Under One Banner (kuro_bara x Broomhandle45)

He shifted at her expression, clearing his throat to hide his embarrassment. He was not an ugly man by any standards, but his focus was often elsewhere. He was known as the dog of his lord, and for good reason that he could not deny. It had earned him power and prestige, but it was admittedly a little lonely. And he couldn't ignore that it felt pleasant to have someone else in his tent for a change. She seemed...happy, though. That was good...she would fight better if she was content.

"It won't," Han murmured, a slight twinge of pride in his voice. "...I let my guard down, that is all. I wasn't expecting your attack."
 
Her eyebrows rose almost to her hair line, though she did not loose her bemused expression. 'So, the arrogant warrior finally decided to show his face.' She wondered to herself, he obviously considered himself the superior fighter. Judging by the trophies about the tent it wasn't entirely unjustified, he just needed an opponent that was on equal footing and not a step below him. She leaned forward, a coy smile spreading across her lips. "Perhaps we should spar, and find out if that's all it was?" She murmured in a sultry tone. It was a blatant attempt at bring out the more competitive side in him that she had glimpsed earlier.
 
"...Perhaps we should," he decided, more than a little quick to rise to his feet. He knew what she was doing, and quite frankly...he welcomed it. It was something he knew how to handle and deal with, this? He felt so woefully uneducated it made him feel ashamed to be a man. Some air would do him good in the worst of ways, and maybe understanding her through the fires of battle would ease his mind about all of this entirely.
 
Eri unfolded and rose to her feet a moment after him, his eagerness bleeding into her and making her pulse quicken. She held out her arm with an impish look. "Lead the way husband." She quipped in a voice all together too cheerful. She wasn't the only one looking forward to this, Absol was excited to gauge Nidoking and Han in battle to see if they were worthy of them as a pair.
 
He grunted quietly in minor annoyance, but...hooked an arm around hers to move out with her. The better word was possibly 'tugged', considering how quick he was moving. But he felt it rude to not do what she had asked. There was a sparring area...which was anywhere that was away from the rest of them. The Pokemon usually got a little spooked if they witnessed their change, so he made sure they were firmly behind his tent as he released her arm.

"...How shall we test this?" He didn't want people being curious, but he supposed it was inevitable. There would always be that wayward child, or a bored ponyta hand...
 
Eri gazed up for a moment, considering his question. If they fought in this manner she was worried he would get hung up on the fact she was a woman, his wife. If they fought with their bonded Pokemon he was likely to be more impartial. Nodding finally she wrapped a hand around the crystal on her neck and smiled deviously at him.

The air seemed to pull in around her swirling around her feet and rustling stray grass and hay across the ground. Tendrils of shadow became visible in the vortex, spinning around her feet as she closed her eyes and focused inwards. The tendrils swelled and shot up into the air before curling back in on her above her head. It looked like a cage made of shadow before it completely closed in around her. The shadow blocked out all sight of her only momentarily before it began shrinking against a vastly changed form. The shadow melded to her new body, giving her skin the color of darkness. It formed large talons at the end of paw shaped hands, a curved black tail from the base of her spine and a single curve horn that arched back from the right side of her head. Next short, white fur spread across her muscular body covering everything except her face and claws. Her once long, dark hair was now short and as white as the fur. Finally she opened her eyes and stared at him with a smirk. Her eyes were the color of fresh blood and looked like they glowed with an inner fire.

She shook herself and stretched muscles that felt both different and familiar at the same time. It had taken a long time to get used to this bizarre feeling but it grew easier as the bond grew stronger. Eri stood in a relaxed posture and said nothing, simply waiting for him to make his own decision on how he would handle this fight. Absol was howling with glee and excitement inside her and it was hard to stand still.
 
"...I see," he replied, shrugging out of top robe to expose his scarred torso, muscles tight with every movement before he brushed his hand over his crystal and his skin turned a dark purple before his bulk expanded, his face twisting into a faint snarl as his pupils dilated and barbs speared through his skin, and armor plating rippled out of his muscles as a thick, heavy tail tore through his pants and hit the ground with a surprising weight as a long horn moved upwards from his forehead.

