Chapter 10
"Will you let go of me already?!" Came the shrill voice of Hitch Dreyse as she squirmed and struggled in the arms of Rolf, unable to move in his grip. Rolf just smirked as he shook his head, walking down the road, Marlowe Freudenberg to one side of him, shaking his head and staring at Rolf with wide eyes, and Annie Leonhart to the other not looking at him.
"Oh ho, so now you wish to do as the Son of a Shepherd says? Well even if Rolf was willing to listen to the snake-words that leave your lips like the gurgling of a barber's gullet, Rolf cannot risk the others as well." He said, looking up Hitch...who was only one of seven other recruits in his arms who had also decided to see how willing Rolf was at making this little exercise mandatory.
Turns out, he was very willing.
"This is so stupid!" She complained.
"Well...I suppose this means that those rumors about you being this "Human Titan" aren't embellishments." Boris Feulner said from the edge of the group. He was the only one not squirming, figuring it wasn't really worth it. He was surprised when Rolf was able to not only outrun him while carrying six other struggling squadmates, but also keep a firm hold on him. He had decided that wasting his energy trying to escape was futile. "Who knows, maybe this'll be interesting to train with an actual Titan."
Soon enough they arrived at an old training ground, similar to the one that the various training camps use for 3DM Gear practice. It was...fairly run down. The only time it ever got any use was if some MP decided they wanted to have a little fun screwing around with 3DM Gear pretending to "train", and even then that was a rarity. Still, Rolf saw it as a good thing. An open forest naturally preserved would make for closer and more realistic training, and adding in some difficult.
Rolf unceremoniously dropped the squadmates on the ground. "Now then, assistant Marlowe!" Rolf shouted, looking back at him. He had been tasked with bringing over the 3DM Gear, seeing as Rolf was rather occupied, none of the team was willing to put them on themselves, and of course Annie outright refused to help. Marlowe softly set the equipment down on the ground, grabbing one alongside Rolf.
"Now then, Rolf says that you all shall grab some equipment. Rolf thinks a refresher on the workings of our gear would bring you back from the laze of roaches into the fluttering of a wee bird." He said, reaching back to grab the collar of Hitch's uniform as she tried to run off, then chucking her next to the pile.
"Fine, fine whatever!" She said, before grumbling angrily as she grabbed a set of gear, hooking it on. Rolf smirked, leaning back as he watched, turning over to Annie.
"Ah ah ah, that includes the she-devil-of-piercing eyes." Rolf said, wagging his finger at her. She glared death at him, but Rolf was beyond the point of even seeing that apart from anything unusual anymore. She just walked over to put one on.
After everyone else had finished grabbing and putting on their equipment, Rolf walked over to the forest's edge. "Alright then. Rolf knows that many of you are as walloped as a newborn sow digging through the mucus of Nana's turn tray, but Rolf says a simple wander roo through the shaking thistles will be great, yes? Now then, Rolf expects you all back after a pass through the sentries, barging up the passageways, and squashing the mallow." Rolf looked over everyone. Only Annie didn't have a blank expression of confusion, with Marlowe raising a hand.
"Uh...Rolf, what are we-"
"See you then!" Rolf said, before zipping away. Annie sighed and was quick to follow him. The rest of the squad looked between each other, equally confused.
"...Look, let's just go." Marlowe said, before going on, the others following him.
"I don't like the implication there that we're ever going to understand him at all!" Hitch said after having watched Annie just go along, before reluctantly following Marlowe and slinging off into the trees.
After several hours of flying through the trees, their exercise had finally finished. Rolf had to constantly back-track and guide the others on his course...which more often than not only got them more lost. And what Rolf saw was...disappointing to say the least. He'd never been the best with the 3DM Gear (in fact, of his top class, he was one of the worse and that was a big reason he hadn't made number one), but he was outpacing most of his squad and Rolf found that rather embarrassing.
After their little bout, most of the MP members were sore and uncomfortable. Rolf shook his head as he watched them all, clucking his tongue.
"Rolf is embarrassed! It has not been that long, yes? And already you stumble like a just-born cattle!" Rolf shouted, throwing his hands in the air.
