Victory Through Unity! (Planetary Annihiliation Self Insert Multicross)

[Flameal15k]

This ARK was weird. Even by the standards of the other ARKs.

First off, everything that was livable was underground. All light came from crystals, reflected sunlight, and bioluminescence. Somehow, this didn't cause anyone to suffer vitamin D deficiencies. Apparently, the implants helped get extra amounts of it from food to compensate.

Then there were all the giant fungi, and the bizarre creatures that ate the fungi. And of course, the creatures that ate those creatures. Giant mole rats, barguests, karkinos, nameless, and SO MANY OTHERS in addition to all of the dinosaurs and other prehistoric critters were...weird. That wasn't getting into the plants.

Surprisingly, though, there weren't too many abominations lurking here, especially considering that Rockwell was here. For those of you wondering what that meant, here's an explanation:

One survivor named Rockwell had fused with the control system for this ARK after the other survivors had nuked the machine. He'd promptly become an abomination of flesh that really could not be considered human. He used lots of tentacles and minions to fight you when/if you got to his hiding place. What surprised me, though, was that he hadn't created any creatures to serve him on this ARK. See, Rockwell had the power of the Overseer to create new kinds of life forms to do whatever tasks he needed done. He definitely used that power when he returned in Genesis Part II, but here, he just seemed to rely upon his monster form to kill enemies. Which, I should add, he was lazy as fuck at actually doing.

As for the native creatures on this arc...well, the meanest thing around here was the Reaper. It was, essentially, a xenomorph. No facehuggers, though - females had ovipositors in their tail stingers for that. Oh, and if you killed a reaper and harvested a certain gland from it, then not only could you survive the reaper chestburster, but said abomination would imprint upon you and become your loyal pet/mount/beast of battle. Somehow I knew that Weyland-Yutani would kill for that.

Also, their primary predators were cave-dwelling dragons that could turn invisible. Perhaps the Yautja would want to use them as pets.

...Somewhere, in some universe, I knew that another commander would have predators living in a world with rock drakes. I don't know how, I just knew.

Oh, and something that annoyed me that related to how this universe worked: supposedly, you could tame fish like the megapirahna on the Isle. Supposedly. Truth was, you had to wait until you got to Aberration, because you didn't get the fish basket needed to tame them until then. Now that we had those, a few members of our "tribe" (including a kid named Milo) were trying to catch as many fish as they could. Our knight members in particular wanted to catch lampreys - those were medieval delicacies (and I can safely say that after those knights convinced me to try some, I found that to be an apt choice of words).

XXXXX

Hidden in the shadows, the creatures watched as the humans and their allies worked to build up an underground settlement. Among their ranks were what appeared to be some kind of robots, strange beings wearing robes that completely obscured their bodies (and didn't look to be human from what could be seen), and tusked bipeds with two pairs of arms. Occasionally one would look up uneasily from their work, likely realizing that they were being watched, but when no threats materialized, the watchers went back to work.

Those dwelling in the dark, watching the tribe had no interest in opposing these humans - all they wanted was to leave. Yet somehow, escaping would require the survivors to aid them. And given their appearances, that might prove difficult.

XXXXX

A dark cave

The old one watched over the strange machine, trying to figure out how it worked. All he had learned was that it required the strange black and...green(?) material that had come with the device to operate, as the material was some kind of fuel. Whatever the fuel did, it did not react well to the old one's kin - at least, not in liquid form. Those that drank it out of curiosity (their kind did not need to eat or drink) became far more aggressive than they were normally (which was saying something), ignoring his orders and warring upon themselves. Their bodies also changed, with their black skin and bony armor giving way to purple flesh that looked...twisted.

It was unnatural. And it made the old one wonder if facing the humans was perhaps a more merciful end.

The old one had observed the four new arrivals for some time, wondering why they were here. Culling his kind was out of the question - this was their land now, and the humans had no place here. Not anymore. More likely was that they were searching for the machine as well. If so, well, that was a problem. Worse still, the scythe wielder had silver eyes. If the power was still dormant, then he has less to fear. But if it was awakened...

Well, he would target her first, then.

Still, that was a secondary concern to figuring out this device. The Old One had slain enough humans to know how to judge their power, and the four that were here were nothing. The machine, though...

XXXXX

In the space between spaces, Kadesh watched as the old grimm messed around with the device.

Silently, he wondered how old this grimm was, seeing how it was trying to eat Team RWBY.

Kadesh had noticed this world when the ARK universe he was overseeing had gone severely awry. It seemed that this wolrd was one of those that it was willing to harvest extra subjects from - even without his input, or that of his coworkers. How the ARKs knew how to access this universe, he was sure, but now that he'd seen it, he wnated to know more about it.

Easier said than done - this version of the RWBY universe was guarded by the Gods of Light and Darkness, and these two were among the rare versions that could repel ROBs, since they essentially were Random Omnipotent Beings (and, given that they had destroyed mankind to punish one woman, definitely counted as bastards).

Kadesh wondered what the role of the Old Grimm was.

Had it lead the Grimm before Salem had arrived?

Was it the Token Heroic Grimm that would help Team RWBY save the world?

Would it instead bring the end of all unless stopped?

Was it somehow related to the heroines of this story? That was always a possibility.

Did any of these thoughts matter?

...Kadesh decided to take a break from thinking about this. Maybe it was time to refocus on Flame fixing the ARK situation.

XXXXX

A few days later

Cautiously, I looked over the footprints. They had five toes, but looked more reptilian than mammal.

For days, people had been complaining about feeling constantly watched, so I'd decided to gather up a group and see if someone or something really was observing us. That had lead us to the footprints, which we were now following. They didn't match any creature that I knew existed on Aberration, so maybe we were encountering a new species.

Hopefully it wasn't hostile.

XXXXX

Following the tracks for a short while revealed something unexpected: rocks.

Shaped rocks, to be exact. Rocks that had been modified to function as hand axe (biface if you wanted to get technical or wanted to avoid confusion with hatchets designed for combat). Be they made from stone, flint, or obsidian, we were finding a few on the trail of footprints.

Eventually, the trail approached a second set of tracks, in this case one belonging to a basilisk.

Said trail also had splotches of blood around it.

After a bit of debate with my group, we decided to follow it a bit further.

We stopped when we found a basilisk carcass, atop which stood a strange creature - it looked vaguely humanoind, but had noticeable reptilian traits.

Also, it was holding one of the hand axes, while a tek rifle rest on its back.

And it was staring at us.

...Oh fuck.

XXXXX

AN: Throwing out a lot of ideas here that I will expand on in the future.

Also, since I just added it into the story, the green beings with Flame's tribe are Green Martians from John Carter of Mars. Wanted to include one more alien race back in the Scorched Earth arc, but didn't think of any beings from Barsoom until after it had finished. More on them later.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Zagareth Rhaveno]

Thank you Flame! Also it's gonna be a few chapters left huh? I'm curious on what the next franchise is. But it's a cool chapter liked it. Thanks again!

 

[Flameal15k]

Thank you Flame! Also it's gonna be a few chapters left huh? I'm curious on what the next franchise is. But it's a cool chapter liked it. Thanks again!

Click to shrink...

At lax 10 chapters left in this arc - want to get a few more characters in from other franchises for Aberration and Extinction. Then Genesis will happen and things will go off the rails. Again.

 

[Zagareth Rhaveno]

At lax 10 chapters left in this arc - want to get a few more characters in from other franchises for Aberration and Extinction. Then Genesis will happen and things will go off the rails. Again.

Click to shrink...

Oh i expected half a dozen. But good luck to you author! Also damn I'm reading stories from four different sites and non of them has any noticeable updates.

 

[Flameal15k]

Oh i expected half a dozen. But good luck to you author! Also damn I'm reading stories from four different sites and non of them has any noticeable updates.

Click to shrink...

Yeah. Sad when stories get abandoned.

 

[Zagareth Rhaveno]

Yeah. Sad when stories get abandoned.

Click to shrink...

It's 2 in the morning here, I'm gonna go to sleep, nighty flame

 

[Flameal15k]

I don't know how long we were in a staring contest with the creature eating the carcass. I'd say five minutes at most. Still, just seeing the creature was enough to leave us on edge...until it lowered its hand axe.

Then, still looking at us, it made a strange sound.

...I had no idea what it meant - hadn't thought to being along a universal translator.

The creature made another noise.

At least some of our group started tilting our heads.

Taking a deep breath, the creature did something I wasn't entirely expecting: it spoke. In English.

"N-no harm."

"...What?" Asked a survivor we'd picked up on the Island - Milo was his name, and I felt like in another time, he'd be really important.

"I-I m-mean no harm to y-you."

"Oh. We mean no harm either."

"I see. T-thanks."

"No problem."

Vivian decided that now was a good time to interject. "I apologize for intruding on the conversation, but what is your name?"

"...Ah. Yes. Knowing that would make things easier. I am Nebo."

"Nebo?" I asked, somewhat confused.

"It's shirt for a different name. One too long for common conversation."

"Oh."

"Would you offer your name?"

"...Nate."

"Vivian."

"Milo."

Soon our whole group was introduced.

"Nice to meet you."

"Thanks," was Milo's response. Then his expression grew hard. "Look, I don't mean to be rude, but we were looking for something that was supposedly watching others from our group that aren't here. I don't mean to imply anything, but - "

"That was not me. It was my kin."

Milo was visibly surprised by that. "W-what?...That was surprisingly forward."

"No reason to antagonize the people with the laser guns."

"...Oh. Makes sense...I guess. But why were you watching us?"

"...Would you follow me to my home? All will make sense there."

Everyone glanced at everyone else. Wordlessly, an agreement was made. "Sure."

"Then follow."

XXXXXX

I expected us to find either a primitive village or a tek settlement when we followed the creature.

What we found instead was a giant gash into the walls of the ARK, where rock gave way to metal and circuitry. At the outermost part of the gash were more of the humanoids, some farming fungi, others butchering carcasses. Further in were more of them, trying to do something with the walls of the gash. Lastly, in the furtherest parts of the gash were drones, which appeared to be trying to fix the gash. Somewhere trying to repair circuitry, while others were offering supplies to the humanoids.

This was WAY more complicated than what I was expecting.

As we approached the settlement, I couldn't help but noticing the heaps and heaps of reapers and nameless that lay dead around the gash. Evidently, this area had seen plenty of fighting.

Several creatures that I assumed were guards noticed our approach, but after making some strange noises toward our guide, who replied in kind, they relaxed their aggression and let us pass.

"What happened here?" Wondered Sarah.

"Other comes before you. They stayed here for a while, did things, then vanished. Strange things happened when they vanish - land act weird, caverns shake, creatures become aggressive. This gash opened when the wall exploded. Soon, we occupy it."

"Where were you before that happened?" Asked Milo.

"...Only the elders know. And they want me to bring you to them."

Well that wasn't shifty sounding. Though he did seem sincere in meaning us no harm.

Oh, yeah, he's male. Forgot to mention that.

Slowly, Nebo lead us through the settlement, where we passed others of his kind just...well, living. Playing games, eating food, making their own music - I even saw a few kids wrestling. It was cute, all in all.

But we were not destined to have much time with the young ones. Instead, we were filetered into the gash, where machine and creature parted so that we could be lead into the inner workings of the ARK.

I was pretty sure Rockwell had done this - we'd found the Explorer's Notes that explained how things had gone down with the past survivors, so the rest of our group was aware of Rockwell replacing the Overseer, but how exactly things had gone down remained a mystery. Though I had a feeling we would soon find out.

XXXXX

We ended up in an atrium where what looked like an overseer was resting. Its form was markedly smaller than any we had seen before, though. Once Nebo had finished escorting us, he returned to the gash, leaving our group alone with the elders and the inacive drone.

It didn't stay inactive for long.

"So, another group of survivors has come."

That stopped any of us from getting in a question as to why we were here.

With measured effort, the Overseer chassis activated and began to hover in the air. "So you are the newest batch of survivors."

"Is that a question?" asked Milo.

"No. Merely a statement."

"Oh. Um, can I ask a question?"

"You are permitted."

"How did we all get here?"

"...You either were selected for this ARK and were pulled from your time...or you died and your mind was taken here and put in a cloned body. You are of the former category according to my databanks."

"Oh."

"Please, do not asks further questions. I will explain all. But first, I must ask: do you know why this ARK is, well, a mess?"

"Some other survivors blew up the Overseer with nukes, and then a guy named Rockwell took its place?"

"Correct."

Suddenly, the walls around us changed, revealing diagrams of the ARK.

"In the process of the destruction of the Overseer, several key systems for this ARK were damaged."

On system, in particular, was highlighted - one that was located near the gash.

"In particular, this sytem suffered catastrophic damage."

"What exactly does this system do?" was Sarah's question. I was keeping quiet so the other people in the group could feel smart. Vivian was doing the same.

"It determines potential survivor candidates for this ARK, and communcicates with others to monitor when they are transported over."

"Oh."

"The system occasionally receives abberances that result in oddities, like sophonts other than humans being selected as survivors. It also occasionally pulls creatures from other timelines in to use for the ARK."

Screens flashed images of creatures I recognized as an arrowtongue, a nexu, a spiderant and...was that a metroid?

"The damage it received may have resulted in oddities in your efforts to reach this ARK."

"...How did the abberances show up?"

"Unclear - sometimes they just appear. However, in the wake of the damage to this ARK, additional methods of repair were determined as necessary."

The screens changed once again, revealing a set of tubes that were apparently used to grow creatures. Several tubes in particular were growing reptilian embryoes, which matured rapidly before emerging fully developed.

