Voltron: Universal Defender
Fanfiction by: Spirit Reader and Serpentdragon
Voltron created by: Toei Animation, World Events Production, and DreamWorks Animation
Chapter 2: Beginnings – Part 2
"Wait! Please, you have to listen to me! There isn't much time, we have to hurry before it's too late!"
Those were the pleas of Lieutenant Marcus Robinson, as he lay strapped to a table in one of the Garrison quarantined facilities. Having somehow returned to Earth after spending over a year lost in space, Marcus had experienced things that no man should have too. As a result of what he went through and what he learned, the young man was determined to inform his allies of what he went through after the Kerberos incident. Unfortunately for Marcus, the officers at the Galaxy Garrison had other ideas.
Although Marcus's return to Earth was shocking, what shocked the Garrison even more was the way he returned to Earth. The ship that he crashed in was not one of theirs. As a matter of fact, the ship was of a design that has never been recorded before. That one finding made them all come to the same conclusion. There really is life outside of Earth.
The discovery of alien life has been one of the major goals of the Galaxy Garrison ever since its creation. One would think it would be a monumentous occasion, but that couldn't be further from the truth. The Kerberos incident was one of the most tragic days in the history of the Galaxy Garrison, one they thought had occurred due to a pilot error. However, now that there's proof of alien life, it was clear that they were responsible for what happened and, as a result of that, things have become much more complicated.
More information was needed in order to figure out what to do next. To that end, the first thing that the Garrison officers did after discovering Marcus was immediately bring over to quarantine. Even though the Lieutenant was insistent that he speak with the higher ups, Marcus's request was ultimately denied. He had the answers that they needed and they were going to get it out of him, one way or another.
While all of this was going on, Tony, Felicia, and Kevin were all observing the situation from the outside, stationed on a small cliff. The three of them were intrigued by what was going on and decided to check it out, despite the fact they were ordered to stay inside. By using her advanced computer skills, Felicia was able to hack into the security feed, allowing her and teammates to get a good look inside. They then watched as Marcus continued to struggle free of his restraints, just as some Garrison officers and doctors entered the room.
"What are they doing?" Tony questioned as he looked on. "That's Marcus Robinson they have tied up there! Aren't they even going to hear him out?"
"Will you shut up?!" Felecia responded. "I'm trying to listen here."
Tony angrily glanced at Felecia for an instant, clearly annoyed that she was being nonchalant about this whole situation. However, he quickly got over it and soon turned his attention back towards the computer screen. As he and the others looked on, they watched as the Garrison doctors were busy examining Marcus's body. For the most part he seemed to be fine, with the exception of him being slightly worn out due to his time in space. However, they were soon taken aback by one thing.
"Look! His arm…It's mechanical…"
As all the doctors closed in on Marcus, their eyes all focused on the mechanical arm that had replaced the young man's right arm. Right away, all of them could determine that it was made of a technology that wasn't found on Earth. Because of that, they started to examine the arm, trying to see how it worked and what functions it had.
"This is incredible," One doctor said, as he examined the arm through a touchpad. "The energy coming off this arm is off the charts."
"What are you doing?! We don't have time for this! We have to hurry before it's too late!"
Annoyed by what was happening, Marcus angrily snapped at the doctors as he once again attempted to break free from his restraints. As he struggled, the doctors were taken aback when they saw his robotic arm start to glow a bright purple color in response to his outburst. Realizing that the arm was somehow linked to his emotions, the doctors attempted to calm Marcus down.
"Please Marcus, you have to calm down!" One of the doctors told him.
"Yes, please restrain yourself!" Another followed. "We're just trying to determine what happened to you while you were gone."
"There is no time for that!" Marcus's armed started glowing even brighter as he shouted at the doctors. "They are coming and they won't stop until everyone is dead! We have to find it before it's too late! We have to find Voltron!"
Upon hearing Marcus say the word Voltron, Tony, Felicia, and Kevin were immediately taken aback. The three of them just had a discussion about it in which the signals that Felicia was receiving early kept repeating the one word. Hearing Marcus scream about finding it not only proved that this mysterious thing exists, but also that whoever was sending out those signals was searching for it too. This turn of events greatly intrigued the Garrison Cadets, but also caused the Garrison officials to become paranoid.
To them, Marcus's words only served to frighten and confused them. Everything was going too fast and they needed time to process everything first. To that end, all of the doctors in the room nodded at one another before two of them walked over and held Marcus down. As they tried their best to keep him still, another doctor walked over and proceeded to grab syringe that was on a nearby desk. He then filled it with a yellow liquid before walking back over to Marcus.
