Spellchecker still dead, maat.
___________________________
___________________________
___________________________

Ranma/Metroid
'Ill Gain'



Kasumi looked down the shallow incline that registered multiple signs of wildlife. She smiled, and wondered if they were hostile. She started in a jog, and picked up speed to a light run.

The floating pod creatures were the first to notice the intrusion of an alien being, and moved to defend their layer. One of them swooped low, while the second one flew in at mid level. Without skipping a beat, Kasumi leapt into a half gator over both of them, and landed on the other side; sliding down the incline with her right foot foward.

"[That is an unnessesary risk,]" Nabiki stated plainly.

"Just blowing off some steam, sis," Kasumi stated with a teasing voice, not even pay attention as she fired a plasma shot down at the centipede creature that burrowed from the ground and was about to snag onto her ankle.

"[You have other outlets for stress relief,]" Nabiki replied calmly.

"NABIKI! That's private!" Kasumi shouted, ducking out of the way of the flying pod, and shooting it down from the sky.

"[I was referring to your strenuous workouts when we're not on assignment.]"

"It's not *that* strenuous, and you probably do it too!"

"[Get your mind out of the gutter.]"

Kasumi smirked, "Did I get to you, dear sister?" The Space Hunter leapt backwards while spinning into the air, lashing out with a spin kick into an aggressing creature, and landed on a higher ledge. In the distance, she spotted a violet door that lead to another room

"[It was a pointless discussion. Why bother to continue it?]"

"I'm just teasing you, sister," Kasumi pouted when she failed to get a signifigant rise out of her sister again, and leapt into a somersault off the platform she was perched on before hopping creature with flippered feet landed upon it. Kasumi landed in a dash, and fired at the door that was across from her. She entered into a tallllllllll cylindrical rising chasm, in which she was at the bottom with no doors but the one she just came through.

Her eyes narrowed as she noticed what was clinging to the walls, then gave a preditory smile. Space Pirates.

"Oh my, how nice of them to welcome me to their new home planet," the golden armored woman stated in a sweet serene voice that held a mockery that would never have been in it over seven years ago, "I guess I better not dissappoint them."

Kasumi took a running start, and leapt as high as she could against a wall. She planted her feet and left hand against it, then rebounded to the other side, and continued to do so to gain height up the verticle corridor. She utilized a technique that Samus-sensei practiced, but never managed to get the hang of. Thanks to the new Space Hunter's own training in martial arts, she had been able to master the wall bounce to utmost efficiency.

Kasumi met up with resistance from the humanoid mantis creatures; bounding off the walls while drawing beads on her opposers, shooting them down, and dodging their return eyebeams.

"Gain way, coming through," The woman chirped happily, while reducing the Space Pirates to bug juice. She danced around the corridor while ascending it in an aerial battle that even left the mantis creatures in awe of her ability.

"Whoops, didn't see you there! How rude of me to shatter your back with my impacting against you," Kasumi apologised, rebounding off the bug splatter she left behind.

"[The banter is not nessesary.]"

"Really? Excuse me, you're in my way," Kasumi grabbed a Space Pirate off the wall where she would had rebounded off, forced it under her, and pushed off of it with enough force to launch her further into the air, while sending the creature down into the corridor at escape velocity. It made an impressive attempt to spread itself over the whole floor when it's body impacted.

"[Yes, really. You need to be concentrating so you do not make any mistakes.]"

"I don't make mistakes, I just season things up a bit!" Kasumi countered, while twisting away from one beam, then turning upside down past another. Her velocity carried her right to her current attacker, and Kasumi shoved the barrel of her gun directy between its eyes when she landed above it with her feet planted against the wall. Its own strength was holding both of them up from sliding and falling down the corridor.

"Oh, you're so strong!" Kasumi complimented, before firing. the discharge of her cannon launched her up a bit higher, and she pushed herself off the wall at an upward angle. The Space Hunter's armor glistened with the light of the beams that just barely glanced past her, as she was upside down and taking careful aim at two Space Pirates, then finishedthem with little waste.

"[Your commentry is distracting to yourself also, if you learned anything from Ranma mista...]"

A chance laser struck Kasumi in the shoulder, spinning her out of control. Her back bounced off the wall she was about to brace against, and fell a good ways down the corridor, before she kicked against the wall she was against, sending her horizontal.

The Space Hunter rebounded back and fourth like a demented red and gold ping pong ball, and after the twentieth or so rebound, angled herself steeply to launch higher up the corridor. Kasumi caught sight of the space pirate that managed to tag her, fired two plasma shots, and then she opened the rocket bay on her arm cannon.

The creature's arms were shot off, cuasing it to lose it's perch against the nearly smooth wall, and tumble backwards. The rocket made sure that it never had to worry about hitting the bottom, exept in very little pieces.

"Please don't distract me again," Kasumi stated into her comm. unit evenly with a slightly chilly tone. Nabiki gave no reply. Later on, Kasumi would have to wonder if her sister went quiet from chagrin, or from indifference.

From that point, Kasumi became brutally efficient as she climbed the corridor. She eliminated any resistance before they could even see her enough to retaliate. Every shot of the Space Hunter's was planned and calculated, with not a single one wasted. As Kasumi ascended, she managed to avoid the falling bug splatter and the slick stains against the sides of the round corridor's walls. With her sudden attitude change, did the odds of any of the Space Pirates stopping her ascension dwindled to almost none.

The last opposer plummeted into the darkness, it's head shot off from the rest of it's body. Kasumi braced against the wall while facing it with her feet and left hands, then propelled herself backwards into a somersault out onto the ledge at the top of the chasm. She landed sliding backwards while kneeling on her left leg, while cradling her gun with her left hand while the barrel was pointing straight up. She stood slowly, and looked up as she felt the platform underneath her rise to take her up to the next level.
_________________________________________

"The Hunter's abilities far exeed previous encounters."

"[As had already been established, are you saying you're not up to the task of exterminating it]?"

"It has only encountered a couple of test trials, in which one we were not the ones to set. Though the current gauge of ability for the Hunter is phenominal, it will not survive to make it to the core."

"[It better not. There is too much at stake with one of the bounty hunters disrupting operations. Can I presume you will be complete on schedule?]"

The Space Pirate turned from the moniter for a second.

"The Mother Brain can confirm that everything is as planned."
_________________________________________

Kasumi walked softly down the technology-lined corridor, once again she was back in an area that was constructed by the original inhabitants of the planet. Only a few scant hostile creatures inhabited it, but they were dealt with expediently.

"[Your plasma shots are notably more powerful.]" Nabiki made an observation, "[ I trust you are adapting to the addition to your arnaments?]"

"How dare you speak of him," Kasumi said quietly with underlying rage. If there was a sore spot for Kasumi, it was an obvious and gaping one that her sister carelessly hit upon.

Nabiki knew exactly what her sister was talking about, "[He's dead.]"

Kasumi let out a slight shiver in anger; her sister's voice was so factual, so callous. If Nabiki was in front of her at the moment, Kasumi would have assuradly slapped her.

"Just... nevermind, just nevermind, I'm at another door," With that, Kasumi fired upon the violet dome, causing it to melt away. The Space Hunter walked in, felt a presence, and looked up,
...and up
........and up...

Kasumi immidiately switched to rockets.