I was able to get chapter four done before tomorrow and I'm so happy about that. I'll be gone for the rest of the week so chapter five will be submitted in a time that only God knows when. I appreciate the patience all of my readers have. I really do! Thank you so much.

GG11

It was the next day and the Voltron force had decided to do a little Judo training outside the castle while Nanny was off in the village. They stood around a small lake as Keith explained an easy approach to use when in a fight, to Allura as the other three practiced some moves a few feet away.

"It's important that you don't lose your balance when in these kind of situations," Keith explained. "It's also essential to stay focused on your surroundings as well. When in a fight, you need to keep your priorities straight and be one step ahead of your opponent or in some cases opponents."

Keith stopped talking when he glanced at the Princess. Seeing that she was no longer watching him or paying attention, but instead was staring out at the lake with distracted eyes, he said, "Princess you need to be taking note of what I'm saying."

Allura peeled her eyes from the water. She was having a hard time listening to him. For one, the way he was talking sounded to business like. She longed for the two of them to be lying beside the lake talking about something other than an encounter with their enemies. Also she was irritated at how casual he talked to her after pretty much smashing her heart into a million pieces.

"Keith can we do this another time?" she asked him.

"It's rare that Nanny goes into the village, and speaking of that, do you know what she is doing?" Keith asked.

Allura shrugged glancing back at the water.

"Princess we need to focus," Keith said crouching down next to her. "If you want to get plenty of practice in, we need to…Princess are you listening?" He reached out placing his hand on her shoulder.

Allura shook it off causing Keith's spirits to fall. He glanced at the ground shaking his head.

"Allura please don't do this."
"How many times are you going to tell me to do that?" Allura asked.

Turning so he was completely facing her Keith said, "I'm sorry but this has to stop."

"Alright Keith, if that's what you want," Allura said. "I won't bug you about this dispute anymore."

Keith was surprised at how hard what she had just said hit him. It must have been that deep down he didn't want Allura to stop being mad at him for what he did; possibly because he was furious with himself too.

"Allura, I-"

"Well practice makes perfect then," Allura said hopping from the ground.

Keith watched her move into the battle stance he had shown her earlier. 'Why did she have to be so perfect?' he thought, 'perfect for me.'

He slowly rose to his feet ready to teach the delicate Princess how to fight.

"Hey you guys wa'na hit the beach after we finish up?" Lance asked strolling up to Keith and Allura.

"We need to finish first, Lance, so please don't make any distractions," Keith said.

"Actually, if you guys don't mind, I was thinking you could all teach me today," Allura said.

Keith's frown became even deeper. It had always been him teaching Allura by himself, borrowing the other guys when he needed someone for Allura to practice on. He had a feeling he had made a huge mistake. How on earth was he going to fix this?

Lance shrugged, "Ok then." He quickly gestured to Hunk and Pidge behind him to come over to them.

After they were all situated, Pidge began showing Allura a few extra stretches to do before actually fighting.

"They help build a little more flexibility and stimulate the muscles," Pidge said as he and Allura began the stretches.

"I see," Allura said. "So they're optional?"

"I'm the only one who does them but I think everyone else should too," Pidge said.

When they had finished the stretches, the five of them stood in a circle all in a Judo battle stance.

"Pick your opponent," Lance said to Allura.

"You," Allura said pointing to Lance.

Nodding Lance said, "Alright then."

The two of them marched into the middle of the circle.

"Today we'll be practicing-"

Suddenly a loud alarm was heard from the castle as red lights lining the roof flickered off and on.

"What's that mean?" Hunk asked.

"Gas leak!" Pidge exclaimed.

He suddenly shot forward without thinking bumping into Keith. Losing his balance, Keith fell over onto Allura. The two toppled over falling to the ground.

It was at that moment Keith found himself on top of the Princess. Both Keith and Allura's cheeks became a dark cheery red.

Keith glanced down at the Princess and said, "I…I'm so sorry, I-"

The two locked eyes gazing intensely. If it wasn't for certain circumstances the two might have shared a kiss.

