Round 1, Battle 01. Start! [Matt & Berker]

The day had finally come! Here it was, the Sports Festival of U.A. High School, the event that everyone was hyping up as the greatest event any First-Year Student could take part of. Here, students showed their prowess in their Quirks and strengths to each other and the staff, and prove to everyone that Heroes were a force for good! Matt McNaughton was more excited than he let on, that was for sure. The young man, reading a book before being called out on the Festival floor, found that his heart-rate was accelerating rapidly. What if he lost? What if he got seriously injured and hurt himself or others? What if he couldn't control his powers?

Matt took a deep breath and exhaled. No, he'd been training all this time; practicing, getting stronger and controlling Word Warrior was getting a lot easier too! So Matt wasn't about to throw in the towel just yet; besides, he wasn't even being ushered on stage yet, so he had plenty of-

"And now approaching, Matthew McNaughton!"

Oh. Well, that really came faster than he thought it would. Matt didn't even have time to pick an entrance song. Ah well.

Matt entered the arena, donning the basic U.A. outfit for this momentous event. Waving at the audience, Matt felt his face flushing and becoming hotter and hotter as he was surrounded by classmates and strangers. Man... MAN, that's a LOT of people in this audience... And were those TV cameras? Oh man, was this being broadcast? How many people are gonna be watching me at home? Oh noooooooo...

Turning back to focus on his opponent, Matt found an unfamiliar face. Berker's name had sounded familiar, but looking at him now, Matt had literally no idea who the heck he was. Maybe he was from that Support Class? Probably. Matt watched as Berker carefully moved that huge stick in front of him and seemed to... hunch over? What was this guy doing? It's like his face is getting furry and fluff and...

Oh.
His Quirk probably turned him into an animal or something, huh?

Matt respectfully smiled and waved, the blush from embarrassment beginning to fade at last. Calling out to Berker, Matt's voice was sincere, and his use of Japanese was atrocious. "Hello, Berker-san! I very glad be match with you! May best win!"

And with that, Matt carefully moved into a defensive stance, both fists up blocking his face. The young man would carefully watch his opponent, waiting for him to make the first move; Word Warrior worked at it's best when reacting to the enemy's actions. Whispering quietly to himself, the young man waited to prepare a wall or shield to take out Berker's full attack, then counter attacking swiftly.

Matt watched as Berker and he made their cautious moves, carefully watching each other and eying their opponent (well… each other) across the way. This was interesting anyway you slice it. Berker was some kind of animal Quirk user, and Matt didn’t want to give away the secret to Word Warrior *just* yet. Maybe the young man just needed to make the first move, break the tension, get the fight rolling? Maybe. But Matt wasn’t going to do anything without actually making sure Berker didn’t act first. Afterall, Word Warrior was reactionary in nature.

First thing first, though, Matt was really nervous about that staff.

“But Matt,” you might say, “it’s just a big stick! Surely that isn’t so scary!”

And you’d be right, if it was just a big stick. But this was not just any big stick, this was a stick that Berker felt comfortable enough using in front of a live audience. That meant… Berker was a pro. Oh man, this was gonna suuuuuuuuuuuuuucccccccccccckk.

Matt watched as Berker continued forward, noticeably hiding his back from the American’s view. Why would he hide his back from his opponent? Was he afraid that there was something there that might be exploited? Did he have a “KICK ME” sign he didn’t want people to know about? Wait that last idea was not serious at all! Matt, get your head in the game, come on!

Matt would carefully wait, taking one step backwards as the fellow First Year approached, and then thrusted with his bo staff. This was it! Matt raised a hand and, in English, released a triumphant cry. “Shield beats Staff! Always!”

The staff would slam and ricochet into a translucent barrier, appearing right infront of Matt within a second notice of his speaking the word. Humming slightly in the air, it seemed to flush with energy as Matt continued to speak, now in his best (pre rehearsed) Japanese. Anyone watching who knew Matt (especially his classmates and teacher) his Japanese was excellent, and nothing like the timid young man who didn't say anything in class. “This is Word Warrior. Through the power of letters I can effect and change our world with force-like energy. Fortunately for me, Word Warrior is not just a shield, but a sword!”

