Once again, my apologies for the long spaces in between my chapters. Life has been hectic once again, and I had admittedly gotten writers block on a few sections, which may be apparent as you read through some of this chapter. Regardless, I hope you enjoy the latest addition to the story. I would have liked to upload this during the premiere of ARK Genesis Part 2, but what's done is done. Great conclusion to the story btw, to all the other ARK loreheads out there. But I digress. It's time for Team Prime's next chapter on the Island!

To Liam199e, thanks for the review once again. Yup, figured it was one of the better TEK dinos for someone like Bumblebee. While your idea is a pretty neat one, I can't see a teen Ratchet fitting in to where I'm taking this story. Thank you for the suggestion though, and I promise Ratchet will still have an important role in this story.

To Levi.Hall.9279, thank you very much. I'm glad the little reunion was well received. I've got plans for the new dino-bots (wink) soon enough.

To Matt, already got you covered my man, check the bottom of the chapter. Might be a little hard to read btw, so apologies if the format messes up and makes it navigate

To Dana, as you should. Dinosaurs are what make ARK, well, ARK haha. Glad to see you like the story.

Team Prime rode the favorable winds back down to the south coast, passing by Herbivore Island as well as the lava cave once again. On Herbivore Island, there had been a ringed yellow drop, so Jack had gone to grab its loot with Razor Wing. When he returned, a smile was plastered on his face.

"Try guessing what I got," he smirked as he landed on the house boat.

"Let me guess, medium crop plot blueprint?" humored Raf, though he still cursed the blue ringed drop that'd given him just that.

Jack's face fell slightly. "Well, yeah. But I got something else."

Miko folded her arms on the other raft as she insisted, "Well don't leave us in suspense. What is it?"

The oldest adolescent walked up to their newly acquired Baryonyx, tossing the Spinosaurid another piece of fish.

"Just hold still buddy, this should feel like putting on a nice coat," Jack eased as he slid the saddle onto their largest saddled dinosaur yet.

"Aaaand done. Nice and snug," announced the boy as he backed up. The Baryonyx gurgled as it tested out its new threads, flexing its arms and swinging its head and tail.

Raf noted, "It's nice, but that's all the yellow drop gave you?"

"Yup, although that saddle was a 60.8 Journeyman, so I'm guessing it's better."

Miko nodded. "This is such a weird island."

"Like the giant floating pillars and extinct animals wasn't enough of an indicator?"

Miko hummed in thought as soon as said giant pillars were mentioned. Craning her neck to gaze at the green one in the distance, her curiosity had been peaked once again to what role they could play in their current (semi) isolation. For now though, she tucked such thoughts away as she saw a familiar structure looming on the shoreline.

"Look alive boys, we're homebound," the wild child announced as they sailed in next to their little wooden house. When they pulled into shore, the first thing Miko did was search for Mizu the Ichthyosaur, hoping the little marine reptile was still around. To her relief, she found him swimming just off shore hunting the Coels nearby. The big eyed reptile's pupils widened as it realized its alpha had returned.

"Good to see you too buddy! Don't worry, we'll be bringing you with us real soon," Miko said as she treaded water and patted the Ichthy gently. A soft trill came in response to her touch as she fed him some raw meat.

Meanwhile, Jack and Raf went to check on their land based dinosaurs they had left behind. The two boys pushed the dinosaur gates open, and to their delight, found everyone accounted for.

"Guess who's home?" Jack greeted as all the animals gave various grunts and trills.

A delighted Spitfire nuzzled like a cat against Raf's leg, clearly having missed her owner. The cheery teen gave his scaly friend a few firm pats on the head, which the latter enjoyed immensely.

Jack smiled at the sight before turning to their two resident couples. "And how have you 4 lovebirds been? Well fed I hope, that feeding trough was overflowing when we left."

Instead of being greeted with happy trills and snorts, the Ankylosaur and Pteranodon couples were rather panicked, their faces betraying worry as they were huddled over a spot near the corner of the enclosure.

"Come on guys, Strife got your tongue? You haven't even met her yet!" quipped Jack. "Aren't you happy we're back? We even got a new home set up for you guys."

