For at least a solid minute, nobody moved.

Nac, Mylius and Flex had all swung up onto a building that stood roughly ten metres away from the cloud of smoke that cloaked the newcomer from view. Slowly, however, the smoke began to settle, allowing the three soldiers to see the thing that had 'saved' their comrade more clearly.

'So… that's w-what it looks like up close…' thought Tias as he kept his gaze fixed on the 'Titan', who did not seem to notice any of them. If anything, it seemed to have its attention fixed entirely on the girl on its palm, Mina.

Mylius appeared to be close to a mental breakdown as he stared at the Mechanical Titan. Like his fellow soldiers, the blonde was scared speechless, and his eyes were widened beyond belief. And, at this point in time, the only thing he could do, aside from feel an immense amount of fear, was to feel a large amount of pity for Mina.

Flex, unlike her juniors, was shockingly calm while she stared at the slowly clearing smoke, giving only a mild grimace as she saw the white armour of the Mechanical Titan.

'After all this time,' thought the senior Garrison as the smoke cleared just enough for her and her Cadets to get a good look at the 'Titan's' featureless face. Flex winced when she saw that vaguely recognisable white mouthplate and glassy 'eyes' it possessed, though to her credit, she did not appear to be shaken when it expelled a massive load of steam from every vent on its body, something that made Mylius and Nac both step back a little. 'Why have you returned now?'

She then turned her attention towards its right palm that was slowly becoming visible as the dust settled, narrowing her eyes at Mina Carolina, who sat on it with her eyes wide in fear, staring into the cold, unblinking eyes of the Mechanical Titan.

'And why did you bother even saving a Cadet…?'

Sighing deeply as he slouched forward to catch his breath, Mikazuki squeezed both arm controllers of his unit as he felt the rush of adrenaline he was feeling slowly fade. While he did so, he could barely make out the voices of Nac, Mylius and Flex to his left, though he did his best to block them out as he felt his muscles relax.

His heart rate slowed to its normal speed with each breath he took, and as soon as it stabilized, the pilot turned up… and winced.

Mina… though the optical units of his Gundam, Mika could very easily tell that she was horrified. Her eyes were widened up to the point where Mika began wondering if they would fall out of her head, and he also noticed that they had an oddly glassy texture to them, almost as though she was about to cry but was too terrified to do so. The boy also quickly noted that she seemed to be shaking ever so slightly, trembling in fear…

It was rather obvious to him that she was afraid of Barbatos, or in simpler terms, indirectly afraid of him. Mika quirked an eyebrow up at that thought, finding the thought of Mina being afraid of him, indirectly or not, rather… saddening.

Opening his mouth ever so slightly, Mika found that he almost spoke to Mina in spite of the fact that she would not hear him. When he realized this, he quickly shut it and silently berated how passive he had become in his time outside of Barbatos. Back in his Tekkadan days, his actions spoke much louder than his words… but now, he used words more frequently. It wasn't exactly frequent enough that it had replaced his 'actions louder than words' schtick, but it was enough that he had grown accustomed to it.

After he closed his mouth, Mika turned towards the cockpit monitor of his unit. Staring at it for a moment, the pilot pondered the possibility of revealing himself to Mina and the others. As he thought about it, the pilot felt his eyes trail off towards a small, holographic button on the top left of his cockpit monitor. While he may not have piloted Barbatos for roughly five years, Mika still remembered it as the input to pop the Gundam's cockpit open.

A simple tap of the button was all Mika needed to reveal himself… to show that Barbatos was on their side of this battle. That, and perhaps if he revealed himself, Mina could stop staring at Barbatos… at him, with that horrified expression… an expression that made him feel odd for an unknown reason. With that in mind, the former Tekkadan pilot told himself that this was the right move, prompting him to slowly inch his hand towards the holographic button that would shift the cockpit down…

Only for him to stop when he heard a mild groan behind his unit. Turning his body to the left, Mika, though the very edge of Barbatos cockpit/optical scanners, saw that Nac had taken a step towards his Gundams still unmoving figure. His body language suggested that he was hostile towards it… and his expression…

Nac never was one to show any form of anger, so Mika seeing his friend's usually friendly face contort into an expression of controlled rage made him pause for a moment, right before his fingers tapped the holographic button that would lower the cockpit.

