"Good work Paladins, you were able to defeat all the training gladiators together." Allura commends.
"We did alright. That won't do us much though when fighting against galra soldiers on Lotor's ship." Keith grumbles.
"Now don't be like that Keith. We've been practicing everyday and we've been getting better. The fact that we were able to defeat all of them today is a big improvement." Shiro says.
Sirius runs to Pidge and she picks them up (Pidge found out that their species is genderless and can be either male or female when it comes time for reproducing. Pidge loved that fact.)
"Though I agree with Keith, Shiro is also right. We made a big improvement." Pidge says petting Sirius.
"Yeah I say we did pretty good." Hunk says.
Keith just crosses his arms.
Coran and Allura enter into the room.
"You paladins have improved quite a bit. Ah I remember like it was yesterday when you paladins couldn't defeat them all." Coran says.
"Uh Coran that was yesterday." Pidge says.
"Right right." Coran says.
"You should go clean up now and then meet us later." Allura says.
The four paladins head to their respective to rooms to shower.
They shower and put on their regular clothes.
"Paladins there is an important message for us. Please come now." Allura says over the castle's system.
They all head to the central room to Allura.
"What is it Allura?" Shiro asks.
"We received a message from Shay from the Balmera. Watch." Allura says.
"Shay? Is she okay? Is the Balmera hurt?" Hunk asks.
"Let's just see the message first Hunk." Pidge says.
Allura plays the message.
"Paladins I hope you receive this message in time. Galra soldiers are on the Balmera again. They said they need crystals. They haven't harmed any of us yet but they are staying an awfully long amount of time. I'm sure by now they gained enough crystals. They are only taking small crystals though, ones that are too small to hold any real energy, but that's what their leader wanted. Their leader has only come out once to give instructions but I heard that his name was Prince Lotor and he does not seem friendly. He spends most of his time in his ship. Please help us, for the Balmera does not like for them to be here or to take it's crystals no matter how small."
The message ends and the paladins stand in confusion and surprise.
"Lotor is there taking crystals." Pidge says.
"What would he want with small crystals that hold no energy? Why stay for so long?" Allura asks aloud.
"Who cares why. All we know is that he's there taking crystals and he's on that ship with Lance. We have to leave now. This is our chance to save Lance." Keith says.
"Keith is right. We also have to help the Balmera. It helped us plenty of times." Hunk adds.
"Alright then. Everyone should go change then to their lions. We're going to wormhole there and see what's going on." Allura says.
"How are we going to get down there without being spotted?" Hunk asks.
"We can all get in the green lion. I don't think we'll need all our lions for this fight. Besides we can't risk them seeing us first." Shiro says.
"Alright then we're using the green lion. Let's go now." Keith says.
The four of them leave to put back on their armor. This is their chance to get back Lance from Lotor. Who knows what he went through but they can finally save him.
When they finish putting on their armor they head to the green lion and wait. It'll only be a matter of time before they get there.
"Prepare yourselves paladins, we will be there in a few ticks." Allura says to them.
"Here's the plan guys. We go to the balmerians first to make sure they are okay and to see what is going on. Then we sneak on to that ship to save Lance. If we don't have to fight then don't. We want as little confrontation as possible. Remember our main goal is to save Lance. We can get the crystals back later." Shiro says.
They nod.
"We're here. You guys can go now. We will wait up here out of his view. Good luck paladins." Allura says.
Pidge flies the green lion out of her hangar and activates the invisibility cloak. They get down to the Balmera easily and undetected. Pidge lands the green lion out of sight.
"You guys ready?" Shiro asks.
"Let's do this." Keith says.
They leave the lion and head down to the cave system quietly. They haven't seen any soldiers yet.
"Do you guys see any balmerians?" Hunk asks.
"No but I'm sure we'll run into them." Pidge replies.
They continue to walk until they hear voices. Soon they see Shay and her family.
"Shay!" Hunk says.
"Hunk, paladins you're here. Thank you for coming." Shay says.
"No problem Shay. Is everyone alright?" Hunk responds.
"We are fine. They haven't done anything to us. When we try to stop them from taking crystals they just push past us and continue. Wait where is the blue paladin?" Shay says.
"He's kinda held up right now and injured so he couldn't come. But we'll do everything we can to get them off the Balmera and to find out what they need these crystals for." Hunk replies.
"The Balmera thanks you. We can lead you to their ship unnoticed. We know where they are stationed at." Shay says.
"That would be a big help, thank you." Shiro says.
"Follow us." Rax says.