As if in response to his question, Sunstreaker and Hank the Ank shuffled out of the way to let their owner see what all the fuss was about. His curiosity piqued, the teenager strolled over to see a messy bundle of thatch and wood.

"Oh, you guys made a dino potty station? Neat I guess?" the confused boy started, but as he looked closer, something caught his eye. Something round, bright blue, and yellow...

"Wait." Jack started upturning some of the thatch gently, as if this turned out to be what he thought it was, he needed to handle it with the utmost care. "Uhhh Raf? You might wanna get Miko, I found something big!" he alerted.

The yellow vested boy came to his side. "Why? What's up wi-?" he started, but immediately stopped as he looked down at Jack's hands. Cupped in his palms were unbelievably, three eggs. Two were a fluorescent blue with yellow splotches, while the other one sported a brown color with orange splotches. Looking at the fathers and mothers to-be, Raf could see they had apprehensive looks on their face from the eggs being handled, no matter how gentle they were.

"Miko!" shouted Raf as he rushed out of the dino pen. The teen managed to find her swimming around with Mizu in the water as their other dinos watched from the raft.

"What's up man?" greeted Miko as she saw her friend rush outside. She had another joke she wanted to use, but Raf cut her off.

"Our Pteras and the Ankylos mated while we were away. Quick, I need your help getting food for the babies in case they hatch!"

Without another word, Miko whistled Mizu to stop following her as she quickly swam onto shore. She grabbed some meat and berries from the raft's feeding trough to bring to the enclosure before rushing towards Raf as he entered back in.

"Okay, where are the little squirts at?" she said, gazing at Jack as he turned to face her, his face uneasy.

"Right here, but we don't need food right now, we need heat!" the eldest human cried. "These eggs feel too cold in my hands, and the implant says they only have so much health left before they freeze. Quick, give me some torches guys!"

The other two members of the team quickly handed him the torches in their inventories, while Raf started crafting a campfire with her implant in case they needed to turn the heat up more.

Meanwhile, Jack had carefully placed the eggs down as he placed the torches around the clutch in front of their parents. They initially whined in protest and alarm at seeing their babies so close to the orange flames, but then a strange look of understanding dawned their faces as they started to understand from the heat. It was similar to how they would lay on their eggs to keep them warm at night.

"Okay, Sunstreaker and Camo's eggs are looking good. But Hank and Roxanne still need more warmth," Jack analyzed. The cold feeling hadn't left them yet, and he knew the eggs were on borrowed time."

"Try this then," Raf said, before suddenly two campfires appeared in his inventory, startling the boy slightly.

"No more packages huh? When did you learn how to do that?"

Raf wore a proud grin. "You can't think I wouldn't try getting to the bottom of this whole prehistoric joy ride, would you? I haven't found anything regarding why we're here, the technology is still too advanced for me. But I've found some higher commands in our implants. Works way better than throwing brown packages around."

Jack nodded in approval. "Good man, looks like being stranded in the prehistoric wild hasn't dulled your tech skills." Returning to the task at hand, he separated the Anky egg from the Pteras' so as not to overheat them. Then, he placed the egg on the ground as he flanked it with the two campfires and lit them with some thatch. The fires roared to life, much fiercer than the torches as it heated the Anky egg enough to finally warm it properly.

Jack tilted back onto his butt as he relaxed. "Phew. Okay, now we just gotta wait out the rest of the hatching," he sighed. Thankfully, it seemed the parents had done most of the egg sitting while they were gone, so there wasn't too long to wait. After 2 hours of waiting, the cracks in the Pteranodon eggs began to widen, bringing everyone's attention to them, including the newcomer tames.

Dove had been perched upon the stone dinosaur gate as she eagerly waited with Raven and Razor Wing for the hatching. The white Argentavis had always wanted to little hatchlings to take care of, but Raven had never felt the time was right, so she'd live vicariously through the two Pteranodons. The two Tek dino-bots were also there for the scene along with the other newer arrivals, curious about how organic conception was done and whether they were still capable of it too...

