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Chapter 37: Flames vs Ice, Love vs Hate
🕑 Added 2024-09-03 15:51:07 +0000 UTCAfter an refreshing talk with Shiozaki, Midoriya is gven a new view on this, and a greater desire to do right by those that believe in him.
Chapter 37: Flames vs Ice, Love vs Hate
With the agreement made between them, Shiozaki got up to make it to the field right as the intercom called for her. "Wish me luck," Shiozaki asked him, but Midoriya shook his head.
"I don't think you'll need it. I'll see you in the next round!" He cheered for her as she gave him one last smile and stepped out of the room, leaving Midoriya feeling…happy, it was a strange sense of happiness, but a welcomed one, very welcomed.
'The fire God must have blessed me with fortune, I have so many people around me, good people that are so supportive of me and each other.' Midoriya smiled as he clasped his hands together, closing his eyes as he felt around for his inner flame, feeling that familiar and beloved warmth at his core. He imagined it as a snake, a giant serpent, and like him, the beast was happy.
‘I pray that we can continue to guide each other towards our dreams, and bring some goodness to the world.’ He thought a silent prayer, as he didn't want this to end, he wanted to continue being able to look forward to school, to have friends to hang out with, friends he could spend hours chatting to online, offering advice or just doing silly things.
But he also wanted to win, that hadn’t changed even though that meant facing off against them. He had to win to show that he could be a hero, that his flames were forces for good. Taking a deep breath, he let the oxygen feed the flames, before he slowly exhaled, repeating this as he went from a prayer into a mantra.
Pulling his feet up, he sat cross-legged on his seat, hands held in prayer as he took control of his breath and of the flames that perpetually burned within his soul, tending to them like he would the flames of the temple. Unknown to him in his meditative state, the temperature of the waiting room started to slowly rise, as while he would decrease it with each breath, without anywhere for it to go, most of the heat remained and was added onto.
At the center of it, Midoriya sat, creating a small heat mirage around himself as he felt his muscles relax, his blood vessels expand and his bones harden for the coming fight. He would be up against someone whose domain was ice and winter.
And he would prove that even the hardest ice melts.
Line Break
“And we are back with the next match of the quarter-finals and it's between our resident capture specialists!” Present Mic announced to the cheers of the audience as the bonfire pits lit up, and the two students made their way onto the field.
“Coming in for class A, he's proven that he might be plain, but he's crafty as a fox and light on his feet, from the hero course, Sero Hanta!” Present Mic introduced Sero, who was a little nervous about facing off against his opponent who had a mean poker face to match the fact she was incredibly strong.
“Well, it’s not as bad as the first time…” He at least had that going for him.
“Versus-coming in for class B, she won her last match with zero effort, those vines are no joke, I tell you! From the hero course, Shiozaki Ibara.” Shiozaki didn’t speak when she was introduced, but she did nod towards him. He figured she wouldn’t since only seemed to care when she was called an assassin last time, though she certainly had the skills of one with how fast she could handle Yaoyorozu.
“You can do this Shiozaki!” With their classmates, they cheered for them.
“Another in for class B!” Monoma called out, the score between the two classes standing at 3-2 in class B's favor, and Monoma was eager to see that divide increase.
“Sero, you’re in your element! Don’t let her trap you.” Ashido didn't let class B be the only voice heard, as Sero was her classmate and her friend, and she wouldn't sit by and not support him.
"He should be the one trapping her," Mineta muttered to him, only for him to be elbowed by Kaminari who nervously looked towards Jiro’s direction.
“Dude, you really want the religious girl hearing you say that?” Kaminari whispered screamed at him, as he wouldn't put it past Jiro to tell the vine-haired girl what Mineta said, and for said girl to get back at them. He didn't want to know what sort of biblical-inspired punishments she could put them through, the look she gave them earlier when they realized their cheerleader ploy had fallen through was scary enough.
“You have enough problems with us, don’t think we forget.” Jiro didn’t even look back at the two idiots, she heard plenty which made Kaminari whine that he didn’t even do anything this time around.
