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The branch shuddered beneath Eren's feet, sending bark fragments and moss spiraling into the ground below. He pressed his back against the massive trunk as his heart hammered against his ribs like a trapped bird.
'Don't look down. Don't look down. Don't look—'
He looked down.
The ground felt like miles underground, so far below that the Titans moving through it looked like ants. Pale, hungry, people-shaped ants that would tear him apart if he fell. Which he absolutely would, because he was ten years old, barefoot, exhausted, and clinging to a tree that had probably been standing since before his great-grandparents were even born.
"This is insane," Eren whispered to no one in particular. "This is absolutely, completely, one hundred percent insane."
The Vulpimancer, perched on a branch twenty feet above him with the casual grace of a creature that had evolved to treat vertical surfaces like sidewalks, chuffed down at him. Its smooth, eyeless face tilted in what Eren had come to recognize as amusement.
"Don't you dare laugh at me," Eren hissed, scrambling for a better handhold. "You have claws. And—and whatever those pad things are on your feet. I have hands. Human hands. Designed for, like, holding things at ground level, not—not this."
The Vulpimancer's response was to drop from its perch, landing on Eren's branch with a thud that sent more debris showering into the void. Eren squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the wood to snap, for gravity to claim him, for the sickening crunch of impact that would end this whole nightmare.
Nothing happened.
He opened one eye. The branch was holding. The Vulpimancer was sitting on it, looking for all the world like an oversized dog waiting for its owner to throw a stick. Except the "stick" in this case was Eren's continued survival, and the "throwing" would be catastrophic.
"I hate this," Eren informed it. "I hate this so much."
The creature's tail thumped against the branch. Whump. Whump. Whump.
"You're wagging your tail. At me. While we're a hundred feet up in a tree with a forest full of Titans." Eren stared at it in disbelief. "What is wrong with you?"
The Vulpimancer's head tilted the other way. Then it stood, walked to the edge of the branch, and looked back at Eren expectantly.
"No. Absolutely not. I'm not—you can't just—we just got here!"
The creature took a step onto empty air.
Eren lunged forward, grabbing a handful of orange fur. "WAIT—!"
But the Vulpimancer wasn't falling. It was stepping, its powerful legs carrying it across a gap that would have meant certain death for anything without its alien physiology. It landed on another branch, thirty feet away and twenty feet down, and looked back at Eren with what was definitely, unmistakably, an expression of impatience.
Eren stared at the gap. At the drop below. At the Titans. At the branch he was currently standing on, which suddenly felt very, very far from the next one.
"I can't make that," he said flatly. "I'm ten. I have short legs. That's—that's at least a five-meter gap. Maybe more. I can't—"
The Vulpimancer barked. A sharp, commanding sound that echoed through the trees.
"Barking at me won't change physics!"
Another bark. More insistent.
Eren looked at the gap again. Then at the creature waiting on the other side. Then at the Titans below, one of which had paused in its endless wandering and was now staring vaguely upward, as if sensing something interesting but not quite sure what.
"Fine," he muttered, resignation settling into his bones like cold water. "Fine. But if I die, I'm haunting you forever."
He backed up on his branch as far as he could, which wasn't very far; maybe three or four steps before the branch narrowed to something that wouldn't support a squirrel, let alone a ten-year-old boy. He took a deep breath, bent his knees, and ran.
The jump was terrifying. For one endless, stomach-lurching moment, he was suspended in midair, nothing but empty space below him, the branch ahead growing closer but not fast enough, not nearly fast enough—
The Vulpimancer's jaws closed on the back of his shirt.
Eren swung like a pendulum, his momentum carrying him in a wide arc as the creature hauled him onto the branch. He landed in an undignified heap, gasping, heart threatening to explode out of his chest.
"I made it," he wheezed. "I made it. I'm alive. I'm—" He looked up at the Vulpimancer, who was watching him with what he could only describe as exasperation. "You could have just told me you were going to catch me!"
The creature's tail thumped.
Eren lay there for a long moment, staring up at the canopy, at the patches of sky visible through the leaves, at the impossible height and the impossible situation and the impossible creature that had, somehow, become his only ally in a world gone mad.
"We need to give you a name," he said suddenly.
The Vulpimancer's sonic flaps twitched.
"I can't just keep calling you 'the Vulpi-mancer' in my head. It's too long. And you're... you're not just some random creature anymore. You're..." He trailed off, unsure how to finish the sentence. You're my friend? My Frenemy? Is that even a word? The reason I'm still alive?
