Praevideat
A Voltron: Legendary Defender story

Summary: Elaina Blanche, a notorious science teacher at the Garrison, follows her runaway students on an unwelcome adventure of space travel and intergalactic war several light years away from her home. As Elaina struggles to find her place on Team Voltron, she must face her own skeletons and overcome many challenges to finally understand what her purpose is.
Genre: Adventure, Friendship
Warnings: Spoilers, Minor Mental Illness

Chapter Two
Rise of Voltron Pt II

"So, you're all telling me that Kogane had this 'feeling' and found a bunch of cave drawings of a lion telling him something was going to happen and then you fall out of a sky running away from aliens looking for this thing called Voltron."

Elaina had her arms crossed with added weight to each step. The teenagers walked ahead with eagerness, though all for different reasons. She gestured towards the teens before looking up at Shiro and continuing, "Then these kids save you from the Garrison, which I'm still confused about, and here we are in the middle of a desert with a device that can sense the frequency of an alien element that you believe will lead you to this lion, AKA Voltron."

"Yep. That pretty much summarizes it," Shiro confirmed with a smile and Elaina furrowed her eyebrows at his response.

Lance glanced over his shoulder. "Don't forget it was my idea to go in and save Shiro."

"Knock it off, McClain!"

Elaina looked away and massaged her temples, trying to take in everything she just heard. That meteor last night was really Shiro in an alien spacepod. Her three students were curious and chased after it. Then they all run into Keith who takes them all to his shack but not before rescuing Shiro. As crazy as it sounded, Elaina had to believe it all. She still couldn't help but wonder if she having incredibly vivid dream from the stress she's been going through. Or she was on the set some overly-budgeted Hollywood film. Elaina was kind of hoping for the latter, but she'll gladly take either option over aliens trying to kill them.

"I'm getting a reading!" Hunk exclaimed and ran forward with Pidge close behind.

The group followed the duo without saying a word, the only noise coming from the device Hunk made. The beeps were growing more intense the deeper they got into the canyon. Finally, Hunk and Pidge come to a stop. The others rushed over and found the source of the reading. Down a 30 foot drop from where they stood was a small opening on the side of the dry mountain. The hole was big enough for them to walk in as if it daring them to enter.

"So, it's in there?" Elaina looked at the cave entrance in disbelief.

"That's what the readings say," Pidge responded as he placed the device into his backpack. "What are we waiting for?"

"A sign telling me to wake up." Everyone stared at Elaina as she pinched her arms. She felt several pairs of eyes on her and gave them all a raised eyebrow. "You can't tell me that this isn't similar to Indiana Jones."

"Indiana Jones didn't have aliens."

"Actually, the last movie did. With the creepy crystal skulls shaped like the Predator's head and that crazy tomb with a dozen alien spirits saving them from death." Hunk now received the weird looks from the group. "What?"

Elaina waved a hand toward Hunk, "I rest my case."

"Come on. We're losing daylight," Keith pushed, jumping down from the small cliff they were standing on. Everyone quickly follow suit.

Keith definitely wasn't exaggerating when he said he found caves with strange carvings. These walls were covered. The blue lion was the main focus in the carvings with occasional small figures Elaina guessed were humans surrounding it. The rest were symbols, more than likely characters of an unknown language. Elaina was impressed Keith was able to decifer it. The only untouched space was the path beneath the group's feet.

"What are all these?" Shiro was in the same state of awe and amazement as Elaina was in.

"These are the lion carvings I was telling you about." Keith stood in the middle of the cave as watched everyone else get a closer look at the walls. "They're everywhere around here."

Elaina studied the carvings in awe. The precision and smooth markings showed no evidence of age. And there were no chisel marks or mistakes shown in the few that she'd seen. These carvings looked like they were made with modern tools, but how? She glanced back at the entrance of the cave. Not that the cave was difficult getting to, it definitely wasn't easy to find but not impossible. Keith was able to find them, although he found them through a "feeling" he had, whatever that meant.

"Isn't this how that Indiana Jones movie starts?"

"It's how every Indiana Jones movie starts."

Elaina refrained from talking back to Keith, not daring to look at anyone else. Suddenly the carvings began to glow a blue light, brightening up the entire cave. Elaina furrowed her eyebrows. "What the-?"

"They've never done that before."

The ground began to shift right where the group stood, the same blue light pushing through the cracks. There wasn't much time to react before the path completely gave out, causing everyone to fall. They slid down a steep decline covered with rushing water before they all fell into a small reservoir below. Elaina fell on her back next to Lance, knocking the wind out of her.

Elaina wiped her black, now wet, hair from her face and struggled to sit up. She looked down at her motorcycle gear and frowned. The water better now damage the leather.

"I swear if a huge boulder starts chasing after us-" The instructor stopped when she looked over at Lance who was staring wide-eyed, almost speechless, at what he saw.

"They are everywhere."

Then she noticed it. A huge multi-story tall robotic lion sat with hexagonal shields surrounding it. The lion was blue and silver, just like the carvings they all saw at the entrance of the cave. The color was worn and the metal was scratched and damaged. With the size of the lion, Elaina was afraid to ask what it fought with. What the crow did Elaina just dive into?

