 

“No it's not! You were going to shoot it!!”

 

“Ruby....it's in a lot of pain.” Weiss says. “It's best just to end it's suffering.”

“But if we help it, It'll be ok-”

 

“No it won't, sis. Look at that gouge in it's side.” Yang tells me.

 

“But Sans had one, and now he's all better!” I exclaim, exploding in tears.

 

“Sans had one on his thigh. The poor thing has a gash almost half a foot into it's side. It's probably hitting lungs or something else.” Blake tells me. “Ruby.....I'm not trying to be mean, but sometimes, you can't save everything.”

 

“B-but...” I stammer “It...It's just a baby!!”

 

“.....well-”

 

“Would you kill a puppy?!”

 

“......”

 

I stare at Blake, but then I see Weiss raising something. “DON'T DO IT!” I say to her. I lessen my grip on Blake's gun, and she tries to take the opportunity to yank it free. I quickly re-assure my grip. “Sis, please.” Yang said. “Do you want to make it's suffering stop, or just walk by and let it suffer on?”

 

“I....I....” In a flash, I'm off of Ember, and i'm nothing but a red blur as I dash up to the young stegosaurus and throw my arms around it's neck. “It's not fair!!!!” I say bawling into it. “It's not fair!!!!”

 

The others simply stare at me....and it seems that the juvenile seems...shocked, that it's actually getting some sort of affection. Yang slowly climbs off of Blade, then gets on one knee alongside me, and puts her hand on my back, between my shoulders. “....you have a really big heart, sis.” she tells me. “You really do.”

 

Weiss sighs and looks over at Blake. “To be honest...why's she so nice?”

 

“Is that something wrong?” Blake asks, lowering her rifle.

 

“Well, no. I mean... I guess it's just rare.”

 

“Especially back home in Remnant, it feels.”

“You'd think Ruby's so nice she's just had it all bottled up for years with nowhere for it to go.”

 

“Well...She's a kid, in many regards. She's got a very strong sense of what's right....she's got a lot of hope in her, that's for sure. I think all those stories she's read have rubbed off on her.”

“Not that that's a bad thing. I mean...the fact the youngest one of us all can remain standing while the rest of us....”

 

“....are you saying what I think you're saying?”

 

“....likely. I feel like Ruby would be the one to last longer than...well...at least, me.”

 

“What makes you say that?”

 

“Like...everything. All the time's I've been with her throughout knowing her. You know I'm on to something when I say that Ruby is...well, she's a living heroine.”

 

“Just like her storybooks. To be honest... I agree with you. I feel like she could definitely last longer than me. Despite the age gap... I feel myself being inspired by her, often, in many different ways.”

 

“To be frank, me too.” Weiss says, folding her arms. “and although before I might say 'don't dare tell her that'....well, I'm stuck with her good now. So I...wouldn't exactly mind.”

“perhaps soon there will be the time to let her know.” Blake replies. “Regardless...as for the source of Ruby's innocence....it's likely an exact mystery as to where it originates. Maybe it's her youth, her childlike demeanor...I don't know. All I know is that I appreciate it.”

 

“But, I mean...like, she doesn't even know this stegosaurus, and now she's acting like it's Zwei about to be put down.”

 

“It is just a child. That, and Ruby does love animals.”

 

“I guess so. Maybe though Yang will get Ruby to understand.”

 

“Possibly. I don't want the poor thing to just sit there dying, though.”

 

Yang slowly helps me to my feet. I look over at the young stegosaur's wounds. Now that I'm up close, I have a better look at them...and they aren't actually too bad. They aren't deep at all. I sniffle, then point to the wounds. “It's not that bad.” I say “It's really shallow when you're up close.”

 

“She's not lying.” Yang says “I mean...now that I'm up here with her.”

 

“Let me see.” Blake says, putting down her rifle and dismounting White Fang. Weiss dismounts Monarch and walks over with Blake. Blake takes a moment and looks over the young stegosaur's wounds. I watch her with nervous anticipation of what she's going to say. Finally, she sighs.

 

“I'm sorry.” she said. “They're fairly shallow, and they've already started healing. The poor thing's just exhausted.”

 

“S...so are you saying-”

“Yes, Ruby. He should be ok.”

 

I give a sigh of relief, then look towards our intended destination. The towering trees of the redwood forest are so close. “Is it too much for us to take him with us?”

 

“He won't be going anywhere anytime soon without a bit of extra energy. If he stays here, the scavengers are bound to get to him.”

