A bit of context: this chapter takes place after a 4 year time skip.

'Documents… so many Goddamn documents…'

Those were a majority of the thoughts that ran through Orga Itsuka's head as he flipped through the many, many legal documents which were filed to him just recently. Among said documents were random missions from clients which wished to pay them to do their dirty work or, more commonly, documents regarding the amount of damages they caused in combat. Of course, there were payments for their more recent missions, but the former two tended to overshadow the latter.

As he looked through the documents, his 'assistant', or perhaps 'overseer from Teiwaz' was a more accurate term, looked over his shoulder and gave a gentle smile. She was none other than Merribit Stapleton, an accountant of Teiwaz, IE an accountant for the cooperation which technically owned Tekkadan.

Tekkadan… it was rather funny to think that it was once a child soldier brigade that operated on Mars not much longer than four years ago. Now, however, it was a legitimate business, one which worked with Teiwaz of the Jupiter Sphere and even, rather ironically, alongside Gjallarhorn at times. It was shocking to even Orga at times. He still remembered the time he was presented with his fancy, jet black business suit, and when he had first threw his usual Tekkadan jacket and sleeveless shirt off to the side and donned it. It made him look professional, and he didn't like that, so he always kept the tie loose.

As for Merribit herself, she was a beautiful woman, to say the least. With a massive mop of blonde hair and light blue eyes alongside her youthful face, she could most definitely catch the attention of almost any man (which she did on many occasions) just through looks alone. However, right now she wasn't concerned about issues in regards to men. Instead, she was giving her 'boss' a rather worried look in spite of her gentle smile.

"Perhaps you should take a break, Orga?" she suggested gently, making the lilac haired boss of Tekkadan turn to face her. He flashed her a smile in return before setting the documents he had down and pinching the bridge of his nose in frustration. Once he slouched back on his chair, Itsuka simply stared up at the ceiling. "You may be the boss, but even you need to rest every once in a while. Perhaps let me take over the documents for once."

"That won't be necessary, Merribit-San," assured Orga, releasing the bridge of his nose as he shot back up. Gritting his teeth as he signed another document regarding ammunition for the Gusion Rebake Full City, the Tekkadan boss went back to his usual routine, only for Merribit to pipe up once more.

"You're thinking about him, aren't you?" she asked, making Orga turn to give his assistant a glare, and she flinched a tad when she saw how intense it was. Though after some time, his gaze softened and he began rubbing his temples, giving out a low groan as he did.

"Is it that obvious…?" he asked, trying to sound sarcastic but failing miserably. Merribit simply gave a sad nod while Orga flashed a sad smile. It was true… he missed his little friend. While he was indeed a Charisma Vacuum, Augus did have his charms. The way he spoke, the way he glared at hostile people, and the way he looked up to him as an older brother of sorts, Orga missed all of those traits and more. Losing Mikazuki Augus had hit him hard, and, while he certainly wasn't hit the hardest, for the first few months of his loss, Itsuka couldn't help but fall into a pit of depression. If not for the combined efforts of Merribit, Takaki and Ride, among several others, who did their best to counsel him, Orga had a feeling that he'd had offed himself a long time ago.

"Perhaps… but…" muttered Merribit, only for a small knock to be heard on the door to Orga's office. Itsuka gave access to whoever knocked, and he raised his brows when a familiar, pink haired girl poked her head in. "Oh! Atra-San!"

"Orga, Merribit," greeted Atra as she entered, two packs of food held in her hands. Aside from growing about a head taller and with a new outfit, Atra remained relatively the same. Upon seeing the two packs of food in her hands, Orga heard a loud growl. At first, he thought he was hearing things, but a soft chuckle from both girls made him realize that his tummy was rumbling. "Looks like you're hungry, boss."

"Eh… maybe…" muttered Orga with a smile. Atra quickly gave him and Merribit their food packs before heading off. While she headed off, however, Orga couldn't help but frown deeply, catching Merribit's eye as she turned to him. She asked what was on his mind this time, and Orga simply sighed.

"I loved Mika, Merribit. As a brother. But Atra… she loved him in a different way…"

Mobile Suit Hanger

"And I can only imagine the amount of pain she's going through whenever she even thinks about him…"

"A little higher! Alright… alright… WAIT TOO HIGH!"

Those were the first few words which Atra heard as she entered the Mobile Suit hanger of the Tekkadan base. And when she was inside, the strong stench of oil and metallic gunpowder assaulted her nostrils, prompting her to give an adorable sneeze, catching the attention of almost everyone in the place.

"Ah, Atra!" greeted the one whom Atra first heard when she entered. She looked as she remembered him, with his brown hair, friendly face and pink/magenta Mobile Suit.

"Shino-San," responded Atra as she approached him, food pack in hand. Shino immediately took it when she was close, opened it up and dramatically sniffed the contents. It was enough to make Atra give a chuckle. "Don't do that, Shino-San!"

"But it smells waaaaay too nice!" complained Shino as he marched over to his personalized Mobile Suit, with Atra following by his side. His Mobile Suit was different, very different, from the one which he had used during the Edmonton battle so long ago, however. The most obvious thing was that it was no longer an EB-06 Graze Frame. Instead, it was an STH-16 IO Frame Shiden, a new model produced by Teiwaz. What separated this unit from the other Shidens, however, were the colours. Like its predecessor, the Ryusei Go II, the aptly named Ryusei Go III was coloured in a hot magenta with goofy looking 'eyes' painted on either sides of its visor alongside a commander's fin. It really did a lot to separate his personalized unit from the standard Shidens, though even Atra had to admit that the colours were a bit gaudy.

