Chapter 13: Dark Desires
Almost as soon as they touched down on planet Galra, Lotor walked over to some soldiers and gave them a set of orders. The soldiers saluted and left to carry their instructions out, and Lotor turned back to Sakura, who was quietly stepping forward, her mind clearly still on her lost friend.
"Why don't you go back to your and Haggar's quarters for now, I can call when I'm ready for you again," he suggested.
"Ready for me?" she looked up in surprise.
"Yes, I have a few plans in mind that will require your special skill set," Lotor explained. "Also, action will help you to come to terms with Yurak's loss far better and faster than just mulling over it on your own. Not to mention I think it best to keep some distance between you and Father for a little while longer, don't you agree?"
"What, you think he'll take this one out on her?" Spinner asked, an eyebrow raised. "It was his idea for her to be the one to do the transformation work on Yurak, and yours to change him at all to begin with."
"And since when have you known my father to admit his own hand in anything tainted with the smell of defeat?" Lotor arched an eye back at the familiar.
"Oh, yeah, good point," Spinner conceded.
"What do you have in mind for me?" Sakura asked, curious.
"I'll explain that later," Lotor said. "First, I need to hit my own quarters, take a quick shower, and do some much needed homework on the conflict thus far. It would be best for me to be fully up to speed on the situation before I finalize anything."
"Actually, getting cleaned up sounds good," Sakura admitted. "I think I'll do that, too." And with that, they parted ways for the moment, Sakura returning, as Lotor suggested, to her quarters, where she quickly drew a bath, undressed, and cleansed herself. After she was done, she leaned back in the tub and just stared at the ceiling for a little while, trying to still the rampant storm besieging her mind and heart all at once, her memories of Yurak and their various times together, their various adventures and the battles they shared, all playing back before her eyes. And the horrid void now left in his wake.
"Yurak. . .I'm sorry. . ."
In his own quarters, Lotor quickly showered, donned a robe, grabbed a tablet, logged in to the castle network, and downloaded all reports associated with the Voltron conflict thus far. One of his slave women came over with a pitcher and glass, handing the latter to her Prince who took it with one hand while he used the other to bring up the oldest dated file to start reading, and she filled the glass with wine from the pitcher. Lotor sipped his drink calmly as he went over the report with interest. Eventually his eye widened slightly.
"Oh, my, Yurak," he commented aloud to no one in particular. "You really were having trouble, weren't you?"
Eventually Sakura pulled herself out of the bath, drained it, and slipped into a bathrobe, rubbing down her hair with a towel as she went into the lab intent on doing some study work to try and distract her mind from her pained thoughts. Upon entering, she found Naoko carefully wiping up one of the lab tables. Spinner, who had returned to the lab as well, glanced up from his book from his usual spot on the recliner, then returned his attention to said tome. Sakura walked up behind her slave, who had yet to notice her entrance as she focused on her current task.
"Almost finished?" she asked, and Naoko gave a slight jump, snapping around and to attention to her mistress.
"Ma'am!" she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't hear you come in."
"Clearly," Sakura said. "And my question?" Naoko blinked for a moment, then nodded vigorously.
"Oh, yes, just finishing now, ma'am," she told Sakura swiftly, desperately trying to keep herself calm. She was in no rush for any further "lessons" if she could avoid them.
"Mm, okay, just make it quick, all right?" Sakura nodded back, then moved over, grabbed a study book and a pencil, went over to the recliner while Spinner quickly moved himself to one of the sitting stools with his book, and plopped down, opening her book and beginning to go over the contents within.
"Uh, sure," Naoko blinked as Sakura did this, not quite sure just what had happened there. She turned back around and started cleaning again, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at her mistress. Just before she could summon up the courage to ask what was up, the door opened and Haggar came in, muttering to herself, and Cova trotted in by the aged witch's feet. Haggar looked up, briefly noted Naoko at her work, then blinked at seeing her apprentice clearly in an upset mood while going over a study book.
"Sakura, my evil dear, are you all right?" Haggar asked, causing both Sakura and Spinner to look up from their books.
"Well, I. . .that is. . .no, mama Haggar, I'm not," Sakura replied, and Haggar stepped over to her ward, ignoring the young slave in the room for the moment.
"What happened, dear?" Haggar inquired. "What's wrong?" Sakura just stared at her for a moment, then finally it fell from her lips.
"Yurak's dead," she said, and her eyes, to her shock, filled with tears. Haggar wrapped the girl in her arms, saying nothing while Sakura shook in her emotional cloudburst. Spinner stared at the scene, again feeling useless in his inability to aid his mistress at this time of need. Cova simply gave a quiet purr of sympathy.
Behind them, Naoko momentarily froze, her mind reeling at this latest event. She couldn't decide which was the more shocking, that Yurak wasn't around anymore, or that Sakura actually cared enough to cry about it.
A few hours later, a guard came to the lab with orders from Lotor for Sakura to come to the Grand Rotunda immediately. By this point Sakura had calmed down some and had gotten dressed again, and, with Haggar's leave, left to join the Prince. On the way, Sakura found herself pondering why Lotor would want her to meet him there, as the rotunda was for entertainment purposes only, and usually of the type that she wasn't allowed to witness as yet.
Upon entering the room, she noted a group of about twelve women, all wearing light, mostly see-through skirts and skimpy bras and nothing else, some blonde and some with light red hair, dancing in the center of the room while Lotor watched from his chair, flanked on either side by two other women, both blonde and dressed like the rest, one holding a pitcher to fill Lotor's goblet with. Sakura came over and noticed that a second chair sat next to Lotor's, and the Prince motioned for her to take a seat. Once she was comfortable, her staff set down to lean against the side of the chair, the second lady handed her an empty goblet.
"Uh, Lotor, what gives?" she glanced at him.
"I've gone over the reports of the Arus Conflict, and given my men orders for the next assault, but it will require a little prep time," he said. "In the meantime, I felt we could do with some properly distracting entertainment." Sakura turned to look at the show before them.
"I fail to see how this qualifies as entertainment for me," she commented dryly. Lotor just chuckled.
"Don't worry, I've ordered a special treat just for you," he said, then glanced to the door where a slightly befuddled guard had arrived, and upon locking eyes with him, Lotor gave a twirl of his free index finger. The guard gave a quick nod, then waved behind him. To Sakura's shock, nine human boys, all roughly her age and sporting brown, black, or dark blonde hair dressed only in small loin clothes that could all too easily fall off if they moved wrong, entered the rotunda, stepped up to one side of the equally scantily clad women, and began dancing as well - or, well, kind of dancing. It was clear these boys had never done this before, nor had most had any real lessons in this skill. An additional boy, who had brown hair and was identically dressed to the others, walked up to her chair carrying a pitcher similar to the one the slave woman serving Lotor had, and filled Sakura's goblet.
"What the. . .? Lotor?" Sakura found herself again looking up at her Prince.
"Does it not meet with your approval?" he asked. "Since you've begun taking an interest in the male species, I thought you might like a little. . . 'inspiration' for what you could do with the boy you currently seek to capture for yourself."
