Armin looked up from his notebook and surveyed the landscape around them. Apart from a few forests and rock formations dotted here and there. the dry wilderness stretched outwards in every direction. with no signs of civilization in sight.
Directly in front of him was Marco. riding his horse at a slow but steady pace. Beside him were Even and Mina. Behind them was Sasha. Connie. and Krista. with Jean at the rear of the group.
Marco and Eren seemed to be the only ones who were staying focused, while the others were showing various signs of fatigue and boredom.
Armin faced forward again. and wrote a few notes down.
It was hard to believe that a year had already passed since they had started their training. It was a fairly short period of time. but so much had happened. Firstly, The Scouting Regiment have revealed their newest weapon, The Thunder Spear is the weapon name, due to their spear-like shape and the thunderous sound they make when used
From the knowledge that The Scouting Regiment share is these weapons work as a two-stage rocket: an initial charge launches the projectile by pressing a special trigger in the handle of the device. The projectile, connected by a rope to the main engine, is launched with enough power to penetrate Titan skin. However, when that rope is cut, the second charge is activated. This causes a tremendous explosion which makes the projectile penetrate even more into the target. Usually, one was carried on each arm, but up to four can be carried with proper modification to the vertical manoeuvre gear, making eight in total.
Right now, only The Scouting Regiment use this weapon when they do an expedition, It a one shot one kill weapon but In reality, this weapon is developed by Eren and Hanji. Eren knew how the weapon work cause he always in Hanji bedroom, sometimes she always talk to Eren about how some innovation work on in his past life.
Also, Armin quickly remember that The Military Police is now in search of a man that using illegal 3d manoeuvre gear in Stohness district, people in the district called the man The Reaper, cause of his excellent in manoeuvring gear, all they know right now is the reaper signature gas mask
Lastly, Eren beat up everyone else in 3d manoeuvre gear training, they have to cut some makeshift titan, Eren in another way, cut the makeshift titan just like butter, his speed is fast that the trainer says Eren already knew how to operate it, of course, he would he start training with 3d manoeuver gear in early age but it keeps in secret to himself only. Some say that Eren is some of the Avian creatures. Out of 30 makeshift titans, Eren got all of them, some of the makeshift titan head is cut down. It shows that Eren has agility and strength that they not to play with. Some instructor says that Eren power is on par with Levi, The Strongest Soldier in humanity
Armin was relieved to find that he was able to keep up with the others when it came to the physical demands of training to become a soldier. He was still better in the classroom. and he knew he would always be one of the weaker members. but he was grateful that he wasn't a burden. at least not so far.
Part of the 104th cadet corps had been split into two groups. The first group was made up of Armin, Marco, Eren, Mina, Sasha, Connie, Krista, and Jean, with Eren as the leader and Armin as the record keeper. The second group was made up of Mikasa, Thomas, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Daz, Nic, and Ymir, with Thomas as the leader and Mikasa as the record keeper.
They were to make a round trip across a distance that extended for 40 kilometres, with one group travelling along the western end and the other group travelling along the eastern end. They would reach a forest at the end, meet up and exchange information, and then loop back and return to the training grounds. The point of the exercise was to see how they were able to sustain themselves in the absence of a crisis.
So far most of the cadets just seemed bored, though they did maintain a consistent pace, and listened to Eren when he gave them instructions.
Armin glanced off to the side, and saw a lizard walking parallel to them in a spot with more vegetation.
"Hey, that lizard has been following us for a while now" Jean stated that noticed it as well.
"They're delicious you know" Sasha says while her eyes lit up
"Oh really?" Jean glanced back at her and talk back
"Yeah. My family and I used to eat them. They taste like chicken" Sasha nodded and says back
"All right then" Jean smirked and spurred his horse forward to get the lizard
Eren did not protest cause he knew that hunting for food is part of the exercise.
"Don't do that!" Historia cried
Jean pulled out his blades, aimed carefully, and struck the lizard through the back, killing it instantly.
"Gotcha!" Jean says while grinned.
"Nice!" Connie says while smiled
"Woo! We'll be eating good tonight!" Sasha cheered.
Armin smiled at their antics, and glanced back to see what Eren's reaction was. To his surprise, Eren is laughing and smiling a little at their childish antics.
"Yeah!, I caught Eren smile " Connie stated to the group
"Argh!No…my food!" Sasha stated with a sad voice
The 104th cadet corpse, knew Eren is emotionless and somber but sometime Eren will laugh and smile. So in the 104th cadet corpse, they have a competition, whoever seen Eren smile will get their dinner food taken from them. Eren is not against this, so the competition play on
Jean put the dead lizard with their supplies, and before long they were on their way again.
That night they made camp. The lizard turned out to be big enough to feed all of them, and with Sasha's help, they were able to have a decent meal around a hearty campfire.