 

“So we'll give him a kick with some stimulant!” I say, reaching into my inventory. “i have some on me.”

 

“I've got a few medical brews, too...” Weiss says, checking her own. “They could help.”

 

“Let's make sure we can get him up and moving, and soon.” Blake replies. We then try to help the young stegosaur onto his feet. His plates are a crisp, faded green on the interior, and a crisp white along the outer edges. Due to the fact it reminds me of mountains, I named him Taiga. After feeding him a few stimulants and some healing brews, we try to get him onto his feet. It takes him a few tries, but he finally stands. I'm relieved, and I hug him around his neck once more. Now just to get him to follow us. However, that seems like not much of an issue. As I turn to go back to Ember, he's right there glued to my side. I find it somehow adorable. Looking towards the redwood forest, I make sure everybody else is ready before we continue on. The redwood forest is unlike anything i've ever seen. The canopy darkens the floor below, and the redwood trees themselves are huge. I can hear the wind whistling through the trees...and the entire environment is soothing. I keep finding myself looking up into the canopy, as the light filters down through the trees. I give a relaxed sigh. “I wonder what it will be like when we're in our treehouse.” I say. “I bet the view will be even more breathtaking.”

 

“Likely.” Blake replies. “There's...just really something humbling about these trees, isn't there?”

 

“There really is.” Weiss says. “And to think these huge trees come from such tiny seeds.”

 

“Nature's awesome.” Yang chimes in. “When it's not trying to tear your face off.”

 

We continue along, through natural game trails we can find, deeper into the woods. I'm starting to think now we should have brought the dimorphodons with us. They likely would have helped, but I guess less mouths to feed while we settle a new area is a good thing, too. We continue our trek through the forest...then I see something familiar. Deer! Three of them, ahead on the left. Two females, and then one male that has an absolutely massive set of antlers. I can make them out as “Megaloceros”. From what I vaguely know about dinosaur names, sounds like it means “Great Horn”, and for good reason. Those antlers are huge, and very majestic. The male watches us intently as we pass by. Weiss herself seems to take particular interest in them. I don't blame them: they're very majestic looking animals. As we follow the trail...we come to a beautiful mid-sized pond within the redwood forest. Sunlight filters down through the trees to dance upon the crystal-clear water, which is stocked with both coelocanth, and those strange Sabertooth Salmon. I can hear a collected sigh of awe from the four of us, and I lead Ember down by the water, then dismount. She bends down quickly to take a drink from the clear water, and the other pets follow her example. I look around quickly a moment...and my eye focuses on this one, large, sturdy tree nearby. I smile “hey, you three?” I call to the others. “What's up, sis?” Yang asks, after having bent down and splashed some cold water on her face.

 

“You three still have those crossbows and grappling hooks I gave you?”

 

“Yeah, I do.” Yang says.

 

“I do as well.” Blake replies, putting her crossbow over her shoulder. Weiss nods “Me too. Why?”

 

“Come with me a sec. I want to try something.”

 

I take them over to the base of the redwood tree that catches my interest. I pull out my crossbow, load a grappling hook into it, then take careful aim at the redwood tree. I then pull the trigger, and the arrow flies up and into it's designated location high in the tree. “Think you three can aim yours at equal height?” I ask. They nod, and sure enough, they get their hooks at the same general height as mine. Once I make sure I'm secure, I put my feet on the tree and begin to slowly climb my way up. The others follow my lead, as we slowly climb higher and higher into the tree. I stop once I'm almost at the end of my line...must be about 75 feet or so up in the air. I then, after making sure I'm well secured, turn around and look over my shoulder. “So, what do you think of this?” I say smiling. They turn around, and the view of the pond and forest from up here is breathtaking. “This...this is incredible.” Weiss says. I nod “Yeah! Like, picture this. We're standing on the deck right now, looking out to all this. Then we run a bridge and another platform to over there, a little lower, on that tree, and then another over there. We put the main house here, then maybe build like...a pagoda or something on the other one so we have a large outdoor deck place we can relax at, then the third....we'll figure it out! Maybe a guest house or something.”

 

“That...actually works.” Blake says. “I can see it. This tree's the perfect spot for the main house. When it's all said and done, I might not want to ever leave and go back to Cragg's.”

 

“It's just really cool here, isn't it?” Yang says “I mean, heck. Might as well be a second home, and not just a base.”

 

“We're gonna be here a while.” I say. “So it might as well be.”

