Chapter 18: Discovered
"Iolite, did you leave the door to the ship open?" Lance called from his room on the ship he and Iolite shared.
"No. Why?" Iolite asked, peaking into his room.
"Then how did he get in?" Lance pointed to his bed.
Iolite looked at the bottom of Lance's bed and was surprised to see the creature from the previous day happily curled up at the foot.
"Why are they on your bed?" Iolite asked.
"That's what I want to know!" Lance exclaimed. "I woke up to him there."
He poked it and the creature opened an eye, then closed it.
"Hey, come on, get off." Lance said.
When he was ignored, Lance resorted to trying to push the creature off his bed.
The creature then rolled onto its back to show its belly.
"Awe." Iolite cooed.
"You're seriously falling for his cuteness?" Lance questioned.
"He's not hurting anyone, stop being so mean." Iolite defended.
"I want him off my sheets, who knows what he could be carrying in his fur. Not to mention, he's dirty and stinks." Lance defended.
"You're being dramatic." Iolite rolled her eyes. "I'll go get some food to bait them out."
Iolite left but then soon returned with some of the meat they had bought the previous day. It took only a few seconds for the creature's nose to twitch, then lift its head to stare at the food with attentive eyes.
"Come on." Iolite encouraged.
The creature stretched on the sheets, rubbing more dirt into them much to Lance's ire, before hopping off, following the allure of food as Iolite backed away. She led it through and then out of the ship, placing the food outside, which the creature went eagerly for, happily munching away.
As soon as Iolite returned to the ship, Lance closed the door behind her and made sure it was locked.
"Right, now that he's gone, I need to change my sheets." Lance said.
As he said, Lance changed the sheets on his bed for clean ones. He then went through his morning routine, taking comfort in something so familiar. By the time he was ready for breakfast, though he supposed lunch would be more appropriate, he was feeling much better than he had since it had all started.
The mood was quickly soured when he reached the kitchen area, only to find the creature waiting for him there, sitting in front of the fridge with what he could swear was a grin on its face.
"Iolite! Did you let it back in?" Lance called to the Gem in the bridge.
"Let what-oh." Iolite appeared, staring at the creature. "How'd it get back in, this ship should be securely locked?"
"When he got back in somehow." Lance said.
Iolite sighed, picking up the creature, which thankfully didn't protest, walking to the door, which was strangely still locked.
"Where can we take him where he won't come back." Lance wondered.
"What have you two got there?" Tristis asked as he appeared.
Iolite quickly changed into her lizard form before he could see her.
"Trouble here keeps sneaking into our ship." Lance pointed at the creature.
"A Vanx?" Tristis recognised the creature. "Did you happen to feed it?"
"Yeah." Lance said hesitantly.
Tristis laughed. "That'll be the problem then." He said. "Vanx's attach themselves to whoever feeds them. If you feed them, they're yours for life. And you can't get rid of them, no one knows how they do it, but they can get into anywhere when they want to, no matter how secure it is."
"So, we're keeping him?" Iolite asked.
"Yep." Tristis confirmed.
"Oh well." Iolite didn't look bothered by that, in fact she looked delighted. "I guess we'll need to give you a name if we're keeping you." She looked down at the Vanx in her arms, who smiled up at her.
"I guess if we have no choice." Lance resigned. "But if we're keeping him, there's one thing we need to do above all others."
"What?" Iolite asked.
"Give him a bath." Lance said.
Iolite suddenly had to hold on tight as the Vanx began to squirm, obviously recognising the word and not liking it at all.
"Keep holding onto him, I'll go run a back." Lance quickly disappeared into the ship.
If they were going to keep the Vanx, he was not going to let it wander around dirty.
The whole debacle took over a varga to complete. It was only thanks to Iolite ability to shapeshift that she was able to keep the Vanx in the water while it wailed as if they were boiling it alive, Lance scrubbed shampoo into its fur and then dumped water over it to rinse the shampoo out. It was there that they learned something about the Vanx.
"No!" The Vanx wailed. "No! No! No!"
"Stop being such a baby." Lance told it, dumping more water over it.
"No bath! Bad!" The Vanx continued to wail.
"Right." Lance sighed. "I think that him clean."
Iolite lifted the Vanx out of the water, placing it down.
The Vanx quickly shook itself off before shooting out of the bathroom to hide.
"Quick, catch him before he gets water everywhere!" Lance told Iolite.
It was easier said than done, as the Vanx was very slippery and would always escape just before they could grab onto it. Eventually, then settled for laying down a towel and leaving, the Vanx thankfully rolling around on the towel to dry itself.
"Ugh, I'm going to have to have a bath myself now." Lance complained as he and Iolite left the ship to stand in the sun, both soaked from giving the Vanx a bath.
They heard a laugh and turned to see Tristis, standing in front of an open panel on the ship.
"Did you manage?" He asked.
"Yeah." Lance sighed. "He was harder to wash than my nana's dog."
"We found out it can speak." Iolite said.
"Yeah, Vanx's can learn and say words." Tristis said. "They're like permanent young ones in a way."
"Great, so we're basically responsible for a kid?" Lance asked in alarm.
"No, they speak like one but they're perfectly able to take care of themselves, they just prefer that others look after them." Tristis placated.
"Good, because I'm not ready to be a parent." Lance said.
Lance sniffed and then wrinkled his nose.
"I'm going to get that bath now." He said, disappearing back inside of the ship.
"So, how's the ship coming along?" Iolite asked Tristis as she walked over to the outdoor hose and began rinsing off the soap suds and dirty water that had clung to her after giving their Vanx its bath.