The paladins follow the family through the Balmera past all the soldiers and up to the surface.
"The ship is right there, but there are a lot of guards in there. You may get in but you are bound to run into some soldiers in there." Rax says.
"Thanks, we'll take our chances." Keith responds.
"Paladins move out." Shiro says.
They head aboard the ship cautiously.
"Be on the watch." Shiro whispers.
They walk down the long hallways carefully, aware of everything around them. They finally see a large door and robotic guards there. They hear voices approach from another hall and they hide. It's three galra soldiers with small crystals with them. They head through the door.
"That's where they're bringing the crystals. If Lotor ordered them, then he should be there too, right?" Keith whispers.
"Let's get in that room." Pidge says quietly.
Shiro signals for Keith to go ahead and take care of the guards. Keith runs ahead and slice them in half before they could fire a shot. He places his hand on the scanner and it opens. The others run in after him and hide quickly.
"Hmm these seem better than the last ones. Put them over there, they may do."
The prince's back is turned to them as he examines the crystals that were just brought to him. He dismisses the soldiers.
"I see Lotor but where's Lance?" Hunk whispers.
Pidge shrugs.
"Paladins, I am so glad you could make it. You took an awfully long time to show up." Lotor says with his back still turned.
"How did he know we were here?" Keith asks in surprise.
They cautiously leave their hiding spot, weapons ready. Lotor turns around.
"Did you paladins honestly believe that sneaking aboard my ship would be that easy?" Lotor says with a chuckle.
"How did you know we were here?" Shiro asks.
"You paladins are predictable." Lotor replies.
"Give us back Lance." Keith demands.
"The blue paladin stays with me. Besides you left him for so long, why would you want him now. You got your black paladin at the cost of your blue. Now I'll be kind enough to let you walk out of here without a problem." Lotor says.
"You think we would willingly leave him here with you? He's coming back with us." Pidge says.
"Strong words from the paladin who left him here to begin with." Lotor responds.
"That's enough. Either you give us back Lance or we take him back ourselves." Shiro says.
Lotor smiles.
"You wouldn't be able to get out of the room with him let alone back to your castle." Lotor taunts.
Keith charges at Lotor. Lotor just stands there with his smile never faltering. As soon as Keith gets close enough to attack, a blast is shot by his foot.
"That was a warning shot. The next time I won't be so kind."
The paladins turn to see Lance standing there aiming his weapon at Keith.
"Lance?" Hunk says.
Lance looks terrible. His ankles and wrists are blood red with deep marks on them. His shoulders have discolored bruises that go down his torso, which are thankfully covered by his shirt. His hair is disheveled, his eyes have dark rings around them, and his clothes are stained in blood.
"Lance, why are you aiming at me?" Keith asks confused.
"I can't allow you to attack him, even though that would only mean your funeral." Lance replies, keeping his aim on Keith.
"Don't you just love him. Come here my blue. You can lower your weapon, they won't do anything." Lotor says.
Lance lowers his weapon and walks over to Lotor.
"I found some crystals for you. I think these would look perfect on you." Lotor says to him.
"Wait you've been taking crystals so you can give them to Lance?" Hunk asks.
"Why of course. Anything for my paladin." Lotor responds, caressing Lance's face.
"Don't touch him!" Keith yells.
"Jealous are we red?" Lotor teases.
Keith steps forward again ready to attack but Lance raises his weapon again.
"I wouldn't do that mullet. I'll have you down before you blink." Lance says.
"Lance why are you attacking us? Attack him. He's the one who did that to you." Pidge says.
"Isn't it obvious green, he's with me now. He got so tired and was so hurt of waiting for his so called team to save him that he decided to join me and prove his strength." Lotor responds.
"You're lying. Lance would never join you." Hunk says.
"I'll prove it then. Lance dear attack the red one, without using your weapon. I don't want you to kill him yet." Lotor says.
Lance puts away his bayard and charges at Keith. Keith dodges all his hits but doesn't attack back. By just the looks of it, Lance is throwing some pretty hard hits. It would hurt if he gets hit.
"Lance snap out of it. We're not your enemies." Keith says.
"What's wrong Keith, can't fight back?" Lance taunts.
Hunk runs over and tries to grab Lance but Lance moves too quickly.
"You have to be quicker than that Hunk." Lance laughs.
He tackles Keith to the ground and pins Keith's body down. Keith struggles to get out of his hold.
"I have too many siblings to have a loose grip. You're not breaking free anytime." Lance says.
Pidge tries to help Keith. She grabs Lance by the waist and tries to pull him off.
