Ranma vs Predator part 2 of 2 [FanFic]

[JSL...@acs.tamu.edu]

Step Four - Bagging the Prey

The pain was immeasurable, searing through its chest like a branding iron
applied to the heart and setting all its senses on fire. The clouds lifted
from its mind, the aches left its wounds, and the Predator was whole once more,
although even with its stalwart resilience it could not repress the urge to cry
out at the intensity of the pain.
The Prey would hear. If there had been any question as to its livelihood
they would be answered in the scope of a second. Then it could not give them a
second to respond, it would have to act immediately.
Utilizing its newfound strength the Hunter leapt upward at the entrance and
smashed through the wooden planks hiding the entrance to its temporary
sanctuary into the cold air of the open night. Its attack was well applied :
it had caught someone unawares, the young male it had stalked earlier in the
night. The force of its impact was enough to knock him into the air and bring
him to a hard landing on his shoulder, the sound of crunching bone resonating
louder than the snapping of the wooden floor panels he had impacted upon.
But there was no time to inspect the human's condition, for there were more
at hand. The Predator quickly looked for its next Target and found him, the
one closest to it, caught totally by surprise by the sudden appearance of the
Hunter.
An excellent situation to take advantage of.

"POP!!"
"Saotome-kun!"
Genma's attention was split sharply between Ryouga's crashing into the
ground and the seven-foot-tall extraterrestrial that was two-feet away from him
and currently closing the gap with unbelievable speed. Genma was surprised
that he was able to bring his arms down fast enough to divert the fist that was
being driven at his gut. Unfortunately he had no more hands left to stop the
other fist that swung simultaneously at his face. Stars flew before his eyes
as Genma took a powerful blow to the head and went sliding across the house's
splintered deck and onto the grass of the yard.
The next target in line was Shampoo, who had been standing right next to
Genma before he was ejected from the premises. The monster was turned away
from her, she had the chance to deliver a blow to its backside. But fueled by
a power it hadn't had before its speed surpassed her own and it quickly
delivered a reverse kick, striking her in the chest and throwing her off her
feet.
In the passing of only three seconds most of the party was already brought
down. This thing was pretty strong after all, Ranma thought, but those three
seconds had been enough for him to make his move. Ranma dove at the monster
with a leg extended and caught it across its helmet, forcing it to stagger to
the side. The creature recovered quickly, though, and swatted Ranma aside with
its arm. The blow was powerful, but nothing that Ranma couldn't resist, and as
soon as his feet touched ground he swung out his right leg and swept the
monster's feet out from under it; the thing immediately toppled over and Ranma
was on it in a flash.
"Let's see how tough you REALLY are, you bastard!! TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN!!"
A hundred blows smashed into the alien's gut in the span of a single second,
the picture of Ranma's hand appearing more like the alien's invisibility field
than a solid fist. The blinding succession punches pushed the creature into
the floorboards, wood cracking around them and splinters flying everywhere.
To Ranma's utter surprise the monster looked as though the blows hadn't
even been delivered. It hadn't flinched, grunted, or responded in any way to
the impossibly-quick attack, other than swatting its hands together and cuffing
him on both sides of the head. Ranma's impending lapse of disorientation was
enough for the alien to punch upward, landing Ranma squarely on the jaw and
driving him head-over-heels into the Tendo living room.
"Ugh..." Ranma pulled himself up out of the furniture that he had slid
through on his way to a complete stop, spitting out some blood and, to his
chagrin, a tooth. "Dammit, you're a strong one..." Intermident clicking
bathed over a low growl was the only response he got, the alien climbing to its
feet and flashing the cruel claws mounted on its wrists.
The sound of trudging footsteps came from behind it. The monster turned to
discover it had been surrounded by the combined force of Ryouga, Soun, Shampoo,
Genma and Ranma. Of the group only Mr. Tendo was without injury, but the
others looked as though they were ready for a fight regardless of their
respective physical conditions.

It was exhilarating. That was the only way to describe the sensations it
felt now, the combination of physical pain, the fire still burning throughout
its body from the hypertrichordrazine compound it had injected into itself
earlier, the taste of its own blood as it sifted through its mouth, the
impending anticipation of battle -- this was what the Predator's life was all
about.
And the prize : the head of the intended Prey, accompanied by the bonus
heads of his companions. What a fantastic Hunt this was turning out to be.

"Get it!!"
Ranma and the team of four simultaneously charged the alien from all sides.
All they had to do was gang up on it; there was absolutely no chance of it
winning now.
The creature's hand quickly moved to its side and removed a two-foot-long
metal rod, holding the seemingly-functionless stick out before it. With a
sharp CHINK long beams of metal sprung from the handle and an eight-foot-long
shaft had been created.
As they came within a four-foot radius of the beast the five attackers were
punched back at the same time, the alien kneeling to the ground and spinning
the large staff above its head as they approached. Had the blade still been
attached it would have skewered them all at once; as it was each member of the
group was slammed backwards and went tumbling in separate directions.
Ryouga was the closest to the thing as he fell. He had been able to adjust
himself to roll to his feet from the blow, but as soon as he had planted
himself firmly on the ground it was immediately pulled out from under him with
a strong kick to the head.
"HYAAAA!!" Genma leapt from out of the sky and dove feet- first into the
alien's helmet, trying to get it to lose its footing so that the team could
once-again group up on it. The alien was not shaken by the attack, however,
and before Ryouga's toppling form could drop too far to the ground the monster
took him by the hair and swung him into Genma. The two went crashing together
and flew into the kitchen, the smashing of cooking equipment and utensils
coming from within.
"Saotome-kun!!" Soun bristled with anger at the monstrosity that had
injured his friend and made a flying kick at the alien's position.
The creature retrieved a short tube-shaped weapon from its arsenal and had
it aimed at Soun before he had completed half his distance. With a pull of the
trigger Soun was snapped back sharply as a wide, tightly-strung net enveloped
him and thrust him back towards the far wall. He was slammed against the
surface with great force, a series of hooks along the net's edge latching onto
the wall and tightening their grip on him, digging into his skin.
"Father!!" Kasumi and Nabiki ran to Soun with Akane in tow and the trio
tried to pry away the constricting grip of the net, but the cords refused to
budge from their spot. Soun was unable to help : slamming into the wall with as
much strength as he had had knocked him out. "I'll go get a knife!" yelled
Kasumi as she turned for the kitchen, water still pouring from the liberated
piping system within.
Akane quickly glanced at the monster's position. It had maneuvered itself
into a confrontation between the two remaining fighters, Shampoo and Ranma.
That meant that neither of them were available to help release her father.
"Let go of me, Nabiki, I've got an idea." Nabiki loosened her support of
Akane's weight, giving her younger sister some standing room. Akane clenched
her fist tightly; she wasn't as powerful as the other fighters in the group,
but she wasn't any pushover, either. Throwing forward as much force as she
could Akane punched the concrete wall along where the net had attached itself,
and in a blast of powdered cinderblock the wall shattered and the net lost its
anchor, reflexively snapping together and caving in on itself. Soun fell
backwards through the hole in the wall unconscious, the crisscross pattern of
the net cut into his features. Akane dropped to her knees and clutched her
hand in agony, a light stream of blood trailing across the surface of her fist.
As this was taking place, Ranma and Shampoo had their hands full with the
alien, attacking in conjunction and accomplishing little. It was amazingly
powerful, receiving their punches and kicks as though they were light gusts of
wind, and even with their honed parrying and dodging skills they were hard
pressed to avoid injury from any of its attacks. The most difficult boundary
to cross, however, was the fact that whatever was giving this monster its
incredible strength was also granting it unlimited physical endurance, allowing
it to press attack after attack after attack without stopping once.
The beast lunged at Ranma with its huge staff, hoping to strike him in the
sternum and crush his ribcage. Ranma slapped his palms over the speeding end
of the polearm and resisted the pushing force as best he could, the floorboards
beneath him tearing apart as he was forced back. Deciding he wouldn't be able
to hold back the staff indefinitely Ranma quickly released his grip and dropped
to the ground, letting the monster stumble forward from the sudden loss of
resistance until it had accidentally maneuvered itself right above him.
"SHICHYU RAKU CHISEI!!" Ranma splashed his arms outward and caught the
ankles of the beast, forcing its legs apart and toppling it towards the ground.
Before it had completed half of its journey down Ranma was at its back, ready
to perform the follow-up to the 'Support Failure Ground Strike'.
"HAKUDATO SHINSHYOU!!" The 'Spitting Whitesnake Palm' flew across the
alien's back with blinding speed, neon-green welts forming from out of nowhere
as Ranma delivered a rapid succession of straight-handed spear thrusts to its
backside. Slightly relieved when he noticed that the monster had actually felt
the attack, growling openly at the pain that had been inflicted to its person,
Ranma kept himself latched to its back and decided to press the attack again.
A high-pitched whine came from the creature's shoulder, prompting Ranma to
change his mind and leap from its back. As he jumped away his eye caught the
sight of a small shoulder-mounted gun whirl about on its turret and aim in his
direction. A blast of white fire spat out of the shaft and barely missed him,
zipping past his left ear and smashing through the ceiling above. Debris fell
everywhere, a thick cloud of dust obscuring everyone's vision as it dropped
from the rafters. Ranma leapt back from the dirt cloud and primed himself,
ready to strike at the creature as soon as the cloud of dust had dispersed.
In a matter of seconds the obscurement had vanished.
So had the alien.
All that was present in the area was the debris from the roof, not enough
to completely conceal the creature had it wanted to hide underneath. Shampoo,
who had been on the other side of the mess when it had fallen, looked at Ranma
and shook her head; she had not seen anything leave from her side, either. And
there was nowhere else it could have escaped to, the exits to the room had been
blocked.
Ranma grit his teeth and looked around carefully, checking out the terrain
to see if the monster had hidden anywhere. The living room was a complete
shambles -- furniture destroyed or turned over on all sides, floorboards ripped
apart, a gaping hole covering part of the ceiling, another hole in the wall
where Akane was seated with her father and Nabiki. The exit into the hallway
was being covered by Shampoo, the exit to the dining room covered by Ranma. It
couldn't have left through the hole in the roof since the monster would have
had to push through the falling debris to use it as an exit, and Ranma would
have immediately noticed that. There was a chance that it may have become
invisible and was standing somewhere in the room with them, but the
invisibility was always accompanied by a strange distortion field, and in such
an open space there was no way it wouldn't have stood out, translucent or not.
"Dammit!" Ranma muttered to himself, "Where did it go?!"

