"HANJI! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!"

"I'M SO SORRY MOBLIT!" was Hanji Zoe's near immediate response to her fellow soldier as she practically snapped her neck whilst turning to look at him, with her feeling a little bad about making her assistant panic once more, among many other things, though she quickly turned her head to keep her eyes on the path ahead of them before she could say much else, swinging her head violently to the side that she nearly slapped her assistant in the cheek with her long, dark brown hair.

"C-Captain Hanji!" exclaimed Moblit as soon as they rode onwards on horseback, with him ignoring how he nearly got slapped on the cheek by his Captain's ponytail all the while. The woman in question turned to stare at him, her expression rather calm, minus a handful of twitches, prompting the man to continue on with his horrified rambling. "W-Why did you have to do that?!"

Hanji's response was to give a sheepish smile as she turned away from Moblit to hopefully hide her embarrassment, with her not knowing how to answer her assistant's question. In truth, Hanji herself didn't know why she did something so idiotic either, and in more ways than one, that was probably more horrific than the situation they were currently facing.

In an attempt to distract herself from that thought, Hanji turned her head around to see how far their pursuers were from them, only to widen her eyes behind her goggles/glasses and turn back around when she realized that they were less than forty metres away from their slowest running horses. Said pursuers were a handful of massive humanoids that ranged from three to fifteen metres in height, with every one of them making beeline for the fleeing group of soldiers all the while.

Titans, that was the name that was given to these massive humanoids. They have existed for as long as humanity could remember, and they were, by all means, the natural predators of mankind. Though generally unremarkable in appearance, the Titans were deceptively strong and a lot faster than they appeared, and they were more than capable of chasing down an average human and catch them within seconds.

Despite having existed for as long as mankind, not much was known of these beasts, and several of the survivors within mankind took it upon themselves to resolve this issue. Hanji Zoe of the Survey Corps was among these handful of people, and by all means, she was (arguably) the most successful when it came to Titan related research, with her name usually being the first thing to come to mind… not that it was much of an achievement, anyways.

Hanji's drive to learn more about the Titans was, however, rather worrying. Though she could control herself rather well, she, as with all humans, wasn't perfect, and as such, she tended to get a little out of hand more times than one could count. And now, unfortunately, was one of those times, as Hanji was more or less the woman who had begun this whole chase to begin with!

Having spotted a rather sizable pack of Titans not too long ago, Hanji thought it would be nice to get a closer look at them under the pretense of 'observation', and with no small amount of convincing, in spite of Moblit's attempts at getting her to stop, she got permission to lead a small portion of their team to have a 'closer look' at the aforementioned pack. As to be expected, however, her observation of the Titans didn't really end that well, as Hanji was spotted almost immediately thanks to her perverse gushing in regards to being able to observe them this closely, prompting the entire team to be chased by a pack of fifteen Titans.

As a result of this, three members of their team ended up being torn apart by the pursuing Titans, though there wasn't any time to mourn or feel bad for them as the remaining members of the team fled the immediate area, with all of them making an instinctual beeline towards their main squadron all the while. They were hoping to outpace the Titans along the way, though they were unsuccessful, as a result they unwittingly brought the entire pack of Titans towards their allies, much to the group's dismay.

And all that led to the present, with Hanji opening her mouth to offer a response to Moblit, though before she could do so, a new voice could be heard.

"Stop blathering about already, you two," said the aforementioned voice. In contrast to their current situation, the voice was calm, practically emotionless, and made both Hanji and Moblit turn to face its owner, with the latter gasping a little in shock as he did so. Moblit, who was closer to the newcomer, turned and looked down a little and looked a familiar short man in the eye, and in spite of their difference in height, the mere sight of the midget was enough to make him shudder a little.

"C-Captain Levi Ackerman," greeted Moblit shakily as the team captain eyed him down… or up if one were to be specific as, rather unfortunately, Levi Ackerman was a (very) short man. His height would've been impressive… if he were a child. For a grown man, however, it was… almost impressive, honestly, as he stood shorter than even most teens. If it weren't for his reputation as being among the best Titan-slayers of the Survey Corps, Hanji doubted that anyone would take him seriously.

