A sword slashed towards him, missing his head by a margin much closer than he would have preferred, but much as Gohan might have wanted the breathing room Captain Levi wasn't about to let him have it. He could have flown up, or dropped an afterimage, or any number of Ki powered abilities, but that would have defeated the whole purpose of this exercise after all.
With the momentary distraction, Gohan backed into a tree and Levi struck forwards. A raised arm blocked the blade, his greater durability allowing him to stop it without worrying about getting so much as a scratch. Levi switched to thrusts, keeping his distance to avoid Gohan turning his attacks against him whilst keeping up the pressure. For a few moments he was successful, the half-Saiyan weaving around each stab with calm but forced movements, until he finally saw his chance.
As Levi thrust towards his neck, Gohan dropped into a crouch to avoid it, and when the sword was pulled back and the second struck out, Gohan leapt upwards into the air. With a slight twist in the air, Gohan planted a foot against the tree and launched himself away with his powerful leg muscles. He flew quickly and landed deftly with a roll to break his fall and keep his momentum. He had hoped that he would have been able use his new speed to get some more breathing room, however Eld had other ideas as he flew out of the trees and straight at him, sword outstretched in an attempt to spear him through.
Halting his movement and leaning backwards, the sword flew just past his neck in what may have seemed like bad luck on Eld's side. The scout didn't realise the trap he'd sped into until Gohan grabbed hold of the mans outstretched arm, rolled his hips, and then redirected his momentum to throw him over towards Captain Levi. The man had been running towards Gohan when he was suddenly faced with his subordinate flying through the air right towards him. Dropping into a slide, he stuck his hand out and grabbed Eld's arm, who grabbed hold in turn to make a monkey grip. The two momentums cancelled each other out in what was no doubt a painful yank on the two's arm sockets, but it worked as Eld found his feet back on the ground and Levi back on his feet, both wasting no time before charging again.
He had to give them credit as Gohan dodged and weave through their assault. Levi may have changed up his fighting style from their one on one match, but he was no less deadly for it with how effectively he worked with his team, never once stepping too far away or too close. Good improvisation and reaction, tempered but relentless when it needed to be. And yet, they were holding back, not letting themselves get in range in a futile attempt to overpower him. He wondered if that was the experience from fighting Titans that made them wary of stronger foes, or perhaps it was having seen what he'd done to Oluo early on.
He'd have to remember to cut the man down once they were done here.
A sudden lunge forwards snapped Gohan's attention back to the moment as Levi's sword drew awfully close to his chest. He slipped by it, closing the distance and moving in between Levi and Eld. It was a vulnerable spot, and even with the momentary surprise he got by catching them so off guard with his brazen manoeuvre, they were swift to try and punish him for it. Eld made a swipe, keeping his arc shallow lest he miss and catch the captain, who himself made a sweep for his legs. A slight hop saved him from losing his footing, and he raised his arm to block and catch the sword strike.
It was an odd sensation to be hovering in the air and trying to come up with a plan. It wasn't that he was using Ki to keep himself in place, more that he was simply reacting fast enough that it felt like slow motion. For all that his strength and speed had been depleted by his bizarre transportation, his mind hadn't suffered even a sliver, which led to moments like these on occasion where his body felt like it was moving through some kind of thick sludge that held him back. He fell back on instinct as his plan was formed, and the world sped back to normal.
He pushed against Eld's blade, the man straining in the microseconds that passed. When he sent a kick towards Levi's face, the man raised an arm as expected and Gohan used him as a support to push even harder against Eld, launching the man backwards and giving Gohan some room against the two of them. He landed steadily, a palm on the ground and another hand stretched out for balance before Gohan's ears picked up the sound of rustling leaves, Gunther and Rico bursting out and speeding directly at him. Levi and Eld were already moving too, set on trying to surround and simply overwhelm the man with their sheer mass given they hadn't been able to do so with speed, strength, or skill.
"Kamehameha!"
