The afterburn of our warp engines roar, as the hyper lane, closes behind us. That's eight. Eight hyper jumps from Haggar's flagship and two more till we reach our destination. My companions and I are flying through space with speeds exceeding twice the speed of light, yet it feels so slow to me. Ten doboshes, in the span of ten doboshes I've gone from kissing Allura to having my face planted on the floor.
On top of that Haggar the witch! That witch is saying she's my mother! How bizarre, how ridiculous, how incredibly…incredulous. My feelings toward all that has happened leaves me feeling incredibly despondent.
No, I won't stand for it! I am indefectible. I've sacrificed too much to have the rug pulled underneath me and be stuck helpless. The situation is still salvageable. Unlimited quintessence and my affection for Allura will not be undone. I am determined to save this situation from half-truths and fallacies! An involuntary, twitch shots up from my arm and down to my fingers. I can feel the tension it doesn't settle well for me. The joysticks squeal slightly as I squeeze.
"Alright deep breaths, deep breaths," I tell myself. "Breath in, breath out," my eyes blink a few times and I loosen my grip. A little exercise in control. A meditation I taught myself when I was just in my adolescence.
Those were the most trying times in my whole life. Insurmountable odds and a shadow I longed to be rid of. I need to calm myself now, there's still time, there's still hope. Only a few hyper jumps out. That's one, another one till destination. The trans dimension warp gate.
If I had to guess Allura and the paladins have probably already destroyed the trans-warp gate. They mean to fight, a fight that I must talk them out of. I need to think back to what happen and what went wrong. So, I can articulate to them that we are on the same side. What they think of me? Should not matter. I did what I had to do.
The events unfolded like so, Allura and I had just come back from the quintessence field. Through the trans dimension gate. It was a wonderful experience the quintessence field was not like anything I had ever experienced. I could feel the quintessence going through me, wrapping around and filling me with energy. It unearthed a couple of things for me: one was that I had feelings for Allura and the other…accomplishment. I had succeeded and achieved what my mother could not complete. My true mother that is.
Unlimited quintessence, unlimited energy! Just waiting to be used and I have the method to get it. The destruction of the gate is but a minor setback.
Anyways we return from the rift having taken a few samples. I remember looking at Allura, as soon as, we got back. She had a new light about her like starlight positively glowing. I've always had a romantic streak within me. Never had an opportunity to express it. Too many things on my mind, such as planning and preparing for what may or may not happen. Experience taught me it was best to always anticipate fortunate opportunity or bad luck. Such as right now, but before I got here everything was running right.
Fortunate favored me. I had deposed of emperor Zarkon my father and lit the torch of Kral Zera. I am emperor now and the Galra empire is mine now. The Galra, although fragmented from my coup, are slowing coming around. And it's all thanks to the Paladins of Voltron. Without the aid of Shiro or Keith, I would not have succeeded within this lifetime, nor the next. Yet, fortune is a fickle thing, especially when it deals with your past.
Romelle an Altean from the colony came and accused me of murder. I've done no such thing. I did only tests. Before I could even explain myself, one of Haggar's schemes, a mind puppet, in this case, Shiro. Took me right out of there, as soon as, I hit the floor.
They must think low of me, but it isn't true. I had my reasons and the reasons were about quintessence. How it flows through people? How much or how much less is needed in the body? Why Alteans particularly have a natural affinity with quintessence? Quintessence is not some energy you use for fuel. It's a cosmic phenomenon that has ties to life itself. My research was to find out why and how. An issue arose when some of them got sick after rigorous tests of quintessence withdrawal.
Some of them didn't quite understand what was happening. Many of them panicked and rioted. They had to be forcibly restrained. Thing is Alteans have very deceptive strength. It took dozens of shock batons and stun beams to put at least a couple down. When faced with a hundred that gap between non-lethal and lethal force became too small to meet for any of my men. When it was all over I put them in stasis pods to preserve their lives. Until I have unlimited access to the quintessence field. I cannot save them until that task is complete. When my quest is done. Then, then I can save them. Everything depends on access to the quintessence field.