Moving away from Shino, who had set his food pack down to yell out for the visor of his Shiden to be lowered down a little more, Atra went along to her next target, who was standing before his own Mobile Suit, the only Gundam Frame which Tekkadan owned following the Edmonton battle.

"The Gusion Rebake Full City's Ahab Reactor should be operating at maximum efficiency now," informed a rather tubby man. His skin was dark, signifying that he was of a different race to a majority of Tekkadan, and both his legs were mechanical from the shin down. He also had a beard which really did make him look rather badass, and his role as a mechanic was evident by his outfit. "The damaged armour bits are also repaired. Try to not get it too banged up on your next mission, understood?"

"Ah, but no promises, Old Man," responded the person Old Man Yuki was speaking to, and he could only sigh in mild frustration as Akihiro Atland gave a chuckle. Though within a second, he gave a smile and a gentle punch to Atland's chest.

"But you'd better try your best, kiddo," said Yuki as he looked up at the Gundam Frame. "You're our Ace in the hole… and the Gundam is also an important social mark for us."

"I hear you, Old Man," muttered Akihiro with a smile, only for both of them to turn when they heard Atra approaching. Upon seeing the considerably small (in comparison to himself) girl, Akihiro gave a small smile and waved at her, a gesture which she had mirrored in response. "Atra!"

"Akihiro-San," responded Atra with a kind wave as she ran up to Old Man Yuki and Akihiro. Swiftly, she handed both of them their respective food packs. Yuki gave her his thanks as he walked off to enjoy his meal in a cleaner environment while Akihiro simply set his pack to the side, prompting Atra to tilt her head. "You're not hungry yet, Akihiro-San?"

"Not too hungry at the moment," muttered Akihiro, crossing his arms as he gave a sigh. "Tests for the Gusion Rebake Full City are scheduled to take place within the hour. I just don't want to miss them."

"Ah…" muttered Atra, staring up at Akihiro's own personalised Mobile Suit rather wistfully.

The unit was definitely a lot different than it was all those years ago during the Edmonton battle. For one, it's outer armour seemed to be completely reformatted, being much blockier and looking as though it could take an Anti-mobile Suit missile head on. Atra was no expert on MS design, and she herself almost never partook in any of the Mobile Suit weapon briefings, but she knew that the Full City had obtained a new weapon, some sorta shield scissor, which had quickly come to be the defining feature of the unit.

Looking at Gusion stand stoically in the hanger of the Tekkadan base gave Atra a sense of nostalgia which grew larger the more she stared at it. Noticing this, Akihiro snapped his fingers in front of her face, effectively snapping her out of her trance.

"Atra… you there?" came Akihiro's voice out of seemingly nowhere, making Atra squeak and turn up to face her large friend. With a soft chuckle, she nodded and straightened herself out.

"Y-Yeah… sorry for that. I… just blanked out for a moment there," apologised Atra with a goofy smile. Akihiro gave a smile and gave an understanding nod. He knew what she was thinking, but he didn't have the heart to ask about it. So instead, he kept quiet and let the whole thing slide.

"It's alright," assured Akihiro with a nod. "Don't forget to eat something too, you got that?"

"Ah, thanks, Akihiro-San!" thanked Atra with a smile, prompting Atland to chuckle softly.

"Anytime, Atra," replied Akihiro with a nod as she walked off to continue her food delivery, though as she walked, the girl felt her smile fade before she moved onto her other comrades.

Tekkadan HQ mess hall

"Atra…?"

No response.

"Atra-San…?"

Still nothing, prompting the man to snap his fingers in front of her face, snapping her out of her minor trance and turn to face him, a tubby Tekkadan junior member who did seem legitimately worried for her. In response, the pink haired girl smiled her brightest and nodded.

"Ah, don't worry about me, Dane," said Atra rather dismissively as she waved her hands in the air. "I was just thinking about stuff…"

"But you do seem worried," muttered Dane, hands by his side as he spoke to the girl who was just about at his waist level. "We're all part of Tekkadan, so it's alright to speak up about things you're worried about."

Smiling at the considerate the newer member of Tekkadan was to her, Atra did consider telling him about her current dilemma, only for a senior Tekkadan member to walk up to the large guy and speak up.

"Dane, don't bother the young lady," came the voice of a founding member of the organisation, and both he and Atra turned to see the familiar ginger haired face of Eugene Seven Stark, standing with a hand on his hip and with a neutral expression on his face.

"Ah… Eugene-San…" muttered Dane awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's alright, kid," clarified Eugene as he motioned for Dane to exit the mess hall, and the overly large man complied, though he had to be creative when it came to squeezing through the door. When he was gone, Eugene locked eyes with Atra, whose expression fell once more as she went back to packing food items. Unlike Dane, however, he did know what was bothering the girl. "You're still thinking about him?"

"...ah," muttered Atra uncertainty as she rubbed her cheek, turning back to Eugene as his expression softened dramatically. "I just… can't help it…"

"Well, neither can most of us," agreed Eugene, his shoulders slouching a little as he spoke. "The kid really did help us a ton… it doesn't feel right to not have him savor all this."

Atra's simple response was a nod, not noting a junior soldier listening in before he walked off alongside Dane and another junior soldier.

"Who're they speaking about, anyhow?" questioned the junior Tekkadan member, a simple blonde bloke with the standard issue jacket. Beside him, Dane rubbed his chin before answering.

"They're talking about someone potentially important to Tekkadan's history…" he deduced. And within seconds, he got his answer. "The only potential candidate is… Gundam Barbatos, and its pilot, Mikazuki Augus…"

"Mikazuki Augus?" quipt the third person in the group, a brown haired teen with an interesting haircut. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully before answering: "Never heard of em."

