Battle Trial Arc

The Battle Trial arc is the third story arc in Boku no Hero Academia and the third story arc in the U.A. Beginnings Saga.

The students of Class 1-A are separated into groups of two, Heroes vs. Villains style. They are judged on how well they would do at being heroes.

The Battle Trial Commences
After Class 1-A changes into their Hero Costumes, they gather at Grounds B for the Trial of Battle. All Might says that the Trial of Battle will be an indoor battle. He continues to say that they will be split into villain and hero groups for a two-on-two team battle. All Might then explains the training trial: the villains will guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying and the heroes must stop their scheme; if the heroes capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before time runs out, they win; if the villains manage to keep the nuclear core for the whole time or they capture the heroes, they win.

After everyone is paired up by lottery, All Might announces the first two pairs who will do combat; Izuku and Ochako will be the Heroes while Katsuki and Tenya will be the villains. All Might says that everyone else will be watching through the cameras in the surveillance room.

Heroes vs Villains: Izuku's Courage
Both Katsuki and Tenya go inside the building first. After five minutes, Izuku and Ochako go into the building, which starts the Trial of Battle. Izuku and Ochako are walking, but suddenly Katsuki ambushes them and unleashes and Explosion, but Izuku pushes himself and Ochako out of the way (although half his mask is blown off in the process). Katsuki prepares to attack again, but Izuku intercepts him, grabbing his right arm and throwing him onto the ground. Izuku says that he knew Katsuki would use his right arm to attack because he took notes on Heroes including him; the same notes he blew and tossed away. Izuku then declares that he is no longer the Deku that Katsuki always pushed around, but the Deku whose vibe is never giving up. This declaration makes Katsuki furious.

Katsuki, now enraged, is contacted by Tenya, but Katsuki tells him to keep guarding the core and then cuts him off. Katsuki attacks Izuku again. Izuku tells Ochako to go on without him which she does. Izuku responds to Katsuki by using the Capturing Tape on his leg, but Katsuki breaks free using an explosive right swing, which Izuku manages to dodge thanks to his analysis on Katsuki's fighting style. Knowing his opponent is powerful, Izuku retreats to think of a strategy, much to Katsuki's anger. While Katsuki is walking to find Izuku, he reminiscences about the past; about how he was superior to everyone else and that Izuku was just a Quirkless loser as well as remembering about how Izuku tried to help him out after he fell, which just angers Katsuki even further.

Meanwhile, Ochako has reached the room where the Nuclear Core is with Tenya guarding it. Ochako decides to stay hidden and wait for Izuku. However, Tenya manages to spot Ochako after she gives away her location when she giggles from Tenya's villain performance. Tenya says that he prepared for Ochako's arrival and gave the floor a thorough cleaning, preventing her from tricking him.

Izuku vs Katsuki and Ochako vs Tenya
Izuku, still hiding from Katsuki, contacts Ochako and asks her where she is, to which she replies that she is on the middle room on the fifth floor. Katsuki eventually finds Izuku, questioning him on why he won't use his Quirk. Katsuki says that his Hero Costume has bracers that can store sweat which is what he uses to create Explosions. Now that it has stored up enough sweat, Katsuki's pulls the bracer and unleashes a huge explosion which destroys a great portion of the building they are in. Izuku manages to survive and calls Katsuki insane. Katsuki, seething in rage, demands that Izuku use his Quirk.

After Katsuki unleashes his huge explosion, Tenya and Ochako feel the aftershock, with Tenya commenting on Katsuki's madness. Ochako, seeing that Tenya is distracted, decides to make a run for the core, but Tenya sees this and tries to stop her. Ochako jumps above Tenya using her Quirk. As she reaches the core, Tenya grabs the core away from her using his Quirk.

Meanwhile, All Might warns Katsuki that if he uses another explosion of that degree, he will end the exercise and they will lose. Katsuki decides to resort to fist fighting and jumps towards Izuku. Izuku tries to attack, but Katsuki uses his explosion to redirect his trajectory, allowing him to get behind Izuku and hits Izuku's back with an explosion. Katsuki takes Izuku's arm and throws him onto the ground, saying that he is beneath him.