That day left a sour taste in my mouth. Things spiraled out of my control. Before I knew it, I was forced to make decisions I knew were not right, but had to make them anyway. Because it's my responsibly, my choice to make. The choices I've made condemn me, for their consequences, yet my decisions, my choices are still mine. And I choose to save this incident of unjust circumstance. I am willing to do whatever it takes to save what I can save.
If this unwarranted situation does go sour, which I am determined to prevent, I have my generals watching my back. Only, they haven't said a word since we left Haggar's ship. I look at the radar, it shows all four of us, but a new feeling of unease sets in my stomach.
That annoy twitching comes back. Something is amiss there's trepidation in the air. My companions are suspiciously silent. Then like a hot spud to my skin I remember my past actions with them and Narti. A little while ago they were working for Haggar, but they switch sides when they found my cause just, but the air is still not clear between us.
"Axca, Ezor, Zethrid, I'm sorry for what has transpired between us and Narti, but she was a spy." The silence still lingers in the air. "Speak I will hear your thoughts."
"That…really wasn't cool." Ezor opens up first, timidly, which is not like her.
"You should have talked us," Axca speaks second. I can hear the woeful sadness she's trying to hide. Of all my companions, she is my most steadfast, but Natri's death may have been too much for her.
"I honestly thought we were next or least disposable to you." Zethrid puts it forthrightly.
"Zethrid, all of you. When have I ever play with your lives like pawns."
"Well your plans have become complicated as of late and I don't know where we fit it." Ezor, replies.
"Lotor," Axca speaks again this time sounding cynical. "If you killed Narti because she was an agent for Haggar. How come you're not bringing that up with us since we've worked for her these past several months. I don't feel any trust between us."
Frustration boils within and I am back to squeezing my joysticks.
"Narti was a spy for Haggar. She is the one who betrayed our trust and divided us against each other. Haggar is our enemy. You've all known how I felt about the witch, especially now with her delusions as of late."
The last hyper lane closes behind us and we are now in the system.
"Be as they may. Whatever past griefs that separate us alleged… or otherwise? I need you all now more than ever. Can I count on you all?" There is no response, my patience is thin. "I said can I count on you all!"
"Yes!" They reply at last.
"Good." My old charm returns and my frustration lessens. "60 tics till destination. Lotor. What is the plan?"
"The plan is simple. I'm going to talk to them and defuse this situation. Quintessence everybody. We are at the verge of unlimited quintessence."
"We are?" Axca asks.
"Yes, and a new empire afterward." I smile deviously.
We make it to our destination and I see the paladins in sight. I give my neck a little crack and stretch my hands for a moment. Hearing the crack of my bones soothes me. This is it. The big performance. The spotlight is on me. Persuasion is key. If I fail…well, I hope not.
We move forward to adopting a wedge formation. Axca to my right, Zethrid, and Ezor to my left. Both are piloting the largest section of the gestalt Sincline mech. The Paladins adjacent to our front are in ad hawk formation. They come towards us slowly. Their lions anticipating a fight. If a fight breaks out here. My companions and I have the asteroid belt for cover. Surrounding the trans dimension gate and the remains of the planet Daibazaal.
My companions and I use to maneuvering in this environment. If a fight breaks out we are more than ready. However, I cannot let that be.
"Lotor the gate it's destroyed." Axca points out, mere setback. The challenge is the Paladins and Allura. Time to let words fly.
"We need not fight today. We are all on the same side. I know what you all may think of me. Now that you know my past. It doesn't have to change our future together. The truth is I want to hardness the quintessence field and better the universe, just like I said. Nothing has changed."
I make my first declaration and it' the sum total of all that has been on my mind since this began.
"You enslaved countless Alteans. Harvested their life sources for your own personal gain. How many innocent lives did you destroy." Allura speaks first loud and full anger. Her assertions are fallacies.