 

“Well, what are we waiting for?” Weiss asks. “It's one in the afternoon right now. Sunset is at seven. We've got six hours to make this place even slightly hospitable.”

 

“Alright. Umm...Howabout Weiss, you and me work on using wooden pillar walls to fence off the area, and establish a perimeter. Yang, you and Blake start work on the house and platform?”

 

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Weiss replies, and the others agree. After repelling down the tree, we quickly get to work. Weiss and I start using Gamuto to fell trees for wood, while Yang and Blake use the premade materials to begin working on the main platform. Weiss and I quickly get the materials we need for enough fencing and a dinosaur gate. We're quick to put those up, enclosing the pond and a large enough area for stables for the pets. That's a relief: No unwelcome visitors. Plus, it only took one and a half hours. I sigh, taking a break with Weiss for a couple moments by the pond. There's a log right next to the water, and we relax by sitting on it and dipping our feet in the cool water. “So.” I say. “I finally thought of what to do with that third platform.”

“Oh?”

 

“Going to need a workshop, aren't we?”

 

“Ah, true. You sure you'll want to lug all those materials up there?”

 

“Maybe we can get some sort of primitive elevator going or something. It gives the platform a use, doesn't it?”

 

“Maybe we could figure out a stair system or something.” Weiss replies. “at least, for that end of the decking, since it's the lowest to the ground.”

 

“Yeah, likely.”

 

“HEY WEISS!” Blake hollers from the platform up top. Weiss huffs and turns, hollering back “What do you want?”

 

“We need a third person up here for a moment! Do you mind?”

 

“Coming!” Weiss huffs, before putting her shoes back on and heading over to the platform, and beginning to climb a rope ladder up to the top of the platform. So that leaves me to...find something to do. I groan out loud, not wanting to start on my workshop quite yet. I take a few more minutes to relax before a sound grabs my attention. To my left, really close...it's like I can hear something drinking. I look down and to my left...sure enough, there's a bird...weird bird. It's like a mix between a dinosaur and a bird...and I know this one: Archaeopteryx. It's kinda big too...and at first, it doesn't see me. Then, it catches a glimpse of me out of the corner of it's eye, while it drinks. The little creature freaks out, jumping and flapping it's wings frantically while It turns around in a screech, beginning to run away. For some odd reason....heh. I snicker and chase after it. The little guy starts running towards a nearby redwood tree, likely to scamper up it and out of my reach. I then decided to try something i've never done before. I take out a Bola and begin to wind it up....one time while Weiss was trying to teach me to use it I actually bonked myself in my head while winding it up....I quickly try to give a rough aim, and throw it at the little guy. It looks like a bad through, but it winds right around the little guy and trips him just as he gets to the tree. I carefully pick up the bound bird, who struggles in my arms.

 

“Floofy little fella.” I say to the azure dinobird, who continues to try and thrash out of my grasp. I sit back on the log, putting him in my lap. “Noooo...” I say as he keeps thrashing. “Bad boy. Don't do that. That's not nice.” I keep petting him and trying to feed him little pet treats that I made with Weiss a while back....he's just so traumatized...strangely enough I have an idea. I cross my right leg over my left, and with the Archaeo still in my lap putting up a defiant show, I take my right boot off and take off my sock. I know birds like ostriches calm down when you put a bag or something over their head...maybe this will calm down the little guy. It takes a moment, but I finally get my sock over his head and he stops thrashing. I sigh in relief....and then the little guy goes limp in my lap. I'm completely shocked, and quickly take the sock off his head...he's out cold. Wait...I take a second and...OH GOD! A single distant whiff of my sock, and i'm questioning if my feet really do smell that bad. I mean...He...is kinda tranquilized now...so...I mean, I don't even know what to think. I'm so...in shock and weirded out that my feet are that bad. I ponder a moment....hmm. What would work for him? He does look like a little carnivore, maybe some....no, he doesn't like meat. Nor does he like the little treats I made. I sigh and look through my inventory...i have various tidbits...hide....keratin....fiber... chitin....wait...chitin? Something tells me to try that, strangely enough...and sure enough, he enjoys crunching down on some chitin. I'm completely confused, but I guess if he eats bugs, it kind of makes sense. I put my sock back on, as well as my boot, and simply wait...sure enough the little guy wakes up. I take a moment to pet him, and due to his feathers, I name him Azure. I look at him for a moment, then check the dossier to read up on him. I read through...and then I see it. Are you serious? This little guy can do that?? I'm beyond excited when I read this. I quickly close my implant and look directly at the little guy. He looks up at me with a sort of smiling, friendly look. I smirk, then pick him up. “Alright little guy. You're gonna entertain me for like...a solid eternity now. Let's do this.” He chirps at me, as I stand then run off to execute my master plan.