He exhaled faintly, but flexed his clawed hands. He wished he could say that he felt the same joy, but all he felt was the mild pang of his taken pokemon of displeasure. He had never liked him, and try as he might...he had done nothing to change the situation, either. All it did was make both of them angrier when they did meld together. But he didn't say anything, merely eyeing her with a new-found sense of primal appreciation.

He flexed his hands with a light growl, and beckoned her to come forward.
 
Almost as soon as he was completely changed, Eri had already started moving. By the time he was beckoning her forward she had darted to the side and dropped lower, racing at him with a surprising burst of speed. One of her clawed hands drawn back like she was going to attempt to hamstring him. The look on her face had turned much more calculating though her enjoyment of the situation was still obvious in the playful glint in her eyes.
 
It was hard to tell what that look on his face was, but he wasn't expecting her to be so fast as he spun quickly to react. His heavy fist swinging down to stop her in her tracks, Nidoking was furious...even Han could feel it. The mockery, he thought! How dare they play games! His anger, was Han's anger...and it wasn't hard to put more strength behind that downward swing.
 
She was a bit too focused on landing a hit and had to roll to avoid the heavy fist that swung down at her. Eri barely got out of the way, feeling the tug of air as his fist flew past her. Her roll placed her in a crouch about three feet away from him, where she sat eyeing him with a wary smile. The anger on his face was too strong to be only his, which meant Nidoking was infuriated about something and that anger was flowing freely to Han. Interesting.

She remained in a crouch, pacing back and forth while she debated the next move. He was on par with her speed so she would need to work extra hard to dodge any attacks, better to be on the offensive and make him defend against her. As she pivoted to continue pacing, she suddenly dove straight at him with a snarl. Using her powerful legs to propel herself, she tackled him just below his center of gravity, digging her sharp claws into his toughened skin in a rather vicious manner.
 
Han dug his feet in as he felt the hard impact of her against his legs, the pain was faint...but the movement of her claws wasn't. He grunted faintly, and reared down to grab her by the waist as his own claws sunk into her ribs. And with a faint snarl, he lifted as hard as he could. She was fast...and given time, she was strong too. But he had endurance, something that she doubted he had, considering she felt like fur and skin.
 
Her breath left her in a whoosh of air when Han's claws dug into her ribs. She could feel them pierce the skin and a dampness that indicated a small amount of blood had stained the fur around them. Absol was furious now and out for blood. Eri had already taken more damage then she had anticipated in the fight and she would need to end it soon before Nidoking had a chance to pound her into the dirt. Before she could try and wriggle away, her eyes widened in surprise as all her weight left the ground. As Han lifted her into the air in an attempt to drive her forcefully into the ground she snapped her legs around his neck as tightly as she could. In one fluid motion she arched her body away from his and dug her claws into the dirt. Using his momentum and the strength of her legs she tried to throw him over onto his back.
 
That...was not what he expected, her grip around his head -and her scent...beautiful- was like a vice, he felt Nidoking's patience shifting to nothing more than pure anger. It was one of the many flaws from their bond being so weak, he couldn't expect Nidoking to trust him. Usually, he never fought opponents that offered this kind of challenge...then again, Lord Gren had been incredibly capable in preventing that anyway.

So if he lost this, it would be due to Nidoking's impatience with him and the fight...so he had to do something, anything. The only thing he could think of was shifting back to use his tail as a weight, but it didn't solve the problem of her legs clamped around his head. Maybe Han could be patient...but Han and Nidoking could not. He did the only thing that he could think of that he knew was discomforting, he opened his mouth and let a his pointed tongue, rough and coarse trail up her inner thigh. Nidokings had a very dry mouth, which made anything...mouth related extremely unpleasant.

And Han would admittedly never like to share about how he found out about this, either. But it was an effective tactic that had served him well enough...especially since Nidoking's body was laced with poison, the least of which was settled on his tongue. It wouldn't poison her truly, but it would cause her skin to be immensely irritated.
 
Before she could follow through the maneuver she felt his weight shift throwing her off balance. Eri made an effort to reassert control but the sudden feel of a rough tongue, like sandstone, running up her thigh made her shudder with horror. The sting from the poison made her yelp and release him causing her to drop to the ground and roll away from him. She crouched on her haunches, glaring up at him with glittering red eyes that seemed to grow darker by the second. She was done playing games in this fight, her anger fused with Absol's and she began summoning an inner power. A faint, pinkish light rippled along her claws and seemed oddly out of place given the dark nature of her Pokemon.