I did not enslave anyone, only study them. They were well taken care of. Secondly, I did not harvest their life sources. I only tested the effects of withdrawal. As for my personal gain. My gain is what the universe gains, not the other way around. Did lives die in the process? Yes, but it was never my intention, none of it is!
"Allura…I." I begin slowly hoping my meekness could calm her.
"How many!"
Things are getting frosting. She can turn open fire on me at any moment. I close my eyes and pick my next words carefully.
"…It's true many Alteans perished in my quest to unlock the mysteries of quintessence, but I protected thousands more and I rescued their culture. Our culture. Our people would have disappeared. Had I not intervened and gave them a sanctuary. I understand that you and Romelle may have misgivings about what I did to protect them, but my intentions are pure. Please Allura…don't fight me. I implore you… join me. We're in this together."
"No, we're not!" She opens fire. The ice beam comes barreling down and I jerk to the side to dodge.
"Why you little!"
"Zethrid! Hold your fire! Allura! Please listen. Think back the Quintessence field. That's all I want. The chance to end the war and…to have you Allura. My feelings for you are genuine and I know you have feelings for me as well. It doesn't have to be this way! Please…join me.
I lay open my heart the core of my being displayed. I made sacrifices. In the
hope that I never have to again. All for a chance. Please, Allura trust me.
"You betrayed and used me. You're more like Zarkon then I could ever imagine!"
What…? What! The strike at the core of being. Whereas I spent centuries laying the foundation of who I am, and for what! This mockery! This indignation! Must everything I've built and work for fall apart around me! When I have come this close to my destiny. Only for it to obstructed by Allura my...love?
My stiff hands are shacking. I breathe deeply and set my hands back on the controls. I must not lose my composure just yet, I mustn't. Not now, not when I am so close, but how dare she? How dare she!
"What about your father?" The words like hot ice come pouring out my mouth. "He may have been a master engineer, but Alfor was too weak to defend his home. I'm the one who had to step up and save our entire race. Who are you to question my tactics in bringing peace and prosperity to the entire universe?"
I signal my generals. "Destroy the lions." No pretense needed we engage in battle. Ezor and Zethrid provide unrelenting firepower. Axca covers my rear, as I follow one target and switch to the next after the first one is sufficiently hurt. We are a highly disciplined team. We've done maneuvers like these a hundred times no matter the enemy. Even if the enemy is as resilient as Voltron. We have the upper hand. It's just a matter of time before they're beaten.
However, a strange feeling takes hold of me. A raw emotion begins to fester within me tiny, but there. I know each and every one of the paladins here. Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Allura. I've been around them for a while and I've gotten know them. It is within that thought that same small emotion begins to become bigger. Soon I am awash with unwavering contempt swirling within me, spreading like a virus. Eating away at the suave veneer I had built since my adolescence. Nine words that's all it was, nine measly words with 'like' and 'Zarkon!' In the same damn sentence!
Now the tempest is up and my irritation has reached a fever pitch. Who was it who committed patricide? Me! It was not her, not the paladins, and certainly not her father. He was a coward, a fool, idiotic idealist that failed his people. Doesn't she see it? I did it all for the greater good, doesn't she understand. Curse her, curse her, and that… damn ice beam!
Her beam nearly hits my front the frost clouding my view screen. I can't hold it back in longer.
"Once I wipe out Voltron. I'm going to start a new Altea! An Altea that will never know of King Alfor, Princess Allura, nor of Voltron! All they'll know is me their great leader!"
I can feel my grip getting tighter, my heart racing as we engage in battle, and wicked grin wide on my face. The frost dissipates and I score a direct hit on one of the paladins. A tempest of conniptions boils over inside me! I made sacrifices. I'm not proud of them, but they were a necessity. I had to know the nature of quintessence.
It was sacrifice, not murder! It was all to ensure the future of a peaceful universe. The Alteans sacrificed had been for the future. They are progenitors of a new tomorrow. A new future which would have resulted in limitless energy! That was the goal!
Then and only then would the Alterns peoples have the power and majesty they deserved. I myself would also be out from Zarkon's shadow. A shadow I spent my whole life trying to get out of. Yet, she says I'm just like him! I'm Altean, not Galra damn it!
