The final preparations for the preliminary expedition had begun well before sunrise.
By about six in the morning, all of the soldiers that were tasked with being a part of the Preliminary Expedition formation was up and ready to go, with all of them gathered by the gates of Karanse as they awaited the order to mobilize. Had the breach of Trost not occurred, Erwin would've enlisted several of the more competent soldiers within the Survey Corps to partake in this expedition, though due to just how much manpower they were lacking at the moment, he was, regrettably, unable to do so.
Had he been able to reroute manpower to the preliminary expedition teams, then the party would've been able to have well over a few hundred members in order to bolster their numbers, though as for how things were now, the best the Survey Corp Commander could do was to bring together those who were most willing to head out to battle in relatively short order, and in the end, he only got about fifty to sixty brave men and women, discluding Teams Mike, Levi, Hanji, Moblit and Eren of course, to agree to be a part of the expedition.
The party itself was comprised of two major segments; the formation's front and rear were brought up by fourty of the present soldiers on horseback, including Teams Mike, Levi, Eren, Hanji and Moblit, and were in charge of keeping an eye out for any and all Titans that were approaching them from all angles. The remaining twenty or so soldiers rode atop several horse drawn carriages that carried equipment needed to create temporary bases out in the field; two soldiers were assigned to a single carriage, making for ten carriages in total, which held more than enough equipment in their combined loads to arm several permanent bases.
That was if all of them managed to survive the expedition itself, anyways…
"We leave in thirty minutes. Relay the information to the rest of the formation," ordered Mike, short and simple, as he motioned towards Lynne and Tomas, a telltale sign for them to do as he had said. They did so with little reluctance as they rode down the waiting formation and relayed their superior's words to their fellow men, leaving Zacharius alone with his thoughts as he exhaled sharply and shook his head.
"Still tense, huh?" muttered Hanji from behind him as the bearded guy snorted. He didn't even look her way as the bespectacled maniac came to a stop beside him and offered him a sideways glance and a sympathetic smile. "I can understand, honestly. You're being put in charge of such a big operation. Anyone would be a little tense if they were in your shoes."
Closing his eyes and exhaling sharply upon processing her words, Mike offered a reluctant nod as he silently agreed with what she had said. Though it wasn't obvious at all, the sniffer was, admittedly, a little concerned of the outcome to this mission. To send less than two hundred trained soldiers out beyond the walls was already quite the gamble, after all, so to send sixty or so of them out? That was practically suicide…
But even so, Mike trusted in Erwin's judgement and had not made any objections to his decisions. Even when the guy had placed Mike as the Acting Commander of the preliminary expedition party over Levi, he said nothing to object, as he trusted his blonde superior just that much.
Now, however, as the sound of cannons being fired down at the Titans that were present outside the gates of Karanse could be heard in the background, accompanied by the tension in the Captain's heart about the possibility of all of them dying out in the field within the next twenty four hours… Mike couldn't help but believe that he probably should've backed out of the Acting Commander role when he had the chance.
Of course, there was no use crying over lost scents, as Mike phrased it. What's done is done, after all, and he'd have to man up and live with his choices… even if said choices would manifest into a Titan to eat him before he saw the next sunset/sunrise.
"Now is not the time for such questions, Hanji," commented Mike somberly as he offered the woman in question a sideways glance, prompting Zoe to flinch as she adjusted her custom made combat goggles. As she did so, Zacharius snorted and turned his attention towards the gate in front of them. The sound of cannonfire had died down by them, a sign to the soldiers present that the Garrison were done with eliminating the Titans that were lingering outside the gate, and at any given moment, they would shoot a flare into the sky to signal to the Survey Corps that they could begin their expedition.
"Really now? You could always just talk to me, y'know? Venting helps ease the mind, after all, and I'd rather you be in the best state of mind before we depart," said Hanji, smiling a little as Mike raised a brow at her somber tone. She seemed rather… strange, to say the least, as she made brief eye contact with Zacharius, and though he dismissed it at first, the Acting Commander couldn't help but smile a little as he nodded.
"I see. Thank you, Hanji, but as I said, now is neither the time nor the place to be venting to a friend. Keep your eyes focused on the path ahead for now," ordered Mike as he motioned towards the gates of Karanse, to which Hanji nodded as she did so, though not long after, the bespectacled woman glanced back and focused her gaze on Team Levi, who, aside from Levi himself, all looked rather tense as they waited for the gates to rise.
Of all the members of Team Levi, however, Eren Jaeger himself appeared to be the palest of them all. His face had lost all colour by now as he stared down at the mane of his horse with a blank expression. By all means, he seemed to be horrified of what was to come, something that made Hanji snicker a tad in amusement as she remembered just how determined he had been back during his trial. Man, what a strange juxtaposition…
"What's so funny, Hanji?" asked Mike as he raised a brow at his borderline psychotic friend, who, in response, smiled as she jerked a thumb back at Eren.
"The kid talked up quite a storm back at the courtroom, y'know? Spoke a great about helping humanity beat the Titans back and all that. I thought he'd be raring to go, but now, he seems to be less than excited about embarking," explained Hanji with a smirk, to which Mike let out a rare chuckle as he nodded slightly at his friend's words before he breathed in through his nostrils.
"Hm, his scent is not dissimilar to that of a regular trainee. He's scared of what's to come, but also eager to depart to do his part in all this," explained Mike, short and simple as Hanji's snicker eventually became a mild chuckle. "When not in immediate danger, we tend to make claims that will no doubt be hard, or perhaps even impossible, to pull off. Eren Jaeger is no exception to this rule, it would seem…"
"Eh, whatever floats your boat, I guess. Hey, I wonder if Mikazuki's currently feeling the same way as Eren," muttered Hanji thoughtfully as she rubbed her at chin, though as she spoke, however, the bespectacled woman raised a brow when she heard Mike scoff a little in amusement, and at that, she raised a brow at him.
"What's so funny, Mike?"
"Cockpit systems, starting up… rerouting all power to thrusters. Optical units, activating… all systems green. Good morning, Barbatos."
And as he said that, the lights within Barbatos' cockpit began to power up, illuminating the small area as its pilot, now dressed in his surface warfare attire, stared directly at its main console, prompting his reflection to stare right back at him blankly.
"Nothing. It was simply amusing to me…"
Land Boosters: 20% capacity. Estimated operational time before gas depletes: thirty three hours.
Autocannon status. Left Autocannon: two rounds remaining. Right Autocannon: one round remaining. Resupply recommended.
'... tch. This isn't good, but it's not the worst either. I can work with this for now,' thought Mikazuki, with him frowning as he scrolled through the main cockpit monitor and closed the warnings given to him by his Gundam; they were mostly irrelevant to the issue at hand, after all.
Whilst doing so, however, Mikazuki almost missed a warning that came on screen, though the Alaya-Vijnana system was quick to stop that from happening. Perking up when he was alerted to it, Mika glanced up at the visual feed of his unit before focusing in on the ascending object.
"Mikazuki is a contradiction. His scent is very difficult to pin down, and the more I try to learn more about him… the more I find myself questioning who or what he really is… and yet…"
Narrowing his eyes, Mikazuki saw that the ascending object was a signal flare, and he didn't even acknowledge what colour it was as he held onto the arm controllers of his unit and had it stand up onto its feet. As it did so, the Garrison that were stationed around it took preemptive steps backwards; they knew that Barbatos would be operational at around this time, but even so, to see it move was a spectacular sight indeed.
Spectacular… and horrific, but spectacular nonetheless!
"Alright final check! Is Trost clear of civilians?!" demanded a Garrison as Barbatos retrieved its weapons before it slowly but surely crouched itself down. As it did so, the Land Boosters attached to its hips tilted backwards as blue flames began to emit from their tips. Likewise, a large amount of Ahab Thrust began building up within the shin thrusters, a telltale sign that it was about to move as the soldiers present began to get out of its way.
"Y-Yes sir!" confirmed a random Garrison as she leapt out of Barbatos' way. And, almost as though it were on cue, the Gundam's thrusters all burst to life as the unit boosted through the streets of Trost at an unremarkable speed.
Unremarkable for a Mobile Suit, anyways… as, in spite of how slow it was moving through the main streets of Trost, it still moved fast enough to cause quite a mess before it reached the Walls of the district…
"Mikazuki… I doubt that he even feels fear at this point. Especially not while he's inside that thing."
… and, without any issue whatsoever, Gundam Barbatos leapt straight over the Wall of Trost and landed on the other side with a loud thud. The Garrison that were atop the wall at the time could only gape in shock as they watched the massive 18.8 metre 'Titan' fly straight over their heads before landing on the ground in an explosion of dirt and smoke, though seconds later, the smoke was dispelled when the unit boosted forwards, towards the rendezvous point set by Erwin Smith, at speeds that were unheard of by anyone within the walls.
"... I think the expedition will go pretty well," commented one of the Garrison soldiers as he watched the Gundam speed off into the distance, and his only response was a bewildered head nod from the closest soldier, who couldn't find a way to convey his thoughts into words as he opted to remain silent.
Some time later
Having this preliminary expedition take place before the sun had risen was a deliberate choice on Erwin's part.
Though their knowledge on some of the more nuanced behavior of the Titans was sorely lacking, there was but one thing that they could say for certain, and that was the fact that when the sun was not up in the sky, the Titans would be less active. This information wasn't particularly useful to anyone at first as almost no one wished to combat a Titan whilst it was dark out, though now, due to the severe lack of manpower on their side, Erwin knew that they needed to make use of every last exploit they had up their sleeve.
Of course, to travel entirely in the dark wouldn't be ideal, to say the least, as not all Titans were affected by the lack of sunlight, and as such, Erwin hard ordered the preliminary party to leave the confines of Karanse at the first signs of dawn, preferably not a moment later. This way, there would be just enough natural light to help light the way for the soldiers who were departing on the expedition whilst also being dark enough to hopefully keep a majority of the Titans immobile for quite some time.
As one would expect, the expedition party was spearheaded by Team Mike, or namely just Mike, Nanaba, Gelgar and Lynne. Henning and Tomas were positioned close to the center of the formation in case of emergencies. Likewise, Team Levi and Hanji rode closely behind Team Mike, with Eren riding at the center of the Team while Hanji rode dangerously close to the Titan Shifter. Her interests may have been more so on Barbatos, though at the moment, the Gundam wasn't here, and as such, she had to make do with Jaeger for now…
Likewise, due to the lack of manpower on their side, the preliminary expedition party remained very close together, remaining as one single unit whilst riding onwards, as to spread out whilst they were so low in numbers would be the equivalent of riding to their doom.
For the first hour or so since their departure, things had gone according to plan. The formation had not encountered any setbacks whilst they were venturing forwards, with having not encountered any Titans as they rode onwards to the agreed upon meeting point, and by all means, at their current pace, they could very well reach the rendezvous point and link up with Mikazuki/Barbatos with no casualties to speak of within the next half-hour or so…
… though, as with all good things, the preliminary expedition party's bout of good luck didn't last as they eventually found themselves being pursued by several Titans who had come out of their dormant state rather abruptly. Hanji had stated that, according to her research, Titans would only move regularly after the sun was up in the air for at least three hours, so to see up to a dozen of them moving prior to that was… unfortunate, to say the least.
The first to spot the approaching Titans were a small handful of soldiers that rode near the rear of the formation. The poor sods nearly fell off their horses in shock when they saw the small pack of Titans sprinting towards them at full speed, though thankfully enough, they remained atop their steeds as the one who recovered the fastest urged his stallion forwards and began to relay the fact that they were being pursued to the rest of the formation.
It took him a while, but eventually, the soldier was able to relay this info to Henning, who, in turn, rode forwards to relay it to Mike.
"Captain! We've got Titans on our tails! A dozen or so at best!" proclaimed Henning as Mike glanced back at him with his usual calm expression. The mustached soldier didn't seem phased by that fact, though Gelgar did seem to be a little panicked as he grimaced and looked towards the back of their formation with a worried gaze.
"How far away?!" demanded Gelgar as he spotted a handful of Titans in the distance, prompting him to sweat a little as he turned his attention back to Henning, who sweatdropped a little as he gulped. That was… not a good sign, as far as Gelgar was concerned…
"Not far enough! At this rate, we might…!" began Henning, only to trail off as he preferred to not finish that sentence. Scowling, Henning considered suggesting that perhaps the formation should break apart for a short while and outpace the Titans giving chase in smaller, more fragmented teams, a strategy that was commonly used by the expedition parties during their large scale expeditions, though before he could do so, Mike held a hand up to stay him before he leaned his head back and sniffed the air a handful of times.