"Inspiration?" Sakura's eyes widened a bit as thoughts of Pidge in a similar outfit, attempting to entertain her as she saw fit, began passing through her mind, a smirk filling her face as they did. Neither she nor Lotor ever noticed the one boy with light black hair and black eyes who scowled at them, and more to the point, at Sakura.
Yamazaki did not want to be there, let alone entertaining the girl who had taken Naoko away to die.
"And now I think of it," Lotor commented, "The pretty Princess Allura would make a fine addition to my little troupe here." His mind filled with an image of the beautiful royal of Arus as he took a swig of his wine. "Yes, she would make a nice bonus prize, indeed."
"You're hopeless," Sakura batted her eyes at him, then finally took a drink from her goblet. 'Nuts,' she thought. 'Fruit punch.'
Sakura and Lotor spent a couple of hours enjoying their "diversion", chatting idly and catching up with each other. Eventually another guard entered to inform Lotor that the preparations were complete, and they were ready for his presence.
"Excellent," he said, then rose and clapped his hands, bringing the dancing to a pause. "Ladies, you may return to the harem quarters for now," he announced, and the ladies bowed and quickly left, a couple of guards meeting them at the door and leading them off. Lotor then turned back to Sakura, who still sat waiting. "Care to join me, Sakura? Or would you rather stay and enjoy my gift a while longer?" he asked. Sakura looked at the boys that had been selected to dance for her, and who were now waiting quietly for instruction. 'It is kind of calming,' she thought. 'I wonder if Yurak would. . .' She scowled, then jumped to her feet, slamming her empty goblet down on her chair's armrest.
"I'm going," she growled. "The Voltron Force is going to pay for my pain! Keith, Lance, Hunk, even the "pretty" Princess Allura, they will all pay! And Pidge, ooh, eventually he'll be begging me to let him share the fates of the others!" She glanced once more at the waiting slave boys, and pointed towards them. "And the first thing I'll have him do is dance for me - without the loincloth!" she declared, and laughed.
"Nice. Would you like me to have these ones saved for you, that you might have them entertain you as you choose later?" Lotor pointed a thumb at the boys over his shoulder. Sakura thought about that for a moment, rubbing her chin.
"Nah, send them back where they came from for now," she decided. "If I want a collection like yours, I'll put it together myself." Lotor nodded, then signaled the guards who collected the boys and ushered then out, some of whom actually seemed disappointed at being dismissed, and even asking the guard if there was any chance of being assigned to another girl. Lotor chuckled lightly as Sakura retrieved her staff, and the two set off for the launching bay.
"I guess some people will take any option over the slave mines," he commented.
Upon arriving at the launching bay, Sakura was surprised to see a roughly seventy-five, no, ninety-five meter high mobile fortress, that was cylindrical and primarily shades of green. Lotor lead her inside a back entrance and up to the bridge. He took a seat in the chair that awaited them there, pressed a button, and a screen before them switched on revealing a crowd before the front of the fortress composed of a number of military squads.
"Here me, forces of planet Galra!" Lotor announced, causing all the soldiers to come to attention. "As by now you've no doubt heard, Commander Yurak has fallen in battle on Arus, fighting right to the end! As I, Prince Lotor, am now in full military command of all Galran forces until further notice, there's going to be some changes around here. As of this moment, we have but one mission: the utter decimation of Arus and the Voltron robot! As such, we shall now launch a general offensive against the Castle of Lions. It is only a single robot. With our level of military might, there is nothing to be afraid of, we can bring it down! Therefor my first command is this – defeat Voltron!" With that, he stood up and repeated his last declaration, "Defeat Voltron!"
"Defeat Voltron! Smash him into scrap!" Sakura added, raising her staff to emphasize her cry. Outside, the soldiers all raised an arm as they shouted in approval, and then quickly boarded the craft. Lotor took his seat, and motioned Sakura to one nearby before adjusting his hair a bit. 'And when it is all over, should she still live, the beautiful Princess Allura will become mine,' Lotor thought to himself. Sakura, meantime, took her seat, Spinner, summoned by Sakura on the way to the launching bay, fluttering in to take his place on her shoulder once more. Her face was filled with a mix of anger, anticipation, and excitement.
'Soon, Pidgey,' she thought. 'Soon your servitude shall begin!'
A few hours later, on planet Arus, the castle alarms went off as Lotor's battleship came through the atmosphere. The Voltron Force, minus Allura, dashed into the control room, and upon seeing the approaching fortress, Keith immediately decided to launch the lions. Coran, manning the control station, quickly agreed.
"Wait, where's the Princess?" Hunk asked, noting her absence.
"Uh, in here, guys," Allura's voice came over the com system. . .from Black Lion. A second later the view screen switched to an interior view of Black, showing Allura at the controls.
"Allura, what are you doing?" Keith stared, a little shocked.
"Sorry, Keith, I had some free time, so I thought I'd take a moment to see how the controls in the other lions differed from Blue in case I ever had to train pilots for them in the future," Allura explained. "That, and I kinda wanted to do a training flight in Black while it was quiet. Guess I picked the wrong time."
"So you want to be leader, is that it?" Pidge asked teasingly.
"What, you think I can't do it just cause I'm a girl?" Allura retorted.
"Doesn't matter, get back in your blue lion," Hunk cut them both off.
"There's no time for that!" Coran objected.
"Coran's right, we can sort this out later," Keith agreed. "For now, I'll take Blue." And with that, they headed down the transfer tubes and to the lions, launching quickly.
Meanwhile, the castle's defenses began firing upon the incoming battleship, which generally ignored it. Lotor and Sakura observed all calmly from their seats on the bridge.
"Nice defense setup, my compliments to the architect," Lotor stated. "Almost a shame to bring it down; almost. Still, we have a job to do, and I a Princess to hopefully capture. So everyone stick to the plan! Detach the control towers!" With that, the bottom two-thirds of the battleship detached itself from the top, a single metal pillar left behind below the now saucer shaped top, and then the lower part split in three, each part swinging around to land on each side of the castle with the top part landing, somehow balanced atop its pillar, on the remaining side.
"Let's commence the attack! Sakura, take the bridge!" Lotor commanded, and headed off.
"Wait, what?!" Sakura blinked, but Lotor was gone a moment later. Sakura turned back to the remaining bridge crew, some of whom raised an eyebrow at her. "Uhh. . .proceed?"
A few moments later each piece of the battle ship released a swarm of Star Cutters that went on the attack, Lotor joining the fray in his personal fighter, all landing mild blows against the castle, at least one gun turret exploding and ending the life of it's gunner. Sakura watched from the battleship's bridge, for now letting the bridge crew do their jobs without interfering. Then the lions jumped into the fight, quickly smashing and shooting down the Star Cutters en masse. The Black Lion's side missile launcher was formed, a Star Cutter in its sites, but nothing happened other than a series of faint clicks.
