Power to Strive III

That Day

Disclaimer: I do not own Attack on Titan or this story.

Previously: Eren thinks he and Erwin are alike. They talk about the various uses of photographs. Eren becomes fond of his aunt. Erwin and Armin brainstorm potential ways to deal with airships.

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The sun shone down on a beautiful city with cobblestone streets. Well-dressed civilians walked and talked in the streets as they went about their days. A couple drove on the road in a car.

Historia gaped, eyes wide. "Look at that...that...box thing with wheels!"

"It's like a small metal wagon. But where is the horse?" Petra asked, trying to reconcile the car with the limited technology they had on the island. "How is it moving on its own?"

Doesn't look very safe. Levi thought suspiciously. He was used to traveling via either horse-drawn carriages or the 3D gear. The metal contraption on the TV seemed like such an oddity to him.

"Maybe it's like our 3D gear, powered by the iceburst stone or another similar fuel source," Hange said eagerly, mind whirling from the possibilities. She began sketching a rough design. Who knows, there might be someone in the Walls with the imagination and brilliance to figure out how to make this metal wagon.

"I wonder if they control the direction it's going in with that circle, that wheel-like thing." Armin studied the car with great interest. "If it's not alive, then unlike our horses it doesn't tire out so it can keep going for a very long time."

"Their technology is so far ahead of ours," Sasha said in a mix of envy and nervousness.

Jean sighed, arms crossed. "This is making me anxious about what other stuff they've invented while we haven't made much progress technology-wise in a very long time."

"Our last greatest achievement was the 3D Maneuver Gear," Mikasa said with a nod. "And that was invented over seventy years ago."

"We've really gotta haul ass to play catch-up with the rest of the world." But Eren knew it wouldn't be easy. There were many issues with trying to modernize their group, not the least of which was they had no idea how to duplicate the inventions they saw on the TV even if the Royal Government pulled its head out of its ass and gave them permission to invent away.

Erwin felt his ire with their government rise. They kept us ignorant for far too long. And they stifled anything that could make it easier for us to leave the Walls, thus stagnating our progress and growth as a civilization. From the look of it, Paradis Island seemed to be incredibly far behind the times—at least compared to their most bitter rival, Marley. Erwin wondered what the royal family was thinking, keeping a chokehold on the truth and limiting progress. But he had an idea. They must have wanted to maintain their power at all costs.

Too often the people in charge put their individualistic interests above what was best for the group as a whole. They tended to narrow in on the short-term rather than think of the long run. I might be wrong about Historia but there's no doubt we have to change internally first before we're able to deal with the outside world. Forget the rest of the nations of the world, if the people of the Walls were ignorant and fractured, Paradis Island wouldn't even be able to take on just one enemy nation.

"In the sixty years I've been gone they've created so many amazing things." Ymir held up a finger as she listed them off. "Those metal wagons, airships, photographs, and who knows what else? I'm sure there's a lot more we haven't seen."