Chapter 3: Relics of the past
(Day 3)
Weiss woke up fairly early in the morning. In fact so early, that the rest of her team was still asleep. She left the shack, and put some berries in front of Puffy's shell. Then, she wondered what to do.
There were a couple of things on the agenda: Collecting berries, fishing, getting wood or simply making hats for them. She finally decided to simply go on a walk, so that she could get used to the area they were in. There were three ways to go. Into the island, along the beach or up the river. Going alongside the beach seemed like a fairly good idea, but the jungle was more or less the most important to scout .
She took one of the spears that leaned against the wall, and went into the woods, and short time after that up the mountain.
Along the way, she spotted an arrangement of herbivores, namely Parasaurolophus, Triceratops and an Stegosaurus. Even a Chalicotherium, which was the most interesting, since that proved that there weren't only creatures from the mesocoic era here.
Weiss tried to have as much distance from the Trikes and Stegosaurus as possible, as she didn't know how they'd react. She was halfway up the mountain, when she hear sounds from a nearby treeline. The heiress readied her spear, and pushed the farns to the side.
Instead of the expected predator, there was a half unconscius Phiomia laying on the ground. It sounded like it was in pain, and Weiss inspected the creature. There were some wounds on the side of the mammal. It looked like something stung it. Something big. Although she wanted to leave, her desire to help the creature was bigger. She picked some berries, and gave them to the Phiomia, which ate them happily. Weiss sat down, so that no other animal could attack the animal. However, during the time, she had to pick more berries, as the creature was really hungry.
After half an hour, it woke up and cuddled itself onto Weiss. She stroked the animal's head. "Alright. No need to thank me." It was roughly as high as her chest.
Suddenly, she heard rustling from the bushes, and a big stinger rose up. She rolled out of the way, and saw a Scorpion bigger than her coming out of the plants. Weiss took her spear and summoned a glyph under the Scorpion. The glyph threw the monster into the air and it fell down behind the plants. It wasn't done for, and was closing in a seconds later. It tried to sting her, but Weiss used another glyph to get behind the scorpion, and stabbed her spear into its tail.
Angry, the scorpion turned around and hit her with its pincers. She held the wound, which was already healing thanks o her Aura. However, she also felt that it injected something, leading her to believe that the pincers were poisonous too.
She jumped, and thrusted the spear into the creature's top. The scorpion was practically pinned to the ground, and struggled to get away. Weiss heard stomping, and saw that the Phiomia entered the fray. It tackled the monster's back, and the weight of the herbivore thrusted the scorpion into Weiss' direction. Due to the spear, that practically cut it in half.
Weiss took a deep breath, and pulled the Spear out of the ground. She heard the sound for a level up, but decided to take care of that late. The girl wanted to go back to the camp, but noticed that the Phiomia was following her. "Huh?"
"There you go. A piece of cooked Salmon just for the Catgirl." Yang said and threw a piece of Salmon to Blake. She noticed that some parts of the animal were higher quality than others, and Blake really wanted to eat one for breakfast. She eagerly bit into the filet and let out a squeal of joy.
Ruby was working on their flag. She decided to combine their emblems for the logo. She noticed something white walking through the plants. "Weiss!"
"Hey. Good morning."
"Where have you been?" Ruby asked.
"Just out for a little walk up the mountain. Look who I found." The Phiomia came out of the plants.
"A pig?" Blake asked.
"No. That's a Phiomia. It was unconscius on the ground, and I helped him up. He's following me since then. Also, there seem to be giant scorpions here." Weiss pulled on the black-green mass that was laying on the back of the Phiomia, and pulled it into the camp. It was the dead Scorpion.
"Well, that's disgusting." Yang said.
Ruby was more focused on their new friend. "I guess you've got a new pet."
"Yeah." Weiss petted the animal, and turned toward Yang. "Didn't you learn the saddle for it?"
"Oh, right!" Yang quickly opened her engram list and looked at the materials. "I need a bit of hide, some wood and some fiber."
A couple of minutes later, the Team had collected everything they needed. Their hide storage became pretty low though, so Blake and Yang decided to go hunting later. Yang build the saddle, and they worked together to put it on the animal. "So, Weiss. Go on."
She climbed on the creature and took the reins of the saddle, which should let her control its movement. After a small discussion, the Team agreed on the name Gran, after the gray color of the Phiomia's skin. Weiss pulled the reins to the side, and the Phiomia followed. "This is awesome!" She yelled. The mammal got proceedingly faster. For its size and stature, it was surprisingly fast. "How do I stop?" She began to panic.
