Lessons

1 week later

Eren's POV

We were back at base all refreshed but the memories of what Ares did was still on my mind and I just kind of got mad but I calmed down a bit after the week passed by.

"Where's Lieutenant Colonel Ghost?" I asked

Jean turned around and gasped. Armin and Mikasa stopped what they were doing and hugged both me and Annie.

"Are you two okay?" asked Mikasa

"We're fine, don't worry about it." said Annie

"Where's Lieutenant Colonel Ghost?" I asked

"Preparing for the show, the show's today at night so he's helping the soldiers set up." said Jean, "You good?"

"I'm good." I replied, "How's your bullet wound?"

"I healed a week ago thanks to the doctors." replied Jean, "Do you want me to call Lieutenant Colonel Ghost?"

"Wait don't he's not really in a good mood right now." said Armin

"Right, I forgot." sighed Jean

"What happened while we were gone?" I asked

"Ever since we rescued the two of you Ghost has been more concerned about Ares." said Mikasa, "This entire week he's encountered him 8 times and he lost him 8 times."

"Is he hurt?" I asked

Mikasa looked at Jean and Jean sighed.

"He might not be able to operate for a week." said Jean

My eyes widened and I shook my head in denial.

"Without him, how are we going to take Ares down?" I asked

Jean shrugged and Mikasa looked behind me and her eyes widened a bit. I turned around and saw Ghost limping with Aid helping him, I couldn't tell if he was in pain nor if the injury was bad.

"Lieutenant Colonel Ghost." I called out

He turned and looked surprised to see us so we quickly saluted.

"I hope you two got some rest." he said, "But right now, we're in deep shit."

"What's the problem sir?" I asked

"They extracted your spinal fluid so now they're near done with perfecting the gas." said Ghost, "It won't be long until we strike them."

"Sir are you okay? The leg looks serious." I said

"He got me, I could have got him but he's a fucking mutant as well making it harder to kill him." he replied

I nodded in response and he and Aid walked off.

"Recon wants us to be in the briefing room." said Mikasa as she was listening to something from her earpiece

We left and we entered the briefing room where most of my team was there.

"Eren, Annie are you two okay?" asked Commander Erwin

We both nodded and we took a seat.

"Right now we already set up a final plan to do this." said Recon

She opened up a blueprint of the entire mountain region of the fortress.

"Their weapon is called the Pillar, which would shoot out the gas canister into the air and it'll pollute the air in a 50 mile radius." said Recon

"In order to get to that specific spot of the mountain, we have to go through the entire base to get to the other side." said Aid, "The entire base structure is fucking complicated and it'll fucking take long."

"Now there's something we have to discuss, without Ghost." said Recon

Ghost's POV

"Doing all these missions with Ghost team 116 reunited brings back ode memories." said Aid

"It really does, I hope it stays like that." I replied

Aid looked sad after hearing that but just smiled.

"We will, no worries." he replied

I nodded and sat down on a box when Hacker came to me and saluted.

"Sir here's a modified ACR I made, I call it the Silver Stake Tactical. Fires a .10 bolt but can only shoot single fire and burst because full auto will destroy the barrel. I tried creating a new barrel but none would work." he said

He handed me what looked like a scar but a bit smaller. It had a stubby foregrip with a EOTech holographic optic with a 3x magnifier. I pulled out the mag and put about 30 rounds in it, I put it back in and cocked it and tried reloading it as fast as I could.

"Not bad, I like it." I said

"Well, we're running low on metal so that one's specifically for you sir." he said

"I see, thank you." I thanked

He nodded and left.

"We're almost there to end this." said Aid, "It's just Ares and Timothy Anderson in the way."

"I know, it'll take me a week to heal?" I asked

"If you don't do anything stupid and reckless." chuckled Aid

I smiled a bit and shrugged as I placed my gun down next to me.

"Once this shit is over, I guess you'll be helping rebuild the country once more." said Aid

"I might skip this year." I said

"Damn, tired of America?" he asked

"No, tired from fighting all the time." I said

"Yea I get it." he replied, "You had to go through shit before this too."

He got up and sighed.

"I suppose you're going to live back at the cabin in the woods all by yourself." said Aid

I looked at him and shrugged.

"I might move location." I replied

"Where?" he asked

"Probably somewhere in the countryside." I replied

He nodded.

"But what I can't believe is that I was in Sentinel." said Aid, "I was going to join Delta Force after getting some experience."

"I was going to join the Navy Seals just like my parents." I said

"I know you were." said Aid, "I didn't think Sentinel would be better than Delta."

"Sentinel was better than Delta once it was founded since no one ever knew about Sentinel." I said

"Yet we're not categorized in Tier One either, we're not categorized at all." he said

"That's cause we're not open for tryouts." I replied

"Invitation only." sighed Aid

Aid sighed and leaned back.

"I think after this I might go into politics." said Aid

"Politics?" I questioned

"Yea, I can help prevent another war from happening." I said

"I've always hated politics." I said

"I know you do, maybe I can change the system." he said

"Maybe." I sighed

"But that's far in the future." he said

I nodded in response and rubbed my knee.