"Well, that's interesting," Sakura observed. "Wonder what happened there." She considered ordering a wing of Cutters to focus on the apparently faulty lion, but knew from experience that the lions didn't need their missile weapons to be dangerous.
As it happened, she wasn't the only one wondering what had gone wrong.
"Allura, what happened?" Keith asked over the lions' coms.
"I don't know," Allura replied, hitting the firing button one more time. "It won't fire. Either the Black Bazooka is jammed, or someone forgot to reload Black's arsenal after it was last used."
"Don't panic, Princess, try the Gyro Override!" Pidge suggested. Before she could, though, she noticed the one unique ship flying in among the others.
"Uh, oh, Lotor's here," she observed.
"Then I think it's time we pulled out the big guns," Keith decided. "Let's form Voltron!" They regrouped quickly, and flew up to combine, but Lotor saw this immediately.
"Oh, I don't think so, no Voltron for you today!" he declared, and fired quickly upon the black lion, the shot hitting home and the feedback jolting Allura so hard she passed out, the lion plummeting back to the ground before anyone could do anything.
"Now, disable and capture the blue lion!" Lotor commanded. "That's the Princess's." Confirmation of the order was quickly relayed, and several Cutters turned to focus fire on Blue, forcing it away from the other lions while attempting to disable it. The shift in tactics did not go unnoticed, and Keith ordered the others to guard Allura while he attacked head-on, surprising Lotor by knocking two of Lotor's missiles out of the air with his own, and then following up with a blast of water that momentarily disoriented Lotor's craft. "She fights like a lion," Lotor mused. "I want her more and more."
Meanwhile, Sakura, observing the actions of the other lions, made a decision of her own.
"Third and fifth wings, supply cover fire. Seventh wing, take down the green lion, and I want the pilot alive!" she commanded.
"Commanders?" a voice came over the coms.
"Haggar's apprentice, she's legit, obey the orders," one of the battleship's ranking bridge officers replied quickly. Truth be told, he wasn't really sure if Sakura had any real authority here, Lotor's departing command or not, but for now her orders weren't completely unreasonable, so he decided he'd go with it for the moment.
Outside, the other lions had reached Black, Yellow lifting it by the tail while the other two were lifting it from beneath. The Star Cutter wings attacked as ordered, and Green found itself split from the others while Yellow and Red desperately tried not to loose Black.
"What the, why are they suddenly focusing on us?" Hunk asked. "I thought they were after Blue."
"Lotor and most of them are," Lance observed. "It's just this group that seems to have switched over to. . .no, not us, they're focusing on Pidge!"
"Oh, great, I wonder who gave that order?" Pidge queried sarcastically. "You two focus on getting Allura to safety, I'll take care of this."
"Are you sure, buddy?" Hunk asked.
"There's no time to argue, let's just do it," Lance decided. "Don't die, Pidge. We can't afford to lose another friend."
Meanwhile, the battle for Blue had turned. Lotor had swung around for another pass, only for Keith to lift upwards and then back-flip to land on Lotor's wing, Blue's fangs sinking into the wing and attempting to tear it.
"Wait, this skill is way past what the reports say the Princess has currently. . . Fuck! That's not her in that lion! It's one of the others!" Lotor realized angrily. He shook his ship hard, and Blue released its grip, leaping off and back into the air. A few Cutters had also realized something wasn't right, and laid down some support fire. Blue fired back, and Lotor angrily ordered the troops to pull back for the moment, turning his craft back to the main part of the battleship. "Don't think this is over for a moment!" he growled. Blue watched for a second, then turned to fly back to it's fellows.
Elsewhere, Green was still having problems, the Cutters doing their best to try and disable the lion without utterly destroying it. Yellow and Red, as Pidge had commanded, were hauling ass back to the castle with the still unmoving Black.
"Come on, cut me a break, will ya?" Pidge grouched. One Cutter swung in for the kill. . .and then promptly exploded when Blue suddenly smashed through it, trident blade in jaw. "Keith!"
"Need a hand, Pidge?" Keith asked as he took out another Cutter quickly.
"Hell, yeah!" Pidge agreed, now finally able to properly counterattack.
Sakura watched a few more cutters get destroyed by the two lions before growling in annoyance.
"Wings, pull back and save your strength," she commanded, and the Cutters withdrew. The two lions immediately took the moment to zip back to the other three and the castle. "Is it just me, Spinner, or was someone else flying Blue today?"
"Did rather seem like it," he replied. "Now what?"
"Now we wait for Lotor to come back," she glowered. The wait wasn't long, as Lotor returned only a handful of minutes later, looking no more happy than she was.
"I'd say I was close, but it seems that the Voltron Force did a pilot switch around on us," he growled.
"Yeah, I thought it looked like Blue was being flown more expertly than usual," Sakura observed. "So, now what?"
"Now we hold for a moment while licking our wounds," Lotor said. "This isn't a defeat just yet. For now, we bide our time a little, keep them relatively trapped within their castle while we rethink our approach. In the meantime, after combat report, officers." The bridge officers quickly hopped to and gave him a run down on how many Star Cutters, and pilots thereof, were lost in the battle, and an assessment of their remaining strength and what damage had actually been done to the enemy. The outlook on the last wasn't favorable, the Castle of Lions having taken minimal damage due to it clearly being well made of the right materials, and only one lion having taken any significant damage, and even that was, in the long run, negligible. The first wasn't too good either, actually, as only a handful of Cutters and their pilots remained after the engagement. After hearing all this, Lotor decided it was time for a quick meal, and urged Sakura to join him.
"When did you last eat something?" he asked her seriously when she initially started to decline. She paused to think, but Spinner came back more quickly.
"Before we left Galra with the newly robeast-ed Yurak," Spinner told him. "Unless she had something when I wasn't watching."
"I thought that might be," Lotor nodded. "Now come on, let's get some food in you, you'll feel a little better in the long run." Sakura followed him down to the ship's commissary, and almost as soon as she took her first bite, she practically inhaled her meal.
"Are you going to eat the plate, too?" Lotor chuckled, eating at a more reserved pace. Spinner sat on Sakura's left side, also eating but not as quickly as his mistress. Sakura just gave Lotor a quick scowl, then continued her meal. When they returned to the bridge, they found the Arusian night had fallen, and Lotor carefully contemplated the now quiet castle.
"If we could figure out just how to hit it right, we could bring that castle down, right on their heads," he mused. "But if Princess Allura is still inside, I dare not lest she be killed too soon. And I imagine you'd prefer your 'Pidge' also not be within when the castle tumbles down." He said the last part to Sakura, who nodded in assent.
"I can't have my proper evil way with him if he's a corpse," she said. Lotor smirked briefly, then glanced back at the castle, and the annoying greenery surrounding the base of it.
"Gunners, eliminate all those trees and shrubs so I can get a better view," he ordered, and a few minutes and well aimed shots later, the view of the castle was clearer. The ship held a spotlight on the castle, scanning around, but it was soon realized it was a lost cause. "Stainless steal, and almost no windows for me to see inside. Move the light upwards a bit," he commanded. The light went up the castle wall, slowly, seeking a viable window, but the telltale reflective flash didn't happen until over halfway up the structure.
