Forest Training Camp Arc

The School Trip Arc is the eighth story arc in Boku no Hero Academia and the eighth story arc in the Yuuei Beginnings Saga. Yuuei's first semester has ended and summer break has begun; Class 1-A go on a school trip to a training camp under the supervision of the Hero Team The Pussycats.

The Hero Incident
The Police Force arrives at the Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall after Ochako called them. The Police Force temporarily close down the mall in order to find Tomura Shigaraki along with the local Heroes. However, the Police Force and the local Heroes could not find Tomura. Naomasa Tsukauchi takes Izuku to the Police Station to be questioned by him about the event that transpired. The event occurring between Izuku and Tomura has been named “The Hero Incident”. As a result of The Hero Incident, the Police Force created a special task force in response to the Villain Alliance’s actions.

At the Police Station, Naomasa questions Izuku about Tomura and their conversation. Although the information Izuku provides is nothing new, Naomasa thanks Izuku for the information and praises Izuku for being level headed during his confrontation with Tomura; The Police investigator is glad with Izuku’s actions because collateral damage was kept to a minimum and no lives were lost.

Outside the Police Station, All Might greets Izuku and Naomasa; he apologizes to Izuku for not being there. Thinking about his conversation with Tomura, Izuku asks All Might if there were times when he failed to save someone. All Might tells Izuku that there were many times hecouldn’t save someone; All Might modestly admits that he is only human and cannot save everyone. All Might notes that his title, the Symbol of Peace, serves to inspire people and Heroes to play their roles so that more people can be saved. Izuku’s mother arrives to pick Izuku up; Izuku comforts his crying mother, telling her that everything is fine. After Izuku and his mother leave, Naomasa theorizes that Tomura will probably target other students and decides that Hero schools must exercise more caution and become more proactive in implementing counter measures against villains. Naomasa advises All Might that leaving Yuuei is also an option, but All Might decides against it. Naomasa concludes their conversation by saying that they will capture All For One this time, to which All Might agrees.

The next day at Yuuei, Shouta informs Class 1-A that the destination for their lodge trip has been changed and the new destination will only be announced on the day of the event. The first semester has come to a close and summer break has begun.

On the day of the forest lodge trip, Class 1-A and 1-B prepare to board buses. After Neito fails to mock Class 1-A due to Itsuka, Class 1-A boards a bus that will take them to the forest lodge destination. On the bus, Shouta tries to inform his students that the bus will be stopping in one hour intervals. However, Class 1-A are fooling around and pay no heed to their teacher. Shouta decides to let their behavior slide and notes that their days of fooling around are numbered.

Class 1-A's School Trip Begins
An hour later, Class 1-A’s bus stops for a restroom break. However, Class 1-A notes that Class 1-B isn’t at the rest stop. Suddenly, two females wearing cat-like costumes and a small boy appear; the females excitedly introduce themselves as the professional Hero Team, The Pussycats. The black haired female explains to Class 1-A that they will be staying at the base of a mountain which is a part of their domain; they have three hours to reach the base of the mountain using their Quirks as they please and those who don’t arrive there by 12:30 pm won’t be served lunch. Soon, Class 1-A realize that they have already arrived at their destination and their training camp has already begun with the Pussycats being their supervisors. Some of Class 1-A try to leave, but Pixiebob uses her Quirk to create a landslide of dirt that causes Class 1-A to fall into a forest called Forest of Magic Beasts, which they must traverse to reach their destination. Suddenly, Class 1-A are confronted by a beast; Kouji tries using his Quirk to control the beast but it does not work due to the beast being made out of dirt. Izuku, Shouto, Tenya and Katsuki mobilize and use their Quirks to destroy the clay beast.

The black haired female notes that the training camp he has organized has been well thought out; Shouta attributes it to the fact that the increased number of villains has forced the first years to take the accelerated year course (usually reserved for second years) so that they have the skills and knowledge to fend for themselves. Shouta lets the Pussycats handle the beginning portion of Class 1-A’s training camp and leaves. The Pussycats decide to head back to the mountain base; however, the small boy is unenthusiastic.

