CHAPTER ONE
A few days after Blackout….
"No. No! Absolutely not! We are not giving up on Shiro Just yet. We will go back out there and look for him again!" Keith said. The emo Texan has been having a hard time moving on from Shiro's disappearance. "Keith, I miss Shiro as much if not more than you" Princess Allura said with the same increasingly disheartened tone she has had since Shiro disappeared. Well, that is after Coran coaxed her out of her room where she was crying and dry sobbing with her favorite Altean food. "But we must find a new paladin for the Black Lion. There's no other option if we want to form Volt-" "THERE WILL BE NO VOLTRON. NOT UNTIL WE FIND SHIRO. HE WAS THE ONLY ONE THAT COULD PILOT BLACK." Keith screamed back at the princess "You WILL NOT TALK TO ALLURA LIKE THAT YOU LITTLE QUIZNA-"Coran said rolling up his sleeves until he was interrupted "Will you all PLEASE CALM DOWN?!? We ALL miss Shiro! But there's no need in killing each other over it!" Pidge interrupted "Come on, I found a way to use Blue's sonar to search, you can come with or sit here Keith. Take your choice." She spat.
Hours Later…….
"We haven't found anything and I'm getting tired of Blue roaring." Keith complained "Keith you said that when we first started the sonar" Lance interjected. "….your point?" "My point is. Be. Patie- Guys I got a reading. But its not a life signal. It's a ship." "I thought I had seen a ship but I thought I was being paranoid." Hunk said "Why did you tell us sooner?" Keith said annoyed "I thought I was being paranoid. Wait. THERE IT IS!" "WHERE?!?" "RIGHT HERE" an unknown ship flew in front of Hunk scaring him "AHHH!" Yellow's lasers fired and missed the ship by only a few feet. The ship disappeared. "Great going Hunk, He left, now wha- *BOOM BOOM BOOM* HE'S ATTACKING." The lions dispersed and went into evasive maneuvers. "When he comes out in open, open fire!" Keith ordered. Hunk saw him first "There he is!" Hunk fired and nicked the ship. "AMBUSH HIM!" Keith yelled over the comms. They ambushed him but there was no one there. Instead, there was blasts that came from behind the lions. "Incoming Comm" said the display on all the lions at once. Keith answered. "Hello? Hello? Is this the leader of these, giant mech lions?" said an obviously male voice "Y-yes, that would be me." Keith said in surprise at the polite tone of voice of someone that was attacking them and being attacked by them too "I'll make this short and sweet. I would like to negotiate a cease-fire. I only fired because of the Yellow one. Please. I'm low on fuel, resources and my shuttle is damaged." Keith considered it for a dobosh then said "Follow us". They lead him to the Castle of Lions where he landed well for someone with a burst wing and wing assembly. When he stepped out the group was looking at older teen wearing a pair of blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt, square toed boots, and a plaid flannel button up emerging from the back of a cargo ship with fighter jet mods. He stood what looked like 5' 8", dirt brown hair and when he looked up he had grass green eyes with specks of gold to Keith. Keith had learned to read a man's appearance from first glance. This man, he looked dangerous. Someone who could lead wars. Wage wars. Win wars. Then, for a split second, Red spoke to him again by showing him flashes of images in his head. Balances, a gavel, a man standing amidst a burning field with casualties on both sides, silver linings in clouds, then it ended. "I'm Ben, It's nice to meet you all. I appreciate your hospitality of letting be aboard. So, what is this place?" Ben asked. "Well, Ben, this is the Castle of The Lions. Home of Voltron." Allura explained. Ben's eyes lit up at the name 'Voltron' "Voltron? The Defender of The Universe?" he asked "Well… yes! And not to mention the Paladins of Voltron. Ben, I am pleased to introduce you to the Paladins of Voltron, Ben, please meet, Pidge, pilot of the green lion." "Hiya" Pidge said holding her out in handshake style but Ben took it as if he was a gentleman and shook "Pleased!" Hunk, pilot of the yellow lion." "Heya!" Ben took Hunk's hand with a tough and rough left hand and shook it happily "Don't worry about earlier, I was that way when I first started piloting haha!" "Lance, pilot of the Blue Lion." "Pleased." Lance said with a smile "Likewise!" and "And last but not least Keith, pilot of the Red Lion." This time it was Ben who spoke first "Pleased to meet you. I appreciate you deciding to let me aboard. I also think you know how to truly judge a man." "How so?" "You wasn't the only one checking a person out. As I was walking out my ship I was sizing up everyone. And my judgements fit and are good, you have the makings of a true leader, Keith!" "Why are those words so familiar?" Keith thought. "I'm Allura, former princess of Altea, well, before it was destroyed by Zarkon. And this is Coran, my faithful advisor." They shook hands, "Yes, I've heard tales from the many I have gotten shelter from, I'm so sorry!" " It's fine, it only makes me more resolved to finish the fight with Zarkon." "That's very admirable of you princess, and thank you for loading all the resources Coran, I appreciate it all, but where's the Black Paladin?" Ben asked "He's… He's missing. We was looking for him when we found you," Allura answered "I see, I'm sorry for interrupting it, I should be going, Thank you all and I would love to meet you all again! Good bye and good luck!!" Ben started to leave "Yeah, Let's get back to finding Shiro." Pidge said. After those words they heard rubber squeaking and looked around to see Ben facing them "S-Sh-Shiro?" Ben asked anxiously "Y-yes, Shiro, Takashi Shirogane, he's the Black Paladin." Pidge answered. Ben gulped before speaking again "He's my brother. I've been looking for