The Prey was worried. Heightened intensity of body temperature was
evident, the way they looked about nervously trying to see it... None of them
knew where it had gone, and that scared them.
The primary Target was without a doubt a fabulous Trophy to be won. Even
with the pain-dulling effects of the injected compound still running through
its body the power of his blows had still inflicted sharp stabbing pains along
its back. The compound would last less than half-an-hour longer, at best, but
by then this fight would be over.
So what to do now? The Predator surveyed the battle field carefully --
four potential Targets, one male injured beyond battle-usefulness, two females
that had sustained light damage, and the intended Quarry that had not yet
sustained any debilitating injuries. It could not use the pulse cannon on
them, for they were too fast and would instantly scatter if they heard the
weapon charge up; the targeting system was not working properly, anyway, it
wouldn't have been worth chancing it. It had already used its one net on the
injured human male below, and its spear was no longer effective for skewering
the Prey without its head.
A plan of action was quickly decided upon. Its arsenal of weapons was not
yet exhausted, its strength would be at its peak for some time to come, and to
top it all off it had the element of surprise on its side. Perfect.
Now it was just a matter of deciding which of the Prey it would attack
first...

Akane looked at the living room nervously : Ranma and Shampoo were both
standing their ground, looking about carefully trying to see where the monster
had run off to and detecting nothing. The sound of the cold air wafting
through the open sections of the walls and across the drapes within could be
heard, bits of debris from the wrecked portions of the house still chattering
to the ground in small chunks, the creak of the floorboards as the wooden beams
slowly warped back to their original spots after being so brutally pounded upon
by the fighting that had taken place on them. Each of these sounds could not
go unheeded, however, for they could just as easily have been the beast
slipping behind the curtains, scraping parts of the wall as it tried to move
about, walking upon the floorboards as it moved in to attack.
She couldn't recall a more fearsome creature that Ranma had fought.
Certainly, there were larger and possibly even stronger ones -- the dojo
stealer, Herb, Pantyhose Tarou, the seven-headed dragon Yamatano Orochi -- all
were powerful, none were so malign.
And it was in her house. She could barely contain her anger at such a
deplorable creature, invading her own home, hurting her father and friends.
"Someone please give me a hand in here!"
Everyone swiftly looked towards the kitchen, eyes wide. Kasumi had just
stepped out, wet from the still-ruptured pipeline above the sink. In her hand
she held a small butcher knife originally intended to cut Soun free of his
bonds; whatever had kept her in the kitchen all this time had caused her to
forget that she was carrying it.

Movement. The Hunter looked at the source. The tall female human.

"Kasumi, don't come out here!!"

She was armed with a small bladed weapon. So she had decided to join the
battle; very well, she would count as Prey. Attack her.

Kasumi looked confused at Akane's request. As fast as she could Akane got
up and ran for her sister, hoping to pull her back into the kitchen before she
would be in any danger.

The Predator had another projectile weapon handy that would not give any
forewarning sounds, a sharp double-bladed bolt that was mounted in an ejector
upon its wrist. And the Hunter had had plenty of experience firing it without
a tracking system. Quickly it raised its arm at the new threat.

Something touched Ranma. Nothing physical, more like a sixth-sense,
warning him that something was about to happen. Akane was in danger.
As fast as he could Ranma ran to her.

The Predator fired.

Akane was knocked forward into her sister, the two of them crashing into
the ground. Akane's back screamed out again as yet another weight had been
thrown on it, while Kasumi had the wind knocked out of her from hitting the
ground with such force; the small knife clattered from her hand and slid across
the ground, falling through one of the holes in the floorboards.
"Kasumi!" Akane called out with worry as she tried her best to ignore the
throbbing in her back. Kasumi looked back with an expression of intense
concern on her face, although it didn't seem to be associated with any physical
unpleasantness she may have been feeling. Akane looked back and saw the cause
of her worry -- Ranma was laying on her back gripping his right shoulder
tightly, his face wrenched in agony as a small blade protruded from his arm.
Shampoo heard a click, like the pulling of a trigger, and saw the blade as
it sped through the air from its source right towards Kasumi. She saw Akane
run towards her sister, not realizing she had placed herself right between the
two. She saw Ranma bolt towards Akane. She saw the threesome crash into each
other as the force of the metal bolt slammed into Ranma's shoulder instead of
Akane's back.
How DARE it!! How dare the beast hurt her Ranma!! Her injuries and the
insult brought upon her were one thing, but to harm her husband...
Shampoo wanted to cry out Ranma's name, to see if he was alright, to tend
his wound. But she couldn't. As long as the demon was there Ranma would
remain in danger. And she was the only one that knew the monster's
position.
It was embarrassing. The creature had used this tactic on her before and
she hadn't thought that it may have tried to utilize it a second time. Right
above the ceiling lamp, where the light was least amplified, was a barely-
discernable field of distorted air. Once again it was grappling onto
the ceiling.

The primary Target had blocked its shot. No matter, his injury would
simply make him easier to catch--
An incredibly powerful blow forced its hands loose of the ceiling. The
blow was strong enough to be felt, to create pain, and the following force of
smashing into the floor was likewise felt. More strikes, all across its body.
The sound of rending metal -- its armor was compromised, the cloaking field
rendering it invisible was disabled. A thick crunch from its side -- ribs were
broken. It tried to get up and was forced back down again. Quickly it tried
to take a random shot with its pulse cannon. The sound of firing was heard,
along with the blast of an explosion above it and the light sensation of
falling debris.
The blows continued, although reduced in intensity now, but still
incredibly strong. More rending metal -- clanging to the ground next to the
Hunter was the remains of its pulse cannon. If the attacker continued it would
probably destroy whatever weapons remained in its arsenal, possibly even kill
it.

Shampoo threw as much force into her strikes as she could, disregarding how
tired she was becoming after an entire evening of such fighting. The monster's
energy weapon had taken a shot at her, destroying one of the maces that made
her set, so she was reduced to putting what she could into single blows. She
hoped that it would be enough.
It wasn't. The now-visible monster pushed itself upward with its arms,
resisting her most recent assault and knocking her back. Before she had a
chance to react the thing had readied its staff and caught her full-length
across the solarplexus, her diaphragm reflexively emptying her lungs of air.
The force of the polearm continued to lift her off the ground and arc her
through the air, the room's image abruptly changing into blurred patterns
before her eyes.
Then a distinct impact.
Then darkness.
"SHAMPOO!!"
Ranma had just begun to get to his feet when her saw the floorboards smash
apart with Shampoo's body plowing through them. The beast stood towering
above her, rearing its spear over its head. Sharp end or not the alien looked
ready to drive it through her.
The pain in his shoulder had stopped. For that matter all the sensation in
his right arm was gone. The limb just hung limply to his shoulder, a blade of
some sort embedded deeply within, its rear end still poking through the hole it
had created in his red silken shirt. And on top of it all Ranma was right-
handed. This battle was looking worse every second.
Ranma pushed off the ground as hard as he could and practically flying
across seven-yards of floor slammed the monster full-force with his numb
shoulder.
The monster was thrown away from Shampoo, the staff in its hands flinging
off through one of the holes in the wall.
The sound of popping bone was heard. At least the loss of sensation had
kept him from feeling his humerus dislocate from its joint.
The two went crashing into the entry hall, smashing through a couple of
small tables and into the solid floor at the front door. The two had barely
come to a stop when the monster put its hand to its side and pulled a rounded
blade from the circular holster on its thigh, small lights suddenly blinking on
its surface acknowledging activation. Ranma, on top of the prone beast,
swatted as hard as he could with his left fist and knocked the discus from its
hand before it could get a solid grip on the finger holes; with a low hum the
blade rapidly glided down the hall and plunged into the bathroom door, jamming
itself tightly in the wood and staying put.
The strike had left Ranma open and the alien took advantage of it,
backhanding him across the face and knocking him away. Ranma was able to flip
himself to his feet, but the useless weight of his arm put him off balance and
he slipped, landing on his rear-end. The monster had already gotten to its
feet and was over Ranma before he knew it, and with a swift motion of the leg
Ranma was punted headfirst back into the living room like a football.
Ranma felt the impact of hitting the ground and tried to shake it off when
he felt that he had finally stopped moving. The room was beginning to turn red
in front of him and as he tried to get up a warm sensation poured across his
face and a thick tangy taste ran through his mouth. Then another shock, this
time in the gut, and Ranma felt himself flying once more. As he hit ground
again he felt the blood over his eyes getting thicker making it harder to see,
but he had a feeling that he was somewhere near the dining room, for he could
swear he heard Akane calling his name.
He would have to get up again, he couldn't allow it to hurt her anymore.
"_RANMA_!!!"
At least that's what Akane wanted to scream out. But somehow her throat
didn't want to function, the only sound coming was a light rasp. Ranma lay on
the floor of the dining room, barely moving after the monster had kicked him in
the stomach and sent him crashing through the table and onto the floor. What
if something happened? What if this was truly the end? He wouldn't know how
she felt, how much she wanted to save him, how helpless she felt.
She tried to yell again, and once again the raspy wheeze was all that
emerged.
Yet Ranma still turned his head towards her. As though he heard her call
out, after all.
And with his one good arm he pushed himself off the floor and stood before
the juggernaut, a bloody mess, but refusing to be beaten.

The Prey was practically defeated, yet he still continued to press on,
lumbering to his feet and staring defiantly at his opponent through the gushing
blood that filled his eyes. One of the greatest features of the human race,
thought the Predator -- even after so much punishment he refused to give up and
let death come quietly, fighting to the end in such a hopeless battle. The
Hunter was truly pleased with this one; he would have an honored place in its
trophy case, perhaps even a case all to himself with the skulls of his
companions alongside him.

Ranma held out his good hand before him, palm spread outward. This would
have to count. There were no other avenues of attack he could take in the
condition he was in. He would have to rely on his own self-confidence.

Enough playing with the Prey. It was time to bring this Hunt to a
conclusion.
The Hunter looked at the outline of the fine-edged claw on its right arm, a
pattern of black and blue to its eyes. It would do the job nicely.

The monster stepped towards him, the silver blades on its wrist flashing,
clearly reflecting the light from above along its surface. Its
brown-and-yellow skin glistened with a combination of sweat and the neon-green
pallor of its blood, dribbling from the many injuries it had sustained in the
evening. This was it.
Ranma concentrated on the beast, a light yellow glow beginning to form
within his hand.

The Hunter lunged at its Quarry, claws thrust forward.
A heat signature had begun to form in his hand, from what the Hunter
couldn't say.
It didn't matter.

"_MOUKO TAKABISHYA_!!!"
A wave of yellow energy blazed from Ranma's hand and engulfed the running
monster.

The heat signature in the human's hand exploded into a fierce blast of
power.
The Hunter's body felt as it had in the earlier battle against the other
human, an incredible force pressing against its body, the ground around it
ripping apart, the heat signature blazing across its field of vision.
The Predator was pushed away.
But there had been too many losses this evening. It refused to lose
anymore.
So the Predator pushed back.