The only ones missing were Mr. Cuddles and the Baryonyx, whom Miko had decided to call Limbani, as the pair had gone out together to feed themselves on some fish.

The humans had been on the scene immediately once they heard various barks and calls from their backyard. They had been cleaning out the house to get ready for the big move while waiting for the babies to hatch. Now though, as they appeared in the yard, they could see all the animals crowding around the Ptera eggs as more cracks started to form.

Miko gave a low whistle as a signal for everyone to move, while Dove had fluttered down and used her wings to create space for the Pteras and the humans.

"Raf, Miko, since your Pteras are the lucky couple, you should both do the honors," Jack said. The duo grinned happily at his statement as they kneeled before the eggs and called over Sunstreaker and Camo. The parent flyers came over beside Dove to watch as their little miracles burst from their shells.

Squawkkk!

With a final powerful push, the tops of both eggs burst off, revealing small beaks poking their heads out into the brave new world. For these new arrivals, the first thing they saw was the astonished stares of the two human children, whom they flapped their newly formed wings at. Miko and Raf couldn't help but smile and giggle ear to ear as they imprinted on the newborn Pterosaurs.

Behind them, they heard a similar squawking to their own as they turned their heads around and were met with the beaks of their biological parents. The newborns gave the same display of affection as they had to their human Alphas. Sunstreaker and Camo returned the gesture by nuzzling the babies with heir beaks while the humans scratched their backs gently.

"This is so awesome," commented Raf as he ran a finger down his baby's head. Her head crest and torso were yellow like Mom, but the wings had the dark green shade and white stripes only Dad could have.

"Yeah, you said it," Miko said. "Man, I wish Bulk and the others were here to see this."

Her baby was similar to Raf's, except the only traces of Sunstreaker were on the head crest once again, while almost everything else was dark green and white striped like Camo. However, the underside of the wings were a fluorescent purple, something neither parent possessed. Raf observed this, thinking, "Maybe some kind of genetic mutation?". Hopefully it wouldn't be a hinderance to the baby when she gets older.

A sad smile dawned Jack's face. "Yeah, Bulkhead always was a softie on the inside." Before he could reminisce further though, another crack caught the attention of all present, bringing their attention to the Anky egg. As Raf and Miko handed the Ptera babies off to the parents with small pieces of meat to feed them, Jack hurried over where Hank and Roxanne were grunting at the egg, urging it to push free.

Jack got ready with Mejoberries as he awaited their other new arrival, and sucked in a gasp as he watched a tiny clubbed tail smash through the egg first. Then the head. Then the back, until the last part of the egg remaining was the smallest eggshell shard drooping over its armored head like a hat. The scene was almost comedic as Jack tried biting back his laugh before gently removing the shard, revealing tiny little eyes staring back at him.

"Hey little fella, welcome to the world," Jack spoke lowly as he guided a Mejoberry towards the mouth. The little brown Anky baby gobbled it up with a squeak, dancing around on the floor as it got acquainted with both her blood parents and her rapidly growing pack and leaders.

The three humans ended up eventually spending the day in the dino pen with their animals to help raise the newborns, pulling out some sleeping bags to get comfy for nightfall while the new additions got to know their fellow prehistoric pack members.

The Pteranodon babies had immediately taken a liking to the Argentavis pair, sticking with them whenever they were not with Miko, Raf, or the parents. They stuck with their Auntie Dove a lot for her playfulness, but they sometimes wandered towards Uncle Raven to chirp up at him. Though he remained stoic, Dove knew he couldn't resist their charm for long.

As everyone was getting settled in, Limbani had also returned alongside Mr. Cuddles on his back, both of them sporting full mouths, bellies, and inventories of fish meat. Once they saw the new Pteranodon babies, the two mariners laid a fair share of their earnings down for the little ones, who gobbled it up cheerfully. They squawked in appreciation to Mr. Funnymouth for the meat, as well as the little furball on his back.

