Ok so this is a new story.

My writing streak is slowing down, but I will try to keep it up! Motivation is so hard to hold onto.

Anywho, here's another part of the QS (quintessenal shock) or the QSK (quintessence sensitive Keith) series for all of you! Next part will probably actually have action in it. And as of right now it maybe a one-shot or it might have an extra chapter or two, we shall see. It depends how it comes out and what my writing decides to do.

I don't own Voltron Legendary Defender!

Onto the one-shot!

"Alright guys, we're just going to take this nice and easy, ok?" Shiro spoke over the coms.

"Aye aye, captain!" Lance called, giving a slight wave towards his own com allowing the video feed to capture his salute.

"What do you think is going to happen now that Keith can sense quintessence?" Hunk asked, his voice coated with curiosity. "Like, do you think anything will happen to Voltron?"

"I mean, isn't that why we're doing this?" Pidge spoke up. "So that way we aren't like, thrown off during battle or something. I mean, there will probably be a few factors that will still change a few things during battle, but this is a good chance to get a base of what might happen."

"I hope we get a power up." Lance said. "Like, we'll get more power or something? Hey, Keith! Do you think you can make us have a power up or something?"

"I can't manipulate quintessence, Lance, only sense it." Keith huffed over the coms and everyone could feel the eyeroll he gave without even looking at the video feed.

"Not yet, at least."

"I'm with Lance on this one." The green paladin piped up. "With how sensitive you are, Keith, I wouldn't be surprised if you could eventually manipulate it."

"Well, right now, I can't."

Pidge rolled their eyes in response to Keith's answer. "Have you and Allura done anything to see if you can manipulate it yet?"

"Well, no-"

"See? So it's still a possibility then!"

"Hey guys, as interesting as this is," Shiro stepped in. "The point of this exercise is to see what would happen when we form Voltron. Not only that, but since Keith is the catalyst of this, he's the one who needs to be the most ready for the formation. Bombarding him with questions before and after probably won't help his focus."

"I'm not that fragile, Shiro." Keith huffed, but he couldn't help the small bundle of warmth from forming in his stomach at the defense.

"I know, but it won't be good if you get overwhelmed so much that we have to break formation." Shiro replied. "I know what you're like, Keith, you'll push yourself until you pass out, and even then that doesn't stop you. I'd prefer for you to go slowly into this before it gets to that point."

"As I said before, there are other factors that could affect this in battle." Pidge said.

"Yeah, but as Shiro just pointed out, Keith would just power through it." Lance said. "You know, until it got too much and he was unresponsive or the connecting between us got overwhelmed and the Lions broke."

"Actually, you bring up a good point Lance." Pidge suddenly said making Lance pipe up.

"He did?" The red and yellow paladin asked skeptically.

"Of course I did!"

Pidge shook their head. "Not about the Keith thing, Shiro already covered that."

"Hey!" Keith protested. "I'm right here you know!"

"Keith, we have literally dragged you out of the training room." Hunk said. "I'm sorry buddy, but I have to be against you as well with this."

Pidge broke in before Keith could speak again, leaving the red paladin to grumble over his coms. "Ok, besides that, I meant the part about the Lions being connected when we form Voltron. We all know it takes all of us to form Voltron, so we'd probably feel it if Keith got overwhelmed, and we'll probably feel some just small feeling over whatever quintessence he's sensing as well."

"I wouldn't let it come to that." Keith huffed. He's gotten pretty good at creating his mental shields. Not only that, but he was always careful not to open up to much to the others when they formed Voltron - something he honestly does unconsciously rather than not - and if he was getting overwhelmed then he definitely doesn't want the pain to transfer to the others through the small connection he has that allows him to form Voltron with them.