Then again, Ackerman's propensity for being a calm prick, even in the worst of situations, and his ever present resting bitch face was probably more than a little intimidating, regardless of how tall he was.

"Focus on getting away for now. Leave the bickering for if we survive this," commanded Levi after he stopped staring at Moblit and shot Hanji a cold glare. In response, Hanji simply chuckled awkwardly and scratched her cheek, prompting Levi to roll his eyes and divert his attention back towards the path in front of himself. Quickly, he got his horse to pick up the pace, and within seconds, it brought him up to the front of the group, right next to the group's commander, leaving Hanji and Moblit behind.

"Erwin," greeted Levi, glancing over at his blonde superior as Erwin Smith kept his attention on the path ahead of him, though upon hearing his subordinate's voice, the man in question turned and faced the shorter man. It wasn't really easy to make out, but Erwin could tell that Levi was not as calm as his expression would lead one to believe, as evident by the subtle twitch in his eyebrows and the somewhat more intense frown which was plastered on his face, though he didn't voice either observation out as he simply listened. "What's the plan?"

That question nearly made Erwin give a dry chuckle, one that was caused more by built up fear than any sort of humor. He didn't really want to admit it, but he had no proper plan at the moment. It wasn't exactly his fault, however, as it was rather hard to think of a plan when their lives were at stake. Still, in an attempt to keep his subordinates calm, or as calm as they could be in a situation like this, he kept his expression neutral, even if Levi could tell that he was panicking a tad as well, and responded accordingly.

"Our best option is to either outrun them…" started Erwin, and his tone suggested that the option was pretty much crossed off the list as the Titans were closing the gap between them and his group with every passing second. "...or hope for someone to spot the flare and assist us from behind. Either that or we can stand our ground… and inevitably be overwhelmed and consumed."

"...I'm willing to put some hope on the second option," groaned Levi after a few seconds of silence, and while those words would have sounded sarcastic when said by someone else, they somehow sounded completely serious when it came out of Ackerman's mouth. "Let's just focus on stretching out option one for now."

"Agreed," replied Erwin as they pressed on as quickly as their horses could carry them, hoping beyond hope that they would be able to get out of this situation with minimal casualties. But hope and the legs of their horses could only get them so far, and it didn't take long for the first Survey Corp to yell out in fear as he was scooped up into the air by a Titan. Whirling around but not stopping for even a second, a handful of the soldiers gasped in horror as they saw one of their comrades, a man with brown hair tied into a short ponytail, get scooped up into the air by an Eleven metre Titan.

"Sys!" exclaimed one of the soldiers, a Junior Survey Corp, before he slowed his horse down with every intention of turning back to try and save his Senior, Luke Sys, out of instinct, but before he could get too far, however, another Senior soldier managed to hold him back and shove him back on course. "Let me go! We can't just-"

"Shut it, rookie!" proclaimed the Senior who held him back, but despite his voice sounding just as hard as iron, there were hints of regret in his tone of voice as he shoved the junior back on track. Diverting his gaze upwards, the Junior forced himself to look his Senior in the eye as he opened his mouth to retort, only to pause when he saw that the soldier was visibly holding back tears as he did his best to block out the horrified screams of his comrade. "Sys… Luke Sys is as good as dead! We can't save him, not with the odds stacked so heavily against us…"

Despite the heavy amount of guilt he felt at leaving Luke Sysbehind for dead, the Junior soldier reluctantly agreed to those terms. Even so, he still couldn't help but give one last saddened glance behind him, one final look at Sys as a Titan grabbed off the ground and raised him up to eye level. The junior shed a few tears, but he tried to keep them to a minimum. There would be enough time to mourn for the dead after the Expedition, and to die now would make Sys' unwilling sacrifice be for nothing.

