While characters from another fic I'm working on are being adapted for this story, no prior knowledge is necessary for this fic.
Chapter 1 – Landfall
BOOM!
"Go! Go! Go!"
"All the lions are on board the castle! Securely!"
"Then let's go!"
The starship known as the Castle of Lions left the wormhole, having escaped yet another Galra patrol. For a month now, since the Paladins and Allura had been re-united, it had been seemingly the same. Hit and run attacks on Galra installations to disrupt their war engine, before backing out and making their presence known a few days later, choosing a random location to warp jump to and re-starting the process. The method had proven extremely effect, and utterly exhausting to the five Paladins. Emerging from their lions to the main bridge of the castle, the group stretched out, offering congratulations on another successful raid.
However, on the most recent jump, as the Paladins looked out at the planet in front of them, they saw something none of the five had expected to see for some time, if ever. The sight was enough to cause all of them to quiet down, the usual taunts and boasts gone from the chamber. Allura, blissfully oblivious to this, began reading out reports from her charts.
"We appear to have come across the third planet in the solar system. Galra activity has been present but minimal according to transmissions from the area, claiming work on a 'classified project'. The planet itself seems to be only in the beginning throes of space travel, but the population is…"
"Home," Lance suddenly interrupted, his shocked expression turning into a huge grin. "Guys, we're home!"
"Hold on, really?" Hunk asked, before looking out at the planet and sharing the same grin. "It is! It's Earth! We're home!"
"Home?" Allura asked, confused as to why Lance and Hunk were suddenly jumping and dancing for joy. Turning to the more subdued trio of Pidge, Keith, and Shiro, she asked, "You mean this is the planet you all came from?"
"In so many words," Pidge answered. "Nice little mudball, isn't it?"
"We gotta get down there!" Lance exclaimed, going up to Allura even as she maintained her position in the cockpit. "I've gotta see Mom! Let her know I'm OK! You can all come! We'll say hello, have some pernil, it'll be great! Not to mention," Lance continued, motioning towards Allura, "you're gonna love the beaches. Well, I'm gonna love the beaches when you're down there, but that's besides the point."
"Pernil? What's that?"
"Roasted pork shoulder. My mom makes the best pernil in the world! She slow cooks it in the oven for hours, there's a ton of spices, it's amazing. Trust me, you're gonna…"
"Wait, wait," Shiro interrupted. "You do realize we all left Earth wanted men and women, right?" Pidge offered a slight grin at the mention of "and women", which Shiro acknowledged with a quick nod. "If we go down to Earth, and we get caught, we're gonna have to answer a lot of questions. Not to mention Galaxy Garrison is going to want to study Voltron, probably dissect the lions…"
"Not on your life!" Allura said. "I'm not letting some backwater world scientist touch Voltron!"
"Relax!" Lance assured Allura. "Nothing on Earth can keep up with the lions, let alone capture them! And it's not like we're staying for good! We stay a few days, Hunk and I let our families know we're OK, you get some good food for a change…"
"Hey!" Coran shouted.
"And then we pick up and head back on the road fighting the good fight! I think, we deserve a vacation, and my parents live close to a beach so it's not like we'd be traveling a lot. Just wait till you're down there," Lance continued, mentioning every little landmark he had grown up next to from the small pizza place on the boardwalk to the one area where the locals preferred to hang out.
"So do mine," Hunk added. "You know, Lance's idea makes a lot of sense. Maybe we could use a few days off. Recharge the batteries, you know? I mean, shore leave is a thing for a reason. Not to mention being able to have seafood from this one place, it'll make the whole trip worth it."
"You have a point," Allura said while nodding.
"It's ridiculous," Keith shot back. "If we stay here, the Galra could come looking for us! Not to mention every second we stay off the offensive the Galra rebuild from their losses! We can't win if we let the opponent breathe too long!"
Allura nodded again while adding, "You have a point."
"Well sorry that some of us have lives outside of this," Lance shot back, "but I'm not a robot, and neither are Shiro, Pidge and Hunk! Well, the arm technically makes Shiro a cyborg, but…"
"You really think a trip to your parents is worth potentially losing a war?"
