Chapter 6 (Heroic Opening)
Erwin shouted in a determined tone to everyone behind, while riding his horse in the first line. "let's move!" The survey corps decided with Hanje's plan to chase down the 2 traitors and rescue Eren, Ymir and Saitama. Erwin was hundred persent sure in his mind. The hero wasn't dead.
Erwin extended his left hand and ordered the soldiers. "Spread out! Take formation to locate any enemies!" They all listened and split in multiple groups of 4 or even 5 and 6 riders. Connie was next to Sasha and Historia. Sasha drop a sweat from her forehead and thought about Saitama. 'I hope he's alive... ...He must be!' She gritted her teeth a little bit and holded tighter the grip of her horse.
Another group was Mikasa,Armin,Jean,Hannes and a few more. While Mikasa were riding her horse, the injury on her head had turned into a scar. Finger prints could be seen on it. She didn't said a word, she only had 2 things in her mind. Save Eren and kill the baldy with the worst death possible, if he still breathing. 'Eren...' She thought.
Eren woke up on a large tree branch next to Ymir, she was missing her right leg and hand but didn't seem to suffer from pain. "Oh, Eren? You're awake?" Eren noticed Reiner and Bertholdt who were on a higher branch, the scars from both Eren's and Ymir's transformations was still quite visible.
He tryed to move his arms but both were mulitated, only steam came out cause of the titan healing ability. "What the hell?! My arms!" Ymir replied to him with a calm expression. "Eren Look at me. I'm in the same shape as you. Guess the both of us are having a bad day." He said "Ymir... Why don't I have any arms?" Reiner answered right away. "That's my bad. I'm the one who did that." Eren lifted his head slowly at the source of Reiner's voice.
"I kinda was in a hurry. When I rushed to bite your nape, I neglected to take your arms into account." Eren look back down and said "I see... I... must've lost." He put his arm close to his mouth, ready to bite it and transform again. Bertholdt stood up from the other branch and said.
"Eren, stop!" Ymir placed her hand on Eren's and lowered it. "Hold your horses, Eren. Take a good look around us. We're in the giant forest within Wall Maria. It's not even close to any of the Walls. In other words, we're deep in titan territory. Take a look. I think that one down there's an abnormal. It looks like he's just lounging around, but he's not taking his eyes off us."
Titans were all around the trees trying to climb them up, but they always failing. Ymir continued with a serious expression planted on her face. "There's a lot of small ones down there, too. Over that way's another big one. He is staring at us, but won't come any closer. I bet you that one's a scaredy-cat."
She placed her arm on Eren's shoulder. "And then you've got these chumps and their freaking weirdo buddy." She pointed Reiner and Bertholdt with her finger. "Those dirty bastards." Eren whispered and Ymir continued "They're the only ones with any ODM gear on. Reiner's wearing gear he took from you. So I don't think changing into a titan at this point is going to solve anything."
A voice yawned from above their heads and said. "Awwww, of course not, it won't solve a thing." Saitama landed right next to Eren and Ymir, making all of them shift their attentions to him.
"Saitama! Thank god you're here" Eren start laughing to Reiner and Bertholdt. "HAHAHAHAHAHA YOU BASTARDS ARE SCREWED NOW!" Both Reiner and Bertholdt had multiple drops of sweat falling from their heads.
"I won't fight them dude. I just want to find out why they kidnapped you both and why they did what they did." Saitama said to Eren with a blank expression on his face, Eren felt disappointment and asked the hero.
"Saitama?! Why!? Why you keep protecting them,?! You got the power to turn them into nothing!" Saitama picked his nose and replied "While they're humans, they can still change, can you listen to me?"
Eren shifted his head to Reiner and answered Saitama. "I ensure you they're nothing like humans, they truly are HEARTLESS MONSTERS!" Saitama shook the shiny head of his and said. "Aha Aha okay, now what you have to say about it?"
The Caped baldy's sights shifted towards Ymir. "You speaking to me? I don't even know you baldy, the only information I have about you is that you're their weirdo buddy!"
Saitama's expression turned serious and ludicrous at the same time. "I'm not their buddy and hey! I know what you'll say. That I'm only 25 and lost all of my hair, so what if I'm bald you got a problem with that!?"
