Chapter 6: The Castle Restored

They returned to Galra quickly, and Spinner immediately booked for their private quarters, not wanting to be anywhere near Zarkon when he found out how badly it had gone. Yurak and Sakura almost timidly returned to the throne room, feeling certain their deaths were imminent. They were met near the throne room by Haggar, who looked almost as pensive as they felt.

"I fear my sense of foreboding has proven more true than I'd wished," Haggar said, clearly reading their faces.

"And my prophetic dream from last night came true faster than I've ever known them to, mama Haggar," Sakura replied, glad for the delay to her almost certain execution.

"You had a prophetic dream again?" Haggar blinked.

"Uh-huh, just last night while we were still on Arus," Sakura said, and quickly described it to her, then told her exactly what happened on Arus, right up to the robeast's "retirement". Haggar stared in shock.

"Show me what he looks like," she barely whispered, but somehow managed to keep audible. Sakura rose her staff again, this time creating an illusion of Voltron himself. "Incredible... And to think, he was that close all this time..."

"How's Zarkon?" Yurak interjected, wanting to get an idea of just how bad his death was going to be. Haggar blinked, looking up at him.

"Uh, well..." she paused, not sure quite how to answer that question, when the answer came for her, loud and clear:

"HAGGAR! ARE THEY HERE YET?!" Zarkon's voice boomed from inside.

"We're so dead..." Sakura moaned, and the three turned and entered the throne room.

"WHAT?!" Zarkon boomed, rose to his feet, and dashed down the steps from his throne to the main floor of the room. "Voltron was discovered, and restored, by the enemy?!" Before him, Haggar and Yurak were kneeling on the floor on their knees, their hands palm down on the floor in front of them. They bravely had their heads held up to face their King, and Cova sat in front of his mistress, head bowed before the angry tyrant.

Sakura, on the other hand, while also on her knees, had her head pressed against the floor between her hands, simply too terrified to look up at the dark lord of the empire, and fervently wishing he'd just kill them and get it over with!

"I'm afraid so, Sire," Yurak was the first to find his tongue. "I've gone over it in my mind again and again, and I still can't see how it could have ended differently." He glanced at Sakura. "Sakura recommended shooting down the lions when they launched into the air to combine, but I fear we reacted too slowly, and I simply can't see us doing otherwise." Yurak and Haggar then bowed their own heads in apology for the fiasco, having already told Zarkon the full story. Cova quickly turned and hid himself in Haggar's drooping robes, deciding then that he wished he'd followed Spinner back to their private quarters to hide in more certain safety.

"She 'recommended'?" Zarkon growled, then turned on Sakura. "And just why didn't you 'recommend' this sooner?!"

"Because it wasn't until then that I felt absolutely certain it was him, Sire," Sakura explained. "I swear, if I'd been certain sooner I would have screamed for additional firepower against the lions much earlier." She never looked up, still too afraid to look Zarkon in the face.

"Hmph, you call that an excuse?!" Zarkon grumbled.

"Sire, I would like to say that I would most likely not have made the recommendation until I was absolutely certain, either, and probably in the end no sooner than my apprentice actually did," Haggar interjected. "Please, try to calm yourself."

"CALM MYSELF?!" Zarkon roared. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT, ALL OF YOU!" Sakura speedily accepted the order, jumping to her feet and dashing out as fast she could, Haggar and Yurak not far behind, Haggar grabbing up Cova as she went.

The next thing Sakura was truly cognizant of was popping into her and Haggar's personal lab, slapping the door closed behind her, and leaning against it to catch her breath. She couldn't remember ever running in fear like that before, if she ever had.

"Hm?" a small female voice sounded from the far side of the table, and Sakura glanced to see her personal slave on the floor, having paused in the middle of scrubbing said floor at her mistress's arrival. The girl was about her age, but slightly more slender from infrequent feeding, yet her arms were, in contradiction, mildly muscled from years of near constant labor, and she wore a set of rags that amounted to a dirt brown bag going from her shoulders to her knees, her small feet left bare. Her hair was brown, unruly from rarely being cleaned and cut raggedly at the shoulders, presumably by herself in a quiet moment alone at some point. Her eyes were a chocolate brown, sitting behind wire frame glasses.

