Become ONE

by Cowboy Alchemist

All Riflemen Cadet Marcus Moore wanted was to become a Titan Pilot. He got his wish, but not how he wanted it to happen. After being taken to an unknown planet, Marcus and his Titan will fight alongside his friends when they've been chosen by a princess to command Voltron, the most powerful weapon ever made. They will defend not just the Frontier, but the universe from evil. AU R&R

1. RC-2049 and Voltron

Hello readers and welcome to my Voltron: Legendary Defender/Titanfall 2 crossover: "Become ONE"

This is going to be a really interesting one to work on, due to the fact that I've just started Voltron and I'm a huge fan of both Titanfall games. Titanfall 2 being my favorite, of course.

Now, the reason I say that this is a crossover with Titanfall 2 is because I'll be using the campaign of the game for the story.

This story is also going to be AU. One of the biggest major changes in this is where the five Paladins are from and the location of the Blue Lion. That means the characters aren't going to be from Earth, they'll be from the Frontier and they'll find the Blue Lion on a planet I'll make. This planet will be where the Garrison is, and the cadets will be a part of the Militia.

I'll try and explain some things from the Titanfall series, but not too much. Not much information and background about the TF universe is explained out loud in the games, but I'll do my best. For more information, I recommend going online or on the Titanfall Wiki.

And of course, if you read this story and never played Titanfall or Titanfall 2 but are interested in it, I HIGHLY recommend playing the second game! It is a great game! The first game was great too, but was lacking a campaign story and other content. The second game has all that and more. A great campaign and awesome multiplayer.

Sorry I went a little fanboy there, but trust me, it's a fantastic game.

The main pairing of this crossover is OC/Princess Allura.

Finally, to keep the feeling of Titanfall, this will be a POV story.

This is going to be the longest chapter I've ever done for a story, given that the pilot episode of Voltron is well over an hour.

And with that out of the way, let's start the show.

---

I was only ten when my home became a warzone.

Of all the things I saw that day, I'll never forget the feeling in me when I laid my eyes on the true dominate force on the battlefields of the Frontier: the Pilot.

I remember being in awe seeing how the Pilot was fast and agile. Graceful, yet devastating. Perceptive…resourceful…and relentless.

The Pilot saw the world differently. Able to turn sheer walls into flanking routes. He fought differently from the other soldiers. He was experienced in deception and maneuver…even turning overwhelming odds in his favor.

But what I knew truly separated the Pilot from the grunts and machines on both sides of the battlefield…was the bond between him and his Titan.

I saw that when linked to a Titan, a Pilot can only be stopped by overwhelming force…or an equal.

I may have born on Earth, the Frontier has been the only home I've ever known. For years, our lands have been destroyed by the IMC…forcefully taking our resources…polluting and destroying our planets…and killing us off if we tried to resist.

Despite our victories at the Battle of Demeter and beyond, we've still have a long way to go before the IMC is defeated.

That's why I joined the Militia as a Rifleman: to fight to free the Frontier.

But on that day, when I saw that Pilot and his Titan fighting…I knew that I wanted to be just like him.

I'm a long way from becoming a Pilot…but when that day comes…no matter what happens…I hope I can live up to the honor.

---

Moore's Logbook:

The planet Trident is the training grounds for everyone wanting to become a part of the Frontier Militia. No real civilian presence, only a few large facilities for training future fighters and personnel.

It's here that I met my Pilot trainer Captain Oscar Quinton, a master level Pilot. Why he wanted to train me, I don't know, but this was an opportunity that I would be crazy to pass up.

Now, I was to help my team with a "mission": To rescue Commander Samuel Holt, his son, Matt Holt, and Titan Pilot Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane, after losing contact with them on the ice moon Hex one year ago.

---

"RC–2049 and Voltron"

"Jump Tower, this Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Request permission to initiate Jump to Hex for rescue mission. Over."

"Copy that, Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Stand by for clearance. Over."

"How's the Jump Drive, Hunk?"

"It's all good, Marcus. All we need is for Pidge to set the Jump coordinates."

"Already did it. We're ready to go, Lance."

"…Jump Tower to Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango: You are clear to initiate Jump Sequence. Over."

"Thank you very much. Out. …Jumping in 3…2…1…mark!"

After the flash of white light went away, I was able to see again.

Walking over to one of the side windows of the Crow dropship we were in, I looked out to see the surface of the ice moon Hex. That meant the Jump was a success.

Looking over my shoulder, I saw the rest of the four man crew was working with today. I was the only "Grunt", as other's called guys like me, one board. The other three were the pilot, the engineer, and the communications specialist. We all were all wearing combat modified jumpsuits-like clothing, the only difference was that I was wearing combat gear.

I had on the armor that they usually issue to Riflemen, with a helmet. I was almost equipped with a V-47 Flatline assault rifle that I had in my hands for when we got to the surface. The old nonmilitary thing I could think of that I had on was a tan shemagh I wore around my neck.

"Alright everyone, we've made it to Hex. Begin descent for our rescue mission of Commander Samuel Holt and crew," said Lance, our pilot. He was a lean guy about two years younger than me with light brown skin, short brown hair, thin eyebrows, and blue eyes that are notably drawn with small irises and pupils.

He jerked the Crow into a steep dive, having us descended towards the ice moon. The sudden movement made me widened my stand to keep balance.

However, atmospheric entire didn't seem to sit well with our engineer, Hunk. Hunk was heavy-set to say the least and was the same age as Lance, with medium brown skin, black hair, and brown eyes with thick, square-shaped eyebrows. He was also wearing an orange strip of cloth tied around his forehead that was long enough to reach his mid-back.

His around face looked nauseous, as his hands launched on to his foldout seat. "Augh. Lance, can you keep this thing straight," he asked.

"Relax, Hunk, I'm just getting a feel for the stick," he told him, before smirking mischievously. Oh no. "I mean it's not like I did this!"

Lance jerked the Crow downwards, making Hunk groan and forcing me to release my grip on my rifle, letting it hang from my waist, and using both hands to grab onto one of the handlebars above my head.

"Or this!"

Lance again jerked the dropship. This time to the right. Now Hunk was feeling ill. That's it. I had about enough of the cocky bastard's horsing around. "Lance! Knock it off," I exclaimed. "Unless you wanna wipe Hunk's beef stroganoff out of every the little nooks and crannies in this thing."

Suddenly the military laptop in the lap of the comm spec, Pidge, was activated, along with a computer monitor that extended out of the Crow's wall and angled towards him. Now Pidge was a surprise to me. For someone in the Militia, he was fairly small and slim and was about 15. It wasn't unheard of for young people to have joined, but that was before Demeter, before we really started to become a force to be reckoned. He had short and messy light brown hair that reached down to his neck and curved in all directions, brown eyes, and fair skin with circular glasses.

Looking at it, Pidge saw an arrow pointing down to a location on the virtual map. "We've picked up a distress signal," he told the crew.

"See if you can track the coordinates, Pidge," I told him. "This could be what we're looking for."

"Copy," Pidge said and start rapidly tapping on the keyboard of the laptop, trying to lock onto the signal.

"Hey!" Lance looked over his seat and glared at me as he demanded, "Who the hell put you in charge?" The Crow started to rumble and the alarms started blaring. Lance quickly looked back forward and looked over his systems.

Jesus, why couldn't Keith have kept his mouth in check? Anyone's better than this yahoo!

"Watch where you're going Lance, please!" pleaded Hunk, increasingly nauseous and unease.

"Oh, this one's on you, buddy," Lance told him smugly. "We've got a hydraulic stabilizer out."

I watched while hanging on the handlebar Hunk quickly pulled out a monitor next to him out of the wall and looked it. However, he suddenly had to choke down vomit that was ready to come out. "Oh no—"

Oh shit. "Hold it in, buddy," I told him. "Fix the hydraulic stabilizer or we're in big trouble."

"I lost contact," Pidge told us, as the Crow continued rumbling. "The shaking is interfering with our sensors."

"Come on, Hunk," exclaimed Lance, as the engineer continued to try and fix it from the monitor.

"It's not responding. Ugh..." Realizing that it wasn't going to work like that, Hunk unbuckled himself from the seat and went around me, as I patted him on the back. Leaning down to near where Pidge was sitting, he opened a panel that led to the main gearbox.

In the cockpit, Lance's monitor displayed the location of the signal. "Oh, never mind, fellas. Thar she blows," he told us confidently. "Preparing for approach on visual."

My eyes widened a little before I said, "Lance, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Agree. I don't think that's advisable with our current mechanical and..." Pidge stopped for a moment when he heard Hunk choking down his vomit again. "…gastrointestinal issues."

"Yeah, I second that," the big guy said.

"Stop worrying. This baby can take it," Lance told us before patting the Crow. "Can't you, champ?" He flinched when the dropship shook violently. "Uh, see? She was—she was nodding. She was nodding."

I sighed exasperatedly before turning to Pidge. "Pidge, hail down to them and let them know help's come."

Pidge did as I told and unbuckled himself from his seat, before standing on it to reach the microphone above him. "Attention lunar vessel—Uwah!" He yelled when the Crow shook again, sending Pidge falling and hitting the floor.

"What are you doing? Buckle your belt," Lance told him, to which Pidge's expression turned to annoyance before I reached down with a hand and helped him stand back up.

"Hunk," I said, as Pidge went back to his seat. "Get this ship stable!"

"I-I'm try—ah-ah," Hunk stopped when he couldn't take it anymore, "o-oh no—!" He vomited straight into the main gearbox and the rumbling stopped. Oh, what do you know?

"Attention lunar vessel," Pidge said into the microphone, as Hunk closed the gearbox and went back to his seat, "this is Garrison Rescue Craft One Victor Six Three Tango. Coming in for landing and extraction, against crew recommendations." He and I looked at Lance in the cockpit with annoyance. That's right, we're looking at you, pal.

"Uh, no time for your mutinous comments now, Pidge," Lance argued. "They're going under and we're going in." He dived the Crow towards Hex's surface. But as we made our way down, a narrow ice overhang appeared before us.

"Look out for that overhang," exclaimed Pidge as he and Hunk looked frightened. Even I was starting to panic. Lance was a cargo pilot before being transferred to fighter!

"No worries," Lance told them, looking at his teammates from the side of his seat. "My first year in flight school, you know what they called me? They called me 'The Tailor' because of how I thread the needle." He looked forward and angled the Crow slightly on its side, causing Pidge and Hunk to yell from the steep angle they were being forced into. All I could do was let my feet dangle as I hung onto the handlebars for dear life. "Come around, come around! Come on, come on—!"

However, it wasn't enough and the dropship stroke the overhang with its wing, causing it to jump violently, while red lights flashed and alarms blared. Because I wasn't in a seat, the strike threw my body up into the ceiling, causing pain. Then more pain was caused when I was thrown against the floor.

"We lost a wing," Hunk exclaimed, looking out of the side window he was next to. I didn't listen to him and just braced myself against the wall of the ship.

"Oh, man..." Lance groaned.

The Crow dived toward the surface of Hex before crashing. All I could be was shut my eyes and wait another jolt and for me to be slammed up against the side of the ship again.

However it never came.

I opened my eyes when a robotic voice was sounded in the dropship.

"Simulation Failed."

I sighed and took off my helmet. Thank God it was over. Machine and mechanical noises were heard all around the ship.

With my helmet off, my face was able to be seen. I'd say I was an averagely handsome young man who was a 19 year old Caucasian male. My body was athletic built for combat, due to years of training before joining the Militia. I had short and unkempt black hair that reached down to my neck. Eyes were a bluish-green color, and I had a small cut over my right eyebrow.

I rolled my shoulders as they ached from the impacts with a ceiling and floor. "That was way too realist for just a simulator," I groaned.

"Nice work, Tailor," Pidge groaned to Lance, and rightfully so. The simulator doors opened in the back of the craft and standing there on the other side was Commander M. Iverson of the Militia's 41st Militia Rifle Battalion.

"Roll out, donkeys," he ordered us cadets.

Oh yeah, that's right. We're not soldiers yet. You think they'll let someone as young as Pidge out on the battlefield.

Well…

Anyways, we're cadets. Enlistments in the Frontier Militia.

We groaned while walking out of the modified Crow that was hooked up a gyroscope machine inside of one of the large Militia training facilities, the Garrison. Soon, Lance, Pidge, I, and Hunk were standing before Iverson and our fellow cadets. We looked down shame and failure.

"Now then," Iverson said to the other cadets. "Let's see if we can't use this complete failure as a lesson for the rest of you students. Can anyone point out the mistakes these three so-called cadets made in the simulator?"

One student raised his hand. "The engineer puked in the main gearbox!"

"Yes, as everyone knows, vomit is not—" Iverson snapped his head towards Hunk, making him flinch "—an approved lubricant for engine systems," he said before looking back at the cadets. "What else?"

"The Comm Spec removed his safety harness," one female cadet said.

"The Rifleman attempted to take command of the situation?"

Really? That's the best you could've come up with?

"The pilot crashed!"

We have a winner!

"Correct. And worst of all, the whole jump, they're arguing with each other," Iverson exclaimed as he snapped his head towards me and my friends. "Heck, if you're going to be this bad individually, you'd better at least be able to work as a team on the battlefield! The Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of soldiers and ship crews for the 41st Militia Rifle Battalion, but these kind of mental mistakes are exactly what cost the lives of the men on the Hex Expansion Mission."

That seemed to make Pidge upset and he snapped at the Commander. "That's not true, sir!"

"What did you say?!" Iverson snapped back.

Lance quickly clasped his hand over Pidge's mouth. "Sorry, sir! I-I-I think he may have hit his head when he fell out of his chair," he said as Pidge's muffled voice could be heard from his hand. "But point taken." Lance let him go and the two stood straight again.

"I hope I don't need to remind you that the only reason your here is that the best pilot in you're class had a discipline issue and flunked out," Iverson told him sternly. "Don't follow in his footsteps."

"Alright, Commander," said a new voice. One I knew and made me almost smile. "I think you've harassed the kids long enough." We turned our heads towards the direction of the other cadets. But we weren't focused on them. Walking through the crowd was a Militia Titan Pilot, causing the students looked at him in wonder and whispered to each other.

The Pilot was Captain Oscar Quinton, one of the best Pilots in the Frontier. He was an early 50 year old man with light tan skin with a pink complexion, with a scar on his left cheek. He had gray hair that was cut short and spiked up a little, dark goatee, and dark eyes. His attire was a similarity to the Militia's Battle Rifle Pilot uniform and was colored in the colors of the Militia, along with his helmet that had an X-shaped visor that he carried with his left arm.

"Captain Quinton," I said with a smile.

"Hey, Moore," Quinton said with a small grin. That's my name, Marcus Moore. "Good to see that you're not too banged up."

"Captain," Iverson said. "I'd appreciate if you leave the training of the cadets to me."

"You're forgetting, Iverson, that you have my student in your battalion, too," Quinton countered. "And all I can to tell him was that lessons today are cancelled because of something that came up."

That almost surprised me a little, but all that much. He was a Pilot, an elite soldier and operator of a Titan, mech-style robots that were one of the most advanced weapons ever made. Lastimosa was one of the best Pilots, so no wonder he was the first one they'd call to help assist them with almost any given situation.

"Ah yes." Iverson walked up to Quinton. "Your prodigy. Let me remind you that while you may think that Cadet Moore's going to go on to be the youngest Pilot there's ever been, he's still a Rifleman Cadet under my command. Until that time, he's still a Rifleman."

Lastimosa smirked at him, as their bodies were a foot away from each other. "And it wouldn't be long," he said before walking away.

Iverson wasn't wrong about the prodigy part. I wasn't really trying to please anyone, except maybe those I needed to in order to pass Pilot Certification, but many veteran Pilots in the Marauder Corps and even SRS said that I was a gifted young man that had the potential of being one of the best. In the Pilot's Gauntlet, a simulated training course by neural linking, I was able to learn the Jump Kit and how to maneuver in it greatly. I'll tell you, the training was long and difficult, with a failure rate of more than 98%, but I pushed on. Yesterday, Quinton said that I've more than proven myself.

Today was to be my next and near final training lesson: practicing with a Titan.

But it looks like it'd have to wait for another time.

Lance, Pidge, and Hunk looked at me curiously, wondering why he cancelled training. All I could do was shrug my shoulders.

---

As the sun went down for the desert planet of Trident, the Militia Garrison was beginning to shut down.

"Lights out in five!" Iverson told everyone in the corridor as he walked by. "Everyone back to their dorms, now." However, unbeknownst to him, Lance, Hunk, and I were hiding behind one of the corners, watching the Commander walk away and the curfew beginning. The two of them were now just wearing jumpsuits with jackets over them. I on the hand was wearing a crimson suit that Captain Quinton gave me for our training.

"We shouldn't be doing this," Hunk whispered.

"You heard Commander Iverson. We need to bond as a team," Lance said arrogantly. "We're going to grab Pidge, hit the town, loosen up, meet some nice girls, maybe—"

When the lights in the hallway went out, I said rhetorically, "Maybe get caught and be suspected of treason or shot on sight. Unlike you, Lance, I worked hard to get to where I am. All the way when I was 13 and now I'm this close to becoming a real Pilot." Lance however didn't listen and sneaked through the hallway. I sighed in exasperation and motioned for Hunk to follow. "Come on."

The two of us followed the cadet pilot as he stopped just next to a window that showed the Instructor's Lounge. "You know, for someone who wants to become the next big-name Pilot, you don't have much of a sense of adventure, Marcus," Lance told me. "I bet I could be one in no time."

"All of your little 'adventures' end up with me in the principal's office," Hunk said to him, as Lance went low to the ground to avoid being seen by any of the instructors. I and the big man followed his lead and started crawling on the floor.

