"Mina?"
Blinking as her name was called, the girl in question turned her gaze away from her canisters and saw Annie standing off to her side, looking just a bit uncertain as she looked at her lifelong friend. Nac himself was a little too busy with refueling his gas canisters to really take notice, though even without her more observant friend, Mina could tell that Annie was feeling just a little uncomfortable.
"Ann?" greeted Mina with a small smile as she stood up, placing her gas canisters back into her maneuver gear and smiling at her friend. Annie replied with a mild nod as she rubbed her upper arm, taking a quick glance behind her in the process and giving Bertholdt and Reiner a quick glare. Her glaring lasted for a little longer than she had intended, apparently, as Mina noticed her awkward silence and piped up. "Erm… Annie?"
Annie blank after her full name was called, prompting her to shake her head and turn back to her friend, who looked just a little concerned for her. Annie herself had to hold back a mild chuckle. Even now, when the world was essentially crumbling around them, Mina appeared more concerned for her than she was of anything else. Of course, it could still be a facade.
"I just… wanted to… apologise," muttered Annie, having to force out a majority of that sentence as she crossed her arms and refused to make eye contact with her friend. Mina herself seemed mildly confused at what the blonde meant, prompting Annie to grumble a little before continuing. "For that… outburst back then."
"Oh! When I mentioned the Mechanical Titan?" inquired Mina, suddenly feeling rather awkward as she tapped fingers against one another. Annie gave a reluctant nod to that, and Mina gave a rather antsy chuckle as she offered a small smile, though her smile did quiver from time to time. "Well… it's all good!"
"Really?" muttered Annie, surprised at how quickly Mina had forgave her. Mina responded with a gentle nod as she took Annie's hand in hers, further surprising Leonhardt at how delicately she held them, though she did vaguely feel her friend's hands quivering just a little. That realization made Mina raise her brows in surprise, though she was quick to give her blonde friend a reassuring look and smile, one that seemed to make her relax just a little, before she continued speaking.
"We're all under a lot of pressure now, Ann. Frankly speaking, I feel close to just just running around screaming bloody murder at any second!" joked Mina as she smiled sheepishly, though Annie thought that there was at least some truth in her words. She didn't voice that thought out, however, as she simply nodded and had Mina release her hands. "So that minor breakdown is pretty understandable."
"I see…" muttered Annie with a small nod as Nac turned to stare at the two with a small, uneasy smile. Annie replied with her rather annoyed glare that made him look away while Mina didn't seem to notice. Before she could, Leonhardt turned back to her and gave a mild nod. "You're holding up pretty well. Like a champ, if you ask me."
Opening her mouth, Mina got ready to reply to her blonde friend. Before she could, however, the entire building shook rather harshly, prompting everyone present to wince until the shaking stopped. Off to the side, Sasha appeared tense as she stared at one specific spot of the refueling depot, and beside her, Marco seemed to be ready to ask why she was staring at that one spot for as long as she was, though before he could even do so, the entire area shook once more, though it was a lot more intense this time.
And almost immediately after, the area that Sasha was staring at exploded, and the body of a Three Metre Titan came crashing in. It was still alive, as proven by how it slowly stood up and stared around the room, with Cadets and Garrison alike staring at it in wide eyed terror.
Before it could go ballistic, however, a somewhat familiar Longsword came straight through the hole in the wall and struck the Three Metre Titan through the nape, killing it in a single blow. As soon as it was dead, the Longsword was pulled back, and the Cadets and Garrison could only stare in wide eyed awe as the Mechanical Titan, after taking a quick peek into the refueling depot, went back to doing its thing without a second thought.
"... I think we should head out before things get excessive," suggested Sasha as soon as everyone calmed down.
And for the first time in four years, no one objected to her suggestion, though before they did, the door closest to them burst open, and in came Mikasa, Armin and Connie burst in.
