Chapter three: Mystery Solved
"Were you trying to do it?" Pidge wondered.
"Wait what?" Matt felt left behind by he situation in front of him.
"No, not at all." Shiro shook his head.
"What?" Matt questioned. "What's going on." Shiro's eyes met Matt's.
"I haven't-.. felt right, lately." Shiro finally answered the confused Matthew. Allura's expression was puzzled, but thoughtful, then it lit up in a realization.
"Maybe it's the Black lion." She thought aloud. Everyone stared blankly at her. "Shiro's consciousness was transferred into the Black Lion, by the Black lion. It saved him. And we know now that he was trapped there for months, before we found him. Maybe he gained some abilities just from being inside the Black lion's inner quintessence."
"Is that possible?" Sam asked hopefully, though a little skeptical.
"Of course." Allura confirmed.
"Ok, but what does that mean?" Lance asked, still lost in the explanation.
"Essentially Shiro's connection with the Black lion still remains. And is stronger than it has ever been. They're so connected that Shiro is experiencing an increase in quintessence within him. He's gained an ability much like that of the Alteans. I have abilities that I was born with and have learned from Oriande. The Alteans have the special ability to manipulate quintessence and channel it at will. And because of the Black lion, Shiro has gained this ability. That is why his new arm must be powered by a Balmeran crystal. And why Shiro was able to convert the Atlas in to that giant robot all by himself."
"And why all this has happened." Keith realized.
"Precisely." Allura confirmed. "Essentially Shiro's been given the ability to communicate with anything with crystal technology, because of the excess quintessence he now possesses."
"Then will that explain the nightmares too?" Lance implied.
"Unfortunately no." Allura shook her head.
"It's probably just his PTSD, l like dad said." Pidge figured, adjusting her glasses on her nose. "Though the excess quintessence hasn't done him any favors."
"So now we know the problem." Lance decided finally. "Who's got the solution?"
"I do." Allura stepped forward. "I need to drain some of the access quintessence from Shiro. That will calm his condition back down."
"I can't let you do that." Shiro protested.
"What not?" Allura was confused.
"There's too much power for any one person to posses." Shiro continued simply. "We wouldn't be solving the problem, rather we'd be passing it around to different people. There's got to be a way to stop it.. completely." Allura's gaze dropped as she racked her brain for an answer. Then her expression lit up in realization.
"Their might be a way." The Princess vocalized her thoughts. "But I'd like to see something first."
Sensors were being placed on Shiro's chest and back, the white tank top he wore concealed some of them. Shiro sat cross-legged in the game chamber.
"So what are we doing again?" Lance asked, dubiously.
"We're going to test his connection the Black Lion." Pidge answered immediately, connecting one last wire into her computer. "That'll tell us the extent of his situation... in theory." She thought, placing her right pointer finger to her lip.
"And this will tell us how strong it is?" Lance implied.
"How will that help?" Keith wondered aloud. "We know Shiro still has a strong bond with the Black Lion."
"Yes, but by knowing how powerful it is, we can determine what needs to be done to neutralize his physical response to it." Allura explained. Keith blinked then lowered his chin.
"Oh." He said simply. "Ok." Pidge turned back to Shiro.
"Ok Shiro. Now try to connect with the Black lion." She told him. Shiro closed his eyes, he drew in a deep breath to relax himself. His mind reached out to Black and the lion sensed it.
In the hanger, Sam, Matt and Hunk stood waiting.
"So what are we waiting for?" Matt asked, rocking back and forth onto his heels. Just then the Black lion's eyes lit up and the blue lights shone on it's face and body. The lion then stood up and roared, shaking the ground with its might.
"That." Sam smiled. But then a powering-on noise sounded behind them, making Matt and Hunk jump. Matt did a lover's leap into the Yellow Paladin's arms as, the Atlas suddenly powered on by itself. The blue veins of the Castle of Lions crystal cluing them in. Then one by one each of the MFE jets activated as well, much to their astonishment.
"What's going on?!" May was half freaked out, and half excited. As Hunk lowered him down again.
Just then, the Monsters Mana game activated, and they were all standing in a beautiful valley with the sun shining and birds singing.
"Woah." Keith was in awe.
"Amazing." Krolia gasped. She had joined them after, Keith told her about what had happened with Shiro and the Black lion just a little while earlier.
"Is Shiro doing that?!" Lance asked, his eyes darting around the room.
"Yeah!" Pidge gasped excitedly. "But his vitals are fine!" She was astounded that the pulsations on her computer screen remained constant. Then Sam, Hunk and Matt's awestruck faces popped up on her screen.
