Chapter 6: Apex Predator

(Day 7)

This day was going to be a good day, so much was clear for Ruby. When she woke up, her implant was glowing, an upon looking at it, it showed that she reached level 15, and unlocked quite a number of new tools and weapons. Including a bow, which she was pretty excited for. It wasn't a sniper rifle, or scythe, but it was a step into the right direction. Sadly, she clicked it too fast, and noticed the more important item too late: A raft.

It was the perfect way to get home. They'd just have to built it, and travel over the ocean. Of course, they'd need to pack enough supplies for the travel, but with enough wood, a campfire and a good amount of spears, fish shouldn't be hard to come by. She was already planning the travel, as Blake left the house.

"Hey Blake." Ruby greeted.

"Morning." Blake said, and took a piece of fish from their stock.

"Did you spend your points?"

"We got a level up?" Blake asked, and looked at her implant. She groaned in frustration. "Really? I just finished the wooden walls, and now there are stone walls?" She selected it.

"Uhm, Blake? We can built a raft." Ruby pointed out.

Blake looked through the list, and facepalmed as she saw the boat. "Great. I don't have enough points left." She thought for a moment, and chose the engram for a wooden table. At least this thing could be used as a workbench.

"Well, so much for that." The teamleader sighed.

"You think we can just go?" Blake asked, and sat down at the campfire.

Ruby shrugged. "Why not? We'd just need supplies."

"That's not it." The Faunus put her fish on a stick, and held it over the fire. "Why would, whoever brought us here, just give us the opportunity to leave?"

Ruby thought about that. It was a good point. "You're right. Something is off. Now that I think about it." Ruby looked into the sky. "The path of the moon and sun are also weird. They are going in a straight line, not a curve. Not only that, but the moon is, you know, not broken."

"Yeah. The moon isn't broken all the time." Blake said.

"But never for that long." Ruby pointed out. "Something is seriously wrong here, so much is clear." Above her, a giant Pterosaur was gliding inland, and she watched the majestic creature.

"Okay. We got spears, food and water skins." Jaune said.

"Don't forget Greene." Nora added, and patted the Parasaur on the side.

They were getting ready to explore the surrounding area, and decided to walk along the river to the south. Pyrrha wanted to see if there were beavers around, and Nora wanted to find a Raptor, which she learned the saddle for. The level up was definitely a good way to start the day. Jaune had learned the bow, and arrows. Pyrrha took the compost bin for her little farm, together with a parachute. Ren had chosen the gateway and stone wall, to further improve their defenses. With the gate in place, their animals could also leave and enter the valley.

Sure, they could built a raft, but after the little adventure Ren and Nora had with the Ichthyornis yesterday, they weren't sure if they'd make it. Additionaly to that, they saw a giant fish in the water, and none of them knew how it would react to a raft. And getting attacked out on the sea would be a death sentence, even for a team of huntsmen and huntresses in training.

"Alright. We got everything then. Let's go." Pyrrha pointed out, and they left toward the south. Their supplies were stored on Greene, and Danny was sitting on Nora's shoulder.

The river got thinner, and soon it began to go through a ravine. The sand at the shore was also getting wetter, and they sometimes sunk in a bit. That also explained why there were mostly small creatures here. Dilophosaurus were the most common, and the Team tried to avoid them. Whenever one attacked them, they took it out. It turned out that, if seen soon enough, the little guys were easy to fight, and their venom wasn't hard to dodge.

The biggest thing they saw was some sort of Triceratops, with a flat nose. It was smaller than its bigger cousins, and scavenged the shrubbery on a small sandbank for food. It was quite peacefully.

Greene had her problems with moving through the sand, but it wasn't too long until the ground got harder again. This was also where they saw one of the most beautiful things up to this point: A waterfall, rushing into a pond, surrounded by cliffs and vegetation.

Big fish swam around, and between them was something else. It looked like a big ball of fur. JNPR didn't know what it was, so they took cover behind a rock. As the creature came out of the water, they realized that it was nothing more than a big beaver.

"Oh. Look how cute it is." Pyrrha said, squealing with a level excitment that her friends normally only knew from Ruby when she saw a new weapon.

