Unknown Location

"Oooowwwwww." Clayde groaned as he laid on the... ground, he believed? He opened his eyes as he instinctively shutted them as the bright sun burned his eyeballs when he looked at it directly. Forcing himself to sit up, he groaned before wincing as his head ached a lot.

"What the hell happened?" He groaned out as he took in his surroundings before he saw that a whole bunch of people were standing around and helping each other while some were fighting amongst one another which confused him.

Forcing himself to stand up, Clayde stood unbalanced for a second before trudging along as he saw many people stood in a line as he saw that they were waiting for food. Looking down at himself, he saw that he had bandages wrapped around his stomach and one on his leg as he was in his same clothes from before.

"Huh." Clayde said to himself before his eyes widened and he looked around frantically for Pochita but the dog was nowhere to be found as he tried to calm himself entirely as he was walking around frantically.

"Okay, okay, Pochita doesn't like crowds so he's probably in hiding right now." He whispered to himself as he continued to walk around this new area as he then noticed some people were crying as they consoled one another while some looked traumatized from something. Probably the attack they had just now when that Titan breached the walls.

He kept on walking until he saw three kids standing together as a boy and a girl his age were looking at a blond boy sitting on the ground with a brown hat in his hand.

Recognizing them as Eren, Mikasa and Armin, Clayde ran towards them and yelled out, "You guys?!"

They all looked in his direction and saw him coming towards them as Eren got tackled by Clayde in a big hug and they were both on the ground.

"Clayde, get off!" Eren yelled out as he struggled but Clayde tightened his grip.

"Hell no! I thought you guys died without saying goodbye!"

"Why would we die without saying goodbye?!"

"It's called your last words."

"Whatever." Eren replied before shoving him off and standing back up as Armin hugged Clayde also.

"We were so worried that you wouldn't wake up." Armin said before Clayde looked at him confused.

"Wouldn't wake up?"

"You were in a coma for the past year." Mikasa said emotionlessly but her eyes betrayed a flicker of worry when she looked at Clayde.

"The past year?" Clayde repeated.

"The past year." Armin confirmed.

"Wait... my mother, is she here?!" Clayde asked frantically but the three of them looked down sadly and he got his answer until Armin spoke.

"We spoke to the Garrison Soldiers and one of them reported that he was carrying a woman who was screaming for her son. She struggled a lot and it ended in the soldier falling to the ground but by the time he got up, she disappeared." Armin recalled.

"So she's still alive?" Clayde asked hopefully before shaking his head, "No, she has to be dead by now."

"Don't you want her to be alive?" Armin asked in shock.

"If there weren't any Titans then yeah but... its been a year and if she hasn't showed up then she's dead, alright? I'm never going to see her again." Clayde spoke bitterly before Eren put a hand on his shoulder.

"I lost my mother too."

"Not Carla." Clayde said in shock as he looked at Eren.

"She was eaten by a Titan in front of my very eyes and I couldn't do anything to save her." Eren gritted his teeth angrily before he looked at Clayde with determination.

"I'm enlisting next year." He declared as Clayde got confused for a moment before realizing what he meant.

"Oh the Cadet Corps?" Clayde clarified as Eren nodded in confirmation.

"I'll gain the power to slay Titans and make sure that we retake our home!" Eren said in determination.

Clayde looked at Armin and saw that he had a brown hat on his lap, "Scared of the sun, Armin?" He gestured to the hat.

"It was the last thing my Grandpa gave me before he died." Armin said as tears flowed down his cheeks.

"Ah shit." Clayde knew he fucked up just now as he gave the blond a gentle hug and patted him on the back as Armin's tears soaked his shirt, "I'm sorry."

"No, no, its okay.... I'm enlisting also." Armin said quietly as Eren looked at him in surprise.

"But Armin, you're not a fighter. Your head mainly belongs in books and you can ace all of us in sheer knowledge rather than brute force!" Eren said as he tried to convince him otherwise but Armin shook his head.

"I need to become stronger so I won't have to have people fighting my battles." Armin said as he stood up.

"I'll join as well." Mikasa announced as Eren and Armin looked at her.

"Why?" Eren asked.

"Someone has to keep you safe and prevent you from dying." Mikasa replied as Eren looked like he wanted to argue but kept quiet before they all turned to face Clayde who was looking at the refugees in the camp.

"Quick question, this is a refugee camp from the attack of last year, correct?"

"Yes." Armin replied.

"Then... why is there so little people here? Surely there's a lot more than this, I may have been in a, what do you call it? Coma? Yeah, coma! I may have been in a coma for a whole year but I am damn sure there is more people than this here." Clayde said as he turned to look at them and saw Eren looking down sadly but Armin replied.

"The government wanted to take back Wall Maria so they organized 250,000 refugees and dozens of Garrison Soldiers to do it but out of the 20% of the population that went out, only one hundred survivors returned." Armin said sadly as he clenched his grandpa's hat.