"And being a Pilot is no joke, Lance," I hissed at him. "They'd never go for a hotshot-wannabe like you. It takes years to be one."

After passing the window, we got back up. But then heard footsteps coming our way. So we quickly hid inside of three recycling cans.

Inside, I gently opened the lid to see through a tiny crack of space. When I saw the uniform of a Grunt out of the corner of my eye, I closed the lid completely.

The footsteps past us was the guard saying: "L-5 North all clear."

Afterwards, Lance and I got out of our cans with ease, but Hunk, being the heavier one of our group, was having trouble getting out of his. I went over to help him. Grabbing him and trying to pull him out, but the result was Hunk topping over and landing on me. Man was he heavy! He quickly got up and said, "I'm fine."

"Good for you," I grunted as he stood up. However, when I looked down the hallway, I the door to Commander Iverson's office open. Thinking fast, I grabbed Lance and Hunk by their jackets and pulled them into another hallway.

Looking over the corner, I was surprised to see Pidge with a backpack exiting the office and out Iverson. The small teen pressed the button to close the door behind him and then ran down the hall.

"Where is he's going," I asked with suspicion.

The three of us followed Pidge as he went on to the roof of the Garrison. Once there, Pidge sat with his legs crossed near the edge and took out of his backpack a radio of some sort, headphones, and other special equipment. Placing the headphones over his ears, Pidge closed his eyes and listened closely.

Lance kneeled down behind him and carefully said into his ear, "You come up here to rock out?"

Startled, Pidge yelled as he turned around and saw Lance and me standing behind him, while Hunk was crawling towards us slowly, trying to avoid being seen by the guards. After realizing it was only us, he straightened himself and looked at us with wide eyes. "Oh, Lance, Hunk, Marcus. No, um, just looking at the stars," he lied.

"Yeah," I said sarcastically. "Sure you did. Just like you weren't exiting out of Iverson office." Pidge flinched at that.

"Hey, where'd you get this stuff," Lance asked, as Hunk's head popped over the pilot cadet's shoulder to see for himself. "It doesn't look like Militia tech."

"I built it," Pidge said proudly.

"You built all this?" Hunk crawled over to touch one of the equipment, only for Pidge to smack his hand away.

"Stop it!" Pidge looked back at Lance and me. "With this thing, I can scan all the way to the edges of the Frontier."

"Right," I said and crossed my arms. "And that means all the way to Hex?" Pidge didn't respond and looked away. "Okay, Pidge, what's going on? You always get angry whenever the instructors bring up that expedition mission." Hunk crawled to equipment again and started messing with a small radio dials, earning him an annoyed expression from Pidge.

"Yeah," Lance said. "What's your deal?"

"—Second warning Hunk!" Pidge yelled at him.

"Aww…" Hunk stopped.

"Look, Pidge, if we're going to bond as a team, we can't have any secrets," Lance told him.

"Fine," Pidge sighed out, before looking at the two of us over his shoulder. "Life on the Frontier is about to change, and not because of the war. The Hex Mission wasn't lost because of some malfunction or crew mistake—"

Hunk went to touch the equipment again. Seriously, man. That's this is going to be three times now.

"—STOP TOUCHING MY EQUIPMENT!"

Hunk groan, but finally desisted as he fell over and laid on his side.

I then said to Pidge, "Go on."

"... So I've been scanning the system and picking up alien radio chatter," he said.

"Whoa, what?" Hunk sprung up with surprise. "Aliens?!"

"Here," I pointed his fingers to the floor. "In the Frontier?" I mean, sure, humanity has encountered many weird, wonderful, and terrifying alien species on the planets we colonized, but advance intelligent aliens?

"OK, so you're insane," Lance said. "Got it."

"I'm serious!" Pidge picked up a notebook and showed us a drawing of a person with a sword and some other random sketches and flames with the word Voltron written on it. "They keep repeating one word: 'Voltron'. And tonight, it's going crazier than I have ever heard it."

"What do you mean," I asked before their attention was caught by the facility's alarms blaring. That's not good.

"Attention, students." Commander Iverson voice was heard over the intercom. "This is not a drill. We are on lockdown! Security situation Zulu Niner. Repeat: All cadets are to remain in barracks until further notice."

Acting on instinct, I looked up and scanned the skies, attempting to search for any IMC ships that might come out of Jump. It was something I did whenever similar alarms were sounded after the Remnant Fleet, the IMC's main surviving military after Demeter attack my home on Harmony. However, instead of finding any ships, I spotted a fiery object coming towards the surface of Trident. I felt fear creep into my body. "Is that a Titan?!" I exclaimed, pointing towards the object.

The other three looked up towards it. Pidge quickly grabbed a pair of binoculars and looked up at the object. "It's a ship," he exclaimed, before Lance took the binoculars and looked at the object for himself, while Pidge was hanging from them.

"Holy crow!" He exclaimed, taking in the alien design of it. "I can't believe what I'm seeing! That's not one of ours or anything the IMC has!"

"No," Pidge said with a small smile. "It's one of theirs."

"So wait, there really are aliens out there?!" Exclaimed Hunk.

"We're about to find out," I said as the four of us watched the alien spacecraft descending towards the surface at high speeds before crashing into the desert. We then watch as a few Samson assault trucks were sent out of the Garrison, heading towards the crash site.

Pidge quickly put away his equipment in his bag and put it on before looking at us with an excited face. "We've gotta see that ship," he exclaimed before running towards the doors.

I had to say that I agreed with him. I don't know why, but it felt right. So I ran after Pidge. Followed by Lance, who called back to Hunk. "Hunk, come on!"

"Oh, this is the worst team-building exercise ever," the engineer cadet complained before running after us.

---

When we arrived at the crash site, the four of us had set ourselves on a nearby cliff. The impact site was quarantined, with a large dome tent, with the Samsons near it.

Lance was laying on his stomach and used the binoculars to see what was going on. I was kneeling next to him, scanning the crash site as well without the binoculars. Hunk was watching our backs for anyone that might come up behind us. And Pidge was using his equipment.

"Whoa..." Lance said. I was shocked as well. Looking at the ship craft that was hooked onto a trailer attached to one of the assault trucks, I saw that the ship's form was unlike anything I've ever seen before, with a black and gray body with gluing purple light. "What the heck is that thing?!" He then looked towards the entrance of quarantine tent. "... And who the heck is she?"

Looking to where he was looking, I could see a female officer and knew what he was doing. "Lance!" I hissed and hit him over the head for ogling the female officer.

"Ow! Ah, right, alien ship." He then sighed and took the binoculars away from his face. "Man, we'll never get past all those guards to get a look."

"Aw, man. Yeah, we—yeah I guess there's nothing to do but head back to the barracks, right?" Hunk tried to convince us to go back to the Garrison. Maybe he was right.

"Wait. They set up a camera in there and I grabbed its feed," Pidge told them, prompting me and the other two to look at the laptop monitor. "Look!"

My eyes widened when I saw what was inside the tent. "…No way."

Inside the tent were three personal in white hazmat suits. Two were standing near a table where they had someone strapped to it. The person was a tall and broad-shouldered young Japanese man who was in his early 20's with pale skin. He had black hair shaven into an undercut with short white bangs centered on his forehead, gray eyes, and across the bridge of his nose was a thin scar.

That person was Takashi "Shiro" Shirogane.

"Hey! What are you doing," demanded Shiro. He sounded like he was in a state of panic.

"Calm down, Shiro," said one of the men, who sounded like Commander Iverson. "We just need to keep you quarantined until we run some tests on you."

"You have to listen to me," Shiro exclaimed, struggling to break out of his bonds. "The Frontier. Core System. We're no longer safe! They destroyed worlds! Aliens are coming!"

What?

"That's Shiro!" Lance pointed at the monitor. "The Titan Pilot of the Hex Mission. That guy's my hero!"

"Guess he's not dead in space after all," said Hunk.

"Where's the rest of the crew," asked Pidge.

"And what's that about destroying worlds," I asked, frowning at the screen. If what Pidge said about aliens was true, then it's safe to assure that they weren't coming in peace.

"Do you know how long you've been gone," asked Iverson.

"I don't know. Months? Years? Look, there's no time. Aliens are coming here to Trident for a weapon. They're probably on their way. They'll destroy us! We have to find Voltron!"

"Voltron!" Pidge exclaimed in shock, as we were also shocked to hear the name too.

"Sir, take a look at this," said one of the technicians. "It appears his arm has been replaced with a cyborg prosthetic."

I looked closer at the screen and saw that indeed Shiro now had a right prosthetic arm. What did those aliens do to him?

"Put him under until we know what that thing can do," Iverson ordered, causing Shiro to panic again.

"Don't, don't be me under! No! No, there's no time! Let me go!"

After Shiro was knocked out, Pidge said in a depressed tone, "They didn't ask about the rest of the crew."

"What are they doing? The guy's a legend," Lance said indignantly. "They're not even gonna listen to him?"

I agreed with Lance. Shiro knows about something that's coming and the guys weren't even going to hear what he had to say. The Frontier could be in danger for all we know! "Okay, new plan," I said, standing up and cracking my knuckles. "We're getting him out."

Hunk however, stood up and held his hands up. "Ah, I hate to be the voice of reason here, always, but weren't we are just watching on TV because there was no way to get past the guards," he asked, gesturing from the monitor to the tent.

"That was before we were properly motivated," Lance told him. "We've just got to think. Could we tunnel in?"

"Maybe we could get some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs," Pidge said.

"Or we dress up like cooks, sneak into the commissary... little late-night snack," suggested Hunk.

I looked deadpan at him. Really, Hunk? "... No," I said before placing my chin on my fist. "What we need is a distraction." And as if God was granting me my wish, a series of explosions went off in the distance, making us scream.

"Is that the aliens?!" Hunk exclaimed, before lying down on the ground with his knees to his chest and his hands on his head. "Are—Tha—The—Is that the aliens?! Are they here?! They got here so quick!"

"No," Pidge said, with his hands over his eyes as he stared at something. "Those explosions were a distraction, for him!" I looked at where he was pointing and saw a lone hovercraft flying towards the quarantine tent and hiding behind some large rocks, while several of the Samsons went towards the blasts. "The Militia's headed towards the blast, and he's sneaking in from the other side!"

Taking the binoculars from Lance, I viewed through them as the person arriving at the crash zone. I was surprised to see the familiar red, white, and yellow jacket of a familiar lean teenager who was a year younger than me with pale skin, fairly thick eyebrows, blue-gray eyes, and black hair cut in a mullet. I'd never forget that mullet. "Keith?"

"What!?" Lance exclaimed indigently. "Give me those!" He snacked the binoculars from me and looked through them at Keith. "No way...! Oh, he is not going to beat us in there! That guy is always trying to one-up me!"

Oh, come on. Not this

Pidge asked, "Whose Keith?"

"The guy that was supposed to be our pilot before dropping out," I explained to him, "and he's Lance's…" I used air quotes "…'rival'."

"Come on!" Lance said as he and Hunk ran towards the tent. Pidge and I soon followed.

After arriving at the quarantined crash site, we quickly ran over to the tent and went through the entrance. After going down the narrow hallway, we arrive at the main area of the tent and saw Keith trying to carry Shiro out with by having an arm over his shoulder.

"Well," I said with a smirk, crossing my arm. My voice seemed to startle Keith, who looked at me with surprise. "Look who came crawling out of the woodworks."

"Marcus," Keith asked, surprised to see me. Acting quickly, I walked over to help him carry Shiro. "What are you doing here?"

"Doesn't matter," I said, lifting Shiro over his shoulder. "We're here to help you."

"Hold on," Lance exclaimed, before pointing between the two of us accusingly. "You two know each other, Marcus?"

"We grew up together on Harmony," Keith told him. "And who are you?"

"Who am I?"

"Here we go," I groaned.

"Uh, the name's Lance." Keith silently looked at him without recognition. Lance blinked a few times. "... We were in the same class at the Garrison?"

"Really," Keith asked. "Are you an engineer?"

"No, I'm an aircraft pilot," Lance told him. "We were, like, rivals. You know, Lance and Keith, neck-and-neck."

"No you weren't," I commented.

"Oh wait, I remember you. You're a cargo pilot," Keith said.

"Well, not anymore," Lance countered. "I'm fighter class now thanks to you washing out."

"Well, congratulations." Not wanting to waste any more time, Keith and I walked passed him with Shiro. Lance grumbled before following us. Once we were outside and heading towards the hovercraft, Hunk looked towards where the explosions went off and saw the search party coming towards us. The Grunts' having their rifles out and ready and the Samsons' mounted guns aimed at us.

"Oh, man, they're coming back and they do not look happy," Hunk said, as he and Pidge started running towards the hovercraft. "We've gotta go." Passing Keith, me, and Lance, the small teen climbed onto the back of the craft, as Hunk walked around the vehicle. "Uh, do you mind if we catch a ride with you?"

"Hold on," I told him, having an idea. "Keith, get on the craft and get ready to fly us out of here." Keith nodded and let go of Shiro. Although the guy was heavy, I walked him to where Pidge was. "You take him."

"Why me?" He complained, but nonetheless brought him up on the hovercraft.

"Because I and Lance are each going to get on one the wings," I responded, going around to the other side. "And Hunk's going to get on the tail. That way we'll have equal balance."

"Oh, okay. Now I get it," Hunk said before jumping and climbing onto the tail of the hovercraft. This unfortunately caused it to tip back from his weight. Okay, maybe not the best idea I had.

"Is this thing going to be big enough for all of us," Pidge asked.

"No," Keith stated before noticing the assault trucks were getting closer to us. He quickly ignited the vehicle and took off in the other direction at full speed. We were moving fast, but one look back at the Samsons and I could see them keep up with us.

"Can't this thing go any faster," Lance asked loudly over the roar of the engines.

"We could toss out some non-essential weight," Keith said.

"Now's not the best time to throw insults, Keith," I told him. "You're going to have to work with Hunk to steer this thing."

"Right," Keith said. "Big man, lean left!" Hunk complied and leaned his body to left. The hovercraft turned left with his weight. The Samsons turned to keep up with us, but two of them crashed into each other when one tried to cut in front of the other. Resulting in the second truck to ram into its side and flipping it over.

"Aw man!" Hunk exclaimed as our hovercraft and the trucks started driving up a steep, naturally made ramp up the canyon side. "Mr. Harris just wiped out Professor Montgomery! ... No, no, he's fine."

"Big man, lean right!"

Hunk leaned right and we ran off the side of the cliff. I clenched onto the hovercraft tightly as we fell, before landing on the cliff below. The two remaining Samsons jumped off the cliff after them, one of them crashed into the wall of the canyon when it landed. The last remaining truck raced after us.

"Guys?" Hunk started to stammer and pointed forward. "Is th-th-th-tha-tha—Is that a cliff up ahead?"

Looking forward, we soon saw the edge of the canyon quickly approaching. I look at Keith with worried eyes. "Don't tell me you're gonna…"

"Yup," Keith said with a smirk. He accelerated the speed of the hovercraft, heading straight for the edge.

That's when Lance started to freak out. "Ooooh no, no, no! No, no, no, no—!"

Soon we were jumping off the edge. Everyone except Keith and of course Shiro, screamed in terror. The Samson that was pursuing us made a shrieking stop near the cliff.

"What are you doing?!" Lance yelled as we fell towards the surface. "You're going to kill us all!"

"Shut up and trust me!" Keith quickly shifted the controls of the hovercraft. With a second, its underside was facing the ground. He then put more power into the thrusters and when we were about to make contact with the ground below, it hovered above it. Keith then had it continued flying across the desert.

Hunk looked back at the cliff and saw that the vehicle had stopped. He then let out a big sigh of relief and leaned back a little. "Thank God that's over."

I sighed in relief too, now all we had to do was show up the next day and act like we out late and crashed at a friend's house.

However, I soon heard what sounded like rocket thrusts. At first I thought that it was just me hearing things or a meteorite.

But when I looked up at the sky and saw the cause of the sound, my eyes widened. "Oh no," I whispered before yelling. "TITANFALL!"

The Titan landed return in front of the moving hovercraft a few feet away. Every one of us but Keith screamed in terror, as he quickly made a hard break. Attempting to stop us from colliding with the mecha. However, it kept going. But things went from bad to worse when the robot grabbed the hovercraft by the wings, where the thrusters were.

It then crushed them, destroying them. We weren't going anywhere. It then dropped the hovercraft to the ground, causing it and us to bounce

We all groaned from the impact with the ground before looking up at the towering death machine staring down at us.

It was a Vanguard-class Titan, the first Titan design to be produced entirely by the Frontier Militia. They had many features that made them different from Post-Demeter Titans, like bearing more resemblance to older chassis designs. The biggest difference was the ability to utilize other Titan loadouts, even Core Abilities, and be able to switch them on the fly. Making them one of the most power Titans to ever exist.

This Titan was a dark grey with some white and orange and had the symbol of the SRS on its cockpit hatch. On its back, it had a XO16A2 Chaingun.

We looked up at the single glowing blue eye of the Vanguard-class Titan. Lance and Hunk were shaking with fright. Pidge was also scared, but was holding Shiro's unconscious body while doing so. Keith glared up at it with frustration. And finally, I was looking at it with both fear and wonder. This was really the first time I've been this close to a Vanguard. I didn't know whether to be afraid or astonished.

After a moment of silence, the hatch opened. Stepping out of the seat of his cockpit, a Pilot walked onto the hatch and stopped at the edge of the open hatch door. The uniform and clothing were similar to Battle Rifle Pilots, and he was equipped with a V-47 Flatline attached across his back and a B3 Wingman revolver on his hip.

Oh no, please don't let it be him.

The Militia Pilot stood on the hatch and press the left side of his helmet, this caused the X-shaped visor to retract and revival Captain Quinton's face as he glared at us with his arms crossed.