The monster still came.
Ranma's confidence flustered.
The energy blast fizzled.
And with almost unbelievable momentum the serrated claws slammed him in the
torso.
Nabiki screamed.
Kasumi fainted.
Akane just watched. Her world was over. She felt like it wasn't even
real, anyway. It was all happening to someone else, poor soul.
The blade continued, its teeth sharply grating along bone and tissue, and
back into the open air.
Ranma couldn't feel a thing. He knew he was being lifted off the ground,
he could see the monster in front of him, he could feel his shirt tear, but
there was no pain, no unpleasant sensations.
The monster didn't stop with the final cut, however. It continued to push
forward, carrying Ranma along with it as it ran. The dining room sped away and
was quickly replaced with the kitchen. Ranma glimpsed around casually as he
flew and saw what a mess the place had become. Nearby lay a large panda with a
little black pig by its side, a refrigerator laying on the unconscious panda's
back. So that's why his father hadn't come back out to fight; he had protected
Ryouga with his own body and took the brunt of the impact. That would also
explain what Kasumi needed help with in the kitchen. The two were beaten up a
little bit, but at least they were still alive. Unlike himself, Ranma thought
amusedly.
The flying came to a stop with a heavy blow to his back. The monster
couldn't run any more : there was a wall in its way.

The Hunt was over. The Prey was finished.

"What do you know," Ranma thought, "The old woman was right after all..."
He then frowned annoyedly as he began to lose all sense : the water from
that broken pipe on the wall was beginning to clean the blood from his eyes
JUST when everything went black. How ironic.

What the--?? Something was horrendously wrong! The Predator shook its
head and looked at the Prey again.
Just a second before it had the human male impaled on its claws, beaten
completely and rammed against the wall. Water was pouring everywhere,
drenching them both. The fight was over, the Hunter had won.
And then something happened. Had anything damaged the sensors in its
helmet? No, they were still functioning normally.
Where was the PREY?!! He had vanished, leaving a smaller human female run
through on its blades! The female was horribly injured, apparently just as
much as the male had been, but there was no mistaking it -- this was not the
Prey. There were no similarities : the heat signatures were completely
different, size and weight were much smaller, even the heart beat was faster,
although it was beginning to slow down, probably from all her injuries.
Not AGAIN, dammit, NOT _AGAIN_!!!

Akane tried to fight it as much as possible, but no matter how much she
tried she could feel herself coming back to earth, reentering that life that
she wanted no part of. The sounds of her middle sister crying was beginning to
gain strength in her ears, the wreckage of the house no longer felt like a
dream. It was all real.
Even what happened to Ranma.
Right now that monster was in the kitchen with him, doing who-knew-what to
his dead body.
Dead? Akane stood up and looked at the kitchen entrance. He might still
be alive.
She'd have to be sure. If he WAS still alive he would need her help. If
not...
She could always worry about that later.
Akane walked over to the kitchen door and peeked around the corner, with a
surprising amount of calm she noted to herself. Water was still pouring from
the entrance, spewing forth from the vacated piping within. She could see Mr.
Saotome lying still on the floor, transformed into his panda form by the cold
water. He was apparently only unconscious, his body still rising and falling
from thin breaths. Akane held her breath as she noticed P-Chan next to him;
what was HE doing there? And hadn't Ryouga-kun been knocked into the kitchen
as well? Perhaps he was around on the other side of the kitchen; she'd have to
check on that in a second.
Akane looked a little farther around the door's edge.
The alien monster stood there, Ranma hanging limply from its wrist,
two-feet over the ground. Akane's knees buckled under her, her heart felt as
though it had burst in her chest. Trembling, she looked at him carefully,
hoping for some sign of life and seeing none. No breath. No motion. Nothing.
He... She looked like a rag doll, nailed to the wall. Ranma had transformed
into his female-self and the beast was handling her face, examining her with
intense curiosity.
Then, to Akane's total surprise, the alien removed its claws from
Ranma-chan. Carefully. And then placed her to the ground. Carefully.
Blood poured from the incredible wound through her stomach and back,
diluting in the water pooled across the kitchen floor. Akane felt so tired.
So much tragedy had happened tonight; this had topped it off.
Then Akane received yet another shock. The alien removed her shirt, the
exposed wound showing clearly in the kitchen light. Akane wretched at the
sight, bile filling her mouth, yet she was somehow able to resist throwing up.
The monster had no such problems inspecting the wound, and after tearing the
shirt into a long strip it lifted Ranma upright and wrapped the cloth around
her torso, blocking the flow of blood.
It was trying to keep her alive. After all it had done to try and kill its
opponents, it was actually trying to minimize the blood loss.
Akane finally understood. Why it had tried to attack her but not her
sisters. Why it had only fired at Kasumi when she was holding the butcher
knife. Why it had not finished off Mr. Saotome while it had the chance. And
why it was trying to seal Ranma-CHAN's wounds when it had just earlier tried to
kill Ranma-KUN.
As long as Kasumi and Nabiki didn't seem threatening the monster would
leave them alone. As long as the alien didn't associate Mr. Saotome with the
panda he would stay safe. And P-Chan didn't appear to be to be any threat to
it. That left Ryouga, Shampoo, her father and herself.
Akane looked to the hole in the floor Shampoo was still laying in only a
couple of meters away, and cupping some of the water running from the kitchen
into her hands she quietly slipped over to her and spilled the contents of her
hands onto her prone form. Shampoo instantly transformed into her cat form,
remaining comatose as her body shrank into a small mass of white and purple
fur.
Akane had no idea where Ryouga had vanished to, but wherever he was she'd
have to trust that he could take care of himself. So now there was just her
father and herself.
Trying to remain unheard Akane moved to her father's position. Kasumi had
passed out next to him, and Nabiki was a complete wreck, still crying to
herself; Akane was surprised that she wasn't in the same condition, especially
after being the intended target, but if she wanted to try and keep the others
safe she'd have to hold herself together.
"Be strong," she told herself silently.

The female was functionally dead. Her heart had stopped beating and her
lungs had ceased functioning. Still, revival was possible if performed before
brain deterioration set in, which would start in only a few minutes. After
that point there would be twelve minutes at most before complete death took
place.
The Predator stood up and looked about the kitchen, then stepped out of the
room and surveyed the house itself. The primary Target had completely
vanished. All that was left was the huge, unconscious animal buried under the
cold machine, a smaller animal, identical to the one it had encountered earlier
in the evening, another small animal that lay within the hole one of its Quarry
had occupied shortly before, and the two female humans, neither of which seemed
to pose any threat after all.
Simply unbelievable, every single creature it had stalked earlier in the
evening was gone. COMPLETELY GONE! Vanished into thin air, leaving nothing
but other, defenseless animals in their place. And on top of it all was a
practically-dead human that it had mortally wounded without intention.
The Predator looked back into the room with the human female's cooling
form. It considered what it should do with her... She was of no real use to
it, just a single human, and although the Hunter was skilled in many methods of
cardiological revival the longer it dallied the colder the trail of its Prey
would become.
It then reminded itself that it was of a higher order than those it hunted.
It had the privilege to deem what was worthy of the Hunt, it had the right to
justify its acts of violence because it was of the higher morality.
Its justification for violence, however, could be equally balanced by a
justification for mercy.
A click caught its ear. The Hunter spun around and caught a quickly-fading
heat source in its eye, on a doorknob leading into a small enclosed room.
Through the thin wooden door it could discern a single figure huddled within,
although the room itself seemed to be generating an unusually large amount of
heat on its own. As quickly as possible the Predator ran for the door and,
readying itself for a possible attack, ripped it from its hinges.
One of the female Prey, the one that resided at this location.
Perhaps this evening would prove better than it had originally thought.

Akane looked up at the seven-foot-tall monstrosity that towered above her,
looking back down at her with a menacing stare. Amazing, her emotions were so
worn that she wasn't even scared when the closet door clattered loudly to the
ground and the alien found her crouched in the corner of the small room by the
clothes drier.
Well, she was a LITTLE scared...
It reached for her. She didn't bother fighting back as it yanked her out
of the closet by her shirt. She didn't scream or make a single sound when it
pulled her up to its helmet and eyed her carefully. She just hung there in its
hand, ready to let it do whatever it wanted with her.
She was tired. Ranma was dead. She didn't care anymore.

