Bertholdt glanced uncertainly at the seniors, before hearing a low, emotionless whisper from his adoptive sister Annie, "Remember this is just training." Before he began to walk and collect his weapon. She was right, this was just training. Eren didn't want to hurt him. He knew this. This was only training. He repeated this phrase in his head as he gently grabbed the knife from Oluo's right hand and stepped to where Connie had stood, facing against Eren as he took his side. Eren's eyebrows knitted into a scowl, though his eyes remained calm. Its fine, we're just training. He doesn't really want to hurt me, Bertholdt calmed his nerves by reminding himself of what was happening. Soon his nervous sweating had died down as Captain Levi raised his arm, throwing it down as he called out to go, but the action had already started before he started to utter the words. Eren sprinted towards Bertholdt and attempted to knock his legs to throw the giant on the ground, but Bertholdt jumped to the side just before Eren reached him. The shorter boy swiftly turned around and leapt at Bertholdt, throwing a punch at his jaw only to miss as he raised his head slightly. Seeing this, Eren brought his left arm and elbowed him in the stomach, knocking the breath out of the taller boy, before hooking his leg behind Bertholdt's knees and flipping him to the ground. Bertholdt's back and head began to ache as he hit the ground, as he raised his hands to stop Eren, who was on him in an instant and pinning the taller boy's weapon arm to the ground. Before he could get his own knife to his throat, Bertholdt caught his arm and the two struggled to free their own respective weapon arms from the others grip. Bertholdt's arm was completely pinned down, not being able to struggle against Eren's entire weight, whilst he struggled to keep Eren's arm away from him – the two arms shaking in the air as Eren's might was slowly beating Bertholdt's arm length advantage. Bertholdt kept a grimace on his face, not to betray the fact that he was moving his legs to be underneath Eren's stomach, as the boy forgot to pin all of his limbs down. Firmly placing his feet on the smaller boys stomach, with Eren's features moving from determined to surprised, Bertholdt leaned his weight on his shoulders and launched Eren off of him. The boy landed harshly on the ground, dust billowing up from the impact, before he swiftly got back up again. That was the one thing that made Eren a strong fighter, his never ending determination to finish what he started. It terrified Bertholdt.
This time instead of going straight for the pin, Eren circled around Bertholdt as the other followed him, both eyeing each other up for some sign of weakness. Eren then jumped and swung his knife at Bertholdt as the tall boy clumsily dodged it, bringing his own knee to connect with the others chest. Eren gasped, the impact knocking his lungs around before he wrapped his arms around the leg and swung the tall boy over to land on his side, as Eren lost his balance and fell on his back too. Both struggled slightly to get up again, before meeting once again to beat the other one enough to successfully pin them. Eren ducked under a punch and brought his elbow down hard on Bertholdt's back, earning a cry as he fell on his knees – trying to take advantage Eren went to knock him over with a kick, but was caught and flipped heads over heals as the taller boy used his momentum and strength whilst getting back up to throw the leg. Landing on his front, mostly his face, Eren was left on the ground gasping as he tried to catch his breath, but felt a heavy weight on top of him as he struggled to get back up. Bertholdt brought his knife to Eren's throat, kneeling on top of him to stop him from moving. Eren's weapon arm was caught underneath his own body and as Petra started the count he vigorously shuffled to move his weapon arm from under him. Bertholdt noticed this, but was already struggling to hold the stronger boy down, and desperately trying to stop Eren from getting his arm free, but also trying to stop his other arm from being used to attack him instead. At the seven second mark, Eren freed his arm and swung it around to knock Bertholdt's head with the hilt, the impact enough to force the taller boy to move off of Eren, clutching his head. Eren jumped up and launched himself at Bertholdt before he had time to recover and knocked him over again, this time making sure to pin Bertholdt's legs down to avoid being thrown off again. He moved to pin the taller males arm to the ground, but was interrupted when Bertholdt immediately moved to hit the side of Eren's head with the hilt of his knife, stunning him for a short amount of time before his arms were grabbed and he was rolled over and landing on the ground with force. Now blood was starting to drip down from the place where he was hit in the head, Bertholdt was stunned and dazed, his vision going slightly blurry before he felt a weight cling to his back and pin him to the ground, knife to throat. Something about the pin sent waves of chills down his spine and break out in mountains of nervous sweat. It was too familiar. His vision began to go even blurrier as his hearing started to go dull. His breathing began to pick up, and the world started spinning before suddenly he was released, landing softly on the floor gasping for breath. Bertholdt slowly lifted his head to find a hand extended towards him, and upon instinct he grabbed it and was helped up to his feet. He looked down to his opponent, who was panting as hard as he was, with a large bruise forming on his head. They shook each other's hand and returned to the line, as the next opponents where called and stood to fight one another.
