Decided to write a new story, just a test really. If it doesn't work out, then I'm dropping it pretty quick. But if people are genuinely interested, I'll see if I can keep it going.

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Interesting Situation

"I am so dead…"

Sprinting through a lush jungle was not something regularly done, especially not in such a hostile environment but circumstances cannot always be controlled.

"I just got that pteranodon too. Of course it gets insta killed the second I fly to a swamp."

The man takes a sharp right turn through some bushes as the front is blocked off by even more predators.

"I land for a second, and then boom. A level 200 alpha carno flies in like a bat out of hell. Didn't even get on my ptera in time. At least some diplo pulled its agro… now I'm only being chased by" He turns around for a second before looking forward again. "2 spinos… great…"

A hop, skip and away he goes, the man rushes towards the well lit beaches just on the cusp of his vision, otherwise blocked by the leaves of the thick forest floor.

Making it to the beach, another look behind him shows nothing took the chase this far. "Probably got agro'd on some phiomia'' thought our main protagonist. Moving south, even on foot, it only took about 10 minutes to get back home. A massive behemoth gate greeted him, at least 20 meters in height, alongside walls of stone just as tall.

Opening the gate with the press of a button, he was home, once again.

"Ughhhh, that was such a pain in the ass." spoke the voice of a young adult as he let go of his mouse and keyboard, leaning back in his chair all the while.

Bzzzt Bzzzt. Glancing down at the vibration that pulled at his attention, Thomas grabs the phone on his desk seeing that he's getting a phone call from his mom.

"Hello?"

"Yea, no… I'm not wearing that…"

"It's only her birthday, and we aren't going to some fancy restaurant…"

"No, I'm not coming in a sweatshirt. I'll wear something a little nicer."

"Yea, I won't forget."

"Ok, yup, yup."

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit."

"Adieu."

Putting down the phone, Thomas releases a long sigh. "Do we seriously have to go to every one of our cousins' birthday dinners? I'm an adult, let me choose what I do…"

With that thought, Thomas looks again at his phone, more specifically, the time. "Alright, 45 minutes before I need to change, an hour before I leave. I got plenty of time to do what I had planned…"

Going back to his computer, Thomas once more takes control of his character, Shino, in Ark Survival Evolved.

You see, Ark is a fantastic place. It has a little bit of something for just about everyone. You can take it easy and just build a nice villa, pushing away any hostile mobs that may come by. You can also explore the decently sized maps and their expansive cave systems, trying to catch a glimpse of what lurks under the standard map. OR… you can PVP. And Thomas LOVED PVP.

Player versus player added a new dynamic to just about everything. It meant that one would no longer be playing against an individual, braindead opponent. No, fighting occurred, for the most part, against evil, conniving, manipulative, sometimes cunning and (un)officially insane people with the ability to respawn endlessly.

Yup, PVP was fun…

Sometimes…

Ok, not all that much when you were on the defensive but overall it gives a game a greater risk. Awareness takes an even greater precedence and one cannot simply relax like normal.

In this scenario, Thomas is about to engage in some PVP. The offensive kind this time.

The server has been around for a little under 2 years now, and Thomas has been an active player since its first weeks. Going for the lone wolf play style, Thomas had no tribe… false, no tribe MATES.

He did, in fact, have a tribe. It was called the UN.

Very original…

If not, very fitting. Even alone, Thomas, otherwise known in game as Shino, could be seen mediating trades and such for smaller tribes.

A max level player riding a wyvern tended to give a "this is non-negotiable" vibe to lower leveled tribes trying to take advantage of the other during or after a trade.

I digress.

The beginning was rough but after 4 months or so, Shino took up a position that he has held for the better part of a year. Situated on something similar to a steppe, there was nowhere to hide, be it on the land, air or sea.

2 behemoth gates, each on the opposing side, gave entrance to the fortress, stone walls connecting them in a big circle. The interior had several structures, all of metal. Rather bland on the outside though. They were basically cubes or rectangular structures of various sizes. The smallest was a greenhouse, with 4 large planters for each of the vegetables and 6 for narco berries. Irrigation ran from a generated pond just outside of the base.

Always nice to have a constant supply of narcotics at home.

Another building housed over 30 forges, all ready to smelt more ore than one can dream of. Shino was thinking of upgrading to an industrial forge but never got around to it. They cost quite a bit of metal and just end up getting destroyed in raids either way.

The last structure was a 5 story building, easily the largest in both base and height. The interior was filled with various machines for fabricating, grinding, etc, as well as a smithy. Large crates and chests took up a lot of space in the upper floors alongside several refrigerators keeping everything that spoils fresh.

Going through the final trapdoor takes one to the roof. Cables lead from here to a system of over 16 auto turrets placed on pillars on the roof as well as spaced around the outer walls, capable of reaching anything that draws near on the ground.

Having played for as long as he has, one may not recognise Shino as all that strong until one of his tames goes on the offensive.

A small number of creatures take refuge behind these walls, all more or less statues with barely any movement from them unless ordered by the player. What they lack in numbers, they more than make up for in levels. One of them is so strong that it is easily recognised by anyone on the server worth their salt.

After getting slaughtered by a highly leveled rock drake more than a handful of times, people start to notice…

With a bit of time on his hands, Thomas makes the final preparations for his final mission before ditching the game for the night. A small base of highly aggressive tribesmen were somewhere nearby and had been ravaging the local groups.