"Figures the only good windows would be up high where attempting to use them would be near suicide," Lotor grumbled. "Kill the lights for the moment." The light immediately switched off.
"And plan B?" Sakura asked. Before he could answer, though, a soldier interrupted them.
"Prince Lotor, his majesty, your father, King Zarkon is calling on the Space Scope," he said. "Putting it through now."
"My father?" Lotor blinked. "I'm busy here, tell him to call back." Unfortunately, a second later the view screen changed to show an image of Zarkon and Haggar in the throne room of their castle in their usual seats. "Damn it," Lotor muttered under his breath.
"King Zarkon, how are you?" Sakura smiled nervously.
"Greetings Father, how can I help you?" Lotor stood up attentively, and Sakura, not wanting to be caught in a faux pas, real or otherwise, immediately hopped to her feet as well.
"Lotor, my vile offspring, Little Witch, is Voltron defeated?" Zarkon inquired immediately.
"Soon, Father. Even now, their castle trembles at my attack," Lotor stated.
"Is it? My eyes and ears within our castle suggest you have become somewhat interested in the Arus Princess," Haggar commented. "I do hope you're not letting her impede your progress." Zarkon surprised them all by chuckling at this.
"Well, I can't blame you if you did," Zarkon said. "She would be quite a prize, for bragging rights if nothing else."
"Then we can agree, Father," Lotor smiled. "The destruction of the castle and Voltron will be your glory, and the Princess, should I manage to take her alive, mine."
"Acceptable, unless. . ." Zarkon turned his gaze on Sakura, "You're holding him up because you want to secure the little human boy you've taken a fancy to."
"Please, my King," Sakura curtsied slightly, "Since when has anything but his own dirty mind ever held up Lotor?" At that, Lotor gave an amused chuckle, while Zarkon laughed outright.
"Well said, Little Witch. I see you have not lost the edge of your tongue," the evil King congratulated her, then returned to the point at hand. "Make it happen, then."
"You needn't worry, sire. Lotor isn't like Yurak," Haggar said. "His words are as sharp as his sword."
"Yes, as he's my son, that is as it should be," Zarkon said.
"When next we speak, it will be done," Lotor swore, and bowed.
"We won't let you down, majesty," Sakura bowed as well.
"Very well," Zarkon said, and the line cut out. Lotor and Sakura resumed their seats, Sakura taking a few quick breaths.
"You really think we can do it?" she asked.
"I certainly intend to try," Lotor said. "Time for a change of plan, I think. Hail the Castle of Lions, it's time I gave an ultimatum."
"Seriously?" Spinner asked.
"Of course," Lotor stated calmly. A moment later, the view screen changed again, and the face of Coran appeared.
"This is Coran, Chief Tactical Adviser to the Princess," he declared immediately. "Have you called to declare your unconditional surrender?"
"You wish, old man," Sakura smirked in amusement. "We're calling to discuss yours."
"Then get used to disappointment," Coran replied. "Young lady, you would do well to reconsider your allegiance, even now it is not too late to choose the right path."
"Really? Trying to poach her from us?" Lotor arched an eyebrow.
"Whatever evil spell Haggar put on her, we will break through it, and save her from you," Coran stated firmly.
"Oh, didn't Keith tell you?" Lotor smiled wider. "The only spell the old witch used was child raising."
"You lie," Coran stared at the evil Prince in horror.
"Believe what you will," Lotor replied. "Now then, to business. I have decided I am willing to generally spare your otherwise worthless planet. In exchange, Princess Allura will surrender herself to me as my personal slave. And the young human Pidge will submit to be Witch Sakura's plaything."
"Ah, you're so nice to me, my Prince," Sakura smiled and leaned sideways slightly towards him.
"Absolutely not!" Coran snapped at them. "We'll never agree to such terms!"
"Oh, no?" Lotor continued to smile. "They have one hour. If they aren't here by then, we start laying waste to the nearest city, no holding back! One hour!" And with that, he signaled the com officer to cut the line, which he did. "Now we wait for the Princess's and Pidge's answer."
Coran quickly relayed the ultimatum to Keith, Lance, Hunk, and Pidge, who had opted not to retire for the evening just yet in the interest of being ready to relaunch at a moment's notice. In the immediate aftermath of the battle, Allura, after apologizing profusely for the ill-timed taking of Black and, more to the point, doing so without permission, had gotten checked by the castle medical staff real fast, then opted for a quick nap. The four male Force members had gone to a lounge, thinking over the ultimatum.
"I can't believe Lotor was so bold as to just ask that we hand Allura over like a bag of apples," Lance commented.
"He did get all distracted by her when we first met him. Obviously he's attracted to her, not that I really blame him or anything, but still," Hunk added. "Not someone you want interested in you, I say."
"I'm more surprised that he included me, just for that little. . .what kind of relationship do those two have, anyway?" Pidge gave his piece, unsure if he was just unhappy, annoyed, or worried about the prospect.
"At least Coran refused, Pidge," Lance said to him, hoping to ease their young friend's mind. "You know we'd never give you or Allura up."
"Like he'd ever do otherwise," Hunk agreed. "So what do you say, Keith? What's our next move?" Keith thought quietly for a moment, considering.
"I don't know, yet, but no matter what, we stick together," he declared. "I've also gotten the repair report on Black. Apparently, from what they can tell, it was a mechanical fault. A couple of gears slipped on the Black Bazooka, precluding it from firing. Probably knocked loose in a previous fight. They're reasonably sure it won't happen again anytime soon."
"Well, at least that's some good news," Hunk said. "At least we'll be ready to go full bore when Lotor finally decides to start shooting again."
"Agreed," Lance nodded. "And next time we'll be more wary when it's time to form Voltron."
"Agreed," Keith stated. Pidge gave a nod, then noticed something shift in the shadows in the hallway. For a moment he silently wondered what it could have been, then decided it was probably just a gust of wind, most likely from an air conditioner. About twenty minutes later the alarm went off, and they dashed to the control room to find out what was wrong. Only to discover the worst – Allura had learned of the ultimatum, boarded Blue, and left alone to face Lotor! Their next decision could not have been simpler.
"Time's almost up, you'd think they'd have sent a signal by now," Lotor mused.
"Seriously, where's the begging for mercy?" Sakura agreed, the girl having flopped backwards over her chair's armrest out of boredom. Spinner sat on the other armrest, studiously pretending his mistress wasn't up to juvenile antics. Just then the alarms went off, and the whole bridge began to shake. "Huh?" Sakura looked up in surprise. Lotor and Spinner, also taken by surprise, looked around as well.
"Prince Lotor, Witch Sakura, it's the Blue Lion!" a guard screamed, and then the lion in question tore through the wall, setting down on the deck.
