Just An Average Guy

Chapter 4

Captain Levi and his companion walked through the open fields near the HQ. Levi turned his gaze to Saitama, who was fiddling with his—recently attached—3D maneuver gear. He watched in slight curiosity as Saitama tried to figure out how to hold the handles correctly. "Hey," he said, getting his attention. "Once we reach a set of trees, we'll begin our exercise. This is going to be hard, but trust me, you'll need it."

"I don't think so," Saitama replied, looking at the handles of his gear in curiosity. "I'm not too fond of fancy machinery," he said, glancing back at Levi. "I really don't need it."

"Yes, you do. Commander's orders." Levi retorted, glaring at him. "Oh, look," he said, looking off into the far distance. "We've reached our destination. Let's get going."

The duo began their walk to a nearby forest, an awkward silence befalling the two. Deciding to break the silence, Levi spoke up.

"Listen, Saitama. This might sound like a very weird question, but do you even know what you're up against?" he asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. The Captain was confused, very confused. When he watched Saitama defeat those two Titans, he saw no hint of fear on his face. It was like he didn't even care that he was about to be eaten alive.

"Well," Saitama replied, tapping his chin. "Giant people trying to eat smaller people. This place is pretty messed up. But I have a feeling I'm no longer in City-Z anymore."

Levi smacked his forehead in frustration. "That is one way to summarize it, but it's far worse than that." He said, turning to face him directly. "Titans have been around for a hundred years. We humans have been living inside the Walls for all those years. We, the Survey Corps, are one of the three military forces humanity has. We risk our lives, venturing outside the Walls into Titan territory, to set up bases and reclaim what was once ours. But whenever we leave, we return with many losses. We are going to head to the Shingashina district, because Commander Erwin believes that the answer to the Titans lies in there. In Eren Yeager's basement."

"So... we are going to go outside the Walls... just to visit someone's basement?" Saitama questioned, his facial features that of visible confusion.

"Basically," Levi replied, nodding his head. "But since the breach in the Trost district has been sealed, we have to go a different way. Through the Karanese district."

Having reached the forest, the duo began to check their equipment—or rather, Levi checking Saitama's equipment as well as his own, since the hero was still trying to figure out how to correctly hold his gear. The gas cylinders were full, nothing was missing, and so they were ready to go. But before they could begin, Levi shared a bit of info with Saitama.

"Listen up," he said, getting Saitama's attention. "The simplest move possible with the ODM gear is simply aiming and firing the grapple hooks at an object and then activating the gas mechanism to reel yourself toward said object. You can then disconnect the hook and continue moving forward. Usually however, you must be able to move around in order to navigate in general. Therefore, everyone-including you—tends to use their momentum in order to swing around targets, not only in rectilinear patterns, but also slaloming between objects and, yes, even Titans."

"Uhm, care to repeat that?" Saitama asked, scratching the back of his head as Levi simply smacked his forehead once more.

"Aim the handles at your target, then pull the trigger. Pull the lower trigger to retract your cable, you can then use said cable to fire at another object." Levi replied. Grabbing hold of his handles, the young Captain aimed them at a nearby set of trees. Pulling the triggers, the cables shot out of their holsters and impacted on a nearby tree. Saitama could only watch in curiosity and slight awe as he saw Levi soar towards the trees.