Chapter 16: The Lost Princess And The Sad Prince

Zarkon was less than pleased to hear of the Voltron Force's escape from Balto, but was surprisingly lenient since the blue lion had appeared unexpectedly, and Lotor had attempted to keep it from the others until the planet itself saw fit to mess everything up. Meanwhile, Haggar immediately put aside the attack plan she'd been formulating. As it was being designed around the expectation of the complete lack of four lions, it obviously would be pointless to put into effect now. But she saw no reason not to save it, pending another chance.

It was at this point Lotor decided it was finally time to check up on the nearly forgotten Romelle. Mogor had arranged for her to be sufficiently fed and watered, on the off chance that Zarkon opted to use her as a bargaining chip with Prince Bandor, but otherwise had left her squalling in the dungeon in misery with three other slave women. Women, Lotor discovered, Romelle had been sharing her semi-meager food and water with, meaning "sufficiently" was somewhat exaggerated. Lotor also found that the cell they were in had not been properly cleaned in far too long, and thus had the women temporarily moved while having that done.

Specifically, he moved the four to an isolated bedchamber on the castle's first floor, placing three guards upon it. He also started spending some time once again trying to romance Romelle, who, big surprise, wasn't accepting any of it. Not that Lotor was planning to give up, oh, no. He was determined he would eventually get what he wanted, he just needed to take his time. He would spend four fruitless days attempting to win her over, to no avail.

Whilst all this was going on, Sakura took a moment to check up on "Project Blossom", which was still taking time to fully spring into action. She was expecting this, though, and was not deterred in the slightest. She also checked up on "Operation: Pest Control", but again that was going to need a little more time before it would be ready for deployment.

While she had been imprisoned and forgotten, Romelle had not been idle, and formulated with her fellow slaves a daring escape plan. After all, if the Voltron Force could pull it off, why not them? The first trick was getting out of the bedchamber, which required them getting past the three guards; no small feat for four half-starved women. After careful consideration they tore up some sheets into strips, dampened the strips with their drinking water, and then started a fire by prying off an electric outlet and crossing a few wires to cause an electric short that rained sparks onto another strip of sheet that led to the chamber's main bed. They then dashed to the door, the dampened strips wrapped around their heads for protection, and waited as the fire quickly accelerated and consumed the bed. The smoke quickly filled the room and seeped under the door, attracting the attention of the guards, who opened the door and raced in. Romelle and the ladies dashed out of the room as the guards quickly began seeking a means to put the fire out before it spread to the hallway.

Wasting no time, and making judicious use of the shadows in some low lit halls, they aimed for the nearest exit leading toward the spaceport. Upon reaching the spaceport, they quickly found some cargo boxes awaiting transport to their final destination. They opened one of the boxes, one that had been opened previously to check the integrity of the cargo, and found bottles of liquor in a bed of straw. They quickly and quietly broke some of the bottles and splashed the contents into the straw bedding, then using two rocks they grabbed on the way in, just as quickly banged out a few sparks with which to light up the alcohol soaked straw. Once it was burning, they again ducked out of sight until the flames spread to the other boxes, several staff members and guards running in to fight the blaze before it consumed the entire building.

With spaceport personnel now suitably distracted, Romelle and the three women dashed into the landing bay proper and ran aboard the first available open ship, running straight to the bridge and going through the launch sequence. They blasted off and away from Galra before anyone stopped to realize what had just happened.

In the castle's main dining hall, Zarkon was allowing a small feast to occur for some of his highest ranking officers. Lotor and Haggar stood to one side of Zarkon while Sakura sat at the table, a meaty drumstick in her hands. Zarkon raised a glass, as did Lotor.

"Don't hold back, men, enjoy and feast upon the fruits of universal power, and let it be sustenance for tomorrow!" Zarkon declared, then he and Lotor drank deep of their wine. Sakura chomped into her drumstick, happy to do just that, and briefly wondered if that last bit meant there would be nothing to eat the next day. Zarkon had done stranger things. After finishing and dropping her drumstick to her plate, she immediately grabbed and dove into another from the service platter.

'Better safe than sorry,' she decided. A moment later she heard approaching footsteps and glanced over her shoulder to see a guard approaching Prince Lotor, looking like he was about to deliver news that would most likely get him killed.

"Prince Lotor, I have urgent news," he said. "Princess Romelle and the slave women that were with her. . .have escaped."

"WHAT?!" Lotor snapped, obtaining the rest of the room's attention. "HOW?!"