However, while the junior was busy keeping his emotions in check, Hanji felt her ears unconsciously perked up just a bit, and before long, the woman began hearing something… something foreign to her. Despite seeming like an idiot, the woman was very much a genius, and by all means, she's been on enough expeditions outside the Walls to remember most of the common sounds, and as such, this new noise was distinct enough to catch her attention, prompting her to close her eyes and focus in on this new sound. Her unexpected focus caught Moblit's attention, prompting him to address it out of instinct.

"Hanji...?" he muttered, with him turning towards the woman in question shortly thereafter, who opened her eyes and looked straight back at him with a curious gaze. Moblit didn't like that look she was giving him. She seemed to be in her Titan obsessed mode and serious mode all at once, and while he has dealt with both before in the past, he has never dealt with both at once up till now, prompting him to sweatdrop in fear.

"Do you… hear that?" asked Hanji, her voice growing rather quiet by her standards as her ears perked upwards. Moblit, out of curiosity, did his best to tune out the Titans pursuing them, Titans which were most likely tearing Sys apart, as he tried to listen in to what Hanji was talking about. And what he heard was subtle at first, but extremely noticeable after less then a second. Opening his mouth, the man was about to ask what Hanji thought it was…

… and before the words could even leave his lips, a loud boom could be heard at the rear end of their formation.

Upon hearing the loud crash from behind them, the small group of soldiers, Erwin and Levi included, instinctively turned to face the source of the noise, and they all barely caught a glimpse of silver landing behind their formation, flattening a Titan in the process, before they were greeted by a powerful shockwave and a massive cloud of dust and dirt coming right for them. Said cloud was strong enough to send a good majority of the soldiers and their horses flying into the air, though a handful of them remained mounted, albeit barely.

While a majority of their horses landed relatively safely, the same couldn't really be said for most of the Survey Corps, whoimpacted the ground a little more harshly than their stallions/mares, either rolling on the ground to reduce the impact, landing on their asses or just falling onto their backs. A handful of them were able to land on their feet, however, and despite none of them suffering any fatal injuries from the fall, it still shook the soldiers up quite a lot, leaving them incredibly disoriented. Hell, even Levi and Erwin were ruffled up by that launch, though the one who seemed the least affected was Hanji, surprisingly, or unsurprisingly depending on who you are, enough, who quickly recovered from the fall onto her ass with a shake of her head and turned it upwards to get a good look at what 'saved' them.

It took awhile for it to be visible thanks to the amount of dust and dirt that it had kicked up upon impacting the ground, but before long, the smoke had cleared, allowing Hanji, alongside several other soldiers, to get a glimpse of what had just saved them. The small handful of Survey Corps that remained on their horses veered back to assist their teammates, though they were quick to pause when they too saw what had just saved them, and in an instant, all of their eyes widened in immense shock and horror.

And in Hanji's case, perhaps a tiny bit of manic, perverse curiosity.

The thing that had saved them… it was nearly twenty metres tall, sticking out of the ground, and by proxy the dissolving corpse of the Titan it had crashed into, like an oversized gravestone. In the darkness, the soldiers present could vaguely make out its silhouette, with it looking similar to mace or an exceptionally bulky lance. The 'snout' of the weapon, the segment buried in the ground/dissolving Titan corpse, seemed to be damaged, revealing an impressively sharp, bladed weapon housed inside. There were three handles on the massive mace-like weapon, though no one present could even begin to comprehend anything using such a massive weapon, as its size alone dwarfed even the tallest of Titans, and based on just how large it was, none of them believed that any Titan, abnormal or not, could possibly wield it effectively.

And as for Hanji… well, whilst she too was wondering who the owner of this weapon was, she was also drooling at the prospect of observing it. She was a Titan fanatic at heart, after all, and the prospect of a weapon-wielding Titan sent her heart fluttering so high that it nearly burst out of her chest.

Thankfully for her, however, her prayers were answered rather quickly, and not to mention incredibly abruptly, when that strange sound she heard mere moments prior became audible once more, only this time, it was much louder, coming at them from behind. Turning their heads in that direction, Hanji, along with a few others who weren't too focused on the 'weapon', widened her eyes when she saw what was approaching.