The Anky baby had also started forming connections with her seniors in the tribe. Besides Jack and her parents, the little tank had tried play fighting with the Raptor pack surprisingly, earning trills and screeches of excitement from the biped dinosaurs. Though she was slow, the baby had heart as she tried to trip at least one of the pack over with her tail. Her efforts paid off when she knocked over Plume, who screeched in surprise. The rest of Team Prime and their tames laughed or snorted at the Raptor's expense, while also giving excited chirps and barks of encouragement to the tiny dinosaur.

"You know, for animals that existed way before the first human was born, they sure act human enough once we tamed them," noted Raf as all the dinos were helping keep the babies busy.

Miko nodded her head. "I swear it's something in the narcotics. Knockout wouldn't be caught dead playing with babies when we first met him. Those little Pteras would be mincemeat right now."

"Magic empathy narcotics, who'd of thunk it?" remarked Jack. "Moments like these make me almost wanna stay on this island sometimes. Maybe even take the dinosaurs back home with us."

"Hah! That's one way to scare the socks off my foster parents. No way they'll stop me from going out when Knockout's around, eh buddy?" Miko laughed as she brought in the red Raptor's face for a noogie. The alpha growled in protest but didn't try pulling away.

Raf shyly sniggered to himself. "Yeah, I can't wait to see the look on my parents' faces when I bring Spitfire back home with us." His expression then sullened. "I can't wait to see my parents' faces period."

Jack turned to the younger boy. "Hey man, remember we talked about this? We'll make it back. Whatever this ARK thing is, it can't hold us forever. We just have to survive until then, and from the looks of it, we're not doing half bad." He gestured to their growing hodge podge of members, who were spectating a tug of war between Bumblebee and the baby Anky over a piece of fiber. Of course the bull Tek Trike wasn't using full strength, but it was still an endearing sight.

"Heh, not at all," Raf muttered. "Still though, it'd be nice to make a little progress in figuring out what's the deal with this place. There's so many things I've been questioning about our time here. Like those obelisks. I know Miko's been itching to investigate them as much as I have."

Jack took pause at the suggestion. He would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about the giant floating pillars surrounding their otherwise untouched wilderness. They couldn't be there merely by coincidence. The only concern was whether or not it'd be dangerous to tamper with them. Raf and Miko looked to him expectantly before he came to a conclusion.

"I don't see much harm in checking out at least the green obelisk. It's near where I tamed Razor Wing, so not too far off. Just as long as we're equipped to deal with anything dangerous. Now, should we go on foot or by flight?"

Miko interceded, "Let's do by flight! We should have enough chitin in reserve to make saddles for the Pteras. We'll just leave the babies with the others while we go out for a bit."

"Seems like Dove wouldn't argue with that plan," Raf added as said Argent was playing what looked eerily like peekaboo with the two Ptera babies.

"Okay, we'll head out tomorrow morning then. You two go ahead and rest, I'm gonna grab extra food for the kids and make that fabricator," Jack directed. The two younger teens thanked him, but opted to do more crafting and other tasks for the time being. They didn't technically need to sleep after all.

Several hours passed as Team Prime got busy once again. As Jack was supplying a constant food source to the troughs and the babies' bellies and inventories, Miko and Raf were hard at work gathering resources for their many projects. While Raf was focusing on making structures for their hidden lake escape, Miko took over as their weaponsmith once again, this time adding shotgun ammo into the mix. By the time they had retired to their sleeping bags, it was already 3am according to their implants.

In the morning, Raf hauled all of the structures he had built overnight onto the boat. Once again, the boy was brought nearly to his knees from the sheer weight, but his weight levels and his will were enough for him to shuffle over to a storage box and put it all in. Miko also handed the boys more ammo for their weapons, at least 50 revolver bullets per person, extra tranq arrows, and 20 more rifle ammo for Jack. Jack also took the time to put down the finished fabricator on the house boat.

Before they left, Team Prime made sure to double check on the babies, and were surprised to see them growing much quicker than they expected. The slumbering Anky was now up to Spitfire's upper thigh when she had barely been up to her knee, and the Pteras were roughly already as big as Mr. Cuddles all in one night. Their astounding rate of growth could only benefit the team, as they wouldn't have to babysit them for long.