The smell of dread remained heavy in the air as the expedition party charged on with twice their original speed, with none of them wishing to be caught and eaten anytime soon. Likewise, the sniffer could also smell the apprehension that was coming off Henning, Nanaba and Gelgar as they rode on beside him, with the three of them waiting for his command with bated breath. They had faith in him, after all, and they'd do as he said regardless of the consequences, even if said consequences involved getting mauled to death by Titans.
A second, deeper sniff told Mike about the Titans that were pursuing them. This… was not good. Not good at all. A dozen of them were in pursuit, and all of them wished to bring an unsavoury end to the preliminary expedition party as soon as humanly possible. They ranged from Fifteen Metres down to Five, and their fastest pack members were less than forty metres from reaching the slowest members of the formation. The only good thing that came from that sniff was Mike being able to confirm that none of the Titans were of the Abnormal category, which wasn't .
And finally… the third sniff… it told Mike all that he needed to know at that point as he nodded to no one in particular and turned to give his orders.
"Maintain our current pace," ordered Mike, short and to the point as he turned back to the path ahead of them. Upon hearing him, the gathered members of Team Mike all gaped at their Captain in disbelief as they struggled to process what he had just said, but even so… they had enough faith in him so as to not question his direct orders, with Henning reluctantly moving back to relay Zacharius' orders to the rest of the formation all the while.
"Yes sir…" muttered Henning, and as he slowed his horse's pace, Gelgar and Nanaba remained by Mike's side as they struggled to put their thoughts into words. They respected Mike a great deal, sure… but even they had to admit that this was rather reckless of him…
"M-Mike… with all due respect, but…" began Gelgar after a few seconds of contemplation, with the Captain in question sniffing the air a few times as he spoke. He nodded a little as he lowered his head before glancing over at his pompadour haired subordinate, who appeared to be both apprehensive and panicked all at once as he cleared his throat.. "Is this… really the best course of action…?"
Five hundred metres.
"How much faith do you have in me?" responded Mike as he rode on, with him not acknowledging the fact that the Titans were very quickly closing in on the rear of the formation as he spoke. Gelgar himself shuddered quite a bit in response to that question, though he said nothing as Nanaba did so in his place, with her speaking as calmly and with as much confidence as she could muster in their current dilemma.
Four hundred metres.
"We trust you with our lives, Captain," assured Nanaba as her Captain nodded, having already expected such an answer from the blonde as he exhaled sharply. His teammates trusted him to quite an unhealthy degree, all things considered, and he didn't wish to betray that trust…
Three hundred metres.
"I see. If you may, I wish for all of you to put your lives on the line once more and trust me on this. Maintain our current pace and do not falter," replied Mike calmly as Nanaba bit her lower lip apprehensively and offered a curt nod. Gelgar said nothing as he kept himself silent for a change, unsure if he could trust his voice at this point in time as he turned to stare at the rear of the formation.
And then… they heard it, and not long after… they saw it coming.
Two hundred metres.
"H-Hey… guys… is that-" began Gelgar as he stared past Nanaba and off into the distance. Evidently enough, however, he wasn't the only one who could hear and, eventually, see the approaching figure in the distance, as a good chunk of the formation had turned their heads off to the side when they heard the sound of Ahab Thrust off in the distance accompanied by the sound of a massive weapon being dragged through the dirt.
One hundred metres. Initial contact in ten seconds.
"Yep. That's him," confirmed Mike.
And by all means, Gelgar thought that he could hear a small amount of smugness in his Captain's tone of voice as Gundam Barbatos boosted into the fray.
"Making contact now. All weapons operating at maximum capacity. Mikazuki Augus, Gundam Barbatos, engaging."
And with that said, Mikazuki Augus, with a single upwards jerk of his unit's arm controller, had his Gundam swing its Wrench Mace at a pair of the fastest of the Titans that were pursuing the formation. The strike had collided with one of the two Titans, causing it to explode into a shower of blood and gore that was sent flying up into the air at tremendous speeds, whilst missing the other almost completely. Mika himself was rather surprised by the fact that the smaller Titan was able to run fast enough to avoid being struck, though he mostly ignored it as he had his unit swing its Longsword at it, slicing it half from shoulder to chest with a single swing.
"HOLY SHIT!" proclaimed a random soldier who had just seen how efficiently the Gundam had taken out the two Titans. Even so, not one of them slowed down for even a second as they watched the Mobile Suit leap backwards and began to hover alongside them, albeit backwards, with it following the formation as closely as it could without affecting it with the kickback of its boosters. As it did so, the unit raised its Longsword wielding arm up and aimed its Autocannon at the Titans that were still in pursuit… only to eventually lower its arm unit when Mikazuki remembered just how low his ammo reserves were at the moment, prompting him to simply grimace and throw the Longsword at the Titans instead.
Right after it threw its Longsword, Mikazuki had his Gundam dig its heels into the ground and stop the Mobile Suit dead in its tracks before he had it lunge forwards at the Titans that were in front of it. The sudden act caused some of the soldiers behind the unit to gasp in shock, though they didn't let it stop them from continuing in their advance.
As the Longsword sang through the air, it slashed straight through the body of a Fifteen metre, severed the arm of a Thirteen metre before it embedded itself in the skull of a Ten metre that fell backwards from the force of the throw. The Titan didn't even have enough time to make an attempt at getting up onto its feet, however, as seconds after the Longsword had impacted its skull, the Gundam leapt towards it and slammed its Mace down onto its struggling body. The impact alone was more than enough to make the ground beneath it shake as smoke and dirt was ejected up into the air, though through the smoke that had been kicked up, the soldiers present could see a faint glimmer of pink and green as the Gundam continued onwards to eliminate the pursuing Titans.
"We'll keep moving until we reach the agreed upon rendezvous point," ordered Mike from the front of the formation, with him being the only one that seemed to be uninterested in the Gundam at the moment. From where he sat within his unit's cockpit, Mikazuki could just barely hear the guy's order via the local comm links of his unit as he snorted and shrugged. Yeah, he could do that, he reckoned; he still remembered where the rendezvous point was, after all, so it didn't really matter too much to him.
"Yes sir!" was the response from the soldiers that were close enough to hear Mike's orders as Barbatos swung its Mace towards a trio of Titans that were still standing. The swing had decimated the heads of two Titans whilst ripping through the waist of a third, and as it fell to the ground, Mikazuki had his unit throw its Wrench Mace off to the side as it ripped its Longsword out of what remained of the squashed Titan and marched up towards the horizontally bisected Titan and shove its Longsword up into the bottom of its jaw.
Ripping the Longsword out of its lower jaw, Barbatos stomped on the Titan's nape before it turned on a dime and slashed at an approaching Titan's waist with the weapon, cutting it in half with a single swing of its blade. Before the Titan's top half could even hit the ground, however, Mika had his unit swing the Longsword once more, with him this time swinging it towards the Titan's neck and slicing its head off whilst also obliterating its nape in the process.
As the bisected head, torso and lower half of the Titan fell to the ground, Mikazuki turned Barbatos on a dime and had it stab an inbound Titan straight through the mouth with its Longsword. The blade went straight down its throat and tore through its body before it emerged from the lower back of the Titan and stabbed itself into the ground. The Titan itself struggled a little before going limp, what with its nape having been ripped apart after that full body penetration from the Gundam's Longsword.
Not even bothering to pull the Longsword out or retrieve the Wrench Mace at this point, Mikazuki cracked his knuckles from within his Gundam's cockpit and had his unit clench its manipulators tightly. Thereafter, it charged towards one of the four remaining Titans and slammed its foot into the side of its knee. That simple attack caused the Titan's knee to buckle as it was bent in the wrong direction, causing it to stagger down to one knee before it turned to stare up at the Gundam with a hungry expression.
And thereafter, the Gundam wasted no time in wrapping its manipulators around the Titan's neck and yanking it upwards. Mikazuki had not applied much strength behind the gesture, though at the same time, it came as no real surprise to him when Barbatos had managed to rip the entire head, plus the spinal cord, from its body. The pilot took a second or two to stare at the thing's skull and spinal cord before he lobbed it off to the side with little care or remorse, and thereafter, his on screen radar warned him of two other Titans approaching his unit from behind whilst a third had continued pursuing the expedition party.
With a mild hmph, Mikazuki grimaced as he whirled Barbatos around and swung its leg at the Titans sprinting at it. The kick was more than enough to rip through the torso of one of the two Titans that were charging at his unit, and as soon as its torso hit the ground, the pilot had his unit slam its foot down onto its nape before he turned his attention towards the second to last Titan that was charging at him.
A mild scoff escaped the pilot's lips as he leaned Barbatos down a little before he swung its arm towards the legs of the approaching Titan. With a single swipe of its arm, the Gundam swept the Titan off its feet, and whilst it was still in the air, the Mobile suit sprung both its arms up and grabbed onto the thigh and neck of the Titan before it brought the thing down onto its knee, performing a backbreaker on the beast with so much force that it caused some of its ribs to burst out of its stomach and whatever organs it had to spray out of its burst open abdomen like confetti. The backbreaker had pulverised its entire spinal column of the Titan, in turn destroying its nape.
With little effort, the Gundam threw the Titan's dissolving corpse onto the ground before its pilot had it retrieve its weapons and boost after the Titan that was pursuing the formation. It took the unit less than a handful of seconds before it caught up with the Titan and, in turn, the formation itself, and as it got closer and closer to the Twelve metre that was pursuing the party, Mikazuki grimaced as he had the Gundam lean forwards and outstretch one of its arm units, specifically the one armed with its Longsword.
Seconds later, Barbatos' Longsword found itself stabbed through the Twelve metre's head through its mouth right as it had turned around to stare at the encroaching Gundam. The stab had been delivered with such force that the Titan's entire head had been divorced from its body as Barbatos boosted past it, and after swinging the Longsword to one side, in turn flinging the severed head of the Titan off the weapon in the process, the Gundam began to hover behind the preliminary expedition party.
"H-Holy crap… did… did that just happen…?" asked one of the soldiers in the expedition party as they rode on, and in response to his question… well, there was no response, actually, as no one knew how to answer him. As time went on, however, the soldiers eventually mellowed out as they continued onwards, with them doing their best to ignore the sound of thrusters following them closely as the Gundam tailed them in silence.
"Yes…" came a rather meak response to the first guy's question after several long, agonising moments of silence, with the speaker sounding rather dumbfounded as he glanced back at Barbatos in shock. Mikazuki raised a brow when he saw the soldier staring directly at his Gundam with widened eyes, though he didn't show any signs of discomfort as he simply had it hover onwards at its current speed. "That… really did just happen… it… it saved us. From twelve Titans… within the span of about a minute"
"This thing… it's as tough as they come, huh?"
"N-No. I… at this point… it… it's much tougher than anything that comes."
"... yeah, you're spot on there, sir."
'Damn straight,' thought Mikazuki a little pridefully as he felt a gentle surge of data flow from Barbatos' end of the Alaya Vijnana system into his.
"..."
'Embarrassed?'
"...!"
'Heh, thought so…'
For all it was worth, Barbatos did also appear to be somewhat flattered by what the soldier had said in its own unique way, though whatever the case, both the Gundam and the pilot opted to shelve that thought for now as the latter kept his mind on the path ahead of them.
According to what he remembered during the various briefing sections, courtesy of Erwin himself, the expedition party was to stock up to ten temporary bases out on the field, something that the Commander had predicted would take, at the very least, twenty hours to accomplish if they were lucky. That in itself was fine with Mikazuki.
After all, he's been in the cockpit for well over twenty hours in the past.
Temporary base - one
The first stop made by the expedition party was located near a small, rural village that had not been completely ravaged by either the Titans during the Fall of Maria or the march of time.
Whilst most of the buildings of the village were in shambles, enough of them remained standing to allow the Survey Corps to stock them up with various equipment and food supplies. Two whole carriages were unloaded for the task to be accomplished, and while two thirds of the formation stocked the buildings up with gas, spare blades and various military rations, the remaining one third remained on guard duty as they made sure that no Titan came close enough to interrupt their operation.
Gundam Barbatos was, unsurprisingly enough, part of the latter category as it kept a watchful optic out for any and all Titans that could be approaching them from all sides. Within its cockpit, Mikazuki leaned his back against the cockpit chair and kept his gaze glued onto the Mobile Suit's on board radar. The unit didn't have to rely solely on its eyes and ears to detect inbound hostiles, after all.
About an hour had passed since the formation had stopped to stock the abandoned buildings up with equipment, and with each passing second, Mika found himself growing more and more impatient as he leaned his head back a little and exhaled sharply. Now, the pilot wasn't exactly one to feel bored, not easily at least… though considering how he had been sitting down and doing literally nothing for the past hour or so whilst occasionally glancing at the cockpit radar… the pilot found his patience running rather thin by now…
Rather abruptly, however, right as Mikazuki found himself ready to doze off, he suddenly felt a mild thump atop his cockpit hatch, prompting him to blink and stare upwards for a brief few seconds before he turned to stare at the unit's optic-to-cockpit cameras. Through Barbatos' optics, Mikazuki saw that Hanji, of all people, was currently kneeling down atop the Gundam's chest unit as she banged the flat of her fist onto it, much to Mika's irritation.
