Episode 3: The Incident that Changed Their Lives (Part 1 out of 2)
Scenes A— Attack on Town Angelia
In the middle of the happiness given by the inauguration of Town Angelia, loud and powerful stomps were heard coming from far away, getting closer and closer to the location. The powerful noise intervals continued until the ape titan’s body was fully visible from the new town.
Chaos ensued at Angelia from then on.
The ones present at the location were not ready to fight a titan—much less a powerful one. Even those that knew how to use maneuver gears didn’t have them available at that moment. They never expected such an attack. And no one ever imagined that they would see a titan inside the three grand walls that protected mankind. To them, the terrible titans were kept outside by the 50-meter-tall walls and nothing would ever bypass those walls. That was their belief… but their belief was incorrect… There was a lot that they didn’t know about yet…
The ape titan jumped over the small field of trees that encircled the new town as if it was a simple hurdle on a racing track. It wasn’t anything special to him. Then, everyone broke into panic and the monster prepared himself to start to destruction of the whole place.
No one noticed it, but, at the same moment when the titan arrived, an unknown man wearing a uniform from the military police and a brown cloak that covered his face jumped on top of Wall Maria—the 50-meter wall—from the outside, and he placed his maneuver gear on the ground, at the top of the wall. It was clear that he reached such a high point thanks to his maneuver gear equipment, which was the same as the ones that John Christopher and the soldiers from the Survey Corps were using.
The unknown man sat down and crossed his feet as if he was taking a yoga pose. He would have a perfect view of all the events from the top of the great wall.
He placed his hands on his knees facing down, and a silver ring with a very small knife on it was revealed on his right hand. It was the same kind of ring and knife that titan shifters used to reveal their true power, but no one knew about shifters at that point. The man didn’t look like he was about to use his ring’s knife though. It seemed like he just wanted to see what the ape titan was about to do there. It felt like he was there just to “check” on the success of the town’s destruction, at the hands of the titan.
Then, the giant ape began to destroy the whole town, and people began to run and scream everywhere. The monster destroyed and killed anything on his path. He broke a small tower and began to throw the large pieces of rock everywhere causing major damage in every corner of the town. Apparently, the ape titan was incredibly good at aiming and throwing objects. He almost moved like a real person throwing baseball balls, showing once more that he was not like the other titans outside the walls. This titan had intelligence. He wasn’t throwing out objects randomly and making uncoordinated movements, like the usual titans outside the walls. He knew exactly what he was doing. And he looked different too. No ape-like titans were seen by anyone inside the walls before this event…
Scenes B— John, Jonan, and Alex
Finally, John Christopher and his team arrived at the town. They began to see the destruction, the smoke, the fires, and the berserk titan’s attacks from one mile away, but their horses couldn’t go any faster. They had no choice but to continue and hope that their families and the followers of their movement would be alive. They arrived as fast as they could. And, as soon as they got there, they prepared themselves to take the battle to the titan with their maneuver gears. They knew that titans could be killed if the back of their neck was destroyed, so that was their target on the ape titan.
The Town of the Angelial Knights had been built with defensive strategies against titans in mind. There were many towers and tall wood posts that maneuver gears could use. They didn’t expect to fight any real titan there though; but they still practiced maneuver gear skills and titan fighting tactics within their own town. And they had built it to make such practices a part of their lives. Even if it wasn’t said, they all knew that part of the reason why their new town was built was overthrowing the king’s corrupt government, dismantling its military police, and finding ways to kill the titans easily. The reason they gave the government’s officials to build such a town was the expansion of their new religion into a new location of its own. However, overthrowing ALL the forces that enslaved them and oppressed them was the true purpose of the angelial knights and their whole movement. They were meant to be the new enforcers of justice…
While John’s team went after the titan, the people of the town regained hope, but some among them had already began to direct their efforts to doing something on their own.
