A/N: Zeb will come out a winner in this one! I hope you readers will enjoy the final battle between these two adversaries. Was fun to write! Hopefully, Zeb can find a way home on the hunter's ship...

Chapter 10 Hunter Showdown

Zeb sat outside the temple ruins finalizing the last of his homemade weapons. Just less than a week ago, he had killed the last of the younger hunters after it killed Ashla. The Lasat had literally gone mad with rage and choked the hunter between his muscular knees and then tore it's head off! Zeb never knew he was capable of such an act of violence, but losing his furry companion who he had grown very attached to, made him angry.

"Ashla," he said as he knealt down to the small rocky grave, "I will avenge your death, not only for you, but also for your kit."

A mewling interrupted him and he looked over near his pile of arrows, bow and spears, where a worn blanket lay, shredded pieces amongst it. The tiny newborn was calling to it's "surrogate parent", Zeb.

"I'm coming, little kit," he said and walked over to pick up the furry infant. It mewled sadly showing it was hungry. When Zeb cuddled it up to his chest, the infant nuzzled his chest fur sucking on it as if to nurse.

"Hey, little one," the Lasat said his cheeks red, "I...uh...don't have any...breasts for you to nurse from. I'm a male Lasat...and not even the same species as you."

The newborn nuzzled again sucking at his chest fur as if trying to nurse. Zeb knew he had to feed the tiny creature and then a thought crossed his mind. Some animals chewed food to a fine paste and fed their young. He had given the baby some water by dribbling it from his mouth to the infant, but it needed nourishment and fast!

The Lasat went back into the temple ruins and brought out a piece of dried meat that he popped into his mouth and chewed with his powerful jaws until the meat was a mushy paste. Zeb sat down on the blanket nest, picked up the whimpering newborn and pulled the chewed meat out of his mouth. He watched as the little nose twitched at the scent, then the tongue came out for a taste.

"C'mon, little kit, try it."

To his relief, the infant took the mushy mess into it's mouth and began to chew. Zeb smiled seeing that he finally got the creature eating. Sucking on his chest fur, just didn't cut it!

The rest of the day, Zeb readied the rest of his weapons and prepared to leave the safety of the temple for a final showdown with the lead hunter. The Lasat also realized that the hunter had to have a ship nearby and if it did, he'd have a way back to Yavin IV.

By nightfall, Zeb had a makeshift sachel constructed from small branches and pieces of blanket to put supplies in. He also made a sling to carry the newborn creature in. He wasn't about to leave behind Ashla's offspring, for he was the only parent the baby had now. Also the baby had begun to bond to him as if he were always it's parent.

"Let's get some sleep," Zeb said to the infant as he stretched out on a blanket, the tiny creature cuddling up to his chest, "Kriff knows where we're going tomorrow."

The next morning, Zeb awoke, gathered up his weapons and supplies, and readied to leave the temple ruins that had sheltered him for the past four months. Putting the sling over his neck and chest, he picked up the little animal and placed it so the infant could feel the beating of his heart. He found out that laying against his chest, the infant seemed calmer. Before leaving, Zeb went to stand by Ashla's grave for a final goodbye.

"Goodbye, Ashla," he said tears in his green eyes, "I will never forget you, my little furry friend. Don't worry, I will take care of your kit and I promise, that nothing will happen to the little one. Goodbye, friend, may the Ashla watch over you."

Wiping a hand across his eyes, Zeb bent down to place a hand on the rocks in a gesture of love and friendship. Then he got up to leave.

Grimacing a bit at using his partly healed broken arm, Zeb carried the satchel on his back and shoulders. Being a Lasat, he could carry twice his weight, but he knew he was weaker from losing weight and his injuries. Ashla's baby rode contented in the sling which made Zeb's job easier. Being so young, the infant slept most of the time so Zeb could walk farther.

The first night away from the temple, the weather turned and a storm rolled in. Zeb had found an old hollowed out tree that luckily the Lasat could squeeze into. The storm lasted for the night and most of the next day, Zeb getting wet, but he made sure the baby stayed warm and dry. With the wet fur, the Lasat became ill and his nose clogged up with mucus causing him to sneeze alot.

"Sorry, little Ne'Roos," he said to the baby. He had named it after his late Lasat mother. Zeb assumed the baby was a female because it looked identical to Ashla. Ne'Roos didn't seem to mind, for she snuggled close to her "Uncle Zeb".

Zeb spent another wet night inside the hollowed tree, his body racked with the chills of a fever. He barely had enough energy to feed Ne'Roos or himself. All he did was chew some Tooka root and hoped he wouldn't get sicker.

The third day of his tree exile, found Zeb able to get out and stretch and search for some water. His fever had dropped thanks to the Tooka root, while Ne'Roos just lay in her sling bed purring to her big furry "parent".

