"Adrian, we've been separated! Where is your position?"

The orange lombax strode through the bushes, with one finger to his ear. He contacted the Special Force, who had been forced to flee into the other part of the forest by the hunter, leaving the squad completely separated. "We're far away! Deep inside the forest," the metal-like voice came from the other line, "Tusk is leading us through the clearing, but I think we're going the wrong way!"

"Let's try to meet up away from the forest," came the idea from Ratchet, which the soldier immediately thought was a good one: "Understood, sir! Take care of yourselves!"

And the comm ended, followed by a panting lombax.

"What do we do now," Rivet paced next to her friend, "We have no clue here. No one knows when the hunter or any of these beasts will strike." "It's best if we find a way out of here now," Kit added, still clinging to her friend's back. The four heroes walked through the tall bushes and large trees for a few minutes, followed by the clicking of the small animals. At least they hoped they were animals. "Ratchet," Clank suddenly raised his head questioningly. The silver bot looked around and seemed to have found something: "There's something in front of the bushes... something huge." Questioningly, the lombaxes moved closer and pushed aside the greenery that covered the clearing.

And their eyes widened in disbelief.

A huge, stone-built temple that resembled a pyramid. This place seemed to be ancient, and Ratchet and Rivet gulped hard, "Wow... what is that?"

"I don't know, let's find out," the rebel was the first to slide down the slope slightly. "Rivet, wait," Ratchet came right behind with his best friend in tow. The four friends were only a few steps away from the large temple, which looked somewhat familiar as they got closer and closer. "Look. Those statues there look... like our stalker from outer space," the orange lombax pointed to the large sculptures. They did indeed resemble the Predator that was stalking them, and many more of these images had been constructed. "Maybe the path leads through an exit," Rivet pointed to the open gate, which caused the white lombax to step inside first. Even though Ratchet and Clank had a bad feeling about this, they didn't want to leave their loved ones alone and followed their counterparts into the light darkness.

But their "stalker" was also nearby.

He had just finished polishing the skull clean when he watched from a nearby branch as the lombaxes entered the sanctuary of his people. Already annoyed, he had to watch as their heat vision was gone from view and his free claw formed into a fist. They defiled the temple of his ancestors with their mere act of entering it at all. No other species were allowed to enter unless they were the ones who helped build it. The young hunter knew that his ancestors had been worshipped, but that was a long time ago. Sitting still was enough for him. The Predator stood up, went through his weapons again and jumped from tree to tree until he landed invisibly in front of the gate. He now stepped into the darkness to find the lombax, which would make a worthy trophy.

But his real target was already inside before them.

Ratchet and Rivet were still walking through the corridors of the temple. It was only slightly lit, but still enough for the two lombaxes to see. "Stay together," and on those words, the male placed his hand on Rivet's, who immediately tightened his grip a little. There were more small images of the hunters everywhere, armed with weapons and spears. Some small, but others large. "This place must be hundreds of years old," came from Kit as the yellow robot girl scanned the hall, "The language...strange..."

"Careful," there was a hole in front of their feet that led to the lower floor, "That was close. We'd better go around it." No sooner said than done, and the four heroes continued through the temple. The further they followed the path, the more of this language appeared on the walls and the more carved artwork the hunters displayed on them. "Ratchet...I think...I can read this," came from Clank, who took a closer look at the signs. The silver bot had crossed his optics and was now reading from the wall: "It says: *Worthy are those who conquer the snakes*...I don't quite understand."

"Guys, come here," came from Rivet, who called the boys over. Another piece of art depicting one of the hunters carrying the skull of a familiar beast on his spear. "So this is... a preparation chamber? I don't understand anything," the four heroes looked around everywhere, but nothing could give them an answer.

Only a hiss could be heard.

"We're not alone," a loud roar could be heard at the other end of the temple. Ratchet and Rivet raised their blasters, but the next misfortune came their way, "The ammunition is almost empty!"

"We have to find a way out of here quickly," the orange lombax strode forward. But the beast that had ventured here from the lab was clinging to the ceiling above him. The Alien slobbered quietly before dangling its thorny tail downwards and impaling the hero. However, the female Lombax saw it just a moment away, and Rivet quickly ran ahead.

"RATCHET, LOOK OUT!"

Using her full body, she lunged away with her boyfriend, where the tail was about to swing. Missing its target, the Alien hissed wildly and then jumped down from the ceiling. At full size, it stood in front of the two lombaxes, who were just getting up again, " QUICK, SHOOT!" The shots followed, but the parasite was quicker and ducked into the nearest hole in the wall. "No more ammunition! We're on our own," came from Ratchet, who then took Rivet's hand again and ran off. The heroes walked past the other path where they had entered the temple. They wanted to escape again and shake off the Alien, which was hissing in the shafts and chasing them.