The glasses had been a "gift" of sorts. When Sakura had first found the girl, her eyes had only begun to fail and be a liability for her in the mine pits. Two "friends" had been covering for her, and when Sakura had discovered the ruse, rather than simply sending the visually challenged child off to be immediately slain and turned into robeast food, she had claimed her, "gifting" her with the glasses and putting her to work helping keep the lab, and more importantly her bedroom, clean and tidy. Right now, though, Sakura really wasn't in the mood to think about the slave.

"Yes?" she asked, the slave girl cringing slightly at her annoyed tone.

"Is...is something...wrong...my lady?" the girl hesitantly asked.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Sakura's eyes narrowed angrily.

"You're still alive?" Spinner floated around the connecting door to their personal room.

"Yeah, for the moment," Sakura acknowledged her familiar, her mood lightening a little. "But he's pretty pissed off."

"I'm not surprised," Spinner said. "He can't have liked hearing that the enemy on Arus dug up and restored Voltron."

"Voltron?!" the slave girl's eyes became plates. "Someone found Voltron?!" Sakura growled.

"Yes, Naoko, they found him," Spinner confirmed. "And used him to make mincemeat out of a robeast in nothing flat."

"He killed a robeast?" Naoko almost couldn't believe her ears, it was too good to be true!

"Put a cork in it, and get back to work!" Sakura barked at her, then blinked, stepping away from the door and moving over to the girl. Naoko shivered in fear as she pulled backwards slightly, but Sakura came up and sniffed the air around her.

"That's what I thought, you don't smell," Sakura again narrowed her eyes at Naoko, this time accusingly. "And you don't have as much dirt on you as when I last looked. Did you sneak into our bath?"

"No, no, it was the regular slave's bathing night last night, and I thought you and Lady Haggar would appreciate it if I didn't distract you by smelling bad," Naoko quickly offered in explanation. "I swear, I haven't gone anywhere near your and Lady Haggar's personal bath!"

"Hm," Sakura pondered. "And if I check with the guards and slave masters?"

"They'll confirm, they'll confirm!" Naoko shrieked.

"Oh, do calm down, a guard told me she went in for cleansing on my way to relay your and Yurak's follow up orders," Haggar said as she entered the room, dropping Cova from her arms to the nearest table. Cova looked more than a little shaken up, and Spinner floated over to him.

"Didn't get away while you had the chance, huh?" he asked his fellow familiar. Cova just yowled at him. "Hey, don't go blaming me, Cova," Spinner quipped.

"So you're sure she didn't use our private bath, mama Haggar?" Sakura inquired.

"If she did, we'll know when we get the monthly water bill next week," Haggar dismissed the subject as she went to her recliner and took a seat. "Now I think I should make sure you haven't missed any steps while you were away, so I want you to make a Grenalious Potion."

"Sure, that's easy," Sakura said, then glanced at Naoko. "Shouldn't you be cleaning?"

"Yes, ma'am, right away, ma'am!" Naoko replied, and immediately resumed scrubbing the floor while Sakura smirked and took a seat at one of the lab tables, setting her staff aside and gathering some of the ingredients laid out before her to complete her assigned test.

While she worked, though, something occurred to her, something troubling. When Naoko had reacted to the news about Voltron's return, her eyes had filled with something they'd never held before – hope.

It took little time, the crew of the command ship having not been told to keep it quiet, and soon the knowledge of Voltron's return spread like wildfire. There were few Galrans who weren't talking about it! In the halls of the castle, in the mess hall, out in the fields, in the cities beyond, everywhere it was discussed and muttered about, the citizens and troops alike wondering what this meant.

And it wasn't just them, for slaves have ears, too, and like Sakura and Spinner did in front of Naoko, so did other Galrans talk in front of other slaves, and soon the story of Voltron's return was being whispered and spread among them as well, along with the rumors of the five human space explorers who had actually succeeded in escaping from Zarkon, and were now believed to be the ones who brought Voltron back.

"Voltron's back? There's hope!"

"He was on Arus?"

"Who put him back together again?"

"They say it was the five earthlings who escaped."

"Maybe he'll come back for us!"

"The earthlings saw us when we were here, there's a chance!"

"But the Galrans have hundreds, no, thousands of robeasts!"

"Can Voltron possibly beat enough of them to get through?"

And on it went, until finally some of the guards had to whip and beat some of the slaves to get them to remember they were still obligated to work for the privilege of continuing to live. Not that the guards and palace nobility were any better on the gossip front.

"I thought we wiped out Arus years ago."