"Keith," Shiro spoke up, the tone of his voice one that made each of the younger paladins flinch. "Being a paladin of Voltron means working as a team-"

"I know that-"

"And-" Shiro spoke over Keith's interruption. "That means we each look out for each other. If you get overwhelmed, then we need to know, no matter how much you want to keep it to yourself. Not only that, but Pidge is right when she said there's a connection between all of us when we're Voltron, so that means this will be just as important for us as it is for Keith."

"So what are we waiting for?" Lance asked, impatience in his voice. "Let's form Voltron!"

"That's not up to you Lance." Hunk spoke up, giving an apologetic glance at the other paladin through the screen of their communicator. "It's up to Keith. It's his ability."

"Keith?" Shiro called to their red paladin.

Keith sighed. "I'm ready whenever you are. It's not like I'll get a chance to prepare for it in battle, right?"

"Well...yes but-"

"Shiro, stop worrying! I'll be fine!"

Shiro sighed but decided to give into his adoptive brother's lack of concern for himself. They wouldn't get anywhere if they spent the time trying to get Keith to care about his own well being.

"Alright everyone, form Voltron!"

They moved instinctively, coming together to form the universe's warrior. As Keith felt Red connect to the others, he immediately felt the surge of energy come from the Lions, and he wasn't even actively searching for the quintessence yet. The energy was so much stronger than the feelings of his teammates walking past his door at night when he was without his shields. He was nearly swept away by what he felt, a soft gasp leaving his lips as his eyes widened. He only had a small amount of coherent thought to pull up his shields a little higher before he was completely swept away.

"-ith? Keith? Are you alright? Answer me, buddy." After a few seconds of coming back to himself after pulling up his shields, Keith could pick up Shiro's voice reaching his ears alongside the other paladins and Allura and Coran from the castle.

"Is he alright?"

"Do you need to abort?"

"Hey, Keith, Mullet? Say something, won't you?"

"He's not hurt, right?"

"Keith! Hey man, answer us already!"

Keith let out a soft huff as he let the tension in his body release slightly. Gathering his wits, he turned his head towards the coms. "I...I'm good. It...it was just a lot."

"Do we need to end this? Is it too much?" Shiro asked, worry and sternness flooding his tone. "Be honest with me Keith."

"No, I'm fine." Keith replied. "I got my shields up. Now...I guess I just let them down?"

"Be careful Keith." Allura's voice filtered through. "I understand you've got things under control, but this will be quite an amount of quintessence you will be feeling. You need to be careful. I recommend lowering them slowly."

"Got it."

With those words, Keith closed his eyes and focused on the walls he created within his mind with the sole purpose of holding back the onslaught of energy seeking to flood his mind. With a slow exhale, Keith began to lower the shields ever so carefully - something that took a surprising amount of focus for him. It took even more focus when the energy reached him, threatening to shatter his concentration the moment he felt it.

Gritting his teeth against the feelings, Keith focused on keeping the energy at a bearable level for himself before he allowed himself to actually process the feeling that were reaching him.

Power. Pure energy interlaced with will power. The color in his mind could only be described as a rainbow of cosmic colors. A shuttering breath left him when he was awashed with a mixture of each of the Lions' and their respective paladins' quintessence. All that made each of them them leaked into the bond that united them all together in creating Voltron. Those feelings of family and protection and loyalty and kindness and...and just everything that made up his team. The small similarities that showed in each one that connected them to the quintessence of Voltron along with that familiar underlining feeling that connected all quintessence. It shot through him in an unfamiliar yet familiar way.

"Keith? Everything ok?" Pidge called.

"Yeah, like your breathing kinda funny over there, man." Hunk spoke up.

"How many times do I have to tell you guys that I'm fine?" Keith spoke with a glare to the comms.

"Oh, so sorry that we care." Lance snarked back. "But seriously, we can't tell that anything has changed except for over the comms. Are you even connected with us right now?"

"Well, I obviously am if Voltron is still formed." Keith huffed before directing his attention back to the energy when he felt it brush up against him, causing him to tense up for a second.