The mere sight of the strongest Cadet of the Southern Trainees returning was more than enough to reinvigorate the spirits of the Cadets in the depo, with many moving to welcome them back. Mina herself was beyond ecstatic that Ackerman was alright, and Nac fistpumped real hard at that.
"Thank God…" muttered the tall teen as he smirked at Mina. "They made it out! I didn't expect anything less, but still, it's a miracle…"
"Let's make the most of this miracle, then, and get out of here alive," quipt Mina as she punched her friend on the upper arm, causing him to flinch, though the smile never disappeared from his face.
"Of course!"
And behind them, Annie had to bite her lip rather hard to keep her emotions in check.
Outside
To fight with a Titan… it felt rather surreal, to say the least. And yet, it wasn't too bad.
The only real thing he had to worry about was him accidentally killing this Rogue Titan, as he came to know it as. The Rogue Titan was an interesting thing, to say the least. Outside of their initial meeting, it didn't seem to target Barbatos at all, instead opting to take on the other Titans in the area. The reason as to why was still a mystery, but Mika didn't care enough to wonder about it, as he simply opted to keep any and all Titans away from the refueling station.
Besides, working with it allowed them to clear out the Titans more effectively, so he wasn't about to complain.
"Good grief," muttered Mika as he swung the Longsword towards an approaching Fifteen metre, cleaving it from shoulder to hip with a single swing. His next swing was an upwards slash that bisected a Ten Metre lengthways, with both halves of the Titan splattering onto the ground before long. Turning the head unit of his Gundam down, Mika noticed the Titan he had cleaved from shoulder to hip attempting to crawl towards his unit, and after giving a mild snort, he stomped down onto its nape.
Following up from that, Mika had Barbatos aim its Autocannon at the closest Titan, a Five metre, and, assisted by the Alaya Vijnana system, fired an Autocannon round straight through its neck, with the 170mm shot tearing straight through its nape and hitting the ground behind it, cracking the concrete that the Five Metre promptly fell back on.
And for a brief moment, Mika took in a deep breath and turned towards the Trost refuel station, silently wondering why the Cadets and Garrison were taking so damn long to get out of the damn place. A quick peek through the hole in the refueling station's roof told him that they were all still alive, so why take so long…
A sudden jolt of Barbatos' chassis was what snapped Mika back to his senses, and within the blink of an eye, the cockpit's heads up display warned him of something latched onto his Gundam's back. Grimacing, Augus had his unit turn its head around just enough to see a Titan, somewhere around Twelve metres if he had to make a guess, latched onto his Gundam's back and attempted to grab Barbatos' cockpit. Before it could, however, the Pilot had his Gundam jerk its head to the side and stab the Titan in the eye with Barbatos' V-fin, causing it to recoil just enough for Mika to rip it off his unit's back and slam it down onto the ground.
The Titan did attempt to get back up, though before it could, the Wrench Mace was slammed down onto its nape, killing it swiftly.
'That was the first one that got the jump on me,' thought Mika as he had the Wrench Mace clasped the head of a Ten Metre that attempted to rush him and used it as a makeshift weapon to knock aside several Titans before he tossed the mangled, dissolving corpse of the Ten Metre straight into the side of a building, demolishing it.
"Fragile," groaned Mika as the Ten Metre began to dissolve in the wrecked building that he had thrown it into. Sure, these things couldn't really stand up against the might of a Gundam, and it was probably a good thing that he was killing them so fast, as it did increase his friends odds of surviving, but still… it would be nice if these things gave him at least a bit of a challenge.
Off to the side, Mika could hear the Rogue Titan roaring out loud, and before long, a Thirteen Metre Titan was sent flying, most likely due to an uppercut, Mika guessed.