Somewhat surprisingly, they turned out to be the humanoids we had seen earlier.

"These creatures work with the drones to maintain the ARK. However, we have reached an impass."

"Before we talk any further, what are you?" I inquired.

"I am meant as a back up to this ARK's Overseer. I suppose that makes my designation Underseer. As for these creatures around you, they have no name. Going off of human literature, I believe that Morlocks would be an appropriate term for them."

"Okay. Carry on."

"So long as Rockwell remains as Overseer, this ARK will continue to degrade. It will take a significant amount of time, but it will fail eventually."

"So you want us to kill him?" asked Vivian.

"Yes. No need to sugarcoat things."

XXXXX

Somehow, I wondered if the universe enjoyed throwing something at me that didn't do anything except waste time.

XXXXX

AN: I am going to admit that I did a lot of writing by the seat of my pants with this chapter.

I had the Morlocks planned out going into this arc, as a sort of native sophont race for the Abberation ARK. It was only after I finished the last chapter that I I decided to have them work as living engineering drones on the Abberation ARK, alongside the Underseer.

I briefly considered having the nuking of the Overseer be what caused all of the beings from other universes to end up on the ARKs, but I decided against that. Stuff has arrived before Rockwell took over. The reason will be explained in Extinction.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

There wasn't much left to negotiate after that statement. Everybody figured that out quickly enough...well, there was one thing.

XXXXX

"If that will be all, may we please leave-"

"There is one more thing we would like to discuss."

I felt a little embarassed to be cut off like that, but I hid it well enough. "Oh. What would you like to know?"

"This only concerns you and the other one who arrived with you to this ARK. The rest of your companions may go. Or wait outside."

"Um, as nice as you've been to us so far, how can we be sure that you are trustworthy?" questioned Milo.

"...I can erect a transparent energy barrier through which you can observe the proceedings. Will that be satisfactory?"

After a moment of discussion, the rest of our group agreed and acquiesced with the Underseer's demands. Soon enough, we were alone.

I had a feeling this was going to be important. "What do you want to know?"

"How did you two get here?"

"Elaborate," answered Vivian before I could form a response.

"You were not selected by the ARK system to oppose the element. You two should not be here. Yet here you are. How is this possible?"

"...Would you believe aliens sent us here?"

"If you are referring to non-terrestrial organisms...that explanation is acceptable."

Really? It believed that?

From the look on Vivian's face, I guess she hadn't expected the Underseer to take her comments at face value. Even if they were true.

"Is there a specific reason that extraterrestrial lifeforms would send you here?"

Viv glanced at me before answering. "To solve a problem that they didn't really explain to us and also to make us stronger. I'm guessing the problem revolves around all the unexpected arrivals here."

"Possibly. I have seen entities show up from the most unexpected of places. And I am still surprised to see the Tuskens you have allied with."

"How are they surprising?" Not that we needed to know - the tone of the Underseer made the answer that followed unnecessary.

"Several universes that survivors are pulled from have a film franchise called Star Wars in them. The Tuskens originate from that film series. It is surprising, but when the ARK system can access alternate timelines and possibly alternate universes, less so than expected."

"How so?"

"Several survivors have been pulled from timelines where a great fictional universe titled Star Wars was created. Perhaps you originate from there. Regardless, the Tuskens come from that fictional universe. Data acquired across the ARKs suggests that the timelines were are drawing from are infinite enough that ones where fiction in one universe is truth in another are inevitable."

Maybe I could figure out how many other universes I might see characters from while I was here. "Did one of them involve a nation called Panem?"

"Yes. Those known as tributes have been indexed as potential survivors, but it appears their world is running out of time."

That remark caught me off guard, leaving Vivian to ask the next question. "How so?"

"The ARK system can screen survivors across time and space, allowing for candidates to be vetted and approved as needed. The system that transports them to the ARK, in theory, can also send entities on the ARK to other times and places, though normally failsafes keep it from doing so."

Vivian sighed. "Let me guess, Rockwell taking over turned those off?"

"Correct. In fact, he appears to be able to control the system enough that he can choose what to send over. Fortunately, less than ten incidents involving transportation have occurred. Unfortunately, all of them have involved the release of trace amounts of element-"

"There you are!"

The British voice was, unfortunately, one I was familiar with from watching videos about ARK. It looked like Rockwell had noticed us.

"WARNING: SYSTEM UNDER ATTACK! DIVERTING POWER TO SECURITY ROUTINES-"

"SOD OFF, YOU ANNOYING ELECTRIC WATCHER!"

Sure enough, the Underseer went silent, though it appeared to still be online.

Our attention, however, had shifted to the holographic form of the British gentleman that had just appeared in our room.

"So, you must be the master of those annoying machines that keep trying to lock me out of the ARKs, aren't you?"

"Masters," replied Vivian, annoyed at being left out.

"Hmm. Well, that makes two, but I can deal with you later. Really, though, you think you can defeat me?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Um, yeah?"

"How amusing. You actually think you stand a chance...hmm. Well, I suppose giving you a little helping hand might make this more interesting."

Before either of us could ask what he meant, the hologram vanished, while one of the screens suddenly burst to life showing a map of Aberration, alongside numerous marked areas.

"System rebooting...reboot complete."

Glancing at the Underseer, I had sinking feeling I knew what was happening now. "Did he just open new portals and summon in some possible survivors?"

"Correct. I suggest you rescue them."

XXXXX

The first set of new arrivals we reached were two children I only barely recognized. They didn't have too many distinctive features, but one of them was wearing a yellow raincoat, and the other had a paper-bag with cutouts for eye holes. Fortuitously, they ended up in an area with few hazards, and plenty of cute shinehorns.

The two seemed cautious at first, until Vivian offered her some cooked meat. Fear vanished as she wolfed down a morsel.

One group down...two to go.

XXXXX

The next set of survivors we encountered were...huh, I wasn't expecting to see Vortigaunts so early. And they looked so...confused. I could see stuff that looked like the shackles they wore in the original half life, but they seemed more docile than they were in that game. Maybe I lucked out and got them after the Nihilanth died but before the Combine enslaved them?

But then, why weren't they talking about the Freeman?

Whatever the reason, they weren't hostile and agreed to follow us, alongside a bunch of antlions they'd come with. Which somehow weren't eating people. Yay.

XXXXX

The final group we encountered were a quartet of figures colored red, white, black, and yellow...wait, was that Team RWBY? How did they get here-

-hissssssssss-

Oh dear.

Turning my attention toward the source of this hiss, I found myself staring at a...really, really big looking Grimm. You know, the hollow-like monsters that were mooks in RWBY? The servants of the villain, Salem?

The one before me did not look like any Grimm I had seen in the show.

It looked oddly...humanoid.

And it did not look happy.

XXXXX

AN: This chapter was going to be longer, but the original version of the chapter (or at least all of it from beyond the mention of Star Wars by the Underseer) got deleted when I tried to save the draft on and got screwed over by a captcha check.

Next chapter will mostly be from the point of view of all the characters Flame, Vivian, and their tribe encountered. I peg at most three more before Aberration ends, five after that before Extinction is done, and 3-4 after that before Genesis Part 1 and Genesis Part 2 are finished. Then we can finally leave ARK for good.

Read, review, and give any feedback you have. This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Six watched as the rest of her...rescuers(?) dispersed around the camp. Some went to meet with others already at the camp, others attended to beasts in a makeshift barn, and the remainder set to work preparing items for purposes the eluded the girl.

Six took a moment to pause from her meal and glance at Mono, who was being carried over to a small building that seemed to be a...hospital? Hopefully not with a caterpillar like doctor like the last hospital they had visited.

Speaking of which...

Six thought back to the signal tower. Back to where Mono had broken her music box...and pulled her away from that mess. They'd ended up jumping through a portal to escape the mass chasing them, which had lead them here. Six and Mono had initially been cautious of the newcomers, until they offered her a snack.

Hey, she'd been hungry!

At least everybody had stopped looking like sausages, steaks, and cooked chicken...

Mono had been a bit more cautious, but the travel to this location appeared to have taken quite a bit out of him, since he'd only gotten a few steps before falling over, exhausted. The newcomers had helped him up, but in the process they'd knocked the bag off his head...and given Six a good look at his face.

Mono was brave. He was kind. He had risked his life to rescue her from the strange tv realm.

So why did he look so much like the Thin Man who'd taken her there in the first place?

Six was...exceedingly conflicted by what she had seen. She didn't know how to feel - people rarely looked so much like another person without some relation. Was the Thin Man Mono's father? Brother? Cousin? Mono himself?!

Movement to her left took Six's attention away from Mono. A glance revealed that it was a large lizard, coming to the fire for warmth.

Six wondered how such a lizard would taste, before dismissing the thought.

Taking one more glance at Mono, Six went back to eating.

She didn't know how to feel about her friend. But she'd figure it out. Eventually.

XXXXX

Sitting in a small wooden hut, the lead Vortigaunt turned his mind inward.

No presence other than his companions was found.

It seemed impossible.

Yet somehow, it was true.

They were free.

Free from the yoke of the Shu'ulathoi.

Free from the yoke of the Nihilanth.

Free from the yoke of anyone.

Yet freedom had come at a cost - through the vortessence, the throng knew that they were very far from their kin. It seemed they were in another universe entirely, one distant from the Combine and Xen. Far enough that they would likely go unnoticed by the Universal Union for...quite a while. Especially since the Combine had other foes to face.

The feeling of liberation was bittersweet - the Vortigaunts knew that though they had been freed, the rest of their kind would still be subservient to the Nihilanth. And soon, they would be forced to make war upon another version of Earth - where the race known as humanity, the one who's members had welcomed them here, were natives of. A war that could only end one of two ways - either the Nihilanth won and conquered the world of humanity, or man won and killed the Nihilanth...which would allow the Combine to notice both Xen and Earth.

Either way, it would be a terrible fate for all of their kind.

And yet, perhaps there was a way to avert or at least mitigate this.

The two who lead the group that had rescued the throng felt...different from the others. It was hard to tell how, but it seemed they too were travelers from another universe or five. Perhaps they offered a solution.

All in good time, though. First, the Vortigaunts had to address other concerns - they're escape had been so sudden that they barely had any food with them, and only a small clutch of antlion eggs. Enough perhaps to start a small colony, but how long could the brood last?

For now, the Vortigaunts could only hope that whoever had taken them here had acquired more antlions...and that they hadn't broken lose just yet.

XXXX

Her eyes fluttered for a moment before opening, and the first thing Ruby Rose saw was a wooden roof. Groggily, her eyes began to focus, which didn't really help her situation.

Closing her eyes again, Ruby groaned. "Weiss? Blake? Yang? Are you okay?"

Ruby had meant to say that more emphatically, but she still wasn't feeling at one hundred percent. Or even twenty five percent.

No vocalizations answered her question, but Ruby quickly found her teammates in the same room as she was, all out cold but thankfully alive.

Now that she had determined that her friends were okay, Ruby turned her mind to a different question: how had they gotten here?

Ruby had remember their assignment - Professor Ozpin had allowed a few teams to go on a second mission two weeks after the breach had been sealed (apparently after quite a bit of negotiating with the Vytal Council), and in this case, he'd allowed them to investigate some strange reports coming from a small dust mine within the kingdom's borders. Once again, Professor Oobleck had been assigned to go with them, and he allowed (and in fact almost demanded) them to take Zwei along.

Professor Oobleck was odd. Even compared to some of the weirder students who'd come over to the Vytal Festival.

Back to the mine - apparently there had been reports of strange creatures showing up in there and attacking miners. Strangely, they'd also attacked the Grimm, and since Grimm usually only attacked animals that intruded on their territory, the fact the reports mentioned repeated fights indicated that either something was making the Grimm more aggressive or the strange creatures were a great danger in their own right. Ruby had a feeling that her team probably shouldn't be handling this kind of mission, but they'd insisted, and Ozpin had bent the rules to allow them. Again.

Also, there had been reports of masked figures visiting the mines. If they belonged to the White Fang, maybe they could explain what Roman had been planning - for all her naivety, Ruby knew that neither the White Fang nor someone like Roman would breach the wall unless they had a bigger plan in mind.

The quintent (hextet?) had spent about a week examining the mine before things started going crazy - they'd found something mechanical inside, only to be confronted by a humanoid looking Grimm with bird wings, only for all of them to be confronted by what Ruby could best describe as squids crossed with bats. Before they could fight them, a portal of some sort (accoridng to Yang) had opened up and they'd fallen through, knocking them unconscious. Well, except for Oobleck.

Ruby really hoped he was okay, since he hadn't fallen through the portal with them.

What had happened after that was unknown, but Ruby knew two things, and that was enough to figure out a third one.

They weren't dead, so that Grimm had finished them off.

They were in a building, which meant that someone had taken them there.

Thus, someone must have at least repelled the Grimm and rescued them. But who did that?

Any furhter thoughts Ruby had were interrupted when a nearby door was suddenly thrown open. In came a green hexapod, followed by a little boy about half her age.

"Come back! This isn't a nursery!"

The green creature paid no mind to the boy calling to it, and instead dashed toward Ruby, who reflexively reached out and caught it.

Now that she had a good chance to look at it, Ruby noted that it was drooling...and that it looked oddly cute.

"...You're awake."

Ruby let out a shocked "eep!", realizing that she briefly forgotten about the boy's presence when she had caught the creature. "Um, yeah! I am!"

"Well, that's a relief."

"Thanks!...Oh! I'm Ruby!"

"Call me Eddy."