"Uhm, pull on the reins?"
The heiress pulled them and the Phiomia stopped immediatly. The girl was nearly thrown off by the sudden stop, and had to tighten her grip on the saddle. Weiss turned it around and rode it back to the camp. There, she led it to a stack of berries, and the animal started eating.
"What do you think, Pyrrha?" Jaune asked. He just came back from exploring every last corner of the valley, and found two 'things' in the process: A scroll and something that looked like a little book.
The scroll was written in some kind of ancient scriptures, and according to Pyrrha, it was similiar to an old, mistralian language. The book however was written in their language. It described how someone called Rockwell was happy about the visits of a person called Miss Walker. He called the Island "ARK".
"I don't know. But this thing seems at least a century old. I doubt that he, or she, is still alive."
Jaune sighed. Pyrrha always was better at judging things like that. "So, are we keeping them?"
"I think we should. There are probably more on the Island. If we find them all, maybe we can put everything together."
Jaune nodded, and turned around. "Nora? How's it going?"
After they had tried out their berries, they noticed that the white ones were draining water but gave energy, and the black ones put one to sleep. And after they received a level up, Jaune had learned the Narcotics, which used the black berries and some rotten flesh. For some reason, the meat in this place spoiled really fast, thus the meat wouldn't be a problem.
Nora, however, had the idea to knock a dinosaur out, and then feed it so that the animal would like them. Jaune was skeptical at first, but allowed Nora to do it, as long as she would try it on nothing dangerous. Nora first thought of knocking out one of the Iguanodons, but then Jaune pointed out the spike on their thumbs. Thus, they settled for one of the Parasauroplophus, with a beautiful green color. Nora, Ren and Pyrrha took some slingshots and hit it into the head until it fell unconscius, and Nora was now sitting there for an hour and fed the creature. When it was about to wake up, she gave her some Narcotics to eat.
"I think it might be our friend soon!"
Although he had his doubts that it would work, the leader of JNPR already thought of a purpose for the animal. They could use it as pack mule, or to get somewhere fast. He heard Nora cheering, and saw that the dinosaur had gotten up and cuddled with Nora. "Greene likes us!"
"Greene?" Jaune asked, raising an eyebrow.
Nora shrugged. "Yeah. She needs a name, doesn't she? And she's green, so…"
"Okay, okay. Bring her up here."
"And the enclosure is ready." Ren added as he joined them. He used some Thatch to build a wall for an enclosure, and made sure it had enough room for the creature. Nora led the animal in, and fed it some berries.
"So, what now?" Pyrrha asked.
"Me and Ren wanted to plan the defenses." Jaune mentioned, and walked off with Ren.
Pyrrha nodded, and began to collect more ressources.
Emerald was walking along the shore near their base, accompanied by Neo. The two had the job to scout out the area, in case something dangerous was nearby. Luckily, the beach seemed peaceful. To the north, the beach slowly turned into an snowy tundra, and even from the distance they were able to see Smilodon and Mammoths.
Along the way, Neo had picked up another Dodo, much to Emerald's annoyance. Sure, Neo didn't talk much, or at all, but the Dodo made more than up for it.
The two were making their way through some bushes, close to a giant stone sticking out of the beach, as something moved in front of them. Emerald was getting ready to fight, but was relieved to see an animal that looked like a giant, spiky rock. She didn't know much about dinosaurs, but she was aware of the well known ones. And this was definitely an Ankylosaurus, which meant it was an herbivore.
In the distance, however, they were able to see something bigger attacking another creature. To get a better look, they walked up the hill that led into the jungle. The attacking creature was bipedal, and looked like it was made to be fast. Two small horns stuck out of its head. Additionally, it was bigger than anything they saw up to now. Suddenly, Neo jumped down the hill, and ran behind a stone.
"Neo! What are you doing?" Emerald followed, and saw how Neo opened some sort of green box, only to pull out a small book. "Huh."
"And bam! Team RWBY's official flag is ready!" Ruby yelled in excitement. She had finally finished the design, and used up nearly one hundred berries of different colors for it.
Their logo consisted of a burning rose inside a snowflake, with belladonnas around it.
"Looks good." Yang complimented.