"Oiiiiii! Mikazuki, open up! I've got something for ya!" urged Hanji rather nicely, or as nicely as she could muster at this point really, as she smiled and stared up at Barbatos' optics, with her looking it directly in the eyes as she spoke. At first, Mikazuki was very reluctant to open the cockpit hatch, as he knew from experience that having Hanji leap into the cockpit and land onto one's lap was not a pleasant experience, though when he saw her holding up a small bag with bread inside it in one hand alongside a canteen of water in the other, he found himself reconsidering. "C'mon, no tricks. Promise. I just wanna give these to you!"
Raising a brow at her words, Mikazuki found himself narrowing his eyes at Hanji from behind the cockpit monitor as he judged her sincerity. Surprisingly enough, she was being completely sincere at the moment, something that Barbatos confirmed after some time, and with a sigh, he reluctantly tapped on the cockpit console and had the cockpit hatch slide open. Rather unfortunately for Hanji, however, she was kneeling down on the cockpit hatch and, as a result, she nearly fell off it as it slid forwards, though she managed to keep herself from falling to her presumed death as she clung onto its edge for dear life.
"Whoa! Hahah… see? No harm done!" quipped Hanji as she stared down at Mikazuki from the edge of the cockpit hatch, with her scrambling back up to peek down at him with a smile moments later. Mika raised a brow in response to her comment, though he didn't say anything else as he watched the bespectacled maniac hand him the bread and canteen, prompting him to take them from her before offering her a curt nod.
"Ah. Thanks," thanked Mika rather neutrally as he unwrapped the bread and took a massive bite out of it, ripping it in half with just a single chomp. Hanji blinked in surprise as he swallowed it without even taking a sip of water. That stale piece of bread was probably dry as all Hell, and Mika had just chewed it up and swallowed it like it was nothing!
"Jeez, you must be used to eating dry stuff, huh?" commented Hanji rather sarcastically as she watched Mikazuki take a sip from the canteen she offered him before he finished off the bread in two whole bites. He said nothing as he chewed, though after swallowing, he exhaled sharply and shrugged.
"I've eaten drier things. The bread is fine, thanks," assured Mikazuki as he took one last sip from the canteen and handed it back to Hanji, though rather surprisingly, the bespectacled lady pushed it back towards the pilot as she smirked.
"Keep it with ya. Consider it a gift from me to you or something. Don't think you've got a canteen on you at the moment, anyways," said Hanji with her ending it off with a wink as she offered the pilot a thumbs up, to which he nodded a little, seeming rather thankful towards his senior's actions, before he watched her slide off his Gundam's cockpit and launch herself off to assist her squad mates once more.
How… novel, that was, Mikazuki realized. For once, Hanji wasn't acting too perverted around Barbatos… for once, she was acting… normal. Or at least as normal as things could get for Hanji Zoe, anyways, and before long, Mika could feel Barbatos agreeing with him on the matter as he shut the cockpit hatch once more. Focusing in on the data flow, the pilot hummed softly as he processed the info given to him by his Gundam, and after he had done so, he glanced up to see a signal flare being fired skywards, prompting him to reactivate his unit's main systems all the while.
'Yeah… I guess she can be rather nice too, huh, Barbatos?'
Temporary base - two
The trek to the second area to set up a temporary base took less time than Mikazuki had expected, not that he was gonna complain, anyways.
The area that they had chosen to turn into the second temporary base was what appeared to be a former farmhouse, and upon reaching the area, which was surrounded by a massive grove of dead crops, a single building that was in a state of decay and a barn, one that was not too dissimilar to the one Mikazuki had hidden Barbatos inside for the past five years.
The barn in particular was, to Mike, in good enough condition to act as the second temporary base, and with that in mind, they began to approach it at a faster pace.
After Mikazuki had quite literally liquified a Three metre Titan when he had his Gundam crash down on top of it, the soldiers were quick to stock the partially destroyed barn with spare blades and gas canisters. They did consider placing some bread and canteens of water in as well, though after some consideration by Mike, who sniffed the place thoroughly, they reckoned that this was not a good place to keep any food items and opted to keep it as a spare equipment stash for now.
As with the first base, things were mostly uneventful as Mikazuki remained seated within his Gundam's cockpit as time slowly but surely marched onwards. His eyes were shut at that point as he trusted Barbatos to alert him to any and all incoming threats via the Alaya-Vijnana system. Meanwhile, the soldiers took full advantage of the lack of Titans in the vicinity as they swiftly stocked the barn up with spare blades and gas tanks whilst their teammates kept an eye out, though due to the fact that there weren't many vantage points to stand up on, they weren't able to see very far, even whilst they stood atop the barn, which was currently the highest vantage point they could find.
And suddenly…
"Are you sure this is safe up there, Captain?"
Grimacing a little as he felt his eyes cracking open on instinct, Mikazuki rubbed at them a little before he turned his attention towards Barbatos' optic-to-cockpit visuals. The pilot found himself raising a brow in amusement when he saw that Levi was currently standing atop the Gundam's chest with nary a care in the world, much to his amusement, and on ground level were the various members of Levi's team, who didn't seem to be happy with their Captain's decision to take point on Barbatos' chest.
"If Hanji can pull it off without breaking a leg, then I'm sure it's safe. Standing atop this thing provides a better vantage point than the buildings around here, after all," said Levi nonchalantly as he stared down at the unit's cockpit hatch. As he did so, the Captain tapped the top of the cockpit with the tip of his Anti-Titan blade, a rather telltale sign to the pilot that he was now talking to him directly as he continued. "I doubt that you mind me being up here, anyways, now do you?"
There was no response from Mikazuki as he reckoned that remaining silent would be a good enough answer to Levi's question. Evidently enough, he was correct, as the Captain simply nodded in approval as he sheathed his blades, crossed his arms and leaned his back against Barbatos' cheek unit, not caring if the pilot found the gesture to be annoying in any way shape or form.
Thankfully enough, he did not.
"Thought not," quipped Levi in his usual tone of voice as Mikazuki rolled his eyes and rubbed at his wrists. Part of him wished to just… rattle Barbatos up a little and see how Levi would react to that, though he didn't have enough conviction to pull it off as he reckoned that he'd earn nothing from that outside of a small amount of amusement and quite a bit of reprimandation once the expedition was over, so he kept that thought to himself as he shrugged and leaned back on his cockpit chair. "Kh… filthy. We'll have to clean this thing up when we're done here…'
And after some time, the pilot found himself absentmindedly lifting his hand up and resting it atop his forehead, only to pause briefly when the scent of strawberries assaulted his nostrils, prompting him to blink and turn his attention towards the blue scented bracelet on his wrist. Upon seeing it, a small smile wormed its way onto the pilot's face as he held the bracelet up to his nose and sniffed it in an almost tender way before he held it close to his chest.
'It still smells nice,' thought Mikazuki as he did this, and as he did so, memories of a dear individual flashed through his mind momentarily…
Pink haired, curled up near the edges, red eyes and an adorable smile… oh, how he missed her…
And from where they stood, Team Levi swore that the green optics of Barbatos flashed blue for a handful of seconds before reverting to their usual green hue.
Temporary base - five
The next two bases were stocked up in relatively short order, though due to the rising sun and how the Titans were more active whilst sunlight was available, the expedition party found themselves slowing down quite a bit in order to contend with the Titans being more aggressive towards them.
Mikazuki himself didn't exactly mind that, of course. The Titans being more aggressive meant that he didn't have to just wait around for the Survey Corps to finish stocking up their temporary bases, after all, as he could busy himself with fending off the Titans whilst waiting for them to finish up with their duties.
'Fending them off' was quite a strong word, however, as the Gundam quite literally plowed straight through the Titans that were dumb enough to get close enough to be struck by it. The Survey Corps were, at first, rightfully awed by the power that was demonstrated by the Mobile Suit as it effortlessly ripped through the packs of Titans that had charged at them, and even the members of Team Levi had, however begrudgingly, found some form of respect for the Mobile Suit's immense strength as, without it, they doubt that they'd even manage to get this far.
With a single jerk of the arm controllers, Mikazuki was able to have Barbatos wipe out an entire pack of Titans with its Wrench Mace, and just a single swing of its fist was more than enough to rip into the stomach of some of the more well built Titans. It would've been quite the understatement to claim that the unit itself was the equivalent of several hundred of mankind's best soldiers all condensed into one massive, mechanical package… and by all means, it was a good thing that it was on their side.
The expedition party had stopped to stock up the fifth temporary base at that point, which was an old building situated at the center of an abandoned village, and, as with the last two bases, when the Titans had attempted to attack the working soldiers, Gundam Barbatos, and by virtue, Mikazuki himself, took point in fending them off. While several soldiers did indeed provide assistance with the whole ordeal, they mostly focused on defending the areas that the Mobile Suit was unable to reach in a timely manner.
For as powerful as it was, Barbatos was still just one unit, after all, and the Survey Corps present recognised that fact and did their best to help it out whenever possible.
The defense of temporary base number five was, at least when compared to the four prior, rather tame. When compared to the defense of the third and especially the fourth, the fifth was a literal cakewalk, and with the help of the Gundam, the Survey Corps present were able to eliminate the Titans that were in their way with little to no issue. Barbatos was the one to take down the final Titan in the fifth temporary base by squashing it under its foot, much to the disgust of the few soldiers that were close enough to see what remained of it, though Henning did comment on it being rather cool.
Thereafter, things were rather calm, all things considered… or at least… things were as calm as they could get outside the confines of the Walls, as the Survey Corps continued to stock up their fifth temporary base with equipment. Most of Team Mike were helping out with the the stocking up of the base whilst Team Levi kept a watchful eye out for any and all Titans alongside several other Survey Corps and Barbatos, though from what they knew, they didn't need to be too attentive as, according to Hanji, of all people, the Gundam had some sort of on board tracker that could detect Titans from up to a mile away. That was… impressive, to say the least, and though they didn't believe her entirely, they opted to take her for her word just this once, considering how reliable the Gundam has been thus far.
And yet, in spite of just how reliable it has shown itself to be… not everyone was fully trusting of it just yet… and even now, as it remained in a kneeling position with its head bowed in a generally non threatening manner, its Longsword imbedded into the ground and with its Wrench Mace resting atop the slowly dissipating corpse of a Twelve metre Titan, a good majority of the soldiers present couldn't bring themselves to get too close to the unit.
"That thing still unsettles me…" admitted Oruo as he kept his gaze fixed squarely on the unmoving chassis of the Gundam, with him ready to leap forward and strike at any given second. Amongst the entirety of Team Levi, Bazad was undoubtedly the one who was most apprehensive of the Mobile Suit and its pilot, and second to him was Eren, who was rather wary of the Mobile Suit for various reasons.
"Why's that, Oruo? Both it and Mikazuki have shown themselves to be trustworthy so far, haven't they? At least give them some benefit of the doubt and let go of your irrational fears," piped up Eld from behind the soldier in question, prompting the Levi wannabe to wince a little as he turned to face his blonde comrade. Behind him, Petra and Gunther found themselves snickering a little while Eren just remained silent. Levi wasn't around to feel amused by the whole ordeal as he had volunteered to help stock the temporary base up.
"Don't tell me that you're not wary of it either, Eld!" protested Oruo as he waved his hands in the air in dismay. By his side, Petra stepped back a little to avoid being nicked by one of his blades while Gunther rolled his eyes at Bazad's overzealous nature. Eren found himself wincing a little at the immaturity shown by his senior soldier, though Eld found himself unamused by his antics as he rolled his eyes, much to Oruo's chagrin.
"Don't be ridiculous, Oruo. Of course I'm still wary of it, but as I've stated before, both the Gundam and Mikazuki have shown themselves to be both dependable and trustworthy on more than one occasion, and at the very least, I believe that they have earned at least some of our trust and respect at this point," countered Eld calmly as he glanced over towards the Gundam before raising a brow when he saw that Hanji Zoe was boosting towards it. He dismissed it for now, however, as Oruo grimaced.
"How can you even bring yourself to respect that… thing and its host, Eld?!" demanded Oruo as he threw his arms up into the air in shock. Eld appeared mildly amused at Oruo's antics as he watched the guy continue his tirade, with Petra snickering a little as she watched on. "You do realize that if he wanted to, Mikazuki can wipe us all out in an instant with his Gundam! You saw what it could do to the Titans, yeah? It tore through them like they were nothing! Now just imagine what it could do if it turned against us! The risks are just too high, Eld! We cannot trust, much less respect, him!"
