Alfor really should have been training as soon as he got up the next day, but instead he found himself once more in his lab. His thought process was pretty simple: if he made himself good enough armour and a good enough weapon, he should be just fine.
He was actually just going to adjust the armour his father had made him wear to the alliance meeting yesterday. Make it stronger and maybe mess with it until it could deflect attacks or something. As for his weapon, he'd obviously use a sword. And he could easily make a decent sword in seven quintents.
"Well done last night," a sudden voice snapped him out of his concentration, and he nearly left a scorch mark on the front of his armour as he jumped.
"Honerva!" he exclaimed in surprise. "You were there, then?"
She laughed. "Of course I was, I and several other alchemists."
"You and the others are the best," he said warmly, returning his attention to his armour.
"So what new project are you working on now?" she asked. "And will it shoot lasers constantly like the last one?"
"That was not what I meant for it to do," he protested. "And no, I'm simply strengthening this armour so I don't get killed on Nalquod."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Nalquod? I had heard King Almir was sending troops, but I did not imagine he would send you."
"Comes with the alliance, I suppose," said Alfor, grimacing. "Once this armour is strengthened and I forge my sword, I should be alright. And train. I must also train."
She shook her head. "You could have asked one of us to strengthen your armour and forge you a sword while you train."
"No, that's quite alright," he said.
"You made quite an impression," she said. "I believe even Emperor Zarkon liked you, and I previously believed he did not have feelings."
"You've interacted with Emperor Zarkon before?" Alfor asked incredulously.
"No," she said, "but I've seen the man."
"Ah, Honerva, you can't simply judge based on appearance!" Alfor chided teasingly.
"I knew you were a total dork based on appearance," she said innocently. "Get your armour done, Alfor, then go train some. There are swords you can use if you do not complete yours. Experience is invaluable and you, my friend, have none."
Alfor sighed. "You're correct as usual, Honerva. Very well. I will go train after I finish my armour."
He had mostly finished his armour by midday, and so he grabbed something to eat before he headed to the training arena. He had also donned his armour to get used to moving in it- and make sure it worked.
"Start training level three," said Alfor warily. He could usually managed level three. The gladiator bot popped up from the floor and promptly started attacking him. Alfor parried its blow with the sword he'd borrowed from the armoury. He and the bot continued in this vein for several minutes, before Alfor finally succeeded in knocking the gladiator off its feet. He breathed a sigh in relief and pushed his hair out of his face.
"Neat area you've got here," came a new voice. Alfor spun around in alarm. Blaytz was standing off the side, arms crossed and smile on his face. "So you can use a sword, kid! Well done."
"Thanks," he said, deciding against telling him that most Altean children could manage that level.
"Mind if I join you?" he asked. "Don't want to get rusty, and it'll be good to work on our teamwork- after all, we're a team now."
"Sure, if you'd like," said Alfor. "I hadn't even known you were still on Altea."
"Yeah, we're leaving tonight," said Blaytz. "One of my ships still needed some repairs and Altea has some of the best mechanics this side of the Dalterion Belt."
Alfor nodded. "My best friend's father is very good mechanic, he helps fix up the castle whenever it goes weird. His grandfather built it."
"And you're interested in alchemy, right?" said Blaytz.
Alfor nodded, smiling brightly. "I'm not half bad at it if I say so myself, even if half of my creations do things I didn't expect them to do. I'm going to make my own sword for the battle, and I already tweaked my armour so that it would do a better job keeping me alive."
Blaytz frowned, brow furrowing. "Is this going to be your first actual battle, kid?"
Alfor shrugged. "Am I that obvious?"
"You certainly don't carry yourself like a soldier," admitted Blaytz. "You're sure about this? We won't think less of you if you sit this one out. The Marvids… they're nothing to scoff at."
"I've made up my mind," said Alfor. "I'm part of this alliance, therefore I should be part of the fight. My armour should protect me enough."
Blaytz observed him for a second, before shaking his head. "Alright. How do we get that robot going?"
"Oh, right, well, what level were you wanting?" Alfor asked.
Blaytz blinked. "Something that's a challenge, I suppose. Which do you usually use?"
"That won't be a challenge for you," said Alfor. "If anything, you should do level fifteen like my sister. I've, um, currently never made it past five."
"What do you say we try ten?" he suggested. "Harder than you're used to, but we're working together, so it should be a breeze!"
"Alright," said Alfor unsurely. "Commence training level ten."
Two robots. There were two robots this time.
Of course there were.
Alfor mentally coached himself as they lunged. Parry blows, don't get stabbed, protect your teammate, dodge unless it would leave your teammate dead- crud, dodge now, dodge now!
He dove out of the way, then rose to parry the next robot's blows. Blaytz was easily taking care of the first robot with his dual swords, reminding Alfor just how unskilled he actually was.
The gladiator bot knocked into Alfor, sending him flying backwards to hit the ground with a painful thud. The bot rushed forward, its sword drawn, and Alfor struggled to block the blow with his own weapon, still on the ground.
"Kid!" exclaimed Blaytz in alarm.
The bot pushed lifted its sword and made to strike again. Alfor panicked.
