"King Alfor connected the lions to Allura's life force. She alone is the key to the lions' whereabouts."
"Whoa!" the humans gasped as shimmering blue balls of light appeared around them. Keith chuckled as Merla stood with one of her forepaws on his back to try to swipe at one that floated near her, only for her paw to pass right through the hologram.
She growled and nipped his arm.
"These are coordinates," Pidge noticed. When the orb that had the blue and black lions connected to it floated past, she added, "The Black Lion looks like it's in the same location as the Blue Lion."
"Look at your primitive synapses firing away in their little brain cage," Coran said, leaning over, and the smallest human raised an eyebrow at him.
"Very observant. That's because the Black Lion is in the castle," Allura stated.
"To keep the Black Lion out of Zarkon's hands, King Alfor locked it in the castle. It can only be freed if the other four lions are present," Coran explained.
"As you have found, the lions choose their pilots. It is a mystical bond and cannot be forced. The quintessence of the pilot is mirrored in his lion. Together, they form something greater than science can explain." Allura waved her hand and the Black Lion came over to float in front of Shiro. Keith glanced down at Ryou to see him sitting next to Shiro, his tail brushing up against his human's leg. He stared up at the Black Lion in contentment. "The Black Lion is the decisive head of Voltron. It will take a pilot who is a born leader and in control at all times, someone whose men will follow without hesitation. That is why, Shiro, you will pilot the Black Lion."
Allura waved her hand again and the Green Lion floated towards Pidge. Chip's ears perked up and she stood up from her spot on Pidge's backpack. She put her paws on top of Pidge's head to get a better look at the hologram. "The Green Lion has an inquisitive personality and needs a pilot of intellect and daring. Pidge, you will pilot the Green Lion.
"The Blue Lion -"
"Hold up, let me guess," Lance said, cutting off the Princess. "Takes the most handsome slash best pilot of the bunch?"
Merla chirp-laughed and Blue gave a whining "Mew!" before slumping in his arms. Lance gave a hiss and dropped him, so Keith assumed he had dug his claws into Lance's arm. The Turkish Van came over to sit next to Keith and Merla nuzzled him.
Meanwhile, Allura's eyebrow twitched and she quickly moved on. "The Yellow Lion," she said, her voice nearly a growl as she sent the Yellow Lion towards Hunk, "is caring and kind. Its pilot is one who puts the needs of others above his own. His heart must be mighty. As the leg of Voltron, you will lift the team up and hold them together."
Hunk glanced around at the others before pointing to himself in confusion. Pua purred and nuzzled his leg comfortingly.
Allura formed the Red Lion in her hands. "The Red Lion is temperamental and the most difficult to master. It's faster and more agile than the others," Merla stood up straight, holding her head up with pride, "but also more unstable."
Merla hissed at the Princess.
Excuse me?
"Its pilot needs to be someone who relies more on instincts than skill alone." Keith scratched Merla's head as the Red Lion floated up to him. "Keith, you will fly the Red Lion."
"What? This guy?" Lance asked and both Keith and Merla sent him a glare.
"Unfortunately, I cannot locate the Red Lion's coordinates yet. There must be something wrong with the castle. After 10,000 years, it might need some work."
Merla have a wordless hiss and Keith instantly knew there was something wrong with more than just the ship.
"Don't worry, we'll find it soon. They don't call me The Coranic for nothing. It's because it sounds like mechanic. So... Coranic, mechanic. It's not - It doesn't sound... exactly like it. It's similar."
The Red Lion hologram roared and the five lions all flew towards the center of the room. There was a flash and the robot from the humans' vision was floating over Allura.
"Once all the lions are united, you will form Voltron, the most powerful warrior ever known, the Defender of the Universe."
"Awesome!" Hunk gasped. As the robot hologram began to fade, he added, "Wait. Okay, we're going to be in there and flying lions. Got that part. How do lions turn into legs? Also, is this going to be a long trip? Because I have to pee. Do you people pee?"
"We don't have much time," Shiro said, causing Hunk to frown. "Pidge and I will go after the Green Lion. Lance, you take Hunk and get the yellow one." Keith felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to meet Shiro's eyes. "Keith, you stay here. If you locate that Red Lion, go get it."
Keith nodded, swallowing.
"In the meantime, I'll get the castle's defenses ready. They'll be sorely needed," Allura said.
"I'll ready a pod and load in the coordinates so that you can reach the Green Lion."
As Lance and Hunk reached the Blue Lion's hanger, Hunk pointed at the two cats following them and said, "Pua, Blue, you two wait here."
The two cats met eyes and then Pua shot off into the hanger.
"Pua!" Hunk said, chasing after him.
"At least my cat knows how to listen!" Lance teased. He turned back to Blue and scratched his head. "Be good, bud."