I drive a little too close to the red lion and nearly ram it. I realign my vessel straight and curve to the side. The green lion enters my crosshairs and I let fly several ion beams, three of which score a direct hit.
It didn't have to be like this, but she's made her choice. I can't help it that…I made mine. I was hoping in time maybe she would be ready to understand. That sacrifices needed to be made. If only She knew what we could accomplish.
"We could have been so much more."
I could picture it now she and I at the altar. A grand day to mark a new beginning. Standing before us the last of the Alteans a wedding gift to her and the start of a new eternal empire. An empire of the most technologically advanced civilization in the whole universe. A new age was to begin.
A future of enlightenment where the shackles of the past would be dust. A bad dream nothing more will be my father's kingdom. While I Lotor will be the enlightened ruler the universe deserved. Expanding new horizons, ten-thousand-fold, new technologies, new discoveries, and new breakthroughs. No more will the despotism of my father cloud the universe's rays. The universe will be made pure and it will thrive like never before.
That's what the universe could have been had they just stopped and listen. I said we were on the same side and I meant it! But my father's shadow…even in death. I still compared to him and the legacy he created.
One of the paladins enters into my sights and I let out a quick burst of ion beams. The beams glance at the side of the lion's hull committing superficial damage. The paladin evades before I could do more. We pass each other by.
Zarkon's dead, I killed him and with him the empire, all the beliefs that made it. Turn to ashes. Today all my enemies will crumble. Voltron, the Galra, all of them. All their beliefs stripped from them, all of their hope gone, their dreams worthless, and when the final blow comes it would be a disaster, for them! As for me, there is no disaster. For all disaster serves me alone. Victory or defeat will decide this contest.
One of the orange Paladins gives chase to Ezor and Zethrid, but Axca comes to my side and together we let out a long scything beam on the orange Paladin. We then break off and pursue our own targets. I have to give Haggar partial credit if it weren't for her schemes. The fight could not come as easy as it is now with the black paladin gone. Without the black paladin, the rest of them can't form Voltron.
Still, what was all that nonsense about her being my mother? Mother...the thought alone makes clench my teeth and bite on the inside of my gums. What savage energy is trying to break out again and… you know what. I don't care anymore!
"I'm ready to wipe clean of all my enemies! Voltron, Haggar, and the rest of the Galra!"
Suddenly my generals break off from the fight and the green lion scores a direct hit on my left engine. The armor plating is thick enough and heat resistance to endure, so in no time I reorient myself.
In time to hear through the coms as clear as crystal, Axca speaking, "I think we should server our ties with Lotor for good."
My eyes widened upon hearing it. Failures on top of failures must everything around fall around me at the seams. "Even my own generals have turned their back on me," I remark out loud. In the end, I only have myself to depend on. Everyone else is petty.
Lucky, I have an ace up my sleeve. The Sincline mech. Built from the trans reality comet and powered by Altean Alchemical knowledge. I have at the edge of fingers the next best thing since Voltron itself.
I first activate the emergency eject sequence on my main console. The traitorous curs are ejected from their cockpits. They have their helmets, so they'll breathe until I'll deal with them later.
I then put in the transformation sequence for the Sincline mech. Enough of this tomfoolery, time to get serious. The torso forms first, followed by the legs, then the arms, and the head where I reside.
Power output optimal, transformation sequence successive, all readings from the optics, joint integrity, and synthesis are in the green. The slip space reactor is ready.
A wide smirk comes up onto my face. My hands grip the controls up, down, left, right, my piloting senses tell me. I push hard. The maximum speed is exhilarating. I feel an overwhelming sense of euphoria. Victory is within my grasp. It's a feeling I hope to live over and over again, as the whole galaxy becomes mine.
/
In less than a heartbeat, Lotor is upon them. They fire back together with their weapons in the hope of wearing him down. After all its four against one, but it might as well have been four flies against a fly swatter. The fight plays out like a game of Wrack-a-Moe from the arcade. A perpetual smackdown of mallet moppet destruction, in the hands of a dexterous individual. Lotor, inside his cockpit, is observed to be controlling his Sincline mech with outstanding skill.
