Chapter 21
Stayin' Alive
My wing began to heal fast to the point where the pain became numb, it felt heavy. With the help of Bitma, the old lady who tended to my injury, I was soon able to move my wing around but still with a bit of difficulty. Storm was curled up in a corner refusing to leave my side, always keeping an eye on me as if somehow, I was going to disappear from his sight.
"Relax Storm, I feel much better now."
"I'll relax until your wing is fully healed."
We were still inside the emerald glowing cave, I was laying down on my back. I traced the green veins on the ceiling to pass the time.
"I won't be able to stay still for much longer, sooner or later, we will have to go back to the others…I wonder how they are doing."
"I'll lay a force field above you if that is what it takes to keep you resting." Storm retaliated.
His comment made me chuckle, "We are at war. Injuries are just a byproduct of it."
"I know, I just…I just wish things could be different. I yearn for our old life as hatchlings." Storm said with nostalgia. His thoughts ran over the landscape of our planet from high up in the sky. I closed my eyes and joined him, letting him carry me in his memory. Green pastures adored the ground, trees extended as far as the eye could see, mountain picks so high in the sky making us feel insignificant at their might, but all of this was no more. I honestly did not know if my planet still existed and if it did, I was sure it would be in a deteriorating state. Deep down I was scared to know.
The memory began to change, it slowly evolved into a nightmare. The green grass began to burn with an intense bright orange fire.
"Taylin"
That fire swallowed each and every tree until the whole forest burned like the very hell on earth. Animals raced out of the forest trying to save their lives but where ever they ran, the fire was faster.
"Taylin!"
The once majestic mountains looked broken as balls of fire rained from the sky. They impacted on them breaking chucks of their once beautiful faces, disfiguring them. The blue sky was covered by thick black smoke, an orange-red vortex swirled menacingly in the middle.
"Taylin!"
I gasped and opened my eyes sitting up quickly breathing heavily.
"I'm, I'm sorry…I got carried away by my emotions." I said between breaths.
"I know the feeling, I have thought of it too. I don't know if I want to know what really happened to our planet."
I placed my hand on his snout, he had moved his head closer trying to comfort me.
"This is why I can't stay still for a very long. I will start to ponder on things that will only bring me pain."
I closed my eyes and concentrated on dematerializing my wings, they disappeared leaving me a great pain on my back that slowly subdued. I held my breath until the pain was bearable.
I stood up and grabbed my helmet and made my way toward the entrance of the cave, Storm followed, his talons made light clicking noises on the stone beneath our feet. When we reached the entrance, I was surprised to see the Trinderians up and about repairing their village and others having conversations about past events. Toward the edge of the village, The White Lion stood standing on all fours as if watching over them. The memory was hazy, but I remembered she had come to aid us when a Galra fighter had attacked us.
"What are you doing up?!" Lanex was running towards me with a worried expression.
He finally reached me, "I could not stay laying down any longer, I have to get back to the other Paladins soon."
"You have to leave already?" He asked with disappointment.
"I have to know how the others did on their missions and if they have returned to the castle."
He nodded his head understanding and reached for his back pulling out my sword Tempest that had been strapped there.
"Then I will return this to you." He held Tempest in both his hands and presented it to me, I passed my right hand over it, it glowed a light blue color before it vanished into thin air.
"I heard that you were very brave in fending off the Galra and freeing your people. You did good Lanex." I placed a hand on his shoulder and smiled.
"Oh, it was nothing." He rubbed his neck with his right hand a bit shy, "You did most of the work."
"No, we all did it together."
"You know I was thinking of bringing back the Shadow Warriors." I said as I moved toward one of the ledges by the entrance of the cave. "They were powerful warriors that I commanded back when the war first broke out. I was looking for candidates and I think I found the first one."
Lanex looked stunned, he looked behind him trying to see if I was talking about someone else. He then slowly pointed to himself still not believing my words.
"Me?"
I chuckled, "Yes, you."
"But…but I don't think I got what it takes."
"You are more than what you think you are." I smiled.
I reached above me to grab one the longest icicles that hung from the entrance of the cave and broke it off and walked back to Lanex.
"Back on my planet, each warrior who formed a part of the Shadow Guard had a unique blade. One that would in a way define their personality."
