Hi again! While writing this chapter I kept thinking of the paladin training that happened in ep 2. And after thinking of that, I thought of how many things happened from that point to the end. Then I thought of Allura's death, and I gotta know, am I the only one who cried at the end when it showed what all the paladins did with the rest of their lives. I was like 6 or 7 when I saw it, but still, it was so sad. Also, sorry for not posting this for a while. Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!
Nico slept peacefully.
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When he woke up, it took him a bit to remember where he was. When he did, he realized something. He wasn't sad anymore.
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He was determined.
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Determined to end this quickly so he could get back to his friends. So he could get back to Will.
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He looked around his room, and his eyes landed on his sword laying in the corner. He contemplated how much training he could get in before breakfast, he grabbed his sword and headed for the direction he thought the training room was.
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Long story short, he got lost.
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This castle was just too fucking big! He could probably wander around for a lifetime and still never figure it out.
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Thankfully, Nico ran into someone. The dude in red, Keith.
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He was wearing the same clothes as when Nico first saw him. Except now he also had a cropped red jacket.
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"Hey, Nico" Keith said.
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"Hi" Nico responded
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They stood there in awkward silence before Keith spoke up.
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"So, where are you going?"
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Nico knew he was attempting to start a conversation, probably so he could ask a question, but it was still weird.
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"I don't know. I'm lost."
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"Okay, where do you want to go?"
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"Training room"
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"Oh" Nico saw Keith's eyes drift to the sword that hung at his waist.
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"Want help" He offered
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"That'd be nice"
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Keith turned around and motioned for Nico to follow. They walked in silence, every now and then Keith would attempt to start a conversation, but Nico ignored him.
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He didn't want to make friends, it would only hinder him.
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Then again, he thought the same thing about Camp. Then he met Jason, and Will, and for some reason, they refused to let him not have friends.
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But Nico was still a little upset at Keith's attacks and accusations yesterday, and he wasn't going to let Keith off the hook that easily.
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Right as he thought that, he realized something. He had no clue how much time had passed. Without the sun or moon to mark the time, he had no clue how long he slept. His internal clock has never been that good, so he didn't want to trust it.
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He was pulled out of his thoughts by Keith.
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"Here we are"
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They walked through the door into the arena where Nico fought the Gladiators before.
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"Thanks" He half expected Keith to turn around and walk out, but he didn't. Nico assumed he wanted to know more of his fighting capabilities.
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"Do you know how this works?" Keith asks
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Nico just shook his head.
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"Start training sequence, Level 1" Keith called out
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Immediately, a hole opened up in the ceiling and a gladiator dropped down. It ran towards the two of them, Nico drew his sword and slashed across its chest.
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It disappeared in a flash of light. Nico decided it distergrated like monsters.
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"That was too easy" He said to Keith
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"Figured, the ones you fought earlier were level 12. Considering how that turned out, you should probably start at a Level 10 for a warm up."
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Nico looked at him angrily.
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"There were three of them! I was also really tired!"
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"You weren't that tired when you disappeared from Pidge's bayard!"
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"Failed shadow-travel" Nico muttered
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"What?"
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"Never mind, so you just call out and say what Level you want?"
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"Pretty much, if it gets too hard you just say 'End Training Sequence' and it'll disappear."
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"Simple enough" Nico grumbled
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Then they heard a voice over the intercom. Allura wanted to talk to Keith. He waved goodbye and walked out.
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Nico sighed. He figured it would be best to follow Keith's suggestion, for a warm-up before he destroys Level 12 for making him black out.
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"Start training sequence, Level 10"
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A gladiator dropped from the ceiling and charged Nico.
...
All considered, it was pretty good. He beat Level 10 easily before skipping to 12.
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That was pretty easy too. He was mad at himself for letting those things take him down earlier.
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He ended up going to 24 before anything got challenging. Even then, he went to 37 before deciding to take a break.
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"End training sequence" He called out
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Just like Keith said, the robot disappeared. Nico thought about giving one to Leo after this ended, he was sure the son of Hephestus would enjoy tinkering with it.
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He turned around and walked out of the room.
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After a bit of searching, he found his room again.
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He decided to look around it more, there seemed to be two rooms connected to it.
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He looked through them and saw a bathroom in one and a laundry room in the other.
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Nico then decided that it was time to take a shower.
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While he did that, he washed his clothes.
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There was this machine that gave you bottles of shampoo, conditioner, and body wash. According to the label, it gives you a scent that would 'Best fit you'.
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It gave him one that smelled strangely of lavender and vanilla.