-------------------------End - Step Four----------------------

Step Five - Final Lesson

"_NOOOOO_!!!"
Ranma bolted upward, sweat drenching his body in a riddling of clear
granules. Suddenly the world was spinning like a carnival ride and without
even realizing it he dropped backwards, bumping his head against the hard
surface of whatever it was he was laying upon, gasping for air and finding how
refreshing it was to actually breathe.
What had HAPPENED?!! Everything was so cold, it felt as though the blood
in his veins had frozen solid. And why was it so hard for him to see? Almost
everything was black, although the vague impression of small beams of light
could be seen cracking along the walls.
Walls? Ranma tried to sit straight once more, slower this time to keep
from passing out, and once fully upright he was able to look about. The room
he was in was practically pitch black except for the thick mist flowing along
the floor, glowing eerily from the the thin stream of light emanating under the
door. Ranma looked under himself and noticed that he had been laying on a hard
block of metal standing four-feet off the ground.
Chattering his teeth and rubbing his hands together for warmth Ranma tried
to recall how he got... here. There was the fight with the alien, everyone had
been beaten except himself, he tried to use a chi-blast, and...
Ranma, panicky, quickly felt himself over for injury and was somewhat
surprised to find a set of breasts on his body; strange, he didn't recall
transforming into his female-self, although there HAD been water present just
before the darkness had set in. Ranma-chan ignored her altered state and felt
around the stomach area. A tight bandage of some sort, wrapped around her body
and sealing the wounds that were present on her front and back. But simple
bandaging wouldn't have been enough to keep her from dying, not with all the
internal injuries she would have suffered from such a deep cut...
Someone had saved her life?
Ranma winced as she ran her fingers along the edges of the wounds on her
back and front, still somewhat raw; she didn't want to think what kind of mess
laid underneath the bandaging. The other bruises and lesions over her body
still stung, and running her tongue along the inside of her mouth she noted
that one of her molars was still missing. Finally there were a few gashes
across her forehead, but they for the most part had sealed themselves up.
"Jeeze I feel like a complete idiot," Ranma scolded herself quietly,
holding her head in her hand. The little ghoul had been completely right about
the monstrosity -- it had taken out her father, Ryouga, Mr. Tendo, Shampoo,
Ukyou, Mousse, and herself in no time at all, even with their combined skill
and training. There was no telling what it had done to them after she had
passed out...
AKANE!
What about _AKANE_?!
Ranma slid herself off the table, grimacing as she turned her body, and
tried to open the door. There didn't seem to be any handle or doorknob
present, so she crouched down and took a hold of the ajar portion at the
bottom, pulling upward. The door was incredibly heavy, and her body was barely
in any condition to lift the huge thing, but with a little effort she was able
to get it high enough to crawl out. As she squirmed through the space she had
created for herself Ranma quickly noticed that her right arm was functional
once more; a nasty scar was carved into her shoulder where the blade had
struck, but at least her joint had been reset and other than some mild aching
there was nothing wrong with it.
Where in the world--? This certainly wasn't like any hospital Ranma had
ever been in : the walls were embroidered with intricate patterns that reminded
her of insect shells, a bronze-like luster shimmering across its curved
surface. The mist across the ground was much thicker than in the room she had
been in previously, a series of hidden lights in the ceiling and on the floor
giving a deep-orange hue to everything in sight, although still not providing
much in the way of illumination. The long hallway stretching out before her
was as humid as the little room, and Ranma quickly noticed that the cold she
had felt before was that of her own body; the actual structure was quite warm,
almost jungle-like.
Looking about carefully, she walked down the corridor, hoping not to have a
run-in with anything... undesirable. It was kind of embarrassing, walking
around in female form without a shirt, but modesty was not a concern at the
moment. The air was thick and soupy, almost unfit for breathing. A dull
thudding sound resonated along the walls at regular intervals, the sharp hiss
of an air vent spraying into the tunnel cutting the monotonous beat. Ranma kept
an ear sharply tuned for any sound of motion as she crept alongside the wall,
but heard nothing except her own footsteps swishing through the mists below.
A large chamber stood before her, hemispherical in shape with the same
patterns on its walls as in the corridor. Placed about in a diamond
configuration were four tall, thick monolith-style panels, spaced apart widely
and engraved with a number of strange emblems and symbols, and on the ceiling
was a dome-shaped skylight, radiating the same sickly glow of orange that
pervaded across the rest of the room. Ranma looked at one of the monoliths
carefully, trying to figure out if it served any purpose and unable to make
heads or tails of the thing.
Something caught her eye, an open enclave placed within the chamber wall.
There was no light emanating from it as whatever was inside was buried deep
enough within to be lost in shadows, yet Ranma could discern something there,
the faint reflection of the ceiling lights off of a shiny surface. Ranma
rounded the panel she was examining and walked towards it slowly.
A light blinked on as Ranma got within a few feet. The sight within made
her heart skip a beat in fright, it was all she could do not to yelp out in
shock.
She had found the alien's 'trophy case'.
The grisly light in the mini-chamber cast a bright glow over the rows of
skulls lining the wall, making them look rather supernatural as they leered
back at her with empty black sockets. Ranma-chan looked at each one in morbid
fascination -- all were professionally polished to a glistening white, hung
from the wall by hooks or propped up on individual stands. Ranma had never
before seen skulls like these in her life, probably animals or even people from
other planets that this 'predator' had decided to hunt down and kill; a few of
them were minorly damaged, a jagged hole in the cranium or perhaps a missing
tooth blemishing an otherwise perfect trophy.
There was one shape that Ranma DID recognize however. She walked up to the
small human skull adorning a pike and fingered it carefully, tracing the
contour of the ridge above the eyehole and down where the cheek would have
been. Suddenly Ranma was overcome with total anguish as she looked it, a
terrible fear running through her body. She looked at the skull some more, her
trembling growing stronger the longer she stared at it, until she couldn't keep
herself standing anymore and fell to her knees. Tears began to pour from her
eyes, her nose began to run a little, and an uncontrollable sobbing heaved from
her chest. Ranma chided herself for being so unmanly and crying like a child,
but she really didn't feel like being very manly at this moment. She buried
her face in her hands and began to cry.
Was this Akane's fate? To be decapitated and displayed for the whole world
to see? Like some science project or the grand display at a hunting lodge?
And it was all Ranma's fault, for being so stubborn and pig-headed and
over-confident, for not listening to well-spoken advice, for blazing in like
some idiotic cowboy. It was all her fault. She had always meant to treat
Akane better, perhaps even tell her what she really felt about her, but now she
would never have the chance. No more chances at all...
"Ranma...?"
Ranma opened her eyes and looked upward at the skull in front of her,
unsure of what she just heard.
Her mind was playing tricks on her now. Good, it would serve her right if
she was tortured for the rest of her life with Akane's voice ringing in her
ears.
"RANMA!!"
It was Akane's voice, alright, clear as day.
"I'm sorry," Ranma pleaded to the skull before her, "I'm sorry for being
such a jerk to you all that time. Please forgive me."
"What are you babbling about?"
Amazing, Akane's indelicate tone even carried from beyond the grave. Well,
if she wanted to be that way Ranma wouldn't contest her this time. She could
say whatever she wanted without argument.
"Akane," Ranma started, becoming more sorrowful with each moment she spoke,
"I know I treated you so rottenly all that time, and I won't blame you if you
think I'm an idiot for acting so stupid--" She cleared her throat, trying to
keep talking without choking. "But for whatever it's worth now..." Ranma's
voice almost became a whisper, "I really cared about you."
There was just silence for a moment. Ranma's eyes burned a little as the
tears kept coming, and she hoped that Akane had heard her last statement,
wherever she had gone.
The silence was broken. "Thank you, Ranma. I care about you, too. Now,
WILL YOU PLEASE UNTIE ME?"
An awfully strange request for the dead to make... And now that she thought
about it Ranma could swear the voice was coming from behind her. Unable to
repress a nagging urge to satisfy her curiosity she turned around to see Akane
looking back at her annoyedly, arms and legs latched onto the back of the
monolith she had been examining the moment before.
She was still ALIVE! A bit bruised and fatigued from the rigors of the
evening, but alive nonetheless!! As quickly as she could Ranma jumped up and
tore the shackles off of Akane's limbs. The second she was free the two hugged
each other tightly.
"I thought you were DEAD!" exclaimed Akane as she gripped Ranma. "ME? _I_
thought YOU were dead!" was her response. After a moment in each other's arms
the two let go, blushing a bit as they realized how they were positioned.
Ranma wiped away the tears from her eyes, somewhat embarrassed at the spectacle
she had made of herself a short while before. Akane must have noticed this,
and Ranma was thankful that she didn't start rubbing it in.
A quick change of subject was needed. "Where are we?"
Akane rubbed her wrists. "I'm not really sure. This entire evening's been
such a daze, I can barely remember anything that's happened to us up to now. I
think we're at that thing's... home."
Ranma quickly panicked. "Good grief, I HOPE not! Shampoo's grandmother
told us this thing was from _outer space_!!"
Akane blinked unbelievingly at her red-haired fiance. "It's an ALIEN?"
Certainly not the explanation she had expected. But now that she thought about
it that would certainly explain a lot... "Well, if it IS from another planet I
don't think we've taken off or anything like that. After all, it seemed so
determined to find you..."
"Find me? I thought it already did that."
Akane shook her head. "No, no, it found your GIRL-self, but it doesn't
know that you two are the same person."
So THAT's why she was bandaged up. The monster must have thought it
stabbed the wrong person and out of guilt or whatever it stitched her back
together. "And what about Pop?"
"Same thing : it didn't know he was the panda. I poured some water on
Shampoo and turned her into the cat, and the monster didn't recognize her
either."
Ranma rubbed her head unbelievably. "Wow, I never thought my curse would
actually save my life." Then another question came to mind, one which Ranma
was almost afraid to ask. "What about your dad?"
Akane knit her brow in thought. "That was the strange part... I didn't
have time to hide him anywhere, so I put him in the clothes drier. The monster
found me in the laundry closet, and I was pretty sure that when it opened and
searched the drier it would find father as well, but for some reason it didn't
see him. Even when it was looking right at him!"
"Now that IS pretty weird... Was there anything in the drier?"
"Just a bunch of clothes. And they weren't even covering him..."
Ranma pursed her lips; this information might prove useful. "At least
everyone's safe," she commented.
"Not everyone," Akane said worriedly, "I never saw what happened to
Ryouga-kun..."
Ranma cocked an eyebrow in annoyance; Ryouga had turned into P-Chan last
she saw him and was perfectly safe. Honestly, how long would this stupid
fiasco take place? For a second Ranma considered letting Akane know exactly
what happened to him, then decided against it -- after all, there was still a
chance they'd get out this hole mess alive, and if she found out she'd probably
kill Ryouga when she found him, then kill Ranma for knowing about it and not
telling her. "Don't worry," said Ranma, "I'm pretty sure Ryouga made it out of
the house safely."
"How would you kn--?"
"Just trust me," Ranma interrupted, not wanting to go any further with the
subject. So everyone was safe for the time being... Well, ALMOST everyone.
"Akane, why are YOU here?"
Akane just shrugged in response. "I don't know. It just picked us both up
and before I knew it I was strapped to that wall."
That was weird... Yet another thing they would have to worry about that
later, she supposed. "Come on, let's get out of here."
The two headed down the long corridor opposite the one Ranma had entered
in, carefully skulking along the walls in the hopes of avoiding detection. If
this WAS the monster's base of operations it could practically be anywhere
inside it, invisible or not. The two continued to sneak as silently as
possible for what seemed like miles of hallway, jumping with a start each time
steam decided to vent itself from the wall, each time something made an
unexpected THUMP, each time a mysterious creak came from the floor.
Then Ranma saw it, about ten meters up the hall.
An OPENING! Beyond lay darkness leading to who-knew-what, but at least it
was an exit of some sort, no more insect-pattern walls or ominous orange lights
visible. Amazing, all they had to do was simply walk out?
Experience had taught her better. The amount of effort that monster had
put into tracking and hunting everyone this night was more than enough proof
that it wasn't going to be so easy. Akane came around the corner just behind
Ranma and immediately noticed the egress as well.
"An EXI--" Ranma quickly clasped her hand over Akane's mouth and put a
finger over her own. "Ssh! Yes, I know it's an exit," she whispered. Akane
removed Ranma's hand and whispered back. "So let's get out of here."
"You don't really think that thing's just going to let us leave, do you?"
Ranma looked at the open door carefully. "No, it's got something in mind..."
Ranma put up a hand, directing Akane to stay in her place while she
searched ahead. Slowly she made step after step towards the door, the ground
giving the impression of a rough metal grating to her bare feet; amusingly
enough, she had to admit that the mists roiling silently along the floor of the
structure were kind of cozy, almost like walking on an extremely thick carpet.
Each step brought her a little closer to the door, although her snail's-pace
speed made the trek feel like it was taking years. Ranma kept her eyes (along
with every one of her other senses) peeled carefully for ANYTHING, no matter
how insignificant, and to her relief, and complete surprise, there didn't seem
to be anything out there.
Without contention Ranma-chan reached the doorway and looked out, keeping
her back to the wall as she peered through the aperture. The air around the
exit was cold as the night had been before, although no wind could be felt.
Ranma squinted and tried to make out shapes in the darkness but it was taking
her eyes a little while to adjust from the bright interior of the structure to
the shadows of outside. A dull rumbling sound, louder than the constant
thudding that resounded within the alien structure, could be heard from all
directions with a reverberating quality that gave it the impression of echoing,
accompanied by what sounded like metal screeching upon metal.
Ranma looked back at Akane, and checking around once more to make sure that
nothing was out of the ordinary she waved her over. As carefully as she could
Akane walked to her, trying to be equally as vigilant.
She was almost at the door, only five-feet from Ranma when the mists along
the ground began to churn about energetically. And out of the thick soup of
clouds burst an enormous distortion, standing seven-feet-tall and looking down
upon her like a bug in a jar.