"Calm down now, Oruo. I'm not about to get on my hands and knees to pray to the guy just yet, alright? When that happens, you have every right to behead me," assured Eld, with him flashing a cheeky grin as the rest of his team stared at him in bewilderment. "But regardless, you're being just a little too paranoid, don't you think? Mikazuki's a good kid at heart, or at least that's what the reports from Mike, Keith and Hanji tell me, and so far, he's done nothing more than help us in combat. That in itself is commendable, and, at the very least, worthy of respect."
"..." no comment from Oruo at first, who grimaced as he found some truth in Eld's words, and upon realizing that he had more or less just won this argument, Gin found himself smirking a little as he crossed his arms and turned just in time to see the Gundam expel waste heat built up within its systems via its golden vents before allowing its cockpit to slide open. Hanji was standing rather close to the Mobile Suit at the moment as she waved a little at Mikazuki, who didn't bother to return the gesture as he caught a piece of bread that Zoe had thrown at him. "You're gonna get yourself killed if you keep trusting the punk as much as you do."
"Either that, or I'll get myself saved by him someday. Who knows at this point?" countered Eld nonchalantly as Gunther chuckled at his optimism. Most soldiers who had worked their way up to the rank of Elite within the Survey Corps tended to be rather cynical and jaded, something that Schultz could never blame them for. In this line of work, you tended to see more horrors than any one person should in a single life. But even so… Eld Gin remained just as optimistic as he was when the two of them first met, and that in itself was more than enough to bring a smile onto Gunther's face as he shook his head.
"Give it a rest, Oruo. We know you're terrified of the thing, but it's given us a lot of reasons to trust in it so far, so have some faith in both the Gundam and its pilot, alright?" suggested Gunther out of the blue as he moved forward to place a hand atop Oruo's shoulder. The Levi copycat deflated at that point, seeming to realize that regardless of his genuinely good intentions, he wasn't about to change any of his teammate's minds, prompting him to slouch forward as he offered a reluctant nod. Gunther seemed to notice this, however, prompting him to motion towards Eren Jaeger, who blinked a little at the sudden gesture. "Hm, if it means anything, I'm sure Eren can vouch for Mikazuki?"
"I-I… what?" muttered Eren in confusion as he found himself unwittingly at the center of everyone's attention. None of his seniors seemed to notice his discomfort, however, as Petra marched up to Jaeger's side and offered him a gentle smile.
"You were a part of the 104th Trainee Brigade, were you not?" inquired Petra gently as she sheathed her blades. When Eren nodded in response to her question, Ral simply smiled a little wider and gestured a tad with her now free hands. "In that case, you must have some knowledge in regards to Mikazuki Augus, yes? We would like to learn more about him if at all possible."
"Most of us, at least," grumbled Oruo silently as Eld snickered a little at his expense. His snickering died down, however, when he saw Jaeger scratching the back of his head awkwardly, a telltale sign to him that he didn't know as much as they wanted.
"Well… I… I'm sorry, ma'am but… I-I never did spend much time with him back in our Trainee days," apologised Eren awkwardly. Upon hearing this, the various members of Team Levi seemed to deflate a little, with the exception of Oruo who simply snorted in amusement, as they remained silent. "But… if it helps… he tends to spend most of his time with-"
"Mina Carolina, Nac Tias and Annie Leonhardt. The former two were recently transferred into the Survey Corps whilst the latter was transferred to the Military Police Brigade," finished Gunther as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. At that, Eren seemed to perk up a little as he opened his mouth to ask how he knew, though before he could do so, Schultz allowed a rare, cheeky smile appear on his face as he cut him off. "We read through Mikazuki's files after we learnt of his connection to the Mechan… ah, no, Barbatos."
"Well… if you learnt about him through his files, then why ask me?" asked Eren awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head in a somewhat nervous manner. In response to his question, the Special Operation Squadron simply chuckled awkwardly, with the exception of Oruo once again, before Petra spoke up.
"Because the files can only go so far in helping us learn about him. Team Mike has gotten close to him, sure, but they barely know a thing about him that we don't already know about. We thought that you'd have some insight that we lacked," explained Petra, short and simple as Eld nodded. After processing her words, Eren found himself reddening in embarrassment as he nodded.
"I… I see… I'm sorry I couldn't be of much help," apologised Eren sincerely as he shut his eyes and exhaled sharply. In response to his comment, however, Oruo, surprisingly enough, waved his hand dismissively into the air as he grunted.
"Doesn't matter, really. The less I know about him, the less awkward it'll be when he inevitably turns on us," grumbled Oruo sarcastically as Eren winced a little.
"Why… are you so sure that Mikazuki will turn on us, Oruo?" asked Eren, genuinely curious as he held one of his Anti-Titan blades up in the air as an unnecessary gesture. His response was a mild scoff from Oruo as he turned on his heel just in time to see Mikazuki throwing half an eaten piece of bread at Hanji's head with enough force to send her stumbling backwards, though before she recovered from the 'attack', Mika had slid back into his unit's cockpit and lifted its hatch back up, much to Zoe's dismay.
"Was it something I said?!" yelled Hanji in the distance, with no audible response being heard as Barbatos remained completely still. Team Levi, alongside several other soldiers who could hear the commotion, snorted in amusement, though before long, they dismissed Zoe as they went back to the conversation at hand.
"Eren, like, not even five minutes ago, I said that both Mikazuki and that Barbatos thing can wipe us all out if it wanted to. It wouldn't even need to try. I'd be a fucking lunatic to trust that thing," explained Oruo, with him pausing to give Eld a judgemental glare, prompting the blonde to raise his hands defensively. "Or even show any form of respect to it, however begrudgingly."
"But… what about me? I'm technically like Mikazuki, aren't I…? What makes me so different…?" asked Eren, sounding a little concerned as he stared at Oruo with a serious gaze. His brows had lowered themselves down on his face at that point as the junior wished to get his point across, and upon hearing that, Bazad grimaced as he rubbed his chin a little. It was rather clear that he was unable to respond to Jaeger's question, not earnestly at least, though surprisingly enough, Eld was the one who came to Oruo's defence.
"You may take offense to this, Eren Jaeger, but… when compared to Mikazuki Augus and Gundam Barbatos… you aren't exactly spectacular," admitted Eld with a small, sheepish smile. At that, Eren bit his lower lip to stop himself from growling as he knew that Eld was right. In every category, outside of lectures, Mikazuki outclassed him tremendously, and whilst piloting Barbatos? Well… even if the Titan Shifter had used his Titan form to combat it, there was no question who would win in a fight.
"I… I know, sir. He's… very strong in more ways than one, so I'm not particularly surprised at that," admitted Eren in mild disappointment as he slouched forwards a tad. At that, Oruo scoffed as he looked away from his junior and continued speaking.
"Yeah, that. Look, kid, you're not particularly dangerous for more than one reason, y'know? We can take you down at any given second if we want, but with him? When he's in the Gundam? Impossible, I tell you! Not even you can beat him, I bet!" protested Oruo with a grimace, and at that, the guy scoffed. "With that in mind, does my… how do you put it, irrational fear seem irrational anymore?"
"... it's still rather irrational, I won't lie," admitted Eld with a rather cheeky grin, prompting Oruo to almost pull his hair out in frustration as he resisted the urge to yell out in irritation. Admittedly, Eld had said that mostly to see his comrade's reaction, though he wasn't lying either.
After all, at the end of the day, regardless of his connection to Barbatos, Mikazuki was, like the rest of them, a soldier and, more importantly, a human. To distrust a fellow soldier would be rather counterproductive, to say the least, especially one as powerful as Augus, but to discriminate against a fellow human? Eld saw nothing good coming from that, and as such, he saw no reason to distrust the guy, especially after he's seen just what he was capable of, within and without his unit.
More so than that, Mikazuki was also just, overall, a commendable soldier. He helped them out wherever necessary and fought alongside them despite having enough power to go it on his own without their aid. Someone with so much power opting to help them rather than flatten them… it spoke to their strength of character more so than anything, and Eld couldn't help but respect Mika more for this.
Opening his mouth, Oruo was more than ready to defend his stance yet again, though before he could do so, a signal flare was shot into the air, cutting him off as the guy grimaced and realized that they would have to delay this discussion to a later point in time, and however reluctantly, he sighed.
"We'll talk about this later, Eld! For now, let's just go!"
"Fine by me."
Temporary base - eight
Evidently enough, however, the conversation between Team Levi had to be put on hold for quite some time, as, by the time they had made it to the sixth temporary base, the sun had reached its peak, and as a result, the Titans were more active than ever.
Because of this, the process of stocking up the temporary bases had been slowed down rather intensely, though thanks to the combined efforts of the present soldiers and Barbatos, they were able to repel their Titanic foes long enough to stock up the sixth and seventh bases without too much issue.
If anything, the increased number of Titans only made it easier for the Gundam to show off its might, not intentionally of course, as Mikazuki never was one to show off without an amazing reason to do so… or unless he was showing off to either Mina, Nac or Annie, at least.
Sure, most of the time it had simply dispatched the Titans as it normally did, with the usual swing of its weapons, something that wasn't exactly impressive by now, to say the least, as the soldier alongside him had seen the Gundam do that several hundred times by now… though when it had suplexed a muscular Fifteen metre Titan just for fun… well, no one knew just how to react to the sight outside of looking utterly floored.
Except Hanji anyways. She had cheered so hard at the sight that she may or may not have torn her vocal cords from screaming. It was a shame that Moblit wasn't here to restrain her… though then again, he was taking a well deserved break from her, so they reckoned that it was for the best that he wasn't here.
After the seventh base was stocked up on, the soldiers realized that the sun was very quickly disappearing over the edge of the Earth. In a rather ironic turn, that ended up being quite a good thing, as that meant that night would be here soon, which also meant that the Titans would be less active. That didn't mean that they would be completely safe, of course, but even so, every little thing helped.
By the time they had reached the eighth base, the sun was already sinking down over the edge of the world, and as a result, the soldiers could afford to loosen up a tiny bit as they got to work on stocking up their eighth destination. A good majority of the soldiers remained on guard as they usually did, though for the most part, they could afford to be a little more relaxed as, in the distance, several Titans had begun moving more slowly, a sign that they were entering their dormant states.
Mikazuki himself took advantage of their decreased movement by disconnecting himself from Barbatos for the first time since the start of the expedition and hopping out of the cockpit for a change. The Gundam's systems were still active, albeit in a more limited state, as he did so, and if any targets were to appear on its radar, he'd have an auditory cue alerting him to it beforehand.
Standing atop his unit's chest, the pilot stretched a little as he knocked some of the strain from his limbs whilst his unit entered its low power mode. As he did so, several Survey Corps, upon noticing that the Gundam was no longer functional for now, as evident by its dimmed optics and unpowered knee and chest lights, opted to get in close to have a closer look at it, though none of them came more than a handful of metres as they didn't wish to take any risks.
Well… none except for a certain someone… who wasn't Hanji for a change.
"Hey… uh, Mikazuki?"
Blinking as he heard his name be called, Mikazuki found himself glancing down at ground level as he quickly zoned in on the one who had called for him. Admittedly, the pilot found himself surprised to see that Eren Jaeger was the one who had called him, though his initial surprise was quickly replaced with his usual blank expression as he raised a brow, a gesture that was just barely visible in the fading light as Jaeger winced.
"I… uh… well… since there aren't many Titans around, do you think that we could… y-y'know… just… chat a little?" asked Eren, with him sounding more than a little awkward as he scratched the back of his neck in a rather uncertain manner. Mikazuki found himself snorting a little in amusement as he listened to his fellow 104th graduate's stuttering, though he ended up shrugging and motioning for him to get up onto his unit's chest if he really wanted to talk, one to one, and at that, the young soldier smiled just a little as he launched his Maneuver Gear anchors up onto the Gundam's chest and flung himself up onto it.
Eren would never admit to being more than a little intimidated when he landed atop the unit's chest, with him almost falling off it when he saw just how close he was to its face, though evidently enough, based on the look he had given him, Mikazuki could sense his fears as he huffed and motioned for Jaeger to have a sea atop the cockpit hatch. Rather sheepishly, Eren did as he was instructed as he shifted his Maneuver Gears out of the way and sat down on his half of Barbatos' chest in an awkward manner, beside a standing Mikazuki who appeared uncaring of this admittedly awkward situation.
For a few moments, both Mikazuki and Eren remained silent, with the two of them admiring the slowly setting sun as the seconds ticked by. The only thing that ruined the scenery was the occasional Titan that walked into view, though that was easily overlooked, all things considered.
Before long, however, Mikazuki found himself speaking up first, surprisingly enough, as he wished to break the ice between the two of them. The pilot was admittedly curious as to what the Shifter wished to speak to him about, after all.
