Katsuki felt a violent thump outside that sent his cage rattling. He listened to loud sounds of the engines powering down as their continuous roar finally began settling into a rest. It was this very thing that Katsuki wished for himself. Unlike Ichiro, he hadn't managed to get any sleep at all for what felt like an eternity. Now that the initial adrenaline had faded and his emotional memories had quieted, all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep for as long as he could. He was so exhausted that his body sparked immediate confusion when the doors to the cargo hold opened and the bright light of the sun poured into the bay. The light revealed the full extent of the cargo hold, with its numerous boxes tied down to the floor and a few stacked on shelves similar to his own.

A few minutes following the initial burst of light, another set of visitors arrived in the cargo bay. He could hear them before his eyes adjusted to see them. Numerous unfamiliar people ran throughout the hold wearing hi-vis vests and inspecting each and every box.

At first, he could barely make out any of what they were saying, but as they got closer he could hear that they were communicating in what sounded like English. What the hell? Where have those bastards just shipped us off to? As he inspected the crew, he saw one figure in particular walk up to the shelf that he had been placed on.

She had some of the palest skin that Katsuki had ever seen in his life and red hair tied back into a bun. She was dressed differently than the others, wearing a modest gray skirt with a suit jacket top. She stared at them through her bespectacled blue eyes. The woman's heels clicked as she walked up and down the small shelf.

"Hey Lady! Who the hell are you?" Katsuki almost screamed

"Huh?" Ichiro let out a small sound below him. "Go back to bed Izuku, it's night time." He said in a drowsy voice.

"Shut up nerd, I'm not your damn brother."

The woman looked up at Katsuki briefly, and then began writing down something in her clipboard; then, she looked at Ichiro's cage below Katsuki and wrote some more. Finally, she turned back towards the other strangers in the cargo bay and yelled something at them. Whatever she said, it didn't sound pleasant. Below him, Katsuki heard Ichiro let out a long dramatic yawn.

"I thought I sai…" he paused, letting his breath out slowly. "Oh… so it wasn't just a bad dream."

"Unfortunately not," Katsuki said. Ichiro didn't respond. Meanwhile, the mysterious woman finished yelling at the others and started walking away. "Hey! You can't just walk away, I asked you a question!" He thrashed at the cage's bars and rustled around like a trapped animal. The woman stopped for a second, turned her head and spoke one sentence.

"You're being too loud, I'd shut up if I were you." She said in extremely accented Japanese. Katsuki was appalled.

"What the hell did you just say to me?" The woman just walked away while Katsuki started shouting curses at her. His attempts would be in vain as the woman slowly disappeared from his sight and he felt his cage get lifted up by some mysterious force. He stopped screaming as the cage wobbled in the air, his heart pounding. He was set down in an enclosed cart, and when the curtains closed, Katsuki found himself shrouded in darkness yet again. Katsuki felt every nerve in his body firing all at once. If he'd been tired before, there was no time for that now. Every sense he had was ready to respond to his call, but even the knowledge that he could react to whatever happened couldn't quiet the fear he felt.

…

Ichiro felt pinpricks slowly move their way up his back. The mysterious people had dropped his cage onto another cart and rolled it off the plane faster than he'd thought possible. The air around him felt stuffy, unable to circulate with the black out curtains. He felt his mind go completely numb, nothing it could conjure would comfort him anyway. At this moment, he had one goal, survive whatever was happening to him. For it is in the realm of unfamiliarity that humanity finds the greatest fear of all, the unknown. I… I… He couldn't think straight, the cart was moving, and the sounds the people moving it were making seemed half foreign to his ears.

The cage rolled on for an uncertain amount of time. He tried to control his breathing using techniques he'd learned in quirk classes. 'One of the worst things you can do in an unfamiliar situation is panic, your quirk might overreact.' At last, a good memory, something he could use. While his quirk disabling ankle cuff prevented him from having a quirk over reaction, he could still use the first part of the advice.

The only sense available was that of feeling, which he used to grope around the cage, looking for anything that might be useful. He wasn't able to feel anything aside from the general vibrations and the bars, but it helped to calm his mind, at least a little bit.

