Hello everyone Kaiju here and welcome back to the next installment of Primal Warriors. Man this update v258 came by fast. As most of you know, Wildcard is known to push their update release dates further back and i was surprised it was mostly on schedule. Anyways enough of that, let's get on with the story.

Chapter 6: Things that Go Bump in the Night

Alex's P.O.V.

Early the next morning we already started to pack up and head out. Sam was not happy about this since she wasn't an morning person. I couldn't blame her, I wasn't one also. Sadly, being on the island can affect your sleeping habits if it means life and death.

Since we got passed the swamp, we traveled down a larger river through the forest until we came out to a much larger grassland. Although there were no animals by the river side besides some annoying Pegomastax, we could see the blurry shapes of some of the larger creatures off in the distance. We decided to check the more open area out and stretch some bit from being cramped on the raft. Although both Sam and Diego were fine with leaving the raft, Binda was not to thrilled. Being a creature more adapted to the rivers and swamps than open fields, it was easy to understand her unease. Although Sam wasn't happy about it, we came to the decision to let Binda stay and "guard" the raft so she wouldn't be forced to go into the grasslands. After all that was settled, we headed out towards the open grassland.

To say I wasn't nervous would be a flat out lie. This was uncharted territory, even for me since I have never gone farther than the outskirts of the swamps. I had no idea of what predators could be hiding out in the tall grass. The largest predator after the entelodont I have encountered were a pair of Carnos that were moving along the riverbanks looking for something to eat. They eventually saw me and I barely escaped into the dense jungle where i knew it would be difficult for the to follow. That was about a month after I was on the island and since then I have learned more about survival since then.

This was different since the creatures of the plains were a lot different than the ones found closer to the coast. Since there was so much more space to move around, the much larger herbivores could be better suited here than the forests. And with large herbivores comes large carnivores.

Sam noticed my behavior and tried to help.

"Hey are you alright?', she asked me.

I looked at her for a couple of seconds before responding. "Yea, im just a little on the edge. Never been to this region and I don't know what's out there".

She smiled, "well, at least we both are learning something new i guess".

I thought for a second at her words. While yes it seems relieving that he won't be facing this challenge alone, he didn't know if that was good or a bad thing yet. But I pushed that thought aside to focus on the challenge ahead of us and we continued on our journey.

Even though it was easier to move through the more open areas of the grasslands, we avoided it so a predator wouldn't be able to spot us easily. Instead, we moved through the much taller grass that went as high as our heads, concealing us from view. This was also a danger, however, since any number of dangers could be hiding in the dense grass. But as we moved further into the grass, we quickly discovered there was going to be no trouble. We did hear plenty of movement in the grass, but it was always moving away from us. I was wondering about the cause until a sudden thought popped in my head. Diego. I laughed to myself for a bit. I guess these animals didn't want to pick a fight with a full grown gorgonopsid.

Although we were mostly out of danger, we moved quickly so we wouldn't push our luck in case something big comes by. Luckily, there was a small grove of trees up ahead. We got there in about half an hour, covered in mud and scrapes, but were surprised when we discovered that we were not alone.

Sleeping under one of the larger trees, with its back towards us, was a giant furry figure. Sam first thought it was a boulder until we saw that thick mat of fur covering it. We could see the gentle rise of it breathing as it slept. We tried to move around the animal trying to not wake it up, but apparently it's nap was over a few seconds later. We could hear it yawing as it got up onto a sitting position. Even just sitting, it dwarfed even Binda when she was standing, then it turned towards us and I was amazed at what was in front of us.

The beast was easily the size of an elephant, maybe even bigger. It was covered in thick, reddish fur with some paler hair tracing its face and it's chest. It had a shot but thick looking tail resting on the ground. It had a small, horse like head, but the most distinguished feature we could see were its arms. They were fairly muscular, each as long as we were, and they ended in hands full of long sharp claws that could probably rip something to shreds.

The creature looked at us almost passively before letting out a grunt, most likely at Diego and turned towards a nearby tree and started eating. It used its long claws and used them to pull down the tree branches which allowed it to reach the leaves with its long tongue. I watched it for a couple of seconds amazed at the sight of it. Although I have never seen one of these creatures on the island before, I immediately knew what it was.

"Megatherium", I whispered to myself.

Sam heard me and turned towards me to clarify. "A what?".

I pointed towards the the animal. "Megatherium, a giant ground sloth and one of the largest land mammals to ever walk the earth".

Her eyes went wide. "You're telling me that this giant thing, this thing thats as big as an elephant, is a sloth?".

I chuckled to myself at her disbelief. "What did you suspect, that all sloths are slow, lovable creatures that just sleep all day?".

She looked like she was going to say something before she closed her mouth and looked away out of embarrassment. I smiled. Yep that's what I thought.

As we were talking, the giant sloth finished eating and decided to move somewhere else. It got on its front limbs and moved towards the edge of the grove, where we could hear running water. As it lumbered off, i noticed that it didn't walk on the flats of its hands and feet, but on their sides, probably because of the claws.

