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Just Another Day

"Bleep, bleep, bleep", Allura bolted upright and slapped her alarm off with one hand while removing her covers with the other. It was still dark outside her window so she flicked on her bedside lamp.

This is it, she thought. This morning I'm finally going to win a match! She quickly ran a brush through her long honey-blonde hair and twisted it into a convenient bun. She glanced over her judo uniform while imagining using the new throw that Lance had taught her to pin Keith for once.

"Well, I'm certainly going to try, that's for sure", she said out-loud, thinking of all the times that she had come up with some new move to impress the captain, but somehow always having them backfire on her. She tied the belt on her tunic with a swift tug and ran to her bathroom. Moments later she was rushing out of her room towards the gym. She really hoped to get there first so that she could gather her bearings. For some reason she had a hard time doing that when the captain was already there.

As she rounded the corner of the hall connecting to the gym she was disappointed to see the lights already on. Her disappointment quickly disappeared when she entered the gym and saw Keith going through his warm- up routine.

"Good morning, Princess", Keith said with a grin. "Already for some practice?" When Allura nodded, Keith started over in his warm-up routine so that she could join him. Allura quickly fell into the routine of stretches and forms that she had used for the last year. She tried to focus her mind on the exercises, but as usual she tried too hard and found herself making silly mistakes, like losing her balance.

"Just relax Allura. Focus on your breathing." Keith said, trying to be helpful. Allura took a deep breath and tried again. Slowly she managed to calm her nerves and finish the exercise. After the warm-up Keith and Allura worked on several old moves to improve her hand-to-hand combat skills. By the time they got around to trying a new move, daylight had started to enter the gymnasium windows.

"We can take a few minutes break", said Keith barely showing any signs of fatigue after their long practice. Allura could merely nod while she tried to catch her breath and get a drink of water. After she had taken a few small sips she asked, "We're still going for that re-match, right Keith?" Keith raised an eyebrow at her, obviously skeptical at her request and smiled, "Well, we can if you want."

"Oh, don't worry, I'm fine." She put down her water glass of water. "But if you're too tired I understand" Allura said trying to egg him on.

Keith chuckled. "Nah, I think I can manage a round." Keith stretched like a cat just woken up from a nap, before taking his position on the mat. Allura tightened her belt and took a position opposite him. She tried to duplicate his relaxed pose, but when she looked him directly in the eyes, nervous excitement filled her. She took a deep breath and tried to concentrate on maintaining a calm expression on her face.

After the traditional bow however, Keith's posture instantly changed as he fired off an opening punch, which Allura barely managed to block. Allura quickly blocked two more quick punches before getting in a kick of her own. Keith seemed to block it effortlessly but his timing was off as he tried a combination punch. Allura took the opportunity to maneuver in closer to try Lance's new move. She managed to get in close enough but Keith took the opportunity to force her back and trip her over her own feet. The next thing Allura knew, she was lying on her back with Keith's right knee firmly pinning her shoulder to the mat.

"Ok, ok, I give up" groaned Allura as Keith jumped up and offered her a hand. Allura sat up, shook her head and looked at him and his outstretched arm.

"First you throw me down, then you want to pick me up?" Allura said smiling to take the bite out of her words.

"Actually you were doing quite well-"

"Ha! When? During take-off or landing?" Allura interrupted.

Keith just laughed and offered his hand again. Allura finally took it and lifted herself off the mat. "Actually your speed is really improving. You should have taken advantage of my slip-up though, instead of trying to get closer."

"Actually, I was trying to get in position to try this new move that Lance taught me."

Keith raised his eyebrow again. "Really? Lance teaching you a move? I'm curious to see it if you don't mind."

"Now?" asked Allura.

"Sure why not. Lance has a slightly different style and I'm curious to see a new move he's got. As captain it's important that I stay one step ahead of the team you know." Keith smiled evilly and Allura couldn't help but laugh.

"Ok well, I was supposed to get you in this position" said Allura maneuvering close to Keith's left side, turning around and grabbing his left arm. "Um, then I was supposed to throw you over my hip." Allura looked at him sheepishly.

"Well, by all means, please continue"

Allura shrugged, then turned pulled Keith off balance and threw him over her hip so that he landed on the ground. Unfortunately Keith had grabbed her arm as well and managed to pull her down on top of him. Suddenly Allura found herself lying on top of Keith with her face inches from his. Surprised, Allura did not immediately pull away and found herself looking into a pair of large, dark brown eyes. She felt a blush starting to form on her cheeks when Keith finally broke the moment by speaking.

"Well, that would explain why Lance likes this move, but I may have to talk to him about why he was practicing it on you!" Allura laughed and tried unsuccessfully to get off of Keith gracefully. She finally settled for rolling off of him and sitting up on the mat.

"Oh don't worry, Lance was the only one who ended up on the floor when he showed me." Allura got to her feet and dusted herself off. "I don't think you have to worry about Lance coming up with any surprise moves, you managed to read that one pretty good or I just did something wrong, again!"

Keith got up from the mat as well and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Princess, I think it was a flaw in the move and not anything you did wrong. As I said before, your training is really coming along well." Allura smiled at the compliment. She didn't know why she wanted to please him, all she knew was that a compliment from him was worth ten from anyone else.

