**Shoutout to Ishval, DestinyDragons101, and rinpup14 for leaving comments last chapter! Thank you so much! I love hearing from you! :D
A/n: So just a heads up, I'm entering the last weeks of the semester and finals are fast approaching. And unfortunately most of my finals are big projects, so I might not be able to upload a new chapter until after the 14th. I'll try my best to keep uploading weekly until then, but I make no promises. But I'm so mad cuz while everyone else is binging Season 8, I'll be packing up my stuff and wrapping up my last finals before I can go home that day. XD
**I do not own Voltron: Legendary Defender!
Standing along the sides of the training deck, Mari and Keith prepped for their sparring match. Shrugging off her jacket, Mari neatly folded it and set it on the floor next to the wall while Keith just tossed his next to hers, eliciting an eye roll from the girl. They moved to the center of the deck and placed their weapons on the floor beside them as they began to stretch.
"You know, I don't think I've ever seen you use that thing," Mari noted mid-lunge, breaking the silence that had settled between them and nodding to the sheath attached to his belt.
Keith instantly stopped stretching his arm and his hand flew down to grip the handle of the small dagger. His eyes were wary as they narrowed at her, as if he were afraid that she'd make a grab for it.
"It's not exactly the best weapon to use in a fight," he said after a moment of hesitation. He casually released his hold on the knife, but his shoulders remained tense. "I'd rather use this."
Leaning down, he scooped up his bayard and waggled it at her before turning away and activating it. The paladin's weapon glowed as it transformed into his regular sword, and Mari hummed in thought and she plucked up her own weapon.
"And yet you still never leave home without that knife," she mused, expanding her staff to its full length, minus the spear tip.
Keith huffed and his usual scowl deepened, a telltale sign that he was getting annoyed. "Why are you so curious about it all of a sudden?" he demanded, the anger and defensiveness in his tone harsher than usual.
"Geez, I was just wondering," she muttered. "I mean, you were so interested in Ulaz's blade, your bayard is a sword, and you always carry around that dagger…it makes me think you've got an obsession with knives."
She had meant it as a joke in hopes to lighten up the conversation and she waited for him to protest. But Keith just grimaced and averted his gaze. He wasn't denying it.
"First the dirty mags and now the knife fetish? Wow, I'm learning a lot about you today," she teased, and as expected, that immediately set him off.
"I don't have dirty magazines! And I don't have a knife fetish! I just…think they're pretty cool, that's all," he snapped, his cheeks turning the lightest of pinks. Mari giggled, unused to seeing him this flustered, and Keith growled in frustration as he pointed his sword at her. "Come on, let's just fight already! You're the one who wanted to train in the first place."
"Okay, okay," she beamed, stifling the remnants of her laughter. She shifted into a defensive stance, her heart fluttering with a nervous excitement as she waited for him to make the first move. "I'm ready when you are."
Keith charged at her, his sword raised as he prepared to bring it down on her. The blade clanged again the metal of Mari's staff as she blocked it, and she grunted softly with the effort of pushing it out of the way and creating an opening for her to attack. In one swift movement, she brought the staff back around to strike his torso and Keith just barely dodged it. He spun around to slam the flat of his blade against her shoulder, but she dropped to the ground and swept his feet out from under him. He fell on his back with an 'oof' and he winced in pain. Before he could stand up again, Mari pinned him in place, thrusting her staff down so that the end of it hovered centimeters away from his face.
"Round one goes to me," she snickered, and the fury in his eyes was like a blazing fire. She had already been irritating the hell out of him, but now he looked absolutely pissed.
"Shut up!" Smacking her staff away, Keith scrambled to his feet, ready more than ever for their second round. "I'm not going easy on you this time."
As soon as Mari retook her defensive stance, Keith didn't even waste a second as he leapt forward. His sword slashed through the air to deliver the first blow, only for Mari to block it again. But before she could push back against the blade, Keith removed it and spun around so that he was on her unguarded side. She pivoted on her heel and brought up her staff just in time to prevent his blade from slamming into her head, the force of impact almost knocking her weapon out of her hands.
"Hey! Watch it!" she hissed through clenched teeth. "No blows above the neck!"
Keith tsked but said nothing as he lifted his sword and swung again, aiming this time for her unprotected hip. She glanced down and easily blocked the attack, but when she lifted her head again, she was greeted by a small silvery blade that was being held inches from her neck.
"I win round two," Keith gloated as he smirked triumphantly, and Mari bristled.
"What the—You said you wouldn't use that in a fight!" she growled, shoving his hand and the knife out of her face.
