victory_road | 6th [video network post]

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6th [video network post]

Hey everyone!

[Kazuki waves at the camera. One thing about him immediately sticks out-- He's wearing traditional Japanese clothing. On his shoulder is his Sensu Oricorio, who is also wearing a loose jacket, behind him, his Primarina, wearing a cute furisode with fur trim, and finally, near his feet, his Vulpix, wearing a tiny yukata made for a four-legged Pokemon.]

[The Oricorio looks quite severe, but the Primarina and Vulpix are obviously having fun playing dress-up. Kazuki himself looks proud, and also a bit bashful.]

There's a point to this, I swear. [He chuckles nervously.] It's my birthday today-- and before you say anything, it's okay that you don't know if you don't know! I'd have to tell you it was coming up first for that to be something to worry about! And that'd be too embarrassing, you know? Hey! My birthday is tomorrow! I want a cake! [He laughs again.] Nah, there's no way I could do that. I don't mind things like this.

But anyways-- I'm turning 20! Back in my world, in Japan, 20 is when a person comes of age. It's a tradition there that the January after you turn 20, you wear formal clothes-- either or a suit or old-timey stuff like this-- and go to the prefectural office for the seijin-shiki, the coming of age ceremonies. Then you usually have a party with friend and family...

Anyways, I know it's not Coming-of-Age Day yet, but I figured I'd celebrate early since that isn't a thing here. I flew up here to Ecruteak to rent some clothes for the day, and, well, these three insisted on joining in on the fun.

[His Primarina opens a fan and flutters it demurely in front of his face. The Oricorio shakes it's head and shows him the real way one handles a fan. Meanwhile, the Vulpix looks up at her trainer with shining eyes.]

I've always felt younger than I actually am, but I guess I really feel like a man when I wear these clothes. I think I'm gonna try to be more mature from here on out!

Oh-- And if you've got a tradition like Coming-of-Age Day in your world, tell me about it! I'd really like to know!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He did! Thanks so much for the figurine, Honky Tonk loves it! And the book has already been helpful! Shimizu's doing better and better every day!

It's mostly for the sake of making memories, but the legal drinking age in Japan is also 20.

I'm glad to hear that. The next time you visit, you should bring him so he can meet my pod.

[Make friends, have other young Lapras to play with.]

Really? It seems a lot of countries put limits on how old you are before you can drink.

Once he seems comfortable enough to travel, I'll do it.

Yeah, it's really normal in my world. The age differs between countries, but it's usually between 18 and 21. Too much alcohol can damage developing brains, and teenagers tend to overdo it. They're not responsible enough yet.

I'm sure they'd love to see him. The whole pod seems to love it whenever a new young Lapras joins them. Even if it is just for a play session. Even Skye gets in on the fun.

[Lapras: they love babies.]

Is that really true? Back home, you can buy alcohol whenever you want. We weren't allowed to drink while we were in the training legions, but that was more because our commanding officers didn't want to deal with drunk or hungover recruits.

Hmm... Well, in my world, alcohol is cheap and really easy to find. You can buy a can of beer at the same vending machine you buy a can of soda, for pretty much the same price. So it's easier for kids to make bad decisions.

[Armin smiles, a little wry.]

Back home when we make bad decisions, we need to run laps until we drop. It's... a very good deterrent. Well, for most people.

I get the feeling you weren't the one doing the laps.

I don't think I'd be talking with you if I was. Our normal runs were already bad enough.

[He's also a good boy who doesn't generally get into trouble. Not that he doesn't break his rules, he's just subtle about it, okay.]

[Smart enough to break them only when no one can see.]

I've heard that bootcamp in my world is pretty hard, but it must be on another level in yours.

[Getting shot for heresy kinda puts a crimp in your style.]

What is bootcamp?

It's the training that people have to go through before they join the military. Or in Japan's case, the Self Defense Force.

The name is a little unusual, but that sounds like our training corps. How long does Bootcamp last in your world?

[Really, bootcamp? Like... do you all get boots or something? Is that peculiar enough that it is heavily associated with being in the military?]

[Kazuki has no idea why it's called that either.]

A couple of months, I think. But when you start in the military, you're at the bottom of the ladder, so you kind of learn on the job too.

[Maybe nobody really knows why it is called bootcamp.]

Just a few months? That seems so quick.

[But then, Armin's frame of reference is having to learn to operate gear which catapults you through the air at giant man-eating monsters, so you know, that does take a bit longer.]

We train for three years before we are allowed to join one of the three branches.

Really? That's as long as high school... Why do you have to train for so long?

[Kazuki doesn't know anything about the 3DMG, and how hard it is to use.]

Well, it's mainly learning to use the gear. Of course, we are trained in other things as well, but that is what takes up most of our time.

What's "the gear?"

I'm sorry, sometimes I forget who does and doesn't know.

[He's brought this up to a bunch of people. And he knows the others must have too.]

Uhm, did either Jean or I ever tell you what Titans are?

Just kinda vaguely, I think? I saw... I saw the kind of destruction they're capable of. The Halloween just after I got here, in Jean's dreams.

[It made him dream-throw-up on his shoes.]