While Zeb recovered, the lead alien hunter sat inside it's ship recovering from the bad injuries to it's right leg. It had contacted another group of hunters with a distress signal and informed them that the prey had defeated him and the other three hunters. It needed help, and fast!

It had taken inventory of the weapons aboard the ship and realized that it could defeat the Lasat, but it would be a tough battle, for the Lasat was the strongest and toughest prey it had ever hunted before. Even wounded, half-starved, and sick, it's prey still prevailed. The alien admired Zeb for that and hoped that maybe a truce could be drawn up between them.

It was tired, and wanted to go home...

Zeb continued his journey after a three day rain delay and discovered that even after the rain, he could see tracks.

"Gotcha now!" he said and looked down to see Ne'Roos asleep in the sling.

For the next week, Zeb journeyed through the jungle following the faint trail left by the injured hunter. He grew stronger, the cold-like illness leaving him, and he hoped to find the elusive alien.

One day when the weather threatened to turn, Zeb found the ship. His eyes widened at the sight of the craft that was twice as big as the GHOST.

"Ne'Roos, we found him," he whispered, a grin on his face.

Zeb watched from the cover of bushes he was hiding behind and to his delight, he saw a ramp open probably to a cargo bay. The grin got bigger and he moved quietly from his hiding place.

"Ne'Roos, don't make a sound," he said to the tiny animal feeling her stir awake. Zeb let out a purr of his own and that calmed her. Slowly and silently, the Lasat made his way to the ship and open hatchway. Activating the wrist knives, he walked up into the large vessel and his eyes widened with wonder.

"Karabast," he whispered and then an odor of a gaseous kind came to his nostrils making him cough and his eyes water. It had a methane undertone and he realized this was the type of air the hunters breathed. Zeb knew that the air was lethal for himself and Ne'Roos and he had to find masks of some kind.

Looking around through watery eyes, Zeb discovered a wall with different kinds of breathing masks and he made his way over to them, his coughing growing worse. With six failed attempts, he found one that wasn't unlike the one he used on the GHOST when they were on worlds with different atmospheres.

Putting on the mask, Zeb was relieved that the filters blocked the methane and let in the oxygen he needed to breathe. He took a deep breath and looked down to see Ne'Roos gasping. Panicking, Zeb searched for a small mask and the smallest was still too large for the tiny animal.

"Ne'Roos! Karking hell!" he cried out and then saw what looked like an animal cage of clear material with an air filter on top. Nearly in tears, the Lasat gathered up Ne'Roos and put her inside the container. Immediately, her gasping stopped and her breathing eased out enough for her to begin purring.

"Thank the Ashla!" he whispered and sat down in a seat that was way too large for his body. After resting a bit, he got up to investigate more of the alien ship. He stared around amazed as he found another wall with obvious trophies of other species hanging on it.

"At least there's no Lasat there," he grumbled, "And there won't be."

A sound made him turn and he saw the hunter leader standing in the doorway of what looked like a medbay. The large creature was favoring it's right leg that was still dripping green blood. It didn't have it's helmet on and Zeb frowned seeing the more mature features than the younger hunters had. It's dreadlock-like "hair" was streaked with grey and the mandible tusks were yellowed with age and long. It had a scar across it's left eye showing it was blind on that side, spots of deep brown covered it's scaly forehead and the ridges were larger and sharper. Zeb also noticed a strange almost burn-like scar on it's forehead between it's eyes. The scar was exactly like a marking on it's helmet that hung from it's belt.

"Well...I guess it's just you and me, now," Zeb said setting Ne'Roos down and pulling an arrow out from the quiver and loading it into the bow.

The alien let out a hiss and a frown crossed it's face, making Zeb shudder for a second at how ferocious it appeared.

"Just you and me, now," it said it's voice alot deeper than Zeb's.

Zeb frowned and charged towards the creature letting out a growl that would make anyone take pause. The hunter dodged his charge and Zeb landed on the deck of the ship his mask/filter coming off. He began to choke from the air and grabbed the mask to put back on. He took a deep breath, stood up and went to charge again seeing the alien hunter was now gone.

"Karking coward!" Zeb yelled and took a sniff hoping even through the filters he could pick up the alien's decaying scent. His sensitive nose even filtered, found it. The scent was leading him outside where he hoped to confront the creature for the last time.

The alien hunter was down at the bottom of the ramp putting it's helmet back on so it could breathe the methane air of it's kind. Zeb saw it, and charged. It saw the Lasat and moved causing Zeb to land somersaulting against a rock knocking the wind out of him.

"Why you kriffin'!" the Lasat grumbled and stood up removing his mask/filter. He took a deep breath of the oxygen rich air and readied for another go at his adversary. The alien hunter took on a stance of readiness, it's one eye narrowed in anger.