The female titan shifter shook her head right and left to give a negative answer. "Good! I don't like it when people always complaining about me being bald." Ymir turned her head to Reiner. "Hey, Reiner. You said you would talk once Eren woke up. It's about time one of you says what you plan to do with us and with him."
She pointed Saitama with her irises. We'll take you to our hometown. All 3 of you. I realize that you're not going to listen to me like Saitama did." He continued talking while he glared the three of them in a serious expression.
"But like Ymir was saying, this place is swarming with titans. Even if we tryed to beat the shit out of each other, he would simply kill all the titans around us and then he'll take us all out of our napes."
He was mentioning Saitama who put his head resting on his right hand. "He promised not to hurt us cause we are humans, but he decline to kill all the titans. So untill nightfall, when the titans can't move, we have no choice but to wait here.
Eren took a few seconds to process this and after that he shifted towards Saitama. "You can kill the titans with your punches and then we'll beat the living shit out of both of them together, You are humanity's Savior!" Ymir joined the conversation "There's no way, this must be a child's story or something. Did you just said with his PUNCHES!?" Saitama nodded and gave confirmation.
Ymir start laughing to the hero "You!? You think you're a hero or something?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Stupid baldy you won't last 10 seconds dow-" Saitama in the next 10 seconds had punched 5 titans and turned them into vaporizing blood, after another 10 seconds he had returned on the branch next to them.
He had a speed beyond their eyesights, he pointed his clenched red fist to Ymir while steam was floating and fading away. "Indeed I'm a hero, purely a hobby. Let me tell you something."
The Caped hero's expression turned serious "You don't really understand what a hero is. There are so many extremely powerful villains in my world, I will figure it out about this world soon enough too."
"A hero is someone who takes on those villains. And you Eren, want to kill your own kin so badly even though you know humanity in this world living an extinction? You want to solve everything with violence? None of that make any sense, let me as a hero find a proper solution. Both of you Don't underestimate heroes, you jerks."
Eren calmed down and stared away with embarrassment while Ymir stood up angry and came face to face with Saitama.
"Shut your mouth! What would you know about me?!" She launched a punch at him. Ymir was surpriced to see Saitama had not moved an inch. Her eyes widened in shock as her punch collided with his face. She couldn't believe it and stumbled backwards on the branch, looking at her fist in utter shock.
"How the fuck did y-you..." She trailed off looking at Saitama. She stared at him with a sense of fear befalling her. But he looked at her with a now bored expression planted on his face. "I didn't want to argue with you. You just underestimate me like everybody else in my world but to be honest I don't care."
"I... Um" Ymir stuttered, trying to get the words to leave her mouth. "R-Reiner... Explain Now!" He nodded to her and began to explain. "We had you, me and Bertholdt on my shoulder but then this hero guy came and defeated me with a single blow.
"I first didn't believe how fast and strong he was but his strength is truly like what Eren said when we first met him in Utgard. Out of this world! I tryed to punch him but he headbutted. And shredded the entire right side of my titan body, the armor broke like it was NOTHING! Thank god he showed mercy and gave us permission to bring you here but with one condition, to come along with us and we agreed." Saitama nodded to Eren and Ymir "Yeah, that's correct" Eren came back to reality and thought inside his mind.
'At this rate, I can't do anything. At this rate... What happened to everybody? Where are the scouts? Don't tell me they're coming this way... If they try to help, no one's gonna make it back safely. Unless Saitama save our weakselfs.'
Ymir asked Reiner "Ghhrr forget it, anyways what's it matter? Those titans at the castle moved just fine at night. Won't these titans too?"
"The titans here can't move at night." Reiner replied back to her and continued. "You should know all about it, Ymir." Eren shifted his head and all his thoughts were about Ymir.
'Speaking of which, why can Ymir turn into a titan? I don't think she's like me, who knew nothing about it. Is she on our side like Saitama? Damn... I clearly understand why Saitama is protecting those assholes but doesn't allow them to hurt us either, it's because he told us about being a hero.'
'It's obviously from the world he came, the people are different. And he said to us about plenty more heroes existing inside of it. But for Ymir I don't know what her goal is yet. She's hard enough to understand as it is.' Eren's gaze turned to Reiner and Bertholdt.