After Izuku, Tenya, Shouto and Katsuki destroy the dirt beast, Class 1-A begins traversing the Forest of Magic Beasts. However, the journey through the forest to the Cabin takes around about 8 hours. Class 1-A arrive at the facility, battered and tired. It is now 5:20 pm in the evening. Pixiebob admits that she thought they would take longer to get to the facility; she praises Class 1-A for figuring out her Earth Beasts quickly and easily. Pixiebob then commends Izuku, Tenya, Shouto and Katsuki for taking quick action against one of her Earth Beasts and concludes that they have experienced action against villains.

Kouta's Past: The Disillusioned Youth
Izuku then asks about the boy, Kouta and wonders if one of them is his mother. Mandalei explains to Izuku that Kouta is her nephew and asks him to say hello to Class 1-A. Izuku introduces himself to Kouta. Suddenly, Kouta punches Izuku in his crotch and begins walking away. Tenya goes to check on Izuku and admonishes Kouta for his actions. However, Kouta harshly replies that he doesn’t want to be with people who want to become corny Heroes. After Kouta walks away, Shouta instructs Class 1-A to fetch their luggage from the bus and put in their rooms. After doing so, he tells them to go to the dining hall for dinner and afterwards, take a bath and relax. Shouta tells Class 1-A that their training begins tomorrow morning.

After fetching their luggage and putting it in their rooms, Class 1-A head to the dining hall and have dinner; they enjoy the delicious food that the Pussycats provide them. After finishing dinner, Class 1-A go tothe hot springs for a bath, one side for males and another side for females, which is divided by a wooden wall. On the boys’ side of the bath, Minoru notes that the bath schedules for the males and females have overlapped and as a result, the females of Class 1-A are also at the hot springs. Tenya demands Minoru to restrain himself. However, Minoru is unable to contain his desires and begins scaling the wall to look on the other side. As he reaches the top, Kouta appears and pushes Minoru down, reprimanding Minoru for his perverted behavior; Minoru curses Kouta as he begins falling back down. The females of Class 1-A thank Kouta for stopping Minoru; Kouta accidentally looks at the Class 1-A females and falls into the males’ hot springs from shock. Izuku catches Kouta using One For All Full Cowl.

Izuku brings the unconscious Kouta to the cabin’s office who has passed out from the fear of falling. In the office, Mandalei thanks Izuku for being there to help him. Izuku notes that Kouta doesn’t like the concept of Heroes and explains that he along with many others grew up in an environment where they wanted to become Heroes; Izuku is surprised that Kouta has a jaded view on Heroes. Mandalei explains that there are people in the world who don’t like Heroes and if Kouta had a normal upbringing, then he would have grown up to idolize Heroes as well. Pixiebob arrives and tells Izuku that Kouta’s parents (who are Mandalei’s cousins) were once Heroes. However, they lost their lives on the job. Pixiebob explains some of Kouta’s history; two years ago, Kouta’s parents sacrificed themselves to save civilians from villains. As a result, they died from a truly heroic death; Kouta’s parents were praised and celebrated for their actions befitting true Heroes. However, Kouta became devastated from his parents’ deaths because they meant everything to him. Feeling that his parents abandoned him and chose their jobs over him, Kouta started despising Heroes. Pixiebob tells Izuku they are aware that Kouta isn’t too fond of her and Mandalei for being Heroes, but since he has no other relatives, he feels obliged to follow them and their orders because he has nothing else. Upon hearing Kouta’s backstory, Izuku is reminded of his encounter with Tomura and his similar resentments towards Heroes; Izuku begin to understand that not all people have the same opinion.

Quirk Training
The next day at 5:30 AM, Class 1-A are outside the training camp cabin. Shouta greets his students and tells them that they will undergo reinforcement training and explains that the training camp’s purpose is to strengthen their Quirks which will allow Class 1-A to obtain their temporary licenses. Shouta tells Katsuki to perform the pitch from the Quirk Apprehension Test. Katsuki throws his pitch; however, Katsuki’s pitch records at 709.6 m, which is a minor increase from his last pitch. Some of Class 1-A are surprised with the lack of difference with Katsuki’s new pitch as they were expecting it to be immensely higher. Shouta explains that Class 1-A have gained much experience and definitely have grown, but the growth has only been emotionally and technical. Shouta tells Class 1-A that it is now time to focus on physical growth; he notes they have now realized from Katsuki’s new pitch that their Quirks have improved only a little. Shouta declares that from today onward, they will be focusing on upgrading their Quirks.