"Yeah. But where are we gonna put it?" They looked around. The best place would of course be the roof, but that would block the room for more floors. They hadn't decided where to built the wall yet, so the entrance gate was out of the question too. This left only on place. Ruby took the flag and stuck it into the sand next to the campfire. "This place will now be known as Camp RWBY!" She yelled and bumped her fist into the air.
"Okay. Now that this is taken care of, Yang and I are going hunting." Blake said.
"Okay. See ya later." Ruby said and waved as the two huntresses moved into the land.
Although there were a lot of things to kill, neither of them were eager to attack something like a Stegosaurus or Triceratops. Sure, they had their Aura, and even Semblance, but something like that was a bit to much. Especially without their weapons.
The high farns and grass made it hard to see small prey too. Blake and Yang weren't even sure what to look for. A Phiomia would probably be a good source for hide, but it would be impossible to get it home. They made their way through some stones, and found a lone stone pillar with a strongbox next to it.
"Well, at least we are not the first ones here." Blake commended. Yang walked to the box and punched the lock. They opened it, and found a book inside. Yang couldn't see anything, thanks to the shadows of the trees, so Blake had to read it out loud.
"Among the Island's water-based threats, Sarcosuchus Excubitor is a lot what you might expect from a giant crocodile: A patient killing machine. It spends much of its days lazily waiting in the water for prey to walk near. That said, it is not opposed to scurrying onto land and pressing the issue when hungry. A good tactic for escaping many predators is to jump into the water, as most are slow swimmers. This is a bad tactic for escaping a Sarcosuchus, obviously, as they are actually faster in the water than they are on land."
"Giant crocodiles. Great." Yang deadpanned.
"I mean, I kind of expected that." The catgirl narrowed her eyes. There was a picture of a shark attacking a Sarco, which made her fear the sharks that might dwell in the ocean. But perhaps more interesting was the section around the picture, entitled 'Domesticated'.
"Despite being river-dwelling creatures, Sarcosuchus seem quite at ease in the oceans. More than a few fishing communities use them as mounts simply to help fight off Megalodons, or to gain better access to the ressources found within the reefs."
"So, first off, there have been more people here before?" Yang asked.
"Appearantly." Blake looked at the ruins. "Though the ruin suggests it might have been centuries ago. I wonder wh-"
"But maybe more important," Blake was interrupted by Yang. "I can ride a fucking giant crocodile!"
Blake just smiled. "If we ever tame one. We should keep the book. If we find more, they should be very helpful with surviving."
Yang nodded and they put the book away. After they left the stoneformation, the forest got lusher, and eventually opened up to another river. A pack of Raptors hunted on the other shore. Two Pteranodon flew over the river and catched fish. And a medium sized, bipedal dinosaur looked through the plantlife, searching for something to eat.
It had the perfect size to give enough hide and meat, but it wasn't to big to get back either. The thick skull was a bit worrying however. The two snuck near it, and readied their spears.
"So, how are we going to do this?" Yang asked.
"I'd say aim for the head, but it seems heavily armored. Maybe the waist area." Yang nodded and they aimed. Two spears hit the creature ad impaled its waist.
They high-fived, and noticed to late that it charged at them. The thick Skull hit Blake's chest and threw her back. Her Aura absorbed some damage, but it still hurt like hell.
Yang jumped over the dinosaur and punched its back. The sound of bones cracking was heard and the animal fell down. It slid along the ground, and then stopped. Yang cracked her knuckles and ran to Blake. She was unconscius, so Yang searched for some white berries and gave them to her. She quickly woke up and looked at the defeated creature. Both nodded and Yang threw the corpse over her shoulder, aa they began their way back home. On the way, some giant Dragonflies attacked them, but were more of a nuisance than anything.
"And there I was. Only me and the Nevermore. It fought bravely, but alas I brought it down and saved my riches." Roman blustered. He tried to keep everyone entertained by telling stories, so that no one would attack each other out of boredom. Especially since last evening.
After he and Neo came back, an argument between Adam and Cinder about their leadership broke out. And his own offer to be the leader didn't help out either. Now, three sides had risen up. Roman, who had help by Neo and Mercury, Cinder who had help by Emerald and Taurus alone. From a democracy standpoint, he had the most votes, but none of them cared about that stuff. Right now, Roman's goal was to keep everyone from killing each other.
At least his stories worked. Somewhat. "Pfft. You should have seen the time I took out a Goliath." Adam said.
"A Goliath? Sure." Mercury rolled his eyes.
"No, really. Me and my Lieutnant tied together its legs and killed it when it fell over."