Despite the fact that he was inside the cockpit of Barbatos, Mika couldn't help but feel… shaken up by that glare Nac was giving his unit. If anything, it felt almost as though Nac was glaring at him, not Barbatos… a clear warning that if he did anything to Mina, he would most certainly strike him down, even if it was the last thing he would ever do.

That one thought made Mika's arm falter ever so slightly. And, almost immediately after, the pilot retracted his left arm.

He couldn't do it…

While him revealing himself to Mina, Nac, Mylius and their 'commander' would have been a smart move, Mika found that he simply could not do it. If he showed himself, would they hate him for withholding such an important secret from them for so long? Would they let it slide, as Nac put it? Or would they just consider him an enemy as Barbatos was technically a Titan?

Grimacing ever so slightly at those thoughts, Mika found that his breathing was beginning to quicken. Blinking in mild surprise, Augus slowly brought his hand up to his chest, only to pause when he saw that his hand was shaking. Staring at it intently, Mika swiftly balled it up into a fist as he frowned, picturing several possible negative outcomes that could potentially arise should he reveal himself to them.

'I… can't,' was his conclusion as he lowered his arm back down towards the arm controller of his Gundam. And, with a swift motion, he had his unit unfurl its fingers.

'But I can't exactly keep you there…'

Mina was horrified, and even then, it would be an understatement.

She was beyond horrified at that point. Petrified, paralyzed with fear, pale with horror… it was all present on her face as she stared at the cold, unblinking eyes of the Mechanical Titan. Unlike the average Titan, this… thing was truly a terrifying sight to behold.

Behind the Mechanical Titan, Nac, Mylius and Flex all stared at the thing, ready to spring into action should it try anything that would bring harm onto Mina. Flex, with at least a small amount of knowledge regarding the Mechanical Titan, knew that it was at least a little sentient, capable of independent action and thought, and prior experience told her that it didn't exactly bother with killing humans, even at one point saving the lives of Hanji and Levi during the Fall of Maria, a memory that told her to hang back and see what it would do instead of leaping in and attack on impulsive.

Unfortunately, Nac was not as patient as his commander. Just seeing his friend in possible danger was enough to make him step forward, his eyes locked onto the nape of the Mechanical Titan. A precise slash to those pipes located on its nape would perhaps be able to bring it down, he reasoned, and he was just about to launch himself forward, only for Flex herself to stop him.

"Don't do it, Tias," warned Flex, holding her junior back as she glared at him, a glare that was returned in full as Nac grimaced.

"But Mina's-" began Nac, pointing the tip of his Anti-Titan blade at the Mechanical Titan, though he was cut off when Flex continued.

"Stay quiet and be patient," instructed Flex, her iron clad tone telling Nac that she wasn't going to repeat herself. And, not without some reluctance, Nac backed down, though right as he took a step back, all three of them heard the sound of several pistons shifting, prompting them to turn towards the Mechanical Titan…

Only for both Mylius and Nac to widen their eyes when they saw that the 'Titan' in question had unfurled the fingers of its hand which Mina was sitting on. Mina herself didn't seem to notice as her attention was completely fixed onto the face of the Mechanical Titan, and she didn't even react when said 'Titan' set her down onto the hard concrete ground of Trost in a shockingly gentle manner.

With that done, the Mechanical Titan simply kneeled in front of Mina, eyeing her passively as Nac, Mylius and Flex watched. The former two appeared shocked, though the latter appeared to have expected this.

"It… set her down…" muttered Mylius, stating the obvious as Flex smirked, staring at the back of the Mechanical Titan. "But…"

"The Titan that kills other Titans and spares humans, that was what we called it," replied Flex as she turned to regard her juniors. "I came face to face with it during the Fall of Maria, and it was a lot of help. Many reports stated that it saved humans, not kill them."

"And it just so happened to save Mina," concluded Nac, now staring at the Mechanical Titan with… respect? Possibly that. He didn't know how he felt towards this massive hunk of junk, but he supposed that, at the very least, it was not hostile towards them…

And the black haired boy nearly leapt out of his skin when steam suddenly erupted from various golden segments on the Mechanical Titan's body. Mylius mirrored his action while Flex simply shielded her eyes, and once she lowered them, all she saw was steam.