"They started an electrical fire in their room, then upon reaching the spaceport started another with some imported liquor in a crate and stole a cargo cruiser while everyone was distracted, my Prince," the guard explained quickly. "Commander Mogor has already departed in pursuit of them."

"I'll follow her myself, and make her pay for this!" Lotor growled, squeezing his glass so hard it shattered in his hand. The remaining wine splashed into his face, causing him to momentarily wince. "Haggar! Sakura! With me!" he ordered, tossing the remains of the glass aside and storming out of the room, Haggar following immediately. Sakura rose to her feet, paused, then grabbed her glass of fruit juice, chugged it down, scooped up her staff, and dashed after them, pausing only once more to quickly bow to Zarkon as she passed him.

"Lovely feast, my King, sorry I couldn't stay longer," she said politely, then took off, Zarkon only giving a brief nod in her direction before turning to the guard.

"As soon as the fires are contained and snuffed out, I want a word with the chief of castle security," Zarkon ordered. "It seems we need to tighten things further around here. This is the second escape in so many months and I'll not have it happen again!"

"Yes, my King," the guard replied with a bow, a slight nervous tremble in his voice.

Despite their almost thirty minute head start, Lotor's command ship, Mogor's battleship, and a wing of Star Cutters caught up unpleasantly fast to the cargo cruiser Romelle and the slave women had stolen. Sitting in his command chair of his ship, Lotor growled at the sight of the fleeing ship ahead of them on the view screen.

"Open fire! Take them down!" Lotor ordered, and all the ships unleashed their arsenal upon the cruiser. The damage was quick, and to the escaping vessel excruciating, multiple holes being blown into it. In moments it began to plummet into the atmosphere of a nearby planet. In the two seats right below Lotor's where they sat, Sakura leaned over to Haggar.

"So what did he need us for?" she asked quietly. Spinner, who Sakura had summoned on the way to the ship and now sat once more upon his mistress's shoulder, raised an eyebrow in question as well.

"In the event that they attempted some foolish counterattack, perhaps," Haggar replied, stroking Cova, whom she had in her lap. "At the moment we do seem superfluous, though." Before anything else could be said, though, the com officer turned around to face his Prince.

"Prince Lotor, I'm detecting a transmission being sent from the fleeing vessel. Shall I put it on the speakers?" he reported.

"Proceed," Lotor ordered, and the com officer turned back to his station and hit a few buttons, letting them all hear the message.

"Calling planet Pollux! Bandor, can you hear me?! I've escaped, but have been shot down! We're crashing on the ice planet Russel in the Neeve system! Please hurry!" Romelle's voice called out, controlled despite the tiny tremble of fear in it.

"Damn, she's sending a distress signal to her brother," Lotor growled. "Block it!"

"It's too late sire, the message already transmitted to the Altea system on all band waves, there was no time to intercept or interfere with it," the communications officer stated.

"Blast, that means the Voltron Force could receive it, too, and show up to cause us even more trouble!" Lotor noted, even more displeased. Then Haggar cackled delightedly.

"I have an idea, nay, a plan!" she declared, then activated the vid com in front of her, connecting to the battleship. "Mogor, listen up!"

"Yes, Haggar?" Mogor replied as he appeared on the small screen.

"Get to planet Russel and board the crashed ship! Capture Romelle and keep her there until I arrive!" Haggar ordered, and Mogor nodded.

"Yes, I'll capture them all at once!" Mogor said, then cut the connection, the battleship racing after the crashing ship.

"So, what's the plan, Master Haggar?" Sakura asked, intrigued. Haggar turned to her pupil with a smile.

On the planet below, the stolen cruiser sailed downwards, eventually coming to a hard landing in a snow covered hillside, somehow not shattering apart as it did. Within, the escaped women gasped for air, desperate to catch their breaths after the intense preceding events. They quickly began to shiver as they felt the incoming chill of the outside as the wild blizzard around them threatened to break in. Romelle got to her feet, her body still shaking slightly from frazzled nerves, and immediately began seeking anything to keep herself and the others warm until help arrived.

A short time later, just as she found some blankets they could wrap around themselves, the sound of an approaching engine could be heard, and mere minutes later, even as they desperately sought any kind of weapon to battle with, Mogor and his men came marching inside, their guns drawn and ready to fire. Romelle and her companions sagged, awaiting their fate.

