Hello! This is my first story here so I hope you enjoy! I'm hoping to update this often but that all defends on how much you all enjoy it . Anyways, thank you for reading !
I do not own anything in this story other than the idea and an OC or two, all other rights go to Dreamworks.
~ LennRii
The Paladin's were up to their necks in trouble and busier than bees. Just a few days earlier, they had liberated a planet from its long-time dictatorship. Though this was, in the long run, a good thing that ended the suffering of millions, it currently was anything but that. The crime rate had nearly doubled since the initial liberation and riots were seen popping up left and right, led by the remaining supporters of the old government. They were supposed to be free and yet the people were still living in fear for their lives, maybe even more so than they had been before. Pidge sighed and shook her head as she walked through the crowded market on the east side of the capitol. In order to help keep the peace and protect the citizens, the Paladins had each been assigned to different sectors of the capitol to patrol and hers was the market, which she had mixed feelings about. The market was naturally a rather violent place without all of the riots, so she never really got any break from separating fights that ranged from out of hand bartering to full fledged riots. At the same time though, she also ran into some of nicest people as well as some of the most interesting.
"Speaking of interesting…" She hummed as she rounded a corner, her eyes falling upon a strange cloaked figure meandering between the market stalls. Something about the figure seemed off so she quickened her pace in hopes to catch up to whoever it was, but her small legs could only carry her so far so fast, and she quickly lost sight of them. "Okay never mind I guess." She huffed. "If they end up being a problem, I'll just deal with it later." With that she simply continued on her way, making her rounds around and through the market. It wasn't until a while later that some distant shouts drifted to her ears and caught her attention. The Green Paladin narrowed her eyes and rushed to the source, suddenly finding herself entangled in a massive riot. Stalls were being flipped, broken, and burned. People were running away screaming as other protesters attempted to cause them harm. There was too many of them. Pidge may have been a Paladin of Voltron, but she didn't have her lion or her team, so right now she was pretty much just a fifteen-year-old girl in a flashy suit among a bunch of angry aliens. Yes, she could call in for backup, but she was a strong, independent young lady that could handle herself, plus she didn't want to bother the others so, she decided to try her luck and see what she could do on her own. That was a mistake. The first minute or so went well, relatively, but it all went downhill from there, until someone else joined the fray. At first she simply assumed that it was Keith, seeing as he tended to check on her at about this time, but when she turned around, she found that it was instead the cloaked figure from earlier.
"Wow, they're good at this." She commented as she dragged one of the protesters down to the ground with her bayard. After some time, the two of them managed to quell the riot and bring peace back to the market.
"Hey, uh, thanks." Pidge nodded, making her way to her unidentified partner. "I'm Pidge." she smiled and held out her hand. The stranger raised their head slightly and looked at her, giving her a good look at their face. He had pale purple skin with a long dark marking on each cheek, gray-blue hair that swept across his forehead, and piercing blue eyes.
"Riko." He smiled back as he shook her hand. "You seemed like you needed the help plus, I couldn't just stand to the side and watch a child get turned into a juice."
Pidge rolled her eyes, but smiled nonetheless. "Oh haha, very funny. But really, thank you."
"Anytime." Riko let out a soft laugh. "Listen, I'd like to stay and chat, but my buddy is expecting me so I gotta run. Maybe we'll run into each other tomorrow though. Anyways, see you." He waved and made his way down the road and out of sight. A smile slipped onto Pidge's face as she continued on with her patrol. At least there were some good people still out there.
Finally, the time came for her to return back to the Castle for the night, which she did with great pleasure. She made her way into one of the main rooms, where Keith was already lounging on the couch.
"Hey, Keith," She questioned, "where were you today? You didn't show up like normally."
"Yeah, sorry about that… We had a bit of an issue down at the pier." He apologized as he sat up, clearly feeling guilty. "More importantly, what happened to you? You're all beat up!" Pidge groaned as she pushed his concerned hands from her face and took a seat.
"There was a huge riot in the lower market today, but I'm fine. Don't worry."
"How many were there?" Concern was still clearly evident in his expression and he most definitely did not believe that she was as fine as she claimed.
"I dunno, a lot?" She frowned and adjusted her glasses. "You honestly expected me to count them? You expect too much."
"No, I just meant like an estimate-"
Pidge chuckled. "No, I know. Like I said, it was huge. They were literally tearing stuff apart and burning down stalls. It was only thanks to some help that I was able to quell it." Keith's brow creased and he leant forward on his arms, his chin resting in his hands.
"Help?"
"Yeah, it was some hooded guy… Oh what was his name? That's right, Riko, it was Riko. He, uh, he kinda just jumped in and helped me." Pidge shrugged casually.
"Well, as long as your safe..." Keith sighed, falling back against the couch. It was then that Lance burst into the room, groaning a whining until he simply collapsed to the floor. "What's wrong with you now, Lance?" Keith raised an eyebrow, already irked by the Blue Paladin's actions.
"I hate this!" Came his muffled moan from the floor. "I can't keep this up any longer!"
"Oh please." Pidge shook her head. "What happened this time?"
"I had to chase down twelve of those weird pet things today! That makes ninety two already this week! I've probably run more these few days than I have my entire life!" Lance moaned once again and buried his face in the floor.
"It's good for you, and at least you didn't have to deal with some stupid shipping mix up." Keith said with an eye roll.
"Yeah, or a huge riot." Pidge added with a nod.
"You had a huge riot?" Lance was sitting up now and gazing nervously at the youngest.
"Yeah, it's pretty normal for the market honestly."
"Not on that scale." Keith glared.
Pidge shrugged, "Well, I mean-"
"Little feuds and wanna-be riots are different from the real deal, Pidge."
"So, wait, you dealt with an actual riot? The real deal?" Lance asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes." Both Keith and Pidge answered.
"I don't see the big deal here." Pidge frowned. Both boys stared at her for a moment.
"Well, usually only Shiro handles the big ones…" Lance frowned.
"And you should have called for help like you're supposed to." Keith added.
"Seriously guys, it's fine! And like I said Keith, I had help!"
"Yeah, from a stranger! How did you know he'd show up? You didn't!"
"Since when was this a 'bash Pidge' session?" Pidge fumed. "I'm fine! It's fine! The riot is handled!"
"Fine, just don't do that again." Keith huffed and Lance nodded in agreement with him.
"What's going on in here?" Came Shiro's voice as he and Hunk strode into the room, both clearly in a far better mood than the other occupants.
"Nothing." Came the reply of Pidge and Lance.
"Pidge had a riot today and didn't call for help." Keith informed matter of factly. Shiro's eyes narrowed as his gaze fell on the youngest.
"Why not? You've always done it in the past." Pidge simply rolled her eyes and shrugged.
"Dunno, I just didn't. Can we drop it now?" And just like that, a heavy silence fell and hung in the air.
