Kong, Shing, Gong Hub / From 120's Archives Hub » Dragon's Destiny Hub » Operation Ground and Pound
The relationship between predator and prey is a delicate balance.
The predators depend on the prey for nutrition. Meanwhile, to the untrained eye, it seems the presence of predators is solely negative to prey.
However, the predator's predation helps to ensure that the prey do not overpopulate and run out of food in their environment.
This balance has dictated ecosystems for eons, aiding evolution and natural selection until one day, humanity manages to best natural selection.
Despite being able to ensure that the less able of society could survive and thrive, humanity still had to hunt other creatures to survive.
After a while, it was no longer a necessity, but many still hunted as a hobby, And many took pride in it. And many families became generational hunters.
And one family, one hailing from the mountains of Scotland, had anomalous abilities from their bloodline, which proved to be both a blessing and a curse.
The Aberdeen Pact has since spread throughout the globe, taking its anomaly hunting traditions with them. Over time, it has split into several clans. The Ducasse clan likes to keep an ecological balance of anomalous fauna, while Northwoods don't care nearly as much, and the Dīng Shāo don't hunt immortal creatures.
Of course, individual members within these clans have their own feelings regarding anomaly hunting, with some members relishing in hunting bigger and fiercer beasts.
One such member, Zhuhui Dīng Shāo, walked into his quarters to discover a letter one day and opened it.
Hong Shing,
July 7, 2060
Zhihao,
I've done as you asked and searched around. I checked every Aetern-related news source I could think of, and even went to the islands myself, but we have to accept the unfortunate truth.
The Dragon did not return to the Galapagos.
That's not to say your quest is completely ruined, though. There are other places one can find a Darwin's Dragon, and I know exactly where.
Fruitful be your Hunt, brother.
Feng Dīng Shāo
He then flipped it over and studied the map on the back.
His face broke into a shit-eating grin,
The Dīng Shāo Residence, Beijing, China
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"Wait, wait, wait. The Darwin's Dragon? The Darwin's Dragon? The sixty-some feet long therapsid-like Aetern that adapts to whatever you throw at it?" Yun looked astonished.
"Wait, I thought Vanguard was dealing with that?" Zan raised an eyebrow,
Yun sat up. "Well, that one's not an Aetern. That thing's actually a chimera—basically an animal that's a combination of a bunch of others. Complete taxonomic nightmare. They've tried a few times to classify it, I think, gonna need to look that up later."
Zhihao stared at him in silence for a few moments. "Yeah, we're definitely going on this quest." He pointed at Yun. "This one needs to go outside for once."
Yun crossed his arms and pouted. "I go outside, thank you very much. I went grocery shopping yesterday.
"Regardless, how do you even plan on defeating that thing? They're around the size of whales. With legs. And a spiked tail and even spikier teeth. Plus, if it's in the Right Phase, it probably has like radiation breath by now or something."
"The same way I took down that beast." Zhihao pointed above the fireplace. "The same way I took down the King of the Dinosaurs, sheer willpower and skill." He made a fist and hit his chest twice.
Yun took a moment to look at the T-Rex's severed head. He never liked looking at it. He always felt like the eyes were watching him; they had a sparkle to them, and sometimes it seemed like they moved slightly as he went throughout the room.
He was taken out of his trance by Zan's laughter. "Right, you only managed to take down a T-Rex because JOICL's security had essentially given up on guarding the dinosaurs by then. Aetern reservations are much better guarded, even if there was one in baseline, you'd never get to it before being filled with holes."
Zhihao's smile fell slightly. "One heavily fortified location does not a hunter make, Zan. JOICL's guarding of Neanderthal Town is stronger than any Aetern reservation. Would you consider it prestigious if I gutted one of them? Just pick one off the sidewalk, perhaps?
Zan opened his mouth to respond before his shoulders fell and his eyes drifted to his feet. "Good point", he muttered.
"Like I said, I hunted that T-Rex and lived because of my skill. And now, an even greater challenge, previously thought to be gone forever, has appeared again. And I'm calling upon my family to aid me."
Yun shrugged. "Y'know what, yeah, sure. I've always wanted to see one of those."
Zan raised an eyebrow. "And how do you plan on getting us to the Right Phase? Last I remember, none of us has ever left baseline before."
Zhihao chuckled and grinned,
"Oh, I know a guy."