Out in space, Prince Bandor, on a training run with a new prototype Polluxian Starcruiser, had indeed received Romelle's distress signal, and had immediately altered course for Russel. He wasn't alone in his mad dash across the stars for very long. The Voltron Force, too, had received the transmission on Arus, and had immediately launched the lions, formed the mighty robot, and were also racing to Russel as fast as Voltron could fly. When Voltron and the Polluxian Starcruiser met up, they opened a channel to each other.

"Prince Bandor, this is Keith," Keith announced themselves. "Do you read me?"

"Yeah, Keith, I'm here," Bandor replied. "You received Romelle's distress message?"

"Affirmative," Keith replied. "As promised, we're here to help get her back."

"Thank you, all," Bandor said. "I hope we're in time."

"As do we," Allura chimed in.

Not long afterward they reached Russel, and flew down to the lower atmosphere. Several tense minutes later they located the crashed ship. Bandor's ship landed roughly a mile and a half away, and Bandor and five of his men, changed into light blue winter jackets, pants, and protective helmets sporting a vertical front-to-back crest on top, departed in a small land transport heading directly to the downed ship. Voltron split back into the five lions, and similarly landed not far from the crash site, the pilots disembarking and approaching the ship on foot. They hiked over to reach the crash site, and once they were up close, they drew their pistols cautiously.

"Stay alert, team," Keith advised. "There could be a trap waiting for us." The others nodded, and then Allura shrieked. They turned in time to see her grab something near her suit's collar and pull. Platt then suddenly popped out of said collar, Allura having him by the tail, the Princess now looking quite cross.

"What do you think you're doing in there, Platt?" she asked the small mouse sternly, holstering her pistol.

"Geez, give me a heart attack, why don't you?" Lance griped.

"When did he sneak into the blue lion?" Keith snickered as Allura shifted the mouse so he was standing in her hands. He stood up on his hinds, squeaking away and swinging his little forepaws at his chest.

"Oh, your wife, Chuchule, sent you to help us?" Allura asked, and Platt nodded in the affirmative. Keith snickered again.

"Sure, glad for the help," he said. "Maybe we should get you your own lion." At that point the wind blew by, and Platt wrapped his forelegs around his upper torso, shivering heavily.

"He looks like he's freezing," Pidge observed. "I don't think he's used to this kind of cold."

"Yeah, probably not," Allura agreed, then pulled open her collar a bit with one hand and rose Platt up to it. "Here you go, hop back in," she urged him, and he did so, slipping in and then popping his head back out to see what was around him.

"Well, that's one way to beat the cold," Lance admitted with a touch of jealousy in his voice. "Lucky mouse." They then proceeded to the downed ship, arriving just as the Polluxian land transport did, Bandor hopping out in his anxiousness to reach his sister.

"ROMELLE!" he cried as he dashed toward the ship, two men hot on his heels. They all joined up at the Galran ship, cautiously entering through one of the large holes shot into the side. Bandor took a quick scan with his eyes, then darted toward the bridge. "Romelle, I'm here! Where are you?!" he called. But upon reaching the bridge, he and the Voltron Force just behind him were greeted by the sight of wreckage, dead panels, and not a single sign of life.

"They're either in hiding, or Lotor got here first and took off with them already," Keith grimly observed, Bandor grinding his teeth in frustration. Allura turned her head away from the bridge, her thoughts sorrowed and her hands clasped in front of her. Her eyes then landed on something lying just inside a nearby set of open doors to a supply closet. Something blue.

"What's. . .?" she pondered quietly, stepping over to the closet, then stepping just inside to bend down and pick the item up. "It looks like a torn piece of Romelle's dress," she said to herself as she stood up, then blinked as she heard the doors shut behind her with a slight clang. She pulled her pistol from her holster again, her nerves starting to rise, when she heard a groan from the other end of the closet. Turning to see what was there, Allura spied a body lying upon the floor covered up to the head in a dark blue blanket. Allura cautiously stepped forward to get a better look, and once she was a few steps away, she could see and identify, despite the darkness of the room, the person's face.

"Romelle!" she cried, bending over and scooping her cousin up with one arm. "Romelle, say something!" Allura gave the other woman a slight shake, hopping for a reaction, any reaction. Romelle gave a slight moan, and opened her eyes slowly. Allura smiled in relief. "You're alive," Allura breathed. Romelle gave a slight smile, and Allura failed to notice the ugly hand, it's nails pointed and sharp, slip out of the blanket at "Romelle's" side.