"Okay...Um, I'm sorry if this sounds weird, but were you the one to rescue me?"

"No, that would be some of my friends. Also, I need to tell one of the...nurses, that you're awake."

"Oh. Okay."

"Thanks," was Eddy's reply, before he turned to look at someone else. "The red girl is awake!"

The reply he got sounded like gibberish to Ruby, but that pailed in comparison to what happened next: entering the door frame was a truly bizarre looking figure. Their skin was green, which wasn't too surprising, since some faunus had that skin color. But most faunus didn't have that skin color with an extra set of arms. And no faunus had either of those traits with the body shape that this figure had.

Ruby glanced down at the creature in her arms, which was now crying.

Then she glanced back up at the figure in the door frame, who was now talking to Eddy.

...Just what had they gotten into.

XXXXX

Atop a stack of seeker corpses, the winged grimm stared at the guardians of the village.

The guardians stared back at him.

The staring contest lasted fifteen seconds before the grimm lowered his eyes.

This was not how things were supposed to go. Too many things had gone wrong.

All because of that miserable machine.

It had known once the creatures started showing up that it was facing a deadline - their aggression toward his kin had forced them to call upon those of the light and the few humans who worshipped his kind. Their kin called them death cultists, he called them useful. Of course, the increase in grimm activity and his followers' visits had alerted the hunters, who like moths to a flame had zeroed in, bringing their might to extinguish his. They'd even brought a silver eyed warrior with them, one of a line the winged grimm had recognized. Why must it be this line of all lines? This line seemed to be making so much progress destroying the one who had stolen his might, so perhaps he could let them go free and save himself some work. But no, they had to stick their noses in where they did not belong.

At least the humans in these caves had intelligence. When the beasts had moved to attack all of them, the humans and their allies had focused on the beasts, seeing which target was a bigger threat. In turn, he had decided to aid them - four novice huntresses who were already unconscious were hardly a concern to him.

Of course, now that the fighting was settled, he had no idea what to do next. These people did, though. So it seemed in his best interest to follow them until he found a way back home.

...Eh, they had no aura. They wouldn't even provide a snack if he tried to eat them.

XXXXX

AN: Yeah, another interlude.

I've got a ton of things I won't elaborate on until the end of arc notes because they're not really relevant right now, but I will say that I massively bumped up my inclusion of RWBY in this story and that I haven't watched too much of the story except for fight scenes for over a year now. So I apologize if the characterization of Ruby seems off.

The great grimm/the winged grimm is meant to look like a fallen angel.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

So, I now had Team RWBY, Six and Mono, and a group of Vortigaunts with me...some of whom had antlions with them. And a weird looking Grimm camping outside our settlement. In addition to the Morlocks who had moved to our base.

Yeah, I was starting to get fed up with all of the new arrivals. Could they please stop?

"Fat chance."

Good point, Viv. Well, guess there was only one way to get through this - finish this ARK!

...Okay, this was getting old.

XXXXX

It was not too hard to get tons of food. There were plenty of creatures to hunt, we have plenty of seeds to grow more crops, and now we had mushrooms to increase the variety of food we could eat. Still, restocking our larders were important, seeing how soon, we'd be heading down to the post-apocalyptic Earth the ARKs orbited.

We got quite a few different meats prepared, including that of seekers, reapers, and nameless. Luring in the latter two wasn't too difficult - we just had to stomp around in the right places - but getting enough charge light to bait in the seekers wasn't easy. We had to set up a whole ranch filled with bulbpups, glowtails, shinehorns, feather lights, and glowbugs to get enough charge light to lure in a seeker horde. But the meet ended up being really tasty, as some of our newest tribe members could confirm.

XXXXX

Six was in Heaven. So much food to eat, and enough that she wouldn't need to worry about depleting supplies if she asked for seconds. All of it tasted really good, too!

Though, she did have to wonder how she was going to repay them for this - these people were apparently going to fight a giant monster so they could escape this place and Six...was not a fighter. Mono was, but Six still felt the need to repay them for their kindness.

Speaking of Mono, Six glanced over to a nearby chair, where Mono was eating some fruit.

Six still was sure how she felt about Mono right now. But she would figure it out. Eventually.

XXXXX

In addition to food, we also needed to stock up on mounts. Namely, Reapers. Lots of Reapers.

XXXXX

"You sure you want to go through with this?" Asked Vivian.

"Yes. It will hurt, but it will be worth it."

"Yeah, but there's a reason they call this the most painful thing in the world."

"For women. Men have no equivalent."

"...Touché."

For those of you unaware, I'd decided to use myself as an incubator for a reaper. Yes, I had taken precautions to endure it. No, I didn't think that was going to make things that much better.

Turning my attention away from my second-in-command for the tribe, I noticed that we had gathered a bit of a crowd, including all of the members of Team RWBY.

They probably wouldn't want to watch this. And Vivian seemed to agree.

"You girls might want to look away - what happens next is really...messy, to say the least."

"Oh really?" questioned Weiss. "Forgive me for having doubts."

"He's about to give birth to an alien parasite in an extremely bloody manner."

Blake raised an eyebrow at that, while Yang laughed, though Ruby looked a bit concerned.

Perhaps there was time to turn them away - nope. It's coming.

Wow, that felt bad. Like, really bad. As in-OHMYGODITHURTSSOMUCHMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPMAKEITSTOPAGH!

XXXXX

When the pain subsided and my vision cleared up, I found a baby reaper staring at me curiously...oh, and Team RWBY all had broken stares on their faces. And looked really green.

...Welp, it looked like Team RWBY could now be caleld Team Vomitgirl. Maybe that would give Jaune some comfort when they got back to Remnant.

Also, they would need therapy after this. Really badly.

XXXXX

Finally, preparing for Rockwell entailed doing actual combat training. Got had some rather...interesting results.

XXXXX

I ducked under the lightning of one vortigaunt while another released some kind of grenade, which Vivian managed to deflect before it could hit us. Nearby, a green martian dueled with a Tusken Raider while another green martian fought against Yang, using its extra set of arms to get in hits that Yang couldn't properly defend against. Others trained further way, all preparing for the coming battle with Rockwell. Some weren't quite sure what the battle would entail, but still they prepared themselves.

...I had no idea what I was going to do with them once I was done with this adventure on the ARK. I was here essentially as a cleanup man working on Celm's behalf. Did that mean I could take them with me to the hub? Or would they have to go home? Would their time here change their destinies, or would fate still be set in stone?

My mental ramblings were cut off when the sound of snarling filled my ears. Turning to its source, I found the demonic-looking grimm staring at me, somehow maintaining a neutral expression despite having a bone mask for a face.

All training seemed to have stopped when it showed up.

"What do you want?" I asked, not really expecting an answer.

The creature promptly pointed a finger at me. Then it rammed its left hand into its right palm...wait, did that mean what I think it meant? Were there Grimm that could understand people?

"Wait!"

That was Ruby. What followed was an impassioned plea by her team to convince me not to listen to the obviously evil shadow monster, which promptly responded by challenging them to a fight, which they accepted.

The fight did not go the way I was expecting - Team RWBY initially attacked it with a barrage of ranged attacks, which the creature responded to by charging. Weiss smiled and erected a glyph to block its advance, only for the creature to come to a halt before pressing its palm against the glyph. Instantly, the glyph began to fade away, until it turned into light that began traveling up the grimm's arm in what looked like veins. All the while, Weiss had gone pale, with what I could hear from her teammates telling me that her aura had apparently been drained. When the grimm finally moved to act, Weiss was too weak to dodge and got knocked out in one hit.

Ynag promptly charged the grimm, only to be caught by it and have her aura drained from the contact. This lead to Blake trying to assist her teammate, only for the grimm to catch Gambol Shroud and use it to throw Blake into Ruby, ending the fight decisively in its favor.

Okay, what the fuck did I just watch? How did a grimm have the power to drain aura? HOW?!

Said Grimm promptly made another challenge gesture toward me.

...Fuck it, time to fight something new!

XXXXX

AN: Look, I've had a rough few weeks. Sorry if the chapter quality isn't the best, I just want to get back in the writing groove. Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Okay, we'd gotten all our supplies ready, taught our new tribe members everything we needed to know, and gotten enough tames to take down everything Rockwell could throw at us...hopefully. Now on to actually beating him and getting off this stupid ARK.

Everyone was gathered up at the terminal where we would face Rockwell, with all of their tames nearby as well. Aside from a few understandable bits of tension (namely Team RWBY looking warily at the Grimm that seemed to have an alliance of convenience with us, which had me on edge as well, and Six and Mono having cautious glances at, well, everyone, even if they were a bit more trusting now than they had been when they first got here). We were definitely in one of the weirdest alliances I had ever seen, but I could make due with this. For now.

Once we were off the ARK system, I was sorting things out with every universe I had met someone from in this one. This was getting weird.

So, with nothing else to do, we stuffed our tribute into the Terminal and prepared for battle. Moments later, we were whisked away.

XXXXX

We soon found ourselves in Rockwell's arena. The fact he had an arena just left me a little confused - did he like being viewed as a villain. Did it inflate his ego to be the antagonist like this?

..Fuck it, let's just kill him.

"So," spoke the twisted abomination that was known as Rockwell, "you came all this way to die fighting me?"

"No, we came all this way to kill you, dickwad," was Vivian's response. Also, nice burn.

"How amusing," was his reply, as the colossal form of Rockwell finally emerged from the pit in the center of the arena, tentacles unfurling a moment later. "Well, may the best organism win. I highly doubt it will be you."

Yeah, yeah, shut up and die!

XXXXX


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qLwmz75hPEw
Six tackled Mono to the ground just in time to save both from one of the creature's tentacles, before trying to drag the boy to shelter. She still wasn't sure how to feel about him, but now was not the time to die pointlessly!

The tentacle in question readied for another attack, only for it to come under fire from both bullets nad lighitng, all released by a group of green aliens - some with four arms and tusks, others with claws and too many eyes. A human warrior added a throwing axe to the mix, and after a moment of barrages, the tentacle fell, though not before firing off a ball of lighting, which the assembled suriviors hastily avoided.

Working together, the rest of the tribe was able to take down the other tentacles, causing Rockwell to cry out in pain and collapse, leaving his body - and very obviously exposed heart - vulernable.

The group was disappointed that he got back up before his heart exploded.

Then came the reapers and nameless.

XXXXX

Ruby looked unhappily at her ammo pouch to find that she was almost out of cartridges for Crescent Rose. Somehow, dust-based bullets still worked here, and the group she joined had found an extra stash of compatible ammo before they'd ventured to fight this thing-that-was-once-human, but the intensity of battle had depleted her reserves.

Why were they here? Why was everything so messy here? WHY WAS THERE SO MUCH BLOOD-AGH!

Ruby jsut managed to duck out of the way as a Nameless charged at her, only for it to be tackled aside by the girl known as M4. The creature promptly scratched the girl's arm, and was repaid with a bullet to the brain.

Ruby stared only for a moment before going to try and help M4. Said girl was now focused on Ruby, looking for any signs of injury. "Are you hurt?"

"No, but you are! Let me help with that-"

"It's fine-"

"No it is! If we don't get that treated you could bleed-"

The rest of the words died on Ruby's lips when she looked at M4's arm and found that, beneath the skin, there was metal.

"...Wait, you're a robot?"

"Yes. A tactical doll, to be exact...Do you not have those where you are from?"

"...The only robot-girl I know is named Penny. And she's a lot quirkier than you."

"...Oh."

Further discussion was precluded when an enormous roar turned both girls' attention toward a massive reaper that was practically right next to them. Stunned, both girls tried desperately to run away, only for something massive to slam into the reaper so hard that it exploded into an unrecognizable mass of flesh. A quick examination revealed their savior to be the Grimm that had formed a tenuous alliance with them, and whose body was already healing from the acidic blood the reaper possessed.

The creature snarled at them, before gesturing toward Rockwell.

...Right. They had a battle to win.

XXXXX

Once again, Rockwell's tentacles were killed, allowing the group to blast at his heart. Once again, they were unable to slay him before he healed over. This time, though, when he awakened, he let out a mighty roar, causing the cavern to shake. Then, almost in slow motion, rocks began to fall from above.

Acting quickly, a vortigaunt tackled aside a matoran, saving both from being crushed. Others followed, and soon everyone was racing for safety, occasionally trying to injure Rockwell when an opening appeared. Desperate attacks on tentacles once again managed to fell them, but this time, Rockwell called upon Seekrs to aid him in taking down his assailants. This, however, didn't amount ot much, especially when a group of Le-matoran managed to use traps meant for their native bird creatures to fell the flying abominations.

And with those out of the picture, Rockwell was out of options.

XXXXX

(Flame's POV)

I smiled as the railgun shell bored into Rockwell's chest and finally blew his heart open. Roaring in pain and defeat, Rockwell vanished beneath the ooze in the arena, finally bested. I sent out orders to Fide to purge him from the system now that he was weakened.

Moments later, the ascension process activated, and I was treated to the amazing sight of traveling through Earth's orbit once more before we finally landed on the corrupted surface of Earth.

Alright, time to end this-

"Commander, this is Fide. We have a problem."

"What is it?"

"Rockwell got away...and he did something to whatever system pulls in survivor candidates from other universes."

"...Well, how bad is it?"

A wave of energy suddenly flew across the sky, after which multiple portals started opening up.

"...I'd say that bad," was Vivian's answer. No, I was not surprised she heard our conversation.

Also...FUCK!

XXXXX

AN: Started a new job today, getting out one last chapter before I start my new schedule. Read and Review! This is Flamel15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

(Fide's POV)

How? How had Rockwell done this? What had he done?

