Immortālitās

Chapter Thirteen

"Oh man, I lost!" Ochaco surprised me as I walked into the waiting room before my next match.

"Ochaco?!" I just stared at her from the doorway.

Why is she not with Recovery Girl?!

"I got carried away at the end, ne?" She babbled on. "I really thought I could win it there, dang."

"Ochaco," I approached her this time. "I can see that you're still injured, are you okay? Should you still be with Recovery Girl? I was planning on visiting you after my next match."

"Recovery Girl already took care of my injuries!" Wow, that was fast. "They weren't that bad, so the healing didn't drain my stamina! I still have some scratches and stuff, though!"

"I can take care of those for you," I sat down next to her. "Let me take a look."

She let me look at her injuries, and I got to work, letting the healing energy extend from my hands.

"That Bakugo though," she sighed as I worked on her hands. "He was really strong! He totally got me in the end! I need to train even harder!"

I could tell that she was frustrated, but I also knew she was trying to hide that frustration from me.

"Ochaco—"

"And there you have it, folks," I was interrupted as Present Mic's voice boomed over the stadium. "Kirishima bested Testutesu in an arm-wrestling match and is now moving on to the second round! Let's get the next match started!"

Ah, so it was too late then.

"I'll be watching, Ivan. Good luck!" Ochaco encouraged me with a small smile.

"Thank you, Ochaco," I stood from my chair.

But before I go...

I poked her in the forehead.

"I just wanted you to know that you were amazing out there," I smiled at her and left for my match.

I'm sorry I couldn't help you more, Ochaco.

-|I|-

"Thank you for waiting, everyone!" The crowd was even more ferocious than earlier. "The first match of the second round is about to begin! The young man that has been taking this festival by storm! From the hero course, Ivan Tantarimoto! Versus! The one that's gotten this far with words alone! From general studies, Hitoshi Shinso! Ready?! Start!"

"Your bite will back-up everything you have to say to the likes of us?" Shinso smirked at me. "That's what you told everyone before the festival, isn't it? Your class is the top of the food chain? The only ones I've come across so far have been bottom feeders. Will you disappoint me as well?"

I only narrowed my eyes at him.

Go ahead, Mr. General Studies, dig yourself a deeper grave.

"Not talking, are we?" He laughed, still trying to dig for a reaction. "Afraid your bite is too small for your bark? Or does Mr. First Place think he's too good to say anything? I'm jealous, you know. You must have quite the remarkable quirk to be able to withstand all that electricity that shot through your body earlier. My quirk, on the other hand, has kept me behind from the very beginning. As someone who's been graced since birth, you can't comprehend that, can you?"

I could hear as his last question echoed throughout the stadium.

Did they mic the stage for the extra drama, I wonder?

"I'm going to amuse myself by responding to your nonsense," I held my hand up as he opened his mouth. "I know how your quirk works, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let me talk first. I don't like you. First. You disrespected your teammates in the second game by using your quirk on them without their go-ahead first. Second. All twenty of my classmates including myself made it into the second game. That's twenty-one of the forty-two competitors being from Class 1-A. To top that off, thirteen out of the sixteen in this tournament are from Class 1-A. Bottom feeders? Don't make me laugh. Third, and the most important point as to why I don't like you. I've been graced since birth? How wrong you are. You couldn't begin to fathom the amount of pain I've been through because of my quirk. Don't even assume to believe that you know anything about me! You know nothing!"

I paused for a moment. My emotions were starting to get the best of me.

"And you want to be a hero," I growled at him. "Let me tell you one thing, Shinso, you've got a long road ahead of yourself before you even see heroism on the horizon. Now, allow me to talk you through how the rest of this fight is going to go. I'm going to finish talking, you're going to use your quirk on me, and then I'm going to break out of it. Once I do that, I'm going to give you a chance to surrender, or you're getting your lights knocked out. The decision is yours."

I felt his quirk overtake me, and my body went rigid.

"How dare you," he seethed. "No one can break free from my quirk! No one! Now do us all a favor and walk off the stage!"

My body slowly turned and made its way towards the edge of the ring.

So, this is what it feels like to be brainwashed? I'm experiencing so many new sensations today.

I could still think for myself, so his quirk probably affected the area of my brain that controls my movement. Anatomically speaking, the primary motor cortex, which is located within the frontal lobe of the brain, is one of the essential brain areas involved in motor functions. Theoretically, I should be able to concentrate my quirk's energy into that part of my brain to clear up the fogginess.

Heh.

I focused on the energy as it moved through my body and settled within my head. It only took a moment before the fog lifted, and I could control my movements again.

After barely taking five steps, I stopped walking and turned around.

"Ivan has stopped moving!" My teacher excitedly exclaimed. "And only after taking a couple of steps!"

"What did you do?!" Shinso screamed at me. "You shouldn't be able to move around freely! Say something! How did you do it?!"

He looked scared.

That's all he could do, wasn't it? He relies so much on his brainwashing that he doesn't know what to do if it doesn't work?