"Hold him down," He told the others. "We need to put him under before he does anything drastic."
"What?!" Marcus shouted in shock. "No! Don't put me under! Please, you have to listen to me!"
Using all of his strength, Marcus once again tried to free himself from his restraints. As he did so, his robotic arm responded to his intense emotions and began glowing even brighter than before. When they saw this, the doctors realized that they were running out of time and held the Lieutenant down even harder. Eventually, the doctor holding the syringe was able to inject the medicine into Marcus, who quickly became drowsy due to its effects. After a few more seconds, he fell asleep, causing his arm to stop glowing and return to normal.
Upon seeing Marcus being forcibly put to sleep, Tony's anger quickly started to boil. Although he never met him personally, the young cadet held a great respect for Marcus. As a matter of fact, one of the reasons why he wanted to be pilot in the first place was because he wanted to be just like Marcus, who he considered to be his hero. Because of that, Tony knew that he had to do something.
"We got to help me!" He cried out.
"How are we suppose to do that?!" Kevin inquired. "If we go down there, we're likely to get caught…and if we caught we'll be expelled from the Garrison!"
"I don't know! All I do know is that we have to do something! Now…if only we had some kind of distraction."
Suddenly, as if on cue, a loud explosion occurred near one of the buildings. When it happened, not only did all the cadets instantly turn their attention towards it, but they also watched as several Garrison officers immediately started racing towards it. Just as they did that however, several more explosions occurred, resulting in even more officers to head and see what exactly was going on.
"What the heck is this?!" Kevin questioned, covering his ears due to all the loud noises. "Where are all these explosions coming from?!"
"That's what I'm trying figure out!" Using her computer, Felecia scanned the area for anyone or anything suspicious. After a few seconds, she spotted something. "Hey…isn't that…"
Tony and Kevin looked at Felecia's laptop and noticed that someone was making their way towards the building where Marcus was being held, using the shadows to hide. At first glance, this individual seemed unrecognizable to the group, which prompted Tony pull out some binoculars and get a closer look. Once he did so, the young man suddenly found himself frowning.
"Oh no…Not him,"
Back inside the quarantined facility, the doctors were all trying to figure out what was going on outside. The officers that were inside with them suddenly left in order to see what was happening, but they haven't come back yet. This worried the doctors greatly and, as they started to hear noises coming from inside the facility, their worries only became greater.
Eventually, after about 2 minutes, the noises that all the doctors were hearing suddenly stopped. For a moment, they all assumed that the silence meant that whatever was happening was finally over. However, that wasn't the case at all as they all watched as two unconscious security guards were suddenly thrown into the room, slamming into the back wall. As they went to check up on them, the doctors watched as a young masked individual made his way into the room.
"Who…Who are you?" One of the doctors questioned.
The masked individual didn't answer the doctor's question. All he did do was assume a fighting position, showing all of them that he had no intention of talking. When they saw that, the doctors immediately realized that they were in trouble and attempted to subdue the intruder before he had the opportunity to do the same to them. Unfortunately, despite the fact that they had the numbers advantage over him, the masked individual was simply too strong.
With only a few swift moves, the individual easily knocked out all of the doctors. He then made his way over to the unconscious Marcus, taking a moment to properly examine his face. Once he determined the he was indeed Marcus Robinson, the individual quickly removed his mask, revealing that he a young man of Japanese decent with black hair and dark eyes. He then went on to release Marcus from his restraints.
"Oh no, you don't! You're not going to show me up again, Sasuke!"
Upon hearing someone call out his name, the young man turned around and saw Tony, Kevin, and Felecia all looking at him from the front entrance. Out of the three of them, Tony appeared to be annoyed by his presence and he immediately began making his way over to him. He then began to remove the remaining restraints off of Marcus before carrying him over his shoulder.
"If anyone is saving Marcus, it's going to be me!"
"Um…And who are you exactly?" Sasuke questioned as he placed Marcus's other arm over his shoulder. "Do I know you?"
Tony's irritation quickly began to over take him after hearing Sasuke say that to him. Ever since he first enrolled in the Garrison, Tony aspired to be the best pilot there is. Unfortunately, despite being talented, his skills paled in comparison to Sasuke, who was in the same class as him. Even after Sasuke was expelled from the Cadet program due to disciplinary problems, Tony still couldn't get out of his shadow as his teachers, especially Commander Iverson, would still see him as the lesser of the two. Hearing all that angered Tony a great deal, ultimately inspiring him to ultimately surpass Sasuke and finally prove his worth.
