Chapter 6: Into the forest.
A/N: Thanks for your patience, here's a giant helping of action to reward you!
Reiner and Ymir stood ready as the ground shook. With a sudden jolt of power, what looked like a giant tree root jetted out of the soil. They looked closer at it, realizing that this root had joints to it.
The thing in the ground pulled on the surface, revealing its true nature as it climbed out. This was no root or vine at all. Instead, it was a leg to a massive spider. The black and yellow monstrosity towered over them with a glare in its multiple eyes.
"What the hell?" Reiner said in confusion.
The behemoth arachnid, who would be named Kumunga in another world, lashed at the tiny shifters, missing them by a hair.
"Time to quit hiding," Reiner shouted, "let's make this a fair fight!"
He took out the tiny blade in his ring, ready to turn. But something unusual happened; it actually hurt him this time. Instead of shifting, he bled out. A shock went down his spine as he watched the blood trickle down his hand.
Why wasn't he turning into the Armored Titan? Had he lost the ability somehow? What was going on?
While Reiner was still dazed by this discovery, Ymir dove in, pushing him away from the gigantic fangs launching towards him.
Finally shaken, he pulled out his blades. Perhaps it was time to fight with his old tools. Sure, he was almost a year out of practice with the 3-D gear, but he was still one of the best in training. It wouldn't fail him now.
He released a jet of steam, flying off towards the giant spider. Kumunga saw him coming and leapt to the right. The spider then leapt back, launching towards the two again. Both shifters bolted in opposite directions to avoid the attack.
The two then ran amongst the trees, circling their opponent to see what kind of weakness they could exploit. Kumunga timed his next move carefully as they circled. Once the time was right, the spider released a torrent of silk webbing at Reiner, entangling him to the tree.
Cocooned to the tree, he couldn't move his arm to reach the blades by his feet. All he could do was listen to the clicking sounds of the spider.
As the arachnid came closer to the incapacitated shifter, Ymir ran towards him. She lifted herself into the air, posed to strike, and jammed her sword into Kumunga's eye. The spider groaned in pain as it tried to shake the tiny human off its head.
She leapt into the air again, taking out another one of the monster's multiple eyes. She jumped down to the ground ready to take the next strike.
Kumunga had enough and decided to flee. It bolted deeper into the forest as its shrieks grew quieter and quieter.
With the Kaiju gone Ymir made her way up the tree. She slashed at the thick webbing with all her might. Thanks to the size of the creature, it was like cutting through a thousand ropes at once. Finally, she got him free. Due to a combination of accelerated heartbeat and lack of air, Reiner was out cold. All she could do now was sit beside him on that branch and wait for him to wake up.
Right now, both of them were easy targets.
The next morning…
The members of the Survey Corps had made their way to the entrance of the forest. Earlier, they had witnessed Monroe and thirty percent of the town's citizens make an exodus from the area. Eren let that image stay in his mind, keeping it as a reason to keep his eyes on the mission: slay the monsters lurking here so this never happens again.
Beside him were his closest friends, whom were behind him one hundred percent. Even after he demanded that Mikasa stay behind with Levi, she still wouldn't budge. He was beginning to grow tired of that habit.
Hange was in command during the expedition. Her skills and intelligence was thoroughly needed in this mission. It was a decision no one debated against. Except maybe Moblit, he had a few things to say.
Twenty minutes in and one mission go flare later, they had already examined two and a half miles worth of forest. Nothing out of the ordinary, nothing unnatural. It was oddly quiet. That was about to change.
They heard a grunting sound in the distance. Connie listened to tell where it was coming from.
"Its east of here," he said, "About 20 yards."
The group followed Connie's direction. The groans became louder and louder until the source was in plain sight.
Before them lay a Titan, at least a 15 to 16 meter class. It was still alive but barely moving as it lay on the ground. Its eyes were bloodshot and its skin was a pasty white. Another abnormality was a giant wound on its shoulder.
"That can't be right," Armin said, "the blood around it is quagulated. Its wound should have healed before that could even happen. Something's wrong here."
Hange of course wouldn't let such a new and bizarre situation go to waste. She charged in on her horse to get a closer look.
"Hange! Wait!" Moblit cried out.
"This is so intriguing!" she called out.
Once the horse came within ten feet of the fallen behemoth, she leapt off of its back. Landing on the beast's massive shoulder, she went unnoticed as the Titan breathed heavily. She pulled out her equipment as the rest of the team circled. They didn't want to risk her getting hurt.
"Anything yet?" Jean asked.
"The wound is completely dried out," she called back, "fascinating."
She examined the interior, noticing it went down in an almost syringe-like fashion. She had seen this somewhere before.
"It's a bite!" she called out. "Something injected it with venom."
"Do you know how ridiculous that sounds?" Jean yelled. "Now these Mantises are poisonous?"
"Last time I checked," Connie replied, "they didn't grow to 30 meters either."
As they spoke, a black figure crawled its way out of the wound. It resembled some kind of large sea louse, with two stingers at the end. Unbeknownst to the human observers, its name was Shockirus, and it saw an opportunity for a new meal.
Distracted, Hange was leapt upon by the Shockirus, forcing her to tumble down the Titan's carcass. The other teammates rushed over to her as she struggled against the giant arthropod. The creature was so close to her face she could see the proboscis in-between the mandibles.
Before the others could reach her, more Shockirus emerged from the near-dead Monster. At least thirty of the 1 meter long invertebrates came leaping towards the humans. Most of them landed on the horses, driving their needle-like mouths into their flesh. Startled, many steeds knocked off their masters.
As the horses were becoming consumed, the humans struggled to swat the creatures away with their blades.