"Well we better shower and get changed before breakfast" said Keith before removing his hand and going over to the side of the gym to pick up his towel. "You don't want to listen to Nanny I'm sure."

Allura rolled her eyes. "No, that's true. Thanks for the extra practice Keith."

"No problem" said Keith as he waved and headed out the gym. As soon as Allura was out of eyesight he shook his head as he continued his walked down the hall towards his quarters. His body still burned where she had touched it. Damn, damn, damn. I know better than that. Keith berated himself. Lance and his stupid move. God, I haven't seen that move since 2nd year at the academy when he taught Sven's girlfriend. Keith stifled a laugh as he remember how surprised Sven had been during morning PT. The rest of his group had been pretty amused as well. Needless to say none of them were surprised when Sven was late for breakfast that morning. Keith's mind slowly wandered back to his beautiful sparring partner. As he reached his room Keith just shook his head again. Some things are impossible and the sooner I accept that the better thought Keith as he headed off to have a cold shower.

* * * * * * * * *

"Ok Lance, that was better but you have to stay closer when we come out of that formation." Keith said into his radio. He watched the red lion execute a showoff roll before closing the distance to the other lions.

"No problem, Captain!" replied Lance with a smirk on his face. Keith just shook his head and made sure that all the other lions were correctly in formation before setting up for a dive and recovery.

Keith watched the blue lion move a head of the yellow. "Ok Princess, try not to let your airspeed built up that high, ease up on the throttle during a steep dive, or you'll just go down faster."

"Sorry", the Princess said, berating herself under her breath for making the same mistake twice this practice.

Keith glanced at his watch before ordering another try at the dive and recovery. "Let's go up a little higher though this time" he ordered.

As the lions continued their ascent into the upper atmosphere, Pidge noticed a strange reading on his long range sensor. "Um Captain, I'm picking up something on my sensors. I'm not sure what it is though, it's pretty far off."

"Is it one of Zoltar's ships?" asked Keith already trying to tune his sensor in the direction that Pidge had indicated. "I can't pick up anything on my sensors."

"I don't think so Captain, it's barely giving off any power readings. Do you want me to go check it out? It's a few light years from Arus so the castle defense won't have picked up anything yet."

Keith leveled his lion and indicated for everyone else to do so as well. "Pidge, you and Lance go and check it out and radio in if you need back-up or anything. The rest of us, let's head back to the castle and make sure there's no surprise attack coming or anything." The green and red lion continued their ascent while the remaining lions headed back to the castle.

Back at castle control, Coran, Keith, Allura and Hunk were gathered around the consoles but they couldn't detect any ships or other signs of an impending Doom attack.

"Pidge, this is Keith, have you made contact with the blip on your sensor's yet?"

"Ah, in just a moment Captain...There we go. Yup it's a ship alright. It's really small and I'm still getting very little power readings. Nobody's responding to my hails though."

"What about you Lance?" asked Keith.

"Um, well I think that there's enough power coming off of the skip to run some basic life support, but if we don't find a way to get this ship down soon, there'll be no point in hurrying. Let me try and engage my tractor beam". Several minutes passed in silence. "No, it's no good, the tractor beam isn't picking up the ship for some reason."

"Lance, why don't we try and grab the ship with the lions' mouths. It's small enough that I think we should be able to do it. It will just be awkward flying" offered Pidge.

Keith examined the data coming in from the lions. "Ok, guys, give that a try but be careful. Radio in when you're close to landing and we'll have a medical team waiting." After Pidge and Lance confirmed, Keith turned to Coran. "Can you have a medical team waiting?"

"Sure, I will go speak with Dr. Gorma right now" said Coran before he turned exited the control room.

Hunk turned to Keith "Captain, I'm going to go the that landing bay get everyone prepared for an emergency landing. Even if they make it down without a problem, it still isn't going to be pretty".

"Good idea Hunk, I'll come with you. Princess?" Keith turned to Allura to ask her if she was coming as well.

"I'm right behind you." The three of them exited the control room.

At the landing bay everyone was waiting impatiently for the red and green lion to touch down with the crippled ship in their jaws. The first approach had to be abandoned because Pidge kept speeding up on the descent causing the ship held between them to torque dangerously.

"Pidge, abort descent let's take it back up to 1000 paces and try again on my mark" ordered Lance. Keith merely nodded silently at Lance's decision. Their radio was being broadcasted over the control consul in the landing bay.

"Ok, Pidge, on my mark.NOW". The red and green lions recommenced their descent in perfect unison this time. The lions touched down within seconds of each other and lowered their heads to gently land the damaged ship to the ground. As soon as the ship was down, Keith and Hunk were walking around it to find an entrance. They were soon joined by Lance and Pidge.

The ship showed signs of laser burn and the main engines were badly damaged. "Here it is" said Keith from the port side of the ship. Lance was at his side trying to pry the door open. Lance found a turn handle located on the side of the door and manually raised the door by turning the handle.

"Ok, I'm going in", said Lance as he hopped through the door followed closely by Keith. After several minutes Keith came back out and motioned for Dr. Gorma to bring the medical gurney closer to the entrance. Lance came to the door a few minutes later carrying an unconscious woman in his arms. Her small form was dressed in a tight black jumpsuit and she hung limply in his arms. Her long, red flaming hair hung her head back showing a face covered in blood.