Keith grinned and lowered his second weapon to return it to the sheath at his side. "I said it's not the best weapon to use in the fight, not that I wouldn't ever use it in one. I'm just making use of the things I have," he corrected her with a small shrug. "Shiro wants us to be resourceful, remember?"
Mari growled and rolled her eyes, her grip on her staff tightening. "Yeah, yeah, I know," she huffed, moving back a few steps as she readied herself for round three. "This time I get to start on the offensive, okay?"
Still unable to wipe the smug look off his face, Keith complied as he held his bayard protectively out in front of him. "Fine. Come at me then."
Her desire to redeem herself fueling her, Mari surged forward, her staff reeled back as if it were a baseball bat. She put all of her strength into swinging it, and it would've landed solidly against the side of Keith's stomach if he hadn't parried at the last second with his blade. The instant he blocked her attack, she swung her staff back again and aimed for the other side that was now unprotected. As she had hoped, Keith moved his sword to deflect her blow, but before her staff could connect with his sword, she changed directions at the last second and thrust the staff upwards towards his face. Startled by the fake out, Keith just barely managed to stumble back and avoid getting hit.
Now that he was off balance, Mari dove into delivering a flurry of thrusts and swings. She twirled her staff expertly all around her, like some giant pinwheel, defending herself from all three sides and pausing only momentarily to strike at any opening she could find: his ankle, knee, stomach, arm. She was being absolutely relentless, hardly giving him enough time to block her assaults and allowing him no chance to escape or counterattack. She was driving him closer and closer to the wall—it would only be a matter of time before she had him cornered and the third round went to her. The only reason she ended up halting in her advancement was because she suddenly felt something crawling up her leg and back before it settled on her shoulder and squeaked loudly in her ear.
Mari winced and dropped her staff mid-swing to cup her now ringing right ear. With her other hand, she snatched the mouse that had perched on her shoulder and held it in front of her in the middle of her palm. It was the largest of the space mice, Platt, and he had a flash drive-like object clamped in his mouth.
"Ow! Platt, what the quiznak was that for?" she exclaimed, and Platt just shrugged and smiled around the device in his mouth. "You interrupted our sparring."
She bent down and placed the chubby mouse on the floor. But no sooner did his paws touch the ground than he immediately scampered back up her leg to settle on her shoulder again.
"What? No, Platt! Stay there. Go find the other mice to play with," she huffed exasperatedly, picking him up and setting him on the floor once more. But as soon as she released him, he simply scurried up to her shoulder again.
"I guess this round's a tie," Keith noted, straightening and transforming his bayard back to its dormant form. "Let's take a break for now. We can start up again once he gets bored of you."
He scooped up her staff and pressed the button to retract it before handing it to her. Sighing, Mari relented and clipped her weapon to her belt. "Man, I was just about to win too," she grumbled in disappointment, and Keith rolled his eyes.
They both sat down against the wall near their jackets, catching their breath and wiping the sweat off their brows. Now that she was sitting, Platt migrated down to Mari's lap, curling up and hugging the flash drive as he began to doze off. Smiling slightly, she gently pet the mouse, absentmindedly wondering where he'd gotten the memory stick. Curious, she tried taking it from him, but Platt squeaked and chirped in protest, causing her to just leave it be.
After resting for several minutes in peaceful silence, Keith finally spoke, his tone hesitant. "Hey, do you—do you remember when we were exploring the Blue Lion's cave?" he asked out of the blue.
Mari raised an eyebrow at him. "How could I ever forget that? Those days were fun." She paused for a moment, before adding, "Why do you ask?"
"…You didn't see any Galra symbols or anything Galra related there, did you?"
Tapping her chin, she stared up at the ceiling in thought. "No, not that I can remember."
"Neither can I." Another minute of silence passed between them. "Do you think the Galra ever went to Earth?"
Mari shrugged. "I guess it's possible. But if that were the case, you'd think Earth would have been taken over by now."
"Do you think the Blue Lion was piloted by a Galra?"
"Maybe? I don't know. I'm just as clueless as you. If you're so curious about it, you should be asking Allura or Coran," she said, her annoyance spiking. Frowning, she cast him a concerned look. "You're awfully talkative today. What's with the sudden interest in the Galra and the Blue Lion?"
And just like that, all of Keith's walls shot back up. His brow furrowed and his eyes narrowed as he scowled and looked away from her. "It's nothing," he muttered, but before Mari could press the matter any further, Coran came bursting into the training deck.
"Aha! I've found you, Platt!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the space mouse cuddled up with the flash drive. He sprinted towards the human pair and plucked the dozing mouse off of Mari's lap. "I'll be taking this back now."
