A Winner Is Two!: Round 1: Mercer vs Ginger, a X-overs + Prototype Crossover fanfic

Round 1: A New Form of Hunter

It had already been a day and Alex Mercer was no nearer to finding the truth. The section of the island he was exploring seemed to be deserted except for the few remains of possible former contestants. The environment was also very different to the metal and concrete buildings he was used to so he had to adapt his movements to fit with the numerous trees. He could always force his way through them, destroying them as he went but not only would that leave no place to hide it would alert anyone else to his exact location, as the carnage would make a trail for anyone to follow.

The numerous disguises he possessed would also be useless here. Blackwatch and military personal wouldn't fool anybody here unless they generally believed a random soldier wound up on the island.

Early on he had tried using his thermal enhanced vision as he sped across the terrain to locate any hiding fighters amongst the trees but all he could see was a giant mass of heat coming from the split central mountain which he guessed was an active volcano.

Skidding to a stop he looked around. The scenery here consisted of trees and more trees. From the spot he'd paused in he could hear the faint sound of birds in the trees and the even lighter sound of fallen twigs and branches snapping as creatures moved about.

A louder snap made him spin around, eyes scanning the surroundings. Everything had gone unnaturally silent. Closing his eyes he altered them once again to detect thermal traces, the world fading to blue and the further trees disappearing altogether from the short visual range.

No heat sources stood out amongst the trees but before he could begin moving again something powerful slammed into his chest, knocking him back into a tree trunk. Landing on his knees he looked up again, switching his vision back to normal.

As the normal colours returned to his sight he saw something large and black dart back into the trees. Whatever it was it didn't give off a heat source. With a snarl he jumped up and shifted the biomass in his arms to form razor-sharp claws and adopted a fighting stance.

"Come on!" he shouted out to the attacker but there was no response. Well, no human response…

---

The Predalien Queen, aka Ginger, had been stalking her target for some time now, much like the alien race she had inherited traits from would do. She had begun watching and observing him as he ran through the trees, waiting for the right opportunity to strike.

She did not expect the human she was facing to physically change shape, why would he? None of the other ones she had observed displayed this ability.

---

There was a slight rustling in the trees and Alex needed no more reason to wait, rushing forward with a burst of speed and slicing clean through the trunk, bringing the tree toppling down into its long standing siblings. Whatever had attacked him leaped through the air and landed in a crouch behind him.

Alex's eyes widened as he look upon the creature. It was like nothing he had seen before; even taking into account the hordes of infected monstrosities he had faced in New York.

Whatever it was it was he could tell it was dangerous. He even briefly switched his vision to that of an infected to see if could possibly be one but dismissed that thought when the only glowing creature in the red tinted vision was himself.

The creature wasted no more time and began its attack, lunging at Alex with its long arms and claws. He responded in turn, slashing and blocking every chance he got. The creature was agile though and jumped back, spreading its arms to the side and letting out a screech, opening the mandibles that covered its mouth.

Alex snarled back in return and thrust a claw into the ground, sending his biomass underground towards the creature with the plan to impale it. Again the being was too fast and launched itself away from the spot as the spikes erupted into the ground.

Quickly retracting the claws Alex was defenceless as the creature whipped its spiked tail around, the bladed end slamming into his chest, leaving a large gash across his shirt and flesh.

As the wound began to heal, the flesh slowly regenerating, he shifted his biomass again into a clawed whip on his right hand, leaving his left free. Pulling his arm back he flung the extended appendage out. For all the agility and strength it possessed the creature had never encountered a human with such a wide range of abilities before and the whipfist buried itself in its shoulder before Alex pulled it back for another attack.

The creature screamed as its blood spilled out of the wound but Alex also gasped in pain as his arm started burning. Looking at his right arm he cursed as he saw the acid burning into his flesh. Amidst the memories he had recovered of his life as a GenTek scientist he concluded it had to be some form of acid but his concern right now was getting rid of the stuff.

Attempting to fling the acidic blood off of his arm got some of the stuff off but not enough so he instead activated his armour ability, coating his body in thick protective plates. The acid continued to burn but at a slower rate, the pain having subsided to a tingle. It was only a temporary solution but it would have to do for now.