Yet, every so often lapses in his judgment would become evident. A beam would hit here and a slam would come there. Attacks all of which could have been afforded. Had he really been sound of mind? The paladins take every chance they can.
A blossom of hope began to bloom in them. Could they really win, could they actually win? It seemed possible they were down a man. The black lion was gone and so they couldn't form Voltron, but still, there was hope.
Such hope was ultimately crushed.
During the next attack run, Lotor manages to grab Hunk's lion by the tail and slams him into Pidge like a medieval morning star. Next up was Lance he came high firing volley after volley at the mech's avian shaped head. Lotor blocks with his arm and fires a beam with his other hand. The red lion takes one right in the mouth. All that was left was Allura.
"Allura," Lotor said contemptuously. Lotor's eyes were wide in a hateful expression.
A delicate psychological schema he had developed as far back as a child had been intrude by her. Lotor and his father as cliche as it sounds never had the best relationship. Zarkon was neglectful and unresponsive to anything, except anger. Anger was the first emotion Lotor became intimate with as a child and he hated how it made him feel. How it left him exhausted, vulnerable, and depressed. He wanted something else, wanted to be loved, but after Pollux. He knew he had to rid himself of his father's shadow.
He would do that by outgrowing him, his empire, and his legacy by any means, necessary. Allura unwitting to her misfortune had taken away that dream and any redemption that would have come with it. Not her fault really. She, the paladins, nor his companions never knew the exact depths of his torment and how far he was willing to go to rid of that torment.
All seem lost, however, for a moment the Castle of Lions by the eccentric ingenuity of Coran found a solution. A beam of incandescent blue, a beam that leveled whole fleets of Galra cruisers, and punctured the most stubborn of defenses. A relic from the peak of Altean engineering and technology, whom until it's sabotage by Haggar was as powerful as Voltron. The paladins felt hope as the castle of lions, their home, hit its mark.
Only for that hope to vanished as Lotor overpowered the beam with his own and flog the Castle of Lions away as if it were a toy ship hit by a big wave.
Meanwhile, elsewhere Keith, the new black paladin is struggling to make it in time. He hears over the radio his friends being torn apart. A few hours earlier he had just fought Shiro, his mentor, but his friends Lance, Pidge, Hunk, to hear them over the radio. To hear them suffer was putting more knots in his stomach. Then the fight with Shiro's clone ever did.
He doesn't know whether he could make it in time, but he reaches in, he reaches deep. Calling upon his brother Shiro the soul of the black lion to come forth and give aid. The black lion roars in acknowledgment and its speed begins to increase.
In an eye bleak, the lion goes super light speed. Spreading its thrusters like wings and in a sea of blue lights and fluorescent aqua. The thrusters do indeed transform into wings and the speed it reaches is like a rocket breaking the atmosphere.
/
I sit straight up, my gaze eyeing each of the damaged paladins. "You've all made your choice. You choose destruction." I mask my anger with indifference, though in truth I beginning to doubt it.
I had been betrayed. I pleaded with them, I pleaded with her, yet did she try to understand? Did she try to see it through my eyes? No, all she thought about was the Galra within me and the tactics I employed for preservation were demonstrable.
No matter my intentions. No matter how she was starlight to me. It's gone now nothing remains. All because of Zarkon. I frown a certain emptiness begins to envelop me. I close my eyes this feeling it's an old feeling. One I haven't felt in many, many, deca-phobes.
It feels like my whole face; my whole body could melt and I wouldn't feel any of it. Numb I feel numb...
I slam my fist into the control panel twice, no three times! I feel anger now electrify and visceral. Why did she compare me to Zarkon and why did it have to be her!
I almost want to smack myself for the redundant thought. Given all the action that had transpired, I still can't let it go. I can't stop dwelling on it and it is with that in mind. I make my final declaration.