"Someone must have slipped away somehow."

"Someone really survived being attacked by our empire?"

"If Arus had Voltron, why didn't they use it ages ago?"

"They must have been hiding the robot, and helped the earthlings!"

"What do you suppose the King will do about it?"

Even amongst the slave children it was the hot topic. A group of children were working hard, shoveling rocks into a mine car to be removed elsewhere, and chattered excitedly as they worked.

"Did you hear, Rika?" a human girl with light brown hair tied off in two pony tails and light brown eyes asked. "They're saying those humans who escaped found a giant robot and beat a robeast to death!"

"I know, Chiharu," her friend, another human girl with darker brown hair and eyes replied. "They're saying it was a Voltron robot."

"What's a Voltron?" a reptilian boy asked, echoing the question on all their minds.

"I think it's some kind of new technology thing," a blue skinned, three eyed girl stated.

"No, no, he was created hundreds of years ago," a human boy with light black hair and black eyes stated as he lifted a larger rock with his hands into the cart.

"You making up another story, Yamazaki?" an orange skinned boy asked.

"Nope, this one was told to me by a guy in the mines," Yamazaki answered. "He told me that a buncha super brains made a robot called Voltron over a thousand years ago as an experiment, and that they were gonna make a whole army of Voltrons to enforce their version of law and order on the whole universe, but then the first Voltron judged them to be in violation of those same laws, so Voltron took them out in accordance to his program and starting going about judging everyone he ran into until he met a cult of warlocks who were less than impressed with his judgments, so they pooled their power and smashed him into five pieces and buried him on the nearest planet to get rid of him cause he was too powerful to destroy completely, and it took almost all of the power they did have just to break him up!" Yamazaki gasped a couple of times as he caught his breath.

"Try going a little slower next time, dude," the reptile boy said.

"Sorry, Mekiol, got caught up in it," Yamazaki apologized.

"And just who told you all that?" Chiharu asked.

"Some guy in the mine with greyish hair and wire frame glasses," Yamazaki said.

"If he is real, I hope Voltron comes here and kills that evil human witch girl who killed poor Naoko!" the blue skinned girl chimed.

"Yeah, me, too, Gaquia," Rika agreed. "I hope he steps on her!"

"It wasn't Naoko's fault her eyes went bad on her," the orange skinned boy commented.

"Yeah, I know, Kurven," Yamazaki stated. "They could have just given her glasses or something." They jumped at the sound of a larger footstep approaching them. They turned to see a Galran foot soldier approaching them, whip in hand.

"Silence!" he roared, and snapped the whip, nailing Yamazaki across the shoulder. The other children let out a slight squeal, then quickly returned to their work.

Eventually, the gossip got so bad, that a guard came to Yurak to discuss the implications, who immediately went to report it to Zarkon. It had been a few days since the first disastrous battles on Arus, and Zarkon had fortunately calmed down a bit.

"Sire, a disturbing thought has quickly taken root among the vermin slaves," he told Zarkon in the throne room. "If we ignore it too long there's no telling what they might try."

"I won't have it," Zarkon growled. "This is all because of those damned human space explorers! I won't let them get away with this!" He snapped to his feet, his hand shaking in anger as he gripped his scepter. "I'll show them what happens when someone defies my will! We'll send a stronger robeast, and this time we'll smash that robot into scrap metal!"

"Um, sire?" Sakura somehow found her voice from her usual place at Haggar's side, and he turned to look at her with a glower. "Considering how easy Voltron took out the last robeast, are you sure we even have one that has the power to do that?"

"I must agree, sire," Haggar stated. "Send the strongest of the robeasts into the arena, and let them battle until only one remains, and then give me the winner and I will work my blackest magics to enhance him until there is little doubt of him not defeating Voltron!"

Zarkon thought for a moment, then smiled evilly.

"I like it," he said. "It shall be done!"

The stands were packed to capacity that day, Zarkon, Haggar, Sakura, and Yurak once again in the royal box, as the first four robeasts entered the arena, and clashed their blades against one another. The battle was brutal, and soon two robeasts lay dead in pools of their own blood, the last two taking a flying leap at one another. The brown one left himself open, badly, and the grey skinned cyclops was quick to take advantage, his sword all but tearing his opponent's guts free of their shell.