I'm sorry. I wish you hadn't seen that.

[Nobody should see those things, really, but especially not someone like Kazuki who would've been utterly unprepared for what he'd see. Not that there is anything that can really fully prepare you for the aftermath of a battle, but even so.]

Titans are... let's call them monsters. [Humans turned into monsters, as he had learned from Annie but he can't be open about that. Not that Kazuki would be a concern, but it might get back to Jean or the others via him and that would raise questions.] Generally, they are between three and fifteen meters tall, though there are exceptions. As you probably saw, all they care about is eating humans.

Part of what makes them so hard to deal with is that they heal very rapidly. You could use a canon to take one out at the knee, and its leg would repair itself within minutes. In fact, the only vulnerable spot they have is at the back of their necks. What our training prepares us for is handling titans. And we use something called the Three Dimensional Gear, or gear for short, to do so. You can't fight titans on the ground. It's a death sentence. The only thing that works is getting up into the air and getting behind them, so you can cut through their necks. Our gear helps us do that.

It's... a little difficult to explain, but essentially, we use anchors and a gas-driven motor to move off the ground. Of course, it really only functions in an area with plenty of tall structures to grapple onto. Trees or buildings or things of that nature. Using the gear isn't easy. To be honest, I never really got good at it. Not like Jean or the others. We train for three years because that is about as long as it takes to be able to pass the combat readiness test. Though compared to a true veteran, our gear skills at the end of our training are still pretty green.

It's okay. In the end, I'm kinda glad. It's not nice to think about, but I understand you and Jean and people from your world a bit better because of it.

[Kazuki listens in respectful silence as Armin sorts out his explanation. What he imagines the 3DMG to be like is totally wrong, but he understands the concept at least.]

So it's a machine that helps you kill Titans by helping you to... sort of fly? But it's really hard to use, so you need a lot of training.

[He gets the gist of it.]

I didn't know the Titans were so ferocious. I've never heard of a living thing that can heal like that. Especially not something that's that big. It must be terrifying.

More or less. Jean actually has his gear here. It's been adjusted to work using a Pokemon rather than the gas we normally use, but you could probably ask him to show it to you. [A small wry smile.] Jean always did love showing off his gear skills.

[It's a side effect of being good at it, Armin figures.]

It is.

[There is no denying it. Even now, Armin has the occasional night where he's wake up with cold sweat running down his back, recalling the destruction of Shiganshina, or Trost, or the Female Titan (doesn't matter that he knows it is Annie now) knocking him down, bending over him, removing his hood.]

The first time I faced off against them I froze. I prepared to fight them for three years, but I still froze. [There is still a touch of old self-loathing in his voice recalling that.] But even if they are terrifying, this is something we have to do.

If he'd be up to it, I'd like to see it! It doesn't hurt you at all, does it?

[Kazuki looks upon Armin with sympathy, not pity. How could anyone be expected to fight a monster like he just described? It was an impossible task, yet he still decided to take it on.]

Can I ask... why you decided to fight Titans? You weren't forced to, were you?

Using the gear? Oh no. You might bruise from the straps if you are using it a lot, but seeing as Jean uses a pokemon here to power his gear, he's pretty limited in how long he can use it.

[And bruises, honestly, are just par for the course for them. The old scars Armin has from the gear have been fading. They are still visible here and there, might possibly always be visible, but in other places, they've slowly gone away.]

No, we all joined the military of our own free will. I know that is apparently hard for people to believe here, but it is true.

[Twelve years olds can totally make decisions like that. He's also quiet for a few moments, weighing the words in his mind.]

When I was ten, Titans broke through the outmost wall surrounding our homelands. They destroyed the city I lived in and the people who survived had to retreat back behind Wall Rose. Humanity lost a lot that day. I was lucky. I didn't lose anyone when the Titans destroyed our city, but my friend lost his mother. Part of the reason things were so bad is because people had gotten complacent. We had been safe behind the walls for over a century, so some people started disregard Titans as a problem. They started to think that, as long as humans stayed behind the walls, we could never be hurt.

[A mistake, obviously!]

Because people thought like that, we didn't really have any competent, trained soldiers standing by in our city. There were some of them to handle little incidents, but most of them were lazy and drunks. We also didn't have any artillery on top of the wall or evacuation plans ready.

After all of that happened, Eren swore he was going to destroy every last Titan. He didn't want anyone else to die like his mother had died. And I agree with him. I don't know what someone like me can do, really, but if it might change the future for humanity, I want to help. Even if it is just in a little way, I want to do my part.

[He averts his eyes, looking a little embarrassed.]

And... I suppose I had some private reasons as well, but those, honestly, aren't really that important. Not compared to the overall picture, I mean.

[Kazuki listens quietly-- Armin is an excellent storyteller, and even if the subject material is morbid, he finds himself quite interested. If he were to be totally honest, he would liken Armin's tale to something from a manga or video game, but he knew that would be disrespectful. It was extraordinary, even if it was also awful.]

That's really brave of you. Even if that happened to me... I don't think I could make that kind of decision.

But, even though you don't think it's important, do you think you could tell me that last reason? Like, why you did it. I want to know that.

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