"What are you talking about?!" Tony replied. "It's me…Antonio Martinelli. We were the top 2 pilots in the Cadet program. How could you have possibly forgotten?!"
Sasuke remained silent as he took a moment to try and recall Tony. It's been about 6 months since he was first expelled and during that time he's quickly forgotten about most of the students that he was working with. It took him about a minute, but he finally remembered something about him.
"Oh yeah…You were that cargo pilot who always crashed."
"It wasn't always!" Tony snapped. "And for your information, I'm a fighter pilot now…Thanks to you washing out."
"…Good for you."
It was clear from this short conversation that Sasuke couldn't care less about who Tony was or the fact that he took his place at the Garrison. All that mattered to him right now was getting Marcus out of here before any more guards showed up. To that end he promptly shook Marcus off of Tony's shoulder and began making his way out the building, walking past both Kevin and Felecia in the process.
Once he made it outside, Sasuke then began making his way over to his red and yellow hovercraft. After making sure that Marcus was on and secure, the former cadet hopped on and prepared to head out. Just as he was about to do so however, he suddenly felt something get on the back of his ride. When he turned his head he saw that not only was Tony on too, but also Kevin and Felecia.
"What are you all doing?!" He questioned angrily.
"I'm sorry, but can we catch a ride with you?" Kevin nervously asked.
Right away, Sasuke wanted to say no and demand that they get off. Unfortunately, he simply didn't have enough time. He noticed several Garrison officers making their way to this location and he couldn't afford to get caught. So, much to his annoyance, the young man simply put up with it and started up his hovercraft. He then drove off as quickly as he could as the others tried their best to themselves from falling off.
Immediately after they started driving away, the group noticed that several officers were given chase on their rovers. Thanks to his superior piloting skills, Sasuke was able to evade them, but they simply kept on coming. While all this was happening, Tony and the others were trying their best to stay on board. This was especially difficult for Felecia, who found herself trying to hold on to the sleeping Marcus as he kept backing into her.
"Ow!…Ow!" She cried as Marcus bumped into her twice. "Damn it! Why am I holding this guy?!"
"Don't ask me!" Kevin said. "I'm having my…own problems!"
Due to Sasuke's constant swerving, Kevin's nausea quickly started to get the better of him and was just about to vomit on the hovercraft. However, just as he was about to do so, Sasuke once again made a sharp turn, causing Kevin to swallow his vomit instead, disgusting him greatly.
Eventually, as the chase continued, Sasuke realized that this game of cat and mouse wasn't getting anywhere. If he wanted to get away he would need to do something drastic. Fortunately for him, he found just a way to do that and began speeding up as a result. Upon noticing the sudden burst of speed, Tony started to wonder what he was planning. To his shock and mild horror, Tony realized what it was after seeing a large cliff in the distance.
"Wait…No!" He said in disbelief. "Are you crazy?!"
"…Yup."
With a confident smile on his face, Sasuke began picking up some more speed as he continued making his way towards the edge of the cliff. When Felecia and Kevin also saw it, the two of them immediately realized what was going on and tried their best to convince Sasuke not to go through with it. Unfortunately, their pleas fell on deaf ears as Sasuke drove his hovercraft over the cliff. The mere sight of that caused the two Garrison rovers that were chasing after them to stop just before they fell off the cliff as well.
As they began making their way towards the ground, Tony and the others started screaming frantically as they believed they were about to die. However, as he braced himself, Sasuke simply glanced over towards Marcus for a moment. As he looked at him, the young man remembered something that he was told before. Those words filled him with confidence as he turned his head forward and prepared to make his move.
"Patience…yields Focus."
At the very instant the hovercraft was about to crash nose first into the ground, Sasuke skillfully pressed down on the brake and leaned back as far as he could. This caused the craft to straighten out, allowing it to safely land and continue driving off. Once he saw that he was in the clear, Sasuke began making his way towards the one place he knew they would be safe. He began making his way home.
You have to hurry and return to Earth! You must find Voltron! It's the universe's only hope!
Those were the words that ran through Marcus's head as he stared out into the vast distance. After being rescued by Sasuke and the others, Marcus spent most the night recuperating from his ordeal. Once he started to feel better, the young man decided to go out and get some air, wanting to reflect on everything that happened to him so far. Unfortunately for him though, the only thing that Marcus managed to do while he was thinking is suffer a bad headache.