"Good riddance!" Zarkon roared from the royal box. "We don't want weaklings! Now, send in the final three challengers!" And, in a burst of inspiration, Zarkon proceeded to sweeten the pot: "The winner shall be declared the ultimate warrior, named a General of the Galra armies, and given his own domain!"

"Wow, that's so...generous of you, sire," Sakura commented from where she stood next to Haggar.

"Whatever fires them up and gets them really going," Zarkon dismissed her observation.

The remaining three challengers charged into the arena, and the grey cyclops engaged them all at once, more bloodshed following rapidly. First one, then another, and finally the last fell to the cyclops's blade, leaving only him alive. The crowd roared in their approval.

"Robeast, I hereby dub thee Deathhell," Zarkon declared when the robeast was brought before him in the throne room. "Now, away with you to the black tower of occult science to begin your additional enhancements!" The robeast rose, and roared in acknowledgment before being led away.

"Now the fun begins," Haggar agreed. "It shall be done, sire."

"Can I help, ma...Master Haggar?" Sakura asked. "I wanna make sure Voltron is destroyed this time!"

"But of course, my darling," Haggar agreed as she rose from her seat to head out. "Now is a fine time to show you my finest work." The two departed the throne room, heading for the special tower where robeasts were both enhanced and, in many cases, created from various alien beings. Haggar had shown Sakura around the tower once, but had yet to show her how the creation/enhancement process truly worked. With Voltron risen once again, now seemed a good time to Haggar to do so, should she find herself entangled on another project off world while Sakura remained here and Zarkon demanded a fresh robeast.

She lead Sakura to the main control room, and Sakura glanced through the window into the pit below where the robeast Deathhell was having his arms strapped to the two pillars to his sides. She glanced back at the control panel filled with buttons and switches.

"So how do we start, mama Haggar?" she inquired.

"First we must make sure all systems are operating correctly," Haggar stated, and went over the various systems present, Sakura watching with rapt attention, quickly and carefully absorbing every detail. A few moments later Haggar was ready to begin, switching on a microphone so that Deathhell could hear them. "Now we shall burn him with the flames of occult science with the magic crypto ray," Haggar declared, and pressed a button on the console before her, Sakura taking careful note of which one it was, and then staring through the window into the pit below, watching as Deathhell was bombarded with the flame like energy, additional beams of energy all around him.

"The flames are the life of Hell," Haggar intoned. "Withstand them!" A few moments later she hit another button, bringing down lightning-like energy upon the robeast. "The lightning is the energy of the demon! Endure it!" Haggar stated. She then hit another button, and two fans from just below the pedestal Deathhell stood upon began to blow at him.

As Sakura watched, Deathhell's skinned changed from grey to brown, two turret like extensions grew from his chest, with white tubing appearing on his shoulders, and four spikes extended from his cheeks. Finally, two razor sharp blades grew from his thighs, completing the transformation. If anything, Sakura felt Haggar had not only succeeded in making the robeast all but unstoppable, but far more monstrous than before.

"Now, enter the space coffin and be off to planet Arus," Haggar instructed the beast. "Soon you will destroy Voltron, and put an end to this would-be rebellion before it starts!"

"But try to make sure there's enough of him left to play with afterwards so we can try and make our own!" Sakura added, Haggar grinning merrily at the girl's initiative. Deathhell was released from his straps remotely, and entered the waiting black coffin, and was soon taken to be loaded into Yurak's command ship.

"Mama Haggar, may I journey with Yurak to Arus again?" Sakura asked her master. "I dislike leaving a job unfinished, and wish to attempt to finish my previous assignment, and reclaim the five escaped humans."

"All of them, or just the small one?" Haggar asked with a teasing evil smile.

"All five, of course!" Sakura knew she was blushing furiously at the insinuation. "Zarkon still needs to make an example of them!" Haggar cackled merrily for a moment at her apprentice's discomfort, then regained her composure.

"You do realize the five human explorers are most likely the ones piloting the lions that compose Voltron," Haggar pointed out.

"Pilot...? You mean, inside the lions?" Sakura blinked, having not really thought about that before. "But I thought Voltron was..."

"When he's in one piece, yes, but when he's separated, I highly doubt that," Haggar quickly explained. "So depending on how much Deathhell smashes Voltron..." Haggar left the thought hanging, and Sakura thought about it carefully.

"Then I'll just have to bring back whatever he doesn't smush, and hopefully it'll still be identifiable enough for Zarkon," she decided. Haggar cackled again, amused at her apprentice's decision.

