Let's see, we were a week into setting up camp, with a bunch of tames, and so far, we hadn't really seen...anyone, actually.

Okay, not quite - we'd met one tribe that had camped out on the island with no predators, one that had camped out on Carnivore Island (they liked the challenge), and one group who had apparently decided we looked tasty (I neither know nor care whether that was meant to be sexual or not), but aside from that, not many other people were on this ARK. Maybe this one was sparsely populated? Perhaps the network that spawned people was down? Something like that?

Oh, and before you asked, that tribe failed miserably when they tried to catch us. I think they ended up having a Giga follow them back to camp. Since we never saw hide nor hair of them after that, I think they all died, and the ARK decided not to revive them or something.

Our solitude would not last forever, though. Eventually, we did find others with which to share out settlement.

XXXXXXXXXX

"So, how's it going, learning to be a shepherd?"

Taking my attention away from the sheep I was sheering, I glanced up at Vivian, who was busy trying to coax a Megalosaurus into sleeping within the stable we had set up. The nocturnal predator evidently did not want to move during the day, even if the stable was a better place for it to rest.

"All things considered, not too bad. Though I am surprised that you knew so much about herding sheep."

My companion merely smiled at this. "Many of my family's sworn peasantry joined me in serving Celempheros. I made sure to learn some of their trades and husbandry skills, in case they ever came in handy, like right now. Though I will admit I was surprised that you had some knowledge of sewing."

"Eh, my mom wanted to get me into it in case I needed to fix damaged clothes. Not all of it took, but what did was useful-"

A shrill scream pierced the air, followed by the cry of a strange creature - a Purlovia, to be exact. The burrowing carnivore must have found someone to attack. Wordlessly, I glanced at Viv, then whistled and started running. Within moments, Tacitus had emerged and was letting me clone onto his back. Smiling like a fool, I urged the tyrannosaur onward.

True, this wasn't really exploiting the powers I had as a commander to the fullest, but I was riding a T. rex. That was enough justification to screw around.

XXXXXXXX

The scream turned out to come from a girl who was now stuck on a rocky outcropping, while the therocephalian paced around below. Beside her, a teenage boy from what I presumed were the Middle Ages was taking aim with a bow, trying to shoot the proto-mammal. Given that said creature was surprisingly agile, he was not having much luck.

The proto-mammal was about to attack when I gave Tacitus the order to attack. A moment later, and said beast was being swallowed whole by my pet tyrannosaur.

Oh how awesome it was to ride a rex!

Also, it seemed the duo I had rescued were now staring at me in terror. Funny.

"So," I began, "you want to get off that rock?"

"Who are you, good sir?" asked the boy, who looked a bit like a knight. Maybe I should call him a squire?

"...Call me Phillip. And you?"

"I am Sir Vincent...okay, actually I am merely Vincent."

"A Knight, then? Or just a squire?"

"Merely a squire, though a knight I shall soon be."

"I see."

My gaze turned over to the girl. "And you, my lady?"

The girl seemed rather annoyed by my intentional formality. "I'm Carol. Oh, and thank you for saving us from that..."

"Purlovia."

"Yeah, that thing. My apologies, but your rex is scaring me."

"Tacitus doesn't bite. Unless you hit him first. Or do something else to make him mad."

Both of them gave me quizzical looks at that.

"My apologies, good sir," spoke Vincent, "but may we exit this forest soon - I would like to avoid encountering any other predators for the time being."

"Understandable. Just let me wait for my companion to arrive."

Before either of them could question me on who that was, Vivian burst onto the seen atop her mount - the spino we had found Tacitus fighting, which she decided to name Nefertiri.

"...Aw, I missed all the fun?"

"Yeah, but I think settling these two in will be trouble enough on its own."

XXXXXXXX

Turns out there was one surprise left for us before we reached camp - a group of teens were hastily running away from the form of a smilodon, until one of them tripped and fell. Hastily, his three friends tried to pick him up, but their efforts to escape were rendered moot when Nefertiri grabbed the cat and hurled it over the hills and into a creek, where a sarcosuchus promptly dragged it off to eat.

I glanced over at the teens. "You need a hand? Or maybe somewhere to crash?"

After a few moments, they nodded.

"Well, then you can stay with us. Just watch out for carnivores."

I really enjoyed their stupid looks.

Now at last I had enough people to form the foundations of a tribe...team...clan...village...I'd figure out the exact name later with some input from Vivian.

XXXXXXXX

Back at the Hub, in Flame's tower.

As the last gunshot faded away, M4 examined her target with pride - all of the shots had been within the bullseye. She wasn't losing her edge.

Still, that was of little comfort to her. Right now, she was alone on this strange world, and far away from Griffin HQ. Inwardly, she was agonizing over how she had been forced to allow her comrades to sacrifice themselves to stop Agent from capturing her, only for the commander's arrival and accidental kidnapping of her to render their sacrifices moot. Now she was stuck, possibly permanently, in an entirely different universe than her comrades.

She was not the only Griffin T-Doll here, though. Among others, she had made out the presence of the T-Dolls AA-12, ACR, FAMAS, Z-62, Shipka, KS-23, HK-23, SDS, Type-81, Contender, and Spitfire. There had been an...extreme amount of reverence among them toward her - as a member of the AR team, they'd heard of her before they had even arrived at G HQ. Their near worship of her made M4 somewhat uncomfortable, but it was also the only connection she still had to her now old life.

Beyond missing her team, though, M4 was listless. The world she had been taken to by the commander (how weird it was to think of one who was not her commanding officer as commander) was, for the most part, lacking in war zones, meaning that the various dolls spent all of their time in the commander's tower, either training or relaxing it. It was nice, but it felt unearned. M4 felt she did not deserve all of this kindness, especially since she had abandoned her team by accident while doing so. M4 felt that she didn't deserve such kindness for all that had happened so far. And her host not giving her any opportunities to repay said kindness was making her very uncomfortable.

Unnoticed by the T-Dolls, Fide, Synais, and Kathikon were watching them, thoughts going toward their commander. Right now, he had enough people to begin forming a tribe, but with what he needed to do to ascend off of the Island, he'd need more bodies to assist him. Celempheros had offered them the option to send others to help him, but at the moment, they weren't sure who best to send. After all, the commander seemed to want to best this universe empathy on his own merits so that he could be self sufficient.

The T-Dolls did seem a good place to start, though. But first, they'd need to let the commander figure out Howe to make more bullets for them to use.

XXXXX

AN: Yeah, yeah, no major commander stuff, but I am paranoid in real life and like to be self sufficient. Plus ARK is fun without commander technology.

So, Read and Review! This is Flameal15k, signing off!