Chapter 29- Endless Battle: Part 1

Recovery Girl had fussed over my condition for a bit, though I had gotten used to that by now, given how every training exercise in UA was followed by a cursory inspection from UA's nurse. I knew that I was fine except for a few cuts and bruises, but I couldn't bring myself to get annoyed at Recovery Girl's overbearing nature, since I knew that she had our best interests at heart. At the moment, she was busy alternating between checking my injuries and scolding me for being so reckless and getting myself injured. From what I had heard this was fairly standard behaviour for Recovery Girl, but since I had largely avoided injury during training and sparring this was my first exposure to her scolding.

Eventually, I was sent on my way after Recovery Girl had used her Quirk on me and left me with a handful of candies to replenish my energy. UA's nurse then went to tend to Ojiro who was waiting in the next room, apparently not requiring any urgent medical care either, which was a relief to hear. Our fight had been intense and emotions were running high, and while I had done everything I could to ensure that I could subdue Ojiro as quickly and cleanly as possible, nothing was ever certain when in combat and freak injuries could happen.

I still wasn't sure what I could say to Ojiro, but I knew for sure that now wasn't the right time to get my thoughts across to my classmate. Instead I took the easy route and made my way back to the Class 1A observation box, interested to see who would be my opponent in the next round of the tournament. I hoped that I hadn't missed much of the fights, since missing out on observing my opponents would put me at a disadvantage in the next round.

When I arrived at the boxes again, I saw Shoji, Tokoyami and Tsu sitting in one corner, and the three of them all turned towards me when they saw I had arrived back from my fight. Shoji waved me over to the empty seat that I had been sleeping in earlier, which I eagerly took in an attempt to rest myself as much as possible before the next round. Recovery Girl's Quirk used up the recipient's stamina to heal them, and while my injuries were all minor, I didn't want to go into the next fight feeling drained in the slightest, so resting up was the best option.

Just from the corner of my eye, I could see a few apprehensive looks from Koda and Mineta, who were looking at me with no small amount of concern in their eyes. I knew that both Koda and Mineta were members of the class who were a little uncomfortable with the combat and violence that came with being in UA's Hero Class. While they both possessed useful Quirks with an impressive level of utility, I knew that they would have to get over their aversion to violence and combat in general if they were going to last in this class. Aizawa wouldn't hesitate in expelling somebody for a personality shortcoming like that, so I hoped that they would be able to get over their problems in that area.

Okay, I hoped that Koda got over this problem, I wouldn't be too bothered if Mineta was kicked out.

"Congrats Shinso, ribbit." Tsu spoke up first, alerting the rest of the Class to my arrival "That was a pretty intense fight."

"Thanks." I rubbed the back of my neck in awkwardness, still not comfortable with being openly praised in front of people "It was pretty close though, I got lucky at the end."

"You made a gambit that worked in your favour." Tokoyami cut in, sounding as dramatic as ever "I would say that's more a matter of skill than luck, it speaks to your intuition."

I grinned slightly at the praise, but I did my best to try and deflect attention away from me by focusing everybody's eyes back on the fight unfolding in the arena in front of me. Strangely enough nobody else seemed to be too engaged with the battle, instead they were all either talking amongst themselves or looking towards me.

"What have I missed?" I pointed to the unfolding melee in the stadium, the blurry shapes of Kirishima and Tetsutetsu clashing against each other with impressive gusto.

"Not too much." Jiro answered first, sounding a little bored with the display in front of her "They've been doing this for the last ten minutes."

I turned to see what Jiro was talking about, the large screens giving me a better view of the unfolding fight.

Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were stood face-to-face with each other in the dead centre of the arena, exchanging punches and kicks without even flinching at the sheer force of their attacks. Tetsutetsu seemed to possess a Quirk that covered his entire body in a metallic coat, which clearly gave him an impressive defence as well as adding an extra punch to all of his strikes. The scene unfolding in front of me was akin to two brick walls smashing into each other, neither of them flinching or moving despite the crushing nature of the blows they rained onto each other.

