Chapter twenty-eight: Wake Up!
"Ok.. I think we're all clear now. No sign of Galra pursuit, looks like we're home free." Pidge reported openly to no one in particular; possibly only saying this for personal ease.
"I don't believe it." Sam marveled, gazing about the inner core of the Green Lion's hold. "I knew that the alien race was an advanced civilization, but this.. this is incredible!"
"And this is just the tip of the iceberg." Lance smirked in his usually cool manner, sitting so that his left arm anchored his left knee positioned up from the floor.
"I imagine so." Commander Holt replied, gazing over at him from where he sat by the wall adjacent to his. "And I've heard about the Lions of Voltron even within the prison, but.. to actually see them."
"And the crazy part is that they're not even Galra tech.. but.. I..think you knew that already." Hunk put in suggestively.
"I.. had a feeling." Sam confirmed. "Otherwise why wouldn't they still have it.. I mean they've been around for thousands of years and appear to have over ninety percent of the known universe under their control. I'd imagine it'd take an astronomical feat to ever get it away from their hands." Everyone braced hard as their floor and walls shook and leaned one direction slightly.
"What the heck was that?!" Hunk cried.
"Oh no,.. it's probably back!" Lance groaned standing himself up against the wall, dragging a hand up across it with him to maintain his balance. Another shake and he leaned into it to steady himself once again as everyone braced hard with him.
"What are you talking about?! There shouldn't be anything out here!" Pidge complained over her com link, as another blow shook them loose again..
"Shiro said there might be some!" Lance screamed in protest.
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A giant nose bashed into the Green Lion followed by another, sending it spinning out once more.
Recovering from the spin-out the lion curled up then popped out, growling as it's optic lights lit up for a higher beam of light.
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The screen searched around and all that could be seen was something of a dark ocean.
"Where did it go?" Pidge asked openly. Leaning back to adjust her seating for a more normal position, she was then thrust forward again by a blow that sent her lion flipping downward.
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Another hit from a large finned creature and the others just sat idly by to watch.
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"Augh, we've gotta get out of here.. and get these things off us so we can get back to the castle." Pidge vocalized, yanking the handles to straighten her lion out.
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As Allura's gaze lifted, she could've sworn to have heard a growl whisper in her ear.
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Diving away from another blow the Green Lion froze at a blinding light that suddenly exposed its color and detail amongst the darkness.
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"What is that?!" Pidge gasped squinting at the light.
Another growl floated through the air for only one pair of ears to hear, recognizing an epiphany that the Altean princess realized would finally tip the balance they needed.
"I know what to do." Allura decided, her face becoming determined. "Hang on." She finished rising to her feet.
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The hatch opened and Allura poked her head out of the hatch atop the Green Lion's head, staring straight over towards the source of the lights, squinting to see.
"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Lance asked over his com. "Those things are still out there."
"I must try." The Princess replied. "The White Lion has come to aid us in our escape… I must try to get to it so we can get out of here."
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"Pidge?!" Matt coaxed more in a panic now which seemed to reach through the com link to her by this point.
"I know, I know." Pidge returned hurriedly.
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"Allura if you're going, you better do it now." Pidge instructed, her voice cracking in the Altean's pointed ears, but still clear enough to hear just the same. Thrusting out of the open hatch her jets blazed, carrying her over and around the beam of the lights waiting for her.
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Pidge braced as she was hit again, holding fast to try and remain upright at the very least.
"What's happening?!" Sam wondered, his concerned face lifting towards the cockpit.
"Hang on.." Pidge strained, watching stressfully for the blue jet thrusters to disappear from view.
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Allura, panting by now, hurriedly rushed to sit down, her screens popping up as she entered.
"Allura!" Alfor's voice breathed, as his still posture remained so in his holographic form. "Quickly.. activate the White Lion's particle barrier then disengage it immediately."
"What? Why?" The young princess wondered in confusion.
"Trust me, daughter." The former Altean king replied simply.
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The high beam lights went down, and the trademark shield that the lions of Voltron all had, phased down around the White lion. And once it had fully engaged, it burst with a bright light a moment later, wailing cries signifying their success.
"Now let's get out of here, that won't keep those creatures disoriented for long." Allura said, turning her lion to lead the charge out of the liquidy field into open space. "Coran, prepare a wormhole we need to leave immediately."
"On it." The Altean man responded back for all to hear.
"In the meantime, you guys need to get up here now!" Matt insisted, as the lions landed in their bays.
"We're on our way." Allura vocalized in a low tone.
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The blue tear in time and space burst open and Coran guided the Altean beast of a castle through it without any trouble. Leaving behind pursuing fighters, who'd missed them only by mere seconds.
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The team dreading the moment, the doors parted. Matt looked up at them immediately upon hearing them slide aside, and the clatter of footsteps began.
"He closed his eyes for a second and I thought he was just resting them. But then his head dropped and I think he passed out. I've tried everything but it's not making any difference. Poking, shaking, prodding.. nothing works.. and then this started happening." Gesturing down at the chair in front of him, slightly to his right, the team found a version of Shiro they'd never seen before. Both hands noticeably shaking, a tense brow and overall unsettled expression; they could immediately feel that something was off. Lowered slightly, his head hung; this hard look giving off the uneasy feeling which began to creep into the other Paladins' hearts and minds; beginning to make them run wild.
"Shiro?.." Keith addressed him, coming to kneel down in front of his friend and place both hands to his shoulders. "Shiro!" Beginning to lightly shake him rendered no response, now to their despair and concern.