He shouted the words quickly, and the blue ball swiftly appeared between his palm and the ground, before he let it rocket him upwards into the sky and out of danger. The others quickly backed away from the beam, wisely but unnecessarily as he let it dissipate safely, something he could tell the dots below him appreciated. A burning sensation in his palm almost had him snarking that they had better appreciate it, but he brushed that aside. When he finally broke through the tree tops and into the cool air, he gave his hand a shake to try and ease his pain. His mind idly drifted off once again as he wondered just why his hand hurt as it did, to the point that he almost missed the sound of compressed gas being let loose.
Out of the treetops soared a familiar ginger figure, followed quickly by a darker haired one. To his surprise though, they didn't actually fly towards him, instead soaring to pass one either side of him, and not even very close to him either. As Petra flew closer to being in line with him however, she twisted and let one of her hooks loose and aimed it towards Mikasa. He watched the wire soar past him and towards one of his closest friends, who caught the wire then wrapped it around her arm.
'Wow.' He thought as he figured their plan out. 'That's really impressive.'
When the two scouts let their other hook fly down into the treetops, they didn't wait long before quickly reeling themselves in and bringing the cable speeding towards him. With a bit of flight, he might have been able to avoid it if he pushed hard enough given how close it was. But that was pointless. This was all a training exercise after all, and they'd done well to think so out of the box and work so smoothly together. No, instead he'd roll with the hit, and see what plan they had if they managed to get him down.
Just because he'd accepted his fate, didn't mean it was any less unpleasant however. When the cable hit his stomach with the force of two sets of ODM gear straining with all their might, it was hardly comfortable. Even less so was the number of branches he smashed through on the way down. Eventually he had fallen far enough down to hit a branch that didn't break, and his back slammed down onto it with a painful thud. The sudden tautness of the cable had a bigger impact on his would-be capturers, he were quickly pulled into an arc around the branch. He watched as the two of them went with the flow and passed completely around wrapping the cable around him again and effectively tying him to the tree branch. It was a truly amazing display of synergy when the two women landed back on the tree with a look of smug satisfaction.
"We caught you!"
Petra declared, a victorious grin across her face, her proud moment only somewhat hampered by the slight glisten of sweat and heavier breathing than normal. Mikasa held her composure better, but he could see how she immediately tried to relax the cable from around her arm, rubbing it to try and soothe the tremendous pain she must have been under from the strain.
"I suppose you did." He admitted without shame, truly impressed with their work. "Your timing was spot on when I broke from the trees. Did you sense me?"
Satisfied that he wasn't tricking them, Petra allowed herself to relax a little more. Knees bending, shoulders slumping, and her arms dropping to her side from their sudden heaviness. She shrugged her shoulders in response to his question however. "Mikasa did. Mostly we followed the sound and kept out of sight."
"Smart move. Why did you wait so high up though?"
"Captain Levi said you'd probably try and gain some height at some point, so he kept us back." Petra admitted with some pride in her captains' plan.
"The cable was her idea though." Mikasa added, now having fully unfurled the cable and letting it hand loose off the side. A series of angry red marks ran up the length of her arm, and Gohan gave a sympathetic wince. "Captain Levi didn't tell us how to catch you, only that we should strike you before you could catch your breath."
He could already pick out the sound of more ODM gear heading his way through the forest. "Keep up the pressure, don't give me time to plan or recover, well done. And if you weren't successful then they wouldn't be far behind."
On cue, the rest of the scouts landed on the tree branch and joined their comrades. Having been in the fight for longer, their iconic cloaks were far sweatier than those of the two girls', and there was a strong smell in the air that was only made worse for Gohan thanks to his comparatively stronger sense of smell. To no-ones surprise, Captain Levi was in a better shape than Eld or Gunther, merely looking winded as opposed to the full blown panting the other two were doing. He looked over Gohan and the cable that held him, before turning to the two women in his team.
"Petra, Mikasa, well done." With that, he sheathed his blades. As curt as he always was, it was enough of an approval for the two of them to stand a little taller and shine a little brighter. Gohan meanwhile took the time to unwrap himself now that the cable was being relaxed around him. When he finally stood up he took a moment to stretch, before looking over the edge and judging the distance to the ground.
Then, he simply hopped off.