Any warrior who trained with Pokemon learned the basic moves, types and more powerful abilities of the creatures in their area. The ability she was now utilizing had a distinct advantage over Nidoking and a single hit should be enough to stagger him. Psycocut coated her claws in psychic energy that would decimate any poison based Pokemon. She knew it was more than likely that she would take a direct hit from him if she launched this attack but she no longer cared. With a howl, she raced across the ground and launched herself at him, aiming her blow for her chest.
 
The aura made his skin crawl, but he ignored it. It was something distinctly on his partner's side and not his...the wisest choice often meant the most unconventional response. Which was ignoring the displeasure of his partner and rushing forward to meet her, horn glimmering with deadly energy as his eyes ignited with life. He had only one moment, perhaps even less than that to avoid an attack...but so did she.

He met her with a vicious roar, aiming to slam his horn against her side in passing. Up close, even he felt afraid of that energy dancing against her claws.
 
Instead of attempting to dodge him she actually stepped into his path, his horn slamming against her side painfully and making her wince. As he trampled by she threw her weight against his shoulder and dug her claws into his back deep as she could. Considering how much pain her side was in his forward momentum easily tossed her off, as she tumbled away from him she made sure to score her nails along the hardened skin of his back and shoulder. Eri collapsed against the ground on her back, her chest heaving and a sharp pain stabbing into her rib cage. Some of them were definitely broken and she could feel the sting of air on the wounds where his claws had dug in. There was also the burning feeling along the inside of one thigh to deal with though comparatively, it was only a minor irritation.

She did not have enough energy to continue the fight, in fact she could barely push herself up onto her elbows to see if he was going to continue the assault. She wouldn't be able to dodge if he did and considering the rage she had witnessed in Nidoking, she wasn't entirely sure he could stop. She gazed up at him with her eerie red eyes, most of the fire gone from them and replaced with weariness.
 
Pain roared across his back as he stumbled with a haggard grunt, his carapace cracked and bled in protest as he sunk down to his knees with a snarl of pain. He didn't know what was worse; Nidoking's indignation of his injury or the actual pain. His back twitched visibly as his tail slammed against the ground with a pained snarl before he rose to his feet. Everything...everything ached...but he was on his feet.

"...Had enough?" Han rumbled faintly, flexing his hands. Interesting feeling...he could still feel the pain, and it wasn't subsiding.
 
Eri let herself slid back onto the ground after giving him a short nod. He looked almost as bad she felt but he was still on his feet which made him the victor of this fight. It galled a little but it had been a fair fight and probably the most challenging one she had experienced in years. After a few moments she groaned and rolled onto her hands and knees, her arms shaking with the effort, finally she managed to get into an upright position with her hands braced against her knees. Now that she wasn't flat on her back in disgrace she released the power of the crystal and felt the power drain away as Absol retreated back to its prison. There was a swirl of shadow that was much less spectacular than her earlier transformation and than Eri, entirely human, was sitting there on the ground trying to catch her breath.

The pain was even more intense now that she didn't have the Pokemon's power in her. Her breath's came in short, sharp gasps, each one causing a stab a pain in her ribs. The side of her robes were slashed where Nidoking's claws had punctured and stained with blood but not enough that it was a major concern. She bowed her head forward despite the pain and murmured in a shockingly submissive tone. "You have won husband, I will fight by your side from now on and not against you."
 
Han's tail faintly twitched at that, and eventually he exhaled as his skin began to fade and the pain became a new level of suffering as he grit his teeth, sweat breaking out against his skin. But a victory was a victory...not that he stopped him from coming over, and scooping her up by her legs to hold her carefully. They had to get to the healer...who would be less than amused by what they had done...and he tried not to notice the fact that half of the clan was watching. The sense of power that Nidoking was feeling was enough to make Han sick. But at least it meant he'd be quiet for a while.

"More important things first," he mumbled quietly.
 
Eri's eyes widened in surprise when he scooped her up and her ribs protested the sudden movement but she stayed still. She could see the pain he was in as well but knew better than to mention it now, especially with half his clan watching them. Her cheeks colored faintly at the display of kindness he was showing her. When she really thought about it, this was an excellent chance to make the Arwais clan believe that they would be a functioning and possible loving husband and wife despite the circumstances. She suspected her being disobedient wouldn't look good for Han or Gren. As they walked through the camp she rested her head against his chest, it wasn't really an act, she was quite content to sit this way and he was gentle enough that it managed to lessen the pain in her side for the moment.
 