Coran began trying to pry the memory stick out of the mouse's paws and Platt hissed in anger as he held on tightly to it. Exchanging a bewildered look, Mari and Keith rose to their feet and watched the Altean man struggle in his tug-of-war with the Altean mouse. After a few more ticks of pulling and trying to avoid getting his fingers bitten, Coran finally reclaimed the device from a pouting Platt.
"Haha! Take that you little thief!" he cheered in victory, and Platt squeaked and slouched in defeat before hopping out of Coran's hand and scurrying out the door.
"Uh, Coran? What was that all about?" Keith wondered, his expression doubtful as he awaited the Altean's answer.
"Hm? Oh, I was just organizing my valuables when one of the mice snatched this," he explained cheerful as he waved around the flash drive pinched between his fingers. "Must've gotten bored of playing with the princess's jewelry. I've been chasing him around the Castle for at least a varga now."
So I was just being used for sanctuary, Mari thought dryly to herself. "So what's so valuable about that drive?" she asked.
"It holds some pictures from my days as a youth," Coran shared, smiling at the device wistfully. "Images from my childhood all the way up to my days as King Alfor and Queen Melenor's advisor have been stored on here."
"Guess that really is an important item then," Mari mused and Coran nodded.
"There are also some really embarrassing photos on here that I'd rather not have anyone see," he admitted sheepishly. "I'll need to find a new hiding spot for it."
The Earthlings shared a skeptical look but said nothing as Coran safely tucked the drive into his pocket. But before they could question him, the Castle's intercom speakers suddenly flicked on as Pidge spoke through them.
"Guys, we found something! C'mere and check this out!"
Everyone met in the Green Lion's hangar and gathered around Pidge and Scarlett as they analyzed the data being displayed on Pidge's laptop. On the table next to them, the glowing blue spore hovered over a scanner that had been hooked up to the computer, and Hunk and Lance peered at it curiously.
"Oh, oh! I've seen this experiment," Hunk said with a small smile on his face. "But, question: Why do we need to get electricity from a potato?"
"What's a potato?" Scarlett asked, her face scrunching up in confusion.
"Oh, well, it's a starchy tuber that we have on Earth," Hunk was more than happy to explain. "They're about yea big,"—he held out his hands to show her their approximate size—"and you can make a bunch of delicious dishes out of them."
"Huh," Scarlett mused and she glanced back at the glowing gooey orb. "…But this is a spore, not a potato…"
"This has nothing to do with getting electricity from a potato, okay?" Pidge quickly intervened with a roll of her eyes. "We were able to crack the 'sporse code'—heh, sporse. We ran the bioluminescent pattern through a variety of code-breaking sequences, including this homemade virtual Turing machine. Of course, I had to make a few tweaks to the original design, because, obviously, there have been several advancements since he designed it. Although, you have to admit, Turing was a shining light in the world of science, in an age when far too many were still—"
"Pidge. What does it say?" Keith interrupted her rant, his impatience getting the better of him.
"Oh, yeah." She squinted at her laptop screen as she relayed the message aloud. "'Under attack. Galra. Help.' And then, there are coordinates."
"It's a distress signal," Shiro realized with dread. "Good work, you two. Coran, get those coordinates into the castle-ship's navigation system."
Within the varga, the Castle of Lions was making a beeline for the planet in need of help. It appeared within their sights in no time, and as they approached, Coran provided them with his acquired knowledge of the planet.
"It appears that the signal came from Olkarion, home to the Olkari. They're a proud class of engineers, builders of vast cities that could change shape at the whim of their creators," he elaborated once everyone had convened on the bridge after changing into their armor.
"They had a seemingly magical ability to manipulate solid metal," Allura added to his explanation. "With just a wave of their hands, they could build a computer inside a block of steel."
"Whoa," Pidge breathed in awe, her eyes twinkling with excitement as they locked onto the planet ahead of them.
"An Olkari once gave me this!" Coran beamed proudly as he produced a hovering cube that was no bigger than his hand.
"What is it?" Lance asked, mildly unimpressed.
"Uh, hello? It's a floating cube!" Coran chuckled. "Oh, this guy. And watch! My name is Coran and I'm a gorgeous man."
The band of light that wrapped around the little cube blinked and beeped in response before emitting an audio recording that repeated Coran verbatim: "My name is Coran and I'm a gorgeous man."
Naturally, Pidge began fawning over the tiny cube, poking and fretting over it with stars in her eyes. Scarlett on the other hand seemed bored by it and her antenna drooped in disappointment.
"So it's just a recording device? I can make one of those in my sleep. How dull," she mumbled before turning and heading for the doors. "Well, I've lost all interest in this matter. Have fun handling this, you guys. Find me when it's dinner time."