Tetsutetsu's Quirk was uncanny in how similar it was to Kirishima's, as both Quirks focused on a near-impervious physical defence while also granting a boost to attack. The pair also seemed to be similar in temperament, as I had seen Tetsutetsu shouting about 'Manliness' and other idioms during our break in the cafeteria, and I was fairly sure I had heard Kirishima say exactly the same phrases during many training exercises and in the changing rooms. Kirishima had often openly lamented how his Quirk wasn't flashy or exciting enough to catch the attention of both civilians and other Pro Heroes, and the appearance of a doppelgänger like Tetsutetsu surely wouldn't help his insecurity.

The brawl went on for several minutes more, with each of the participants taking blows that would probably floor me in an instant without even breaking a sweat. Honestly it was almost difficult to watch, though that was probably due to the knowledge that I would be on the receiving end of some of those blows in the next round, and I couldn't tell who of the pair hit harder.

Despite the seemingly basic nature of the pair's fight, I did everything I could to analyse any tells and weaknesses that either of them showed, anything that would give me an advantage in the next fight. Tetsutetsu seemed to favour his left side, and his footwork was a little slow and clumsy, which could be exploitable. Kirishima favoured offence over defence, trusting in his Quirk to protect him from damage; but most of his attacks were wide punches that were slower than quick jabs, so I might be able to beat Kirishima in speed.

After a while longer, the punches seemed to finally have an impact on the two participants, as their punches slowed and the strength behind their blows seemed to grow less and less. Though both participants were clearly incredibly durable, it was clear that neither of them possessed unlimited stamina, and they were both reaching their limits. Despite their exhaustion, both of the fighters were able to keep their Quirks active to protect themselves, though I suspected that they had deactivated their Quirks under their uniforms to save energy without showing weakness. I knew from experience that Kirishima could activate his Quirk in specific areas, and if the same was true of Tetsutetsu then that was another thing I could take advantage of.

The pair both threw a final punch towards each other, their actions were a perfect mirror of each other, and while their technique was exhausted and sloppy, both hits connected solidly. With these punches thrown, both Kirishima and Tetsutetsu stumbled backwards, wavering on their feet for a moment before finally falling. Both fighters collapsed to the ground in twin heaps of exhaustion, and there was a moments silence as the audience processed what had happened to the competitors. Midnight also seemed to be thrown for a loop as well, as it took a while for the usually outspoken Pro to announce the result of the match to the stunned crowd.

"Kirishima and Tetsutetsu have both been knocked out!" Midnight finally called out, sounding a little unsure of her words in the face of what had just unfolded "The fight is a draw!"

Present Mic hurried to cover Midnight, announcing that the draw would be resolved by a small contest after the first round of fights had come to a close. It was a strange fight all of the way through, as Kirishima and Tetsutetsu seemed to be evenly matched in almost every way, even going as far to draw in an almost identical manner. I wondered what exactly the contest would be, and who would win it.

Bakugo stared down his opponent with his usual mania, though the usually upbeat and carefree Uraraka stared straight back with an uncharacteristic intensity. Now that I thought about it, Uraraka had been pretty focused and intense all day, it seemed that she had found her fighting spirit, which was something to commend.

I didn't know Uraraka too well, but I thought that she had focused her endless enthusiasm on being a rescue Hero that specialised in natural disasters, which was an area that didn't get as much focus as beating villains despite arguably being more important. This fact made me think that Bakugo was the guaranteed winner of this fight, since he focused purely on combat, something that he was incredibly proficient in. But seeing Uraraka facing down Bakugo with such fervour in her eyes made me reconsider my assumptions, and I knew that this would be a match to watch closely.

As soon as the match had begun, Uraraka charged forwards towards Bakugo, a decision that was equal parts brave and foolish. It would seem sensible to keep as much distance from Bakugo as possible, but Uraraka's Quirk only worked on physical contact, so maybe she was trying to use her Quirk on Bakugo as quickly as possible. As soon as Uraraka was within a few metres of Bakugo, the explosive teen let loose one of his signature explosive blasts, the smoke from which obscured Uraraka completely.

Once the smoke had cleared, Bakugo was left standing alone with Uraraka's jacket, which only registered on his expression at the last second. Before I could see where Uraraka had ended up, she appeared behind Bakugo, hand outstretched and ready to use her Quirk and immobilise her opponent. Without even a second of hesitation, Bakugo spun on his heel and lashed out with another explosion that sent Uraraka flying backwards from him in a blast of force. Bakugo's reaction speed was ludicrous, and I struggled to see how Uraraka would be able to win if she just kept lunging straight towards him. I knew that Bakugo was a possible opponent later on, and the prospect of facing him down was something that I didn't exactly relish, given how powerful and skilled he was.