"Is this it? Is this the Voltron?" Pidge asked after everyone had recovered not only from the fall, but from the disbelief that a huge robot lion that could killed all of them just by stepping on them.

"It must be," Shiro responded, sounding as if he had just woken up from a dream.

"This is what's been causing all this crazy energy out here." Keith stated as he walked forward toward the lion. Lance, Pidge, and Hunk followed with Shiro and a very skeptical Elaina behind them. "Looks like there's a forcefield around it."

"Does anyone else get the feeling this is staring at them?"

"No." Shiro's face flinched in irritation. Elaina only smirked knowing very well the feeling Shiro was experiencing was her everyday occurrence during class.

"Yeah. The eyes are totally following me." Lance peered at the lion as he started shuffling back and forth to make his point.

"You're paranoid. This thing isn't alive," Elaina said while rolling her eyes.

Lance quickly turned around and narrowed his eyes at the woman. "I'm serious!"

Elaina gave him a hard look and Lance coward ahead. Although she refused to show it, an uneasy, queasy feeling feeling was starting to grow in her gut. Instinct telling her to grab everyone and run.

Keith approached the forcefield first, "I wonder how we get through this." He begins putting pressure on it to figure out a way in.

"Maybe you just have to knock." Lance knocked. The ground beneath the lion begins to glow again and wind starts to cycle within the cavern. Elaina protects her face with her arm from flying debris as a few of the others begin to yell.

Then suddenly, everything stops. Not even a sound was made, but the intensity in the air thickened. Elaina looked around at the others to see if they felt the atmosphere change, but was startled by how each one of them looked spaced out. She was about to shake Shiro out of it when finally they all came to.

"Whoa," all five chorused at once.

"Uh, did everyone just see that?" Lance inquired, sounding unsure himself.

"See what?" Elaina questioned him. What was going on?

"Voltron is a robot. Voltron is a huge, huge, awesome robot!" Hunk exclaimed, his arms twitching with energy.

Elaina jumped in front of Hunk, who didn't bother to acknowledge her, and she looked at him in disbelief. "A what?"

"And this thing is only one part of it! I wonder where the rest of them are." Pidge sounded the most excited, the over-eager teen that he was to learn more about the different.

"This is what they're looking for." Even Shiro was ignoring her.

Elaina leaped back in an angered huff, making sure everyone could see her before asking them, "Will someone please tell me what's going on?"

Suddenly, the lion begins to move. Elaina jumped back while Hunk and Pidge screamed. How the- The Garrison teacher couldn't believe her eyes as the lion stood up and lowered its head. Her guard went back up. There's no way that lion moved all by itself. There had to be someone driving it.

Then the lion's mouth opened. Just like Elaina, everyone hesitated. Well, everyone except Lance. He marched right in like he owned the thing. Panic began to settle in Elaina's gut.

"Lance! Get back here!" she called out, but he ignored her. The other teens walked in with a shrug of a shoulder. Their logic: If Lance didn't die, neither will we.

What is wrong with these kids? was all Elaina could think. Shiro waited patiently at the entrance of the lion's mouth for her and she sighed.

"First we take the role of Indy, and now we enter the Cave of Wonders." Her shoulders fell in defeat. "This isn't normal."

Shiro let out a chuckle. "As if 'normal' was our thing."

Elaina wanted to laugh, but the growing knot in her stomach prevented it. Her eyes gazed over the lion's head once more and clenched her jaw.

"You know, if McClain touches anything in there, we're screwed, right?" Elaina stomped onto the platform, pinching her arm in the process. Nope, still awake. "He's worse than a monkey."

"I'm sure 'Abu' won't touch anything."

When the pair walked in, Elaina made it blatantly obvious she was checking every nook and cranny for anyone dangerous or suspicious. Shiro was doing the same, but not to the extent as his childhood friend. Occasionally he would hear her remark the impossibility of this "giant flippin' robot" couldn't move without a driver, making him smile. At least she hasn't changed too much.

Shiro was still worried about the extent of her search though. When he asked her if she was okay, all she said was "I'm their teacher. They're my responsibility."

Then they arrived in the main cabin. The four teens were already hovering over the control panel with Lance in the pilot's seat. Elaina sent a glare at Shiro who only sheepishly shrugged before storming over to the others.

She stopped next to Pidge completely ready to start her scolding when she took a closer look at the controls. They weren't physical buttons but holograms. Her eyes widened in awe, completely amazed with the advancement in technology this was compared to the Garrison.

"Okay, guys, I feel the need to point out, just so that we're all, you know, aware. We are in some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now," Hunk stated, bringing Elaina back down from her astonishment. Finally someone making some sense in this bunch.

Elaina's eyes narrowed once more, remembering why she was angry to begin with and stared down Lance.

"Why don't you listen?" Elaina flicked the teenager's forehead. The teen yelped and rubbed the sore spot gingerly. "There could have been someone on board! Didn't you hear me?"

Lance's eyebrows scrunched. "You said something?"

