"Talking"
'Thinking'
[Titan]
Chapter 4 Not your average pawn...
Eren's POV.
So we're currently hiking up a hill towards our training ground. Apparently buchou's family has a holiday mansion on top and we'll be using it for our preparation.
Thanks to intense physical conditioning and combat practices during our trainee corps days, both Mikasa and I managed to reache the peak before the other members.
"Huff! Huff! Eren, wait up!" Said a tired buchou. Geez... High class devils should work out once in a while.
Koneko-chan was the 1st of them to catch up to us, despite having a 5 ton bag behind her. Man, the strengh of a rook really does prove usefull I guess. Next to arrive was Kiba, who has a reasonably normal-sized lugguage.
"Asia! do you need any help down there?" I asked as she struggled to keep up the pace.
"I'm alright Eren-san. But i suppose you can help buchou-san with her lugguage."
She has a point. Out of all the bags and lugguages, buchou's lugguage seems to be the heaviest, if not including Koneko-chan's.
But before I could decend to lend a hand, Mikasa grabbeb me by the shoulder. "No, this is part of her training. Let her be."
"Mou! Mikasa, I'll do my training...Huff!...as soon as I...Huff!... reach the top! Huff!" Panted buchou.
About 10 minutes later, we unpack our stuff in our respective rooms which were split into boys and girls. Except for Mikasa because she insisted to sleep with me. Sigh, I can take care of myself you know!
As I kept my clothes and changed into my training gear, which is the Scout regiments uniform, I saw Kiba admiring our 3D maneuver gear which is left on our beds. Heh! I guess there're some things that are not seen in other parts of the world.
"Eren-kun, what are these devices?"
"Just wait and see. You guys go ahead, Mikasa and I need to get dressed." And there went the handsome blonde.
"Eren, you plan on suprising them, do you?" Spot on! to be expected from my sister! I gave her a small wink as we put them on. Ooooohhhh, that nostalgic feeling! Now to make our grand entrance!
Rias POV
We're still changing into our sportswear for our training, and that's when Akeno came to me with a worried look.
"Do you think Eren-kun will hate me?" Asked Akeno.
"What?! Why would you even think of that? You're his senpai. Of course he won't hate you."
"But his hatred towards fallen angels is rather intimidating. I fear I may be despised once he learned the truth about my heritage." Poor Akeno. She does have a point, Eren always express his hatred for fallen angels rather oppenly.
But deep down, I know he cares for his comrades no matter what thier race is.
I bring my queen to a hug to comfort her. She has been through a lot and don't deserve to live in sorrow and despair.
"Don't worry Akeno, he'll understand. It's only a matter of time before he knows the true nature of each race. Besides, you can always talk to Mikasa about this."
That's right, if there's anyone who knows Eren more than anyone, it's his sister. "Yeah, I'll think about it. Thanks Rias."
Ufufu! Now that we've changed, we walked out to the field to meet th rest of my servants. Hmm? Only Yuuto has arrived. Where are the siblings?
"Eh? ..3,4,5... Where's Eren & Mikasa-san?"
"Eren-kun told me to come here without them. Apparently their brought some new tech with them."
New tech? Must be some authentic Trost gadget or something. If it'll help in our match, I'll allow it.
WRRRRRRRRNNNNNNNDDDDD...
Huh? What is that sound?
Whoosh!
"Did something just flew pass us? I better get my sword ready." Said Yuuto as he draw his sword.
Whoosh!
There it is again! We could spot anything in the skies. So what was that thing? Then suddenly, out of nowhere...
WHOOSH! GAHKH'NG!
"Eren-kun?!"
Yuuto was assulted by Eren out of the blue. Wait... What is that thing around his waist?
"Good reflexes Kiba. Hey buchou, everyone."
"Is that what that device is for? To soar through the skies and glide in the air?"
"And where's Mikasa? "
"She's behind you."
GAHKH'NG!
Thankfully for me, Yuuto managed to block Mikasa's blades from slicing me. "You could have killed me you know!"
"Tsk! Tsk! tsk! So much for training... Thanks to that, I know what sort of exercises you should be doing for the upcoming match." Retorted Eren with a sly grin.
"So what do you suggest we work on?" Eren paced back and forth after Akeno enquired. He then stood in front of us and assigned us to our workout sessions.
"Well...when we were in the scout regiment, our daily training involves 100 push-ups, 100 sit ups, 100 squats and 10km worth of running."