During the year in which he was enslaved, Marcus went through many terrible ordeals. If it wasn't for his strong will, Marcus knew that he would've been broken. However, his eventual escape didn't come without cost. Not only did he lose his arm, but the experiences he went through caused him to lose a good portion of his memory. The only thing that he was able to recall was something called Voltron, and that it was imperative that he find it.
While Marcus continued to think to himself, Sasuke was busy observing him from a distance. The two of them were very good friends. Not only that, but Marcus was the one of few people that Sasuke truly respected. He only decided to join the Galaxy Garrison because Marcus saw great potential in him, potential that even Sasuke wasn't even aware of. Because of that, Sasuke tried to live up to that potential, which eventually lead him to become the best in his class.
When it was revealed that the crew of the Kerberos mission had perished due to a pilot error, Sasuke immediately denied those claims. He knew firsthand how skilled a pilot Marcus was and suspected that something else had happened. Unfortunately, no one wanted to believe him, angering the young man a great deal. It was due to his anger that eventually led to his expulsion from the Garrison, but that didn't stop Sasuke. He was determined to find out what really happened on Kerberos and thus he spent the last year gathering any information that he could find.
Now that Marcus was back on Earth, Sasuke was glad to have his friend back. Although he was a bit reluctant to question him about what he experienced out there, Sasuke hoped that talking about it would help Marcus somewhat. With that, he made his way out to him and proceeded to stand by his side.
"It's good to have you back, Marcus," He said as he gently placed his hand upon his shoulder.
"…It's good to be back," Marcus replied as he turned to face Sasuke.
Despite the fact that he was gone for a year, Marcus was glad to see that Sasuke was doing well. He was also grateful to him for breaking him out of quarantine. Even though he was expelled, it was clear that his skills hadn't suffered so that was good to know.
"So…what happened out there?" Sasuke questioned. "Where were you?"
"I wish I could tell you…" Marcus placed his hand upon his face, trying in vain to recall anything. "It's all just a blur. I was on some kind of alien ship…and somehow I escaped. That's all I know. But…what about you? How'd you know to come and save me when I crashed?"
As Marcus turned to face Sasuke again, the young man was trying to figure out how to best answer that question. It would sound pretty ridiculous, but Sasuke realized that this whole situation also sounded ridiculous. So, the only thing he could do is tell the truth.
"…Come with me."
Upon making their way towards Sasuke's log cabin home, both he and Marcus went inside and made their way towards the living room. Inside the room were Tony and the others, who all decided to stay the night here instead of returning to Garrison and facing punishment for breaking the rules. Once everyone was in the room, Sasuke made his way over a poster board that was covered in cloth. Upon removing the cloth, the others were all quite surprised by what they saw.
The board was completely covered with various things, ranging from maps, pictures, to even graphs. They were marked with random details that didn't seem to make any sense at first glance.
"What have you been working on?" Marcus questioned.
"I…can't really explain," Sasuke answered. "Shortly after you went missing, and I was expelled from the Garrison, I was kinda…lost. I found myself drawn to this place. It was like something…some kind of energy was telling me to search."
"…For what?"
Sasuke paused for a moment as he didn't really know how to answer. In fact, the young man barely knew what he was even talking about. All he did do was make his way towards the map that was on the board. He then pointed towards a large circle that had the words 'Energy Source' written in the middle. The circle also had various small circles inside it too, and they each had colored lines that lead to different sections on the map.
"I didn't really know at the time…until I stumbled upon this area. It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves, covered in ancient markings. From what I was able decipher, the markings each tell a different story about a blue lion. But they all share clues leading to some kind of event…Some arrival happening last night. Then you showed up. I figured it couldn't be a coincidence."
Marcus was a bit stunned by the amount of work that Sasuke went through following his disappearance. All this information seemed to be completely out of this world, but given everything that's happened, it almost made sense in hindsight. The only question now is how this could be used to help him find the mysterious Voltron.
While pondering about this for a moment, Marcus looked back and noticed Tony and the others. The three of them seemed completely lost by what was going on, especially Kevin who was freaking out a bit. Seeing them reminded Marcus that they too had a hand in his escape from the Garrison. Because, he promptly made his way up them and extended out his hand.
"I never had the chance to thank you for saving me," He said to them. "I really appreciate it."
Tony was the first to reach out to Marcus, but stopped himself for a moment. The young man was caught off guard a bit by his hero's robotic hand. Despite that however, Tony still held a deep respect for Marcus and knew that he could be trusted. Because of that, he gave him the firmest handshake he could.
"It's not a problem," He replied with a small smile. "The name's Antonio Martinelli…but you can call me Tony. It's an honor to meet you, sir."