I tapped into my powers and pictured a sword in my head, the icicle in my hand began to glow a bright white. It was so bright that Lanex covered his eyes with his arm. When the light died down, in my hands laid a beautiful crystal sword. It was see through like the ice it was made of and it sparkled in the daylight. It hilt was white with silver vines that wrapped around it until they ended at the top forming a Drako biting its tail with its wings extend out, the insignia of my family, the Firehearts.
Lanex gasped for air not believing his eyes.
"This sword is yours, it defines you perfectly. Like it's crystal body that hides no secrets, you have bin frank with your true intentions from the start. Take it, it's yours."
I extended the sword to him and he reached for it slowly, he raised the blade towards the sky in front of his face examining every detail of it.
His gaze then returned to me, "I won't let you down." He said and lowered the sword and bowed his head.
"I know you won't." I said with a smile.
"Welcome Lanex, you are now one of us." Storm appraised.
Lanex grinned, his bright blue eyes sparkled with excitement. I placed my helmet on ready to get back to the team.
"Well, I guess it's time we take our leave. Our work here is done."
"Me and my people are very grateful for what you and Storm did for us. My father sends his regards, he is personally inspecting the shipments that will transport a large sum of Amorite to Olkarion as we speak."
"Give your father my thanks." I place a hand on his shoulder, "I hope we see each other soon."
"Safe journey Taylin."
We began walking towards White, as we got closer her eyes ignited and she lowered her head to the ground inviting us in. I sat on my seat and it moved forward into position as the control panel came to life.
"All systems are go."
"At least leaving the planet won't be as rough as entering it." Storm commented grimly.
I laughed, "What? I thought you loved flying."
"I'm just glad to leave the snow behind."
I placed my hands on my lion's control handles ready to take off, that is until Allura's frantic voice came through the comm making me stop our take off.
"Paladins are you there?!"
"We're here Allura, what's wrong?" I asked concerned for her well-being.
"That monster that attacked us on the Balmera has returned! I need you to return immediately!" She exclaimed with a bit of panic in her voice.
"How?! We saw that thing get crushed by the Balmera!"
"I don't know but its alive and headed right toward me!"
"We are on our way Allura, hold on!"
I pulled on my control handles and White responded by leaping in the air and taking flight toward the Trinderian atmosphere. When we exited the planet, on cue, a familiar blue vortex appeared, and we went through it. When we came out we were met with the Galra robot beast, it looked more hideous than before without a head. Its arms were extended out and it had purple crystals sticking out of its body. To my right I saw the Blue Lion taking evasive maneuvers as the monster began to fire upon us.
"Whoa! How is that thing still operating? It doesn't even have a head!" Lance exclaimed.
"It must be using the Balmera's crystals as a power source allowing it to function without a head." I said moving away from its firing beam, Hunk followed my move.
"What we need is to focus on is defeating that thing!" Shiro said. His voice brought a small smile to my lips, glad to hear it once again.
"How did we defeat it last time?" Keith asked.
"We formed Voltron, then I stuck in my Bayard and shot it with my blaster right in its arms lasers, but that didn't stop it so then we had to punch it." Hunk answered refreshing our memory of past events.
"So, we need to form Voltron." Shiro said.
"But we only have three lions." Pidge butted in.
"Maybe we can form the legs and kick it." Lance suggested. Everyone else stayed silent trying to process if he was being serious. The monster took us off guard and fired a large beam from its chest towards Hunk and I, we were able to move out of the way, missing us by a hairs length. The beam hit two planetesimals near the Balmera wiping them out. I silently prayed they were uninhabited.
"That new laser is much more powerful, we're definitely gonna need all the lions." Shiro stated.
"Hunk, Taylin. You need to keep it distracted so that we can fly back to get our lions. Once we get our lions out, we'll cover you, so you can fly Keith in for Red."
"Wait, wait, wait. We have to hold that thing off by ourselves?!" Hunk exclaimed as the Blue Lion headed back to the castle to retrieve the Black and Green Lions.
"We can do this Hunk! Just until the others can join us." I encouraged.
We began to return fire trying to move the monster back away from the castle. Each beam that it fired was inches away from direct impact, the crystals it absorbed from the Balmera had made it much faster and agile than before. I moved away from in front of its chest and fired at its side, but my attack verily caused any damage, its armor seemed un-penetrable.
"Those crystals are blocking all of our attacks!" Hunk exclaimed.
The monster was using two large wing like crystals to block our attacks, nothing could go through. The monster came in for another attack, we were able to evade it, but the beam hit the castle deactivating the particle barrier.