"Hell, it's not like you'd know, you don't have any parents!"
The room went deadly silent at this. Lance realized he had made a major mistake when Keith didn't shoot back with a usual insult, only offering a weak but sincere "I'm sorry."
"We know how strongly you feel about this," Shiro interrupted, doing his best to diffuse any potential argument, "and given the situation, a few days rest may be best for all of us, physically and mentally. Let's face it, we've been working pretty hard. We'll find somewhere safe to land, out of sight, make sure that no one is actively looking for us, and then we'll take a few days so you both can see your families again. After that, we'll be on our way. As long as being on Earth doesn't actively compromise what we're doing against the Galra, or put us or Voltron in any danger, then there's no reason we can't rest for a few days. I think that's fair."
The group all nodded, especially Lance, who turned to Keith and went, "you know I didn't…"
"Forget it," was Keith's quick and curt reply. "It doesn't matter."
"Well now that all that's settled," Coran began, "I'll look for an appropriate place for us to land out of sight. Lance, where was your family located?"
"Well, mom's in Florida, but we've got family in Cuba that we visited all the time too. For now though, you're looking around the city of Miami…"
"What about my family?" Hunk asked.
"It wouldn't be fair to spend all our time with just Lance's family," Allura replied. "We'll spend half our time at Lance's and half with Hunk's family. I believe that's fair, is it not?"
"Sure it is," Lance answered, nodding approvingly.
"Where are they located?"
"The Haw…"
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
"Oh no, this can't be right!"
"What? What can't be right?" asked Lance.
"There's a signal coming from your 'Florida'. It's a Galran Robeast! Two!"
"Oh no," Hunk said aloud. "Then that means…"
"Did they follow us here?" Keith asked.
"That doesn't make any sense," Pidge answered. "Why attack the planet if they followed us? They must have been present already!"
"Well we can't just leave them!" Hunk exclaimed. "We need to get down there!"
"Wait," Keith protested. "What's happened while we left? Shouldn't we try to figure out why the Galra are there?"
"Who cares?" Lance answered. "There's Robeasts tearing up Florida! We pilot Voltron! We need to do something about it now!"
"Agreed," Allura answered. "I don't know what they're doing on your homeworld, but we cannot just leave without dealing with them. Paladins, prepare to mobilize!"
The five Paladins all nodded, and then ran to their lions. Lance couldn't help but groan slightly.
"Well so much for going unnoticed. But hey! Maybe saving the Earth will clear up all that nasty fugitive business!"
"Wouldn't that be nice," Keith answered. "Then maybe you can shut up about missing your mommy."
"Hey, don't be mad I live next to a beach!" Lance answered, knowing better than to address Keith's thorny parental issues again. "I'm sure they'll welcome you for a few days if you can pull that stick out of your ass!"
"Why don't you two get a room after this and be done with it?" Pidge asked. Immediately, the pair shot back with a deadpan but firm response.
"We're straight."
"Well, so much for that fantasy," Pidge lamented.
Arizona – Galaxy Garrison Headquarters
PRIORITY 1 ALERT! VOLT ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA: SCRAMBLE! PRIORITY 1 ALERT! VOLT ALPHA, BETA, GAMMA: SCRAMBLE!
Running down the halls of the laboratory of the Garrison, three pilots quickly picked up their helmets from a table and dove into three separate tunnels, each marked with the Greek symbol for Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. As they slid down the tunnels, feet first, the trio landed in chairs which went down a long corridor, finally placing the chairs in large jet fighters, colored blue, red, and black respectively. Their movements were like clockwork, having responded to this alarm several times prior and practicing for it dozens if not hundreds more times.
"Robeast spotted around Florida Doc?" asked the first man as he began adjusting the instruments in front of him.
"Correct. Two. It appears the Galra are trying to put more resources into their guerilla tactics. Intercept and destroy."
"Roger that. Volt Alpha, moving out!"
"Volt Beta! Moving out!"
"Volt Gamma! Moving out!"
The three jets flew through underground tunnels before finally rising towards the surface, heading towards their target at incredible speed.