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He didn't know if whatever planet this castle was from had lavender and vanilla, or if it actually gave him a scent from Earth.
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When he got out, he changed into his newly washed and dried clothes.
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He put his sword back in its hilt and walked out.
.
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Keith was mildly surprised when Allura called him to the deck.
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When he got there, he saw everyone there. Everyone but Nico.
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They seemed to be watching the camera's
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"What's going on?" He asked
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"Hey Keith, we're watching Nico train" Shiro responded, barely looking at him
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"I thought we were giving him the benefit of the doubt when it comes to fighting?"
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"We are, but it'll be nice to have a general idea of what he's capable of"
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"Okay, whatever" Keith took his seat as they watched him fight.
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He was actually surprised that Nico had taken his advice and started on Level 10.
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Keith could tell Level 10 didn't give him much trouble, he skipped 11 and went straight to 12.
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Everyone was surprised when he beat Level 12 easily.
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"I don't get it. He had a hard time with it yesterday." Lance commented
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"I told him about that, he complained that there were three and he was tired." Keith said in response
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"But again, he didn't look tired when he escaped, he only appeared tired after reappearing" Pidge noted
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"Maybe that ability takes a toll on him, and he's extremely tired after using it" Coran speculated
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"When he was talking to me, he mumbled something that sounded like 'Failed sado-travel' or something like that" Keith said
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"Whatever the case, he's not having trouble with these anymore" Shiro responded
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They watch him with interest as he defeats Levels 13 and 14 without any trouble.
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The team continued to speculate why he was having difficulty before, and what this 'Sado-traveling' was.
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Keith zoned out and didn't hear half of it. He was too focused on Nico.
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Nico was good. Way better than him. Yet, he looks so young.
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Maybe it had something to do with the Camp he mentioned. He said that they learn how to survive. He also said that people like him attract monsters in the real world.
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Perhaps when he said 'learn to survive' he meant 'learn how to kill and defend off monsters'.
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If he learned all this at camp, just to survive, Keith wondered what monsters could be after him.
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Nico finally stopped at Level 30 something. Keith didn't pay attention to that.
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He paid attention to how un-tired Nico was. He looked like he could do that 2 or 3 more times without much trouble.
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Keith felt something rise inside him—envy—he wished he could be that good at such a young age.
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As he thought about the topic, he realized he didn't even know Nico's age.
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He knew that Nico got trapped in time and aged differently, but Keith didn't know how old he is now.
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He said that when Thalia and Percy found him and his sister, he was ten. And that Percy was about 14.
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If the fight with Cronus happened when Percy was 16, Nico would be 12.
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But Nico also said that a lot had happened since then, something about Romans and Gaea, and that Percy went to college now.
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People usually enter college around 18-19 so if Percy was also around that age, Nico would be about 14 or 15.
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Keith was 17, meaning he was at least 2 years older than Nico. Yet Nico was so much better.
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He tried not to drown in self-pity. He left with the others and went to the training room, determined to get at least as far as Nico did.
.
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He trained for almost an hour. Still, he barely made it past Level 27 without passing out.
.
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After his shower, Nico decided to find the kitchen.
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He wandered around for a while, hoping to either run into someone, or to miraculously find the kitchen.
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Based on what he saw in the training room, he assumes that many parts of the ship are operated by Ai.
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Being a demi-god, he isn't very good with technology, it tends to 'randomly' fail in his presence or when he attempts to operate it.
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But so far, nothing has gone wrong.
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He could use the gladiators just fine, none of the doors got stuck, and the toiletry dispenser thing didn't give him a carrot (don't ask, you don't want to know).
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He wondered if it's because this is Alien technology and not Human.
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Or maybe it's because there are no monsters to attract in space. Either way, he isn't complaining.
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As he turns another corner, lost in thought. His nose catches a smell that reminds him what he's looking for, food.
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He follows his senses, leading him to a doorway about the same size as the doorway onto the deck. So not as big as the first doorway he saw, but bigger than the other doors.
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The door opens and more of that sweet aroma wafts out of the room.
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He enters, sure that whether or not this is the kitchen, it has food. Good food.
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He spots the yellow one. He's hunched over an oven, at least, it looks like an oven, but he still expects some surprises.
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Hunk straightens up, turns around and it is revealed to Nico that the sweet smell was the aroma of cookies.
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Hunk carefully sets them down before grabbing piping bags and decorating them with frosting.
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As he switches colors and uses various tools to create some sort of pattern, Nico creeps forward to get a look.
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He's shocked to see Hunk writing various things like-
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"Welcome to the team!" or
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"Let's be friends!"
