"Boys, it's to suit up!" Mae showed to a stop outside the Paladin's designated armory, her sensitive hearing picking up on Shiro's voice. She deduced the humans were dressing in the armor and figured that Allura had been firm in her decision to make them the new Paladins of Voltron. The door slid open before her just as Allura was explaining everything.
"The bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins of Voltron. It takes a distinct shape for each paladin." She said as each human took their designated weapon. Lance took notice as she stepped into the room.
"Hey! Mae Topaz right? Aren't these awesome?!" He exclaimed as he showed off his Bayard that took the form of a long-ranged gun. All eyes were on her. Allura looked less than happy to see her older sister but Coran looked relieved that she was alright after storming off.
"Quite impressive. I wish you luck in handling the Bayards and the Lions." Mae said with a small smile, dipping her head in greeting as she did so. Lance seemed excited, bragging to Keith that "See she thinks it's cool!" Or something along those lines. She nodded in approval after inspecting each of the Paladins with a critical eye, hiding a laugh as Pidge shocked Lance with her Bayard.
"They seem to be taking to the armor and Bayards easily enough, that's good." She said and Allura glared,
"Of course they did, I gave them their lions after all." She all but snapped and Mae raised an eyebrow.
Allura's personality did a 180 twist as she turned back to the new Paladins of Voltron.
"Shiro, I'm afraid your Bayard was lost with its Paladin." She said, tone softer than it had been with Mae. The man clenched his right hand, looking slightly confused at her quick personality change.
"I guess I'll just have to make do."
After a pause, Allura spoke again.
"You'll need to retrieve the Red Lion from Sendak's ship."
"That's a pretty big ship. How are we gonna know where the Red Lion is?" Keith asked, unsure and maybe a bit nervous. It was understandable, Mae was completely frazzled and a royal mess when she had first been taken to Altea.
"Well it's not a matter of "We". It's a matter of "You"." Pidge said, Hunk piping in afterwards,
"Pidge is right. Once we get you in, you'll be able to feel its presence and like track it down."
"Yeah. You know how you felt that crazy energy while we were in the desert?" Lance quipped, crossing his arms.
"Yeah. You made fun of me for that." Keith replied.
"And I'm proud of that, but turns out it's exactly like that mumbo-jumbo."
Mae took that moment to step in before it escalated to an argument.
"If you need help, I can help you track down the Red Lion." She said and again all eyes turned to her so she took the moment to elaborate.
"I'm a Captain of the Royal Guard of Altea so I can offer protection until you are all proficient with your weapons, this is a huge risk in going to retrieve the Red Lion so soon after receiving your weapons. As for tracking down the Red Lion, I have an extremely enhanced sense of smell. I can track it via scent." She explained, hands on her hips as she did so.
"They will be fine on their own." Allura attempted to take control of the situation and argue but when Mae turned a withering gaze onto her, she wilted.
"You don't know what kind of combat experience they have. They've never fought the Galra as far as you know. This isn't up for argument Princess." Her tone on the word princess indicated there would be absolutely no arguing.
Mae could feel the glare from Allura as she adjusted the straps of her armor and prepared to board the Green Lion. She found a helmet that was still intact and functional, braiding her hair up around her head and slipping the helmet over her cranium. She dreaded boarding the green beast, her motion sickness would most definitely act up and it would not be pleasant, she could feel it.
"Thank you again Captain, you'll be a lot of help." Shiro approached her as she made sure everything was in place. He extended his right hand– his prosthetic hand– she took it in her own prosthetic hand and gave it a firm shake.
"It's my pleasure. And please, Mae will do just fine." She said, smiling slightly to seem friendly. He let a small smile grow on his lips as he returned the gesture.
"Can I ask what weapon you use? I don't see any on your person." He asked after a moment and Mae stopped to think.
"It's a bit complicated, but it's better to show you all." She said and open and closed her hands, summoning her magic and letting it crystallize into crystal dual wielding swords. She chuckled at the shocked looks of the new Paladins and sheathed it at the scabbard at her waist, it felt good to use her magic after so long.
She regretted everything once the lion took off. She was using a small handle on the wall of the Green Lion to brace herself and had the other clamped firmly over her mouth as the world around her seemed to spin. She felt nauseous, it had been so long since she had felt any sort of motion sickness; it was usually cured by a magic charm Alfor created, and now it was back for her with a vengeance.
Luckily, none of them noticed her misfortune. They made it onto the ship easily enough and she acted as watchout as there was a change of plans and Shiro went with Pidge, leaving her with Keith. He took off at a sprint, She jogged behind him, keeping pace relatively easily. They wandered the halls, Mae growing tenser and tenser as Keith grew more and more frustrated. The new red Paladin groaned in frustration,
"You've gotta be kidding me!" He shouted and she glanced around warily for
"Patience Keith. Getting upset will get you nowhere." She coaxed and laid a hand on his shoulder as he panted heavily. He nodded,
"Patience yields focus." He murmured under his breath, closing his eyes as he allowed his heart rate to slow. After a moment he opened his eyes,
"Gotcha."