'I need to keep an eye out for the floor, if she sends vines into it, I won't know where they'll come out from.' Sero thought to himself, Shiozaki giving nothing away of her plans but he figured that she wasn't going to let this drag on, she'll try and go for a quick victory, he could use that if he just got his timing right.
“Ready? Start!" Sero launched his tape towards her, but Shiozaki was just as quick on the draw, as her vines shot out from over her shoulder, tangling with his tape, blocking the attack. Abandoning, he fired another, while running to the side to avoid staying in one place long, but Shiozaki's vines came up once again, blocking his attack before lashing out towards him, Sero jumping to avoid being caught in them.
Line Break
As the fight went on, Midoriya remained in his meditation, the room now unbearable hot as his hair fluttered in the heat breeze he was emitting. He didn’t even notice how warm the air was as he slowly breathed it in, or how he was letting out steam with hints of smoke when he slowly breathed out.
As Sero battled against Shiozaki, finding that her defenses were near impregnable for his quirk, especially in a field where he had nothing to latch on to, nothing to gain the upper hand or some level of high ground, to the cheers of the crowd and colorful commentary from Present Mic and Vlad. Midoriya focused on his classmates and those who had supported him.
As he thought about how he wished to make them proud, to stand tall with his classmates’, Shiozaki went on the offensive, she didn’t move from her spot, but her vines did, branching out all around her, slowly cutting off Sero’s means of escape as they whipped at him, seemingly at random.
He felt his blood heating, his muscles expanding as the heat, the flames granted him power. All the while Sero was sweating as he worked overtime to keep himself in the match, but he was running out of time as he launched a desperate strike at Shiozaki, hoping that if he could hook her, it would at the very least break her concentration.
Class B continued to pour out cheers, same as class A as the fight went on, though Izuku was blind to all this as his closed eyes recalled his set-ups, but they now recalled all the good, with it being capped off with his conversation with Shiozaki. At that same moment, it seemed like Sero's gambit worked, as he managed to latch onto her arm and tried to throw her out from her spot, maybe over the line.
When Midoriya's snapped open, his emerald eyes were narrower, more reptilian as they shined brightly, with his opened eyes, a heat pulse shot out from his body. At that same moment, Sero’s ploy failed as Shiozaki didn’t move, having anchored herself to the ground with her vines, that moment of pause being Sero’s undoing as her vines that had been spreading around the arena made it all too easy for him to have been close to one.
Just as Koharu and Endeavour glanced in the direction of the heat pulse that Midoriya let out, Shiozaki ensnared Sero in her vines, lifting him in bondage from his ankles to his shoulders.
“Do you yield?” Shiozaki asked her captured foe, to let out a sigh of defeat.
"Yeah…not like I'm getting out of this," Sero replied, with Midnight calling the match.
“Sero is surrendered! Shiozaki moves onto the semi-finals!” As she let the guy down and retracted the vines that she could from the field, Present Mic praised her performance.
“And she takes another victory, and so effectively too!” Present Mic said as Sero’s feet were once more on solid ground.
"Shiozaki's quirk makes her exceptional at area control and defense, though it isn't a wise move to remain stationary like that as Sero wasn't able to take advantage of that, that could easily change," Vlad added as the two combatants shared a handshake, before turning to leave the field, Sero being predictable down with the results, while Shiozaki didn't seem to take any joy from her win, but also no grief. As Vlad suspected, she saw it as a means to an end, willing to participate in the violence if only to show that she didn't need to be violent to win.
“Yeah, she got payback for me!” Tsunotori jumped to her feet, getting a high-five from Tetsutetsu.
“That means we have people in both the semi-final matches.” Tokage smiled as one look at the board showed that Shishida was set to face off against Bakugo, and now Shiozaki had cemented her place as well.
"Yeah, all we need to see is who will be her opponent, Midoriya or Todoroki," Yanagi stated, as that could prove to be a close match as both were incredibly powerful elemental users, with plenty of questions about Todoroki's power that they didn't know.