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There are about a dozen cookies each with something different written on them.
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Nico wonders briefly who they're for, then he remembers, he's the only new person.
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The cookies are for him...
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Hunk backs away to admire his work when he notices Nico
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"Ah!" he yelps out of surprise
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'H-How long have you been here!?"
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"Since you took them out of the oven" Nico says calmly
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"How'd I not notice you!?"
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"I didn't announce my presence"
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"oh"
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They stood there in silence for a couple of seconds.
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"Can I have one?" Nico asks politely
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"Uh, yea. They're for you anyway"
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"Oh, thanks" He promptly grabs the plate and leaves, munching on the cookies.
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He heads back to his room, and sets the plate of remaining cookies on his nightstand.
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He assumes there are no rats or mice to grab the food, so he heads back to the training room for a light session.
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When he enters, he sees Keith fighting one of the gladiators. Keith's moves are sluggish, like he's been at this for hours.
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He can clearly tell Keith is losing. He's making too many excess movements, even if he's been at this for hours, he shouldn't be making that many.
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A thought came to him.
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From what he's observed, Keith was the only swordfighter.
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Yellow had the cannon, blue had the sniper, green had the thingie, black didn't have anything (that he's aware of), and Coran and Allura didn't seem to be fighters, so no one had enough knowledge to correct Keith's bad habits.
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Keith was good, but he's wasting too much energy. Overextending, excess movements, and most importantly, he's relying too much on his arm strength.
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He's making his arms carry the burden of fighting, instead of allowing that movement to come from the rest of his body.
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Keith finally lands a blow on the gladiator, making it vanish.
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Nico watches as Keith stumbles over to a bench and grabs some water.
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"What Level was that?" Nico asks after a bit, Keith seemed startled at his sudden appearance.
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Keith seems to think over his answer before responding.
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"27"
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Nico was actually surprised. Based on the mistakes he saw earlier, he expected it to be in the early 20s. Keith must be pretty good for his skill to offset his bad habits.
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Either that, or he was too stubborn to stop when he needed to.
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Nico decided it was both, he was too stubborn to stop when he should have, but he was skilled enough to be able to continue a little longer.
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Nico thought of how to respond. He wanted to help Keith get better, but he didn't want to upset him by going straight to his faults.
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"That's pretty good" He decided
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Keith gave him a look. Like he knew that Nico was trying to make him feel better, but it also kinda worked.
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"Any advice" He responded
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Nico was a little surprised to be asked for advice.
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He's helped the kids at camp plenty of times, but those people know his skill level.
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Before, Keith seemed to think that Level 12 would be Nicos limit. But now, he's asking for Nico's advice on Level 27?
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What changed?
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Nico decided to find out.
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"Why do you want my advice?" Nico asks calmly
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Keith paused, he looked at Nico like he'd been led into a trap.
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"When Allura called me onto the main deck, everyone was there. We watched you train, Shiro wanted to have a general idea of your skill level before making plans. You're good, better than me."
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Nico hummed in response, he'd assumed that they'd want to know his skill level eventually.
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"So, any advice?" Keith asked again.
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Nico thought of the best way to say it. He didn't want to overwhelm Keith with everything Nico saw that was wrong. Some of it could be from him being tired. But he also didn't want to lie to him, it would have consequences in the future.
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So he decided to start with the root cause of Keith's problems, excess movement. Nico can tell, even when Ketih is at full strength, he wastes energy.
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If he fixes that, he's well on his way to fixing his other problems.
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"You tend to make a lot of unnecessary movements, wasting energy. That's probably why you're so tired. You have a lot of skill and potential, but you waste too much energy and time when fighting."
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Keith considered this. He nodded like a missing piece had finally been filled in.
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"Thanks. Any chance you know how to fix it?"
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"Come here"
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He and Keith spent the next hour going over his bad habits, correcting movements, and even a little bit of sparring.
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He went easy on Keith. He was already tired, and when trying to correct bad habits, it tends to feel weird and make you a bit slower.
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He meant it when he said that Keith had potential. Give him a couple months with Percy or Reyna as instructors and he'd be a powerful force.
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"Thanks, alot" Keith said as he and Nico finished
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"No prob. At Camp, I help a lot of Demi-gods with sword fighting, so I'm not a terrible teacher."
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Keith laughed a little, he said goodbye and left.
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Nico spent the next hour progressing with the gladiator.
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He started with Level 20 for a warm up.
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He skipped to 25, then to 30, then to 35.
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All in all, he went to Level 49.