Class 1-B arrives at the Pussycats' cabin where the training camp is taking place. Class 1-B's teacher, the Blood Hero Blood King, informs his class that they will improve and upgrade their Quirks by pushing their Quirks to the limit which will make their Quirks stronger. Class 1-B then witness Class 1-A training; many from Class 1-A are pushing their Quirks to the limit in unfavorable conditions in order to strengthen their Quirks such as Katsuki using Explosions in boiling water. Some students from Class 1-B doubt if they, along with Class 1-A, can all be trained and supervised all at once. The Pussycats (the entire team) consisting of Mandalay, Pixiebob, Ragdoll and Tiger introduce themselves and their Quirks to Class 1-B. Tiger asks any student with simple power augmenting Quirks to go to him. Izuku is seen stretching and Tiger asks Izuku to attack him; Izuku uses 5% Detroit Smash but Tiger is able to dodge Izuku's move effortlessly. Tiger retaliates by punching Izuku and notes that his muscle fibers have not yet teared. Shouta explains to Class 1-B that the Pussycats have large area-of-effect Quirks that can help and train dozens of students all at once, saying that it is the best way of advancing everyone's Quirks in a short span of time. Tiger encourages Izuku to push his Quirk to the limit; Izuku gets up and understands that it is up to him now to discipline and train his body in order to use more of One For All's power. Izuku begins stretching his body vigorously again while Tiger encourages him further. Behind a tree, a silent Kouta is watching.

Later that day at 4:00 PM, Pixiebob and Ragdoll provide Class 1-A food materials and tell them that they must make their own food from now on. Tenya sees this as survival skill training and motivates his class to start making curry. Class 1-A begin making their own curry; Mina asks Shouto to make some fire, causing Momo to remind everyone to not rely on someone else otherwise they won’t learn how to make food on their own. Shouto decides to help Mina anyway and lights a fire for her. After finishing their cooking, Class 1-A decide to eat their curry. Watching from afar, Kouta notes that their training is a waste of time and leaves; Izuku sees Kouta while walking back to his class.

Kouta's Hatred: Evil Makes Its Move
On a cliff, Kouta is sitting alone. Suddenly, Izuku approaches Kouta with a bowl of curry, surprising Kouta. Izuku offers the curry to Kouta after surmising that he didn't have anything to eat. Kouta demands to know how Izuku managed to find his secret base, to which Izuku responds that he followed his footprints. Kouta harshly tells Izuku that he doesn’t want any of his food or company and demands that he leaves. Kouta finds Izuku's training along with everyone else's training to be pathetic because all they want is to brag about their "corny powers". Izuku notes that Kouta's parents were the water-type Quirk users, the Water Horses; Kouta is infuriated that Izuku knows about his parents and surmises that Mandalay told him. However, Izuku tells Kouta that he knows their names after hearing about them. Izuku offers his condolences, but Kouta doesn't take heed of it. Kouta expresses his contempt for the current society of Heroes and Villains; he is angry that they use their Quirks for violence just to show off and blames Quirks for being responsible for many deaths. Izuku sees that Kouta does not only have hatred for Heroes, but for Quirks and society itself. Izuku remains silent and becomes sympathetic to Kouta's circumstances. Kouta demands that Izuku leave. However, Izuku tells Kouta a story about his “friend” who was born without a Quirk. Izuku explains that his friend desired to be a Hero, but that dream was impossible without a Quirk and he could not accept the reality for a long time, so he tried many different methods to awaken his Quirk. Izuku tells Kouta the moral of the story; if you reject reality harshly, the only person getting hurt is yourself. Enraged, Kouta orders Izuku to leave and starts threatening him. Izuku apologizes to Kouta for not being able to offer any useful advice and leaves the curry on the ground for him. Izuku walks away.

Meanwhile, a few kilometers away from the training camp, Dabi and Himiko along with two masked villains appear. One of the masked villains demands that they attack immediately. However, the other masked villain calms his compatriot as it is not time yet. Dabi tells his fellow villains that they are just sending a warning signal. Dabi notes that the Heroes will fall for the sake of a brighter future.

