Voltron: The Space Road Less Traveled
Chapter one: Nothingness
The world in which a Paladin resided was merely an ocean of black with the stars acting as the little fishes which remained infinitely frozen in place; frozen in time as it were. Or, at least, that is how it seemed to the bored Black Lion Pilot. Even the shadows being cast over his shoulder were nothing but empty silhouettes of unoccupied space. The silence was deafening, it hadn't been long since they'd resumed their journey for earth once more; after 'meeting up with' Lotor's former generals Zethrid, Ezor; and Axca. Though, in the end, they did have to destroy two of them, Axca had fully placed her feet on the side of good and was now apart of the Voltron Coalition. And, strangely enough, he felt an unfamiliarly positive emotion about it; more than just the satisfaction of gaining another alli. Keith couldn't help but think it went much deeper than that; but just how deep... he hadn't a clue. No sound could be heard; almost as though they'd all gone deaf to any and all sound. Only the occasional, bored sigh from one of his passengers, or over the com from the other lions, reminded them of the latter. And the low blips of the screen in front of him, kept this truth in play. The air was empty... but yet it weighed heavily over him.
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Loneliness meant nothing to the former Black Lion Pilot, as he shifted in the silence of the cargo hold. The covers securely wrapped around, what parts of him were still under them. Though he looked calm... his mind told another story...
The Former Black Lion pilot remained in darkness; all that was there besides him, was a light on the, almost, invisible horizon that resembled city lights from a far distance. The light was so soft that almost didn't exist at all, but suddenly that light grew in the form of a burst; and he saw a repeat of the nightmare that had left its mark on Keith's face. Shiro suddenly noticed something below him and looked down. His hand was glowing; that glow quickly advancing up his arm a moment later. The immense pain from it made him drop on all fours. Shiro threw his head up in a horrible cry, as he shifted back to sit on his heels; his right arm melting away at the same time...
Shiro's eyes shot open, as he was instantly upright. The panic in his eyes was unmistakeable if someone were to see it, even in the dim light. As he began to calm down again the blanket that had been draped over his shoulder slid away to expose the metal plating that now formed the shoulder from which his arm once remained. Just the sight of it, was enough to swear he was seeing brief flashes of his former Galran extremity, replacing the empty space at his side for only a couple brief, flashing seconds.
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The cockpit door opened and Shiro came through it. Keith, Krolia, and Cosmo looked up to see him. He had dressed himself and came to join them.
"Morning, Shiro." Keith greeted slowly, a very distinct flatness in his tone.
"Hey." Shiro responded softly, a hint of boredom ringing in his tone as well. "Any luck?" Shiro went on to say.
"No." Keith replied, turning to stare blankly at the screen once again. "We haven't come across anything since we escaped Zethrid and Ezor's ship."
"That's ok..." Shiro told him. "We knew, going into this, that it wasn't going to be easy. We just have to stay strong until we get back to Earth." Suddenly the floor jerked under them and the Black lion rolled off to the left, as if something had rammed right into it. Shiro was shifted off balance and side stepped to the left then the right, dropping to one knee. Because of his missing limb, he couldn't catch himself and stop his fall, and he hit the panel to his right. The corner of the panel jabbing his side on contact. Keith yanked the handles to stabilize his lion.
"Is everyone alright?" Keith asked, peering back, after regaining control. Krolia and Cosmo were leaned up against the left wall behind him, beginning to recover themselves. And Shiro was on the right side. He'd landed in such a way that, his metal stub was up on the panel, the edge of the panel, itself, still digging into his side; and his right knee caught underneath it. And because he was leaned back, he had his left hand braced out and slightly behind him.
"Shiro!" Keith said, quickly jumping from his seat to help him up.
"It's ok." Shiro told him, slightly dazed, as Keith pulled him up by his left arm. "I'm alright... what was that?"
"I'm not sure." Keith admitted, he then turned to the screen. "Guys, what's your status?" He called.
"We're fine." Pidge responded. "What's wrong?"
"We just got hit with something." Keith answered, sitting back down.
"What was it?" Lance asked.
"Not sure. It knocked us loose for a second." Pidge tapped at her screen, when she focused her lion back toward Black.
"There's a lot of space rocks around here." Pidge realized, as her scanners zeroed in on random points in the space around them. "But it's so dark we can't see them very well."
"Any idea where they're coming from?" Keith wondered. Pidge panned her lion's head around, keeping the invisible lens that found the rocks up on the screen. Only slight detections of movement, clearly from different distances away, couldn't truly be seen. Other than dark jagged patches; which likely were the rocks, blocking the stars from view as they floated about the non-gravitational atmosphere. Nothing really stood out to her... until something finally caught her eye.
"There! It looks like a planet. It looks to be still alive, but pieces are coming off of it. It's too dark to tell." The Green Paladin stated. Keith's scanner's finally picked up what Pidge was talking about. The planet looked much like the Blade of Marmora Headquarters only much bigger. It had mountainous points on the top and bottom of it. The middle looked greenish in the dim light that cut it out of the dark skies. The gentle glow of a passing nebula gave them the indication of its size and shape.