While hard to make out in the darkness, Hanji could quite easily tell that the encroaching entity was a Titan of sorts, one which seemed to be hovering towards them with what seemed to be blue flames coming from the sides of it's shins and two black objects on it's hips, propelling it forwards at breakneck speeds. Even in the dark of night, Hanji could make out that it was well over 15 metres in height, standing at almost 20 metres in height, which was unheard of in Titan history. But those other features seemed almost trivial when compared to one major difference between this… thing and the Titans, and that was it's physical appearance.

Unlike every other Titan documented by the Military Brigade, this one appeared to be almost entirely mechanical in appearance, at least from what most of the group could see through the darkness. Nothing about it appeared to be composed of flesh and blood, with its silhouette being made out of harsh angles and sharpened points. It's chassis was predominantly white, accented with red, grey, a touch of gold and, if they squinted, they could also make out a handful of dark blue accents. Several pink lights could also be seen on the entity's chest and knees, and likewise, a pair of green lights were located at where its eyes should be, something that was fascinating on its own. No one ever recalled any Titan being bioluminescent up till now…

The strange lights and appearance aside, Hanji, upon further observation, noticed that there was also something that resembled a sword in the 'Titan's' hand. A Titan wielding a weapon…? That was virtually unheard of! But if that were the case… then perhaps…

Before she could finish that thought, however, the sound of her fellow soldiers screaming in shock could be heard, and as soon as she processed that sound, the woman blinked and snapped back to reality, where she remembered that, regardless of how intriguing the approaching 'Titan' was, it was still a potential threat, and as such, she responded accordingly by resting one of her hands atop one the handle of one of her Anti-Titan blades. The other soldiers present had their weapons fully unsheathed, already expecting the worst from this newcomer all the while, though Hanji, despite what her reputation would imply, was not as airheaded as one might expect.

She was renowned for her rashness and doggish determination for Titan research, sure, but a lesser known quality of hers was her ability to remain absurdly calm, even in the worst of situations, and it showed, as she remained calm despite the new 'Titan's' approach, with her breathing steady and her eyes locked onto it with a determined glint behind them.

'Come on then, let's see if that throw of yours was just a fluke… or…'

And right as this new 'Titan' was about to reach them, time itself appeared to a crawl as it crouched down low, and, in a split second, it lunged upwards, jumping over the heads of the soldiers with relative ease. The massive 'Titan' soared over their heads with very little issue, and when it landed not too far away from where Hanji was standing, it created a small crater on impact before it rushed towards the Titans that were pursuing them.

Hanji herself gasped a little as she was thrown off her feet by the aftershock of the 'Titan's' landing, and when it rushed onwards, the wind pressure that followed sent her soaring backwards. Much to her relief, however, Moblit, being the ever diligent assistant that he was, managed to catch her before she fell flat on her ass.

"Thanks for that, Moblit!" thanked Hanji as she stared back at her assistant with a wide grin on her face, one that contrasted rather harshly with the bleak situation they were currently in, though at this point, the poor guy was used to it. They did just discover an apparently new species of Titan, after all, and it was a miracle that Zoe had not wet herself because of it.

"Y-You're welcome, Hanji, but maybe we should-" began Moblit, with him suggesting that they get out of here ASAP, before he was cut off by the sound of metal impacting flesh. Upon hearing it, everyone present instinctively turned towards the source, and when they did, the two of them were quick to be caught off guard. "H-Holy-"

"Shit," finished Hanji for her assistant as she widened her eyes behind her glasses, and by all means, one couldn't really blame her for such a reaction, as her fellow soldiers wore similar expressions on their faces. The reason why? Well…

… it was probably because the newly arrived 'Titan' had just closed the distance between itself and the Eleven metre Titan holding onto Luke Sys, and with a single swing of its free arm, it punched it in the face with enough force to liquify it. Everyone present gasped at the sight before them, with all of them taken aback not only by the fact that this 'Titan' was attacking one of its own, but also because of just how powerful the damn thing was.

