Evolution

Greetings everyone! I am new to Voltron fanfiction but have written fanfiction before. I grew up watching Voltron and found the series Voltron Force on Netflix. I wish they hadn't canceled the show but…then what would happen with my muse? A little about my writing…I write a lot of angst but keep it on a positive side. I throw in romance, suspense, and humor. I love to tackle tough subjects which can get me a lot of praise and criticism. My writing is therapeutic for me it helps me with stress has helped me cope with psychological traumas. So please no flames! This story will…have mature content. But in later chapters. This story shouldn't be all that angsty but it will be there.

Chapter 1

Queen Allura was lying in bed staring up at the ceiling. She couldn't settle. Her father had spoken to her just after the battle with Maahox. He said that the Voltron Force would have to evolve again. That destiny will bring two more to join them. They would have their own parts to play and will add strength and new life to Voltron. Allura knew Daigo was destined to be a part of the Voltron force ever since she saw him on Ariel. But her father mentioned another…a healing firecracker from Balto. Her father said that each of the planets that contributed to the creation of Voltron would each contribute a pilot. Which didn't make sense to her until Vince told her yesterday about their time on doom when they got the haggarium sample. He said that within his genetic code was the essence that powered Voltron. That Maahox said that he was one of them. That meant that Vince's ancestors were from the energy planet. Larmina was from Arus, Daniel from Earth, Daigo when he came would represent Ariel, and the only one that was still an unknown was Balto's healing firecracker. She just had to trust in time that she would know. She would know and Voltron would soon evolve. It was destined. That didn't mean that it would be easy. It was an unknown. She was so used to Keith commanding, Lance being hotheaded, Pidge's intellect, her focus, and Hunks compassion being the running force for Voltron. Now Vince had green and Larmina blue. Daniel would have black back after he matured more as a leader. He had the piloting skills but he needed to work on his leadership. They had jumped the gun it was no wonder that Daniel failed. It took Keith years to get to the point where he was competent. Why would Daniel be any different? What about Lotor, Mahoox, Kala, and Wade? Were they all destroyed or will they come back? She was more afraid now then she was when she was a pilot. Why?

Since sleep was going to be impossible she climbed out of bed. She got dressed for the day planning to head to her office. Instead she found herself in front of Keith's door. She was going to walk away when it opened. Keith stood before her. He was shirtless, shoeless, and wearing black sweat pants. How did he always know? He whispered, "You look lost my queen."

"Not lost. I just have a lot on my mind."

Keith saw the turmoil and exhaustion in her eyes and gestured inside. Allura stepped in and closed his door. They stood studying each other for a few beats. Then Keith simply opened his arms.

Allura moved in and wrapped her arms around his neck. "My father spoke to me…again after the battle with Maahox. He said that Daigo and one from Balto will join us. The unknown scares me. Are you scared Keith?"

"No…What is meant to be will be."

"You sound so sure…so confident. I…I don't know what is wrong with me."

"Try talking it out."

"I…I…feel scared. I didn't used to feel this way. Why am I fearful now?"

Keith stroked her hair. "Change is scary. You have had a big change and Voltron is changing. You are still working through it all."

"What do you mean?"

"Allura think about it. Your father said to you that maybe what Arus needed was a full time queen not a part time princess. Yes you always worried about the people but you were actively protecting them from threats with Voltron. That gave you control. Now you have to trust others to protect as you lead and rule. Fighting helped control your fear. Now perhaps instead of controlling your fear you need to channel it into something useful. Do something to help the people."

Allura's eyes widened. She hadn't thought of that. She rested her head on his shoulder. "When did you get to be so wise?"

"Here and there."

Allura allowed herself this moment of comfort. For the first time since she turned over her lion she felt settled. No…at peace. Keith always found a way to right her world by just knowing what she needed. Whether it was words, actions, or both. He knew when she needed to open up like now. He knew when she just needed a shoulder to cry on. He knew when she just needed to be held. The years of his absence had been the longest of her life. It was during that absence that she realized the depth of her feelings for him. What was the old phrase absence makes the heart grow fonder? Something like that? Now they were secretly married. The encounter on the lost Arusian Explorer had changed everything about their relationship. Before they could not be together openly. Because Arusian law dictated that she could only marry royalty or an Arusian Noble. Since Keith's Great-Grandfather was a Knight of Arus Keith was 'grandfathered' into this category. She was so tired but couldn't settle. That was why she was getting ready to go to work. She went to leave but Keith held her in place. "Have you slept?"