Mercury leaned against a stone behind him and grinned. "As if. You just want to look badass so that you get appointed leader."
"Say this one more time, Black!" Adam said and got up.
A stone flew past his head. "Calm down, Taurus!" Roman yelled.
"What's going on out here?" Cinder asked, and all the attention shifted towards her.
She had just left her little shack. Although they still had to share it, the second one was coming along. The fact that Adam himself learned how to make foundations and walls was a great help to Emerald.
Mercury leaned starred at Adam. "Ya know. The usual."
"Don't kill each other. Now, I thought about it, and had an idea." Cinder said. "We take turns. Since Roman has the most followers, he'll be our first leader. Then me, and then Adam. One week each. Eventually, we can decide who's most suitable for the position."
"I like that idea." Roman agreed.
"Why do I have to be last?" Adam seemed to get angry. "I don't think I have to remind you of my position on the White Fang?"
"But you're to impulsive. And I'd like to have someone sane as a leader." Cinder smirked.
"Thank you very much." Roman grinned and sat down on a log.
"Why not you, then?" Mercury asked.
"Because I don't want to know how Neo reacts if Roman isn't first." Cinder heard someone yelling, and looked into the direction that led down to the beach. "Speaking of which."
They saw Neo running up to them, followed by Emerald. Neo was holding a second Dodo, while Emerald carried some sort of book.
"You're back." Mercury greeted. "Did you find something?"
"Well, a big dinosaur and a Ankylosaurus. And this book." Emerald held it up, and Adam snatched it away. "Hey!"
Adam opened it, and saw a picture of some sort of wolf.
"The best adjective to describe Canis Maxdirus is 'scary'. This pack-hunter is a cunning predator, capable of taking down prey of nearly any size. In addition to being a vicious hunter, it is the size of a small horse, meaning even the largest predators aren't necessarily safe from the packs."
He looked at the others. "Seems like someone was here before, and catalogized the animals."
"Interesting." Cinder muttered. "Is there more information?"
Adam looked down into the book again.
"Unlike most creatures on the Island, Canis is a dedicated pack hunter, and rarely hunts alone. In fact, Canis is naturally as effective with its packmates as most creatures are when their mate is in danger. When in a pack, they are naturally spurred to fight for their lives. Furthermore, within a pack, the most experienced Canis will be designated 'Alpha', and can gain an even stronger enhancement. The species has an incredible affinity for teamwork. Okay, now it's getting interesting. According to this, they can be domesticated. Obviously, Canis is an amazing battle mount. It is fairly fast, very strong, and agile. It can jump almost as well as the Island's battle cats. Cats."
"Uhm, why did you say cats two times?"
"That's how it's written. Let me continue."
"Riding a supercharged 'Alpha' Canis into battle at the head of a bloodthirsty pack is a thrill for which most warriors would gladly proclaim: 'Today is a good day to die!"
"So, a giant, ridable wolf?" Roman asked. "Sounds like something from Gam-"
"I want one." Adam interrupted.
"Really?" Emerald asked, and watched how Neo put the new Dodo next to the other one.
"Yes. This 'Dossier' states that it's strong and fast. Perfect for the leader of the White Fang." Everyone sighed. "Where could we find one though? And bend it to our will?" Everyone starred at him and then the snowy mountain in the distance. "Oh. Right."
"I might know how." Roman explained. "When we found the Dodo, it was unconscius. Maybe those things are that dumb that they like you if you feed them." Neo starred daggers at Roman for calling the Dodos dumb.
"Could be. If we get up there, we can try to get one." Adam said.
"Roman, you're our leader this week." Cinder crossed her arms. "What do you say?"
"I'd say tame one. It can only help us." Roman was quite proud of his position. He could finally get payback, as Cinder had pushed him around enough the last months.
"Nice. We finally have a goal." Mercury said, and stood up. "Now if you excuse me, I'm going to bed."
"YANG!" Ruby yelled happy. Her sister, accompanied by Blake, left the jungle and entered the camp.
Yang threw the dead animal on the ground. "There. We brought food." Gran got scared, and ran around her food, only to start eating again.
"A Pachycephalosaurus?" Weiss asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Not only that." Blake said and pulled out the book. Weiss took it and read it together with Ruby.
"Huh. Interesting." The heiress commented, still reading it. "Where did you find it?"
"There was this stone pillar in the jungle."Blaked recounted. "We found the book inside of a box."