"Off with you then, with my evil blessing," she said. "And try not to bungle things this time."

"I won't!" Sakura smiled back. "Thanks, mama Haggar!" And with that she turned around and dashed from the tower to the landing bay, signaling for Spinner and arriving just in time to catch the command ship as it took off, the robeast loaded in the storage bay, ready to go at a moment's notice upon arrival on Arus.

"We're seriously doing this again?" Spinner asked as the headed for the bridge.

"Yeah, you have a problem with that?" Sakura asked him.

"Just seems like we're repeating ourselves a little, that's all," he replied as they arrived at the bridge, the ship already clearing orbit and on course for Arus.

"Sakura?" Yurak blinked to see her. "What are you doing here?"

"I've joined on my own with Master Haggar's approval, Commander Yurak," she replied. "I wish to do what I can to aid in the destruction of Voltron and the recapture of the escaped humans." Yurak just stared for a moment, then shrugged.

"What the hell, you're already here," he decided, then turned to the bridge crew. "Onward to planet Arus!" he ordered, and the crew responded instantly, Sakura taking her place next Yurak.

"And this time, victory!" she added for morale, the crew cheering in agreement, and Yurak smiling as well.

Meanwhile, on Arus, the human explorers with their new allies, the crown Princess and her royal military adviser, had put up a space communications antenna, for the dual purpose of sending a broadcast for help from neighboring friendly planets against the Galra Empire, and also so the small group of refugees could send a message back to Galaxy Garrison and the Galaxy Alliance to give them an all important update on their progress and current status. Four of the humans had in fact attempted to acquire aid in their current mission against Zarkon and his minions from the surviving and now cave and forest living Arusians, but met with no success, the Arusians still in great fear of Zarkon and the Galran Empire.

It was while having a discussion next to the newly set up antenna that fate, and Yurak's command ship, paid them a return engagement.

"Let's see what they've done with the few small days we've allowed them," Yurak grinned as the command ship breached the atmosphere. "Release the Star Cutters!"

At his command, the reinforced fleet of Star Cutters exited the command ship and flew out to begin the initial strike. They flew towards the Castle of Lions, as Yurak had designated it the first target. A reconnaissance probe sent out ahead of them had spied the black lion perched quietly on the now otherwise empty pedestal at the front of the drawbridge to the slowly deteriorating fortress, indicating the place as the most likely launch sight of all the lions, and thus the enemy's current base of operations, such as it was.

They quickly came in range of their target, and opened fire with all weapons, bombarding the already half devastated edifice. One of the first shots nearly hit someone standing out on the balcony, but another shoved the person out of the way in the nick of time, the only casualty at that point being the just-set-up space antenna. The two, along with several others the pilots noted on the balcony with them, then dove inside. Video of all this was sent live to the command ship as it came in from behind the Star Cutters, Yurak and Sakura watching merrily.

"Going inside the castle we're shooting at," Sakura observed. "What, they'd rather be squished by falling bricks than be blasted by death rays from the air?" She shrugged, not understanding the enemy's reasoning in the least, but smiled all the same, not particularly concerned. "I'd think the Star Cutter beams would be a faster and less painful way to go."

"That, or they're hoping to get out of the castle through the front door before we knock it all down," Spinner suggested. "Considering the only other survival option was jumping from the balcony..."

"Heh, million to one shot against, that one," Yurak commented. "Mad dash for the ground floor and the front door's the only chance they really have." The bombardment continued, but a moment later the black lion suddenly rose to its feet, then launched into the air, the blue lion launching from the castle moat, and the others rising into the air from elsewhere across the land to form up with their brothers to face the Galran fleet.

"Or, they were making for the Voltron lions," Spinner stated, Sakura and Yurak just watching impassively.

"Okay, clearly the castle is the enemy staging point," Sakura said. "And we now have a rough idea of the blue one's resting place, but where are the other three hidden when not in use?"

"With luck, it soon won't matter," Yurak stated. Just then a large tube-like cannon materialized on the side of the black lion's shoulder, and fired a single long spear-like projectile that almost instantly destroyed a Star Cutter. The red and green lions formed blade weapons held in their jaws that they sliced through several more Star Cutters with, while the blue lion had a square-shaped, multi-turreted cannon form on its back, the projectiles taking out four more Cutters. Yellow lion then formed yet another jaw held blade, quickly slicing down yet another Star Cutter. In short, it was deja vu all over again, but with more precision and a little more variety of attack.