"Mikazuki Augus is the first pilot of Tekkadan," explained Dane. "He fought in the Edmonton battle four years prior, and went up against some of Teiwaz's ace pilots at one point."

"Doesn't sound like much," muttered the blonde, clearly not interested in this 'Mikazuki' boy. The pilot didn't sound impressive to him, and he didn't really find any reason to respect him at all. From what he has seen, Akihiro and the Gusion Rebake Full City were much more capable.

"You say that, but Mikazuki Augus is the reason for us being here," said Dane, brows lowered a tad as they entered the Mobile Suit hanger to assist in the Full City's testing. "Perhaps you should respect his name a little at the very least…"

"Mika-San?"

Blinking as he shook his head, Mikazuki Augus paused for a moment to allow his eyes to focus on the beautiful face before him. And within seconds, he had his gaze focused itself on a pink haired girl, one that seemed rather worried for his sake.

"Atra…" greeted Mikazuki as he sat up, having apparently been leaning against a wall, perhaps asleep, for an unspecified amount of time. He rubbed his eyes a tad before staring up at the pink haired girl, feeling almost as though he was staring at his personal guardian angel. "Where…"

"Well, you're in the Mobile Suit hanger," answered Atra before Mika could even finish. The pink haired girl gave a chuckle at Mikazuki's somewhat perplexed expression before continuing. "Is something wrong, Mika-San?"

"No… it's just… something…" muttered Mika, still rather drowsy as he began closing his eyes and leaning back against the wall he was apparently up against. Atra herself seemed to notice his general sleepiness, though apparently unwilling to leave him, the girl sat up next to him. And there she sat, silent as Mikazuki slowly drifted off back to sleep, and in an unexpected turn of events, his head found itself resting against her shoulder. Atra's body stiffened at that, only to smile and rest her head on Mikazuki's.

"Sleep tight, Mikazuki…" muttered Atra, allowing herself to grasp the pilot's hand gently and simply hold it as he slept…

"Atra-San…"

Wincing a tad as he stopped his hand just a few centimetres away from making contact with Mikazuki's shoulder, Nac raised an eyebrow as he stared at his friend in mild confusion. Currently, it was roughly four in the morning, and Nac was getting ready to wake his friend up, only to stop when he heard him mutter several unfamiliar words and names.

It wasn't common to say the least. Mikazuki almost never spoke in his sleep. He hardly even moved in his sleep, so this was a new thing for him. It was enough to make him pause as he heard his friend mutter several more incoherate words and names, though he caught the term Gundam, whatever it was. For a brief moment, Nac reconsidered waking him up, though after a short while of mental debating, he shook his friend's shoulder.

"Hng…" muttered Mika as he began stirring, turning his slowly waking body towards Nac as he opened his eyes. Nac and Mika locked eyes for a moment, and silence prevailed before them both… and rather abruptly, Mikazuki's eyes widened, surprising Nac to a certain degree. "...Shino?"

"Eh?" muttered Nac, confused as Mika regained his marbles and shook his head to clear up the sleepiness spell, pinching the bridge of his nose to help with that. "Uh… Mika, you feeling alright?"

"I'm fine," assured Augus almost immediately as he shook his head. Once he stopped, he stared at Nac with his usual expressions, frowning as he did.

"Mika…" greeted Nac awkwardly, only to smile as he helped Augus sit up. "You were having your first dream in several years."

"Dream…" muttered Augus, only for his expression to turn into a small grimace as he turned away from his friend and swung his legs over the edge of his bed, his back and AV spines facing the taller boy as he took in several deep breaths. Nac did intend to perhaps ask his comrade about his 'dream', only for Augus to speak up, completely ignoring the issue regarding his 'dream'. "Let's get moving."

"Yeah… let's," muttered Nac silently, deciding not to think too much about that.

Southern Trainee Corp Lecture Hall

"And the most common tactic to take down a Titan is to double up and strike from both angles."

Listening mildly as he sat down on the table he shared with Mina, Annie, Nac, Mylius, Franz, Hanna and a guy called Thomas Wagner, Augus kept his focus on the board, where a random Garrison member was lecturing them in regards to Titan combat. Unlike Nac, Mina and several others, Mika himself wasn't too keen on listening.

Don't get him wrong, he knew that it was important for him to know all this information, but the way most Garrison lecturers provided the information to them was very… dull. Hell, he looked almost as bored as the people he was lecturing! Thankfully for Mika, however, whenever he wasn't listening, Nac would often be there after every lecture to catch him up on everything he didn't hear as he somehow managed to sit through almost three entire hours of this verbal torture.

A gentle nudge to his ribs snapped the boy back into reality, making him turn to stare at Mina, who was giving him a scolding expression, one which was replied with a quirk of his brow before he turned to face the man who was lecturing them. From there on, Mika did try his best to listen in on the lecture, only to find his mind drifting off to other thoughts once more, or specifically that one dream he had earlier.

'Atra…' thought the boy rather dreamily as he rested his head on his palm. Despite the several additional nudges Mina had given him, the boy couldn't tear his attention away from his thoughts, not this time.

He hasn't realized how much he missed the girl up till the dream he had mere hours ago. The boy did think about them often during the past four years of training, but he usually didn't have much time to really miss them. If anything, he found himself almost forgetting about his old friends as his new acquaintances and friends took over his life. Now, however, thanks to that unexpected dream, everything in the boy's mind was directed right at both Tekkadan and the girl.

