by Dan Thomas
“We did it.” Chopsticks ran to join Holic and Pez. In silent mutual agreement, they didn’t approach the downed dragon. “That thing is a beast.”
Ticket jogged up to them, her face flushed with pride. “Did you see that?”
“And I thought he was just a metal can who used up too much energy,” Pez said with a laugh.
“He showed you.” Ticket moved forward, leading them as they carefully picked their way over the natural snares littering the ground.
TOD looked up to her as she approached, letting out a soft electrical buzz. Ticket crouched down, her hand held out for the dragon. “Are you going to chip him, or do I have to do everything?” she asked before she recalled the dragon.
Holic pulled his backpack around his body, opening it up and rummaging inside. He pulled out one of the nets, weighted down with heavy stones tied around the edge. He spun it around a few times.
“Ready,” he said.
TOD leaped off the dino, which immediately began to roll itself over. As soon as TOD was clear, Holic let go of the net, which spread open in the air, hitting the Mononykus and wrapping around it, pulling it back down to the ground.
“Good shot.” Chopsticks snickered as he knelt next to the writhing dino, rummaging through his bag.
Holic crouched down next to him and pulled out one of the Taming Shards from his bag. He looked down at the circular sliver of cloudy Quartz in his hand before bending down and placing it on the side of the dino’s head, the Shard sitting between the fine blue feathers that covered its skull. Once it was on, an icon appeared at the top of his vision. Focusing on it, a screen appeared.
Taming in progress
Subject: Mononykus
Tier 2 Animal
Status: Exhausted, Incapacitated, Requires Amica
“It’s a Tier two.” Holic closed the screen.
“I know.” Chopsticks pulled out the clay pot they used as a burner, followed by a handful of dried Bushy Amica. Amica was a group of plants that were needed to tame animals after they had been subdued. Bushy was the second of four tiers, so wasn’t a rarity, and Holic was more than willing to use a bunch of it if needed to bring the new dino home with them.
Chopsticks stuffed the bundle into the pot, reaching for the flint and steel on his belt and with a few strikes showered sparks onto the dried plant, which quickly began to glow orange.
A small stream of aromatic smoke rose into the air, hitting Holic’s nose with a sweet, yet musky scent. The struggling Mononykus quickly calmed down.
Relief swept through Holic as he stood up. “This is what you call a win.”
He focused on the animals under the net, and with a thought brought up the Creature Inspection Screen, which was available now that they had the Taming Shard on it.
Creature: Mononykus
Tier 2
Type: Dinosaur, Theropod
Diet: Insectivore
Maturity: Adolescent
Level: 2
Bonding: Wild
Temperament: Skittish
Species Traits: Cold-blooded, Lightly insulated, Harvesting bonus: Insect materials
Individual Traits: None
It was certainly a fresh animal, but it didn’t matter too much when it was a new type of dino. Each species of creatures had innate Traits, which could be passive bonuses or certain actions they could perform, Individual Traits would come with leveling a creature up through a variety of actions. If the Crew took the time to work with the Mononykus, they could squeeze out some extra profits by getting some more experience in to the dino.
“I can’t wait to take this thing out and demolish some termite mounds.” Chopsticks sighed, his eyes unfocused as he mentally frolicked with his new dino.
“Does anyone have an idea of what these are going for right now?” Ticket asked as her dragon tucked in its wings and scampered up her arm, taking its place atop her shoulder.
“Nope, I don’t keep up with that side of the marketplace considering how rarely we bag worthwhile dinos.” Pez put gentle weight on the sedated dinosaur as he ran his hand over its feathers, checking its claws and beak for damage. There was no way this creature was escaping him.
Holic stretched, finally beginning to relax his tired limbs. “I guess that covers my rent for a while at least.” He chuckled to himself.
“Hm, and maybe another upgrade for TOD.” Ticket beamed as she stroked her tin dragon.
Pez snorted. “Just because it was useful once doesn’t mean we’re splashing loads of money out again. And besides, remember what happened last time we visited Gyromeda?”
“Evil laser robot of death?” Holic asked, and they all laughed.