"You said you wanted to talk, not just sit," reminded Mikazuki rather coldly as he offered his fellow abnormality a raised brow. At that, the young man beside him winced a little as he chuckled awkwardly, seeming a little unsure on how he should respond as he rubbed his upper arm in an uncertain manner.
"You… y-you got me there, Mikazuki…" admitted Eren with a somewhat sheepish tone of voice as he closed his eyes and exhaled gently. The pilot in question said nothing, however, as he simply waited patiently for Jaeger to continue. "I… I'll just get to the point… I… want to know you better, y'know?"
"Why?" asked Mikazuki flatly as he stared at Eren. His amusement was mostly masked by the darkness of the night, but even so, Jaeger could see it with little issue as he shuddered; the pilot was never the most emotive of individuals, but even so, it was usually quite obvious whenever he was feeling a sort of way, and upon noticing his shift in demeanor, the young Shifter responded accordingly.
"Well… in a way, we're both very alike… as in, we're, uh… w-we're Abnormals… so… I-I thought that we could maybe get to know each other better because of that…? W-When I mean that we're alike, I meant that it's because you… uh… we…" began Eren, only to add on near the end when he realized that he may have ended up implying a lot more than he wished to, though thankfully enough, the pilot was able to wave him off as he acknowledged what he was trying to say.
"Ah, I know. I pilot Barbatos, you become a Titan. In a way, we're similar. I get what you're trying to say," assured Mikazuki with a rather dismissive tone of voice. Eren noticeably blinked a little in surprise as he processed what he was just told, though before long, he nodded and cleared his throat.
"Yeah… well… we're so similar to one another, but even so… they're not treating you…" muttered Eren in a rather uncertain tone of voice, though before he could even finish what was on his mind, Mikazuki scoffed a little, cutting him off as the Titan Shifter glanced over at him.
"They can treat me however they want. It doesn't matter in the long run. As long as I can do what I want to… to protect them," assured Mikazuki dismissively as Eren winced a tad. Though it wasn't exactly surprising for the guy, the Shifter still found himself dumbfounded by just how… indifferent he was when in regards to his own treatment. And beyond that… the mere fact that he was still so loyal to his friends… it was obscenely impressive, even after everything that had happened, though he didn't comment on it just yet as he offered a weak smile at his comrade. "Nothing else matters to me. As long as they remain safe…"
"You… you're really loyal to them, huh? You must really love them a lot," muttered Eren, with him stating the obvious as Mikazuki scoffed a little, though that sound didn't seem to have any real maliciousness behind it as he closed his eyes and exhaled sharply.
He was not wrong there… not by a massive longshot.
"I owe them everything. Mina, Nac, Annie, Mrs Carolina… all of them," confirmed Mikazuki as he fixed his gaze onto Eren for a brief few seconds. The sun had completely set by now, and as a result, everyone's vision was rather limited, even after the Survey Corps had started some fires all around the temporary base, but even so… Eren still found himself widening his eyes at the sight of Mikazuki's piercing blue irises gazing at him. Even in the dark of night, he could see them with very little issue… and he would be lying if he claimed to not have not noticed the protective determination that glimmered within them. "I would die for them."
"... jeez… overprotective much…?" muttered Eren after a good few seconds, with him sounding rather jokingly as he attempted to dispel some of the tension that was brought up after he spoke of his friends. It seemed to work a tiny bit, however, as Mikazuki softened his gaze a tad and shrugged.
"Just like Mikasa is with you?" asked Mika rhetorically, with him raising a brow as he spoke. And for as dark as it was, the pilot couldn't stop the edges of his lips from twitching upwards a little when he saw the Titan Shifter's annoyed grimace. Sensitive spot, eh?
"She cares too much, Mikazuki… I can handle myself just fine! Why can't she see that?!" proclaimed Eren in a rather childish manner as he flailed his arms around in a somewhat comedic fashion. Mikazuki didn't react much to it as he leaned a little to the side to avoid being hit in the face by Eren's hands, seeming, at the very least, a little amused by Jaeger's statement as he rolled his eyes a tad.
Though he never really focused on the two of them all that much, Mikazuki had quite easily taken note of just how… close Eren and Mikasa were. Or, at the very least, just how close Mikasa was to Eren. Vice versa, though, the Titan Shifter really wished for her to let him do things his own way… something that she really wasn't keen on doing, and it infuriated him quite obviously.
Mikazuki himself could understand Eren's frustration to a certain degree, as Mikasa's attachment to him did limit his growth quite intensely, but even so… the loyalty that Mikasa had constantly showed to Eren… it reminded Mika of his dedication of Orga back in the day, and by all means, that was no small praise.
Loyalty that was on the level of Mikazuki with Orga, or in more recent memory, his dedication to Mina, Nac and Annie… it was hard to obtain, to say the least. In Mika's experience, the only way to obtain that level of loyalty was to be saved by them from a traumatizing experience at a young age; Orga had inspired him into shooting that punk in the alleyway back in the day, after all… and as for Mikasa, Mikazuki reckoned that something similar had happened with her and Eren back in the day for her to be as loyal as she was to him…
"Hey… uh, Mikazuki… are you there…?" came Eren's voice rather abruptly as the young man in question found himself snapping out of his thoughts as he glanced over at his comrade. To his credit, the Titan Shifter appeared to be genuinely worried for Mikazuki as he stared at him with wide eyes, though when Mika had turned to fix his gaze at him, he shuddered and looked away. "Yeah… you're there alright… you okay? You kinda spaced out there…"
"Ah. Just thinking about stuff," assured Mikazuki dismissively as he waved Eren's concerns off without much thought. That in itself had caught Jaeger's fancy as he raised a brow, wondering what the pilot could've been thinking about all the while.
"About… what?" asked Eren, prompting Mikazuki to shake his head; he saw no reason to share his thoughts with the Shifter, something that he didn't seem to realize as he silently waited for an answer, though before he could take a hint, Hanji's head suddenly popped up between the two of them, startling Eren, who gasped and almost fell off the Gundam's chest in shock, though before he could do so, Mikazuki sprung his arm out and caught him before he could fall towards the ground. "Gah… thanks Mika… C-Captain?"
"Sup! Anyways, both of you, we're moving out now! C'mon, let's not daddle! Get in the cockpit, Mikazuki! And you, Eren! Let's go!" proclaimed Hanji as she smirked and grabbed onto her junior Titan Shifter's collar. Before he could even protest, the maniac of a woman promptly yanked him off Barbatos' chest, and thereafter, the Gundam pilot peeked over the edge of his unit's chest and watched as Zoe dragged Jaeger off into the night whilst the guy screamed in terror.
"HELP ME MIKAZUKI!" screamed Eren in terror as Mikazuki snorted in amusement. It was probably a good thing that it was night now, as, if the Titans were still moving at full capacity, they'd be swarming their current position thanks to just how loud Jaeger was being.
Temporary base - 10
As with the eighth and ninth temporary bases, the process of stocking up the tenth and final temporary base, located in a rather sizable village that looked to once be a bustling community in Maria back in the day, was rather… calm, all things considered.
It was close to midnight at that point, and because of this, traversal was close to impossible, even with the torches they used to light some of the way forward. At least… it would be if Mike was not the one who was leading the formation. The Captain's absurd nose was instrumental in helping the formation navigate in the darkness, and it was only thanks to it that they remained in one piece.
That… and Barbatos' present did a lot to help keep them together, as it was hard to lose sight of your formation when it was being flanked by an 18.8 metre metal behemoth with glowing green optics and pink lights on its chest and knees…
Hell, when a soldier was slowly veering away from the formation thanks to her growing fatigue, the Gundam had quite literally boosted up to the side of the formation, with Mikazuki having kept his unit in that sweet spot of being 'not too far to do nothing but close enough to do something', and used the thrust created by its Land Boosters to push the soldier back towards the party. The air rushing towards her face had forced the soldier to wake the fuck up, in turn allowing her to veer back to her group.
The only real obstacles that the formation faced en route to the final base were the occasional Abnormal Titans that attempted to come for them, though considering how few of them there were, and how Barbatos could (honestly quite literally) erase them with little issue, as demonstrated when it had quite literally melted a Twelve metre Abnormal Titan with a dropkick, they didn't really slow them down one bit.
As soon as they had made it to the final temporary base site, the soldiers were quick to get to work on stocking it up. The final carriage of equipment took quite some time to be fully unloaded, though the Survey Corps were able to get it done in a timely manner as they didn't wish to linger around for too long. They were very far from the gates of Karanse, and even more so from the gates of Krolva, after all, and for as tough as the Gundam was, they didn't wish to tempt fate and have a massive pack of Titans come after them anytime soon.
Near the end of their stocking up, Lynne had found herself sighing a little as she walked off to a corner to take a short break from all this. After getting the approval of her Captain, she moved to take a seat against a partially broken wall before moving her hand over to the back of her hip to grab her canteen. After removing it from her belt, she raised it up, uncapped it and brought it up to her lips… only to raise her brows in irritation when she realized that it was empty.
"Oh for fucks sake…" cursed Lynne as she forcefully capped the canteen. Cursing was normally off the table for someone like her, more or less because she didn't wish to appear too tomboyish, something that her outwardly appearance heavily suggested, though considering how fatigued she was at the moment from the constant riding and occasional combat, she reckoned that it was fine to let one curse out, at the very least…
Staring at her canteen in irritation, Lynne grimaced as she contemplated throwing it out of frustration, only to stop herself right as she had raised it up over her head before she sighed and hooked it back onto her hip. No point in grumbling over lost water, she reckoned. They were about to return to Karanse within the next hour or so anyways, and she'd gone much longer without water, so she reckoned that she'd be fine…
And suddenly, Lynne's instincts acted up, prompting her to turn to her left and hold her hand up… just in time to grab onto a canteen that had been lobbed right at her head. Thereafter, she stared at it in confusion for a brief few seconds, seemingly wondering if she was just imagining things thanks to her growing fatigue, though after she poked the canteen a few times with her finger and confirmed that it was real, she couldn't help but smile a tiny bit as she glanced over at the one who had thrown it at her.
"Well, I can't say I was expecting that, but thanks anyways, Mikazuki," thanked Lynne as she watched the aforementioned pilot grunt and lean against a close by wall. His presence here seemed to confuse a handful of nearby soldiers as they stared at him with a mixture of admiration, fear… and for some, hostility. Vice versa, though, Mikazuki ignored all of them as he crossed his arms and cracked his neck. Meanwhile, Lynne simply uncapped Mika's canteen before sniffing it a little, prompting him to raise a brow, and in spite of the bad lighting, Lynne took note of it and snickered. "Sorry, just my instincts acting up. I've been to enough parties back in Sina to know that you can't just take whatever's offered to you without being sure that it's safe."
"Hmph. Smart," complemented Mikazuki half-heartedly as he exhaled a little and shut his eyes to rest them for a short while. As he did so, Lynne took a swig from his canteen, smiling a little as she was rehydrated, before throwing his canteen back at him. The pilot caught it without even opening his eyes before he hooked it back onto his hip, and at that point, Lynne realized that he had his Maneuver Gear equipped, prompting her to raise a brow.
"Hey, why're you here, anyways? Aren't you meant to be providing overwatch?" asked Lynne curiously as she eyed her junior with a questioning gaze. "And for that matter, how'd you get that gear?"
"I got tired of sitting in Barbatos. I needed to stretch my legs," explained Mikazuki as he glanced over at Lynne with a bored expression. Huh, strange. He didn't seem tired in the slightest, Lynne realized, though she didn't think much of it as she nodded in understanding before opening her mouth to repeat the second half of her question, only to be stopped when Mika continued. "And I stuck my gear in the cockpit."
"Wait, how? It seems impossible to-" began Lynne, only to be dismissed by a simple raise of Mikazuki's index finger.
"I have my ways," was all Mikazuki had bothered to respond with as he waved a hand dismissively through the air. How he managed to shove both Maneuver Gear units into his Gundam's (admittedly small) cockpit was a matter that he didn't wish to discuss, as it was a weird one to converse about, and Lynne seemed to get the hint as she nodded understandingly.
"Well, whatever you say, I guess," quipped Lynne as she covered up a yawn. Mikazuki had snorted a little at that, seeming a little amused at her fatigue as he remained as lively as he usually was… well, perhaps lively was too strong of a word to use, as the pilot looked as neutral as he always has been. In the middle of her yawn, however, Lynne continued speaking. "Say, how'd you rate your first proper expedition outside the walls?"
"Huh?" muttered Mika with a raised brow, having not quite understood what his senior was trying to get at as he eyed her with a mildly confused expression. Having noticed this, Lynne snickered a tad, with her finding his rare bout of confusion to be, admittedly, adorable before she elaborated.
