Training Time

"You're goin' down!"

"Pfft, as if."

Early taunts from a Demi-Rathian and a human, as their training session began. Kino the Rathian started off strong with a mighty tail whip, which was expertly parried by Roy's shield. He, in turn, took a literal stab at her, which she adeptly danced around for her own counter. Claw met sword, and the two warriors had grins on their faces as they forced against one another with all their might.

"C'mon Roy, you're going easy on me!" The green-scaled woman taunted as they forced one another away.

"Am I?" He replied, side-stepping a kick and grabbing the offending leg at the knee. "Or am I just waiting?"

With his own leg, he swept Kino's leg out from under her, and he pinned her for three seconds. As he got up, he offered his hand to her, which was swatted away.

"Alright, be that way. Round one goes to me!"

Kino huffed flame. "I've still got plenty in me, c'mon!"

Roy twirled his wooden sword as Kino cracked her knuckles, the two Hunters moving in a circle around one another. They began to close distance, and the two began their dance again. A slash was evaded, while a spout of flame was blocked. His vision blocked momentarily, Kino quickly took a step back and jumped upwards, using her wings to get just a little bit of extra height.

Roy dropped his shield to attack, and was completely unprepared for twin Rathian claws to slam into his leather chestpiece, completely flooring him from the force alone. Kino quickly pinned the stunned Hunter, and counted to three. Roy was down for much longer, head spinning.

"Hah, one to one! Come on, get up, first to three, remember?"

Roy groaned and stood up, shaking his head clear. "Right, first to three." He took a deep breath in, let it out slowly, and rolled his shoulders. "Let's do this."

Kino charged forward, claws literally on fire. The wooden shield caught one and threw her balance off as Roy shoved her arm wide, but she recovered before he could take advantage of it. A sort of berzerker fury had overtaken the half-Rathian, driven purely by the need to *win.* Roy had seen it before on hunts, but never directed at him.

"Wait, Kino, hold o-!"

A savage knee strike was hastily deflected by his own arm, and he ducked three more swift claw slashes. He knew at this point that talking was pointless, he just needed her to wear out. A shoulder check was absorbed by the shield, sending Roy sliding back several feet. His shield arm started aching, but this and the leather armor was all that was between him and-

Roy suddenly rolled to the side, evading the mace-like tail of the Rathian in their iconic backflip. Kino didn't quite get the landing and tripped, and Roy quickly attempted to pin her. She struggled a bit, but eventually fell with his additional weight on her back.

"2 to..." Roy panted. "1. When the hell... did you learn that?"

"Practice." Kino replied back, just as tired. "Still... need more."

"Right..."

After a moment, both combatants stood into read positions, and started again.

---

An hour later, both left the training facility. Tired, bruised, but otherwise happy with how the other performed. The wooden sword and shield was returned, and the claw caps were placed in their box for the next session.

Round 3 turned into round 4, then 5, then 6. Despite Kino's massive offensive advantage, she simply got worn down by Roy's defenses. Having her attacks interrupted, blocked, or straight up dodged put a tax on the Demi-Rathian that simply couldn't be easily recovered. With Roy being one of those "blasted Humans" she had muttered, he could play defense *and* offense.

"You're carrying me home."

Roy blinked. "I'm sorry, what?"

"You," Kino said, pointing to him, "are carrying me," she pointed to herself, "home." She pointed out into the city, then crossed her arms and sat on the floor.

"Hold on a damn minute, why am I doing this?"

"Because you wore me out so badly, I can't walk! Oh, being such a bad boyfriend, such torture~!" She finished her statement with the back of her hand on her forehead, leaning it back.

"Oh for... straight up Diva, I swear."

He lifted her up...

"Yay! Whoa, hey, what are you..."

And threw her over his shoulder like a sack of forest green potatoes.

"We are going to my place, washing up, and getting lunch."

"Mm, washing up, eh? Hehehehe..."

"Do I have to get the Lewd Stick out?"

"Maybe."