Oh God, we're screwed.

Lance lot a loud sighed with his hand on his chest. "I thought we were in trouble for a minute there.

Quinton continued to glare.

"Ah, Lance," I whisper to him. "We are in trouble."

---

At a desert shack in the middle of nowhere, the Vanguard-class Titan stood near it with it's Chaingun out. Keeping watch for anything that might happen.

Inside the shack, Captain Quinton glared at me, Pidge, Lance, Hunk and Keith. Shiro was still unconscious and had been placed on a bed in the small, single room shack.

"I'm disappointed in you, Moore," Quinton finally said. "I know I've trained you to be starter than this. And yet I find you running from the Militia, after helping in a kidnapping! What if I was some other Pilot, huh? Many of them would've killed you and your friends on sight!"

I sighed in dejection. "Yes, sir," I said.

Quinton shook his head. "You all have put me in a tight spot, and it took me about an hour to convince Command to let your five off the hook."

"Really," Lance asked with a smile, happy to hear that we weren't getting in trouble.

"But I hope you and your little friends understand the severity want you've done, Moore," scolded the ace Pilot. "Being out after curfew is one thing, but then you had to go and help a dropout kidnap someone from a quarantined sight who we need answers from, that's unacceptable!"

Keith got angry about that remark and snapped, "Hey, I wasn't kidnapping him. I was saving him!"

Quinton turned his attention to him and walked up to Keith. "Then you should know that you little rescue mission not only cost the Militia four assault truck," he told him, looking down at the teen and pointed at the four of us, "but the future of these four."

This shocked me, and it most have shocked the others too. I could feel a terrible feeling in my stomach. Fearing want I thought in my head was about to be said. But I prayed that I wouldn't be that outcome. "Captain," I said hesitantly. "What are you saying?"

The Pilot looked at me and sighed. His expression turned from anger and disappointment to regret and sorrow. Oh no. "I'm sorry, boys," he said softly to the four of us. "In order to keep you out of jail and being suspected of treason, they've decided to terminate your enlistment in the military."

If I had a mirror with me, I wouldn't have needed it to know the pale and devastated look I had.

"You mean…"

Quinton placed a sorrowful hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry, Marcus," he whispered. "You can't become a Pilot anyone."

…No…

I honestly didn't know how to feel, or if I was feeling anything. All I feel was my back hitting the wall as I leaned against it. My legs went leak, but were able to keep me up as my head hung down. I felt the tears.

I don't regret saving Shiro. I knew it was the right thing to do. But to be a Pilot is all I ever wanted. I've trained my body and mind every day to when I was 13. Learning the insides and outs of old, damaged Jump Kites. Heck, I even went as far as to learn how to operate the agricultural Titans on his home Harmony at the age of 15. They weren't power Titans and were mostly thrown together using remaining or surviving Tier 1 Titan parts. The farmers thought I was crazy, when I told them I wanted to be a Pilot, they let me at it.

All of that until I was ready to join the Militia at the age of 17, even though they weren't too shy to recruit cadets as young as Pidge for none combative roles until they were at the right age to be trained for combat.

For 2 years, I went through training to become a Rifleman.

For almost a year, I've trained with Captain Quinton.

And now, after all of that and more, I couldn't become a Pilot anymore.

I was cut out of my somber state when a hand placed itself on my shoulder. Looking up, and realizing that I was sitting on the floor was tears running my eye, I saw that Keith was the one who had his hand on me. "I'm sorry, Marcus," he said with sincerity. "I know how much you wanted to become a Pilot."

"Same here, man," Lance said genuinely, as he, Pidge, and Hunk stared sadly. "We really blew it for you."

I sighed and wiped my eyes. "No, none of you are to blame," I said standing up. "I wanted to save Shiro too. I just…can't believe it's all over." I would have said more until a groggy moan was heard. We looked towards the source of the sound and saw Shiro sitting up and rubbing his head.

"Shiro!" Keith exclaimed as he ran over to him with Quinton following. Getting up, I went with them to the edge of the bed. "Shiro? Are you okay?"

When Shiro looked at us, he blinked a few times, probably to readjust his eyesight. When he looked at Keith again, his eyes widened. "Keith," he asked in a whisper. He then looked between me and Captain Lastimosa. "Marcus? Captain?"

I grinned with joy and nodded. "That's right," I said. "It's good to have you back."

"Heh." He chuckled once before saying, "It's good to be back."

"Shiro," Quinton said, walking around Keith and placing a hand on Shiro's shoulder. "I need to know what happened to you out there. Where... were you?"

Shiro looked down at the white bed sheets and sighed. "I wish I could tell you, sir. My head's still pretty scrambled. I was on an... alien ship, but... somehow I escaped. It's all a blur." He then looked at his surroundings. "How did I get here?"

"Keith brought you here after he rescued you," I told him. "I and a few others were wrapped in the mix after wanting to save you ourselves."

"Really," he asked before looking at Keith. "How did you know to come save me when I crashed?"

Keith was silent for a moment before saying, "You guys should see this." He then walked over to a wall that had a sheet covering. Grabbing the sheet, he pulled it away, and I was shocked to find a board of a map, diagrams, and notes. There were drawings and even pictures of drawings of what looked like a lion, I think that's what they're called. Haven't looked at Earth animals for a long time.

"What have you been working on," asked Quinton, crossing his arms as he looked at the broad.

"I can't explain it, really," Keith explained. "After getting booted from the Garrison, I was kinda... lost and... felt myself drawn out to this place on Trident. It's like something... some energy, was telling me to search."

"For what," I asked, as Lance, Pidge, and Hunk watch us from afar. "There's nothing on this planet, but dirt and more dirt."

"Well, I didn't really know at the time... until I stumbled across this area." He placed his hand on a large circle that was labeled Energy Source. "It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some arrival happening last night. Then you showed up."

That's puzzling. No one was on Trident before the first settlers came to the Frontier. Could the aliens have drawn the pictures? Maybe even the lion itself when it got bored.

Shiro towards Lance, Hunk, and Pidge and said, "... I should... thank you all for getting me out. Lance, right?" He offered his hand to Lance. Lance reached for the hand to shake it, but hesitated for a moment. I don't blame him. I can't imagine what those people did to him. Nonetheless, the aircraft pilot shook his hand.

The young Pilot then offered a handshake to shake to Pidge and Hunk. The little guy patted Hunk on the back. "The nervous guy's Hunk. I'm Pidge," he said before wondering. "So, did anyone else from your crew make it out?"

"I'm not sure," Shiro said. "I remember the mission and being captured. After that, it's just bits and pieces."

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt, but back to the aliens," Hunk said.

"I agree with Hunk," Captain Quinton said in a serious tone. "Where are they now? Are they coming here to Trident?"

"I can't really put it together," Shiro told us. "I-I remember the word 'Voltron'. It's some kind of weapon they're looking for, but I don't know why.

I wanted to say what kind of weapon was Voltron, but felt that would be wasting time. And it looked like time was against us. "Whatever it is," I said, "I think its best to find it before they do."

"Good idea, Moore." He nodded with a smile. "But how do we find this blue lion. I don't recognize this area of Trident."

"Well last night, I was rummaging through Pidge's stuff," Hunk said, digging through the guy's bag, "and I found this picture." He brought out and held up a picture of Pidge and a girl hugging together. "Look, it's his girlfriend." He giggle for a moment before Pidge stole back the picture.

"Hey, gimme that!" He snapped before taking his bag from Hunk. "What were you doing in my stuff?"

"I wa—I was looking for a candy bar. But then, I started reading his diary," Hunk said, pulling out said diary.

And that's why I have a lock on my locker.

"WHAT!" Pidge yelled and snatched the diary away from him.

"Is he always like that," Quinton asked me.

"You have no idea," I told him.

"And I noticed that the repeating series of numbers the aliens are searching for looks a lot like a Fraunhofer line," Hunk explained.

"Frown... who," Keith asked in confusion, not sure what he was saying.

"It's a number describing the emission spectrum of an element," he explained to him, "only this element doesn't exist on Earth. I thought it might be this Voltron, and I think I can build a machine to look for it, kinda like a Voltron Geiger Counter."

"Hunk, you big, gassy genius," Lance exclaimed. Even I was impressed.

"It's pretty fascinating, really. Th-The wavelength looks like this." Hunk pulled out a paper that had the wavelength graphed on it.

"Give me that!" Keith suddenly snacking it from him and walked up to the board.

"You have an idea, Keith," I asked.

"Yeah," he responded before holding it in front of a picture of a canyon. We all looked closely at it as he pulled the picture away.

The wavelengths matched the rock formation.

That's where we needed to go.

---

Within an hour, we all made it to the location the picture was taken. Keith gave us so weapons that he stole or bought off the black-market. I was given a M1A3 Hemlok BF-R with an HCOG sight, Lance had a G2A5 Battle Rifle equipped with a HCOG Ranger sight, Hunk a Spitfire LMG, Pidge an Alternator with HCOG, Shiro a C.A.R SMG, and Keith had himself an R-201 Assault Rifle with HCOG. Captain Quinton was inside of his Titan, which brought it's Chaingun.

"... OK. I admit it," Lance said as Hunk and Pidge were testing out their new 'Voltron Geiger Counter', which was also attached to Pidge's backpack by a wire, as the small teen held up a small radio disk. "This is super freaky."

"I'm getting a reading," Hunk said, before walking in front of us.

"Lead the way, boys," Quinton said from his Titan. Hunk and Pidge, before leading us through the rocks. While the two had one hand holding their devices and the other on their weapons, I, Lance, Keith, and Shiro had ours at the ready with the buttstocks in our shoulders, and thumbs ready to switch the safety off. There was no telling what we were going to encounter out here.

Behind us the Vanguard-class Titan's foot were heard, as Captain Quinton followed us. The head of the robot looking from left to right.

The crackling beeping of the Geiger Count continued as we walked through the canyon. However, after a moment, the sound became more frantic. We all heard it and picked up the pace.

We all stopped when we saw the entire to a cave in the mountain.

A moment later and we were walking into the cave. Luckily for Quinton, the cave was big enough for his Titan to be able to fit through.

With the light of the Titan's optic, we were to see in the cave. I and everyone was awestruck to see cravings edged into the walls. Many of them were the lion carving that Keith was talking about.

"We are we looking at," Captain Quinton.

"Scans indicate these advanced marking pre-date back to a time long before the Frontier was established." The Titan said in a monotone, female voice. I didn't even know that it was able to speak. "I concluded that these carvings are not of human origins."

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about," Keith said as Lance walked up to the wall and looked at one of the carvings. "They're everywhere around here."

I turned towards Lance and saw him wiping away some dust off of the head of the blue lion carving.

Suddenly the carving lights up blue.

"Whoa," Lance said.

But when I looked up, I too was surprised. "Whoa!" All the carving in the cave lighted up, startling everyone.

"Heh. They never done that before," Keith said.

The ground beneath our feet started to break, with the same blue light shining from the cracks.

"Everyone, grab on!" Captain Quinton order and kneed his Titan down with its fist and Chaingun on the ground. I, Lance, and Shiro grabbed onto the left arm, while Pidge, Hunk, and Keith grabbed on the Chaingun and right arm.

The ground then finally collapsed, taking all of us done with the Titan. We all screamed while riding down a tunnel of water on the mech. It pushed against the steep incline of the tunnel, but we were soon at the end of it and the Titan landed on its feet, landing in a pool of water and splashing some everywhere.

Feeling the ache of my body from the descent. I steadily let go of the Titan's arm and stood in the pool of water, a rarity on Trident. Looking back up at the tunnel we came down in, I saw it lead us right into a cavern that was God knows many feet below the surface. "Well," I said, "we're trapped."

"Guys…" I heard Lance gasped and turned my head towards him, seeing him look at something in front of us was wide. "Check it out."

I looked at what he was talking about was left in awe at what he was talking about. At first, I saw want looked like an extremely large Particle Wall force-field in the form of a dome. Similar to what Titans put up after landing from their drops. I was most astonished when I saw a giant, blue and white, robotic lion inside of the Particle Wall. It was larger than the Vanguard-class Titan, and it sat on its bottom like a lion and stared down at us with it's yellow eyes.

"Magnificent," Quinton gasped within his Titan.

"Is this it," Pidge asked. "Is this the Voltron?"

"It…must be," Shiro hesitantly. Keith then approached the lion with a one hand pointing his assault rifle at it.

"It's like a Particle Wall around it," he said, as the rest of us walked towards the beast too.

Lance, for some reason, started walking side to side, looking at it suspiciously. "Does anyone get the feeling this thing is sharing at them?"

"Hmm…No." Shiro told him.

"Yeah," Lance insisted, leaning his body around in all directions. "The eyes are totally following me."

"How," I demanded, before gesturing that the lion's head. "It has no pupils."

"Just call it a feeling," Lance said.

Keith ran up to the Particle Wall while looking up at the lion. I saw him try and push against the force-field, but wasn't able to get through. The giant robot had no reaction either. "I wonder how we get through this," he said.

"We could try shooting it," I suggested.

"Can't risk it," Quinton responded as we reached the Particle Wall. "We don't what we're dealing with here."

"Maybe you just have to knock," Lance said. Glancing from him to the force-field, I did as he suggested and knocked on it. Nothing happened. "You're doing it wrong!"

"How?" I demand.

"You need to do it like this." He knocked on the Particle Wall two times.

This time there was a reaction. The Particle Wall glowed a light brighter than before. The eyes of the lion flashed. The force-field then dissipated completely, before the floor beneath the lion ignited into blue lights.

I looked at the others and saw that they were in some kind of trance. "Hey, Lance," I exclaimed as I reach for his shoulder. "You okay, bubby?"

When I touched him, I was suddenly witnessing a vision.

I saw not only the blue lion, but four other lions of different colors flying upwards into the sky, before they started glowing purple, red, blue, yellow, and green. I then saw a giant robot wielding a flaming sword. It's almost like it was made from the five other and stood at over 100 meters tall.

"Argh!" I yelled as I feel like a joint of energy was sent start to my head, forcing me to back away from Lance and place a hand on my head. Everyone else said 'Woah' together.

"Moore, are you alright?" I heard Captain Quinton ask me.

"Yeah, I think," I responded, rumbling the back of my head. "What the heck was that?"

"So what?"

"Wait," Lance said, looking at the Titan in surprise. "You didn't just have a vision?"

"What vision," the Pilot demanded.

"Captain, Voltron is a robot!" Hunk exclaim while sitting on the ground. "Voltron is a huge, huge, freakin awesome robot!"

"And this thing is only one part of it," Pidge exclaimed.

"Are you telling me that there are more of these lions out there," Captain Quinton asked in astonishment.

"Looks like it," I said. "I wonder where the rest of them are."

"This is what they're looking for," Shiro whispered.

Keith commented by saying, "Incredible."

The Blue Lion suddenly lowered its head to ground in front of us. Acting on instinct and training, I aimed the Hemlok at it. Shiro, Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge reacted the same and pointed the barrels of their guns at it. Quinton's Titan got into a combat stance and aimed it's Chaingun at it too.

The lion opened its mouth, before its teeth folded out into a ramp. In its mouth, I could see an entrance want I believed was the inside.

Lance hesitated for a moment, but gleefully ran up the ramp.

"Lance!" I called out, reach out an arm to him. "Want the hell are you doing, you idiot?"

"Relaxed," he said confidently, "just going to check out what's inside. Besides, I think it wants to take us somewhere."

Take us somewhere? Where could it want to take us? It's not like it can talk.

"If that's the case, you five better go in with him," Quinton said, walking the Titan to the left side of the lion. "I'm not leaving RC, so we'll be riding on top."

Then, four thrusters popped out of the back of the Titan and ignited. The Titan then flew up to the top of the lion with ease.

If I remember correctly, that wasn't due to the Vanguard-class ability to use different Titan loadouts. The Captain told me that he had modified and equipped his Titan with heavily modified Northstar Titan thruster so that he had the ability to fly. His reasoning was for a more mobile and advanced Titan to be of use on the battlefield. I had joked that one day we might be fighting Titans in space then.

I was snapped out of my thoughts when a hand placed itself on my shoulder I looked to see it was Shiro. "Come on," he said was a small smile. "We should with Lance."

Nodding, I followed the other into the lion.

After entering the robot, we went into what looked like the cockpit of the thing and saw Lance in a seat in front of an activating command console that had holographic panels and monitors. Then the large screen that went around the cockpit activated, giving us a clear view of what's into of us.

"Heheh! All right! Very nice," Lance exclaimed, as a targeting reticule formed on the screen.

A button flashed near where I was. Curious, I pressed it. That attached another panel to form nearly in front of Lance, surprising him and everyone else but me. The monitor then showed Captain Quinton's helmeted head looking at us. "Good, made contact with you," he said through the monitor. "What's our next move?"

"Right," Lance said, "just let me get a handle for this thing."

"OK guys, I-I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, y'know, aware," Hunk said nervously. "We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now."

"Now's not the time for that," I told him. "We're here because we want to keep the Frontier safe from aliens."

"Whoa, did you guys just hear that," Lance suddenly asked, making us look at him strangely.

"Hear what," Keith asked.

"I-I think it's talking to me."

"You've must have somehow made some kind of neural link with the lion. What's it saying?"

"Hmm... Um..." Lance leaned forward and seemed to be searching for a button.

Where are the handlebars on this thing?

Lance pressed a few buttons. They must have been the right ones because the lion stood up and roared, making Pidge and Hunk scream a little.

"Easy in there, kid! I'm riding this thing! Okay, I guess this' your show then."

"OK. Got it," Lance said confidently, grabbing the controls of the lion. "Now let's try this."

I looked at Quinton with an anxious look. "You better hold on tight."