Blinking in shock, the senior soldier found that she and her fellow soldiers were now blanketed by a massive cloud of steam. She attempted to disperse it, though it was too thick to do so. Behind her, she could vaguely hear Nac and Mylius coughing ever so slightly, though she quickly ignored it when she noticed two bright green 'lights' that were visible not too far from where they stood.

Opening her mouth, Flex attempted to mutter out a "What", though she was quickly interrupted when she heard something 'power up', so to speak. A handful of seconds later, six blue orbs of light could be faintly seen in the cloud of steam…

And less than a second later, the blue orbs of light exploded, causing the steam around them to disperse as the Mechanical Titan was propelled out of the cloud, headed in the direction of the breach. The kickback it produced caused Flex, Mylius and Nac to fall onto their backs, though they stood themselves back up within a few seconds, just in time to see the Mechanical Titan ram into a Fifteen metre Titan that was roughly fifty metres away from them with a charging shoulder.

"Whoa…" was all Mylius could mutter out as the Mechanical Titan engaged a pack of Titans. Flex and Nac both joined him in watching for a moment, though before long, Nac broke off from watching the battle and turned his attention towards the more pressing issue, at least in his mind.

"Mina…!" exclaimed Nac as he ran to the edge of the building. Peering down at the ground, Nac felt his heartbeat slow itself down when he saw, through the still clearing cloud of steam near the ground, that Mina was still down there. She appeared traumatised, sure, but she was alive… and that was all that mattered.

Without missing a beat, Nac swung down and sprinted towards his friend. As soon as he was close to her, he knelt down and gently seized her shoulders. With as little force as he could muster, Nac gently shook his friend, who still appeared to be in a fear ridden trance.

"Mina…!" began Nac, shaking his friend gently. He got no response, prompting him to repeat the action once more as he yelled for his friend. He still got no response, so he shook her more violently, and finally, after the tenth yell for his friend, she blinked.

Shaking her head, Mina squeezed her eyes shut as she snapped out of her trance. And as soon as she opened them, Carolina felt herself calm down as soon as she came face to face with none other than Nac himself.

"N-Nac…?" muttered Mina, her voice still shaky as she began to realize just how tense her body was at the moment. Even without the presence of the Mechanical Titan, she still felt close to a panic attack. Thankfully for her, Nac always did have a knack for calming a person down even in the bleakest of situations, and now was no exception.

"It's me… don't worry," assured Nac as he patted his friend's back. He attempted a smile, though it was half successfully as he began to help his friend stand herself up, only to grimace when he noticed how shaky Mina's legs were. "Deep breaths, Mina. Inhale, exhale. Deep breathe… and release…"

Doing as Nac had instructed, Mina found herself calming down within a handful of seconds, though her heart rate was still through the roof. Even so, she was calm enough to take in the situation they were currently in, prompting her to turn up to their commander.

"I… I'm sorry for all that, Commander Flex," apologised Mina, though all she got from Flex was a simple "PSHHHHH."

"What just happened was entirely out of your control, Cadet Carolina!" exclaimed Flex as she knelt down atop the building she and Mylius were on. "But let's not dwell on that right now! We oughta-"

A nearby crash interrupted Flex and made her entire team turn towards the Mechanical Titan and widen their eyes when they saw that it had chokeslammed a Ten metre Titan into a (hopefully) abandoned building.

"W-We should g-g-get out of here," said Mylius, effectively finishing Flex's sentence for her as he turned away from the Mechanical Titan. And that command was answered without hesitation as the entirety of Team Flex fled the area, leaving the Mechanical Titan to mop up the eastern sector of Trost on its own.

Mina did, however, spare the 'Titan' one last look before it disappeared from their field of view, silently wondering what had compelled it to save her…

With a strange knot in his stomach and a frown on his face, Mika felt his grip on Barbatos' arm controllers tighten, in turn crushing the head of a Six metre Titan in its manipulator, as he watched his friends fall back.

Part of him was scolding himself for not revealing himself to his friends, but he swiftly silenced that voice. What was done was done, he couldn't go back in time to change it. All that was left to do now was to keep as many Titans as he could from getting past a hundred metres from the Breach.

Still… it didn't mean that he couldn't think about why he hadn't revealed himself back then as he did so…

The main question was why… it was the smartest move he could have done. During his time as a Tekkadan pilot, if he was not told otherwise by anyone he respected, namely Orga, Mika would have done the smartest thing in his mind. So why did he not do so just now?