"This is your first proper expedition, isn't it? It's not as grand as the actual expeditions, but it's still something of a good learning experience for you. I just wanted to know how you feel about it?" explained Lynne as she gestured a little with her hands. Her response was a few seconds of silence from Mikazuki as he rubbed at his chin awkwardly, though before long, he shrugged and responded as best he could.
"It's fine. Not as terrible as I expected it to be," admitted Mika as Lynne raised a brow, prompting him to roll his eyes a little and elaborate on his words. "I was expecting a lot more people to die. The lecturer always said that the Survey Corps died a lot on expeditions."
"Laying it out rather harshly as usual, huh? Well, either way… your lecturers aren't wrong. We… do have a high mortality rate, but thanks to you…" said Lynne, with her tone of voice sounding rather disheartened as she began, though as she continued, the woman slowly began to sound a little more passionate as she winked at Mikazukiin a somewhat playful manner, causing him to raise a brow as she snickered and gave him an approving thumbs up. "Thanks to you and Barbatos, we've suffered no casualties thus far…"
"Hmph. I just did my job. It's nothing special," assured Mikazuki dismissively, with him largely ignoring how the strength and technology of his Gundam had saved so many lives in the past few hours, to which Lynne scoffed as she deflated. Her thumbs up slouched a little as she sharpened her gaze immensely to glare at him in bafflement, though at the same time, Mika didn't so much as flinch as he raised a brow expectantly, prompting her to speak.
"Nothing special? Mikazuki Augus, need I remind you that the formation is, at best, sixty people large? Without your assistance, we would have been wiped out mere hours after we had left the confines of Karanse!" proclaimed Lynne in bewilderment as she pointed a finger at Mikazuki. The pilot barely reacted as he shrugged off Lynne's complement, though despite all that, something about how the edges of the soldier's lips twitched upwards a little told her that he did appreciate her praise, prompting the Elite to chuckle a tad as she moved to stand herself up. "But regardless, let's not get too distracted, at least not out here in the open. I can praise you and that Gundam of yours once we're back behind the walls and not in any danger, alright?"
"Ah," replied Mikazuki with an indifferent shrug as he watched Lynne stand up and stretch herself rather dramatically. Thereafter, the woman cracked her knuckles before she smirked at him.
"Anyhow, let's get-" began Lynne, though before she could finish that sentence, she took note of a flare being shot up into the air, prompting her to widen her eyes a little as she saw the red cloud of smoke swiftly rising skywards. In an instant, she shook off her fatigue and almost immediately she unsheathed her blades and turned towards Mika with a serious expression, one that was mirrored by the pilot as he watched her bellow out her next order. "Mikazuki Augus, get to your Gundam, now! We have Titans on our hands!"
Though he had expected her to say that, Mikazuki had still found himself exhaling a little in irritation as he silently acknowledged how, regardless of how friendly Team Mike had been with him recently, and regardless of just how skilled he actually was without his Mobile Suit, the only reason as to why the Military Brigades wanted him was because of his Gundam and nothing more. It didn't bother him too much… though by all means… it still irritated him a tad to know that his less powerful skills were being ignored in favour of his strongest quality.
Even so, Barbatos was indeed their strongest asset, and as a result, the pilot had no choice but to move to pilot his unit in order to help repel the inbound attack…
And yet, before he could even move to board his MS, however… both Mikazuki and Lynne found themselves widening their eyes when they saw a powerful flash of lightning strike a spot close to their temporary base, and thereafter, a loud boom could be heard as a massive shockwave was emitted. Lynne found herself gasping at that while Mikazuki simply held his arm up to shield his face from the shockwave.
Smoke kicked up by the aftershock of that lightning strike hampered everyone's vision as Mikazuki grimaced and lowered his arm a little in irritation. His irritation was quick to become surprise, however, when he felt the ground beneath him shake rather intensely, and not long thereafter, everyone saw a faint silhouette emerging from within the impact point of the lightning.
Mikazuki didn't even need the silhouette to roar out loud in anger to figure out just what, or who, it was.
"H-He… transformed?" muttered Lynne as she widened her eyes in shock. The smoke that had clouded around them had died down by now, allowing Mikazuki and Lynne, among many other soldiers, to see that, indeed, Eren Jaeger had transformed into his Titan form. Lynne in particular had hoped that he had some form of approval to do so, though either way, Mikazuki, somewhat absentmindedly, nodded.
"Yeah. He did."
A short while prior
The soldiers that were keeping an eye out had spotted the Titans before they could get too close to them.
They were undoubtedly Abnormals, all of them, which explained why they were so active in spite of how dark it was, and upon noticing them, the Survey Corps keeping watch fired a red signal flare into the air to alert the other soldiers to their approach.
As they did so, Team Levi, being the first to respond to the signal flare, had moved in to intercept some of the closest Titans that were closing in on them, though as they moved to do so, Eren had inadvertently veered off towards where Barbatos knelt at, with him being confused as to why it was still inactive in spite of their current situation. Gunther, at Levi's command, had followed him as, in spite of the small amount of trust that they had built up in the past few days, they still didn't wish to risk having Jaeger be alone for extended periods of time.
Upon landing on the Mobile Suit's chest, Eren had peeked into its cockpit and got ready to ask Mikazuki what he was doing, though when he realized that it was empty, the Titan Shifter grimaced as he turned towards Gunther and told him that the pilot was missing. The Elite noticeably winced a little as he realized that their strongest weapon was currently without the only one that could operate it, though he was quick to realize that they weren't completely devoid of options just yet as he glanced over at Jaeger with a worried look.
And not even a second later… Eren had turned to fix Gunther with a serious gaze of his own. They kept their gaze fixed on one another for less than a handful of seconds before the Elite realized that he was about to do what he thought he was going to, and though he knew that he'd get in trouble for this, the guy knew that now, with the Gundam inoperable, Jaeger's ability would be their ace in the hole, and, not without at least some hesitation, he authorised Eren's use of his ability, prompting the Titan Shifter to nod thankfully before he swung towards the approaching Titans.
Once he was close enough, and after he had heard several of his comrades yell at him for rushing out so recklessly, Eren flung himself high into the air before he bit into his palm with enough force to not only rip the skin, but to also puncture his flesh. Thereafter, a massive bolt of lightning came down upon Jaeger's body as flesh began to envelop his small frame, and after a brief few seconds of blindness, Eren landed on the ground in his hulking Fifteen metre Titan form.
Conveniently enough, Eren's Titan form had also landed atop a Twelve metre's body, causing it to stumble onto its back as the taller Titan pinned it beneath its feet, and not long after, Jaeger slammed his foot down onto its neck, crushing its nape and killing it all the while.
As the smoke from his transformation dissipated, Eren let out a loud roar, a clear challenge to every last Titan that was approaching them from all angles, before he launched himself towards the Abnormals that were coming his way. Over with Team Levi and the other soldiers that had come to defend against the Titans, they all appeared taken aback by Eren's sudden transformation, though Gunther was able to swing in and confirm that he had authorised it.
"We're going to have a serious discussion about this if we manage to get out of here, Gunther," muttered Levi as he glared at his subordinate, prompting the tanned man to gulp a little, though he still nodded as his Captain got ready to head into battle, though before he could lead the charge, Hanji stopped him as she made an observation.
"Wait, look!" urged Hanji as she crouched down a little and pointed towards the closest Abnormal, which was less than twenty metres away. At first, the Abnormal was stumbling towards the main formation, though as soon as Eren had entered the fray in his Titan form, it had seemingly forgotten about the soldiers that were before it as it swiftly turned to face Jaeger's Titan form. This applied to almost all the Titans that were approaching them, barring a few that continued to approach the soldiers, and though it baffled them at first, they realized that they could very well use this to their advantage as they pulled back at Mike's command.
"Team Levi!" proclaimed Henning as he landed atop the building the aforementioned squad was gathered at, catching their attention as they turned to see the Elite run up and hastily salute the Team Captain. Ackerman nodded at Henning, giving him the go to speak, and he was quick to deliver his message. "Orders from Mike! We're getting ready to evacuate, though that may take some time! Some of us will help you guys keep these Titans at bay!"
"What about stocking up the base?" asked Oruo, with him seeming genuinely worried that their final destination was not fully loaded just yet, and in response, Henning winced.
"We managed to get it more than halfway filled, but we can't risk lingering around to get it to maximum capacity," lamented Henning as he gestured for the Team to fall back to the formation. As he did so, the Elite winced when he saw Eren deliver an uppercut to a Fifteen metre's jaw, sending it soaring up into the air (the attack did destroy his fist, not that he seemed to care) before leaning down and grabbing onto the back of a Five metre's head and slamming it repeatedly into the ground, painting the grass red in the process
"And Eren Jaeger?" asked Hanji as she forced herself to look away from Eren's Titan form, which was a lot more difficult than one would expect… and in response to her query, Henning grimaced deeply.
"Best case scenario? He figures out that we're falling back and follows us. Worst? We abandon him," replied Henning, sounding just a little remorseful as he avoided direct eye contact with his fellow Elites, who seemed rather baffled by his statement. Unlike his subordinates, however Levi wasn't content with staying silent and going along with Henning's suggestion as he turned on his heel and faced Eren's Titan form in annoyance.
Levi's expression remained solemnly neutral as he watched Eren football kick a Three metre into God knows where, only to have his left arm restrained when a Ten metre Titan suddenly pounced onto it and sunk its teeth into his upper arm. Jaeger roared in pain as it did so, though before long, he was able to rip the Titan off his arm and slam it into the ground with enough force to shake the earth beneath him before he trampled it below his feet, slowly but surely turning it into nothing more than a puddle of dissolving red liquid. The rest of his Team were rightfully taken aback by the brutality on show. Sure, it wasn't as excessive as what Barbatos had to offer, but even so, it was truly a sight to behold.
Whilst the rest of his team, plus Henning, remained slack jawed at the display of strength, and whilst Hanji gaped at the sight with stars in her eyes, Levi exhaled sharply as he acknowledged how Eren wouldn't be able to go on like this forever. He'd tire eventually, and once that happened, he'd need to get his ass saved. To rely on him following them when he was as unpredictable as he was wasn't exactly something Levi was keen on doing, and leaving him here was even worse, in his humble opinion, and that only left one option open for him…
"Henning, go find the other kid. Get him into the Gundam and have him assist us," instructed Levi, prompting the Elite in question to nod a little as he turned to do as he was told, though before he could do so…
"Wait… us?" echoed Henning as he turned to refocus on Levi, though by then, the Elite had crouched down a little as he dug his heels into the top of the building they were on, and likewise, it was already too late to stop him.
"Yes, us," confirmed Levi, and before anyone could say another word, Ackerman sprung forwards at tremendous speeds and lunged off the top of the building, with the aftershock of his jump causing a small circle of dust to be kicked up as the Elite joined Eren in the fight. With a gasp, Henning, alongside a few members of Team Levi, found themselves ready to step forward to get their Captain to fall back, though before they could do so, a soldier boosted over their heads and followed in Levi's footsteps.
Right as the person swung over their heads, time seemed to slow to a standstill as the members of Team Levi, Henning and Hanji saw that the person in question was… Mikazuki Augus, still dressed in his 'surface warfare' pilot uniform as he boosted after Ackerman, and within the blink of an eye, the pilot was gone, and thereafter, the aftershock of him simply passing by caused a sizable shockwave that could be felt by a good chunk of Team Levi.
"W-What the Hell?! What is doing?!" proclaimed Gunther as he watched the pilot soar towards the battlefield with enough speed to whizz straight past Levi, who was rightfully taken aback by his junior's speed. He was quick to get over it, however, as he refocused on the Abnormal Titans present as he charged on.
"If I had to make a guess… I'm assuming that Mikazuki is looking to prove himself worthy of being a Survey Corp, not just because he can pilot that thing, but also because he's skilled enough to be one," groaned Eld with a sigh as he turned towards Henning and motioned for him to return to his team. Henning seemed rather apprehensive about this, however, as he lingered around for a little longer than the blonde would've liked, prompting him to groan and continue speaking. "Henning, we will return within ten minutes. If we don't… tell Mike to leave without us."
"With all due respect, sir-" began Henning, though Eld, opting to pull rank just this once, grimaced and waved his arm off towards where the formation was gathered as he cut him off.
"Henning, as your superior officer, I order you to return to the formation and assist them in preparing for a retreat!" ordered Eld firmly as Henning winced at his tone of voice. He had never heard Jinn speak in such a serious tone of voice prior to now, and it was enough to make him concede as he nodded and moved to do as he was told.
"...yes sir…" muttered Henning rather dispassionately as he reluctantly did as he was told, and thereafter, Eld, ignoring the looks he received from the rest of his team, pointed one of his blades towards the battlefield and wasted no time in ordering his comrades forwards.
"Onwards!"