"Lotor, I believe you asked to see me?!" Allura's voice came over the lion's loudspeaker. The lion raised its paw for a strike against the guards, but Sakura, having jumped to her feet, held up her staff and blasted it with her magic, restraining it. Just as Allura attempted to shake the lion's paw free of Sakura's magical grip, Lotor sprang into action, hitting a button nearby him. A moment later giant restraining hooks came out of the walls and floor and seized the lion's legs. Sakura immediately released her magic once the lion was secure.
"Ah, you were ready for me," Allura stated calmly. "Should've thought of that."
"Indeed, Princess," Lotor agreed with a smile. "But would you have ever thought to be ready for this?" And with that, he hit another button and a laser descended, blasting the lion hard. The effect was Allura letting out a shriek of shock and finding her body going limp. She was still awake, but she couldn't move. The laser ceased, and two guards quickly clambered into the lion and grabbed her, bringing her out and down to the deck, laying her down and stepping back as Lotor and Sakura stepped forward.
"Where's Pidge?" Sakura asked.
"There was no else evident in the lion, Witch Sakura," one of the guards reported. "Just her."
"What?!" Sakura glared.
"We'll worry about him later," Lotor waved her off. "In the meantime. . ." He stepped over to Allura and knelt down next to her, lifting her into his arms. "So lovely," Lotor breathed, making Allura involuntarily shudder in revulsion. Lotor leaned in, intent on stealing her lips, and then Allura felt her body return control to her, and she slapped him. Hard.
"Filth! Don't you touch me!" she snapped at him, while he stared stunned.
"How dare you, now you'll pay for that," Lotor growled, reflexively pulling out his sword.
"Go ahead, kill your prize," Allura stared at him defiantly. Her only real leverage, for loose definitions of the word, right now was his desire to keep her alive for other interests. And sure enough, he halted his hand, though not for the reason she expected. Sakura had held him back with her magic, and stepped forward.
"Kill you, Princess?" Sakura looked at her, a barely held rage entering her eyes. "Oh, hardly. I intend to do much worse to you than that. You and the other three." The girl stared fiercely into Allura's eyes, mere centimeters away, her staff held menacingly. "You will all pay for what you did to Yurak!"
"Yurak?" Allura blinked "But why would you. . .?"
"He was my friend!" Sakura snapped, tears burning at the edges of her eyes again. Allura's eyes widened in shock.
"Friend?" she breathed. Then her eyes hardened. "Sven was ours." Sakura found herself involuntarily jerking at the sound of the man's name. Before she could do more, Lotor grabbed her staff-hand by the wrist, holding her back, Sakura having released him from her magic without realizing it.
"While I appreciate and respect your wishes, Sakura, I must insist you stay your hand," he said. "I have my own plans for Princess Allura at the moment." Sakura growled, turning her eyes to him.
"What did you have in mind, having me serve you as your slave?" Allura asked, somehow keeping herself calm despite all odds. Lotor turned his attention back to her, as did Sakura, Lotor releasing his grip on the young girl's wrist as they did.
"Oh, so beautiful while so defiant," Lotor purred. "Oh, yes, I've absolutely got to have you now." Before he could do anything else, though, the alarm sounded again. "What?" Lotor glanced over his shoulder, Sakura turning as well.
"Prince Lotor, the other lions are approaching quickly!" an officer reported.
"What? Really?" Lotor blinked in surprise, then grinned. "Excellent, they've fallen right into my hands!"
"They're actually hand delivering Pidge to me!" Sakura smiled. "Oh, today is turning out so well!"
"Even if they're coming to rescue her, I'll just destroy them," Lotor grinned, then they heard the sound of someone starting to run off, and Lotor turned and lunged forward, catching the fleeing Allura just as she reached the foot of her lion. "No, you don't," Lotor stated calmly. "Let's go talk to your comrades, shall we?"
A few minutes later, they were standing outside as the lions approached. Lotor held Allura with one hand, his other holding his drawn sword on the Princess. Sakura stood to his right, staff in hand and Spinner calmly waiting on her shoulder. Several guards were with them. The lions came to an immediate halt.
"Keith, everyone! Don't come any closer! Fall back immediately!" Allura snapped out. The lions just stood there.
"Voltron Force, exit your lions, and surrender to me at once, and the Princess will not be harmed!" Lotor gave his own command, moving his sword's blade closer to Allura's body threateningly.
"Think they'll call his bluff?" Spinner whispered to Sakura. "I think they'll call his bluff."
"You have one minute to get out!" Sakura called out to the lions, ignoring Spinner and casting a spell, her magical energies raising up to hover near Allura, ready to strike at her discretion.
"Uh, oh," Allura's eyes widened a little at the magical energies, then snapped back to the lions. "Go back now! That's an order!" she called out again. The next few seconds went by tensely as they waited for some kind of response, and then they heard the hissing sound of the lions' hatches opening. A moment later the four pilots emerged and descended to the ground. Lotor and Sakura both chuckled in triumph, while Allura just groaned. "Brave idiots," she whispered.
"They actually went for it," Spinner stared in surprise. "I thought for sure they would call the bluff." Sakura ignored him, and with Lotor simply strode forward to meet the Force as they came to a halt a few feet away. A guard quickly took hold of Allura lest she bolt, Sakura's spell still hovering near the Princess.
"Hello, my Pidge," Sakura greeted her target. "I've been waiting for this moment."
"I'm sure you have," Pidge replied calmly, then blinked. He could swear that behind the girl's calm smile, the young witch was upset about something.
"Tell me, Keith," Lotor spoke to the commander of the Voltron Force, "How are the lions activated for use? Specific button sequence? Levers? Switches? Combination thereof?"
"Keys," Keith replied calmly.
"Ah, simple, yet effective. Hand them over, please," Lotor held out his hand, and the four members pulled out their keys, and started to hand them over. Then an engine roar was heard, followed by a dozen missiles fired from the castle landing around them, exploding in a veritable storm of smoke. Sakura, shocked by the unexpected feint attack, lost her concentration, her spell dissipating. Hunk, Lance, and Pidge pulled their side arms and fired, taking a few of the guards out. Keith pulled his weapon and blasted the guard holding Allura as he ran over to her, taking her with the intent to flee. But Lotor managed to see his silhouette through the smoke, and slashed with his sword, catching the human commander on his left shoulder and making him yelp in pain.
"Keith!" Allura cried.
"Don't stop, get your lion!" Keith ordered. At that moment Sakura got her heart back under control and swept with her staff, the smoke lifting away to allow clear sight again.
"Ah, thank you, Sakura," Lotor said, delighted to have an advantage again. Keith held him back with his gun, but Lotor circled, ready to pounce. The other team members had already started moving back to their lions, but upon noticing the sudden shift in their cover, turned around to see what was happening. Meanwhile, Allura found herself cut off by a few surviving guards.
"You dirty. . .!" Sakura growled, winding up another spell to throw at the force. Hunk raised his weapon and fired, narrowly missing the young girl, and causing her to jump in surprise and lose her concentration again, the smoke dropping back on them. Keith took the moment to turn and fire on one of the guards cutting off Allura, allowing her to finish her mad dash back into the mobile fort and up to her lion. Keith then dashed around a now very angry Lotor, but before Lotor could try to strike at him again multiple shots went off, the lasers coming perilously close to Lotor and forcing him to fall back in defense.