 

 

“One, two, THREE!” Yang says. The wooden spiral staircase lifts off the platform floor as Yang supports the whole thing using just her sheer strength. Weiss and I quickly dive under to try and make a few brief adjustments to the stair and floor. I recall back at the dance in beacon, Yang was able to lug around speakers like it was nobody's business. I know she can support this stairwell easy, but I still don't want to leave her hanging. Weiss and I quickly make the minor repairs, and then I help Yang set the stairwell back down. Yang sighs “That was actually a nice workout” she says, stretching “should have went for a jog carrying that thing.”

 

“Quit the bragging.” Weiss says. Yang simply smirks. “Aww c'mon. You've got to have a little fun on the ARK. Let me have my fun.”

 

“You've been having your fun.” Weiss says “not that encourage you to stop. I just hope you'll save it for the right moments.”

 

“Whaaaaatever.” Yang says, plopping down onto the wooden floor. “Alright, so, all we need is a buttload of crystal and then we've got the window wall done, basically. The actual house itself is coming together. Just need to rig a lot of the appliances. Might just be a husk...but it's a husk we got done in like...what, two hours?”

 

“Thank goodness for quick-build placement.” Weiss huffs. I give a light smile, then turn to Weiss “What were you and Ruby planning on doing next?” I ask. Weiss shrugs “Ruby was contemplating making her little...workshop on the third platform. What do you all say?”

 

“Help us with this first.” Yang says, abruptly laying on her back on the floor with a thud. “This is getting exhausting. Then we'll return the favor.”

 

“Sounds ideal.”

 

“Speaking of Ruby, where is she?” I ask. Weiss goes to the edge of the platform. “She should be right down....no she's not.” she says stepping back a second. “Huh. Well she's somewhere here.”

 

“She better not be slacking off or something.” Yang says, as she slaps her hat over her head. Weiss sighs “I mean, she worked hard with me too, ya know.”

 

“I know, I know.”

I sigh, then call out. “Ruby! Where are you?”

 

there's no immediate response.

 

“Ruby!” Weiss calls. “Ruby Rose!! Where are you!?”

 

“Up here.” she replies....and her voice doesn't sound to enthusiastic. I look across the pond, and up in another tall redwood, Ruby sits on a small off-branch ledge, dangling her feet off...but she must be about a 125 feet up! Weiss scoffs “Ruby Rose, what are you doing?”

 

“....thinking.” she says solemnly. “When you left and helped them I got to thinking.”

 

“About what?”

 

“...there's no adapting to it.” she said. “When I think about it...I can't help but....i mean, we're not going back home. We're never going back home. We're the only ones on the island, too.”

 

“...Sis...” Yang says, slowly sitting up. “I thought we already established that, and you told us”

 

“I lied.” she said. “Little kids lie. I'm not ok with it. We're gonna do all this work for what? To “survive”? I mean, ok, ARK's going to keep us alive and well so long as we prosper, but I don't want to live forever partially alone on an island that's constantly trying to kill us. I love Ember, I really do...but she's not Zwei. I miss Dad, Yang. Don't you? Uncle Qrow?...There's nothing for us here. Maybe it's all just a simulation or something.”

 

“Ruby...” I say. She's not really thinking about jumping, is she “Come on, now. You'd tear us apart if you...”

 

“Sis...” Yang says, slowly standing “I swear if you...”

 

“If I what?” she says, looking at and past her own feet, to the forest floor far beneath her. “...If I jump? I mean...Isn't it better than....A really long time of struggling and heartbreak?”

 

“Ruby, please.” Yang says. “Things will get better. I don't know...why you suddenly thought of this, why you're acting like this...please, Ruby, just...hang on. We're going to be OK. There's nothing on this island that's got a shot in the dark against us. After all...Ruby, loosing you...it might as well kill me. I don't know if I could live without you.”

 

“....you don't know if you'd live without me?” she says, looking directly at Yang. “...you think loosing me would die if you didn't have me?”

“YES! RUBY YOU'RE MY SISTER, YOU'RE ALL I'VE GOT LEFT RIGHT NOW!” Yang screams. “PLEASE, FOR GOD'S SAKE, JUST COME DOWN!”

