Author's note :
I'm sorry! I couldn't help myself with the image, BHAHAHAHA! Hunk is rocking it the outfit!
The paladins all gathered around Pidge and Allura who have very stern but an extremely happy look on their faces.
"We know the location of Matt Holt!" Pidge squealed happily as Allura patted her on the back.
"He's on a Galran prisoner transport ship. They are heading our way through the Milkov Calapay asteroid belt. There are locals there that can aid in the ambush." Allura said.
"So are you 100% certain that Matt is there?" Shiro asked. They had been following different leads on Matt's whereabouts for years.
"We are not a hundred percent certain but we have a reliable lead. The blade of Marmora will also be joining us, and they are the ones that gave us the information" Allura replied to Shiro.
"The Blade of Marmora?" Keith pretended to look clueless. Of course, he knew who the blade of Marmora was.
"Yes, Phin you may or may not have met the Blade of Marmora yet, but they are Galra who have rebelled. I got in contact with them a few years ago, about a month before our red paladin died. We haven't communicated much with as they refuse to do smaller things like peace treats for example." Keith gulped. Galras could remember other people's scents. He knew he was screwed.
"Where are we meeting them?" Keith had to try to make up an excuse for him not being there or they would sniff him out.
"They'll be meeting us in the castle," Allura said and Keith gulped loudly. "Is something wrong?"
"Umm ... ya, everything is fine" Keith stuttered.
"Now, everyone, to start the day we will be doing training as usual. Phin, don't push yourself" Allura gave Keith a sharp and dangerous glare.
"Okay, okay, I won't princess" Keith reassured her. Allura brought up the board with all their names and levels.
Phin - Level 697 -Stage 23 Shiro - Level 146 - Stage 12 Arkov - Level 145 - Stage 18 Lance - Level 110 - Stage 2 Pidge - Level 109 - Stage 25 Hunk - Level 107 - Stage 25
"Look at that! Phiny boy only came here two months ago and he beat a hundred levels!" Lance screamed sarcastically and pointed at Keith, he didn't do more but shrug.
"Everyone, can we just hurry up and get to the training deck" Hunk whined. "My feet hurt just standing here."
Everyone headed to the training deck, Lance boasting about his looks and his enormous muscles. Keith had to admit it, Lance was a bit more muscular then three years ago. He had a small and faint scar on his shoulder and one on his thigh. When everyone reached the training deck, Coran pulled Keith over to the side.
"Hello, Keith," he said gently, making sure nobody heard. Keith momentarily spassed out.
"How did you find out? Did Arkov tell you? Am I being too obvious?" Keith started bombarding Coran with questions.
"No, no! It was just a hunch!"Coran said happily. He then looked down at Keith and frowned. "Why did you tell everyone that Keith was gone?" Keith looked down at his which stretched out a bit larger than human feet and were padded with paws.
"I didn't think anyone would accept me ..." Keith mumbled as he played with his tail.
"Well, Allura would take some time but if you're worried about Shiro and Pidge, I think they will be fine. Did you know that Shiro's galra arm was ripped off and Pidge replaced it with an almost identical copy, only adding in a few small tweaks of her own." Coran seemed to beam and radiate light.
Keith looked back at Shiro as he was fighting. He was right. His arm glowed blue instead of purple and it seemed as small mini guns popped out here and there.
"You know that everyone will find out one day" Coran started lecturing Keith.
"Just not yet, please ..." Keith was broken off as Allura popped out her head from around the corner.
"Phin, we need to continue training," She said and turned around and went back in.
"How many other people know?" Coran asked.
"Only Leader, Millfy, and Arkov," Keith said looking back down at his feet.
'Where is Millfy by the way. I haven't seen her all morning" Coran looked at the top of Keith's head and threw his hair making sure she wasn't half asleep in his locks.
"She thinks her beauty sleep is important and she hates it when my hair is riddled with sweat so she forces me to have a shower" Keith chuckled to himself. He remembered the tantrum Millfy had a week ago when the alarms woke up 4 hours and 16 minutes early.
"Ahh, beauty sleep, it's a magnificent thing" Coran twirled his mustache around his finger like he always did and Keith rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to go back to training now, please don't tell anyone Coran," Keith said and walked in. He walked to area six. His dagger lay on the table and he picked it up. "Sorry Allura, I'm stressed so I'm definitely breaking thought level 600!"
---------------
"Okay, these are the results for today!" Allura announced and the board flashed on.
Phin - Level 713 - Stage 2 Shiro - Level 147 - Stage 1 Arkov - Level 146 - Stage 24 Pidge - Level 112 - Stage 1 Lance - Level 111 - Stage 20 Hunk - Level 110 - Stage 16
"Huh? Why is Pidge ahead of me?"Lance whined.