All of the above. None of the above. Something in between.
The creature settled onto its belly, head resting on its massive paws, apparently willing to entertain this strange human ritual.
Eren sat up, crossing his legs, and considered the beast before him. Orange fur, dark patterns along its spine and legs. Powerful build, smooth eyeless head, that perpetually tilted expression that somehow conveyed so much without any visible features.
"Okay," he said. "First idea: Orange."
The Vulpimancer's head lifted slightly. Its flap gills closed.
"...You don't like Orange?"
The flaps flattened further.
"Fair enough. Too obvious." Eren thought harder. "What about... Hunter? Because you're a hunter?"
The creature made a sound somewhere between a snort and a growl. Definitely a negative.
"Okay, okay. Um... Shadow? Because you're really good at sneaking?"
The Vulpimancer actually turned its head away from him. The insult was clear.
"Hey! That was a compliment! Sneaking is useful!" Eren threw his hands up. "Fine. What about... Fluffy?"
The creature's head snapped back toward him so fast its head made a whoosh sound. The look of utter offense on that smooth, featureless face was somehow the most expressive thing Eren had ever seen.
"Too undignified?" Eren guessed.
The Vulpimancer's jaw opened slightly, revealing a hint of those terrifying teeth, and a low rumble emerged. Not a growl of anger, exactly, but definitely a growl of opinion.
"Okay, okay! No Fluffy!" Eren held up his hands in surrender. "Geez, you're picky."
He thought some more. The creature waited, its tail giving an occasional thump against the branch.
"Razor? Because of your claws?"
Negative gill-flatten.
"Thorn?"
The head tilt this time was more thoughtful, but ultimately accompanied by a small chuff of dismissal.
"Okay, so you want something that sounds... I don't know, serious? Dignified?" Eren frowned, trying to think of names that felt right. "What about... Kodiak?"
The Vulpimancer's head tilted. Considering.
"No? Fine." Eren rubbed his temples. This was harder than he'd expected. "Um... Grom?"
The creature's head perked slightly.
"Grom? You like Grom?"
A small tail-thump. Not enthusiastic, but interested.
"Grom... Grom the Vulpimancer." Eren tested it. "It's... okay. But I feel like we can do better."
The tail stopped thumping. Clearly, the creature agreed.
"What about—" Eren stopped, an idea forming. He looked at the beast's orange fur, then at the darkness of its patterns against the brightness of its coat.
"Ember."
The Vulpimancer went still.
"Ember," Eren repeated, warming to it. "Like... like the glowing part of a fire…Like how you were before."
The creature was silent for a long, heartbeating moment.
Then its tail began to wag. Not just the polite thumps of before, but full, enthusiastic sweeps that sent bark chips flying.
Eren's face split into a grin. "You like it? Really?"
The Vulpimancer; now Ember; rose to its feet and padded over to him, lowering its massive head until its smooth forehead bumped gently against his chest.
Eren patted his hand on the massive head as he could reach. "Ember," he whispered. "It suits you."
Ember's tail wagged harder.
Then Ember pulled back, ear flaps twitching toward something in the distance. A low growl rumbled in its chest.
"What?" Eren's brief moment of peace shattered. "What is it?"
He followed Ember's gaze, peering through the gaps in the leaves. Far below, barely visible through the dense foliage, something was moving. A Titan. No, multiple Titans. A group of them, converging on something; for whatever reason.
"Are they... hunting?" Eren whispered.
Ember's growl deepened. Then it turned and, with a meaningful look at Eren, began moving along the branch; away from the Titans, deeper into the forest.
"We're going the other way?" Eren scrambled to follow, his bare feet finding precarious purchase on the rough bark. "Good call. Excellent call. Let's go the other way."
They moved through the trees like ghosts: Ember with its effortless grace, Eren with considerably less grace but a great deal of desperate determination. Branch to branch, trunk to trunk, always upward, always away from the monsters below. Eren dangled like a kitten, too exhausted to even complain, as the creature's powerful muscles propelled them both to safety.
"Thanks," he managed when they landed on a broader platform of interwoven branches. "I owe you about a million thanks at this point. I'm keeping count."
Ember chuffed. You're welcome.
Eren collapsed against the trunk, chest heaving. His legs felt like jelly. His arms felt like noodles. Every muscle in his body screamed for rest.
But he couldn't rest. Not yet. Not while the Omnitrix was still—
He looked at his wrist.
The watch was still grey. Still dead. Still utterly, completely, infuriatingly inert.