"I'm almost done." Tristis told her. "I shouldn't need more than a varga or two."
"That's good. We probably won't be leaving for a while though, Lance is waiting for his teammates to find his signal and come get him." Iolite said.
"You'll still have to move out of my garage, you know." Tristis said. "I can recommend some good long-term landing sights."
"Thanks." Iolite smiled.
Iolite shook herself dry.
"I best go make sure our new friend isn't getting into trouble." She said, going back inside the ship.
"What sort of stuff are we going to need for him?" Lance asked as he and Iolite navigated their way through the market stalls.
"Basic necessities, a bed and such. Vanx's are apparently common on Valux, so it shouldn't be hard to find the things that apply to their needs."
"Hopefully it won't take too long to find what Loki needs, I feel like I'm going to get swept away by the crowd at any time." Lance said, trying to keep close to the disguised Gem.
"Why'd you name him that again?" Iolite asked about Lance's naming choice for their Vanx.
"Because he's been complete trouble so far." Lance replied.
"Okay." Iolite guessed that the name meant trouble.
All was going fine until Lance bumped into a large alien.
"Watch it!" Lance grunted, sick of the constant battery his body was going through trying to navigate the tightly packed street.
Lance then let out a wheeze as he was grabbed by the back of his jacket and lifted into the air.
"How dare you speak to me like that?!" The large alien demanded.
"Woah, woah, okay now." Iolite quickly worked to defuse the situation, holding her hand with some of the fingers folded over her chest. "My friend here didn't mean disrespect."
"He spoke to me disrespectfully." The alien grunted, not willing to put Lance down.
"The both of you are from two very different cultures, my friend doesn't understand how important respect is for you. So, how about he gives a very sincere apology and we move on with our lives?" Iolite proposed.
Lance nodded frantically in agreement.
But the large alien wasn't in agreement.
"You can't tell me what to do!" He shouted.
He then threw Lance at Iolite, knocking them to the ground.
The other aliens had already gotten out of the way, but still formed a crowd around them to watch the events unfold.
"Why is this species always so stubborn?" Iolite asked herself as she got to her feet.
It turned out that the large alien had heard her, which only got him madder, charging at her and Lance. They both dived out of the way.
"What I wouldn't give for my Paladin armour right about now." Lance groaned. "Or at least a weapon.
"How about this?" Lance looked at Iolite, who held the Red Bayard out to him.
"What the…where'd you get this?" Lance asked.
"I've always had it." Iolite answered, showing off her uncovered Gem.
Iolite then summoned her weapon.
"We just need to subdue this guy until whoever protects this place shows up, right?" Lance asked as he turned his bayard into a gun.
"Yep." Iolite answered.
The two worked in tandem, not letting the large alien get too close to one another, mostly acting as annoyances rather than trying to attack.
Eventually, the guards that had greeted them when they first landed on the planet arrived, using ropes to tie down the large alien and return order.
"Sorry about the chaos." Lance said when the guards turned their attention onto him and Iolite. "We were only defending ourselves, I was accidently rude but they guy wouldn't accept an apology."
"It's fine." The lead guard waved off. "With so many different species wandering around, fights because of different standards break out all the time."
"Well, sorry about the trouble anyway." Iolite said.
"Just continue about on your business." The guard said.
"Sure." The two agreed, waving as they went to leave.
"Wait!"
Iolite found her arm being grabbed by one of the guards, who held it up before him. He stared at the Gemstone on her arm.
"She's a Gem!" The guard announced.
Iolite suddenly found all the guards pointing their weapons at her.
"Show your true form!" The head guard ordered.
Iolite sighed and shapeshifted into her normal self, causing the crowd still formed around them to gasp.
"What are you doing on this planet, scouting it out for another colony?" Another of the guards accused.
"No." Iolite denied calmly. "We're just here because we needed supplies, I was only transformed because I knew this would be your reaction."
"Go back to Homeworld!" Someone from the crowd shouted, getting many shouts of agreement.
"If I go back to Homeworld, I would be shattered on sight." Iolite told the guard captain. "I'm a renegade, a deserter of the Diamonds because I don't agree with their destructive philosophy."
"Yeah." Lance pitched in. "Iolite risked everything to rescue me from Homeworld."
The captain regarded the both of them before signalling to his men and women to lower their weapons.
"I've heard of Gems deserting Homeworld before, so I will trust your word, for now." The captain said. "But if I see any Homeworld ships coming here, I will personally shatter you myself."
"Understood." Iolite said.
The captain and his guards began to walk away.
"It would be in your best interest to leave this planet as soon as possible." He said over his shoulder.
Lance and Iolite stood there, very aware of the death glares directed at them, specifically Iolite.
Without a word, Iolite walked off.
"General, we've picked up a signal that might be of some interest." A Galra lieutenant reported.
"Play it." The Galran general said.
"This is Paladin Lance to the castle of the Lions. My location is Planet Valux of the Plux system in the Drageon belt. Come and find me." The message played.
"It seems one of the Paladins of Voltron has been separated from his team." The commander realised.
"Data shows that this is the Paladin from the message." The lieutenant brought up some pictures of a Paladin in blue armour, one of them without his helmet on. "Additionally, he is a match for the Paladin that escaped Galra command and who Zarkon is very interested in."
"A fine opportunity presents itself to us." The commander grinned wickedly. "With the Paladin separated from his team, we can easily capture him and bring him back the emperor for the glory of the Galra. Set course to Valux."
"Yes sir. Vrepit Sa!"
"Vrepit Sa!"
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