“Oh man, that was totally unfair. Sero can’t use his quirk when there’s nothing around.” Ashido complained as that was another knock against their class.
"It's an unfortunate reality, but as Eraser told us before, heroes don't have the luxury of picking their battlegrounds," Tokoyami stated.
"Even if he lost, he still managed to put up an admittable fight, I'm sure that heroes watching will take notice of that," Iida added, having returned during the match, and being able to see it play out. Todoroki had already left to get ready for his match, while Yaoyorozu remained silent, as it wasn’t pleasant seeing the person that so easily defeated her do it again with someone else.
"So that just leaves Todoroki against Midoriya," Jiro noted, as while she didn't particularly like Todoroki, she didn't dislike him either. More than that, she knew that he was probably the strongest person in their class.
“Ice vs fire, then?” Sato mused before turning to Kirishima. “Kirishima, any thoughts on that? You fought him?”
Kirishima scratched the back of his head, as while he did fight him, it wasn’t like Midoriya was throwing around flames like Todoroki did his ice. Rather, he used it sparingly. “Well, Midoriya can pack a serious punch, not just his fire but even his punches hurt, though he seemed to be hurting himself as he fought, but it was like he was healing mid-swing.”
"(Kero) That does sound odd, though we haven't talked about our quirks all that much so there's not much I would know," Asui stated, as most times they spoke, it was more about school stuff or just things that had their interest. What she knew about his quirk was what she had seen for herself, from how he didn’t seem to be bothered by the cold from when they met at the fair, and what she had seen today.
So, with little in the way of information, they turned to someone who seemed to know the most about Midoriya. “Bakugo?”
"Deku's freaky-ass quirk lets him heal himself, it's the only reason he hasn't burned himself to the ass by now, freaking pyromaniac." Bakugo kept it short, as while he wouldn’t have responded, he didn’t feel like dealing with them nagging him till they caught a clue, or he exploded.
“So, Todoroki would need to hit him hard and fast, maybe another attack like the one he used before?” Hagakure suggested, as someone who could fix themselves up seemed like a real issue to fight.
"I doubt that would work, Tetsutetsu was able to just break out of it, Midoriya would probably melt his way out," Shoda spoke up.
“What if he buries him in the ice?” Ashido suggested.
“Well, that’s also pretty risky, what he can’t dig himself out?” Shoda countered.
“Either way, it won’t be an easy match.” Iida ended the talk before they could go further. While he had been eliminated from the running, he felt like he owed it to his classmates to watch till the finals before he called his parents.
Line Break
“Well, the competitors please make their to the field.” Moments after the automatic voice made the announcement, the door to the waiting room opened up, with the hall being hit with a heat wave as Midoriya stepped out of the place, having turned it into a sauna in the time he had been getting himself into the right headspace.
“Shiozaki is sure to have won her fight, so that means that she’ll be my next opponent. But first I need to clear Todoroki. I don’t know everything…but you’re ice won’t beat me. I won’t let it.” Midoriya said to himself as he walked down the hallway, the cheers of the spectators above echoing through the halls, though as he reached a corner, he heard something else.
He didn't have much time to think about whom he could be, as the person walked out from around the corner, someone far larger than him, coated in brilliant orange fire. His jaw fell wide open when he saw him. "E-Endeavour?!" He cried, wiping at his eyes to make sure he didn't damage them while he warmed up, but even then, his eyeballs would have healed to a perfect state afterward, and low and behold, Endeavour was still standing before him.
Hearing him, or maybe he heard him before Midoriya heard Endeavour, the man's eyes nevertheless turned to him. Turning his massive bulk to face him, Midoriya gulped as he was dwarfed by the man who was second only to All Might.
“Good, you were the source of that heat pulse, it made it easier to find you.” Endeavour started, looking down at Midoriya with a ruthlessly critical eye.
"Find me, sir? Where are you looking for me?" Midoriya gulped, as Endeavour was not known to be kind or even patient with people, so his taking the time to find him didn't spell many good things for him.