"Come on," he muttered, pressing the dial. Nothing. Twisting it. Nothing. Slamming his palm against it. Still nothing. "Stupid piece of—WORK!"
The Omnitrix remained stubbornly, mockingly silent.
Eren slumped against the trunk, defeated. "It's been hours. Maybe longer. I don't even know how long anymore. Shouldn't it have recharged by now? It always recharges eventually. That's how it works, right?"
Ember settled beside him, a warm presence at his back. The creature's head rested on its paws, ear flaps occasionally twitching toward sounds Eren couldn't hear.
"I need it to work," Eren continued. "I need to get back home..."
Ember's tail gave a soft thump.
"Yeah. I know. We'll figure it out." Eren closed his eyes, letting himself lean against the creature's warmth. "We just need to—"
The tree shook.
Not gently, not naturally. It convulsed, a violent shudder that ran through the trunk and branches like an earthquake. Eren was thrown sideways, saved from tumbling into the void only by Ember's quick grab of his shirt.
THOOM.
Another impact. The tree groaned, wood protesting as something massive slammed into it from below.
Eren looked down.
A Titan was at the base of their tree. An eleven-meter class. It was headbutting the trunk, over and over, its massive skull connecting with the wood in a rhythm that shook the entire structure.
THOOM. THOOM. THOOM.
"Why is it doing that?!" Eren shouted over the noise. "Titans don't—they're not supposed to—"
Ember's growl was deafening, a deep-chested roar of challenge and fury. It leaned over the edge of the branch, jaws snapping, claws extended, every line of its body radiating 'stay away from our tree'.
The Titan ignored it completely. It just kept hitting the tree, its empty eyes fixed on something; or nothing; above.
THOOM.
A massive crack appeared in the trunk, twenty feet below them.
THOOM.
The tree listed slightly, leaning away from the impacts.
THOOM.
Eren lost his footing.
His hands shot out, grabbing a branch; any branch; as his legs swung out into empty space. For one horrible moment, he dangled there, nothing but air below him and the Titan's impacts shuddering through the wood.
"EMBER!" he screamed.
The Vulpimancer was there in an instant, its jaws closing on the back of his shirt, hauling him back onto the branch. Eren collapsed, gasping, heart threatening to stop entirely.
THOOM.
The trunk cracked again, louder this time. The whole tree was tilting now, leaning away from the Titan's relentless assault. Branches snapped above them, raining debris.
Ember grabbed Eren and leaped.
They didn't make it.
The tree gave way mid-leap as the roots finally torn free by the Titan's assault. Now falling from the air was wood, a screaming boy, and a desperately scrambling Vulpimancer. Ember's claws scrabbled at passing branches, the descent too fast.
They hit something; a branch, a trunk, Eren couldn't tell; and Ember's grip on his shirt tore.
Eren was falling.
The wind screamed past his ears. The ground rushed up, impossibly fast, impossibly close. He saw the Titan below, its idiot face tilting upward, watching him fall with those empty, hungry eyes.
'This is it,' he thought. 'This is how I die. Again. For real this time.'
He closed his eyes.
Something caught him.
Not something soft; something solid, moving fast, hitting him in the chest with enough force to drive all the air from his lungs in one explosive OOF. He was still moving, still falling, but sideways now, carried by whatever had hit him.
His brain, starved of oxygen and flooded with adrenaline, took several precious seconds to process what was happening.
Not dead.
Still moving.
Something... caught me?
But landing wasn't hard.
Am I dead? Is this what death feels like? Being carried through the air by—
"That's going to leave a bruise."
The voice was old. Gritty. Familiar.
'Wait a minute.' Eren's thoughts ground to a halt. 'That's not how God sounds. God would sound... more impressive. Less like he's been gargling gravel.'
He opened his eyes.
Grandpa Arlet's weathered face was inches from his own, creased with effort and relief and a dozen other emotions Eren couldn't name. The old man's arms were wrapped around him, one hand gripping the reins of a horse that was galloping through the forest at a speed that should have been impossible among the giant trees.
"You—" Eren's voice came out as a croak. "You—what—how—"
"Hold on," Grandpa Arlet said, and urged the horse faster.
Eren looked around wildly. They were on the ground…on the ground, in Titan territory, riding a horse through the forest of giant trees. Behind them, the tree that had been their sanctuary lay crashed and splintered, the Titan that had felled it already losing interest now that its prey had escaped. Other Titans were turning, heads swiveling, attracted by the scent of—
"They see us." Eren breathed. "They're going to—"
"I know." Grandpa Arlet's voice was calm, but his horse was running flat out, weaving between massive trunks with a skill that spoke of long practice. "That's why we're leaving."