Himiko expresses her dislike for the equipment’s design she is wearing, but one of the masked villains inform her that the equipment functioning properly and purpose matters only. The other masked villain is still restless and desires action, causing Dabi to order his fellow villains to be quiet and that they will only attack when all ten of them are together. Soon, three other villains show up with one of them apologizing for arriving late. Dabi informs his fellow villains that the success rate of their job depends on their experience which they all have. Dabi informs them about their first attack which will show the Heroes that their peaceful lives are at an end.

The next day which is the third day of the lodge trip; it is the afternoon and Class 1-A along with Class 1-B are undergoing their Quirk strengthening training. Shouta is instructing Mina, Hanta, Rikidou, Eijirou and Denki in their training. Shouta gives advice to the remedials on increasing the power of their Quirks; Rikidou and Denki must increase the capacities of their Quirks, telling them to continuously use their Quirks, Hanta must not only increase his Quirk’s capacity but increase its strength and speed, Mina must lengthen the amount of time she can use her Quirk and Eijirou must increase his muscular strength and his Quirk’s rigidity. Shouta then scolds Ochako and Yuuga to train harder since they passed their tests by the skin of their teeth. Shouta tells Class 1-A to not forget their fundamental drive as that will help them improves and progress. Izuku asks Shouta if any more teachers will come to the lodge; Shouta replies that they only came with the minimum amount of personnel needed to help with Class 1-A and Class 1-B’s training and as such no more teachers will be arriving with Ragdoll noting that they had All Might stay away due to him being a target. Pixiebob changes topic and informs the students that tonight they will be playing a game; a test of courage.

That evening, Class 1-A and 1-B are cooking themselves dinner. Shouto asks Izuku what he wanted to talk to All Might about; Izuku replies that he wanted to talk to him about Kouta. However, Izuku sees that Kouta is not around and surmises that he went back to his secret base. Izuku tells Shouto that Kouta doesn’t like the idea of a superhero society with Quirks and is unable to help him out with words. Izuku asks Shouto for advice. Shouto tells Izuku that words alone will not help Kouta since he would find reasoning from strangers to be pretentious. Shouto advises Izuku to tell him about what Heroes are doing and the help Heroes will bring to humanity. Shouto tells Izuku that he believes that action speaks louder than words. Izuku becomes encouraged from hearing Shouto’s advice and knows Shouto is correct. Class 1-A and 1-B finish dinner.

Later that night, Class 1-A and Class 1-B are preparing for the test of courage. However, Shouta drags Mina, Rikidou, Eijirou, Hanta and Denki away because they must have review lessons with him. Afterwards, Pixiebob and Ragdoll explain the test of courage; the game will take place in the forest with Class 1-B being the scaring ground and Class 1-A will split up into pairs. Class 1-A must walk into the forest and find a card with their names on it in order to prove they went into the forest while Class 1-B must frighten Class 1-A to run them out of the forest without their cards. Class 1-B must not directly touch Class 1-A but both classes are permitted to use their Quirks as well as any scaring tactics. After both Class 1-A and Class 1-B have had turns in being the scaring group, the winner will be the class that not only scared more people but the class that was the most creative. The test of courage begins.

The Villain Alliance Strikes Back
After twelve minutes, the fifth pair from Class 1-A which is Ochako and Tsuyu enter the forest. Inside the forest, Juuzou and Itsuka praise Yui for her scaring tactic. Out of nowhere, smoke appears which causes Juuzou to faint. Itsuka realizes that the smoke is dangerous and covers her mouth; then she covers Yui with her Quirk, telling Yui to not inhale the smoke as it is poisonous. Suddenly, the poisonous smoke covers the entire forest; the Pussycats and the remainder of Class 1-A see black smoke arising from the forest. Somewhere in the forest, Dabi commands the Villain Alliance “First Strike Team” to attack. Himiko sneaks up behind Ochako and Tsuyu. Two villains appear in front of the Pussycats and the remainder of Class 1-A; they attack and knockout Pixiebob. The Pussycats prepare to take action while Izuku realizes that Kouta is alone and defenseless. Kouta is sitting at his secret base, unaware that a villain is behind him.

Story Impact

 * Class 1-A and Class 1-B will be focusing on increasing the power of their Quirks.
 * Himiko Toga and Dabi join the Villain Alliance and form a team along with eight other new Villain Alliance members, who attack the training camp.

Characters Introduction

 * Pixiebob
 * Kouta
 * Mandalei