Holic opened his menu again. Ignoring his character stats, he looked at the progress bar at the top of his vision:
Taming in progress
Subject: Mononykus
Tier 2 Animal
Diet: Insectivore
Status: Exhausted, Incapacitated, Bushy Amica Smoke
Time Remaining: 4 minutes
Holic grinned at the beaked dinosaur. “Whew, what a rush though, huh?”
“You’re telling me!” a familiar, smirking voice called from above them.
They all spun around and looked up to see two figures hanging from the vines high up in the trees.
“Ah, shit,” Chopsticks said.
Ticket ground her teeth. “Of course it’s the fucking Ravagers.”
Chapter Three
“Seriously. You think you can take us on?” Pez puffed out his chest as he squared off to Striker, who stood on a tree branch, hanging on to the vines like a cheap version of Tarzan.
Holic appreciated his bravado, but they hadn’t exactly come prepared for a fight, and only had their light gear on.
“Sure, two against four. I like our odds.” Striker cracked his knuckles and swung down on a loose vine, undergrowth snapping loudly as he landed. “And when we do, we’re gonna take this Mononykus and that mechanical chicken from your shoulder.” He thrust a finger toward TOD.
“Try it,” Ticket snarled, her fists clenched at her side as TOD opened his mouth and shot out a small plume of blue fire. Holic was sure the dragon fire would burn more than a few hairs if anything stood too close.
“Listen, we don’t want to fight you,” Holic said easily, trying to calm frayed tempers. He just wanted to stall long enough for the taming counter to finish, then get back to base as fast as possible. They’d all had a long day and a fight, even with the Ravagers who could do with a good ass whooping, was not what they needed.
“Oh, of course you don’t, because you’re a loser.” Holic looked up to see Mamba, another member of the Ravagers Crew, standing up in the branches as well. “Last thing I heard, you lost one of your Crew. Got fed up with playing with a bunch of whiners and losing money, I guess.”
Holic resisted the urge to cast a sideways glance at Ticket. “You didn’t let me finish… We don’t want to fight you, but we will if you think you can take what’s ours.”
“Then let’s do it.” Mamba pulled a short bow from his shoulder. “Even without the others, we could take you down. Just the two of us.”
“But if you don’t think that’s fair…” Striker cupped his hands around his mouth and let out a howl.
“Always the dramatics?” Holic sighed.
“I know, I can’t help myself. But I think in this case, the dramatics are appropriate.” Striker half-turned, a smirk on his face. “And two become four!”
“What, how can that be fair?” Chopsticks asked as the ground trembled in a steady beat.
“When have you ever known the Ravagers play fair?” Holic murmured, looking into the dim light of the jungle past their lighter vine patch.
“Jesus,” Pez said as a massive set of jaws pushed its way into the clearing. The dinosaur’s teeth seemed almost too large for its mouth as thick drool seeped past them and splattered on the undergrowth.
With another step, the rest of the head came into the light, re
vealing a bloody red horn on its nose, spiny eyebrows, and fiery, deep-set eyes that glared at the group with hungry anticipation. Its scaly hide a pallet of dull yellows and greens, it was no surprise that they hadn’t been able to spot the big hunter before. A deep, rumbling growl caused the hairs on Holic’s neck to stand on end.
Chopsticks let out a breath of awe. “That’s a Majungatholus.”
“I thought those were just common hunters?” Holic asked quietly. “And that they were really far south.”
“They are.” Chopsticks nodded. “But common doesn’t mean not dangerous. These things are killers. And obviously bigger than you’d expect.”
Holic glanced down at the Mononykus, which was still lying semi-conscious on the ground. “Okay, but how the hell did they tame one of those? That’s definitely a high-end Tier-three dino, they’d need so much Creeping Amica. The stuff’s so hard to find and only comes out at night. We wouldn’t stand a chance at taming something like that, and the Ravagers can’t be much better off than we are. No way they had enough to tame something like that.”
“I don’t know, but I think they’re going to be sorely disappointed when we kill it for them.” Pez cracked his neck.