"End training sequence!" he yelped. The bot promptly shut down, and Alfor stayed where he was, propped on his elbows and breathing heavily. The bot, though powered down, still loomed over him threateningly. Blaytz ran over to him and kneeled beside him, face painted with worry. The Nalquodian's eyes scanned Alfor as if looking for injury, but aside from scuffmarks on his armour (he'd have to fix that) Alfor knew he'd find nothing.
"Shoot, kid, I didn't realise the bots would split us up like that," he said. "We should have started lower- you're not a warrior- are you okay? Do you need a doctor or anything?"
"I'm fine- I'm fine," Alfor assured him, ignoring the sting of hurt that came with Blaytz pointing out his inability to fight. "Just- give me a moment. Sorry I left you alone with the other one-"
"Ah, kid," said Blaytz, fins almost flat against his head. He offered Alfor a hand and helped him stand up. Alfor winced and stretched his probably bruised arm, frustrated that even working with someone he couldn't complete level ten.
"Sorry," muttered Alfor again. "I better go. It was nice training with you, Blaytz."
"Kid, wait-" Blaytz protested, but Alfor was already out of the room.
Alfor quickly found himself back in his lab after changing out of his armour. He'd spent a few moments inspecting the bruise blossoming on his shoulder, before deciding to ignore it and get working on his sword.
If the fight in the training arena was any indication of how the actual battle would go, then Alfor wouldn't last five minutes. He'd probably be the first person dead on the entire battlefield.
"I should ask Coran if I can install the stuff they use in the healing pods into my armour," he muttered to himself.
"Thought you were fine," said Blaytz's voice. Alfor jumped about a foot in the air and turned to face the Nalquodian king, nearly knocking everything off of his work table and onto the floor. He scrambled to catch his supplies, and Blaytz rushed over to help him.
"What are you- how did you get into my lab?" he demanded.
"Told your father I wanted to check on you," said Blaytz, placing the supplies he'd grabbed back onto the table, "like a good teammate, yeah? So. Thought you said you were fine."
"I am fine," Alfor insisted. "I bruised my shoulder a tad, and I was thinking ahead about how likely it is that I'll be stabbed or something."
"We'll protect you better than I did in that training sequence," Blaytz assured him. He eyed him worriedly. "Only a tad?"
"Yes," said Alfor exasperatedly. "Did you really think I was seriously injured and wouldn't tell someone? Is that why you came to check on me?"
Blaytz shifted awkwardly. "I was mostly worried I pushed you too hard, going straight to level ten like that. I wasn't really thinking, I guess-"
"I need to be pushed hard, I'll be fighting the Marvids in, what, six quintents now?" said Alfor evenly, gathering the last of his dropped supplies and putting them back on the table. He leaned on it a moment, brow furrowed and looking straight ahead, pointedly not at Blaytz. "My father believed in me enough to sign me up for this alliance."
"He told me he didn't particularly want you fighting the Marvids," Blaytz challenged.
Alfor groaned and turned to face the Nalquodian. "I'm part of this alliance. I'm fighting. I'm not a little kid, so don't treat me like one. Are you going to try to stop me? I'm not your son."
Blaytz sighed. "Alright, kid- Alfor. I understand. Heh, I was like you not too long ago myself. I mean, granted, my father had me training since birth to be a warrior- with the war with the Galra and all. I had to be prepared to fight and prepared to- you know- lose people."
His face fell, his fins drooping. Alfor winced; Blaytz seemed like a pretty cool guy, and it seemed like Alfor was making a terrible impression right off the bat. He awkwardly returned his attention to his weapon-in-progress.
"I was surprised to find out both Nalquod and Daibazaal would be part of the alliance," Alfor admitted softly, "but I was also really glad. We all kind of hated reading about your war. Father's always believed all the societies in our system should try to be allies. There are so many threats from the outside- like the Marvids and the Qadorians- it's why he pushed this alliance so hard. I don't know why he decided five people would make a good defence task force, or especially why he thought I'd make a good addition, but I do know this alliance is a good thing and- and I'm glad to be a part of it. To be able to make our system a better and more peaceful place."
He was very aware that the Nalquodian was staring at him, so he tried very hard to focus on what he was doing. He wondered if he could install lasers into his sword. Or a particle barrier.
"You're a good kid, Alfor," said Blaytz finally. "If you're up for it later… I'd be glad to teach you some of the things my father taught me about fighting."
Alfor stiffened and glanced at him in surprise. "Truly?"
Blaytz grinned at him. "I've always wanted to give teaching a shot. And an actual person is always a better teacher than a robot trying to kill you."
Alfor stared at him, before managing a small smile of his own.
"Well- thanks, Blaytz," he said, glancing back at the scraps of metal- soon to be sword- on his table. "I think I'll take you up on that."
A/N: I didn't mean for this chapter to be pretty much all Alfor and Blaytz bonding but it was. Oh well, Blaytz seems like the one that would reach out first anyway. I also didn't know whether to say fins or ears? I stuck with fins because it felt right to me.
I took the line "You are much more knowledgeable as an alchemist than a soldier." and ran with it, by the way. Alfor is still working on this whole fighting thing. He's trying. If the new Paladins could manage learning to fight as fast as they did, he can too.
Honerva was in this one too! They seemed to know each other pretty well. I made her older than him but still close in age- at this point, she is already an alchemist and he is not quite.
Hope you guys liked this chapter! I had fun writing the Blaytz and Alfor interactions!