A moment later Sakura swung her staff and removed the smoke again, only now Red, Green, and Yellow were taking off and Keith was a few mere strides from Black.
"You think this will stop us?!" Lotor cried out.
"We're just getting - where's the Princess?!" Sakura started, then noticed the royal was no longer in the field with them. A moment later they got their answer when Blue roared and launched back out of the fortress, quickly rejoining its fellows, Black having also launched. Lotor and Sakura, along with the few guards still standing, dashed back inside, Lotor and Sakura returning to the bridge.
"Fine, we'll beat them down," Lotor decided. "Recombine the base and get us in the air so we can hit them with the laser cannons at full power!" The four sections of the mobile fortress lifted back into the air and recombined into the original craft. Meanwhile, the lions quickly regrouped, and prepared to combine as well. Lotor noticed this, and quickly decided on action. "Fire on the Black Lion, take it down!" he ordered, and the Fortress's lasers opened up on the lead lion, momentarily sending it into a spiral.
"Looks like someone can't fly with a clipped wing," Lotor sneered.
"Now to subdue the rest of them," Sakura declared.
"First we finish off Black Lion, for good," Lotor declared.
"Keith, are you okay?!" Allura cried over the coms.
"Fine, just a sec," he responded. The fortress began to reorient towards them, looking ready to fire another volley at the falling Black..
"We don't have a second!" Allura stated. She charged the blue lion straight at the fortress, slamming into it and slamming in her front claws. In seconds she'd torn open a huge gash.
"Get the Blue Lion off of us, now!" Lotor screamed, his temper starting to fray.
"Near triumph to certain abject failure in just six minutes," Spinner quipped. "Is that our current new record?"
"Shut up, Spinner!" Lotor snapped at the familiar.
"Not now!" Sakura snapped at the same moment.
The fortress's weapons fired at Blue, and Allura jumped her lion out of the way, avoiding the hit. Meanwhile, Keith had regained his composure, righted Black's flight, and was quickly coming up to regroup with the others.
"Lance, Hunk, Pidge, blast that fortress ship with everything you've got!" Allura ordered, and the three opened up hard, striking many hits and causing severe damage. Soon explosions began ripping through the hull.
"I believe giving orders on this team is my job," Keith smirked.
"Oh, did you decide to rejoin us?" Allura asked with a wink. "Shall we go for Voltron?"
"Sounds good to me, let's do it!" Keith agreed, and the lions flew up and combined. Voltron came back down, and immediately went to the blazing sword. This did not go unnoticed.
"Blast it, this started so well!" Lotor growled. "Let's go!" And with that he turned and ran for the bay, Sakura right behind him, the two dodging fires and collapsing infrastructure as they went. As they ran, Sakura found herself wishing Haggar had taught her better defensive spells. They made it to Lotor's personal craft, boarded, and evaced at once, Voltron slicing the fortress in two and cementing it's destruction mere moments afterward.
"Don't think that this is over, not for a moment!" Lotor growled over the line as they rapidly ascended through the atmosphere. "Your Princess will be mine, I swear it!"
"We'll never stop, never!" Sakura cried, anger filling her voice.
"Next time I'm staying home," Spinner, who hadn't let go of Sakura's shoulder since everything went to hell on the ground, commented. Lotor and Sakura just glared at him. Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura noticed a few more ships fleeing from the scene right behind them.
Back at the Castle of lions, Keith was quickly tended to, and Allura again apologized for her rashness and stupidity, only for the team to respond by praising her bravery and quick, not to mention appropriate, command decisions during the battle, assuring her she was in Sven's shadow no longer. Despite that, she promised to try to be a little less rash in the future.
Meanwhile, Lotor returned them to Galra, landing quickly. The three disembarked, Spinner taking off for the witches' rooms after a quick, curt bow.
"So, how are we going to report this to your father?" Sakura asked, trying to keep herself calm.
"You leave that to me," Lotor replied. "Just. . .don't say anything stupid." Sakura scowled for a moment.
"I'll try," she said, her voice tinged with annoyance. They headed straight for the throne room and entered, Zarkon and Haggar awaiting them at the top of the dais as per usual.
"And?" Zarkon asked even as Lotor knelt and Sakura dropped in bowed submission. "I can't help but notice there's not an Arusian Princess here, and that the mobile fortress Blackgod didn't come back."
"It went relatively well at first, the Princess even came to me, and then the others and it seemed like I had their goody-goody asses where I wanted them, when. . ." Lotor went over the salient points, trying to find the right way to words this report.
"The castle got sneaky with smoke missiles, they all got back to their lions, beat up the station with them something fierce, then formed Voltron and gave it the Blazing Sword treatment and it went kaboom!" Sakura blurted out, Zarkon's unyielding gaze on her and Lotor having scared the truth out of her.
"WHAT?!" Zarkon roared, his blood pressure again rising.
"I told you not to say anything stupid," Lotor said to Sakura quietly. "Which part of that didn't you understand?"
"Sorry," Sakura replied. "I thought he was about to kill us."
"Lotor, my son, would you care to tell me exactly what went WRONG?!" Zarkon demanded, Sakura feeling more and more doomed by the second. Lotor thought about that one for about half a second.
"Witch Sakura pretty much summed it up already, father," Lotor stated. "They pulled a fast one and then capitalized on it. And yes, I take the blame. I should have considered them using sneak tactics from the beginning. I'll be more cautious in future." Zarkon continued to glare furiously, then jabbed a finger toward the exit.
"OUT! I DON'T WANT TO SEE EITHER OF YOU FOR THE REST OF THE DAY!" he screamed, and Sakura jumped to her feet, gave a quick bow, then bolted for the door quick as she could. Lotor rose, bowed more calmly, then sedately took his leave, finding Sakura panting in the hall as she tried desperately to calm herself down.
"Still with us, Sakura?" he asked with a slight smirk.
"How. . .are we. . .alive?" she panted out.
"Me? Because I don't think he's quite ready to try and replace me as his heir, provided he could even manage to make one," Lotor replied. "And that's if you don't acknowledge the rumors of me having multiple bastard half-siblings in hiding somewhere waiting to be acknowledged in the event of my death and/or ultimate disgrace. As for you? Well, I believe I did just take the general blame for that defeat back there, apparently that counted for something. Or perhaps your master did something while no one was looking?"
"Mama Haggar? I don't think she would even if it did occur to her," Sakura admitted, her breathing now under control again. "So, now what?"
"Well, for now," Lotor strolled past her and began heading down the hall, "I'm going to work on plans for capturing Allura and making her mine for keeps. And permanently breaking Voltron, of course. As to you? Aren't you late for a lesson or something?"
"As a matter of fact," Haggar's voice cut in, causing them to glance back to see the elderly witch had come into the hall after them, "I think it is time for my evil darling to attend her studies once more. Come, let us return to our quarters." So saying, Lotor headed off to his chambers, while the two witches returned to their personal sanctuary within the castle.
