Shingeki Adventurers

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The group stared at the greasy pile of bone shards in front of them. Clyde sat down on the grass before he leaned back and yawned, growing a smirk and leaned against a tree.

"Alrighty, I did my part. I'll be on standby," the tan man said.

Floch sat on the grass, cross-legged with his head resting on the palm of his right hand. He slowly poked the pile of wet clothes beside him. Armin glanced at Reiner before the tall blonde picked up a bunch of bone shards and made his way to the wyvern.

"Wait!" Armin told Reiner.

He stopped and turned around. "What?"

"Maybe we should think of a plan. Don't want to go in head first, you know?" Armin asked.

"I have one. How about you grow some fucking balls and pick up some shards?" Reiner retorted.

Clyde laughed as Armin shuffled to the pile, picked up a bunch of shards and followed Reiner. The shards were very slippery, so Armin struggled to carry them with a shard or two almost slipping from his grasp.

Armin noticed there were a few branches laid out around the monster's sleeping place.

'Great. Now it's even more risky than before.'

"Reiner! Reiner!" Armin whispered to the tall muscular man.

Reiner put his pile on the grass field before noticing all the grease on his torso, arms and pants.

"I regret wearing white pants now," Reiner touched the big yellowish-brown stain on the upper half of his pants. "What is it?"

"There are branches around it," Armin pointed out. "We have to be careful not to bump into them."

"Bump into them?" Reiner rolled his eyes. "Look at them. They're pretty big. It looks like the thing tore off some trees, so not bumping into one is pretty easy."

Armin sat down his pile of greasy shards before picking up a small handful. "I guess let's start planting."

"What, so we just place these around it?" Reiner asked. "Like each of us make a circle with these things?"

Armin shrugged. "I guess… can't really think any other way to do it."

Reiner picked up a handful before he approached the monster. Armin noticed how little fear Reiner had. He wasn't shaking or hesitating to approach the beast. He effortlessly walked around the broken branches before he placed his first batch around the monster and returned.

"The hell are you doing? Go for it." Reiner said, picking up his second batch. 

Armin's hands were shaking causing the bone shards in his hand to click together. He tightened his grip on them, making the clicking stop and slowly made his way to the monster.

The branches around the brute were massive. Reiner was right. It looked like the monster tore off some trees rather than actual branches.

'I guess this is to alert it from nearby predators,' Armin assumed. 'But it overestimated our size or underestimated our intelligence.'

Armin carefully placed his first batch a couple of inches away from Reiner's.

'By the time we finish the placements. The formation of the bone fragments will probably look like two circles.'

Armin carefully snuck back to the pile of bone. Armin noticed that his and Reiner's pile combined into one.

"I brought the rest of them here," Reiner informed before he picked up his second handful and made his way back to the monster. Armin took a quick deep breath, picked up his second handful and followed Reiner again. He and Reiner placed the shards around the monster. Bit by bit, the whole pile was now spread around the beast, resembling what Armin predicted, two circles with one surrounding the other.

He realised the greasy patch of grass where the bone shards used to be and sighed in relief.

"Not bad. We actually placed all the shards," Armin wiped his hands on his shirt. He then swiped the nervous sweat off his head with the dry, ungreased part of his shirt. Armin and Reiner walked back to the others with Floch already in his bird form and Clyde holding his silver lighter. 

"Wanna do the honours, tin man?" Clyde asked.

"Too scared to do it yourself?" Reiner quipped back.

"No, but I ain't explosive-proof. Plus…" The tan man approached Reiner and whispered, "Don't cha want to impress your girlfriend?" Clyde pointed up at the hidden cameras around the area.

Reiner began to glance around, smiled and said, "Give me the lighter."

Clyde smiled and handed his lighter. "Good luck."

Reiner started to walk back to the monster as Floch flew into the sky, following suit.

"So, Glasses, think this is gonna work?" Clyde asked.

Armin hummed. "I don't think it will kill it. At most, it would severely damage it."

'I hope.'

Floch flew around in circles above the monster like a Vulturos does with its near-dead prey.

Reiner flicked on the lighter, lighting the shards one by one.

Armin tightened the strap attached to his glasses. 'I have to be ready.'

