Izuku and the rest of class 1-A found themselves stuffed into a bus early the next morning. Up to this point, no one outside of the UA staff had received any information regarding the training camp in order to prevent a leak. Another safety precaution was the class loading into the bus before the sun came up to ride to the camp. Izuku quickly returned back to sleep along with some of the rest of the class. The ride itself was peaceful, and by about nine that morning the class was awake and conversing on the bus. For the most part, it was simply enjoyable conversation to pass the trip. Izuku was sitting with Uraraka, Tsuyu, Iida, Todoroki, and Mineta. The latter being included mainly because the rest of his classmates wanted to be sure he wouldn't cause trouble on the trip.
From what Izuku could tell the camp itself seemed to be in a very secluded place. As far as he could see there was nothing but trees along the road. Suddenly, his seat mate decided to pop up. "Are we almost there! I seriously need to piss!" Mineta shrieked. Izuku chuckled to himself at the thought as suddenly a single black car was sitting off on the side of the road. The bus pulled over to the side and sat next to the car as Aizawa stood up and addressed the class.
"Go ahead and get off the bus and stretch your legs. This will be your only chance to before we finish the trip to the training camp." With that said, each row began to make their way out and stretch their legs. Meanwhile, Mineta began to run in circles looking for a place to relieve himself. As Izuku watched on bemused, the door to the car opened revealing two heroes. The heroes were followed by a child coming out of the backseat.
"Rock on with these sparkling gazes! We've come to lend a paw and help! We have come from... somewhere... Stingily cute and catlike! Wild, wild.. Pussycats!" Most of the class was dumbfounded at the introduction. And it was especially thrown off by the child who didn't look like he wished to be there. Izuku looked around more interested in the surrounding terrain than the heroes. Aizawa moved to talk to the pair for the moment then he came back to the class.
"We'll be working with the Pussycats during this training camp. We asked them specifically to help with this training because of this isolated mountain range. This is actually all their property and where you all will be training." The class looked amazed as they looked out onto the wide range of wilderness. It included mountains and what looked to be a river in the farther distance. Focusing, Izuku could make out a building in the distance.
"For your first training exercise you'll be making your way through the Beasts' Forest to our headquarters, that building in the distance." The class stared into the distance, some barely managing to see the building. Suddenly, the car and the bus drove away from the spot they were standing. Izuku turned to see Mr. Aizawa smiling. The class tried to run after the bus when one of the heroes, Pixie-Bob, touched the ground. Suddenly, the hill gave out below them dropping them into the forest. The class landed with varying degrees of success, but no one sustained any real injuries in the fall. From the top of the hill the hero called down. "Your goal is to make it to the camp in three hours, don't be late, or you won't eat." The class groaned in disbelief.
Mineta who had too much excitement chose the moment to run forward to relieve himself. However, a giant creature attempted to attack Mineta. Koda attempted to stop the creature, but it was unresponsive to his quirk. As the monster continued to barrel forward towards Mineta, Izuku stepped forward in order to intercept it. Grabbing Mineta and sliding to the side of the creature before blowing it away with a flaming blast from his hand. He then set Mineta down on the ground where Mineta began mumbling to himself. The forest then began to rumble with the sounds of more of the creature. 'This must be one of those heroes' quirk.' Izuku surmised as the creatures continued to encircle the class.
"Let's shape up everybody. We'll need to work together to make it to their headquarters in time." Izuku called to the class. They all responded with an affirmative as they began their counterassault on the creatures. Yaoyorozu took a commanding role in the class putting them into the best positions possible in order to counter the beasts in a group. Izuku, meanwhile, led the fight on the frontlines taking several out in quick succession. Bakugou, Todoroki, and Iida following suit. With this formation established Class 1-A began their hike through the forest.
The rugged forest terrain and heat from the sun eventually started to wear on some of the class and they began to get sloppy in dispatching the creatures. At first it was a well-oiled machine but after several hours in the forest it slowly started to dwindle their numbers as the approached the headquarters. In the end, the front line consisting of Todoroki, Iida, Izuku, and Bakugo; and from Yaoyorozu's group Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Kirishima were the only ones holding it together. Even though the pressure continued to rise Izuku was unfazed and began to finish the creatures even faster. And by the time the class managed to arrive, Izuku still had plenty of energy to expend.
The experience took a total of almost ten hours and with the exception of Izuku, the classes' quirks had been used to exhaustion. When they came to the clearing the were greeted by Aizawa and the entirety of the Pussycats. "You were right Eraser, that one is extremely impressive." Pixie-Bob remarked pointing at Izuku. It was a bit embarrassing, but Izuku had gotten used to excessive attention growing up. "Those three are amazing as well." The hero continued referring to Bakugo, Todoroki, and Iida. "There's even more remarkable individuals in this class, and no one has disappointed me yet." The hero finished sizing up the boys in the class before she was interrupted by one of her teammates.