'You've fallen right into my trap, pretty Princess!' Haggar thought gleefully. "Now's my chance to take you prisoner!' And behind Allura, next to the now closed doors, a pair of emerald green eyes watched their every move. . .

"There's blood here," Lance said, examining the navigation station. "Looks dry already, but with this chill I can't say how long."

"She's not quite the write off the ship we escaped from Doom was, but it sure is a hell of a close second," Hunk observed as he glanced over the destroyed engineering station. "At least it landed in mostly one piece."

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean they didn't eject like we did," Pidge pointed out as he glanced around for any evidence of what became of the ship's last crew.

"Wait, are you saying they may not have been onboard when it hit the ground?" Bandor glanced at him from the command chair where he was looking around. His men were nearby, searching the rest of the ship and surrounding area.

"Yeah, it's possible," Pidge confirmed.

"I don't think so," Keith stated. He pointed to the various stations. "The seats are all still here, so unless this ship uses a different emergency escape system from the one we used, they didn't eject." Keith looked somber. "I'm sorry, Bandor, I think we were just too late." Bandor gritted his teeth, about to say something, when Lance cut in.

"Uh, guys," Lance said, a nervous tone in his voice. "Where's Allura?" They all blinked and glanced around, realizing for the first time that they were short a member.

"Oh, fu- " Keith started, when they suddenly heard Allura's shriek of surprise coming from the closed supply closet. They dashed over and threw open the doors.

Haggar, disguised as Romelle, carefully rose her hand up towards Allura, intent on knocking the Arusian Princess unconscious as quick as possible so as to assure the capture. Behind Allura, Sakura carefully crept closer, ready to assist if needed. Before she could make her move, though, Haggar spotted Platt, his face brave and confident, still resting in Allura's collar. The old witch gasped.

"A mouse!" she cried despite herself, causing Sakura to jump back in surprise, followed by Allura as Platt jumped out and chomped Haggar on the finger. Allura spotted the witch's hand at last and gave out a loud shriek of surprise. A moment later the doors to the closet flew open revealing the boys, Sakura barely managing to dive to the side and into the shadows again. Allura quickly regained her feet and pointed her pistol at the camouflaged witch on the floor, who had quickly turned away from her. Platt had dropped to the floor.

"Allura, what happened?!" Keith snapped out, quickly scanning the situation before him.

"Romelle!" Bandor cried in delight when he saw the "girl" on the floor near Allura. "Sister, you're safe now! I'm here!"

"Don't be fooled, Bandor!" Allura snapped out. "It's not her! It's Haggar in disguise! Platt saw through her and saved me!"

"What? The witch?!" the boys all cried. Haggar gave up the ghost, and lunged to her feet, sweeping the blanket before her like a cape as she dropped the illusion. Bandor's face fell in dismay.

"That's right! And I have a special award for the little pest that gave me away!" she cackled, then glanced at a shelf to the side. "Get him, Cova, my pet!" The blue Galran cat meowed and leapt to the ground, Platt seeing his feline nemesis and immediately booking for Allura. Pidge dashed forward and threw a kick that knocked Cova back, allowing Platt to reach Allura and scamper up to her shoulder. Cova rowled at the indignity of it. By this point the rest of the team and Bandor and moved into a circling position around Haggar, Allura backing up to join them. Pidge let out a huff of satisfaction, then blinked when he heard a slight shuffle behind him, turning just in time to spot a wavy distortion in the air coming closer to him.

"No you don't!" Allura turned and fired a shot that barely missed the distortion, causing Sakura to drop her shroud spell and leap back once again.

"Dang it!" Sakura snapped in frustration. "So close!" With Sakura visible again, they noted that her outfit now sported an addition, a black overcoat with white fur lining, no doubt because of the planet's freezing temperatures.

"Sakura!" Bandor cried before anyone else could say anything, a smile back on his face. "Stay right there, you'll be free in a moment!" He then turned his attention back to Haggar, his face once more grim and determined, drawing forth his sword.

"Seriously?" Sakura stared with drooped, annoyed eyes.

"Where's my sister, you old hag!" Bandor demanded, and raising his sword high charged the elderly magic user. Haggar didn't even flinch, simply magically shifting into the air and then coming down, swinging her staff downward to slam into Bandor's head, causing him to fall to the floor unconscious. The boy survived the blow only by virtue of the helmet that prevented the witch's staff from reaching his actual noggin.