Armin didn't talk much, instead just taking the time to enjoy the others' company.
Marco was talking to Jean about being a good leader, which Jean seemed to take seriously. Armin knew that they were best friends, and while they both wanted to get into the Military Police, they wanted to do so for different reasons. Jean mainly wanted to have a decent life and get away from the Titans, while Marco wanted to fix the corruption in the interior and serve the King. Armin was glad that some of Marco's ideas seemed to be rubbing off on Jean, though part of that could have been his desire to prove Eren wrong, and show he wasn't just running away from the Titans.
Armin glanced at Krista, who looked a little uncomfortable. Armin could tell why. Shortly after training had begun she and Ymir had become practically inseparable, with one rarely turning up without the other. But for this assignment, they had been assigned to different groups, which took them out of their comfort zone a little.
Armin glanced over, and saw that Eren still had the same emotionless look on his face that he always has, and was staring absently into the fire and like thinking of something
"Hey, Eren." Armin scooted over next to him and talk with Eren
"Hmm?" Eren turned toward Armin
Armin looked at him uncertainly. "What you thinking off"
"Oh, just thinking of something" Eren answer with an emotionless voice that he always has
Armin knew that Eren was thinking of the group cause he was their leader after all. Suddenly Eren stand up and says to the group
"It time to sleep guys, tomorrow morning we will start the trip. Also tonight I and Marco will be the guard of the night. I will be the guard first and then Marco will take over my shift" Eren says to the group with an emotionless but have a spice of leader in his voice. He does this to avoid any wild animals or anything that pose a danger attacking them
The team follow Eren instruction cause he is their leader. Before long they put out the fire and got settled in for the night. Armin's mind was active for a while, but eventually, he drifted off to sleep.
"Now I have to settle with the thief" Eren says to himself while watching his team drifted to sleep
A sudden footstep in the footstep is could hear by Eren. He quickly wears a black cloak and the gas mask that he bring from the village that he store this. Eren knew this gonna happen so he will protect his team by assassinated the thief. Eren take out a knife from his pocket
"Now its time to work " Eren talk to himself and involve himself in the darkness and manoeuvre himself to the forest.
In the darkness of the night, a quick scream could be heard for a thousand distant. It was the thief scream seeing their comrade being killed by The Reaper but before they can run and scream more they killed brutally. Eren really shows no remorse at all to the thief. Eren throws their dead bodies in a nearby river to avoid their bodies being found. He also cleans himself a bit to remove the stain of blood and return to his camp as nothing happens.
"Hey Marco it's your shift now" Eren waking up Marco by tapping his body for his shift before falling down to the makeshift bed and fall asleep
"O-o-kay" Marco groggily wake up and start his shift till the morning
The following morning, Eren wake up first seeing Marco still on guard of this campsite.
"Hey, Marco get some rest in about an hour we will start the walk okay" Eren says to Marco while preparing himself to do some workout and clean himself up
"Thank Eren….." Marco quickly says and fall asleep in the makeshift camp
After his quick exercise, Eren cleans himself and tied up his long hair to his usual style. All of his team wake up an hour after Eren and prepare themself up. They had a quick breakfast before continuing their journey to the supposed meets up the place with another team lead by Thomas. When they arrived, they found that the other group had already arrived.
Thomas looked relieved. "So, you guys are okay." Thomas relieved that the other group is safe
Mikasa jogged to Eren asking if he is safe or not, Eren answers nothing big happen to Mikasa, which is a big lie. He just killed all the thief with no mercy
In another hand, Ymir jogged up to Krista after seeing Krista was by herself
"You alright?" Ymir placed a hand on Krista's shoulder while asking her a question
"Yes!" Krista eagerly answer Ymir question about herself
After all the excitement, the return journey back seemed rather boring, but boring was an improvement, so the cadets appreciated it more than they had the previous day.
When they arrived back, Armin headed to Shadis's office to deliver his and Mikasa's report.
While Shadis read over his report, Armin found himself thinking back to the campsite. Last night, he swear he could hear a scream but when he asks Eren about it, Eren says he could not hear anything. Armin knew something must gooing on that night. Eren must be hiding something about it. Armin just shrug this off, thinking maybe Eren hiding it for a reason
Everyone was now in The Training Field, sparing each other to test their own hand-to-hand combat. The most promising fighter is because of how he beat up Reiner so easily. The move that Eren use is brutal, Reiner have no change again Eren itself.
"So, Reiner, why did you choose to team with me? I'd thought you'd much prefer to go with Bertholdt, no?" Eren asked, despite the fact he knows Reiner's answer will be a lie.
"Well, it's best to get to know your comrades isn't it? We are going to work with each other for at least the next three years". Reiner falsely justified.