It seemed that they were satisfied when the entire line had fought, all sent away to rest for the entire day to prepare for what they were meant to do the next morning. Many were groaning from pain and others were stretching to get their muscles to work again after being overused. Of course there was some that escape relatively unharmed: Reiner, Annie and Mikasa. The large group decided that sitting underneath a tree would be better than trying to clamber back inside an enclosed space with so many injuries, and tempers were sure to fly. As they sat down the breeze picked up slightly, cooling down the tired and sweating figures as some removed their jackets to cool down quicker. "Man, remind me never to pick a fight with you." Jean spoke up, looking towards Sasha as she began to bite down on a potato she stole. Everyone around turned their attention towards him, now all recovering their breath and the more talkative ones ready to engage in some form of communication. "Pfft yeah, I may eat a lot but I have some killer moves!" Sasha replied, a peppy step in her tone, and most of the group laughed lowly.
"I just hope I'm sticking behind you guys instead of against you. I really don't want to be on the receiving end of one of Reiner's throws!" Armin joked, earning a nervous chuckle from Connie and loud laughter from Reiner.
"Just don't get nearly kicked by the titan and I won't be forced to throw you out of the way!"
"Wouldn't grabbing him be a better option? I don't think you're fast enough to do that with all that muscle!" Jean retorted back, crossing his arms and turning his body towards the blonde, a smug teasing smile spread across his face.
"Oh really now! Want to bet about that Kirstein!" The blonde spat back, with a wide grin and leaning forward onto his crossed legs. An argument started to bloom, with the more enthusiastic members joining into the debate. Bertholdt shook his head slightly, and let his mind wander to what they could be doing tomorrow. Of course it was to do with the new intelligent titan that had been spotted and was most likely to observe its behaviours. Or it would've been if it wasn't for a fact that intelligent titans are never spotted near the walls unless a breach happened, Bertholdt couldn't help but shiver at the memory of the Colossal Titan lifting its foot and completely obliterating the wall. Or of the Armoured Titan rushing through districts, knocking everything and everyone down and out of the way, so that a swam of titans could casually walk in and devour the citizens and soldiers that had the misfortune of meeting the jaws of one. Another cold shiver travelled down his spine, and he sighed quietly to try and force these thoughts out of his mind. It was better not to think about it too much other than the strategy. Another worry filled his mind, would they be sent alone? Surely they would send some older soldiers to lead the large group of youngsters; they were not nearly ready to take on an intelligent titan by themselves, even if they had strong fighters like Mikasa, Annie, Eren and Reiner on their team. Four people couldn't take on an intelligent titan they had never met before, and was certain suicide. Bertholdt felt movement next to him, finding Armin and Christa's small forms coming to sit next to him. Their faces were riddled with worry and concern. "I've just been thinking..." Armin started, before rubbing the back of his neck as his eyebrows furrowed slightly, "Why exactly are they sending us? Aren't we too young to go out and try and do something about an intelligent titan?" Christa nodded in agreement.
"We may have Levi's squad accompany us though." Bertholdt mumbled, head resting against the massive trunk of the tree, and gazing slightly down at his smaller comrades.
"That would make sense. They are overlooking us, maybe that's why we were handed to them specifically." The soft voice of their female friend filled in, resting her head on her delicate hands. The other two nodded, it would make the most sense.
"I still don't understand why we're being sent, we'd be much better taking care of smaller titans that threatened the seniors. Unless of course, we're being sent for that purpose, we're just assuming we're being sent to deal with the intelligent titan." Now that was the truth. They had assumed that they were being made so important as to be sent to defeat an intelligent titan, when even seniors couldn't manage it. Of course they would be sent to deal with any smaller titans that get in the way.
"I guess we're worrying about it too much, maybe we should wait until Commander Erwin tells us the mission details." The boys nodded at Christa's suggestion, settling the unease that had began to spread through them. They all decided to pay attention to the argument that was happening to find Jean being pinned to the floor with playful laughter by Reiner, and the crowd of friends that surrounded them joining in on the playfulness besides the emotionless ones. The trio simply shook their heads and rested against the tree, enjoying the small amount of peace and rest that their superiors allowed them to have.
"Get up soldiers there is no time to lie in!" Came the commanding, though deadpanned, tone of Captain Levi, spreading through the room as everyone who participated in the training session groaned in pain. They struggled to get out of their beds at first, before the male members of Levi's squad, Eld, Gunther and Oluo started to roughly get them up – pulling them up by their arms and letting them fumble on the ground. There seemed to be tension in the air around them, as the group tried to wake themselves up and get dressed without falling over and hurting themselves more. Many times did Connie fail to even put his shirt on properly to the point where it annoyed Levi, who grunted for one of his members to fix it. Some couldn't be woken up so easily, and the most difficult one had to be the giant member who appeared to be draped on the floor with his arms spread, making it incredibly difficult to navigate the spaces in between the bunks without stepping on his arms. He was roughly kicked in the side to wake up. After struggling to get ready they eventually filed out of the dorm, with the other soldiers being ordered to do their normal routine, and the now awake crew was escorted out to a line of horses where the female members of the group stood waiting. "Now that you're all here we can go through the mission brief. Your job is to find the intelligent titan and learn as much as you can: appearance, abilities and strength. I am not telling you to throw away your life, but to try and find some things out about this intelligent titan. But keep on your toes, there may also be another intelligent titan that is accompanying it or it could be the Armoured Titan. If you spot it and they travel together observe from a distance and maintain the distance. Do not engage." The group nodded their heads, all showing brave faces but most trembling in fear. "You will be accompanied by Levi and his squad. Now go." Commander Erwin finished, turning on his heels and walking back to the building as Levi and his squad members prepared the recruits with their horses and once everyone was ready they headed out, galloping down the streets and out of the gate.