"Fire!" Keith barked, and they all started shooting in Haggar's direction, who dodged the blasts using her magic, then Sakura, who was still to the side, lifted her staff and let off a huge flash of light, blinding her and Haggar's enemies and allowing Haggar to toss a wind spell, blasting them all backwards out of the room. The group shrieked as they did, and unfortunately collided with the two Polluxian guards who had been waiting patiently outside the closet, the impact rendering them unconscious.

Haggar then scooped up Bandor as Cova leaped up onto her shoulder, and she and Sakura dashed out of the closet, seeing the heroes already picking themselves back up. Sakura gritted her teeth in frustration that she couldn't grab Pidge at that moment, but quickly followed Haggar as the elder witch quickly fled the area. They retreated to the ship's cargo bay and Haggar dropped the loading ramp with her magic before tossing Bandor into the passenger seat of a small Galran landspeeder. She then got into the driver's seat, Sakura hopping onto the back while Cova jumped onto the unconscious boy's lap. Haggar quickly took the steering controls, activated the speeder's engine, and drove them out into the snowy landscape, accelerating to the vehicle's top speed as fast as she could.

After only a few moments they could hear something behind them, and Sakura quickly glanced back to see the lions giving chase. Just behind them were a small group of the Polluxian land transports.

"That didn't take them long," she commented idly, then glanced at Bandor. "Why did you grab him?"

"Leverage, my dear," Haggar replied. "Leverage." With that, she aimed the speeder toward a crater, driving into it and speeding down. As soon as they were below the lions' line of sight, Haggar cast a shroud spell of her own, one far better than Sakura's, masking them and the speeder as they raced back up the other side and then back down to the command ship waiting just below the crater's side. As soon as they had entered, Lotor and Spinner met them, Romelle nearby under guard, a lavender cloak around her shoulders for the cold. Lotor glanced at Haggar and Sakura, and what they had brought with them.

"That doesn't look like Allura," he observed. "Or Pidge, either."

"Sadly, things did not go quite as planned," Haggar admitted, scooping up Cova.

"Oh, why's that?" Spinner asked.

"They brought one of the Princess's pet mice, and it instantly picked up that 'Romelle' wasn't Romelle," Sakura explained. "Master Haggar shrieking probably didn't help, either."

"Must you?" Haggar asked.

"And you grabbed Romelle's brother instead of either of our primary goals?" Lotor inquired before Sakura could answer Haggar's question.

"Everything happened pretty fast," Sakura replied, then a grunt was heard, and they turned to see Bandor waking up. He blinked, then sat up when he saw his sister again.

"Romelle! Are you okay?!" he cried, only to find a guard standing over him a second later.

"Yes, Bandor, I'm fine," Romelle said. "But they killed the others."

"What? But I thought we were gonna take them all back to Galra with us," Sakura turned back to Lotor. Something about Bandor's desperation to get his sister back was making something deep in Sakura squirm and twitch, and she was grateful for the distraction.

"We were," Lotor stated with a frown. "But when I reported back to father while we waited for you two, he insisted."

"Oh," Sakura said calmly, already dismissing the dead women from her mind.

"Oh? That's all you have to say?" Bandor stared in shock. "After innocent people were murdered?"

"One, escaped slaves, so not that innocent," Sakura turned back to him, a look of annoyance on her face. "And, two, you really don't know anything about Zarkon, do you?" Before Bandor could respond, Mogor dashed in, Sakura giving him a glare.

"Prince Lotor, the lions are in the crater, searching," he reported. "What are your orders?"

"Plan B, of course," Haggar smiled. "We offer the Voltron Force a trade." Lotor beamed, catching on instantly.

"Excellent, Haggar," he said, then turned to Mogor. "Mogor, have the ship moved to the top of the ridge, then bring Princess Romelle and Prince Bandor outside with us."

"Yes, my Prince," Mogor bowed, then signaled the guard to get Bandor out of the landspeeder and over to his sister before pulling out a hand com and relaying Lotor's orders to the bridge. The ship was moved quickly, and the group headed toward the door. Sakura turned to her familiar.

"Come on Spinner, let's go," she told him.

"What? But the cold. . .," Spinner blinked.

"Suck it up!" Sakura replied.

The lions were continuing to scan the bottom of the crater for a sign of Haggar, Sakura, and their hostage when the command ship lifted up above the crater's far ridge line. Lotor's laugh could be heard across the landscape over a loudspeaker. The Lions immediately turned to look in the ship's direction, ready to spring into action in a second.