Roy rolled his eyes. Just one of those days.
---

A distorted snarl left Kino's mouth, her eyes blank with Frenzy. Purple mist was falling from her mouth as she growled. While part human, her wyvern side seemed very much vulnerable to the virus. Roy noted where that bastard Gore had run off to in the forest, then mentally filed it away for personal destruction later.

First was shaking the she-wyvern out of this. He sheathed his weapon, but kept the shield strapped on. Sharp claws came for him, but he jumped back to evade them. He didn't really want to hurt her, but there was little other option. Kino leapt for him, arms outstretched to grab him, and grab him she did. There was, however, little she could do to the *much* heavier human in his Guild Palace armor. Her claws were leaving small scratches in the paint, but otherwise simply couldn't penetrate. Instead, he grabbed *her,* and tossed her like litter onto the floor, back first. He then dropped his elbow onto her chest for good measure. The brutal slam knocked the wind out of her, but she recovered too quickly for Roy to capitalize further.

"Damn virus... Kino, are you in there?" A snarl was the response. The hunter sighed. "Well, can't say I didn't try."

Unlike their occasional spar, there was nothing to keep them from seriously harming the other except self control. Roy had it, but Kino's current state had her adrenal glands running at full force. He had to knock her out, otherwise this was going to kill her. A fireball built in her mouth, an absolutely molten blue in color, and she lunged forward like before, grabbing both of his arms again.

"Oh, shi-"

A massive explosion erupted as she opened her mouth and hurled the fireball. The sheer concussive force threw him like a ragdoll, bouncing down the hill and striking trees with his chest or legs. He made several painful rolls until he came to a stop near a river. *Everything* hurt, and he was sure he had a busted rib or two, but Kino seemed to have lost him.

His armor was torched, and the Rukodiora emblem had been partially melted. Ash coated him, and he coughed a few times as he got to his feet. "At least I'm not on fire..."

He loaded a flashbomb into his slinger, making sure she didn't see him do it as he limped his way towards the crazed Rathian. She locked eyes with him and dashed, but before she made contact again Roy slugged her in the gut. She doubled over, and an armored knee made solid contact with her chin. Her head snapped back, nose bleeding, and Roy grabbed it and threw her into one of the multiple, now burning, trees. Roy moved a little more swiftly to try and pin her, but she was already up, plenty angry.

"Gods dammit, stay down!" Roy shouted, angry as well. More adrenaline in her system was not needed right now.

Or maybe... it was? It was so impossibly hard to tell with Frenzied half-breeds sometimes. Some of the weaker ones simply died, and the others...

Clearly, Kino was anything but weak.

She body-checked him, just for Roy to slide back a few feet. As she moved in closer, her vision exploded into white. Roy had launched the pod at point-blank range, ensuring a hit. The demi-Rathian opened her mouth to yell, but her mouth was instead plugged with a nulberry. She chewed it and swallowed, and some brief clarity returned before she lost it again.

That was the only thing Roy needed to know. Not lost, just sick.
---

She threw her claws out at random, which Roy had already stepped out of range of. He returned the attack with an uppercut, followed by a powerful kick to the side. Her body contorted painfully, and to buy time she spun on her heel, using her tail to potentially lethal effect. The fact it didn't stop simply told her that her attacker had backed off.

He seemed... familiar, but it was cloudy. And she was so damn angry... Did it really matter? She needed to fight, to kill!

But that scent... and the voice... It sounded angry, but she remembered it being used comfortingly too...

In her rage, she fired off another of the blue-hot fireballs, turning much of the water it hit to steam. Flash-cooked fish drifted downriver. Her vision was beginning to clear again, and there was someone in blue armor standing back up.

"Kino?" The being asked, looking at her.

Was that her? Who was... wait...
---

Kino paused, almost confused. She blinked, the rage suddenly snuffed out. Her eyes became unclouded by the corrupted purple miasma, and it vanished from her scales as well.

"R-Roy...?"

"Yeah Reia, it's me."

"Oh... okay..."

And she promptly dropped like a puppet with its strings cut. The Hunter rushed forwards to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Yep. Love you too. Ow..."
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