"Correct. I've been watching your performance so far in the festival, and while you had a pathetic first introduction, you've more than made up for it. Your flames are strong." Endeavour complimented, which nearly fried Midoriya's brain as he tried to compute that.
‘Wait-waitwaitwaitwaitwait! Endeavour, the strongest fire hero in Japan, is complimenting me, he’s complimenting my fire!’ Endeavor was…wow, he never gave empty praise, hell, he rarely gave praise where it was due, to have him acknowledge his strength, to praise his flames was something he wished he could have recovered. Quickly bowing to him, he stuttered out. “T-thank you, sir! I train whenever I can to better myself and my fire.”
Endeavour didn’t care for the bow, but he didn’t stop it either as he focused on the boy’s words. “As you should. If there’s one thing I hate is people who waste time and act complacent.” Even if he wasn't driven by his lifelong goals, even before he decided on that, he could remember how he was in his youth, and if nothing else, that element of him that strived to always improve was something he always had.
“Oh, well sir-” Midoriya slowly got up from his bow.
“Spit it out, boy, I just said I hate people who waste time.” He winced at how rough Endeavour was being, but he couldn’t expect much more from him, so he swallowed his nerves and said his piece.
"R-right, well I was just wondering if there was a reason why you were looking for me since I can't really see you seeking people out just too well…compliment them."
When he looked Endeavour in the eye, he didn’t see the expected irritation, but a flash of what could be...respect? He couldn’t know for sure, and it was gone before he could study it. “You’re right, I wouldn’t. I sort you out because I want to give you a little chat. I know that you aren’t in the same class, but you should know about my son, Shoto.”
Midoriya frowned, as that…well, he didn't know what to expect from the conversation, but he certainly wasn't expecting the man to brag about his son if that was what he was doing. “I do, though I don’t think there anyone in the first year that doesn’t know about Todoroki now….”
Endeavour grunted as they both understood which moment Midoriya was referencing. “Then you must understand that your coming match will be one I've been extremely interested in. It's Shoto's duty to surpass All Might, but he's been acting like a child for the longest time, so I'm hoping that if your flames are as strong as I suspect they are, they'll serve as a proper wake-up call to him."
Duty? That was the first he had heard about this, but maybe hero families operated differently than regular ones like his own. It wouldn't be impossible as kids naturally sought to be greater than their parents, and parents always wanted their kids to reach greater heights than they did, when your father was the number two hero, well, there wasn't much high one could do besides becoming number 1.
But that seemed obvious, nothing worth Endeavour's time to speak with him about and not his son instead. Wait…was he trying to clear the way for Shoto, that wouldn't fly, even if Midoriya was scared of the man before him, he refused to bow to such pressure. With a frown on his face, he prepared to turn him down. "I'm sorry, sir, but I'm not sure what you're asking. If it for me to throw the match then-"
Only for Endeavour to raise his hand, silencing him. “You misunderstand, I don’t want you to throw the match, I want you to fight with everyone you have, force my son into a corner where he’ll be forced to battle with the same level of power.” Wait, what? He wanted him to not hold back?
"What…do you mean by that? His quirk is incredible and it's clear he's trained rigorously to master it.” Midoriya was no fan of the cold or ice, but he had spent enough time watching heroes, and then with Hado and the rest to pick up when someone was a hard worker, and Todoroki was a hard worker. Even Tsu backed that up.
“His ice? Yes, but he’s refused to use his fire in training for years,” Endeavour’s eyes narrowed, something dark passing through them, something that didn’t suit the beauty that was flames. “Did you not wonder how he was able to just warm himself up?”
With attention back on him, he didn’t have time to question that moment. “I never gave it much thought.” Looking back on it, had he even seen times when it looked like Todoroki was being affected by his ice? There was the aftermath of his match with Tetsutetsu, but Midoriya had been focused more on how much of a mess he had left behind. “Would his flames be as strong as yours?”