Raising the arm controller, Mika had Barbatos lob the headless body of the Six metre Titan straight at an inbound Ten metre. On impact, the Six metre's entire body exploded into a messy rain of gore while the Ten metre's torso promptly disappeared.

Swiftly following up on that, Mika's Alaya Vijnana system warned him of an incoming threat behind Barbatos. Turning on a dime, the pilot reacted by launching his Gundam's left unit at the inbound Titan, a muscular Thirteen metre. Right before it hit the Titan, the grey segments beneath the unit's feet folded out and formed 'claws' of sorts, and as soon as the foot unit made contact with the Titan, specifically it's arm, the 'claws' grasped onto its forearm like a vice.

Not wasting any time, Mika had Barbatos slam its leg unit down onto the ground, in turn slamming the Thirteen metre Titan down as well. Turning to his side, Mika noticed another Titan, a Five metre, charging at his unit, and in response, he swung Barbatos' Titan-caught leg at it. At the last second, Mika disengaged Barbatos' 'feet claws', in turn launching the Thirteen metre straight at the smaller Five metre.

On impact, the Five metre was promptly erased off the face of the world while the Thirteen metre was sent crashing into the side of a building, causing it to collapse. Shockingly, it was still alive, though that mistake was swiftly corrected after Mika had Barbatos blast it through the neck with one of the few remaining Autocannon rounds.

Perhaps it had something to do with his time spent with Mina, Nac and Annie? Being with them seemed to have softened him up, so to speak. Their presence and company had perhaps taught him that even a child soldier as twisted as him was capable of allowing emotion to override logic.

Cracking his knuckles, Mika grumbled to himself. While he probably didn't notice it, the pilot was starting to get frustrated. Perhaps he was going too easy on these Titans... perhaps he should start facing these things as though he were facing an opposing Mobile Suit.

With that in his mind, the Pilot's pupils began constricting as he held the Wrench Mace tightly in both the Gundam's manipulators, his eyes trained directly on a pack of Titans

Unlike his three friends, Mika knew what betrayal felt like. He has experienced it countless times. He was sure that none of his three new friends had experienced it before. And he was certain that if he had revealed this information to them, they would most definitely feel betrayed.

Without any warning, Mika boosted Barbatos straight at the pack of Titans. Right as he was about ten metres away from the first, a chubby Twelve metre, Augus shifted Barbatos' center of gravity, causing the Gundam to tilt itself to the side with its weapon extended out as a counterbalance. And almost immediately after, the Gundam began spinning, though it was deliberate.

Mika had just turned his unit into a raging mechanical cyclone of death.

The first swing obliterated the Twelve metre's torso, and the second completely pulverised the Ten metre behind it. The final Titan, a pudgy Five metre, was a little far off, though Mika kept Barbatos spinning until he was right in front of it.

By the time he had reached it, Barbatos had spun around at least five times, and as soon as it was five metres away from the shorter Titan, Mika had his Gundam slam its foot down into the ground and ground his Gundam's advance to a halt. The sudden stop caused Barbatos' built up momentum to pile on, and Mika used all that momentum to deliver an earth shattering downwards swing right onto the remaining Five metre. And it was safe to say that nothing was left behind as soon as the Wrench Mace made contact with the Titan.

How would they react to him betraying them, so to speak, if he had revealed himself to be the pilot of Barbatos? This was a question that Mika had only just thought about when he rescued Mina. By all means, he was the pilot of a 'Titan', so to speak. In turn, he would be no different from one himself. Would they see him as an enemy? Would they, by some miracle, ignore his 'betrayal' and accept him?

Would they decide that he was no longer worthy of being called a friend?

With an uncharacteristic look of frustration, Mika threw the Wrench Mace and charged straight at a Fifteen metre. As soon as his unit was within arms reach of the Titan, he slammed Barbatos' entire manipulator straight into its chest. The sharp digits of his unit made digging into its flesh easy, and Mika paid no attention to the squishing noises of the flesh as he forced Barbatos' entire arm into the Titan's chest. After a second, Barbatos' manipulator forced itself out of the Fifteen metre Titan's nape, killing it in a truly unconventional way.