 

Ruby looks at her kicking feet a moment, then sighs, and stands, holding the trunk of the tree.

 

“You'd die if....i died.” she says low. “This island wants us dead anyway....so I'll save you too.” Ruby steps right off the edge. Yang screams out and rushes forwards as Weiss and I do. I rush out to try and get to her like the others, but my foot trips over somebody's crossbow, and I end up tripping Weiss in the process. The two of us hit the platform, which causes Yang to briefly stop and look back for a fraction of a second. I look up expecting to see Ruby's either crushed or falling body-

 

 

I don't see anything. None of us do. The three of us look around perplexed and frantically, while Weiss and I rise to our feet. “RUBY?!” Yang hollers out. “RUBY?! RUBY!?!”

 

There's a response to Yang's calling...but it's not Ruby. It's a high-pitched, brief animal call. Almost like a bird. Then we hear it again. We look up and-

 

 

….....

 

Ruby's floating down at a surprisingly slow pace....by holding onto the legs of an Archaeopteryx; which flaps its wings, carrying her and itself down slowly out through the sky. Weiss has a perfectly perplexed look, and immediately upon seeing it was a joke, and the ridiculousness of Ruby's “Hang gliding”, Yang busts out laughing uncontrollably.

 

“HAH! GOT YOU!” Ruby says as she kicks her feet while she and the bird descend through the sky. Yang's crying as she laughs. Likely from the joke, and the fact her sister isn't actually going to commit suicide. I can't help but smile. “How'd you find him?” I ask. Ruby smiles back “He wandered in so I tamed him using unorthodox methods!”

 

“Unorthodox methods?” Weiss asks.

 

“Stinky sock KO!” Ruby calls back. Yang dies even more upon hearing that, while Weiss's humored perplexity simply increases. “I swear to god...” Yang says out of breath. “If you can control it...”

 

Ruby seems to look around a moment, then moves her shoulders to the left...and lo and behold, she and her Archaeopteryx start flying away from us. I think Yang's died multiple times because of this. I sigh “Get over here!” I call with a smile, and she slowly changes her direction, gliding in a large curve around our tree, before she's fully lined up. She's safely around 18 ft above our platform before she lets go, dropping to the ground as her Archaeopteryx flies to the tree trunk, then scampers down. Yang immediately springs up with a laugh and locks ruby in a headlock, giving her a noogie. “Don't ever scare the s*** outta me like that again!” Yang says laughing, and out of breath. Ruby laughs back “I won't! But seriously! Once the dossier told me that was what they were used for, I just had to give it a shot!”

 

Ruby's Archaeo walks up right next to her, and Ruby picks him up like a little dog. “My partner in crime: Azure. Say hi!”

 

“More like, MINE.” Yang says, snatching Azure from Ruby's grasp then leaping off the edge of the platform with him held over her head. Sure enough, she starts gliding from the height of her jump to the ground safely. Yang laughs again and kicks her feet playfully as she glides through the sky. I sigh “I guess it's 'everybody have fun with the Archaeopteryx' time. You guys have fun. I'm going to the Red Peak.”

 

“You don't want to take Azure for a spin?” Ruby asks

 

“Oh I will, and thanks for sharing, but i'm going to hike there and get some crystal for us.”

 

“Alone? You going to be alright?”

I cross my arms. “Ruby. Me, in a dense forest like this, needing to worry about not being safe?”

 

“....oh yeah.” she says, then crosses her arms. “Alright. Just...well, you know, take care of yourself. Even if this place is a ninja's dream.”

 

“I'll be careful.” I say, packing up my gear. “I'll be back soon, alright?”

 

“Okay!”

 