"What's wrong with him." Sam asked a devastated look falling over the rescued prisoner, to which his son looked up dumbfounded at hearing his voice and seeing him standing there.
"Dad." Matt breathed shakily, numbly hugging his father in the complete shock that hit him.
"I've missed you too, son." Sam beamed, even though he wouldn't see, then breaking apart to reveal it to him. "But it appears Shiro needs our help." The Black Paladin suddenly grimaced, jerking forward then gained a slight jerking at intervals of seconds, a grunt vocalizing each one as they came and went; the shaking becoming even more evident and involving more of the body now.
"What the heck is happening to him?!" Hunk gasped. "Is he.. seizing?"
"'Can't be." Sam decided, kneeling next to Keith, eyes on Shiro. "He doesn't have a history for it." Touching the fingers of his left hand to Shiro's forehead, he dragged them across it to move aside his white floof. Dropping his gaze slightly, his fingers found his neck. About to withdraw, his weight shifted forward and suddenly Shiro's right hand caught Sam's forearm. The commander then noticed the grey plating and black material that made up the extremity he now possessed.
"How did.."
"The Galra did." Keith interjected, reading his words before they could be spoken. "They took his arm and replaced it with this while he was still a prisoner." Shiro's hand let go of him, likely so it could power itself up with it's Galra purple glow.
"Well I'll be.." Sam breathed, fingers of the other hand coming up.
"Uh-.. d..d..dad, don't do that!" Matt stuttered, fumbling over his own words in a hurry. "You might not wanna find out what that thing can do to you, that way." Sam's hands withdrew at the right moment, as Shiro's hand slammed down to the arm of the chair; sending out a small blast sizable to the blow, which caused Keith and Sam to jerk backwards.
Lowering his hands, which had shielded his face, Sam peered up at Shiro mindfully. The spark of inspiration lighting a fire that seemed more like a fuse to something which would lead him to the eureka moment that could fix everything.
"Does anyone have a small bladed weapon they can spare?" The scientist asked, turning to the group.
"Well sure, but you'll only be able to hold it in its weapon form for a short time before it deactivates." Pidge replied, as she drew and shifted her bayard out into its weaponized form.
"That's all I need." Sam replied, receiving it from her. Waving Keith to get back, he set himself in a one legged kneel, holding the bayard tenuously, he hesitated before stabbing it down at the glowing purple hand; receiving a jolt that shot him flat onto his back. Once the initial shock had passed, Shiro was silent for a few seconds before a gasp for breath began a coughing fit that hunched him forward to recover his lost air. Finding it with a silence, he slowly laid back, including his head, opening his eyes slowly and panning them to his immediate right.
"Welcome back, old friend." Sam smiled, a light humor to his overall tone.
"W- eh-.. -Sam!" Shiro gasped, taking his thumb and forefinger to the bridge of his nose to rub his eyes roughly. "So-.. we did make it in time."
"You sure did." The gruff-looking commander replied. "And just in time for you too, thank goodness." He followed up brightly.
"-..I'm.. not sure what you're talking about." Shiro returned unsurely.
"Do you remember anything from the last few minutes?" Keith asked him directly, and Shiro thought for a moment then sighed a loose shrug, with the inability to recollect.
"Exactly. You spaced out on us again." Keith told him, arms crossed while maintaining a soft tone. "Only this time it got a little more serious." The Black Paladin groaned lightly and leaned his head back, closing his eyes to somehow make himself feel better in the moment.
The team looked up when movement showed the Green Paladin's approach to Shiro with her laptop in hand. Wasting no time in anything, she smoothly connected a cable to Shiro's right forearm, just above the wrist, by sticking it on over his armor and sat cross-legged to support the computer for typing.
"Something still isn't adding up." Pidge began finally after a long silence while typing. "If it wasn't a seizure like we thought, there's gotta be something else that's going on."
"Like what?" Hunk asked, his hands gesturing up a short ways with his shrug.
"We'll know in a minute." Pidge replied, then turning her gaze back at them. "All of our suits are programmed to register all our vital signs. Heart rate.. brain wave activity.. if something happened.. this might help us find out what."
"So.. what, it's a wireless hospital monitor?" Lance implied, crossing his arms to show his uncertainty.
"Kind of." Pidge replied, turning back to them once again from the loading screen. "We'll know his readings once I tap into the system and download the data remotely from his suit."
At this time, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, Shiro's face lit up. The growl of a past recollection ringing in his ears, and for a moment he thought he'd imagined it. But when it persisted with another to follow, he decided now that it was not in his head. A flash and those yellow glowing eyes flashed, then a sudden zap of purplish light snaked out across what appeared to by hyperspace snapping him back out in another white flash; the growl lingering afterwards.
"Do you hear that?" Shiro asked, as though only half alert, his eyes still staring in a surprised sort of way.
"Hear what?" Pidge asked, peering up over the arm of the chair at him; the team's expressions shifting over to him.
"Shiro?" Matt asked, addressing him at the sight of the Black Paladin's expression, to which he just received more silence.
Hey guys here's the next chapter! Can't wait to see what you guys think of it. This one was kinda fun because I was partially playing it by ear. It's amazing how you stumble upon things when you just discovery write through things once in a while. Anyway, hope to have the chapter up soon but we'll see how long it takes me with all that's happening in my life right now. Enjoy this next chapter! Thx!