Jonan Christopher, the son of Commander John Christopher, had returned to his house and grabbed his maneuver gear, which was already set up for use, after his practices with his father and the members of the Survey Corps. His skills were tremendous for a young boy and he had done something with the gear that had proved that he was just as good as the professional soldiers. Therefore, he was confident that he could fight the titan too. Indeed, he was confident about his ability to kill it as well—even though he had never fought against a real titan.
The boy finished putting on his maneuver gear and rushed back to the center of the chaos. From one of the windows, he saw one of the soldiers of the Survey Corps flying through the sky, so he knew that his father and the others had arrived. He now felt even more confident, but he knew that even for the Survey Corps, this titan was going to be a challenge.
“Mom, dad, everyone, resist!! I am on my way! I will be the one that kills the titan!!” shouted Jonan, full of energy and anticipation. Then, he ran, back into the chaos…
Alex Emmerson lost sight of his friend Keith Shadis and he wasn’t seeing his parents either. He didn’t know that all of them had been able to flee and they thought that he already was among their group’s members. Alex believed that they were still in the zone of danger, so instead of fleeing with them, he stayed there and began to look for them.
“Mom, dad, Keith!! Anne Emmerson!! Ralph Emmerson!!”
People were running away; no one was stopping to answer him—or even to assist him. He still wasn’t seeing any signs of his family and his friend. Many people were already dead on the streets and tons of buildings were destroyed. It was a terrible view for a young boy, but Alex had a brave soul, just like Jonan. Instead of fleeing like everyone, he was more concerned about finding his family and his friend.
Alex stopped one of the runaway pedestrians:
“Wait!! Have you seen a man and a woman that are wearing similar clothes to mine?! Have you seen them around here??”
The man grabbed Alex’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry and just run away boy!! Come with me! If you stay here you will die!!”
Alex continued looking and the man left.
Then, Alex saw Commander John Christopher and the heroes of the Survey Corps flying at high speeds through the skies above him with their maneuver gears. This gave Alex hope. The heroes had arrived and they would surely take care of the titan. Even in the middle of the madness, Alex remembered that he promised Keith that he would talk with the commander to get themselves into the Survey Corps—as junior members, perhaps. That was how passionate he was about these heroes and what they represented. So, not surprisingly, he kept moving and searching closer and closer to the titan’s territory. It was as if the boy’s fears had been dispelled after he saw that the heroes were there too.
At that point, Keith and Alex’s parents realized that Alex wasn’t with them. Terror engulfed them. They were ready to flee the town and were beyond its entrance by then, but that sudden realization froze them on their tracks. They had left Alex behind!!
Scenes C— The Survey Corps vs. the Ape Titan Shifter (the battle with the previous ape titan)
To the amazement of John Christopher and his soldiers, the ape titan began to protect its nape as soon as they engaged in battle. It was as if the titan knew that he could be killed if he allowed his nape to be damaged by their blades. And even worse, he didn’t fight like other dumb titans. His movements and strategies were smart, like those of a trained human fighter.
Once he realized that the soldiers were getting him cornered for a team ambush attack, the ape jumped away from there and bombarded them with the debris from broken buildings and houses. Several of them died in that counterattack and John Christopher began to worry. He realized that they were not fighting a normal titan. They were fighting an intelligent beast.
Suddenly, the ape titan went into attack mode and instead of defending or throwing things at them, he went after them strategically. The soldiers couldn’t hold him back, but one of them got an opening to slash the nape. The titan realized it, but the blades landed on his nape right after. So, he had no time to cover it with his hands.
Then, Commander Christopher and the remaining soldiers were shocked. They saw their comrade’s blades and the two swords break apart after the powerful strike on the nape. And their friend was crushed against a building by the titan (meaning that, he was surely dead). The titan’s nape covered itself with a hard surface that looked like a crystal, right before the soldier’s strike landed on the weak spot. The crystal went away, but the ape could surely use it again if anyone else managed to get another opening to reach his nape.
The titan continued attacking and destroying most of them and it didn’t seem like they had any advantage over him.