Why was he even worried about this? Surely, being a 'friend' wasn't important, right? All that mattered was his survival…

Ignoring the Wrench Mace, Mika had Barbatos rip the Longsword off its back and, with a mighty swing, he cleaved a Titan from shoulder to hip. Its body collapsed onto the floor, though while the bottom half began dissolving, the top remained alive, though that issue was quickly rectified when Mika slammed his Gundam's Longsword into its nape.

But if so… why was he thinking about this? His survival came first! Not some people he met along the way…

Another Fourteen Titan attempted to tackle Barbatos, though its efforts were in vain as the Gundam grabbed it by its neck and hoisted it up into the air. Without missing a beat, the unit slammed the Fourteen metre down onto the building closest to it, and on impact, the entire building promptly collapsed, with the impact itself apparently having been strong enough to kill the Fourteen metre.

As soon as it was down, Mika turned Barbatos over to its next victim, a Fifteen metre Titan that was muscular in stature. Staring at the Longsword in his unit's manipulator, Mika promptly tossed it aside and approached the Fifteen metre. And right as Barbatos was in front of it, Mika had his unit launch a punch at it.

And another, and another, and another, and another.

Before long, the Fifteen metre was nothing more than a dissolving pile of flesh, but Mika ignored it as he kept Barbatos going at it until his unit's fist struck the concrete floor.

And that was when he stopped.

Slowly, Mikazuki straightened Barbatos out and surveyed the area around it.

There was nothing at this point. All the buildings around him were destroyed, every Titan within a hundred metre radius around him had been dealt with, and there were no Military Brigade members close by. The only ones that Mika could make out were the Garrison members who were watching him from above the Walls. If only he could see their faces and how horrified they were at the sight.

This was nothing, however, and Mika knew it.

He had done worse in his life, having killed many even without the use of Barbatos. He was a child soldier at heart, and he could never be any different. Friendship was something he could never hope to achieve, and now that he was inside Barbatos once more, the boy could come to terms with that.

However, right as the boy began thinking of such things, a gentle influx of data via his Alaya Vijnana system caught his attention. Blinking at that, Mika had expected Barbatos to be warning him of an incoming Titan… though he was quickly corrected when he felt the data tell him to do something, so to speak.

Look up.

And so he did, only to wince ever so slightly when something splashed onto Barbatos' optics. Blinking at that, it took Mika a handful of seconds to realize that it was beginning to rain.

For a moment, Mika simply watched as the rain pelted down onto Barbatos, washing the dissolving Titan blood off his chassis. The mere sound of rain hitting metal was calming… and it calmed Mika's mind ever so slightly as he allowed himself to just relax…

"It's raining!"

Blinking at that obvious statement, Mika looked up and raised an eyebrow at Nac and Mina as they stared out the window of their home, smirking immensely as they did.

"You don't say," muttered Annie, rolling her eyes as she leaned back on the couch. Over with Mina and Nac, the former pouted while the latter retorted.

"Gah, don't be such a party pooper, Annie!" proclaimed Nac, smirking as he turned his attention back to the rain. "Storms like that only come every so often! It's always nice to enjoy them!"

"I don't see why we should. Storms are an inconvenience. They make the ground wet," grumbled Annie.

"But at the same time, the rain is beautiful," pointed out Mina. "And it helps plants grow! So it's good in my book!"

"That… and I find it oddly symbolic in a sort of way," said Nac, muttering halfway through as though he reconsidered speaking about the latter half. However, Mika took note of it and raised a brow, now curious as to what he meant by symbolic.

"Symbolic?" echoed Mika, prompting Nac to leap up.

"YOU HEARD ME?!" proclaimed the boy as the pilot nodded. It took Tias a second to realize that Mika was legitimately interested, so he answered.

"Well, you see… raindrops all look weak and frail, just like us. Humans are, at our core, weak little droplets. However, as soon as they hit the ground, the droplets combine and form massive puddles of water, much like how humanity had banded together in an attempt to fight the Titans off."

"But the sun comes out and dries the puddles, so the Sun is a Titan, meaning we can't win this war," deadpanned Annie in an oddly smug tone. Nac's response was to wave his arms around frantically as Leonhardt attempted to hide a smirk.

"THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT!" proclaimed Nac as he swiftly shifted the topic. "B-But… conversely, we can look at it this way. Its symbolic of our family."