Uraraka's desperate lunges repeated several times again, and each time she was rebuffed by Bakugo, who continually produced explosions without even seeming to tire. I wracked my brain trying to figure out what Uraraka was planning, surely she wasn't stupid enough to just keep trying the same thing over and over again? If Uraraka was going for some kind of endurance match, she would surely lose, since the nature of Bakugo's Quirk meant that he could produce larger and larger explosions as he produced more sweat.

I looked around the arena for any sign of a plan, scanning for a manoeuvre or strategy that I had missed, and it was only then that I realised what the play was. I made a mental note to proceed with caution if I was ever matched against Uraraka in sparring, since what she had set up here poke to the true power of her Quirk. It was ingenious on Uraraka's part, and it was something that could honestly give her a chance of defeating Bakugo in an instant.

As the cycle of explosions continued, various Pros started shouting their concerns as loudly as possible, drawing the attention of the entire stadium by booing and calling for Bakugo to end the fight and stop toying with Uraraka. I was a little shocked that the Pro Heroes hadn't realised what was going on, they had a commanding view of the stadium and they were meant to be the professionals in the arena.

In his usual sardonic manner, Aizawa reprimanded the Pro for his lack of observational skills, and told the Hero in question to start looking for a new job. Admittedly it was a little harsher than his usual remarks, but the idea of a Pro Hero with such a lack of observational skills patrolling the streets was a worrying one.

"I'm surprised that all of these Pros wouldn't notice what's happening, given that they've been doing this for years." I muttered to myself, and I explained further when I saw the confusion on several of my classmate's faces "You think they would see something so obvious."

I pointed up to Uraraka's planned assault, which consisted of dozens of chunks of debris floating above the arena, each of which must have been pushed up while Bakugo was distracting everybody with his explosions and smokescreens. It seemed that Bakugo had finally noticed what was happening as well, the commotion from the crowd had drawn his attention upwards, and I saw his eyes widen slightly at the surprise attack. Uraraka grinned through the exhaustion at Bakugo, pushing her hands together and releasing the shower of debris onto her opponent.

Bakugo looked upwards at the falling chunks of concrete, seemingly sizing up the attack that was bearing down on him at a rather frightening speed, and he clearly made no effort to dodge. Bakugo raised a single hand and let loose his largest explosion yet, the force of the detonation blasting the concrete into fine powder and sending Uraraka flying backwards out of the ring in a single wave of force. The force of the explosion was large enough to reach us up in the observation boxes, and I felt the heat of the detonation on my skin.

The fight was over just like that, and Bakugo stood triumphant in the centre of the arena for only a second before turning on his heel and walking out of the arena. I wondered what exactly could be done to defeat such a powerful opponent, and if anybody in our class could even overcome Bakugo's relentless aggression. I had my doubts as to whether or not I would be able to beat Bakugo, a fight that could possibly occur if we both won our next fights.

Shoji would be fighting Yaoyorozu for the next match, which was likely to be one of the most interesting matchups of the day. Both Shoji and Yaoyorozu were in possession of versatile Quirks that they used in creative ways, and I was interested to see how the match would unfold, as well as who would come out on top. Shoji was far more physically powerful than Yaoyorozu, but her Quirk was much more versatile than his, having conceivably no limit to what she could create other than size.

Truthfully I found Yaoyorozu to be one of the most intimidating students in the class, though her demeanour would initially make that seem like a strange statement, especially given some of the more fearsome personalities that made up class 1A. But Yaoyorozu was essentially prepared for almost any encounter, given that her Quirk let her produce equipment that could counter almost any Quirk that she came up against. The mental exercises I had ran through concerning myself fighting Yaoyorozu were… concerning to say the least, and a lot of my usual tricks could conceivably be countered. Night vision goggles made stealth far more difficult, and the ability to create new weapons and tools on the fly meant that trying to disarm Yaoyorozu was largely futile. I had also overheard Yaoyorozu mention to Jiro that her parents had enrolled her in various combat and martial arts classes over the years, including fencing and taekwondo, so she was clearly no slouch in combat either.