With the word sword, the shield barrier in front swiftly turned sideways, throwing the staff to the slide and exposing Berker to the extremely sharp, extremely thin side of the barrier. The barrier began to float on it’s own in the air, and with a powerful motion, swung down to slash the staff out of Berker’s hands! Would it work? Hopefully, but this was more of a probe than anything else. If Matt could determine, through his next action, what type of animal Berker was, then maybe he could think of a solution to this fight…

Matt laughed to himself a bit. Man, he was definitely playing the fool, huh? Word Warrior wasn't exactly a subtle Quirk, so it kind of hadto be this way, but he was doing himself no favors in the intelligence department. Explaining your Quirk to your enemy in combat? Not smart dude, not smart. Although the wording of it might throw off Berker a bit, it was still clear as day that words were power when Matt spoke. So how was Matt going to react now? 

Well, the sword fortunately didn't disappear after the slash. And the sword still had flat sides.

Matt grinned. Speaking in English, Matt continued. "Ah, but y'know, a sword is good at both offense and defense; it can parry attacks and strike back, right?" And seemingly powered by the words alone, Berker's fist found itself colliding not with Matt's face, but the flat of the sword in the air! As the sword held off the attack, Matt used the chance to grab the staff off the ground and hold it in his hands. Whoa, this thing was long, huh?  Matt grunted a bit as he tossed the further to the side, hopefully over the edge of the stage. 

OK, was that smart? Let's think about it.

Berker definitely swung first with the staff, and he brought it here, so that meant that it was his primary weapon right? Unless it was a crutch... In any case, he proved he could use it effectively. So it makes sense to throw it off the stage! If he tried to reach for it, he'd ring out, ad now the combat would be much more up close and personal.

Wait, what?

WHY ON EARTH WOULD MATT WANT THIS?!?!

Matt paled slightly as he watched the staff clunk against the floor and roll away. Oh shoot, Berker was not going to let him have a break after this, huh? Well... Guess it was time to get serious! This was an official match in the U.A. Sports Festival! Matt wasn't going to let anyone walk over him, even if they intimidated him or spoke over him!

Fortunately for Berker, however, all of this internal deliberation and encouragement meant that the sword barrier was not at full strength when Berker struck it; the sword shatters into force energy as the hit lands. The sound similar to shattering glass is also enough to shatter Matt's stupor of thought, and he turns back to find himself unarmed, and Berker right next to him, the staff of his off towards out of bounds.

...Oh.
Oh no.
This was gonna suck, wasn't it.

Matt felt his face make contact with Berker's fist, and it did not feel pleasant. Huh, that struck Matt as weird. Not the fist to the face, that struck him perfectly fine; Berker knew enough to throw a punch that was both effective, and hard-hitting. Props to Berker actually. No, what struck him was that he expected this to hurt more. Maybe it was because he watched too much tV and those actions shows have people go down in one punch, and the hero gets to stand there and look triumphant. This hurt, he wasn't going to lie and be all fine, his face was hurting, but at the same time, he wasn't going unconscious. This was just a punch. Huh. Weird to think that the kid expected to go down in the first hit.

Y'know what, though? At least it wasn't the staff.

Matt stumbled back a bit, shaken but not stirred by the hit. Checking his nose for any sign of blood would prove to be positive; the nose was clean for now. In all honestly, Matt would probably be the one who would make his nose bleed during this fight; he was thrown off his guard one this fight. Not again. Not if Matt could help it. Granted, Matt could probably hurt it too, but let's think positive. Crouching slightly, Matt raised his fists again, this time less steady than before.

"Berker-san, you punch well! But let see how you do against focus! Blades of fury heed my cry!" 

Within the instant of the word being spoken, a new blade appeared in the air, and slashed down at Berker! Should he dodge, he would find the blade would slash repeatedly towards him, moving through the air to slash and push berker back as far as possible. Matt, meanwhile, would step forward with every slash, now singing parts of a song in English; poorly, but the verbal expression was more than enough for the blade to remain at full power.

With every slash, Berker would potentially lose valuable space on the arena until he was forced to go on the offensive or ring out. What would he do? Would he finally show what's so important behind his back? Matt certainly hoped so; if he could find something to make this win quicker, then why not go for it? However, an idea was brewing in his head... Hmmmmmm...