"Hey, look pal!" Hitch said, rubbing her thighs. "I never expected to do that again, alright?! But no, I didn't expect to get a psycho for a teammate!" She said, laying back in the grass, groaning.
"A psycho, yes?"
"Look, I dunno where you crawled from but I have no idea what you mean when you shout at us about "sliding on a rainbow to the nether regions of a mule" or whatever else you say!"
"Well Rolf knows that she-with-the-tongue-of-an-adder will be coming back again tomorrow, unless Rolf must drag all of you again!" Rolf threatened, looking over them. They couldn't look him in the eyes, knowing he could back up his threats.
"Uh...look guys, this was just supposed to get us to warm up. And hey, food and bed will just be all the better when we get back." Marlowe said, trying to keep the peace. "Right Annie?"
Annie didn't even look up, just looking down at the ground, holding onto her equipment.
"...Right. Anyways, Rolf it's starting to get a bit late, we should probably get back."
Rolf nodded. "Alright then. Let's go!" Rolf said, smirking and getting ready to leave everyone, a collective groan coming from the rest.
On arriving back at the barracks after returning their equipment and heading to the mess hall, the rookies descended on their food like a madhouse. Those MPs already there where somewhat confused about what was going on. Normally only fresh cadets on their first day ate as if they were starved, and these certainly weren't that. Still, they mostly ignored it, not caring all too much. There was plenty to go around.
Rolf wiped his lips, smirking. "There we go, halfwits! Now feel how the food tastes much better!" Rolf said, swallowing another piece of meat. While he had lost is dependency on meat years ago, just this brief return to eating it was already reinvigorating him past what he was before.
"Look Rolf...I just wanna get some shut-eye." Hitch said, tiredly with some food in her mouth. "I haven't been worked that hard since I got here."
"Well then, Rolf sees. And Rolf agrees. Early shut-eye is important, for tomorrow Rolf has more work, yes? Goodnight!"
The rookies had crashed hard that night, shuffling into their barracks and just passing out on their bed. While the work wasn't particularly hard that day, they hadn't been expecting it, and none had been ready for it besides Rolf.
So it wasn't a particularly good feeling when Rolf woke everyone up at the crack of dawn.
"Come now, team! Rolf knows that a good jog to start the day before our patrols will freshen the cabbage for market!" Rolf said.
"Ugh...c'mon Rolf, this isn't fun. I'm still exhausted." One of his teammates complained, half asleep.
"Well, Rolf will just have to get you all out instead." He smirked.
After a surprisingly quick amount of time considering everyone was exhausted and didn't want to, the team was jogging around with Rolf outside of the barracks. Rolf was next to Marlowe, telling him about what his plans where.
"Okay, so if we finish our patrols this quickly, you think we'll have enough time to double up on our 3DM Gear training?"
"And back in time to beat the sunshine from the worn tapestry, yes!" Rolf said, grinning.
"You know Rolf, I gotta say, I'm glad you made it to our unit." Marlowe said with a grin.
It didn't take more than a few days for the team's training to kick back into action. No one but Rolf and Marlowe where at all happy about any of it (with Hitch being very vocal in her dislike every single time) but they slowly stopped complaining and just went along with it. And Rolf could notice. They were slowly starting to overcome him in how fast they used their gear.
So Rolf changed up the exercise. Now he wandered through the forest, randomly marking certain parts of various levels on some trees. This was when the complaints started out again, with Rolf getting told they will never fight Titans.
Rolf of course didn't take this excuse and after threatening to "cowbell their lingnuts with the fury of a thousand beetles" they where fine with using their blades.
Besides, what's the point of using 3DM Gear if you can't fight a Titan?
This routine was rather drilled into the rookies after a few weeks. An early jog, a strict adherence to their patrol routes and any occasional extra tasks they were given, then a lunch break, then back to working.
It was during one of these days that Rolf's team where walking towards the market after finishing up a patrol to get some lunch.
"Hitch, Rolf thinks that if you whack for the sore spot, thrusting with the mighty fist of the motherland will see a better harvest."
"Rolf, please, please tell me I am not starting to get what you're saying. Are you saying that I should try putting more effort into my swing?"