Endeavour crossed his arms, pleased that the boy was catching on quirk, but not so much with the topic at hand. "They should be if the boy could cease with this rebellion of his against me."
There was that word again 'rebellion'. For what reason would Todoroki rebel against his father? If you had asked that question a year ago, he wouldn't have had many reasons to give, but now, he had a few, and none of them good. Todoroki had a pretty bad-looking burn on his face, he had a father known for his short patience and extremely demanding nature, and the man used fire.
But that seemed too simple, it fit too neatly into it, and besides, Todoroki's burn didn't look right, though Midoriya couldn't call himself an expert on burn-related scars, he did like to see himself as someone well-versed in all things fire and Todoroki's burns didn't look like what he would expect burns from a fire would look like. Either way, something scarred him, and it wasn't just his face, but his spirit.
He didn’t have the answers, but maybe he could get them in this match from the horse’s mouth. "I don't know why he wouldn't use his flames, but…even if you hadn't approached me. I had every intention to fight him with everything I got because I refuse to be bested by the cold." He started to walk past Endeavour, who moved to give him more room.
Tightening his fists, smoke puffed out his mouth as he continued. “Learning that he’s been hiding flames just makes me more determined, so I’ll push him to his limits, Endeavour, but he’s not going to be the one that wins.” He could suspect that there was something off with the Todoroki family but also despise the fact that Todoroki could just neglect something as wonderful as fire.
No, he would answer for that, one way or another. As he walked off, Endeavour watched. ‘I was right about that one, at his core, is a powerful fire that burns strong.’ He smiled as he figured that this next match would be one he wouldn't want to miss.
Line Break
“We have reached a milestone, my listeners, the last match of the quarter-finals and it's between two people who couldn't embody polar opposites any harder if they tried! From different classes to even different quirks!” It would seem that this match drove up the greatest hype of the finals so far, though one couldn’t be blamed for that excitement as it was a classic class of ice vs fire.
“From class A, he made sure to leave an impression last round, he’s the master of ice and winter who left you folks frozen, from the hero course, Todoroki Shoto!” With his introduction, Todoroki was walking up onto the arena, though there was a dip in applause for him since his last match had been rather contentious but he didn’t think about it, he had better things to focus his attention on.
“Versus, class B, his battle against his foe proved that fire can be quick and fire can be nimble, but we all remember what he did during the obstacle race! From the hero course, it’s Midoriya Izuku!” As if playing off the contrast of the people being rather cold with him, Midoriya making his way onto the stage was meant with warm and loud applause, though those green eyes only focused on Shoto.
When they met in the middle, Todoroki frowned, picking up how much warmer than normal Midoriya was, just like his father. “I have to admit, your quirk makes fighting you all the more annoying.” He was blunt, as manners didn't mean much at the moment, but to his slight surprise, his bluntness was meant in equal measure.
"Same here, I've never been a fan of the cold," Midoriya replied, both truth as thanks to what Endeavour told him, he could tell that Todoroki was a lot colder than normal, but it seemed to be leaning towards his one side, his right side. It also served as a jab at his opponent who seemed determined to treat him like he wasn’t worth his time. He’ll make him regret that.
As the two sized each other up, so too did the people watching the match as Ryukyu frowned a little. ‘Midoriya, this won’t be an easy match. If he fights like he did last round, your best chance is to transform right off the bat and smash through his ice.’ As she thought of ways her student could take the victory, some ways away with the civilians, Inko and Koharu watched the proceedings, the older Midoriya worried for her son as she knew how much he hated the cold, and yet he was fighting against someone who already showed their willingness to create literal icebergs.
“I’m sure that he’ll do fine, Koharu.” She spoke up, though Koharu wondered if perhaps her human’s mother was trying to redirect her worries onto her, as the reptile had faith that her human would win. They had trained extensively in the mountains during the peak of winter. Yes, as far as she was concerned, this fight was as assured to go her human’s way as his last one was. The rest of these humans just hadn’t caught on yet.