The sword cut through the air like a hot knife through melted butter; extremely well! Matt was proud of the display he was able to show the audience, even if it came at the cost of having no official training as a First Year Student. Maybe... Maybe his raw talent and brilliant mind would compensate for his Quirk's development! Huh, now that was a thought and a half, wasn't it? The young man would almost double over laughing at the thought of his meger efforts doing anything to make up for lack of time... But this was a fight, and people don't normally keel over with laughter in a fight unless it was a strategic ploy.

Speaking of strategic ploys, Matt was brainstorming up one during the entire assault!

What could Berker's weakness be?

Deciding to re-examine the clues he'd picked up on, Matt ran through the fight in his head, still singing some easy to remember childhood rhyme in English.

First things first, Berker had a quirk that affected his appearance, right? That was pretty clear, the kid grew hair faster than anyone he met before... Had to be some kind of transformative Quirk, right? Right. Clue two: The staff. It seemed pretty important, important enough to be used in a fight with a tournament on the line. Maybe his Quirk had something to do with staves?... No, staves and growing hair don't match up. Clue three: The mobility. Berker was moving and weaving through the sword slashes with ease. He's nimble and quick! Like some kind of bird, or rodent or...

Or MONKEY.

Matt nearly smacked himself in the head. How did he not figure this out before? The staff, the hair, the movement? It was all clear now; Berker had a Monkey-like Quirk, and he was modeling himself off of Sun Wukong! Matt had read the story in passing (once, a long, LONG time ago), but, like, the dude was a legendary figure with a staff as a main weapon! Oh, brilliant theming, Berker! If Matt could shake your hand right now, he would.

Now there was another problem.

Matt couldn't remember anything else about Sun Wukong.

Well, sulking wouldn't help much, would it now? Yeah, no way. The young man needed to find a weakness of some kind... and heeeeeeeeeeeeeyyy, that's a tail behind Berker. Matt watched as Berker sidestepped the last sword blow aimed to knock him off the arena, and by doing so, exposed the tail he had been desperately hiding the entire fight. Tail might be it. Now to just get to it...

But first, here comes the flying fist! PATRICK NO

Matt's hands flew up to his face, as the nursery rhyme gave way to a powerful, "SHIELD PLEASE!", in pure English. Within milliseconds, another barrier formed between Berker's fists, and Matt's throat. Even with the block, the force pushed Matt back a step or two towards the center of the arena, hands still blocking Matt's face. Stopping his momentum backwards, Matt faced forward and grinned. The hovering barrier moved from in front of Berker's fist, and flew to float above Matt's head, alongside the sword from before. The barrier turned into a similarly sharp blade, and now two swords floated, while their master cautiously spoke. "Berker-san, well fight. Let's train again someday, OK?"

And with those words, the swords burst with speed; one sword flung high into the air about 7 meters above the fighters, and the other swinging straight at Berker. Matt would also charge forward, noticing the blood now beginning to streak down his nose and onto his lips. Time was off the essence here; one wrong move would make Matt hurt himself really bad.

Wait... I could try... I don't know if it will work or not, but it might, and then I might win!

The young man would charge directly at Berker and attempt to throw a weak punch while the blade swung alongside. Matt was invigorated now. "Man, thank you for letting me fight full out, Berker!", Matt would gush in English, panting as he swung again at Berker. This frontal assault seemed odd... But maybe there was a good reason for it? "I always wanted to try this, and now I think I can! Than you for helping me GRASP onto my power!"

And with that word, the sword, carefully hovering over Berker's movements should he dodge or be hit by the frontal assault, would come down spinning in the air, towards Berker's back! Aiming for his tail, the sword would become a strange object, unclear as it hurtled and spun in the air. Berker would have to fight to notice this with Matt up close and personal; but if he did, he might recognize it as a manacle or something. The object would attempt to slam into Berker's tail, before latching shut with a tight grip! Either or the cold, motionless air, or on Berker's tail, this new restraint would stand, defiant and locked.

This was a new idea... A new move! Matt had literally no clue if it would work, but the nosebleed showed that something was happening!