"I can't settle. I have some of legislation to review, and I have to work on the budget reconciliation. The people's forum is later today."

"You need rest Allura."

"I can't sleep."

Keith changed gears. He knew that getting her to lie down was not going to work at least not initially. He leaned down and kissed her. Allura knew it was coming and for a moment nothing else mattered. The quickly escalated from tender to desperate. It had been weeks since they had even been alone together. The need was overwhelming and she needed him as much as she needed to breathe. "I need you."

Keith murmured in her ear. "I know."

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Queen Allura was waiting for her honored guests to arrive at the castle of lions. She saw that Manset's ship was landing and smiled warmly. The doors opened and Chief Kalan stepped off. "Greetings from the Lion Riders of Ariel."

"Welcome to Arus Chief Kalan." Behind him was the boy that the cadets had befriended. "Daigo welcome."

"Your majesty it is an honor to be here. Thank you for inviting us."

Chief Kalan gestured towards Vince, Daniel, and Larmina. "Go see your friends Daigo the Queen and I have much to discuss."

Daigo did not need to be told twice. "Hey good to see you."

Larmina nodded. "You too! Would you like a tour of the castle?"

"Yeah! That would be awesome!"

Daniel smiled. "Want to see the lions! We are working on them right now."

"I would love to see the lions up close. If you won't get into trouble."

Vince chuckled at Daigo's enthusiasm. "We won't. Besides you have a connection to the lions as well. Your planet contributed to the construction of Voltron."

"My favorite Lion is Yellow. I like to build things."

"You and Hunk will get along great." Larmina said. She opened a door. "This is the hanger where we do all the maintenance for the lions."

Daigo's face brightened. "Incredible. You have a G series 4800. That is a powerful tool for welding. I sculpt from metals mostly but sometimes wood."

"Like my toys huh?"

They turned around. Daigo nodded. "I could spend days in here Hunk. It's good to see you again."

"So you like to sculpt? Do you have some pictures of your work?"

Daigo blushed. "I do but…I'm still learning. I haven't even shown them to Chief Kalan yet. I want them to be perfect."

Larmina said. "They don't have to be perfect for us Daigo. We're your friends…we'd be honored to see."

Daigo pulled out his tablet and pulled up an album. He had 10 sculptures and with each one Hunk, Larmina, Vince, and Daniel were very impressed. The last one was a duplicate of Voltron sculpted from Bronze. It was stunning. I brought this one with me. I wanted to give it to the Queen. But I still don't think it is quite finished."

Larmina gushed. "Daigo that is absolutely beautiful. I can see every detail and they are spot on. You really were able to capture the essence of Voltron!"

"Thanks Larmina! You really think she'll like it."

Daniel put a hand on his shoulder. "Dude she'll love it."

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Allura took Chief Kalan to her office. "Would you like something to drink Chief Kalan?"

"No thank you Allura." He sat then continued. "Commander Keith and the Voltron Force saved my life a few months ago. You saved our planet from destruction when Wade was mining our sacred ore. Our people would like to repay our debt for your kindness. I know we assisted Voltron on the battlefield on Earth not long ago but you saved our world. That battle doesn't even begin to scratch the surface. When I asked if I could speak to you here all you asked was to bring Daigo. He has grown a lot since you last saw him. He has matured quite a bit but even I was perplexed by your request."

"I'm sure…I am no longer a pilot on the Voltron Force but I will forever be linked to Voltron in my heart and spirit. Voltron seeks those who connects closest with him. When we were last on Ariel I sensed part of Daigo's soul belonged to Voltron. We are at a crossroads again where evil is brewing and evolving. Voltron has to evolve as well. Daigo will have his own part to play."

"If you have faith in him then so do I. If he wants to stay then he will have my blessing."

A knock interrupted them. "Come in."

Keith walked in. "Excuse me your majesty. We have had a blip in the security sensors. Pidge is trying to reset them and is running some scans. I wanted to you to know. You still have your voltcom…until we determine it is safe please put it on."

"Certainly…Keith I just spoke with Chief Kalan about Daigo."