"It didn't have to end like this, but you made your choice." I charge up my main ion beam ready to blow them all away. I thought of rendering their bodies to void, but I'm past that now. I want this to be over too many unpleasant memories conjuring up now and I'm sick of it.
Suddenly a beeping noise pops on my scanner and in an eye, blink the black lion shows up.
"Perfect" I sarcastically thought. "The whole Voltron force is here and now they'll form Voltron. How convenient!" However, another thought intrudes on my mind. This could be beneficial. If I beat them on equal footing my Sincline mech versus their Voltron. Then…I smile wide.
"Yes!"
"Now we'll see how Alfor's legacy stands before the new Altean defender," I state with absolute assurance in my abilities.
The wheels began a turning in my head again and I feel like myself again. My strategic self who used to scheme, plot, plan, and manipulate. If I can beat them on equal footing. Their Voltron versus my Voltron then the whole galaxy will fold in.
The other Galra will pause and maybe accept my rule. The coalition will cease hostilities. Yes, yes, yes, I could make this work I could do anything and nobody will have the gall to face me. Should make the new empire to come to be a smooth transition.
They form Voltron and I launch right at them.
My Sincline's talons are upon them before they could react. I get a few rakes in, but they recover quickly. They defend with great tenacity. I go for the eyes, but its swiped away with a sword.
"They already got a sword?"
They thrust a shield in my mid-drift. My whole cockpit shacks, but the grin it never leaves me. I like a challenge. I skid out of range and shot ion beams at them. They block with their shield and fire back. Predictable. I dodge and pull my ion blades out.
We cross blades. They fire. I move. We hit blades again and I break their guard. They recover and with their shield raised they block my onslaught, but it does them no good. I batter them and slash horizontally. They're made from same material as I am, so they are resilient, yet I am amused.
I'm farther amused. when they try to escape. A rock, space debris in the middle of an asteroid belt. I circle around them and lay down suppression from both the right and left sides.
They're trapped; I position myself adjacent to their front. One move, one strike is all I need. I take the joysticks and throttle them forward hard. I come at them like a bolt of lightning my speed already reaching terminal velocity. One strike, one puncture is all I need to win, but then! They move! At the last second, they dodge.
"Those cheeky little-" I'm interrupted before I can finish that sentence. Two solid beams of blue ions hit me in back. I feel insulted, yet also happy. I'm feeling giddy. Do they really think they can win?
If they want to play it like that then I'm happy to oblige them. They stop firing. Smoke is everywhere. I slip away, in the same way, they dodged me. I sneak myself right behind them and when I gazed right back at them. I don't bother to suppress a snicker. They're still firing where I was.
They soon stop and realize where I'm at. I want to play with them some more and see how vastly superior I am to them. I activate the slip space reactor and put in the necessary protocols to enter the quintessence field at will. I teleport in, right at the moment they fire and miss.
"Where did he go!" Lance exclaims.
"I can't pick him up on any of sensors! He's vanished!" Pidge calls out next.
"Stay sharp! He's out there and we have to be ready for him!" Keith gives the final word.
"Indeed," I thought to myself. I'm out there, but you're not ready for me. A while ago I had gotten the codes to their radio chatter. When I was still an ally among them. It was during that mission at Oriande with…her. I took the liberty of having the codes mesmerized. It's now on my console and I know exactly where to hit them. Even though the quintessence field, Their com chatter is a sufficient anchor point to zero in on. The slip space reactor will do the rest.
/
A portal opens up right next to Voltron a clench metallic fist comes through and hits them right on the side of the head. Then in a split second more a kick from another angle. Followed by another one and another one and another one till finally. Lotor appears right in front of them. The face of Voltron locks eye contact with the avian features of Lotor's mech.
For a brief moment, Keith thinks to himself how Lotor's titan looks like a bird of prey. He is not mistaken. Lance in the arm of Voltron tries to slash with the sword, but Lotor is a smacks it away. Despite the best efforts of the paladins and the teamwork, they have developed over their many trials, including their fight with Zarkon. They are still five minds inside one vessel. Whereas one mind in one vessel makes all the difference.