"Really?" muttered Mika, an eyebrow raised as he spoke.

"Yep! We all come from mostly different places. Mina and Ms Carolina are both from Karanses, I'm a Trost local and both of you are from Shiganshina. We're all just raindrops that just so happened to land in the same puddle as each other, and despite our differences, I for one could not be more grateful for the fact that we're together!"

And as Mina told Nac off for how cheesy that was, Mika found that to be the first time where he really did feel genuine compassion for his three companions…

… and as those memories came to an end, Mika closed his eyes and held a hand to his heart.

Ultimately, he was a child soldier. He never experienced true love or friendship. The closest he got was with Orga, but that relationship felt more like a master/student one than anything. Now, however, he was different. He worried about minute things such as how his old friends would react to him revealing himself as a pilot when he should be worrying about keeping them safe.

With that in mind, Mika casted all doubt in regards to how they would react to the information regarding him being a pilot and simply focused on the task at hand, keeping the Titans away.

And, with a gentle squeeze of the arm controllers, he went on to do just that.

"Let's go, Barbatos."

Rain had begun falling rather hard by the time Team Flex had stopped to catch their breath, prompting the four to swing down towards a building to catch their breath.

While Flex herself landed without much issue, her juniors ended up slipping on the wet roof of the building they had chosen to land on. Nac managed to just barely keep himself upright while both Mylius and Mina ended up slipping and landing on their rears. While Mina simply slipped on the ground, Mylius nearly slid off the roof, though thankfully Nac managed to stop him from becoming a red stain on the ground.

"I think we're far enough away," muttered Flex, turning towards the general direction of the Mechanical Titan as she spoke. Beside her, Mina gave an uncertain nod as she walked up to her commander. Noticing this, Flex turned to her junior and placed a hand on her smaller shoulder. "You alright there, Carolina?"

"P-Peachy…" was the Garrison's response from Mina as she rubbed her upper right arm, looking away from her senior. Flex knew that she wasn't being entirely truthful, but she dropped the topic in favor of allowing her juniors to unwind.

Before long, Mylius and Nac joined Mina and Flex. The Garrison commander checked on the blonde Cadet, giving Nac some time to speak to Mina, who held out her left hand, allowing the rain to drop onto her palm.

"What a bad time for it to rain," muttered Nac as he ran his fingers through his wet hair. Mina nodded in response, prompting Nac to wince ever so slightly. "But still, its refreshing in a way, for Trost to be as cool as it is right now…"

"I guess so," was Mina's response as she turned up to her taller friend. She attempted a mild smile, though it came out as more of a half smile as she clenched her left hand into a fist. "Hey, remember that weird droplet thing you told me, Annie and Mika back in the day?"

"That whole thing about us being droplets and all that?" inquired Nac, attempting to make the best out of the currently calm situation. "Yeah… weird memory, y'know? It was cheesy… why'd you bring it up though?"

"No particular reason. Just the rain reminded me of the whole thing," muttered Mina with a smile. Nac returned it, though his smile quickly faded a far off sound of a bell caught his attention. Perking his ears up, Nac turned towards its general direction and raised his brows at their Commander, who appeared similarly confused at first, though before long she nodded. "Commander?"

"It's a retreat signal," explained Flex, motioning for her juniors to get ready to move. Nac raised his brows at that while Mina tilted her head to her side, prompting Flex to explain further. "The residents of Trost have been evacuated, so our presence is no longer needed. We can either stay here and be eaten… or fall back."

Mylius was immediately on board with the latter option, and both Mina and Nac were quick to follow up on that. With all three of her juniors on board with her plan, Flex gave a mild fistpump and motioned towards the Trost District's Military base.

"We'll refuel and scale the Wall of Rose. Is anyone against that plan?"

And when no one spoke up to object it, Flex smirked and leapt off the edge of the building.

"Then let's get a move on!"

"YES MA'AM!"

*plays the drums*

So after a handful of redrafts and rewrites, I, Stryker A.J, have finally written TNK Remastered Chapter 14. That's me stating the obvious, but I frankly don't know how to start off the outro.

