Chapter 4: Terror of the Female Titan
Western Marley, Gambi Internment Zone, Many years ago…
A young girl cried as her parents ran with the massive crowds away from the smoke and chaos. Her father tried to shield her eyes as a massive Kaiju, with golden scales and fur, and long flopped ears, fell defeated on the crowd, crushing hundreds. The demon's roar sent shivers down the girl's spine as multiple purple blasts caused even more in the running crowd to scream then be turned to burning ash.
"Mama? Papa?" she asked, but they kept running.
"It's going to be ok, sweetheart, it's going to be ok…" her mother said. Even as the crowd hit the massive fence and armed guards on the other side. So many calling for help.
The girl looked up as she heard the sound of something massive flying. Her eyes widened as a massive and beautiful butterfly kaiju soared with purpose toward the demon.
"Marie! This way!" she heard her father call her mother, and they moved down the fence. A soldier was standing there with two of her friends, two little boys on the other side of the fence.
"Sweetheart," her mother said, and she saw a small hole in the fence, just big enough for a child. "You have to be strong."
She looked up to see the demon approaching them. The black flesh burnt away in places to show red muscle, thin arms and drawn up claws, massive tail, and that demonic head, no gums to hide its grotesque rows of teeth below its dark, evil eyes. And what worse was its… children… escaping from its tail with every swipe and attacking anything that moved.
Her mother cried as she pushed her through the hole to the soldier and her friends. "You have to live, sweetheart. You have to... No matter what happens. LIVE!"
The soldier took the crying child, who was reaching back for her parents, who held each other and cried from the other side of the fence with the other trapped refugees.
She looked up at the demon, and she watched as its back began to glow purple. To her horror it opened its mouth and it just kept opening and stretching, splitting three ways as purple light began to glow from within its throat.
Her eyes widened and flooded in tears as she watched purple light engulf her parents, and a second later they ceased to be.
She screamed at the top of her lungs from the soldier's shoulder as he ran away with the two boys. And the monster roared, forcing its demonic sound to burn into her mind for the rest of her life.
SKKKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNGGGGGGGGKKKKKKK!
The young woman sat up in her tent, gasping for breath. She hated those nightmares. But she knew she also needed them. She had her resolve. She had to fight. She had to avenge. And she knew she shouldn't have gotten close, but it gave her more resolve. She would protect him, too. She had to. She had to live. She would keep her promise.
-G-
After Breakfast, Eren and Mikasa went to the briefing room and awaited to find out what the plan for their big mission.
Eren glanced up to see Armin coming toward them with a skip in step and almost seemed like he had a little glow. Mikasa hmphed and didn't seemed very amused.
"Good morning," Armin said with a smile.
"Morning, Armin," Connie waved from his seat beside Sasha, who was currently, as usual munching on potatoes, this time a small cup of fried potatoes.
"Have a good night, Armin?" Sasha winked causing Armin to flush.
"Alright, listen up, Scouts," Levi said as he, Hange and Commander Erwin stepped out before the group.
"Tomorrow morning, as we leave into Titan territory, we will utilize the Long-Distance Enemy Scouting Formation with the Survey Corps." Erwin stated, pointing to a map and diagram. We will spread out on horseback, at the sighting of a Titan, any scout will fire off a red flare to alert the rest of the team. I will then fire a green flare to notify of acknowledgement and course correction. If you come across an abnormal or large group, or a Titan makes it through defenses, fire a black flare. Understood?"
"Why don't we just cut the Big G lose to start stomping Titans, while we just make sure they don't get away?" Jean asked.
"Henge, want to take this one?" Levi asked, and the scientist stepped up. "Allow me to play out a scenario for you all."
"During our testing, we've discovered at least at the moment, Eren is unable to sustain his Godzilla form for longer than three, maybe four hours. While that sustainability is growing it is still limited," Henge explained. "Now, say we let him transform and stomp out along side us like a parade balloon. Granted it would be great for moral. And should we come into contact with the largest group quickly it would work well. But say we just see a few stragglers here and there. And we along with the Godzilla wipe them out over the course of a few hours. All good right?" Henge then clapped her hands together, "BUT WAIT! HERE COMES A MASSIVE HERD OF TITANS! Godzilla steps between us and certain doom. And POOF. He runs out of time, and the only thing standing beside us and man-eating monsters is a naked, unconscious teenager."
"We must use Eren's ability with caution and strategy," Levi added, "I'd rather reserve the big lizard for when we truly need that kind of firepower, instead of wasting it on a situation our training and expertise should be able to handle ourselves. Wouldn't you?"