"There, we are..." and he had already rejoiced too soon. Three red dots spread across him, where he quickly dodged to the side with the rebel, but lost Clank to the impact, "CLANK!" The silver robot landed at the feet of the Predator, who made himself visible again and walked towards the lombaxes. "Leave them alone, you monstrosity," he tried to hold the hunter off with punches, but his sturdy body didn't even feel the silver one's fists. The Yautja avoided the hole as well, until he met the lombaxes striding backwards. They couldn't go any further back because the Alien's familiar snarl came out again. Even the Predator was now aware of this and changed the view of his helmet and there really was a parasite in front of them. The lombaxes heard the roars and snarls of both monsters grow louder and they ran towards the heroes. "That's it then...I'll take the big one, you take the skinny one," was the last thing Ratchet could say before the omniwrench appeared. Rivet hung her head, slightly battered, but then pulled out the hammer with a grin, "We'll show them!"

And the moment of impact had arrived, but everything was different.

Instead of the Alien now charging at the rebel, it leapt high and landed on the Predator in front of Ratchet. Both creatures started rolling around and for them the lombaxes were forgotten. Confused, Ratchet and Rivet looked behind and watched as the Predator knocked the monster off him and drew its arm blade. Snarling, the Alien attacked the hunter with its tail before using its claws to wrap the larger one's hands. For the lombaxes, however, everything was upside down.

"They...fight each other?"

"CLANK," but the sight of the silver robot trying to get to his best friend through the feet of both aliens caught their attention. Clank made it, but a tremendous thud was heard as the Predator and the Alien tumbled down into the hole. "I'm all right. Thanks, Ratchet," the little robot was put back on his back by his best friend, and together with Rivet he stared down the hole: "Let's keep these two playing! We should get out of here!" "I agree," and so the heroes walked along the temple again until they found an exit.

Meanwhile, the battle of rivals, has begun.

When they hit the ground, the Predator immediately rolled back to his feet and pulled out his blade. The Alien had also quickly righted itself and threatened its opponent with a snarl. Nobody made a move for a while, but then the black parasite went on the attack. It tried to slash the young hunter's chest with its claws, but he dodged the attacks and was only hit once. Green blood came out of the wound, but the Yautja didn't mind and went on the counterattack himself. He fired the plasma weapon and made the alien climb up the wall. They found themselves in a sub-area of the temple, which was empty and held up by pillars.

The plasma fired at the walls, but did not hit the parasite, which now smashed its tail against the feet of its opponent. The Predator was knocked down by the force and his mortal enemy leapt at him immediately. He tried to bite open the skull with his teeth, but the young Yautja dodged in time. Even when the alien's tail joined in, it was still not hit and he threw the parasite away from him with all his strength. The Predator got up quickly, but so did the alien. However, the black creature was unable to react to the hunter's massive body, which rammed into it and broke several pillars. Only when he rammed the alien's back against the nearest wall did he let go of his opponent, who roared out, wriggling on the ground.

It was a good moment to end it.

The Predator raised his arm blade and started to ram, but then he was caught. The parasite bit into his hand, causing the young hunter to scream and tear himself away to inspect the injury. However, his target quickly became the alien again, but it disappeared without a trace. Using his helmet, he tried to find it somewhere in the darkness. The hand was now covered in bite marks and green blood as he looked around and found nothing. But his opponent was closer than expected, as the Alien climbed directly above the Predator and then leapt. It clung to the young hunter's back and bit into the neck area. Screaming louder, the Predator tried to get his mortal enemy down by running into the walls and pillars. It was an attempt to do enough damage to the creature so that it would let go on its own.

Then he headed for the wall and the parasite finally jumped off.

This wall, however, was stronger than the others, and had also taken its toll on the young Predator. He finally went down, holding the wound on his neck and the bruises on his body. His attention was snatched away again by the screeching of the alien, which now came running at the young hunter on all fours. He had to act quickly, so he pulled up his spear and activated it as the alien jumped off. Pierced by the tip, it hissed one last time before its acid blood left its body and dripped to the ground. This was another opportunity for the Yautja and he rammed the arm blade through his opponent's head from below, its jaw clenching. After a few seconds, the alien had stopped wriggling and screeching, and was then tossed aside by the grunting hunter.

He breathed a heavy sigh of relief. That had been his first fight against one of the snakes and he remembered why his ancestors considered them the most worthy of their opponents. Triumphantly, he stood up and cut the alien's skull completely off thanks to the arm blade. With a victorious roar, he raised its head and stretched it high into the air. He felt proud to have killed his first snake in the hall of his ancestors and the Predator sat back down on the stone. As the alien's body etched away into the ground, the young hunter had to quickly tend to his wounds before resuming the hunt.

The great conflict had begun.