Commander John and the two soldiers that remained knew that there was no clear way to kill this titan if the nape didn’t work as it did with all the normal ones.
They stood on the roof of one of the few houses that was still standing in that area. Thankfully, they could still move around with their gears because Town Angelia had many large wooden poles scattered throughout the town for their monthly trainings with maneuver gears. They also managed to get plenty of space between themselves and the titan.
The commander shared his plan with his last two soldiers in less than a minute:
“If our blades don’t work on its nape, we only have two options left: using the cannon from the cathedral, which is not too far from here, and using the bomb. If we fire the cannon at him with the new compound that can freeze titans, we can stop him on one place; and if we use the bomb on his nape, even his protective crystal shall break, so we can still destroy him. These are our only options now. Leo, go to the cathedral and fire the cannon at him with the same compound that we used during our training. I will distract the titan and drive him to the cathedral slowly. Get there before I do and be ready to fire at him. Sean, bring the bomb and we will use it on him. I will keep him busy until the cannon fires. Then, we set the bomb on him. We should have some time to escape before it explodes. We can fire at it with guns from afar and trigger its explosion ourselves. We must succeed at this, for the town, and for everyone! If we don’t make it everything we worked for here will be destroyed! Let’s do this!!”
Leo and Sean left, and John got closer to the ape titan with his maneuver gear to attract the monster’s attention.
Alex saw himself in the middle of the battles and had to hide to avoid being seen by the titan. He noticed that many of the soldiers from the Survey Corps were killed, and that the leader and the other two that remained had planned something.
Then, Alex saw something inspiring take place: not everyone from the town of the knights ran away from the danger, as it seemed before. Alex noticed that there was another group of men on the ground that were going to aid John and the other two soldiers with guns and rifles. These were obviously part of the “angelial knights” that built the town, but they were not members of the Survey Corps. Clearly, they knew that this attack to annihilate their movement on its inaugural day was not a coincidence.
These men were not soldiers and they were not using maneuver gears, but the young Alex saw them as equals. They were heroes too because they were the ones that were fighting against the evil forces. They were the ones that were willing to fight for justice…
John had difficulty to evade the ape titan for a prolonged period of time. He began to see that the ape was as smart as a man. It wasn’t like one of the normal titans in any way. It didn’t even look like them (those looked like deformed humans, not apes, and they had minimal intelligence).
Cleverly, John managed to move the ape towards the cathedral and close to the tower where the cannon was located. He managed to do it, risking getting caught by the beast more than once. (The commander was skilled, but he definitely wasn’t a grand champion at using the maneuver gears, like some of the future heroes of the Survey Corps would be, or even… like his son would be…)
Regardless, John Christopher succeeded. He caught the beast’s attention and lured the ape all the way to the cathedral slowly, without getting injured or killed along the way.
His trustworthy soldiers also did their part. Leo had arrived at the cathedral’s tower much earlier and he was loading the cannon at the top with several sacks of the compound that could paralyze and freeze a titan in place. Sean—the other soldier—went to their hidden headquarters underground and grabbed the bomb that only he and a few others could activate. He was on his way back with the device when John and the titan reached the cathedral.
The other men followed them with their rifles and guns and were planning to fire at the titan to help the commander and the other two. Alex followed them as well. It wasn’t clear whether the boy was curious, or brave, or a union of both in spades. What was obvious is that he too wanted to see them succeed. He wanted to help the Survey Corps.
Jonan was also on his way to the location of the ape, but he was intercepted by his mother.
Her eyes almost left her eye sockets when she saw that her son had his maneuver gear on and he was running towards the section of town where the giant was. She yelled at him:
“Jonan come with me!! We have to get out of town!! Where do you think you are going!!?”
“I am going to kill the titan and save everyone!!” answered the young Jonan, sounding completely sure about his ability to do it.
“Are you out of your mind young man!!? Leave that thing here and come with me!!!”