It was nice to get back to using Ki more often, or at the very least not as subtly as he used to. With just the slightest exertion his fall turned into a slow hover down to the ground, and he was pleased that he didn't familiar the all to familiar strain in his legs this time. His experiences with Ki in this new world were frustratingly random. Sometimes he could enhance himself all day and feel nary a difference, but if he really tried to push himself then it was like he had crossed some kind of threshold and would knock himself out if he didn't back off quickly. Ki blasts were generally more likely to tire him out, but there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to his body's response to them. Weak or big, beam or blast, simple or complicated, there was no consistency as to whether he was fine or would start feeling the familiar pain of overexertion. It didn't last long when it happened, red marks fading away quickly enough that he wasn't worried about it long term. In the short term, it was damn frustrating.
He had been making more and more of an effort to improve his abilities since arriving at the castle, but the results had been…limited to say the least. It had only been a week since first arriving, and much of his time had been spent teaching the scouts, garrison, and military police, and while that meant teaching and participating in exercises, it was too simple for him to gain much from it even in his weakened state. He was hoping that with the impressive progress that everyone had shown, he might be able to start getting some actual training in again. Speaking of training, he waited for the rest of the scouts to land on the ground next to him before he gave them their next exercise. A lovely run from the forest, back to the castle.
After a short groan of discomfort, they were on the move. Not running in formation like he'd had to do so many times in training, but a more relaxed, at their own pace version. Everyone here had shown how incredibly self-motivated they were in their training, and were already very capable even before his tutelage, so he was confident that they could match and beat any bars he set for them. It helped that he didn't have to be so guiding considering how many people he was having to teach, and that meant it was easier to pick out each persons individual strengths or weaknesses.
The special operations squad were easy to figure out, with a lot of history and experience to clear up any doubts Gohan had, but the others weren't so easy. Rico and Mitabi had spent a long time training, but their fighting experience was limited to say the least, and their fighting style was very different. The scouts were used to operating in enemy territory with limited options for mobility, garrison soldiers were the opposite. Rico and Mitabi were slower to engage, keeping their distance until openings presented themselves before striking without hesitation and withdrawing just as quickly. It had its faults, certainly. When watching matches between the two garrison members and two of the scouts, the difference between success and failure was instant. The Scouts were aggressive, playing into their strengths and their opponents weaknesses. But if they failed, and Rico and Mitabi could relocate and by their time, then it wasn't unusual for the two Garrison soldiers to actually win a match.
Unless they were against Mikasa or Captain Levi, that was. Unless they were fighting each other, the two were undefeatable in training, a fact that had the scouts beaming with pride and the garrison soldiers annoyed if unsurprised. The two MP's however… Caven and Kuno were a strange bunch. In combat they were by far the most mobile, even more so than the scouts. Always pressing, surrounding, trying to box their opponent in, similar but keenly different than the scouts, who were mobile in an attempt to distract and create openings. The Scouts fought like they would against Titans, the MP's fought like they would against people.
It made sense, but unnerved him in a way he wasn't quite familiar with. Even after a week the two hadn't warmed any, with tension between them and the rest still as strong as ever. They worked hard, took notes, studied diligently, and caused no real problems, but they also kept entirely to themselves. They shared nothing about them, laughed at no jokes, didn't even stay for dinner past having had their fill. It was a kind of obvious suspicion that really had him second guessing his actions around them.
He could actually see them in the distance, still running back and forth, dragging the sleds of weights behind them. Rico and Mitabi were likewise nearby, but were partway through a long series of stretching exercises Gohan had assigned for them. Everyone had already been extremely flexible given the gear they used, but he'd made sure it wasn't forgotten. And of course, just nearby was Eren.
He'd shown the least amount of progress with Ki control out of the entire group, which Gohan had unfortunately predicted. Physically, he'd improved tremendously regardless. But his growth was undoubtedly stunted by his inability to focus on the troubles within himself. And Gohan had really tried to help. He'd given him one on one sessions focussing on meditation, tried extensive training sessions, gone through every academic explanation he could think of, but nothing.