Line Break
In a darkened room, a lone figure sat on a gaming chair, watching the proceedings on his large computer screen. If he had a choice, he would be gaming instead, but his master was quite insistent on this, even showing up himself. “It would be wise to watch this next fight closely, Shigaraki Tomura. The boy’s already proven to be an obstacle in your way, so you should study him so you can eliminate him as such one day.” A familiar person to Shigaraki advised him from the shadows of the room.
"What a load of crap," Shigaraki replied, though he didn't let his eyes wander from the screen, focused on the little brat that he had seen be torn in two, only to have a secret second form of all things. That, more than even All Might, had derailed his plans and if he could help it, it would be the only time the brat did so.
Line Break
“With this year's festival, both have given a top pro performance! But the fates have decided that only one may proceed from here, but oh man! You can feel the intensity, can't you, ladies and gentlemen?” As Present Mic spoke, both combatants took slow deep breaths through their noses, and when they released them through their mouths, one came out frosty and chilled, the other steamed and hot.
“Well, it's time for that tension to conclude! Todoroki vs Midoriya, the final match of the quarter-finals!” Todoroki shifted so that his right side faced Midoriya, who puffed up his chest, sucking in air and mixing it with his core flames. “Start!”
Todoroki didn’t wait, as he immediately launched a stream of pillars of jagged ice towards Midoriya, ice that seemed to grow as it approached his target but he wasn’t the only one who wasn’t wasting time as Midoriya had already taken a deep breath and let loose a giant fireball that crashed into the ice, blasting most of it to pieces.
That didn’t stop the attack, but it slowed it down as Midoriya’s body started steaming as he jumped towards the remainder, pulling a fist back, he slammed it into the remaining ice, shattering through it and reaching Todoroki, who narrowed his gaze as he fired off even more ice, thinking that Midoriya would be slowed by the fact he was standing on a uneven icy surface.
With smoke already leaking out his mouth and nostrils, Midoriya met this with an equally large fireball from the last one, which thanks to his proximity to Todoroki meant that he felt the heat from it as it shattered through his ice assault, Midoriya took the chance to jump back and reassess.
“Just as I thought,” Todoroki uttered to himself, looking at his opponent and seeing how badly his jaw and mouth were burned. “His quirk burns him.” He recalled a memory, stories of someone else just like Midoriya, though he had never met the person.
Focusing back on the match, Todoroki sent off another wave of ice spikes towards Midoriya, who didn't so much as flinch as he took another deep breath and launched a massive fireball, shattering the ice.
“And Midoriya counters another ice attack! It seems like ice and fire are even so far, but can that change, and when?” Present Mic called as Midoriya kept his eye on his foe.
'Is he testing me? These attacks aren't nearly as strong as I thought they'd be.' Midoriya didn’t entertain even for a second that Todoroki wasn’t as strong as he had thought, if anything he was stronger, but how much, he would need to find out. ‘Well, two can play at that change.’ He concluded as he took a deep breath, Todoroki readying himself for the coming attack.
“Serpent’s Fire Scales!” Todoroki’s eyes widened when he heard that attack, recalling seeing it before. And just like when he fought Tetsutetsu, Midoriya’s larger fireball burst into over a dozen smaller ones, to defend against him, Todoroki created a large ice wall around himself, reinforcing it right as the first fireballs landed.
Controlling them like extensions of his body, Midoriya battered away at Todoroki's defense, hitting points repeatably to shatter through, the last of the fireballs managing to melt through the last of his ice, forcing Todoroki to duck, though he felt the heat from the emerald flames as they smashed into the ice wall which had been to his rear.
As he rose, surrounded by melting ice, Midoriya spoke, Todoroki was surprised when he saw that the damage that Midoriya should have done to himself wasn't as bad as it had been a minute ago.
"You know…you won't win like that. Trying to overwhelm me with ice isn't going to do you any better than it did against Tetsutetsu." Midoriya's voice came out rough and coarse, as his vocal cords weren't fully healed, yet he wasn't bothered by that or the rest of his burns in the slightest.