He swallowed lightly, arms around her as they moved to the healers tent. This was...pleasant, very pleasant. Despite the fact that he had just hurt his new found wife, she seemed to be...comfortable? Content? He didn't know, and he wouldn't pry for it. The healer didn't look too pleased, but the older man rarely did as he sighed faintly.

"...I see you two have adjusted well." he replied idly. Han was always one to be a bit reckless, but this was certainly a different level.

"...Sorry," Han replied quietly. "...We may have gotten a little out of hand."
 
Eri gave the healer a flat stare as Han set her down. "My husband was just showing me his prowess as a warrior, it is my own fault for being careless in battle that I received these injuries." She said, there was a definite hint of pride in her voice and something else...protectiveness. "Please see to Lord Guruden first." She added, looking Han over quickly. She was worried he was hiding the severity of his injuries. There was definitely a sense of wanting to protect him and that feeling surprised her. Something about the fight had shifted her perspective, she looked at him like an equal and a partner now instead of a man to whom she was given as a gift.
 
"I'm fine," he assured easily, sitting down with a light breath. "You're the one with the broken bones, I could feel it when I hit you." Disregarding the fact that his back was bleeding like nothing else, but he could meditate in the meantime. Pain was just another method for focus, and communicating with Nidoking after victory was always the easiest way to do so.

"Regardless of who..." The healer replied in minor annoyance, kneeling down to examine Eri first anyway. "Both of you are being looked at." Wasn't the healer's place to question the odd marriage that Lord Gren had announced...but it was certainly becoming a camp discussion after that fight.
 
Eri glared at Han over the top of the healer's head where the man couldn't see her expression. The healer whistled and a large, pink Pokemon scuttled in. Clefable were a rare sight away from the mountains and were often too shy to be around people. It seemed quite content to assist the healer in checking Eri over before he gave it the command to heal her. The Clefable bounced excitedly before a glow surrounded its hands. The Pokemon laid it's hands on her ribs, the glow spreading around the injured areas and sinking into her skin. It gave Eri the peculiar feeling of being dunked in cold water. She shivered as the Clefable let go and turned to Han, eyeing the bigger man warily.

The pain was gone, replaced with a mildly irritating dull ache. The ribs were no longer broken and she could breath properly now but she would be sore for days after this. She gave the healer and his Pokemon a kind smile. "Thank you." She murmured in a warm voice. "That is much better."
 
"...It's okay," the healer assured his pokemon with a rub of her head. "He won't hurt you, go ahead and heal him."

In fact, Han had already closed his eyes and his breathing had evened out. He was already deep in meditation, he had to do it often...especially with Nidoking. For warriors who had a more...successful bond, it was probably less needed. His crystal resonated faintly, and his mind was taken away to a place that smelled faintly of rocks and poison...when he opened his eyes again, there Nidoking was...a snarling, tail whipping brood of an older warrior. His carapace wasn't so brightly colored, but that would be a fool indeed who thought that meant he was an old man waiting to die.

Coming to curry more favor, boy? His mouth didn't move, but the venom in his words were sharp enough anyway.

There could have been a better way- he started, but the disdainful snort already filled his mind with a faint echo.

Spare me your lessons, child...I have been fighting before your father felt it worth to raise you, your only failure is your own...yet you come to me, hoping and praying that you are worthy, disgusting. He sneered. Come to me when you have a spine, otherwise, I grow tired of these pointless talks. You are nothing more than another way for me to get what I want, the roar of combat.

It was true...and he knew it, not that the feeling generated anything more than the bitter taste of familiarity. He didn't know how to talk to him, father was always better at that...father was always better a lot of things that Han still struggled with daily. Having Lord Gren personally adopted him was both a blessing and curse, none of his people would help him understand...and Nidoking alone would never be understood.

His sigh was nicely timed, because that was when he felt the healing touch of the Clefable and his eyes finally opened. He just had to train harder, that's all. He would perfect his art and then Nidoking would respect him, and they would function better together.
 
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