"Good point…" Jean agreed.
"I am very certain we will see Godzilla during this mission. But priorities are to scout the area, determine the Titan presence, exterminate as many as possible, and if possible, seal the hole in the wall and prevent any more from entering in. Understood?" Erwin concluded, then went about giving the individual squad assignments before dismissing.
-G-
Saturday Morning, the crowd gathered at the gate of Wall Rose and cheered as the G-Force lead many the Survey Corps into their latest mission. "They're cheering for you, of course," Eren gave a little smirk as he rode beside Mikasa. She glanced to him before hiding her flushed cheeks with her scarf.
"Stop embarrassing her," Armin rolled his eyes from the other side of Mikasa.
Armin shook his head and waved to the crowd before a pair of blue eyes caught his eyes. "Hey, Annie," Armin smiled as he maneuvered his horse out of the way and stopped by as she approached him.
"Hey…" She said, a faint smile and blush on her cheeks.
"I wasn't expecting you to see us off…" Armin said, both avoiding eye contact with each other.
Annie bit her lip, before thrusting her hand up toward him, holding something tightly.
"Huh?" Armin asked, taking her hand and she opened her clinched fist and a red and white-trimmed handkerchief with a single star in the very center fell into his grasp. "What's this?"
Annie flushed harder. "Annie?" he pressed gently.
"A knight riding into battle beside a fire-breathing dragon…" She said, finally glancing up. "He needs to wear his lady's colors…"
Armin stared at the handkerchief for a moment before he tied it around his arm and smiled at her. "I'll see you when I get back?"
"See you soon," Annie responded, glancing toward the gate, Armin nodded, and nudged his horse to continue with the Corps and G-Force. Annie clutched her fists at her side and whispered softly. "I'm sorry…" she sighed and glanced up as the gate began to close, then disappeared into the crowd.
-G-
While Eren, and Mikasa by default, remained close to Levi toward the center of the scouting pattern, Dieter and Luke decided to break off and take Armin to show him some scouting tricks on the outer edges of the scouting pattern.
In other words, the two veteran Scouts were showing off for the recruit.
"I'm going to carve this one like a turkey!" Luke said, flying through the air with the aid of his gear, before slicing a chunk out of the Titan's neck, and laughed heartedly as the monster fell face first dead.
"What's the score, Dieter?" Luke asked as he got back on his horse.
"I think that tied you up," Armin said, firing off a flare before riding up to the two.
"Here comes the tie breaker," Dieter said noting another Titan running toward them in the distance.
"Abnormal, eh?" Luke noted turning his horse toward the approaching giant, "Runners gives bonus points."
"C'mon, Armin," Dieter said, as he and Luke nudged their horses into a run toward the approaching Titan. "Let's take this one down!"
Armin nodded and began to catch up to the two. Dieter too to the air, firing his gear to the nearby tree for momentum to send him flying toward the approaching Titan. It was definitely unusual. It actually had a feminine physical appearance and short blond hair, and it had a more muscle-like texture instead of skin.
Dieter fired a grapple to this Female Titan's shoulder, but to his surprise it looked directly at him with mischievous eyes instead of the usual animalistic eyes. "What?" Dieter asked, before she reached up and grabbed his cable.
Armin's eyes widened as the Female Titan whipped Dieter into the ground, the force of the impact made his body splatter. And without missing a single beat, she came around and backhanded the approaching Luke sending him slamming into the trees.
"Oh… oh no…" Armin whimpered when he saw her look up at him. He turned his horse and started to run as the Titan began running after him.
This Female Titan was proving to be must faster than Armin's horse and he gasped and glanced up as the giant literally jumped over him. He watched in terror as the Titan's blue eyes locked with him as she moved over him. Had he not been terrified he would have found the eyes familiar.
The Titan's foot landed directly in front of his horse. The Horse came to a sudden stop and jumped backwards, throwing Armin off its back.
Armin sat on his hands and knees trying to catch his breath from the fall when his eyes widened when he felt the Titan land on one knee directly beside him.
His breath came in short gasps as he stared downward, thankful for his hood to hide his pale terrified face from the monster that was about to end him. He softly breathed Annie's name as he could feel the heat of the Titan's hand hovering over him.
His breath caught in his throat as the Titan pinched the back of his hood with her thumb and forefinger and pulled the hood back.
He slowly glanced up to see the Titan staring back at him with a small smile on her face. Then to his shock she stood up, turned and sprinted away.