I climb down the ladder and head out of our secured area, closing the gate behind me. I keep my eye out anything that could want to cause trouble, while admiring the redwood forest. I move quickly, climbing, running, and maneuvering through the undergrowth. As I head into the clearing I spot something that stops my rapid advance. On the opposite end of the clearing...a Direbear. It looks down to the earth beneath it, grazing from roots and berries. It's an absolutely huge creature, much bigger than I am tall. I'm downwind from it, so hopefully it won't notice me. I move around the perimeter of the clearing, sticking to the trees and foliage. It's a lvl 32 female direbear...and she seems alert. As if she's looking for something, or looking out for something. I keep sneaking along, entering into a bush...and run right into a direbear cub. It must be a month or two old, and looks absolutely adorable. This must be what the mother was looking out for. Making sure her baby was safe. It looks up at me with a strange, friendly smile and gives an adorable little growl. I flinch a moment, and after making sure the mother is none the wiser, I crouch down and pet the little guy a few times. He sort of wrestles with my arm as I do. He's such a friendly little thing. I'm still downwind from momma bear, thankfully, so I quickly drop a little piece of meat for the cub and keep going. I try to make a brisk pace away from them....but the little guy follows, romping right behind me. I realize this is a terrifying situation: the mother bear could charge at any moment. Suddenly, she sees me, and does just that; roaring and charging at me at an incredible speed. The entire ground shakes from her footfalls as she sends her massive body hurdling towards me. I immediately use my semblance and dodge into the nearby bushes and leave a copy of myself behind, beginning to run. The mother bear falls for the trick, and stands on her back legs to look around, after attacking my decoy. She then turns around again, back on all fours, and begins walking away, expecting her cub to follow. Finally out of the clearing, I turn and look back at the mother as she walks away, her cub giving this disappointed look of “aww, where's my friend?”. He looks around and spots me again, but I glare back at him with a look of “follow your mother”. He seems to get the message and gallops back after and alongside momma bear. I continue up the mountain, until the redwoods finally begin to become more sparse, leading to a bare mountain-top. It's mildly chilly, here. I can see a few stegosaurs....then there's a pack of raptors chasing a poor Megaloceros. There's also some ankylosaurs nearby, moving as a group of five alongside the slope of the mountain. I continue my way up the mountains, following a rocky pathway farther up. The view from up here is incredible, and I feel like I can see the majority of the island from here. I continue to walk the path, keeping an eye out for crystal. Everything seems fine, when suddenly there's a hiss and my right foot is grabbed, and I fall forwards onto my stomach. I look back- Pulmonoscorpius! It's succesfully ambushed me from between a few rocks, and tries to steady my leg into being an easy target for it's potent sting. My pants protect me from the scorpion's claws giving me any dosage of it's tranquilizing venom, and I fumble for my hips, where I hold Final Gambit. Yet reaching for them causes me to use my arms, which were my main method of pulling away from the scorpion. It quickly brings it's stinger down onto my leg, and I scream in pain as I unhook Final Gambit and start firing both guns profusely at the giant arthropod. The sudden volley of painful projectiles causes it to let go and back up, hissing in the pain as it fumbles backwards in shock and disarray. I quickly run up and stomp-kick it in it's face, which sends it off the ledge and down the cliff to the rocks below. I huff, and check my leg. The stinger might leave a welt, but I should be fine. I'm a little dizzy from the narcotic poison, but I shake it off and move on; at a more brisk pace to hurry on up and get this done, then get back home. After a minute or two, I finally find some crystal. I sigh, and then pull out my own pickax. I'm not ridiculously strong like Yang, but with a bit of work I should be able to harvest it easily. I start swinging away, with good results fairly quickly. The crystal begins to break, chipping off into collectible parts. Over ten minutes I successfully harvest three various crystal formations. I pause a moment, wiping the sweat from my brow, as I stand towards the last remaining formation. Just then, I hear something that freezes me in my tracks and sends a huge chill down my spine....a loud, tremendous roar of a colossal creature. It's distant, coming from somewhere off to my left, either further up the mountain, or on the other side of it. This terrifies me down to my very soul. Is it a Tyrannosaurus? I don't want to find out, and quickly take care of the last crystal formation. I sigh and quickly check my inventory as I pack everything away...that should be enough. Just then, I hear the sound of small rocks sliding down, as if disturbed by something moving...but what startles me is it came from my right. Something's stalked its way very close to me, within fifty feet of my current location. I quickly pull out my electric prod, even if it's a one-shock use. I stand alert and ready, my ears trying to locate where this creature is. My prod is armed and crackling with electricity, ready to send volts of electricity ripping through something's body. My feline ears are working to desperately find this creature...and I find a telltale sound I can track: breathing. I can hear whatever it is breathing as it stalks me. It's a low, quiet breath, which confirms my fear of being hunted. I try to pinpoint this clue. Where is the damn thing?!....then I realize.

 

It's right behind me.