"We really gotta come up with names for these guys by the time we get back, especially if they become toddlers already while we're out," Raf said.

"I'm sure inspiration will strike us while we're out there," Jack dismissed as he sat atop Razor Wing. "Okay, everyone set to go?"

"You bet. I can't tell you how long I've been wanting to check these things out," Miko answered as she and Raf put saddles on their Pteras. "Team Prime, roll out!"

With a slight lash of the reigns, the Pteranodons took to the air. For the first time, Team Prime was able to take to the skies as a group, the wind soaring through their hair and the cool island breeze relieving them of the hot sun on the beach. From there, they could see almost the entirety of the Island, from the imposing Redwoods and the accursed swamp, to the yet to be explored Arctic region, complete with its own blue obelisk.

"Wow, we've never gone this high before," Raf gaped as he took in the sights before him. In a way, the deadly wilderness they had been forced to call home looked almost beautiful from a bird's eye view.

"Right? We should have done this way earlier, so we could see things like THAT!" Miko exclaimed as she pointed towards the green obelisk. Flying at roughly the same altitude, the group spotted a massive bird soaring beside the obelisk, each of its wings easily the size of one of their Pteranodons' whole body.

"Whoaa," the awestruck group gawked. Flying just underneath the airborne behemoth, Team Prime couldn't help but feel miniscule in its shadow. The gargantuan flyer barely even noticed them as it kept flying along its way, minding its own business as the 3 circled around it.

"Wait a sec, I got Helena's dossier on this thing!" Jack realized as he quickly opened his implant to his discoveries last night. He had found some new notes from Ms. Walker and Mr. Rockwell as well as a "Mei Yin of Yi" and "Gaius Marcellus Nerva" during one of his meat runs near the red obelisk.

Stored in a designated "notes" section, the eldest teen pulled out a familiar looking pieces of parchment and handed it to Raf. The teen read Quetzalcoatlus conchapicem on the first page and quickly scanned Helena's observations.

"Wow, who would've taken this thing as the skittish type? It's like a flying blue whale," Raf observed. He could appreciate the Quetzal's simple living style, though he wondered like Helena how the timid creature could live off scavenging and small prey for such a big body. Stowing the other notes for a better time, Raf heard a sharp whistle to his left.

"Hey guys, it's starting to descend. Get your butts out from under it!" Miko notified them. It was descending towards the green obelisk, so the group followed suit.

The Quetzal flapped down into a mote encircling the green obelisk, its eyes fixated on one freshly slain corpse. Landing it's massive body beside the mote, it carefully scooped the body of a Kaprosuchus into its giant beak.

As it got the body secured in its beak, the behemoth avian croaked in surprise as it felt a sharp slash to its back. Quickly recovering from the shock, the Quetzal secured the body again and flew off, ignoring the territorial Therizinosaurus as it angrily barked at the retreating figure.

Team Prime had been watching nearby as they also watched the Quetz retreat into the skies. "Man, all that size and it turns out to be a huge wimp," joked Miko.

"You kidding? I'd turn tail and run too if I saw that thing claws deep in my back. And here I thought Therizinos were chill like the Triceratops and Stegos," Jack rebuked. It would seem they had found a herbivore's equivalent to a Rex.

"It's probably a good idea not to bug it either, that's a level 135 male right there," Raf informed through his spyglass. The group hurriedly agreed and took back to the air, leaving the Theri to do as it pleased... for now.

"Alright guys, that was a nice distraction, but I think it's time we get down to why we're really here," declared Jack as he landed at the foot of the rocky platform in the middle.

The eldest of Team Prime took a cautious step forward as his friends landed their Pteras beside him, unsure how to proceed with the strange technology before him.

Just outside of Jack's step, a green metal circle was buried firmly in the ground, its rods pulsating with a strange power. The rods all lead back to the center of the circle, where a peculiar terminal stood at the convergence of the green light. The terminal directly connected to the mighty obelisk above their heads, a singular beam of light shining down into the terminal.

"Raf? Got any tech insight you'd care to share with us?" the nervous leader questioned.