"Armin! What are you doing? No time to be looking for caterpillars!" Reiner called out, riding up to the shellshocked young man.
Armin shook his head and glanced to where the Female Titan was running.
"C'mon," Armin jumped on the horse and kicked it into full sprint.
Reiner caught up and glanced to the shorter blonde, "Why are we chasing the Titan with the nice ass?"
"I have a theory and we need to test it before we go warn command and Eren," Armin replied.
"First we need to send off a flare to warn the others," Armin said, wrestling with his flare gun.
"Looks like Jean has you covered," Reiner said, glancing back to see Jean approaching.
"The right wing was wiped out by a Titan ambush. Dunno how it happened but it was bad." Jean explained coming up beside Reiner and Armin. "Sons of bitches were lightning fast. I don't know how it happened but most of the spotters were killed and the survivors are trying to hold them off. But we got no one on lookout."
"That's the way she came from…" Armin narrowed his eyes, "Is she somehow commanding the Titans?"
"Why is she running from us, too?" Jean asked, "She an abnormal?"
"No… I think she's like Eren," Armin said, "Like he can transform into Godzilla, she's a person who can transform into a Titan."
"That's crazy, Armin," Reiner said, "How is that even possible?"
"We've got to prove it, Levi would laugh us across the wall if we just bring a theory…"Armin narrowed his eyes at the giant before him, "What is she after… wait… she looked at my face…" Armin glanced between the two, "She's after someone!"
"Who then?" Reiner asked.
"Maybe Eren?" Armin asked, "He's the greatest threat to the Titans right now as Godzilla."
"Pull the hoods, if she can't see our faces, she won't hurt us," Armin said, pulling his hood up.
"And what do we do if we realize she's not mindless monster?" Jean asked, as he and Reiner pulled up their hoods.
"We have to lead her away from all the other groups and take her straight to Eren…" Armin glanced to her.
"And if that's what she wants?" Reiner asked.
"At least one of us gets to him first, and warn him," Armin nodded, "Then she runs right face to face with the King of all Monsters."
After formulating a plan, the three Scouts moved forward after the Titan.
Armin moved in first, firing his gear from horseback. The grapple struck the Female Titan's ankle and the pull with all his and his horse' might, causing her to tumble to her hands and knees.
"Jean!" Armin called, as the Female Titan lashed out blindly at him, knocking his horse into the air. Armin yelped as he went flying and bouncing along the ground like a stone skipping across water.
The angered titan leapt toward Armin but froze when she saw his blond hair and bloodied face. Armin glanced up and was surprised to see a look of concern on the monster's expression.
Before he could study her reaction, farther Jean's grapple attached to her back and he swung around targeting the nap of her neck. To his surprised she placed her hand over the Titan's universal weak spot.
"She's protecting her neck!" Jean cried out in surprise.
He was so surprised by the move he didn't see her preparing to swat at him with her free hand. Armin saw the disaster about to happen and came up with one last quick test that would hopefully finalize his proof and save Jean at the same time.
"STOP BEING SO WEAK, JEAN! IF WE CAN KILL GODZILLA WE CAN KILL HER!" Armin screamed, and the Female Titan froze and widened her eyes.
"JUST LIKE IT WAS, THEY'RE ALL MONSTERS!" Armin cried out, "BUT HE WAS THE WORST, A DEMON PRETENDING TO BE MY FRIEND! HE BETRAYED ME AND HE DESERVED TO BLEED EVERY DROP OF BURNING BLOOD I MADE FALL TO THE GROUND!"
Jean and the Titan both seemed shocked by the outburst. Neither really seemed to notice Reiner rushing toward the Female Titan.
"I GOT HER!" Reiner called, launching his grapple to her and flying toward her both blades at the ready.
"REINER NO!" Jean called out as the Titan caught in him her hand. "REINER!" he called as she closed her fist and blood sprayed from between her massive fingers.
A moment later the Female Titan's hand exploded outward with Reiner spinning downward to the ground. "Run!" Reiner cried out, grabbing Armin under his arm and running toward Jean. "Bad trip, man! Bad trip!"
The Female Titan watched the three run away before glancing to her steaming injured hand. She narrowed her blue eyes as she saw a message cut into her hand 'w command, center, be careful' She nodded to herself and started running toward the center of the formation.
"What in the world was that, Armin?" Jean asked bandaging his head.
"She's definitely a human, at the least intelligent," Armin said, wincing at the tight bandage, "Did you have to make it so tight?"
"So now what? She's on the move and we don't have any horses." Reiner said, glancing to see the Female Titan disappearing into the distance.