With Zyron flitting by her side, she promptly exited the bridge, unable to care less about the situation at hand. Her haughtiness made Mari's blood boil and her hands curled into fists at her sides.
"What is her basic problem?" she huffed incredulously and Shiro sighed.
"She's still grieving," he began, but she shook her head in disagreement.
"I don't care if she's still grieving. That doesn't make it okay for her to act like a little bitc—"
"Mari, don't," Shiro warned, his voice stern and raised every so slightly as he cut her off. "Now is not the time."
Tsking, she scowled but kept her lips zipped.
"…So why would a society full of literal tech wizards use spores to send a distress signal?" Keith hesitantly wondered aloud, steering them back to the matter at hand and clearing some of the building tension in the air.
Pidge instantly whirled on him with an ecstatic grin plastered to her face. "Who cares?" she blurted out. "When do we get to see that city?"
"Actually, Pidge, the distress signal isn't coming from the city," Allura admitted and she brought up an image of leafy green trees on screen. "It's coming from the forest."
Pidge's face immediately fell and she groaned. "Oh. Great."
When the Castle finally came to a stop over Olkarion, Shiro addressed the team as a whole as he relayed their general plan. "Okay everyone. The Castle will be on standby in the upper atmosphere. Paladins, let's get to our lions and head down there to assess the situation."
"Right!"
"Can I come too?" Mari ventured to ask, catching Shiro before he could leave.
The small apologetic smile that formed on his face was enough of an answer for her, and she indignantly folded her arms across her chest even before he said, "Not this time."
"Why not? It won't be like the Galra hub mission. I promise I'll stay with the group this time," she tried, and she hoped it didn't sound like she was desperately begging.
"I know. But that's not why I want you to stay here."
"Is this because of what I said about Scarlett?"
"No, but it does have to do with her," Shiro said. "Can you keep her company until we return?"
"What?!" Mari hissed incredulously, making him flinch a bit. "No! No, no! Absolutely not! I am not babysitting her! This is like that time you guys went to the paladin training grounds all over again!"
"And see how well that worked out?" Shiro pointed out, trying to smile reassuringly. "You and Allura are friends now."
"At least with Allura she was mature and willing to try to strengthen our relationship!" Mari snapped. "Scarlett's just a kid who hates all of us except for you and maybe Pidge. She even said that she doesn't want to be friends with any of us!"
"That may be true. But just because she doesn't want us as friends doesn't mean we can't be friendly with her," Shiro chided. "Besides, I'm sure she's not always this hostile. She's just in mourning and doesn't know how to act around us in this new environment."
Mari shuffled from foot to foot, her glower deepening. "I still don't want to do this," she stated adamantly.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of a little girl, Mariko" Shiro teased. He knew exactly what buttons to push, and as predicted, irritation flared in his sister's eyes.
"Of course I'm not!" she objected. "She's just…so infuriating! And I don't want to risk her rooting around in my head anymore. Having her do that once to me was bad enough."
The thought of the Utearen girl probing her mind, digging deeper and deeper into her brain in search of secrets, made Mari cringe. It reminded her too much of Haggar, and a shiver ran down her spine.
Resting a hand on her shoulder, Shiro gave her a pleading look. "Tell me you'll at least try talking to her?"
"No."
"Please? For me?"
"NO."
Shiro paused for a moment as he mulled over an idea. "I'll teach you how to fly one of the Altean pods if you do this," he proposed, succumbing to the option of bribery.
Mari's eyes instantly lit up at the sound of that and some of the tension left her shoulders. "Really? Are you serious?" she asked, her voice hopeful. "Even though I haven't taken all the required flight courses? Even though I haven't even tried the Garrison's simulator?"
He hesitated for a tick, but Shiro ultimately nodded. "But this is only if you make some improvement with Scarlett," he added quickly. "Got that?"
Mari would be lying if she said his proposal wasn't swaying her at all. An Altean transportation pod couldn't compare to the Voltron Lions, but it was still better than nothing. All that mattered was that she would finally, finally get the chance to become a pilot! And all she had to do was talk to the arrogant blue-haired squirt.
"Do you promise you'll actually teach me to pilot if I do this?" she asked finally.
Shiro nodded, his eyes shining with sincerity. "I promise."
Sighing, Mari finally caved. "Okay. I'll try talking to her," she relented, and Shiro's grin widened like a kid's on Christmas.
"Thank you, sis!" He cast her one last reassuring look and bid her a final 'Good luck' before he left the bridge for the Black Lion's hangar.
**I do shoutouts now, so please feel free to leave a comment/review down below if you'd like to be mentioned in the next chapter! They are much appreciated & encourage me to keep writing this fic :D
**Feel free to check out my tumblr too, which is pufftheninja.