"It sounds like there was a thriving society here once." Ruby said, and closed the book. "I wonder what happened to them."
"Maybe they captured us?" Yang suggested.
"Unlikely." Blake said. "Why would they do that? And abandon their buildings here?"
"Right. But we should look out for these things. Maybe we can piece everything together at one point." Ruby explained. She walked over ot their shack, and put the book inside.
"Yeah." Suddenly, the Level-Up sound was heard, and everyone looked in their Engrams. All of them bought something or saved some points.
Then, Weiss grabbed the Pachy on the tail and dragged it into a small hut that Blake constructed just for skinning animals. The heiress closed the door.
"So, Ruby. Want to swim a bit?" Yang asked.
Ruby pointed at the water. "In the ocean?"
"Yeah. Why not. We could all use a bath." Blake and Ruby nodded, and everyone went into the Ocean, only to run out at the sight of a giant shark and an even bigger fish. "On second thought, maybe the river is the better choice." Yang pointed out.
"Agreed." Blake and Ruby said in unison.
"And some walls here..." Jaune said. He was explaining the defenses to Ren, so that he knew how to built them. Occasionally, he brought in some ideas as well. The plan right now was to put up walls on the three entrances.
They should reach the cliffs and have a door, and later some sort of gate, inside of them. They weren't sure how to defend them as of now, but it should be enough to hold out smaller carnivores.
Jaune had his doubts that a bit of wood and thatch would stop something bigger than a Carnotaurus, but at least Raptors shouldn't get in. The two planned the foundation layout, as they heard the shrill voice of Nora, who just came back from a hike to a cliff overlooking the northern shore. "I've found something!"
"What is it?"
Nora jumped down into the valley, sliding down the cliff. "Get Pyrrha here. We should read it together." Jaune shrugged and got Pyrrha. They sat down and Nora pulled out a book. "This was in a box at the cliff. I have not read it yet."
They all looked into the book. There was a drawing of a giant millipede. Immediatly, all color left Pyrrha's face.
"Everything okay?" Jaune asked his partner.
She snapped out of it, and smiled at him. "Yes, everything's okay."
Jaune shrugged, and took the book. He tried to imitate Port while reading it, which got a chuckle out of his teammates.
"The fact that this creature even exists is enough to give me nightmares. Like the island's other arthropods, Arthopluera Felsangius has become much larger than I might have believed possible."
"M-more giant Insects?" Pyrrha shrieked.
"You're afraid of insects?" Nora asked, more joking than anything.
Pyrrha put on an embarassed smile. "Maybe a bit."
Jaune layed a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay. I'm sure they are only at warmer places."
Pyrrha calmed down. "Okay. Continue."
"It's a very aggressive hunter, but prefers to eat meat after it has rotten for some time, and will voraciously seek out such delicacies. Arthopluera's blood has a very low pH, to the point th-"
"What's an pH?" Nora interrupted him.
"I think it means how acidic a fluid is." Ren explained.
"Ahhh."
"Where was I?"
"To the point that it can dissolve many materials. This acidic blood splashes back on anything that directly attacks it, weakening the durability of melee weapons and hurting attackers. Many creatures thusly refuse to prey on Arthopleura, fearing its unique defense. If that wasn't enough, Arthopluera also keeps a small reservoir of blood ready to spit at its prey."
"Huh. There's also a section called Domesticated here."
"Yeah, please not. I don't want a monster like that around here." Pyrrha said.
"Okay, but reading it can't hurt either."
"Like most of the arthropods on the island, Arthopleura is simple minded and relatively easy to tame. It is an almost entirely Military mount, useful mostly for attacking at a distance. Thanks to this unique defense, whether hunting or warring, Arthopluera is generally safe from all but the largest of creatures."
"Hmm. Maybe we could use them as some kind of turret." Ren suggested. "We could build towers and put-"
"NO!" Pyrrha interrupted, and jumped up. "If anyone of you brings one of those things here, I'll move into the jungle and live there."
"Like a hobo?" Nora asked.
"Like a hobo."
"Okay, calm down everyone. It was just an idea." Ren said.
Pyrrha sat down again. "I'm sorry."
"Remind me to never mention insects near Pyrrha." Ren whispered into Nora's ear. She gave him a thumbs up.
"It's just- I don't get along well with insects."
"Yeah. We noticed." Jaune replied. "Don't worry. No one will bring an insect here."
"Thanks." Pyrrha took the book. "Is there some information on who wrote it?"