Blue purred under the attention. He watched his paladin walk into the hanger then his eyes glowed blue and he disappeared.
"… but I never got to fly the simulator. But hey, I can't be that worse than Lance. He crashed all the time. But what if I get in there and it doesn't respond? What if I get in there and it's too big and my feet don't touch the pedals? What if there aren't even pedals?!"
"You're rambling. Listen... Our commander on the Kerberos Mission is the smartest man I ever met, and he always said, If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great."
Shiro smiled as the boy finally seemed to relax. He felt Ryou nudge his hand, but ignored him. Both he and Chip were in trouble for sneaking into the pod.
Pidge gasped and Shiro looked up to see the river ending in front of a path that led up to what appeared to be a vine covered temple. They said goodbye to their sloth-like guide and walked up the path. Just as the two reached the temple, Shiro opened his mouth, only to spot something out of the corner of his eye.
"Uh, Pidge."
The boy turned to him and followed his gaze to see Chip glowing emerald like the designs on the path. She met Pidge's eyes, then her own flashed green and she disappeared.
The two humans looked up at each other then turned to the temple.
"You don't think…?"
Shiro shrugged. "One way to find out." He placed his hand on the boy's shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "Go, be great."
Pidge nodded and ran.
As Pidge disappeared up the vines, Shiro found his gaze traveling down to Ryou. He stared back at Shiro with far too intelligent eyes and suddenly everything odd about him made sense.
"Is he magic too?"
"I'm serious, Shiro, the cats are magic."
"She calls him Black!"
The ground shook and Shiro jumped. He looked up to see the vines collapsing, revealing the lion that had been supporting them in place of the temple Shiro had assumed was there.
The Green Lion landed, allowing Shiro and Ryou aboard.
"Shiro!" Pidge said as soon as he came into the cockpit. "It's Chip! I don't know how, but she's- It's- I don't…"
"Pidge," Shiro chuckled. "I get it."
Pidge looked down at Ryou and Shiro followed his gaze. "Is it just… Are all of them… I mean, what are the chances? All five of us- Five cats- Five lions- It can't be a coincidence."
Shiro scratched Ryou's head. "No, probably not. Blue did disappear right before we found the Blue Lion and then he just reappeared after we left."
Pidge smacked his forehead. "Wow, we're blind. His name is even Blue! How did we not see that?"
The older male chuckled and shrugged.
"Oh yeah, sure, just drop me off in an alien planet. That's cool, man. It's only occupied by mean purple aliens that want to kill me, but whatever. Just ignore them and go connect with a big, yellow, mechanical cat. Easy-peasy. Yeah. That all makes a ton of sense to me."
Pua purred comfortingly and nuzzled Hunk as he tried to hotwire the lift. Finally the lift began to move and Hunk sighed in relief. The two looked around as the lift traveled deep into the hole.
"Cool," Hunk said as golden carvings began to appear on the ceiling like they had done on Earth. "Hey, Pua, are you- What the!?"
Hunk had turned to Pua, only to see his fur glowing a brilliant yellow. The lift came to a stop at the bottom and Pua jumped out, prompting Hunk to follow.
"Okay, I'm in a giant hole With a suddenly glowing cat. Now what, Hunk? Huh?" He looked around as more glowing carvings began to appear. Pua stopped in front of a circular one then he turned to Hunk. His eyes flashed yellow, brighter than his usual color, and he was gone. "Whoa." The teen walked up to the wall and ran his hand along it. "How am I going to get through this?" He glanced over his shoulder and spotted a drill.
Well, he was able to hotwire the lift.
Once he was through the wall and standing in front of the Yellow Lion's force field, he almost felt… calm.
"Pua?" he asked running his hand over the barrier. Like the Blue Lion's had done for Lance, energy pulsed out and around the field at Hunk's touch. The Yellow Lion stood up and roared before lowering its mouth to the ground.
Hunk found himself smiling. He reached out and brushed his hand over the robot's lower jaw. "I'm glad your happy, Pua, but we should probably get back to Lance."
Hunk felt Pua purr inside his mind and he opened up for him.
As the others all left, Coran following to help Pidge and Shiro with the pod, Allura approached Keith.
"While we have a moment, I've been wanting to ask. What are these little creatures you all brought with you? They almost look like mini versions of the lions."
"They are, kind of. See, we have lions on our planet too. Flesh and blood ones, I mean, and their only about this big," Keith said, using his hands to try his best to match the height of the lions he had seen at the zoo when he was eight. "These guys are called house cats - well the other four are at least. Mine, Merla, is a species of, what we call, wild cats, just like Earth lions. They all have a common genetic ancestor, but while wild cats evolved independently, in the wild, house cats began to live with humans and they evolved to better coexist with us."
"And these house cats, are they protectors?"
"Kind of, but mostly they're just pets."
"Pets?"