An easy target for someone loaded with plastic explosives.

While just crafting away in his base, Thomas leans back in his chair and releases a quick sigh, pullings his arms around his head.

"Just another minute or so and I'm game. Those bastards won't even know what hit them…"

A cold chill ran down Thomas's spine, a feeling of someone being right behind him.

Whipping his head around, nothing out of place was seen. Holding an open gaze around the room for a few seconds, Thomas deduces nothing to be wrong and goes back to his game.

"I found you, my love…" a soft, caring and sensual whisper caressed his ear.

This freaks Thomas out like no tomorrow.

Quickly standing up, Thomas is in the motion of turning around when everything starts going dark. It's as if a heavy, weighted blanket is burying his consciousness and there isn't any struggle to be had. Being overwhelmed by the strange sensation, Thomas succumbs to whatever slumber he is forced to endure.

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"Ugh, my head…"

Thomas slowly starts to wake up, pounding headache and all.

With the pain giving way rather quickly, Thomas begins to try to get up, all the while opening his eyes to a blinding light.

Pressing his hands on the cold dirt to push himself upright, Thomas is overcome by the thoughts of... "Where the hell did this dirt come from?"

Adjusting to the light and standing up, the clanking of metal upon his movements furthers his ever growing confusion.

As he stands up and finally gets used to the bright light, Thomas now stares open mawed at the world around him.

No longer in the apartment complex he called home, Thomas now found himself staring out over a great expanse. Being near the edge of a cliff, the wind blew on his covered face, sending cusps of cool draft through the slits on the faceplate.

Beyond him was grass. An endless field of small green blades filled his vision, stretching right up to lick the edges of the horizon with the sun beaming above at an angle, signifying some time before noon.

However endless the grass seemed to be, looking a few degrees to his left, a few terrain features made the no-less beautiful expanse more interesting with larger than average trees splayed out along with shrubs, all of which getting denser and fuller before truly filling in the terrain to become a forest.

Turning his head around, Thomas noticed the area around him to be flatter, as in not dividing him from it with a 40 meter cliff face. A forest was what surrounded him as well, the songs of birds and the general activity of the vegetated landscape filling the ambiance.

To say his breath was taken away would be an understatement.

"Well I'll be…"

His voice slightly muffled and sounding just the bit like he was in a tin can, Thomas was reminded of the additions to his body.

Looking down, he noticed a full plate of some sort of metal armor covering more or less every surface, the only exception being places requiring maneuverability such as the armpits or behind the knees. There was thick leather which covered those areas instead.

The armor was black as night with the leather belts, buckles and straps colored a pure white, although not outwardly shining. A muddled white would be a start for an explanation.

Once again noticing his face covering, something difficult to remember considering it's somehow complete inability to negate or hinder his sight, Thomas moves his hands up almost on instinct to detach the straps holding the helmet in place. Upon removal, Thomas holds the helmet out in front of him, wiping some dust off of it with his thumb where his eyebrow would be.

"Yup, thought as much. This is the same flak helmet I wear in ark." Thought Thomas, clearly recognizing the gear he wears throughout all of his ark playthroughs.

An unknown yet strangely familiar weight on his back brings his attention to what appears to be a weapon; a spear, or a pike to be exact. A glance down shows Thomas a crossbow strapped tight around the small of his back. A quick, instinctive tug proves worthy of drawing the ranged weapon colored black and white like his armor as it pulls without issue.

"Same weapons too. Damn, what is this, some kind of dream?"

Beginning to walk around, following the cliff's edge, Thomas realizes just how easy it is for him to move.

"There is no way I wouldn't at least be sweating here. I've been moving for about 15 minutes at a good pace in the sun and not an ounce of perspiration to be found… I feel… so much stronger somehow. And considering how I drew my crossbow and the way I move in this armor, it's like I've lived my whole life with it. What is going on with my body?"

Just as that thought crosses his mind, a rustling of nearby bushes alert Thomas of a creature's presence.

"What was that? That was close… wait no, I see the movement about 50 meters to my left. There's no way I could have heard that, especially with a helmet. Now that I think about it, how can I even see such small movements and deduce that something living is coming from that group of bushes from this far away? It's like all of my senses are in hyperdrive… What's wrong with me?"

The rustling picks, and several pushes move to the beat of multiple animals approaching. Readying his pike as if he's done it a million times before and taking an unknown/obviously known stance, Thomas prepares himself just as…

A majestic black lizard on two legs struts out of the thicket, sniffing the air.

The black coloring is complemented by a gold hue lining its small, clawed forearms, wrapping around its torso in a seemingly random pattern before reaching its feet, right up the beginning of a sickle-like claw.

"That animal, it's obviously a utahraptor. But, wait. I recognize that pattern… could it be…"

"Pack?" came the borderline uncertain voice of Thomas. Its head quickly snapping to stare at him, the lizard makes a loud call, two deeper-toned screeches, before, in a burst of speed surpassing any horse 2 times over, it charges.

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Let me know if you like the idea. Just something I've been thinking about for a while. Feel free to write a review or two. I read all of my reviews so don't be afraid to comment on what you liked and disliked. Any critique that isn't just baseless flaming is useful as it lets me know more about what people like and/or what they expect.

Also, let me know, if you do like the story, what you think could be added. This is a new idea for me and I haven't seen this done with re:zero yet so I don't have much to reference.

Until next time...