The thing that snapped him out of it was Mina shaking the boy, making him blink and turn to her in a mildly irritated way. Mina, on the other hand, pointed out that they were meant to head off to a nearby field for a CQC session. Looking past the girl, Augus noted that Annie and Nac were already standing, and, not wanting to hold them up any longer, the boy nodded and stood up himself.

Southern Training Grounds

Standing with his shoulders squared, arms raised up to shield his face and legs spread to solidify his stance, Mikazuki Augus kept his gaze firmly locked on Mylius Zeramuski, who, in comparison to him, had his shoulders slackened, fists at chest level and his legs slackened in a way which made him easy to put onto his back.

For a moment, Mika and Mylius simply stared each other down, ignoring the hundreds of other Trainees which surrounded them, also sparring with one another in their mandatory CQC training programs. If anything, Mylius himself was probably unable to hear them. The boy was a little too tense for his own good, breathing heavily and sweating hard as he inched closer and closer to Augus, who in comparison remained impossibly calm as he approached him.

One couldn't blame Mylius for his uncertainty to strike Mika, however. The pilot had a track record of putting some of the best fighters of the 104th Trainee Brigade onto their backs, including even Mikasa Ackerman and Annie Leonhardt from time to time. His skills were often compared to Levi Ackerman himself, though at the moment Mylius didn't really care. All he did care about was focusing on Mikazuki, watching his every move as he closed prepared himself for an attack.

And once he was ready, Mylius sent his right fist flying forward, aimed directly at Mikazuki's head. The shorter boy narrowed his eyes as he dodged to the side, though before Mylius could follow up his failed strike, Mikazuki seized his wrist and pulled him in close. When the boy was close enough, Augus struck Mylius square in the stomach with his knee. The impact caused him to cough up some phlegm, and when the pilot released the boy's wrist, he doubled over in pain.

Staring down at Mylius as the blonde wiped some spit off his lips, Mika could only snort as he turned away from Zeramuski and looked around the training site, where several hundred other Trainees (more or less) were sparring with one another. Mina currently had Nac in a headlock, laughing enthusiastically as she gave him a noogie, while Sasha and Connie were working on some… special attacks? Mika didn't know what they were really doing, honestly. Just that they looked amusing as they did it.

For Mika, CQC training was rather pointless to him. He knew why they needed to learn this, as not all Trainees would be going up against Titans, but it was still rather unnecessary to him, a child soldier who had already trained for nearly half (or more) of his childhood. He had a feeling that Annie shared his mindset.

"H-How do you even manage this, Mika-San…?" asked Mylius, still on one knee as he was struggling to get up. Turning to face him, Augus moved forward to help Zeramuski get up onto his feet, the blonde staggering mildly as he steadied himself.

"What do you mean?" questioned Mika, not understanding what Mylius was asking. The blonde, still with a hand on his stomach, cleared his throat before rephrasing himself.

"You're combat style is pretty impressive…" muttered Mylius in an envious tone. "I mean, your fighting style is much more… advanced than the rest of us."

"I just had more experience," replied Mika, short and simple as Mylius widened his eyes in what the Pilot assumed to be shock.

"You… had to fight often?" inquired the taller blonde, and Mika shrugged in response.

"Yeah, you could say that," answered Mika as he shrugged and turned away from Zeramuski, just in time to watch a rather sizable person get slammed on their back. Mylius himself missed the scene, though he did turn around just in time to spot Reiner, of all people, with his legs up in the sky, with Annie not too far away from him. Mylius sweatdropped immensely at that sight while Mika snorted, both of them putting together the pieces they got from the scene.

"R-Reiner-San…?" muttered Mylius as Annie moved away from the blonde. The one in question did not hear him, simply doing his best to stand as Augus turned away. "Annie… put him on his back that simply…?"

"That's Annie for you," quipt Mika, turning back to Mylius as he crossed his arms. Perhaps offhandedly, Mylius, after scratching his cheek, asked the boy a question.

"Mika-San… do you think you can take Annie on?"

And Augus had to resist the urge to roll his eyes at that. Despite looking as though they were on equal footing in terms of physical prowess, what with both of them being immensely muscular and stoic in appearance, Mika himself was much stronger than his fellow blue eyed friend. The two of them did spar in private on several occasions, and nine out of ten times Mika came out the victor.

Annie was no pushover, far from it. Augus had a feeling that she did have a childhood which involved physical and at least some basic CQC training, as she did have a handful of impressive moves. But Mika himself was trained in more than one form of combat style. Of course, he wasn't a judo master. The boy's combat style was mostly blunt and focused primarily on putting down an opponent as soon as possible, something which was similar to Annie's combat style. The difference was that Mika had seen Annie's moves multiple times, used primarily by Shino, up to the point where he knew how to counter Leonhardt's leg sweep rather effectively.

Despite their disparity in strength, and Mika having beaten Annie several times, however, the boy would often lie in regards to if he could beat her. It was more out of a sense of respect to his friend, just to keep her pride intact, he supposed.

"No…" lied Augus as both of them turned to see Annie putting Eren Jaeger onto his back. She had him pinned on the ground, a wooden dagger pressed against his heart, and Augus admittedly had to suppress his victorious smirk as he watched it unfold. "She's… out of my league."

Maneuver gear Training Site

Zipping through the southern Maneuver Gear Training site, the 104th Trainee Corps avoided the trunks of several trees as they locked onto their targets, several life sized wooden Titan replicas, all of which with fabric napes which were made to be targeted.