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Before he could summon the next opponent, Hunk talked into the intercom
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"Lunch is ready for anyone that wants to eat!"
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Nico was mildly surprised that it was only lunch time, but he made his way to the dining hall.
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He had memorized the way from his room to the training room, his room to the kitchen, kitchen to training room, and he thought he knew how to get from his room to the dining hall.
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He backtracked to his room, then walked the route he believed was to the dining hall and...
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got lost.
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Nico was saved by Pidge, who was also going for lunch.
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She was wearing the same outfit he had first seen her in. He assumed that the paladins only wore their suits when they needed them.
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"Hey Nico"
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"Hi, Pidge"
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They stared at each other for a second.
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"Are you lost?" She asked
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"Yea" He answered
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"Figured, it took me about a week to figure out where everything was."
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"Only a week?"
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"I'm smart. I'm assuming you're going to the dining room"
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"That'd be correct"
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"Want help?"
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"Yes please"
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Pidge led him to the dining room, on the way, she asked questions.
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"So, how'd you disappear like that?" She asked
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"Gift from my father, I can disappear in shadows"
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"Keith said you called it 'Sado-traveling' or at least, that's what he heard"
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"Shadow-traveling" Nico corrected
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"Why did you look so worn out after using it?"
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Nico sighed
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"I attempted to travel back to Earth, or to the Underworld. But the Fates wouldn't let me. It takes a lot of energy and concentration to shadow-travel properly. I've gotten good at it, so it usually doesn't tire me out, but when the Fates interfered with it and pulled me back here, things got messy."
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"So it took so much energy because the Fates prevented you from going to your desired location?"
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"Pretty much" Nico confirmed
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The rest of the walk was silent.
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After everyone came and sat down, Hunk brought out some food. Just like the night before and the cookies earlier, the food was great.
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He assumed Hunk cooked it all, or at least most of it.
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Small talk started around him. Nico continued eating, silently listening to the conversations around him.
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Lance, who was sitting across from him, started to talk to him.
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He just looked at him and nodded randomly, not really paying any attention.
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"So who do you think is better?" Lance asked
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Nico had no clue what he was talking about.
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"Sorry, what are we talking about?"
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Lance sighed way to loud to be natural
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"I'm talking about whether Keith or I am better at fighting!"
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Nico paused and thought about his next words carefully, before deciding
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"Well, you both use different weapons, and I've not really seen either of you fight, so I don't know." He plainly said.
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He assumed Keith and Lance were competitive with each other, and he had enough experience to know it was best to not get involved.
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Lance frowned but shut up, so Nico could eat in peace again.
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He finished eating and Shiro turned to him.
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"So, what abilities does being a demi-god give you?" He seemed generally interested
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"Depends on your parent, even then, children of the same deity could have different abilities"
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"Can you...elaborate"
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"Well, Apollo's a good example. Since he's the god of alot of things, his children could have abilities relating to any of domains, even multiple. My...friend... Will, he's a healer, since Apollo's the god of medicine, but he's also good at music and the sort. While his sister, Kayla, is an archer."
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Shiro nodded, but still looked a little confused, so Nico continued
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"Aphrodite is also an example, most of her kids don't really have abilities, all of them are attractive in some way, but there's not much else. Some of her kids also have an ability called 'Charm Speak'. It's not a rare ability, but it's not something that is common either. Charm Speaks a form of mind control, it's not overly powerful, but it's something to be wary of."
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Shiro nodded again, he didn't look too confused anymore, so Nico stopped.
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"What can you do?" Shiro asked
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Nico was dreading this question, people usually freak out when he says that he can control the dead. He planned on telling them about shadow-traveling, but he really didn't want to tell them about Necromancy. Then again, they might not trust him if he lied to them.
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"Well, you've seen me shadow-travel"
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"That was the ability you used to escape from Pidge?"
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"Yea"
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"How does it work, and why did you look so tired after using it?"
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Nico told him the same thing he told Pidge, Shiro didn't ask any more about shadow-traveling
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"Do you have any other abilities?"
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Nico sighed
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"Yea, Necromancy...'
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The rest of the table stopped eating, they looked at him.
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"So, you can raise the dead...?" Keith asked
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"Raise and control them" Nico answered
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"Okay, anything else?" Shiro asked
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"I mean, I can talk to the dead, with some limitations and preparation. I can also control darkness to some extent, but other than that, not really."
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"Makes sense, do most children of Hades have these abilities"
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"I don't really know, my sister died before we knew of our heritage, and my half-sister Hazel is from the Roman side, so I don't really have anyone to compare to. From what Chiron told me, Necromancy is a pretty rare ability, and shadow-travel is like charm speak, not rare but not common. That's all I really know."