Reiner was now halfway there, in his metal form lighting the shards. It looked like some witch cult happening which made Armin chuckle a bit.

Smoke and embers started to rise from the shards. The beast flinched a bit but it was still resting.

Armin noticed that Reiner started to quicken his pace.

Clyde cupped his hands and shouted, "Hurry up tin man! We ain't got all day and the fucking monster is about to wake up!"

Armin noticed the monster lifting its head before it slowly stood up, It shook its body and it roared. Armin covered his ears. The beast swung its boulder tail and smacked Reiner, sending him into some trees and dropping the lighter.

Floch spilled the water out of his mouth. The water rained on the flaming shards. Small explosions with bone fragments started to burst like fireworks. The pieces stabbed and cracked part of the Ossiboros' armour on its legs, arms and body.

It roared in pain as it tumbled onto the ground and rolled into the grass, trying to extinguish the fire. Clyde grew tendrils of grease and launched himself towards the Ossiboros. Armin stood there, stiff as a board. He didn't know what to do, he tucked his lips. He saw Reiner stand up, grab one of the broken trees near him and fearlessly sprint toward the bony brute.

Floch flew around the beast. Diving in and backing out, scratching the beast's new blistering seared wounds. The beast swung its head, hoping to stab him with its horn.

'What the hell do I do?' Armin thought.

Armin was about to bite his nails until he noticed some of the shards were still intact.

"There's some shards left around the area," Armin told himself. "If I can find Clyde's lighter then…"

Armin began to run to fight in the direction where the monster was. It swung its tail at Clyde but he dodged and Reiner threw the broken tree at the beast. The Ossiboros fell back from the thrown tree as Reiner grabbed another one. Clyde made grease tendrils and grabbed six broken trees.

"Hey birdbrain, catch!"

He threw one of the trees at Floch before he caught it and threw it down at the Ossiboros. The brute wyvern roared in response. It tried to attack Floch before Clyde threw a trio of trees, smashing the beast into more trees but it stood back up.

Armin caught up with the others as Floch turned into his human form and united with the others.

"Have you guys seen the lighter?!" Armin asked.

"Glasses is right. I gonna need my lighter back cause I didn't bring another one. Where is it?" Clyde asked.

"I lost it when I got clobbered by that prick's wrecking ball of a tail," Reiner explained.

"You what?!"

"Listen, you guys need to distract it so I can find it," Armin said. "There's still more unused shards spread around.

"But then I have to go back to the ravine to get more water," Floch complained.

"What about the shirts that we gave you?" 

Floch shivered. "Ugh, don't remind me…fine. I'll take a drink of your fucking sweat water." He turned his arms into wings and flew back to their base.

"Fine, Glasses. Me and Tin Man will distract it. It shouldn't be hard to find. It's a silver colour, " Clyde said, stretching his neck before he gave Reiner one of his trees. "Ready to play Pinata with this fucker?"

Reiner chuckled. "Let's do this."

The two sprinted towards the beast as it roared loudly and stomped towards them.

Armin rubbed his hands. "Okay, let's find a lighter under…all…this…debris…"

Armin sighed as he began to search for the lighter. He lifted some branches to clear the area. Sometimes, he had to kick the branches out of the way because they were on fire. 

There was a small glint that caught the corner of his eye. He quickly turned his head before rubbing his eyes. He noticed a tiny glint of silver underneath a pile of broken trees. It looks to be around 4 or 5 trees dressed in flames.

"Crap…" Armin sighed.

Armin approached the pile and did some squats, muttering to himself to lift with his legs. He took a couple of deep breaths and placed one of the trees on his right shoulder. He carefully pulled one of the trees from its trunk, making sure that the burning embers didn't touch him.

"Slow and steady wins the race," Armin said, as he pulled the tree from the pile.

He looked around to find any way to get the lighter without having to lift the other ones. He managed to find a small gap, showing the lighter before him, but the issue was that it was surrounded by parts of the trees that were coated in flames. He pulled down the end of his sleeve and tried to reach for it. The fire started to make contact with him, ferociously warming up his right arm. He leaned in and tried to reach for it, but heard a cracking sound. He nervously pulled back and his elbow hit the tree above him, causing the trees to collapse and the gape to close, the opportunity now gone forever.