Meanwhile
Eren's attacks were driven by one thing and one thing alone; rage.
Every swing of his fists, every launch of his leg, every crushed Titan skull… all of it was fueled by Eren's not so subtle anger as he fought his way through the titanic humanoids that had surrounded him, and by all means, he did quite a good job at that as he didn't let any injuries inflicted upon him slow him down one bit.
A kick caused the jaw of a Twelve metre to dislocate as its head was forcefully turned to the side, and thereafter, the Titan was tackled onto its back as Eren pinned it down and began beating it senseless. Several punches were delivered to its head before Jaeger reached into its mouth and wrapped his hands around the Titan's tongue, and with a powerful tug, he ripped both the tongue and throat(?) out of the Twelve metre's mouth and watched as blood poured out of its new injury.
Eren would've finished the Titan off right there and then, though before he could do so, he perked his ears up when he heard something approaching him from behind. Instinctively, he swung his arm towards his back, and thereafter, he struck a Fourteen metre Titan in the face with his fist, the very same that had the dissolving tongue and throat of the Twelve metre within its grasp, causing it to stagger to the side a little whilst Eren threw the dissolving Titan organs onto the ground and stood up to grab the Titan's neck.
Grabbing onto it with an iron tight grip, Eren grimaced as he hoisted the Fourteen metre up and above his head, with one hand wrapped tightly around the Titan's neck while the other gripped its thigh firmly, and within a matter of seconds, he brought its back down onto his knee, performing a backbreaker on the Titan. On impact, the spinal cord of the Fourteen metre audibly cracked, and likewise, so did the kneecap of Eren's Titan body, causing him to groan in pain as he threw the Fourteen metre Titan onto the ground.
'Shouldn't… do that… again…' thought Eren through the miasmic haze that was the inside of his Titan form's mind as he groaned mildly inside his Titan form's nape. That… really hurt, and though his knee was already healing up at a rapid pace by now, he would rather not have to go through that ever again.
As his self sustained injury healed, however, Eren found himself open to an attack, one that came in the form of a lunging Five metre Titan that leapt straight for Jaeger's neck. The Titan Shifter widened his eyes a little at that as he watched the little bastard leap right at him, with him being unable to react fast enough to stop it…
… but evidently enough, something… someone else was fast enough to make up for Eren's lack of reaction speed, as, mere seconds before the Titan's teeth could connect with his Titan form's neck, a figure rushed past the back of its neck and slashed at its nape. Evidently enough, the swing had more than enough strength put behind it to kill the Titan, as the attack had caused the Five metre to go limp, causing its now lifeless body went barrelling towards Eren's chest. Growling a little, Jaeger was quick to swat the dissolving Titan corpse out of the air before that could happen, and thereafter, he turned to face his 'savior' with an odd look in his eyes.
Almost immediately after, however, Eren found himself widening his Titan eyes quite a bit when he saw that the soldier that had assisted him was… Mikazuki Augus. The pilot didn't seem that thrilled to be here at the moment, though there was an undoubtable fire in his eyes that Jaeger had not seen before, one that told him that the pilot was at least a little pumped up for some Mobile Suit-less combat for a change…
For the briefest of seconds, Mikazuki's eyes locked onto Eren's, and even in his Titan form, the junior soldier found himself shuddering a little as the pilot's cold blue eyes bored into his Titan's green pair. Not a second later, however, Mika scoffed and twisted his body around, towards an inbound pack of five Titans, and barreled straight towards them with reckless abandon, much to Eren's shock as his mouth cracked open to allow a roar to escape his (lack of) lips. Right then, however, another Titan that was sneaking up on him was taken out of commission, prompting the Titan Shifter to turn towards it and spot Levi kicking off the back of a Nine metre Titan as he slashed at its nape.
Upon doing so, Levi launched himself after Mikazuki and, with a well timed twist of his body, he flung himself down towards the ankles of a Ten metre Titan and severed its tendons. The act caused the Ten metre to fall forwards onto all fours, leaving it open to a descending slash from above, courtesy of Mikazuki… who may or may not have overdone it a little when he decapitated the Titan with his swing.
Levi was rightfully taken aback by the pilot's strength, even whilst outside the Mobile Suit, as very few could attest to beheading a Titan with seemingly no issue whatsoever, though he didn't say anything of it as he watched Mikazuki land in a crouch before he sprung himself back up into the air to continue his rampage. Snorting a little at his relentless nature, the Elite moved to back the pilot up as the two of them launched themselves up into the air whilst avoiding the hands of a Fifteen metre Titan.
As they dodged the swipes of the Fifteen metre, Levi and Mikazuki launched their Maneuver Gear anchors towards its body and used its frame to launch themselves high up into the air. As they reached the apex of their flight, the duo, in near perfect sync, launched themselves back down and, with two equally powerful swings of their blades, they sliced off the Fifteen metre's arms at the elbow, disarming it and leaving it open for a follow up.
By then, Eren had snapped out of his stupefied trance as he grit his Titan form teeth together and launched himself towards the disarmed Titan. Reaching his hand out, the Titan Shifter grabbed onto the armless Titan's head before he forced it onto its back and began to drag it across the ground for a brief few seconds before he forcefully brought it up and threw it straight towards an inbound pack of three Titans, causing the pack to be pinned down under the slowly dissolving Fifteen metre as Levi snorted.
"Not bad for a kid in Titan flesh. And you… you're not too bad for what I initially assumed to be a one trick pony, Mikazuki," commented Levi, with him halfheartedly praising Mikazuki for being able to keep up with him. The pilot grunted softly in acknowledgement before they parted, and moments later, Ackerman swung past the face of an Eleven metre Titan and slashed at its eyes, blinding it. As the Titan leaned back and grasped at its newly injured eyes, Eld boosted into the fray and slashed at its nape, killing it before he moved to hover by his superior, who nodded lightly at his presence. "Glad that you could join us, Eld."
"Likewise, sir! We'll support you to the best of our abilities!" assured Eld, with him smiling uneasily as the rest of Team Levi swung in after him, with the group dispersing ever so slightly as they focused in on bringing down as many Titans as possible. Levi himself nodded as Eld swung off as well, and as he did so, the midget of a man huffed slightly before turning back to the fray.
"Happy hunting, all of you," muttered Levi as he boosted towards his next target, a Fourteen metre that had its hand outstretched towards him preemptively. Rather than dodge, however, Ackerman simply scowled as he pulled back on his arms, and moments later, he swung both forwards and slashed at the Titan's fingers. With but a single slice, the Elite had severed four of its five digits, and before the Titan could even process what had happened, Levi began spinning down the length of its arm, slashing into it like a buzzsaw with little to no problems whatsoever.
Upon reaching its shoulder, Levi rocketed past the Titan's head and flung himself behind it, where he was given a good look at the humanoid monster's nape. Without wasting even a second, Ackerman boosted down towards it like a missile and, with but a single swing of his blades, slashed into it with enough force to decapitate the Titan, and as both its skull and body fell to the ground, the Elite boosted off, somewhat nonchalantly, and rejoined his team, plus Eren and Mikazuki, in the battlefield.
Meanwhile
The arrival of Team Levi came as a small surprise to Mikazuki, though he didn't let it stop him from continuing his assault as he continued boosting around in the air, evading the frenzied swings of the Titans that surrounded them whilst also keeping an eye out to avoid being (accidentally) swatted out of the air by Eren.
(Were there more Titans than usual? Probably… strange… they seemed to have appeared after Eren had transformed. Were they attracted to his Titan form, Mikazuki wondered. He'd have to keep that in mind.)
Thankfully enough, Eren's Titan form was rather far from where Mikazuki was currently at. Likewise, the Titan Shifter had the attention of quite a lot of the Titans present, with a good majority of them focusing primarily on him as he took to pummeling them into the next century. He wasn't as strong as, say, Barbatos was, though he was still strong enough to rip a Titan's lower jaw off before he used it as a makeshift knuckle duster to pummel another with, so Mikazuki had to give him some credit for that at least.
For now, however, the pilot reckoned that he'd best focus on the task at hand. Boosting forwards, Mikazuki latched one of his Maneuver Gear anchors onto the shoulder of a Ten metre and used it to swing himself behind it. Thereafter, he boosted towards its nape, though when he was close enough, the Titan abruptly leaned backwards real far, with it now peering at the pilot with its upside down face, and smiled at him, catching him momentarily off guard, though he was able to recover quickly before he shifted his center of gravity and activated the Maneuver Gear boosters, forcefully boosting him to the left all the while whilst also allowing him to avoid boosting into the Titan's opened jaw.
Thereafter, Mikazuki boosted himself back towards the Titan, who was still leaning backwards, and swung his blades towards its neck, cutting deep enough to kill the thing as it fell onto its back. As it dissolved into nothing, Mika scoffed and moved on to another Titan that was in his way, a Fourteen metre, and got ready to close in on it, though before he could do so, a newcomer boosted past its face and slashed at its eyes, blinding it temporarily, before another blur appeared and struck its nape. The coordinated attack was successful, as the Fourteen metre Titan promptly fell onto the ground, unmoving, as Mika glanced over at the two who had brought it down.
'Eld Jinn. Part of Team Levi, killed 14 Titans solo and 32 in a team. Petra Ral. Also part of Levi's Special Operation Squad. Killed 10 Titans solo and, reportedly, 48 in a team,' thought Mikazuki as he mentally recited the information that was shared with him by Team Mike, namely Henning, Tomas and Lynne. As he did so, the two soldiers in question, Eld and Petra, glanced down at him with neutral expressions before they moved on to other opponents, prompting the pilot to huff a little as he turned on his heel…
… and he was quick to wince when he saw a Five metre Titan charge straight at him. As it got closer, Mikazuki grimaced and got ready to respond accordingly, though before he could do so, he saw something soaring up towards the face of the Titan from the corner of his eye, and after it bounced off its cheek, and after the pilot took note of how it sparked, he was quick to turn away and shield his eyes before the Flashbang exploded, blinding the Titans that were caught in its blast radius and causing the Five metre Titan to grab at its blinded eyes in pain.
As Mikazuki brought his arm down, he was quick to leap up into the air, with his jump being assisted by the 'thrusters' on his Maneuver Gear, as the Five metre Titan crashed face first into the ground after tripping over its feet. It found itself sliding forwards after falling, with Mika quickly landing on its back and slashing at its nape in an X shaped pattern, downing it in an instant.
Swinging his blades to the side, Mikazuki rid it of any Titan blood that was stuck onto its surface before he stared up at the one that fired the flashbang. The pilot appeared noticeably surprised when he saw Gunter holstering his flare gun as he offered Mika a mild nod, one that he didn't react to outside of a mild raise of his brow, before going on to continue his job.
'Gunther Schultz. 7 solo kills, 40 in a team. He seems friendly, I guess,' recited Mikazuki passively as he fired his anchors off towards another Titan, Nine metres in height, and launched himself towards its back. As he got ready to reel himself in for a killing blow, however, the Titan suddenly turned on its heel and got ready to snatch Mika out of the air.
Its abrupt turn was more than enough to surprise Mikazuki as he winced a tad, though he was quick to get over it as he groaned and held his blades upside down in his grip. Thereafter, he raised them up and, with a powerful downwards thrust, he stabbed them into the eyes of the Nine metre, causing it to lean back in pain as it groaned a little. The Titan attempted to shake Mika off its face rather vigorously, though it had no success as the pilot remained firmly latched on, though when he took note of an approaching figure to the left, he realized that it was probably time to abandon ship, prompting him to forcefully yank both his blades to the side, in turn freeing them from eye sockets of the Titan whilst also slashing at its face, wounding it further, and kicked off the Nine metre's face.
As soon as he did so, Oruo swooped in and slashed at the blinded Titan's nape. The strike downed it in an instant as Mikazuki glanced over at him with a neutral gaze, seeming unimpressed with his attack as he watched Oruo swing up to his side.
"Not bad, kid," complimented Oruo half heartedly as Mikazuki scoffed and boosted onwards. He had better things to do than to acknowledge Oruo's 39 solo and 9 team kills at the moment as he blasted straight past him, much to his annoyance as the Elite groaned and followed. "Rude…"
"Oruo, this is the battlefield, not a picnic! Pay attention to your surroundings!" berated Gunther as he and Eld struck down an Eight metre Titan with a coordinated strike. Bazad noticeably winced at that as he did as he was told, and as he did so, Mika found himself rolling his eyes as Petra boosted up to his side.
"Please don't mind him. He's got an issue with one upmanship," assured Petra gently as she chuckled nervously. Mikazuki himself didn't exactly care much for that as he rolled his eyes and casually dodged left in order to avoid being snatched out of the air by a Fifteen metre Titan. Petra mirrored his maneuver before the two of them veered around to the back of the Titan's neck and delivered two powerful swings in near perfect sync, slashing right into the Titan's nape and killing it instantly.