The boy in question raised his head as they all came close, wiping the sweat from his forehead with a dirt covered hand. He'd been ploughing the impromptu fields with his hands just outside the castle, an exercise most of the others had moved past much to his aggravation. That hadn't been his only source of aggravation however, and the way his eyes sought out Mikasa from the group was obvious. As was the way she pointedly ignored him.
The group slowed to a walking pace when they finally reached the castle grounds proper. "Okay so, I'll take another group and everyone else can just relax for a little bit. Get you energy back up though because we'll be training even more later." He didn't really need to explain it, as it was a similar routine they'd been following for a while. The only change came with who left, and who stayed.
Thanks to a previous discussion, Gohan didn't need to specify as the group of scouts left save for Mikasa and Petra. "Eren! You're up, come on." Bemused, the boy looked around, making sure he hadn't been mistaken in seeing the scouts leave only in part. His hesitation disappeared when Gohan and the others immediately turned to begin heading back towards the forest, and Eren quickly scrambled over to follow dutifully behind them. The half-Saiyan didn't turn to check he was coming along, instead he took the opportunity to flick a glance over towards Mikasa.
She was looking reluctant, but not hesitant which was good. It had been several days of limited interaction between her and her adopted brother, ever since she and Petra had approached him with her plan, and Gohan himself wasn't entirely confident with it. He'd only covered basic levels of psychiatry before the Cell games, and most of what he'd learned had been just enough to tell him how wrong things could go.
Still, he liked to think he knew Eren fairly well, Mikasa knew him even better, and Petra seemed confident in her approach in a way that made him believe that if she hadn't done something similar before, then she at least knew about such a thing having been done before.
Having done enough in his mind to calm himself down by the time they reached the forest, Gohan was free of enough distractions to note the odd shuffling coming from Eren. He hid his glance towards the boy with an idle look around the woods, pretending as if he hadn't seen practically every sliver of it already from their training, and managed to catch the moment when Eren's eyes glanced towards Mikasa, and the twitch of an involuntary snarl started to form.
He hid it quickly, and he looked away with a measure of guilt, but Gohan was still worried. Things were getting worse between them, and quickly. They weren't too far gone just yet though, so Gohan kept up his hope for them as they reached a small clearing.
There were many such places in the woods, but this was one they frequently used given how close it was to the forest entrance, and the others took their places awaiting his instruction with practiced motions. Forming a small semi-circle around him, Gohan turned to face them.
"Alright then Eren, today we're going to try and push you into using your Ki in a more… direct manner." He grimaced to himself, trying to think of a better way to phrase what was coming. "See, the way I've been teaching you all is just one way of learning. It's part of how my dad learned from Master Roshi, and I think Krillen, Tien, and Yamcha all learned the same way."
"You know some people with really strange names…" Petra muttered under her breath, Gohan still catching it but electing to ignore it. After all, in his mind it was they who had strange names. What kind of pun did Mikasa relate to?
"This way," he continued "is how I was taught."
"Shouldn't we have led with that then?" Eren asked, a slight frown on his face. "You're crazy strong compared to the rest of us, so surely that was the best way right?"
"Well, the way I was taught was when my teacher threw me at a wall." Gohan's tone was a mix of embarrassment, and also nostalgia for the simpler time when all he had to worry about was two aliens coming to destroy them. Come to think of it, perhaps his life had never been simple.
"Oh." Eren said with surprise, before his eyes widened into shock. "Wait, are you gonna throw me into a wall!?"
"No no no no…" Gohan quickly placated, throwing his hands up and gesturing for the boy to calm down, who relaxed only slightly. "…sort of."
Instantly, Eren was back on the defensive, taking a step away with arms raised in a defensive position. Gohan kept his eyes focused on him, though he still heard Petra lightly smack her forehead off to the side.
"The point was that I managed to connect with my Ki when I was placed in extreme distress. Since you've been having trouble connecting with it…"
The miserable look on Erens face would have been hilarious were it not also filled with a dirty scorn being levelled directly at Gohan. He shot him an apologetic smile, but could hardly say anything else. After a deep breath, he relented.
"Fine. So what's the plan, are you going to throw a punch at me?"