Armin slapped the fire that was on his left arm. He aggressively slapped his arm and rolled into the grass. He made some distance from the death pile and breathed heavily. His hands started to shake as he tried to get up.

"Guess I have to do it the Reiner way," Armin opened and closed his right hand.

He coughed a bit due to inhaling carbon monoxide that was being produced in the surrounding area.

'I have to hurry up and get out of here!'

Armin opened and closed his hand repeatedly before he sighed and ran to pull another tree. He leaned back and forth aggressively as he pulled, using his tempo and momentum to make it easier to pull the tree off.

A few embers hit his right hand. He quickly shook his hand and hissed in pain but he had to keep going. He grabbed the trunk of the tree again and began to pull, the tree slowly sliding off the pile. The tree suddenly snapped, making Armin fall back to the ground. When he got up, he saw Clyde a dozen feet away from him.

Blood started to drip down Clyde's head as he got up from the ground.

"Piece of shit!" Clyde shouted. "What's taking so long with the fucking lighter?!"

"It's underneath these trees!" Armin exclaimed before he coughed a few times.

Clyde growled. He grew a massive arm of grease and punched the pile, smashing the burning pile and revealing the silver lighter. Armin pulled the collar of his shirt over his nose and ran to pick up the lighter.

The silver lighter was dented on one of the sides but was probably still usable. He flicked the lighter a couple of times, creating a small flame.

"It still works!" Armin shouted through his shirt.

"Good. Now find the rest of the damn shards!" Clyde demanded as he went back to assist Reiner.

Armin coughed before he left the area to catch a breath of fresh air. He put the lighter in his pocket and ran back to the fiery area in search of some shards. He managed to find a couple right away and picked them up.

He saw Floch flying around the Ossiboros, scratching its flesh wound with his talons. The bony brute tried to bite his Beastia friend, but with Reiner and Clyde attacking it from the ground, it couldn't focus on its aerial opponent.

"Floch dump some water on it!" Armin said before he lit the shard with the lighter.

A hot pain started to erode the palm of his hand, grunting in pain as Floch spilled a bit of water on the monster. Armin threw the shard but the monster spun and smacked the shard away with its tail.

'Oh no! I have to light the other one!' Armin lit the other one and quickly threw it.

The second one landed and exploded on impact, making the monster lightly stumble. The Ossiboros drooled heavily with its head, slowly swaying left and right.

"It seems tired," Armin noticed.

"Let's rush it!" Reiner shouted.

Clyde chuckled before he threw a ball of grease. "No need to tell me that, tin man."

Armin realised that another wildfire was now spreading. The monster was close but with them three distracting it, he could get the flaming shard. He ran to get back the shard, but the beast swung its tail and slapped Armin, sending him through some trees and rocks.

Everything went black for a moment. All he heard was muffled yelling. When his vision came back, it was all blurry. His ears were ringing. When he touched his face, he realised that his glasses weren't there anymore and felt a small shard stabbing his eyelid.

He pulled out the shard and coughed out some blood as he struggled to breathe. His tongue was coated in his blood and gave him a metallic taste. He tried to stand but felt a sharp pain in his left leg, making him fall back down. When he looked down at his leg, he saw his fibula poking through his leg. He tried to scream, but the blood kept making him choke.

He saw a massive bird-like figure approaching him before it disappeared and became human.

"F-Floch?" Armin struggled to speak through the blood filling his mouth.

"Relax, don't hurt yourself," He heard what he presumed Floch said.

When the ringing in his ear cooled down, he heard Floch's voice, muttering to himself. His nearsightedness was able to see the auburn-haired teen. He felt Floch's hand digging into his pockets, taking out the lighter.

"L-lighter…I need that…"

"Not anymore, I have another idea," Floch flicked the lighter, making a small fire. "So rest up, buddy."

Floch flew away as Armin tried to stand up again, reaching for the broken rock for support. His legs were shaking as he barely managed to stand up.

"I can…still…" Armin said before his legs gave up and sat back down. He fell on his side before he closed his eyes and lost consciousness.