"If I did I wouldn't be hiding behind you and Miko's shadows," came his shaky reply.

Miko was also unnerved, but gulped and declared, "No turning back boys, we came here for answers right? Let's get them."

Skeptically, the others in the group nodded as they treaded onto the circle, the glow now enticing them even closer. After nothing bad happened from them treading on the platform, they marched forward to the terminal.

"Okay, here goes nothing," Jack resounded as he reached his implanted hand towards the terminal.

The machine is his hand immediately interfaced with the obelisk, the giant structure giving off an eerie humming. Team Prime's leader kept his hand still when the cryptic whispers returned.

"Hunter."

The voices had left out Pack and Cunning this time for some reason, but it replaced the strange whisper with a new anomaly on his implant. A display interface he had never seen before.

"Guys, the creepy whispers are back! I think I found something that connects to them, come check this out," the young man commanded.

Suddenly, Jack felt an out of body experience come over him as he gasped sharply, alerting his friends as he stared blankly to the sky.

"Jack? Jack! Snap out of it!" Raf and Miko urged, but it fell upon deaf ears.

Inside of their leader's head, a foggy memory played itself through his mind. Complex houses made of strange hexagonal technology. A helmet and boots made from the same futuristic material. Several other images passed through his head about this strange material before the images changed again.

Through the fog, the form of a giant green spider could be vaguely made out. The murky arachnid screeched a terrible cry before it turned to directly face Jack. He tried to put out his hands and scream as it shot a green ball at him, but he was pulled back to reality as quickly as he had left.

The alarmed leader stepped back. "What was that?!"

Miko and Raf put up their hands in a calming manner. "You tell us man, one minute you wanna show us some weird interface, the next you're off in lala land."

Jack regained his breath and composed himself. "There were these weird structures and armor, definitely not human made, I think. Than this giant spider spit a big glob of acid at me!" he revealed.

Raf looked at him quizzically. "You mean the big spider sitting on your implant screen?"

The oldest adolescent quickly gazed back at the screen, finding that the same spider that had spat at him had its image emblazoned on the interface.

"Yup, that's the one," gulped Jack. He dared to tap the icon for more info, and was greeted with a list of things he had never seen before, except...

"Artifact of the Hunter, Artifact of the Clever, Artifact of the Massive," he read aloud.

Miko perked up at hearing Massive. "Hey! That's the word that was being whispered to me at the lava cave the other day!" she informed.

Raf also drew his attention to the list. "My creepy whispers mentioned Clever too. Maybe we all have a connection?" he suggested. Wanting to test it out for themselves, Raf and Miko walked up to the obelisk terminal. They asked Jack if he had any debilitation from connecting his implant afterwards, to which he responded with a head shake.

With all the affirmation they needed, the two interfaced with the terminal and fell under the same trance their friend had. All the same images, as well as the terrifying close encounter with the spider befell them before they were jeered back to reality.

"That...was...intense," panted Miko as she recovered from the experience.

"It felt so real..." Raf gaped with a glazed look.

Jack put his hand on their shoulders for reassurance. "Well, whatever this "Broodmother" is, it looks like it's connected to whatever this island is hiding. Right now though, I doubt even our entire pack can be able to take that thing down. We'll have to leave it alone for now."

"But dude! We just found our first real lead to what's going on with this freaky island. You want to pass that up?" asked Miko incredulously.

Jack scoffed. "Of course not, but that spider looked bigger than the Dodorex. Bum rushing it with our animals will only give that thing some snacks for the winter."

The wild child had to acknowledge the teen's point. The Broodmother towered over Limbani and Bumblebee, their largest dinosaurs. There's no way on Earth they could battle it with their hodge podge group of small pack hunters, gatherers, and carrions. But they had just found their first big lead...

"He's right Miko," interjected Raf. "I'm going to quote that new lady Mei Yin, "A hundred swift strikes mean nothing if there is no power in them." We need a bigger, meaner force to cover our faster and weaker packs. It's time to start looking towards taming the island's more dangerous fauna."

"Besides," added Jack. "-the whispers were telling us about artifacts. Maybe to face it we need to go into these caves we've been seeing and find them? I remember you were all on board for that part."