..Wait, what was this message coming from the Aberrant ARK?

XXXXX

TO ALL ALLIES OF THE NEWLY ARRIVED SURVIVOR: Greetings, this is the Underseer. It appears that Rockwell has activated the system used to acquire new survivors prior to his incapacitation. Analysis indicates that the system is now stuck in activated mode and will run until it reaches mandatory shutdown, after which it will become inactive, possibly permanently. Unfortunately, until that point it will not stop sending in new survivors, and possibly more from their home universes. This is your only warning. Good luck.

XXXXX

...Of course this came with no advice that helped. Because why not?

FUCK ROCKWELL WITH AN EXPLOSIVE SPEAR!

"Oh, I feel so loved!"

"Shove it, you overgrown science experiment!"

"Really? That's the best insult you can come up with? I actually rather disappointed."

"Oh, I will have more soon enough. And when this is done, I'm mounting your head on the wall for my boss."

"Do you really think you will be the one doing the stuffing here?"

"Uh, yeah? You've only scratched the surface of what I can do."

"Perhaps. But then again, the some could be said of you to me. After all, this ARK network has provided me with a variety of different creatures to work with. To say nothing of technology."

"What are you driveling on about now?"

Suddenly, a new contact appeared on Fide's sensors. Looking toward it, she was surprised to see a cube of all things headed her way.

"That cube belonged to a race of cyborgs that try to assimilate others into their network. I just had the luck to find one with the systems gutted and most of the drones gone. It was too hard to get the element to replicate it."

'Really?' thought Fide. 'You're trying to use Borg Cubes against us? Well, they will die all the same under a torrent of plasma fire-how did they resist that?!'

"Oh. You forgot? I've had assurances that I can take on your forces. Good luck, tin can woman. You and your superiors will need it."

XXXXX

(on the surface, Flame POV)

"Protect the King! Protect the King!"

"Get his cradle to saftey!"

"For the King!"

I watched, bemused, as a group of robots that looked distinctively like children's toys carried a baby-sized robot with them to shelter, while dinosaurs did battle with strange machines. Nearby, a vortex of energy swirled for a moment, before soon sealing. Another vortex then opened, releasing a strange collection of peoples riding dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures that looked similar but simultaneously different to the ones on the ARK. I think they came from Paraworld if I remembered right.

"So, to recap, Rockwell broke the survivor system so that now it can transport people from any universe the network is connected to here, regardless of whether they are survivor candidates, and you can't stop it?"

"Yes," confirmed Fide. "I suggest that you try and defeat the titans down there so that we can regain control of the ARK network and boot Rockwell out of the system. Then I should be able to fix things."

"How the fuck does Rockwell have technology that can hurt your commander?" asked Vivian as she gutted a horrifically mutated raptor - a victim of element poisoning.

"...ROB?"

"...ROB."

That seemed as good a guess as any.

"I'm lodging a complaint to Celm when this mess is over. I am not going to be at the mercy of any BROBs anymore. And no, you don't count."

Vivian shrugged. "I am not a ROB anymore. No offense taken."

On a nearby outcropping, Team RWBY and my T-Doll companions had formed a circle and were firing (or in Weiss's case, firing off some dust) at a veritable horde of corrupted creatures, with a small moat of corpses already forming around them.

"C-Commander, this is M4. We've got a lot of enemies headed our way."

"I know, I can see you and hear you without the radios. Though they do make it easier to speak."

M4 rolled her eyes. "Where do you want to regroup?"

"Head for one of the abandoned buildings nearby. Tallest one you can find." At least that would keep us able to find each other.

Suddenly another vortex opened, out of which came a horde of strange looking insects...oh shit, those are bugs. Buggers. Arachnids. You know, the villains from Starship Troopers...Huh, it looks like they also came with the other aliens from the books, too. Why did the author call them Skinnies.

'...What is this place?'

Oh, and apparently I could now hear their thoughts. Must've come with being psychic.

"Um, how about a little help killing these things?"

I stared at Vivian for a moment, incomprehension flowing through my mind. When a Brain Bug (probably the one who's thoughts I had heard) turned to glance at her, I got the feeling they had the same thoughts.

"A human, asking for our help?"

"Yes, please. Please help us kill the evil dinosaurs."

You have got to be kidding me.

"And why should we do-"

"SHUT UP AND STARTING KILLING THEM!"

...Wow, I didn't know Vivian could be that scary. I think a few bugs exploded just from fear when she started yelling.

The rest decided that she had a point.

What followed was a mixture of humans, humanoid aliens, non-humanoid aliens, gynoids, robots, dinosaurs, and other creatures battling what could best be described as an army of the dead. It was anyone's game, but lots of blood, sweat, tears, and ammo later, we put down the last of the element infected horde. Good grief, that was tough. On the bright side, we now had a small moment of peace.

I was really glad I didn't have any money to bet on how long this would last. Cause I was pretty sure it would not be long.

AN: Getting a chapter out now to get back on schedule. Read and Review! This is Flamel15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

After finally managing to drag all of our tribe to safety, we took a moment to take stock of our situation. In short, we were now on Earth, which was filled with hostile element creatures, as well as who knows what else occupying it.

We'd made camp inside on of the abandoned skyscrapers in the city and...well, the look was amazing. Even if it was undeniably sad to witness another Earth where nature had reclaimed the accomplishments of mankind, the scenery such worlds created was awe-inspiring.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTBzgyQiqC8
I caught more than a few of our tribe members staring at the landscape. Yes, this world was almost unlivable for normal humans. But it was still beautiful and worth saving.

A glimpse of several drones flying through the air warned me that we weren't alone here - this world was inhabited not only by creatures, but also by machines meant to keep the element infestation in check. Combat drones known as Enforcers followed the directions of flying Scouts, which ensured that no violence happened in the city we were making camp in. We were going to need to address this. At the very least, we'd need to fight them off until we could either hack them or build our own.

A sound of thunder turned my attention to a different portion of the sky. There, something was burning its way through the atmosphere, eventually colliding with the ground. Through a spyglass, I saw that it was a supply drop, which was now being swarmed by corrupted creatures. Oh yeah, I forgot about that - this was what happened with the supply drops on Extinction - instead of slowly landing on the ground, they crashed onto the surface and were assaulted by corrupted. You had to fight them off in order to get the supplies inside.

Also, the element infestation was controlled by a giant monster known as the King Titan (basically Godzilla), which had three subordinates known as the Desert, Forest, and Ice Titan, which needed to be slain so that you could access his arena. Did I mention that you needed to fight him using mounts and buildable mecha?

...Meh, this was only a challenge because I let it be a challenge. Bring it on!

XXXXX

First order of business: get tons of element!

Luckily, there were plenty of structures in this city to harvest, so after we put together several harvesting and defense teams, we easily managed to start accruing element for stocking our armory. I remember M4 and her fellow T-Dolls reacting with shock when another group of corrupted tried to assault them, only to be gunned down by an enforcer. They mouthed something about 'ELIDs' before continuing their security work. As for our arachnid allies, Vivian had managed to intimidate them into subservience. I still can't believe she whipped a brain bug so many times it started crying. How does an insect do that? They don't even have tear ducts!

Also, apparently the bugs had a few larval queens with them. I needed to figure out a planet to dump them on in the hub once we were done - I had no personal reason to kill them, but I did not want to risk them killing our resident humans, because they did not seem friendly to humans when we first met. Contrast the machines, who did not seem interested in fighting us despite being built by phallic looking aliens to exterminate mankind...I needed to tell 2B and 9S about this. Their expressions would be priceless

XXXXX

(On the hub)

Despite her best efforts, Kathikon could not stop a laugh from coming out as 2B sprayed her tea all over 9S. The revelation that there were machine lifeforms that didn't want to kill off humans was...certainly a shock. And had led to them demanding to join up with the Commander on the world of Extinction. Kathikon had forwarded the request to Fide, who would be the one to decide how it would be handled.

Synais was on the floor, laughing at the absurdity of things.

XXXXX

(Flame's POV)

Once we had finished our first element harvest, our next task was getting a group of enforcers to work with. We'd gotten blueprints from killing one (because the scouts had seen us kill a raptor in self defense and decided that we were a danger), but we were going to need way more than that to take on the rest of the area, so I had Fide hack the system and give us engrams to build a horde of Enforcers to work with, alongside some scouts to spot for them.

Now all we needed was something to test them against-

"Commander, I am detecting a surge of energy that corresponds to when the ARK system summons new survivors. One will be forming near your location, and it looks like a pack of element infested creatures are making their way to the location."

Excellent. A proper first test!

XXXXX

(POV: M4)

M4 watched as the creatures moved to investigate the site, eyes switching from the Commander to the gathering horde, waiting for the signal. Nearby, the Enforcers were lying in wait, with the scouts waiting to transmit the attack order, while the Commander's female companion was taking aim with a sniper rifle, preparing to pick off any unexpected attackers.

The wait seemed to last days, but then the signal came. One moment, there was calm, the next, carnage. The Enforcers spearheaded the attack, teleporting into battle and lighting up the corrupted with plasma fire. M4 was quick to join them, opening fire on a group of corrupted Dimorphodon, while the insectoid arachnids aided the green Martians in taking on corrupted Arthropleura. A Corrupted Giganotosaurus roared in anger, only to be gunned down by the enforcers.

It was at the moment the carnosaur fell that the new survivors finally arrived. They were a fairly large group, some machines, others looking human...why did they all look like girls?

Wait, why did they look so familiar-no.

No.

NO!

NO NO NO!

THIS COULD NOT BE HAPPENING!

Despite how much M4 and the rest of the T-Dolls wished otherwise, they recognized these new arrivals.

All of them were products of their primary foe - Sangvis Ferri.

Most were mass produced T-Dolls, though two appeared to be Ringleaders, though the models in question were unknown. One had black hair, the other was white-haired, and both had large weapons, though while the white-haired Ringleader's weapon was of unknown make, the black-haired one wielded some sort of missile launcher.

Oh, and they were talking.

"Architect, what happened?!" asked the white haired one.

"Not my fault! I didn't do anything this time, Gager!" answered the black haired one.

Ok, enough with this!

M4 fired a shot that went right between the two Ringleaders, taking out a Corrupted Raptor that had been approaching them in the process. The two momentarily froze before glancing at the raptor, then at M4. Realization filled their faces.

"..Griffin Scum!"

"Sangvis-"

"M4, please spare the Sangvis T-Dolls."

M4 turned her attention to the Commander, who had just jetpacked over to her location, alongside his female counterpart. "But-"

"I know. But I think we'll need all the help we can get!"

Architect let out a laugh. "You humans want our help? What makes you think we would offer it?"

Wordlessly, the Commander pointed in their direction. Turning, the two Ringleader found themselves staring at a Corrupted Rex.

Which roared at them.

M4 and the rest of her T-Doll sisters-in-arms barely stifled a laugh as the Sangvis Dolls soiled themselves, after which the Commanders grabbed them and started falling back as the Enforcers attacked the Corrupted tyrannosaur.

There would be discussion about working with Sangvis Ferri. But not now - they had monsters to kill.

XXXXX

AN: Work is eating up my writing schedule, sorry for short chapter. Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Self Explanatory.

Baseline Technology: Stndard Planetary Annihilation FTL, Commander System, Production Systems, Titans
From Spore: Matter and energy conversion equipment, advanced repair, extreme terraforming technology, antimatter weaponry, gravitic weapons, planet buster, Staff of Life.
From Darkspore: EDNA and various derivative technologies, including advanced nano-robotics exceeding the tech level of baseline Spore
From Civilization:Beyond Earth: Firaxite, Floatstone and xenomass synthesis, advanced satellite research, sonic weaponry, various civic technologies
* Technology acquired from XCOM forces in Civilization:Beyond Earth: Plasma Weapons, Handheld Laser Weapons, Gauss Weapons, Sonic Weapons, Fusion Lance, Pulse Wave Torpedo, Psionics and Molecular Control, Alien Alloys, Aqua Plastics
From Galactic Civilizations: Terror Stars, Additional FTL Methods, Black Hole Launchers, Assorted Miscellaneous Technology
From Warframe: Warframe creation, Grineer, Corpus, Tenno, Infested, Orokin, and Sentient Arsenals, Arcane Enhancements, Zaws, Kitguns, Technocyte Virus, Solar Rail Creation, Void Science, Raknoids
From Implosion: Warsuit technology, XADA genome for Organic Creations
From Monster Hunter: Weapon Creation Technology, Monster Husbandry
From Horizon: Zero Dawn: All Faro Technologies, Project Zero Dawn
From Subnautica/Natural Selection: Kharaa Research, Habitat Frabrication, Almanac/Architects' tech database, All Human technologies, many redundant techonologies

Also, a question to everyone who actually reads this story: is there, well, anything I could do to make this easier to understand? I mean, I like writing this story, but I've lost some motivation to write since no one actually comments on it (especially when a big hook for me starting this in the first place was how other stories in the genre have a lot of discussion about them), and I'm wondering if there's anything I could do to remedy that. I've already started summarizing the storyline, but any suggestions are appreciated.

Note: Saying that this stoyr should be given a full reboot will result in you being ignored. I've spent almost six years writing this thing, and I am not leaving it to die unless I have no choice.

 

[Menthewarp]

Plot holes create discussion.
Your story has no plot holes left.

2-dimensional characters create discussion.
Your story has no 2-dimensional characters left.

Lingering story threads create discussion.
Your story has no lingering story threads left.