"Keith, we won't know how this affects the bond in Voltron unless you open up to us more." Shiro spoke up, once again using the tone of his voice dubbed the 'dad voice'. "I know you don't like getting close to people but you should already be used to this. This can affect us more if you don't help us know what could happen now rather than later."

"Shiro-"

"Keith."

Keith clenched his fists, a knot building in his throat. He knew that he needed to open up, knew he could open up, but it was just hard for him to do. As he sat there, trying to convince himself to let down his guards in the direction of the team, he felt a combined growl reach him mind from both the bond and the energy. It made him freeze in his tracks, but soon he was relaxing as each of the Lions sent their own version of support towards him, Red always being the strongest one. And along side all of that, he felt the power within Voltron, that power pushing against his mind. All these parts helped him pull his own feelings of loyalty and trust to the surface and when he wavered, the Lions were all quick to help him once more.

Slowly, ever so slowly the short wall that held him away from his teammates lowered. He now felt the energy of his teammates through both the bond of Voltron as well as their quintessence that easily reached his enhanced senses from within the Red Lion. Those familiar energies were enough to allow him to relax even more and the barriers to lower even more.

"Wha-hey, are you guys feeling that?" Hunk called over the comms.

"You mean that weird relaxed feeling?" Lance called. "And warmth? Yeah."

"But I'm not feeling it directly." Pidge broke in. "It's like when one of us gets really excited in battle, you know. So, that means this has to be from Keith!"

"Keith?" Shiro called getting a hum in response from over the comms. "Is this you?"

Keith suddenly tensed and they all felt the wave of panic from his direction as well as a sudden tenseness when Keith started pulling shields up towards both the paladins and the quintessence. "Yes."

Before any of the paladins could get a word in, there seemed to be a growl in unison from the Lions and each of the paladins felt a respective surge of protection and warmth from their respective Lion.

"Hey, guys, Yellow just got really comforting."

"So did Blue!"

"Same here with Green. But why? I mean, I appreciate it but I wasn't feeling particularly stressed at the moment." Pidge replied before they suddenly exclaimed. "Oh! Keith!"

"Are you saying they did that to help him out?" Hunk asked.

"Hey! You already have a Lion, Keith!" Lance shouted, but everyone could clearly hear the joking tone in his voice. "You don't need to take ours!"

"I didn't do it on purpose." Keith huffed.

"It's nice to know that they're all here for each other." Shiro spoke with a smile on his face. "Keith, are you currently feeling anything else?"

"No."

"So, I guess in terms of his sensitivity, it plays with his emotions just as our bond does." Pidge speculated. "We won't suddenly gain the ability, but I bet if Keith suddenly got overwhelmed, we'd feel it through his reaction to it rather than the quintessence itself."

"Unless it's powerful enough." Hunk broke in. "I mean, we all know that we can feel the power of Voltron, most likely because of how much Quintessence it has. I mean, we probably don't feel it to the same degree as Keith does, but we'll probably still notice something if it's too a large extent."

"So, basically we didn't get any special powers and Keith can somehow talk with our Lions." Lance spoke up. "Is that what we're getting out of this?"

"It seems like it." Shiro replied.

"Aw man! I wanted some super cool move or something! Mullet! Pick up the pace!"

"Sorry that I can't control what happens to the universe's most powerful warrior." Keith grumbled.

"You should be!"

"You could always work on trying to manipulate quintessence." Pidge offered up once more. "There might be something there."

"Or I just get another thing to worry about." Keith huffed.

"That too, but it never hurts to try."

"Guys," Shiro broke in once more being the peacemaker. "One thing at a time, please."

"Paladins, please disassemble and return to the castle." Allura spoke up over the comms. "The test is finished."

"For now."

"Pidge."

"What? I'm just saying."

A sigh from their team leader was the only response they got.

SO that was that! Sorry if it was a bit boring. Next one has a action. And whump...probably.

Feel free to comment or anything else!

Until next time! :D