Eren's brain finally caught up with the situation.
"WHA-WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" he shrieked. "THIS IS—THERE ARE TITANS—YOU'RE AN OLD MAN—YOU CAN'T JUST—"
"Apparently I can," Grandpa Arlet replied mildly. "I'm doing it right now. Hold on tighter."
Eren held on tighter.
A shape burst from the undergrowth beside them; orange fur, powerful muscles, smooth eyeless head. Ember had survived the fall and was running alongside the horse, matching its pace with ease, its head swiveled toward the old man with obvious suspicion.
"That's—" Grandpa Arlet started.
"The demon dog rumors." Eren confirmed. "But he's—he's different now. He's—"
"We'll discuss it later." They burst from the tree line, the forest opening into the ravine that led back toward the Walls. Behind them, Titans were beginning to move, drawn by the scent of passing humans. Not many; not yet; but enough to make the old man urge his horse faster.
They rode.
The ravine walls rose around them, dark and sheltering. The sounds of Titans faded behind them, swallowed by distance and stone. Eren's heart, which had been trying to escape through his throat, slowly settled back into something approaching a normal rhythm.
Grandpa Arlet pulled the horse to a walk, then a stop. They were in a narrow section of the ravine, hidden from view, safe for the moment.
The old man dismounted, then reached up and lifted Eren down. For a long moment, they just looked at each other.
"You're alive," Grandpa Arlet said quietly. There was something in his voice that Eren had never heard before; a crack in the usual calm, a tremor of emotion carefully controlled.
"I—yeah." Eren's voice was hoarse. "I guess so."
Grandpa Arlet pulled him into a hug.
It was brief; just a few seconds; but it said everything that needed saying. I was worried. I'm glad you're okay. I came for you.
When they separated, Eren's eyes were suspiciously wet. He wiped them on his sleeve, blaming the dust, again.
"How did you find me?" he asked. "How did you even know where to look?"
Grandpa Arlet reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device. It was flat, circular, with a screen that showed a rough map of the area; and one blinking green dot, right where they were standing.
"The tracker," he explained. "I installed it in the Omnitrix when I first examined it. Just in case. In case something like this happened."
Eren stared at the device, then at his wrist, then back at the device. "You... bugged the Omnitrix? Is that why it has been acting up?"
"Insured it." Grandpa Arlet's lips quirked. "Wait, what do you mean by acting up?" Eren stretched his hand to show the grey hourglass symbol. The old wrecker reached for Eren's wrist, turning it over to examine the dead grey watch. He studied the device for a long moment, his fingers tracing its surface, his eyes narrowing in concentration. "Looks like it is in innate mode from unusual strain, not to worry." Then he reached into his satchel and produced a small tool; something Eren had never seen before, sleek and metallic.
"What's that?" he asked.
"Something I've been saving for a rainy day." Grandpa Arlet inserted the tool into a tiny port on the Omnitrix's side; a port Eren hadn't even known existed. There was a soft click, a brief flash of light, and then—
BEEP.
The Omnitrix's face lit up. Not green; red. A steady, pulsing red that Eren recognized from countless transformations timed out.
"It's on cooldown," Grandpa Arlet confirmed, removing the tool. "Not dead. Just... exhausted. Whatever you did; drained the reserves completely." He tapped the red face. "It'll recharge. Just needs time."
Eren felt a weight lift from his chest that he hadn't even realized he'd been carrying. "So it's not broken?"
"Not broken. The greatest mind I know in the galaxy has a irk to faulty inventions. He makes sure of it…most times." Grandpa Arlet looked at him, and there was something in his eyes; concern, curiosity, and something else. Something Eren couldn't quite read. "Speaking of the Titan attack..."
He looked down at Eren's legs.
The trousers were shredded from the knee down. Eren's bare feet were dirty and scratched, but otherwise whole. Completely whole, with no sign of the horrific injury that had; should have; ended him.
Grandpa Arlet's expression didn't change, but Eren saw the flicker of something cross his features. Confirmation. Understanding. And beneath it, a deep, complicated sorrow.
"It finally happened," the old man said quietly. "You became…one of them."
Eren looked down at his legs, at the tattered cloth, at the unmarked skin beneath. The memory of those teeth closing, of the searing agony, of the fall into darkness; it all came rushing back. The sheer trauma he didn't have time to process, barely registering the fact that he never even told the old man about what happened to him.