"......What?" Clayde said in disbelief before looking around and some of the Garrison Soldiers looking at the refugees in disgust as he narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists tightly.

"Fucking hell, well count me in. I'm reigning hell on those fucking monsters." Clayde said darkly.

"We're killing every single Titan that comes in our way!" Eren said angrily as he narrowed his eyes at the sky.

Clayde nodded in agreement before looking worriedly at the walls as the image of Pochita flooded his brain, the cute little dog with a chainsaw in his head as he remembered his cute little barks and his last memory of him as they fought that Titan.

"Hopefully you're still alive, Pochita." Clayde said to himself.

Timeskip One Year

The Cadet Corps

In a deserted open field with very few structures and in a deep crater with a road to the top of it, new recruits were assembled in a respectful manner with their arms behind their backs as a bald headed man walked in between the rows of cadets and glared at all of them.

This was Commander Shadis and he was not playing games with the recruits as he approached the massive group.

"Alright shitstains, listen up! I have been received the displeasure of teaching you fucks how to kill Titans in order to contribute to Humanity! I am Commander Shadis and for the next three years, I will make you suffer and push your bodies so hard you will be looking like newborn deer right out of their momma's ass! The training will be so difficult that you will wish you crawled back up your mom's ass and stayed in there, am I clear?!" Shadis yelled with eyes bulged out of his skull.

"SIR YES SIR!!!" All the cadets shouted with vigour and immediately Shadis walked up to Armin and stood infront of him.

"What's your name, cadet?!" Shadis spat in his face.

"A-Armin Arlert, sir!" He replied as he saluted in the form of his right arm over his heart with his fist clenched.

"Armin?! What a stupid name! Who gave you that name?!"

"My Grandfather, sir!"

"What a weak and pathetic name! Third Squad, about face!" Shadis ordered as he moved onto the next cadet.

Clayde, meanwhile, was waiting expectantly as he looked bored and tired as he yawned loudly as some cadets next to him winced and looked at him like he was mad. Clayde saw that Shadis was talking in front of a cadet named, Jean Kirstein.

"What do you hope to accomplish, cadet?!" Shadis shouted.

"I hope to live a comfortable life in the interior walls as a Military Officer!" Jean answered smugly until Shadis headbutted him in the nose which made him crumble to his knees.

"On your feet! Who told you to sit down?!" Shadis yelled as he forcefully pulled Jean up before headbutting him again as most of the cadets winced at the impact, "You are the definition of Titan food! Third Squad, about face!"

And then Shadis moved onto the next cadet.

"Who are you?!"

"Mina Carolina, from Karranes!"

"You are nothing but a mere cattle!"

"I am lower than cattle, sir!"

"No, you're like a fly swarming a pig's ass!"

"Who are you?!"

"Bertholdt, sir!"

"Sounds like a pussy name!"

"It isn't, sir!"

"Well you look like one that hasn't been wiped in a long time!"

"Who are you?!"

C-Christa Lenz!"

"Nothing but a marshmallow to the Titans! Soft and Weak!"

This went on and on until Shadis stopped in front of a nearly cadet and he saluted him as the commander looked at him darkly.

"Connie Springer, sir!"

Immediately both sides of his head were grabbed and he was lifted off the ground as Shadis looked at him darkly.

"That salute is meant for you to give your heart to humanity... IS YOUR HEART ON YOUR RIGHT SIDE, DIPSHIT?!" Shadis yelled angrily.

Clayde watched the confrontation silently before he heard a crunching noise to his right and he peeped over and saw a girl with her hair wrapped in a ponytail, eating a hot potato. The crunching noise echoed throughout the atmosphere as the commander looked at her in disbelief before he approached her.

"Hey, you!"

The girl kept eating and didn't look at him as Shadis now stood infront of her, "I'M TALKING TO YOU, SHITSTAIN!!!! WHO ARE YOU?!"

The girl swallowed her potato bite before saluting with the potato in hand, "Sasha Braus from Dauper, sir!"

"Sasha, what is it you have in your hand?" Shadis questioned emotionlessly.

"A hot potato, sir!"

"Where did you get it from?"

"It was in the mess hall just begging to be eaten, sir!"

"So you stole it... why are you eating it now?"

"Are you asking me why people eat potatoes, sir?"

Everyone excluding Clayde watched the exchange in shock as her left side partner just looked at Shadis or specifically... his bald head.

"It's so... shiny." Clayde thought.

Sasha broke the potato into two pieces and with some resolve and great conflict, she handed Shadis the smaller piece of the two, "Here's half of it."

"Half?" Shadis said in disbelief before he gained an angry look on his face and yelled at her, "Go into the field and run until you are about to die and when that happens, keep running! No food for a whole week!"

Sasha's face fell drastically as Shadis walked away from her as she went to do what she was told but then the person next to her started moving which made her turn around and look curiously. Everyone looked and saw Clayde snuck behind Shadis and to everyone's horror, he slapped the man behind the head loudly.

https://youtu.be/RKscLZhYMcg

Immediately, Clayde stood back where he was as Shadis turned around in fury and looked around angrily.