Lance commanded the lion forward towards the cavern walls. The lion suddenly smashed through it and out of the mountain. We jumped high into the air before diving to the ground. Lance had it do a flip, before the robot activated it's thrusters that were on its paws. We hovered above the ground for a moment before Lance decided to be a show off and sent us flying into the air, doing somersaults and wild turns in the air.

Pretty much everyone was terrified, including me, and were latching onto either Lance or his chair, as Pidge and Hunk were screaming. On the monitor, I could see the Captain bracing his hands against the inside of his Titan.

"KID. YOU ARE. THE WORST. PILOT. EVER."

The blue lion then landed on the ground and started running across the desert at high speed. All Lance did was smiled stupidly. "Isn't this awesome?!"

"With you as the pilot, NO!" I yelled.

Hunk looked like he was going to lose it again. "Make it stop! Make it stop!"

"I'm not making it do anything. It's like it's on autopilot!" Lance told him with a smirk.

The blue lion suddenly took off of the ground and we were rocketing skywards.

"Where are you going?!" demanded Keith.

"I just said it's on autopilot! It says there's an alien ship approaching Trident. I think we're supposed to stop it."

"What did it say, exactly?!" I then demanded.

"Well, it's not like it's saying words, more like feeding ideas into my brain," He told me. "Kind of."

"Well, if this thing is the weapon they're coming from, why don't we just, like—I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone," Hunk said before looking up. "Sorry, Lion, nothing personal."

"That's not an option."

"Quinton's right," Shiro said. "These monsters spread like a plague throughout the galaxy, destroying everything in their path. There's no bargaining with them. They won't stop until everything is dead."

We all stared sternly at Hunk, who now had beady little eyes. "... Oh. Never mind then."

"Are you going to be okay out there, Captain," I asked Quinton.

"Don't worry, Titans have a life-support system and my helmet is able to reproduce oxygen for me for up to four hours. I'll survive."

Soon we were leaving Trident's atmosphere and going into the vastness of space.

"Quinton," said the Titan, "I have detected a jump signature. Unable to identify the craft."

Uh oh.

"Alright, boys, this could be it." The screen that showed Quinton now showed his Titan as he rode the lion. The mech reached back and pulled out it's Chaingun. "Let show them how we greet invaders in the Frontier!"

And then, a large warship unlike anything I've ever seen before appeared in front of us. All of us in the lion gasped. "Uh... Holy shit! Is that really an alien ship?!" Hunk exclaimed as the lion positioned itself above and to the side of the warship.

"They found me..." Shiro whispered next to me. The warship opened fire on us. Shooting purple laser beams that I could only guess were about the power as orbital defense cannons.

"We've got to get it out of here!" Pidge told Lance.

"Hang on!" He pulled back on the controls and piloted the lion to dodge the onslaught of the lasers. I looked at the screen that showed Quinton's Titan. I saw that he was keeping low, while shooting short bursts at the ship. "Ah! All right! OK, I think I know what to do!"

"Be careful, man," exclaimed Pidge with a funny look. "This isn't a simulator!"

"Well, that's good. I always wreck the simulator."

Lance piloted the lion close to the warship while evading the laser fire. He then pushed the left control forward and the robot's mouth, firing a blue laser down the length of the ship. The blue line it left soon caused a series of explosions.

"Holy shit," I gasped.

"Let's try this." Lance then flew towards the side of the ship and used the blue lion's claws to tear into it. While he did so, Quinton fired at where he was cutting into. This combined effort caused another series of explosions, as we flew away from it.

We all cheered for Lance. "Nice job, Lance," I exclaimed.

"Excellent work boys. Now I think it's time we got that thing away from—GAAH!"

A single laser from the warship hit the Vanguard, right behind the Titan's left arm.

All I could do was watch in horror as Quinton Vanguard-class Titan's grip on the lion loosened, and it lifelessly flowed away down the lion's weight. "NOOOOO!" I shouted.

Lance quickly commanded the lion and its tail wrapped around the Titan's torso before we could lose them. "I got him," he said. I sighed in relief. But this wasn't over. I snarled at the small screen and was alarmed to see the warship turning towards us before pursing us.

"Oh, no!" complained Hunk.

"Get us out of here," I order Lance.

"This is the fastest its gonna go, Marcus," he told me.

"They're gaining on us," exclaimed Pidge. I looked at the screen and saw that they weren't making any attempts to kill us. They were just following behind us as the stars zipped pasted us.

"It's weird," I commented. "They're not trying to shoot us. Th-They're just chasing."

"OK, seriously, now we think having aliens follow us is good?" complained Hunk. "I am not on board with this new direction, guys."

Keith then asked, "Where are we?"

"Edge of the Frontier," Shiro told us. Looking towards him, I saw looked out at, to my surprise, Hex. "Look, there's Hex."

"How," Pidge asked in astonishment. "We didn't even make a Jump. We got out here in five seconds by just flying alone."

I looked forward to asked Lance what the lion was doing, I was shocked to see some kind of circular and intricate designs of light appear before us. "What the hell?!"

"What is that?!" Hunk pointed at it, frightened.

"Uh, this may seem crazy, but I think the Lion wants us to go through there," Lance told them.

"Where does it go," asked Pidge.

"I-I don't know."

I took a deep breath and look at Shiro was a serious expression. "Shiro, you're the senior officer here. We got to get Quinton away from that ship, but we don't know where we'll end up," I told him. I wanted to stand and fight and destroy that thing for hurting the Pilot trainer, but I knew that we weren't going to be able to do it without knowing Quinton's condition. "What should we do?"

"Whatever's happening, the Lion knows more than we do," Shiro said. "I say we trust it, but we're a team now. We should decide together."

We all looked at each other in silence. Each one of us nodded and turned to Lance. "... All right. Guess we're all ditching class tomorrow," he said. "Let's get the Captain out of here."

And with that, we flew into the circle.

A force of some kind suddenly hits us, as we were going there an intense and wild tunnel of energy. Nothing like how Jumping was. We all groaned from the turbulence.

And then, we weren't in the tunnel anymore. I felt myself being thrown forward, so I held out my hands and stopped myself from slamming into the chair.

Patting for a moment, I look to the left and saw what I thought was Earth. But as I looked closer, I saw the continents were shaped differently and there weren't the sighs of the IMC, or any human civilization.

"Whoa," Lance said, but I didn't pay attention to him. "That was..." I then heard Hunk grunt and vomit. Oh, that's nice. Puke in the nice robot lion after it saved us.

"So sorry," he said before going back to vomiting.

"I'm just surprised it took this long," Pidge commented.

"Shiro." I called to the young Pilot, who walked up to me. "That's not Earth or Harmony, is it?" I said, pointing to the planet.

"No, it's not, Marcus. And I don't recognize any of these constellations," he said. "We must be a long, long way from the Frontier."

"Right now that doesn't matter," I told him, looking back at the screen showing the almost lifeless Titan being held by the Lion's tail. "We need to get down there and help Captain Quinton."

"Well, you're about to get your wish," Lance said from the seat. I then noticed we were turning towards the planet. "The Lion seems to want to go to the planet. I think... I think it's going home."

The lion blasted its thrusters and accelerated towards the planet. We soon enter the atmosphere and flew across the sky.

"Guys, personal space!" Lance exclaimed. I opened my eyes and saw that not just me, but everyone was huddled close to Lance from the intense turbulence. Well is was embarrassing. "Hunk, your breath is killing me."

"Um, is it just me or is anyone else having second thoughts about flying through a mysterious Wormhole," the big engineer asked indigently. "Why are we listening to a robotic lion anyway?"

"Because we don't have a choice and Quinton is hurt," I told him.

"Besides, it did get us away from that alien warship, didn't it," Lance asked.

"I don't know if you noticed," said Keith, "but we're in an alien warship."

"Oh, are you scared?" Lance mocked him.

"With you at the helm? Terrified."

"All right, knock it off!" Shiro told everyone. "No one's happy to be in this situation, but we're here now and we've got a Pilot who could be in critical condition. If we want to get through this, we've got to do it together."

"So, what do we do," asked Pidge

Shiro was silent for a moment before talking. "First, we find out where we're headed. Lance?"

"I don't know," he said. "I'm sorry. The Lion's not talking to me anymore."

Well, that's just…!

"... Wait! Wait, wait, wait! Shh! Listen. I think I hear something."

We all listened in closer and heard a high-pitched squeal sound. "I'm hearing it, too," Keith said.

"It's, uh—It's kind of a—a high-pitched squeal?" Hunk said with uncertainly.

Wait. I sifted the air and…Oh God. Lance let the fart rip out, causing everyone to groan and hold their nose in disgust. "Come on, Lance!" Me, Shiro, Keith, and Hunk exclaimed.

"But seriously, there's a Castle up ahead," he said and I looked. Luckily for him, there was a castle.

It was a large white advance, yet beautiful castle with four towers around it. Set on a lone high rock pillar with many trees and plants surrounding it. A large courtyard was in front of it, and extending from both the castle and pillar.

"Wow," we all said.

The Lion's eyes flash brightly, causing the castle and four towers reacted by having blue lights shine from their tip tops. We then slowly descended to the courtyard and landed.

"Keep your guard up," Shiro said, but I didn't listen. All I did was grab my Hemlok and ran out of the cockpit. "Marcus!" I heard him call me, but I didn't respond or look back.

When the Blue Lion's mouth opened to let me out, I ran down the ramp at full. I didn't care if there was someone waiting for me outside or an army or monster, I ran out of the mouth and rushed towards the back of the Lion. "Quinton!" I called out, stopping near the Lion's leg and seeing that it had already placed the Titan containing the Captain on the smooth floor of the courtyard.

The Vanguard slowly stood up, the place where the laser it was scorched and had a few sparks of ember spring out of it, but the chassis remained undamaged. I was sure that that laser blast would have wrecked it up completely. But when I think back, the beam wasn't that strong. How could they have known—?

I snapped out of my head when the Vanguard dropped it Chaingun and fell to it's fist and knees.

"Captained Quinton!" I exclaimed, beyond worried, and approached the Titan. Behind me, I heard and footsteps of running people.

Before I could get within a meter of it, the closed hatched hissed out steam, before opening up. Captain Quinton fell out of the cockpit and landed on the floor. I ran to him as he clenched his stomach in pain. "Captain." I got on my knees at his side and place a hand on his chest, as he breathed heavily. Looking at where his hands were, I figured that that was where the most severe injury was.

Lifting away his hand, I flinched at the sight of a hole burnt into his left side.

A second later and the other arrived. "Oh, man," Hunk said with worry, while Shiro kneel on the other side of the veteran Pilot and place a hand on the wound, Keith stood near me, Lance stood next to the engineer, and Pidge placed a hand on his neck to feel his pulse. "He hurt ready bad, isn't he?"

"That laser blast most have sent him into shock or something," Pidge said with an anxious look. "His pulse is very weak. He's not going to last long."

I snapped my head so quickly to Hunk and Lance that I would've given myself whiplash. "We got to get into that castle," I told them, feeling myself panic more. I may've not known the man for less than a year, but Quinton was more than a mentor to me. He was a good friend and one of the best men I ever knew. "Maybe they could help."

I nearly jumped out of my skin when a hand grabbed my arm. Snapping my head back to Quinton, I and everyone around me watched as the Pilot press the left side of his helmet, opening his visors. His struggling to breathe was heard more clearly, as I saw his eyes shut closed and a bit of blood around his chin. "RC…" he said, struggling to speak, "…transfer authorization to new Pilot…"

"What are you…?" I whispered.

"Link…Rom—" he stopped and coughed violently, with more blood coming out, shocking everyone.

"Quinton, please," Shiro pleaded. "You have to rest or…" Quinton placed a hand on his chest and gently pushed him away. I looked at him, wondering what he was doing, only to see the younger Titan Pilot looking at me with wide eyes. As if he had realized something about me. But what?

"…Romeo-Charlie, Two-Zero-Four-Nine." He opened his eyes and looked at me. "Marcus." He leaned up and grabbed my right shoulder with his left hand. Staring at me with almost pleading eyes. "Take my Titan."

"What?" I gasped in shock, I didn't know if how they reacted. I was only focused on the last remaining member of my family.

"Use my helmet, equipment, and my Jump Kit," he said before pulling me closer with a smile. Almost like he was proud of me. "This is the real thing. Take care of her…" His eyes rolled back before they closed and his head hit the ground before his hand left my shoulder.

No one said a thing. Time just seemed to freeze, and I could feel almost all their eyes on me now.

What was there to say?

Captain Oscar Quinton was KIA.

---

I kneeled down and placed the last rock on the makeshift grave of rocks, before slipping my hand away from it.

I still couldn't believe this was happening. It was almost unreal. I didn't want it to be real, but it was.

After Quinton's death, the six of us didn't want to proceed any further without giving him what all fallen heroes deserved: a proper burial.

We took him away from the courtyard to this lovely open space in the forest that contained a clear, fresh water lake and hand many weird flowers around it.

Before we buried him under the mound of rocks, I did as my mentor told and took his Jump Kit and equipment. Over my crimson jumpsuit, I wore the heavy layer of grey torso body armor that was attached and connected to several other pieces of armor, such as the knee pals, elbow guards under my rolled up sleeves, a shoulder plate on the left shoulder, and shin guards. All these pieces of armor had an orange strip on them. I did keep my shemagh around my neck though.

The reasons that the armor was connected was for better protection, so Pilots were able to move more freely, and because it gives the user physical-augmentations, without surgery. That's how Pilots are able to snap a person's head completely backwards.

The ordnance I had on were four frag grenades and in a sheath that was attached to the body armor was a Data Knife: a knife that can also be used to hack into various systems. And holstered on my right leg was a B3 Wingman.

And lastly, I had on the Jump Kit, the small jetpack that I wore around my waist. It this former ship salvaging equipment that gives the Pilot the ability have amazing movement and be able to leap to higher places.

All the gear for a Titan Pilot.

What I always wanted to be…

But I didn't know if this even made me a Pilot. All he said was to take the Titan and his armor and Jump Kit. Anyone could have worn this armor. That doesn't make them a Pilot.

Looking upwards towards the castle, I knew that the others were waiting for me so we could go into the building together.

Whether or not I was an official Pilot doesn't matter. The battle has only begun, and my friends were going to need my help.

Turning my head towards the ground, I looked that Quinton's helmet. I grabbed it and stood up. Holding it with both hands, I stared at the X-shaped visors for a second, before turning it slightly and looked that the blue Prowler, which was used for the SRS logo.

Turning it completely around, I raised the helmet over my head.

I took in a deep breath, let it out, and then put the helmet on.

All I could see was blackness at first, until the visor activated and I could the world more clearly than ever. I saw small data numbers being ran on the top left and right corners of the helmet. Then the texts started to appear.

NEW USER FOUNDED

FIRST NAME: MARCUS

LAST NAME: MOORE

AGE: 19

SERIAL NUMBER: 201314727

Yup. That's me.

BLOOD TYPE: A+

BIRTH DATE: 10.06

COMBAT UNIT: 41 MRB-E

That's about right. Only I'm not a part of the Militia anymore.

RANK: CADET

Huh. Must have not been made official yet. Either way, it doesn't matter.

INITIALIZING PILOT COMBAT SYSTEMS

Alright, give me the goods.

PERSONAL – OK

ORDANCE – OK

FIREARMS – OK

That should be everything, so bent down and grabbed my Hemlok and made my way back to the others.

---

When I approached the group, as they were hanging around the Lion and Vanguard, they saw me and smiled.

"Well look at you," Shiro said as he and Keith walked up to me. "You look like a real Titan Pilot."

"Yeah," I said with a sad smile behind the helmet. "But I'm no Pilot. I'm just wearing armor. Like anyone can."

"He pick you to take control of his Titan, that's more than enough for me," Keith said, patting me on the shoulder. "I'm sorry. He was a good man."

"And a good friend." I looked at Shiro as he looked sorry. I just nodded head. "I never would have image you to be Quinton's student. How come you never told us?"

"Keith knew, but dropped out of the Garrison, and you were captured," I admitted. "We'll talk about that stuff later, right now we should get—"

"Marcus!" I turned my head towards Pidge, Hunk, and Lance, as they stood near the Titan where it was hit. Hunk was looking at what I saw was a Titan battery, with Pidge holding up one too. "We got a problem!"

I glance at Shiro and Keith before the three of us went towards them. "What's wrong," Shiro asked.

"That laser blast that killed Quinton took out one of the batteries."

"What?!" I asked in shock. He handed me the battery he had and I took it. I then saw the thing was indeed busted. Shit. "What about the other two," I asked, handing Pidge back the destroyed battery.

"Oh, one's fine and still in the Titan. However…" Hunk said, showing the second battery. However, the green lights that were usually on were no off. "This one's empty."

"How's that even possible," Lance asked. "Those things are long lasting, right?"

"Not without the other two," Shiro said, taping the remained battery still in the Titan with his knuckles. "It most have used the remaining amount of power in the second battery to keep it running."

"So how are we going to fix this," Keith asked. "We're God knows how many light-years from the Frontier."

I looked towards the castle. This place was advanced, right? They have to have some kind of alternative power source for the Vanguard.

"Power low." The Titan said. "Insufficient power."

Looks like we didn't have a choice. Quinton gave me his Titan and I wasn't going to let it stay like this, not when it could help us. "Why not ask the people inside," I asked, point at the castle. I then walked to Hunk. "The Lion brought us here for a reason, we'll be killing two birds with one stone." He handed me the drained battery and I attached it to my back, above the Jump Kit.

Shiro sighed and said, "Fine, but have your weapons ready and keep your guard up."

"Something wrong," asked Pidge, putting down the destroyed battery.

"My crew was captured by aliens once. I'm not going to let it happen again."