Keith smiled. "He is a good kid and I am sure he will enhance the team with his strengths and do his best."

"Thank you Commander. We will need to speak with him. Do you know where he is?"

"He was in the hanger with Hunk, Daniel, Vince, and Larmina. Voltron Force report to the control room. Hunk please bring Daigo."

The trio went into the control room and saw that Pidge was furiously scanning. Keith nodded. "Still no luck?"

"I need Vince. He may be able to see something I'm missing."

Keith nodded. "He's on his way."

"I'm here." Vince said. "Let me see."

Daigo whistled. In a million years he would not have dreamed of being in the Voltron Forces's control room! This was awesome! He never wanted to leave.

A beeping alerted interrupted his thoughts. Pidge checked a panel. "We are getting a transmission from Balto. It's probably my brother. On screen." The screen activated and to Pidge's surprise it was not his brother but a man he had not seen for over 10 years. It was not one of his favorite people actually. He did not beat around the bush. "Darrel Storker…where is my step daughter. AND remember I will know if you are lying."

Pidge didn't hide his annoyance. "First of all Mr. Byron I don't lie. Second…I have no idea where Tandy is. She wrote me a card for my birthday. I know she graduated from Medical school and was going to be at the Balton Research Hospital. Why are you looking for her if she has a job?"

"You know that minors can't live on their own on Balto without parental consent even if they have achieved their professional degree. I have not given her consent to live elsewhere or to leave."

"She's 16 why don't you emancipate her you can." Pidge said.

"She isn't mature enough…She had the nerve to leave her job without notice. She should be a little more grateful for my kindness."

Pidge was very worried this was not like Tandy. She could be impulsive but she was responsible. She would not have done anything without a reason and quickly defended her. "She had to have had a reason I refuse to think anything else. She is my oldest and best friend. We went to grade school together. She…where is Penny? Can I talk to her?"

"My wife was murdered three weeks ago."

"What?" Was all Pidge could muster. Lotor could have walked in naked and dancing the hula and he wouldn't have been more shocked. "Oh my God poor Tandy."

"You really don't know. I can see that Darrel. If she calls you make her get her selfish teenage brat of a self-back home. People are gossiping. I have a reputation. If she apologizes and grovels she may be able to get her job back."

"Don't talk about Tandy like that. If she calls me I'll give her the message but I won't make her do anything she doesn't want to do."

"If you don't Pidge…I could make things difficult for Chip. And I will personally come and carve your eyes out."

"Try." Pidge challenged. "As much as I loved this little chat with you. I have to go."

"Don't cut me off."

"AM." Pidge cut him off. "Jeez I didn't think he could become more of a jerk. But I was wrong. Sorry your majesty if I had known that was a personal call I would have taken it in my room."

"It's alright Pidge. Quite frankly if that man is more concerned about his pride than about your friend's safety maybe she shouldn't go back at all. He certainly shouldn't threaten you either."

"Tandy hates him. Her dad died when she was three and her mom Penny remarried this moron when she was 7."

Hunk flexed his muscles. "Well no one threatens our team and gets away with it."

Pidge rolled his eyes. "He's all bark and no bite. He couldn't get close enough to me to carve my eyes out. I am going to call Chip though and…" But an anomaly to the left back corner of the wall got his attention. He quickly without thinking shot out a smart star. A small shriek was heard along with a metal clank. The rest of the force activated their weapons. "Jeez I expected a better welcome than this."

Pidge deactivated the star pinning the anomaly to the wall. "Tandy?"

A girl with grey eyes suddenly appeared before them. Allura saw that her hair was naturally brown but it had bright red and orange highlights. "Yeah."

Pidge ran over to her and pulled her into a fierce hug. She returned it in kind. "I'm sorry I snuck in. I knew he would call you. I didn't want you to lie. I know you would have in a minute but I didn't want to put you in a bad position so I stayed hidden until…he…oh god Pidge…I'm sorry."

Pidge soothed her automatically. "It's alright Tandy. You're okay." Then he chuckled. "You're the only one who could get past my security grids."

"Not hard…but you have someone else working with you because I almost tripped the secondary."

"Honey you did trip the secondary. We've been trying to find what caused the glitch." Pidge said.