"I didn't mean to," he whispered. "I just—the Titan had me. It bit me. And then the Omnitrix—it started glowing, and I—" He looked up, meeting Grandpa Arlet's eyes. "What am I? What's happening to me?"
Grandpa Arlet was silent for a long moment. Then he knelt, bringing himself to Eren's level, and placed a weathered hand on the boy's shoulder.
"You're Eren Yeager," he said firmly. "Carla's son. A boy with a power he doesn't understand yet, carrying a weight no child should have to bear." He squeezed gently. "Whatever else you are; whatever you're becoming…that's the core of it. Don't forget that."
Eren blinked rapidly, fighting back the tears that wanted to fall. "But the Tita—"
"Will be addressed. In time. When we're somewhere safe." Grandpa Arlet stood, glancing around at the ravine walls. "Which we are not, currently. We need to move."
He turned toward his horse; and found himself face-to-face with a very large, very unhappy Vulpimancer.
Ember had circled around during their conversation and was now positioned between the old man and his horse. Its head was low, a deep growl rumbling from its chest. Every line of its body screamed threat.
"Easy," Grandpa Arlet said, his voice calm but his hand drifting toward his belt. "Easy now."
"EMBER, STOP!" Eren lunged forward, throwing himself between the Vulpimancer and the old man. "He's a friend! He's here to help!"
Ember's growl didn't stop, but its ear flap gills twitched; listening and considering.
"He's Armin's grandpa," Eren continued, hands outstretched in what he hoped was a calming gesture. "He's family friend. He came to find me."
The growl faded slightly. Ember's head tilted, its smooth face turning from Eren to the old man and back.
"He's not going to hurt me. He's not going to hurt you. He's here to help us both get out of this place." Eren took a step closer, placing a hand on Ember's massive head. "Trust me. Please."
For a long, tense moment, nothing happened.
Then Ember's tail gave a single, uncertain thump.
Eren let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding. "Good Ember."
Grandpa Arlet watched this exchange with an expression of profound disbelief. Vulpimancers aren't really known to be friendly to other extraterrestrial species...this was new. His hand had not left his belt, but he made no move to draw his weapon was hidden there.
"You named it," he said flatly.
"Him. And yes. Ember." Eren looked back at the old man, a hint of defiance in his eyes. "He saved my life. Multiple times. He's not a monster; not anymore. The Omnitrix fixed whatever happened to him."
Grandpa Arlet absorbed this information with the practiced calm of someone who had seen stranger things. Then he nodded slowly.
"Ember," he repeated. "Surprisingly suits him." He looked at the creature; at the orange fur, the darker orange V shaped patterns, the intelligent tilt of its head. "He's the reason you're alive, I take it?"
"Yeah." Eren's hand hadn't left Ember's head. "He is."
Another long moment of assessment. Then Grandpa Arlet stepped forward, slowly, deliberately, and extended a hand toward the Vulpimancer; palm up, fingers relaxed, the universal gesture of I mean no harm.
Ember studied the hand. Its nostrils flared, sampling the old man's scent. Then, very slowly, it lowered its head and pressed its smooth forehead against the offered palm.
Grandpa Arlet's weathered face broke into something that might have been a smile. "Well met, Ember. I'm grateful for what you've done for our boy."
Ember gruffed in response.
"Okay," Grandpa Arlet said, straightening. "As touching as this is, we really do need to move. The Titans in that forest are going to figure out where we went eventually, and I'd rather be somewhere else when they do." He looked at his horse, then at Eren, then at Ember. "One horse, two humans, one very large alien canine. This is going to be interesting."
They managed, somehow. Eren sat in front of Grandpa Arlet on the horse, the old man's arms bracketing him as they rode. Ember trotted alongside, occasionally casting suspicious glances at the horse but otherwise behaving himself. They moved through the ravine at a steady pace, putting distance between themselves and the forest.
"Mr Arlet?" he said quietly.
"Hmm?"
"How did you know where to look? The tracker just showed where I am, right? But how did you get here? Past the Walls? Past the Titans?"
The old man was silent for a moment. Then he said, "The Knights that you encountered yesterday have tunnels. Old mining passages that run under the Walls. They were planning to use them to reach you; to hunt you. I... borrowed their route."
Eren twisted in the saddle to look at him. "You what?"