Holic glanced at his friends. “Chopsticks, got any idea on how to take this thing out?”
Striker, who had been watching them whispering, gave out a bellowing laugh. “I suppose you still outnumber us since you have that piece of scrap on your shoulder, but I think we might survive, even without the rest of our Crew,” he called over satirically.
“We might have to just run. We’re not prepared for this right now. I’m sure we can find another Mononykus,” Ticket whispered.
“No,” Holic replied adamantly. “They always do this to us, and we’re not losing out on this gem. We either hold them off long enough to get away with the Mononykus, or we drive them off.”
The Majungatholus took another deliberate step into the clearing. Standing almost three times as high as a man on two powerful legs, its rugged, spiny back brushed along the lower branches of the smaller trees. As it stepped into the clearing, the air was filled with the sound of cracking whips from the Stranglers that were triggered, but only sprung up into the air with frayed ends, the dino’s clawed feet too large to be trapped in the snares.
“Is that Remington riding it?” Ticket squinted against the light as she looked up at the beast towering above them.
“I think so.” Holic could just see a figure sitting on top of the large saddle strapped over the creature’s back.
“Enough talking! It’s time to die!” Striker pulled a metal object out of a holster around his leg, aiming it at them. There was a flash of a fireball, a resounding bang, and Holic heard something whistle past his head.
“Christ, he’s got a flintlock!” Pez yelled.
“It’s cool, split up, go!” Holic pulled his hunting bow from his back and crouched low as an arrow whizzed over his head.
As Holic fired an arrow up into the trees at Mamba, his green stamina bar appeared at the edge of his vision with a small piece shaved off. Pez grabbed his two-handed club that was slung over his back and rushed toward Striker, only slowing as he skipped his way through Strangler loops littering the ground. Ticket followed closely behind, unsheathing a big iron hunting knife.
Chopsticks moved left, pulling a sling from around his belt.
The ground shook as the Majungatholus lurched forward farther into the clearing, struggling for a moment to force its way in between the trunks of the crowded trees that split and splintered under the force of its massive shoulders.
Holic loosed another arrow at the silhouette of Mamba in the tree, before wincing as a returning projectile sliced his leg. Immediately his red health bar appeared at the edge of his vision with a sliver missing.
“Damn it!” He needed cover but didn’t want to leave their catch.
Another gunshot echoed through the jungle. Striker had managed to reload and shot Ticket through the shoulder, she cried out but did not stop her charge.
Suddenly they were upon the Ravager. Pez swung the stone-tipped branch at Striker, who, like lightning, whipped a hooked axe off his belt and brought it up to deflect the blow. Ticket saw her chance and ducked in low to jab her blade forward. Striker contorted his body away, brought his gun hand down, and knocked the knife away with the silvery bone plates he was using as armor.
With a loud groan, the trees gave away, almost uprooted as the Majungatholus muscled forward, its bright yellow eyes fixated on Holic. As it bore toward him, its short arms reached down toward him. Holic backed up, nocking another arrow and firing at the creature. It struck true, his arrow sticking into the thick, muddy hide, but the Majungatholus didn’t even seem to notice.
It opened its huge jaws, hot breath hitting Holic. Death was only seconds away as Holic crouched, ready to leap away.
Before the sharp teeth closed around Holic’s head, something hit the side of the massive dino’s head and exploded. The dinosaur reared backward and let out a thundering roar as it swerved away from the blast. Its foot passed over Holic, raining dirt and debris down on him as he ducked, his arms shielding his head.
From his crouched position, Holic caught sight of Chopsticks dropping another projectile into the pouch of his sling. With intense focus, he spun the sling over his head and launched it, this time hitting the flank of the staggering dinosaur, and another small ball of smoke and fire enveloped the rider.
The forest was alive with noise and movement as birds and flying pterosaurs broke cover all over the canopy, shrieking and calling as they fled the commotion.
Loading another arrow, Holic looked back toward the fight with Striker. Striker and Pez were trading blows, Pez brought down his club with tremendous force, Striker side-stepped and swiped with his axe, which Pez blocked with the handle of his club. Ticket dodged around the fight, trying to get in behind Striker and knife him, but the Ravager member was doing a good job of keeping them both in front of him, while his heavy metal and bone armor bore the brunt of any blow that made it past his guard.
