In the year 845, two terrifying new breeds of titan, the Colossal and Armored, appeared seemingly out of nowhere and barreled through the gates of the outer walls, killing tens of thousands of innocent people, and leaving even more to be devoured by the regular titans that flooded into the now compromised Wall Maria. The territory couched within the outer wall was abandoned, and what remained humanity fled behind Wall Rose.
Approximately two weeks after that day, two massive objects were seen flying across the sky, one red, the other blue. After the blue object knocked the red one off its course, the red object landed on top of the young Eren Jaeger while he was out alone at night. Kieth Shadis rescued the unconscious Eren from the Meteorite, but when the Garrison regiment arrived to investigate the fallen object further, it had all but disappeared.
In the year 850, the Colossal Titan returned and broke down the gate to the Trost district of Wall Rose, and the Titans flooded in through the broken gate. During the invasion, Eren Jaeger was forced to sacrifice himself to save his best friend, Armin Arlert, from the jaws of a titan.
Armin was stunned for a moment. The last thing he remembered, he was rapidly sliding down the throat of a titan while screaming in terror. The next thing he knew, someone had pulled him out and thrown him onto the roof of a building, and now…
Armin's eyes bulged as he realized what was happening. He frantically turned around and sure enough, Eren was there in the titan's mouth, miraculously, yet visibly struggling to hold the titan's mouth open.
"EREN!" Armin screamed frantically.
"I refuse to die like this… understand?!" Eren growled, audibly out of breath. He then desperately reached out to Armin, his hand shaking as he spoke.
Armin crawled forwards as quickly as he could, trying his best to reach his friend and save him, but it was far too late. The titan's jaws clamped down on his arm, its teeth slicing it off like a guillotine. Armin wailed in abject horror as Eren was unceremoniously swallowed by the titan. Eren was stunned, time seemingly moving in slow motion. As he fell down the Titan's throat, tears of fury welled up in his eyes.
'No!' He thought. 'No no NO! This can't be how it ends! I refuse to let it end like this! I still have to wipe them all out! For Mikasa! For Armin! For my Mom! I have to get out!'
As Eren screamed mentally, he suddenly saw something in his hand that wasn't there before. It was a black and green cylindrical object with a silver top and a red button on the side of it. Eren recognized it as an item that, ever since the night he was hit by that meteorite, he always had on him for some reason, and he could never seem to get rid of it. He tried giving it to Mikasa while they went on separate expedition groups in training. Minutes after they separated, Eren found it in his pocket. He tried throwing it in the river. It reappeared in his hand as soon as he turned around, sopping wet. And now, despite leaving it back at the base when all this started, there it was in his hand once again.
And yet, despite all this time of having it, Eren never tested to see what would happen if he pressed the button. But now, with nothing left to lose, Eren clenched his eyes shut and pressed the button, just as he landed in the titan's stomach fluids.
Armin knelt in front of the Titan as it reached to grab him from the roof he was on. He lowered his head, tears streaming down his face as he accepted his demise. A shadow soon formed over Armin as the titan's hand reached to grab him. But before it could complete this motion, it stopped. Confused, Armin looked up and saw the titan start to groan as ominous gurgles were heard from within it.
Suddenly, a flashing strobe beacon of red and white light shone out of the titan's mouth as its midsection expanded and writhed at a sudden and rapid rate before the titan Exploded into a shower of rapidly evaporating blood. Armin was blown back by the explosion but managed to anchor himself in place with his ODM gear. He eventually opened his eyes and then gasped in shock and fear as he saw something rise from the corpse of the titan.
Armin's first instinct was to believe this was some kind of titan that he was looking at, but it didn't take a genius to be able to tell that what he was looking at was no ordinary titan, if it was a titan at all. For one, despite possibly being the size of the Colossal Titan, no steam emanated from his body. Additionally, his flesh resembled neither skin nor muscle, instead resembling metal, with many parts of him painted red. Proportionally, he looked more akin to a normal human than any titan ever did, despite having no toes and square ears. He had a small fin on his head, with light yellow, pupil-less eyes, and a blue orb attached to his chest.
Armin gasped, both in awe and fear at this new giant that had suddenly appeared out of the body of a titan. As the giant stood up, he looked down at his hands and appeared… confused? Armin watched, absolutely dumbfounded, as the giant began scanning his own body, checking every part of his form in confusion. Eventually, however, he turned around and seemed relieved. Armin then gasped once more as the giant spoke, and Armin finally heard his savior's voice.
