AN: Author profile updated with more character information and stuff, but man its hard for me to write fight scenes. I hope the scene shifts were shown well enough.

Word Count: 2,207

Ham-Ham the Wandering Black Hamster

Book 1: Journeys

Arc 3: The Battle at the Eastern Sea, Chapter 18: A Rivalry is Formed

Previously, Ham-Ham used his new technique Black Thunder to weaken the Oakie army

Two days later, during the middle of the morning, the two armies clash. The Oakie army is there to conquer and steal, while the hamster army is there to defend their home and country. In the middle of the road between the actual city proper of Sham and the docks is where the two armies will fight to determine the victor.

This time, Honkis had his two Lieutenants with him. When Heptalion saw them, he turned to Rai and said, "Rai I hope you're up for a two versus one."

"Well we'll see how it goes."

With the odds being more even, the hamster army was all pumped up to get revenged for their former comrades. It also helped that Heptalion was well respected and a great leader.

"Alright men, Myra and I will lead the charge, get ready to pound the Oakies. Let us show them the spirit of Ohen!"

"OOOOOOHHHH!"

With Honkis' army, "Show those hamsters our strength. Glory to Oinks Empire!."

"Glory, Glory, GLORY!"

The morale of the two armies increased and when they clashed, it was a fierce battle where blood would be spilled boundlessly.

S-c-e-n-e S-h-i-f-t

Ham-Ham's fight with Honkis

"There you are Ham-Ham, come let us do battle. However, this time I am not tired from fighting maggots and it will be you who will be the one to lose."

Ham-Ham didn't respond and began to focus all of his attention onto Honkis. Unlike the last fight, Ham-Ham was the one to initiate. He wanted to fully grasp how strong Honkis was now that Honkis is at near full strength. Honkis is currently not at full strength because of the debacle two nights ago, where Honkis had to spend quite a bit of time re-organizing his forces, which made him lose a lot of sleep.

Ham-Ham charged at Honkis and aimed his staff with an upper arc at Honkis' side. Honkis easier blocked the blow with the hilt of his sword sheath and countered back with his sword. This time, Honkis' sword was noticeably faster and Ham-Ham dodged to his side with a little bit of time to spare. In addition, Honkis did not let up and chained his attacks. When Ham-Ham dodged his first blow, Honkis curved his blade up and followed by a quick stab. All of these attacks were dodged with more effort on Ham-Ham's part this time.

This continued for a few paces where Ham-Ham would aim at Honkis with some strength and Honkis would block and follow up with some chain attacks.

"What's wrong furball, did you use too much strength destroying my ships?"

"Nah, I just wanted to get a feel for you now that you're not weakened from fighting Myra and Heptalion. Here I come."

With that, Ham-Ham charged at Honkis once more with much greater speed. The speed slightly surprised Honkis that Honkis barely blocked the blow aimed at his face with his sword. However, when Honkis turned to face Ham-Ham behind him, he realized that his knee was tingling. Although the injury would not affect his mobility, the wound was singed. What Honkis did not see was that when Ham-Ham attacked Honkis, his first blow was at his face and then Ham-Ham quickly aimed the bottom of his staff and hit Honkis' knee area where the armor did not cover. Basically, Ham-Ham managed to attack twice in one instance.

"W-what, I did not even see it. What did you do?"

"I'm fast like that."

Again, Ham-Ham sped at Honkis, not giving him time to respond. Honkis, this time managed to block both blows this time by ducking. In doing so, he also managed to counter by swinging his blade. Ham-Ham dodged by jumping over the sword. Honkis over extended and Ham-Ham managed a blow at his neck. The injury at Honkis' neck was slightly worse than the one on his knee, but it was nothing serious.

After these two blows onto Honkis, the two would exchange numerous passes and blows. Only this time, neither side managed to do any damage to either side. Honkis changed his strategy and would use heavy attacks like Great Chop. These attacks were powerful that Ham-Ham would have to dodge far away since even the aftershocks of the attack could injure Ham-Ham. Meanwhile, Ham-Ham had a lot of trouble counterattacking with his speed because he had to increase his dodging range from Honkis' powerful attacks. This would continue for a while.

S-c-e-n-e S-h-i-f-t

Rai's battle with Honkis' Lieutenants Medium Rare and Well Done

Rai: "I am Rai a travelling swordsman."

MR: "I am Medium Rare a Lieutenant under our Great Commander Honkis."

WD: "And I am Well Done, another Lieutenant under our Great Commander."

Rai: "..."

MR/WD: "..."

Rai: "Phahahaha, wait are you joking with me?"

MR/WD: "..."

Rai: "Oh my by the Great Hams, I can't stop laughing." Rai was laughing so hard that he collapsed from laughter."

MR: "How dare you make fun of our names!"

MR/WD both attacks Rai in anger. The two Lieutenants had different equipment compared to the other Oakies. MR had a pair of daggers for fast attacks and wore light leather armor focused on mobility. WD had heavy leather armor that could withstand far more damage than even Honkis' armor and he wielded a heavy axe.

MR was the first to reach Rai, but his stab downward was dodged by Rai who rolled to the side. Rai unsheathed his sword and aimed at MR's side, which was blocked by MR's other dagger. MR jumped to the side so WD could execute his attack. WD wielded his axe and swung it in a horizontal cleave. Rai dodged the attack by dodging and retaliated with a Rising Falcon.

MR appeared on WD's back and blocked the move with his daggers. Once, Rai realized his attack was blocked, he quickly stepped back and lunged forward to execute Hunting Beast.

WD instantly took a defensive stance with his axe aimed to the ground and strengthened his defenses with his internal energy. He took that attack head on with no damage. The end result was that WD was pushed back a few steps.