"Impressive making it this quickly for students. I believe we told you to make it in three hours, but that was simply to get the best out of you. We've prepared dinner for you tonight. The rest of the nights you'll make dinner yourselves." Before the class could rush off Aizawa interrupted them.
"Get your bags off the bus and take them to your rooms. Tomorrow the training camp starts so enjoy tonight." With that announcement, the class took off into the bus and then sat down and began tearing through the food provided. Izuku saw the kid sitting off to the side and came up to introduce himself as the class rep. He suddenly felt negative intent and stepped away from the child as the kid tried to hit his privates. Izuku stared at the kid from a small distance before turning and making his way to rejoin his classmates. Iida came up behind him to scold the kid for his attempted assault, but as he did the kid yelled.
"I'm not gonna be talked down to by a bunch of losers who want to be stupid heroes." The kid yelled. The Pussycats looked sad at the comments, especially Mandaly, but the commotion died down soon after and Class 1-A continued to enjoy their food. Afterwards they were all ushered to the baths. The boys would bathe on one side while the girls bathed on the other. Izuku sunk into the bath quickly and for a period it was quiet until Mineta stepped out of the bath and approached the dividing wall.
"On the other side of this wall is paradise," Mineta confidently declared reaching for two of his purple balls. Iida jumped out of the water to stop Mineta, but it was too late he had focused on his target and began scaling the wall quickly. As he approached the top, Izuku noticed a small horn hat waiting for Mineta. Izuku smiled as the kid sent Mineta reeling back down to the ground towards Iida. Suddenly, he heard shouting from the girls' side and when the kid turned, he became flustered and toppled over the side of the wall. In an instant, Izuku caught both Mineta and the kid before throwing Mineta into the water.
"I'll take this guy to the Pussycats. You guys enjoy the bath." Izuku declared as he walked through the bath entrance and towards where the Pussycats were staying. Mandaly let him in and soon Izuku sat him on a couch as he stood with Mandalay.
"Thank you for bringing Kota here." Mandalay said covering Kota with a blanket. Izuku nodded as he looked over Kota. Not liking heroes was one thing, but this was a deeper resentment than simply not liking them. Izuku pondered over his words for a moment before he spoke.
"So why does Kota hate heroes so much?" At this age I feel like that's a bit odd." Manadaly seemed to stiffen before she sighed. She then revealed Kota's story.
"His parents were killed years ago in a villain attack. They were the Water Hose duo, and they managed to save the civilians there, but they died in the process. When the news hit Kota, he shut down. To him it probably feels like they cared more about other people than him and he felt abandoned." Izuku couldn't relate to the feeling, but he felt he understood Kota better. Though there was nothing he could do to help that trauma, he'd at least tolerate his behavior knowing this. Izuku excused himself and headed to the boys dorm where the rest of the class had already dressed for bed. Izuku changed quickly and hopped into a spot quickly falling asleep.
The next morning Aizawa awoke the class a bit after five that morning and within thirty minutes the class was outside and being introduced to their quick training regimen. "To show why we'll be training quirks, Bakugo launch this softball as far as you can." The class prepared themselves as Bakugo reared back and launch the ball forward with a powerful explosion. Izuku noticed immediately and the rest of the class was shocked to see the ball had only gone 800 meters. "This isn't even ten meters father than your score at the beginning of the year. There's no doubt you all have gotten more powerful, but your quirks haven't. Your technical knowledge and experience have improved. This camp is about catching your quirks up to the rest of you. Now give it your all, Plus Ultra style."
With the introductions over, the Class was divided and sent to their various workouts. They were sought to push their quirks to their limits until they broke and surpassed their current limits. Izuku's training found him on top of a mountain. His goal was to release his quirk at a constant output as he went through a strenuous physical regiment. In order to check that the output would remain constant, Pixie-Bob sent creatures to attack Izuku and he could only defend with the heat from his quirk. This forced him to maintain a temperature high enough to melt the creatures around his entire body because there was no telling how many would attack at once. His punishment for a successful attack was an extended delay on his break.
Eventually, class 1-B arrived at the training camp and was astonished to see that Class 1-A was already at work training their quirks. From the view of class 1-B, the training looked more like torture than anything resembling training. Their attention was caught by the top of the hill where a light source comparable to the sun flared for a moment before dimming. Izuku had been forced to release his quirk at a greater strength because he underestimated the creature's hardness. Izuku fired off expletives waiting for his break to arrive. "Are they even going to be able to monitor us all for this training camp with just the six of them."
