Catch the Stars ||Keith Kogane||

71

The next morning, Trip was still first to the training room. She may have woken feeling like she was sitting on clouds, and she may have walked with a little more of a skip in her step than she needed to, but she was still aware of the fact that training was desperately needed for her to regain her stamina.

The night had ended with Keith walking her back to her room, where she ate her cold dinner with a grin and her feet swinging off the edge of her bed. It was one of the purest forms of happiness she'd ever felt, and it was still flowing through her veins as she swung her sword around the room with more agility than the average 5'5" girl.

The training room had advanced since Coran had decided to revamp its programming a bit every time she had a free moment. When on higher levels, it provided a holographic change in the environment by applying pillars and short barricades. It was nice for immersion training, especially with her new weapon alteration.

Trip was tucked behind a pillar, listening to the two training bots that were quickly approaching her location. With her sword tight in her grasp, she decides to really put this new device to the test. She had gotten a steady hand in grabbing it as it came flying at her, as long as she wasn't moving too quickly for it to catch up.

She throws herself around the pillar, using both arms to swing the blade with all of her might at the closest bot. Watching it evaporate into blue pixels, the blade narrowly missed the second one that was approaching her position.

Her hand extends, fingers braced, and presses the blue button flat against her palm. She watches as the sword sloppily manages to change direction mid-air, not losing the momentum she'd used to throw it. The hilt was now coming at her, but the bot was between them.

It shattered into pixels when the sword made contact with its back, and she was the only one left on the course. Relaxing her shoulder, the handle slams into her waiting hand with enough force to slide her back a step and make her palm sting.

She gives herself a second to catch her breath, swapping hands with the sword to give her dominant hand a shake.

"Wonderful!" Someone shouting caught her off guard, making her whirl around to see where it was coming from. There was only one other person on the castle who was ever up this early without her being the one to drag them to the training hall. She was standing there, in her pink uniform that now deemed her the new paladin of the blue lion. Of course, Allura would be the first to arrive for their morning training.

Trip smirks, weighing the handle of her sword for a moment between her hands before returning it to its new sheath on her back. What a nice change of pace. She approaches the princess.

"It's nice to finally have someone be on time," she says.

Allura smiles, her hands folded in front of her as they always were when she stood casually, "of course! I'm the newest to the team, and I know I'll need a few sessions to get to the same level as everyone else."

"You're just new to the field, not the team," Trip reminds her, "I'd be happy to start you a little early to see where you're starting."

"I would love to take you up on that another time," Allura says, her smile still on her face as she sways from side to side, "but, this morning, I come bearing a small surprise."

"A surprise?" Trip asks, smirking as she places her hands on her hips.

"Yes, a gift," behind the princess, Trip catches the door opening.

Harron was hard to miss from a mile away. He was a mountain, and he moved like it, and there was no hiding the fact that he had to duck down to get through the door. He looked like a cleo giant when he finally got through. Trip tilts her head as she looks above Allura's head at him.