As they recovered from that strike, Petra found herself staring down at the rapidly dissolving corpse of the Fifteen metre Titan with widened eyes. Though it was incredibly hard to make out, Ral still managed to take note of just how Mikazuki's slice on the nape of the Titan appeared much deeper than the one she had inflicted on it. That was… shocking, to say the least, though she was quick to dismiss it as she turned and addressed Mika before he could swing away.
"Mikazuki Augus, I admire your drive to fight without making use of Barbatos, but right now, we need your Gundam more than ever!" protested Petra as she eyed her junior with a dire look in her eyes. At first, Mikazuki appeared to be rather reluctant to do so as he found the challenge of combating Titans without the use of his Gundam to be a lot more exhilarating, though when he realized that the excitement would be over if he were to die… well, he ended up nodding in response to Petra's command before he swung towards his unit, much to her relief.
Barbatos was, at best, forty metres from Mikazuki's current position. While it wasn't too much of a gap… it was still rather sizable, as a handful of Titans were standing in his way. A Twelve, Seven and Fifteen metre, respectively. Frowning deeply as he took stock of this, the pilot narrowed his eyes intensely as he took stock of how the Titans were moving, and as soon as he figured out his path through the trio blocking his way… his eyes abruptly widened as he boosted forwards at maximum speed.
Right as he increased his speed, the first of the three Titans, the Twelve metre, had outstretched its hand forwards in an attempt to grab him out of the air. Gritting his teeth at this, the pilot responded by bringing his blades down upon its digits, slashing through them in an instant, and, carrying the momentum of his first swing forwards rather than go against it, the pilot began to spin like a top as he slashed his way up along the length of the Twelve metre's arm, with him only stopping when he reached its shoulder and launching himself off it like a missile.
He would have turned back to dispatch the Titan, but alas, he had bigger things to worry about right now… like getting to Barbatos, for one.
Moments after passing the Twelve metre, the Seven metre Titan attempted to snatch Mikazuki out of the air, though in response to its attempts, and in defiance to all forms of logic and reason, Mika kicked the Titan's hand out of his way before he carried on with his beeline towards Barbatos. Even the Titan itself seemed to have been taken aback by the act, as it stared down at its kicked hand in silence thereafter.
The force behind Mikazuki's kick had forced him to spin a little in the direction of the attack, and as with the prior scenario, Mika had worked with the momentum rather than against it. When the final Titan in his way, the Fifteen metre, had swung a fist out at the pilot, seeming keen on punching him out of the air all the while, Mika responded to this by holding both of his blades side by side and meeting the attack head on, and although it was substantially stronger than him, Mikazuki's explosive momentum had given his side of the attack enough of a kicker that his blades had cleaved straight through the Titan's fist upon impacting it.
Slicing upwards at an angle, Mikazuki launched himself up and landed atop the Fifteen metre's forearm, where he rolled back up to his feet and sprinted up the length of its arm, aided by the constant thrust of his Maneuver Gear. The Titan itself didn't even get to react to his approach properly before the pilot's twin blades collided with one of its eyes, and without wasting a second, Mika slashed at it with all the strength he had in his upper body, slicing straight through the Titan's skull whilst leaping past it all the while.
'How irritating…' thought Mikazuki as he flipped off the now half-blinded Titan's shoulder, with him ignoring it as it grabbed at its face in agony, and thereafter, he continued along his way to his Gundam without much issue.
In spite of the rage that drove him forwards and their current situation, Eren Jaeger still felt some form of delight as he fought side by side the various members of Team Levi.
This came as no real surprise to anyone, however, as Eren was a massive fan of the Survey Corps, and to fight alongside some of their Elites was a dream come true for him. Sure, most of them didn't seem comfortable being so close to him as he fought, though that was excusable. If Eren was in their shoes, he reckoned that he'd feel the same.
A sideways punch to the jaw of a Titan caused it to veer towards the left, forcefully turning it as it charged towards Eren and causing it to fall face first into the ground. When it landed, Eren began stomping on it vigorously with his foot until he slammed it down onto the Titan's nape, squashing it. Thereafter, he growled and turned on his heel to punch a Thirteen metre Titan square in the face.
On impact, a tiny shockwave was created as the Thirteen metre's face caved in on itself. Likewise, Eren felt the bones of his Titan form's fist splinter several times over as the Titan he sucker punched flew backwards, prompting him to wince a little within his Titan form's nape in the process. Thankfully enough, however, his bones were relatively quick at knitting themselves back together as the pain was quick to fade away, much to Jaeger's relief.
Over by the corner of his eye, the Titan shifter saw Levi and Petra performing a coordinated assault on a Thirteen metre Titan, with the former striking at the Titan's eyes to blind it temporarily whilst the latter swung down and slashed at its ankles, causing it to topple forwards. Before it could hit the ground, the Titan held both its arms outwards and stopped itself from face planting, though before it could attempt to get back up, Eld swooped in and slashed at its nape, killing it instantly.
Meanwhile, Oruo, rather begrudgingly, moved in tandem with Gunther as the two of them engaged a Fifteen metre Titan. In near perfect sync, the two of them slashed at the arms of the Titan at the elbow, with Gunther removing the entire limb whilst Oruo only managed to take the arm out of commission, much to his embarrassment, though he didn't voice it out just yet as he swung up into the air alongside Schultz.
With a powerful swing of his blades, Gunther slashed at the Titan's eyes, blinding it temporarily before Oruo swung up behind it and delivered the killing blow. Bazad's slash wasn't the best, though it was more than enough to bring the Titan down, much to his relief. Couldn't want to lose face whilst he was watching him, after all!
'Amazing…' thought Eren as he watched his seniors fight through the eyes of his Titan. No wonder Erwin had chosen them to watch over him… Team Levi's coordination was simply top notch, so much so that if he were to go out of control, Eren would stand no chance against a combined assault from all five of them!
Rather abruptly, however, the sound of thrusters became audible, prompting Eren to turn on his Titan form's heel just in time to spot Gundam Barbatos boosting into the fray. It held its Wrench Mace tightly in both its manipulators as it charged straight towards a Fifteen metre that was rushing Eren from behind, and seconds later, the unit struck the Titan with this weapon, flattening it completely in one fell swoop. A massive cloud of dust and dirt was ejected into the air as well, completely clouding the unit from view for a handful of seconds.
And not even a moment later, the Gundam burst out of the cloud of dust and began boosting towards a trio of Titans at breakneck speed. Oruo and Gunther, who had originally been charging towards the three Titans, wisely backed off as they acknowledged that the Gundam was now targeting them, and likewise, the other members of Team Levi stayed well away from Barbatos' general vicinity less they wished to be caught in its crossfire.
Once it was within melee range, Barbatos swung its Wrench Mace towards the closest Titan, a Fourteen metre, in a sideways motion. The Mace obliterated its abdomen and caused its upper body to float in the air for the briefest of seconds until the Gundam quite literally kicked it out of the air with its leg unit, which liquified what little that remained of the Titan's upper half as Titan blood was sent flying everywhere.
With the first Titan dealt with, Barbatos wasted no time in moving to deal with the other two. The second Titan in its way, a Seven metre, was quickly dispatched when the Gundam swung its Wrench Mace at it once more, and unlike the taller Fourteen metre, the Seven metre was eliminated with that strike alone due to its height.
As the Wrench Mace struck the Seven metre, the Gundam released its grip on its handles and threw it off to the side. The weapon slammed into the ground and crushed a Three metre Titan in the process, much to the amusement of a close by Levi, though he ignored it for the most part as he turned his attention towards the Gundam, who was now holding onto its Longsword as it charged towards the final Titan of the three with malicious intent.
Within its cockpit, Mikazuki snarled a little as he got close enough to the final Titan of the three, a Fifteen metre, conveniently enough, and thereafter, he began swinging the Longsword at the Titan with reckless abandon. Five swings were brought down onto the Titan's body as the Fifteen metre was forced backwards with each strike, and after delivering a slice to the legs of the Titan, with the strike severing both its legs at the thigh in the process, Barbatos swiftly held its Longsword up above its head and brought it down onto the Titan, slicing it in two, lengthways, before it brought its sword back and watched as the Titan fall apart in many, many pieces.
"H-Holy fucking shit…" muttered Eld in awe as the Gundam moved to retrieve its Wrench Mace, with the rest of his Team largely agreeing with that statement of his as they watched the Gundam pick its weapon up. They had never seen a Titan eliminated in such a… unique fashion in the past, and as such, they were rightfully dumbfounded by the abilities of the Gundam, and though he seemed to be rather neutral about the issue at first, even Levi himself had eventually found his eyes widening quite a bit in shock as he slowly but surely processed just what Barbatos was truly capable of.
Predictably, Levi was the first to break out of his trance-like state as he frowned and got ready to give out new orders to his comrades. Before he could do so, however, everyone present took note of a Blue Signal Flare rising into the air, and at that, the Team exchanged looks with one another before Ackerman nodded.
"Fall back," ordered Levi as he motioned for everyone to get a move on. His Team was quick to respond, as they swiftly charged back towards the main formation to regroup and retreat, though unfortunately enough, Eren didn't seem to get the memo as he continued combatting any and all Titans that were in the area, much to Levi's chagrin. At first, he had intended on just slicing the kid out of his nape and dragging him off… then he remembered… "Oi, you. Go get Eren. We'll meet you back at the formation."
No response was required as Gundam Barbatos' optics flashed their usual shade of green before the unit boosted towards the Eren, who was continuously pummeling into the face of an already dead Nine metre Titan. Once he was close enough, Mikazuki had his unit drop its weapons temporarily and grab onto Eren's shoulder with its now free manipulator… an act that caused the Titan Shifter to roar and turn to throw a punch at Barbatos' head.
Mikazuki found himself blinking a little as Eren's fist collided with his unit's cheek armour. The strike was so miniscule that the cockpit monitor didn't even bother to warn him of the impact, and after snorting in amusement, Mika, somewhat nonchalantly, had Barbatos swat another attempted punch from the Shifter away from his cheek. That act wasn't exactly all that forceful, but all the same, it had dislocated every bone in Jaeger's Titan forearm, much to Mika's amusement and Eren's dismay.
'I heard that he tends to get out of control the longer he stays in this form, based on Hanji's reports. He's probably losing himself more and more now,' thought Mikazuki, with him recalling some of that maniac's admittedly informative tests that were ran on Eren's Titan form in several controlled environments back within the Walls, and as he said this, Mika had his unit dodge another strike from Eren, one that caused him to stagger forwards and expose his back to Barbatos all the while.
And all the while, Barbatos shared a few of his 'thoughts' before Eren could spin back around to face them.
"..."
"Yeah, I know. Any suggestions?"
"...?"
"Won't that kill him?"
"…"
"Fair point. May as well try."
And right as he said that, Mikazuki had Barbatos place a hand atop Eren's Titan shoulder, keeping him in place, and before he could fully comprehend what was going on, the Gundam grabbed onto the Titan Shifter's neck from behind, with it imbedding its clawed digitsdeep into the base of his neck, and, with a powerful upwards yank, Barbatos forcefully ripped out the skull, neck and spinal column of Eren's Titan form with no issues whatsoever.
With that done, Mikazuki allowed the headless/spineless body of Eren's Titan form to fall onto the ground as he stared at the ripped off head/neck/spine that was in his Mobile Suit's manipulator. When he took note of how what remained of Eren's Titan form seemed to be regenerating in spite of its condition, the pilot let out a tiny sigh of relief, glad that he didn't kill the guy, before he shook his head and raised Barbatos' other manipulator up.
And, with surgical precision that seemed to be impossible for something as massive as Barbatos was, the Gundam dug into what remained of the nape of Eren's Titan form with its clawed digits, and before long, the unit retracted its digits, and sandwiched between them was Eren Jaeger's actual body, with it being coated in quite a bit of Titan blood and… mucus(?). Eck… that was rather disgusting, Mika had to admit, though at least it would dissolve over time, he reckoned.
Eren himself appeared to be unconscious at the moment, prompting Mika to snort a little as he tapped on several commands on the cockpit's console. After several pokes, the cockpit hatch for Barbatos shifted open, and without much hesitation, the pilot had his unit throw Eren into its cockpit, with the Titan Shifter landing atop his lap with a mild plop, before he shut the cockpit back up. This wasn't exactly ideal, though considering how unconscious people couldn't ride a horse that well, he reckoned that it was the best course of action for now.
With that done, and with Mikazuki ignoring Eren laying on his lap in an awkward manner, the pilot had his Gundam move to pick its weapons up before it turned to follow the preliminary expedition party back to the gates of Karanses.
And by all means… Mikazuki kinda hoped that Eren wouldn't wake up until then. It would be hard to explain this to him, after all.