The way that thing fought… it was more… sophisticated, Mika supposed? That would be a nice way to put it, as that Titan fought in a way that was more human than any other Titan Mika had seen in the past. It got so bad that Mika mistook it for a massive human from time to time…
The sound of a door slamming open caught Mika's attention after some time, and he turned to see that the door to the Trost refueling station had swung open. It was almost enough to make him smile, though he refrained from that, even if the corners of his mouth did twitch just a little upon seeing the door swing open.
And that a Fifteen Metre Titan was rushing towards it alongside a Thirteen and Three metre that followed it closely.
"Not on my watch…"
As soon as those doors swung open, the Cadets and Garrison within it bolted out of there at top speed.
Between Annie, Mina and Nac, Leonhardt was the first to leave the station, with Carolina following close behind and Tias being the last. All three of them held onto their Anti-Titan blades rather tightly as they boosted out.
"Let's get moving!" proclaimed Jean, who led the charge out of the refueling station. He hoped to scale the Walls with minimal casualties, and even if it was most likely an impossibility, it was still something to hope for as he boosted out of the gates of the refueling station. "Everyone, be ca-"
And before he could even finish that statement, he saw a Fifteen Metre lunging towards him, it's eyes locked onto him in particular as it reached for him mid-lunge, and by then it was already too close for Jean to dodge, with all that he could do by then being to just watch in terror as its hands got closer to him.
Right before the Titan could grab onto him, however, a massive chunk of metal came crashing down onto it and demolishing the Titan and kicking up a massive amount of smoke in the process. The ensuing shockwave caused Jean, alongside several others, to get sent flying backwards. Jean himself landed rather harshly on his back, though he recovered rather quickly and realized that he had landed in front of a Three Metre Titan.
Before Jean could even process that one bit of information, however, a massive metal hand sprung out from the smoke and grasped the Three Metre by the head. Wasting no time, the hand raised the Three Metre up into the air and slammed it down into the ground, splattering its entire body along the side of the pavement and dispelling most of the smoke, revealing the Mechanical Titan to the Cadets and Garrison, who were rightfully awed by its imposing stature.
"H-H-Holy shit!" proclaimed Jean as the Mechanical Titan stood itself up and swung its Mace straight at a Titan that was coming at it from behind, obliterating it in one fell swoop. Following up from the swing, the 'Titan' slammed the snout of its Mace down into the ground before using it as leverage to raise itself up into the air to kick an approaching muscular Fifteen Metre with both of its legs, with the kick sending it flying back into the closest building, decimating both the Titan and the building in the process.
"Get up, Jean!" proclaimed Marco as he rushed towards the Cadet in question and hauled him up to his feet. That seemed to stir the Cadet out of it rather quickly, as, after giving Marco a quick nod, he got back up to his feet and, alongside the remaining Cadets, began retreating from the battlefield, though he did spare one final glance at the Mechanical Titan before departing.
And slowly, the Cadets and Garrison began filtering out, all of whom were eager to leave this warzone. And yet, there was just one who didn't seem keen on leaving just yet, and Armin was the first to notice her standing atop the refueling station, peeking out at something…
Without much hesitation, Armin swung up to her side, with Bertholdt and Reiner eyeing him as he did. Annie watched from a distance, frowning as he watched Reiner nudge Bertholdt before the two swung up after them.
"Annie, should we get moving?" came Nac's voice after a short while, only to gasp and jump back, alongside a handful of others, when the foot of the Mechanical Titan crashed down a little too close for comfort to where they stood, sending some dust their way and causing the three, alongside a handful of others, to shield their eyes.
Above them, the Mechanical Titan straight up tossed a chubby Fifteen Metre Titan up above its head and, while it was still in the air, it grabbed it by the head and crouch down to slam it down onto the ground, causing the Titan to explode into a messy splatter of gore and coating the surroundings in a thick layer of quickly dissolving Titan guts in the process.