The next couple of days were quiet, Zarkon quietly simmering while getting lost in some governmental busywork, Haggar picking up Sakura's tutelage and having her refine her disguise and extra-visionary spells so as to have better control and use of them in future, and Lotor studying the after battle reports from the Yurak Period engagements with Arus and Voltron more deeply, convinced he didn't give them anywhere near as much time as he originally should have. In the meantime, Cova and Spinner found themselves once again dispatched to Arus to play spy, this time Haggar choosing to have them watch and wait for any opportune openings with which to attack. One that would come on the fourth day after the end of the mobile fortress Blackgod.
In the meantime, the Voltron Force was hardly idle, having run extensive maintenance on both the lions and their castle to check for any potential hitherto unnoticed faults that could bite them later like the one in Black had. Thankfully, for them, they found none. They also got in a couple of training sessions. Then, once they all felt reasonably secure, Allura gathered the boys together to tell them an Arusian legend of a couple in love, separated by both the politics of their local kingdoms, and the half a mile long strait that ran between their lands. The legendary couple, determined, began casting stones into the water to make their own bridge. It was slow going, but they continued, until the Arusian love goddess, Roman, took pity on them and created a stone bridge from the sea itself to allow the couple to be together. Allura then explained the reason for telling them this story.
In the same place where according to the legend the event occurred, a new bridge had been built, the construction recently completed, as the original had been destroyed in Galra's attacks on Arus fifteen years prior. And to commemorate the opening, they were going to do a reenactment of the two lovers crossing the bridge and throwing themselves into each others arms, Allura playing the role of the young woman. A young man was still needed, though, and it had been suggested that one of the Force fill the role. A quick draw of the cards, at Pidge's suggestion, resulted in Hunk being selected to play the young man, much to his delight, and Pidge and Lance's annoyance; Pidge because Platt had apparently taken a cheesy bribe to help the young boy and then pointed him to the wrong card. Keith, however, had willingly stood down from the beginning, wanting to stay in case of an emergency or attack.
Therefor, when Blue and Yellow took off alone in the direction of the new bridge, Cova and Spinner saw it, with keen interest. And through them, Haggar.
Zarkon had taken to his box seat in the arena for a moment of relaxation, and to put thoughts of the ongoing Arus Debacle out of his mind. Lotor and Sakura were with him, both enjoying the distraction. Lotor was to the King's right, and Sakura to his left. In the arena below, two robeast soldiers duked it out, viciously assaulting one another.
"Ah, nothing like a relaxing time watching two evenly matched opponents fighting to the death," Zarkon mused on the spectacle. A moment later one beast, a brown creature with a single cyclopean eye, fell to the ground, the dark gray beast with two elephant-like trunks raising his ax in triumph.
"It would seem the fight is decided, Father," Lotor stated.
"Pity," Sakura said. "I'd hoped it would last a little longer." Just then the brown beast twitched a little, as though it might rise and fight again. Sakura's eyes widened a little in joy at the prospect of the fight continuing, then Zarkon tossed a knife toward the contenders, hard. It landed square in the brown beast's throat, ending his life almost instantly.
"FOOL!" Zarkon roared. "Until you know you have killed your opponent, you cannot claim victory!"
"Do we have any more we can send in?" Sakura asked. Lotor smirked at her, and Zarkon started to turn a scowling eye in her direction, but before either royal could actually say anything, Haggar strolled in behind her apprentice.
"My King, my Prince, through Cova and Spinner I have learned that Princess Allura and another member of the Voltron Force have left the castle to attend a bridge commemoration," the elder witch reported. "Their lions are separated, and now would be the time to attack while they are unable to form the robot."
"Really? I'll head out at once to capture her," Lotor stated, and turned to go. Zarkon cut him off with his scepter.
"Forget her, she's not worth your time," the King said. "Send a robeast you believe can do some decent damage to attack her and the other if you wish. Nothing more."
"What?" Lotor grit his teeth.
"Who went with her?" Sakura asked Haggar, her eyes curious and hopeful.
"The yellow lion," Haggar replied. "So not your would-be plaything."
"Oh," Sakura felt disappointed. "Whatever, then." Zarkon chuckled at her sudden disinterest.
"Well, son, will you join us in further merrymaking?" he asked Lotor. Lotor thought quietly, then left. "He'd better not. . ." Zarkon glowered after his son. Sakura had a few thoughts on that one, but smartly kept her mouth shut.
And unfortunately, Lotor did. Dropping a robeast named Galgo near the Castle of Lions to attack it with everything it had, as well as Black, Red, and Green Lion when they emerged to counter it, Lotor went straight to the bridge commemoration, and attempted to capture Allura, destroying the new bridge in the process. Fortune seemed to favor the Prince as he momentarily had the Princess cornered, only for things to turn when Hunk jumped Lotor from behind, determined to protect Allura. Allura then fell in the water and swam for shore, while Hunk collected Yellow and attempted to hold Lotor off. Lotor then seemed to gain the upper hand again by succeeding in damaging Yellow enough to render it incapable of flying by itself for the moment, dropping several boulders off the cliff side on top of it, and then Lotor managed to reach Blue just in time to intercept Allura, planting himself atop the lion.
Unfortunately, that's when fortune abandoned the Galran Prince again. Allura had grabbed a gun from a citizen attending the commemoration before running for Blue, and almost as soon as Lotor leapt off the lion, she fired multiple shots at him, forcing him to dodge aside, and ultimately tripping over a rock and landing on his ass. Allura jumped on the opening to dive forward and get in Blue, launching back to the river and quickly digging Yellow out. Once the other lion was free, Allura got Hunk to climb Yellow on top of Blue so the lion could ride the other piggyback style, then launched back to the castle to join the others against Galgo.
At first it seemed like the lions were finally bested, until Blue tossed Yellow off into free fall, and the rest then formed up around him in order to combine into Voltron. After that, Galgo's life expectancy wound up reduced to about six minutes. Lotor fled back to Galra while the Voltron Force took Yellow back to its lair for intensive repairs.
Not long after getting back to Galra, Lotor returned to the throne room, frustrated and annoyed, and noticed Zarkon waiting for him along with, to his surprise, Sakura.
"So," Sakura chimed up first, a bemused smile on her lips as her Prince dropped to one knee before his father, "How'd it go?" Lotor glanced at his father, who was scowling menacingly, took a quick breath, then gave a clips notes version of the engagement, pointedly leaving out tripping over himself, though not taking any shame in admitting he'd been shot at by Allura. After he finished, Zarkon was even more angry.
"Lotor, I gave explicit instructions, and you disobeyed me! Worse, you failed in your objectives, and lost one of our better robeasts!" Zarkon roared.
"I did manage to damage one lion, and Galgo did a pretty good job of keeping the other three pinned while I was working," Lotor commented calmly. "Might even have won, if not for some bad luck."