'I've made up my mind. Right now, what I need is information. I need to figure out everything I can from these guys. And then I'll make my escape, with Saitama I hoping. To do that...' Eren gritted his teeth furiously '...to suppress all my emotions... Just like Saitama, he is always so emotionless even when he faced titans, he didn't showed fear nor doubt, 1 minute before he instantly killed 5 titans at once, he absolutely is a hero. But now I'll just wait... ...for my body to heal.'
The scouts were on their way, but then they encountered the first titan. A scout on his horse replied to the other. "Titan spotted at three 'o clock! Fire the smoke!" The other scout aimed a flare gun he had to the sky and shot straight up to signal the others.
"Smoke shell confirmed on the right wing!" A scout next to Erwin said and the Commander gave an order to them. "Do not change direction! Have the right wing merge with the center and hold course! We only have until sunset! We must take the most possible path!" He finished and leaded the way. Hannes was trying to keep up with Mikasa.
"Mikasa. Hey, Mikasa! Mikasa!" She shifted her head back and faced him. "Stop pushing so hard. You're drifting near the vanguard. It'll ruin the whole formation. I know how you feel, but... didn't I tell you? Eren won't get taken away without putting up a fight. Don't you agree?"
She nodded and kept listening "You know he'll never give up. So it's up to us to stay calm and be there when he needs us." He had flashbacks of Eren and Mikasa as children. "Just like we did back then." Mikasa placed her gaze forward and she holded her scarf.
Ymir asked Reiner with a now more relaxed expression. "Reiner, you got any water? If I don't get some soon, I'm going to dry up and die." Reiner who now had both of his arms crossed together answered.
"Even if it's a matter of life and death, there's nothing we can do given our situation." Ymir responded with still smoke coming out of her none existing right hand, their regeneration powers needed hours to fully heal them.
"He's completely right... This situation couldn't be any shittier. " The hero raised and eyebrow and replied. "Oi you need water? I'll bring you some okay?"
Saitama now had everyone's eyes on him. "You seriously saying, that you will run all the way back to the scouts for just bringing me water!?" The hero scratched his chin and said with a dumb face.
"Oh my god I almost forgot, I'll tell them that you're both safe and sound too, but I think I'll meet up with them on the road cause they must be on their way here.
"Reiner we can't ju-" Reiner interrupted Bertholdt "You saw how fast he is, even with ODM gears there's no way for us to keep up after him. His speed have outclassed even Captain Levi, that's what I'm sure of too!"
Reiner shifted towards Saitama "I know I can't stop you but remember this 'hero...' We will fight you with everything we've got, we won't be satisfied until you're dead!" Saitama yawned again and answered with a boredom expression planted on him.
"Awwww, is that all? Can I go bring her some water now?" Reiner nodded, knowing that he can't do something to avoid it.
In a couple of attoseconds Saitama jumped off the branch and ran away, leaving a huge trail of dust behind him. Even the titans didn't saw him leaving to chase after him. So now it was only Reiner,Bertholdt,Eren and Ymir. "Hey... ...Reiner" Bertholdt stared his friend who was watching the smoke Saitama left behind. "You truly think we can kill him? He possess powers we cannot possibly archive on our own."
"No Bertholdt, He will die by my hand. And I want to make it clear to both of you 2" He faced Eren and Ymir.
"No matter the super strength, incredible speed nor the courage he has. That 'hero' named Saitama is just a... ...fucking... HUMAN!" Bertholdt placed his hand on Reiner's shoulder. "That's where you're wrong... He looks like a human but he's not."
Ymir jointed them and asked "What you mean by that?!" "Back then when I transformed into my Colossal form, no one was able to reach my nape in order to defeat me. But I saw this bald man, with the yellow suit and white cape climbing on top of my body without even trying!"
"The hot steam didn't had any effect on him! That Saitama is extremely dangerous, he's immune to the high temperature of my body! It didn't even push him away like the scouts! That 'hero' could easily put me out of my nape with no effort at all!"
Reiner released a word from his mouth and cursed it. "Saitama..." He got sick of the conversation about the ultra-human and changed subject. "Speaking of which... Ever since the titans showed up yesterday morning, we've been working our asses off. With nothing to eat or drink and not even a wink of sleep. Fortunately, the Wall wasn't broker or anything."