Behind it, a Ten Metre attempted to jump it, though before it had a chance to do so, the Mechanical Titan balanced itself on one of its arms and lifted its entire bottom half up to kick the Ten Metre straight in the head, causing the entire head to fly straight off its shoulders and fly off to parts unknown. The Mechanical Titan promptly flipped itself back onto its feet and picked up its Mace, seemingly oblivious to the awed gazes the remaining Cadet and Garrison were giving it.
"Holy crap…" muttered Nac, dismissing his usual no swear rule as the Mechanical Titan went on with its rampage. Annie herself grimaced at its immense strength and apparent combat prowess, though before long, she shook her head and swung up to Bertholdt and Reiner, with Mina and Nac following soon after, even if they did offer the Mechanical Titan one last glimpse before doing so.
"Annie, what's going on?" inquired Mina as soon as she was up on the top of the refueling station, seeming somewhat agitated as she stared down at… something. Reiner, Bertholdt, Mikasa and Armin said nothing as well as they stared down at something.
Annie herself didn't reply and neither did prompting Mina and Nac to turn towards what she was looking at…
And both of them promptly winced when they saw what they were looking at.
"The Titans… are eating another Titan?" muttered Mina as she stared down at the sight of several Titans biting into the body of a strangely shaped Titan. Said Titan stood at roughly Fifteen metres and with a rather muscular build. It appeared to be in quite some pain as several other Titans, ranging from Fourteen metres to about Three, bit into it. "But…"
"That's the Abnormal Titan Mikasa, Connie and I ran into earlier," observed Armin, prompting Nac to raise his brows in mild confusion. Armin didn't think it necessary to inform them when they were refueling? Nac didn't think that it was a smart thing to mention that, however, so he kept quiet and silently observed the Titan being consumed. "It… can't regenerate?"
"If it could, it probably wouldn't be as injured as it is," grumbled Annie as the Rogue Titan roared out loud in apparent pain. Beside her, Reiner raised his brow in confusion as Bertholdt turned to stare at where the Mechanical Titan probably was.
"In that case, what about the Mechanical Titan?" muttered Bertholdt antisily, his voice only catching Reiner and Annie's attention as they turned to see him appearing just a bit hopeful. "It… doesn't seem to be able to regenerate. It's got quite a bit of damaged parts that seem to be permanent."
"Does it truly matter, Bertholdt?" grumbled Annie as she crossed her arms, prompting Bertholdt to frown deeply. "This Titan doesn't concern us in the slightest. We should just get moving."
Upon saying that, Annie turned towards Mina and Nac, intent on telling them that they were leaving. Before she could do so, however, Reiner gave a grunt that caught almost everyone's attention, and Annie herself couldn't help but cringe a little at the thought that came to her mind.
"I disagree with leaving this thing behind, Annie," countered Reiner as he eyed the half eaten Titan with a slight glint in his eye. "Even if it's just a one off case, I believe that it'd be a good idea to keep it alive for research purposes. Who knows what we could learn about it? Even if it's just a little, it'll be better than learning nothing, which is what we'll be learning if we let it be ripped to shreds."
Annie winced just a bit at that before getting ready to retaliate with her reasoning of getting the Hell out of there. However, before she could, Armin stepped forth and made his voice known.
"I agree with Reiner," piped up Armin somewhat confidently. Beside him, Mikasa gave a mild nod, prompting Annie to wince harshly as she turned to eye Mina and Nac, partially hoping for them to agree with her, though rather disappointingly, they appeared to agree with Reiner as well.
"Same here," agreed Nac as he held his Anti-Titan blades, prompting Annie to slouch a little in disappointment as she eyed her friend. "It's best if we learnt as much as we can to gain a tactical advantage in this whole ordeal. If we capture this thing in its current state and study it, we may be able to gain a tactical edge. As for the Mechanical Titan… I don't think it's really possible to capture it at all."
"Well, it seems as though we're all in agreement regarding this," said Reiner with a smirk as he held his blade handles tightly. "We'll help clear out the Titans surrounding it first."