Understanding why he felt that way, I brought out the Hemlok and pulled back the charging handle, bring the bolt back, and then releasing it, cambering a road.

Around me I heard the sounds of the others reading their weapons. Looking at them, I nodded and they returned the gesture. Time answers.

Soon we were walking towards the castle, leaving the power drained Titan behind with the Lion.

However, after walking past the Lion's head, it suddenly stood up, startling me and the others. "Oh no! Oh no!" Hunk panicked while we aimed at the head of the robot, but didn't fire. "I knew it was going to eat us! No!" However, insisted of eating us, it lets out a mighty roar at the castle.

Looking at the doors, I was surprised to see it starting to light up like the cravings back on Trident. They then open. Pointing my weapon at the entrance, I watched as the opened all the way, all while Hunk whimpered and cowered behind me until the doors finish opening.

Afterwards, he looked over my shoulder and said, "Oh, the door is open." He looked at the Lion. "Guess I was wrong about you."

Eerie silence bemused us as we made our wide in the large hallway. Thanks to my helmet's night vision setting, I was able to see that mostly of everything in the place was white, black, and blue. We moved with caution, figures on the trigger for any kind of attack. However, I couldn't help but take in our surroundings. The walls of this place looked just as advance as the outside.

Yet, why was it so empty?

"Hellooo?"

I almost brought my weapon up to shoot when I was startled to hear Hunk's voice echoed in the emptiness. Staring at him with a glared under my helmet, while everyone stared at him too, equally startled. Hunk shrugged.

"From the size of the Lion," Pidge said, looking at a flight of steps before us, as we were now in some sort of vestibule, "I expected these steps to be bigger."

Suddenly my night vision was turned off when a beam of light shined down on us, causing me to point my rifle at the ceiling where it was coming from. "Hold for identity scan," said a computer's voice. I then looked down and saw the floor activate. Then each of us had a ring of energy moving up and down our bodies.

"We mean no harm," I exclaimed upwards, holding up my hands and weapon over my head. "We're because of the Lion."

"Why are we here," Shiro questioned the computer. "What do you want with us?

The scan then stopped. After that, torch lights in the shape of diamonds started lighting up. "Whoa," both Lance and Pidge said in amazement, as the torches started lighting up a path that went deeper into the castle.

"That way it is then," I said.

Few the next few seconds, we continued going. We felt more relaxed with the crystal torches igniting to lead the way, but didn't let our guard down as when deeper inside.

"Hello?" Hunk asked again, his voice echoing as we walked across a long balcony.

Then made a right turn and started walking down some stairs. "Hellooo?"

Soon we approached a set of large doors. "Looks like this the place it wants us to go," I said. Walking up to it, I was about to push them open when they suddenly started sliding open, making me aim my Hemlok at the inside. I sighed and lowered it when it was revealed to be an empty circular room with columns arranged in a circle. But what was in there that the castle wanted us to see so badly?

"Hello," asked Hunk, again, as we walked into the room.

"Where are we," asked Lance. I and Pidge spotted a console and walked up to it. On it was a black hexagon shape. I took off my helmet and hooked it onto my belt.

"It's some kind of control room," Pidge said. Taking a quick glance at him, I looked back at the shape. I pressed it, thinking it wouldn't do anything.

Oh, it did. It then showed a W shaped symbol light up above it, as it shined bright blue.

That seemed to activate something and when I heard a steaming hiss. I quickly turned around and brought up my gun. Lance and Shiro did then same.

Rising out of the floor was want I could only describe as a pod of some kind. Although I could see into it, the silhouette of what was in it told me there was a person inside.

I walked up to it and stood a couple feet away from it, my assault rifle put away on my back. Just then, another pod raised up, to the right of the first one. "Are these guy's…dead," Hunk asked, hiding behind the console.

I looked down and saw the machine was activated, blue lights shining at the bottom of the pod and steam exist from it. I then watched and followed the glass as it disappeared going upwards. Revealing who was inside.

I could feel the breath in my lung be taken when I saw it was an, slender young woman around my age with brown skin and long, curly silver hair that was long enough to reach her hips. However, her ears were pointed at the top, and she had small sickle-shaped marks of pink situated on her cheekbones, right under each of her closed eyes. Her long bangs were pulled back out of her face to reveal a gold circlet she wore that had a teal embellishment in the center, and she wore a pair of purple earrings that dangled from her ears.

She was dressed in what I'd consisted to be a formal royal gown. The dress was largely blue and white, accented with gold, light blue, and pink. She wore gold bracelets on each wrist and a blue cape lined with gold that snugly wrapped around her shoulders and flowed behind her back, reaching her calves in a split, winged design. The inside of her cape was pink and lined with white, and the collar of her cape was decorated with a strange blue mark on each side.

Wow, she was beautiful.

She suddenly gasped and opened her eyes, revealing them to bright blue with her pupils having a noticeable lavender color in the center of them.

"Father!" She lunged forwards with an arm reach outwards, but ended up falling forward. Thinking quickly, I activated the Jump Kit and speed towards her. Quickly catching her in my arms, I held onto her to keep her from falling over. Ignoring the blush on my face that was caused by the fact that she was even prettier up close, had her arm on my shoulder and left arm, and when she moaned once and looked at me. "Uh, h-hello," I said with a nervous grin.

"Who are you," She asked before look around herself. "Where am I?"

"My name is Marcus Moore, and I guess we're in your castle," I told her.

"How did you…?"

"It's complicated." I looked at her in a serious way, stepping back a little to let her stand on her own. "My friends and I were brought here. Do you know why and what's going on?"

She didn't respond immediately, only looking closely at me for a moment before, "Your…ears."

I was a little taken back by the question. "…Yeah?"

"…They're hideous," she said with a frown. "What's wrong with them?"

"Nothing," I told her, a little insulted. Before I knew it, I was pushed out of the way Lance.

"Hello," Lance said to her in a suave persona. "I'm Lance, and as you can see. my ears are not—" He didn't finish when the girl grabbed him by the left ear, turned him around, and then pushed him down to the floor with his arm behind his back, putting him in a painful restraint hold. Didn't see that coming.

"Who are you?" She demanded. "Where is King Alfor? What are you doing in my castle?"

The girl must have heard the chicks of our guns before she looked up and was a little startled to see all of us aiming at her. Except Hunk, who was crowding. "Look, we don't want any trouble," I said, getting her to look at me. I cautiously lowed the Hemlok down and held up my right hand. "Like I said: we were brought here by a giant blue lion. Why is that?"

She looked shocked at first before scowling again. "How do you have the Blue Lion," she demanded before letting Lance go. "What happened to its Paladin? What are you all doing here? Unless…" She thought for a moment as Lance moved away from her, as the others lowered their guns. "…How long has it been?"

I wanted to say something sarcastic, but instead said, "Since what?"

"We don't know what you're talking about," Shiro said. "Why don't you tell us who you are? Maybe we can help." Maybe she could even help us out, too.

The girl then said, "I'm Princess Allura of Planet Altea."

So she's an alien princess? Got it.

"I got to find out where we are and how long we've been asleep," she proclaimed before walking past us and to the console. Placing her hands on the on it, the console activate with blue lights and a holographic screen.

"Okay," Pidge said. "That's how that work."

Not really knowing what she was doing on the console, I put back on my helmet. Didn't know why I had it off in the first place. It was actually comfortable.

I heard a noise and looked to see the second pod opening. The person in it a lean man with pale skin, short orange hair that was slicked back and flared out at the base of his neck, and a distinct bushy orange mustache. Like Allura, his ears are pointed, had small sickle-shaped marks of blue situated on his cheekbones, right under each of his eyes, and like the princess, his eyes to not like a human's: Violet with pupils that were noticeably purple in the center

His clothing consisted of a distinguished dark blue jacket accented with white, gray, and yellow; the collar stood high on his neck and the jacket covers his hips. His sleeves were tucked into his white gloves, which are accented with lighter blue. Underneath his jacket, the guy appeared to wear a dark gray shirt and dark gray pants padded at his knees and were tucked into his dark blue boots that reached his shins and were accented with yellow, gray, and black.

When he looked at me and Lance he gasped and let out a scream. "E-Enemy combatants," he exclaimed before getting out of the pod and jumps towards us in an attempt to jump-kick one of us. But Lance and I sidestepped him. The guy landed on the floor on his feet, but screamed and waved his hands to keep his lost balance.

Is he like some royal adviser? No his jump-kick said that he was trained to be a soldier.

"Quiznak!" He exclaimed some alien cuss word before turning to us. "You're lucky I have a case of the old 'Sleep Chamber Knees'. Otherwise, I'd grab your head like this—" he imitated a choke hold "—wrap you up like so and—One, two, three—" the gut snapped his finger "—Sleepy time!"

"Well, before you did that, I'd—Hoo! Ha! Hiyah!" Lance started imitating so really bad karate moving. "—Like that."

"Oh, Really?!" The guy looked at me. "How about you? How could you fight when I've already come at you with this?!" He bent down and pretended to strike repeatedly. "Ha, ha, ha, ha-ey!"

"I'd just do this." I simply pointed the Hemlok at him. My lips smirked when the man freaked-out with a scream, standing on one foot. "Heh heh," I chuckled a little. "Never bring a fist to a gun fight."

"It can't be..." I heard Allura gasped. Looking at her, I saw she was stating at the screen as it displayed unreadable alien writing. Wanting to get a better angle, I walked around to look that the left side of her face.

She looked devastated.

"What is it," the man asked.

She then exclaimed: "We've been asleep for 10,000 years!"

Holy shit.

"Planet Altea and all of the planets in our solar system have been destroyed," Allura said, turning towards the man with her body facing me, as the man look looked surprised before lowering his head in sorrow. "Coran, Father is gone. Our entire civilization..."

Damn. In a way, I can understand what she was going through with the death of her father. My parents were killed when Harmony was attacked by the IMC. However, I couldn't image what they're going through with the destruction her people, civilization, and worlds.

To wake up after ten thousands of years has passed, only to find out that. Must be an awful thing to feel.

But, how?

Hesitantly, I asked her, "Princess?" Allura looked at me, a little taken back by the helmet. "Can you tell us what happened, please?"

Her saddened face transformed into rage. "Zarkon," she growled.

Shiro gasped, bring my attention to him. "Zarkon...?"

"You know who see's talking about," I asked, as everyone one looked at him.

"No, but I remember now," he said, looking at his robotic arm. "I was his prisoner."

"He's still alive," Allura asked, shocked. "Impossible!"

"Hold on a second. Who is he," I asked.

"He was the King of the Galra," she said with a venomous tone. "A vile creature and enemy to all free people."

"Then why did he go to Hex," I demanded. If he really was that bad, then I had to know why he came to the ice moon that day he captured Shiro. "What could the Frontier, our home, have to do with him?"

"I can't explain it, but I do know this," Shiro explained. "He's searching for a super weapon called Voltron."

"He's searching for it because he knows it's the only thing that can defeat him," Allura explained, "and that's exactly why we must find it before he does."

That's all I need to hear. "So how do we find Voltron?"

"So wait," Hunk said. "Does that mean we don't need to fix the Titan?"

My eyes widen and I face palmed the helmet. "Oh crap, I almost forgot!" I exclaimed.

"'Titan'," Coran asked with a raised eyebrow.

"What is this 'Titan' you speak of," Allura demanded, looking at me with a curious and suspicious expression.

I was silent for a moment as I stared at her. Looking up at the other, they all had saddened expressions. Nonetheless, they nodded.

Letting out a small sigh, I stared down at her, as she was a few inches shorter than me. I reached behind me and pulled out the drained Titan battery and showed it to her. I hesitated by said, "We wouldn't have been able to find the Lion without help."

Her stern expression softened a little. "What do you mean," she asked.

I turned my right shoulder to her and nodded with my head for her to follow. "I think it best you see for yourself."

---

"Oh my," Allura gasped, as her and Coran's eyes were as wide as they could be when they saw the Titan. We brought the two out to the courtyard and show then the mech, as it was still on its fists and knees.

"Power low. Insufficient power."

"This is a Titan," I said, walking up to Vanguard. "They're not really vehicles, but more like giant, robotic exoskeletons. An extension of the Pilots that control them. Designed to drop from orbit onto the battlefield and take on almost anything." Looking back at them, I pointed at it with my thumb. "This is the Vanguard-class Titan."

"There are more of these robots," Allura asked, staring at the Titan with wonder.

"Yes there are," Shiro told her. "Things aren't so peace where we come from. This one is the Frontier's first produced Titan chassis, and it used to belong to one of the best fighters of the Militia and our friend, Captain Quinton."

"If it wasn't for him, we went have been able to find the Lion or make it here," Lance said as Hunk and Pidge looked down.

Allura looked at me with a sad face. "You mean…?"

I shook my head. "He didn't make it."

"…I'm so sorry," she said with a hand over here heart. "Is there anything I can do?"

"There is," I said before pulling out the drained battery again. I approach her and Coran. "In his final words, he told me to take care of this Titan. However, before that, we were attacked by a Galra warship on our way here. One of the laser hits were these batteries were located."

I gave Coran the battery. Taking it, he then started turning and twisting it around as he observed it.

"There are three of them in the Titan. One of them was destroyed, this one used up all its power to fill in for the destroyed one," I continued. "We were wondering if you had an alternate power source for it."

Coran held up the battery with one hand and twiddled his mustache with the other, staring at it. He then snapped his fingers and exclaimed, "I know: Quintessence!"

Allura appeared to agree with him, as she smiled. "Of course!"

"Wait. What is that," Pidge asked, as we all had the same question.

"It's a substance that is life itself and a self-generating power source," Allura explained. "Not only does it have healing properties, but a single drop of quintessence is able to power a simple machine for an entire year with no loss in performance."

"That's great," I said, smiling under my helmet. I was relieved to hear that. If that was true, then I can only imagine the amount of power the Titan would have. "So how do we get this stuff?"

"Well…" The princess was interrupted with when machine noises and footsteps were here. We looked and saw the Blue Lion turning its body towards us. Hunk, as usual, hid behind someone. The giant robot then lowered its head to us and opened its mouth.

"Lance," I said warily, "you're the Lion communicator here. What's it saying?"

"I…I-I." Lance couldn't say his words properly before he said, "I think it wants you to put the battery in its mouth."

"What?"

"Of course," Allura suddenly said with a smile. "The Lions and Voltron are powered by quintessence. I believe that the Blue Lion wants to charge the battery with it."

"Are we sure that's safe," Keith asked. "We're talking about using an energy source we don't understand to power the Titan. Who knows what could happen."

"Oh, it could make it totally over powered!" Lance's eyes had stars in them when he exclaimed.

"Or could ruin the Titan's systems," Pidge counter.

"Well, we don't have much of choice," I told them. "If we're going to find Voltron, then we're going to need this Titan." I turned to Coran, before he handed the battery over. Taking it, I turned to the Blue Lion and approached it.

Reaching it, I dropped the battery in and stepped away. Yellow light could be seen radiating from the lines of the jaws. It's strange. It was like I could feel something coming from the jaws. It felt like…raw life. I can't think of a better way to describe it.

About third seconds later, the Lion's jaws opened and the ramp folded out too. When it did, the battery came rolling down it and to me. I stopped it with my foot. The battery was glowing with what was supposed to be green lights were now bright yellow ones. It was also wet with a yellow liquid that covered it. "Quintessence." I heard Allura say behind me.

Take my foot off the battery, I reached down and picked it up by the handle and body. I feel the quintessence on my hand, but didn't pay any attention to it. Turing to the Titan, I walked towards it. Going under its right arm and looked at the two empty round slots where both this battery and the destroyed one went.

Placing the one I had on the rim on the slot, I stopped. Looking over my left shoulder, I stared at my friend and the Altenas. "Ready or not, here we go," I said, and pushed into the battery before turning it to lock it in.

Afterwards, I back away from the robot. All eyes were on the Titan. Waiting to see if the quintessence would work.

Nothing happened for one second. Then two. Then three more seconds. I thought that maybe it wasn't good enough.

Then suddenly the Titan quickly on one foot, grabbed it's Chaingun, and stood up completely. The sudden movement caused most of us to yelp in shock.

"Power at full capacity," The mech said placed the Chaingun on its back. "Powerfully advance, alternative energy source has restored full power. Datacore re-initialized. All system – rebooted. Ocular system – online." The Titan looked down at me with its single optic, as it tower over all of us. "Adjust focus. Are you alright, Pilot?"

Okay, maybe that quintessence is more powerful than I gave it credit. A lot more powerful. "I think so," I said. "Wait, did you just call me Pilot?"

"Yes. The late Captain Quinton gave you the provisional rank of Acting Pilot. Congratulations on your promotion," it said. Each word spoken caused the optic to flash once. "I am RC-2049. A Vanguard-class Titan of the Militia SRS. Marauder Corps. You may call me RC."

So I really was a Pilot. "RC…got it."

RC looked up and looked around the courtyard. "Pilot, my mapping systems has been restored. I do not have any data on where we are located. The wormhole we've entered through has taken us far away from the Frontier."

"That's right, but we can't go back yet. We don't know how…and we have something to do. Something that could save the Frontier." As I was telling her this, Allura walked to my side.

RC noticed them and activated a scanning ray from her optic, scanning Allura first, who was startled by the action. The female Titan then turned her attention to Coran and scanned him. "Scans indicate an unknown humanoid species," she said. "We are indeed not in the Frontier."

"That's right." I noddedto the princess. "The Lion brought us to this planet and we found Allura and Coran. We'll be helping them with finding a super weapon to use against the guys that attacked us."

"Greets, Titan," Allura said to it was hopeful expression. "I'm Princess Allura of Altea. I hope that you'll help us in these desperate times.