Marcus happily nodded at Tony before releasing his grip. He then turned to face both Kevin and Felecia and extended his hand out to them as well. Like Tony, the two of them were a bit taken aback by the robotic hand, but they each gradually got over it and shook it.
"The nervous one is Kevin Peterson," Felecia pointed out. "I'm Felecia Daniels. So…did anyone else from crew happen to make it out too?"
Upon hearing Felecia's question, Marcus tried his best to recall what happened to the rest of his crew before they were captured. Unfortunately, despite trying his best, nothing seemed to come up.
"I'm not…really sure," He answered. "I remember the mission to Kerberos…and that we were captured. After that…nothing. It's all just bits and pieces to me."
Felecia was a bit disappointed upon hearing Marcus say that he couldn't recall what happened to the rest of the Kerberos crew. One of the reasons why she went out the way to help him was because she wanted to know what really happened that day. Before she could question him further however, Kevin suddenly stepped up with his own questions.
"Sorry to interrupt, but what about the aliens. Where are they now? Are they coming? Are they already here? I mean, where are they at this very moment?"
Tony and Felecia attempted to calm Kevin down before he bombarded Marcus with any more questions. The two of them knew that he was a bit of a coward, but having him this afraid wasn't going to help anybody. Fortunately, Marcus was very understanding to Kevin's feelings and tried his best to answer his questions as best as he could.
"As I said, I can't really put it together," He explained. "I remembered the word Voltron. I think it's some kind of super weapon they're looking for…but I don't know why. But I do remember one thing before I escaped…I'm supposed to get it before they do."
Upon hearing the word Voltron again, Kevin and his teammates were a bit stunned. It seemed like everything that was happening was related to it in some way. While trying to figure out how it can all be connected, Kevin suddenly realized something important. This prompted him to grab Felecia's backpack, much to her shock and annoyance, and pull out a small purple book. When she saw it, the young woman's eyes suddenly lit up in horror.
"What the hell are you doing with my diary?!" She angrily inquired. "As a matter of fact, what the hell were you doing going through my stuff?!"
"Well…I was actually looking for a snack," Kevin truthfully revealed. "As I was doing that, I accidentally knocked open your diary and saw a repeating series of numbers. When I looked through it, I noticed that it looked similar to a Fraunhofer Line."
"A…what line?" Sasuke pondered.
"A Fraunhofer Line," Kevin repeated. "It's number describing the emission spectrum of an element. Only…this element doesn't exist on Earth."
Much to Felecia's continued annoyance, Kevin flipped through the pages of the diary and revealed to everyone the lines he was talking about.
"I didn't know what it was at first, but it may be this Voltron thing. Using this data, I might be able to build a device to locate it. Almost like a…Voltron Detector."
"That's amazing Kevin!" Tony said, happily praising his friend.
"Thank you. It's actually quite fascinating really. The wavelength looks similar to this."
After giving Felecia back her diary, Kevin grabbed a pencil on a nearby desk and began drawing on a piece of paper. Using his photographic memory, the young man was able to quickly draw a graph and reveal it to the others. To Marcus and Tony, the graph didn't seem to be all that special. But, upon closer inspection, Sasuke noticed something very familiar about it.
"Let me see that!"
Taking the graph, Sasuke made his way over to the poster bored and placed it over a picture of a canyon. As the others looked on, Sasuke began comparing the two and quickly noticed something. The wavelength of the Fraunhofer Line looked very similar to the overall outline of the canyon itself. Just looking at that caused the young man to come to a sudden conclusion.
"It's there…"
Following a quick breakfast and changing into a nice set of clothes, Sasuke lead Marcus and the others to the location where the Fraunhofer Line matched up. As they made their way over there, Kevin was busy building a makeshift detector that was connected to Felecia's backpack. When they finally arrived, the group took a moment to marvel at the landscape before Kevin began to pick up some readings on his detector.
"I've got something," He pointed out. "It's due north."
Kevin, his eyes moving back and forth from the detector, pressed on towards the canyon as the others followed close behind. As they walked, both Felecia and Tony were quite stunned by what they were seeing. Kevin is usually very timid and is never up to doing anything that might involve some type of danger. To see him take the lead was quite the shock, but they decided not to stop him and just let Kevin continue leading the way.
Eventually, after about another 30 minutes of walking, Kevin noticed that the readings on his detector were going off the charts. He then saw a small cave entrance in one of the mountains. Although he wasn't entirely sure, the young man strongly believed that the source of the signal was inside the cave. As a result, Kevin proceeded to lead the group inside the cave.