Off to the side, Annie grimaced as she crossed her arms, sighing deeply as both Mina and Nac walked up to her. Mina herself gently placed a hand on her friend's back, prompting her to turn and look her friend in the eye.
"Hey… Ann. If you're not feeling at your best, you can retreat first," offered Mina with a small smile, surprising Annie as she raised a brow. Upon noticing that, Mina gave a slightly uneasy chuckle. "You've probably been through a lot more than me and Nac. We understand if you wanna-"
"I'd rather not," replied Annie almost instantly, grabbing her Anti Titan blades and sighing just a little. Nac raised a brow at that as Leonhardt turned to stare him in the eye with a somewhat stressed gaze. "I'd rather not leave you two behind."
"Heh, you do care about us!" quipt Nac with a mild smirk, prompting Annie to roll her eyes.
"Whatever…" groaned Annie as she got ready to leap off the building.
Though before she could do so, the Rogue Titan rather abruptly took a step forward, seemingly ignoring every Titan that clung onto it as it focused its gaze on a singular Titan that was approaching it. Its sudden movement caused the Cadets present to stop their advance and stare at it in shock.
"It's moving this aggressively in spite of its injuries?!" proclaimed a baffled Nac as the Rogue Titan charged straight at another Titan, one that Armin labelled as an Abnormal. As it moved, the other Titans that clung onto it began to tumble, though two whom were clinging onto its arms held strong, strong enough that they inadvertently ripped both of the Rogue Titan's arms off.
And yet, the Rogue paid his injuries no mind. Instead, it single mindedly charged at the Abnormal, which seemed to not notice its approach until the very last second, and by then, it didn't have any time to react as the Rogue Titan lunged forward and bit its nape.
The Rogue Titan's jaw wrapped around the Abnormal's neck, and it held strong. That one act was enough to cause the Cadets who were watching it to widen their eyes in immense shock… and their shock only grew as the Rogue Titan lifted the Abnormal Titan up into the air.
"S-Since when?!" proclaimed Bertholdt in terror at the Rogue Titan's absurd display of strength. While nowhere as impressive as the acrobatic feats of the Mechanical Titan, the Rogue Titan's ability to lift a Titan up into the air with its mouth was nothing to scoff at.
Of course, the Rogue Titan didn't exactly do it flawlessly. As it held the Abnormal up in the air, its exposed rib cage could be seen cracking beneath the weight. It wouldn't be long before it completely collapsed, though the Rogue didn't seem to notice.
The only thing it did notice was how a handful of Titans were approaching it.
Turning its gaze to its right, the Rogue Titan wasted no time in using the Abnormal it had ensnared in its mouth as a makeshift club to squash an inbound Five metre. Not relenting, it swung the Abnormal at an approaching Fifteen metre, sending it flying towards a building in the process.
"H-Hey… muttered Armin as the Rogue Titan opened its mouth, dropping the now deceased Abnormal Titan down to the ground in the process, before roaring up to the heavens, seemingly oblivious to its injuries. "What was t-that about helping it again…?"
And right as those words left his mouth, the Rogue Titan collapsed down onto the ground, creating a mild earthquake in the process. Everyone present winced at its collapsed form,
"It burnt itself out…" observed Nac, pointing out the obvious as Mina stared at the collapsed form of the Rogue Titan with a mix of wonder and caution. So many things had happened today… the invasion of Trost, the confirmation that the Mechanical Titan was more than a myth… and now this. It was almost overwhelming, to say the least, and Mina had to do quite a bit to keep herself from breaking down.
As she stared at the Rogue Titan, however, she couldn't help but notice… something emerging from its nape. Accompanied by a whole lot of vapor, whatever was emerging was rather hard to make out at first… though before long, everyone could see what it was, especially after it had fully emerged.
Though by then, Mikasa had realised what… no… who had emerged from the Titan's nape. And by then, she had sprinted off the edge of the building they were on, ignoring Armin, who had called out her name.