The forested region of the southern Trainee Site was definitely the perfect site for a Maneuver Gear Training site. With trees standing close to twenty metres or more in height and the forest covering ten or so kilometres of ground, it was spacious enough for the Trainees to maneuver with their gear and the trees were more than tall enough to ensure that they have plenty of things to latch onto and swing off on.

Close to ground level were several senior Garrison and Keith Shadis himself, who was overseeing his Trainees as they partook in one of their last Maneuver Gear training sessions. In truth, the overseer and former Survey Corp commander himself was pleasantly surprised at how much his Trainees had advanced in the past few years, going from clueless juniors to actual forces to be reckoned with in a rather short amount of time. Then again… there were a few who weren't exactly perfect.

Right as that thought entered his mind, a trio of Trainees came straight past his current location, making the overseer turn and examine them closely.

The Trainees had their eyes set on a single, fifteen metre Titan replica, and the first two struck its fabric nape with their Anti-Titan blades. Their strikes tore open twin slashes, causing some of the stuffing to burst out. With a satisfied smirk, Keith wrote down a positive assessment for the two Trainees, only for that smirk to fade when he saw the third slash on the fabric nape. Roughly half as deep as the other two slashes, Keith recognised that a Titan could very easily survive that wound. He would have to reprimand the boy who dared give such a lackluster slash…

And perhaps on cue, the three Trainees Keith was monitoring came into view. He only caught a brief glimpse of the trio, but the upside of him instructing them for four years was that he could recognise them in almost an instant thanks to the way they moved. And in mere seconds, the instructor identified them: Bertholdt Hoover, Annie Leonhardt and Jean Kirstein.

Bertholdt Hoover. He's got immense potential, but his self esteem holds him back from being a great soldier.

Annie Leonhardt. Her combat and Maneuver Gear performance is truly impressive, but her cooperative work requires more refining.

Jean Kirstein. His Maneuver Gear skills are top class, but his naturally hotheaded attitude causes discord among his comrades.

Up with the three, Bertholdt and Annie moved onwards to scout out their next target. Jean, on the other hand, grimaced as he split off from the trio.

"Tsk… I'm no match for their slashing abilities…" groaned Jean, only for a newfound glint of determination to appear in his eye as he narrowed them. "If so, then I'll simply have to find my targets before they do!"

With his new resolve, Jean began boosting through the forest, evading trees and keeping himself above ground until he found his target, a ten metre replica. With a smirk on his face, the boy sprung out at it.

"Bingo!" exclaimed Jean, approaching the 'Titan' with both arms raised, only for a familiar bald boy to bolt past him, a massive, goofy smirk on his face as he caught Kirstein off guard. "Eh?!"

"Thanks, Jean!" exclaimed Connie, bolting past Jean as he closed in on the Titan, ignoring the baffled expression on his face as he readied his blades. However, just as he had done to Jean, the boy widened his eyes when a shockingly fast blur beat him to the punch. "W-WHAT?!"

"I got it!" exclaimed Sasha Braus, giving herself a mini-celebration as she allowed herself to free fall backwards, all while both Connie and Jean watched in shock. Over in the distance, Keith, despite not seeing the events which transpired, was able to hear the trio's commotion and piece together the events which probably transpired.

Connie Springer. His Maneuver Gear abilities are impressive, and his capabilities in regards to sharp turns is nearly unmatched. Despite this, his dim-witted self makes him hard to work with.

Sasha Braus. Her instincts are inhumanly strong, and her Maneuver Gear skills are on point. Her weak point, however, is that her character is unsuited for team based situation.

Turning away from the direction which he heard the three, Keith refocused on three newcomers, narrowing his eyes as they swung towards a recently erected Titan replica. The three of them delivered decently deep slashes, though not enough to bring down a Titan, making Keith shake his head in disappointment as he watched Nac Tias, Mylius Zeramuski and Mina Carolina move on to seek out their other targets.

Mina Carolina. She's average all across the board, not excelling at anything in particular. Her slashing is below average, but her Maneuver Gear abilities and knowledge is above most others.

Nac Tias. He excels when it comes to lectures, but his physical attributes and Maneuver Gear abilities are mediocre at best. Despite this, his friendly nature has earned the trust of many.

Mylius Zeramuski. He's below average for a majority of his physical attributes and not much better for his mental ones. His timid nature also tends to hinder his abilities, but his tactical mind is invaluable.

While the trio sped off, Keith turned down to his notepad to write down several notes, only to pause when he heard a fellow Garrison overseer inform him of an incoming trio of Trainees as he and a fellow overseer raised a Titan replica upright.

The first of the three to arrive zipped past and delivered an immensely deep cut in the fabric nape, so much so that even Keith flinched at her strength as he wrote down a positive note down. While he was noting it down, however, the man did not notice the second Trainee zip by and slice into the fabric, though his slash was about half the length of the formers.

"Damn it… I didn't manage to cut in as deep as Mikasa!" cursed Eren as he moved up beside his 'sister', grimacing as Mikasa frowned, thinking she did something wrong to anger her 'brother'.

Mikasa Ackerman. Strong, smart and excellent in regards to her Maneuver Gear abilities, she is a prime example of a model soldier in the Military Brigades.

Eren Jaeger. He doesn't possess any particular talent, but he's improved his marks through pure effort and his extraordinarily strong sense of purpose.

"Eren… did I-" began Mikasa in a worried tone. Eren, in response, turned to give her a mild glare, making her wince.

"Not now, Mikasa! We-"

Similarly to how he had cut her off, Eren Jaeger himself was cut off when he heard the third Trainee coming straight at them. Turning towards the inbound newcomer, Mikasa widened her eyes and pushed Eren back, just in time to avoid a head on collision with Mikazuki Augus.