"Because you had too many breaks, dumbass" Pidge called to him, sticking out her tongue. Shiro just scoffed, knowing that there wasn't any point.
"Am I the only one worried about how many levels Phin has jumped?" Hunk butted in. everyone looked at the board, gasped and looked back at Phin. He was lying sprawled across the floor, blood dripped down the new but shallow cuts that appeared on his arms, legs, and torso and the small bit of dried blood coming from his nose and mouth. He was panting heavily and it seemed like his fur turned a paler shade of purple.
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT NOT PUSHING YOURSELF!!!!!" Allura screamed as she charged at Keith in a blinding rage. he jumped scrambled up, leaving small droplets of blood after him as he scampered away from Allura.
"Guys! Stop It!" Shiro yelled and managed to cool Allura off as Coran, hunk, and Pidge bandaged Keith's wounds. Lance started spacekyping (space + skype = spacekyping) other girls that he had met around the universe. There was Rolot, a tribe priest with war tattoos, Varen, a part raven with horns and an unusually sweet attitude, and Thimps, a young girl they saved from the galra prison. They were always in contact, but everyone suspected her to be a scammer since she was arrested for scamming the empire.
"Hey, babe" Thimps chirped. her long dreadlocks that were scooped together in a messy bun looked extremely frizzy. Her freckles glowed different colours as she talked.
"Hey" Lance made lovey-dovey eyes and started making weird kissing noise. She started making the back, creating a symphony of weird kissing noises.
Pidge pretended to throw up and Hunk seemed struck with fear Keith just rolled his eyes. What else did you expect Lance to do?
Allura stormed in seconds later in the kissing ceremony. "I'm sorry, Thumb, Pimp, or Humb I don't remember, but we need Lance for a bit!" Allura snatched the tablet out of Lance's hands.
Thimps gasped. "Its Thimps, you old ten-thousand-year-old hag!"
"I don't care," Allura said and pressed the off button, ending the call.
"My darling!" Lance cried to himself. "How can you be so mean Allura, we were bonding!" Lance wailed. "You ten-thousand-year-old hag!"
"When will you realize that she is a hooker and gold digger, and another thing, I am not a hag!"
———————
"So everyone, that is the plan," Allura said as everyone stood around her all in full armor and Keith with his hood and mask on, after a long speech/battle plan from Allura. "The galra will be pass through here any minute now. I have sent the Blade of Marmora the plans because they were unfortunately unable to join us. Now everyone, move out!"
Everyone nodded and ran to their lions. Pidge managed to get to her lion first and stormed out the bay with Green. Then arkov got to Red, Keith not far behind.
"Hey! Why isn't my lion opening!" Arkov yelled as he banged on the lion's shield.
"What's wrong?" Allura burst in.
"This damn lion isn't opening!" Arkov kept banging on the forcefield that had been brought up around the lion.
"This is why I tell you to bond! Keith was very close to his lion, it had never rejected him! This is the third time, and this is a crucial moment! Do you never learn!" Allura started giving Arkov a lecture. Keith snuck behind Arkov to the and hopped through the small hatch on the lion's stomach, hoping no one had seen him.
Hey, Red, please open up
Not for him
Why not
Because he is a traitor
What are you ....
"Hey, where's Phin?" Lance asked. Keith froze in place.
Please, just hurry up and open
Fine ... but you'll regret this
Red lifted the shield around her and Arkov snickered.
"Thank goodness, it would have been terrible if the lion didn't open up" Allura scoffed and turn around to go back to the operating system/room.
"Canon one hear me? Where the quiznack is Phin?" Lance asked again and Allura stopped walking. She looked at Leader and Millfy who were now sitting on her shoulder, but they just shook there heads.
"I think he went to get his dagger" Coran spoke up.
"Ya, Phin doesn't go anywhere without his dagger" Millfy spoke up.
"Geez! If he doesn't get back here in two minutes, just leave without him!" Allura shouted and stormed off.
"Well I'm not waiting for that guy! I'm going on ahead! Shiro, Hunk and Arkov, lets just go!" Lance yelled, and without a second glance, flew out of the bay with Blue.
"Coming, coming, don't be so impatient!" Hunk yelled, even though Lance couldn't hear him, and climbed into his lion.
"I'm going too" Shiro said and climbed into Black. "This is a important mission."
Arkov climbed in after Shiro left off in his lion. "Thanks for unlocking it" Arkov said and looked at Keith who was slouched against a wall.
"Allura's right, you need to bond with Red more often, she doesn't trust you" Keith said, a dark look ing his eyes.
"Don't talk to me about trust, learn some yourself" Arkov said and flew out of the castle.