 

 

 

A loud bang rips through the air as Ruby's shot misses its target. She lies on her stomach, atop the platform. Weiss is on her left, trying her best with her own bow to assist; and I also wield my crossbow to try and shoot the Amphicyon below. There's a pack of three of them that noticed us atop our platform from outside the walls, and they've been pacing back and fourth, snapping and growling at us while looking up at us. They seem to be trying to figure out how to get up and over the walls and to us...and they either shrug off or avoid our projectiles. Ruby's rifle shots from Ancient Rose are really the only thing they cant avoid, but she still has issues with getting the shots to land. Weiss huffs “There's a reason I hate the hell out of these things!” she says, missing another shot. “They're just as bad as Grimm!”

 

“At least they don't seem to common.” Ruby says, pulling the trigger. This time she hits a bear-dog's right shoulder, ripping through it and shattering it's shoulder blade. However, the bear-dog still stands, almost ignorant of the pain, like the monstrosity it is. I've always been a more close-combat person...but Ruby insists fighting three of these things alone is a no-go. I have to agree i'm a little bit hesitant, because i've seen what these bear-dogs can do. I mean, yeah, i've fought off two Ursai alone by myself, but I don't exactly know how to compare that to three bear-dogs. “Can we still talk about how Blake's been gone for about an hour and a half?!” I say “I mean, what if she comes home while these guys are out here, or if something happened?”

 

“We'll deal with it, no offense.” Ruby says. She tries to pull off a second shot....but her gun jams. She stares in a complete look of horror at her own gun, and shakes it a second. “I...my gun jammed...I...wow...wa...”

 

I'm in just as much shock as my sister. “...Your weapons never jam.” I say “Especially the weapons you hand-make!”

 

“I blame ARK!” Ruby says quickly, then rapidly trying to figure out the issue with Ancient Rose. The Bear-dog seem to know something's up, and turn even more aggressive, jumping at the walls. I'm starting to get a little desperate, worried about them breaching the walls. Yet my mind is also racing about Blake. She's been gone that long, and we haven't heard from her. The Bear-dog farthest back seems to be trying to calculate how fast it needs to go and how high it needs to jump to try and clear the wall. It shifts it's weight from one side to another as it paws the ground and prepares a leap. I take the opportunity to aim my crossbow, right at it's skull...but my right eye catches something in my peripheral that catches my attention. Something quickly closing in, and whatever it is, it's big, and FAST. It's charging right at the unsuspecting Bear-dog. I quickly focus on the new blur and then I realize...It's Blake, and she's not alone.

 

She rides bareback on top of a sabertooth tiger!

 

Blake's pitch-black battle cat roars at it leaps onto the unsuspecting Bear-dog and sinks its absolutely huge fangs into the creature's neck as Blake sends a blade of Final Gambit into the bear-dog's skull, killing it. The remaining two Bear-dog turn around and roar at them. Regardless of the risk or not, I leap down from the platform with Primal Conquerors ready. I punch the ground with enough force the shockwave throws the two large mammals into opposite directions. I continue by leaping at one Bear-dog as it's back slams into a tree. Before it can even retaliate, the claws of Primal Conqueror on my left arm pierces through it's skull and pins it to the tree. I uppercut the Amphicyon with the free claws of Primal Conqueror on my right arm, embedding those claws in it's skull, and then pulling the trigger on my right arm gauntlet's lower gun. There's a loud bang and there's a splatter of blood which sprays onto me as the bear-dog is killed. As this has been happening, Blake dismounted her sabertooth, and the two of them double-team their larger opponent. The single bear-dog can't keep track of both of them, and gets cut from everywhere because of their attrition. Suddenly there's a loud bang as the bear-dog lurches to one side and onto the ground. Blake's sabertooth immediately jumps onto it and sinks it's sabers into the bear-dog's skull, killing it. We look up, and sure enough, the shot came from Ruby and Ancient Rose. She smiles, folding up the gun as she looks at us “Sorry! Stray tranq dart left in the dart chamber!”

 

I sigh as I rip my claws free of the dead bear-dog and sheath them. Weiss and Ruby leap down from the platform, and the three of us head over to Blake and her sabertooth. Her saber lets go of the Amphicyon, then walks next to her and begins to purr and rub against her leg. She smiles and pets it back, as if it were a giant lap cat. The whole creature is black in color, with darker stripes, an even darker mane, and bright green eyes. I smile “Ok, so is he why you took so long?”

 

“She was.” Blake says, still petting the sabertooth. “Onca here tried her luck at ambushing me while I was mining...worked, in part. Sorry I didn't bring my radio to tell you.”

 

“She's beautiful.” Weiss says, admiring the sabertooth. “May I?”

 

“Sure. I don't think she'll mind.”