Titans weren't particularly durable, at the same time, they were certainly not flimsy. But even so… against the metal fist of the newly arrived 'Titan', the Eleven metre's head may as well have been a bowl of gelatin, as it offered literally no resistance against the newcomer's fist as it impacted it. Blood splattered onto the ground as the 'Titan's' fist passed rocketed past its neck, and within a moment's notice, it kicked the now headless Titan in the chest with enough force that it caused it to cave in on itself whilst also sending its now lifeless body flying backwards.

As the headless corpse of the Titan fell backwards, the fingers that were once clasped around the body of Luke Sys loosened, allowing him to fall to the ground with a mild thump seconds later. Rolling to a halt, the soldier groaned a little as he scrambled up to his feet and made a mad dash for the rest of his team. One of his arms was wrapped around his stomach as he ran, and as he did so, the 'Titan' moved to put itself between the soldiers and the other Titans in an almost protective manner.

"What the fuck even is this thing…?" muttered one of the soldiers present as Moblit rushed forwards to help Sys back into the formation, and as he spoke, the 'Titan' crouched down low, even if it was still taller than even a Fifteen metre, and allowed the twin boosters on its hips to tilt backwards. As they did so, their tips, alongside the tips of the strange, diamond-shaped objects on either side of the 'Titan's' shins, began emitting a strange blue glow. While this happened, the other Titans present began to clumsily approach it, with all of them focusing almost entirely on the newly arrived macha as they surged forwards.

Three steps were all the Titans managed to take before the blue glow on the 'Titan's' shins and hip boosters abruptly exploded, with the aftershock causing several of the soldiers present to be knocked onto their rears or raise their arms up to block the inbound smoke and dirt. The only one that remained unaffected by this was Hanji, whose goggles protected her from the worst of it. Hell, she barely even flinched as the damn thing rocketed forwards, towards the inbound Titans.

"Amazing…"

The moment that word escaped her lips, the newly arrived 'Titan' lunged forwards, and with a single swipe of its arm, it grabbed onto the head of a Fifteen metre and slammed it straight into the ground, creating a massive crater on impact. Beneath its palm, the Titan's skull was crushed completely as blood splattered the dirt beneath it, and all the while, dust and dirt was launched up into the air, shielding both from view.

A handful of Titans made an attempt to close in on the 'Titan' as it remained obscured by the smoke, though the one that was closest to it, a Nine metre, was quickly taken care of when a massive Longsword sprung out of the smoke and stabbed it straight through the chest. The blade, still embedded in its body, was then swung sideways, in turn slicing the Nine metre in half whilst also slicing both legs off a Thirteen metre at the hip. The former landed on the ground with a disgusting splat and was quickly forgotten, though as for the latter, it landed and began squirming a little, only to be silenced when the one that cause it to lose its legs in the first place slammed its heeled foot down onto its chest, killing it in an instant.

Many winced at just how powerful it was, with all of them feeling the wind pressure generated from that stomp, though as for some others, namely Hanji, Erwin and Levi, they found themselves rather stunned by how… nuanced the 'Titan's' fighting style was. It was by no means a sophisticated fighter, but the way it fought was very much unlike anything they've seen Titans go for in the past. This 'Titan' wasn't fighting with blind instinct, it was fighting with purpose.

Whatever that purpose was… was up for debate.

Rather abruptly, however, the ground beneath them shook with the force of multiple cannonball impacts, and upon acknowledging this, both Erwin and Levi promptly snapped out of their brief stupor as they turned their attentions back towards the 'Titan' that was… defending them, for the lack of a better term, and they were quick to widen their eyes further in shock when they saw that it was now wielding both its Longsword and the Mace-like armament that had saved them mere moments prior. The latter weapon must've weighed more than a few tons, and yet, here this 'Titan' was, swinging around in one hand whilst the other held onto its Longsword as a backup weapon.