"Guess they sat down and read their instruction manuals," Yurak observed, rising to his feet.

"Well, we expected at least some losses to those cats," Sakura commented.

"True," Yurak agreed, then turned to the executive officer on deck. "Guirus, deploy Deathhell!"

"Yes, sir!" Guirus replied, turning to the officer seated at the helm. "Launch the monster!"

"Yes, sir!" the officer replied, and pressed a button on his console.

Outside, the appropriate bay door opened, and the black coffin was ejected. As soon as it hit the ground, the energy of the robeast within crackled, stretching and bending the space coffin considerably, before Deathhell simply tore his way free of it, roaring as he stood to his full monstrous height, then launched himself into the air toward his five opponents.

The lions paused only a moment, then launched multiple missile attacks at the robeast, who weathered them unfettered. Red, green, and yellow then charged forward, attempting another bite and clamp session on Deathhell's limbs.

"Oh, yes, because that tactic worked so well on the last robeast," Spinner rolled his eyes at the human pilot's apparent lack of variant combat strategy.

"Heh, guess they didn't actually finish those manuals, did they?" Yurak grinned, not at all upset at the idiotic repeat performance the lions were giving.

"And now, just to be mean and tip the scales further, how about a little boost, robeast?" Sakura grinned as she rose her staff and released a burst of of her evil magic, which went right to the monitor and outside the ship.

"Ooh, I like how you think, Witch Sakura," Yurak's smile broadened.

Outside, the magic energy burst moved to Deathhell and bathed him, energizing him further, and he shook the three pesky lions off like so many annoying flies.

"What was that energy beam?" the blue lion pilot, Sven, asked.

"I don't know, but that monster seems to be even stronger now than before!" Keith, who was piloting the black lion as was his position as team leader, commented. "It's time to form Voltron, team!"

"Right!" came his team's echo of agreement.

The lions quickly regrouped and launched higher into the air. This time they were faster and smoother, the option of shooting them down not even really a question, and a moment later Voltron stood before his new opponent, ready for battle, the two facing off in midair. Deathhell reached up to his shoulders and grabbed the two bar like extensions rising from them that Haggar had created, yanking them free to reveal twin scythe swords. Voltron merely made his hands and feet roar in response to the challenge. Deathhell surged forward and swung his blades down, Voltron catching them in his hands.

Deathhell then swung a hard kick with his right foot, Voltron attempting to counter with his own left, and to his surprise, when the two connected, Deathhell's huge toe claws actually smashed through the metal of yellow lion's head, as well as the glass of the cockpit, one claw nearly skewering the large human, Hunk, who piloted it, the man surviving only by dodging aside at the last possible second!

"Ah, much better!" Sakura smiled at Deathhell's success at finally damaging the enemy titan, though the sight of Deathhell's 'unsheathing' his swords had struck her as painful-looking and a bit creepy even by Haggar's standards.

"Indeed," Yurak agreed. "Now our troops will get some much deserved vengeance!"

"Why do I suddenly feel like saying something about chickens and hatching?" Spinner mused, and the two just gave him an unamused glare.

Voltron quickly pulled his foot back, and then, capitalizing on his advantage, the knife like blades on Deathhells thighs extended forward to slice into Voltron's waist. This caused Voltron to fall further back, releasing the swords and allowing Deathhell to land a solid kick, sending the robot falling downwards into the canyon laying below them. Voltron plummeted backwards, smashing through a dead tree which ironically caused him to roll back into a forward position, then finally pulled out of the dive, just in time to see Deathhell diving towards him, swords at the ready. The robeast landed and took a slash at Voltron, who managed to dodge, and then formed his own Blazing Sword, having had more than enough of this.

"Uh, oh!" Sakura gleeped. "Now what?!"

"Now we hope your master did her job right," Yurak growled, not particularly happy that the enemy had managed to pull out its main weapon of choice either.

Voltron charged in and took a slash of his own, only to be deflected by Deathhell and sent spiraling around and landing on the ground on his back. Quick to take the opening as always, Deathhell slashed downward with his swords in a one-two swing combo, Voltron managing to block Deathhell's left with his own sword while catching Deathhell's right wrist with his hand, the two momentarily deadlocked. But Deathhell pushed forward with his right sword, the blade tip getting perilously close to Voltron's head before the robot managed to push back.