"Pleased to meet you, your majesty," RC returned the greetings. "I'm RC-2049. A Vanguard-class Titan of the Militia SRS. Marauder Corps. You may call me RC."

"I'll must certainly remember that," she said before her face turned a serious one. "But now we must continue with searching for Voltron."

"Voltron?"

"The super weapon," I said.

"Oh."

---

A few minutes later, and we were back in the control room. My Titan, RC, wasn't able to go with us due to her size. She did say, however, that she'll be able to see and hear what I was thanks to the helmet, and would assist me and anyone near me through the helmet radio when possible.

Standing with the others with my arms crossed, I watched Allura telling Coran that she didn't want to eat, while working on the console. Floating nearby her was a plate of some weird, green, food goo.

As I stared at the two, an image of RC's upper body appeared on the upper right side of my HUD.

"Princess, body analysis indicates you have not eaten," RC said in my transmitter. Her words caused the X-shaped "If we are to uphold the mission of retrieving Voltron, you must be at your full health. I advise you feast on the food goo."

"Oh yes, because it looks soooo go," I said rhetorically.

"I detect sarcasm."

"RC's right, Princess, you must eat," Coran begged her. "It's been 10,000 years!"

"I'm not hungry," she said, not looking up from the console.

"Voice pattern analysis indicates you are lying."Allura looked at me with a glare. I held up my hands, indicating it's not me. Please don't say anything else, RC.

"Man, 10,000 years?" said Lance, as he stood between me and Keith. "That's like one thousand plus ten."

"Your math is wrong."

"It's times ten," Keith said after BT.

Lance glared at him. "Whatever, dropout."

"I haven't eaten since breakfast and I'm starving," Hunk said, holding his stomach.

"Yeah, but you've thrown up, like, five times," Pidge pointed out.

"Hmm... Good point," he said before eating the food goo.

"I can't believe your civilization created such advanced technology 10,000 years ago," Shiro said with a smile next to me, while Hunk was disgusted by the food. But continued to eat. "It must have been an incredible place."

"Yes, it was..." Coran said, closing his eyes before looking at Allura, "but now it is gone and we're the last Alteans alive." Allura looked away from him, mourning for all those she's lost. Coran goes to comfort her, resulting in her hugging him and sobbed softly, as he hugged her back.

As I was watching them, I began to hear squeaking. I looked towards the source of the squeaking and found it was coming from Allura's sleep pod. Curious, I made my way around the two Altenas to it.

After approaching it, I looked down at the floor of the pod and was a little surprised to see four mice. They looked like normal mice, but their colors were different. There was a large mouse with yellow and green fur. The smallest mouse had blue fur and blue eyes. There was almost a blue mouse with red eyes and lastly a pink mouse with red eyes.

"Looks like we're not the last, after all." A little startled, I snapped my head to look over my shoulder to see Allura smiling at the mice with a cute blush. Suddenly an alarm blared. Quickly standing up, I saw the console's holographic screen was now red.

"Pilot, I heard the alarm." Even though she wasn't able to express it, I could tell she was worried. "What is the situation?"

After asking that, an image of a Galra warship, one different from the one that chased us, appeared on-screen. "A Galra battleship has set its tracker to us," Coran exclaimed.

"How did they find us?!" The Princess asked, holding the mice in her hands.

"I'm not sure," Lance said, "but I bet it's Keith's fault."

Oh come. Really? Now?

"Say whatever you've got to say to make yourself feel better," Keith responded before glaring at him, "after getting us stuck on the other side of a wormhole!"

"I'LL STICK YOU IN A WORMHOLE!"

The two butted heads and looked ready to start fighting, only for Shiro to step in and separated them. "Stow it, cadets!" He told them sternly. "This is no time to place blame, it's time to work as a team."

I looked towards the two Altenas and asked, "How long before they arrive?"

"At their speed?" Coran started doing math in his head, while using his fingers. "Oh, well, uh, carry the two... I'd say probably a couple of days?"

"Good," Allura said with determination. "Let them come!

Wait, what?

"By the time they get here, you five will have reformed Voltron, and together, we will destroy Zarkon's empire!"

Hunk burped out of nowhere, after eating the last of the food goo. Realizing he ruined the moment, he smiled embarrassingly. "Sorry! Food goo," he said before his stomach rumbled, causing him to groan.

"Princess, there are five of these Lions," Shiro reminded her. "How are we going to find the rest?"

---

She led us to a different room, this one larger than the control room and had a large crystal of some shorts above on the ceiling. The six of us and Coran stand a few feet away in front of Allura as she stood in the center of the room underneath the crystal.

The princess then closed her eyes and a light from the crystal shined down on her.

"What's she doing," I asked.

"King Alfor connected the Lions to Allura's life force," Coran explained. "She alone is the key to the Lions' whereabouts."

Allura opened her eyes and suddenly we were surrounded by hundreds, if not over a thousand balls of light, each with Altean writing on it. However, as I looked closer and saw star constellations, I was even more amazed to realize that we were in the middle of a space map.

"Whoa," all of us except Coran gasped.

"These are... coordinates," Pidge said, before a planet that showed the Blue Lion and the Black Lion together pasted by my face.

"The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion," I said, pointing at it. Wait, does that mean it's here on this planet or back on Trident?

"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage!" said Coran.

"Very observant," Allura complimented me. "That's because the Black Lion is in the Castle."

"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands," Coran explained, "King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four Lions are present."

"As you have found, the Lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The Quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his Lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain."

"If this is true, Princess," RC said, "then what will happen to my Pilot and myself when we make the neural link that'll bind the two of us?"

"I'm not sure, RC," she said. "You're a machine that I've never witnessed before. The quintessence that was given to you may have resorted you power, but after that, I don't know."

"I'll worry about that later," I said. "Right now we have to know where the Lions are."

"Oh, right." She nodded before looking at Shiro, as the small hologram of the Black Lion floated in front of him. "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion." Allura moved the map and had the Green in front of Pidge. "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion. The Blue Lion—"

"—Whope, hold up, let me guess: Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?" Lance tried to act suave again, and by the annoyed look of Allura, that wasn't even close.

"The... Yellow Lion is caring and kind," Allura said, sending the Lion to Hunk. "Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together."

Hunk questionably pointed at himself. That's right buddy, you're a leg.

"The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master," Allura said, forming the Red Lion in her hands. "It's faster and more agile than the others, but also more unstable." She then pushed the holographic towards Keith. Figures. "Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone. Keith, you will fly the Red Lion."

"What? This guy," Lance asked, not like that he wasn't given the Lion with the personality that suited his liking.

"You've already got a Lion, dumbass!" I smacked him upside the head.

"Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet," Allura told him. "There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it... might need some work."

"Don't worry, we'll find it soon," Coran told her. "They don't call me 'The Coranic' for nothing." All of us just looked at him. "It's because it sounds like 'mechanic.' So... Coranic, mechanic. It's not—It doesn't sound... exactly like it. It's similar."

The hologram Lions roared bringing our attention to them as the five of them charge together skywards. "Once all the Lions are united, you will form Voltron," Allura said, as the Lions disappeared in a flash of light, and replacing them was the robot Volton. "The most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe."

Damn, that's going to be a big robot.

"Congratulations on all of your promotions."

"Awesome!" Hunk exclaimed, but then said, "Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying Lions. Got that part. How do Lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?"

"We're doomed," I said.

"You know we don't have much time," Shiro said before looking down at Pidge. "Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion." Looked at Lance. "Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one." He then placed a hand on Keith. "Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it."

"In the meantime, I'll get this Castle's defenses ready," Allura said. "They'll be sorely needed."

"I'll ready a pod a-and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion," Coran said.

"If that's the case, then me and RC will link and guard the place," I said. "I'll hold off anyone who tries to attack this place until you get back." I walked towards the exit when Allura called to me.

"Marcus, wait," she said. I stopped and looked at her. "Do you still have the damage battery your Titan had?"

"Oh, uh, right," Hunk said, reaching behind his back and pulling out said battery. Seriously? First Pidge's things and now mine?"

"Good," the princess said with a smile, "then I've have Coran repair it and fill it with quintessence that's still here in the castle."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why? RC's at full health. What more could that stuff do to him?"

"Actually, Pilot, the substance known as quintessence has done more for me than my readings have picked up," RCstated. "The damage done to my hail has been repaired completely without the need of maintenance or replacing parts. Damage output has increased and my shields are stronger."

I listened to him in amazement. "That's incredible!" I exclaimed with a grin. "You're saying that you're two times stronger than before?"

"You and RC are going to be fighting alongside the Lions, Marcus Moore," Allura said walking up to me. "You'll need all the power you can get. While she's impressive, your Titan is still primitive and lacks the power of Voltron. However, if my theory is correct with giving her the three batteries, she'll be almost as strong as a single Lion. Able to handle what the Galra throws at us."

I really didn't know what to say. I knew nothing was going to match Voltron, but for my Titan to be almost as powerful as at least one Lion? After seeing what the Blue Lion did to that Galra warship, I knew there was only one choice.

"I'd appreciation that, your grace," I said with a bow. Sneaking a look up, I saw her blush a little, making me smile a little.

---

About an hour and thirty minutes after Shiro, Pidge, Lance, and Hunk left to retrieve the other two Lions, I was in the courtyard with RC. Keith decided to stand with Allura for when she finds the Red Lion. Coran was somewhere in the castle with the third battery, getting it fixed and fixed with quintessence.

I was currently sitting on top of RC, as she was standing in front of the main castle entrance. I had my helmet off and placed it on my right, while eating a bit of the food goo. It didn't taste all too good, but wasn't bad. I'm not sure how to describe it.

Things were silent between the two of us for the moment, before I asked, "You think they'll be okay?"

"Coran has stated that the coordinates of the Orange and Green Lions were relatively peaceful," RC responded. "With the Blue Lion, Lance and Hunk's chances of survival are now more likely." I didn't know if that was supposed to be a joke or her stating what her computer brain was saying. "As for Shiro and Pidge: Shiro has proven to be a tainted leader and Titan Pilot. With him by her side, Pidge will be alright. Along with the fact that they have their weapons with them."

"Yeah, you're right." I nodded and was about to take a bite of the food goo when I stop and looked down at her. "Wait, her? You're not talking about Pidge, right?"

"I am. Facial recognition has conferred that Pidge's true identity is really Katie Holt, daughter of MIA Commander Samuel Holt."

"So this time he—I mean she was a girl," I asked with shock. "How did I not realize that?!"

"Katie Holt has taken the appearance of her brother, Matthew Holt, a technician that was accompanied Commander Holt and Shiro on the Hex Expansion Mission."

Now I was beginning to understand why Pidge got upset with Iverson. Her family's been captured by the Galra and who knows what they're doing to them. I felt sorry for her, but didn't think it was best for me to tell the others. She had her reasons for keeping who she was as a secret and I'll respect it.

"You think we'll be able to survive this, RC," I asked her. "I mean, we're going to be fighting an alien empire. The IMC is one thing, but this is totally insane."

"We have no other options," she said after a brief moment. "We will have to install the final quintessence battery and reclaim the Lions and form Voltron if we wish to survive."

I nodded at that. Allura was right. If I and RC were to fight with Voltron, then we would have to have that battery ready to go before that warship gets here.

"How long did you serve with Quinton," I then asked, wanting to learn more about my Titan.

"Captain Quinton linked with me 973 days ago."

"That's longer than any relationship I've had," I joked, but regretted it instantly.

"Noted," she said, not understand the joke.

I sighed and shook my head. "Sorry. You guys must have been close."

"He was an excellent Pilot…and a good friend."

"Ah! There you two are!" Coran's voice said behind us. I turned my torso to look at him, before RC turned around to face him. He was holding something behind his back and I had a fairly good idea on what it was.

"What's up, Coran," I asked.

"I was just coming to give you this—" He pulled out the final battery.

After picking up my helmet and jumping down from RC, I went up to him. He handed me the battery and I took it, look at it in wonder. It looked brand new, with a new color to it that matched the castle's: white with some black and blue. "Thanks, Coran," I said to him with a grateful smile. "You've a miracle worker."

"I know I am," he bragged, twisting one of the ends of his mustache. Letting him have his little moment of glory to himself, I turned to RC.

"Excellent." She lowered herself and got on one hand and knee. "Please insult the final battery, so that we may complete the neural link." I nodded and walked under her left arm and climbed onto her left leg to the empty battery slot. I then inserted the battery. Jumping off and stepping back, I watched in awe as her body started glowing bright gold. I could feel the quintessence radiating off her chassis, even from where I was standing. Soon the glowing stopped and RC stood back up. "Power has been multiplied."

"Marcus, do you copy?" Keith voice came from my helmet's radio.

Putting the helmet back on, I then said, "I'm here, Keith. What's up?"

"That Galra warship just came out a wormhole and is now orbiting above the planet."

"What!?" I exclaimed before glaring at Coran.

"Guess my calculations were a bit off," He said nervously. "Finger counting—I-It's more of an art than a science."

"We're on our way," I told Keith before running into the castle. Coran followed after me, and then RC.

---

After me and Coran arrived to the bridge, I asked, "What's the situation?"

"It went from bad to worse," Keith said.

"I've been able to locate the Red Lion," Allura said, turning towards us, causing the screens she was looking at to disappear. "Unfortunately, it's on board that Galra ship."

Ah shit. "Where are the others," I asked, it's been over 2 hours already.

Afterwards, however, the door opened and Shiro and Pidge came in. "We're back," Pidge said, "and got the Green Lion." After that, Lance and Hunk entered the room. Unlike the first two, however, they came in groaning and rubbing their own bodies. What the hell helped to them?

"You made it," Allura said with gratefulness.

"Yeah, just barely," Lance said, massaging his left shoulder. "That was a freakin' nightmare. I almost puked out there. I felt like Hunk!"

"Think how I felt," Hunk said, rubbing the back of his head. "I am Hunk."

"Yeah... We had a tough time, too," Pidge said before she and Shiro smiled at each other.

Shiro then looked at the princess. "Did we find the Red Lion yet?"

"Yeah. Allura just located it," I said, "But we've got a problem."

"There's a bit of good news and bad news," Coran said after me. "The good news is, the Red Lion's nearby. The bad news is, it's on board that Galra ship now orbiting Arus. But wait, good news again. We're Arus!"

"They're here already," Shiro demanded, as he and the other three looked alarmed.

"That's right. Looks like we're going to…" I stopped my statement when I noticed the window behind me glitch. Turning around, I saw with everyone a video transmission appeared, overtaking the screen.

It showed a purple/mauve-furred alien with yellow eyes and a mammalian like face and a red prosthetic right eye. Looking around his neck, I could see that he was wearing red and black armor.

"Princess Allura, this is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire," He said, shocking all of us. So that's what a Galran looks like. "I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet."

The transmission ended wand we were all silent. "He wasn't lying," I asked my Titan, "was he?"

"Negative. He is telling the truth."

"All right," said Shiro, "let's not panic."

"Not panic," Hunk asked in disbelief. "Th-The scary purple alien thing is driving his battleship toward us. We only have four Lions."

"Technically, only three working Lions," Pidge stated.

"And RC," I stated.

"That's right. Thank you, Pidge and Marcus." He panted, her shoulder before walking in front of everyone. "Three working Lions, a Titan an-and a Castle that's, like, 10,000 years old."

"A-Actually, it's 10,600 years old," Coran corrected him. "You see, it was built by my grandfather—" Hunk stopped him by putting his finger on his mouth.

"Thanks, Coran. Thank you for that. See? Now is the perfect time to panic!"

"Wait! This Castle has a particle barrier we can activate," Allura said before activating the screen

"Girl, you've already activated my par—" Lance said, before I elbowed him hard in the gut.

On the screen an image of the warship was brought up, before a part that looked like a massive gun was highlighted in red. "The particle barrier won't hold Sendak's ion cannon forever," said Coran. "The Galra technology must have advanced since we fought them last."

"Panic now," Hunk asked.

"No. We've just got to figure out our plan of action," Shiro stated, "aaand... figure it out quickly."

"I say we pop through a wormhole and live to fight another day," Lance said.

"I second that," Hunk said "Yes. I mean, we tried to find all the Lions, right? We gave it the old college try. Couldn't do it. We only have three. We can't form Voltron. I mean, I guess we could form a... snake? Or a worm! To go through that hole, Lance, that you were talking about."

"Then, it's settled," Lance said arrogantly. "Allura, you ride with me." He then leaned his head towards Coran. "One of you take the old guy." Coran seethed.

"We can't just abandon Arus," Pidge objected. "The Galra will keep destroying planets and capturing prisoners until we stop them."

"Okay. If we run, then maybe Sendak will follow us and leave this planet alone, like when we left Trident. We form the snake-worm thingamajig and we—" Hunk used his arms to mimic a snake and hissed like one. "—out of here."

"Sendak could destroy the planet then come after us anyway," Keith said. "Staying is our only option."

"Here's an option: shut your Quiznak," Lance snapped at him, surprising Coran and Allura.

"I don't think you're using that word correctly."

"What do you know, Mullet?"

"We're staying."

"Leaving!"

Pidge yelled, "Staying!"

Hunk yelled, "Snake!"

BANG!

I fired my Wingman at the ceiling, startling everyone in the room. The Alteans looked the most shocked.

"You all done fighting," I demanded, holstering the revolver. "Go! You're supposed to be a team for Christ shakes, yet I don't see one at all! Besides, you're forgetting who has the real say in all of this." I turned towards Allura, making her eyes widened a little.

"Marcus is right," said Shiro, take a few steps towards the princess. "Princess Allura, these are your Lions. You've dealt with the Galra Empire before. You know what we're facing better than any of us. What do you think is the best course of action?"

"I... I-I don't know," she attempted.

"Perhaps your father can help," Coran said, surprising her a little.

"My father?"