Peeling her eyes away from Keith Allura said, "We'd better follow the others."

Both raced after the other three pilots into the castle to find several guards had passed out from the gas leak.

After the five pilots had done a full scan of the castle they met in the control room.

"How did this happen?" Allura asked, "The castle has never had a gas leak before."

"I was scanning the boiler down in the engine room and found one of the pipes had been sliced into two," Pidge said.

"Who would have done such a thing?" Allura asked.

"I don't know," Pidge said.

"We should do a full inspection of the guards," Keith said. "I'll go initiate that right away." He turned around leaving the room.

"Where is Coran?" Allura asked.

"There were only a few rooms that were contaminated by the gas leak and seeing he isn't here with us, I'm lead to the assumption that he could have been in one of them," Hunk said.

"But we pretty much covered every room in the castle," Lance said. "He was nowhere to be found in any of the ones contaminated or uncontaminated."

"Has anyone checked the tunnels below the castle?" Allura asked.

"I don't think so," Pidge said. "Could the gas leak have reached down there?"

"And if he was there while that happened, that would explain why he isn't here," Lance said.

"We'd better go check it out," Hunk said.

"You stay here," Lance said to Allura. "If there is a gas leak down there then we need to filter the air before you come down."

Lotor stood in a small quiet corner in the castle where he thought no one could see him. He had hoped to cause more trouble for the Voltron Force when he had messed with the pipes. He leaned on the wall playing with his watch changing from Keith to Lance to Hunk to Pidge and one time he even turned into Nanny though he felt awkward so he didn't do that again.

Hearing footsteps approaching, Lotor refrained from changing into the next Voltron pilot. He ended up remaining with Keith's appearance.

He silently slid out from the corner he was in. Seeing Lance, Pidge, and Hunk strolling in his direction he tried his best to imitate Keith's serious frown he often wore.

"Hey Keith," Lance greeted him as the other two moved on in the hallway sending him a pleasant smile. "I thought you were inspecting the guards."

"I'll do it later," Lotor said shrugging.

"Um…ok, you wa'na help us scan the tunnels then?" Lance asked.

"No," Lotor said.

"Since when do you not-"

"I don't want to help you!" Lotor snapped.

"Geesh!" Lance exclaimed. "Are you still mad about me not helping Coran? People forget sometimes you know. You need to-"

"Just shut up and stop talking to me," Lotor growled. "Your voice is giving me a headache. You always give me a headache."

Lance scowled.

"Pardon me, but you've obviously mistaken me for someone who gives a crap!" He then began stomping away through the hall after Hunk and Pidge, steam flying out of his ears.

"You ok?" Pidge asked him when he caught up.

"Keith needs to chill. All I said was hello and then I asked if he wanted to help us scan the tunnels and I'm going to kill him!" Lance ranted out.

"Whoa whoa slow down," Hunk said. "He's probably in a bad mood."

"Probably in a bad mood…what kind of an argument is that? He's obviously still mad about-"

"Lance! Before you blow a fuse, take a deep breath and count to ten," Pidge said.

"Yeah I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Lance apologized. "I'll take my anger out on him later."

Keith stood before the last five guards he was inspecting. So far he had found nothing suspicious. He had yet to review the footage from the security cameras though.

When he had finally got to the last guard he asked the same questions he had been asking the other guards.

"Where were you at twelve hundred hours?"

"At my post sir," the guard answered. "Just ask anyone in my-"

"That's enough," Keith said. He was getting tired of asking the same old questions every five minutes and getting the same answers every time. Besides, Joey, the guard he was questioning at the moment, was his bud from the academy. He knew for a fact Joey didn't do it. "You can go."

Joey smiled. "Good luck finding the crook."

"Thanks," Keith said as the two of them rose from their chairs.

Keith then made his way down to the security room where all the security cameras in the castle were hooked up to.

When he got there he flipped through the footage until he came across the boiler room and when he had backed it up to the exact time the event had taken place, he got the surprise of his life.

There on the monitor he saw himself cutting the pipe with his own sword.

Keith's mouth dropped down to the floor as he stared in disbelief.