"I… I can't believe it," was all Armin said as everyone watched Mikasa rush up and hug her little brother.
"E-Eren…!"
Mikasa was… happy, to say the least.
As she hugged her dear brother, Ackerman did her best to keep her emotions in check. Such a task was nearly impossible to accomplish, however, as she held him close, her eyes welling up with tears as she confirmed that this was indeed reality and not a stress induced hallucination.
As a final measure, Mikasa lowered her head and began listening in for a heartbeat. And as soon as she heard the gentle thumps of her brother's heart, she broke down into tears, ignoring everything around her, even her fellow Cadets who swung down to check on Jaeger.
Even the Mechanical Titan that stood less than twenty metres from her, holding both its Longsword and Mace in its hands.
While Mina, Nac, Reiner, Annie and Bertholdt found it wise to keep a close eye on the Mechanical Titan as it approached them, Armin rushed up to Mikasa's side and checked on Eren, and though he was more composed than Ackerman, he too had to hold back a few sobs as he held his dear friend's left arm.
"H-How…" was all Armin could mutter out as the minor tremors created by the Mechanical Titan became more intense. Mikasa may have been ignorant of them, though Armin was much less so, as he turned upwards and widened his eyes at the approaching Mechanical Titan.
Off to the side, the others held their Anti Titan blades rather tightly, growing more tense as the Mechanical Titan drew closer towards them. Annie herself raised her hand up to mouth level, intending to use it as a last resort should things get hairy, not caring about the expressions Reiner and Bertholdt were giving her. If this thing attacked… then all she could do was buy them some time to retreat… even if it killed her.
And right as it was about ten metres away, the Mechanical Titan stopped approaching them. Adjusting its grip on its Longsword, the 'Titan' stabbed it into the ground and released it's handle before kneeling down to perhaps get a better look at the Cadets. Its other hand held on tightly to that 'Mace' it seemed to prefer to use while it knelt down
"What is it doing…?" muttered Bertholdt antsily, only to flinch when the Mechanical Titan extended a hand towards the small group.
And within Barbatos' cockpit, Mika hoped that they'd get the hint.
Happy 2020 everyone! Too late? Dammit.
Aphem… this outro will be split into two halves. The first half is the usual stuff while the second half after the review replies will be me addressing something.
So, 2020. Starting off pretty well, at least for me. College was pretty neat and MG Barbatos is amazing. I hope y'all are having a good 2020… and I personally can't wait for the inevitable MG Barbatos Form 6 in P Bandai.
Embarrassingly, I don't have much else to say. This was a terribly short chapter and frankly I hope you all enjoyed it. Onot the reviews and part 2 of this outro.
jan2dumlao: I'll… erm… keep that a secret for now
Raven Modrake: well regarding the ages, changing them was a personal decision I made for no real reason. As for the height… that one was accidental. I think I fixed that one error of Mika being shorter than Mina in previous chapters… hopefully.
Doctor Snake Eater: YESYESYES!
noobie53: give it a few chapters. His reveal won't be too soon
daggercloak000: somewhat unfortunately, most chapters until the end of the Trost arc will be a little short. I can't exactly stretch fights out to over 5k words without making it feel overly bloated… so I'm sorry.
GundamDemon and Raiser: well here you go!
So this is the second part of the outro. Feel free to skip this as it isn't too important to this story in particular.
I'll just get straight into it. I'm discontinuing and deleting three stories, those stories being Iron Blooded Heroes, Uncle Wilhelm and The Devil and His Angel. The reason as to why is simple, really. I just don't enjoy writing them anymore.
I'm sorry if anyone enjoyed reading those stories, but I personally dislike writing them. If I forced myself to continue writing, the chapters will not be that good to read. It'll be like phoning it in, to say the least, and I don't want to do that.
Again, I'm sorry for this if anyone enjoyed reading those three stories.
On another note, have any of you heard of Hazbin Hotel?