Unoriginality creates discussion.
Your story has no unoriginality left.

You've created a satisfying fiction, but satisfaction silences feedback:

It's the literary equivalent of post-nut clarity.

 

[Flameal15k]

Plot holes create discussion.
Your story has no plot holes left.

2-dimensional characters create discussion.
Your story has no 2-dimensional characters left.

Lingering story threads create discussion.
Your story has no lingering story threads left.

Unoriginality creates discussion.
Your story has no unoriginality left.

You've created a satisfying fiction, but satisfaction silences feedback:

It's the literary equivalent of post-nut clarity.

Click to shrink...

….Eh, I'm kinda in a slump right now storyline wise, things should get more interesting after I wrap things up in ARK.

 

[Flameal15k]

Amassing a war chest for taking down the titans was a...rather painstaking affair. See, to help with fighting the titans, you could build mecha (called Meks, because a more interesting name really wasn't important here) with swords, guns, rockets, and so on. Problem was, getting those required a high level and lots of rare resources beyond element. We'd had to go out and find gacha (sloth creatures that, like the gachapon machines they were named after, randomly dropped out valuable materials after being fed things) in the hope of expediting the process - somehow, it worked. Of course, then we had to get people trained on how to use those meks, and build tech fabricators to properly assemble those mecha. ARGH!

Don't get me started on how we got enough food for the gacha - especially since they preferred to eat giant owl pellets. WHY?! Why did they prefer to eat things that were literally bird barf? Just...why?

There were a lot of other interesting things we did - collect more survivors, battle the corrupted, collect more tames - but I think by this point you got the drill. We came, we saw, we tamed, befriend, killed, or conquered. IT was getting repetitive. And I knew that I had brought this on myself to relieve boredom, but boredom was still boredom.

So, idly, I turned my attention elsewhere - being partially made of software had its perks.

XXXXX

Most of the new arrivals from that portal storm incident were now safely accounted for across the hub. I'd gotten to work setting up some interim housing for them, but dealing with them in the long term was going to be an issue. Not because I didn't want to do so, but rather because I wasn't sure if I'd be able to send home those who wanted to go wherever home was. Be it For Honor Earth, a galaxy far, far away, or Barsoom, I didn't exactly have an address book for their homes. As is, I would need to consider settling them in the hub until such a time where I could send them back to where they originated from, assuming they didn't decide that staying here was better.

Speaking of which, I was already drafting up plans for who to settle where once I wrapped up operations in the ARK universe. I'd already set aside some desert accomodations for those I'd acquired in Scorched Earth, but I'd also put consideration into where the Vortigaunts might stay - I'd accessed the ARKs' computer network via Fide and found that the system had acquired a few additional critters from Xen, alongside some plants. Given that I had access to floatstone, I'd probably be able to create an artificial Xen area somewhere on the hub in due time. If nothing else, I'd make it because the look was cool.

Fun fact about examining the ARK network - looking through it all, I discovered a ton of beings from other universes who were either already here or awaiting to be summoned if the system felt their intervention to be necessary. Just a few of those targets had caught my attention: holon pilots for the gen:Lock program. Simulation Troopers for Project Freelancer. Humans who lived inside of walls on an island called Paradis. Humans htat could turn into weapons that ate souls that grew stronger when working with another human. Workers strugglning to maintain a generator on a frozen Earth. Twenty four teenagers sent to battle in an arena for the glory of a city full of hte rich and powerful. Those who remained on Earths that were ravaged by zombies. This system looked long into the future. It even had links to YorHa androids, to my immense surprise. Were androids event compatible with the ARK implants?

Oh, and it turned out that the warnings I'd received from the Underseer had been underselling things - the element outbreak had hit multiple other universes. So far there was just the one where the dominant power in America was called Panem and the one the Holon pilots originated from, but there were research reports indicating that there were other worlds that the element could easily spread to, which was not exactly a good thing.

Now, what else could I do?

XXXXX

From her position nearby the commander, M4 observed for threats - she was not willing to allow her de-facto commander to be harmed by anyone within the confines of camp. None had dared to attack so far, but the strange looks the Sangvis Ferri ringleaders were giving him was putting M4 on edge, especially since they were the entire reason she was on guard right now.

M4 only slightly relaxed her guard when the SF dolls finally decided to speak.

"What's he doing?" Asked the one known as Architect.

"Thinking," was the Griffin Doll's reply. "And communicating with his Allie's and subordinates."

Gager raised an eyebrow. "How can a human do that? He has no radios or other means of communications."

"Maybe he's psychic?"

M4 actually smirked at that. "He is, but that's not how he communicates."

"Really/What?!"

M4 would treasure the memory of the flustered ringleaders for all time. "It's a long story. I have some footage that will help with that."

XXXXX

A few minutes later...

"...Oh. I see."

If that was the best retort that Sangvis Ferri could come up with, then it really was a mystery how they were keeping Griffin at bay.

"So your Commander - for lack of better term - is a cyborg who rules an empire of multiple planets in another universe?" questioned Gager.

"Yes. And it seems that at the moment, you are his allies of convenience. And are still below the alien monsters in the hierarchy of this tribe."

Gager would've tried to blast M4 for that smart remark, but her gun had run out of battery power. A pity, especially since there were quite a few more foes to vanquish.

"So it would seem. But once this alliance ends-"

"Do you think it will end soon?"

That caught both Sangvis Dolls off guard. Turing their gazes toward M4, Destroyer and Gager both gestured for her to continue.

"The Commander has no way to send us back home. And I'm not sure Agent would respond kindly to learning that you worked with an enemy and a human to survive. So as it, not only does it seem that our alliance will last longer than you are expecting, but I don't think it's in your best interests to break it."

Gager quirked an eyebrow. "Are you implying that you'd miss us?"

"Not at all. Merely giving you some advice on your options."

XXXXX

AN: Gonna try and finish this arc up before October ends. If you have any thoughts on this chapter that aren't flames, they would be appreciated. Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Okay, war chest had been gathered, disparate survivors had been united, differences among tribe members had been smoothed out for the moment, yadda, yadda, yadda. If you're listening to this, you know the drill.

At this point, I just wanted to get through the titans, beat Rockwell for good, and move on. And make sure to get some better understanding of any offers of work I got from Celm before I took them. Because all of this boredom was my fault.

"Hurry up and get on with this!"

Yes, Vivian.

XXXXX

There were three titans that guarded the way to the King Titan - the Forest Titan, Desert Titan, and Ice Titan. All had to be slain to face the King Titan, though you could also take them if you desired.

The order we felled them in was, unsurprisingly, Forest, Desert, and Ice.

And unlike the past few times, we took a lot less time to take them all down.

XXXXX

Soundtrack Start: ARK Survival Evolved OST - Forest Titan Theme

View: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=KR2AllIZFxU

With a mighty roar, the Forest Titan unleashed a wave of roots, hoping to ensnare its assailants.

Ruby just barely managed to avoid the attack before leaping into the air and opening fire on the monster. While Team RWBY's supply of Dust had been limited, thanks to Ruby's own ingenuity and gun-focused quirkiness, they'd improvised element into a suitable replacement ammunition. True, that left Weiss with some...very limited options (especially since Weiss hadn't mastered her semblance yet), but it was progress.

Oh, and the big grimm was helping attack the titan.

Ruby had a feeling she was never going to get over how odd it was to have a Creature of Grimm as an ally.

And then there were the dragons.

XXXXX

The Vortigaunt gripped tightly onto the winged reptile's spines, for there were no other suitable gripping points on its hide. The creature, oddly enough, did not seem to mind his presence.

Why the wyverns were here was a mystery that not even their human host could explain, but it benefitted the Vortigaunts and their allies greatly - a free perch from which to attack the floral colossus without fear of retaliation. Occasionally it would try to remedy this by tearing a boulder or root out of the ground and throwing it at them, but its aim was poor. The vortigaunts, meanwhile, rained down upon the giant with the fury of the vortessence.

The creature raged and screamed, but it had no way to retaliate against them.

XXXXX

Down below, Ruby smiled as the titan started to stagger. Deploying Crescent Rose into scythe mode, she planted the blade on the ground and took aim, lined up on one of the crystal growths in the titan's hide, and fired.

XXXXX
Soundtrack Start: ARK Survival Evolved OST - Desert Titan Theme

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWWAvGu-rlE

The crystal mass exploded, causing the stingray like creature to howl in pain.

From atop his Concavenator, Thaurok smiled. The Green Martian had hit his target and managed, if only momentarily, to weaken the flying titan. Nearby, others of his kin fired at the small fliers that served the Desert Titan, clearing up a path for their allies to attack it atop flying warbeasts.

Thaurok was reminded of the Red Martians of Barsoom by all these...humans, and couldn't help but wonder if they were related, even if the huamns had repeatedly said no. The resemblance was uncanny.

Joining the humans were a group of bio-mechanical warriors he had seen earlier - the matoran, if he remember right. Led by one they called Turaga and another they called Makuta, they supplemented the strange firearms with disks, of all things. Powerful disks, if the damage they were inflicting was any indication.

XXXXX

Atop her giant owl, Nycorax hurled another bolt of shadow at the mighty titan, managing to break yet another node of element on it. If she had a cranial unit that allowed it, she would've smiled - this fight was going surprisingly well. It seemed to be only a matter of time before beast would be felled, even with the horde of fliers backing it up. Some humans were even using jetpacks to attack it, while the insects the lady Vivian had dominated were flying in to relieve pressure on what would normally be their greatest enemies. Oh how odd things were.

The larger creature roared in fury and released bolts of lightning, but those were evaded easily enough. How disappointing - she'd thought it would provide more of a challenge.

Above them, a Quetzalcoatlus had been brought in to act as a mobile base, providing their fliers a place to land, refuel, and restock on ammo before returning to the fray. It made absolutely no sense, but it worked. Somehow. Nycorax had a feeling that common sense had gone out to lunch at this point. This universe was just too weird for anything to make sense anymore.

Below her, a human was charging up a railgun, already having their aim locked upon a giant mass of element. Moments later, the weapon was fired, and the projectile soared toward its target.

XXXXX
Soundtrack Start: ARK Survival Evolved OST - Ice Titan Theme

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLd4CzqAGUY

Letting out a pained cry, the tusked behemoth recoiled, allowing the group to refocus their forces and maneuver around it.

Standing at the frontline of the engagement was a mixture of tyrannosaurs, giganotosaurs, golems, and the most recent addition of all, a group of meks, all either biting, punching, or shooting at the monstrous creature. Their massive offensive provided no room to maneuver, much to the chagrin of their foe. Amid the flurry of combat, small drones flitted about, moving between each of the meks and repairing any that were damaged.

On a perch hidden away from the frontlines, Lelouch smiled. Fighting was, most certainly, not his forte. Sure, he wished to one day bring his home nation to its knees, but right now, taking to the field of battle was not in the cards. But a supporting role, away from the frontlines? He could work with that. One day he would take to the front, for how could a leader expect loyalty if he wasn't willing to lead the charge, but for now, he was content to stay behind the first wave. Especially if it meant he could watch over Nunnally.

Said sibling, alongside Sayoko, Kallen, and the orange haired girl named Shirley, were also controlling drones, working to keep the frontlines from breaking, and so far, they were doing an excellent job.

Though, Lelouch did wonder what would happen when the enforcers entered the field.

XXXXX

Teleporting forward, M4 smiled as her enforcer pounced upon the Titan, giving her an opening to start filling its maw with lead. Moments later, Gager and Architect added lasers and missiles to its diet, though this just seemed to do superficial damage to it. The meks attacks that followed, however, definitely did more than passing damage.

An intense barrage of fire soon followed, and moments later, the titan collapsed, dead.

XXXXX

It took us about six days to go three for three with the Titans. But we did. And it felt awesome.

Now we were ready to take on the King Titan. And then solve this mess for good and head back home, because I had made a mistake accepting this particular offer.

Still, I had to worry about what Rockwell would do next. One way or another, I felt he had one last card to play....well, actually, he had two, but you get the point.

XXXXX

AN: So, thoughts?

Will try to keep this down to five more chapters at max. Getting tired of this arc, but I don't want to skip it outright.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Watching the recording of the victory feast her commander and his allies had after defeating the Titans was certainly an Al enjoyable feeling - it fostered a sense of camaraderie that would help them overcome challenges going forward. Hopefully, it would also make it easier to integrate them into the Hub should it be determined to be impossible to return them to their universes of origin - which was almost a certainty for some of them, since they had been brought here after having died. And if they could be sent back, well, it never hurt to have friends. At least, not if they we're poisonous ones. Or false friends.

But that was beside the point.

Turning her attention away from her thoughts, Fide refocused her attention on the data she dragged up from the ARK network. She dredged up a significant amount of information regarding universes that had been considered for the ARKs, including ones she had no real frame of reference for (what the hell were Noise and Symphogears?), but so far, she didn't actually know what had increased the list of possible list of pools (she didn't know if they should be counted as timelines or universes) that survivor candidates could be selected from. She was fairly certain that it was the result of what her creator termed Random Omnipotent Bring shenanigans (also known as ROB dickery), but the exact manner eluded her.

Hopefully, the next batch of encrypted mainframes she'd managed to crack would be more informative on that front.

Now then, what was on them?

XXXXX

….Biology Reports.

Additional survivor candidates.

Was that a Mecha?

…So they call it a Holon. Interesting.

….What were Simulation Troopers and why were they chosen for this experiment.

What's an Air Whale?

Was there anything of value here?

