Disclaimer : All Voltron Force and associated characters in this story are owned by WEP.
A Cold Day on Arus
"What are you guys doing?" Daniel asked as he walked into the repair bay. Vince and Pidge were tinkering with some large device.
"Vince and I were having a discussion about Earth holidays," Pidge said. "When my brother and I were growing up with our step-parents on Earth, they used to celebrate Christmas."
"It's already that time of year?" Daniel asked. "Being on Arus sometimes makes you forget, especially with the weather and all. I mean, because of the two suns, it's usually pretty nice here year 'round."
"Our thoughts exactly," Vince said, still tinkering. "Even the highest Arusian peaks seem to lack much in the way of snow. So Pidge and I decided to try to put together something that will help get everyone in the Christmas spirit."
"Is it a snow machine?" Daniel asked.
"A bit more complex than that," Pidge said. "This satellite will be able to alter local weather patterns. It doesn't just generate snow, it generates weather in general!"
"We were able to do it without disturbing weather patterns everywhere else on the planet," Vince said. "That was probably the biggest hurdle."
"So we're going to have Christmas on Arus," Daniel said. "Anyone tell Larmina yet?"
"Not yet," Vince said.
"Then I know what I'm doing," Daniel said.
"At least wait until we test this thing out first," Vince said.
"Well, no better time than the present," Pidge said.
VOLTRON FORCE INTRO
"Are you guys sure this is a good idea?" Keith asked as the team stood outside the Castle of Lions.
"We have everything under control," Pidge said.
"We've compensated for every contingency," Vince said. "For one day, the Castle of Lions will be a winter wonderland. One minute summer heat, then BAM! Snowstorm."
"As long as it's safe," Allura said, walking up to them to stand by her husband's side, placing a hand on his shoulder. He looked over at her and smiled, then back at Pidge.
"Go ahead and launch it," he said. Pidge and Vince went over to the nearby console. Pidge gestured towards a big red button, and Vince gladly pushed it. Rockets fired, and the satellite launched into the air and went higher and higher until it was out of sight.
"Once it reaches orbit," Vince said, "we'll activate the diagnostic systems. Once finished….we can call up some Christmas weather."
"It's been a long time since we celebrated Christmas," Hunk said. "I miss the huge dinners we used to have back home."
"Dinners?" Lance laughed. "As in plural?"
"Well yeah," Hunk replied, matter of factly. "Started off at Mom and Dad's, then to my grandparents', then my uncle's…."
"We get it, Hunk," Lance said.
"Diagnostics are finished," Pidge said. "Now for a little…." A single snowflake fell and landed on Larmina's nose. She looked at it cross eyed as it melted. Then more flakes began to fall until they had a nice little squall coming down.
"Now that's snow!" Vince said, smiling. It continued to fall, slowly accumulating on the ground.
"How far spread is this storm?" Keith asked.
"Only a few square miles," Pidge assured him. "We made it so the device doesn't upset weather patterns on a global scale. You can imagine how bad that could get." Keith immediately got hit in the back of the head with a snowball.
"Daniel…" Keith said, turning around, only to see his wife a short distance away standing with Larmina, the snowy evidence all over her gloved hands. They both giggled. "Oh, it's on!" Keith said with a grin. Allura ran as he scooped up a handful of snow and chased after her. Daniel approached Larmina.
"Hey, Larmina," he said, "want to help me build a snowman?"
"What's that?" she asked.
"You roll up some large snowballs and stack them on top of one another, and create a man made out of snow. It's fun!"
"Is that part of the whole 'Christmas' tradition?" she asked.
"Kinda," he replied, shrugging. "But if you want the real experience, we should take Hunk and look for a good tree to bring back to the castle and decorate!"
"A tree?" she asked.
"Come on," Daniel said, changing his mind about the snowman in favor of hunting for the perfect Christmas tree, "I'll show you." The two took off towards the woods.
"Maahox!" Lotor shouted from his throne room. Maahox stopped what he was doing, let out a sigh, then made his way to the throne room. "What is the progress on your plans for a new robeast?"
"It would go faster without interruptions, my lord," he replied, trying to sound respectful while being sarcastic at the same time. Lotor did not seem to pick up on it.