Lance laughs and breaks free from her grasps without loosening his hold on Keith.
"Sorry sweetheart but you're too small for this. Why don't you go back to your computer." Lance says.
Lance raises his fists to hit Keith.
"Hope you don't mind an addition to your face pretty boy." Lance says.
"Lance that wasn't nice. We're your teammates, now snap out of whatever control he has on you." Shiro says pulling Lance off of Keith before he could punch him.
Lance fights his way out of Shiro's hold. He backs away with a smirk.
"Why yes of course, you are the dad here aren't you. I see the mission was a success, they got you back. Too bad they left me here to suffer." Lance says, with a tone of anger slipping into his voice, but the smirk still on his face.
"We didn't mean to leave you here for so long. If you stopped throwing a hissy fit and come back with us we could explain everything." Keith says, getting aggravated.
Lance stops in his tracks. He clenches his fists and his teeth.
"You didn't mean to leave me here that long? Hissy fit? Who the hell do you think you are Keith? I'll show you a fit!" Lance says in anger.
Lance takes out his bayard again and aims his energy rifle at Keith. Keith gets a good look at his eyes and sees the anger and pain in them. It throws Keith off guard. Lance fires but Shiro moves Keith out of the way. Lance aims again but Pidge pushes him over.
Lance growls.
"Why you diablo pequeña. Pagarás por eso." Lance says getting up.
"We need to retreat. Lance is a skilled marksman. There's not too many times he'll miss." Shiro says.
"But Shiro-" Keith starts.
"We'll come back another time. So unless you want to be killed by his shot you'll follow my order and retreat." Shiro says cutting Keith off.
Lance aims again but Lotor grabs his arm.
"Yes yes retreat paladins. I'll even do you a favor and hold him back. Would you also like my reject piles of crystals? I have the crystals I want for my Lance." Lotor says.
"Hunk grab the crystals, Keith, Pidge start leaving, NOW." Shiro orders.
They all hesitate but follow anyways.
Shiro looks Lance in the eyes and says, "We'll be back for you, I promise."
Shiro and Hunk leave and catch up with Pidge and Keith. They return the crystals to the Balamerians and head back to the green lion. The ride back to the castle was deathly quiet.
Allura and Coran are waiting as they arrive. They solemn look they all had meant something bad happened.
"What happened?" Allura asks.
"Lance attacked us. Lotor said he joined his side but we believe Lotor is controlling him somehow. We had to retreat because Lance was using his energy rifle. He's a sharpshooter, he wouldn't have missed." Shiro explains.
"I can't believe we left him there again!" Keith shouts.
"We had to Keith. He wasn't in his right frame of mind and he would've killed you." Shiro argues.
"But he can't stay there any longer! He's in pain! I saw the anger and pain in his eyes. You saw how terrible he looked. The fact that he attacked us proves that he was tortured and that they did something to him. And we left him there again!" Keith yells.
He storms off and heads to the training deck to release his anger.
"Shiro, I agree with Keith. Lance always treated me as a younger sibling and I just left him there after I promised myself I would bring him back. I refuse to lose two brothers. At least I can save this one." Pidge says.
She walks away and head to her room.
"I'm going to go talk to her and see if I can help her." Allura says then follows after Pidge.
"I'm going to go bake something." Hunk says and head to the kitchen.
Shiro sighs. He made the right decision didn't he?
"Maybe you should go check on Keith. I know he's just angry with himself about all of this." Coran tells Shiro.
Shiro nods and heads to the only place Keith would go when he's angry. The training deck.
As Shiro gets closer to the training deck, he hears the sound of of metal breaking and annoyed grunts.
Shiro walks in to see broken sparring bots on the ground and Keith fighting a sparring robot brutally. Shiro watches as Keith destroys the robot in anger.
"You know Allura is not going to like the fact that you're destroying these robots." Shiro says.
Keith lowers his sword and turns to him.
"Pidge, Hunk, or Coran will fix them. This isn't the first time I broke a robot and I'm sure it won't be the last." Keith responds.
"Listen Keith, I know you're mad that we left him there but you have to understand, it was for the best. That doesn't mean though we're leaving him there for good. We're going to find out what Lotor did to him and we're going to bring him back to us. We just have to be patient and smart." Shiro says.
"Fine but I'm not waiting too long. Who knows what Lotor will do to him the longer he's there. And when we do get him back, I'm going to beat Lotor to a pulp for messing with one of our paladins." Keith replies.
"I think I speak for everyone in this castle when I say that is something we will all join in." Shiro says.
"Lotor will pay for this."