Shoji was equally intimidating, though it was his physical capabilities that gave me pause for thought this time over, especially after the last time we had thought in the first combat exercise at UA. Shoji was a grappler above all else, and his extra arms and physical strength meant that he would likely be able to subdue any foes that he was able to grasp onto. My best defence against Shoji was the he was comparably quite slow, and so it was best to attack from a distance and use hit-and-run to avoid staying within Shoji's range for too long, lest he end the fight right there. Shoji was also very physically durable, so it would take a lot of strikes to bring him down, and that again risked staying too close to Shoji and getting grabbed.

Truthfully, I was excited to see how this battle would unfold, as it would likely be a contest of close quarters combat. Anything involving close combat would provide a great deal of information on how my classmates fought and give me new moves to think of and analyse, as well as learning new counters. Shoji was a good friend, and I instinctively rooted for him to win the fight so that I would be able to see him progress further in the tournament. Though I didn't know her as well, I had a certain respect for Yaoyorozu and her intelligence, and seeing her co-ordinate the defence of her group in the USJ made me realise she was more than just a pampered rich girl.

The pair stood from their seats and moved to leave the observation box, ready to engage in the next fight before the already cheering crowd. Yaoyorozu was closer to the exit and disappeared into the arena, but as Shoji walked past me towards the exit he hesitated for a moment.

"Any tips for me Shinso?" Shoji looked to me as he went to leave, an unreadable expression on his masked face "I'm not quite sure how to proceed with this fight and I would value your input."

I thought of a strategy for a second, wondering how I would act if I was in Shoji's position and what he could do to win the match.

"Yaoyorozu's intelligent, and if you give her enough time then she'll come up with a way to beat you." I looked towards Shoji, hoping that my advice was sound enough to give him an edge "But she gets flustered, if you attack quickly, then you'll be able to win."

Shoji seemed to consider my words for a moment before nodding and leaving, readying himself for the fight ahead. The advice I had given him was the best counter for Yaoyorozu that I had yet developed, an all-out attack with no hesitation that left minimal time for planning and item creation. I had noticed in several training exercises that Yaoyorozu could often be wrong-footed in the face of a sudden attack, and it seemed that she could easily be overwhelmed in stressful situations. This weakness would likely be exaggerated by both the stress of fighting in front of a large crowd and the small size of the arena, as well as fighting against an opponent as physically intimidating as Shoji.

Soon enough, Shoji and Yaoyorozu were facing each other down in the arena, and the match was about to begin. As soon as Midnight announced the start of the match, Shoji dashed forwards far quicker than I had seen him move in the past, seemingly taking my words to heart. I made a quick mental note to not underestimate Shoji's speed in the future, while he moved slower than most in close combat, he was clearly very capable of moving quickly when he wanted to.

Yaoyorozu seemed shocked by the sudden assault, and she raised her arm and created a large metal shield from her arm, raising it high in defence. The shield was reminiscent of a medieval style kite shield, and the speed that it had appeared with was a testament to how quickly Yaoyorozu could create large items. Against any other opponent this would have been a decent plan, but shields were only effective when the user was strong enough to resist the force of the attack they were defending against.

Unfortunately, Shoji's strength was enough to overcome the defence, and a single swing of his arm was enough to buckle the hastily-created shield and throw it from Yaoyorozu's grip and leave her defenceless. Before Yaoyorozu could create anything to help her in the fight, a two-handed shove from Shoji sent her falling backwards and off of the edge of the ring, where Yaoyorozu had positioned herself in order to buy some time to act. Buying time was a sensible idea given that Yaoyorozu's Quirk needed preparation in order to be properly effective, but putting herself right on the edge of the arena against a physically adept opponent like Shoji just made it easier for him to knock her out.

The fight had ended in a moment, Shoji had used his formidable strength to overcome Yaoyorozu's defence and win the match, and to any onlookers it would seem that Yaoyorozu had hardly put up a fight at all. In truth, I knew that Yaoyorozu was capable of developing incredible strategies if given the time, but she had a bad habit of making poor or rash decisions when under pressure and unable to use her plans. If Shoji had been more hesitant and given Yaoyorozu some time to prepare a more impressive defence, then the match could have gone the opposite way easily enough.