Once they were inside, the group stopped and took notice of their surroundings. On the cave walls were several carvings, most likely placed by an ancient people. When he took notice of them, Marcus suddenly remembered what Sasuke explained to him earlier.
"Are these it…?" He inquired.
"Yeah…" Sasuke confirmed. "These are the lion carvings I was talking about."
While the group continued examining the carvings, trying to decipher what they meant and how it can help them in their current situation, Tony noticed that some of them were smeared with dirt. Wanting to see what was hidden, the young man quickly rubbed the dirt away and saw that it was hiding another lion carving. However, just as he finished wiping all the dirt away, something rather astonishing occurred.
From out of nowhere, the carving started glowing a light blue color. Then, just as he was about to tell the others what he saw, the remaining carvings started glowing all throughout out the cave as well.
"Whoa…This is kinda freaky."
"They've never done this before." Sasuke pointed out. "What could have-"
From out of nowhere, just as Sasuke was about to finished his question, the floor underneath the group suddenly began to break apart. They then fell through and started sliding down into another section of the cave. Upon reaching the exit, the group fell into a deeper part of the cave. Tony was the first to recover from the fall and, upon lifting his head, saw something completely out of this world.
"…Holy shit…"
The group all lifted heads and were immediately stunned like Tony was. To their astonishment, a giant mechanical blue lion was standing right in front of them. Not only that, but it was also surrounded by something that resembled some kind of particle barrier. Just looking at it made them all come to the same conclusion about what this blue lion actually is.
"Is…Is this it?" Felecia asked. "Is this the Voltron?"
"It must be…" Marcus assumed.
"This is what must be causing all the crazy energy around here." Sasuke believed.
After taking a few more moments to admire the sight of the lion, the group slowly started making their way towards it. As they did so, most of them were all wondering what it actually was and how long has it been hiding down here. However, for Tony, the young man had something else on his mind. Although he wasn't quite sure at first, Tony was starting to suspect that the lion was staring at him.
"Um…Does anyone else get the feeling that this thing staring at them?" He asked.
"…No," Felecia replied as she rolled her eyes in disbelief.
"You sure? I just…can't shake the feeling that it is."
As Tony continued to ponder whether or not the lion was actually following him, Sasuke was the first to make his way towards it. Unfortunately, the barrier separating him from the lion was blocking his path. Although he attempted to push his way through it, the barrier was simply too strong and wouldn't move an inch.
Once the others finally made their way towards the barrier, Felecia started examining it closely. She then pressed her hand on it and noticed that the barrier seemed to absorb any kinetic energy that it came in contact with. This caused her to ponder how they were going to get inside.
"Let's see…" She said as she pulled out her laptop. "How are we going to get through this thing?"
"…Maybe we should knock."
With an almost flabbergasted look on her face, Felecia watched as Tony started knocking on the barrier. She had already determined that simply forcing their way in wasn't going to work so simply knocking wasn't going to fair any better either. Felecia was about to go over there and force Tony to stop, but something unexpected happened that caused her to stop instead.
From out of nowhere, the eyes of the blue lion started glowing a bright yellow color. This not only caused the barrier to suddenly drop, but also caused some more cave marking to appear just below the lion itself. After that, a mysterious blue energy suddenly envelop the entire cave. As everyone else started to panic, Tony suddenly found himself completely mesmerized as a vision started playing from inside his mind.
In his vision, Tony saw the blue lion fly up into the sky, lined up with several other mechanical lions. As the lions each started glow a different color, Tony witnessed as they suddenly came together until they formed some kind of giant robot. He then watched as the robot summoned a giant sword that was completely enveloped in fire and used it to destroy a large meteor. Once that happened, the vision came to an end and the energy that was enveloping the area disappeared.
"Guys…Please tell me that you just saw that."
The others didn't answer Tony right away as they all were trying to take in what they just witnessed. Like him, they saw the vision as well and were completely stunned by it. It was at that moment that both Kevin and Felecia simultaneously came to the same realization.
"Voltron is a robot!" He declared. "Voltron is a huge, awesome robot!"
"And this thing is only one part of it!" Felecia followed. "I wonder where the rest of them are."
Marcus and Sasuke both reached the same conclusion as the others. At the same time though, the former also came to another realization.
"So this is what their looking for," He said, referring to the aliens that capture him. "Incredible…"
Soon, as the group continued to comprehend what just happened, the blue lion suddenly started to place its head down in front of them. It then opened its mouth, revealing a small catwalk that lead to another section of its body. At first, the group was apprehensive about what the lion was attempting to do. However, as he stared at it, Tony found himself drawn towards the lion and soon made his way up the catwalk.