Izuku and Katsuki's Final Clash: Ochako's Last Resort
With no time to strategize and realizing that Katsuki is far too strong for him. Izuku tries to escape, buts finds himself cornered with no where to run. Now that there are no other options remaining, Izuku has no choice but to use One For All. He and Katsuki charge at each other. Izuku uses Detroit Smash on the ceiling while Katsuki's Explosion hits Izuku.

Izuku's Detroit Smash destroys the floor where Ochako and Tenya are on with Ochako holding onto a pillar for safety. Ochako, using the pillar thanks to her Quirk, smacks debris at Tenya who becomes distracted by it. Ochako jumps over the distracted Tenya and grabs the Nuclear Core. All Might declares that the Hero Team (Izuku and Ochako) wins, much to Katsuki's surprise.

Katsuki's First Loss: The Battle Trial Goes On
All Might declares Izuku and Ochako as the winners. Katsuki becomes distraught over the fact that he lost to Izuku. All Might approaches Katsuki, telling him that it is time for his critique. While Izuku is taken to the Nurse's Office, All Might tells Katsuki that whether he won or lost, he must take a look back, reflect on the experience and move on with life.

Back at the monitor room, All Might says that Tenya was the best during the match and poses the question to his students. Momo answers the question, saying that Katsuki and Izuku using large ranged attacks in an indoor area was too idiotic; Ochako's game got loose halfway and her last attack was reckless. She says that Tenya was the best for adapting to the situation the most as well as developing a counter strategy for his opponent. All Might says that her answer is correct. All Might then starts the next battle which is the Heroes Team (Shouto and Mezou) against the Villains Team (Mashirao and Tooru). The battle begins in a different building. Shouto tells Mezou to step outside; then freezes the building and heats up the floor, preventing Mashirao and Tooru from moving, Shouto then casually touches the core, which makes him and Mezou win.



After the other battles are concluded, All Might says that for their first full training exercise, they all performed wonderfully. All Might then tells them to change clothes and return to the classroom.

At the Nurse's Office, an annoyed Kango complains about Izuku getting critically injured for the third time, with All Might apologizing to her. Kango says that Izuku is the disciple that he granted his Quirk to and he shouldn't indulge him. All Might says that they should lower their voices when talking about One For All. He then goes on to say that his true form and injury is common knowledge among the Pro Teachers of U.A., but his Quirk is only known by her, the principal, a few of his closest friends and Izuku. Kango questions All Might, asking if it is really important to be a "natural born hero" or the "Symbol of Peace". All Might replies that without such a symbol, the society of superhumans would fall to evil. Kango says to All Might that he needs to be a better mentor to Izuku.

Katsuki's Starting Line
Izuku returns to class and as he enters it, he earns praise from some of his classmates. Izuku then wonders where Katsuki went. Although some of his classmates told him not to go look for Katsuki, Izuku does it anyway. Izuku approaches Katsuki and tells him the truth; that he obtained his Quirk from someone else and has not been deceiving him. However, Katsuki does not believe in his story and says to Izuku that he lost fair and square. Katsuki declares to Izuku that from now on, he is going to be Number One. All Might then appears before Katsuki, trying to counsel him on self-confidence, although he is told in response by Katsuki that he will surpass him as well, thus All Might decides to leave Katsuki alone, finding that teaching can be difficult.

Ominous Evil
Meanwhile, somewhere unknown, a mysterious person reads a newspaper about All Might becoming a teacher. The mysterious person then poses a question; what would happen if the "Symbol of Peace" got snuffed out by villains.

Story Impact

 * All the Class-A students receive Hero Costumes from their hero designs based by their requests.
 * Izuku's Hero Costume is later destroyed by Katsuki but repaired during the End of Term Test Arc.
 * Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou battle for the first time. Izuku wins due to him working together with Ochako, which severely demoralizes Katsuki.
 * This loss ultimately causes Katsuki to begin to see he's not as superior as he assumed. His fight also results in all his classmates beginning to resent him for his cruel behavior and become a social outcast due to his anger.
 * A mysterious person intends to take down All Might with his band of Villains.

Battles

 * Katsuki Bakugou vs. Izuku Midoriya
 * Ochako Uraraka vs. Tenya Iida