The Next Generation

Training

Two years later, Henri was in a training arena with Kayla and Jace, and she was kicking their asses without even touching them. Keith watched them from the sidelines with Lance, Allura, Pidge, Hunk, Shay, and Acxa. "C'mon Henri! That's not fair!" Jace yelled. "It's totally fair. Your just being a little-" "Henri!" "Sorry dad." Henri said while dodging a sneak attack from Kayla. "How are you doing this?!" She screamed with playfulness in her voice. "Mom and Dad taught me well." She replied with a proud smile. "Maybe we should add Sam and Blythe into the ring to spice things up?" Shay requested. "What do you say you two?" Keith asked and they nodded their heads happily and jumped over the railing and into the ring. They lasted less than a minute before they ended up in a pile with Jace and Kayla. "She's getting good." A familiar voice said from behind the adults. "Shiro!" They exclaimed and hugged him. He laughed and hugged them back. "How are you feeling?" Allura asked him. "Better than I was yesterday." He responded with a smile. "Shiro!" One of the kid's called out and they all ran over to hug him too. He laughed again and so did the other adults. "Did you see me Shiro? I kicked their butts!" Henri said and the other children stuck their tongues out at her. "I did! But don't go too hard on them ok? They are still learning." Shiro said and ruffled her hair as well as he did to the others. "I think that's enough training for today. Go play kids." Lance said and the kids ran off without another word. The adults chuckled and walked out the arena. Henri ran off to a nearby playground and jumped on the money bars and started doing pull-ups. "Henri! We're done training, come play!" Kayla called to her. "But I wanna get stronger. I have to show dad that I'm good enough to go into space!" Henri said. "But you're already strong. Just a little break won't hurt right?" "Sorry Kay, but I have to do this. It means too much to me." "Henri, how much do I mean to you?" The question was so sudden that Henri almost fell. "I-I," she blushed and dropped then landed in front of the girl, "you mean a lot to me Kayla. I'm sorry, I need to do this." The black haired girl then started to do push-ups. "You never do anything with me anymore. I wish you would've stayed the same." Kayla said before running off to join Jace, Sam, and Blythe in a game of kickball. After Kayla left, Henri stopped her push-ups and ran back to her house, which wasn't that far away. She burst in through the front door, ran past her brothers and slammed the door to her room. She jumped on her bed, and just sat there, thinking. What kind of leader will I be if I can't even stop me from myself to spend time with my Paladins?