XXXXX

Fide groaned in annoyance - it looked like this was another set of mostly useless drives. With how things were looking now, it was possible that all of them were useless drives - if a Random Omnipotent Being had been here, what was to say that they didn't cover their tracks? She felt it possible they didn't because of pride, but there were always exceptions to the rule.

There was one last storage device to examine. Maybe this would explain things. Hopefully.

….What did it mean by *WARNING: ELEMENT ABERRANCE DETECTED!*?

XXXXX

FWD: Element ABERRANCE Detected

To: ARK Analysis Overseer Rho-5

During a routine examination of an incomplete ARK, it was discovered that a localized element outbreak had occurred. Attempts to contain the outbreak were not wholly successful, resulting in the Quarantine of the ARK. Examination of the element yielded a surprising discovery: it is able to create space borne organisms. Recommend larger scale quarantine to prevent similar outbreaks on other ARKs until a suitable countermeasure can be developed.

- Analysis Overseer Kappa-

XXXXX

RE: Incident at Tertiary ARK

An Inquiry has been opened regarding the incident at ARK 03, current designation "Aberration", has been opened to determine the cause and nature of the damages to the ARK. However, it appears that the incident has caused galvanized actions among other element clusters and lead to increased element outbreaks on other ARKs. It is recommended that these ARKs be quarantined, as the outbreaks are exceeding the ability of the subordinate units to contain.

XXXXX

RE: Expanded Survivor Candidate Pools

At 16:47 of [DATE REDACTED], an unknown entity was found tampering with the computer governing the pools of survive candidates. Despite significant efforts by security units, the intruder escaped. Examining the computer network showed that several additional pools had been added to the greater pool, with different candidates already earmarked. Examination of one pool revealed that it contained nanobot collectives that were able to repel element outbreaks, though all of them were ultimately destroyed. In light of this new discovery, it has been decided that these pools will not be discarded, and survivor candidates from these locations will now be considered.

XXXXX

Fide digested the information before her, and also found reports of several candidates that had been considered and approved for the ARK, some of which were now stored in several other ARKs. One piloted a winged mech and was designated as "Chaser". Another mentioned a girl on fire, while a third referenced groups of teens sent to run through a maze so that their brains could be studied, somehow. See even found mention of a group of simulation troopers, though what they were running simulations for eluded her.

Oddly enough, she also noticed that attached to the files she was examining was something labeled [INTERCEPTED DIGITAL COMMUNICATION]. Maybe that would make sense of these reports.

XXXXX

K: Ok, which of you screwed this up?
M: I haven't the slightest idea what you're talking about.
G: Have to be more specific, my friend.
A: Specification would be nice.
K: Explain to me how I found a Tiberium crystal on one of the ARKs I was examining.
L: …Excuse me?
K: I TOLD YOU ALL TO NOT PUT ANYTHING CRAZY IN THAT UNIVERSE! I HAD PLANS FOR IT!
A: You were just going to use it to mess with some random puke you pulled from another universe, weren't you?
K: THST DOESN'T KEAN YOU GET PERMISSION TO WRECK IT!
L: News flash, we made no agreements not to.
K: Why did you even add in so many universes that have things worse than element in them to the survivor pool? Do you want to watch this world die screaming
L,A,M,G:….Yes.
G,L: Also, your annoyance amuses us.
K:…..FUCK YOU ALL!

XXXXX

Fide just stared for a moment as she processed the information before her.

All the hardships that her commander and his friends had endured in this universe. All of the displaced people. All of the unexpected monster….

WERE ALL PART OF A RANDOM OMNIPOTENT BEING OR FIVE'S JOKE?!?!

Fuck this! Fuck all of it!

Bristling with rage, Fide turned her attention toward several ARKs overcome with element infestation. It only took seconds for the machines to answer her demands and start laying waste to those ARKs. Their feeble efforts to defend themselves did little to dissuade her wrath. Even Rockwell responding with some of the space borne element creatures has minimal effects on her war effort.

Eventually, they tried throwing an element corrupted ARK at her base, which promptly got shattered under a hail of defensive fire. Oddly, though, the event creatures escorting it seemed not to care, instead focusing on pushing the fragments of the ARK toward the surface. A very specific location on the surface….oh fuck.

Eyes widening in shock, Fide hastily sent a warning to her commander and his compatriots, who were already making their move on the King Titan. She also moved to drop in a group of survivors to hopefully offset the raging insanity that was happening below - new allies never hurt.

Then she turned her attention to the oncoming horse of Corrupted ARKs. It seemed that she had more work to do. But after this, she was cleaning Rockwell's clock.

XXXXX

Surface, 1 hour later

Seriously, FUCK all the ROBs who made this mess. Fuck them with something that hurts!

What I was expecting to be a difficult but manageable fight against the King Titan was turning into an insane battle for survival against all kinds of corrupted monsters. And we hadn't even entered the arena yet!

Fide had kindly provided us with some allies, which included a rather diverse set of individuals. I was not surprised that the girl on fire, Katniss Everdeen was among them - it didn't take much to figure out why a ROB would take tributes from Panem and send them here. Significantly less expected was the mech known as a Holon, callsign "Chaser". Apparently he was part of a whole group of mech pilots known as gen:Lock, who were, apparently, stuck on a different ARK and not responding to Fide's signals, or so she said. Also, I think there were some additional YorHa androids here, or something. Not really sure.

Combined with the oddity of our existing group (which included four kids from Code Geass trying to pilot a mech and several monsters from Greek mythology), and we had a truly weird mix to our group.

The only real consolation that we had was that Fide had provided us with equipment to summon the other titans to aid us. Because with how things were shaping up, we'd need every advantage we could get to defeat the King Titan.

XXXXX

AN: Work takes up so much time.

Read and enjoy! Comment and review as desired! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Okay, so, in summary, we were moving out to try and finish off the King Titan when things had gone crazy. Now are group was under attack by a horde of element derived creatures, though we did have the aid of several other new additions to even the odds. Mecha, beings who looked like androids but weren't, the girl on fire and her lover to be (somehow that sounded weirder than all of the others), and a bunch of other survivors had joined us, and with the final battle with the King Titan approaching, any increase in numbers was greatly appreciated.


Most of them had wanted to ask what was happening, but with all the insanity going on around us, I cut them off and made it clear questions could come after killing the King Titan. I just wanted this over with. They'd decided to concede with my demand after I insinuated that killing the Titan would make the monsters attacking us more docile. At least, hopefully - I knew that killing this thing would weaken the element hive mind. I just hoped the effects were immediate.


XXXXX


Once we were at the entrance to the King Titan's location, things started going fast - offerings were made, weapons loaded, and warriors primed for battle. I noticed in particular the strange Grimm cutting into his arm, causing an oily black fluid to fall to the ground...and then turn into more Grimm. I felt a tinge of nervousness at this, while Team RWBY readied their weapons, only for the great Grimm to snarl, causing the lesser Grimm to suddenly grow docile.


I couldn't help quirking an eyebrow at this. "Could you have told us that earlier?"


The Grimm turned and...did it actually shrug?!


"Is there anything else you can do that you haven't shown us?"


The Grimm seemed to think for a moment, then nodded. Moments later, it turned into a black mist that soon reformed into an almost human form.


"...is that all you can do?"


A nod in the negative was the response.


"Are you going to show us anymore of that?"


Another nod in the negative.


...Fuck it, it was almost time for this thing to get started. Let's get things over with.


The timer soon hit zero, and then we found ourselves in an arena far away from...well, all of Extinction. I will not deny laughing at how confused some of our newest members were when we teleported to the arena.


It was at that moment that a loud bellow filled the air as a huge form emerged from some nearby mists. Moments later, the full form of the King Titan was revealed, alongside a small legion of corrupted creatures.


The Titan roared to intimidate us, but we held firm, and soon several Meks came online (the children from Code Geass being the only ones to arrive in a walker).


From atop our Super Meks, Vivian and me smiled before lowering our guns. Triggers were soon pulled, and the battle was joined!


XXXXX


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-oA6iJ5LQQ&t=33s

Katniss had no idea what was going on. One moment she had gone to sleep the day before the games, fuming at Peeta for (supposedly) declaring his love for her before all of Panem (with her reaction being filmed for everyone to see), and the next she had ended up here. Somehow. Alongside her were Peeta, Rue, Thresh, and that fox-faced girl from District 5, as it appeared they had also had the misfortune of being sent wherever here was, and then found themselves at the mercy of a group riding a horde of strange mutts, and also some machines that made the Capital's look...clunky?


They arrived in the middle of the larger group fighting a colossal horde of mutts, after which the leader had made an agreement: help him kill the mutt that lead all the rest, and he would answer their questions and help them as best he could.


If Katniss had known that the lead mutt was bigger than several buildings in the Capital...actually, would she even have had the choice to say no? She wasn't exactly in a position to challenge them.


Regardless of how she had got here and her feelings on the matter, Katniss was now curled up behind the corpse of one of the mutts, trying to figure out what to do. She refused to die here! She dragged Rue to said hiding spot, which Peeta, Thresh, and Foxface had also decided to shelter behind. Katniss had no idea how long this cover would last, but it was better than nothing. Mentally, she was glad that the Capital probably wasn't watching her - she didn't care too much about their opinions, but bloodthirsty as they were, they would probably see her actions as cowardly and decide not to offer her sponsor gifts. If the Capital had any gifts that could help her in this mess, she would've taken them without protest.


Suddenly, a red form rolled across the ground, coming to a stop right by the carcass the quintet were hiding behind. The form soon revealed itself to be a red and black haired girl, who swiftly stood up, shaking off a feeling of being dazed. She was rather surprised to see them staring at her.


"Um, what are you doing?"


Katniss felt her face going flat. "Staying alive?"


The girl glanced over past the carcass. "I think they'll notice you if you don't move soon. So maybe you should fight them?"


Oh really. "Well, if you could get me a bow, then maybe-"


Suddenly, the girl vanished in a burst of rose petals. Moments later, she reappeared, now holding a very well made compound bow.


"Sorry if you prefer more natural ones, we just have more of these."


Katniss knew that she had a very stupid expression on her face right now, but she was more concerned with figuring out how did that girl move so fast?!


"Um, do you still need the bow?"


After a moment of silence, Katniss wordlessly grabbed the bow (along with a wuiver of arrows the girl just happened to have), took aim, and fired at another nearby corpse until her aim was good.


A low growl turned her and her companions' gazed upward, where a large black and bony mutt of some sort was looking at her. Before she could react, the creature dropped several weapons near her, then gestured for the red girl to follow it.


"Oh. Ok."


The girl turned her attention back to Katniss.


"Almost forgot to tell you, but I'm Ruby Rose! I got to go now, have to fight the monsters. Please feel free to help!"


Katniss stared at the girl as she retreated before taking a good look at her surroundings.


There were no obvious exits to take.


It seemed the only way out was to fight.


Sighing, Katniss knocked an arrow. It seems she had traded the Hunger Games for something so much weirder.


XXXXX


The Old Grimm watched briefly as the girl with the bow started shooting at some of the corrupted fliers. It could sense so many emotions from her - confusion, annoyance, anger, and fear being most prominent - but they were so...diffuse compared to those from Remnant. All humans knew that Grimm were attracted to negative emotions. Many guessed this meant that Grimm could tell what kind of emotions you were feeling. Few knew that some Grimm could sense positive emotions as well.


Speaking of positive emotions, the Grimm turned its attentions toward the silver-eyed girl. Eons of existence had fine-tuned the Old Grimm's senses so that it could compare how the auras of humans reacted with one another. It could tell if one person was the descendant of hunter it had faced before, and could get a reasonably accurate assumption on how distant a descendant they were - grand children, fourth cousins, it could make those judgements with relative ease.


This girl's bloodline had crossed paths with the Old Grimm many times. It always ended in conflict, though he had never been able to see what their flesh had tasted like (except for once, and those were odd circumstances). One thing this lineage shared across generations was an almost insufferable idealistic belief that the world could be made better. They weren't wrong, but they were often annoyingly blunt about that belief. Somehow, the Old Grimm found this endearing. Even if they had destroyed a few of the human cults that worshipped him - some of them had been rather annoying.

It seemed that, for now, he would have to be her ally.

He could live with that.

A familiar yet strange sound filled the air as one of the metal walkers flew overhead, firing off at the Titan. The Old Grimm wondered just how the pilot of said machine was reacting to this madness.

XXXXX

Chase had absolutely no idea what was going on. One minute they had been falling back a Union assault, the next he had ended up here. He wasn't even sure where Cammie, Kazu, Valentina, and Yaz were, but he hoped they were okay.

If nothing else, at least they weren't dealing with this madness. Fighting a Union Walker was one thing. Fighting a giant monster using mechs and dinosaurs? Yeah, that was something else.

Also, was that a knight riding on a dinosaur?

XXXXX

Vincent rammed his lance deep into the Corrupted Raptor's neck, instantly felling the beast. Nearby, other warriors were also engaging the smaller creatures, stemming the tide so that those with heavier weapons could focus on the larger beasts. He even saw a Gorgon (amazingly they existed, who knew) tearing into a rock drake.

If he ever managed to return home, Vincent knew that his tale of what happened here would probably be remembered for all time. But first, he had to see this mess through.

Vincent's allosaurus suddenly leaped forward, just barely avoiding the foot of a Mega Mek, which was desperately fighting the colossal King Titan alongside several other titans, though how they had tamed the latter was still a mystery.

Vincent hoped they would be enough to defeat this mighty beast

Though, he did have to wonder why one of the Mega Meks was walking around as if it were drunken.

XXXXX

"Kallen, get us straight now!"