Deathhell pulled back only a moment, which Voltron used to regain his feet, and the two clashed swords again, Deathhell losing his footing in the process and plummeting backward further into the canyon. Voltron dove after, making for a downward slash, only for Deathhell to fire several rockets in rapid succession from his belt buckle, nailing Voltron and causing him to fall backward onto his back yet again while Deathhell landed on his feet.

Voltron quickly regained his feet, but Deathhell was again at an advantage and knew it, pressing forth his attack.

"Wow, this is going way better than before!" Sakura's smile was from ear to ear.

"Indeed," Yurak agreed, his own smile broad. "We lucked out in that Deathhell really knows his way around swordplay, Voltron can't even get in a blow!"

"So, are we going to help some more?" Spinner asked.

"Do we need to?" Sakura asked him with a slight note of sarcasm in her voice. "I think Deathhell's got this pretty much down."

"Agreed," Yurak decided. "Time for us to focus on the second objective. All hands, raze that castle to the ground!"

"Yes, sir!" a hundred voices both on the bridge and via the intercom replied instantly.

The command ship immediately turned on the castle, firing everything it had. Walls cracked and crumbled, towers fell, the main door was blasted inward, and parapets collapsed to the ground. The castle had no defense, and would soon be no more. A few shots even penetrated the inside of the castle, decimating the once grand main staircase. In the canyon below, Deathhell lobbed a sword at Voltron, who managed to deflect it into a nearby boulder, then Deathhell swung at him with his other blade, and Voltron managed to parry and disarm his opponent at last. It was then that his pilots noticed the command ship firing in a different direction from him, and launched into the air to see just what Yurak was shooting at.

Upon seeing the castle under attack, Voltron started to fly toward it, desperately hoping to save it and the two still within, but Deathhell launched through the air and landed ahead of him, thrusting his chest towards Voltron and firing twin blasts of energy from his nipple turrets. One shot scored home on the red lion hand, knocking the Blazing Sword from Voltron's grip, the blade falling to the ground and landing tip first in the dirt, while the other blast missed. Voltron quickly recouped, reaching for his blade, but Deathhell fired another volley, forcing Voltron back. Reaching backward with his left hand, he flung it forward, tossing his Spinning Laser Disc, a throwing star-like weapon, which exploded when it hit the ground, Deathhell leaping out of the way a split second ahead of it.

Voltron then launched a missile from his right foot – blue lion's mouth, to be precise – that hit Deathhell square on. The robeast weathered the strike easily, and launched downward, landing a clean kick to Voltron's head, knocking him to the ground on his back. Voltron quickly regained his feet, and made a running break for the castle.

"We have to get back to the castle!" Keith screamed, his voice tense. "Hurry!"

Unfortunately, Deathhell took the opening and jumped Voltron from behind, grabbing him in a bear hug, and slamming one fist into Voltron's side, leaving a sizable dent. Voltron countered and judo flipped him over his shoulder before dashing over to finally retrieve the Blazing Sword. But it was too late, for as he turned Voltron saw a massive explosion rip its way through the stone fortress, and the Castle of Lions finally collapsed in flames, destroyed...

"Well, that takes care of that," Spinner said. "Rather anticlimacti...WHA?!"

"WHAT THE?!" Sakura agreed with his last statement, not believing her own eyes at that moment as a low rumbling reached her ears.

"HOW...?!" Yurak was just as stunned.

"NO! PRINCESS ALLURA!" Keith screamed as he watched the last of the castle fall, then gaped. "What the?!"

"No way!" Lance, piloting the red lion, agreed.

"Where'd that come from?!" Hunk's brain was on definite short circuit.

"Whoa!" Sven had to agree as well.

"Someone musta worked all night!" Pidge, in the green lion, quipped.

As the old castle's final remains burned away, a new, technologically advanced castle rose from its ashes like a proverbial phoenix, shining in glorious metal construction, red paint anointing the top of its four isosceles towers and pointed central spire, the front face of the new fortress bearing the same emblem as on Voltron's chest, albeit forty times larger. And in the same moment the weathered stone and mortar of the pedestal upon which black lion rested between missions fell away, revealing a high tech metal pedestal beneath. The new castle finished its ascent from below the ground, now resting perfectly where the old castle once stood, the remaining rubble burning out quietly around it. The Castle of Lions had been reborn!

