For The Stars

Chapter 11: Cat and Mouse

Lance hadn't had time to correct his pose, still in the post throw position. "Oh, sorry, Shiro! I was trying to hit Keith." Oh really? He thought to himself. Being raised in the Blades taught Keith many things:

1) How to be the best damn pilot the universe has ever seen.
2) Never apologize for your successes.
3) The engine room is a terrible place to hide snacks.
4) Highly advanced weapons training including: swords, blades, blasters, staffs, and throwing weapons.

Not necessarily in that order of importance. So naturally, Keith immediately grabbed the closest glob and spun around, using his momentum to hurl it straight at Lance's head, quickly snatching another for a follow up attack. "Ha, like that?" He smirked at their supposed sharpshooter when his throw successfully resulted in an uppercut. Before he could bait the other into retaliating, Hunk leapt in front of him, a goo-snow-smush ball thing in each hand.

"YES! Squishy asteroid fight!" He bellowed and pounded Lance with both projectiles. Keith immediately broke, nearly letting go of his own ammunition as he burst out laughing.

A rapid-fire series of shots smoked him in the face shield, dead centre. "Not so smug now are ya, Keith?" Lance taunted from behind the safety of Hunk's enormous frame.

Shiro tried to rationalize with them all, saying "Alright guys" in his most 'dad' sounding voice but a rather large glob hit his shield. Naturally it was followed quickly by three more as the Blue and Yellow Paladins laughed maniacally. "Oh, oh! Okay, now it's on!" He replied before jumping into the fray alongside Keith. They defaulted into pairs, Keith & Shiro vs. Lance & Hunk, the latter of which devolved into just Lance with a Hunk shaped shield.

"Oh, come on!" Lance protested when they ganged up on him, each moving to one side attempting to bypass Hunk and sandwich the Blue Paladin's head.

"Hmmm." Pidge hummed from somewhere in the 'not fun' zone. Picking up one of the squishy-goo balls and studying it intently. "I don't think these are asteroids."  They announced thoughtfully. "Coran, I'm going to need a containment unit."

"Just a tic" He called before being replaced by the Princess on the line.

"They appear to be some sort of hyper-resilient spore." She noted, observing the mystery object through a feed Pidge setup in their visor.

"This bioluminescent pulsing doesn't seem natural." Pidge replied. "It appears programed. I think it's a code." The containment unit shot out from a vent on the castle, whirring past Lance's head and distracting him long enough for Keith to get in another clean shot. They started talking about impossibilities of programming a spore but Keith wasn't listening because distraction was weakness. Shiro had just learned that lesson the hard way as a 'spore' bopped him on the side of the head, causing his ear to smash painfully against his helmet. Now Keith was down a teammate and the two Human boys were crossing the gap, closing in on him to make their final blows.

He was not going to lose this match! Not to a couple of Humans, not to a couple of cadets, not to a couple of TEENAGERS! Even without Shiro he would destroy them because Keith is Galra dammit, and the Galra do not submit or surrender or LOSE. He may have shouted "Victory or death" in his native Galran before unleashing hell on the other two.

"Everyone needs to come in for decontamination." Allura commanded and the group reluctantly returned to the primary hangar as Coran ran the appropriate sequences.

Keith crossed his arms and admittedly fell into a slight pout as Lance boasted his win. "Oh ho, I totally beat you, Mullet!" he'd said, now safely inside the castle while the decontamination countdown began.