"Excuses!" Zarkon cut him off, causing Sakura to flinch a bit, and take a quiet step away from her King. "I will hear none of it! I want that planet completely crushed, you hear me! Nothing short of total victory! I want the robot utterly destroyed, if necessary! And if it's what it takes to bring the people of Arus to kneel once more, you will take their Princess's head, and we will drink of her blood before them through the night!"
"No, Father, Allura is for me!" Lotor objected.
"I don't care! I don't need some traitorous, upstart Princess kneeling before me!" Zarkon yelled on. "I want triumph! You will come up with a plan that cannot possibly fail, and you will do it soon!"
"Yes, Father," Lotor replied, realizing there was no talking to his sire right now. He glanced at Sakura, who was slowly edging herself over to the stairs, and clearly hoping for an escape, not that he could blame her. Unfortunately, Zarkon turned and noticed what she was doing as well.
"Going somewhere, little witch?" he growled, freezing the girl in her tracks.
"Ah, yes, I think I'm late for a lesson with Master Haggar, my King," Sakura quickly babbled out, the girl positive she was sweating buckets. Zarkon, to Sakura and Lotor's mutual surprise, snapped out a hand and grabbed Sakura by her head, his fingers gripping into the hair on the back of her scalp.
"What's the rush, we getting too boring for you?" Zarkon sneered at her as he pulled her back towards him.
"No, sir, not at all," Sakura replied quickly, her right eye closing due to her close proximity to Zarkon, who simply growled at her. Lotor finally stood up and stepped forward, placing a hand on his father's shoulder, drawing his attention away from Sakura.
"Father, this is pointless, she's not worth your time," Lotor stated calmly.
"Funny, I recall saying the same to you about the Princess of Arus," Zarkon glared at him. Sakura was sure she was whimpering, but was too focused on the King of Galra to care.
"Did you? Ah, yes, I guess you did," Lotor said, drawing an even deeper growl from his father.
"Sire! We have an urgent matter for you!" a Galran soldier suddenly dashed in, gaining all their attentions. "Oh, uh, is this a bad time, sire?"
"No, speak quickly," Zarkon ordered him while keeping his grip on Sakura, and the soldier nodded quickly.
"We just received an incoming transmission, requesting permission to enter our system and make planet fall within an hour for a diplomatic meeting, sir!" the soldier reported.
"What?" Zarkon, Lotor, and Sakura stared at him.
"According to the signature we're getting from the ship, it's from planet Pollux, sire," the soldier continued. "What would you like us to do?"
"From who?" Sakura blinked, not recognizing the name. Zarkon's hold on her remained steely, but he made no effort to stop her from talking.
"Isn't that somewhere nearby?" Lotor asked.
"It's in the Altea system, my Prince," the soldier replied. "It's orbit is known to be somewhat eccentric."
"Wait, that system has two habitable and inhabited planets?" Sakura asked.
"Yes, ma'am," the soldier confirmed. "Your orders, sire?" Zarkon rubbed his chin with his free hand in thought for a moment, before deciding. His scepter was currently laying upon his lap to free up said hand.
"Tell them they can come, I want to know who is so daring and why they think they can get any diplomacy out of me," the King commanded. The soldier nodded and left, and Zarkon turned back to Sakura. To her surprise, he tossed her backwards, the girl managing to catch herself from falling down on her rear while Zarkon retrieved his scepter from his lap. "Fetch your master, little witch. I want her here for this, in case we have to make a proper example of these fools," Zarkon instructed. Sakura nodded, and dashed out as quick as she could, her scalp stinging and her heart pounding from what had just happened. Moments later she found Haggar working in their joint lab, the elder witch looking up as she entered.
"What is it, my evil darling?" Haggar asked.
"We have visitors coming, and Zarkon wants you in the throne room when they get here," Sakura explained quickly, the girl still a little shaken up from her prior ordeal, but managing not to show it.
"Visitors? From where?" Haggar arched an eyebrow in surprise at the news.
"Planet Pollux, mama Haggar," Sakura answered her. "They'll be here in the hour." Haggar smiled.
"How nice," she said.
And my run through of episodes 15 and 16 are done! Whew! That was more than I initially thought it would be. Where do I start?
At first blush, I figured I could just do a "zip squeal" through these two like I did episodes 8-12, and for sixteen I was right, it was fully tossable as far as this tale goes, especially since Pidge never goes to the bridge, hence Sakura would be disinterested in joining.
Fifteen, on the other hand, had the issue of being the fallout of Yurak's death, the loss actually mentioned in the opening scene implying the episode takes place not all that long afterward. Also, I suddenly realized something I hadn't thought to take into consideration earlier – with Lotor now calling the shots in regards to Arus for the most point, Sakura no longer actually needs an excuse to join a mission, Lotor can just have her come with him on a whim. Uh, oh...
So, yeah, my problem has suddenly switched from trying to come up with a plausible reason for Sakura to be on board to coming up with a plausible reason for her not to, just so I can quick speed through more of the general filler. Whoops...
As to the episodes themselves, I'm pretty satisfied with what I did. For 16, I did give Allura another credit in bad ass(she'll have her degree in no time!). In the actual ep. when she gets cut off from the lion by Lotor, she actually dances around him and then threatens to do herself in before he trips on the rock by pure clumsiness, then she shoots at him! Seriously, do I really need to explain why I decided to fix that?
As for 15, well I actually tweaked four things. First, when Allura borrows Black, in the original it's stated she's supposedly been training in it for awhile, and yet somehow nobody had noticed this before? Really?! Second, the black lion's gun jamming – it's never explained why this happened in the episode. And Golion is actually worse, with it simply not responding and Suzuishi(Pidge) claiming it's because she "just hopped in there", implying the lions have a pilot preference, even though this is not the first time pilot swapping has occurred, Keith is currently in Blue, and it is hardly the last(still got those flowers coming up, after all!). So stuck with the English dub on that one and filled that hole right up.
Third, when Lotor blasts Blue Lion after it enters the fortress, Allura falls. . .out of the lion. . .what?! So, yeah, did a quick fix on that, too.
And finally, if anyone thinks the Lotor's dancing girls scene happened a lot sooner than it should have, that's because it did. Originally it happened right after the first fight scene on Arus, and no, as written above Lotor does not return to Doom til the end of the episode, meaning he brought those girls with him to Arus. And considering he's the only one we see escape when the mobile fortress goes up in smoke, that means the Voltron Force just killed all those poor girls! And that's a hell of a black mark to put on the team, isn't it? Even if they didn't know about it, and probably never would short of finding any bodies in whatever was left to hit the ground.
But to me, there was another issue – why in the hell would Lotor ever take some of his prized playthings with him on what was intended to be a possibly indefinite siege with no true guarantee of victory and every reason to believe your current mobile HQ could take severe if not critical damage that could easily result in any non-military personnel on board getting killed? So, yeah, I moved it forward to occur on Doom/Galra before Lotor left on the mission. Hope nobody minds too much.
Okay, enough rambling, time to get to episode 17, and the introduction of Romelle and Bandor! Can we say "dysfunctional love triangle"? Knew you could. See you there!