"Armin! You're okay!" the giant said.
"E-EREN!?" Armin shouted. "IS THAT YOU!?"
The giant nodded. "Yeah, it's me."
"What happened to you?!"
"I don't know! I just pressed the button on that cylinder thing, and then I turned into… this!" Eren gestured to his own body.
As the initial shock of the situation started to wear off for the two boys, Eren and Armin suddenly noticed that a seven-meter titan was gnawing on his ankle. Eren scowled at it, before grabbing it in his gigantic hand and cruising it with ease. It didn't take long for more titans to flock around the two, so Eren decided to pick up Armin and leave. He planned to try and tiptoe around all the buildings so as not to step on anything or anyone, but a sudden instinct caused him to jump up off the ground. Armin yelped in surprise and clung to Eren's thumb tightly. However, his eyes snapped open as he realized that once Eren reached the peak of his jump, he didn't come back down.
Both Eren and Armin looked down to see that the ground was now far below them, with the hoard of Titans clustering beneath Eren's feet as he remained suspended in the air.
'Am I… floating?' Eren thought. He tried maneuvering himself in the air and found himself able to do so without any trouble. 'HOLY SHIT, I CAN FLY!'
"What is happening?" Armin murmured in exasperation.
Armin fell into a sitting position as Eren flew over the city of Trost to find a safe place to set Armin down. After a while, Eren finally decided to place Armin on top of the wall.
"Now, listen Armin, I need you to stay here," Eren said. "I'm gonna try to plug the hole in the wall, then I'll take out the Titans, and after all that's done, I'll come to get you down."
"Plug the wall? How are you gonna do that?" Armin asked.
"Using the bolder you told me about back at the base," he said. "I know you said it was too heavy for any of us to move, but I have a feeling I'm strong enough to pick it up now."
Armin nodded. "Alright. But please, be careful."
Eren gave Armin a thumbs up before hovering off the ground once again, and flying towards the boulder.
-R-
As Eren arrived at the boulder, Reiner, Bertholdt, and Annie all stared in astonishment at the sight of the giant being that suddenly appeared. As the giant walked through the city, Bertholdt slowly turned to his comrades and whispered to them.
"You guys don't think that's the…" Bertholdt whispered.
"The Founding Titan?" Reiner replied. "I don't think so. Not much is known about it, but no sources exist that claim it can fly, or that it looks like it's made of metal."
"But if it's not the founder, then what the hell is it?" Annie asked.
"I have no idea," Reiner replied. "But whatever it is, there's no doubt it'll cause problems going forwards." As the silver giant approached the gate, Reiner turned to face Bertholdt. "Bertholdt, do you think you think you can take that thing on with the Colossal Titan?"
"I-I think so," Bertholdt replied.
"I doubt it," Annie interjected. "That thing moves with more speed and fluidity than the Colossal Titan can, and I doubt the steam will be enough to keep it away from you. That's all besides the fact that he can fly."
"So what are you saying then?" Reiner replied.
"I'm saying it would probably be in our best interests to simply avoid provoking him entirely."
-J-
As Jean, Connie, Sasha, and several other scouts sat huddled up on the roves of various buildings, they all suddenly looked on in awe as they saw a gigantic silver man walking through the city, holding a giant boulder in his hand like a baseball, while being careful not to accidentally step on the buildings. Jean pushed past everyone to get a better look and saw that the giant man was actually stomping on the Titans as he passed them by, flattening them utterly before passing on by. Jean was filled with a sense of awe and terror as he watched the towering figure passing through the city. As he watched the silver giant eventually venture out of his line of sight, he suddenly heard Mikasa's voice nearby.
Jean turned around and saw Mikasa asking around if anyone's seen Eren's squad. Jean sighed deeply, before calling out to her.
"Hey! Mikasa! You're looking for Eren's squad?"
Mikasa turned around with a worried yet slightly hopeful expression. "Yes! Have any of you seen them?"
Jean sighed. "I wish I had better news for you, but I'm sorry to say, we're pretty sure they didn't make it."
Mikasa gasped, her eyes slightly misty. "N-no…"
"Most of his squad was dead when we got there. No sign of Armin or Eren, but we assume that they were eaten by a titan."
