Today the Cadet Corps were given a wilderness activity, in which they were to navigate the desert on horseback with a time limit. They were split into two teams, one led by Marco with Armin tasked as recording and evaluating each member's individual performance. The other lead was lead by Thomas and Mikasa was tasked as recording and evaluating each member's individual performance
On Marco's team was Eren, Armin, Tim, Mina, Christa, Jean, Connie, and Sasha. Over on Thomas' side, his team included Mikasa, Jason, Reiner, Bertolt, Annie, Nack, Samuel and Daz
Armin looked up from the clipboard in his hands to look at each of his teammates. Tim was the only one looking around the forest with calculating eyes as if waiting for something to happen, while everyone else seemed to be bored
"So... We're not allowed to rush this?" Marco spoke up
"Right" Armin replied
"We'd also be stupid if we did. We can take our time" Jean said
"You don't know your lower limit. Jean, if you're going to take it slow, then I'm going ahead" Eren said as he began to speed up
"Wait, Eren..." Armin called out
Tim was heard sighing "Is this how Dick feels when Damian and I argue each other" he softly spoke as everyone but Eren and Jean wondered who Dick and Damian were
"Extra effort here won't get me into the Military Police" Jean said in a low voice
"It would be great if time passed faster in this case" Connie suddenly said
"You got that right... we have a long road ahead of us" agreed Sasha
"This is so tiresome" Jean grumbled
"Complaining won't make things get better" was all Tim said as he moved towards the front
Meanwhile with the second group, Jason was utterly bored to death. He shouldn't have listened to Tim 'You wanted action, might not be those Titans everyone talks about, but you'll probably get to have some type of adventure. Besides, this will be perfect to get more information about this world and look on the bright side... you'll finally get time away from me'
"If that's true, we may not be able to get there before nightfall" Jason heard Thomas say
"Then we should head eastward a little?" Mikasa was heard saying
"On the other hand, it may also be too shady" Thomas countered
Mikasa's suddenly looked up and saw a bird flying
"What is it Mikasa?" Thomas asked her
"It's nothing. It's just me..." she replied, with Reiner, Bertolt and Annie looking at her. Jason however looked in the direction that had caught Mikasa's attention and narrowed his eyes
'Something feels off about all this... keep your guard up baby bird. If things get bad, we'll need to go all out' Jason thought, his hand moving towards the utility belt he kept on him at all times currently hidden under his shirt
Back with Marco's group, Jean took notice of something "The lizard's joining us on the same route, huh"
"It's rare to see that" Marco agreed
"They're delicious you know" Sasha added
"What?" Christa asked
"She's taking about the lizard. I can't speak, never having tried one myself" Tim said, joining into the conversation
"They really are, Tim! My family and I use to eat them. They taste like chicken" Sasha explained as Tim couldn't exactly see lizards tasting like chicken. It was times like this where he missed Alfred's cooking... and coffee. Why was tea available in this world, but not coffee?!
"You can cook?" Jean asked
"Of course I can! Piece of cake!" Sasha exclaimed
Tim suddenly saw Jean's expression and knew things were about to get chaotic "Alrighty then"
"Hey!" Marco cried out as Jean's horse picked up speed
"If hunting for food is part of the exercise, then what's better than getting the lizard?"
"Don't do that!" Christa shouted
"I'm going ahead" Eren chimed
'Of course he would' Tim thought as he took out a batarang from his utility belt. Since it was night time, and barely anyone was paying as much attention as him, no one would notice it
Jean chased after the lizard, sword suddenly in hand "Gotcha!" he declared... only to find his sword meet with another sword. The wielder of the sword was of course none other than Eren
The lizard just stared at the duo, after awhile taking off. However, the lizard met its end when something pierced its body
"What are you doing?" Jean exclaimed
"This isn't a game" Eren replied
"We don't even have an instructor! This training won't get us anywhere"
"Stop it!" Marco yelled, as he approached the two after getting off his horse "You're acting like brats!"
By now a yelling match was happening much to Tim's annoyance
"Please don't record this yet, Armin" Marco told the blonde
"G-got it" Armin said as took note of Tim walking further away from the group
"Write down: Jean Kirstein tries to find food during the exercise, but gets interrupted by Eren Yeager"
"What'd you say?" Eren angrily said and Tim started to regret this activity. Actually he regretted that he had to placed on a team that had Eren and Jean in it since they literally seem to not be able to stop arguing with one another
"STOP!" Tim shouted as everyone turned towards him "You two keep arguing and causing us delays because of your problems with one another. There will come a day where you both will need to work together. What will you do then? Compete against one another and see who will be superior? Stop the petty arguments for a moment and focus on our objective"
Tim slowly bend down, grabbing something that none could see and turned around to reveal the lizard from before "You said you could cook something with this? Here you go" he said throwing it towards Sasha as the group stared in shock
Armin wondered when Tim had the chance to even attack the lizard, much less get close enough before it ran away
Back with the other group, the trainees all stood near some trees
"Are you sure?" Mikasa asked
"There's no doubt about it. This was where we put it. Everything that we kept safe here..." Daz spoke, trailing off at the end
"Our ODM gear is gone" Thomas said
"Over here" Annie called out and motioned towards the campsite
Reiner slowly made his way over, checking the ash "They've been gone for quite awhile" he commented as Mikasa said something
Jason wasn't paying them much attention. He was making his way over towards the small hole hidden by multiple bushes. He had hidden his gear there and much to his relief, it seems it wasn't stolen. He was glad for his suspicions after Mikasa had reacted the way she did before. If he had left his gear with the others, it would have surely been stolen
"It must be a gang of thieves. It seems they found out where the weapons were placed and stole them during the night" Reiner's voice brought Jason back into what the others were saying "They gather ODM gear and make black market deals"
"So we're being targeted?" Thomas asked
"If they got caught, we would have been helpless to stop them. You should be happy you're still alive" Mikasa commented
"Should we stop the training and report this?"