"EEEEEEEHEHHHHHH!?"
"Hahahahaha! I'm just joking. What I want you to do is to work on your weaknesses, and strengthen your base endurance. So here's the plan..."
10 minutes later...
After his explaination, we proceed to our training sessions. According to my pawns, I lack the base endurance for the rating game. So, I along with Akeno were assigned to improve our endurance by doing 10 push-ups, 10 sit ups, 10 squats and running 2km, with a 10 minute break in between.
I'm not going to lie. The work out was exhausting! But it's partly my fault since we high-class devils rely on our devil magic for self defense or combat, hardly ever using our own physical strengh.
Anyway, While we were occupied with our morning routine, Yuuto is with Eren to improve his stamina and agility, Koneko is sparring with Mikasa, who is helping her with evasive maneuvers, while Asia is in charge of rehydrating us and healing any accidental injuries.
"Huff... Huff... Ok, huff...Only 3 more squats to go...huff...you done already Rias?"
Hmph! Eventhough she's smiling and seemingly enjoying our training, I can tell that Akeno too is having a hard time catching her breath. "Nope! Huff... After this how about we spar?"
"Ufufu! I suppose we should look for Eren-kun's help for that." Sigh... At least she got over her fear of rejection. But still, I have a bad feeling she'll get into trouble.
Eren POV
Thanks to my 3DMG, I managed to out pace even the lightning fast Gremory Knight Kiba. However, I got to say, he's begining to use his enviroment to his advantage, which is a good sign. After all, those trees are there for a reason. After an hour of cat and mouse, we sat on the ground for a short rest.
"Phew! For a pawn, you sure can run. I almost lost to you in terms of speed!"
"We're trained to maximize our agillity and coordination to outmaneuver the titans. That's why we have these. 3 dimentional maneuver gears, or 3DMG in short."
Kiba was in awe... From what I could tell, he's showing that "Can I try it ?" face. "Sorry no. We only had 2 sets and we could not afford to supply anymore from Trost."
"Aw... But don't you have your titan powers already? I mean, that should be enough for you." That's true! In terms of raw power, my titan powers are far from enough to win the match. However, we currently don't know what sort of members does Riser has in his peerage.
"Kiba, you should know better than I when it comes to buchou's battling style and strategies. Me turning into a titan would take the fun out of the match and thus would end in an easy victory. And no self-respecting warrior would love an easy victory."
Kiba gave a long sigh and nodded. "I understand. But that aside, could you at least let me try your 3DMG just for once?" Uh oh.. What the hell are you doing? Looking at me with cute eyes. Only women would do that!
"Fine fine! but only for an hour." Kiba then did a victory pose while i help him put on the rest of the equipment.
"So how does it work?"
"Oh, you just aim at a tree and press the..."
WHOOOSHH!
"Woah!"
Ok, there he goes...
Mikasa POV
"Hah! Hiyah! Pah!"
At the field, my training with Koneko-chan is running smoothly. She has the strengh and endurance, able to take my attacks head on without any means of blocking. However, her movements are slow and requires fine tuning.
"Relax your mind. Observe your opponents movements."
"Hah!"
She fell for it. As she pushed her fist towards my rib, I side steped and grab her by the wrist. Using her own body weight against her, I redirect her momentum away from myself and flipped her to the ground.
As a safety measure, I gave her and elbow lock to secure her movements. Despite her rook traits, she failed to release herself from my grasp as doing so might lead to dislocation of joints. And we both know that won't end very well.
Finnaly giving in, Koneko-chan taped the grassy floor, signalling her surrender and was released from my clutches. "Might is not always right. Always remember to redirect your oppenent's attacks. Let's take 5."
Both of us lean by a tree and had a drink that Asia-san prepared for us. "Mikasa-senpai,"
"Yes Koneko-chan?"
"Why are you helping buchou?" To be honset, I wasn't expecting her to ask me such a question. I tried to hide my embarrasement, but she saw through me. "W-what are you talking about?"
"We all know you and buchou have a rivally when it comes to Eren-senpai. So why are you helping her?" Damn she's persistant! With my shoulders shrugged, I took a deep breath and said the 1st thing that comes to my mind.
"Because I can't call myself Eren's sister, if I can't even support his ways and ideals. " My junior had her hand on her chin as she thought for a moment. "I see..."
Phew! At least that convinced her. "Ok, let's continue."