Adaptability was an important skill for a Hero to learn, and that fact was something that Aizawa had drilled into my mind from the earliest days of my training. I had been taught to change plans on the fly and come up with several different strategies for any given encounter, so that I would always have a fallback plan. I hoped that some of this lesson would be passed onto Yaoyorozu, it would be a shame to see her intelligence wasted if she was unable to think on her feet.

Tokoyami was up next, and he would be fighting the Shiozaki girl from Class 1B, who truthfully none of us had any idea about or how she would fight, so Tokoyami was effectively going in blind. As far as I could tell, Shiozaki's Quirk allowed her to control the vines that made up her hair, though to what degree she could control them was an open question.

The pair were facing off now, and while I was trying to analyse Shiozaki's skills, a conversation seemed to start between them.

"I swear before Almighty God." Shiozaki spoke aloud, the microphones around the arena picking up her words "I shall defeat you here, demon of the deepest darkness."

"We shall see about that, daughter of the light." Tokoyami replied, Dark Shadow coiled behind him, ready to strike "But the darkness of my soul is enough to defeat you."

Most of the stadium seemed a little bewildered at what was going on, but both Tokoyami and Shiozaki were far too focused on their conversation to notice.

"It seems that Class B have their own Tokoyami." Shoji smirked beside me in a rare display of amusement "They both look really into this."

I smirked myself in acknowledgement, it was good to see that Class 1B had somebody as committed to their aesthetic as Tokoyami was, though Shiozaki had clearly cast herself in opposite character to Tokoyami's. Midnight called out and begun the fight, and both of the combatants struck out, ready to defeat the other.

Dark Shadow rushed forwards, though the afternoon sun was still beating down on the arena, the sentient Quirk was a large and foreboding presence that surged towards Shiozaki with determination to knock her out of the ring. But before the living shadow could reach Shiozaki, she deployed her own Quirk, with the vines that made up her hair rapidly grew and moved to ensnare Dark Shadow.

Tokoyami directed his Quirk to dodge the vines, but as soon as it did so, Shiozaki simply produced more vines to block off the creature's new route of attack. These new vines managed to ensnare Dark Shadow's left talon, and while the shadow was eventually able to tear itself free of the tangle of vines, Shiozaki simply produced more and more to cover every possible of attack. This constant struggle raged on for a few more minutes, but more and more vines caught onto Dark Shadow, and it seemed that the Quirk's movements were getting slower and slower as it was restrained by the vines.

"Tokoyami's on the ropes, ribbit." Tsu spoke up, looking on at the unfolding fight with a rare expression of concern on her face "I'm not sure if he can win."

"Of course he can." I replied, drawing looks from half the class who were seemingly confused by my words on the situation "Tokoyami has an advantage he can use, he just needs to figure it out. But he's smart enough to notice it."

"What do you mean Shinso?" Midoriya looked up from his frantic scribblings in his notebook and towards me.

"Shiozaki can produce an awful lot of vines, enough to cover half the arena." I gestured towards the struggle in the arena, seeing how many vines Shiozaki had created "Those vines… they cast shadows."

With fairly uncanny timing, Tokoyami seemed to notice this weakness in Shiozaki's strategy as well, and he directed Dark Shadow to duck under one of the largest clusters of vines. Anybody who didn't know how Tokoyami's Quirk worked would see this as a totally suicidal manoeuvre, but it was his best chance of winning this match. Dark Shadow struggled to carry out these orders due to the restraints on it, but it eventually managed to enter the patch of shadow that the vines had created.

As soon as Dark Shadow was covered by the vines, it grew more than twice over, easily shredding the vines that had just recently held it in place in an impressive display of strength. Tokoyami had clearly directed Dark Shadow to avoid damaging the vines that were giving it the darkness that it needed to grow to such a size, so it stayed beneath the shade so that it could maintain it's power. Shiozaki's shock was visible on the screen, but she was too slow to react or do anything else about the sudden new threat that Dark Shadow presented.

Before Shiozaki could do anything about this new threat, Dark Shadow smashed through the vines and charged straight at her, tearing forwards at a speed that belied it's large size. Having been on the receiving end of an attack by Dark Shadow, I was well aware of how quick Tokoyami's Quirk could be in confined spaces, and it would surely be even more dangerous in an open area where it could move unrestricted. Dark Shadow finally made impact with Shiozaki, and even though she tried to defend herself by creating more vines to restrain Dark Shadow, the beast's momentum carried it through the hastily-created vines.

