[Quarter Finals] Manco vs Clover

[Rikka]

The crowd watched as the quarter finals started. There was lots of excitement and readiness for blood to be spilled. A girl with shaggy purple hair today hopped up from her seat as her name was called by the announcer. In her hand was a pure metal staff made of pia lamnia. Jumping up onto the stage she grinned and waved to the crowds as they broke into cheers.

Looking at her opponent her grin got giddy. "Well hello there Manco." Clover couldn't help but think this was pure irony that she was fighting her roommate whom she tended to ambush in mock fights when he walked into the room. Happily she gave another bow to the crowds before readying herself for a fight with Manco.

[Horo]

In the middle of the ring she stood, her black tuxedo pants, tucked in white dress shirt and black vest. Her hair was black, chin length in the front, just below shoulder length in the back. She had it gathered into a low ponytail; her violet eyes were shining brightly in the sunlight. She could feel the crowd’s energy, they were high on excitement, and who could blame them? These warriors had fought tooth and nail. Unsung champions were rising before them. It was only a matter of time. Gripped tightly in her right hand was the black microphone. It had fallen to her to announce the Quarter Final matches. It was sudden, but she would do her best to entice the crowd into keeping their attention on the fight before them. Now was her judgment time, her moment of reckoning.

”Are you ready for some action?” It was amazing how the crowd roared in response. Their voice combined was like a dragon awoken from slumber. ”I’m your announcer for today’s festivities. My name is Rena Nox and I come from a small world across the stars.” Members of the crowd recognized her instantly; of course they would, Rena was a famous sports idol from Canth, a tropical planet blessed with an eternal summer, and the head master of a School for Gifted Students much like the Academy.

”Let’s start today off with a splash, eh?” She pointed to the left side of the ring. ”I give you, Manco Hoshizuki! He may be small, weighing in at 120 pounds and only standing at 5 foot 6 inches, this 16 year old is taking the tournament by storm by defeating last year’s champion Liu Ke Sephora making him a crowd favorite to win! Can he take it to the next level? Or was his victory just luck?” Rena locked eyes with the entering Manco. ”Those eyes disagree! Folks you are in for a show today!”

Rena turned to face the other direction. ”Our next combatant! She is the ameba that will beat ya! Weighing in at 20 pounds, standing at a height that could change in any moment. Clover came off with an astonishing victory in her last match, can she keep up the pace?” The supporters of Clover gave a mightily roar. (INSERT THE TWINS BEING OBXNIOUS HERE) as she stepped into the ring to meet Manco and banter for a moment.

Rena took a step back and lifted her arm, Now, let the Quarter Finals” Rena paused and waited for about 10 seconds ” BEGIN!” Her hand dropped as her body sprang backwards to put some distance between the two warriors.

[Sabata]

Manco strode onto the stadium with his usual kind of swagger. He hadn't paid much attention to who he was fighting just, when and where. He'd moved down to one pistol, his new double barreled one, keeping his new sword, and wearing the staff Clover had given him across his back.

Then he noticed who his opponent was as (for convenience's sake) "she" spoke. "Fancy meeting you here, Roomie." Manco replied to Clover.

In response to Clover being his opponent, the first weapon he drew was the staff. He took a combat position and waited to be directed to fight.

The moment Rena was out of the way, he charged, going for a direct thrust with the staff. He fully intended for Clover to easily counter the move, as he'd made sure to telegraph it. He was already coming up with a reply to whatever method Clover chose for a counter.

[Rikka]

Clover noted the swagger in Manco's steps and couldn't help the chuckle that left her. Noting his first weapon of choice was the staff she had given him she smiled. She hadn't actually given it to him it had just accepted Manco more than it accepted her. Which was fine. Sometimes weapons liked to choose who wielded them.

Listening to the announcer she gave a rather twin dramatic bow to the audience. Spotting the twins she gave a little wave. They had just sorta made up from a bump in their relationship so she still felt a little awkward around them. Slipping into a defensive stance she waited for Manco to make the first move.

When Rena was out of the way he charged. Rather than avoid the thrust she simply diverted it to the right and crouched low sweeping towards his legs. If that failed she would used the time he took to dodge to roll to the left away from him.

[Sabata]

Manco let the diverted attack carry away and the tip of the staff to touch the ground. He used the staff to vault over Clover's counter. The moment he hit the ground he swung the staff against the direction he'd heard Clover roll, increasing the wait of staff halfway through the swing to increase the force, and thus damage of the blow.

"See, Clover, I've realized something. I shouldn't be using this staff like a staff. Not my style. Works much better for me as a club." Manco commented to his roommate. The way he used the weapon, it was some spikes away from being a Kanabo. That actually wouldn't be a bad modification to eat, and would be fairly easy. He just needed to stick in some nails, or studs, or something. Although, he wondered if he could make the core spike out of the wood.

Still, there was the matter of how to beat Clover. She was a polymorphic being. She could shape herself around his attacks if they hit. Though she had to have some sort of central system. Manco paid enough attention to biology to understand that something like Clover would need some form of core or nucleous, otherwise she'd just be an animate blob of jelly, and not have the kind of intelligence she possessed.

Manco took a stance and cranked back for another attack. "Come on, I can't stand here all day waiting for you to actually try." Manco stated.

[Rikka]

Clover watched him as he dodged her attack by flipping over her. Letting the staff he had pass through her since the metal core was covered in wood she grinned at him. The part of the staff that had just gone through her was now black. "Well A club does Suit you. You being troll like."