"Let's check it out." Keith decided, steering Black toward it; soon followed by the other lions. When they set down on the planet's surface, they all exited their lions. The darkness gave little indication of their whereabouts, and showed little detail of the soil which they now stood on. Their helmets prevented them from finding out whether or not they could breathe the atmosphere. Shining their lights around, they found that they'd landed in a giant clearing surrounded by forests. The ground, that they could see, was spotted with green wisps of grass; though the rest was mainly dirt or sandy earth. Straight ahead of them, the trees funneled into a path that led into the forest. The silence was a dead ringer, but only slightly suspicious.
"Let's take a look around." Keith said. "The lions could use a little time to charge up anyway." They walked a little ways before they came to a cave opening. Pidge and Hunk shone their lights at it. Lance and Keith stood behind them with their bayards drawn; everyone else falling in line behind them. Slowly they strode into the cave; as the lights scanned the floors and up to the ceilings, nothing seemed to jump out at them as important.
"Man, it's so dark around here." Lance commented.
"We're in a cave, Lance." Pidge pointed out bluntly.
"No, I mean even outside the cave. Everything seems so dark." Lance re-emphasized, still peering through his blaster's scope, as they went on. They came to a dead end and everyone stopped, glancing around where they stood. Shiro looked up into the ceiling, when he thought he'd heard a silent scuffling. It was almost too quiet to hear, but somehow he could. No one else seemed to notice it, but Shiro still searched for its origin. Noticing a divot in the rock wall to his left, he turned to place his hand right next to it. As soon as he did two yellow eyes opened, and two seconds later a hissing sound was followed by a strange greenish yellow cloud shooting into his face. Shiro suddenly stepped back in a coughing fit; stunned by this sudden action. Everyone turned their attention on him in hearing this.
"Shiro! What is it?" Keith asked, hurrying to stand in front of him, as he recover from the coughing spell.
"-I don't know." Shiro coughed. "But something was definitely there."
"What was it?" Hunk asked.
"It's too dark to tell." Shiro responded. "All I saw was it's eyes." Just then a chattering noise drew their eyes to the ground as a small rodent like creature scurried down, hopping over Shiro's feet and passed him, over to Allura. Pidge's light fell on it and they could now see its detail. It looked like a chipmunk with a long skinny tail, and a small tuft of hair at the end; much like a lion's tail. The creature's big, triangular ears bore both stripes and spots on them; similar to the ones on its face. It licked its paws and washed its face cutely.
"Aww!" Hunk gushed, kneeling down to it.
"Wait!" Keith said, stopping him short. "It could be dangerous."
"Oh come on, this thing? It's too cute to be dangerous." Hunk reasoned turning back to the creature. The little rodent-like animal sniffed Hunk's fingers and looked around at all of them, then scurried up Allura's leg to her shoulder as the mice often do. It nuzzled her gently and made a slight purring/chattering noise.
"Oh my." The Princess remarked, a bit flattered by the creature tenderness towards her.
"See Keith. This thing's friendly." Hunk stated.
"It is pretty cute." Pidge commented scratching the critter's chin, the little animal seemed to enjoy it by the speedy thumping of its foot and the continued purring. "I think we should keep it as a pet." The Green Paladin suggested. "He'd make a good companion for the space mice."
"Well..." Keith began. He flinched, as he was suddenly being bombarded by Pidge and Hunk's puppy-dog eyes. "Fine." Keith decided, giving in out of frustration. "But keep it away from me." He finished, heading back out of the cave. Once they arrived back at the lions, Keith stopped to look up at them. "Our lions have probably had enough time to rest, we should get going again." The current Black Paladin stated. The Paladins returned to their lions Krolia and Cosmo remaining with Keith. Shiro riding with Pidge, Coran with Allura, and Romelle with Lance. The chipmunk creature still remained on Allura's shoulder peacefully sleeping, Allura glanced tenderly down at it, then forward at the open space ahead.
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It didn't take long for them to get bored once again.
"Nothing but stars and open space." Lance muttered aloud.
Shiro stood over Pidge's shoulder, blankly staring into space on the screen in front of him. His thoughts began thinking about earth; and how it would feel to finally be back there after all this time. Shiro could recall his last day on earth, but somehow it seemed to be drowned out by the events before and after that day. His upper body tensed at the stabbing in his right extremity, but he resisted the urge respond to it. Pushing it aside, he realized that it'd been so long that, he'd almost forgotten what it felt like just to be on earth; and the sights that he beheld there. It seemed like he'd been gone so long, he'd almost forgotten what earth was like altogether, but yet he still knew. Shiro could almost swear he was dreaming, for years he'd wanted to return home but... to finally be able to... it seemed almost impossible. As Shiro thought about this, he stared on still. The once boldly defined lines of the screens grid slowly fuzzed in and out, and he thought he was starting to see doubles for a second.
Hi guys!! Been a while since I've posted Voltron stories. But I hope you guys enjoy this one! I had actually planned this one a while back, and hadn't gotten it finished til recently. I kept putting it off, but I'm finally deciding to start posting it. Now this story is finished, and there are seven chapters. Kinda short, but I hope it's just as good as the longer ones.
Also I'm going to be posting one every Friday, so that it's easier for you guys to know when the next chapter is going to be posted. Hope you guys enjoy this story. Really, really proud of this one!! Enjoy!! Thx!!!