I sighed internally and narrowed my eyes at him.

Aizawa-sensei doesn't have the most adequate quirk for fighting, but he's still a force to be reckoned with in hand-to-hand combat. Hitoshi Shinso wasn't even attempting to cover up his lack of ability once his quirk failed. And he had the gall to talk down to the others whose quirks naturally helped them?

He couldn't even help himself.

It made me sick.

I circulated the vital energy through my legs and felt the ground crack beneath me as I rushed towards the other boy. He barely had enough time to flinch before I was bearing down on him.

"I surrender!" He shouted and my fist stopped within centimeters of his face.

The energy from my abrupt standstill caused a shock wave that made the dust particles around us scatter, and Shinso fell on his butt below me. His face was lined with sweat and he looked at me with fear in his eyes.

"Hitoshi Shinso has surrendered!" Midnight declared. "Ivan Tantartimoto advances to the semi-finals!"

There was loud cheering from the crowd as I made my exit, but I couldn't return to my class.

They'd ask too many questions.

I watched the next three matches from a private room designated to the competitors who didn't want to be interrupted between their fights.

Directly following my match, was the fight between Izuku and Shoto.

It started quickly, and Izuku broke one of his fingers to stop Shoto's first attack. This continued for the next three attacks before Shoto went for a more aggressive tactic by charging towards Midoriya on a bridgeway made of ice. The ice was destroyed once more by the green-haired boy and Todoroki leaped at Izuku, who barely dodged his frozen bunch. Not that is stopped Shoto, as he sent a trail of ice towards Izuku while he was suspended in the air after evading.

This time, Izuku used more power and broke his entire arm.

Geeze, what a mess.

They continued trading blows, and I noticed something.

Shoto was getting slower.

It must be a side effect of solely using his ice quirk. If he used his other quirk, I doubt he'd be freezing as such.

Midoriya commented on this aloud, coaxing Shoto to use his full power if he wanted to be number one.

I could agree with that kind of thinking.

It went on a little while longer before Shoto finally gave in to Izuku's prompting and a giant blaze erupted from the red- and white-haired boy.

My chair fell to the ground as I jumped up and smiled at the TV.

Izuku, you masochist.

You're saving Todoroki from himself, aren't you?

Their battle was coming to a climactic finish, and I laughed as the excitement bubbled up from inside my chest.

It took a moment for the smoke to clear before the match could be called.

"Midoriya is out of bounds!" The proctor finally announced as Izuku's body fell out of the wall and onto the ground. "Todoroki advances to the semi-finals!"

I felt bad for Fumikage and Tenya. It was going to be difficult to follow-up after that fight.

Their battle was still entertaining nonetheless.

Iida was fast of course, but Dark Shadow was powerful. Fumikage was awarded a well-fought win.

The final match of the second round was between Bakugo and Eijiro and it was explosive.

Kirishima did well at the beginning to defend himself against Bakugo's attacks, but his quirk couldn't keep up in the long run and he was eventually knocked unconscious.

I left the room and walked towards my next match.

"It's the first battle of the semi-finals!" Present Mic's voice was as loud as ever. "It's going to be Ivan Tantarimoto from the hero course! Versus! Shoto Todoroki! Also, from the hero course! Ready?! Start!"

As soon as Present Mic started the match, Shoto sent a barrage of ice my way.

I dodged, jumping to the side, and ran forward.

I'll need to get in close if I want any chance of winning.

Shoto sent another wave of ice at me, which I successively dodged, only to leap right into the path of another consecutive wave. I reacted as quickly as possible, but my foot got caught in its icy grasp. Shoto was able to capitalize the moment I was tripped up, and I quickly found the right-half of my body frozen.

I saw this as an opportunity.

I half-heartedly started using my left arm to punch at the ice that encased the right side of my body. I was making small dents and fractures, so Midnight couldn't say I was immobilized and call the match.

Shoto walked over and placed his hand on the sheet that covered me, and save for my head, the rest of my body was completely encased.

"Ivan has been completely overtaken by Todoroki's ice! Will he be able to escape?! Or is this the end of his run?!"

"It's futile," Shoto muttered; an icy mist escaped from his mouth. "This is my win."

He turned his back on me and didn't see as I started to glow.

Big mistake.

He quickly turned back around as the sound of ice shattering reached his ears, but it was too late, I was far too close.

I punched him in the face and a smirk covered my own.

"That felt good," I flexed my hand. "I thought you'd know better than turning your back on your opponent, but here we are."

He scoffed as he got back to his feet, rubbing his chin. I gave him little to no time to recover and started throwing my fists at him, forcing him to go on the defensive.

I could tell that he was trained in hand-to-hand combat, but I suppose you would expect that from a child of a pro hero. He wasn't able to keep up with the flourish of my attacks, unfortunately.

I found myself landing hits more often than he dodged them, and now that I was closer, he couldn't use his ice as freely. Otherwise? He'd get punched in that pretty little face of his.