"And big." Ren added.

The beaver looked around, and locked its sight on them. It began to slowly waddle toward them, and sniffed Pyrrha. She could clearly see the mammals big teeth.

"Hold still." Jaune said, and Pyrrha did so.

The Castoroides had a dark grey colour, with a white stripe along the back. Pyrrha put her hand on the creatures head, and started to stroke it. It seemed to like it.

She used her other hand to pick up a stick, and gave it to the Beaver. It took the wood in its mouth, and walked away. They saw how it added the wood to a pile, which was probably its home.

"You know..." Nora began. "Maybe this Island isn't so bad after all."

"Yeah. Not everything here is trying to kill us." Jaune replied. They saw how three small beavers swam out of the dam, and ate some plants on the shore.

At this moment, they heard a terrifying roar, and the beavers fled back into their home as quickly as possible. "You just had to open your mouth, didn't you?" Nora asked Jaune.

Cinder always thought she had a good grasp on reality. She knew where her life would go. She'd destroy Beacon, get the full powers of the Fall Maiden, and become one of the most powerful beings on Remnant.

But she didn't expect to wake up on a strange Island one day. Especially one that was populated with dinosaurs, Mammoths and other prehistoric creatures. But it was the reality she was in now. She had to deal with it, one way or another.

In a way, it had its advantages. Sure, thanks to her alliance with Salem, she was technically also allied with the Grimm. But they were mindless monsters, and would attack her as well. Even the most intelligent ones, like the Goliaths, wouldn't draw a line there. They may have better techniques than the other Grimm, and may even be able to think, but that didn't mean they could receive any instructions. Or follow them. So not having to fear a Grimm attack was a good feeling.

However, she still wasn't sure if the animals here were worse or not. They were probably just as mindless, but they weren't Grimm. They were regular animals, which, in turn, meant they could have Aura, and maybe even Semblances.

She took a deep breath, and pulled the string on her new, but primitive bow. The arrow was already in the weapon, and Cinder shot. The arrow hit its target: A training dummy with a red bullseye on it.

The weapon was provided by Mercury. This morning, they saw the new engrams being available. And they were damm expensive. If it wasn't before, this was the time they had to really think about what to buy. Before, the points normally piled up later on, and they could learn different things each.

Even the hide shirt that Cinder learned cost most of her points. Emerald wanted to go down the building road, and chose the stone wall. In addition, she took the wall sign, in preparation for the billboard. It was supposed to hold their assignments, and had more room than a simple sign. Emerald tried her best on the small sign, sure, but most of it was undecipherable.

Mercury decided to concentrate on weapons, and thus was able to provide Cinder with her weapon of choice. He was already working on more bows, to eventually equip all of them with one.

Roman instantly chose the Bug Repellant. He explained that the giant ants were really, really annoying. His partner, Neo, chose two of the new saddles, for the Pachy and the Raptor. And that was their goal for today. Taming a Raptor. They'd only have to find one first.

Adam on the other hand had his own plans. He wanted to built a raft, and find a way out of here. Emerald and Mercury were also able to convince him to learn the painting canvas, so that he could let out any anger on it.

"So, how is it?" Mercury asked. He watched the whole process of testing out the new weapon.

"It's fine." Cinder replied. "It can't turn into swords, but I'm not sure if I'd want to get close with a Dinosaur anyway." That was a bit of an understatement. There was no way in hell she'd go up against a giant reptile with melee weapons.

"And you think it'll work?"

That was a question Cinder had no answer for. The bow would probably work fine against smaller foes, but how would it fare against a Tyrannosaurus? "Did Neo finish the saddle?"

Mercury stood up. "I don't know. Ask her yourself." He walked away, continuing to work on a second bow.

Cinder sighed, and walked up to the short girl. "How's the saddle coming along?"

Neo pulled on a bit of leather, and presented her work. It looked like, well, a saddle.

"Okay. We're ready."