"Sadly not. Maybe it was Rockwell."
"I don't think so." Ren said. "Rockwell had more of a gentleman-like pattern, while whoever wrote this seems way more like a modern scientist." He pointed at the writing. "The handwriting doesn't match either."
"Ugh, it's gonna be a pain to uncover this, isn't it?" Nora groaned.
"Yes. Yes, it is." Jaune said and looked into the sky.
The lift to Ozpin's room opened, and General Ironwood stepped into the office. Ozpin was sitting behind his desk, and still tried to wrap his head around the situation. However, the fact that Qrow was in the room to was probably not helpful.
At least they managed to prevent a big panic. Ironwood was able to convince the public that the disappearence was due to a miscalculation in an experiment with teleportation. It seemed like the people ate it up, luckily. An event like this could cause an unbelievable panic, and in turn draw masses of grimm to Vale.
Still, the disappearence of the students wasn't something they could let slide.
"Please, General, tell me your people found something." Ozpin said, unusually tired.
"I think we did." Ironwood put his scroll on the desk, and some holographic projections came up. They depicted an wide arrangement of data. "After we finished the Tournament, my scientists instantly went to work." The fact that they had to rush to the end of the tournament like this was a big pain for him too. He told the public that the 'teleported' teams wouldn't make it back in time, and the remaining combatants had to finish. At least the tests with Penny had been successful. She won in the last battle against Sun Wukong, and thus proved that she was ready.
"The locations where our students vanished had traces of radiation." The hologram showed data on different types of radiation. "This kind of radiation is hard to achieve. As far as we know, it only appears whenever something teleports."
"So, they actually got teleported?" Qrow asked, and drank from his flask.
"We think so. Our own experiment with that kind of technology is still in its prototype stage." The general put his hands behind his back. "We can barely move an apple."
Qrow shook his head. "We are still in the dark, then?"
Ironwood looked up, and his eyes followed the gears in the ceiling. "I think so. My people are still working on the whole thing, and Penny has gladly accepted to help us out. I also ordered Winter back, so that she can assist us in the matter." Suddenly, the holograms disappeared, and Ironwood's scroll started ringing. He looked who called, and closed the incoming call.
The drunken huntsmen smiled. "What? Not in the mood?"
"It's Jacques. I don't have the nerve to speak with him now." Ironwood said annoyed.
"I can understand that." Ozpin said, and looked at his former student. "Qrow still hasn't told Taiyang."
"Hey, the guy's creepy when he gets mad. I have to think of a good story first."
"Still, I'm going to send in some of my people too. We need to find out what happened." Ozpin stood up, and looked out the window, into the night sky. Amity was still hanging high, and atlesian ships were scattered around it. "I'll also contact the other Headmasters. Maybe they know something. Not to forget our dilemma with Amber."
"I'm still standing by my desicion. Penny should get the Maiden's power." Ironwood insisted.
"Penny isn't ready." Ozpin replied, not even looking at the general.
"Exactly. She may be strong, and kind-hearted, but she's also naive." Qrow explained. "Not to mention the fact that she's a robot. She could be hacked."
"She's our best bet." Ironwood said. "Where's Glynda by the way?"
"She is walking around campus, making sure no one breaks any of the rules we established. General, we have to concentrate on finding out where they went. This is our top priority." Ozpin looked at Ironwood, and he sighed.
"I hope you don't make a mistake."
"Neither do I." Ozpin replied, and looked back into the sky.
And the third chapter is up.
So, New Challenger asked some questions:
1. Well, I think this chapter already answers it.
2. Their pets will probably get Aura at one point. However, I'm also thinking about having the more intelligent animals, like Troodon and the Mantis, their Aura unlocked naturally. As for natives: There aren't any besides the teams on this Ark.
3. Well, obviously none of them will take on the Manticore. I'm not to sure about the other bosses though, since this is a bit more toward the late middle and end of the story. About the silver eyes: Neither Ruby, or Cinder know of it, so it won't play much of a role in that regard.
4. Yeah, I'm also a sucker for fusing worlds. Due to the nature of the Arks however, I don't think there'll be much of it.
5. There isn't any Dust on the Ark. It's all the ressources from the game.
For The Multiversal Writer's question: There'll be items and other stuff from the DLC, but it will not work like the DLC. (There'll still be guns, generators and the other modern stuff, and no additional engrams.) For Scorched Earth, well it will play a role later on.
RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios.