Author's Note: To all those of us who are snowed in and not doing a thing on Valentine's Day (or wouldn't be doing anything on Valentine's Day anyway), this one's for you! Enjoy with some wine and dark chocolate the way I did.
As per usual, I own nothing except my characters and planets.
To Emie Mac - Well, Crankypants had to put on his cranky pants, right? And yes, I am writing other Voltron stories. In addition to a few one-shots, I'm four chapters into my retelling, affectionately referred to as DITS on Twitter ("Diamonds in the Sky"). However, I won't begin to post it until after it's finished, just so we can keep things running smoothly and update regularly.
To selena devargo - Woot! Sweet Pea, I thought you might love your Lysette cameo (that hedonist!). She even served a purpose, too...you'll see.
To WarzonePrez - I always have to remind everyone that the Hunk/Cinda pairing first started as a panel in the DDP comics, but I loved it and ran with it. As for my Muse, well, you know where she is and what she looks like, so get cracking the (crystal) whip!
To MamaBirdCat - Exactly! It's OK for Keith to be protective, but he needs to remember that Allura is a tough chick and can fight the battles her own way, even if she's NOT piloting a lion.
To Petronille - I'm so glad things are getting better! One day at a time, I believe the saying goes. I love this upcoming battle, and I'm sure you'll be intrigued by what happens after all is said and done.
To Cubbie - Heck yeah, luscious backsides! There has to be some eye candy in here somewhere. ;)
Title Song: "Battle Born" by Five Finger Death Punch
Keith wasn't the first one in Castle Control. Coran stood at the ready, flanked by Commander Hawkins and Captain Newley, both looking pensive as they stared at the screen. In moments, Cliff burst through the door, followed by Jeff and Crik. Aidan and Lance weren't far behind.
"I had a bad feeling," Crik explained quickly. "That's why we're here."
Those of us in charge can sense trouble before there's even an official alarm. "Coran," the new royal consort shot out, "I know you heard that crash. Do we have any visuals to explain it?"
"We're on it, Captain Kogane," Hawkins replied carefully, one hand clenched in a fist. "But I don't want to wait for visual confirmation. Jeff, Cliff, Crik - to the mecha at once. Alert your teams and waste no time. Captain Newley and I will head for the Explorer."
"Sir! Yes, Sir!" The three Vehicle Team captains saluted before making a mad dash out of the room.
Aidan nodded in agreement. "I'll gather my team and head out, too." Tilting his head from Lance towards Keith, he added, "We'll see you guys and the lions out there."
"Not so fast, Dalloway." Closing the space between them in a flash, Keith placed his hand on the Albegas captain's shoulder a little more forcefully than intended. His eyes shining in earnest, he pleaded, "Don't let anything happen to her. Please."
Aidan understood. "I would never let anything happen to Christiane during battle...or any of my other teammates, for that matter." He saluted, and Keith returned the gesture. "I'll see you on the battlefield, Kogane."
With his blond ponytail bouncing behind him, the Albegas captain exited Castle Control, turning to the side to let Allura through the doorway. The queen joined up with Keith and Coran, her emerald eyes sharp with authority. "Gentlemen," she greeted the remaining men, "what is the situation here?"
Hawkins saluted before answering, "We have nothing on visual yet, but each team captain was just here with a bad feeling."
Newley nodded emphatically in agreement. "Crik has a very sensitive sixth sense, your Majesty. If he thinks something bad is out there, then I would bet my life on it."
"Then I trust it." Allura crossed her arms over her chest, lifting her head towards the viewscreen. "Am I to understand that you'll both be leaving for the Explorer now?"
Newley and Hawkins both saluted once more. "Indeed," the captain answered. "We're heading out right now." Turning his head towards Keith, he added, "To reiterate Captain Dalloway, we'll see you on the battlefield," before they both headed out of Castle Control.
With a heavy heart, Allura turned to her husband and clasped his hands within hers. "I will keep an eye on the battle from here, and help out in any way I can." She pulled him in closer to kiss his lips. "But promise me you'll be safe out there." Turning to Lance, she added, "The same goes for you too, Lance. Promise me you'll take care of yourself...and don't let Crankypants here be too noble, got it?"
Lance cracked a grin before saluting. "You got it."
"Excellent." With that conversation over, Allura leaned over the control panel and sounded the alarms.
Less than five minutes later, the three teams of the Vehicle Force launched from the Explorer, forming the Strato Fighter, the Turbo Terrain Fighter, and the Aqua Fighter. "Okay. I've got some information downloaded from Pidge," Chip informed Jeff, his fingers flashing furiously over the keyboard in his Advanced Recon Helicopter. "These are the five areas where the lions launch from. I say we split up and help defend them."
"Sounds like a plan." Jeff gripped the controls of his Command Jet Explorer. "Commander, do you read me?"
"Loud and clear, Jeff," Hawkins replied over the comm.
"Okay, then. Commander, I think you and the Explorer should guard the castle, where Black Lion launches from. Crik, you and the Sea Team guard the lake, where Blue Lion launches from. Cliff, you and the Land Team head over to the forest, where Green Lion launches from. The Air Team and I will head to the desert to cover Hunk and Yellow Lion."
"But what about the Red Lion?" Ginger asked frantically.
"Don't worry, Gin, your man will be covered. I'll send Albegas to cover Lance in that...uh, does Red Lion really launch from a volcano?"
She grinned. "Yup. Why, Jeff - are you a doubter? Or a hater?"
Her response made him smile. "Neither, Lemon Drop. But whatever it is, none of us are made to withstand that kind of heat...but the whole of Albegas should be able to follow him up." Shutting off the comm, he concluded, "Nothing but the best for your man, Ginger."
"Gotcha." Noting the snickering in the background coming from Rocky's Strato Weapons Module, she added, "Oh, and Jeff?"
"What is it?"
"Call me Lemon Drop one more time and see what I do to you."
The Sea Team's Aqua Fighter submerged itself in the lake, looking around for Blue Lion's den. The idea was to accompany it on its ascent into the sky, helping to form an impervious front to any robeasts or other creatures that would attempt to take them down. Each lion would have an ally; whatever had crashed onto Arus would be full sorry that it had decided to do so.
Crik's uneasiness hadn't settled. He still felt that knot in the pit of his stomach, telling him that something terrible was about to happen. Stifle it for now, Keats, he reprimanded himself as the Aqua Fighter plunged further towards the bottom of the lake. Don't worry until you have to.
Unfortunately, he'd been at this for too long to know that his premonitions were dead on target.
"Hey Crik! I think we've got a lock on the Blue Lion's den," Zandee reported. "I'll take us down further."
"Good," Crik responded. "Everybody, shields up. I want us to be ready for anything."
In unison, a chorus of four voices responded, "Got it," which was followed by Shannon's cursing in his native tongue.
"What's wrong, Shan?" Lisa asked.
"Do you guys not bloody well see it?" The Irishman's tone of voice grew frantic. "What in blazes is that thing? It's certainly not Blue Lion!"
He was right - there was some sort of mechanical creature swimming around right in front of Blue Lion's den, preventing Larmina from exiting. "No, I have no idea what that is," Crik replied grimly, that feeling growing even stronger in the pit of his stomach. "But something tells me we're about to find out."
"Hey, Vehicle Team," Larmina's voice interrupted him on the comm, "I could use a hand with this thing. Think you could help?"
"You got it," the captain replied. "All right, let's see what we can do. Fire missiles!"
The Aqua Fighter's missiles hit the creature, pushing it away long enough for Blue Lion to flee its lair. Then, as it began to swim furiously towards them, Larmina quipped, "Care to take this onto dry land, Crik?"
"Let's go!" Then Blue Lion and the Aqua Fighter began their ascent to the surface, the irritated robeast hot in pursuit.
The Explorer hadn't been in the air for very long when Black Lion made its first attempt to exit its den at the top of the Castle of Lions. It marked the second time in history that he'd been unable to do so. Immediately, Keith gnashed his teeth together. The Predator Robeast.
Wade was behind this, and he knew it immediately.
Okay, so I won't be able to get out of here myself, he rationalized. Last time, the cadets had helped - Vince was the one who held off the winged robeast long enough for Black Lion to get free. But where are those two cadets now?
"Kogane," Commander Hawkins' voice came over the comm, "what in blazes is that monstrosity?"
"If my memory serves me, Commander, that's the Predator Robeast. One of five parts."
Hawkins sighed. "Wonderful," he bit out. "My ship is at your beck and call, Captain. Let's see what we can do." He cut off the transmission, and Keith watched from the cockpit as the Explorer began shooting on the robeast, blasting it away long enough for Black Lion to free itself from its den.
"Thanks, Commander."
"You're welcome." Hawkins narrowed his eyes at the overhead screen. "I don't think the robeast was too happy about that. Let's find your friends so we can put an end to this nonsense."
"Sounds like a plan. Follow me so we can get Red Lion." The Explorer and Black Lion quickly headed in the direction of the volcano to help out Lance, the flying robeast in heavy pursuit the entire time.
Like the brothers they were, Jeff and Cliff kept in close contact with each other, despite the fact that the Land Team was headed to the forest to help out Pidge, and the Air Team was circling the desert to assist Hunk. "I can't believe what I'm seeing," Jeff murmured, almost to himself, as he studied the snake-like robeast that stalked Yellow Lion's den. "I don't know what this thing is, but it certainly doesn't look like any Robeast that we've encountered."
"Right-o, Chief," Cliff responded, dodging the wolf-like robeast outside of Green Lion's den. "These things are vicious." Turning away from the private conversation and operating the general comm, he ordered, "Land Team! All units, strike now!"
Jeff heard the Turbo Terrain Fighter blast away at the robeast, and knew they had to do the same. "Air Team, strike with all weapons! Let's help Hunk out!"
"We're on it!" Rocky cried out enthusiastically in his thick Brooklyn accent. The Strato Fighter began to fire on the slithery robeast long enough for Hunk to emerge from Yellow Lion's den in the sand dune. "Yeah! Now that's what I'm talkin' about!"
"All right, yeah!" Hunk's voice bellowed out over the comm. "I'm free!"
"Yeah you are," Ginger agreed. "Let's get out here and do this!"
Hunk grinned, even though he knew his old friend couldn't see him. "Heck yeah! Let's rock this thing, Gingie!"
"Cliff," Jeff reported back over the comm, "Hunk and Yellow Lion are free, but we've got a robeast hot on our trail. What's your status?"
"Pidge and Green Lion are out," the Land Team captain replied, "but we've got the same problem: a robeast on our tails. What do you say we meet up to regroup and fight these things off together?"
"I'd say it sounds like the best plan we've had all day." The Voltron captain opened up the general comm to relay the message. "Land Team, Sea Team, Air Team - return to the Explorer to regrouping." He coughed. "That goes for you too, Lions."
"Except for Red," Ginger butted in.
"Yeah. Except for Red. Aki out." He turned full power away from the cannons and to the jets, hoping to outrun the robeast and get back to the Explorer as quickly as possible. For some reason, though, he had a bad feeling.
Oh, yes. Lance remembered this. None too fondly, of course, but he remembered it.
When they had been attacked by the Predator Robeast, this creature - the "mechanical goat/bull thing," he'd called it - had stalled him and Red Lion in the volcano. It was plenty strong, enough to hold off two lions at once; in fact, it formed the center of Lotor's Robeast Voltron, sort of like its own Black Lion...well, before Vince came along, anyway.
How had they ended up in the same predicament again? The King of Doom was dead. The Lotor Robeast had been destroyed, he'd seen it with his own eyes. There was no old witch to bring him back to life. So what was going on? How was this Predator Robeast back?
The answer hit him like a bag of fertilizer, that was how much it stunk. Wade. Wade's behind this.
"Hey McClain!" The comm flashed with Aidan's image. "We're comin' to help you out, man!"
"I hope you brought friends, Dalloway," Lance deadpanned, "'cuz this thing is pretty strong."
"Yeah, all three of us are headed over. We're almost there. Just hang on for a few seconds longer."
"Believe me, I'm trying." He clenched his teeth together as the robeast pushed him back into Red Lion's den. His head hit the back of the chair, and for a moment, his vision swam. Through blurred eyes, he could almost make out the image of that creature laughing at him.
But then it wasn't laughing as a red robot rushed it.
That's my cue. Come on, Big Red! Time to go! Lance grabbed the controls and forced the lion to run at top speeds, racing out of its lair with a roar. As he soared into the sky, he could see the robeast focused on the three Albegas mecha, particularly Taye's, momentarily forgetting about him.
Taye and Christiane in Red Mecha had rammed into him. No wonder the robeast was angry, all of its attention on that one mecha in particular. Lowering its head, it charged.
"Benton, out of the way!" Aidan shrieked. Punching the controls in his Black Mecha, he lunged in front of the robeast, which crashed into him with all of its strength.
Shrieks were heard over the general comm, Lance's included, as Black Mecha soared through the air, thudding to the ground on its back. As it came to a stop, Morgan cried out, "Aidan? Aidan, are you okay?"
No answer.