"Why yes. What else would Rolf mean?"
"...Oh this is just perfect. Now I-" She stopped, bumping into Marlowe as he just stood there. Rolf looked confused at Marlowe.
"What is it, stoic-minus-brains-Marlowe?" Rolf asked, before seeing what he was looking at. There where two MPs talking with what looked like a merchant. And next to them where several crates with the Military Police symbol on them. Marlowe gritted his hands.
"That is government equipment. And...and they're selling it!" He glared angrily.
"Yeah...corruption like this isn't exactly uncommon here." Hitch said, resting a hand on her hips. "C'mon, we should just keep going."
"What, and let them get away with it? No, here Rolf wait here for a second." He said, before gripping his musket tightly and walking over to the two MPs.
"Go Marlowe! Teach those ne'er-do-wells a lesson!" Rolf said, smirking.
"You know, those guards are going to kill him." Annie said, looking at Marlowe. "They're not just going to listen to a foolish rookie, especially on his own."
"What? But they're caught, Rolf fully expects justice to be well and truly earned." Rolf said, grinning. Which slowly fell as he saw the two brush him off, before starting to look at him angrily. Then one of them swung the butt of their musket into his gut, sending Marlowe to the floor. "...Right. Rolf has had enough."
Marlowe gasped, holding his gut as he was on his knees. He could barely look up as he saw the two raising their weapons, aiming the butts at his face.
"Look, he's one of those losers who actually does their job and tries training." He said, kicking some dust up into Marlowe's face. "I bet they're trying to make the rest of us look bad. Alright, so you think you can play the good guy huh? Well we'll see how-" He was interrupted by Rolf grabbing their shoulders and pulling them back to him.
"Rolf apologizes, but Rolf is sadly lacking a Hat of Discipline to dispense correct justice, so Rolf shall do it himself with a merciless thrashing." He said, before flipping them both backwards, sending them flipping through the air. The quickly got up, glaring.
"Okay, tough guy. How about you-" He swung his musket, but Rolf took the hit, barely flinching. Rolf smirked and swung his fist, slamming the guy backwards, holding his broken nose. At that point, the other guard gritted his teeth and rushed forward to slam his musket into Rolf's stomach, causing the Son of a Shepherd to bend over, caught off-guard, but he grabbed the back of the guard's head and slammed him into the pavement.
The first guard brought up his fists and swung them into Rolf's fist. Rolf just smirked through the punches, before throwing some of his own. However, the guard ducked and dodged, before backing up and kicking Rolf in the chest. The kick sent Rolf stumbling back, not out of pain but force. Rolf gritted his teeth and as the guard tried to kick again, Rolf took the kick and grabbed it. Smirking, he swung the guard and let go, sending him into the river. Rolf walked over to the second guard who was still laying on the ground in pain, kicking him into the water with his partner.
Marlowe grimaced as he slowly stood up, Rolf walking over to help him up, dusting off his pants and uniform. "Rolf apologizes for that." Rolf said.
"It's...fine. I...ugh, I just can't believe this happened." He said.
"And it'll happen again." Came the voice of Annie, who walked over. "They won't say what we just did, the shame of getting beaten by one rookie, as well as the chance that they might get caught are too great." She said. "But we also can't say what they did. We're too new to this, and maybe some of the higher ups would just turn a blind eye."
"What? Surely you know better than that, Annie-girl with the glaze-of-a-thousand-suns-exploding." Rolf said, looking confused.
"No, it's you who don't. Come on, let's get our food already." She said, pushing past them. The two looked at each other, before Rolf let Marlowe go to the rest.
He jogged over to Annie, tapping her on the shoulder. "So, Rolf is surprised you did not see interest in getting in the tumble. Rolf sees the rapturous fighting to be a good way to pass the noggin."
She just ignored Rolf, and after Rolf waited a couple of seconds, he spoke up.
"However...Rolf sees you may be right. A little bit. So...Rolf wished to ask a favor. Of a fellow friend and comrade."
"Friend?" She asked, confused.