Upon entering the lion, Tony soon made his way inside a large cockpit. While marveling at the mere sight of it, the young man sat down in the chair that was in the middle. When he did so, the chair suddenly moved up towards the control console. This caused the inside of the cockpit to start glowing and Tony witnessed that the screen in front of him began to display the inside of the cave, meaning he was looking through the eyes of the blue lion itself.
"Awesome…"
As Tony to continued to marvel at what he was seeing, the others soon made their way inside the cockpit as well. Like Tony, they too were amazed by what they were seeing. However, after about a minute, Kevin realized something very important.
"Um guys…" He started off. "You do realize that we're inside some kind of futuristic alien cat head right now."
Pilot me, Tony!
Stunned, Tony suddenly started looking around the cockpit. The young man just heard a mysterious talking to him, tell him to pilot it. He then looked towards the others, wondering if they were the ones who just spoke to him.
"Did…Did you guys just say something?"
"…No," Sasuke said, confused by the question.
"But…Who could have said that? Maybe…the lion?
Although unsure by what was happening, Tony decided to press some of the keypads on the dashboard, hoping that doing so would give him some answers. When he did so, the blue lion suddenly sat up on all fours and let out an ear-deafening roar. As the others tried their best to hold their balance, a confident smile soon appeared on Tony's face as he realized what to do next.
"Okay…Now let's try this!"
After placing each hand on a flight stick, Tony pushed them both forward. Once he did so both he and the others suddenly found themselves moving as the lion immediately burst through the ground, making its way to the outside. The mechanical beast then started to use the rockets on each of its paw pads, as well on its sides, to propel itself high into the air. Tony then started to maneuver the lion in various directions, trying his best to get a feel for the controls.
Unfortunately, while this was going on, Marcus and the others were busy being pushed around while inside the cockpit. Although not having a seat for themselves didn't help, the fact remained that Tony's reckless flying was causing all them to feel very airsick. This eventually led Sasuke to declare something to the pilot.
"You…Are the Worst…Pilot…EVER!"
Tony ignored Sasuke's complaint and simply kept on flying. The young man never felt such excitement before in his life. It was an absolute rush and Tony didn't want it to stop anytime soon. However, just as he was about to perform a trick move, he suddenly heard the voice from before speak to him from inside his mind.
Tony, there is an alien ship approaching the planet. We must intercept it.
After voiced finished speaking, Tony watched as the dashboard in front him started displaying some coordinates. He then looked on as the blue lion started flying even higher in the air. The others quickly noticed this and wondered what was going on.
"Where are you going?!" Sasuke questioned.
"I…I don't know…" Tony answered truthfully. "But the lion said that there's an alien ship approaching Earth. I think it wants us to fight it."
"And how exactly did it tell you?!" Felecia pondered. "And why couldn't we hear it?!"
"I don't know! I think its talking to me from inside my mind!"
Felecia stared at Tony with a look of anger and exasperation on her face. She was a woman of science and everything he was saying completely went against everything she believed. However, Tony didn't really care what she thought of this at the moment. Although he wasn't entirely sure why, he decided to believe in the blue lion. Because of that, he pushed his flight sticks forward, causing the blue lion to fly up even higher.
Eventually, after breaking from the atmosphere, the group now found themselves flying just outside of Earth's orbit. Unfortunately, they didn't have enough time to take in the beauty of their planet. The reason for that is because, just like the blue lion said, a giant alien ship suddenly appeared before them. Upon seeing the ship, a painful memory instantly flashed through Marcus's mind, causing a terrible realization to befall him.
"…They found me."
The two ships stared each other down, not wanting to rush in making the first move. In time though, the alien ship soon started firing several laser beams at the blue lion, causing Tony to act quickly in order to avoid being hit.
"Move, you idiot!" Sasuke demanded.
"I know! I know!" Tony shouted back.
Using everything he knew about piloting, Tony did everything within his power to avoid the oncoming lasers and attempt to create some distance from himself and the ship. While this was going on, Kevin fear and paranoia was quickly getting the better of him again. He didn't like the fact that he and his friends were flying around in a mysterious blue lion, trying their best not to get blasted by an alien warship.
"What are we even doing here?!" He exclaimed. "I mean…If this thing is the weapon they're looking for, then why don't we just give it to them. Maybe they'll just leave us alone if we do."
"…We can't do that, Kevin," Marcus calmly revealed. "You have to understand. These monsters spread like a plague throughout the universe. There's no bargaining or reasoning with them. They won't stop until everyone and everything is dead!"