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"What does Necromancy do exactly...?" Pidge asked cautiously
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"I can raise and control the dead."
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"So you can bring people back to life?"
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"Not like that, I can raise their skeletons. By digging a hole and pouring food and drinks into it, I can talk to their spirits, but I can't bring someone back to life."
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"Glad to know" She responded
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The room was silent for a moment before Nico decided to get some answers of his own.
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"So, what's your story?" He asked
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"What do you mean?" Shiro responded
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"Well I told you how I got here, but how did you all get here? And what exactly are we fighting against?"
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They all shared a glance, before Shiro sighed
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"Well, all of our stories are a little different, mine especially."
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"So what's your story?"
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Nico listened to all of their stories. He learned what the Galra were, what the 'Lions' were, and what Allura meant by 'the Princess of Altea'.
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Their stories were interesting, to say the least.
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After everything was said and done, Nico returned to his room.
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He laid on his bed, processing everything.
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After eating most of Hunk's cookies, he decided to continue training.
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He made his way to the training room and walked in.
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He saw all of the Paladins sitting on the floor, looking exhausted.
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They were in their armor, so Nico assumed they were doing their 'group training'
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Coran was handing out water, when he spotted Nico he waved at him.
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"Why hello Nico, changed your mind about joining us?" He asked
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"Uh, no, not really. I just didn't know you were training now." He answered.
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"Oh, Okay. Would you like to watch after we finish our quick break?" He seemed a little disappointed that Nico wouldn't be joining.
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"Sure." Nico answered, he wanted a better idea of their fighting capabilities anyway.
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After a quick break, Coran and Nico went up to the observatory.
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Nico watched as they summoned a gladiator, Level 14. They beat that one, and summoned another.
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They continued like this, upping the level by one every time they beat it.
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All in all, they got to level 22 before the gladiator beat them.
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Nico considered them a good team. They worked well together and they each did pretty good with their preferred weapon. Nico noticed that Shiro fought without one, maybe he just preferred hand to hand.
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Nico didn't really care either way, so he didn't ask. He also noticed that Keith improved drastically, he had expanded on what Nico had taught him and completely destroyed the gladiators.
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He watched them do some other group training before they ended. When they did, he started to train.
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He continued where he left off and defeated level 56 before Princess Allura called him onto the deck.
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When he got there, everyone was there.
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They seemed to be in some sort of discussion.
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"What's going on?" He asked curiously.
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"We received a distress signal from a nearby planet." Pidge responded from beside him.
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"So we're going to help" He asked to confirm
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"We're going in, but we need a strategy first" Shiro said from behind him
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Pidge pointed to a holographic map in front of them.
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"We're scanning the planet for Galra activity, so far we've seen troops here, here, and here" She said while pointing to various places on the map.
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"So what's the plan?"
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Shiro and Allura explained their plan. It was relatively simple and had little chance of failure, so Nico didn't complain.
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Afterwards, when the paladins disappeared in their ziplines to get to their lions, Coran called him aside
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"Since you don't have a space suit, I found you this one. It's colored differently than the paladins' so I thought it would match your...aesthetic...better."
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He held up a black suit with a purple 'V' in the center. It was like he took Shiro's and inverted it, then changed the now white to purple.
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In short, Nico loved it.
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After putting it on, he headed down to the red lion. Coran and Allura said that he should probably ride with Keith since he could drop Nico off the quickest.
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They took off pretty quickly, he stood with Keith in the cockpit and watched as Keith piloted them into the planet.
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As Voltron started their attack, Galra troops appeared at the base of their main building and started firing on the lions.
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"Now's your chance!" Keith yelled to Nico as he hit the 'eject button'. Nico was immediately shot out of the lion and onto the ground.
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Nico rolled onto the ground gracefully and immediately drew his sword.
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He faced the troops and attacked.
Hey everybody!
Like I said in the last chapter, I'm trying to find new ways to space out the lines so it doesn't look so crowded.
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So I went looking for ideas and guess where the first place I looked was...other fanfictions!
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So as I was looking at how other authors spaced their fanfictions, I noticed one author put dots/periods in between the lines to give them more space. I looked around more and saw many other authors doing something similar. So I gave it a try, if you like how it looks or if you want to recommend something else, make sure to leave a reveiw so I know.
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Also, I kinda love the idea that Keith's jealous of Nico and that Nico helps him improve, it's pretty fun to write.
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Anyhow! Enjoy the rest of your day/night!