"Giving me the stink eye are you?" Zeb asked, "Well...I can do better!"

Zeb's big green eyes took on a look of pure hatred and he bared his fangs in a snarl. The hunter bared it's mandible tusks that clicked together and it let out a hiss of anger.

"All right, buddy. It's just you and me now and even though you're alot bigger than me, I'm faster and almost healed up. Look at you! Your leg is still bleeding!"

That statement angered the hunter and it charged forward growling. Zeb charged to meet it head on and their heads hit with a loud sound that echoed through the trees, startling some birds. Zeb's eyes went blank for a moment and he shook his head.

"Ooooo...whee! You have one hard head!"

The alien stood up taller and looked down at the smaller Lasat and Zeb looked back up to meet it's challenge. Suddenly, it took both hands and brought them down onto the Lasat's shoulders sending Zeb to his knees with a grunt of pain. He got back up and noticed that the alien was removing it's shoulder cannon and then both wrist gauntlets.

"No weapons, eh?" the Lasat asked as he took off the wrist gauntlet, set down the spear, sling, and bow with quiver of arrows.

The creature roared out a challenge and took on the stance of a warrior ready to battle to the death. Zeb took on a similar stance, knowing this could be the end of his life, but he wasn't afraid. At that moment, he thought about Hera, Kanan, Ezra, Sabine, Rex, Kallus, Ele, Leka, Ayessa and others that he cared about. He would defeat this creature for them, so others of it's kind would never hurt anyone again.

"C'mon ugly, let's do it!"

The alien frowned and fingered a strange necklace that looked like fingers around it's neck. Probably another of it's past conquests. Zeb in turn, placed a hand against his own chest feeling the armor beneath his fingers that he and Sabine had so lovingly made last year with her artwork of a joopa on it. After almost the reverent gestures, the two beings began possibly the last battle of their lives.

They charged each other, fists flying and both fell to the ground stunned. They got back up after catching their breath to attack again with renewed vigor. Zeb felt his strength growing and so was that of the alien. He staggered after a roundhouse punch to the side of his face and he felt a couple of teeth loosen. Spitting out blood and a couple of teeth, Zeb got back up to deliver a punch with his left fist that knocked one of the alien's tusks out of the socket. It gave out a hiss of pain and renewed it's attack.

"There!" the Lasat called out as he wiped blood away from his mouth, "Now both of us are missing teeth!"

He let out a gasp as the creature suddenly grabbed him by the neck and lifted him up into the air. Zeb gasped as he felt the large hands squeezing the life out of him. The alien was going to either break his neck or crush his trachea!

"Kara...bast!" he choked out and tried to break the alien's grip, but it was too strong. Realizing that he was dying, Zeb gave one last burst of strength. He raised up his muscular dijigrade legs and gave the alien a swift kick to it's stomach throwing it back. It's hands now free from his throat, Zeb fell gasping to the ground, coughing so hard he threw up. After recovering some, the Lasat got back up to see what happened to the hunter.

It lay prone on the ground near a sharp rock that had pierced it's back and it groaned with pain. Zeb slowly walked over to stand over it. For some reason seeing it laying there helpless made him feel a little guilty. He saw that the creature's legs weren't moving and he knew that it's back was probably broken. It raised it's arms up to it's chest in a gesture of surrender, blood trickling from it's mouth. Zeb knealt down close but not too close knowing it could still harm him.

"Worthy," it uttered in it's gutteral voice.

"What?!" Zeb asked and watched as the alien gestured for him to come closer. Zeb swallowed hard knowing it might be a trap, but he knealt closer.

"Worthy...opponent," it gasped out as more blood trickled from it's mouth and down it's neck.

"Worthy opponent...me?" Zeb said, "Uh...you were too."

"Worthy opponent...deserve mark."

"Mark?"

"Y..yes...mark of...hunter."

Zeb frowned not understanding what the dying alien meant. He watched as the creature took one of the fingers off the trophy necklace around it's scaly neck.

"Closer," it whispered, it's life force quickly fading.

Zeb bent down and saw the creature break the finger in two and an acrid smell came from it and a hiss of steam. The green blood from the finger had an acid base.

"C...Closer."

Zeb bent down closer and the creature took the severed finger, placing the bleeding end on his head between his forehead ridges. He felt a burning sensation as the acid blood etched a mark through his fur to the skin underneath. Zeb groaned in pain but withstood this strange ritual. Tears fell from his eyes, tears of pain.

"Worthy," the creature gasped and then fell limp.

Zeb reached up to feel the jagged mark on his forehead and looked back down to see the hunter's eyes close in death.

"Worthy," he whispered as more tears fell but this time they were tears of sadness...