"The castle!"
"We have to get it away from the castle!" Hunk exclaimed and tried to ram the monster's crystal shields. I moved White toward the monster as well to help Hunk push it back, we managed to move it a bit and we quickly moved away before it could shoot us. The monster began to come after us.
"Good, it's chasing us." Keith said as we moved away from the monster.
"I'm not sure whether to be relieved or scared!" Hunk cried.
"I think it's safe to say both!" I exclaimed back flipping to avoid getting hit.
"Bank left! Barrel roll! Nose dive!" I heard Keith instruct Hunk.
"Quit back lion driving!" Hunk yelled back annoyed.
"I'll keep it distracted. Go get the Red Lion!" Lance's face appeared on my screen, I saw the Blue Lion headed toward us. Hunk did not have to be told twice, he headed back to the castle full speed but to my horror we did not notice as the monster fired in his direction.
"Hunk watch out!" But it was too late, the Yellow Lion took a direct hit immobilizing them.
"Guys!" Lance exclaimed, the Yellow Lion began to be pulled by the Balmera's gravitational force and they began to move toward its surface.
"Hunk! You need to pull up!" I yelled.
"Hunk do something!" Keith exclaimed.
"I can't! Nothing's working! Come on boy. Come back to me!" Hunk spoke to his lion trying to make it come back online. To my left I saw the Black Lion coming towards us, I moved closer to the monster trying to lure it into following me. Lance and Pidge followed my lead, Shiro was able to grab ahold of the Yellow Lion before it plummeted into the Balmera. He took Hunk and Keith closer to the castle.
"Shiro! It's on its way to the castle!" Pidge exclaimed.
"I got it." Shiro answered and dropped the Yellow Lion close to the castle and moved back to our position.
"Wait! Who's got me?!" Hunk cried.
I joined the Black Lion in its attack as I fed the water element energy into White and let out a strong water tunnel towards it. I held onto the attack for about ten ticks, but the monster's crystal shields kept it intact. I felt Storm transfer energy to me, replenishing the energy I had just lost.
"You fire, ill supply the energy." Storm said, and I nodded.
He opened up his strength to me and I tapped into the pool of his powers, mending our energies together until they became one.
"Ok, again!"
Together we fed White with a massive amount of energy and fired again. This time the water tunnel glowed a bright blue and it had tripled in size, we managed to push the monster back a few feet.
"Way to go Taylin!" Lance cheered but the monster began to shoot at us immediately.
"Don't sing victory yet!" I yelled.
Everyone began to shoot at the monster but none of us were able to get a decent shot at its body, its shields appeared to have a mind of their own and moved around the monster protecting it from every angle.
"Sorry we're late guys." Keith voice came through the comm as he joined us in our effort.
"Let's form Voltron and take this thing down like we did the last time!" Lance exclaimed.
"I don't think the Robeast is gonna sit around and wait for us to transform." Keith shot back.
"Keith's right, we need to think of something else." Shiro said.
"I think I've got an idea!" Pidge exclaimed, we moved away from the Robeast to regroup.
"Guys, see if you can get me an open shot at its chest."
"On it." And we moved toward the monster for a counter attack.
Lance moved in front of the monster and shot an ice blast at the crystal shields; the others began to shoot at it from all directions trying to blind it. This gave Pidge the perfect opportunity to get a clear shot at its chest. She flew towards it and shot a green beam at its chest; immediately green vines began to grow out from its center and wrapping around its body immobilizing it.
"Nice job Pidge! Now form Voltron!" Shiro ordered.
At his command our lions began to mend together until we became the most powerful weapon in the universe, Keith summoned the sword and we moved toward the Robeast. The monster struggled against the vines that tightened around its body, before it could escape, we stabbed it in its chest causing the monster to explode. Millions on tiny crystals floated in space like glittering space dust.
"Great work Paladins, now return to the castle so we can get moving to Olkarion." Allura ordered. We disbanded and headed into our perspective hangars and headed into the control room. On my way there, I was met with Shiro who took me by surprise by hugging me from behind and lifting me off the ground. I would have enjoyed every moment of this reunion, but a great pain ran through my back making me yelp. Shiro set me down quickly and walked around me until we were face to face.
"What's wrong? Are you hurt?" He asked looking me over for any sign of injury.