Around the pair, the other Cadets had already commenced their physical combat training. Noticing Eren and Reiner's lack of engagement, Keith, who had been observing the entire group, bellowed at them.
"Oi! Yaeger, Braun! Why are you just fucking standing there like retards!? Get fighting already!"
Reiner failed to notice that Eren was sprinting at him at an incredible pace, and before he could even tell what was going on, he was laying on the ground. Eren approached him, glancing down whilst holding his characteristically dead eyes most of the trainees had come to know him for in the last three weeks.
"Don't get preoccupied in your own mind whilst duelling, Reiner. It may very well cost your life". Eren advised, looking down at Reiner before offering him his hand.
"Yeah... My bad". Reiner said apologetically.
"It's fine. Let's go again; pay attention this time". Eren instructed.
Both men put some space between themselves; simultaneously circling each other with an analytical glare, attempting to predict each other's next move. Aiming at catching Eren off guard, Reiner spontaneously ceased his circling and began to sprint directly at Eren; his fists were raised, hoping to land a solid punch directly to his face. However, Eren had predicted this. He'd thought Reiner many times previously - he knew how he worked; always so careless, always underestimating his opponent. Therefore, Eren simply stood in his position until Reiner's fist was within reaching distance. Grabbing his arm, Eren threw Reiner over his shoulder, consequently landing face-first into the ground.
"Ah, my fuckin' head" Reiner moaned in pain.
"Clever idea to try and catch me off guard like that, good job. But, I'm afraid it won't work on me". Eren explained, again offering Reiner his hand.
Accepting it, Eren pulled Reiner up. Seeing him looking away, Reiner followed Eren's line of sight. Doing so led upon him landing his eyes on Annie, who was walking away from an unconscious Connie, who was presumably a victim of her vicious attacks.
"Hey Eren, you pretty good at this, tell me where do you learn to fight like that" Reiner ask
"Huh?…. It self taught Reiner" Eren take a long pause before answering Reiner question
"Heh, do you have your eyes on Annie, Yaeger? I have to admit, she's quite something; I can never seem to read her." Reiner jokingly teased.
"Don't be stupid, I'm a soldier, we both are. I don't have time for things like that". Eren stated, somewhat annoyed by Reiner's farcical suggestion.
"Perhaps you should talk to her, Eren. Who knows - you may just get along". Reiner playfully taunted.
Without responding, Eren left Reiner's side to go towards Annie.
I haven't fought Leonhardt in years; I've only fought her twice whilst in titan form, and both times I lost when it came to combat ability. In our last fight, I only defeated her when I lost control over myself and turned 'berserk' as Hanji described. It's highly probable I'll be fighting Annie yet again in the future; fighting her now is a good way of testing my physical aptitude in comparison to her.
"Oi, Annie". Eren called out.
"What? I'm busy". Annie stated turning around to face Eren; attempting to hide her shock from being face to face with someone she is wanting to know more
"I'll be straight forward with you. You beat the shit out of Connie, and I beat the shit out of Reiner - see where I'm going with this?" Eren stated
"You want to fight me?... Fair enough". Annie replied before attempting to swipe Eren's legs from under him but she quickly realizes that Eren it 10 steps ahead of her, he did a quick jab and do an inside kick that results in her falling to the ground.
Eren take a deep breath and show some sportsmanship by extending his arm to help her get up
"One more" Annie ask wanting to fight Eren more
Eren quickly nodded, Annie go into her fight stance but Eren he just stood very relaxed. Now all the cadet have their eye on the fight. Eren and Annie rushed to each other and throwing a punch that they dodge at the same time. Before Annie can think, Eren sidekick her leg, it doest makes Annie fall but it surely leaves a nasty bruise and making her legs bones break. Annie winced in pain before she knew that she already on the ground.
"I win " Eren says to Annie before helping her stand up
" You a promising fighter Eren, tell me who teach you that " Annie ask while her leg still in pain
"Self-taught" Eren give a quick answer and realize what he has done to Annie
"Annie sit down a moment " Eren instructed Annie and she complies with Eren instruction
" Sorry " Eren apologize to Annie with a quiet tone while wrapping up her legs with some sort of bandage.
"It..ok " Annie surprised by what Eren do to her
"Hey Reiner you a friend with Annie right? Take her to the infirmary " Eren instruct Reiner and leaving The Training Ground, the sun is already set meaning that the training time it over
Reiner quickly helps Annie and take her to the infirmary with Berthould following his back. Eren help Annie not to gain any attention, he does this because Annie is his comrade or will be his allies
All the cadet, know that Eren is once again ahead of them in all perspective. Some of the girls grow a crush on him, with his handsome face and hairstyle it surely makes them blush like tomato but Eren reject them all, in his heart only have Hanji, no one else.
A/N If you like this story comment and point out my mistake if spotted