An Ackerman's Journey

57th Expedition

The Scouts rode through the gate out of Calaneth district and into Titan Territory. The houses past the wall that had to be abandoned due to the fall of Wall Maria were mostly ruins and covered in vines. Hange spotted a fat titan walking in between the abandoned houses before calling it out. "We've got a ten meter closing in from the left! Gah! I want to know what's rolling around in that glorious belly! Never mind. Let the support squad do their job."

Two Scouts jumped from their horses and engaged their ODM gear and made their way over the roofs to take down the titan. One of the Scouts avoided the titans grab and made their way behind its head to slice the nape. They sliced the nape but looked back to see the titan still standing. "Damn! Too shallow!" "Just focus on defending the ranks!" The other Scout shouted as he just dodged the titans hand that went to grab him.

The titan went to crush one of the Scouts on the roof only for the scout to move out of the way and the titans hand to glide across the roof of the building before hitting another roof with its other hand trying to grab the scout. Sasha, who was closest to the titan as they passed by, was squealing in fear as she looked at the titan. Another Scout grabbed her head and forced her to look ahead of her. "Eyes front! Their job's to handle it. Yours is to keep moving!"

"Forward! Ride for all you're worth!" One of the Scouts shouted to keep the rest motivated and to keep riding. Eren was riding with the Levi Squad next to Oruo. He turned to Oruo with a concerned look. "Loaded question. Be straight with me. You think my friends have a shot at taking down a titan?" He asked as Oruo looked over to him. "Really? I should certainly hope so, otherwise what the hell have they been training for?" He said before fully turning his head to look at Eren and continuing. "Now listen, and listen well. Prepared or not, you're all Scouts, which means the time is nigh to choke back those fears and-!" He was cut off as he bit his own tongue.

"Hey, Jean" Elias said as he pulled up next to Jean's horse before continuing. "Wanna make a bet?" "What kind of bet and why out here of all places?" Jean asked, looking over at Elias. "Because it can only be made out here" Elias replied keeping an empty look on his face. "Alright fine, what is it?" Jean asked, now intrigued with what Elias wanted. "Whoever kills more titans has to clean the other person's room for the next three days," Elias said, looking back ahead of him. "Alright, you're on. Get ready because my room actually has two people in it so that's more cleaning to do for you." Jean said confident he would be able to win. "Good thing I won't have to worry about it then." Elias replied, managing to smile a little.

Erwin thrusted his arm out to the side before shouting out. "Long range formation. Let's go!" The Scouts started to spread out into the formation and joined up with the squads they were assigned with and the locations they were told to be in. "See you 'round. Good luck" Reiner said before separating from Jean, Armin and Elias. "Armin, do me a favor and make sure Jean doesn't smudge his numbers up" Elias said before pulling off from him and Jean. "Do us all a favor and if you run into one 'em don't piss yourself" Jean said before pulling away from Armin. "Yeah. Same goes for you" Armin replied as he continued to ride straight ahead.

Elias rode further up ahead into the center of the left wing where he met up with another squad. "Hey, you're one of the rookies right? What are you doing all the way up here?" One of the Scouts looked back asking. "Elias Ackerman, sir. I was stationed here by Commander Erwin's request, sir" Elias responded and put his right fist over his heart, saluting the Scout. "Ah, Elias, right. We were told we'd have you here with us. I'm Squad Leader Han Rapp but Han will just work fine. The two with the brown hair are Johan and Heinz Weimann and the girl's Elsa Krämer" The Squad Leader introduced the other three scouts.

"Good to meet you, rookie" Elsa was the first to speak up as she looked back at Elias with a small smile. "It'll be good to know if he's able to carry his weight. Why did they put a rookie in an extermination squad?" One of the Weimann brothers asked, looking back at him. "Actually Johan, he won't be fighting. Elias, I don't want you to engage with any of the titans we encounter, just leave it to the veterans" Han said, keeping his head forward. "What? Then what's the point of having him here then?" Johan asked, looking up at the Squad Leader. "When we spot a titan he's going to be the one to fire the flares to alert the sighting squads so they can relay it to the center rank" Han answered looking back at him.