"As Rolf is sure you saw, Rolf has the mighty spirit of his warrior ancestors...sadly Rolf lacks the correct training in how to use it. But, Annie is clearly not burdened with such a lack of skills. Rolf was wondering if Annie would batten the hatches and squeeze the melons of Rolf to bring the warriors into Rolf's daily turnips."
"..What?" She finally spoke up, stopping and looking over at him.
"Rolf wishes for Annie-girl to show Rolf how to better hone his ancestor's might!" Rolf said.
"...Why should I?" She asked.
"Well Eren-boy was a good student that you taught, and Rolf feels his strength could be put to better use, yes!"
"...You're not gonna let me up anyways, are you." She sighed, shaking her head, and looking back at the guards who were slowly crawling out of the water. "...Fine."
Rolf's training had begun that day. Marlowe had taken the lead on leading the rest of the rookies in their daily Maneuver Gear training, which was fine as he was better at it than Rolf anyways. Rolf and Annie had moved to a more open clearing with some softer dirt. Rolf spent a bit of time clearing it of rocks and vegetation, before getting ready.
"Now then, I know already what you can do, so I don't expect you to hold back. You're a lot stronger than I am, so you should be able to get the better of me." Annie said, keeping her gaze on him, like a predator examining its prey before striking.
Rolf, on the other hand, just shrugged. He smirked, already remembering the fight he had had with her and Mikasa during training. He'd done a good number on her and that was when having to deal with Mikasa as well.
"Rolf wishes to learn what he already doesn't, how will pickling the cucumber again make it less vinegary?"
"You wanted me to train you, right? So shut up and do what I say." She said, getting into a combat stance. "Now, attack me."
"Hmmph, fine." Rolf said, looking her over, before rolling his shoulders to loosen them up, then he charged at Annie, raising his fist. He swung it hard at her and hit...air.
Annie had ducked, swinging her arm up underneath Rolf's arm to send it up. With that done, she quickly swung her leg to his side, catching Rolf off-guard, then throwing his arm forward. The two combined sent Rolf sprawling down. He wasn't in much pain, but it had caught him off guard.
"What did I say? I am much weaker and more frail than you. You shouldn't hold back." She said, backing up again.
"Hrrrrr..." Rolf growled and stood back up, charging again...only to get Annie to rush in as well, swinging her legs underneath Rolf, tripping him up. She fell back and quickly thrust her hand up on Rolf's chest, using the momentum of his fall to push him back farther, causing him to hit the ground hard. She rolled onto her chest and quickly grappled at him, wrapping her arms around his throat, trying to squeeze.
"Remember, this is what happens when your moves are sloppy and anyone can read what you're going to do before you do it." She said into his ear. Rolf shook his head, before reaching his arms up to grab Annie by the back, and showed that his brute strength was still good, ripping her off of him and throwing her back on the ground. He quickly jumped up, raising his hands.
She slowly got up, brushing herself off, looking to Rolf.
"You have good stamina, and you can take a hit. If this went on much longer, there's no doubt I'd lose again. But in a fight, wearing out your opponent is not as helpful if they can take you out quickly. Or if there's more than one opponent."
Rolf slowly nodded. "Rolf sees."
"Now, pay attention to what I do when I send you to the ground again."
A couple of weeks went by, the first month in the MP coming up rather quickly. And Rolf had already turned his team into the most skilled and disciplined unit. At least...that he could see. Of course, in his mind they were all still able and willing warriors, when if given the opportunity they'd still slack off instead.
That didn't mean results still weren't quite exceptional. Rolf had re-instated close combat training into the daily regimen. Every other day would be close combat training instead of 3DM training, seeing as they were supposed to be protecting the law and fighting humans and not Titans in theory. Except for Rolf and Annie. Rolf wanted to work as hard as he could to make up for this perceived weakness of his, and Annie just rolled with it, helping Rolf every day, even on 3DM gear days, cutting that training in half a bit. Which Rolf was fine with, as most of his team had already passed him on that front, with Marlowe proving to be an exceptional teacher. Even Hitch had mostly stopped complaining, and she had become something of a fast learner. And of course rubbing that in his face when she could was too good of an opportunity to pass up.
It was at the end of one of these days that Rolf lead the team back to the mess hall. As their routine had intensified, the team had found themselves not needing as much sleep and they could actually enjoy their meals without falling apart at the seams.