With a single, mighty swing, the Mace demolished the abdomen of a Twelve metre Titan before it crashed straight into the side of a Seven metre's head, causing its skull to collapse under the immense pressure of the strike. Titan blood coated the surface of the weapon with each swing, and as it pulled the Mace back towards itself, the 'Titan' brought it up into the air before it jammed the weapon's handle straight through the mouth of a Three metre Titan, with the weapon's pommel bursting out of the bottom of the beast's body and embedding itself in the dirt.

"Holy shit…" swore Hanji, who was utterly enthralled by this 'Titan' as she watched it do battle, eyes glimmering with child-like wonder all the while. Moblit found himself shuddering a little at this, as there were few things in this world that came close to being as horrific as Hanji Zoe whilst she was in a Titan-research frenzy, and though he was able to gather up enough courage to step towards her in an attempt to pull her back, the universe itself seemed to not want this, as, before he could pull her away… something… unexpected happened.

Whilst the 'Titan' was collapsing the skull of a Fourteen metre into itself with its fist, one of the Titans present, a Five metre, seemed to realize that combatting the much larger opponent was a lost cause, either that or its instincts compelled it to disengage, as it turned towards the soldiers present with a doofy grin on its face. Thereafter, it took a handful of steps towards them before it charged headlong in their direction, fully intent on getting them, one way or another. The soldiers present panicked a little, seeing as how they were at a major disadvantage, whilst a few of them, namely Levi, swiftly prepared a possible counterattack against the inbound beast.

And yet… the same couldn't be said for Hanji, who simply watched as the Titan sprinted towards them with wonder filled eyes. She was too enamoured by the spectacle presented before her to fully register the inbound danger, and Ackerman realized that, even if he were to rush out and attempt to save her at maximum speed, he would be too late. That didn't stop him from trying, though…

… what did stop him from trying, however, was the fact that, in the background, the 'Titan' abruptly turned towards the group of soldiers and allowed its eyes to flash a powerful shade of green. And, with a simple flick of its arm, it threw its Longsword towards their general direction before turning back towards the battle at hand. Right as the blade left its grasp, the Five metre Titan lunged at Hanji, who was standing closest to it… and for the second time in the past five minutes, time slowed to a crawl once more.

Hanji found herself widening her eyes in shock as the Five metre Titan opened its jaws to reveal blunt yet powerful teeth that could very well slice her in half as it lunged forwards, but as it did so, the 'Titan's' Longsword came soaring over its head, and before it could get within range to snap its jaws shut around her body, the Longsword slammed itself into the ground. Its tip buried itself into the ground, mere inches away from where Hanji stood, and acted as a wall between herself and the lunging Titan.

A wall that the Titan had inadvertently jumped into.

The momentum of the Titan's jump, alongside the sharpness of the blade, worked very well with one another, as, upon colliding with the edge of the Longsword, the Five metre Titan found itself being split in half lengthways, causing a massive amount of blood and guts to spray onto the ground and onto Hanji all the while. The soldiers behind her didn't say much, with all of them having been shocked into silence at this point, as they watched the bisected halves of the Titan skid to a halt, and as for Hanji herself… she found herself staring wide eyed into the reflective edge of the Longsword, still unable to process what had just happened.

Behind her, the soldiers all remained solemnly quiet as they watched the two halves of the bisected Titan dissipate into nothing, and even Erwin and Levi were baffled into silence as they observed from afar. Moblit himself nearly had a heart attack after witnessing another one of Zoe's near-death experiences, and as for Hanji herself, her enthusiasm was quickly curbed when she allowed the realization that she could have died right there and then sink into her system… and once it did, she felt her knees give way beneath herself as she fell onto her rear, overwhelmed by… everything, really.

Mere seconds after she fell onto her ass, however, the Longsword that saved her life was pulled out of the ground, and as that happened, everyone turned their attention upwards and saw that the 'Titan' had retrieved its weapon, with it now holding onto it by its side alongside its strange, Mace-like weapon, which had its snout slammed into the ground as the mechanical newcomer stared down at the surviving soldiers.

And what followed… were a few moments of tense silence as the 'Titan' stared down at the humans with its cold, impassioned, green eyes. It didn't show any signs of hostility, nor did it seem to care about how a good majority of the soldiers were brandishing their Anti-Titan Blades at it. Rather, it simply watched them… observed them… and vice versa, the soldiers remained ready for anything as they stared up at the 'Titan' with fear-filled eyes.