The first strike comes in in the gut, then in the solar plexus. Followed by an absolute onslaught of rapid, fast, and numerous metallic fists crashing into Voltron all over.
"Useless, useless, useless, useless, useless! All realities are mine! Yield to the new Altean defender! It's useless to resist the power I can unleash! A husky and demented voice by Lotor resounds.
"Guys! We can't take much more of this," Lance, panic evident in his voice.
"My stomach getting nauseous." Hunk then puts his hand to his mouth.
"How can we stop this!" Pidge shouts.
"Just endure guys! We've been through worse!" Keith tries to maintain cohesion among the group.
" I rather take the worse than crazy Lotor!" Lance shouts.
"We can endure! Voltron hasn't let us down before," Allura tries to lift their spirits.
"He's slowing down! We can hold!" Keith notices a brief lapse in the fists crashing into them.
"Oh, thank God." Hunk out of all them is really hoping for the best.
"Hold!" Keith gives one last word of defiance before Lotor grabs Voltron by the shoulder. The eerily avian features looking deep into the helm of Voltron. A fist is hooked back. Keith as a reflex push himself against his chair and clutches his jaw.
"It's over! Meet the new master of the Universe!" Lotor makes his final declaration and sends the armored fist of his titan right into the face of Voltron. The knuckles buckle and metal shards fly in all directions as if two cars collided.
/
`I'm short on breath, but I feel great. My Voltron is just as superior to the actual Voltron in every way possible. I swallow and breathes deep. All I need to do is- suddenly a flashing red light pops up on my control module.
"Quiznak!"
Power dampers are failing I need more power! I sent the coordinates in and dive straight back onto the quintessence field.
Once in the quintessence field upon reentry. I am greeted by the complete space of white. It hangs in the air like fog. Like a pure white canvas draping the scenery with its bright light. There are also these little particles, grey particles that are absorbent of the light and cling to the air like dust. There was also something else, something like gravity. It was a force and couldn't be seen. It could be felt and having jumped in and out of the field. I became more intimate with this force like I was returning home.
It felt good. There's also a sense of hyper-awareness. My blood is circulating in my veins at an astonishing rate, re-energizing, invigorating, and galvanizing me to new heights. I was tapping on the joysticks, blubbing my head back and forth with a little grin on his face. The control module showed my titan to be charging: 25%, 40%, 67%, 75%,80%, and finally 92%. I take my hands and crack my knuckles.
"I'm charging rapidly. The power is utterly unlimited and responsive. And to think they give this up because a few boundaries were cross. No boundary exists to inhibit this power."
A few kilometers away in front of me a portal into real space opens up and Voltron steps out.
"I underestimated you, princess." I had almost forgotten. It was Allura's aid. That made the slip space reactor imbued with trans dimension hopping. My Sincline mech would have just been just mech if it weren't for Allura's aid.
I should go over and thank her.
I slam my thrusters full throttle, gunning for Voltron. It, in turn, comes for me. Swords were drawn, we collide in a shower of sparks. I slash widely trying to break their guard or at least graze them. They're fast, fast as I and a number of attack moves I haven't seen before are freeing being used against me.
It was about time they got serious and stop being so squeamish. Now, this is a fight worth proving my abilities. I come in low hitting them both on they're right and there left. They're unperturbed and in an instant Voltron, fires a beam out of its eyes. I dodge on reflex and almost prenatally fire back with my own ion beam.
They block, but that hardly matters. I'm coming for them, going impale them right through the chest of their blasted machine. I would love to hear them scream. Suddenly the green lions head comes rocketing out of Voltron's arm and hits me right in the cockpit causing my mech to spin.
My cockpit holds, but I'm a little dizzy and then that same prenatal feeling snaps me out it. I'm still within Voltron's range, but so is Voltron in mine. I hit them as soon as the green lion returns. I raise my sword and bring it down. A shield materializes, to blocks it. Voltron then goes for a stab. They judged poorly, with my free arm I wrap it around theirs and stuff it up underneath my mech's armpit. Voltron's sword suddenly fires and tries to angle the beam on my back.