“And yet you’re doing the same.” Todoroki countered.
“No,” Midoriya let out a breath of hot air and smoke from his nostrils, his eyes glowing. “I’m warming up.” He crouched, before dashing towards his foe.
Line Break
Watching all this, class B paid close attention to how things were panning out. "So far they haven't done anything too crazy yet," Komori noted as Todoroki sent another wave of ice, to which Midoriya reacted by firing a fireball at the ground, launching himself over it.
"They're testing the waters, wouldn't want to make a mistake because you didn't have a good idea of what the other guy could do." Honenuki surmised as Todoroki tried to attack Midoriya mid-air, but Midoriya countered his blow with a steady stream of flames from his lips, which by now must have been char black.
"Well, they should know that they're both capable of firing out massive attacks that can cover most of the area, so dodging wouldn't be much of an option." Kaibara crossed his arms, as it seemed like every few seconds, ice would be fired and melted, or fire would be launched and be blocked by waves of ice. It wasn't even like the leftover made for many obstacles as it was melting pretty fast with how much fire was being thrown around.
"Todoroki also doesn't seem to have a time lag on his quirk, he's just firing away," Yanagi added, as this was a very different match to when Midoriya went up against Tetsutetsu in training, or Kirishima in training, his foe also had a powerful ranged quirk.
Tokage didn’t agree with that assessment. “I doubt that’s the case, quirks are after all, similar to muscles, they can get tired. Midoriya might be able to heal himself, but what about replenishing lost fire?” She asked as if Midoriya was an unending source of the stuff, he wouldn't need strategy most of the time, especially now, he would just keep up a low-level, but continuous stream of fire and either force Todoroki to surrender or out of bonds.
"I saw him eat a bunch of it at the USJ before he used a supermassive attack," Tsuburaba recalled their time in the conflagration zone, and how terrifying Midoriya could be when someone pushes the right buttons.
“But he can’t do that here, the bonfire pits aren’t active meaning he only has whatever firepower he came into the match with.” Shiozaki realized him, as she was similar as while she could call upon a great number of vines with extraordinary length and strength, she wasn't able to call upon an infinite amount. That was why she tried to recover vines that weren't severed.
"And odds are, Todoroki's the same, there has to be a limit on how much ice he can use, I would bet my favorite dino plushie that what he used against Tetsutetsu is his upper limit, or close to it." Tokage finished, right as Midoriya broke away from Todoroki with a backflip, smoke, and steam from the melting ice mixing as they blocked some of the arena from view.
“So what you’re saying is…” Kendo started.
Line Break
‘He wants an endurance match with me.’ Todoroki concluded the thought, that it wasn't a bad idea, as while he hadn't shown his hand, it would be obvious that he did have a limit. And as far as he could tell from Midoriya, aside from the burns that seemed to heal at a rapid pace, he wasn't anywhere close to his limits. “Well, I’ll just end this quickly.” He fired off more ice, making it twist and curve to cover more area.
‘Again?’ Midoriya thought to himself as he watched the ice creep towards him, slithering like a snake as he took a deep breath. “Serpent’s Fireball!" Rather than aim for the ice itself, but instead he aimed for the ground in front of it, the intense heat from the fireball acting like the splash of water when a rock was thrown into it, halting the advance of the ice.
But that wasn't what Todoroki wanted, as before the ice had even cleared, he made his move, boasting himself with ice shooting out his foot, he flew out of the steam and smoke, catching Midoriya off guard, having never realized that Todoroki could do this. He tried to jump back to avoid the hit, but Todoroki had just managed to glaze his stomach, that is more than enough to fire a point blank ice attack at him.
“And Todoroki lands a solid blow!” Present Mic called as Midoriya was pushed back by the pillar of ice to his chest, he managed to remain on his feet, but only barely as he fell to his knees, shivering as he held onto his chest, the ice stifling his flames, cooling him, hurting him as he bit back a scream.