"No…" Gohan replied ominously, making the effort to avoid looking away completely, even if his eyes danced around a little. "Mikasa's going to do it."
"What!?"
Despite having mumbled the last part, it caught Erens attention immediately, who whirled around to his adopted sister, just in time to catch a brief glimpse of her first before it smashed right into his face. Unsurprisingly, he let out a yelp of pain before landing flat on his ass, hands coming up not to protect himself or to counterattack, but to clutch at his nose in pain.
"I can't trust myself to really push you hard enough, nor could you trust me to do the same. Captain Levi and the others have too much important training to do in the meantime, so here is the solution we-I came up with." Gohan announced as Eren struggled to his feet. As soon as he was stood upright, Mikasa was darting straight towards him. He managed to get his hands up in a reflexive, panicked defensive posture this time, which did nothing as Mikasa promptly ignored his arms and swept his legs out from under him. He hit the dirt hand and with a small bounce, Gohan wincing slightly in sympathy but forcing himself to stand by while it happened. "I think you know your body as well as I can teach you, but you need a special kind of drive to access it. You always push yourself the hardest when you have a tangible obstacle to overcome, and what better than Mikasa?"
Eren rose slowly, only getting onto one knee as he watched Mikasa's wary gaze stay on him. "What the hell is this supposed to prove. I can't beat Mikasa, no-one can!" To an extent, Eren was right. Mikasa was a tremendously skilled and motivated fighter, easily one of the best this new world seemed to be able to offer. Except, Gohan could beat her, and she knew it, as did Eren if he thought about it clearly.
But that was just it, he wasn't.
When it came to Mikasa and he in terms of skill or capability, Eren not only always came up short, but always felt it was a pre-determined result as well. Gohan grimaced slightly, careful to hide it from Eren even as the boy remained entirely focused on his opponent.
"Well, you're going to have to try. Until you can truly fight Mikasa, there's no point in any further practice." His words managed to tear Erens gaze away from her, and towards him in slight horror. "If you want to progress, this is the level you need to reach."
Eren looked at him hurt, before turning away to collect himself and rising to his feet. With wobbly legs, he steadied himself into the fighting pose that he had learnt from Annie so long ago, the same one he'd apparently used during his first transformation into a Titan. When Mikasa moved towards him again, he managed a respectable two blocks before he was thrown to the ground.
When he saw him rise without hesitation, Gohan turned to Petra. "Looks like he's willing to try. It'll take some time to see if it works at all, but I think I'm hopeful. We should stick close in the meantime though. C'mon, I know another clearing not too far from here."
He took off with a final glance towards the siblings, breaking into a mild jog that Petra easily followed.
Petra landed on one leg, easily recovering from the throw Gohan had forced her into. It hadn't been a strong one even by her standards, and especially not by Gohans, there wouldn't have been any point to the training otherwise. Whilst Eren may have needed a beat down, Petra didn't, and so today's session was focusing on reflexes and adaptability. She prided herself on having that in spades already, but in truth it was more about making use of her Ki powers than just in general.
Her reflexes were good, but if she couldn't fling a ball of energy or increase her speed without preparation, then she was squandering a lot of her potential. As she was, if she never tried to experiment with what she could do. Currently, it was mostly about learning different types of Ki use rather than inventing her own, as Gohan had warned that without the proper knowledge and experience then she'd probably do far more harm than good, possibly even the permanent kind. Still, it was enough to get her mind whirring at the possibilities, as was the powers Gohan was taking care to demonstrate today.
Gohan pushed off the ground, and darted towards with only a single step. Gohan had explained it as being a fairly simple case of combining speed with very low level hovering, but for as much as he sounded like Hange when he discussed it, he looked awe inspiring when putting it into action.
He closed said distance in a matter of moments, rearing back an arm to strike her. Too fast to dodge, she'd learned that several times already, so instead she readied her other foot behind her, crossed both arms in front, and braced for the attack. The attack came right on target towards her head, and then passed right through her body without a touch.
'Shit, that's uh, the after-image right? Then that means-' Her realisation was cut off as a fist buried itself into her stomach. Blowing her off her feet and sending her onto her knees while she hunched over in pain. No follow up attacks came, and she was thankful for that as she tried to steady her deep, and pained breathing.