“I have to do it!! I am the only one who can do it mom!!”
Instead of turning back and joining her, he continued running on the same path.
This wasn’t what she expected and the boy wasn’t listening. Her worry for her son began to show itself on her face, as if a grand calamity had fallen over her.
“Do you want to get killed?!! Look around yourself!! Everyone is dead!! You are coming with me now!!!”
Marjorie began to run after Jonan with the intent to hold him and stop him from going, but she couldn’t catch up. He was too fast, even with all that gear on him.
At one point she managed to grab a section of his maneuver gear, but he pulled it back and kept on running. He was dead set on doing what he said.
But he was her only son, so she went after him, grabbing a gun from a dead man along the way, and hoping that she would be able to keep Jonan, and herself, alive…
At the cathedral, the cannon was almost ready to be fired from the tower and John was having tremendous difficulty to stay away from the titan’s hand strikes. The men on the ground began the fire their guns and rifles at the titan, but their bullets were barely doing any damage. They definitely weren’t holding back the great ape. They caught his attention though. For a short time, the titan turned around and kicked the building where the men were taking cover, causing the structure to collapse over most of the shooters.
Alex got very worried when he saw that. How would the commander and his two helpers make it? Even the new squadron of support with weapons was wiped out by the titan as if they were nothing. From his hiding place, Alex was even more worried about the remaining soldiers than about himself. He began to show his innate potential to be a leader since that day… The incident that changed his life was also his first proof of courage, in the name of justice…
The guy with the bomb had not arrived, but Leo had the cannon ready on the cathedral’s tower. He was pointing it at the titan and he only had to light it up for it to fire and do the rest on its own. The titan was moving too much though. It was making it difficult for Leo to aim and fire at the beast. Thus, he shouted at John Christopher.
“Commander, I am ready!! Get him closer to the cathedral’s tower and I will blast him!! He won’t be going anywhere after I fire this cannon on him!!”
The ape titan stopped moving. Suddenly, John wasn’t his main target anymore—and this left the commander shocked. John Christopher saw it clearly in the giant’s eyes: it understood what Leo said. The ape titan could understand their language!!
The titan turned around and looked for the cathedral’s tower, which, sure enough, was close from him already. He walked towards it and grabbed the tower’s roof, cracking it, as he pressed on it harder and harder. Then, he pushed it up and teared apart the roof completely, revealing both the soldier and the loaded cannon.
Leo couldn’t believe it. He obviously had no time to light the match and aim and fire the cannon at the titan, but he wasn’t going to be defeated so easily.
John realized that Leo was going to fight it and tried to warn him:
“Don’t attack him directly!! Get out of the tower!!!”
But Leo didn’t listen to John. He thought he had a chance to finish the titan himself, even without the cannon. When the ape tried to catch him, Leo used his maneuver gear on the tower to fly above the titan’s head and to strike the nape as hard as he could.
“Die you wretched ape!!!” yelled Leo as he struck the nape really hard.
However, the titan foresaw it, and he used the protective crystal once again. Leo’s blades cracked on contact from the powerful strike, as if they were a baseball bat that had just crashed with the fastest ball. And two seconds later… Leo was caught.
The titan grabbed Leo and struck the tower with Leo in his hand, opening his fingers right before the crash, and leaving the soldier dead on the outside of the structure, as if he had squashed a fly.
It was just like he did with the other guy that attempted to destroy his nape before. This was the second time it happened during their attack on the titan.
Dammit! This can’t be!! Leo too… How are we going to do it?! Even the bomb won’t work if the titan is not stationary for a while. And the only way to freeze him was that cannon and the compound that we invented as one of the new weapons against titans… How can we beat him now?! thought John, with a mind that was both crushed and ready to go on, until the very end.
Alex watched the whole thing in despair and he wanted to help now. No… he knew that John Christopher needed his help!! There was no other way.
Someone had to fire the cannon to stop the titan!!