The first thing that Bertholdt noticed was that the grass was definitely greener on this side, as the vast amount of field filled his vision. The air had a very different feel to it, though terror resided within him, the air was clean and fresh – completely different from the clustered atmosphere that surrounded the people inside the walls. Even though it was the same air, it somehow didn't seem tainted with a shared horror that the walls contained. It was simply refreshing. The massive squad rode out far from the walls, or what seemed to be far as the walls towered so high that they didn't look to be receding at all. It was a terrifying thought that this intimidating wall meant nothing to a creature that they were going towards, yet meant so much to these small humans. Bertholdt shook the thought from his head. Not now. Eventually they entered the forest and Levi raised his hand to indicate to everyone to slow down, as they did and trotted through the woods. The trees were massive, towering much higher above them than any tree within the walls and made them wonder how something could grow so tall so naturally. The titans weren't natural. That they knew.
The forest held the constant chatter of insects and whistles of other creatures, though low, and made travelling in utter silence impossible. The shrill that the insects produced echoed through the woods, ricocheting off of the wood and filling the cadet's ears causing a wash of unease to settle amongst them. It still would be easy to distinguish a titan's footsteps, but the fact that the woods were still this full of life despite the threat truly showed that titans were only a threat to humans. Animals only had to worry about being in the way. Suddenly there was a rush of flapping, as a flock of birds soared in masses, causing everyone to look above them at the sky to the direction that they came from. Terrifyingly it was right behind them. The next sign was the slowly approaching footsteps that became more rapid as it grew louder. The rhythm sent chills throughout the entire squad's spines, as the same thought ran across their minds as all their heads turned behind them. A noticeably feminine titan, around fourteen metres in height with exposed muscle, her form suggesting that she was physically strong, had emerged from amongst the bushes. She had a noticeably similar look to Annie, with blonde shoulder length hair and piercing blue eyes, and had strange bone like fingers. Bertholdt felt his heart leap from his chest into his mouth, eyes wide in terror and had the urge to scream right there as she came rushing towards the group. Out of instinct they all urged their horses into a fast gallop. The only one that wasn't looking behind them in some sort of surprise or terror was Levi, eyes calm in front of him. "Sir! She's coming right towards us!" Cried Sasha, shrieks piercing the calm rhythm that was the horses and the titan's feet colliding with the ground. There wasn't a response by Captain Levi, causing more heads to turn his way.
"Captain she's gaining on us! What do we do?" Eren practically screeched eyes locked behind him in both terror and adrenaline.
"Captain?"
"Captain Levi what do we do?" The younger members began screaming at him, even Mikasa and Annie joined in, all confused and terrified about what was happening. Why wasn't he responding? Did he even know that they were being chased by a massive titan? Did he decide to go deaf now? The titan was getting closer and closer to the screaming group, eyes locked on the humans as the scent of fear reeked from them. "Levi what are you doing?" now even Levi's squad members were joining in, Eld asking in a shaking voice – even though he tried to calm it – as the short man didn't respond.
"Levi what's wrong? We have to get out of the way or we're all going to die here!" Oluo yelled, trying to be heard over the panicking cadets as they tried to get an answer from the Captain, who remained calm and silent.
"Wait." Was the reply that finally came, making the older soldiers stop questioning. He had a plan. They just weren't there yet. Levi urged his horse to go faster, now racing ahead of everyone else and letting the rest of the squad to tell the younger ones to urge their horses faster. As they did the titan's pace never changed, steadily falling behind before adjusting her stride to match the new acceleration of the horses. Bertholdt spun his head behind him again, breathe quickening and heart threatening to burst out of his chest. His head spun, beginning to pound from the rush of utter adrenaline that coursed through his veins. He has to have a plan or else we're all dead he thought, nervous sweat now beginning to cling onto his hair and clothes and making the situation more uncomfortable. He turned his attention to the front of him, noticing that Levi was beginning to look behind him now at the titan – though with nothing more than the calmest expression. Suddenly he slowed down, letting the rest of the horses rush in front of him and turning his attention to the crowd in front of him. "Turn right now!" he screamed at them, turning his horse completely around to face the titan approaching them and launching off his horse with his manoeuvring gear. The rest of his squad headed his orders, positioning themselves around the group as they forced them to turn right, rushing through thicket and trees. The forest suddenly became incredibly dense, making it harder to manoeuvre around with the large group of horses, and they soon had split off and rushed in the same direction in a line. Bertholdt's mind started racing, his head now a buzz full of pain and questions before his entire body was flung forward with a yell, along with some of his other comrades.