"You're never gonna believe this!!" Sam cried, "but look!" He pointed the camera towards the lions. "They're all powered up!"
"Amazing!" Pidge breathed.
"And that's not all." Hunk put in, as the camera shifted. "The Atlas just powered in as well!"
"Woah, woah, woah! How is that possible?!?!" Lance waved his hands out in front of him.
"Shiro must have enough quintessence stored up to power anything with a crystal." Allura guessed with wide eyes. Just then Shiro opened his eyes and with a gasp, fell to the left bracing his left forearm on the floor. His right knee following it, sticking up in the air, and his right arm resting on his left leg. The illusion dissipated and the lions and Atlas powered down again.
"Easy, Shiro." Pidge advised, pulling him upright again. Bracing his elbows on his knees he lowered his head.
"Breathe." Allura told him. She laid a gentle hand on his shoulder as he flexed his neck, as if trying to pop it.
"What happened?" He groaned, unable to recall the events of the last several minutes.
"You're not gonna believe this..." Pidge began excitedly. "But you just powered the game simulator, the lions and the Atlas, all by yourself!!"
"What?!" Shiro half laughed. "Are you sure?"
"Believe me Shiro." Sam called from the computer screen. "She is not joking."
"How... how did you do it Shiro?!" Matt cried, still stupefied by what he'd seen.
"Well...you're guess is as good as mine, Matt." Shiro shrugged.
"So now that we know what's going on..." Hunk started. "What do we do about it?"
"Well something's got to give." Allura decided. Her gaze dropping and eyebrows furrowing. "Clearly this increase of power is the cause of his lack of restful sleep."
"You're talking about severing my bond with the Black lion, aren't you?" Shiro guessed, reading her expression.
"I don't see any other option." Allura sighed.
"What? No there got to be another way?!" Pidge felt her heart jerk in her chest, and then break in two. She knew what this meant for Shiro, as a Paladin. And she couldn't bare to see that taken away from him. Allura, seeing the Green paladin's disturbed face, searched her mind for an alternative. And then it hit her, the epiphany.
"Actually, there might be another way." She realized.
Allura reached to her right and placed a hand on the Black lion's leg. She stared up at it for a moment before turning to Shiro, standing perpendicular to her left side. She then laid laid her left had across his forehead, then dropped her chin. Centering herself she began to glow blue. And, in turn, Shiro and the Black lion began to glow as well. Blue veins traveled slowly around the lion's body. The energy it took made Allura, and Shiro, sink to the ground, Black not moving an inch. The ground glowed blue where they all stood. Shiro used his right hand and left knee to steady himself and that, too, became that glowing blue. The blue glow finally died down and Shiro fell back to a sitting position on the floor and Allura shifted her hands to his shoulders.
"This is incredible!!" Sam exclaimed. His expression hard to see, when peering through the scopes. "That blue glow is gone!" He viewed what he was seeing on the bigger screen. Shiro's eyes no longer had those veins of blue light!
"Amazing!" Pidge breathed. She then turned to Allura. "How did you do it?"
"Well quintessence can't just disappear." The Princess explained. "It has to go somewhere. So all I did was created an open bond between Shiro and the Black lion. Which means their quintessence will now filter through both of them. Shiro will still have his connection with the Black lion. And the Black won't keep giving Shiro more power than he can handle. Essentially they share quintessence. Meaning that it flows through both of them, at the same time. So neither one of them will have more than they can handle."
"So he won't be able to power any crystal tech anymore?" Pidge sounded almost disappointed.
"I don't think so," Allura shrugged. "I think that he'll never lose that ability because of how the clone body was made. After all, Haggar did create it didn't she?"
"Oh you're right." Pidge tapped her chin inquisitively.
"So what does this mean for Shiro?" Keith piped up. "Will he be ok?"
"This should solve the issues he's been having lately." Allura confirmed. "But the nightmares may not be one of them."
"Well just have to wait and see." Shiro put in, finally getting to his feet.
That night Shiro did have a dream,... but to his surprise it wasn't bad. He dreamt he was on Earth, with the Garrison behind him. He and the rest of the Paladins were watching the sun dip down over the horizon, staining the sky with all shades of blues, purples, pinks, yellows, oranges and reds. The Black lion sat quietly behind them, like a guardian ready to protect its master. And Shiro smiled, all is finally well. He thought to himself.
~A Terrible Nightmare~
Hey everybody, sorry about not getting this one done but I've been busy with other stories and hi had a point where I got stuck so I hadn't really down anything. Though this is the last chapter of this story, I kind of expected it. But I hope you guys enjoyed it. Thx!