"Hey, you alright? Sorry I went a bit overboard there." Gohan stepped closer, though Petra could only tell by the sight of his shadow on the ground, still being bent over and clutching her stomach. It was midday, so she had a good idea of where he was with the sun directly overhead, and when he was right in front of her she smiled wickedly to herself.
Suddenly pivoting on the ground, her leg shot out to trip up his legs, which sped out of the way with such speed that he must have been using Ki. "Playing wounded, very sneaky Petra." He praised, a wide smile on his face at her cunning. "But you still have to be fast enough to- AGHH!" Her leg sweep may have missed, but that wasn't surprising to Petra, all she'd really wanted to do was take him off balance enough to grab a handful of dirt without his notice, and fling it straight out and into his eyes.
She'd scored a direct hit, and Gohan covered his eyes instinctively, leaving himself wide open as Petra bull rushed him and tried to tackle him to the ground. When she felt him moving, she grinned victoriously. And when she felt him twist, and her balance slipped away, her grin melted away into shock. Re-directing her movement, Gohan had gone for a simple spin as they fell down together, instead they now landed with him on top and hands firmly pinning her down in place, she having forgotten about them in her assumed success and surprising failure.
"Nice try." He complimented, his honest smile somewhat lessened by the way he squinted at her with dirty, watering eyes. "But you really should have tried to use more Ki."
"I was holding it in reserve." She admitted, apparently unbothered by her situation. "Thought I might get a better shot later, like now for example." With her hands pinned down by Gohan's mighty arms, she instead went directly for his biggest weak spot and slammed her knee into his crotch.
It met him with all the energy she could quickly muster, and stopped completely still.
"That might have worked if you hadn't given my enough of a warning." He admitted, feeling a little like a hypocrite as he thought back to how many times he and so many others had yelled out the names of their attacks before unleashing them.
Whilst he was off in memory land, Petra continued to struggle in disbelief. "What!? That's bullshit, no guy is immune to that!" She shouted, attempting to push harder as if she hadn't already used up a ton of energy already. While Gohan might have been immune to her attack thanks to her warning and his bracing, he was decidedly not immune to the unintentional reaction her efforts were causing.
"What are you doing?" A new voice asked, the two sparring partners swivelling their heads to the side to see Mikasa staring back at them. Gohan's face was already red as he scrambled off Petra and to his feet, stammering away an excuse.
"Oh, we're training. You know, since we have to stay nearby, and we're waiting for you two, so we'd thought we'd train. Because we had the time for it." Mikasa simply raised an eyebrow at him, not even looking at the ginger haired girl who crawled to her feet.
"Anyway," she continued, drawing out the first A in obvious doubt, "Gunther came by and told us that lunch is almost ready so we should head back."
"Oh thank god." Petra sighed, already moving towards the path back towards the castle. "I am starving. Ki training really takes it out of me, no wonder you need to eat so much all the time Gohan."
"Hah hah, yeah, I sure do…" Gohan laughed nervously, watching Petra move off and decidedly not following. He stood there for a few moments as she left, before Mikasa spoke up once again.
"Why do you have your hands in your pockets? And why are you hunching over like that?"
Lunch was an awkward affair for many reasons. Eren and Mikasa were avoiding any unnecessary contact, with the formers myriad of bruises likely not helping the situation. Gohan had sat down quickly and without a word, diving into his mountain of food with more gusto than normal even for him. Tensions were still present between the two MP's and the others as usual. It made for a very quiet, and so in Captain Levi's opinion, a very welcome change of pace.
He didn't mind the talking or comradery despite of people might think of him, he even welcomed it amongst his team. But this wasn't just his team. Eren, he could accept, thinking of him more like a prisoner with some freedom than another subordinate. Gohan was, grudgingly acceptable, with his capability and wisdom being offset by a naivety and earnestness that could grow bothersome at times. Mikasa had been pushing it, as although she was a proven soldier and clearly had a promising career ahead of her, the way she doted on Eren and he grated against her caused an annoying amount of friction, particularly as it seemed to spill over onto his team as Petra made an effort to bond with her.