Vlad King responded to the question. "The Pussycats who are hosting this training camp have very wide area quirks. They can manage all of you and guide you in better ways to improve your quirks. It may not always seem like it, but they're pros with over a decade of experience together." With this explanation completed, Class 1-B was divided, and all of the classes training continued well into the afternoon.
When the hellish training finally concluded, the two classes dragged themselves back to the camping area where raw ingredients were waiting for them. Izuku looked over some of the raw ingredients trying to figure out what they should do when someone called out that they should make curry. Due to its simple nature, it wouldn't take too much effort and the classes could eat as soon as possible. Izuku, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Yaoyorozu lit the majority of the fires to be cooked on and then began helping prep the ingredients.
It was in the middle of this prep that the class discovered Bakugo and Izuku had hidden talents for cooking. Both easily chopping and prepping vegetables for dinner. Neither seemed to take notice of the others work at first, but as one increased in speed the other increased also. This competition ended up taking care of most of the vegetables, accelerating the dinner process. And once again the intense training took its toll on the class. The food, though simple, tasted remarkable following their exhausting training. Izuku took note that Kota had walked into the forest and once he'd finished his food, he prepared a plate for Kota and followed his path into the forest. Making a small flame in his hand, he easily navigated the path following Kota's footsteps.
Eventually, Izuku found Kota sitting on a cliff overlooking a hill. Izuku stared for a moment before he rustled the bushes to signal Kota to his approach. It worked as Kota calmly turned to face him rather than being startled by Izuku's presence. Kota stared angrily at Izuku, and Izuku stared blankly back. "How did you find me?" Kota eventually growled out.
Izuku paused for a moment before responding. "I followed your footprints. I didn't see you eat so I brought you a plate of the curry we made. It isn't much, but I wanted to make sure you ate." Kota shook his head to refuse the food, but his stomach gave away his hunger and Izuku approached slowly setting the food down near Kota before turning and walking away.
"Aren't you wondering why I'm out here?" Kota called to Izuku's retreating form. Izuku stopped for a moment before turning and looking back at Kota. He shook his head.
"You're probably out here to get away from us. Sorry we're interrupting you." Izuku responded. Kota seemed to hang on the words before he spoke again.
"You don't seem like the rest of those guys. I have a question. Why do you guys want to be heroes so bad? My parents were heroes and they died. They died and everyone celebrated them, but they left me behind. Why would anyone want to go and be a part of that?" Kota asked. Izuku chose his words carefully.
"I guess so we can try and help people. It's hard to say that to someone who's been left behind though. People who want to be heroes probably don't think about not coming home, but all we can do is our best so no one else has to experience it. Even if we leave people behind ourselves." Kota didn't seem to care for that answer.
"It's easy to say you'll die for people until it happens! Get out of here loser!" Izuku didn't flinch at the remark and simply turned and walked into the forest. The conversation stayed on his mind for a bit, but ultimately his main focus was on becoming stronger through this training camp.
The third day of the training camp began in earnest with Izuku once again undergoing training to use strong flames constantly and improve his quirk's stamina and strength. Izuku could maintain flames for a long time, but the extended training drained his stamina to near zero. And by the end of the day, the classes found themselves cooking dinner once again. It was another simple meal something to help them regain the energy lost from the day.
"Tonight, as a tradition, we'll be doing a test of courage. You'll all be paired up and sent into the forest by class and take turns scaring each other." Everyone in both classes were excited for the event when suddenly Aizawa came and took the students who failed the final exam for their remedial lessons. Because of this there were an odd number of students for Class 1-A leaving Izuku to participate in the event by himself. Meanwhile, Aizawa dragged the remedial students away by force.
Izuku wasn't worried about being scared by class 1-B, especially after some of the training he'd gone through as a child. He watched as the first few pairs began to depart. Because of the drawing to select the pairs, Izuku was chosen to go last. Izuku paused for a moment as he began to notice smoke arising in the distance behind the class away from the test of courage. Izuku took quick action calling out for Iida. "Iida, take everybody here and guide them back to Mr. Aizawa!" Iida looked taken aback by the order as two villains emerged from the brush. The larger of the two villains using their quirk to drag Pixie-Bob and knock her out immediately. Some of the class froze at the sight of villains.
"What are villains doing at the camp!?" Mineta squealed at the top of his lungs. Izuku looked at Iida urgently who nodded and grouped the class taking them swiftly through the forest. As Izuku was about to personally follow them and retreat, he realized that the kid who had been with them was hiding on the mountains.