Mikasa covered her mouth with her hand as tears involuntarily started to stream down her cheeks. 'Eren… please, no…'
Suddenly, the group felt the ground shake almost as violently as it had when the Colossal Titan appeared. Several of them feared that the Armored Titan had shown up and broken through the wall, but then Sasha called to everyone, pointing to the breach. Looking over at it, everyone was amazed by what they saw.
While their backs were turned to him, the silver giant singlehandedly sealed up the breach with the boulder. Many cadets were stunned into silence, while many more were cheering, their hope finally at least slightly re-invigorated. Mikasa however didn't pay attention to any of it. Believing the two people she cared about most to be dead, she had completely shut down. She had her face covered with her scarf as she curled up into the fetal position against a chimney.
-E-
Eren dusted off his hands and looked down at the sealed wall with a bit of pride, before turning back to the streets of Trost and seeing a hoard of Titans still on their way toward him. Eren grinned and cracked his knuckles. As the Titans jumped at him, he easily stomped on them like ants and smashed them with his fists until they were left as nothing but puddles of steaming paste. Eren then heard Armin running towards him.
Armin took a moment to catch his breath upon reaching his titanic friend. "Great… job… Eren…"
Eren chuckled and plucked Armin off the wall. "Thanks, Armin. But we still have work to do."
"Right," Armin replied from within Eren's palm. "First thing's first: we need to let the others know we're okay!"
"I think I saw them over there," Eren pointed to their rooftop hideout. Armin nodded and the two soared towards them.
Upon arriving, Eren gently hovered close to the ground and released Armin onto the roof. Upon landing, Jean and Connie expressed shock that Armin was alive, while Mikasa immediately came running and hugged Armin while sobbing over his shoulder. Armin smiled and hugged her back.
"Armin…" Mikasa sobbed. "I was so worried that you… I thought…" As Mikasa clutched his back, her eyes widened as hope returned to her. "A-Armin, if you're alive… Is Eren alive too?!" She asked while clutching his shoulders.
Armin nodded with a smile, and the joy on Mikasa's face was indescribable.
"Jaeger survived too?!" Jean blanched.
"Damn right, I did, horse face," Eren replied smugly.
With an appalled expression, Jean slowly turned around and his jaw dropped to the floor as it donned on him and everyone else that the silver giant was in fact, Eren Jaeger. Mikasa released Armin and slowly stepped toward Eren in disbelief. Eren smiled and slowly lowered his finger down to her. As she placed her hand against the tip of his finger, she began to weep softly. Eren then gently lifted her up in his hand so they could talk face-to-face. Mikasa sobbed openly in his hand while he gently rubbed her back with his other finger.
"Eren, I… I was so worried…" Mikasa gasped and sniffed as she spoke. "I thought I'd lost you…"
"It's alright. I'm here now," he replied, curling his finger so that she could embrace it. "I'm okay."
As Mikasa and Eren talked with eachother, Armin got everyone caught up on Eren's situation, while Jean got Armin caught up on theirs. After explaining everything to eachother, they began brainstorming ideas for how they could get everyone to HQ. Initially, Eren thought they could simply hook themselves to him, but they quickly found that his body was so durable, their cables actually couldn't pierce him, and therefore they couldn't anchor themselves to him. Additionally, even at his size, he couldn't comfortably carry everyone in his hands. He would have to make at least two trips, and by the time he got back, the Titans may have already reached them. But then, Eren realized that he wouldn't need to simply escort them. With his newfound power, he could kill all the Titans in Trost on his own, clearing a path for them.
So, that was the plan he went with. Eren began soaring around Trost, killing every titan he came across, with the cadets following him while using their gas sparingly. With his help, Eren was able to lead them all to safety without a single casualty on their end, even picking up some cadets that were left out in the open along the way. Eventually, the cadets reached HQ, where Eren quickly dispatched the Titans surrounding the building without breaking a sweat.
At first, they tried entering the supply room itself, but upon opening the door, they were greeted with seven four-meter-tall Titans swarming the place. They all immediately began chasing the cadets, which prompted screams of terror, and a groan of frustration from Eren as he reached to kill them all. This time, however, Mikasa swooped in and handled each of them for him, using up the last of her fuel in the process.
"Way to go, Mikasa," Eren complimented.
Mikasa blushed at the compliment and covered her face with her scarf. As everyone went inside, though, they suddenly heard a weird noise that sounded like some sort of blaring siren. They all looked up and saw the orb on Eren's chest flashing red. No one knew what this meant, but for some reason, Eren instinctively knew to transform back at this point. He placed a hand on his chest and focused. Red and white strobe lights enveloped his body again as he shrank down to the size he was before, still equipped with everything he had on him prior to his transformation, from his clothes to his ODM gear. Accept now, looking down, he saw that his arm and leg had grown back, which was quite a relief for him. He really didn't want to have to spend the rest of his life hobbling around with only one arm and one leg.