MR acted and wanted to sneak attack Rai now that he overextended. What surprised MR was that as he was about to attack Rai, he shifted his stance from the Hunting Beast to a Descending Crescent. This made MR to disengage and jump back.

WD jumped back in and used his internal energy/ki to use his powerful attack Destructive Cleave. Rai felt the power of the attack and used his Cheetah Strike to dodge and aim at MR. It was a good thing that Rai dodged because the area in front of WD was reduced to a rubble in an arc. Rai's Cheetah Strike aimed at MR's neck from the back. MR blocked Rai's sword with his two daggers and used his move Pin Point. Within two seconds, both of MR's daggers hit the same spot. It was fortunate for MR to use his technique because the outcome was even. Rai's strike had a lot of power due to the speed of the attack. If MR did not use his technique, then he would've died or been severely injured.

Rai: "The teamwork of you guys are great. One is powerful and sturdy while the other is fast."

MR: "You are far too skilled to be a traveling swordsman."

WD: "Agreed, exactly who did you learn it from?"

Rai: "My skills are nowhere near my fathers, but that does not matter anymore."

Rai was incredibly skilled, for more skilled than both MR and WD, however MR and WD had great teamwork and their abilities complimented each other. The result was that both sides were even and none of them could injure each other. Even Rai's Wolf Pack technique did not change anything.

S-c-e-n-e S-h-i-f-t

The fighting between the 2 armies

With Myra and Heptalion free, the hamster army was doing a lot better this battle. With hamsters having their leader to command them and Myra for support, the lines of the hamster army held far better. They even managed to push the Oakies back in a few locations. The keys were Heptalion and Myra.

When Heptalion saw that some flanks or lines were being pressured, he sent troops from areas that were free to help relieve the areas in danger. Heptalion himself was also very skilled as he could easily solo 2-3 Oakies just by himself. He would easily take care of one area that was in danger of falling and then step back to observe the entire battlefield. With this, it was hard for the Oakies to push the hamsters back.

The other key was Myra. Myra used her spell Ocean Blessing, which would help heal the wounds that the soldiers receive and also help lessen their fatigue. This allowed the hamster army last longer and fight longer against the Oakies. Also, the Oakies did not rest well thanks to Ham-Ham. This effectively put the two armies in the same field for stamina. The Oakies could no longer just outlast the hamsters. Myra used her water control to easily deal with the Oakies. She would convert the water in the ground from the storm or the water in the ocean and make long water whips that she used to bind the Oakies to prevent them from moving. The bound Oakie soldiers could not break out of the water shackles unlike Honkis and thus these bonded Oakies were easy targets for the hamster soldiers. It would not be long for the Oakies to take loses that would exceed the hamster army.

Besides the addition of Heptalion and Myra, the Oakie army did not have any high level commander leading them. Aldorato was still sleeping on the ship since Honkis did not order him to strategize anything. This is a mistake on Honkis' part for overestimating the hamsters; a mistake that Honkis will not make again after this battle. The Oakie also had a lower morale since Ham-Ham destroying twelve ships left them in a state of shock. Also, they saw Ham-Ham and Rai being even with their commanders. The Oakie soldiers knew that they suffered from a lack of high quality fighters to deal with Myra and Heptalion.

At the end of the battle during the afternoon times, there would be only roughly only 1,500 Oakies still battle capable while the hamsters still have 3,000 still battle ready.

S-c-e-n-e S-h-i-f-t

Back with Ham-Ham and Honkis

Eventually the battle between Ham-Ham and Honkis came down to a battle of stamina. Even with the basil that Ham-Ham ate, Ham-Ham was starting to tire and it was quite visible since Ham-Ham started to barely dodge the attacks. Sooner or later, Ham-Ham would be hit.

"Heh, it seems like the victor will be me. You are strong, but you are not strong enough."

"Tch."

Ham-Ham knew that Honkis was right. He lacked any armor piercing attacks and his lightening armor was nullified from Honkis' skin and armor. Ham-Ham desperately needed more power. If Honkis could defeat Ham-Ham, then they would likely lose the battle. He did not want to see the villagers of Sham to be killed or enslaved. Also, he wanted to see his friends again, namely Shoutaro and Leliel.

At this time, a warm power started to flow into him. It felt like the flow, but it was not the flow since it felt more warm and alive. It did not give a power boost so to say, but it did allow Ham-Ham to regain his energy so he could keep fighting.

"Whut, how is it that your starting to dodge better. No, your energy is back somehow."

"I feel like I can do this all day long. I can see you sweating, you getting old?"

"Cheeky brat."

Ham-Ham was now all pumped up and ready go once more. Although Ham-Ham had his energy back, it still did not change the stalemate the two were in. With Ham-Hams renewed energy, Honkis began to feel more alive. Honkis now used more energy to fight against his opponent than the enemies he fought previously. He began to feel like Ham-Ham was more of a worthy rival than an enemy. More importantly, he began to respect his new rival after all Ham-Ham is only 15.

S-c-e-n-e S-h-i-f-t

Slightly away from the docks in the ocean

While the battle was going on, they did not notice that a ship appeared. When the two armies realized that a ship appeared in the harbor, all fighting slowly stopped. The ship was a giant Dreadnought class ship named the Bora-Alus. The country Ohen's flag is a sword surrounded by 13 circles due to the 13 seats in the Council of Elders. It also helped that the Council is based in Ohen. However, the Dreadnought class ship that was next to the docks had a sword cutting apart the rising sun. This flag was the symbol of the Oinks Empire, the seat of power for the Oakies.

I guess I'll put the next chapter name as a teaser.

Book 1: Journeys

Arc 3: The Battle at the Eastern Sea, Chapter 19: The Great General Anubora