Hunk couldn't help but sigh. While Lance had been the most gung-ho about getting shore leave of sorts, he had a family that he wanted to visit as well. The idea of going home, visiting the family, maybe having a big dinner seemed simple, deceptively so.
Instead, as the five lions flew towards the planet, easily withstanding re-entry into the atmosphere, he found two Galran Robeasts attacking a small city, both doing their best to cause as much destruction as possible. The first was a tripod machine with thick armor and no discernable face, but at least four arms. The arms, extending in claws, seemed to have laser cannons of some sort at the end of them that it was using to attack buildings and any vehicle that got close enough to the machine. The second, more humanoid in shape, had the face resembling an armored helmet with two horns and a massive scythe in its hand, slashing at buildings and roads. Its body was covered by a tattered cloak that battered in the wind even as its owner swung its scythe at anything unfortunate enough to cross its sight.
Shiro had already noticed the enemy, and was planning accordingly.
"Let's split up and attack in pairs! Pidge! Lance! You're with me! Keith, Hunk, take the humanoid Robeast!"
"Roger!"
The group got to work immediately, Pidge and Lance firing at the tripod Robeast while Shiro's lion formed a dagger in its mouth, using the distraction to zip past the machine and land a powerful strike on its torso.
"Nice work Shiro!"
"Don't get too confident just yet," Shiro answered back. "That thing's armor is way too thick to take out with just the dagger. Not to mention," he added while looking down, "there isn't a ton of space to move around here!"
"Well we can't always fight in a desert," Pidge replied.
A similar situation was occurring with the second Robeast as Hunk and the Yellow Lion absorbed the blow of the machine's scythe while the Red Lion jumped over it, firing a massive blast from its mouth. The blast knocked the machine down, disarming it.
"We got him!"
"Yeah, but he's getting up!" Indeed, the machine rose again, both Keith and Hunk realizing they would need more than the Lion's weaponry to defeat the pair. This became even more evident as the scythe quickly flew back into the Robeast's hands, the machine raising it over its head in a war cry.
"It's going to take all day for the Lions to bring them down at this rate!" Pidge said.
"This isn't working!" Shiro began. "There's only one way we can take them down!"
"Right!"
"FORM VOLTRON!"
"Professor, we're five minutes out from the target! There's way more than two Robeasts according to the sensors!"
You're correct Daniel. In fact, the signals are a perfect match for what was in the tunnel.
Another voice spoke up with this information. "You mean?"
Yes. The Lions. The reason this whole war started.
"Well today they're gonna pay!"
"Should we be just going in guns blazing?" a third voice asked.
Vince has a point. You three are authorized to engage and destroy the lions or their Voltron if they refuse to surrender. But try to bring them in alive if possible. Understood?
"Roger that!"
The people who had evacuated the city turned back to look at the battlefield the downtown area which had turned into a ring for the two monstrous machines and the giant robot with lion heads for hands and feet. It stood, the robot's metallic gaze never veering from either of its opponents.
Then the robot with the scythe lunged forward, prepared to strike Voltron.
"Keith! Sword!"
"You got it!"
A sword formed in the mouth of the red lion, or the giant robot's right hand, its blade blocking the blade of the Robeast's scythe. Too quickly, the machine moved forward, aiming to strike the Robeast's torso, but the machine anticipated the strike, deflecting the blade with an attack of its own.
Back and forth the pair clashed steel and aggression, the other Robeast seemingly unwilling to fire and potentially disabling an allied unit. Instead, it, along with the people who had survived the initial assault, watched as the two giant robots continued to duel.
Finally, an opening appeared. One that Keith might have missed had Hunk not pointed it out to him.
"Keith! His shoulder's vulnerable!"
"HAAA!"
A powerful slash towards the shoulder of the machine's shoulder caused it drop its scythe towards the ground, while a second took the head of the Robeast clean off, at which point the machine fell and did not rise again.
"And now for…AHH!"
Powerful blasts of energy from the second Robeast pounded Voltron, causing it to fall to the ground and drop its sword.
"Pidge! "Shield!"