TOD let out a small jet of brilliant blue flame from Ticket’s shoulder, scorching Striker’s arm as he held it up to keep the heat off his face. The distraction allowed Pez to swing the club. A dull thud sounded as the weapon hit Striker solidly in the ribs, but the Ravager quickly recovered.
Mamba had also turned his fire onto Holic’s friends. Despite the awkward angle he was shooting from, Holic could see that he’d managed to hit Pez at least once on his midriff.
Holic shot another arrow at Mamba, assuming he’d found his mark when Mamba’s figure recoiled.
There was no time to confirm his shot. A yell from Chopsticks dragged his attention back around in time to see his friend dive out of the way of the Majungatholus’ teeth as it jutted its head at him. Chopsticks dodged, narrowly avoiding being dino chow, but the Majungatholus flicked his head, catching Chopsticks with its horn, sending him flying.
A glance down at the Mononykus and then at the taming status showed Holic that it had miraculously survived this far, and only had a couple of minutes left until tame. He couldn’t simply stand here and wait for the tame to complete. His friends needed him.
Holic ran to where a winded Chopsticks was staggering to his feet, swaying a little as the Majungatholus gave an ear-splitting roar, Remington whooping from atop its back.
Holic grabbed his Crewmate’s hand and helped him to his feet. “There’s gotta be something we can do to turn the tables here.”
Chopsticks fingered his ribs and eyed the big carnivore as it lumbered around, readying to charge back into the middle of the clearing, but getting a little tangled in the thick web of vines growing at the edge of the trees.
“I’d say some big bear traps, or caltrops to slow it down, but we don’t have any on us. I think Saturn had some kits on her, but there’s no way we’re getting that for now. We just need something to slow it down so we can deal with it. It’s a shame it’s too b
ig for the Stranglers, and it’s cleared most of them, anyway.”
“Yeah, we don’t exactly have massive damage with us.” Holic glanced around at the trees. “The Stranglers are in fruit, they’re full of sticky stuff, right? We could use that?”
Chopsticks shook his head. “It’s like glue, but it’s not going to be enough to slow down anything bigger than a turkey...I’ve got an idea, though, if the vines can’t pull that thing up, they might be able to pull it down.”
Holic looked up at the frayed Strangler vines tangled in the branches of the trees above them. “That’s not a bad idea, someone just needs to get up there to cut them dow—ah!” Holic staggered backward as an arrow thudded into his shoulder, stealing a chunk out of his health bar. “Son of a—”
Chopsticks whirred his sling around his head and fired something toward where Mamba stood. A moment later and the explosion shook the tree, the shape of the Ravager fell off, along with the branch he had been standing on and a storm of leaves, smoke trailing up off the tree trunk.
“What are those, Snap Nuts? How are they so powerful?” Holic asked, wincing as he pulled the arrow out of his shoulder.
“These.” Chopsticks held a large straw-colored nut up, the little hole where the stalk normally attached to a branch was plugged with something like cork. “Might be where the last of our gunpowder went.”
Holic snorted. “I’d normally disapprove, but I’m glad you took the liberty to use it. I won’t tell Pez.” He chuckled, stopping when he saw the Majungatholus pull itself out from where it had become tangled and stomp toward them once more.
Chopsticks grabbed his arm. “I’ll distract the dino, get someone up to bring the roof down on it.”
Holic nodded and sprinted over to where Pez and Ticket seemed at a stalemate with their opponent.
Midstride, he pulled another black-tipped arrow from his quiver, put it to his bowstring, and fired at Striker. The arrow hurtled over the short distance and hit Striker squarely in the gut, punching through his armor. He staggered back, and like lightning Ticket sank her knife in between his ribs while his guard was down. Striker bent over, clutching his wound, and tried to fend her off with his axe, but Pez brought his club over his head, and smashed it into the back of Striker’s skull, putting him to the dirt.
