Back to the Beginning

Drills

2025 Update

Armin POV

Armin shot through the forest, his grapples swinging him forth and avoiding tree after tree. His eyes darted about as he searched for one of the Titan dummies. The wind whipped against his face, almost drawing tears to his eyes as his hair blew about wildly, but then he saw a faint outline of a man around eight meters tall in the distance on his left. His target.

He turned swiftly, swinging around in a short arc and then flung himself towards his target as fast as he could. He shot out his grapples and propelled forward with his blades drawn, carefully lining up the strike as he got closer and closer to his target. The nape had already been cut twice, each slice leaving a deep triangular gash in the fake Titan, killing it.

Armin glanced around, looking for whoever the other two cadets were but he quickly refocused his efforts on the task at hand as he reached the Titan. His attack was over in a second, his swords ripping the cloth and leaving a clean cut, but it wasn't deep enough, only half the depth of the other strikes.

Damn, another failure, he thought, sighing in disappointment as he continued shooting forward on the ODM gear, whisking past trees until he heard the sound of other cadets in the distance.

Focusing in on the sound he lurched towards it, his grapples shooting him towards the other cadets and with them a series of dummy Titans. Armin caught sight of the faces of the cadets as they manoeuvered themselves around the forest. Mikasa gracefully danced from one Titan to the next and left perfect cuts in their napes. Jean confidently charged forth but his strikes failed to cut deep enough to kill the dummies. And then there was Eren.

Eren methodically swung from one Titan to the next with his swords, leaving deep gashes in their napes with each strike. Much like Mikasa, Eren used ODM gear without joy or passion, his face occasionally twisting with effort before returning to his usual blank and sullen expression. The boy who had once proclaimed he would kill all the Titans had been replaced by a man who seemed a decade older.

The change was physical as well as mental. Eren had grown out his hair, letting it fall to his neck, but his eyes looked tired, as if they had already seen too much. It isn't all too surprising after Shiganshina, Armin thought as his blades cut through the dummy's neck, just barely deep enough to count. But it only began after training started. For three years Eren's eyes were filled with fire and resolve, the desire to fight raging inside of him. Now, it's something I can't even describe. One moment he'll seem happy and at peace, the next it's as if someone else has replaced him.

"Alright Cadets!" The blaring voice of Keith Shadis called out from atop a tree, pulling Armin from his thoughts and to reality. "Put your equipment away and then move your asses to the training grounds!"

Armin and the rest of the cadets followed his orders immediately, swinging back through the forest and back to the military camp. As per usual he was one of the last to arrive, unsteadily landing on his feet and watching for a moment as the last of his comrades put their ODM equipment away.

He unstrapped his equipment quickly following them only a moment later, keen to catch up with the rest of them who had already started walking over to the grounds. It took Armin some minutes to accomplish, but eventually, he put his equipment away and made his way over to the rest of the cadets, Shadis hot on his tail.

Finally having made his way to the training grounds Armin stood alongside the rest of the cadets, lined up in formation as the Instructor began shouting at them once more.

"Cadets, this is anti-personal or hand-to-hand combat! You will likely use this at some point in your military career, especially if you aim to join the Military Police and Garrison. To be able to fight like this will be vital for your survival! Claude and Karl will now demonstrate how to take down your fellow man!"