Reiner continued while he holded his nose. "So I think we deserve to take a break for once. We'll see about getting promoted later." Bertholdt spoke with a sad tone in his voice. "Reiner..." Reiner said
"What? We've done plenty enough to deserve it. I think we've performed outstandingly, considering all we've been put through. Specially with this 'hero'."
"I know soldiers like us are expected to fulfill their duties, but... I think we've all earned it." Ymir showed disbelief and asked "Reiner... What in the world are you talking about?"
He took off the hand from his nose. "Huh? What do you mean? I'm not saying we go demand to be promoted to captains or anything." She replied "That's... not what I mean."
Reiner said "Oh, yeah. Where did you all get that cannon from? That really saved my ass. It's a good thing Christa helped me after that. To be honest, I Think she has a thing for me. Hey... Now that I think about it, Christa has always treated me especially-"
Eren stoop up angry and screamed "Hey!" Eren's eyes were stuck on Reiner now. "You bastard... You've gotta be kidding me." Reiner confused asked him "Huh? What are you so angry about, Eren? Did I... say something wrong?" Eren shouted once again 'If you want to die, keep talking!"
A huge conversation plus argue start between Eren and Reiner on the branches. While the hero was running with 100 km/h per second, after a few more boring minutes he spotted the scouts and Erwin to the front of the lines. "A-ha! It's Eowen!" The scouts saw a huge cloud of dust approaching them and shouted to each other. "It's a titan!"
"No it's a rider!" Erwin felt relieve inside him and exhaled before he answer to them. "It's Saitama" The Caped baldy slowed down to match with their horses. He was now next to Erwin's horse and waved at him.
"Yio Eowen" A scout next to him answered furiously. "It's Commander Erwin you idiot!" Saitama ignored him and shifted his gaze to Erwin who had a moderately smile.
"I knew you wasn't dead and as I see... You're able to keep up with our speed and even further beyond that." Saitama replied with a boredom expression "Meh it's nothing besides the horses are too slow, nevermind I'm here for a cup of water. Where I can find one, cause a girl needs it or she will die by dehydration."
Erwin respond almost instantly. "There's a small lake to where the right formation is, go but don't leave for good. We need you to find Eren and Ymir."
Saitama raised an eyebrow and responded "Yep Ymir that's the chick and I'm was with them, they are inside the forest of giant trees. And 2 more guys are keeping them company, a blond one named Reiner... I think. And a tall black haired one." Erwin nodded and felt a lot more calmed right now.
"Glad to know we have you on our side... Saitama, We'll keep going forward towards their location. Do whatever you want to do and then come back here, we will rescue them both!" Saitama shook his head up-down and ran at the right side of the formation. Where Mikasa,Armin,Hannes and the others were.
"Look it's Saitama!" Armin pointed with his finger while everyone was staring with awe and utter shock the hero who just past-by next to them with an inhuman speed. Mikasa was shocked too, she didn't want to believe the baldy was so strong and fast, but that was the truth. "No...Way..." Those were the only words she could say.
Sasha on the other hand wanted to stop and dismount from her Horse. Connie prevented her from doing so "B-But I... I wanna talk to him!" "Don't be so stubborn, Sasha Enough!" Saitama slowed down next to Sasha and Connie.
"Oh it's you right? The girl named Sasha right?" She blushed so much to the hero. She shifted her head from the other side. "Sa...Sa...Saitamaaaa!" The hero reacted just in time and grabbed Sasha, putting her to rest in his hug, before she fall from her horse.
"Whoooah, relax now Sasha. It's like you saw the biggest lobster having an eighty persent discount in the supermarket." Saitama explained to them Ymir's need of water. Sasha remembered she have something that might help.
"I-I have a canteen with me. We can go together... ...if you want..." Saitama nodded down to Sasha who rested in his arms, leaving her completely exposed with red cheeks around her face.
Saitama and Sasha left off. Their next top, closest lake. Most of the scouts that witnessed what just happened with the hero and the potato girl wasn't able to process it in their minds. But that wasn't the time to worry about these 2.
After a long argue fight between Reiner and Bertholdt against Eren and Ymir, the 2 traitors saw the green smokes in the horizon.
They knew the scouts were reaching them. Bertholdt thought in a surprised expression 'The Scouts... ...are already...' Reiner hissed at said "Dammit!"
Eren said inside himself while he were staring at the horizon. 'There's just one hour left until sunset... ... Saitama... Hero, where are you?'