Rather abruptly, however, the tense silence was broken when the green eyes of the 'Titan' flashed, brightening themselves up a little more than usual for a split second, just long enough that the more perceptive Survey Corps could notice, before steam was expelled from various vents on its chassis. The soldiers present recoiled as this happened, with Hanji bringing an arm up to shield herself from the steam as it came close to her, though within seconds, the steam was dissipated when the 'Titan' boosted backwards, away from the group of soldiers, before disappearing into the darkness.

With a gasp, Hanji got up to her feet and made an attempt to spot the fleeing 'Titan' through the darkness, though she didn't get very far. The blue flames of the 'Titan' were quick to extinguish themselves as it got further and further, and before long, they lost it as it hid itself inside a decently sized forest that was a few hundred metres away from their current position.

The fact that it could clear that much ground in such a short amount of time… it was both amazing and terrifying all at once.

Regardless, despite her wishing to pursue it, on her own if need be, Hanji quickly felt a hand resting atop her shoulder, prompting her to turn around and see Moblit staring up at her. His knees were quivering and she could tell that his hands were also experiencing a mild fear-induced tremor, but even so, he didn't let it show too much as he spoke.

"C-Can we go back now?"

And for as reluctant as she felt about that… she relented, knowing that a minute more spent out here was another minute more for the Titans to get them.

"Yeah, sure. Let's head home, Moblit…"

'That was certainly… something…'

Frowning a little as he knelt Barbatos down within the grove of trees, Mikazuki Augus found himself sighing a little in exasperation as he observed the adults reorganise themselves back into formation from afar. That bespectacled woman was looking in the Gundam's general direction before she turned back to join her group, and before long, they were departing on horseback, prompting the boy to grunt a little in amusement all the while.

Horseback riding… that was certainly something that he's never seen before up till now. Only the old man would speak about it on rare occasions, and even then, it was not too common. Regardless, the sight of horseback riders told Mikazuki two incredibly important things; this place was incredibly primitive, for them to not make use of automobiles and to resort to horses, and that he was, at best, on a different continent from the rest of Tekkadan.

He didn't recall any horseback riders back at Edmonton, after all.

'I wonder…' began Mikazuki mentally as his eyes followed the retreating adults on horseback, with him narrowing them thoughtfully all the while. The boy was never one to make any complicated theories or assumptions, but even so… the boy still had enough mental capacity to think for himself when in confounding situations, and it didn't take long for him to acknowledge something.

Those adults on horseback… they had to have come from somewhere… a base of operations, perhaps? If he could follow them back to wherever their base was, Mikazuki suspected that he could potentially find a way to contact Tekkadan through them. It was a rather desperate plan, backed up by the fact that Augus was still unsure on if he was even on the same planet as the rest of his family… but in times as desperate as these, even he needed to take risks.

After all, right now, what more could he lose?

And with all that in mind, Mikazuki huffed to himself and set the thrusters of his unit to their absolute minimum, and within seconds, the Gundam boosted out of the foliage at a pace that would allow it to tail the horses from a distance that allowed it to maintain a visual on them whilst remaining out of their rider's side. Barbatos itself had suggested the distance to Mika via the Alaya-Vijnana system, and he made use of them with little hesitation.

Why wouldn't he listen to the unit, anyways? It saved him more times than he could count in more ways than one, and listening to it now, in such an alien environment, was probably his smartest move…

Greetings! This is Stryker from December 2021 after he overhauled this chapter. It is completely different in almost every way possible and hopefully more readable. I'm still terrible at outros and have nothing else to say right now, so here's the review reply segment.

xXgohanXx21: thanks :)

Bloodege2001: well, here's more

Ulydace: I kinda responded to him via a private message, but I still gotta say that I do agree on that. And also I'm a little happy about finally getting criticism.

Edited on: 14/12/2021 with help from proofreader; Renn