"Long story. The short version is that I may have impersonated one of their knights, sabotaged their mission, and caused a cave-in that might or might not have slowed them down." Grandpa Arlet's voice was mild, as if discussing the weather. "They'll find another way through eventually. Which is why we need to keep moving."
Eren stared at him for a long moment. Then he turned back around, shaking his head.
"You're terrifying," he muttered.
"Thank you. I try."
They rode in silence for a while, the only sounds the horse's hooves on stone and Ember's rumbling footfalls beside them. The ravine was opening up ahead.
"Alright, we're almost out," Grandpa Arlet said. "Once we clear the ravine, we can find shelter for the night and—"
He stopped.
Eren felt the old man's arms tense around him, felt the horse's stride falter. Ahead, at the mouth of the ravine, figures were emerging.
Horses. Riders. A dozen of them, maybe more, silhouetted against the sunset light.
And at their head, a figure in a golden mask that caught the last rays of the sun and threw them back in cold, metallic reflections.
"Well, well," a voice called out, carrying across the distance with eerie clarity. "It seems the old dog hasn't learned new tricks after all."
Enoch.
The knights fanned out, blocking the exit. Their weapons were drawn; laser guns, all of them, humming with barely contained energy. They had Eren and Grandpa Arlet trapped, with the ravine walls on either side and the Titans behind.
Grandpa Arlet's horse stamped nervously, sensing the danger. Ember growled, low and deep, pressing closer to Eren's side.
"What do we do?" Eren whispered, fear cold in his chest.
The old man's arms tightened around him.
"We survive," he said quietly. "That's we bare minimum we can do for now."
Enoch urged his horse forward, moving ahead of his knights with the confidence of someone who knew he held all the cards. His golden mask gleamed in the fading light, and even from this distance, Eren could feel the weight of his gaze.
"You can't escape me," Enoch called, his voice carrying across the ravine. "You've cost me men. Resources. Time. But none of that matters now, because here you are; within reach at last."
He stopped his horse twenty yards away, close enough for Eren to see the intricate designs etched into the mask.
"The demon dog in the flesh." Enoch said, his attention then shifting to Eren. "You shapeshifter. The one with the device." He tilted his head, studying him like a specimen. "You've caused quite a stir, little one. The Order is very interested in you."
"Stay away from him," Grandpa Arlet growled.
Enoch chuckled; a dry, humorless sound. "Or what, old man? You'll cause another cave-in?" He shook his head slowly. "I've dealt with your nuisance more times than I can count. Thinking you can interfere with the divine order and walk away unscathed." He reached down and swung his laser gun in his hand, like he is inching for a fight. "This time will be different."
Grandpa Arlet's hand moved toward his belt; toward his weapon; but before he could draw, Enoch raised a hand. The knights behind him raised their guns, aiming directly at Eren.
"Don't," Enoch said mildly. "I'd rather take the boy alive, but I'm not opposed to bringing back the boy in full pieces. Just enough that we can still learn what makes him tick. The abomination can be brought along in less."
Ember's growl was a constant rumble now; its muscles coiled to spring. It looked about ready to attack; would die trying to protect itself and the small two-legged cub.
Eren looked at his wrist. At the Omnitrix, still red, still pulsing with that steady, frustrating cooldown light.
'Come on' he thought. 'Come on, just a little more.'
The watch pulsed. Red. Red. Red.
Enoch was speaking again, something about divine purpose and cosmic order, but Eren wasn't listening. He was staring at the Omnitrix, willing it to change, to charge, to work.
Red.
Red.
Red...
"-So what would it be boy, come along with us nice and easy, or we riddle your old man with holes. The choice is yours."
Green.
He looked up at Enoch, at the golden mask, at the knights with their raised weapons already humming with energy, at the impossible situation they were in.
And he smiled.
"You know what?" he called out, his voice steadier than he felt. "I don't think we're done yet."
Enoch's head tilted, curious. "Oh? And why is that?"
Eren's right hand rested on the Omnitrix.
"Because," he said, "I've got a very angry alien dog, a surprisingly terrifying old man, and a watch that's about to give me exactly what I need."
Behind him, Grandpa Arlet's eyes flickered to the way how Eren's other hand was subconsciously rotating the popped up face plate of the now…green lit omnitrix.
'Clever boy.'
"Is that so?" the alchemist murmured.
Eren's smile widened.
"Want to find out?"
Before any could do a thing, Eren slammed the faceplate of the omnitrix, green light engulfing him completely.
Chapter 31 is already available on Patreon.com/Weeb Fanthom.