THIS was unexpected. Allowing the injured human female to leave was
originally planned; after all, she had no purpose in its Hunt, but the Predator
hadn't anticipated that she would attempt to escape with the other female. It
would have to hurry and restrain the Bait once more before the Prey arrived to
retrieve her or else the entire plan would go to waste.

Ranma couldn't believe it. The damn thing was laying down on the ground
right in front of them, invisible and completely silent!
Akane was equally shocked at the sudden appearance of the beast, her mind
suddenly numbing from the immeasurable scare she felt. She noticed her knees
begin to buckle under her and beads of sweat could be sensed rolling down her
forehead, her mind screaming at her, telling her to run like hell.
But the exit was so close. If she ran away now she'd never make it back
home.
The monster moved forward and began to reach for her.
Forget fear! Heck, forget all logical thinking, just go _through_ the damn
monster!!
To Ranma's surprise Akane bolted straight at the distortion in a fury,
crashing right into it and only succeeding in knocking herself to the ground
hard. The monster staggered back a little at the amount of force she used, but
that was it, no other damage.
It was still enough for Ranma to act. The alien was too enthralled with
Akane to even pay attention to her, not even giving Ranma-chan a glance from
its invisible face, a mistake she decided to take full advantage of. As the
creature was rapidly regaining its footing Ranma leapt onto its back and
grappled its neck with her arms, then slammed her feet into where she hoped
would be the back of its knees. As the legs reflexively fell to a kneeling
position the rest of the mess upward went toppling backward and crashed to the
ground, its body arced as the inflexibility of its back tried to compensate for
the strain put on its neck and legs. The beast yelled out loudly at the sharp
pain it must have felt all across its body. Ranma-chan, safe under the
upward-bent back, released her grip and rolled out quickly, trying to avoid
whatever retaliation the monster was undoubtedly planning.
"Akane! Are you okay?!" she cried out as she quickly got to her fiance's
side. Without answering Akane tried to get up using Ranma's shoulder as a
brace, but Ranma decided she was moving much too slowly for the danger they
were in and hoisted Akane over her shoulder. "Hold on!!"
The monster slid its legs out from under it and was able to begin pushing
itself up when Ranma ran over it, kicking it in the gut and she passed, and
flew out the exit at full speed, Akane holding onto her tightly as per
instructed.
The lighting was weak but still bright enough to tell Ranma exactly where
they were; the rumbling and the sounds of scraping metal, as well as the chill
of the night making complete sense now. "Jeeze, it's living in the Tokyo
subway system!" she exclaimed as she leapt down from the exit to the ground
ten-feet below and continued to run. The area they were in looked as though it
hadn't been used for years, dirt and grime covering what once were operational
lanes of track, but the intensity of the clatter made by trains said that they
weren't too far away from civilization.
A gasp escaped Akane's lips as she peered behind them. "Ranma, LOOK!!"
Ranma turned her head to catch a quick glimpse and was completely awestruck; a
huge vessel, about the size of the Tendo house and shaped like a stealth
bomber, was comfortably nestled within the vacant tunnel. Its surface looked
much like the armor the alien had worn and had the same insect-like surface
texture of the ship's interior. Protruding from side they had exited were a
trio of long cylinders, probably exhaust jets for the ship, and the forward
crest of the vehicle was laden with spikes and huge barbs, making it appear as
ominous and threatening as the alien itself.
"Holy shit, a space ship..."
Ranma's revel was immediately cut short with the sound of heavy feet
scuffing upon the ground next to the ship. Ranma spent a second trying to
focus her eyes to the spot but the area was too dark; if it had been hard to
see before the alien would become completely invisible in the darkness of the
tunnels.

The human females bolted off down one of the long tunnels towards the
strongest source of noise, probably in the hopes of losing it amidst others of
their kind.
This was INTOLERABLE!! If the Prey escaped the Hunter would have to seek
out the primary Target all over again, and now there was that other female to
deal with. The Predator admonished itself for coming to her aid, vowing to
punish her when the time came...
Pushing off the ground with vigor the Predator leapt forward and burst
towards the two, a trail of upturned dirt flying behind it each time its feet
slammed to the surface.

It was so close. Ranma could hear its growling yards behind them, although
her own running jostled her enough to keep her from knowing if it was gaining
or not. Under normal circumstances she could probably outrun the thing, but
Akane's extra weight compounded with the stinging of her still-knitting wounds
were slowing her down considerably. The increasing darkness of the tunnels
wasn't helping any, either.
Dammit, Ranma hated running from a fight! But if she stayed to press the
attack there was a chance that Akane would be hurt, so her first priority would
have to be getting her to safety. Besides, she didn't feel like getting in
one-on-one with that thing just yet...
"Akane!" Ranma called out, the stale air whipping over her face, "Can you
see that thing?! How far back is it?!"
Akane, bouncing a bit off Ranma's shoulder and facing the other way,
squinted as much as she could but the tunnels had grown nearly pitch black,
much too dark to see anything. "No!" she responded. "Do you know where you're
going?!"
"Not a clue!" yelled Ranma, "But there's a dim light a ways up ahead and a
lot of noise! We might be getting near a terminal!"
Sure enough, a pinpoint of light laid a quarter-of-a- kilometer before them
down the large tunnel, the only source of light in the surrounding
pitch-blackness. The pitter-patter of Ranma's feet in the thick dirt and muck
of the ground echoed from the walls, coupled by the rising volume of her rapid
breathing, and on each landing of the foot a grunt would escape her lips. It
was obvious to Akane that despite Ranma's tremendous physical endurance she was
already pressing her limits just by running; there'd be no way Ranma could win
if it boiled down to a fight. And Akane knew that it almost certainly would...

Another day, another yen...
Mr. Ota Kabushiki rubbed his eyes wearily and quickly gazed at the dozens
of commuters ready to start another day of work, stifling a yawn as he looked
from face to tired face.
Lemmings. It was like looking at hordes of lemmings, preparing to make a
plunge from a cliff into the icy depths, and here he was standing on the edge
and looking at the tracks below. Fortunately, however, a long metal subway
would eventually fill the void before them and whisk everyone on their way to
safety; well, as safe as working on the floor of the Nikkei could be... Ota
took a short glance at his watch before trying to shove his arm back down to
his side. Good grief, it wasn't even 6:00 in the morning yet and as per usual
the subway depot was packed person-to-person, barely enough room to breathe
much less stand comfortably. He was beginning to have enough of this stagnant
and deplorable routine, day in and day out packing in the cold underground with
others of his ilk like a bunch of sardines, only to end up going through the
exact same routine to go home in the evening. And so it would happen tomorrow,
and the day after, and the day after, and the d--
Mr. Kabushiki's subway-train of thought was cut short as he caught a
glimpse of something coming down the far south-eastern tunnel; strange, he'd
thought that track hadn't been in service since they updated the rail-system.
He craned his neck a little to try and get a better view, but others had also
noticed the motion and were stretching to look down the dark tunnel. Perhaps
if he shoved a little...
"OUTTA THE WAY!!!"
A blur of pink and red flashed before his eyes, followed by the force of a
speeding truck.

Before she knew it Ranma had reached the light, hit open air and crashed
headfirst into the throngs of people standing at the subway platform. Akane
went flying from her grip and people went tumbling left and right, and after
rolling across most of them Ranma finally stopped moving herself.
Without even giving herself a chance to breathe Ranma pulled herself to her
feet and whirled about quickly. "AKANE!!" she yelled out desperately, "AKANE!!
Where ARE you?!!" The swarm of commuters were flocking around her, gawking
shamelessly at her half-naked body and blocking any view Ranma may have had.
"I'm okay!" came a little ways ahead. After a little pushing and shoving
Ranma was able to get a glimpse of Akane picking herself off the crowd five
yards ahead, near the staircase leading out of the terminus.
Ranma was about to force her way through the crowd when a sudden series of
screams and yells came from behind her. Ranma bolted around...
...and received an tremendous blow to the head as a huge, distorted fist
slammed her across the face, knocking her through the surrounding masses into
the far concrete wall.

Humans were fleeing in all directions from it, bellowing and making all
sorts of noise as they ran. All the better, at least they were leaving an open
path to the Prey. The injured female had given quite a chase, an entertaining
one at that, but would have to be of secondary concern : the Bait must be
apprehended first. Then the other female's head could be taken.

Stars flashed before her eyes as Ranma frantically tried to get back on her
feet. The pain in her head was tremendous, it was an absolute wonder that she
hadn't blacked out yet.
With effort Ranma-chan stood up, back against the wall. The crowds were
all but gone, vanishing through the exit, some even disappearing down the
subway tunnels. A few stragglers lingered behind, watching the nearly
invisible seven-foot mass squaring off against Akane as though it were a
television drama.
"HEY YOU BIG BASTARD!!! LOOK AT _ME_!!!" Ranma waved her arms about
trying to distract the creature's attention, but it apparently was totally
unconcerned with her. Ranma staggered bit, hoping to be able to get into a
position of attack, but on her first step she nearly fell over, bracing herself
against the wall once more.

The injured female called out a number of times, whether the cat-calls were
directed towards the Prey or itself the Predator wasn't sure. Actually, it
simply didn't care. The only concern was getting the Quarry, and her wounds
from the night hadn't had enough time to heal, making her an easy catch.
The two circled one another.

Ranma looked at the one-sided match, helpless. The monster didn't give a
damn about her, just Akane!
No, wait. It didn't want Akane...

The Prey tried to throw a punch at it. The strike was obviously much too
weak, the Predator didn't even bother to block it. Her fist struck feebly,
bouncing lightly off its chest.