I head-butt in retaliation and with my sword arm start pounding at their head and shoulder with the pommel. They fire back with those eye beams again and I'm blinded sided. In that lapse of concentration, they slip out and kick me. Once more their sword fires a blue incandesce beam and I'm hurled farther away. Yet in less than a tic, I straighten and I drive right back at them. The adrenaline kicking in is like a narcotic.
"What is this feeling? This power I'm feeling," I thought. The control module is flashing red again. The power dampeners are charged beyond there presets. Yet, it does not concern me, Instead, I feel ecstatic, goosebumps all over me, and a certain frenzy. Something deep and innate begging, imploring me to release it. It was then I heard Allura over their com chatter
"We have to get out of here the Quintessence field is affecting us!" Fools! An inner voice chimes in at the back of my head. I then without the need for pretense or pretention remove my helmet and make my final declaration.
"Poor Allura, all the power in the whole universe and you fear using it!" How naive, how stupid the power coursing through me! I feel like a lightning rod! All my life I want this, wanted this power to suppress my father and his ill-begotten empire for...Oh, how long have I waited for this moment?
An eternity? Yes. "Oh, I have waited an eternity for this moment," I whisper quietly to myself.
The paladins have anchored themselves some distance away. No doubt to escape, but there is no escape. I gun it. Thrusters set to max. The discharge of ionic power is making the exhaust ports glow a bright orange. My whole titan is rattling, but I feel only ecstatic.
The enemy is in my sights and after their gone. The whole universe is mine to rule. I'm only a few meters out from touching them when suddenly. A beam of a bright incandescent blue comes firing out of Voltron's chest. My brief euphony turns into confusion and then into a rage.
I forcibly straighten my mech and slam right back into the energy beam. "It that all you got!" I shout.
I've taken everything the universe has thrown at me and I gave it back tenfold. The fire is lite. I lite it! I am the master of the universe and by my will! I will take what is mine by right. No cost is too great, no defeat is certain, victory or death!
"Victory or death!"
Wait, for a moment the frenzy stops. The haze on my mind clears.
The rage subsides and I turn my head to the side. Unintentionally ignoring all around me. Including the sparks, the alarms, and the rattle of my cockpit.
That phrase it was brief and I've said before, but...then it comes back to me. The lion at Oriande where I was denied entry. Allura made it in, but I didn't. I never asked Allura how she got in! But...how, why! Then I remembered like cold water splashing against me.
"Victory or death" intoned my late father, like a ghost haunting me!
My rage returns not out of my indignation, but out of my shame. I scream I roar, I am once again a few meters close to Voltron, just a few more and I would've touched them. Yet, my Sincline mech is slammed back. Voltron defeats me. The console erupts and outcome sparks. All my readouts were fading in and out. My helmet slams all over the cockpit and hits me square in the face.
Despite everything, despite even killing him! His shadow still haunts me and I feel just as I felt back then. Petrified! I look up and I see a figment of his face staring down at me.
"Why...Why can I be rid of you! Why can't you leave alone!" I shout at the apparition. My throat is dry and my voice is coming out raspy.
The ghost responds in a voice typical of my father. "Because you are weak." There. It. Is. The strike at the core of my being.
My head slumps down and... I lose all sense. I struggle in vain to be rid of the seatbelt. My nails digging deep and cutting the fibers. I thrash, I yell, I kick and I thrash some more. There's no reason to it I'm in an absolute blind rage. I came so far and in the end, it didn't even matter. I push my palms into my eyes. I'm weeping now and my voice chokes. I can't tell how I long lamented, but when I eventually stopped I saw Voltron leaving through a portal.
"No... please don't leave me here. Don't go! Don't...I... made a mistake! I can change. Please!" The last word comes out as a painful whipper. As soon as they left my whole world goes white. I lose conciseness. Peace that was within sight is now not within reach.