We decided to camp out under the grove for the night due to its dense flora coverage that prevented larger creatures from getting in. Diego jumped onto one of the lower branches and climbed to the top of the tree to watch out for anything suspicious. We set up a small campfire and made some barriers out of the local foliage in case something gets curious of us. As Sam was finishing up her tasks I climbed up to the branch that Diego was resting on and observed the landscape around us.

To the east of the grove was a small river that ran around the grove towards the much larger river we arrived on. I could see the ground sloth by the water, getting a drink while also being on the lookout for any predators. In every other direction grassland stretched out, full of many different species of herd animals, many of them not sharing the same eras they are from. The closest herd near us consisted of giant Diprotodon.

Relatives of wombats, these giant beasts were the largest marsupials to ever exist. At over 2 meters tall and built like a tank, this marsupial could easily crush a human. It was covered in shaggy fur from its head to its small tail, and it walk on all fours as it was browsing for shrubs in the field. There were six adults with three juveniles that were running around in the safety of the herd.

I was watching the herd for a few minutes before Sam called down for some help. We worked on finishing the chores before dusk and soon got a fire going. I shot a Dilo that was looking for something easy to eat and now we were cooking it on the campfire for dinner. We spent the rest of our time awake talking about the sights we saw and potential new areas to set up a new base. Although the area we were in was a good place to camp, a base wouldn't work here. Being this close to such open area is bound to attract some larger predator.

After our conversations, we decided to go to bed so we could wake up bright and early the next morning, despite Sam's displeasure. Diego, since he slept for most of the day, was wide awake on his branch and kept an eye out for anything coming. I closed my eyes, the last thing i saw was a roaring fire and Sam's beautiful face.

A few hours later…..

I was woken up by a low growl from above me. I opened my eyes to see that the fire was still going but was low. I got up and was looking around at what was causing the noise until I looked up towards Diego. He was crouched low on his branch, watching something in the field, with his teeth bared. I was wondering what was happening until I heard a loud cry of pain coming from the direction that Diego was looking at. It sounded like one of the Diprotodon got injured. What scared was how it got injured.

Although the loudest thing out there was the marsupial, i could also hear hissing and some snarls from the tall grass. I woke Sam as quietly as possible, making sure not to alert the hunters. She woke up with a protest on its way, but once she heard the dying animal she quickly shut up. We grabbed our weapons and climbed the tree Diego was sitting into better observe the scene.

The site in front of us was terrifying to say the very least. In the middle of a flatten part of the grass that was stained with blood that was visible in the moonlight, the Diprotodon laid. It was very evident that the creature wasn't going to get up. Whatever took it down must of cut its stomach open, since its organs were partially out of its body. Even though it was on the verge of death, its cries for help were one of the saddest things I had ever heard. I almost went out into the field to put the poor thing out of its misery if it wasn't for the predators nearby. Speaking of which, one of the stepped out of the tall grass into full view.

It was a raptor, a big one to. I couldn't tell what species it was but I knew it was one of the bigger ones. Standing taller than a human, the killer ran on two massive legs that bore the signature sickle claw on the foot. It had to arms that were perfect for grabbing onto a the sides of larger animals. They were covered in feathers, more prominent on the head, end of the tail and the arms. Since it was dark I wasn't able to see the coloration of its scales or feathers. The dinosaur lept onto the dying mammal and bit down onto its head, putting the animal out of its misery. It called out to the rest of the back and soon five other individuals walked out of the grass towards the kill.

I cursed to myself. Out of all the things that we could run into, it had to be the raptors. There were some that lived near the old base, but they never ventured near it. They reason was because of both me and Diego. They tried at first, but after we killed some of them. They learned to stay away. This is where I learned the intelligence of them. Unlike the terror birds, which are one of the dumbest things you could think of, the raptors were highly intelligent killing machines. However, they learned quickly that we shouldn't be messed with and avoided the base all together.

This was different however. While raptors near the coast knew who I was and avoided me, this pack didn't know what I was, except a potential meal. I just hope they focused on the big herbivore and not us.

Sam must have heard me cursing and tried to ask what was wrong, be I quickly put my hand over her mouth to shush her and whispered to her, "Raptors, don't want to alert their attention".

Her eyes widened but she nodded in understanding. I moved my hand back and turned my attention back towards the kill site. She then whispered back to me, "Are we in any danger?".

I shook my head. "I honestly don't know. I'm not familiar with this pack and they don't know me. Hopefully they will be focused on the kill".

Of course I had to open my big mouth because as soon as those words left my mouth, one of the pack members lifted its bloody snout into the air and sniffed around. It didn't take a few seconds before it turned its attention towards us. I could see its cold eyes locking onto mine even from this distance.

"A hell-"

The raptor let out a cry before charging at us. The other raptors heard it and looked towards its general direction. They then let out a cry of their own and charged at us as well.