JNPR walked up the hill, to see the source of the roar. On top of the cliff was a thick jungle, and they started to make their way through the underbushes. Suddenly, the jungle stopped, and gave view of a giant mountain. Along the stony, barren mountain side were several creatures. Giant Eagles, or hawks, a couple of Carnos and small Stegosaurus with long, deadly spikes.

And then there was the source of the roar. The team took cover behind a rock, and watched it. The species was easy to identify: A Tyrannosaurus. And a giant one at that. Its skin had a slightly red color, with a grey back. A long scar went from the right eye down the neck, and ended at the arm. It missed some teeth, and one of the sounds seemed infected. A couple of scars along the body told them that this monster had survived a lot of fights.

"This thing is gigantic." Jaune muttered.

They saw how it approached the corpse of a Triceratops, and ripped out half of the creature with one bite. Blood and entrails hang from its teeth, and all of them had to resist the urge to vomit. Except for Ren. He seemed unfazed.

However, it seemed like the original owner of the corpse didn't like that. The Carnotaurus came closer to the Tyrannosaurus, and tried to intimidate it. To do that, it held its head as high as possible, and wiggled its arms around, trying to appear bigger. It may would have worked, if the Dinosaur wasn't still twice as big.

Needless to say, the Tyrannosaurus was unimpressed. It answered the annoyance with a bite, and split the Carno in half. It swallowed the upper body whole, while the legs and tail of the Carno started to roll down the mountain, leaving behind a trail of blood.

"Holy shit." Nora said. "This thing's a monster." With one hand, she tried to hold Greene down. Danny on her shoulder watched the creature.

"Well, it is a giant, so it would need a lot of food." Ren pointed out.

"What if it comes to our base?" Pyrrha said. She didn't want to admit it, but the creature scared her.

"Unlikely." Ren explained. "Carnivores normally have a very confined territory. And I'd guess this mountain is his. Or hers."

When they looked again, the Tyrannosaurus had already finished the corpse of the Triceratops, not even leaving the bones behind, and was now following the trail of blood. It took a moment for them to realize where it ended up.

"Uh-Oh." Nora said. The corpse was laying right next to them, leading the monster right to them.

The Tyrannosaurus closed in, and they couldn't get out of this without being noticed. "Run!" Jaune yelled, and the four ran. Nora jumped on Greene, together with Jaune. Ren and Pyrrha ran along, trying to get away from the monster.

It roared, and little birds flew away in every direction. Close dinosaurs also ran away. The Tyrannosaurus, however, seemed to be locked on them. It followed them, and the earth shook with every step it took.

"What are we going to do?" Ren asked.

Jaune had to think. They couldn't run away forever. This creature wasn't as fast as them, but it would get them sooner or later. They had to get rid of it, one way or another. Then it hit him.

"I got it. Lead him into the ravine!"

His team nodded. They could already guess his plan. They ran down the hill, followed by the giant.

When they passed the beavers, the mammals hid underwater. As soon as they came to one particular point, Greene had problems with running, due to the sand. Nora jumped off, and pulled the Parasaur out of the way, with the help of Jaune. Once Greene was save, they ran away further, as the Tyrannosaurs stepped on the wet sand. Its foot sunk in a bit. The massive weight of the monster made it almost impossible to go further, and it tried to get out of the sand.

"It worked!" Jaune yelled. It didn't take long for the Tyrannosaurus to fall, and everyone readied their spears. Pyrrha was the first to throw it, and it hit the Tyrannosaur's head. However, instead of digging into it, it bounced off.

"That can't be." She muttered. "It has Aura!"

There was a silence for a second. "Well. We're fucked." Nora finally spoke up.

The dinosaur was still trying to get up, and obviously had its problems with that task. "Okay. Change of plan: Let's go home." Jaune said. His friends agreed, and they fled before the dinosaur could get back up. When was Ren said was true, it would just turn around, and go back to the mountain.

"So, how many logs do we need?" Blake asked Yang, who learned to built the raft.

"Around 5, maybe 6, depending on the size." The blonde replied. She had already put down the two big logs that would make the raft swim. Blake and Ruby were collecting the needed wood, while Yang was working on the sail. Thanks to the fact that she had to use the fiber for something this, it was a pain in the ass. She never liked precise work like that, something even the engrams didn't change.