"Animals humans keep in their home for company and entertainment. Originally because they had some kind of use, but nowadays we just have them because we like them."
"And what function did cats have?"
"Um…" Keith glanced down at the Altean mice. "Actually, it was to keep mice and rats out of our house, so you might actually want to keep an eye on the little guys."
As if to prove his point, Merla focused her gaze on the mice and shifted into a pouncing position. The mice squeaked and fled up to hide in Allura's hair. Merla chirped.
"Play nice," Keith sighed before turning back to Allura.
Allura was frowning. "Why would you want to keep mice out?"
"Earth mice are a bit different than yours. The wild ones are just pests and a lot of the time they carry diseases."
"Oh, I see. You said - Merla? - was a wild cat though. Are wild cats pets as well?"
"Normally, no. Merla's not really a pet though. We kind of grew up together. She's been with me as long as I can remember. It's more like you and the mice really."
"Intriguing."
"The paladins are ready," Coran declared, coming back into the room.
Keith sat down out of the way as Allura stepped back up onto her platform. She held out her hands and two - Keith was going to call them control panels for lack of a better term - rose up. Coran took his place at a console a short ways away and a holoscreen appeared before him. Allura put her hands on the control panels and a screen appeared over the glass windows showing the Blue Lion and the pod. Wormholes appeared before each.
"We can only keep the wormholes that lead to the other lions open for two of your Earth hours, so you'll have to be quick about your work. The good news is that according to my readings, both planets are relatively peaceful. So, if you do get stuck, they could be relaxing places to live out the rest of your lives. Well, enjoy the trip!"
Keith's eyes widened as the others began protesting before disappearing into the wormholes. "That was a joke, right?"
"Probably," Coran said.
"Coran, I'll take care of the wormholes. Start working on getting the castle fixed. We're going to need the defenses and we have to find the Red Lion."
"Right away, Princess."
Keith zoned out, watching Merla prowl around the room. His hand idly slipped inside one of the pockets on his waist pack and pulled out a chain to fidget with until Pidge and Shiro returned, the Green Lion carrying the pod they had taken.
"Shiro and Pidge are back. Coran, how are you doing?" Allura asked.
"We're at around seventy-five percent, but there's still nothing on the Red Lion."
A message flashed on the large screen and Allura opened up a communication channel with Lance and Hunk, who must have gotten ahold of the Yellow Lion.
As she talked to them, Keith looked down at Merla. "Can you give them a hand?"
She gave a hiss and pressed up against him, but headed towards Coran as soon as Allura closed the channel.
"Hey, get down from there," Coran huffed, trying to shoo her away when she jumped up onto his consol.
The cat gave him a rebellious look and pressed her paw against the screen. Her eyes glowed red, then so did the screen. The hologram coordinates from before filled the space before focusing on the planet they were on.
Keith jumped to his feet as a ship similar to the one that has chased them away from Earth appeared over the planet, a line connecting it to the Red Lion. "That's not good."
"The Galra have the Red Lion," Allura gasped.
"The ship looks close. I thought you said we'd have days."
"It seems my estimates were a bit off," Coran chuckled nervously.
Nice job, weird man!
Merla gave him a snarl before jumping down to return to Keith. As Keith scratched her ears, Allura stared at the cat.
"How did it do that?"
"The cats are the lions!" Pidge shouted as she and Shiro came into the room, Ryou and Chip just behind. "I-I don't know how, but it's true!"
"You too?" Hunk asked as he, Lance, Blue, and Pua ran in.
"What are you all on about?" Lance asked.
"You still haven't figured it out? You've piloted Blue twice now," Keith snorted and Merla gave a "Wrrrrrrrah" of agreement from her spot cuddled up against Blue.
You're paladin is an idiot, love.
"How long have you known?" Pidge asked.
"The cats are the same colors as the lions," Keith pointed out. "Then Blue magically appeared in space with us."
"That is a very good point," Hunk chuckled.
"I'm sorry, are you all saying your cats are connected to the lions?" Allura interjected, looking confused.
"More like the cats are the lions in cat form," Pidge tried to elaborate.
"Impossible! The Blue, Yellow, and Green Lions are all in their hangars where you left them," Allura said, bringing up the security feed to double check.
"I'm guessing something like this hasn't happened before?" Shiro asked.
"No, never."
"The lions have also never been without paladins for so long before," Coran pointed out. He dropped to the floor and began poking Ryou, who just stared at him, unimpressed. "Perhaps they managed to separate their quintessence from their metallic bodies to create these small organic-like forms so as to track down new paladins themselves! Incredible! That's good news for the Red Lion, though! If its quintessence is down here then there's no way any of the Galra on the ship orbiting above us have managed to gain access to it!"
"You found the Red Lion! Wait, Galra ship?" Lance said, excited at first before deflating.