Ignoring the collision he nearly had with the two, and ignoring Eren's complaints, Mikazuki Augus narrowed his eyes onto the nape of the Titan replica. And, as soon as he was sure that he would strike it, the pilot swung both his Anti-Titan blades straight at the fabric nape. The blades had not only dug straight through the fabric, they had also cleaved straight through the entire neck of the replica, decapitating the entire thing as everyone, even Keith himself, looked on with dumbfounded shock.

Stepping back as the head of the decapitated Titan replica hit the ground, the Garrison overseers watched with wide eyes as Mikazuki boosted off without so much as a second glance back at his work. He simply swapped his apparently dulled blades out for a new pair before seeking out his next target, leaving Keith to absentmindedly write down something for Mikazuki on his notepad.

Mikazuki Augus. He's not good academically, but he's definitely a force to be reckoned with on the field, delivering slashes which put even some of the best in the Military Brigade to shame.

Hours later

As he scratched his head and gave a mild yawn, Mikazuki Augus rubbed his eye as he bit down on a small chunk of bread, ignoring a majority of the commotion within the Trainee Corp cafeteria. Beside him, Nac was talking nonstop, speaking of his experience in regards with their upcoming graduation ceremony which would take place in about five days.

Annie herself seemed just as enthusiastic as Mika was, with her head resting on her palm as her other hand held onto her spoon. Currently, Annie seemed to be drifting off to sleep, her head threatening to fall into her bowl of stew at any second. As for Mina, however, she was speaking with Nac, not letting her current fatigue stop her enthusiasm.

"What're the odds of Mika or Annie getting into the top ten?" asked Nac as Mika tore a small chunk off his bread and biting into it.

"Pretty high, honestly. They're both absurdly tough…" admitted Mina with a thumbs up. Not long after, she turned to Annie and asked for her opinion, inadvertently saving her from getting her face slamming down into her bowl of stew. Nac did likewise with Mika, nudging him gently, prompting the boy to turn to him.

"So, Zuki, any thoughts on becoming a top ten?" asked Nac with a smirk, and Augus, ignoring the odd new nickname the taller boy came up for him, shrugged. "If you manage it, you could always join the Military Police Brigade."

"I go wherever you and Mina go," said Mika, looking up at Nac, who seemed surprised at that. Augus simply bit into his bread before speaking. "Someone needs to keep you two in line."

"Man, you sound like Annie right now, Mika," quipt Nac, smirking as he jerked a thumb at Leonhardt, who didn't seem to hear him. Mika simply shrugged as he popped the final bit of bread into his mouth.

"Perhaps, but-"

"Don't screw with me, you bastard!"

Blinking as he, alongside his entire table and the entire cafeteria, turned towards the source of the yell, Mikazuki raised an eyebrow when he saw Eren and Jean on their feet, with the latter holding the former by the collar of his shirt, yelling at him for some reason unknown to at least him.

"Let go! You'll tear my shirt!" Eren yelled back, seemingly caring more about that shirt of his than Jean possibly punching him with his fist. Despite not turning to confirm this, Augus could tell that Annie was watching this in interest.

"I don't give two shits about your clothes! I'm so fucking jealous!" exclaimed Jean, making both Annie and Mina share a look which showed their confusion.

"Jealous?" they repeated silently, looking at each other while Mika dug into his pocket to get a raisin. He managed to get an extra and turned to Nac with a raised brow.

Over with Jaeger and Kirstein, Eren himself was not moving much and Jean had an amusingly goofy expression. Meanwhile, Mikazuki passed a raisin Nac, who graciously accepted. Rather unfortunately for him, however, Eren grabbed Jean's arm, placed his other hand on his neck, and effectively swept Jean off his feet, a gesture which caused the boy to choke on his raisin.

In response to his choking, Mina leaned towards him with a worried expression an arm outstretched, ready to help him recover. Even Mika and Annie both appeared concerned, but Nac waved them away as he cleared his windpipe. "Did he just…"

"He did," confirmed Annie, effectively cutting Nac off as she stared at Jaeger in mild shock. She wasn't the only one, however, as practically everyone in the cafeteria wasn't expecting Eren Jaeger to pull off Leonhart's signature move, so Mika supposed the choking Nac went through was justified

"Ouch…" mumbled Jean as he sat up. "What the hell was that?!"

"A hand-to-hand combat technique I went through hell to learn while you slacked off," replied Eren. "You think kicking back and doing whatever you want is reality? If that's so, then do you think that you can even consider yourself a soldier?"

That was when heavy footsteps were heard, and the door to their cafeteria opened up slightly to reveal Keith looking in, apparently not noticing that Eren was standing up and that Jean was on his back. "I heard a loud noise a moment ago… anyone care to explain?"

The silence was deafening as everyone sat there with no proper reply. They simply sat down in silence as Keith entered the room, frowning as he awaited an answer. For a moment, however, an idea ran through Mikazuki's head, and it would seem that Annie herself also caught wind of it, as almost in perfect unison, both Mikazuki and Annie raised their hands. Keith looked at them, and they nodded to one another before replying.

"It was the sound of Sasha farting," they said, perfectly in sync, causing the girl in question to widen her eyes and mouth in immense fear. Keith, on the other hand, only made a face of immense disgust as several trainees tried their hardest to hold in laughter. Mina very nearly lost it, but she somehow managed to hold it in.

"So it was you again…" said Keith as he tried to hold his breath, apparently believing both blue eyed kids. Sasha looked as if she'd seen the end of the world until Keith left the room, though not before some parting words. "Learn some modesty."