The assault of the Galran machine was relentless, with the shield of Voltron only helping somewhat with the endless barrage of lasers. Standing to its feet, Shiro began to hurriedly ponder his next move.
"We need to neutralize those guns! Any ideas?"
One of the other paladins didn't answer Shiro's request; rather a barrage of missiles that struck the Robeast dead center and interrupted its onslaught of laser fire. Wasting no time, Voltron picked up its dropped sword and ran the machine through, ensuring that the blade traveled through its torso till it was split in two. Both halves of the Robeast fell to the ground, inert and harmless.
"Who did that?" Keith asked.
"Look!" Pidge answered, moving the camera of Voltron till it saw the culprit. Three large jet fighters, one blue, one red, and one black, flying in formation above the battlefield.
"What do we say?" Keith asked.
"Let me try," Shiro answered, before flipping on a switch to broadcast his words over a loudspeaker as well as local radio frequencies.
"Look, thanks for the assist. You're probably wondering…"
"ATTENTION PILOTS OF UNIDENTIFIED ROBOT!" a furious voice began from the blue jet fighter. "THIS IS LIEUTENANT DANIEL TONG OF GALAXY GARRISON! SURRENDER IMMEDIATELY AND ABANDON YOUR MACHINE OR YOU WILL BE DESTROYED! THIS IS YOUR ONLY WARNING!"
"Is he joking?!" Lance asked, confused at the hostile greeting. "Something tells me three Earth fighters aren't going to keep up with Voltron!"
"Lance!" Shiro interrupted firmly. "Let me try to negotiate." Turning back to the fighters, even as they continued to fly overhead, he continued.
"We will not surrender, but our intentions are not hostile. We…"
Instead of answering with words, the three fighters immediately began to fire a second barrage of missiles, which Hunk and Lance's quick thinking allowed Voltron to dodge. Undeterred, the trio began moving in again.
"You wanna play rough, huh?" Lance shouted to the Garrison pilots. "We're the Defenders of the Universe! Your pieces of crap are no match for Voltron!"
"That's what you think," Daniel's voice boasted. "Vince! Larmina! Alpha formation! Let's show these jackasses what happens when you bring an alien invasion to Earth!"
"FORM VOLTRON!"
Hunk was baffled at these words. "Wait, WHAT?!"
Looking up, all five Paladins saw exactly what Daniel had meant as the three jet fighters began to twist and contort, the blue fighter into a pair of humanoid arms and humanoid hands, the black fighter into a pair of legs, and the red fighter broke apart into various accessories and parts of the torso.
"AND I'LL FORM THE HEAD!"
From the nosecone of the machine, two sides split open to reveal a humanoid face. The machine, equal in size to Voltron, stood in front of the Paladin's robot, its fists ready. Standing tall, the robot pointed the finger from its right hand at Voltron.
"Did those humans make a giant robot and call it 'Voltron'?!" Allura asked from the control room of the Castle of Lions. "That's an insult to my father!"
"Well, it's not Voltron per se," Coran replied. "It's made of air vehicles, not the lions."
"This 'Vehicle Voltron' isn't Voltron! Paladins, you may feel free to teach your fellow humans a lesson in respect!"
"So do we fight?" Keith asked. "I mean, Allura said it was OK." Pidge however, was preoccupied with a more pressing question.
"Since when can Galaxy Garrison make giant robots?"
"Takashi Shirogane," Daniel interrupted, "you bought the Galra to our doorstep! Convinced them they had to conquer Earth to find Voltron's secrets!"
"I don't know what you're talking about!" Shiro protested.
"You and your friends started a war that's cost the lives of thousands, maybe millions, and you're going to answer for your crimes! Dead or alive, you're coming with us!"
The other paladins had had just about enough of the Galaxy Garrison pilot and his threats. Claiming to pilot a giant robot called Voltron was bad enough, but combined with the outright threats and everyone had just about had it.
"Just try it," Keith answered. "If you think your cheap knockoff can compete with the real Voltron!"
"With pleasure!"
Next - Voltron vs. Voltron! And how did Shiro go from the lost pilot to seemingly Earth's greatest enemy?
As always, enjoy and review.