"Ares could attack any time right now because I'm injured. We might have to be careful." I said

"He won't attack, Recon's here." replied Aid

"Ah, right." I said

"Colonel?" called out a voice

I turned around and standing there was Jean, Mikasa, Eren, Annie, Sasha, Connie and Armin.

"Yes?" I asked

"Would you mind overseeing our hand to hand combat training?" asked Eren

Before I could answer Aid helped me.

"Sure thing!" excitedly said Aid

We walked to a jeep and got on and headed towards some private training area. When we got there we got off and I sat on a foldable chair as the Scouts were exercising.

"Radio me if you need me or if you're done." said Aid

"Wait-"

He drove off leaving me dumbfounded.

"Colonel?" questioned Jean

"Let me see what you're made of." I said

I got up and limped towards them.

"Colonel your leg." said Armin

"Don't worry." I said, "I can fight without one."

I gently bent my injured knee in front and raised both of my arms in front of my face.

"That's Annie's fighting stance." said Eren

"People know it as muay thai." I said

I signaled them to come at me so Jean came running towards me so I ducked under grabbed his vest and threw him over my shoulder.

"Stop rushing things." I said

Next was Eren as he tried kicking my good knee but I kicked his leg with my injured leg. Eren stumbled back and massaged his shin in pain.

"How are you able to kick with that knee?" he asked

"I didn't use my knee at all, I used my shin." I replied

Annie came and threw a roundhouse kick with Mikasa as she jumped up and back kicked my chest. I stumbled back a bit and Annie tried to kick my legs out while Mikasa tried to punch my face. I quickly jumped onto my back avoiding both of their attacks, I then did a kick up and jumped back and did a backflip kick hitting Mikasa's chin.

Mikasa stumbled back and Annie tried to knee me in the chest but I blocked it, grabbed her leg and flipped her multiple times in the air and she landed on her back. Sasha and Connie looked a bit hesitant but Connie came in and dodged my punch and punched my stomach but I blocked it and swung his arm around, forcing Connie to spin around. I pushed him into Sasha who was running to me and they both collapsed onto the ground.

Eren ran to me and tackled me to the ground. He was in between my legs so I grabbed his arm, threw one leg over his head and did an arm bar on him. Jean came running and tried to kick me but I got up, still holding onto Eren's arm and spun on top of him and kicked Jean's leg making him fall.

I got up and Armin was just standing there writing down things, I knew he wasn't really a fighter and he's capable of a leadership position.

Annie got up and kicked my good knee making me fall as she did a spinning hook kick to my head but I blocked it and elbowed her calf, causing her to stumble back and limp.

"How are you able to fight with an injured leg?" asked Eren

"Everything about your movements are wide open. Your skill levels are great but there are some minor mistakes." I said, "Too many wide swings leaving open areas, many risky moves."

Everyone got up and pulled out their knives.

"I have to say, you're well prepared." I said

All of them rushed to me and Eren struck me first, he tried stabbing me but I stepped to the side and tripped him and he crashed into Connie. Jean swung his sword but I ducked and punched his arm up then with the same arm I punched his rib.

Mikasa, Annie and Sasha rushed to me and I saw Sasha try to kick my leg so I dodged it while grabbing Annie's arm and I pulled her in forcefully and I kneed her in the stomach. Mikasa tried to back kick me but I jumped over Annie and pushed Annie onto Mikasa. Sasha came towards me and started rapidly swinging her arm at me but I easily dodged all of them. Sasha tried to swing her arm but I kicked her leg as she tried stepping forward with it and she stumbled a bit so I slapped her.

Eren, Jean and Connie got up and they all ran at me and they began to throw coordinated attacks that flowed with each other. Eren did a drop kick but leaned back and he threw a hook punch at me so I dodged under but Jean was able to kick my chest causing me to stumble back.

Connie then roundhouse kicked me and I blocked it and tried to punch him but Eren punched my ribs and I flinched allowing Jean to punch my face and Eren did a spinning hook kick to my face.

"Good." I said

Eren punched me while Jean tried to kick my leg so I blocked both of them at the same time and punched Eren in the stomach. Jean then swung his arm but I leaned back but he swung his other arm so I blocked it and grabbed his neck and kneed his chest and with the same leg I side kicked Connie. Jean pushed my arms off and threw a hook punch but I ducked under and punched his rib then his face and kicked his leg out and slammed his back onto the ground.

Eren got up and roundhouse kicked me with his right leg but I caught it with my right arm, spun around and elbowed his chest with my left arm. I spun back and kicked the leg he was standing on and he fell onto the ground.

But then I heard a car stop by and I saw my parents get off with Recon and Aid. Everyone got up and brushed off the dirt off of their uniforms and put away their knives.

"Training session?" asked my dad

"Yes, they wanted me to overlook their hand to hand combat." I said

"Why ask him while he's injured?" scolded Recon

"Hey hey, he was fine with it." said Aid

"What brings you here?" I asked

"No we just wanted to watch." said my dad

'Ah, audience.'