His eyes flicked over to one of the other big disturbances he'd had to deal with. Caven and Kuno, who had still never given their last names, had been perfect guests to an outside observer. Quiet, dutiful, and keeping to themselves as much as possible in a way that should have made Captain Levi like them. But he was no fool. Those two were no run of the mill gangster in uniform like so many others in their ranks. There was a level of cunning and focus about them that set him on edge, and the rest of his team too. The two Garrison soldiers didn't seem to be as aware as the scouts were, but were no less hostile thanks to their interactions with the MP's in general. While the scouts may have butted heads with them politically, they at least very rarely had to deal with them in person. He couldn't imagine how much the Garrison and MP's battled against each other over any number of issues, from jurisdiction to funding to who knew what.
The specifics of it didn't really matter, but the result of it all was important. A constant exchange of snide remarks and dirty looks was usually what happened when everyone gathered for meals, but not so much today. People were just getting too tired to waste time sniping at each other when Gohans training regime was running them all into the ground each day. Levi wasn't too proud to admit that once they'd gotten going, this was some of the hardest training he'd ever done in his life, and it was clear everyone else felt the same. Everyone was more sluggish now, and with that came if not a peace, then at least a truce. Not everyone here were friends, or even acquaintances, but it seemed they were reaching a point where they could be around each other without going for the throat, and Levi intended to savour that. It would probably be broken all too soon anyway.
He thought back to the letter that had been delivered to him in private just the day before. Two captive Titans killed under Garrison watch, Hange apparently devastated and almost ready to lead a crusade for the truth when the official investigation turned up nothing. Eye witnesses had confirmed it was someone with ODM gear, but knew nothing else, not even their sex. Mentally he groaned. He may not have cared for Hange's work, and cared even less when it came to dealing with the nutjob, but she was usually effective when it came down to it. With Trost battered and the military bloodied, all in order to reach a draw, even he had hoped that capturing two Titans would have given them something worthwhile. But instead, some moron had supposedly let their lust for revenge get the better of them and killed them.
Supposedly, that was.
No doubt Erwin had picked up on the clues and was already investigating it, but Levi had his severe doubts. The guard watching the captives wouldn't have been small or lazy, not with what they were watching over, and for someone to get in and kill their two targets as quickly as they had spoke to some genuine skill, more so than one would have expected from regular Garrison troops who had let their talents wain over time. Someone green or experienced was most likely, not that that narrowed it down enough to matter. His mind flicked to another important detail that had been mentioned, where one of the guards had seen the killer as they fled. Supposedly, they had stumbled.
Unfamiliar gear then, or perhaps just damaged? Most likely it was someone else's since everyone's personal equipment had been checked. One possibility was that it had been someone who'd lost a close friend, and taken their gear to strike back in vengeful memory. Another, one more alarming, was that someone hadn't wanted Hange to be finding something. He pushed the thought away, not because he doubted it, quite the opposite, but he knew what would lay down that rabbit hole if he went down it. Better to leave the paranoia to Erwin and move forwards without distraction. The expedition was going to be difficult enough as it was, let alone with the alterations Erwin was already planning.
His eyes flicked over towards Eren, unnoticed by the others as they focused on their food and relaxing. There were others like him according to Erwin. The armoured and the colossal Titan almost certainly, and perhaps others. But there was one in particular that came to mind, one that had been described during the culling operation after Wall Maria had fallen. Almost everyone had been killed during the attack, as had been the plan, but not all. Of the scant few that had returned, three had done so with a tale of one such creature, only heard rather than seen, a terrifying roar from within a forest of great trees.
An abnormal, is how the incident had been recorded. Just some roaring Titan that was hidden from view, and the reports of Titans suddenly turning away had been overlooked as the imagination of terrified soldiers. But now, Erwin had sought to remind Levi of the incident during a private briefing he'd had to undertake during the week. So he refocused, leaving the mystery killer to be revealed at another time as he thought about the task ahead. After all, if everything went to plan then they might be finding two new Titan shifters.