"I am sick of waiting here while the Voltron Force gets stronger!" he shouted. "I want to eliminate them once and for all!"
"Rest assured, I have a plan, my lord," he replied. "Right now, our scanners have detected a device they have launched into orbit around Arus that is now generating snowy weather above the castle."
"What does that have to do with your robeast?" Lotor asked, annoyed. Maahox again let out an exasperated sigh.
"It appears, my lord, that this satellite is able to control weather patterns on a small scale. BUT….if we were able to gain control of the satellite and make several….modifications…we could make good use of it."
"Changing the weather on Arus on a much larger scale?" Lotor asked. "Floods, Hurricanes, tornadoes?"
"To any and all degrees, my lord," he replied. "The entire planet would be at your mercy."
"I like this plan," he replied. He looked Maahox dead in the eye as his smile faded. "Make sure you don't screw it up." Maahox turned and left, letting out another sigh, wondering how much longer he will need to put up with Lotor's insults to his great intellect.
"You guys sure know how to pick a tree!" Hunk said as he, Daniel and Larmina helped carry it out of the woods towards the castle.
"It looks pretty close to being a Douglas fir," Daniel said. "This will be a great tree to decorate!"
"We can use the string lights we used last week for the festival," Larmina said.
"And I'm sure we can come up with something nice for a tree topper," Daniel said. They barely dodged another flying snowball as Allura took aim once again at Keith. "Well, I'm glad those two are getting into the spirit."
"Cover me," Keith said to Lance with a grin and a nod. Lance scooped up some snow and molded it quickly and threw it in Allura's direction. She tried to expertly dodge them as Keith ran across the field in her direction, throwing one he had in his hand, hitting her in the arm. She turned to look where it came from, and he tackled her into the snow, which was several inches deep by now. They rolled over one another, coming to a stop on their backs. He moved his arms and legs.
"What are you doing?" she laughed.
"Making a snow angel," he said. "Not as good as yours though."
"But I'm not…" she started to say, then realized what he meant. They laughed. The snow began to fall harder, and they felt it on their faces. Both sat up and looked at one another. They had been smiling, but then realized the snow was getting heavier.
"Does it seem to be getting heavier to you?" he asked.
"Yeah," she replied.
"Pidge," Keith shouted, "it is supposed to be snowing this hard?" Pidge looked at Vince, and they both went to the console and started tinkering with it. The snow continued to pile up, and the wind began to blow. It got colder fast.
"Something's not right," Vince said. "I'm trying to stop it, but it's not responding to commands." He fiddled with the controls some more. "We should get to Castle Control and try to get a better reading on the satellite." They all made their way for the castle door. They tried to open it.
"The door is frozen shut," Lance said.
"How are we going to get in?" Vince asked. The inside of the room beyond the door was silent, then the sound of a sword stabbing between the door, then prying them open. The team ran into the castle and headed for Castle Control.
"What's it doing?' Vince asked, bringing the satellite up on the view screen.
"Something has tampered with its systems while it's been in orbit," Pidge said. "And I can only imagine one person who has the ability to do that." They looked at one another.
"Get to the lions!" Keith said. "Daniel, with me." They all ran for the doors, and grabbed the swings inside, heading to the lions. Within moments, all five were launching from their dens, making a beeline for the last known position of the satellite.
"There it is," Daniel said, pointing it out to Keith.
"I'm detecting haggarium in its system," Vince said. "Pidge was right, Maahox was able to tap into its systems and sabotage it. It's trying to wreak havoc on the weather patterns of the whole planet. Natural disasters on a global scale!"
"We have to stop it," Keith said. Black Lion fired its shock tail at it, but it bounced off an invisible shield.
"There's some sort of force shield around it," Vince said. "It must be generated by the Haggarium."
"Then we'll need more power to cut through it," Keith said. "Activate Interlocks! Dynatherms connected! Infracells up! Megathrusters are go!"
"Let's go Voltron Force!" they all shouted. The lions flew in formation, and split apart and began to transform as the energy field took hold.