Clover hopped to her feet and swung out toward his midsection trying to drive him back. She was determined to win the tournament without seriously harming anyone. Happily she obliged Manco as he started to wind up for another swing. "Obviously she still have much to learn until you can use you new weapon to its fullest."

Suddenly she switched the momentum of her strike toward his midsection to his left thigh. With only a moments notice the Pia Lamnia staff she was holding suddenly sprouted one inch spikes all over, except for where her hands were gripping it. She also changed the weight hoping to causing a bit more damage if it hit, just as he had done.

[Horo]

Rena circled around the outskirts of the stage, watching the battle from all angles she could.

”These kids are fired up! Roommates, both in it for the win! Their devastating blows, superior skills! It’s like watching a dance of lethal fury and they are here for you!” Rena pointed at the crowd. ”Lets give our warriors another cheer!” The crowd raised their voices loud in glee.

”Fight! Bleed! Struggle!” Rena crossed her arms across her chest, holding herself tightly as she spoke. ”It’s all just so exciting! I don’t know if I can handle it!”

[Sabata]

"Ogre, actually, didn't you see my fight with Liu Ke?" Manco replied to Clover.

As Clover's charge came in, he switched the position of the staff to be overhead. It didn't matter what area Clover attacked. Rather than moving to dodge the attack, he took it, letting the spikes bury in his leg. He smirked at Clover then hammered the staff down towards Clover, increasing the mass at the end drastically as the staff started its down ward swing.

After the staff hit the ground, he used it as a leverage point to pull himself away from Clover's staff by imitating Clover's trick, though for starters just a single spike at the end of the staff to anchor it.

Manco cracked his neck. "Come on, you don't think I saw a trick like that coming? Gimme a break. How many times have you tried to get the drop on me anyways?" Manco asked.

His leg hurt, but was still usable. He could feel the regeneration he'd apparently unlocked by accessing his oni form already starting to work, though much slower than if he'd accessed the form.

"So Come on, when are we going to start taking this seriously?" Manco asked.

[Rikka]

"No sorry. Apple thought it was funny to run nude in and out of classrooms and bathrooms and basically all over the school at that time." Clover blinked as he didn't dodge it making her wince in turn. Splitting into two, Clover dodged the staff turned club. She had heard from people who had seen the fight he had gained interesting new abilities. Apparently that also ment he didn't need to dodge an attack that could have been deadly had the spikes hit an arterie and ripped it wide open."You know even if you have new regeneration abilities you should dodge unless you can't or you are trying to save a person." Retracting the spikes on her staff both Clovers did a backwards handspring away from Manco.

"Oh and Manco since you picked up a few new tricks I had to pick up a few new ones too!" Both Clovers grinned and both split apart so now there was 4 of her. The original Clover tossed a storage device to her left allowing Clover B to pull out a Naginata, the storage device was then tossed to the next Clover whom pulled out another staff that looked like it was made of fossilized wood. Once again it was tossed to the last Clover whom pulled out several pia lamnia daggers before the SD was placed within her plasma.

"So now that I'm bored going easy on you lets get started." Clover D sprung into action aiming to distract with close combat. One dagger aimed for his midsetion and another aimed for his staff hand. Clover C also quickly joined in and attempted a jab toward his left side If she missed she would attempt to knock his feet out from under him. Clover B Stayed back with Clover A ready to tag team him if he escaped C and D.

[Sabata]

"Certain schools of martial arts purposely microfracture their bones to get calcium to reinforce them." Manco replied to Clover's criticism.

And Clover decided to make the fight really interesting. Manco grinned.

"Leave it to you to make this as fun as possible." Manco stated to Clover. All four of her.

When Clover lunged to attack, Manco planted his staff in the ground and used it to boost himself upward, balancing himself on the top and out of the way of the deluge of attacks. He landed on the ground outside of the four, then called his staff back.

"Come on, I know you can do better than that." Manco stated to the four Clovers. Really, this felt more like one of Clover's training ambush attempts, and a fairly anaemic one at that.

He then wound up, made spikes sprout from his staff, then swung while all four clovers were close together. They'd probably just all split around the strike, but that was sort of his plan.

If he kept swinging, he had to eventually hit something that would win the fight for him. "Really, you haven't done anything to even warrant me drawing my sword so far." Manco taunted, gesturing Clover toward him with a wave of his hand.

[Rikka]

The Clovers grinned and simply bent in inhumanly ways to avoid the swing he aimed at them. Clovers B and D rolled backwards and popped up and up and up. Both had sprouted wings. Clover D flung several daggers at him. Clover A rush toward Manco with a grin. Aiming a feint toward his head she suddenly slithered like a snake and was aiming for his feet. Clover C aimed a swing toward his shoulder blades and Clover C swooped to block all incoming swings from Manco.

[Sabata]

Manco blocked the knives then took a stance to brace himself for the strike from behind and tripping move.

It seemed Clover B was the most willing to stay out of the fight. They should be the first target.

Manco dashed back through the Clovers, disappearing for a moment to get directly under Clover B. He made a point spawn on the end of his staff and thrust upward.

Clover was obviously taking things a bit more seriously, so he then lugged the staff at the three other Clovers, then drew his sword and aimed a rapid slew of slashes at the ground, kicking dust up into the air and also damaging the arena again.

If he couldn't damage them, he'd need to keep pushing them back.

Through the dust, Manco unleashed several wind cuts through the air at the location the Clovers had been consequently clearing the dust away.