Wild Kratts: Here Be Dragons (Wild Kratts X Monster Hunter)

Chapter 12: The Ancient Civilization

Baggi searched through the shelves, before pulling out a few books and looking at their covers, then handing them to Aviva.

"So, these three are what you would probably call bestiaries on wyverns, leviathans, and elder dragons respectively, and this is a book on history."

Aviva grinned. "Thanks Baggi."

"No problemo."

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Aviva sat down on her sleeping bag in the monsters' apartment and opened the first book. She'd spent months studying Wyvernian and Aquatic to the point where she could read and write them decently well. She couldn't speak Wyvernian very well or Aquatic at all, but she was working on it.

The one she had opened was the history book. It was a large, hefty volume with brown leather covers and the title in gold lettering. The pages were yellow and slightly worn from age, but otherwise in mint condition, despite, according to Baggi, being written only a few hundred years after the Industrial Revolution.

The perspective given by the author was... interesting, to say the least. She had asked Mizutsune who the author, named Almudron, was. Apparently, Almudron was part of a species of leviathan called mud wyverns that had the ability to control mud. He was known as being particularly skilled in this field of combat, being able to trap all but the most powerful monsters in a prison of muck. As an author, he was also known for being neither dismissive nor unnecessarily critical of human achievements, and for his ability to judge topics in a fair and impartial manner, due to his background as both a judge and a historian. Mizutsune had apparently met the mud wyvern herself. She said that he was a little rough around the edges, but would seek to learn as much about a topic as he could if it piqued his interest.

Almudron pointed out through the book how small-minded it was of certain people or groups of people to assume that their accomplishments were because of some innate superiority when, in actuality, much of the time at least part of their success was by pure chance. Such as when the Europeans and Chinese were equally technologically advanced, yet Europe started the Industrial Revolution because of its abundant coal supplies that China lacked. He also often made comparisons to a civilization simply dubbed the "Ancient Civilization".

This ancient civilization, according to the book, was far more advanced than the nations of today, partially due to the aid of the monsters and the far more abundant resources of Earth at the time. They built massive mechanical beasts for use in warfare, created medical procedures that could allow those who could afford them to live to be hundreds of years old, spliced the genes of monsters into soldiers that gave them outright superhuman strength and stamina but had to eat large quantities of food to fuel themselves in return, and so much more. The wealthiest nobles would often pay for their children to be genetically altered to their parent's choosing. Cities were even built underwater, leading to the modern legends of Atlantis. But this all was unsustainable. Worse yet, they were careless and deaf to nature's needs. The dragons did all they could, but even then, it was hopeless. Entire forests were cut down within several weeks, mines and oil reserves were depleted, often in less than a year, lakes were drained and the earth was polluted to the point where birds flying above cities would often die in midair.

Eventually, one of the kings and his heir died under mysterious - and suspicious - circumstances, and the king's nephew, Usostuko, took the throne. He began an operation to kidnap monsters, taking them from all over the kingdom, even taking elder dragons. He killed all but one of the monsters and welded their bodies together, then fused the result with the most advanced weapons that they could make, then used a twisted ritual "terrifying beyond all imagination" to fuse the soul of the surviving monster to the entire body, giving rise to a horrific, screaming abomination called the Equal Dragon Weapon that was constantly in agony. This was the Forbidden Act, attempting to give life, when only the Sapphire Star had the power, authority, and wisdom to do so. It was immensely powerful, and could slay legion after legion of monsters without needing rest. But it was also uncontrollable, leading to the monsters finding out about it and starting the Great Dragon War.

It lasted 1042 years, during which time the kingdom was brought to its knees and humanity was nearly wiped off the face of the earth. The earth itself became a wasteland and many species of both animals and monsters went extinct. It took millions of years for the planet to recover, even with the help of the survivors. Almudron concluded that there was no true victor in the war, for both man and monster had nearly died out during its course and its aftermath. Aviva agreed. By all accounts, it was simply too devastating to name any victor. At the same time the elder dragons destroyed the blueprints used in the Equal Dragon Weapon's creation to ensure that it could never be replicated.

All this gave Aviva a new perspective. Almudron was right when he said that, like the power of dragons, progress should be welcomed, but treated in the most cautious manner. After all, the medical inventions of Schrade were progress meant to help others, but it was used for selfish destruction. Nuclear power was destructive, but could be used to provide power to homes across nations.

All this made her think about her own inventions. They could - and were - being used for good, but it would only take a switch of ownership for them to be used for unsavory purposes. The Creature Power Suits held immense power, as they could imitate the abilities of not only animals but monsters as well. Zach was already trying to steal them for his own use. Who was to say that others with even more malicious intentions and lacking the villains' incompetence would ignore them as well, should her inventions come to their attention?