The cage stopped moving, and the curtain was ripped off with a sudden force. Ichiro felt his eyes recoil at the influx of red light as his cage was pushed off the cart forcefully. The cage door flew open and someone forced Ichiro out with their bare hands, not like Ichiro tried to fight them. The hands that grabbed him were cold, metallic, and firm. He didn't even have time to look around before he was shoved straight into the open light of the arena. The doors slammed shut behind him as Ichiro entered. The roar of a crowd flooded his ears, and chains up above rattled with excitement. The arena was small, circular, and looked as if it had emerged straight from a pvp video game.

The dusty floor felt soft and difficult to balance on, almost like it was made from sand. The walls would not be forgiving either, and Ichiro could clearly see that they were made from concrete. All around the pit a massive crowd sat on bleachers, buzzing with excitement. Just a few feet away, the opposite wall began opening. Ichiro sunk his feet into the floor, that can't be good.

He studied the doorway and tried his best to make out just exactly who he would be dealing with. I need to be ready for anything. A familiar figure emerged or, more accurately, was shoved out into the ring. Ichiro looked on with momentary confusion. For, standing across from him was Katsuki Bakugou. He looked up to the crowd and heard them start chanting one English word. "Fight."

…

Katsuki looked at his opponent. Ichiro? Of all the people in the world those villains want me to fight him? He paused, wait a minute, we have quirk canceling cuffs, maybe I can win if… His thoughts were cut short when he noticed Ichiro's eyes glowing. That could only be happening if his quirk was active. Shit, they've disabled the bands.

"Bakugo…" Ichiro said, turning back away from the crowd. "I don't want to fight you."

Bakugo gave Ichiro a 'so what?' look. "It doesn't look like we have a choice. I've fought you before, I'm prepared now, and I'll do whatever I have to to get out of this hellhole."

Ichiro cringed at that, visibly putting the workings of his mind on display. "Bakugo, I want to tell you that I am so sorry for what I did to you five years ago. I've been meaning to apologize but…" He paused, and Katsuki took a closer look up at their surroundings. Above the crowd was a large booth. Inside of it he saw three silhouettes moving around. One of them took their finger and pressed a button, as Ichiro hit the floor in pain. The band around his ankle had turned red. Ichiro righted himself and stood back up, the shock didn't seem to be intended to kill him. "Please, Katsuki, forgive me, and don't fight me." I see. Katsuki took a deep breath and, before his own band could go off, assumed a fighting stance.

"To be honest," he said, "I don't really care about your apology. If you had made it 5, 4, or even 3 years ago I wouldn't have accepted it." He looked at his scarred hands. Ichiro cocked his head. Katsuki took a breath. "Back then, I was so focused on my hate and rage for you that I felt lost without a quirk, but I realized that I was focusing on the wrong thing."

"Your quirk? How is that a bad thing? I train mine every day." Ichiro asked. Bakugo brought his hands behind his back and puffed out his chest.

"Have you ever felt like a god?"

Katsuki watched Ichiro carefully, letting him think of a proper answer. The boy's face didn't change very much, but Katsuki knew the Midoriyas well enough to know that Ichiro's mind was hard at work. "No," Ichiro said, "I don't think of myself as a god. I am not important, what's important to me is that Izuku is safe." Katsuki nodded, noticing a frown forming across Ichiro's face.

"I have, and I hate myself for it. Sometimes, obfuscated by brashness, all you can see on the top of the mountain is clouds."

Bakugo heard a small click from the cuff on his ankle and it sent an electric zap all through his system, throwing him to the ground. Some person shouted something in English over a megaphone. Katsuki looked over towards the crowd from his position on the ground with disgust.

"I think they're saying, "shut it and fight"," Ichiro said despondently, "how long do you think that we can stall before they just kill us?"

"I don't know," Bakugo said, standing back up. "I'd rather not find out though." He smirked, reassuming his fighting stance. "Consider this our rematch."

…

Ichiro let a small breath of air escape from his lips. He was going to have the fight with Bakugo after all. He took up a fighting stance.

"Well then, if it's a show they want, it's a show they're going to get."

Bakugo put up his fists and smirked, "COME AT ME PUNK!" Ichiro's face changed to determination in an instant.

"Let's go."

Bakugo charged, wasting no time, immediately aiming for Ichiro's jawline. Ichiro brought a hand up to block, but Bakugo was too quick for him, and seized his face. Using all the strength in his body, he made a motion to slam him down into the ground.