Akane was just bait. It wanted Ranma. The MALE Ranma.

The Hunter was a bit disappointed at the lack of struggle, but at least the
Prey had provided a good Hunt earlier in the evening and wasn't a total loss.
In a rather halfhearted motion the Predator took the woman's arm and prepared
to casually drag her back to the ship.

Ranma quickly looked around the terminal and saw exactly what she needed :
a coffee dispenser.
If it wanted the male Ranma...

"HEY UGLY!! OVER HERE!!!"
Now that the Prey was in hand the Predator could afford to pay some
attention to the other female, attention which for some reason she plainly
desired.
It looked at her carefully as she stood defiantly in the vacated area,
bracing herself on a large rectangular machine of some sort. Her muscles were
tense, her heartbeat rapid; she was planning something.
"YOU WANTED ME?! WELL HERE YOU GO!!!"

Ranma-chan's fist plowed into the coffee machine at her side, smashing
through the plastic covering and into the main dispenser. The hot-water
container within exploded, and scalding coffee sprayed out.

When the female had first made its move the Predator prepared to leap
forward and take her by the neck, getting in a quick, clean kill if possible.
But to its surprise her assault wasn't directed towards it.
The machine was violated. Its contents burst out, a liquid that registered
white on its infrared vision.
The female was drenched.
...
And it understood.

Ranma-male stood there, hot fluids running down his body. The stinging
heat was a godsend, immediately waking him out of his groggy state and
redirecting his attention from the pangs coming from within his body.
Well, it wasn't going to need Akane anymore.

The primary Target. It had the primary target in its hand all that time
and it never even realized...
The Hunter was furious. It had been duped into rescuing and harboring the
very being it sought out. This was complete and total humiliation. This was
unforgivable. The Trophy no longer mattered to it.
All that it cared about now was seeing the Target DEAD.

This was bad. Ranma couldn't actually see the beast's features but
something about its whole demeanor had definitely changed.
It seemed a lot meaner.
The ominous staccato-growl of the beast grew from beneath its helmet,
immediately followed by the CHING of razor-sharp claws springing from the
distortion making up its left wrist. With a flick of its arm Akane was thrown
from its hand and tossed angrily aside, sliding across the ground and rolling
to a stop a number of yards away.
"AKANE!"
The beast bolted at Ranma, a horrendous roar denoting its rage in full.
Ranma had less than a second to tear his attention away from Akane, strengthen
his hold on the coffee machine's inner workings and swing the whole mess around
him. In a rain of plastic, metal and glass the machine smashed into the alien
and both it and the coffee dispenser went flying backwards and over the subway
platform onto the tracks a couple of yards below.
"Hurry, we don't have a lot of time!" Akane grabbed Ranma's arm and the
two made for the exit, sprinting up the stairs as quickly as possible.
Commuters watched the twosome curiously as they ran through the well-lit
terminal and up the second flight of stairs into the light and noise beyond.
The first thing Ranma and Akane noticed was the sudden burst of wind
blowing across their faces. It was practically freezing outside, the
newly-risen sun not having enough time to warm the morning air. Not a single
cloud floated in the brilliant azure sky, although what view they had was
obstructed by the vast number of buildings standing tall in the Tokyo skyline,
casting huge shadows to the ground below.
The second thing they noticed was the overabundance of noise. The working
day was beginning, and as was common in Tokyo the streets were packed
bumper-to-bumper with honking, screeching cars and chattering pedestrians.
"Good grief, it's already morning?!" exclaimed Akane. "How long have we
been out?"
"Let's worry about that later, okay?! Just keep running!"
Ranma took Akane's hand and sprinted out of the subway entrance, shoving
through crowds of aggravated pedestrians and weaving a makeshift bee-line away
from the source of danger.
Unfortunately the source of danger was back on their trail and getting
closer very fast.

The Predator emerged from the hole in the ground and looked about; although
the number of heat signatures in the area increased exponentially following the
Prey would require little effort.
There, several yards running away from the Hunter's position, the Quarry
and his mate. Their flight was pointless, the throngs of humans around them
were slowing them down too much. The Hunter, still hidden to the eye, leapt to
the swarm of primitive metal conveyances and began to make its way to twosome,
bounding from vehicle to vehicle.

Shouts of confusion and fear were followed by the sound of bending metal
and shattering glass came from behind them. Akane was tempted to look back and
catch a glimpse of the monster's position, but knew that when plowing through
so many people it was somewhat wiser to keep an eye on the ground before you.
Ranma's breathing had become much harder since the chase in the tunnel, and
to Akane's uneasiness it hadn't slowed down his running performance; if he kept
this up he would burn himself out in only a few minutes. Where was he leading
her, anyway?!
"Ranma, where are we go--?"
"This looks about right," interrupted Ranma. "Sorry 'bout this, but it's
for your own good. Oh, and try to hold your breath..."
Before Akane knew it Ranma grabbed her by the sweater, and suddenly the
world went from annoyingly chilly to a strong cold wind to all-encompassing
freezing.

Noise from all directions, so many heat sources in its field of vision, but
the Prey was still within sight, fleeing impending death at the hands of the
Hunter. They were doing an excellent job of weaving through the hordes of
humans, but the Predator had the higher ground, running across the roofs of the
vehicles and was quickly gaining ground.
What the--? One of the heat sources, that of the human female...
It was gone?! The Hunter, still jumping from vehicle-to- vehicle, looked
carefully at where it had seen her last. Nothing.
To its own surprise the Predator resigned it as yet another loss to add to
the already-humiliating Hunt. It couldn't afford the time to track her down
despite the overwhelming desire to tear her in half, the main Target was still
winding his way down the street and there would be no way the Hunter would
allow him to escape its sight as well. Besides, if she shared her mate's
shape-changing abilities there would be no way to find her in the clutter of
this city.

Sigh...
Take the Hibiya-Dori Avenue exit, he had told himself, it'll get him to
Expressway Five _much_ faster than using back roads.
Tofu sat in his car and sighed once more, staring at the car parked less
than a foot in front of him with what could be described as a horrendous case
of the doldrums mixed in with a tremendous case of apprehension. Traffic
hadn't moved for fifteen minutes, and at this rate it would be at least another
hour and a half before he'd be back in Nerima.
The preceding night was truly a fight. First Ukyou, and then to his
surprise the paramedics had wheeled in Mousse half-an-hour later. Both had
sustained terrible injuries accompanied by considerable loss of blood, and to
Tofu's disappointment his role in the O.R. was restricted to consulting the
doctors since he lacked the surgical skills necessary to help.
Almost six hours of doing nothing but consulting and watching...
But in the end it worked out. Both Ukyou and Mousse made it through the
night and were more-or-less in one piece, out cold but stable.
And now he was stuck in the thick of Tokyo traffic, moving at the blinding
speed of a tortoise and unable to convey the good news on their conditions. It
would have alleviated some worry if someone had picked up the phone when he had
called from the hospital, but for reasons unknown no one lifted the line at the
Tendo residence or the Nekohanten--
Through his open car-window sounds of commotion could be heard coming from
the sidewalking crowd to his left. Tofu stuck his head out the window, curious
to see what all the ruckus was about.
"RANMA??" Yes, there was no mistaking it, Ranma was barreling down the
sidewalk, desperately pushing and elbowing his way through the morning crowd.
A worn mien covered his face, his body completely soaked in sweat; what was he
doing here? And why was he shirtless and wearing all those bandages?
"YYAAAHH!!" Tofu inadvertently called out in surprise as the roof of his
car caved in, soon followed by the roof of the car before him, and so on. Tofu
wiped what was left of his front window off the dashboard and scrambled to get
a glance of the street ahead, trying to figure out what the heck that was and
seeing nothing. Well, he thought he saw _something_, but it was more of a blur
than anything. Whatever the blur was it was moving from car to car, smashing
roofs all along the way and heading in the same direction as Ranma; or was it
moving _towards_ Ranma?
The door on the other side of Tofu's car was suddenly yanked open, and to
his bewilderment Akane slid into the seat next to him, bruised, battered and
completely drenched in water.
"Aka--?"
"H-hi, Doctor Tuh-Tofu," Akane interrupted, teeth chattering, "Th-this is
going to t-t-take a little exp-plaining..."

Ranma didn't have time to look back, but judging from the continuing
clatter and shouts of surprise the thing was still on his tail. Good, that
meant that it hadn't stopped to grab Akane and his gamble had worked.
It was the only place available at the time that he could hide her in, and
he was willing to bet that the alien wasn't going to stop and search around for
her when Ranma was so close. Besides, if the creature could see perfectly fine
in the dark but couldn't locate Mr. Tendo in a hot clothes drier, chances were
that its vision was heat-sensitive and it wouldn't find Akane in a
freezing-cold water fountain.
And now he was on his own, leaping over and through Tokyo's morning crowd
in a desperate attempt to lose some extraterrestrial head-hunter who was
probably only a couple of yards back now. He had to get out of the crowds and
grab an open stretch of ground to run on.
Through the corner of his eye Ranma glimpsed a back-road behind a couple of
buildings, one that was completely vacant and exactly what he was looking for.
Ranma ignored the angry yells of the pedestrians as he roughly pushed his
way through them and bolted down the back alley as fast as he could. Nuts,
even without Akane around to weigh him down he was barely covering his average
pace; his energy reserves were all but gone. Unfortunately the monster had to
continue following him or it might just decide to go back and search for Akane
after all.
The sudden sound of heavy scuffing feet accompanied by a low growl about
fifty yards behind him cleared his mind of that worry.
Ranma continued to push himself, racing down the cold, damp service roads
between the brick buildings. If he could just find someplace to hi-- Uh-oh.
No more road. Standing before Ranma was a tall solid-brick wall,
fifty-feet across and lined by other tall buildings casting foreboding shadows
upon the sidestreet's grounds. The wall on his right had a metal service exit
built into its back near the center of the T-shaped alley-intersection, and it
didn't look as though it was locked. If Ranma could get to it before the alien
appeared...
"Somewhere out here."
Too late.
It was Mousse's voice, THAT Ranma had no doubt of, but Mousse was in the
hospital and NO where around here. This must have been what the old ghoul had
been warning the group about earlier in the evening, about not trusting your
senses... Okay, so not only was it invisible but it could also mimic sounds.
Big deal.
"I'm not going to FALL for it, you big bastard!!" Ranma yelled out at the
top of his lungs to the morning air, "So you might as well come on out and we
can get this stupid mess OVER WITH!!!"
Silence was his answer.
Ranma brought up his fists and looked around carefully at the wide open
space around him, seeing nothing. Not that he was expecting to, but it
couldn't hurt. The monster had obviously decided that it was going to play
with him a little before it decapitated him/ate him/whatever. Great, then the
only reason it was giving him the extra time was so he could catch his breath,
making him a more entertaining kill. For a second Ranma contemplated not
fighting back; perhaps it would see him as 'not sporting enough' and leave him
be... Nah, after what he had put it through that evening there was no way in
Hell it would let him live. Besides, playing docile wasn't Ranma's style.
"Are yOu PrePARED to diE?"
Now THAT was scary.
The monster had just spoken to him, and its voice -- weird, as though
different people were talking, their voices cut and pasted together to
synthesize the words the alien had wanted.
"...answer." This time it had used Akane's voice.
"So it was a real question," Ranma said aloud. "Yeah, sure. But I'm not
going down without a fight."
"Good..." Ukyou's voice responded.
It stepped around the corner of the alley, blocking any hope of escape. It
was fully visible. Claws were extended on its right wrist. There was no way
to tell if it had fully recovered from its wounds in the previous battles, but
Ranma could see no evidence on it that said otherwise.
It wasn't armed with anything else beyond its claws, and the time it had
given Ranma wasn't enough to get much more than a quick breath or two : it
seemed that while the monster wanted to have some fun in its horrific game by
lessening its arsenal and giving Ranma some breathing room it wasn't willing to
take any special chances.
Ranma decided it was up to him to make the first move and burst off the
ground towards the monster. All of its joints were protected with armor, so
Ranma would have to hope that a punch to the gut would disorient it enough.
The punch connected but lacked the power do any significant harm to it. The
alien grabbed his wrist and swinging him around its body flung him towards the
brick wall with full force. Bracing himself for the impact Ranma landed on the
building side feet-first and immediately rebounded at the beast.
"_SHOOTING STAR KICK_!!!"
Suddenly exploding in a blaze of chi-energy Ranma smashed into the monster,
throwing it right off its feet with one of his most powerful kicks.