"Hey!" The three men looked up to see Krista approaching along with three horses beside hers. "These three came running up to me. I knew they were yours and I feared the worst!" She said as she came to a stop by the three.
"We ran into something, but we're ok," Armin said, "I have to get to Command."
"Then here, she's the fastest we have here," Krista said handing the reign to Armin. "I'm glad you all are ok!" She said, smiling as the sun shined through her hair. She sniffled, and brushed a tear from her eyes as she gazed at the three, "I am so glad…"
'God…' Armin breathed.
'A goddess…' Jean gawked.
Reiner silently stared, 'I want to marry her…'
Armin shook off the stars and thanked Krista as he took off as fast as his horse could go toward the center of the formation.
-G-
"This… is boring…" Eren said, leaning against a tree, deep in the Titan Forest. Almost all the trees are so big here that they even dwarf the largest of Titans.
"It's called being a secret weapon, Yeager," Petra Hal smiled at her teammate.
"Hopefully one that will not have to be used," Mikasa said, standing close to Eren's side.
"Wouldn't bet on that, Ackerman," Levi glanced away from Petra and his other troops to see the two.
"Captain Levi!" A Scout cried out, "Horseman incoming!"
Levi, Petra, Eren, Mikasa and their Scout escort glanced up to see Armin running toward them as fast as his horse could travel.
"A Titan is coming!" Armin cried out, leaping from his horse, and running to the group.
"Dangerous but hardly worthy of you pushing your horse that hard, Arlert," Levi stated.
"No… it's like HIM!" He said pointing at Eren.
Eren sniffed as Levi Petra and Mikasa questioned Armin and he explained this strange Female Titan.
"Wait… something's wrong," Eren said, holding up his hand, glancing toward a gathered group of Scouts, and his eyes settled on a hooded one in the center of the group. "Power is building… a lot of power…"
In a blinding flash, lightning seemed to strike the hooded Scout and an explosion blew the group in all directions.
To the shock of everyone, the female Titan seemed to form out of nowhere and rose before them.
"Attack!" Levi ordered, but snapped a hand toward Eren who's back was beginning to glow blue from under his clothes. "Not you, not yet," He said, "It could be a trap."
"Captain Levi is right," Petra said, showing absolute faith in her leader, "Trust us, Eren… and trust your instincts not your emotions. when the time is right you'll know when you jump in." She said as she, Mikasa and Armin took to the air toward the Female Titan.
Eren nodded bit grinded his teeth together as he saw his friends and teammates jump into battle.
Petra gasped when she saw the Female Titan fighting the G-Force and Survey Corp Scouts with literally one hand tied behind her back as she was holding a hand over the weak spot on her neck.
But what was concerning Petra the most was that the Titan seemed to be going after Mikasa of all people. She gasped when she made a grab for her but Armin managed to tackle her out of the way.
But while the redhead was focused on her friends, she didn't notice that the Titan was turning toward her.
She grunted from the impact of the Titan kicking her in the back, and she felt and saw herself flying toward a tree. The world seemed to slow down. 'Captain Levi… no… I still have to… Levi…' she thought as she flew closer and closer to the tree when finally. SNAP. All was darkness.
Levi hands trembled. Petra was an amazing soldier. And as much as many made observations of his obliviousness to personal relations he could tell the younger soldier had at least liked him. The sight of her being hurt triggered something in him he didn't quite understand. But at the moment he was more awestruck of what had just happened before his eyes.
Levi, Mikasa and Armin stared in shock as a massive maw moved in their direction and lowered to their level. It opened to two rows of jagged teeth, before letting his tongue out, and let the injured, covered in saliva, and very traumatized but alive Petra Hal fall out beside them on her knees.
The Female Titan as well as the remaining soldiers stared in awestruck wonder as Godzilla stood to his full height and turned toward the mysterious Titan. His green eyes staring daggers at her.
'No matter what the situation… doesn't matter what is at stake… under no circumstances whatsoever…' The Female Titan remembered her leader's recent warning, as she took a single step back away from the monster, 'Never, ever attack Godzilla head on. Ever.'
She took a deep breath and set her jaw as she stared down the monster who was baring his teeth at her. She closed her eyes a moment before opening them back, and lifting her fists into a boxing stance, one that particularly caught Armin's attention.
The Female Titan roared as the two giants rushed each other and locked up. She had to win, she thought to herself as she stared at the monster before her, she had no choice. There were too much for her to fight for to fall today.
To Be Continued …
Next chapter: Godzilla vs Female Titan