Ichiro was unable to counter in time and felt his body absorb the full impact. Bakugo sent a stray kick right into his gut and Ichiro's body almost folded in half. He flew only about half a meter away from Bakugo, but it was enough for him to roll back into a standing position.

His head was pounding and his abdomen screamed at him when he took large breaths. Bakugo narrowed his eyes and charged again, preparing a right hook. Ichiro was ready for it this time, and dropped down below it. In the split second he had gained, Ichiro fought through the pain in his stomach and sent a torrent of flames into Bakugo's face, carefully this time.

"Ah!" He let out an atrocious din. Ichiro jumped back and took a deep breath. Bakugo didn't give him enough room, seizing the initiative with a grab to the left arm. He turned away from Ichiro, readying a slam straight into the dirt.

Ichiro was quick to respond with his other arm, sending a punch straight into Katsuki's head. Katsuki managed to finish his maneuver, but the punch meant that he didn't put nearly as much force into it as he would've liked. He grabbed his head, panting.

Ichiro performed another roll as he was thrown onto the ground and recovered quickly. He wiped some of the blood he'd spat up earlier off his lips. He's trying to finish this fight quickly with close range rapid attacks. If I can make some sort of extended distance, I can fire my quirk at full blast to end this fight. Bakugo charged for another volley, readying his arms, allowing Ichiro to sidestep. In the process of dodging, Ichiro had left himself wide open to get leg swept. Bakugo dropped at inhuman speed and pivoted himself to throw Ichiro onto the ground.

"Now I've got you brat." Bakugo said, rising over him like a giant. He raised a foot meant for Ichiro's head. In desperation, Ichiro called to his quirk, and sent a full outburst of flames from his mouth. MAKE. IT. HOT. He thought, and the flames responded. The hottest inferno Ichiro had ever produced enveloped Bakugo like a cocoon. Ichiro made sure that the moment any fire touched Bakugo's skin it would cool dramatically. Within seconds, the flames dispersed, and Bakugo was left standing in charred clothes with black marks all over his body.

He had stumbled back barely a meter, and Ichiro could see an all too familiar look on his face. It was the same look he'd given him 5 years ago. The look of surprise, and sheer terror at what he could do. It pained Ichiro's heart to see that look again, but at the moment, his quirk's backlash hit like a truck. Exhaustion sunk into his bones like a good frost in the middle of winter. It pierced every thought his brain could muster, and without another word, he closed his eyes, all too confident he had won.

…

Katsuki Bakugo was stunned. He looked barely a meter away from himself towards Ichiro. Their fight had been brief, but decisive. Ichiro had thrown everything that he had at him, but still managed to hold it back for Bakugo's sake. There was no doubt about it in Bakugo's mind, the heat from those flames should have killed him, but they hadn't. What was he doing? Didn't I tell him to give me everything he had?

As if through some sheer force of will, Katsuki took a step, his leg resisting him with every millimeter of movement. He took another step, sending fire through all his muscles. No, it can't be over like that. I haven't won yet, I haven't shown that I'm stronger than him. It grew impossible for him to accept his victory until he was standing right over an unconscious Ichiro. The boy had a few bruises here and there as well as some blood around his mouth, but ultimately he was fine. Katsuki hit his knees, and, using all the force he had left in his body, placed a hand on Ichiro. The boy was as cold as ice, but he was still breathing. Katsuki's movements slowed to a snail's pace. How he so desperately would've liked to have claimed victory that day. To say once and for all that he was still strong, even without a quirk.

He fell just a few seconds later, his body having sustained too much damage from the fire blast. In the rematch between Ichiro and Bakugo that day, both met defeat.

The End of Part 2

A.N.

Absolutely tragic. Maybe Bakugo can find peace in that he outlasted Ichiro by a few seconds, though I doubt it. Anyway, sorry for the long wait on this one, I knew that it was gonna be big and wanted to put a little extra effort into it, I hope you enjoyed. Well now that Part 2 is finished we're entering the final part of The Greatest Midoriya. I'm very excited for what's coming next as I already have most of this last Part planned out. Anyway, that's all I've got for today, have a great day. Love ya'll.

-Nick