The Predator yelled out loudly as the Prey flew forward at blinding speeds
and drove his foot into its chest. The force of the kick was enough to throw
it off its feet and propel it across the alleyway, smashing headlong into the
wall at the other end of the T-intersection with astounding power.
The Prey was so strong, so powerful! He had to be admired, despite the
hatred that still coursed through its veins of green. Hatred? It was an
amusing feeling to be directed towards a lesser beast, but no creature before
had left it with such mortification -- after all, on all its previous Hunts the
Predator had always come up with at least a couple of Trophies. This time
there were none, and to make matters worse the loss had been the Hunter's
fault, when it failed to recognize the tricks that had been played upon its
senses by the humans.
But this was not the time to be considering such matters. The Hunter was
laying on the ground, woozy and out of breath from the attack, and the Prey
would not allow such an opportunity to go to waste.
Ah, and he wasn't. As it tried to get back to its feet the Hunter could
see the reds and yellows of the Quarry grasping a metal rod he had found on the
ground, preparing to use it as a weapon.

"Oh, man," Ranma said as he approached the prone monster, "I swear that if
I get out of this alive I'm going to be MUCH nicer to Akane..." He completed
that thought with a blow to the alien's head, utilizing the thick pipe from the
alleyway floor. The monster dropped back to the ground with a grunt and Ranma
drove the pipe into its helmet a second time. And a third. On the fourth try
the creature decided it had had enough and rolled out of the way, Ranma's pipe
clanging off the concrete ground.
The alien hunter got itself to its feet, suddenly towering over Ranma at
its full seven-feet of height. It growled angrily at him, and to his
dissatisfaction seemed to be completely undamaged.
Ranma desperately swung the pipe at the monster, a swing the beast promptly
deflected with its claw. With a clatter half the pipe fell to the ground,
rolling across the ground and coming to a full stop at the base of a building.
Just what he wanted. Grabbing the alien's moving arm Ranma threw his leg
upward and slammed his knee into its chest, then sharply extended his leg and
kicked it in the head. The monster staggered at the attack, then responded by
punching Ranma in the head with its free hand.
Blood filled his mouth and a couple more teeth were dislodged, but Ranma
kept pressing forward and slammed his feet to the ground, spinning around and
flipping over as quick as a flash. The beast was caught in the head by his
legs and sent sprawling backwards into the wall once more, discharging bits of
brick and cinderblock into the air.
"Well, this isn't going as bad as I thought it would," Ranma groggily
though as he completed his flip by landing back-first on the hard ground.
Whatever had been giving it all its strength from the night before must have at
least died down a little.
Maybe not..
The beast was standing over him, claws ready, and drove downward at his
head. Ranma quickly rolled out of the way as the razor-sharp blades tore into
the concrete, remaining totally undamaged as they crashed into the cement.
"HYYAAAA!!!" A pair of open-palms were thrown at its gut, causing it to
stumble back coughing, an extremely odd sound to come from its throat. This
was annoying, to say the least; all of the creature's vital points were armored
-- the joints, the groin, the head... Only the torso was bare, and it was so
well conditioned that none of Ranma's attacks seemed to have any affect. To
prove that point the monster quickly recovered from the strike and kicked at
Ranma, the low WHOOSH of its leg narrowly missing him as he dropped back in a
makeshift dodging technique.
"C'mon, you damn bastard!! GO DOWN!!!" Ranma kicked at it as hard as he
could.
It caught his leg with both its hands as though the strike was nothing.
And he couldn't budge it loose.
Ranma's leg broke like a twig.

The Prey howled out in brutal anguish as the Hunter snapped his bone in
two, the sensation of his femur grating within its hands giving it immense
satisfaction, then drew him forward and punched him in the chest. The Prey fell
back, the breath already vacated from his lungs from his previous outburst, but
through some miracle he had kept himself standing, hopping about on his
still-functioning leg.
Lame, with no physical strength left in him, still plagued with injuries
from the night passed...

Tears were streaming from Ranma's eyes as he fought to control the pain.
His right leg dangled uselessly, fire ripping through his entire body alerting
him that something was wrong. Dammit, he already KNEW something was wrong!!
He didn't need his body telling him anymore.
Blood dripped all over him, and with every breath came a gurgly rasp. What
worried Ranma the most was that the area under his bandaging was becoming
red-soaked; all the strain he had put himself through had undone whatever
surgical wonders the alien had performed for him.
The monster punched at him again, and again, and again, and Ranma went to
the ground in a heap.
Everly tenacious Ranma tried to push himself up once more. This time his
arms refused to oblige. "Oh come on," he thought to himself, "Work! My life
is at stake here!" His arms answered with a calm no.
The alien stood a couple of yards away from him, popping its knuckles in
self-satisfaction; every pop sounded like the rending of a tree trunk within
its thick brawny hands. It began to step towards him.
A chance to breathe. All Ranma wanted now was a chance to get a little air
into his lungs.

The Predator was finally going to bring this Hunt to a close. It wasn't
sure if a feeling of glee or just plain satisfaction was the appropriate
sensation here, but after going through this mess and coming out on top one of
the two was definitely in order.
What was that? The sound of screeching, and--
An incredible force caught it unawares and the ground was suddenly,
painfully lifted out from the under it in the form of a white blur.

The sound had surprised both Ranma and the alien. Apparently, however, it
caught the alien off guard more.
A white Subaru appeared out of nowhere and plowed into the monster at about
sixty miles-an-hour. And then the monster plowed into the brick wall,
immediately followed by the Subaru. Rending metal and shattering glass was
heard as the vehicle was quickly brought to a full stop.
Had someone come to his rescue? No matter, at least now Ranma had his
chance to breathe. And as he used this opportunity in full he looked up and
caught a glimpse of his saviors.
"Aaah! My car!!"
"RANMA!!! Ranma, are you okay?!!"
Akane and Doctor Tofu climbed out/staggered from the car, pushing aside the
air bags that had saved them from going through the vacant front window, and
ran over to Ranma's side.
"Good grief, Ranma-kun!!" exclaimed Tofu, "What the heck happened to you?!"
"I-it's going to... going to take a little while t-to explain," Ranma
stammered out in response.
Then, to Ranma's utter amazement, Akane hugged him. "Thank god you're
alright!!"
Ranma sharply winced. "Aaah! N-not quite!"
"Oops!" Akane quickly loosened her grip on him. "Sorry."
The two helped him to his feet, Tofu looking at him carefully as he was
pulled upright. His leg would need a lot of work, but more immediate were
those bandaged areas across his body--
Metal shifted. The threesome quickly turned at the sound and saw Tofu's
car as it was pushed out of the wall and slowly rolled away, revealing the
large, unhappy alien behind it, growling in its trademark guttural snarl
blended with a staccato of intermittent clicks.
It was a mess. Glowing green blood was splattered everywhere, most of its
armor was gone, its chest was punctured at various points by thick bone jutting
outward from its body.
Yet it still moved. And stood, as best it could, removing itself from the
wall. Laying at its feet was a heavy mass of metal, the helmet that the
creature had worn throughout this battle.
">>THE H-HUNT CONTINUES<<"
The monster's real voice this time, no synthesized conglomeration of other
voices mixed together in a makeshift pattern. It sounded just like its growl,
deep and terrible. The mouth... no, the entire face the words came from was
equally fearsome. The head was large, ridged along its yellow surface with a
thorny ring of bone, and long black strands hung from its head like thick
dregs. Like the rest of its skin it was mottled with brown spots, and inside
the deep dark crevices below its brow were a set of almost human-looking eyes.
Its mouth was gruesome, a lipless fanged maw with a quartet of small tusks
surrounding it, flaps of skin joining each pair at the top and bottom. From its
mouth poured the glowing green viscous that painted the brick wall.
"Alright, THAT'S IT!!" Ranma yelled out angrily, pulling himself from Akane
and Tofu's grip with a surprising burst of strength and hobbling over to the
creature's position with fury.
"_RANMA_!! What are you _DOING_?!!"
"You've been hounding me since last night, destroyed our house, nearly
killed all my friends and ACTUALLY ENDED UP KILLING ME!! And frankly I've had
_ENOUGH_!! _TENSHIN AMAGURIKEN_!!!"
Before Doctor Tofu or Akane could hold back Ranma he had leapt forward on
his good leg and in an amazing burst of speed slammed the mammoth beast back
into the wall, trailing a cloud of dust behind him and throwing a blinding slew
of punches to its body and face. With each punch the wall behind it pulverized
and crumbled, and for all its previous strength and power the creature couldn't
fight back, taking the riveting of strikes without contest. Bricks fell, and
in a focussed burst of effort Ranma let loose with his finishing strike,
screaming out the attack's battle cry.
"_MOUKO TAKABISHYAAAAA_!!!"
Ranma's hands glowed brilliantly, and with the sound of an explosion a
blazing field of energy left his hands, punching the alien back with living
fire and smashing it through the thick brick wall.
Debris flew everywhere and a cloud of smoke poured into the alleyway.
Akane and Tofu covered their faces to protect from the blast as wind whipped
through their hair.
And then it was quiet...
Only Ranma's panting and the sprinkling of what was left of the wall
falling to earth could be heard.
"R-Ranma?" Akane looked at him as he simply stood there, both she and
Doctor Tofu not knowing what to say, totally awestruck by the spectacle. Ranma
didn't respond, but instead hopped through the gaping hole of bricks and into
the darkness beyond.
"What is he, NUTS?? Wait here, Sensei!" Akane left Tofu wondering exactly
what was going on and ran after Ranma, seeing him in the glow of the outside
lighting the otherwise-black room, standing over the alien predator, hands
outstretched over its head. It was in terrible shape, bleeding from all spots
and breathing erratically in its unconscious state. "Dammit, I should blow
your head off!"
Akane was shocked. Did the thing really push him that far? Was Ranma
actually going to...?
"Don't worry," Ranma said to her without looking back, "I won't." He
withdrew his hands and looked back at her with a weak cocked smile. "You
didn't think I was really that far gone, did you?"
"Well, I... I wasn't sure..."
"Nah," he said, wiping the blood from his face, "I'm no killer. Besides,
it saved my life once. I might as well pay it back..."
Akane smiled at Ranma in relief, then looked at the crumpled- up alien
prone on the ground. "So what are we going to do about that thing?"
">>HE IS OURS<<"