---

Coran led Allura out of the bridge and told us to stay here until they returned. That was about ten minutes ago.

Hearing the door opened again, I looked up and was surprised by what I saw.

Allura wasn't wearing her gown anymore. Now she was wearing a skin tight space suit that had large protruding cuffs at the wrist. It was made of an unknown material, largely white and black with pink and blue accents, with a glowing blue at its cuffs and shoulders. While she had her gold circlet and earrings on, her hair was tucked into a neat bun.

Even when suited up for battle, she was still beautiful. I shook my head to clear those thoughts and listened when she began talking.

"You five Paladins were brought here for a reason," She said to all of us. "The Voltron Lions are meant to be piloted by you and you alone. We must fight and keep fighting until we defeat Zarkon. It is our destiny. Voltron is the universe's only hope. We are the universe's only hope."

"We're with you, Princess," Shiro said, with everyone having looks of determination.

"Then you guys check your loadouts and ready up. I'll be right back," I told them as I made around them to the door. I noticed that Allura looked puzzled at me, so I looked at her and smirked (helmet was off). "Unless you want to see something pretty amazing." This caused her to blush a little.

---

Soon, after Allura told Coran to take the five to get there Paladin armor and weapons, the two of us were walking down the hall towards the vestibule. I was a little surprised that she agreed to come ago, as I was only joking, but nonetheless took her to the where RC was.

Entering it, we saw RC standing in the center of the room staring at us.

"I'm ready," I said, putting on the helmet.

"Understood." RC got down on one knee and opened her hatch. "Please embark when ready."

I nodded before running and jumped onto the open bottom hatch and grabbed onto the edges of the cockpit. Looking at the seat and controls, I took it in. This was really happening. I was going to link with a Titan. Taking in a deep breathe, I blew it out. "All right."

Grabbing the armrests, I pulled myself into the cockpit, then turned around, and then sat back into the seat.

As I sat in the cockpit, RC got off her knee and stood up, before closing the hatch. Leaving me in complete darkness, with only the small lights of the controls shining.

"Protocol 1: Link to Pilot." The same words appeared on my HUD.

"Establishing neural link."

I then saw many green lights shine in front of me before an overwhelming sensation filled my body. I couldn't even make a sound as my body began to tremble and shake because of the invading feeling.

Suddenly I was blinded by whiteness.

When I was able to see again, the feeling was gone and I felt normal. But at the same time, I felt…bigger.

"Neural Link: Established…Rifleman Cadet Marcus Moore – you are now confirmed as Acting Pilot of RC-2049."

The next protocol came up as RC narrated. "Protocol 2: Uphold the Mission. Our orders are to find the remaining Lions and form the super weapon, Voltron."

The screen on the hatch began to activate. "Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot."

After the screen activated, I was able to see what was in front of me. Testing it out, I looked down, without doing the action with my own body. Insisted, I was commanding the Titan to do it. I then looked left, then up, then right, then down. I then moved the arms. Bringing the right hand out to look at it, before closing and opening the hand.

"Marcus?" I looked down at Allura, who was staring up at me with wonder. "Are you okay," she asked.

"Never felt better," I said, before commanding RC's right fist to punch her left palm.

---

Afterwards disembarking from RC, Allura led me to another room and I was surprised to see my friends not in their Militia jumpsuits, but in futuristic armored suits.

Their armor consists of white body armor of the same material as Allura's that was worn over a black space suit. The armor includes a helmet, cuirass, rerebraces, bracers, belt, cuisses, and knee-high boots. Both the cuirass and space suit had prominent pauldrons of each respective Lion's color, which are mirrored on the Paladin's elbow and knee guards, wrist buttons, boot outsoles, helmet, "V"-shaped symbols, and various areas as decorative accents.

Shiro's color was black, Keith's was red, Lance was blue, Pidge was green, and Hunk was yellow.

However, I was even more surprised to see them not with the weapons they had when they came here with. They were on a table off in the corner. Instead, they were equipped with advanced weapons.

Hunk's weapon was a large single-barreled blaster cannon, Keith's was a long katar, Lance's was a single-shot laser rifle, and Pidge's was a grappling hook-like weapon with a knife head.

However, Shiro didn't have any advance weapons of any kind, and still had his C.A.R.

"So, showed her something amazing, huh," Lance said, getting in my face. He then jabbed his finger into my helmet. "What did you show her?"

Before I could even respond—or punch him in the face—Pidge hits him in the back with her weapon, electrocuting him. Lance screamed and fell over.

I gave her a thumbs up, and she returned the gesture.

"Shiro, I'm afraid your Bayard was lost with its Paladin," Allura told him.

"I guess I'll just have to make do with this," Shiro said, holding up his SMG. "Now let's get to the bridge. I've got a plan."

---

[Play music: Titanfall OST: Lobby Militia 2]

Going back to the bridge, Allura pulled up Sendak's ship, before standing in front of everyone with Shiro, before starting the mission briefing.

"Listen up," he said to us, "we don't have much time. You probably already know the goal is to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship. And that means getting Keith on board, so that he can feel its presence and track it down. And once he's found it, he'll take command of it and bring it back to the castle, so we can get the Black Lion and form Voltron."

"Keith, remember, the Red Lion is extremely temperamental," Allura stated. "You'll have to earn its respect."

"So what's the plan," I asked.

"Right," He started. "The Galra Empire knows about the Blue and Yellow Lion, but they don't know we have the Green Lion, also, or RC. Hunk, Lance, the two of you will act as a decoy by pretending to give yourselves up. While Sendak is distracted, Keith, Pidge, Marcus, and I will infiltrate onto it in the Green Lion, with RC as back up. Keith, Jack, and myself will find the Red Lion, while Pidge guards our exit. While we're doing that, Hunk, Lance, find some way to take down that ion cannon. We're on the clock, so let's get it down."

[End music]

---

About twenty minutes later, and our plan was set in motion.

In space above Arus, I flew RC alongside the Green Lion, as we headed towards the rear of the Galra ship. I was surprised that the Titan was able to keep up with the speed of the advance Lion, but I can only guess that it was because of the quintessence now powering her.

A transmission showed Shiro, Keith, and Pidge at the top of left my HUD. "Alright, Lance, you and Hunk are up," the Black Lion Pilot said.

The transmission was replaced with one that showed Lance. "Hope this works," he said. You and me both. "Attention, Galra ship. Do not fire. We're surrendering our Lions."

The transmission ended and I saw we were closing in on our destination.

"Approaching Galra ship," RC said. "Pilot, be ready to disembark." Slowing her down, I then turned and flipped around to have her feet facing the surface of the ship. About three seconds later, I felt the feet touch the hull. In front of us, I saw the Green Lion land also.

I grabbed the R-201 I switched out the Hemlok for and opened the hatch, disembarking from RC. Carefully using my Jump Kit, I brought myself to stand on the ship. "Guard Mode: Activated. Be careful, Pilot. We're now in a hostile ship."

The Green Lion opened its mouth and out can Shiro, Keith, and Pidge, using their suit's built-in jetpacks to bring them close to the ship. Going towards them, I watched as Pidge activated her weapon and cut open an entrance into the ship. Shiro was the first to go in, then Pidge and Keith. I went to the hole and grabbed the edge of it, then angled my body to make it seem like I was standing upside down on my hands, before pulling myself in as hard as I can. Passing many purple lights as I flew through the small, narrow space after the other. After about five seconds I had reached the end of it, and felt gravity take a hold of me again inside of a large, long dark purple chamber with purple lightning bolts connecting from the ceiling to the ground.

I saw I was falling towards the group and quickly flipped my body around and use the Jump Kit in a short burst, stopping me in the air for a moment before landing safety next to them.

"Pidge, what's your ETA," Lance asked in the communicators.

"We're in," she said. We then looked around for an exit out of our location. We then spotted an exit about five plates away from the one we were on.

Shiro went ahead of us and used his jet pack to jump across the gaps between our platform and the next one. Soon we were all following his example and jumping across.

"Pilot, be advised: Lance and Hunk have started their attack on the ship and have engaged the enemy."

"Alright, but don't attack unless they see you," I told her, half way to the exit. After the last platforms were jumped we arrived at the platform that had the exit, in the form of a closed door. I look to the left and saw a security lock panel. "Think this will work," I asked, pulling out the Data Knife and pointing to the panel with my R-201.

"Worth the shot," Keith said, prompting me to walk over to the panel. Stabbing into the edges of it with the Knife, I was able to lift it open. Scanning for anything that were resemble a thin connector slot.

And just my luck, there was.

Chuckling a little, I held the Data Knife in a reverse grip and pressed the small trigger on the handle, causing the hacking blade to pop out. I then stabbed it into the slot, causing three orange holographic interface counter to appear. Once all three of them were one single ring and had turned blue, I pulled out the Knife and closed the panel.

The doors opened. We quickly went in.

We were soon in a hallway that was, you probably guessed, mostly ranging from black to dark purple with purple lights on the wall. Man, these guys love the color purple.

I aimer down the HCOG sights of the R-201 down one end of the hallway, while Shiro aimed down the opposite end. "Dead end this way," he said.

"This way then," I told them and ran down the hall with them following. I then stopped at the right corn of the hallway, as it splits into left and right halls. I walked cautiously close to the wall, I looked around the edge and saw that it was all clear.

I then started walking down the left hall, with Keith and Shiro following. Pidge remained at the corner, acting out her role as the exit guard.

However, me and Keith stopped when we heard Shiro gasped. We turned towards him as Pidge approached him, as he was panting lightly. "I've been here before," he said. "After I was taken by the Galra cruiser off Hex, they brought us here."

"So, that means your other crewmembers, they might be held captive here," Pidge said, hopefully. "We... We've got to rescue them."

"Pidge, we don't have time," Shiro told her, going against his consciousness. "We have to get the Red Lion and get back to Arus."

But we can't just leave prisoners here!"

"Look, no one understands that more than me, but, in war, we have to make hard choices. Now, let's get moving." He turned towards us and started walking down the hallway. I looked at her with empathy, knowing she wanted to look for the prisoners.

"No!" She exclaimed, surprising all of us. "Commander Holt is my father. He and my brother were the ones on the Hex Mission with you."

"Commander Holt is your father," Shiro asked, surprised.

"Yes. I've been searching everywhere for him and my brother. And I'm not going to give up looking when I'm this close. I won't!" Pidge turned around to walk down the other hallway.

"Hold on, Pidge," I told her, luckily getting her to stop. "RC, are there any other life forms on this ship that are not Galra?" This shocked Pidge a little.

"Stand by…I have detected a same group of individuals south of your location," RC said. "I am unable to identify if one of them is Command Holt."

I nodded and then looked at Shiro. "Do you remember where the prisoners are held?"

"Yes," Shiro said, before looking at Keith. "Keith, you and Marcus go find the Red Lion. I'm going with Pidge."

"Oh our own," he asked in disbelief.

"Minor change of plans. You'll be fine." He placed a hand on his shoulder. "Just remember, patience yields focus. So—" Shiro was cut off when a door opened down the other hallway, and light could be seen. "—Run!"

The four of us split into our teams of two. With Keith and I going down one hallway and Shiro and Pidge went down the other.

I felt my heart pounding in my chest as the two of us ran as fast as we could down the corridor. Luckily for us, we didn't encounter any enemies. However, we came to a stop when we came to an intersecting corridor, with what I could guess was the Galra's emblem on the wall above them.

"Great," I groan, panting to catch my breath. "Now, which way?" When Keith didn't respond, I turned my head towards him and noticed that he was staring at it.

Suddenly we heard the sounds of marching, heavy footsteps coming down the left corridor. Thinking quickly, the two of us ran down the opposite one.

Not know where we were going, we ran down different corridors and made many turns on the warship.

However, we stop and groaned when we ended up in front of the emblem again.

"You've got to be kidding me!" Keith growled, painting with sweat running down his face. I was about the same. He then looked and took a deep breath, before closing his eyes. "... 'Patience... yields focus...'" I looked at him and waited. Knowing that he was trying to feel the Red Lion's presence. About five seconds later, he opened his eyes and looked at me with a smirk. "I got it, follow me!"

---

After about five minutes, Keith stopped at a door at the end of a corridor. "This is it," he state. "The Red Lion is on the other side of door."

"Alright." I went to the security lock panel, opened it with the Data Knife, stabbed it with said weapon, and was able to unlock the door. Once the doors opened, we ran in and saw the Red Lion. It was held off the ground, with its force-field a complete sphere around it. "Alright, Keith, it's your show now," I told him, nodding towards the giant robot. Keith nodded and ran up to it while I stayed back and watched.

"Bingo. Let's get out of here. Open up," he said, placing his hand on the force-field. However, nothing happened. "It's me. Keith. Your buddy. It's me! Keeeeeeiiiiith, your—I. AM. YOUR. PALADIN!"

I figured this might happen. Keith hasn't proven himself to it yet.

Suddenly a loud noise that echoed in the hangar was made behind me, causing me to turn quickly around and aimed my R-201. A group of what I could only describe as Spectres, but looked more like suits of armor, came into the hangar and opened fired on us.

Keith activated his shield, while I ran backwards towards him, firing at the robots. The rounds tore into one of them, before it collapsed. I stopped firing and quickly hid behind a crate.

"I'm bonding with you!" Keith yelled at the Lion over the gunfire. I aimed my rifle over the crate and started shooting at the robots, trying to keep them off of Keith. "Hey! Come on! We're connected!"

I got back behind the crate and reloaded. "You've got to earn its respect," I told him, before going back to shooting. The spent rounds ejecting at a fast rate. "Show it that you're worthy!"

Keith nodded before summoning his Bayard. "You're not getting this lion!" He then charged at forward and started cutting down the robots.

I followed his example by jumping onto the crate, and then double jumped towards the Galra robots. I unleashed a hail of bullets into them, destroying one, before ripping into the one next to it. When I landed on the floor, saw a robot walking towards me. I quickly kicked it in the chest, leaving a large dent in it as it flew back. I drew the Wingman and shot two more of the robots in the head, making them explode.

However, my attention was caught by Keith having his shield shattered by the laser fire, knocking back.

"Keith!" I exclaimed with worry, before running to him. I kneeled down beside him, reloaded, and then returned fire. Destroying one, then firing about five bullets into the head of another one, destroying it too. "RC! Do you have a fix on our location," I asked, still firing.

"Copy that, Pilot. I have a fix on your location."

"Good, because I have an idea," I told her before emptying the mag. It was insane, but we weren't going to last here with more of the robot coming at us. "Keith, come on!" I started running towards a console that was in front of the Red Lion. Keith got up and followed me. When I reached the console I grabbed onto it. "Grab on."

"What's the plan," Keith asked me, after grabbing a hold of the console.

"This." I slammed my fist onto the console.

This caused the airlock doors that were the floor the hanger to open. The air in the room rushed out into the vacuum of space. The Spectre-like robots were sucked out immediately, wide Keith and I struggled to hang onto the console for dear life. Come on, RC. Where are you?

I looked up at the Lion, hoping that it was going to come out of its force-field and help out. However, I saw a piece of metal come and before I could do anything, it hit me. "GAH!" I cried in pain, but I wasn't holding onto the console anymore.

"MARCUS!" I heard Keith's voice yelling to me as I was sucked into space. My body was out of my control as it spun and flipped in the infinite emptiness. I felt myself breathing heavily in my helmet.

"RC!" I called out to my Titan.

About two seconds later, I eyes caught a glimpse of her coming towards before grabbing my body.

"Got you," she said. I breathed deeply for a moment to catch my breath. I then smiled in relief and gave RC a thumbs up. She looked at her hand, twitching her finger for a moment, as if trying to finger out how to use it, before giving me a thumbs up too.

She then opened her hatch before putting me in, and I embarked with her. "Keith! Keith, are you alright?" I called over the communicator.

Thank God I got a transmission. "I'm alright, Marcus," he said. "I've got the Red Lion."

"Alright, then lets—" I was interrupted when RC was shook by multiple hits. I looked and saw Galra fighters coming at us.

"Hostile fighter incoming."

"I see them," I said before turning to face them, pulled out the Chaingun and opened fire on them.

Aiming at one of the fighters, I let the hail of 20mm bullets firing at 600 RPM rip it apart, causing it to explode. I then aimed at another one and destroy it. The loss of two of two of their comrades forced the remaining fighters to break off their attack. I wasn't going to let them escape and reloaded.

"Pilot, might I suggest the Multi-Target Missile System."

"Oh, right. I have ordnance," I said before look around for the way to activate it. I then noticed that the one of the buttons on the arm rest, near my right middle finger tip was flashing red. I pressed down on it and saw the multiple targeting rings lock onto the fighters.

I then released the button and let the missile towards their targets, hitting them with precise precision.

Suddenly we were hit with more blaster shots. I turned to the right and saw three more fighters come at us. I looked at my left hand and saw a button flashing in front of my middle finger. I pressed it, causing RC's left hand stretched and form and a Vortex Shield formed. The blaster bolt that came at us were sucked into the vortex of energy. Because they weren't bullets or any other, I can't send them back to the fighters. So I pointed the Chaingun at them and fired.

The first one was destroyed without any problem. The two tried to maneuver through the hail of bullets, but was destroyed. The third one tried to escape, but I got him without any trouble.

"All enemy units destroyed," RC said. "Well done Pilot. Our combat effectiveness rating has increased."

I turned RC towards the warship and flew towards it. As we neared it, I saw Hunk's Yellow Lion slamming into the ion cannon, disfiguring it. "Go work, Hunk," I cheered as the Red Lion, Blue Lion, and Green Lion appeared alongside me and RC. Flying in formation with the two of us.

"You guys made it," Hunk said in his transmission, before it when to Pidge.

"Kitty Rose has left the stage!" She proclaimed, before the transmission switched to Lance.

