Sorry for the late response, I was busier than I thought I was going to be.
You guys are worried about having underpowered characters? Hughes is just a regular human. Keith and Lance have their Lions, sure, but if something happened to the Lions or their Bayards and they couldn't find another weapon, they might be in trouble. I guess I might as well do one of these things too.
Both Keith and Lance would beat Hughes 10/10 times. I hate to put down my boy like that, but it's true. Not only are they better trained, but even without the Lions, they have better weapons and armor.
Keith would beat Lance probably 6/10 times. In Lion-less combat, I'd have to say that Keith is more agile than Lance, but other than that, they're fairly evenly matched. Let's not forget that Lance is an exceptional shot, even on the move, even once landing a hit on an extremely small area in a high-pressure situation while being pulled backwards by the vacuum of space. He deserves credit too.