Elaina's eye twitched as she raised her fist, remembering she signed a waiver that child abuse was a bad thing.

"Whoa. Did you guys just hear that?" Lance forgot all about his teacher's rage and glanced around at the panel curiously.

"Hear what?" Keith asked what everyone was thinking. "Ms. Blanche breaking a blood vessel?"

"I think it's talking to me."

Lance hits a couple buttons on the panel and the lion began to move. Elaina felt the air leave her lungs as she death-gripped the arm of Lance's chair. She wasn't the only one. Everyone was trying to grip onto something stable because the lion's movements were so quick.

Before anyone knew it, the lion jumped up and through the cavern wall. The impact cause everyone to lose their grip on the floor, flinging poor Pidge straight into Lance. Elaina was holding her breath, squeezing her eyes shut. She was going to die.

"You're the worst pilot ever!" Keith yelled, making Elaina even more confident in her inevitable death.

Lance pushed a lever forward and the lion started to flip. Elaina opened her eyes for only a moment to see the desert, then the sky, then the desert again and her stomach dropped. She slammed her eyes closed and bit her lip. Once again, she was awake.

"Make it stop. Make it stop!" Hunk cried.

"I'm not making it do anything. It's like it's on autopilot," Lance explained, acting like he wasn't affected by his poor piloting. As if planned, the lion straightened itself out, allowing Elaina and the rest to relax if only for a moment.

"Where are you going?" Keith asked, obviously not believing him.

Elaina opened her eyes to see the sky once more, ignoring the uneasy jolt that shot down her spine. She was here for her students, she kept reminding herself.

"I just said it's on autopilot!" Lance let go of the controls to make his point before looking back out the window. "It says there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think we're supposed to stop it."

"What did it say, exactly?" Pidge asking, thinking the same panicked thoughts as the rest. Aliens?!

"It's not like it's saying words. It's more like feeding ideas into my brain, kind of."

"And this 'idea' is saying to attack an alien ship coming to destroy Earth?" Elaina clarified, desperately wanting this to be false. She was a strong believer in science and between this telepathy voodoo, robot lions with their own conscience, and aliens wanting to take over the galaxy was making her struggle with her grasp on reality.

"It didn't say that, exactly."

"It's not saying anything!" Elaina growled.

"I know! I just told you that!" Lance exclaimed, forgetting who he was arguing with. He was just tired of repeating himself by that point.

"If this thing is the weapon they're coming for, why don't we just, I don't know, give it to them? Maybe they'll leave us alone." Hunk sounded hopeful, and Elaina agreed. No point in attacking if the weapon was no longer on Earth. "Sorry, lion. Nothing personal."

"You don't understand. 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," Shiro explained with an authoritative tone. There's been only a few times Elaina witnessed this side of Shiro and everytime it sent chills down her spine. What happened to him? Her eyes casted down to his prosthetic and frowned. Right.

Meanwhile, everyone else glared at Hunk for making such a foolish suggestion.

"Oh. Never mind then."

"The Garrison needs to know about this," Elaina argued, facing away from the oncoming stars. Her eyes locked with Lance's, then Pidge's, before finally Shiro's. She wasn't going to allow any of them to be abducted. "They must have some counterattack for situations like this. Why else would they try to keep Shiro's arrival a secret?"

"The Garrison has something stronger than this lion?" Pidge questioned, obviously not believing the woman.

"They must be able to do something." Elaina shrugged her shoulders. "I mean, they do have nukes."

She then heard Shiro slap his hand over his eyes, and then she noticed the teenagers staring at her with wide, curious eyes.

"The Garrison has nukes?!" Lance cried out, his voice cracking from the shock.

"The Garrison has nukes?" Elaina repeated, just as curious as the looks she was receiving before facing away.

Before the interrogation could begin, the entire group caught motion outside and looked forward. A large, purple ship that made the blue lion look like a tiny insect in comparison appeared in front of them when there was no sign of anything approaching just a moment prior.

Everyone was entirely speechless save for Hunk who always knew just what to say: "Holy crow! Is that really an alien ship?"

Elaina sensed danger now more than ever. Instinct was now screaming at her "Go home! And for the love of science and movies do not pass go!" The instructor should have dragged everyone back to campus when she had the opportunity. There was no chance for them to take down that ship, even with the lion that no one knew how to pilot or if it even had the appropriate weapons for fight with. The lion continued to move seemingly out of reach to get a better view of this flying monstrosity threatening Earth.

"We have to turn around." Elaina was stern as she spoke, directing her comment to Shiro. He was the most experienced out of everyone. He would agree with her, Elaina was sure of it. "We need to let the Garrison know. They'll-" Elaina stopped the moment her eyes reached Shiro's. His eyes couldn't leave the alien ship as his face paled and fear was seeping through his pores. "Shiro?"

"They found me."

Then the alien ship began attacking them.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and favorites! :) I really appreciate it!
So far it is slow moving. I'm just trying to have Elaina be the more realistic one out of the bunch, next to Hunk of course.
Feedback and constructive criticism is much appreciated. Thanks!