"ROAAR!"
The giant form of the armoured titan roared to the sky, as the onlookers were thinking whether to intervene or not.
"This is the third time, already" Levi spoke, as he took out his swords.
At that, Kenny stood in the way of the short captain.
"They say third time's the charm, right?"
All day long, the Ackermans and Ymir were supervising the shifter training of young Historia and Eren. While the blonde girl seemingly caught onto that particular art, quite fast, the wild and rebellious boy wasn't as talented.
It was the third time he had seemingly lost control and considering the situation they were in, it didn't look too good. After successfully taking over the powers of the armoured and female titans, they left the chapel and entered one of the titan forests within the territory of wall Rose. From there, they've decided to spend some time on training the two new shifters.
As she was watching the brute form of her childhood friend, trashing around, Mikasa reminisced the memory from this very morning.
Ymir was standing together with Eren and Historia on a small clearing. The Ackermans were instructed to stay on trees and look out for any interference, as well as cover the protection of the shifters, when they wouldn't be able to transform.
"This is how you do it" the freckled female spoke to her friends, taking out a small knife from her pocket.
That particular behaviour alarmed the blonde a little, as she cowered behind Eren.
"What, you're going to stab us, with that?" Historia exclaimed nervously.
Ymir just chuckled at her silly comment.
"No" she responded after a moment "when you want to transform, you have to inflict harm upon yourself. It doesn't have to be substantial, just enough to draw blood."
Motioning for them to move away, the freckled female brought the blade towards her open palm.
As she slashed through her hand, a flash of light erupted from her spot. The two teens fell over, as a strong gush of wind hit them right on. Soon after the smoke cleared, they were looking at a relatively small titan, with dark hair, huge skull-like mask with powerful teeth and long, strong arms and legs possessing sharp claws.
Mikasa's eyes widened at the phenomenon. She knew that it would be like this, but never before in her life, had she seen something that amazing actually happen.
"Quite the impression, huh?" She heard Kenny say to her right.
As Mikasa looked over the other Ackermans, she noticed that Levi was also staring at Ymir in wonder.
When the two other shifters finally stood up, titan Ymir slowly approached them.
"What is important for beginners like the two of you" the giant form spoke "is to have some sort of a goal in mind, while transforming…"
"Amazing…" Eren exclaimed in wonder, as he walked closer to his friend.
"This is the jaw titan…"
Mikasa was abruptly pulled away from her stupor as she noticed some commotion, happening on the ground.
Upon looking down, she noticed that Historia was arguing vividly with Ymir.
"We have to do something!" The blonde exclaimed with worry "otherwise, Frieda will be back home before we even do as much as leave this place!"
"You can't really speed this process up, princess" the freckled female retorted "his titan is stronger than yours, even if you have better control over it…"
But Historia didn't particularly care for the other girl's warnings, and simply walked past her. The flabbergasted form of Ymir looked towards her in disbelief.
"Don't try it!"
"I'll make him docile in no time…" the blonde spoke, before bringing her hand up to her mouth.
A flash of light erupted from Historia's spot, and soon, a giant thirteen-metre titan was standing in her place.
The girl's titan form looked very weird. She didn't have much skin, and you could see bare muscles on her arms and legs. Her face was still just as pretty though, maybe aside from the corners of her mouth, where skin seemed to be barely connected. It was as if the titan was capable of opening her jaw up even wider. Aside from that, she had her long, beautiful hair falling down her shoulders.
As the female titan started walking towards her target, the armoured finally noticed the commotion.
If it wasn't for Ymir, Mikasa would swear that the name armoured titan wasn't really appropriate. The fifteen-metre class, standing menacingly on the clearing, was more of a rogue than its name suggested. His long dark hair fell over his face, which, though covered with armoured plates, was very much a face of someone who didn't seem too fond of defence, and preferred attack instead.
The sharp teeth, stretching all over his strong, uncovered jaw, definitely gave Eren's titan a dangerous impression. The rest of his body was also covered in armoured plates, though they all seemed pretty light. Their colours were ranging from pink to light brown, and the skin underneath had a distinct, red shade.
However, the most menacing feature of this form, were his eyes. Despite the boy's normal greenish grey irises, his titan had very distinctly green, shining eyes. When it looked towards the approaching Historia, it seemed as if the titan's only intention was to destroy anyone who stood in its path.
In an instant, the armoured titan lunged forward, trying to grab hold of the approaching female.
Historia, though much weaker in her titan form, possessed swiftness superior to that of any armoured titan.
Just as his hands were about to grab her, the female ducked underneath her foe, and grabbed him from beneath.
"ROAAAR!" The angered form of Eren's titan roared, as it tried to free itself from Historia's strong hold.
The female titan supported herself, by placing her knee on the ground and then, slowly, she raised the armoured up in the air.
Ymir and the Ackermans were looking at the scene in amusement. It was true that they needed Eren to be ready quick, and even though the blonde's approach seemed really unprecedented, they were still desperate to make the boy capable of controlling his titan form.
The first two times, Ymir had to bite him out of his titan. While he didn't sustain any serious injuries from that, he had to rest for a few hours, after every unsuccessful try. If this tendency didn't change soon, Erwin's rebellion would fail miserably, without the help from the shifters.
"Nothing's gonna come out of it" Levi exclaimed dejectedly, when Historia threw the trashing titan down to the ground, headfirst.
"What do you know" Ymir retorted with a chuckle "it worked for me, when I made friends with him…"
As the armoured titan slowly rose from the ground, he focused his gaze upon Historia.
"Damn, we got to move in…!" Levi yelled, launching the anchors from his gear.
But then, suddenly, something weird had occurred.
The beaten titan walked over to Historia and embraced her titan form. However strange it looked, those were still a boyfriend and a girlfriend, so in a way, it made sense.
"Hahaha" Kenny laughed at the strange phenomenon "love among titans…"
It was all good now. When he was thrown to the ground, somehow, Eren regained control of himself. Maybe, it was due to the main actor here being Historia, or maybe the concussion he suffered from the impact, somehow eased the raging titan. Nevertheless, they were on a good way to victory.
Moments later, steam erupted from the two bodies, so Ymir started moving towards the clearing among the rest of the Ackermans.
"See!" Historia yelled at the freckled female, trying to detach herself from the neck of her titan "I told you I could make it!"
"Yeah, sure…" Ymir responded, rolling her eyes, as Levi landed next to Historia and offered help with removing her from the giant body.
"Ow…" she heard Eren exclaim.
The freckled female looked at the boy with pity. He definitely looked as if he received quite the beating. As Mikasa grabbed him from behind, trying to detach him from the cords, connecting Eren to his titan, Ymir thought about their plan of action.
Were they really ready to face Frieda? Gaining control of one's powers was way different to actually using them in combat, yet the odds were stacking massively in their favour. With three shifters against one, along with the help from Erwin's scouts, it all seemed possible.
Soon though, they would learn that dethroning a monarch, commonly considered to be a god, wasn't quite as easy.