And even when those things were done, the raft wasn't ready at all. She still had to put the logs together, and built the steering wheel. Even with the most positive estimates, she guessed it could take until tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Ruby and Blake were back in the woods, searching for logs. "Maybe this one." Ruby said, pointing at a thick tree.

Blake hit the tree with her hatchet, testing how sturdy it was. "It should work."

"So, what do you think? About going back home?" Ruby asked, and put her hatchet into the tree.

Blake raised an eyebrow, and stared at her friend. "What do you mean?"

"This is an entire Island full of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. It is kinda awesome." The leader pointed out.

"Yeah. That's why we want to get the hell out of here, isn't it?" Blake hit the tree again.

"Well, yes. But I mean, what if Atlas finds this place? Or Vale? Or any other kingdom?"

"Then we'd have a nature ressource unlike anywhere else." Blake replied. "Maybe we could get some of the income?"

Ruby shrugged. "Sure. But there aren't any Grimm here. People would want to get here in masses. How long would this place hold?"

Blake stopped felling the tree, and thought for a moment. Her friend had a point. An onslaught of settlers could prove too much for such a small Island, and maybe the Grimm would just follow. Like they always did.

"Also..." Ruby added. "We know that there are Megalodon in the water, and giant fish. Why are they only around this Island in the middle of nowhere?"

"Because it is in the middle of nowhere. There aren't any boats around. Maybe, over time, we drove them back without realising it." The Faunus guessed.

"But there would still be sightings." Ruby pointed out, and hit the tree again. It finally fell, and they put it on their shoulder. Ruby took the front, and Blake the back of the tree. "Animals like that don't stay around an Island. They'd rule the oceans."

"I know." Blake sighed. "Nothing of this makes any sense. Something weird is going on. But the raft is our best shot. If we can't do it, we have to find another way."

Their leader looked down. "I know." She was missing her family and friends, particularly Zwei.

"There it is." Cinder muttered. She, Neo and Mercury had taken cover in a couple of bushes, and observed their goal: A lone raptor, eating a corpse. They had seen it and its pack take down the Stegosaurus. It was a display of teamwork they haven't seen in any animal, or Grimm, before.

However, taking down such a beast takes its toll, even for Raptors. The pack consisted of three animals, but one got impaled by the spike tail. The other one was hit hard, and lay in the grass close to the corpse. It was alive, but had broken bones. It would definitely die. And then there was the survivor of the pack: A raptor with a brown color, and red feathers on the head, arms and tail.

This was the one they wanted to tame. The plan was already standing: Use a Bola to render it immobile, and then hit it with stones until it dropped unconscius. Cinder even put Narcotics on an arrow to try it out, and she hoped it would work.

Mercury took the Bola, and began to swing it around. He aimed at the theropods legs, and it wrapped around them. The Raptor tried to flee, but fell into the dirt. The three ran out of their hiding spot, and aimed at the dinosaurs head with their slingshots. Cinder stepped back, and shot an arrow into the dinosaurs waist. It finally fell unconscius, and Neo began to take meat from the Stego and fed it to the Raptor, which gladly accepted it.

"That worked better than expected." Cinder commented. "I'd have thought that it would spot Neo, considering her hair color."

Said girl glared at her, and then continued to tend to the Raptor. Cinder walked over to the other Raptor, and looked down at it. The creature was clearly in pain, and she felt somewhat sorry for it. She took her spear, and released the dinosaur from the pain.

She then sat down next to Neo, and looked at the dinosaur. "So... is you hair color natural?"

Neo didn't respond, and continued to feed the Raptor, much to Cinder's frustration. She knew that Neo didn't speak much, but she was able to. And the hair thing wasn't something Cinder wanted to drop. Pink was easy to spot in the jungle, just like Adam's red hair. This could pose a serious problem.

"Can you please give me an answer?" Neo responded by flipping her off. "Did I do anything to you?"

"She never liked you." Mercury said behind them. He was sitting on a treestump.

"What?"

Black shrugged. "Roman told me. She thinks you're dangerous."