"I ran into some trouble back on Trinder, but nothing to worry about." I brushed it off.
"What kind of trouble?" Shiro gazed deep into my eyes and crossed his arms. He looked like he was not going anywhere until I told him the truth. I looked away not being able to hold his gaze and fiddled with my hands much like a child when they are being scolded.
"I kind of" I cleared my through, "crashed a Galra cruiser by exploding its power core." I gave him a sheepish grin.
"You did what?!" He said shocked.
"My wing got hurt by some falling debris causing a small fracture on its bone." I held out my hands trying to reassure him as his gaze grew more intense in worry.
"We need to take you to the med bay." He tried to grab my arm, but I took a step back.
"No, it's fine. One of the healers in Lanex's village applied a salve that will help in the healing process. It just hurts a bit when I apply pressure on it." Shiro still did not look convince, I sighed and took both his hands into mine and looked into his eyes. "I assure you that I will be fine. Right now, we have more important things to worry about that my wing, besides I won't be flying anytime soon. I got White and Storm for that." I gave him a smile and squeezed his hands. He gazed into my eyes trying to find a reason to pick me up and run me to the med bay, but I sent a comforting feeling through our link. He finally sighed and looked down at our connected hands.
"Alright" he returned his gaze. "But if you feel so much as a flinch of pain, I will take you to the med bay without a single argument."
His statement made me chuckle. "I won't argue with that." I stood up on the tip of my toes and gave him a kiss of the lips. "Come on, the others must be already in the control room." He inter-winded my right hand with his left and pulled me alongside him toward the others.
The doors to the control room opened at our presence, the other Paladins stood by the entrance. Allura smiled at me when she noticed us. "Allura, have you heard from Coran?" Keith asked. Her smile immediately vanished and became expressionless, she did not even look at Keith. I was going to have a serious conversation about her behavior. The way she gave Keith the cold shoulder was unfair, we did not choose who are parents were. The universe just placed us there.
"Yes" she said looking straight ahead. Keith crossed his arms and looked down at the floor with a frown. Everyone else noticed the tension in the room until Lance decided to break it.
"So, we ready to pop through the wormhole and get back to Olkarion?"
"Yes" she answered more enthusiastically. "I've checked in with Coran and the teladuv is nearly complete. He also informed me that they have received shipments of Amorite, making the process move a lot quicker." I smiled and nodded my head at her. "Hunk, thank you for getting the scaultrite." She said with a smile toward him totally neglecting Keith's help in retrieving it.
"No problem." Hunk perked up but when he noticed she did not say anything about Keith, he looked confused. "You know Keith was there too." Allura's expression changed to that of annoyed and turned slightly to glare at Keith. Keith was trying very hard to keep his composure. Allura looked away and turned to her controls to open a wormhole to Olkarion. Everyone made their way to their perspective places as the castle began to move toward the blue vortex. As I passed by, I whispered to Allura under my breath so only she could hear. "I got some matters to discuss with you." I did not even turn to see her expression but kept walking toward my seat. Not long after I had settled down, we exited the wormhole and in front of us was the green world of Olkarion. This planet resembled mine in so many ways, I felt happy to be able to return here.
Allura landed the castle near the shining metal city and we made our way toward the Olkari lab. When we arrived, through the glass, we gazed upon a massive teludav. Its surface reflected the rays of the sun, it sort of looked like an upside down crown. Coran greeted us with a nod of his head, "With the scaultrite lenses, this teludav will be done in less than a quintet." He informed us as we stared at it in awe.
"Nice job Coran, fist bump." Hunk placed his left arm around Coran's shoulders and extended his right fist toward him. Coran looked strangely at the gesture and slowly touched his fist with his own. "Now blow it up." Hunk opened his hand and Coran's eyes widened.
"Oh, don't you dare! It took forever to build this teladuv! And let's not forget it's a pivotal piece that we need in our plan to defeat Zarkon." Coran's over reaction brought a smirk to my lips, I was sure that he misunderstood Hunks gesture. Suddenly Coran yelped as a screen appeared before us.
"I've made some improvements to your design. This will increase our chances of survival in this reality 205 percent." Slav said through the screen. Coran looked at him dumfounded. "Is this guy a little- "
"Yes" Shiro quickly answered annoyed and everyone looked upon Slav with a frown. Something told me that Shiro and Slav started out on the wrong foot. Suddenly there was an explosion outside, Coran spun around to look at the screen. "Stop hitting the teladuv!" Smoke began to rise from where Slav was hitting the teladuv with a rock.