Seeing him down, Todoroki frowned but didn’t advance on him. He could see that for reasons he couldn’t quite understand, that his attack did more than he thought it would. ‘Does he have a weakness to ice? He’s acting like that pierced through him.’ He thought to himself, though it didn’t matter all that much, not when he now had a means to end this fight.
“It seems that the match is mine. Good, your flames just get under my skin.” He sent another attack at him, this one bigger and faster than the rest, surely to end the fight by either forcing him out of bonds or rendering him unable to continue.
“Who said this match was over?” Midoriya looked up at this, his eyes burning green.
Todoroki, or anyone else for the matter, had no time to react to Midoriya's jaw falling open as if the joint had been severed, and from it, a wave of emerald fire, hot enough that those in the stands could feel it, came rushing out like a flood. Crashing into the ice and engulfing it, Todoroki is forced to erect a massive wall of ice to defend himself, that alone saving him from being swept up in the flames.
Even still, he started to sweat from the heat of the flames to his sides, as they came out half his height and seemed to carry force to them, no doubt if he had been caught in that. Midnight and Cementoss watched, though didn’t react as while certainly powerful, Midnight noted that Midoriya’s unexpected comeback hadn’t crossed the boundary lines, and once it reached the other side of the ring, the flames dissipated meters from it, well away from the stands.
With Todoroki, he looked at his 2m tall, 2m thick ice wall and found that it was no more than a puny fence, so fickle and soft that a child could break through it. The reason for that spoke up.
“Over, you think this fight is over?” Midoriya asked him, still on his knees, his jaw slowly reconnecting to his body, badly burnt and rapidly healing, but that wasn’t the only part of him that was starting to burn, as the flames of his core raged at the injustice of being cooled by ice.
"You know, Todoroki. I really hate those eyes of yours." Midoriya looked up at him, his starting to bubble and boil as his body's temperature only increased. "They're not the eyes that a hero should have, there's no warmth, no kindness, no burning desire to help people in them."
Ryukyu's eyes were everything that Todoroki's weren't, they were a place of safety even when everything seemed scary and confusing, they made him feel like he did that day when he was a little kid, and he first watched All Might's debut. How uplifting it was to the soul to see a tragedy unfold, but be assured because there was someone there to say that everything would be okay, because they were there, and then see that person carry out that claim.
But Todoroki was nothing like that, which only angered him more as his blood boiled and his muscles caught fire, lava, and stone forming across his body. “They’re just cold, just like Endeavours.” Todoroki’s surprise turned to anger at that comparison, but that only further proved his point as Midoriya felt his bones burning away to ash, replaced with stone.
“That, and so much else, is why I refuse to lose, especially to you,” Midoriya burst into flames, covering his body in bright emerald fire, though his voice carried through, different, deeper, and stronger than it had been fore. “You think your ice alone can stop me?” He asked as he rose to his feet, though even his legs seemed to burn away.
“Like Hell! I’ll never be bested by ice, so come fight me with all you have, and taste the flames!” The flames around him exploded outwards, revealing that Midoriya had shifted into his second form, supported by a massive tail, he roared out at Todoroki.
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Okay, so we got the heteromorph discrimination arc and well…it was subpar to put it best. Which sucks as we know that Hori can cook when given a chance, so I'm all that mad with what we got as he saw early on that there wasn't enough interest to risk setting that stuff up or giving it more depth in the story. But what I do find strange is his decision to keep the arc as is.
Well, doesn't really matter how as the man was able to do what most manga writers struggle with, both finish their story on their own terms rather than being convinced to keep going. So, if we DO get a sequel series, it would be on his terms.
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Well, this is a bit late, sorry about that. I got caught up watching Dr. Stone's final episodes of season 3 and man oh man, were they dozy to watch. Won't say more, since that basically would be spoiling stuff that happened earlier, but I'm looking forward to season 4, though I'll have to look into how much manga material there is, since as far as I know, anime episodes can take from 3 to 4 manga chapters when making an episode, which is part of why anime can catch up to the manga so fast, they can go through an entire month's worth of content in an episode or 2.