Anyhow, before we delve into the important stuff, I may as well state the obvious again. My name is different. If you're wondering why, I simply thought that having 'Alexander' in my name would confuse people into thinking that it was my real name. The A in Stryker A.J doesn't mean anything, it's just there for cosmetic purposes. Frankly speaking, I would just go with 'Stryker J' as my username, but someone had already taken it, so I can't use it.

On a rather ironic note, the earliest known person on this site to use the username 'Stryker J' published a story on May 2001 and was last updated on July 14th 2002, just three days after my birthday. That can't be a coincidence.

Anyways, onto the more important stuff… I think.

Firstly, a big, manly, non-homo hug to my proofreader, who helped me with this story a lot more than you would imagine He's a good man whom I love in a totally bro way.

Aphem, this chapter is very noticeably shorter than the previous few. That's more because there's less interactions between characters and more combat.

You probably also noticed how this chapter is more focused on Mika's inner conflict. If anything, this entire chapter is just to show how different he is now when compared to his past self. He's more emotional and thinks more independently, something that his past self wasn't really capable of.

And in regards to the combat, I had a pretty fun time writing it. The original plan was for Barbatos to tear through hordes of Titans with the Wrench Mace, but that would've become dull after some time, so I took it upon myself to try and make the fights interesting… hopefully.

The next handful of chapters will most likely be very similar to this one up till the end of the Trost arc. And as a spoiler, Mina, Nac, Mylius and Thomas survive the arc.

But then again, that's not really a spoiler

ONTO THE REVIEWS.

Quick cluster reply: I shall address this very quickly, but I wish to thank everyone who has wished me a happy birthday in the update chapter! It really makes a depressed, lazy, useless engineer in training like myself happy. I'll thank you guys individually down below.

noobie53: I mean, that is a good reaction after you realize that you're sitting on the palm of a 'Titan' that was thought to be a myth. I kinda went with the 'stunned into silence' approach, just because it was a little easier to write… I really am a lazy cunt, eh?

BrotherCaptainSheperd: mah boi, I never left. I was simply lagging behind

CT7567Rules: aye, them Titans best watch out, for Gundam Barbatos has returned. And unfortunately, since I'm not exactly a good fight choreographer and sound implementer, I won't exactly be inserting any Gundam OSTs into the combat scenes. That doesn't mean you can't play some Raise Your Flag while reading tho. And thank you for the happy birthday! May your life be filled with fortune.

BushidoWookie: don't worry, all stories shall be continued. And thank you for the happy birthday, and make sure you keep Han Solo out of trouble.

Guest: thanks for the praise! I'm glad you're enjoying this clusterfuck of a story, and I'll try and keep the quality of this story at least average.

mithhat: much obliged. I hope you have a good day as well

Dracus6: please, Dracus, spare me! I already have three more story ideas in mind… adding another onto the pile helps no one!

Red Sazabert: ah shucks, thanks for the compliments my dude. The answer to your question is a resounding maybe, as it would lead to a spoiler for a very late chapter. And in regards to the 1/100 Barbatos, I have to say, I'm at least a little flattered that you actually tried to get a Barbatos F6 just because of me (though between you and me, I suggest you wait for the Master Grade that's coming out in November). And finally, thank you for that happy birthday, and here's hoping for you to find that 1/100 Barbatos Form 6!

Setsuna Rizky: y'know, your review warms my heart for reasons unknown. Just that first paragraph makes me smile. As a 'writer', I have a knack for writing daily. Of course, thanks to college, I'm usually very tired and can't write properly, often leading to stress. So hearing someone other than my proofreader tell me that I can take my time with updates feels pretty nice.

And thanks for the complement in regards to my Iron Blooded Orphan fics! I love the series, and do my best to write about it.

In regards to my social media, it's all in my profile. Why you'd wanna add me is beyond my comprehension, but hey, I'm always there for a friend. Unfortunately, I do not have Instagram. And yes, Master Grade Barbatos is official. REJOICE ONCE MORE.

And finally… MUDAMUDAMUDAMUDA

That was a lot of reviews, eh? Frankly, it flatters to know that people read all my garbage stories and think that they're good enough to leave a review on. I genuinely do not believe that I deserve as much clout as I currently do, but I can't really complain. It's been fun, writing all these stories.

And in regards to the three stories I have in mind, have you guys ever heard of Nier Automata, Pacific Rim, Darling in the Franxx and Fate Grand Order?

I'll leave you with that. See you guys next time!