And when he was gone, Sasha immediately went over to the two and asked why they did it as Jean and Eren sat on a table, glaring at one another as Mikasa and Armin watched on. Nac himself chuckled as he gave a small smile. "I never thought I'd see the day where Mika and Annie would make a joke, intentional or not. At the same time, no less!"

"A pretty good one at that," agreed Mina, prompting Mika and Annie to roll their eyes in near perfect sync. They would have pointed out that it wasn't a joke, more of a way to get rid of Keith. But unfortunately, Sasha kept pestering the two, demanding to know why they would do such a thing, thus stopping them from doing so.

Mikazuki sighed after five minutes of Sasha asking and stuffed a raisin into her mouth. Sasha would have complained, but she widened her eyes while she nom nom nom-ed into the raisin, apparently enjoying its flavour.

"You're… forgiven…" muttered Sasha, satisfied as she marched back to her table, leaving Mikazuki to stare at her with very little interest.

"She's really something, ain't she?" quipt Nac, sarcasm apparent as he chuckled.

"Yeah…"

Five days later

And so… 208 Trainees of the 104th Trainee Brigade made it to graduation.

On the night, the 208 Trainees gathered at the fields of their Training site, with Keith Shadis up front to inform them of their placements. Despite his expression being its normally grumpy one, there was an undeniable glint in his eyes which told his former Trainees that he was proud of them in one way or another. He was willing to agree to disagree with Sasha.

"You have all done well, each and every one of you!" exclaimed Keith, though it was obvious that not everyone was deserving of this praise. "To move up to one of the three Military Brigades! Those who have done exceptionally well may join the Military Brigade Police, but for those who have not, you may simply join either the Garrison or the Survey Corps! Pick wisely!

"Now, I shall name ten of the best soldiers in this brigade! When your name has been uttered, step fourth!"

"Number ten, Sasha Braus!"

With wide eyes and some drool coming out of her mouth as she anticipated the food that would come in the future, the southerner in question stepped forth. She may have been the last, but her being in the top ten was enough to make her feel queasy.

"Number nine, Connie Springer!"

Doing his best to suppress his smirk, Springer stepped forth and saluted, though he needed a lot of willpower to stop himself from losing his cool when Keith glared at him with a look which told him that he himself also couldn't believe that he managed to get up to the top ten either.

"Number eight, Marco Bolt!"

Widening his eyes as he jogged up, Marco saluted and kept his expression firm, even if his lips quivered a tad in excitement.

"Number seven, Jean Kirstein!"

The smirk which Jean had at that moment was practically unrivaled, and the Horse-face did his best to look professional as he walked up front and gave a salute.

"Number six, Eren Jaeger!"

Unlike most others, Eren stepped forth with an impassive expression. He had no interest in becoming among the top ten. If anything, he felt like he robbed it from someone else, considering how he had his mind set on becoming a Survey Corp.

"Number five, Annie Leonhardt!"

Annie herself moved up front, her expression unreadable as she saluted.

"Number four, Bertholdt Hoover!"

With a mildly shocked expression, Bertholdt approached the front and saluted, looking almost scared that he was able to get up to the top ten.

"Number three, Reiner Braun!"

Reiner himself smirked and confidently strode up to the front, moving up beside Bertholdt and giving him a small smirk. Bertholdt noticed it and gave his comrade a returning smile, though they went back to being neutral when Keith shot them an expression which told them to save the celebrating for later.

"Number two, Mikazuki Augustine!"

Lowering his brows in annoyance as his last name was mispronounced once again, Mikazuki marched up to the front and gave a rigid salute, turning his eyeballs up to glance at Reiner, who smirked at him.

"And number one, Mikasa Ackerman!"

Mikasa herself walked up to take her place beside Mikazuki. She spared no one a second glance as she saluted, simply staying still as Keith looked between the ten of them before giving a nod.

"Congratulations to the ten of you," congratulated Keith, nodding as he spoke. "You have went above and beyond to prove yourselves worthy for a position in the Military Police Brigade.

"Be proud of yourselves, if only for a moment, and perhaps only for today, celebrate your victory to your heart's content. But do not forget, you shall all be transferred to your chosen military branches by next week, so savor this moment! Am I understood?!"

"Yes sir!"

Absentmindedly leaning against a wall which was not too far from the entrance to the cafeteria, Mikazuki simply bit into a raisin as he tugged his Tekkadan jacket, the thing doing its best to keep him warm.

Most of the other former Trainees were in the cafeteria, celebrating their graduation with the enthusiasm of a rowdy bar and the subtlety of a typhoon. Hell, even from where he stood, approximately twenty metres away from the cafeteria, Mika still found the noise to be rather earsplitting.

Augus wasn't the only person outside, however. Several other former Trainees also stood outside, not wanting to be inside where all the noise was at. Nac, Mina and Annie were all inside, celebrating with the others while Mika stayed out of it. He insisted on it, frankly, as the noise was rather irritating to the boy. That, and he still wished to have some silence to think of some… stuff.

'If only you could see me now, Orga…' thought the boy, shoving his hands into his pockets as he smiled ever so slightly. Frankly, now that he had enough time to think about it, the boy could more clearly think about how much he's changed in the past five years.

Of course, the boy had grown in size. Perhaps half a head taller than usual, the Pilot had definitely grown a little taller than he used to be. If anything, this seemed to annoy Annie, who was irritated that she was still the shortest of the four, roughly an inch shorter than Augus. If one were to add on Mikazuki's ahoge to his height, however, he'd be half a head over Annie.

The boy's intelligence has also grown… somewhat. Nac took it upon himself to teach him how to write and read more efficiently before and during their time in the Trainee Corps. It worked… kind of.