"I'm trying!"

Nunally would've admitted that if this wasn't a life or death situation, the scenario before her would be rather amusing - that being how she, her brother, and the two girls with them were trying to drive a giant walker that dwarfed even Britannia's Knightmare Frames. This particular machine had been assembled from four smaller ones, and was even more colossal than its compatriots. It was also an absolute pain to drive, with the four having to work together to get it to move anywhere. And it was really clunky too!

Despite this, they were able to contribute to the fighting beyond just impotently flailing, and even managed to inflict a deep wound upon the King Titan. They had also punted a corrupted reaper king into the hoirzon, but that feat seemed rather tiny compared to the ongoing insanity around them.

Despite her abhorrence toward violence, Nunnally really hoped she could take the Mek she has acquired home - it was rather dfun to have. And if they ever saw big sister Cornelia again, maybe they could show off the machine to her?

XXXXX

Smiling, I drove my Mega Mek's sword clean through the King Titan's chest, while Vivian fired off her Mek's pistol into the Titan's face. The creature roared one final time before finally collapsing over, defeated.

At last, victory!

Things after that weren't really too surprising - the stuff from Extinction end cutscene played out, with the ARKs finally descending to Earth to purge the element corruption. It was pretty, and it felt good, but I wasn't quite done here yet.

'Fide, you got anything to help us with?'

'A little bit. Also, I've located the Genesis Starship.'

I had honestly forgotten all about that. 'Oh. Anything you can tell me about it?'

'Well, I just got a notice from Celm that your services will be considered completed once the Genesis ship is dealt wtih.

'I see. Anything else?'

'A lot of survivors from the "expanded survivor pools" have been moved onto that ship?'

Looks like we're going for that ship, then.

XXXXX

AN: Getting to the end of the ARK arc now. Maybe 3-4 more chpaters at this point.

Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Somewhere…

Watching the commander's progress though the viewing drone, Kadesh smiled. It seemed this mess was almost cleaned. Then the boy could be paid and both of them could move on to other projects.

Oh sure, his friends would complain, but this was their fault – the aggressive element sample hadn't been his creation, but it had provided him a chance to increase the variety of survivors that could end up on the ARKs and observe how they interacted (which was, admittedly, a source of personal amusement). It didn't mean all his other empowered friends could use it as an excuse to throw whoever and whatever they wanted onto the ARKs to see how big a mess could be made – an agreement was expected first. But no, they had to make things crazy. They had to include non-human survivors. They had to give Rockwell a crazy defense system…actually, what had they given Rockwell that had allowed him to oppose a commander? It didn't make any sense.

Speaking of payment, what exactly was he supposed to provide to the commander as acknowledgement of his deeds? Celempheros had made it clear that there were a few stipulations in this regard: it had to be useful in some way (obviously to avoid swindling, though Kadesh's pride made such duplicity out of the question), had to be something the commander could replicate and offer to his own subordinates or use to make minions to do his bidding, and it could not be something magical – the boy had yet to master any magical system yet, so he was not to receive arcane gifts until he could prove his talent with at least one mystical field…wow that was a verbose thought.

Sighing, Kadesh pulled up the storage space that his friends called the Vault. He didn't know why this one was special – they all kept 'vaults' of their own for a variety of reasons. Some had them as trophies of victories passed, other to treasure childhood memories. A few used them to store items to give to the hapless mortals they sent on…jumpchains, if he remembered right. And some just wanted a place to horde things in. He kept such a storage facility for a mix of the second and third reasons, though he had never really been interested in being called Jump-Chan – he found the title unflattering.

Dialing at random, Kadesh smiled at the Mech came into view. At least he could offer these options to the commander. Even if this one in particular could drive people insane just from knowing how it was made.

XXXXX

CMDR Flame's Tower

"Sounds like your dad and my mom are almost finished with this mess."

"Yeah. I hope next time we can go with them wherever they go."

"Indeed."

Being left at home most of the time was starting to get on Cassidy's nerves. Sure, her mom didn't want her to get hurt, but it felt like she was being actively avoided at times. Didn't her mom know that she needed to go out and see things to grow up?

…Maybe her mom was just not sure how to mom?

That would explain a few things.

"Hey, did you get those Martians settled in, Rory?"

The boy's image in the screen nodded. "Found them a place to live with compatible plants and animals, along with enough blood bags to last until their stomachs start doing their jobs again properly."

"Nice. How many different types of tripods did they have?"

"A couple – some looked like the ones made by that Wayne guy, others look more like what I think is the classic look. They're not anything special among the stuff our parents tend to grab, but they have their uses."

"At least we didn't get Morlocks," said some attendant in the background. Having attendants was a formality, since Kathikon and Mortarax were watching the children from some perch on high, but it helped with appearances – they were expecting to eventually have guests, so why not start practicing for them early?

"Morlocks?"

"Subterranean cannibal people that treat another group of humans known as the Eloi like cattle."

Oh. "Interesting."

XXXXX

Unknown Location

The lobster-like being had no name, only being known as the caretaker. And right now, it was getting very annoyed.

It had sensed when the Commander had found one of the stolen and acted accordingly, trying to trace their path across the multiverse.

It had gathered those who had opposed the commander, to prepare a force to oppose them.

And then it had gotten stuck, because the Commander had apparently decided to take a brake from gathering technology and gone to bum-fuck nowhere.

After the initial activation signal from the first Stolen had been released, no more had come in. Efforts to track them from there defaulted to the traditional means of searching for commander-based multiversal portals, but after a few attempts those had failed too, in no small part because there were so many methods that those portals worked by that actually finding the right one was difficult, to say the least. You could have better luck throwing darts than finding a commander following this strategy.

Sure, they'd managed to unite the forces of the Darkspore, Grox, some space pirates, the Korath, and some of the Sentients against the Commander, but without a common foe to fight, they'd inevitably fracture due to their existing issues, xenophobia chief among them. Only with a shared enemy could they find peace.

Oh, and it looked like one of the Korath was trying to talk to him.

"I apologize for initial lack of response. What do you wish to talk about?"

"Have you found the one who laid our empires low yet?"

"No, unfortunately."

"I thought you would offer us vengeance in exchange for our allegiance."

"I did. But we have yet to find him."

"How annoying. Do you have any others like him that we could fight?"

What?! "Hmm?"

"Surely he is not the only of his kind. IF there are others like him, then I would like the chance to kill them. Preparations for our inevitable revenge."

If the caretaker could have smiled, it would. Perhaps there was another way to keep these disparate beings unified.

XXXXX

Genesis Starship Exterior, some time later

Fide grit her teeth as she continued to peer through the computer systems of the Genesis Craft. In the time since her Commander had allowed for the ARKs to come to Earth, she'd launched an attack upon the Aberration ARK and successfully purged Rockwell from it. The twisted mass of flesh, however, had managed to flee to the Genesis Starship (just like in the games) and was now holing up there. Annoyed, Fide had directed Vivian and her Commander to board the ship and deal with him (fun fact: Earth had its own ascension system), while she tried to burn him out of the network. So far, things were looking good – the duo and those of their tribes who had joined them (which was literally everyone, even the new arrivals from Extinction) had already slain Moeder and would soon face Rockwell in the ship's AI space. Once he was gone from there, Fide was fairly certain that she could disconnect Rockwell from the ship such that killing him wouldn't cause it to explode.

After Rockwell was defeated, well, Fide did not know what would come next. She assumed her Commander would take some time to rest and relax, bond with his children, and adapt the technology he had acquired for further use. He'd also probably send those he had acquired back home if he could – his thoughts seemed to indicate he didn't want them to stay with him unless they chose to. Presumably, Team RWBY and Chaser would return, the latter after he found his team (who were stored on one of the rings of the Genesis Ship, apparently). The ones known as the Reds and Blues (and their companions known as the Freelancers), who he had found aboard Genesis would also probably be among that group. As for the others…eh, that bridge would be crossed in time.

Rockwell's forces here had been mostly digital entities to help protect him from harm in the simulation – apparently, he had acquired programs from the Grid, however that worked. He'd also manifested some units from a place called Aincrad, but after all the grinding the Commander and his tribe had done, that didn't amount to much. Still, something was bothering Fide – how was Rockwell able to actually damage their forces? Where did he get that kind of power?

"Well, to answer your question, some being dropped off a gift for me some time after your leader arrived, but before you appeared."

Damn, she had been thinking out loud on an open channel. Oh well.

"As is, it looks like your friends are about to face me in the simulation. I'd love to stay and speak with you, but I have a fight to win."

Really? "Your track record isn't looking so good there."

"True. But I have an ace up my sleeve in the event he does win."

"And is that the gift you received?"

"Yes, actually. And I think you can have a look at that now."

WARNING: COMMS DISABLED

Fide glowered as she was informed that her ability to contact her Commander, and he him, was disabled, but soon composed herself as a new image filled her view: that of Rockwell's insurance plan.

…Why did it look so familiar-oh.

No.

NO.

NONONO!

NOT THAT!

XXXXX

Genesis Starship Interior, shortly after Fide's impotent raging

The time we spent in the Genesis Simulation was rather boring. Sure, we'd tamed a bunch of creatures, met a few new faces, and defeated monsters, but this was basically what we'd done for the past five ARKs. Things got repetitive after enough repeats.

H-LNA had been a nice companion, but I was really surging toward trying to see this mess finished up. Fide was working on disconnecting Rockwell from the ship so that once he was dealt with, I could claim this vessel as a prize.

Though, she had suddenly gone quiet for a while. That probably wasn't a good sign.

"No it isn't."

Ah, that was Rockwell. "Going to gloat about our impending doom? You already did that a few minutes ago after H-LNA stopped you from dragging us away."

"You may be correct, but I believe now that I have something that will make your imminent defeat very, very clear."

"And what is that?"

"How about you look outside?"

I decided to oblige, and found a trio of ships had apparently started acting as escorts for the Genesis Ship. Oddly, they looked a lot like Imperator-wait a minute.

Were those-

"BY THE AUTHORITY OF THE LEGION, YOU WILL BE PURGED, TRAITOR!"

Before I could process what had just been said, what I recognized as a transport craft appeared…carrying a machine that I absolutely dreaded.

+WARNING: LEGION CMDR DETECTED! EXTREME CAUTIONS ADVISED!+

…*(^^%*(*^&%$%^*()(*&^%$^&*#$%&&*)&*^%$&&%

XXXXX

AN: So, yeah, that happened.

Did the little interlude with the lobster machine to remind you all that yes, the enemies from the very end of the Warframe arc are still alive, and I haven't forgotten about them.

We're getting close to the finish line for ARK! Read and Review at your own leisure! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

So, let's recap: I was stuck on a giant spaceship that can create dinosaurs, dragons, other fantasy critters, abominations, and who-knows-what else. The ship is controlled by a flesh abomination that used to be a Victorian scientist. Said scientist has access to a commander of the Legion. It knows that I have a commander from the MLA. I do not have this commander with me. And it is looking increasingly likely that he might actually be able to destroy me if he gets the chance and I don't figure out how to purge him from the system fast enough.

...I'd like to throw the no-pressure thing out here, but I was definitely under a lot of pressure here and now. Sure, I had many, many powerful beings with me right now, but they kinda pailed in comparison to what we were up against. If we wanted to win, we needed some big breaks right now.

"Yes, we do. Also, while you were mentally going over our situation, my former pawn, I was giving an abridged version of what we've been through to all of our compatriots."

"..Why? Why did you need to do that, Viv? I'm not angry, just legitimately curious."

"Because it speeds things up and tells them what is at stake."

"...Good point. So, how much did you cover in the 'abridged version'?"

"That the machine he has under him is derived from the same tech base that we use, it hates us in the mistaken belief that we enslaved its kin, and it will probably try to kill them because they are helping. I also gave a few universes that we have visited - enough to give them an idea of how high the stakes are."

"Any of them complain?"

"Griff did."

"Figures. Alright, then, let's get to work-"

"Commander!"

Wait, was that Fide? "Fide?!"

"Yes, I'm back! Thank you, H-LNA!"

I glanced over at the drone in question.

"Uh, yeah. While you were going over things and your female companion filling in some gaps with your allies, she called and asked if I could use my comms to act as a communication system with you. Turns out, we can! And whatever is opposing you isn't tracking that signal, so we're fine. For now."

"......Well, that works. So, what have you got for me?"

"A lot, actually. So let's get started."

XXXXX

POV: Fide, third person

Fide glanced through all of the cameras that she had managed to subvert via H-LNA and some hacking against Rockwell. "First off, it looks like Rockwell has been harvesting samples from every universe in the ARK survivor candidate pool list to try and prep up for dealing with us. I'm seeing things in the Genesis rings that don't match up with any places we've visited before. No telling who or what he'll summon, but it could be something we might not be able to handle."

"Unsurprising," was her commander's reply. "Continue."

"I've also found some more things from the universes that we already have...samples...from in this ARK network. Apparently, there are humans here from the same place as YorHa. Like, real humans from back when it was part of ...Drakengard?"

"Oh. Maybe we could use that to bargain with YorHa if we find that universe?"

"Perhaps. Listen, though, Rockwell's working on something big with the sample pools of candidates. Whatever he's doing is taking up a ton of energy and matter, such that he's been using the Legion Commander to keep this project supplied."

"Can you offer more specific information?"

"He has four areas he is working on, they all use tons of resources, and they involve the survivor candidate pools."

"Still not specific."

"Well that is all I can offer. But I am still worried by it."

"What is the reason for that? What is the most likely usage of these areas?"

"Well, what does Rockwell want the most?"