The Japanese teen grumbled. She was had. "Ugh, I hate when you guys appeal my Wrecker side. Okay, let's get outta here. But we ARE coming back."

A couple "Yeah, we know's" from the boys was all that was needed for them to get back on their birds and heading back home. They had gotten some of the answers they had came for, but in their place were even more questions. What was the Broodmother and her connection to their purpose on this island? What was that futuristic technology they had encountered? Why were these obelisks even on this primitive land?

These questions plagued the minds of the Survivors on their trip home, especially the overly analytical Raf. He knew he had to get to the bottom of this melding of nature and technology.

The inner contemplations of Team Prime made the flight back home much faster than they thought. By the time they returned, noon had just risen according to their implant clock. The sound of light squawking jarred them back to their current state, as well as their birds bolting out beneath them to check on the children. The sudden jolt reminded them they had another thing on their minds, thankfully this one would give them much less of a headache.

The human Alphas walked back into the pen and made their way to the now juvenile dinosaurs who were eating from the troughs. Each went to their respective animal and graced the new arrivals with their identities. The two Pteranodons, now known as Artemis and Nightshade, chirped as soon as their new names were given, as if they knew exactly what had happened.

Jack decided to continue the Rock tradition with the Ankylosaurs. The teen pulled out a stack of mejoberries to feed the newly named Rocksteady. She gratefully gobbled them up as he took her out to get some water. However, something peculiar appeared on a notification from his implant.

"25% imprinting?" the Derby teen recited. Puzzled, Jack went into Rocksteady's inventory and data to see if anything had changed, and lo and behold, almost all her stats had gone up. Most notably, the 16% increase in melee.

"Whoa! You really wanted that walk didn't you girl?" Jack gawked as he petted the armored baby on the head. The juvenile dino gave a friendly snort for his kindness.

"Okay, we'll have to do this again in a few hours. Don't worry Rocksteady, I'll keep the comfort coming." He whistled her to follow again as he brought her back to the pen.

After explaining the process to his friends, Miko and Raf managed to get the same benefits for babies. The rate was at a much higher % than the Anky, giving 50% instead of 25%.

The Pteras also had different ideas of comfort, with Artemis wanting to cuddle while Nightshade wanted to be hand fed some meat. Regardless, Team Prime managed to figure out this bizarre "imprinting" system, and their dinosaurs were all the stronger for it.

"You're gonna be the toughest flyer on this island when you get older, you know that Nightshade?" Miko purred. "All you need is some good old TLC."

With the babies having grown enough to eat on their own, the time had come for them to get back out on the sea, this time with everyone along for the ride. Miko spent a good hour or so working on expanding the reaches of her raft, going from a taming chamber to a mini freighter of a raft.

Once the preparations were all set, the proteges of the Autobots set off to sea once more, Miko riding in their wake with the newly saddled Mizu. It was once again time to expand their operations to accommodate their rapidly growing advancements and their expanding knowledge.

Unbeknownst to the Survivors, their actions at the obelisk had caught the attention of those far greater than they. It had been a long time since Homo Sapien specimens had been so compatible that they could glimpse the images of TEK from a mere interface. It was enough to stir the station's supervising deity from its long slumber. The Overseer would watch with great interest.

Even beyond the great machine, The One Who Waits continued to observe, her hopes rising that her chosen ones would carry out her will.


Human/Dinosaur levels and gender:

Jack: 52

Miko: 48

Raf: 49

Currently breaking into industrial technology

Mizu (M Ichthy, 49)

Whisper (M Saber, 143)

Sunstreaker (F Ptera, 176)

Camo (M Ptera, 159)

Strife (F Saber, 138)

Mr. Cuddles (M Otter, 47)

Raven (M Argy, 141)

Dove (F Argy, 136)

Limbani (M Baryonyx, 194)

Talon (M Raptor, 152)

Bumblebee (M Tek Trike, 238)

Nightshade (M Ptera, 121)

Artemis (F Ptera, 129)

Rocksteady (F Anky, 202)