Cinder was surprised. Sure, her plan didn't necesarily involve Roman and Neo to survive. It was better if they didn't, actually. That would mean less loose ends to tie up. But that Neo already knew that... Damn, this girl was good.

"I'm not dangerous. I'm a very lovely person." Cinder tried to hug Neo, who replied by bitting her into the head. "Ouch."

"Smooth." Mercury said, and smirked.

"Shut up."

"Hey, if you want to improve your relations with the others, you can always ask me." The assassin point at himself.

"You?" Cinder chuckled. A rare thing for her. "I don't think anyone here likes you."

"Neo? What do you think of me?" The short girl gave him a thumbs up. "See?"

The half-maiden crumbled something unhearable. That was a big annoyance to her. She knew she had to get on a better note with the others, but she wasn't willing to take tips from Mercury. Then again, there wasn't anyone else to ask. Roman clearly hated her the most, and Emerald had her hands full with improving their defenses. And Adam, well, he was Adam. A tube of Schnee-shampoo was more social than he was.

She let out a long, annoyed sigh. "Alright. What do I have to do?"

Mercury smiled, and pulled out a note. He wrote something on it with his finger and a berry he took from a plant. "Here. When we're back, read this out loud. Knowing yourself is the first step to getting better."

Cinder read the note, and looked up in anger. "I'm not going to read this."

Black shrugged. "No problem. But I can't help you then"

Cinder rolled her eyes. "I'll do it."

Behind her, the Raptor got up, and Cinder got ready to fight it. Luckily, it didn't come that far. The dinosaur licked Neo's face, and she cuddled with the creature, before putting the saddle on its back.

"Holy shit. It actually worked." Mercury said.

"Let's go back." Cinder gestured into the direction of their camp, and Neo jumped on the Raptor. From the looks of it, neither the Raptor nor she had any problems with that. "Any ideas for a name?"

"What about Amra?" Mercury suggested, and received asking looks from the girls. "Just saying. It has red feathers, similiar to Amaranths."

Cinder thought about that, and had to admit that she like the name. Neo also gave a thumbs up, and smiled.

"We made it." Jaune said, and catched his breath. They just came back into their valley.

Nora looked if the Tyrannosaurus was still behind them. The only thing there was jungle. "I think it lost us."

"Great." Jaune replied, half expecting the thing to break through the woods an minute. "We have to get rid of that thing at one point, right?"

His friends nodded, and Nora led the still panicked Greene back to her enclosure.

"And how are we supposed to do this?" Pyrrha asked. "This thing is massive. It's probably, like, the Apex Predator on this Island."

"I know. And I have no idea how we're gonna do this." Jaune looked at his shield. It was a bit embarassing to admit this. "Definitely not with those weapons."

"Who knows." Ren spoke up. The three walked over to their house. It was already late, and they really needed something to eat and some rest right now. "Maybe we'll have access to better weaponry at one point. What we can built gets more and more advanced."

"You mean like rockets?"

Ren nodded. Jaune also smiled at the idea of Rocket launchers, until he realized that this would also mean that Nora would have explosives.

"You think we should give it a name?" Nora asked, as she came back. Danny was still sitting on her shoulder, and looked like he was about to fall asleep.

"I think it's a good idea." Jaune agreed. "It's gonna be a pain in the ass for us. Just as well give it a name. Any ideas?"

"Pyrrha?" Ren asked. "You said it was the Alpha?"

"Apex. It's just a theory though." Pyrrha replied, and took some meat to cook.

"Actually, Apex sounds kind of cool. And fitting." Nora said, and took one of the 'steaks'.

"Apex." Pyrrha muttered. "The name makes sense."

"Right. So we have to find a way to take down Apex." Jaune said, and let out a long yawn. "But let's do this tomorrow."

Cinder, Mercury and Neo finally came back to their camp, the Raptor with them. Emerald, who still had her dinosaur on the shoulder, came over to look at it. In the morning, she finally settled on a name for her pet, now named Clyde.

Meanwhile, she stepped up in the middle of everyone, and coughed in her fist. "I ask for your attention, please."