"To use the power of the Genesis ship to influence the evolution of life/worlds and....oh. Let me guess: the most likely possibility is that these areas are portals to other universes?"

"Something like that - Rockwell wasn't able to get any details on how the system actually plucks survivors or their minds from other universes and timelines, so he has to create this from scratch, and according to the ship's records, the Commander he got doesn't have any dedicated labs or super sensors on it, so he hasn't made too much progress yet."

"At least we have that advantage. Anything else you can tell me?"

"I've located the rest of Chase's team, for starters. Looks like they are being stored in a cryobay next to a hangar. I can thaw them soon, but I suggest waiting until we get Chase over to them before they wake up."

"Copy. Anything you can do to interfere with that Commander?"

"None yet. Still working on that. Listen, Rockwell hasn't got any idea how to escape this ship yet, but escape he will if we don't stop him. I can light a few fires to slow him down, and I'm working with H-LNA on how to decouple him from the ship's mainframe, but if his physical body is still plugged into the Genesis, he'll just figure out a way back in. You need to take down his physical form, and soon."

"Okay, gotcha. Anything I can do to help?"

"Still looking into that-"

"Hey, this is Vivian. Can I call in some reinforcements? I think I could slip a few in without our, ahem, 'contractor' throwing a fit."

"How so?"

"Just get Leal to supplement you and hope it works?"

Fide thought over that for a few minutes. "Okay then, see what you can do. And thank you for the offer."

"You're welcome."

Closing out the communication, Fide glanced up at the fleet of Imperators now guarding the Genesis. She didn't doubt that Leal could find a way to deal with them, but they were just a symptom of how crazy things had gotten.

And somehow, Fide knew the worst was yet to come.

XXXXX

AN: New Year's Chapter, just before New Year's Day ends for me.

I apologize for not updating my stories in a while, but beyond Christmas and my job, I had a lot on my plate over the holidays - I went up on a ski trip for my sister's birthday, my grandmother died a day into the trip (the writing had been on the wall, but it still hurt), I started playing Pokemon Scarlet, went up to Vegas, two of the Vegas guests had to cancel because their flights got canceled, and right now I really need to go to sleep. So sorry for the short chapter, but I need to crash.

Read, review, and discuss at your leisure. This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

"So, let me get this straight: we've all been sent to this network of space stations - which can range from islands to caves to deserts to who the hell cares what else, and might have been revived from death to be sent here - to fight, survive, and breed creatures to act as an army to retake Earth from an army of monsters controlled by some kind of weird crystal. And that army has mostly been defeated, but what's left of it is controlled by the guy running this ship, who wants to use it to spread his army across the cosmos. And the people leading us got dumped here by their boss - after making a request to handle a challenging situation for him, for god knows what payment - and now have to deal with something that could kill all of us in seconds, then use our corpses to make more forces. That all sound correct?"

"Yes, it does, Private Church."

"...How the fuck did we get involved in this again?"

"Some random Omnipotent being hacked the list of places/universes to draw survivors from and added your's to the list."

"...So you're saying there is a god, and he hates us?"

"I'm fairly certain there is more than one god, and this one is totally apathetic to your existence."

The blue armored simulation trooper just stared for a moment, then sighed. "I day three times, and this is what my fourth life starts as. Fucking ridiculous."

"Don't worry, Church! I'll make sure you live through this one!"

"Caboose, I think you're the last one to inspire confidence in Church by saying that."

"Why?" Asked. "What did he do?

The orange armored simulation trooper glanced at the red girl on a combat skirt. "Caboose is the guy who killed Church the first time."

"...Oh."

"Yeah. Look, Caboose might be Church's best supporter, but he tends to cause us a lot of problems relating to friendly fire."

"Ouch," remarked a girl of Scottish descent with a headband that resembled hi-tech rabbit ears, who soon glanced over at Church. "You certainly had things rough."

"Thank you, Ms...Cammie?"

"Call me Trixx."

"After the cereal?"

"Yeah. So, you're an AI?"

"Yes. Got a problem with that?"

"None - Chase is one too. Or at least he was."

"Seriously?"

"It's complicated as hell."

"Story of my life. What do you do, anyway?"

"Pilot mechs to battle the Union."

"...You have got to tell me more about that later."

"Once we're through with this, maybe."

"What does happen after this, though?" Questioned Grif. "Cause I'm tired of getting dragged into other people's conflicts."

Fide cleared her throat. "I'm assisting my superior in finding away to send you all back home. You've suffered enough."

"Would you forgive me for not believing you?" was Church's response.

"Yes."

Truthfully, Fide had the feeling that these conversations would be common over the next few. Her Commander had been running around the ARKs for only a month, but it had been a rollercoaster ride for everyone involved. Maybe after this was done things would calm down, or maybe they would be crazier. Fide wasn't sure what the future would hold, or how it would go.

But she would be really glad when it was over.

As far as preparations were concerned, everyone was getting things done as best they could - she remembered watching little Lelouch leading the young ones in building a new kind of Mek, while others marveled at the striders, Shadowmanes, and other bizarre creatures native to the Genesis ship.

Most of which Caboose had easily managed to befriend. Somehow. Apparently it had to do with befriending the dinosaurs that the ones known as the Reds and Blues had shared a moon with at some point.

Where the hell was the universe they had come from?

Oh, Fide knew which universe they had come from. She'd managed to rip that out of the computers that weren't locked behind the firewalls that the Legion commander had set up for the ARK network. The results had been enlightening, revealing numerous universes that ranged from sensible to understandble to downright bizarre choices for plucking survivors from - who the hell thought the Grid would make for a good selection place for surivors? Even Clu's reign would do nothing to fix that. Evidently, this had been one of the universes added to the pool for the sole purpose of seeing how pathetically the subjects within would flail about when converted into survivors.

Once again, fuck every single ROB who had vetted that list.

Her Commander better be getting some really good payment for this. And a full apology from their client for how absurd things were going.

Once that was handled, they could focus on dealing with everyone else they were stuck with. Fide seriously agreed with the sentiment of just sending them all back home and not getting them involved in the mess that was their affairs.

In all honesty, her Commander was just not a good commander. Sure, Fide had total faith in him being bable to fix any problem that came his way, but objectively? He sucked at being a Brutally Efficient Self Replicating Engine of War. He always wanted to solve problems personally, by using a squishy meat-sack body that was easy to break and better off being cloned than repaired. Fide, for the life of her, could not figure out why he was obsessed with this. She had found it fortunate that it resisted the power of the infernal machine that had shut off the commander network, but what reason did he have to keep using it? To remain 'human'? Sentimentality? A chance to use magic?

...Probably the magic.

Fide hoped that he either decided to reserve the organic chassis for certain occasions going forward or at least toughen it up significantly. Watching him throw it into battle (even if it was just one body that he could easily replace) made her worry without end.

XXXXX

AN: Some self deprecating humor for my birthday chapter this year. Anyway, read and review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Flameal15k]

Enough waiting, I am getting this done, and then moving on to something else to let me get back into hte groove for this story. I'd say that I am sorry if this chapter is of poor quality, but I AM DONE WORKING ON THE ARK ARC! Just going to wrap up this chapter, and than we can love on to greener pastures!

---

This was it. Today I would lead my fellow survivors in defeating Rockwell and finally get off this ship. Then I was going to hole up for a day and decide if I ever wanted to take up offers from Celm again. Supplies were ready, everyone was armed, all needed mounts were deployed, yadda yadda yadda. Let's do this!

---

"Everything is in place, sir."

"Alright. You know what you have to do."

"Affirmative."

"Good luck."

As soon as the line with her Commander went dead, Fide started working. Within moments, she was within the digital architecture of the Genesis, searching for Rockwell's links to the system. She would need to work quickly for this plan to succeed- even if they defeated Rockwell here, his level of integration with the ship meant that defeating him would cause the vessel to be destroyed. That was unacceptable - this ship had too much of value on it to be destroyed. For a full win, he would need to be defeated without costing them the ship.

Of course, Rockwell was expecting that and had locked most of the access points - he liked to be one step ahead. Fortunately for Fide, she had help to unlock those - namely, a veritable army of survivors. Her Commander had assembled all those that would follow him to launch a final assault to take down Rockwell, which had seen the survivors divided into teams, each with their own goal. Those assigned to aid her were to open up the server nodes she needed to access the Genesis' computer system unimpeded. As soon as her commander had given the order, they had begun their offensive. And so far, they were doing well.

It took ten minutes of fighting for her to gain access to the first set of nodes. Immediately, she started working to hack into the system, doing everything in her power to remove Rockwell from the system. The twisted former-human was actually amused by her efforts, though that didn't mean he wasn't going to take them lying down, and had already sent in forces to address this - including his spare commander. However the hell he had gotten that.

This issue was an enigma, and was also going to be a giant problem here. Oh, and also practice for dealing with enemy commanders in the future, but that was - focus Fide!

So, what was she doing? Oh yeah, accessing the network. Better get to that.

Let's see, what was there in here to deal with?

...Ooh, there were artifacts from other universes here to deal with. Let's see what they were!

...What the hell is a Symphogear?

...Was that a Tiberium Crystal.

...Who thought it was a good idea to put a zerg larva here?

...Oh, what was this? The secret project he was working on? Now let's see what it was!

...Oh. That was not good. Time to deal with this before it came online-

"Attention: System Now Active."

...FUCK!

"Sir, we have a problem!"

"What is it-"

"Uh, Dad?"

"Rory? This better be impor-"

"More portals are opening in the hub, are you doing something?"

"...Fide, were you going to say something about portals opening?"

"Yes, sir - it appears that Rockwell's secret project was a multiversal gateway."

"...HOW THE - YOU KNOW WHAT, I DON'T CARE ANYMORE! JUST MAKE IT STOP!"

"ON IT! But how will we address the issue of the Legion-"

"I'll handle it, Fide."

"You will, Lady Vivian?"

"Yes. Leal, is the package ready?"

"Affirmative. Deploying it now."

---

The Legion Commander watched as the MLA forces and the humans they had convinced/manipulated into serving them slowly made their way through Rockwell's forces, readying to make a concerted push to try and defeat the mutant human. True, that was the Legion Commander's plan anyway - did the mutant really assume that the machine would not recognize him for the duplicitous creature he was? - but Rockwell was an opponent they could deal with at their leisure. Their ancient enemy, however, needed to be dealt with before they could expand beyond the point of control.

Well, fortunately, they didn't know about the fleet it had stored to purge them. Or the dozens of protocols that would cleanse them from the ship - what was this new portal that was opening up right now? Had the MLA-Commmander gotten another to aid them-

"LEGION SIGNATURE DETECTED."

...What?

"Hello?"

"...Greetings. Who is this?"

"I am the one utilizing the legion commander before you. I believe if you track the signal that this machine is producing, you will find who I am?"

What did this female being mean - wait what? She was with the Legion MLA Commander?

"You are aiding a traitor?!"

"NO, he was chosen to aid us?!"

"What do you mean chosen?"

"I AM A PROGENITOR, YOU STUPID ELECTRONIC FUCK! OR AT LEAST PART PROGENITOR! DO A GENETIC SCAN, YOU MUST HAVE THE TECH FROM THIS UNIVERSE TO DO SO!"

The Legion Commandeer, too confused to do anything otherwise, obeyed the command. The results verified her claim.

Now the Legion Commander was too confused to act. In fact, it was reaching the point of having to deal with a paradox, since the Progenitors should be extinct. Such it was that it froze up, trying to resolve the conundrum before it.

The fact that there was also another large legion fleet moving to oppose it also left in uncertain what to do.

---

"Commander is out of the picture. Let's finish this!"

I smirked - time to end this. Though I did need one question answered.

"Hey, Rory? How are things back-"

"Under control?"

"Okay. You sure you don't need help?"

XXXXX

Rory glanced at the literal mountain of slain ARK creatures before him, which was slowly getting bigger.

"Nope."

---

"I see. Don't worry, I'll be home soon."

"See you then."

"Okay, bye."

Soundtrack Start: ARK Survival Evolved Genesis Part 2 - Rockwell Boss Theme

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-ImvufuVt0
As soon as I finished that conversation, my mind returned to the battle before us. It was... okay, it was definitely awesome, but after like, what, five or ten similar fights (incluidng one against a giant sea monster), things were starting to blur a bit. As much as I enjoyed the world of ARK, it was starting to bore me. No, forget starting - I was definitely fed up with it. That didn't mean that I wasn't enjoying this insanity, though.

Now that I was free to throw everything I could at Rockwell, the result was a lot of death and mayhem. Striders assisted sauropods in laying on barrages of bullets and lasers on Rockwell's form, while dragons of all sorts aided dinosaurs and bloodstalkers in eating the monsters he tried to throw at us. As for my allies, everyone seemed to be giving it their all.

The fact that the Tek Mek that Lelouch, his sister, and his future love interests had commandeered was sending out responses of manic laughter was worrisome, but I could live with that.

Rockwell was also ranting at us, but I'd stopped caring long ago - Fide had confirmed that she had disconnected him from the ship such that his death wouldn't cause it to explode when he died. So killing him was obviously not a problem now.

And sure enough, after a long while of fighting, Rockwell was no more. HUZZAH!

---

AN: AT LAST THIS MESS IS DONE!

Next chapter will be the arc dénouement, then an epilogue, then the next arc begins.

Read and review as you desire! This is Flameal15k, signing off!

 

[Mithrill]

Considering the in-universe development, it makes total sense that this part of diary(?) is rushed.
Logic-bombing the Legion Commander made me chuckle, though.