"WHO THE FUCK DID THAT?!" Shadis practically screamed in fury as everyone looked at Clayde who cursed out loud.

"Fucking snitches!"

"YOU ARE A DEAD CADET! WHAT IS YOUR NAME?!"

"The name's Clayde, sir!"

"WHY DID YOU SLAP MY HEAD?!"

"I saw a hair sprouting out your bald head so I slapped it back into your skull, sir!"

Shadis looked at him in disbelief before socking Clayde in the jaw which didn't knock him down but what he didn't expect was for the cadet to return the punch into his jaw as Shadis stumbled backwards from the blow.

"What the fuck you trying to do?! Acting your bald headed ass don't understand me! Why you backing up for?!" Clayde yelled as he pressed Shadis drastically as the commander was stepping backwards.

"I'll palm your fucking head again and again!" Clayde yelled out angrily.

"GET THE FUCK OUT OF MY FACE!!!" Shadis yelled.

"Make me bitch! Bring your ass over here and stop walking backwards! I'll choke-slam your bald ass into ground, it looks like it needs some soil!" Clayde pressed as Shadis now was looking at him with uncertainty.

"Yeah that's what I thought, don't got nooooooo balls whatsoever." Clayde said before turning around and heading back to his spot and stood there before looking at Sasha who was looking at him in shock.

"Don't worry about him, he can't do shit. Stand back where you were." Clayde assured her and Sasha stood back in line nervously.

Shadis looked at Clayde murderously as the cadet gave him the middle finger, "Here's your salute by the way, sir!" Clayde called out as the commander didn't say anything but he stared at him murderously and Clayde held the stare as everyone looked at the confrontation with anticipation.

Soon enough, Shadis broke eye contact and shouted, "Alright fuckers! Time to begin your training!"

Six Hours Later

Clayde was now eating in the mess hall as he chowed down on a piece of bread and some mashed potatoes. Sure it wasn't much but the food was heaven for Clayde as he would eat almost anything. Other cadets were getting their food and taking seats at various benches as the exercising hell Shadis put them through made almost everyone's bodies feel like jelly.

He himself, on the other hand, felt a little tired but overall he was fine. Ever since he declared he was enlisting last year, Clayde worked out his body and now gained a solid eight pack along with broad shoulders and muscular arms that stretched his white shirt. His legs were muscular and the trials he went through earlier in the day helped bulge his muscles out entirely.

"God, this shit tastes good!" Clayde said as he dunked the bread in the mashed potatoes and took a hearty bite out of it.

As he ate, Eren, Armin and Mikasa came and sat at his table as Clayde looked up at them with a full mouth.

"Dude, that was awesome!" Eren complimented Clayde who shrugged.

"Ass clown can kiss the soil that I step on." He replied nonchalantly.

"You do realize he's gonna be hard on you than everyone else right?" Armin pointed out as Clayde turned his head slowly and looked Armin in the eye before he spoke.

"This face... does not give a fuck."

He went back to eating before he finished his cuisine and got up before stretching, "I'm gonna go take a walk."

"Commander Shadis doesn't want anyone outside at this time!" Armin said as Clayde kept going to the door.

"He gotta problem with it, he has to talk to me." Clayde yelled back before he stepped outside and yawned loudly. He proceeded to walk around the training grounds as he looked at a pile of logs that were settled in one corner of the grounds.

Suddenly Clayde found himself in a memory of when he was struggling to help mother out with her expenses and had to cut logs to make a hussle with the help of Pochita.

"I'm surprised you agreed to help me with this Pochita." Clayde said as he was cutting down a tree with surprising efficiently as he held the dog and used the chainsaw. Soon enough, Clayde piled a stock of logs probably going to bring him a good enough amount of money and now he was feeding Pochita a slice of bread.

"I am curious as to what exactly that sharp thing is on your head." Clayde wondered as Pochita chomped down on the bread.

"Arf!" Pochita barked before revving his chainsaw and faced the log before he began carving out his answer as Clayde looked at the work curiously before Pochita spelled out the word in the log and he read it.

"Chainsaw?" Clayde read aloud as Pochita nodded in confirmation before nuzzling his hand as Clayde petted him.

"A weird name but I'll take your word for it."

They continued to relax as the sun got a bit higher before Clayde went to fetch the wagon he brought to haul the logs. Later, the two friends found themselves receiving their pouch of money from a customer who needed the logs and paid them handsomely.

"Sweet!" Clayde said happily as Pochita barked happily.

"This is the beginning of a game changer!"

Clayde shook himself off of the memory as Pochita could be anywhere in Shiganshina or worse... dead? He closed his eyes and breathed out his worries, Pochita was a strong dog and if anyone can survive, its Pochita.

"We'll meet again, Pochita. I know we will."