"Let's get the heck out of here," He said, before the transmission switched back to Hunk.

"I hope I stopped that cannon," he said, before following us as we headed for Arus. "I could barely make a dent in it!"

"Princess. The mission has been accomplished: The Red Lion is in our possession."

Allura appeared on the transmitter. "Good work, Paladins," she said with a grateful smile. "You too, Marcus and RC." I smiled at that. "The particle barrier has been activated and…"

"You…will…make…me…a…sandwich." We then heard what sounded like Coran struggling to do something. Or trying to take a number 2. Oh God, please don't let it be that.

"Coran. You can stop now," Allura said with an annoyed expression.

---

It was the beginning of the sun setting on Arus, as we were inside of the castle in a large chamber. I sat inside of RC, as we stood with the four claimed Lions. Their Paladins inside of them. Before us stood Shiro, as he stood in front of a pair large, tall doors.

As me and RC stood in between the Green and Red Lion, their eyes and blue lights started to shine. So did the Yellow and Blue Lion.

"Pilot, I am detecting an anomaly with the Lions," RC said. "I believe they are connecting with each other to unlock the door."

I wanted to say that's great, but got curious. "How do you know, RC?"

"I have, as you would say…a feeling."

A feeling, huh? I looked at the door and saw the blue lines on it light up. Afterwards, it opened by raising uppers, revealing the one and only Black Lion. I was left in wonder the sight of it. It was larger than the other Lions, and had what I consider to be a pair of wings on its back.

It activated with its eyes lighting up, before letting out a mighty roar that rocked RC's hail. The other Lions then roared as well. This was it. Shiro was the new Black Paladin.

"Warning, I detect the Galra warship approaching."

"What?" I exclaimed before a video showed up on my HUD. Showing the very same ship entering the planet's atmosphere. "Oh, shit." I quickly communicated the princess. "Allura, Sendak…"

"I know, Marcus," she said with a serious expression. "I'm looking at it right now."

"Princess, our only chance of survival is to uphold our mission of reform Voltron," RC stated. "We must defend this castle."

"I agree. We need Voltron now!"

"Get in the Lion, Shiro," I told them as I activated the thrusters. "I'll meet you guys top side!" I then flew RC over the Black Lion and up a long pathway that went skywards. Soon we exited out of the middle tower of the castle. I flew forward and turned off the thrusters, letting us fall towards the courtyard. I knew she could take the drop. And that meant that so could.

We landed on the ground, with RC kneeling, with me feeling the impacted. But I like I said, it was okay. I stood her up completely, as the Lions landed behind us.

All around the castle, Galra fighters fired at the particle barrier, but none were able to break through.

"Warning. Ion cannon is preparing to fire. Brace yourself, Pilot."

I looked towards the warship and saw the ion cannon, fully repaired, charging an attack with purple energy. "Everyone get ready," I told them, having RC brace herself by having her in a ready stance.

At first, I saw the cannon firing it's laser beam at us. Then, I was closing my eyes, growling, and holding on, as RC's hull shook. The particle wall surrounding the castle was covered in a blanket of raging that was enough to make the castle tremble.

"Man, those Galra guys repair things fast," Hunk said.

"How're you two doing up there," I asked Coran and Allura.

"We're fine for now, but the barrier gets weaker with every blast," Coran said on the transmitter. "Once that shield goes down, the Castle will be defenseless."

"I can give you cover with the Castle defenses for a while," Allura said, "but you have to form Voltron now or we'll all be destroyed!"

I then noticed three fighters flying low along the length of the broken bridge. Flying in a delta formation. However, I saw that they were carrying…oh on.

The fighters stopped half way from where we were and dropped what they were carrying and flew away.

"No way…" Keith said in disbelief.

"Are those…" Allura's also portrayed her shock.

The Galra fighters have dropped off three Titans.

These weren't any Titans I've ever seen. They looked very much like Legion-class Titans, but were vastly different. They were in the colors of the Galra Empire, with a smoother frame, and a bright purple visor on their chests. They were armed with an alien-looking rifle.

The one in the middle opened its hatch, where the chest was, and showed a Galra soldier yelling. "FOR THE EMPIRE!"

"They got Titans!?" Pidge exclaimed.

"How's that even possible?" Lance asked.

"It's because of the Legion Titan I with when I was captured." Shiro said. "They must have dismantled it and used it to create their own Titan."

"If that's the case, me and RC will take care of them," I stated, walking towards the edge of the particle barrier.

"Are you insane?!" Allura exclaimed.

"I have to hold those things off from getting into the barrier," I told her, reaching back and grabbing the Chaingun. "You guys get out there and form Voltron." The ship fired again, covering the barrier in fire. When it went away, the barrier was starting to flash and glitch red in a few places.

"Marcus is right," Shiro said. "Listen up, Team Voltron! The only way to succeed is to give it all you've got! This looks bad, but we can do this! Are you with me?"

We all nodded silently.

"I'm nodding. Is everyone else nodding," Hunk asked.

"Yes."

"Let's do this!" Shire exclaimed, prompting me to dash towards the three Galra Titans, as the Lions followed behind us. The Titans aimed at us and opened fired. Their rifle fire fully automatically at a fast rate. I deployed the Vortex shield as I ran towards them. I looked at my shield level and saw that they were hardly affected at all. In fact, whenever it went down by a single hit, they just reset to 100%.

Whoa, that quintessence was really powerful.

"Uh, how," Lance asked Shiro, as I started fighting back at the Titan's. The middle Titan was my main target. It was knocked a few times by the 20mm's.

"Good question. Does anyone have any idea of how to form Voltron?"

"I don't see a 'Combine Into Giant Robot' button anywhere on my dashboard," Hunk said as they jumped over me, RC, and the Titans. The enemy mechs followed them with their guns trying to shoot them.

With them distracted, I ran towards the middle Titan at full speed. That when the Titan stopped firing after the Lions ran off the edge of the bridge. It turned back towards me and saw I was coming right at it.

"Wait, they have a Destroyer?!" The Galra pilot exclaimed in shock before aimed its weapon at me and RC, before I grabbed the rifle and forced it upwards and away with RC's left arm, before shooting into its hatch. "AAAUUUGGHH!" The 'Destroyer', as they called their Titans, wasn't able to fight back, making it easier. I stopped firing before slamming the butt off the Chaingun into the robot's face. It slammed into the ground, destroy.

The other Titan's turned towards me. I dashed back from them as they opened fire, before activating the vortex shield.

"This is insane!" Pidge exclaimed after losing her temper, I looked down a little and the Lions were highlighted in red through the bridge. I saw that she'd stopped. "Can't they just cease fire for one minute so we can figure this out? Is that too much to ask?" She then jumped up and had the Green Lion bite down on the wing of a fighter, causing it to explode.

I looked back at the Destroyer Titans and activated the multi-tracking missile. The rocket pod raised up and the circles locked on the two approaching robots. I let them loose, and the Destroyers were knocked back.

"Pilot, recommend using Hidden Blade," RC said. I had no idea what she was talking about, before the Titan brought up her right arm and springing out of her forearm was a large blade that extended past her fist.

"Quickly, Paladins!" Allura said on the transmitter. "Our energy levels are getting low!"

"Alright, got to end this fight." I charged at them.

"Maybe if we fly in formation, we'll just combine," Shiro said. "Take off on my cue. One, two, three, Voltron!" The Lions jumped and took flight.

I ran towards one of the Destroyers, which activate a purple bayonet blade on its rifle and charge at me. I blocked when it tried to stab me by grabbing the rifle and pushing it back. Then quickly stabbed in the middle of the Destroyer, right into the cockpit. The Destroyer stumbled, before I yanked out the Hidden Blade and kicked the Galra machine back, sending it off its feet and flying back a few meters before bounce against the bridge's floor.

I then turned towards the last Destroy and saw it in a fight pose, aiming the rifle with the blade out at me and RC. I retracted the Hidden Blade and charged at the Titan. It fire and knock us back a few steps before I was able to activate the Vortex shield again. I then activated the thrusters and jumped into the air. With the assistance of the thrusters, I was able to jump over the Destroy and land behind it.

It turned to me and RC and was about to fire again, but I acted quickly and charged at it. I stroke it with the back of my left fist and then punched right through its hatch and into the cockpit. I grabbed the Pilot inside and pulled out. I looked at saw it was one of those Spectre-like robots. I crushed it with little hesitation and kicked the damaged Destroyer done, making it explode.

I breathed a sigh of relief and contacted the princess. "Allura, all threats on the ground have been eliminated," I told her.

"That's good, but the Paladins at in trouble," she said with a worried expression. "Look!"

I looked up and was shocked to see the Lions trapped in a tractor beam from Sendak's warship. This was bad, but it couldn't get any worse. However, that ended up being false when the ion cannon fired again.

It hit the castle again, and before I could turn fully around to see what the damage was, I and RC were knocked back by the shockwave. Landing on our back, before I quickly got her to stand up again. I looked at the castle and witnessed the particle barrier go out in a flash.

"Oh, no!"

"Particle barrier has been destroyed. Pilot, we are out of opinions. We must go on the offensive."

I nodded and activated the thrusters. "Hang on you guys," I exclaimed, lifting RC off the ground before heading towards the warship. "I'm on the way!"

Allura's transmission appeared, and she looked stern yet worried. "Are you insane?! You wouldn't be able to take out that ship alone!"

"It's the only opinion we have left," I told her, passing by the Lions.

"What are you doing," Shiro yelled.

"I'm filling in," I told him. "Get out of that tractor beam and take this thing down, or we're all going to die!"

I flew to the top of the cannon and brought out the Hidden Blade again. I slashed the armor of the cannon, before doing it again, forming an X. I retracted the blade and then grabbed the cuts I made, before trying to force them open. After opening them just enough, I took out the Chaingun and quickly opened fire. The few bullets I was able to fire into the weapon did a massive amount of damage and even caused a fire.

But I wasn't fast enough.

"Pilot, we're out of time," RC said, making my heart jump and look up at the end of the cannon, see that it was about to fire.

However, I felt the gun suddenly jerk before firing. The sudden move caused me to stumble for a moment before regaining control. I looked and saw the blast fly past the castle and hit the edge of the land the counted to the sea, where it caused a massive explosion. However, I and RC were suddenly surrounded in a thick shroud of brown smoke.

I looked towards the left side and wasn't able to see much of anything. That is until a pair bright yellow eyes stared at me and a silhouette was formed. A very large silhouette.

When the dust cloud cleared and I was left in awe.

It was Voltron.

It was just like how I saw it in the vision on Trident. 100 meters tall and was made up of all the Lions. The Blue and Yellow Lions made up the legs, the Red and Green Lions were the arms, and the Black Lion was the torso and the head, with its mouth opened to reveal a face in it, and had given the giant its red wings.

"Voltron…" I gasped in shock, as the giant robot had punched the ion cannon, getting it to fire away from the castle.

"I can't believe it!" Keithexclaimed with excitement.

"We formed Voltron!" Pidge exclaimed with the same amount of joy.

"I'm a leg!" Hunk yelled.

"How are we doing this," Lance asked.

"I don't know," Shiro said, "but let's get that cannon!" Voltron grabbed the ion cannon and began to pull. I quickly got RC off of the weapon and took flight, before they ripped the barrel of the cannon off and threw it away.

"This is amazing," I exclaimed with a big grin, watching the action for a good distance.

"Pilot, Burst Core is ready," RC said, and I quickly activated the Core ability. RC dropped the magazine that was already in the gun and loaded another one. This one was filled with Arc Rounds. "Be advised, with the quintessence in my systems, the Arc Rounds will do more damage and will not be limited to one mag. You'll have a five minutes to use this ability."

That's all the time I need. "Mind if we join the party," I asked the guys.

"By all means," Shiro said, before punching Voltron's right arm into the ship and firing a laser that went out the other side. Resulting in a massive that nearly broke the ship in half.

I took to the air and started unleashing the hail of Arc Rounds onto the warship. The increase automatic fire shot out a stream of gold rounds that punched into the hull of the ship, creating explosions with each hit. I hosed the ship with these bullets down the length of it.

"Pilot, I've found the main reactor of the warship," RC said, highlighting it on my HUB. It was near the rear of the ship, in front of the thrusters.

I nodded and looked at Voltron. "You guys continue wrecking this thing and I'll take out the main reactor," I said to them.

"Copy that," Shiro said. "Good luck."

I then turned to the where the reactor was and flew towards it and high speeds. I up away the Chaingun and brought up RC's arms for impact. To my amazement, we broke straight through the armor of the ship and were in the chamber that held the main reactor.

I looked towards the main reactor, which was sphere shaped, aimed the Chaingun at it and unleashed the hail of bullets on it. The Arc Rounds tore into the reactor and stopped only when I mag-dumped the entire magazine. The thing was practically nonexistent and purple electricity was raging everywhere. Destroy every area they make contact with.

One of the bolts hit me and RC, causing us to stumble back. I looked and the shield gage and saw the shield was gone, only to slowly recharge to full capacity. "We're out of here," I exclaimed and quickly the way we came and ignited the thrusters, flying RC out of the ship and max speed.

Once we were off the ship and at a go distance, I turned around while hovering in the air and watched as the destruction of the main reactor set in motion a series of explosion from within the warship, ripping and tearing it apart, before one large final explosion engulfed the ship.

I felt a presence behind me, but knew it was Voltron hovering behind me.

"Good job, Marcus," Shiro said sincerely.

"I agree, well down Pilot," RC said. We'll work on my name later. "We have completed the mission and have formed Voltron. Our combat effectiveness has doubled."

"Thanks, RC," I said, before letting out breathe of relief. It was over. Time to head back.

I directed RC towards the castle and head towards it. Voltron followed us.

---

Within a few minutes, the Lions had broken apart and their Paladins were out of them. I was out of RC and two of us were standing with the others. I, like them, was exhausted from the nonstop fighting and had taken my helmet off to breathe more freely.

I then spotted Allura and Coran running towards us with joyed expression. "Good work, Paladins!" She congratulated us.

"Thanks, pretty lady," Lance said, still trying to hit on her.

Not wanting to be left out, I cleared my throat. It got her attention and she approached me and RC. "And good worker to you too, Marcus and RC," she said, making me smile.

"We did it," Shiro said, catching his breath.

"Heck yeah, we did," Keith said, taking off his helmet.

"How did you guys do it," I asked in wonder.

"I was just, like, screaming the whole time," Hunk said, struggling to take his helmet off for a moment before succeeding. "Maybe that did it." He nudged Pidge's shoulder, but she didn't look all that happy about our victory. She looked dejected. I knew how much she wanted to find her missing family on the ship, but was unable to.

Shiro saw this too, and placed a hand on her shoulder. "We're not going to stop searching until we find your brother and father. Wherever they are, I know they'd be proud of you," he said to her, making her smile.

"We won the battle, but the war has only just begun," Allura stated to us all. "I'm afraid Zarkon will not stop until he gets these Lions."

"Good thing you Paladins know what you're doing," Coran said, "because you're going to have to form Voltron again and again."

"Totally—Wait, what," Hunk asked, as he and Lance were a little taken back.

"We barely survived forming Voltron this one time," Lance said.

"And you only had to fight one ship," Coran said, pointing at us. "Wait until you have to fight a whole fleet of them! It's not going to be easy being the Defenders of the Universe."

That statement seemed to surprise all six of us. We had to defend the whole universe? That was a little too much. I mean, the Frontier is just one system of planets that we were willing to defend in the Militia. However, as a Pilot of the Frontier, it was my duty to protect it, for the IMC or any threat that would come to it. "Defenders of the Universe, huh?" I said out loud with a smirk and hand on my chin. "That's got a nice ring to it."

"You're staying," Shiro asked, bring me to look and see everyone looking at me.

"Of course I am," I said with a nodded. "Is there a problem with that?"

Princess Allura sighed a little before walking towards me. "I know I said that you'll be fighting alongside Voltron, but you don't have, you know," she told me with genuine worry. "This doesn't have to be your fight. I could open a wormhole to your Frontier and you can…"

"But it is my fight! The Galra Empire is a threat to the Frontier." I said firmly, surprising them a little. "I get it, okay. I no Paladin. Heck, I don't even think I can call myself Pilot." The response seemed to have taken her back a little. "RC was never meant to be my Titan…and I never planned to be her Pilot...I was just in the right place, at the wrong time." I looked down a little before looking back at them again. "But I've learned that sometimes you don't get to choose your path…it chooses you." I then turned my body towards RC, with the Lions behind. "And whether or not I was meant for this, or to even be here, doesn't matter…because now…we're all that stands between salvation and extinction." I honestly had no idea where that speech came from. All I did was speaking from the heart. However, it was enough to leave them speechless.

I looked at them and saw Allura's worried and surprised face turn to a bright smile. Then Coran smiled, before the others.

I heard a mechanical sound and looked to see had RC lowered herself a little and held out her fist to me. "Captain Quinton told me that 'fist bumping' is a form of creating a bond," she said.

I looked a little surprise for the moment before smiling.

I then bumped my fist with hers.

---

And that conclusion to the first chapter of "Become ONE."

Thank God it's finally over. This has got to be the longest and hardest chapter I've ever done. The reason it was hard was because it's the first time I've ever done a POV story.

The Hidden Blade that RC came from a concept art that showed the idea of having the Ronin's Broadsword be a hidden blade like in Assassin's Creed.

Not much else to say other than I'll be working on "Weirder Things" for a while. The reasoning is because I've been in a Gravity Falls mood for a while and I feel as though it could use some more attention. I'll only do about five chapters in it, with one being an original chapter.

That's it for today. If you like this story and what to see more, then please favorite, follow, and leave a review on the chapter to let me know how you feel about it. Thank you for reading and have a good day!