The impact of the charge knocked Shiozaki from her feet and pushed her out of the arena with ease, the sudden end to the prolonged fight leaving the audience in stunned silence for a few seconds. Soon enough the crowd burst into raucous applause, and Midnight announced the end of the match with her usual flourish as Present Mic called out with a dramatic recounting of the events that had just unfolded. Tokoyami banished Dark Shadow and calmly walked from the arena with his usual stoicism, while Shiozaki pulled herself to her feet and paced away with a humbled expression.

Tokoyami had secured the win for himself, though part of me worried that the function of his Quirk might have been made obvious to a particularly observant opponent. It would be obvious to anybody who was paying attention that Tokoyami's Quirk had grown dramatically in size and strength as soon as it was covered by shade, and this had secured his victory. It would be easy for someone to assume that the opposite was true, and light would weaken Dark Shadow to the point that it would be easy to defeat Tokoyami and his Quirk.

Bakugo and Todoroki were both still in the tournament and they each had the capability of producing enough light to weaken Dark Shadow, though Todoroki's reluctance to use his fire might hold him back. Then again, Todoroki had briefly used a burst of fire during the Cavalry Battle when he had been cornered by several other teams, so he could do the same if Tokoyami overpowered him to the point of desperation. On the other hand Bakugo had no such hesitation in using his Quirk, but he could only meet Tokoyami in the final round if both of them got that far, so that was a concern for the future.

I made a mental note to mention this to Tokoyami when I got the opportunity, while he was certainly intelligent enough to figure his dilemma out for himself, I felt obligated to help my friend out if anything had slipped his attention. For now I had my own fight to prepare for, and I was swiftly running out of time to find a way to beat Kirishima.

Author's Note

I spent a while wondering if this Chapter would be better split into two, as I didn't want to rush the fights and make it seem like I was simply skimming over them. But given the very positive reception to the last Chapter, I didn't want to delay Shinso's next match by two whole Chapters and leave everybody waiting. In addition, four of the seven fights are the same as ones that happened in canon, and I didn't want to spend a whole Chapter's worth of words just having Shinso react to fights we had already seen.

Still, I hope that Shinso's insights were at least interesting to see, as I always like showing his strategic opinions on how his classmates act and fight with each other. Also I hope that the fights with Shoji, Tokoyami and Asui were all interesting enough to see, as they're the secondary characters of this story and I wanted to give them all time to shine and show their skill.

Anyway, the next Chapter will cover Shinso's fight with Kirishima, which could end up being far more brutal than his fight with Ojiro given how Kirishima's Quirk makes him almost impervious to physical attack. We'll see if Shinso can manage to come out on top, but either way it certainly won't be easy for him.

I've also given this story a new summary, since I was never really happy with the old one for a reason that I could never really put my finger on, and I think this new summary reflects the tone and direction of this story better.

I have a Discord server now, and if you'd like to join and chat for a bit, then I'd like to see you there. The link is in my profile page.

Thank you for reading, and I'll see you next time.

And to answer some reviews:

Guest: Thank you for the review, I'm glad to hear than you're enjoying the story and I hope that this new Chapter was enjoyable to read as well.

Aleska1492: I'm glad that you enjoyed the fight, I'm glad that I managed to keep the combat scenes interesting, and it's also good to hear that the contrast in ideals and morality came through nicely as well. The Underground Hero stuff will be front and centre in the next arc, so it's good to hear that you're interested. As for Shinso's advancement in the eyes of his classmates, though he's come a long way from when they knew him, he's got a lot further to go yet. Thanks for the review, I'm glad to see that you're enjoying the story.

Hatakewerbenjagermanjensen: Thanks for the positive review, though I enjoy writing fight scenes I always wonder if I've made them engaging enough, so I'm glad to see that this fight came across well.

SilverWolf227: This might be the first review I've gotten that made me audibly laugh, so thanks for that. I hope you enjoyed this Chapter as well.

Klincher: Thank you as always for the kind words, it's good to hear that I'm keeping you engaged and I hope that you enjoyed this Chapter and whatever comes next.

Constellation112: Thanks for the review, I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the fight. Unfortunately any fight with Shinso where he is without his equipment and unable to use Brainwashing is never going to be super flashy, but it's good to hear that the emotion of the fight came across and kept things interesting.