The titan turned back to John Christopher and forgot completely about the tower and the cannon. He didn’t perceive any danger from those objects anymore. And obviously, he had not noticed anything about the boy that was hiding nearby.
John, on the other hand, noticed that there was a boy climbing up the stairs in the tower with great speed. He thought that his imagination was playing tricks on him, but soon it became evident that he wasn’t alone. Yet… a boy? He would have expected one of his soldiers, or even one of the angelial knights from the town to do such a brave thing, but a twelve-year-old boy? The world was certainly coming to an end that day. Or so he thought…
Whatever the case, it was John’s last chance and he had to try it.
Alex was confident because this cathedral and its tower were exactly like the one that he and Keith used to climb almost every day at the Trost District. He was also familiar with firing weapons and cannons, even if he had never fired any cannon himself. He had seen it before, and curious as he always was, he paid attention to learn how it was done and he learned it. So now, Alex knew what to do to fire the cannon, when it was needed the most.
With difficulty, but with certainty, he aimed the cannon at the titan and lifted it up a bit to account for the distance between them. He lighted one of the matches that were dropped by Leo and the count down to the blast was ignited. The cannon was already loaded. And the titan would get hit directly if he stayed at that spot for a few more seconds.
With a new air of hope, John Christopher realized what the unknown boy had done and he was determined to ensure that the titan would not move from there. Yet… it was clear that the titan would move.
John attacked it directly, knowing that the ape would catch him in the air. It was his last resort to keep him standing there.
And it happened as expected.
The titan caught Commander Christopher and when he was about to crush the commander in his hand, the cannon fired with might. It showered the ape with a glue-like chemical that began to freeze his whole body quickly, turning all his fur from brown to white.
The freezing process was not instantaneous however. It took half a minute, and a lot happened during that time…
When John was caught he managed to hold his blades in a position that impaled the hand that grabbed him, making it a little difficult for the titan to close the hand on John quickly. This saved John until Alex fired the cannon. It also kept the beast in place, without realizing what was about to be fired on him.
The ape let go of the commander, after the strange compound landed all over him and began to harden quickly.
At that moment, Sean arrived holding a metallic device. He tried to assist the commander in escaping as well, but the titan attacked him with the other hand. Sean noticed that he would be caught, so he threw the device up, and grabbed his gun instead of his titan-slaying blades. The device was the bomb they had invented to destroy titans and it landed right on the titan’s head. Sean was ready to shot it, but the titan grabbed him and threw him heavily against the ground. There was no time for the shot, which would have made the bomb explode on the giant ape’s head. And it was clear that Sean was dead, on the ground. Yet… Sean’s effort delayed the titan and gave the compound enough time to freeze the beast everywhere.
John Christopher managed to escape the hand and he landed on the roof closest to the titan. But, before the final freeze, the titan blocked his path with two fingers and grabbed his legs with those fingers. John was supposed to escape, but his maneuver gear ran out of fuel and it chose to stop working at that very moment. His greatest weapon turned into a heavy weakness right after it stopped working.
The titan felt his loss of movement everywhere, including in his hands, so he held John Christopher’s legs with his two fingers, as hard as he could. It was as if the ape’s fingers were a pair of old scissors that had just caught a pack of paper in between their claws—without breaking it, and without letting it go either, no matter what.
For the first time, the titan’s face gave a sudden glimpse of fear and frustration. Then, it turned into anger. He could not move and the white compound had immobilized most of his body. The bomb—Sean’s device—was still on his head, but he could not take it out of there now. And the commander was caught between his two fingers, on the roof, but he could not kill him either. In addition, the destruction of Town Angelia had not been completed yet, and he was frozen right there. It was a frustrating moment for the intelligent beast.
Alex screamed with relief:
“Yes!! Yes!! I did it! I saved the commander of the Survey Corps!! I stopped a titan!! I ended the attack!!!”
The boy was jumping on the tower overjoyed with victory. He could barely believe it. However, if it was hard to believe for the boy, it was even harder to believe for John Christopher. A young boy had done what the elite squad of the Survey Corps had failed to do. The unknown boy was like a godsend angel for John.