"Form feet and legs!" Keith shouted. "Form Arms and body!" The lions one by one attached, forming Voltron. "And I'll form the head!" Voltron's eyes lit up with power. He crossed his arms with a clang, and each lion roared one by one, then in unison. They came to a rest as the energy field dissipated.
"Let's take out this satellite!" Keith said, and Voltron began to pound on it, hitting the shield repeatedly.
"It's not doing any good," Vince said. "We're not making a dent, and it's draining our power reserves."
"Then maybe we need to pack a bit more into our punch," Keith said. "Form Yellow Center!" Voltron reconfigured, Yellow forming the head.
"Rock Wrecking Maces!" Hunk shouted as the maces formed in Voltron's hands. They repeatedly hammered the shield, sparks flying.
"It's working!" Vince shouted. "The power to the shield is draining!" The shield shattered, and the satellite was punched out of orbit. Its thrusters fired, however, and it came to a stop. It then began to transform, becoming a tall and slender robeast.
"It's a robeast," Hunk said, matter of factly.
'Like we didn't see that coming," Lance said.
"Form Black Center!" Keith shouted. Voltron reconfigured, Black forming the head. "Form Blazing Sword!" Red and Green clanked together and pulled apart, the energy beam becoming the Blazing Sword. Voltron brandished the sword in its right hand as Green let out a mighty roar. Voltron flew at the robeast, which fired a powerful blast of cold. They made it within yards of the robeasts before they were stopped dead in their tracks, frozen into a block of ice.
"We're frozen," Vince said.
"The controls aren't responding!" Lance said.
"Focus, guys," Keith said. "Ignite Lion Torches!" Lance and Vince activated the Lion Torches, and while nothing much happened at first, the ice around Red and Green melted, and Voltron was able to break free.
"I have an idea of how to put that snowman on ice," Larmina said. Daniel groaned at her sudden pun. "Blue's element is water. If we form Blue Center, we might be able to shrug off that cold blast!"
"You're up, Larmina," Keith said. 'Form Blue Center!" Voltron reconfigured, Blue forming the head.
"Form Titanic Trident!" Larmina shouted. Voltron put his hands together, and the trident appeared vertically in front of them. Voltron twirled it, then pointed at the robeast and fired. The robeast did the same. The beams met, and neither could surpass the other.
"Blue Center is working against it much better," Vince said, "but it's not enough."
"Then maybe this will help," Larmina said, connecting her Voltcom. "Butt Kick Boost!" Voltron powered up and spun out of the way of the blast. Voltron spun the trident wildly before winding back and expertly throwing it at the robeast, piercing it. It slowly froze solid, then exploded into millions of frozen pieces, the trident flying back into Voltron's hands. The weather on Arus' surface calmed down, and the snow over the castle stopped.
"We did it!" Hunk said.
"Sorry the satellite cause so much trouble," Vince said.
"It's over now," Keith said. "You had the best of intentions. Let's head back to the castle and make sure everything is back to normal." Voltron took off back towards the planet.
"There we go," Larmina said, stringing the last of the lights on the tree. "The snow is almost gone, but at least we have this tree."
"And it looks great," Allura said, her and Keith approaching it.
"It's missing something though," Keith said, pointing at the top.
"I have an idea," Larmina said. She ran from the room. Pidge reached under the tree and grabbed two gifts. He handed them to Keith and Allura each.
"What's this?" Allura asked.
"Christmas gifts," he replied. "This from you, Pidge?"
"It's from all of us," Pidge said, "though it was my idea. Everyone helped out."
"I glued the letters on," Hunk announced. They all looked at him as he nearly ruined the surprise. They ripped open the present and found matching red and green sweaters. Keith's read 'For Allura", and Allura's read 'for Keith'. They looked at each other and giggled.
"It's the thought that counts," Keith laughed.
"Right," Allura replied with a smile. Larmina ran into the room and climbed the ladder quickly, placing what looked like a wedding cake topper on the top of the tree.
"Perfect!" she said, coming back down the ladder.
"Merry Christmas, guys," Pidge said. The lights dimmed, and they looked on at the tree as the lights from it glowed in the main hall. Outside the remaining snow clung to the ground, and standing in it by the castle….Voltron, Defender of the Universe.