However, his social life has improved drastically… in a sort of way. Mikazuki wasn't much more social than he usually was back before he met Mina, but he has shown some improvement. Aside from his three friends, and both Reiner and Bertholdt he supposed, Mika has found some camaraderie with Ymir, Christa, Franz and perhaps Mylius if he was stretching it. It was mostly encouraged by Nac, for him to be social. The boy didn't exactly like the idea, though he did admit that the four previously aforementioned Trainees were capable of providing good conversations on days where he was isolated from his three friends.

If anything, however, Mikazuki found himself finding Nac, Mina and Annie to be very much a 'second Tekkadan' more than anything. They cared about him as though he were their family, loved him almost unconditionally, and even if they did have their downtimes on occasion, Mika still found himself thinking of them as family as well… something which made him feel rather guilty for perhaps forgetting about his old friends. But he had to move on from his past, and this was the only way he could do so.

And right as he gave a small sigh, doing his best to push the rather depressing thoughts out of his mind before he could be consumed by them, Mika looked up and saw the door to the cafeteria burst open, and for Mina and Nac to burst out, both smiling as the former waved at him. Taking the hint, Augus pushed himself off the wall he was leaning on and approached them.

"Mika, Mylius has several questions for you!" informed Mina as she tugged on his jacket sleeve. "Hanna and Franz both want to ask you so many questions too! And don't get me started on Sasha!"

"Yeah, and Christa wishes to congratulate you too, man!" added Nac, smirking as he wrapped an arm around Mikazuki's shoulders.

In response to both Tias and Carolina, Mikazuki himself gave a nod, only to give a smile as he allowed himself to be pulled into the noise cafeteria. As he entered, he ignored all the jealous and/or admirable looks he got from everyone and simply marched towards where Annie stood. The two shared a glance before nodding, and Mika himself stood there, silently and occasionally answering several questions whenever he couldn't avoid them.

If he were completely honest, Mikazuki didn't even put much thought into the replies he was giving. The loud chatter between former Cadets didn't catch his attention either, as the Pilots attention was fixed solely on his three friends.

To think that he would come this far without Orga… it was amazing, and it was enough to make Mikazuki smile. Said smile was perhaps the largest he's had in a long time… and it was enough to catch Annie's attention, prompting her to approach him with a mug of water.

"It's weird, seeing you smile like that," admitted Annie as Mika took the mug from her, his smile fading away as his expression returned to its neutral look. Annie didn't notice it, however, as she took a sip from her mug, giving a soft "ah…" once she lowered it. "You proud of yourself or something?"

"No. Rank 2 is just a bonus to me," replied Mika truthfully as he took a sip from his mug, raising his brows in mild surprise as he realized that the water in it had a rather sweet aftertaste. He took a few more gulps than he had expected, and once he lowered his mug, the Pilot saw Annie staring at him with a mildly surprised expression.

"Really now? No comment on joining the Military Police Brigade?" inquired Annie.

"No comment. I go wherever you, Mina and Nac go," responded Mika, gesturing with his mug holding hand as he spoke. Annie rolled her eyes in response.

"You're quite a softy, Mika," pointed out Annie as she took another sip of her mug, only to grimace when she realized it was empty. Upon noticing her irritated expression, Mika offered Annie his half full cup, and Leonhardt, seeing no reason to reject his offer, gladly accepted it. "In a good way, of course."

"Ah," was Annie's response from Mika, and from there on, they remained mostly silent as they watched Mina and Nac chat with several other Trainees in regards to their future. They seemed so carefree, so innocent, even after Four whole years of training. Though deep down, Mika had a feeling that their innocence wouldn't last. Not if they still intended to be Survey Corps, at least.

"Y'know, as weird as it may sound," muttered Annie, speaking as she eyed Mina and Nac. turning to face her, Mika raised a brow at Leonhardt, who continued. "I… I'm glad, Reiner and Bertholdt made me move in with those two knuckleheads. And… I'm glad I befriended the three of you."

A slight tinge of red was visible on Annie's cheeks as she admitted all that, and Mika snorted at that, prompting the blonde to shoot him a glare.

"If you're gonna make fun of me for-" began Annie, only for Mika to turn and stare at her. His expression was different, however. Unlike his usual stoic self, there was a rather innocent looking glint in his eye, one that was enough to make Annie soften her gaze.

"I'm not going to, because I'm also happy I met all of you," assured Mika, a gentle smile appearing on his face as he crossed his arms, one that caught Leonhardt off guard. "I don't know where I'd be now if I didn't meet Mina that day. Back then, I thought I'd die alone, with no one by my side, but now. Now I have the three of you. I have something to fight for, people to fight for.

"People to live for."

And with that said, Annie found herself widening her eyes before she offered her largest smirk yet.

"Softy," teased Annie as she lightly punched Mika in the chest. In response, Augus snorted and rolled his eyes as Mina and Nac approached them.

And the rest of the night went on with little to no problem.

So yeah, here we are on C11.

This chapter is also kind of a filler. The next chapter WILL be the start of the Trost arc, so stay tuned for that.

Anyhow, I've been in college for three damned months. As a Mechanical Engineer, it's pretty tiring honestly. But it's still fun to say the least.

Of course that does mean that I will be updating very slowly from here on, but I'll still do my best to update as frequently as possible.

Alright this is kinda all I have to say on my glorious return after a 4 month absence from writing this story. Anticlimactic, yes? Perhaps so, but that's what I'm best at. Now onto replies.

If I had any.

Yeah, no reviews apparently. So yeah see you guys next time.