Unfortunately, the titan’s attack wasn’t over yet and his will had not faltered. The ape intended to finish what he started at all costs.
The solid white compound that froze the ape’s body started to crack at different places. Apparently, after it was completely solid, it could be broken with force, just like an eggshell.
John saw that with concern. Little by little, all of it would be broken and the titan would be free again. It was just a matter of time…
John knew that his maneuver gear was out of fuel, and those that supported him against the titan were dead. How could he end the attack? His last resort was shooting the bomb, which was on the titan’s head, but his gun was stuck in his left leg and he could not reach it because of the titan’s finger, which was in the way. Most importantly, he knew that he would die if the bomb exploded at that distance. It was meant to blow up an entire titan. It was a new device that was more powerful than others that were used even by the military police. Therefore, if John had his gun and used it right there on the bomb, he would not make it out alive. Both he and the titan would die.
Regardless, he wasn’t going to let his whole team die in vain. And the destroyer of Town Angelia had to pay. Something had to be done, even if it meant losing his life.
Then, the unthinkable happened. The titan whispered.
“Y-o-u c-a-n-t w-i-n,” said the ape slowly, while looking at John.
The words showed difficulty for speaking, but they were very clear.
The ape titan could talk, like a human…
It was then that John realized the true magnitude of the threat. It was far greater than what any of them imagined at first.
Suddenly, the titan looked as if he had just remembered something important. The ape turned his eyes towards the 50-meter wall, and both Alex and John Christopher did the same.
No one had noticed that there was man watching them there, until now…
The man stood up from his yoga-like seated position, revealing that he was wearing a uniform from the military police, within his outer cape.
He was angry… Perhaps, even angrier than the titan.
“How is this possible?!! The entire town should have been in ruins and everyone should be dead by now! I let him take care of the mission because I believed that it would be easy for either one of us to do it. At the end, I should have done it myself. I should have never trusted a rookie to do a perfect job! Perhaps… I will need to finish it myself. I might even have to use my titan. We can’t afford the failure of this operation. The Angelial Knights and their movement must end today!”
The man’s outer cape was pulled up slightly by the strong wind, at the top of the giant wall. The green uniform within revealed that he wasn’t just a soldier from the King’s military police of the inner wall. He was a commander of the police force, just like John Christopher was a commander for the Survey Corps. However, we could tell that they and their ideals were complete opposites. This man was like the antithesis of Commander John Christopher.
The man looked at the frozen titan first and then he stared at the small knife on his ring.
He opened his opposite hand as if he was about to use the small knife on it…
Clearly, this man was a bigger threat than the ape titan.
Something sinister was about to happen.
John was starting to realize what was going on: someone from the police knew about the attack and that person was observing them from the wall. Since the titan had been stopped momentarily, that man was ready for something else now.
In that moment, a familiar voice reached John’s ears, and all of sudden, there was something more important to him than the titan and the other unknown figure.
“Dad!! Dad, I’m here!! I will kill the titan and save you!!”
Jonan, his young son, had arrived and he had a maneuver gear on him. He also had his two titan-slaying blades ready. His mother was also running towards him, not too far behind. And a small group of survivors from the town had followed them too, but none of them had maneuver gears. Jonan was the only one that had a maneuver gear on.
The situation was much worse than what John expected.
How was he going to end the titan’s attack? Could he still save the Angelial Movement and what remained of the town?
How could humanity’s hope survive that day??
He was about to see how…
NEXT— EPISODE 4: The Incident that Changed Their Lives (Part 2 out of 2)
Scenes D— John Christopher’s Epiphany and the Force of Justice
^ Last scenes for “The Incident that Changed Their Lives” ^
Epicness awaits… and Heroes of the Survey Corps: Alex Emmerson is just getting started.
Heroes of the Survey Corps: Alex Emmerson 