 

Weiss pets Onca, who enjoys the added affection, but stays devoted to loving on Blake. Ruby bends down, taking out a large slab of cooked meat that we use as treats for the carnivorous pets, sometimes. It's about as big as her hand, and she holds it out to Onca, who takes it happily. Blake smiles “I think she likes you guys.” Blake states “And Ruby?”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You're right. I absolutely love Onca.”

 

“You looked perfect riding her in like that!” I say, to which Ruby agrees excitedly. “Yeah! I told you you'd do well with a sabertooth!”

 

“Well, Sabertooth is the pop culture name for them, and it's not the most accurate. The technical term for it, the true name, is Smilodon, which means 'knife tooth'. According to the dossier, whereas real Smilodon were Smilodon fatalis, Onca here is a Smilodon brutalis. It fits, quite well...those claws on her paws are very sharp. They actually make great work for flaying corpses for hide.”

 

“Morbid, but works!” Weiss replies. Ruby scratches Onca's chin. The large feline then stretches out like a large cat, bending down and stretching it's paws forwards, before delivering a pleased growl. “She's quite literally a large lapcat, so i've found out the hard way.” Blake says.

 

“How's that?”

 

“I would have been here earlier, but despite my urgency to want to leave the mountain, she made herself at home on my lap.”

 

“pffft.” Ruby says. “Nice.”

 

“Urgency to leave the mountain?” Weiss asks. “Why?”

 

“I heard the roar of something large up there, coming from the other side of the mountain. Wanted to get down as fast as I could...but Onca ended up changing those plans. I mean, I guess I was just lucky, the creature went away, or...i don't know.”

“Still, you've got a Saber. Or...Smilodon. Whatever!” I say smilng with a shrug. Blake sighs “You can go ahead and call it a Saber, or Sabertooth, just know that not all Sabertooth are cats.”

 

“Wait, what?” Ruby asks. Blake smirks “Incoming brain hurt. The Smilodons fit into the clad Machairodontidae, which are your general sabertooth cats. However they can fit down into true Machairodonts -or Smilodons- such as Machairodus or Smilodon. Some don't even have huge knife teeth like the former, but still have sabers, like Lokotunjailurus. Other prehistoric big cats like Dinofelis or Xenosmilus are technically related to Smilodon, but not exactly saberteeth. However there are what's known as feliformes, which are very distantly related to cats. Those are the 'false saber-toothed cats'. Similar to Gustave being a 'not-a-croc', true false sabertooth are 'not-a-cats'. This includes creatures like Nimravus or Barbourofelis, which had saber teeth. Then there's a really strange family of animals from another part of the world, Thylacosmilidae, which was a group of catlike, sabertoothed marsupials. The main species for that group was Thycalosmilus, who I read was most likely rendered extinct by none other than the true Smilodon.”

 

“...that's cool.” I say bluntly, impressed by what I've heard. Blake nods “It's weird how taxonomy works...but it's interesting, to say the least.”

 

“Well yeah, but that's not what I meant.”

 

“Oh?”

“I mean you! You're so damn smart about all this!” I say, gesturing to Blake. Weiss nods, and Ruby jumps up “Yeah! I mean, you're so smart because you've read about dinosaurs, and you're learning from Annie's notes and stuff, and like...it's just so cool how much you know from all your reading, and it makes you really cool to talk to!”

 

Blake...seems pleasantly surprised by this. She even seems a little embarrassed, turning a little red, and looking down at Onca a moment. “Oh, ah...well, thanks! Really.”

 

“We really mean it, Blake.” Weiss says. “You offer a lot of insight, and it's really helpful!”

 

“...again, thanks.” She says looking up at us. “So....shall we head inside before we get attacked or something?”

 

“Sure. Welcome back home, Blake.” I say. “You had us worried.”

 

“Again...sorry I didnt bring my radio.” She says sincerely, as all of us, including Onca, head back into the perimeter of our base.

[Shadlos]

Hi guys! Don't worry, I've still been writing. It's just I've been updating the version on fanfiction.net more! I'll update this soon!

[rpicardi1]

Hey, welcome back. Was wondering if you were ever going to continue on this adventure.

[Snapshot]

Wow I just read this whole series and I must say it is truly something else great work!

[Shadlos]

I AM STILL ALIVE

 

I'm just caught up in so much more stuff.

 

I really haven't kept this updated well have i? The version on Fanfiction.net is more up to date.... But I'll update this soon!.... Hopefully ;-;

[Halden]

Good read