"No. We need to get everyone's gear back and warn the other team of the danger" Jason said making his way back over to everyone as they stared at him in shock
"How do you still have your gear?! Everyone else had there's stolen?" Daz exclaimed
"Mikasa's reaction from before. Something didn't feel right and once night hit, I took extra caution. I waited for everyone to fall asleep and then switched where I left my gear"
"You couldn't have shared this information with us?" Reiner said with crossed arms
Jason gave him an expressionless look "If I was wrong, then there wouldn't have been any need for that. However seems I was right. Also I didn't think along the lines of people stealing gear, I thought mostly that we'd get attacked. I wanted to have my gear at hand should that have happened"
Reiner sighed "No use thinking about the what-ifs. Jason since you're the only one with gear at the moment, you'd best go on ahead and find the others like you said. We'll be behind you" he said and with that Jason was on his way
Currently Marco's group was eating the lizard Tim had been able to capture for them as Sasha had cooked it and many had to agree it didn't taste bad. Tim was surprised by how the lizard tasted since he wasn't expecting it to taste the way it did
"Not bad Sasha. You sure know how to cook" Tim complimented her
Of course the peace wasn't much of an option for this group as Eren and Jean were once again fighting with one another. At this point Tim didn't care anymore and continued to ignore the duo, only occasionally listening in
"Why did you even join the trainee corps?" Eren yelled
"To live something better than a humble life at the very least" Jean said with a smirk
"It's fine Armin! It's just a chat during mealtime" Marco said after seeing Armin pick up the clipboard and pen
'Wouldn't put it in those words exactly' Tim mentally thought
However Tim suddenly thought he heard something, making him go full on Red Robin mode
Seems Christa also seemed to take note of this as she tried to gain the attention of her teammates, but no one listened or noticed Tim had left the campsite
"Hey you two! Enough already!" Macro shouted as both Eren and Jean stopped their argument... for now
Soon it was time to sleep. Christa was sitting down next to a stream as she kept watch. Suddenly a branch snapped, making the blonde look towards the dark trees. A small animal ran across, but Christa's gaze was on something else. In fact, suddenly a man appeared behind her
A scream was heard making Eren's eyes snap open. However he found a rifle pointed at his face and he took note of the other three gun surrounding them
"Gather their ODM gear. Hurry"
The teen just looked on, many of them were all frozen... expect for two. One of which wasn't with the group, instead being right above them should things escalate to far
"What will you do with them?" Eren asked, no hint of fear present on his face
"There are certain people who will pay handsomely for these. You can't beat the Titans anyway, so what's wrong with taking useless equipment?"
At this Eren suddenly grabbed the rifle as he shouted at his team "Everyone, now!"
"Eren!" Armin said, but a rifle was suddenly pointed at him making him stop from making any move
Seeing that the situation was getting out of hand, as silently as he's been trained, Tim dropped down behind the one who snuck up on Christa. He was able to get her out of harms way and disarm the gunmen, knocking him out cold as a result
Everyone's eyes widened in surprise. No one had expected that to happen as Tim was seen now walking towards the gunmen with a calm and confidence many knew they wouldn't be able to do, heck he didn't even flinch or anything when the gunmen all pointed their guns at him
"I told Jason that we'd probably get some action and adventure. Of course with our luck, we always get into messed up situations. Of course they all seem to be at a disadvantage" Tim said with a sly look
"What are you talking about? We got you outnumbered and your friends aren't going to be much help either"
Tim didn't elaborate nor did he seem to be concerned either
"Got any last words kid?"
"Now or never" Tim spoke to no one in particular or maybe he was
Before there eyes, one of the gunmen was suddenly pulled up by an invisible force or something as he was heard screaming. When they looked back, Tim was no longer where he once stood
In fact everyone could only look in awe at the display they were currently witnessing. Eren wondered if this was Tim's doing and whoever he had called out to or not... and if it was, he took note to ask him how he was able to hide the way he did
"I give! The equipment we stole before is over there! Just don't drop me!" a voice yelled from above
"You're lucky I'm in a 'good mood' or else you'd find yourself falling" a familiar voice responded
"So you'll let me live?"
"Ya I'll let you live" responded the familiar voice as soon screaming could be heard and to everyone surprise it was one of the gunmen as he hung a few feet from having become a pancake
'That voice- it can't be... that's-'
"Jason" Tim sighed as he appeared from the bushes while Jason had jumped down from the trees above "When you said we'd get action and adventure, I didn't think you meant this baby bird" he heard his adopted older brother say with a smirk as Tim rolled his eyes
"What the hell just happened?!" Jean exclaimed
"Simple we took care of those low lives and saved your miserable butts" Jason sarcastically said
"But you- they- we" Armin said, but couldn't form any words as he tried to make sense of how they had been able to do what they did
"Where are you two going?!"
"My group had their ODM gear stolen, since they were kind enough to give me the location, I'm going to get them back" Jason said as Tim followed after the older teen
"Those two... there really are above our league" Mina said with everyone nodding in agreement at that fact. It was clear that both Jason and Tim had more experience and training than many first thought
'They might be out of our league, but I hope to one day get to their level. Maybe I could ask for some advice if need be. Tim did help me with my ODM test after all' Eren though as he looked at the duo with newfound respect
Alright so I was literally doubting whether to do the Distress OVA episode, but just went on and did it in the end. I was having slight trouble on how to include Jason and Tim into the mix so just went with this. Hope it doesn't seem rushed or anything. After this we'll return to the main episodes again. Also I'll try and update this story once or twice a month if possible