She followed his lead, and her nose, leading them through some tricky hallways. They came to a door, it was massive, thick, had top notch security systems, and obviously held something behind it but it was too thick for Keith's or her swords to cut through. She grumbled under her breath as Keith tried again in vain to cut through it. Then she had an idea, her magic could cut through this right?
"Stand back Keith." She instructed as she felt her magic bubble up inside her, excited at the chance to be used after 10,000 years.
"Why? What are you going to do?" He asked warily but didn't do as she asked.
"Something crazy, I don't need you to get shredded by this." She said as she widened her stance enough so she wouldn't be blown away. He stood slightly behind her as she readied herself.
"Right… Here I go…" She inhaled, the back of her throat beginning to glow.
….
Keith looked warily to Mae Topaz as she widened her stance and inhaled. His eyes widened as the back of her throat began to glow with a bright white light with hints of blue and purple wisps escaping past her mouth. Just what was she doing?
That was revealed when she seemed to hold her breath,
"Crystal Dragon… ROOOOOAAAAR!" She all but screamed, her voice sounding amplified and a beam of pure white light exploded from her mouth and he had to dive out of the way to avoid being turned into dust, rolling to cover his head from the gusts of wind tearing through the air from the attack. He had his eyes closed tightly, the light was so blinding it hurt.
The beam hit the door, crystal shards shredding the near impenetrable metal as if it were water-soaked paper. The door groaned on its hinges and actually teetered from its hinges and fell with an ear-deafening clang.
Abruptly the attack stopped, the light disappearing and Keith opened his eyes, blinking away the spots of color as he stared in shock at Mae Topaz. She stood in the same stance, her hands cupped around her mouth and panting slightly. She grinned and he realized that her teeth were slightly pointed, her canines being more prominently pointed than the rest. Just what kind of power was this? And what was Mae Topaz exactly?
….
Shiro and Pidge watched as the rescued prisoners escaped using the pods. They were about to turn and leave when they heard a room-shaking bang echo throughout the ship.
"What the Crow was that?!" Pidge demanded and Shiro shook his head, unsure and worried. Whatever it was it sounded big and it powerful.
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it sounds dangerous. We have to meet up with Keith at the castle once he retrieves the Red Lion. Let's go!"
….
After Keith recovered from the shock of seeing Mae obliterate the door, she followed him inside, watching out carefully for guards. Her roar attracted a lot of attention and she knew it was only a matter of time before Galra soldiers stormed the room.
"Bingo. Let's get out of here. Open up." Keith said as he placed his hand over the protective force field around the lion. Mae grimaced, she wanted to tell him that he was doing it wrong, and that the lion wasn't going to react but she knew he had to figure it out himself.
Keith kept talking to the lion as Galra soldiers flooded the room, just as Mae expected.
"Hey! Come on! We're connected!" Keith shouted as lazers pelted down on his shield and Mae created one of her own to keep the soldiers off of her until she could get in close.
"Mae! Can't you do one of those roar things again?" Keith shouted over the gunfire and she grunted as a bullet skimmed her prosthetic leg.
"I would if I didn't care so much about staying alive! So no I can't exactly right now! Not unless you want us to be sucked out into space!" She shouted back and gave a shout of surprise as the soldiers seemed to focus on her and put all their power into taking down her shield. Luckily, it didn't crack, but she knew she'd wake up with some wicked bruises if she wasn't careful.
"Sucked out into space? That's it! Mae! Put on your helmet!" He muttered and shouted the last sentence as he activated his own helmet. Mae disintegrated her shield in a flurry of particles and shoved her helmet onto her head, using her magic to create the Crystal Scales all over her body and act as a more personal shield.
"Whatever you're doing do it now!" She shouted at him, rushing forward and encasing her fists in solid crystal, punching through the Galra robots. There was a sucking sensation and suddenly, Mae was thrown off her feet and sucked out into space.
She let out a scream as she felt weightless. She absolutely LOATHED this feeling. It made her feel so powerless and as if she couldn't do anything to regain control. She spotted Keith and could sense his near panic. She reached out and very nearly managed to grasp his arm when she heard a roar coming from the ship with her enhanced hearing. All of a sudden, they were swallowed up by the Red Lion.
...
One more part before this episode is done! I'm purposely doing shorter chapters so I can get them out quicker or else each chapter would take months to write because school, work, and family life is starting to become hectic.
But what do you think about the chapter? Please tell me in the comments!
Merry early Christmas!
Please like, comment, and follow!
Until the next update!
FairyTailWzard over and out!~