Armin rushed over, slipping through the crowd and darting towards Hange. He swung as hard as he could, knocking the arthropod off of her and into a tree.
"What are these things?" he said, attacking a group coming in behind him.
"Parasites." She said, "Draining the bodily fluids from the Titan. I guess the healing factor gives them a near infinite food supply."
"Yeah," yelled Moblit, "and where the hell did they come from?"
"It doesn't matter," Eren yelled out, "We just have to fight them off!"
The swam just kept coming back, desperate to defend their new home. Only a few of the humans were able to deal critical blows. As they fought, the majority of their horses were killed, completely drained to lifeless shells by the Shockirus.
Eren lifted his hand, ready to clamp his teeth into it and transform.
"Not yet Eren," Mikasa called out, "we need to save it for-"
Her explanation was cut short due to a sneak attack from a Shockirus. It latched itself onto her neck.
"MIKASAAAAAA!" Eren yelled, charging his way to her.
He swatted away any Shockirus that came in his path. He took hold of the parasite and yanked it off of her. He began to beat the helpless creature on the trunk of the nearest tree. Over and over, he beat it against the bark like a dirty rug. Even with the creature's blood spilling all over, he continually beat the Shockirus. No one attacks his family. No one.
He may have even beat the thing all night if it weren't for the gigantic thud. It echoed through the trees, like a tussle between giants was coming closer. This caught the Shockirus's attention.
The swarm then began to retreat. Returning to the still breathing Titan, they disappeared from sight. The ground shook slightly while they scurried into the monster's flesh.
"Now what?" Jean cried out.
The answer came about 20 feet away from them in the form of a large round object hurtling east of them. It was stopped by a gigantic sickle-like appendage. It was another Kamacuras. A second later, an entire group of them emerged from the forest, intent on feeding on the round object.
"Remember what Armin told you all," Connie called out. "Let's go!"
The pack of humans leapt into the air, ready to strike. Thanks to the thick forest trees, they had more objects to grapple onto. They had the advantage here.
The humans went unnoticed as the giant Mantises were trying to break into whatever it was they caught. Hange caught one's attention by twirling in air in its face. She then sprang with a jet of steam propelling her into the insect's eye.
Connie and Armin circled around, gaining the best viewpoint. Once they were in position, they dodged an attack from a claw and jolted in, slashing two of the monster's legs.
Like a swarm of vicious mosquitoes, the Survey Corps dodged and attacked the gigantic invertebrates, taking a few of them down right off the bat.
Meanwhile…
Feeling dazed, Reiner awoke besides Ymir. He felt like he was hit by a 2x4 in the back of his head.
"What…what happened?" he asked.
"That spider tangled you up," she said, "You passed out while I took care of it."
"I can't believe how calm you are right now." Reiner said. "In case you hadn't noticed, I drew blood and I'm still human!"
"Stay focused," she answered, "we have a-"
"Don't you understand?!" he yelled, grabbing on to her. "If I can't change into the Armored Titan, then our mission is lost! Not to mention, we're sitting ducks out here without it. That spider was proof of it."
Ymir raised her hand. She revealed that she had a wound there, inflicted by the spider the day before.
"You're not the only one who lost this ability." She said. "I can't change form either."
"What's going on around here?" he replied. "First the quake, then the crystals, then the spider, now this?"
"They have to be connected in some way." She said.
Reiner leapt from the tree, landing on the hard soil. He walked over to one of the crystalline structures. He placed his hand on it, feeling a burning sensation as it touched his skin.
He took the hand back, groaning in pain. As he turned his head back to examine the stone again, something odd happened. A large grayish lizard crawled up, basking on the stone. It seemed unaffected by the stone.
"It's the Crystals," he said, "They must be canceling our transformation somehow. But how? And where are they coming from?"
They looked around. They noticed that the deeper into the forest they went, the larger the crystal masses became. But that's not what caught Reiner's eyes.
In the distance, behind the fog, a glowing pair of eyes watched the two shifters. Standing over a hundred feet tall, the humanoid figure hunched over to get a good look.
"Hey!" Reiner shouted, his nerves getting to him.
The thing noticed him charging and began to flee. Reiner lifted his body into the air, prepared to strike. But before he could get close enough, the thing had vanished.
Gasping for breath, he landed on the ground, completely confused.
What was going on in this place?
Meanwhile…
All but one of the mantises fell before the might of the Survey Corps. This one was extra tricky, as it was one of the fortunate survivors of the attack yesterday. It remembered most of their tricks.
Most of the Survey Corps had their grappling lines cut from the intelligent Kamacuras. All seemed lost.
Fortunately, while the others distracted it, Armin, Sasha and Hange ran up the creature's back. They struck, jabbing their blades into the wing joints. The monster's reaction to pain gave just enough time for the other members to strike.
Jean and Moblit attacked the arms, slicing them at the joints. Mikasa and Connie took on the legs, rendering them severed on the forest floor. The limbless torso rolled on the ground, completely helpless. Eren walked up to the creature's head, jamming his blade right between the eyes. It was finally dead.
Everyone yelled out in joy. Their task seemed complete. But Mikasa wasn't celebrating. She instead walked over to Eren.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Mikasa held onto Eren's right arm, exposing a bite. One of the Shockirus had bitten into his flesh during the fight while he wasn't looking. But he gazed at it confused. If he drew blood, then why didn't he transform?
Unfortunately, he had no time to ponder on this. The round object, the one the Kamacuras had been trying to feast on, began to stir, catching everyone's attention.
Like a gigantic armadillo, it unfurled itself. The spiky reptilian creature stood on its own feet, screeching as it revealed itself. Eren looked in terror at the monster in front of him.
A/N: well, hope that keeps you all entertained. Next time: ANSWERS!