Thank god we had our bows ready and we soon fired them at the pack. We managed to get lucky with the first one since I could see it fall over with an arrow in its head (Sam would take credit for this later. I don't believe her.) but the others kept on coming. Although we had weapons and a gorgonopsid on our side, we were largely outnumbered. Thankfully we were at least high up so they couldn't reach us so easily. We quickly lost our advantage however, as two of the predators started climbing up the tree and were soon hanging onto the were ready to shove them off with spears before we heard, to our horror, a loud crack from beneath us. With the added weight, the branch couldn't handle it and soon broke off. It was only ten feet up thankfully, but us humans hit the ground hard. Diego was already up and tackled one of the raptors which let out a loud shriek at us. Although Diego was bigger, the raptor was much more nimbler than him and put up quite a fight. The others quickly closed in on us.

We had our spears out in front of us ready to defend ourselves. We backed up closer to the fire. As we were backing up, I tripped slightly but recovered quickly. One of the raptors however saw an opportunity and quickly leapt towards me. It knocked me down towards the ground and I barely had time to put my spear in front of me as a shield before it clamped its jaws down on it.I must have got its jaws stuck on it because it wasn't able to bite down threw it. It was still clawing me up with its claws.

Sam on the other hand was losing ground fast. Now that I was preoccupied, the others quickly moved closer to her. She let out quick jabs to keep them at bay, but they were getting over it and moving in closer, snarling at her. I could hear Diego still fighting with the first raptor but most of my attention was focussed on the one on top of me. I was starting to lose both strength before I could feel shaking around me.

Suddenly, I heard a loud bellow and the raptor was thrown off me wide eyed and tossed into a nearby tree, snapping its spine, killing it. I turned towards my savior and all I could see was a mountain of fur and muscle. That was then i saw a pair of familiar claws.

The Megatherium returned to its grove and was not happy about the raptors that were invading it. The three raptors that were going after Sam turned their attention to the new threat after watching their comrade die, and quickly charged towards the giant sloth. They swarmed it trying to take it down, but it was hopeless. They might be able to take down a much smaller Diprotodon with ease, they stood no chance of facing a the much larger herbivore.

The sloth let out a roar and grabbed the nearest raptor. It was shrieking and trying to claw out of its grip. The giant herbivore was unfazed and smashed its head onto the ground, breaking its skull and scattering brain matter everywhere. Another one of the raptors charged towards it, but it swept its claws out at it and the dinosaur was thrown back, with four massive gashes in it. Seeing its comrades dead, the last one called out towards the giant sloth before running off into the grass, learning quickly from its friends.

The Megatherium roared at the retreating animal before sitting back down and licking the blood off of its claws. It then smelled the dead marsupial nearby and moved on towards it, leaving behind its carnage and two stunned humans.

I turned towards Sam with a sigh of relief before wincing at the wounds I received. The raptor must have got me good. Sam saw my pain and quickly rushed towards me to help with my wounds. We sat down by the fire, amazed at the amount of power from the earlier peaceful herbivore and the destruction in its wake, when we jumped at the sound of something moving through the grass. We calmed down when it was Diego, covered in cuts and scratches with a bloody snout, but otherwise fine. Sam helped finish bandaging up my wounds before we decided to move further from the area towards the river. Once we got there, we went to check on Diego to make sure he was alright. After all was said and done we went back to sleep, knowing full well our "protector" would keep an eye out for anything suspicious.

Early the next morning…..

Sam's P.O.V.

I woke up early from our short night's sleep feeling uncomfortable. I got up and quickly looked around at my fellow tribe mates. They were still sound asleep, probably wouldn't be up for another hour or two. Nearby, I could hear the heavy breathing of the Megatherium sleeping. I smiled to myself, quietly thanking it for the night before, and decided to clean up at the river. We were much closer towards it since we moved spots, but I still grabbed a spear just in case.

I soon found a shallow pool of water that was mostly open except for a couple of rocks and a patch of thick reeds on the other side. Making sure nothing was in there i took a quick bath to clean off and get all the grime from the night before off of me. As soon as I was done I put my clothes back on and started heading back towards Alex when I heard a slight rustling from the nearby reeds. Turning around back at them I couldn't see anything in the plants but I knew better by now. I turned back around to head back to the grove I suddenly felt something prick the back of my arm. I winced for a second at the impact and checked what it was. As soon as I saw what it was however, my eyes went wide in both fear and revelation at what hit me.

It was a small dart dripping with an unknown liquid.

My vision quickly started to blur and I was stumbling about. I tried to call out to Alex but all of a sudden my mouth was covered with a gloved hand that smelled of a campfire. Right before I went under, I heard an excited voice whisper, "excellent, another one".

And there you have it folks, that was the latest chapter of Primal Warriors. Dear god, that was a long chapter to write. I just wanted to tell you peeps a couple of things.

Although the island is called Ark the landscape will be very different. If you are trying to looking for it on the vanilla map don't bother.

I really made the giant sloth different than how it's supposed to be. In game, it's described primarily as bug killer and nothing more. But come on, with a cool design, thats doing it some injustice. Plus in the dossier, you can see it laying waste to a raptor. That's a clear sign that it should be much more.

And finally the intro to the Diprotodon. This is my second OC prehistoric creature that is not in Ark, the second being the gorgonopsid, and their are more to come. I plan to make individual dossiers for them in the future, but that will be on the SurvivetheArk website.

Make sure you comment if you have any questions. And I will see you on the next one. PEACE!

-Kaiju