Rolf had taken the time to weave the tales of his home country, and generally entrance them as a storyteller, much like back in training.
"And then, Rolf saw the great sea-cucumber rise above the seas, blinking and blinking at Rolf with one eye! It sought Rolf's family like a sandwich to feast upon!" Rolf said, standing on the table, one foot on the chair, rocking himself back and forth, as if to simulate the sea.
"Well I hope you did a lot better against that thing than you did against Annie in practice today." Hitch spoke up, chuckling. "I knew you were strong but I didn't think you'd be the first person to fly without Maneuver Gear."
"Oh is that so? Well than, perhaps you'd like to hear the song of Rolf's village, yes?" Rolf said with a cunning smirk, eyes narrowed.
"Oh please, your people have songs too? This outta be good. Sure." Hitch said, leaning back in her chair.
Rolf smirked and walked back to the mess hall looking for the cook. When he returned he had a large broth jar. "Now then, Rolf shall take you as my partner." He said, standing over the cocky Hitch.
"Look, I am not slow dancing with you, okay?" She said as Rolf began to blow into the broth jar. At one point between blows, he cried out.
"That's my horse!" He said, then slapped her hand.
"Ow, hey what the-"
"Your turn!" Rolf said, smirking as he lightly bounced in place while playing.
"Uh...what?" She said.
"Your turn. Must Rolf echo everything?"
"Uh...that's my horse?" She asked, shrugging. She looked down as Rolf offered a hand, which she slapped.
"Pfft, that's it? That's my horse!" He said, throwing his elbow into her gut, knocking her back, holding her stomach.
"Ow! Okay, tough guy. That's my horse!" She said, grabbing a plate and slamming it on Rolf's head, sending him into a chair.
"Hah hah! Here, blonde-haired Boris!" Rolf said, tossing Boris the bottle. "Play the song!"
"Uh...well...okay?" He said, starting to blow and copy from what Rolf had done.
"That's my horse!" Rolf said reaching for Hitch.
Meanwhile, at the other side of the room away from the commotion, a few older MP officers watched their antics, one of them shaking his head.
"I tell you, these stupid kids are a nightmare to deal with." He said, crossing his arms. "They seem to be in a constant race to show off and make us look bad."
"Not only that, they get in our way. Did you hear what happened to Hansel a bit ago? I don't care if he's some sort of "Human Titan", that rookie is causing us a lot of pain." Another MP said.
That was when Rolf found himself flying back and crashing into a third member of their little group. "Everybody! That's my horse!" Rolf said, slamming an elbow back into his face.
"Ah! Why you little-I'm going to teach you a lesson!" He said, shoving Rolf off and socking the boy in the face, sending him back to a table.
"Ah ah ah! No that's my horse!" Rolf said, slapping him on the back of the head, and sending him to the floor.
"What the-horse?! I'll show you my freaking horse." He snarled getting up and throwing a kick to Rolf's face.
"That's it! That's my horse!" Rolf said, smirking and not even winded as he reached back and grabbed a table from the ground and swung it, slamming into his face and sending the guy back into his chair, groaning and almost unconscious. Boris widened his eyes, dropping the jar.
"Uh...hey Rolf, maybe we should head to bed now, alright? I mean, uh...I really think that I'll need extra energy for our jog." Hitch said, moving her hand away from her new black-eye and quickly leaving the room.
"Ah, perhaps you are correct. And Rolf congratulates you from graduating from perpetual baby boo hooer to taking things as should be processed like a wiener from a yak." Rolf said, waving bye to the MPs he had interrupted.
After Rolf's team had left, the two still conscious MPs looked to each other, fury in their eyes. "You know, I am officially sick of that kid. I say tomorrow we should teach him a lesson of how he should be acting as an MP."
AN: Not much else to say. More continuation of Rolf in the MP, but now deciding to keep his own little personal promise. Cause while Rolf is someone who enjoys the finer things in life and can have fun and goof off, he's also very responsible, dislikes laziness, and would be bored out of his skull with the typical MP work. And of course, not everyone's happy about it.
Hmm, I wonder what repercussions this may have...