The two humans spun around in shock and faced the Predators.
All seven of them.
Each heat signature fluctuated a little, indicating that their cloaking
devices were deactivated and they had become visible to the humans' eyes.
"Oh shit, not _again_..."
The lead Hunter looked at the male briefly as he limped between his mate
and himself, then redirected its attention to a more important manner. What a
dismal failure this Predator was, not scoring a single trophy in this Hunt, and
then being left alive by its own Prey. Truly sickening... The Hunt Leader
directed the others to take the body and strip it of its trophies when they
arrived back at the mothership. The Leader then looked back at the human pair;
from their actions they were surprised that they had not been attacked or
assaulted in any manner, a customary action from most species that never ceased
to baffle the Predators.
Still, they had survived the Hunt. They were now Untouchables. And as
such they deserved a Trophy recounting of their great survival skills and
fighting prowess.

Ranma didn't know what to make of it. Out of nowhere appeared seven more
monsters, armed to the teeth and in perfect health. And there was no way he
would have been able to defend himself from another assault.
Yet they did nothing to him, gathering up the alien instead and lugging it
off. As each one left the scene their bodies shimmered and they vanished into
the same hazy distortion field that had hidden the creature before, until only
one was left standing in the room. It looked much as the others did, large and
packed with tight muscles, its naked face bearing the same ferocious visage
that had been hidden underneath a mask for so long.
From its belt the beast drew a thin silvery blade, the same type as the
ones that had been set into the alien's wrist-claw. And in a casual motion the
creature tossed it to Ranma.
">>TAKE IT<<"
The alien turned to the aperture in the wall and prepared to leave, its
body vanishing before their eyes.
"Wait!"
The creature stopped in its tracks and looked back at Ranma curiously, its
body becoming opaque once more. "YOU take it. I don't want this," he said,
tossing the sharp piece of metal back to it.

The Leader's burly hand caught the blade. He didn't want the Trophy? The
Predator looked at the human, making sure it understood him correctly, then put
the blade back in its belt. It was the human's prerogative, it supposed, as
well as its loss.
They were such a strange specie. Surely many others would have jumped for
the chance to claim an icon of their victory, of their glorious fight against
the odds and the great triumph, but he turned it down. Why? He must have had
his reasons, as twisted as they were, but to the Predator they would forever
remain totally unfathomable...
Enough rambling. There was no time to be stuck in such a fruitless
contemplation -- every second wasted on such thought was a second lost making
the kill.

And then it was gone.

And the Hunt was over.

-------------------------End - Step Five----------------------

Epilogue

"You DO! You snore like a chainsaw!!"
"You take that back, you lout! Shampoo darling, tell him how wrong he is."
"He tell truth, Mousse, I can hear you across city!!"
"Will you jerks be quiet? I'M trying to get some sleep!"
"What you mean 'be quiet'? You snore louder than Mousse, Ukyou!"
"What did you say, you Chinese bimbo??"
Ranma tried to shut out the noise with as many pillows as he could find but
it was no use. Really, why did the hospital staff have to stick ALL of them in
the same room? Sure, Mr. Tendo and his dad were lucky enough to get placed in
another ward, but that was because they were adults.
So now it was almost midnight and these morons were yelling at each other
in the dark. Ranma caught himself wondering if Akane was having as much
trouble sleeping.
"Yo, Akane, you awake?" he whispered.
No answer. Ranma looked out from under his stack of pillows at the bed
next to him and discovered it was empty. That's funny, where did she go?
Sliding out of bed as silently as he could Ranma grabbed his crutches and
hobbled across the room. Great, why couldn't the hospital keep the heaters on
during the night, it was FREEZING! And the stupid hospital gown he had to wear
wasn't keeping him warm, that much was for sure; in fact, the only part that
WAS warm was that part of his leg engulfed in the cast.
Shampoo, Ukyou, Ryouga and Mousse continued their arguments, fortunately
staying loud enough to keep from hearing Ranma creep out of the room into the
lit hall beyond. He wasn't in the mood to have a platoon of lame, bandaged-up
invalids chasing him around the hospital grounds, especially since it would at
least be a couple more weeks before any of them could leave.
Ah, there she was, standing at the end of the pristine-white hall and
staring out the open window into the twinkling night sky beyond. "Hey," he
said as he limped over to her, "Isn't this place cold enough already? Close
that thing, Akane!"
"In a little while," she calmly replied, keeping her gaze to the sky.
Darn her, she had been doing an excellent job of controlling her temper
since this whole disaster started; Ranma felt as though he had lost some common
ground they could speak on.
"So... uh... You get to leave this place tomorrow..." he coughed out,
trying to get a conversation going.
"Yeah, I didn't take quite the beating the rest of you got. Daddy and
Uncle Saotome get out tomorrow, as well."
"Jeeze, you barely stayed here a week! And I've got to spend
who-knows-HOW-long here with the goof troop back there." To make his point
Ranma thumbed back in the direction of his room, where noisy conversation could
still be heard.
"Mm-hmm." Akane smirked a little at this, and Ranma couldn't help but
laugh a little himself.
"So what are you doing out here?"
"Just looking," she said, staring out at the starry nightscape. The moon
had since set and the city lights were obscuring all but the brighter stars in
the sky, not the best view of the night, but at least they were high enough up
to get a good view of the pretty lights on the city floor. "I was wondering,
Ranma, about when that thing gave you that claw as a trophy..."
"Why didn't I take it?"
"Yeah."
Ranma looked out the window to the stars above. "I'm not one of those
things, Akane. They're just empty murderers, and I guess taking 'trophies'
makes them think that somehow they're higher lifeforms or some other such crap.
I don't need a trophy to tell me that I'm something -- I know it, and my
friends know it. That's all that counts."
"Wow, that's pretty deep coming from YOU, Ranma."
"Really? Yeah, I guess it IS," he said, beaming.
The two just stood there for a moment, unsure of where to go from there,
when some more squabbling from down the hall jostled them enough for Ranma to
talk. "Well, I guess I'd better get going before they notice I'm gone and try
to hunt me down. G'night, Akane." Ranma began to hobble back down to his
room.
It was so easy, Akane couldn't resist the temptation. "I'd better not
catch you looking where you shouldn't! You know these hospital gowns have no
back side, you pervert!"
For a second Ranma stopped and stared back at her, and Akane considered
that perhaps she shouldn't have said that lest they begin arguing again.
And then, to her surprise, Ranma smiled amusedly and continued his trek
down the hall without response.
Akane couldn't help but release a sigh of relief. She had been trying so
hard to control her temper over these past days, and now it looked like Ranma
was willing to try the same.
Out of the corner of her eye Akane caught a glimpse of something arcing
through the night sky and turned to look out the window. A falling star! Not
as bright as the one she witnessed the night this whole thing started, but a
falling star nonetheless. Akane began to think up a wish.
And then stopped herself. No, she didn't have to make that wish, there was
no need.
It had already come true.

THE END

*************
Author's closing words...
WHEW!! That was a piece of work for me! I hope you folks enjoyed my
little experiment, especially since it took me all Xmas and January to write,
(so why, Benares, is it coming out in MARCH?! Long story, I'll write a
fanfic about it someday... :) as it is my first attempt at story format rather
than the usual script-type-stuff. I'm considering writing most of my future
fanfics this way, so if anyone has any comments I'd appreciate them (I need
not say anything about flamers, 'nuff said folks).
So what got me started on this one? Well, I was watching WGN when Predator
2 came on. "Boy," I said, "I'd like to see how the Ranma cast stacks up
against THAT thing." The rest is history. Fortunately whenever I needed
reference material WGN or TNT would amazingly play the movie (I believe it was
shown five or six times this month)!! Additional reference was taken from
Darkhorse's "Predator : Race War" comic line. Oops, that reminds me...
Predator is the property of Twentieth Century Fox Ltd.; Ranma is the
property of Rumiko Takahashi and those wacky guys and gals at Shohen Sunday
comics.
There. Sorry 'bout that, but otherwise either of these groups might claim
that I believed that they were MY creations. BWAHAHAHAHAHA! Now back to the
commentary.
When I started writing I was contemplating making it really dark and
actually killing off a few Ranma characters. But no, I'm too much of a Ranma
fan to do that (at least not in this story ^_^;). The rest sort of wrote itself as
I went. Now the plot wasn't exceptionally great (let's be honest, it's an
action plot, little more), but I tried my best utilizing a psychotic alien
beast as the villain. I had also considered using Kodachi and Kunou somewhere
in this story, but due to size constraints they had to fend for themselves.
Quickly, before I head onto other topics, I would like to thank my band of
proofreaders; Heaven knows I need 'em. Arigato!
Now, future fanfic stuff : RanmaTrek II is in the works, but it may be a
little while before it hits the net so be patient. Actually, writing this has
seriously burnt me out so ANYTHING I put out will be a while in the wait (no
more than a month, though, I promise). I've also got a little love-story in
the works called Ranma 1/2 : Fleeting Love, but that's in the rewrite stages
and may be there for some time.
Right, it's 4:00 AM, I haven't done my homework and its a Monday. I'm
gone! Oh, and to those of you who have written me fan letters in the past I
would like to give you a big THANK YOU!! Your letters keep me going!!
Jya ne,
BENARES