"What's wrong, Todoroki?!" I infused my fist with energy and punched through a small layer of ice he used to protect his head. He tumbled across the ground. "Where's that fiery spirit you showed Izuku?! I thought you said you wanted to be a hero?!"

He seemed to be conflicted as he slowly got back to his feet.

If this was the way he wanted to be defeated, then so be it.

The ground cracked beneath my feet as I charged at Shoto the same way I did with Shinso earlier. I felt a prick of excitement as steam started rolling off of Todoroki's body. That excitement doubled as fire quickly engulfed his left side. But as I closed in on the other boy, the flames around his body died out and the excitement I felt was extinguished with it.

I wasn't holding my punch back this time.

"Stop disrespecting me!" I drove my punch into his gut and sent him crashing onto the ground outside of the battlefield perimeter.

"Shoto Todoroki has been knocked out of bounds!" Midnight proclaimed. "Ivan Tantarimoto will move on to the finals!"

-|I|-

There was a light knock on the door before it was opened.

"Sorry for the intrusion," Ochaco spoke from the doorway. "I hope you don't mind if I were to come in?"

"Of course I don't mind," I waved her inside. "Please come in."

She walked in and closed the door behind her before coming over and sitting next to me.

"I'm sorry again for bothering you," she spoke softly. "You never returned to our class section, so I've been worried about you."

"I'm sorry for worrying you," Guilt settled in my stomach. "I've had a lot on my mind is all."

"Because of your fight with Shinso earlier, correct?"

"Yeah," I nodded my head and looked towards the monitor where Bakugo's and Fumikage's match was just about to start. "It just brought up some memories I'd prefer not to think about."

"You did seem a little distraught at the ending," she commented. "Is there anything I could do for you to ease your mind? Do you need to talk about anything?"

"I appreciate your offer," I turned to smile at her. "I do, really. I just don't think I'm ready to talk to anyone about it outside of my shrink, is all."

"If you ever need someone to talk to, just know that I'll be here for you." She smiled back at me.

"You'll be the first, I promise."

"Your fight with Todoroki was amazing!" She quickly changed the subject. "Everyone was confused as to how you broke out of his ice, but I wasn't! The Cloak of Vitality is pretty powerful. Once you perfect it, you'll be a force to be reckoned with."

"Aren't I already?" I smirked at her.

"Y-you are!" She squeaked. "I was just saying even more so."

"I was only kidding with you, Ochaco!" I laughed at her red face and then sighed. "I will say that my fight with Shoto was disappointing. What was the point of him taking the stage when he wasn't even going to use his full potential? I felt disrespected."

That statement made her seem a little downcast.

"Not that his fire would have done much damage to me," I tacked on the end. "Considering that I, well you know, am practically burn resistant."

She giggled at my joke.

That was better.

"This is the final match of the semi-finals!" We both looked back at the screen. "It's going to be Fumikage Tokoyami! Versus! Katsuki Bakugo! Ready?! Start?!"

"So, you'll be fighting against Tokoyami or Bakugo in the finals."

Bakugo used his explosion quirk to fly at Fumikage, but Dark Shadow was able to protect him.

"More than likely, it's going to be Katsuki," I commented lightly. "Dark Shadow is weak enough since we're battling each other during the day, but combine that with the light from Katsuki's explosion quirk? Unless Fumikage has something up his sleeve, he's going to be overpowered very quickly."

I could tell from watching their fight that Dark Shadow was having issues going on the offense.

"In fact, I think this is going to be the match right here."

Katsuki used the momentum from one of his aerial explosions to land behind Fumikage. Before Fumikage had a chance to respond, Bakugo created a small explosion that filled the vicinity with a bright light. When the smoke cleared, Fumikage was pinned to the ground and the explosive boy kept Dark Shadow at bay with a constant explosive light.

Fumikage surrendered.

"Fumikage Tokoyami gives up!" The R-Rated hero announced. "Katsuki Bakugo wins and advances to the finals!"

"Good luck, Ivan!" Ochaco patted my shoulder. "Bakugo's a real tough one."

I blinked.

It appeared that Ochaco was no longer upset over her loss to Katsuki.

That was good!

"With you cheering me on, no one will stand a chance!" I smiled at her. "Besides, I've got a new theory I'd like to try-out."

"A theory?" She tilted her head.

"You'll just have to wait and see!" I stood from my chair. "Why don't I escort you back to the stands before the final match?"

"That would be lovely, Ivan! Thank you!"

"It's my pleasure!"

Now, should I apologize to Katsuki before or after our match?

I mentally shrugged.

Hello, friends! Sorry for the delay in updating the story again. Considering how quickly I've been pumping out chapters, does this even count as a delay? Huh. But we've reached the final match between Bakugo and Ivan, and Ivan's got something he's been wanting to test out! Let's see if Ivan's will to win will be greater than Bakugo's! Thank you so much for reading, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

TTFN.