"Now comes the best part." Mercury whispered to Neo, who smiled.

"I just wanted to say, that I know I've not been the best person. To be accurate, I've been a total cunt." At this, everyone started to laugh. Especially Mercury, who high-fived with Neo.

Cinder turned around, and glared daggers at Mercury. "You realize that she might kill you for that?" Emerald told her 'friend'.

Mercury simply shrugged. "It was worth it."

Professor Levi was sitting at his desk, inside of his tent, which served as a makeshift laboratory. He had a lot to do, considering the recent events, and his role as the headscientist in the project.

The situation wasn't dangerous just because of the sudden disappearence of the students, but also due to the implications it brought. All their current theories were too exotic to be true.

Not only were they exotic, but all of them could mean the dawn of a new era of science. Interdimensional travel, teleportation or even spacetravel. Things he didn't even consider possible a couple of days ago.

But here he was. And that were the only explanations he had. Not that it worried him. Science always was complicated, and pushed the borders of the impossible. The help Vale and Atlas provided were helpful too. They had catagorized everything that happened, saved every piece of proof.

Even the android, Penny, was helpful. Not necessarily with her limited knowledge of science, but with her cheefulness and positive altitude, which made the work here a lot easier.

He noticed the way into the tent open. "Professor Levi?"

It was his, sometimes annoying, assistant. "Yes, Nave?"

"I'm supposed to tell you, the scientist from Mistral is here."

Levi let out a long sigh. "Let him in. I have to debrief him."

His assistant nodded, and let the man in.

Honestly, he didn't look like Levi expected when he first heard from him. He wore a grey overcoat over a yellow shirt. His hands were gloved. The thing that first jumped into his eye, however, was his glorious mustache.

"Alright. You must be from Mistral." Levi pulled out his scroll, and opened the file with the information he had to brief the newcomers on. "Nothing we find out in here is going to leave this stadium, unless it goes to another laboratory. Understood?"

The man nodded. "What you're doing is useless. Specialist Schnee already briefed me on anything."

Levi nodded. At least that made the whole thing easier. "Okay. I still have to fill this out." He took a sheet of paper. "So. First question. I need your name."

The man smirked. "Doctor Arthur Watts."

And Chapter 6 is up.

Short explanation about the Alphas: They are gonna have Aura, and maybe semblances. However, there's only one of every Alpha on the Island. I also already know what to do with most of them, except for the Mosa. (I think what will happen with the Tusotheutis is fairly obvious.)

Also, RWBY Chibi Hype! (Penny!)

Now to answer questions:

The Multiversal Writer:

1. The Dodorex is gonna be there. Possibly as some sort of an additional boss.

2. No Skeletal or Zombie creatures. Maybe in a special chapter, but not part of the main story.

3. Well, no. You're gonna see why next chapter, but that's not possible due to the nature of the Arks. (Also, I'd say the north of the Center looks more like mountains. Admittedly, the mountians look similiar to the ones on Scorched Earth.)

And yes, the 'being afraid of bats' was a reference to RvB.

A New Challenger:

1. Well, I think this Chapter already answers it.

2. No, but one of her team will also have a fear of a certain animal. With a darker backround though.

3. Some of the creatures will appear, but not as habitants of the Island. How it will be involved will be revealed later. (During the later half of the story, in fact.) Also, Neo will have a Dodo Army. That was planned from the very beginning.

4. Yes, there will be. But no main characters. Scientists and Soldiers (for example Levi) from Atlas and Vale will appear and be named. Also, one will appear who has something to do with the Desert.

5. I'm thinking about putting Qrow on the Ark later on (maybe even with Winter, considering the conflict that would rise out of that), but I'm not entirely sure yet.

About the Troodons: Well, the Troodons in Ark were inspired by them, as far as I know. (Ironically, according to the Dossier, they hunt exclusively humans, making them somewhat like Grimm in this regard.)

And in response to Crazy Old Walter:

The 'antivenin' is actually written down that way in the dossiers. I know it's a mistake, but it's kinda supposed to be.

RWBY belongs to Rooster Teeth; Ark: Survival Evolved belongs to Wildcard Studios.