"Sorry that was me. I hope I didn't cause too much trouble. I had to get away from him and…and for some reason I felt like I had to come. I've been wanting to for a while."

Lance smiled. "Well a friend of Pidge's is a friend of ours. He did tell me about you. He said that you are a firecracker who can heal anyone. I'm Lance red lion, this big guy is Hunk yellow lion, Vince is Green, Larmina blue, Cadet Daniel and our Commander Keith Kogain. "

"I'm Tandy Taylor I am a doctor an unemployed doctor but a doctor."

Allura smiled. "Maybe I can help you with that. Dr. Gorma needs another doctor in the clinic. Would you be interested in filling in?"

Tandy nodded. "Sure I can! Oh…Pidge could I look at your research on Haggarium we've had a few of our citizens who were suffering from the after effects of the brain drain. I was able to come up with a process to drain small amounts from the brain but some of it is lingering so the ones who were affected first are showing symptoms."

"What kind of symptoms?" Keith asked.

"Rage…irritability…insomnia…nausea…migraine headaches. Those are the highlights. I am working on a serum to try to neutralize the haggarium but it is a slow process."

"Absolutely." Pidge said.

Keith saw Allura give him a little nod to Tandy and then to Lance. Keith understood immediately what Allura wanted him to do. "Daigo I know you just came from the hanger but why don't we give Chief Kalan and Tandy a tour of it."

"No problem! I would love to!"

Tandy beamed. "I would love to see the lions up close." They all started walking. Tandy continued, "Pidge told me so much about you and it sounded amazing. Also terrifying. But mostly amazing. I cannot tell you how mad I was when I woke up from being a zombie. You know what else made me mad?"

Daniel asked. "What else?"

Tandy didn't answer with words. She simply swept her leg and Pidge landed on his butt. Pidge turned red but everyone else started laughing.

Lance whistled. "Nothing worse than a women scorned Little Buddy."

"Tandy! I didn't know how to find you? How was I supposed?"

"Phone…you moron…text…letter….anything? You, your brother, Maggie, and I were four peas in a pod in school. Did you know that Chip and Maggie are dating? That Chip has accepted another commission with garrison and she is going to the GA academy?"

"He told me some of it. He said that he saw you and Maggie all the time."

"We have lunch once a week. Chip offered to call you to tell you about mom but you guys were busy with the fall-out from the attack from earth. Maggie stayed with me at my house. Chip took me to the transpo station. I didn't tell him where I was going but I think he knew. He gave me a hug and said tell him hi for me."

They went through the hanger doors. Keith spoke. "This is the hanger where we repair the lions. The lions are at the moment in there caves."

Tandy smiled. "This looks like mechanics heaven. The technology is just…" Her statement was interrupted by a series of loud roars. The doors to the hanger opened and the lions all came inside.

Keith held his breath and waited. The lions stood regally looking down on them all.

"Why are they always doing this Keith?" Lance asked dryly.

Daigo and Tandy both stepped forward. Pidge went to grab Tandy and Daigo but Allura grasped his shoulder. "Wait Pidge."

Daniel walked up with both hands held up. "Easy fellas these are friends of ours."

Black Lion let out a roar then bowed its head at Daniel.

Tandy couldn't believe what she was seeing. It was as if the lions could think! They were drawn to the hanger but why? She walked up to the red lion and held her hand up. "What's on your mind fella?"

Red lowered his head so that it was touching Tandy's hand.

Lance didn't know what to think. Tandy was talking to his lion and red seemed to respond to her. He looked over to the right and he could see Daigo looking up at Yellow. The yellow lion held up its paw in greeting. "Keith…this is weird."

"No Lance…this is destiny. The lions have just picked its next team. Which has already begun to evolve." Keith stepped forward. "Tandy…Daigo…you have both been chosen by fate to be here."

Allura who had gone to retrieve two Volt-coms came to Keith's side. Daigo and Tandy's eyes both widened.

Keith took out his key and placed it in one of the new volt-coms. It powered up and he placed it on Daigo's left arm. He activated the next and placed that volt-com on Tandy's right arm.

Allura spoke. "These are entrusted to you and have been activated with the Power of Voltron. You are now part of a team…part of our legacy. Unity is our core. I welcome you both to Arus and entrust the rest of the force to teach you how to carry this honor. Good Luck."