Wawa, near Lighthouse 470, New Jersey, United States of America
Dr. Maslov T. Manferd walked out of the Wawa, holding a small box. He turned to walk towards his car before being startled by someone behind him.
"Maslov!" Zhihou aggressively patted Maslov's shoulder. "How have you been, buddy?"
Maslov cleared his throat and shrugged. "Alright, I suppose." He raised the box in his hands. "Got myself a quesadilla."
"That's nice, that's nice. Hope you enjoy it.
"Anyway, we need a favor." Zhihou gave a slight smile.
"Oh?" Maslov raised an eyebrow. "Whatcha need? I, uh, don't have much going on these days, so I should be able to help."
"We need to get into the Right Phase. From what you've told me, you've been there a lot, so I'm hoping you could help get us to where we need to go."
"The Right Phase?" Maslov looked confused. "Well, you just go to Hong Kong and find a Way into Hong Shing. Then you find a way in Hong Shing to the Right Phase. Of course, standard rules apply, don't bring or do anything stupid, and you'll be golden."
"Wait a second." Yun stepped forward. "We just had to go to Hong Kong??"
"Well, yeah," Maslov replied. "There's Hong Kong here, Hong Gong in the Right Phase, and Hong Shing in the middle. There's Ways to transport you between them."
Yun sharply turned his head to face Zhihao. "We could have gone straight to Hong Kong. You took us to America!? By airship!?"
Zhihao raised his hands in mock surrender. "It's affordable! Think of all the money we saved! We can't hunt if we can't afford food!"
Yun stared at Zhihao for a moment. Maslov felt he could cut the tension with a knife.
"The airship took 5 days to get here."
Zhihao opened his mouth to respond before being interrupted by Zan moving between the arguing brothers. "Right, sorry about them. You said you could help?"
Zhihao cleared his throat. "Yes, right. Thing is, we need to bring "something stupid", that being extensive weaponry. We wish to hunt a Darwin's Dragon in the Right Phase."
Maslov blinked twice. "Ah. Hmm. Yeah, that complicates things. Well, in that case, I know a Way that doesn't have a border checkpoint. I can take you there."
Zhihao put a hand on Maslov's shoulder. "Thank you. I knew I could count on you."
"Yeah, of course. But first." Maslov pointed at the box in his hands. "Can I eat my quesadilla?"
Yun nodded aggressively. "Yeah, you can eat it while I go buy my own. That airship food was not worth the time the ride took."
The three other men watched as Yun stormed into the Wawa.
"Well," Zhihao clapped his hands together. "Let's discuss the plan."
Dirt Road around Hong Kong, China
The four men sat in Maslov's car as he drove to the Way. The dirt road was bumpy, so bumpy that it caused Yun to hit his head on the roof of the car.
"Ow. Why haven't you gotten one of those new cars with perfect suspension?"
"I like my car from the early 50s!" Maslov opened the center console and started rooting around it with one hand. "This one has a drone in the roof. With this remote, you can give it all kinds of commands." He took the remote out of the center console and tossed it into Zhihao's lap in the passenger seat. "Just in case.
"Speaking of just in case, Yun, could you toss me some chocolate?" Maslov took one of his hands off the wheel and held it above the center console.
"Yeah, gimme a sec." Yun reached to the floor and picked up his Satchel of Storing, shoving his hand inside and rummaging through it. "Damn, I need to clear this out. Ah, here we go!"
Yun brought his hand out of the satchel, revealing a book.
"Oh, is that where I put it? I was wondering where it went." Yun placed the book down next to him and put his hand back in the satchel.
Zan scoffed. "Y'know, this is what you get for buying the off-brand one. The namebrand ones have a little screen that shows you what you're touching in the endless abyss that is the inside of that bag."
"The namebrand ones," Zhihao added, "are expensive as all hell. He made the right decision."
"Y'know, for someone who loves to go on extravagant quests to slay great beasts, you sure are frugal." Zan snickered.
Zhihao turned around in his seat and looked at Zan. "Being frugal is how we can go on these quests. We won't have the money to hunt these "great beasts" if you buy the most expensive options."
"If you guys are done bickering," Maslov yelled over them, "We're nearly there." He pointed in the distance. "The Way's in that shack over there, just—"
BOOM
The car flips over from the explosion before anyone in the car can react. The last thing Yun saw before falling unconscious was a small group of people running towards them,
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