Upon hearing Marcus say that to him, Kevin's eyes suddenly widen in complete and utter disbelief. The situation just keeps on escalating and it was almost becoming too much for the young man to take. Sadly, things were quickly becoming even worse as Tony's attempts to avoid being blasted were becoming increasingly more difficult. If things continued as they are, he knew that they were going to get killed. To that end, Tony decided to stop running and start fighting.
With great determination, Tony began making his way towards the enemy ship at an incredible speed. Felecia, having remembered all the times Tony has crashed during his tests at the Garrison, was very concerned by what he was doing and attempted to call him out on it.
"Be careful, Tony!" She told him. "This isn't a simulator!"
"…Good! I always wreck those!"
With great determination, Tony continued to dodge the oncoming laser as he got closer to the ship. Then, almost on instinct, he pushed one of the flight sticks forward. This caused the blue lion to open its mouth and unleash a powerful laser blast. It struck the enemy ship, not only dealing it some damage, but also causing it to stop firing as well.
Once the ship finally stopped attacking, Tony then used the claws of the blue lion to damage a portion of its hull. After that, Tony decided to fly off in another direction, hoping that doing so will cause the ship to go after him instead of attacking Earth. To his relief, that's exactly what happened.
"Tony…Where are you taking us?" Marcus questioned.
"I'm not exactly sure…" Tony answered. "But I think its best keep away from Earth for now!"
Marcus was a bit surprised by Tony's reasoning, but immediately understood the cadet's intention. He was absolutely right as the people of Earth were completely outmatched by the power of these alien invaders. Only they, and the mysterious blue lion, stood any kind of chance and so they had to take the fight somewhere else so that the planet could be safe.
Eventually, in what seemed no time at all, the group soon found themselves outside of their Solar System. This was proven when Felecia took a look outside and saw Kerberos nearby. Just seeing that both shocked and impressed her.
"This is crazy. It takes our ships months to get this far…and we got here in just a few seconds."
As Felecia continued to marvel at what she was seeing, the alien ship continued its pursuit of the blue lion. Instead of attacking, the ship now seemed content to simply follow after it. When the group noticed that they quickly realized that something was wrong and that they needed to get away as soon as possible. It was at that moment that another incredible event occurred.
From completely out of nowhere, a giant portal suddenly appeared in front of the blue lion. Surrounding the portal was an ancient language, one that no one in the group was able to recognize. While trying to figure out what was going on, the lion spoke to Tony one last time.
You must enter the portal, Tony!
"…The lion," He said in response. "It wants us to enter that portal."
"But where does it lead?" Kevin questioned.
"I don't know," Tony looked down for a moment before looking towards Marcus. "Marcus…you're the senior officer. What do you think we should do?"
As he watched Tony looked towards him, Marcus saw that Sasuke, Felecia, and Kevin were all looking at him as well. Having travelled through space on several occasions, Marcus had the most experienced when it came to something like this and the others knew that. Because of that they wanted him to give them some much needed guidance. Although Marcus was completely unfamiliar when it came to this precise situation, he did know one thing.
"Whatever happening here, the lion seems to know more than we do. I believe that we should trust it and go through the portal. But we're a team now. So let's decide together."
The cadets took a moment to look at one another after listening to Marcus's explanation. Although they each had mixed feelings about all this, the fact remained that staying here would only end with them getting captured by whoever was piloting the alien ship. Because of that, each of them silently nodded their heads in approval, with Felecia gently placing her hand on Tony's shoulder.
"Alright…" He said as he firmly gripped the flight sticks. "Let's do it!"
With one final push, Tony increased the blue lion's speed, causing it to race towards the portal even faster. Although the alien ship attempted to stop them by firing upon them again, it didn't help. The blue lion entered the portal and vortex instantly disappeared as a result.
Once the lion was gone, the alien captain of the ship angrily slammed his fist in frustration. Shortly afterwards, he began typing something on a dashboard in front of him. When he finished, he watched as someone appeared on the display screen in front of him.
"My lord…The escaped prisoner and his people found the Blue Lion. It attacked us before finally escaping through a wormhole."
"…Trace the wormhole's coordinates and alert all ships in the area to intercept when it reappears. Capturing that lion is your first and only priority!"
Chapter Preview
It's been a strange day for our heroes and it's only going to get even stranger. The Blue Lion leads them to a mysterious planet, where they encounter someone who might be able to shed some light on everything that's been happening. Who is this individual…and are they friend or foe?
Next Time, Chapter 3: The Awakening