"Impossible!" Yurak gaped, stilled stunned at the latest unexpected turn of events. "How could a whole new castle pop up out of nowhere?!"

"Wha...wha...wha.." Sakura stammered, trying to reconnect her brain to her mouth, then started waving a pointed finger angrily at the castle on the monitor screen. "That's CHEATING!" she shrieked, then suddenly the whole ship rocked. "Huh?" she blinked, then lost her balance and fell backwards on her rump with a slight "ah!" Yurak also gave a grunt of surprise. Spinner, meanwhile, had watched all impassively, just trying to figure out if there was a way to pull out a victory at this point, and had reflexively taken to the air when the ship had unexpectedly jarred.

"What was that?" Yurak asked, his brain finally returning to the problem at hand. A laser blast emanated from the new castle, and smacked the command ship again, once more rocking it and blasting a fiery hole in the side. Additional shots fired, hitting various parts of the ship, causing damage and shaking things up.

"Someone's shooting at us?" Spinner blinked, still floating in the air.

"Who?" Sakura asked, then barked at the bridge officers, "Magnify!"

"Yes, ma'am!" one replied and hit some controls, a small square centering on the source of the blast, and magnifying that part of the castle to reveal a double turret gun, and at the helm...

"A woman?!" Yurak blinked, for there, manning the weapon, was a young woman, late teens to early twenties, flowing blond hair down her back to her waist, a white-silver tiara on her forehead, striking blue eyes, and a rather beautiful pink and white dress that went down to cover her feet.

"That's it?" Sakura blinked, then rose her staff as she got to her feet. "Why you little...!" But before she could do anything, another shot from the woman's double cannon rocked the ship again, and Sakura fell forward with another yelp, this time landing on her face. "Could we get out of her range, please?" she asked from the floor.

"Agreed," Yurak decided, his ship having taken more than enough pounding for one day. "Pull back!"

The command ship immediately backpedaled away from the castle, quickly taking itself out of the cannon's range of fire. Princess Allura watched them go, then turned and fired at Deathhell, who was still in range. Deathhell dodged quickly to avoid the blasts, but Allura showed no pity, firing almost relentlessly, her four little mice friends popping up on her shoulders to watch.

"Son of a bitch!" she snapped out, and the mice covered their little mouths in shock at such language escaping the Princess's lips. Then Deathhell managed to move aside, and her last shot came a little too close to Voltron, who had returned his attention to the robeast now that Allura was safe, the robot leaping into the air to avoid the blast.

"Oops, sorry!" Allura apologized. Voltron lifted the Blazing Sword over his head, taking advantage of the moment , and swung down on Deathhell, who had leapt into the air after his prey, and sliced the robeast in half vertically from head to waist, straight down the middle! Deathhell crackled with electricity for a moment, then exploded apart into nothing, another victory for Voltron. If, albeit, a come-from-behind one.

The robeast destroyed and the battle most decisively lost to them, the command ship turned and launched into the upper atmosphere, quickly departing Arus again in retreat to Galra.

"I don't believe it," Sakura, having again regained her footing, stared in disbelief. "What went wrong?"

"I think the more appropriate question is, what didn't go wrong?" Yurak said, a growl in his throat. He was not looking forward to reporting this to Zarkon. In fact, neither of them were.


And thus the Castle of Lions gets a much needed face lift! I must say, I did not think at the outset it required this long a chapter, but I like it nonetheless. And as to the children slaves seen in this chapter, yes, the human ones are all CCS regulars (well, semi-regulars, anyway), in their original series being classmates of Sakura's. And to those fans of CCS who do know the characters, I haven't forgotten Tomoyo, I just haven't decided how or if I can fit her in to this. The three alien children are OCs I threw in for a little variety in the scene. As to Yamazaki's retelling of the Voltron "origin" story, well, after twelve thousand years, just how many different ways do you think that story's been muddled? i would also like to apologize for the lateness of this update, real life has been more "interesting" than I would've cared for in the last two years or so...

Okay, enough babbling, onto the next chapter, and a hero's dismissal! That's right, Sven, it's d-day for you! Hehheheh...

Scorpinac

vampireemp – Okay, I'm only going to say this once – LotorXSakura=eeeewwwweee to the millionth power! Now, Prince Bandor, on the other hand...

LotornoMiko – I'm glad you approve, and have to admit I wasn't really trying to gain sympathy for Yurak, but hey. As to sparing him, we'll see, but no promises.