"Eren!" Mikasa called. She pushed her way through the crowd and ran towards him before embracing him. Eren pouted a bit in embarrassment, but accepted it, given that she thought he was dead.
{Several minutes later…}
"...And then, after pressing the button on the capsule, I suddenly transformed into that giant humanoid," Eren explained.
Everyone else gasped in awe after Eren explained everything to them while sitting on a wooden box, with Armin there to corroborate Eren's story. They all then began murmuring amongst themselves.
"Their whole squad was wiped out?" One of them whispered.
"The same thing would have happened to us if he wasn't there." Another quietly replied.
"How is that even possible?" Someone else asked.
Eren rubbed the back of his head. "If any of you have any questions, I'll try my best to answer them."
After a few moments of silence, Marco was the first to raise his hand, and Eren called on her.
"How did you think to do that?" He asked.
"Well, to be honest, I just didn't have anything to lose," Eren said with a shrug. "It's not like I could cut my way out, since my arm was missing. Using my ODM gear to escape was out of the question too. All I could really do was press the button and hope it wouldn't kill me, or do just nothing at all."
Jean then spoke up next. "So why didn't you press the button before?"
"Didn't you just hear what I said? I had no idea what it did." Eren then pulled it out of his pocket and showed it to everyone. "I mean look at it! It's a metal cylinder that suddenly appeared in my hand after I was hit by a boulder that fell from the sky and somehow lived, and no matter what I did I couldn't get rid of it! For all I knew back then, pressing the button would blow us all up, or turn me inside out, or worse!"
Mikasa placed a gentle hand on Eren's shoulder to calm him down. Eren sighed. "Like I said, the only reason I pressed the button inside the titan was because I had nothing to lose. I was probably going to die either way. At least the cylinder had a chance to be useful."
After Jean nodded, Connie was next to raise his hand. "How come you turned back? You always talked about killing all the Titans, so how come you didn't jump over the wall and go ham on them?"
"I… don't know how to describe it," Eren said. "When that light on my chest began blinking red and beeping, I felt this overwhelming sense of dread and urgency. Like I needed to transform back asap, or else I'd die."
"What made you think that?" Jean asked.
"I don't know. A lot of what I learned about my powers in that form, like my ability to fly, or that I needed to transform back to normal after a while were either discovered by accident, or that I just instinctively knew."
Many of the cadets oohed and ahed at Eren's explanation before Marco made a suggestion.
"Well, do you think you could transform again, so we can find out more?"
"Hey, that's a good idea, Marco," one of the cadets said.
"I don't think that's the best idea, guys," Armin said nervously. "W-what if Eren doesn't-"
"I'm fine, Armin," Eren interrupted. "Don't worry about me. Besides, this is as good an opportunity as any to test out whatever other powers I have in my giant form."
"Speaking of which, what do you think we should call that giant form of yours?" Sasha asked.
Eren hummed to himself and placed a hand on his chin. He thought about a name he could choose for himself for a while, and while he couldn't think of anything at first, one name suddenly came to mind. He didn't know why he thought of that name in particular, but for some reason, it seemed fitting to him.
"How about Ultraman?" Eren asked.
The crowd seemed to like the name, so they all ended up going with it. The group then exited the building so they could watch Eren test his powers. Everyone took a few steps back as Eren pulled out the cylindrical object.
"You guys might wanna cover your eyes," he said.
They all did as they were told and covered their eyes. Eren then held the cylinder up to the sky and pressed the button. The cylinder, now recharged with energy enough energy to sustain a transformation, activated, and Eren was enveloped in white and red light as he once again transformed into the towering Ultraman.
Eren started off by demonstrating his flight to everyone, hovering in the air and then flying in circles above Trost. As he flew through the air, he found himself able to make out all the little details below him, from the tallest of buildings to the smallest of rats scurrying about the city. As he looked around the city though, he also noticed a figure in a green cloak standing atop the blocked-off entrance to wall Maria. The figure was looking up at him, and Eren's improved vision allowed him to make out the face of the man beneath the hood. And upon realizing who it was, Eren gasped and froze in place.
"Captain Levi?"