"Storm, please get Slav AWAY from the teladuv."
Storm growled through our link and I felt how he took flight. Not long after that, he appeared and snatched Slav with his right paw, he hung upside down screaming his head off.
"This is the reality were I'm terribly scared of heights!"
"Deal with it." Storm shot back.
We began to laugh as he flew away with him to drop him in the forest.
We stood on the roof of the lab overlooking the city, the sun bathed the scenery with orange and yellow rays as it slowly set in the horizon. I felt at peace for once in a long time, I tried to keep at bay the thoughts of the upcoming fight to enjoy this moment of silence that is until Pidge broke it.
"What's everyone thinking about?" She asked as she sat on the edge of the building.
"Zarkon." The others answered, except for Hunk. As always, he was thinking about food and mentioned something about calzones, whatever does were. We all gazed at him blankly, it amazed me how someone could neglect all thoughts just by thinking about food. I should take a page from Hunks notebook.
"I mean, uh, heck yeah. I'm thinking about calzones ok? I mean does it always have to be about Zarkon? He's a bad guy, we're trying to defeat him, I get it. I'm hungry." His comment made me chuckle.
"Your right, it does not always have to be about Zarkon." I said with a smile toward him and he returned it.
"We've come a long way." Keith said.
"Yeah, remember when Hunk used to throw up from riding in the elevator?" Lance teased receiving a glare from Hunk.
"You guys remember that Arusian, Klyzap? I think that was his name? Cool name." Hunk said.
Lance laughed, "Yeah, Keith tried to beat him up even though he was the size of a peanut."
"He was their bravest warrior!" Keith shot back annoyed.
I began to laugh as I got a flash back, they turned to look at me with slight smiles. "I think the most embarrassing moment was when we tried to build Voltron by stacking our lions on each other."
"Oh my gosh! Yes!" Pidge agreed and we all began to laugh.
"Allura began to shoot us with the castle's lasers and everyone began to run like crazy." Lance added in-between laughs.
"Yeah! I was so caught off guard that I ended up nocking Shiro off the pyramid." I said holding my stomach as it began hurting from all the laughter. Shiro joined me as he remembered as well.
"Ha, how about the time the food goo machine attacked us in the kitchen?" Pidge said.
"That was the scariest thing that's happened to me in the entire time I've been here." Hunk retorted with a grin.
"Oh, come on." Lance teased as he lightly nudged his side.
"What? It's the truth." Hunk defended.
"We faced sentries, a haunted castle, giant robeasts, a mall security guard." Lance mentioned.
"And don't forget that cool cube thing." Pidge jumped up adding to his list.
"Yeah, and that awful cube thing." Lance joked.
Everyone had a smile on their face as we were caught up in our memories of our time together. We had our ups and downs but that had only brought us closer. What we had was something special that not even Zarkon could take, we had become a family.
"You realize once we defeat Zarkon, the universe doesn't need Voltron anymore." Shiro said, his comment made us all become quiet. His words did bring a little bit of worry to my heart, will I be really willing to go to Earth with Shiro? To start a new life with him on his planet after all we been through? Deep down I knew the answer, and of course I honestly follow him to the ends of the universe if it was necessary but something about adapting to a whole new style of life is what bother me. I had been fighting for most of my young adult life, my father forged me into the warrior I am today and prepared me to one day take his place.
"We can return to Earth." Lance said with longing.
"I can look for my family." Pidge added hopefully.
"I guess I can look for mine." Keith said unsure.
"This is its. As long as everything goes according to plan, we can't fail." Shiro said with determination. He stood facing the city below us with his arms crossed. I took a step forward and place a hand on his arm.
"Let us see what fate awaits us."
I'm back my fellow Paladins!
Sorry about my absence, I had a ton of school work todo plus finals have been worst than the Galra, thank God thats over.
Thanks for all the support and those people who leave comments I appreciate the support. I do read them.
I'll try to update soon, til next time!
Anonymous-E "Really good storyline. Keep up the good work."
treesngrapes "I literally found this today and caught up in a couple of hours! It's amazing! Keep up the great work and I can't wait for the next update!"
BadassLevi "Omg this is amazing so far! I like the interactions with everyone too. And shiro is just so sweet and great as ever. What a space dad"