If slicing this bastard up isn't working I guess I'll have to bludgeon it to death instead! He thought, once again changing the structure of his arms, increasing his own muscles with his biomass, creating two solid and powerful fists.

---

Ginger was in pain! The human had damaged her from far away and she had not expected it. And now he had changed again.

The human grabbed a tree, tearing it from the ground, roots and all. Instead of throwing it he used it like a giant club, swinging it at her with tremendous force.

Jumping up she landed on the trunk and ran across it, pouncing on the human and swiping with her claws. With her own superhuman level strength she created deep scratches in the armour, causing her prey pain but his mouth was now covered and she had no way to force the eggs she carried into him.

---

Damn this thing is strong. Alex thought as the creature scraped its claws across his armoured chest, stripping away large chunks in the process. Bringing his knee to his chest he kicked out, forcing the monster off of him and he jumped up.

The creature tried pouncing on him him again but he brought his hands together in a clap, creating a sonic shockwave and flinging the creature back.

Wasting no time Alex dived forward grabbing the long tail of his foe and swinging it around, smashing it into trees and the ground until it struggled loose. It wavered as it stood back on its feet before screeching at him again before leaping into the trees.

"Shit!" Alex cursed and took off after it, bulldozing into the trees in his way and snapping them like twigs. He was going to keep this thing in his sights this time but was fast losing it as his heavier form slowed him down.

The acid didn't seem to be bothering him anymore so he risked taking his armour away.

Big mistake. His arm looked thoroughly burned, even with the increased muscle mass and the exposed flesh stung against the air as he ran. His regenerative abilities would have to go into overtime to fix the damage.

Gritting his teeth he gathered speed, jumping off of tree trunks and other gnarled roots.

He didn't get far before the creature launched its assault again, crashing into his back and sending them both sprawling into a ball of teeth, claws and muscle down a short incline.

This time it wouldn't give him the chance to change form, launching an unrelenting assault.

They both screamed at each other as they traded blows, the creature tearing great strips from him with its claws and Alex punching at whatever he could, hearing the satisfying crunch of bone on impact.

As their rolling stopped the creature grabbed him and flung him to the ground, cracking the earth beneath them.

Rolling away quickly Alex attempted standing only to fall down on one knee in pain, clutching his left shoulder.

There was only one option now. One that he really didn't want to risk. With the amount of damage he had already taken this one last attack could bring him down completely. But with little other options he had to take it.

Gritting his teeth he stood, shifting his arms back to normal. The creature was likewise facing him, making odd little noises in pain.

Gathering up the remaining energy and biomass he had left Alex doubled over before lifting his arms high.

"To hell with you!" he snarled before plunging his arms into the ground, much like he had done before, only this time he put everything he had into the attack, bursting forth several giant spikes from the ground all around him, destroying the ground and trees in the area.

With its damaged body the creature had no way to escape the barrage of spikes as one erupted from the ground beneath its feet, impaling it through its muscled chest.

It screeched in tremendous pain as its blood flooded over the spike, twitching and writing, its tail flailing all over the place. The acid began burning away at the organic spike but too little avail as the spikes retracted back into the ground, wiping the acid away.

The creature continued to twitch and spasm as it lay there, almost torn in two.

With the graveyard of spikes retracted Alex stood before faltering. With nothing to lean against he stumbled and fell onto the upturned ground. He barely had enough energy to keep his eyes open as he drifted on the borders of unconsciousness.

It would be dangerous to even consider consuming the creature, the animal, so he instead turned his thoughts to finding someone human to consume, to restore his lost biomass.

If he recovered enough to stand though. For now he'd rest, attempt to regenerate and hope that nobody tried to finish him off in that time.

Author's note:

Blimey that was a challenge and a half. This was particularly tricky for me as I know next to nothing about the Predalien so I had to do a bit of research, watching clips of how it fights and such, so hopefully I got it down well. Also tricky writing something that doesn't have…"human" intelligence or a voice, well, a voice that can speak if that makes sense!

I took a few artistic liberties as well so I hope nobody minds, it's tricky to work with something like acidic blood, but I enjoy a challenge! So yeah, I had to work around that for Alex otherwise it would've been awkward finding a way to make this different from The Talking Absol's entry, which you should go read right now!

Also I thought this was a lot longer than it actually is, ah well…