"That's Lotor's happy chuckle," Keith grimaced in Black.

"Just peachy," Hunk growled through his teeth in Yellow. A hatchway on the side then slid open on the command ship, Lotor stepping out, Haggar and Sakura standing behind him and to his right, and Romelle and Bandor, the two holding each other close, to his left. Mogor, sword drawn, stood not far from the royal siblings.

"Romelle! Bandor!" Allura cried in Blue.

"Princess Allura! As you can see, I have your cousins in my grasp! If you want them returned safely, you will come to me here, alone!" Lotor announced.

"A hostage exchange?" Lance's voice came over his lion's speaker. "You honestly think we'd believe you'd give anyone up?!"

"Like we'd ever do that!" Pidge's voice snapped from Green. "They're not animals, you creep!"

"You have two minutes to accept my generous offer, Allura," Lotor stated, unperturbed in the slightest, drawing his sword and pointed it straight at Romelle. "If you aren't here by then, Romelle dies first!" The lions went silent, the two groups having reached a standoff.

"What about Pidge?" Sakura glanced at him crossly, stepping forward to be alongside him.

"Sorry, Sakura, but I'm afraid Pidge wouldn't be worth one royal hostage, let alone two," Lotor told her. "Don't worry, you'll get another chance at him, I promise."

"Like you even know how to keep a promise!" Bandor sneered.

"Can we please hurry this up?" Spinner asked, the group glancing at him briefly to notice he was wrapping himself in Sakura's cape to avoid the chill.

"Oh, geeze," Sakura sighed.

"Sakura, please, open your eyes," Bandor pleaded to her. "You know you can't trust them, any of them." Sakura looked at the young Prince, and Bandor was positive he saw sympathy in her eyes. Before she could say anything, though, Lotor cut in, calling out once more to the lions below.

"Well, what is it to be, Allura?" he called out. "The sands of time are running out for these hostages. Have you no compassion?! Just be brave and come out here!" Just then the wind picked up and more snow began to fall, quickly building toward a blizzard. A few moments later the pilots of Blue and Black emerged from their lions and hopped down to the ground.

"Okay, Lotor, she's coming!" Keith shouted up to them. "Princess Allura accepts your offer, but I want Romelle and Bandor released at the same time!"

"Oh, is that so?" Lotor replied jovially, sheathing his sword. "No need to shout, I can hear you. And don't worry. I made a bargain, and I'm a man of honor!"

"Don't do it, Allura! Don't come near!" Bandor screamed out loud. "He doesn't know the meaning of the word honor!"

"Depends on how you define 'honor'," Sakura commented, Lotor giving her a quick sideways glance along with a smirk. He then turned and shoved Romelle forward, Bandor being sent with her by virtue of her still holding onto him.

"I warn you, no tricks!" Lotor called out to Keith and Allura down below as he pulled a laser gun and pointed it at Bandor and Romelle. "I'll be watching every move! Do anything stupid, and I'll kill them!"

"Sakura, please," Bandor glanced back at her, his eyes pleading. "Come with us." Sakura's eyes briefly slid to her right before looking back at him.

"Get going," she said calmly. "They're waiting." Before Bandor could plead further, Romelle started walking, ushering her brother forward. At the same time Allura started walking upward toward them, slowly and sedately. No one bothered to ask her to hurry, the weather was more than good enough reason to allow the Arusian Princess to take her time. Part way up she stumbled and fell, quickly getting back to her feet again.

"Don't stop, Princess!" Lotor called down. "If anything goes wrong, you know what happens!"

"I just tripped a little, asshole! I wasn't stopping!" Allura shouted back up, her voice very cross, as she continued upward to them.

"Yes, hurry, Allura," Lotor breathed quietly. "Soon I'll get to hold the Princess I truly long for." Just then the storm picked up, and it became difficult to see the three people moving below them except as dark silhouettes against the snow, but Lotor was undeterred, while Sakura did her best to focus on the three carefully. Behind her she heard Haggar cackling delightedly.

"Mogor, before we left Galra I had a robeast loaded up just in case," Haggar said. "As soon as Allura is close, send our mighty Killwrestler to destroy the lions and the rest of the team. But make it take care to only damage the green lion as much as is needed to disable it without killing the pilot. My darling must have a chance to take her prey as well!"

"Will do," Mogor acknowledged. "Though in this weather it'll be a small miracle if it's actually able to tell the green one from the others."

"Then you best pray it does, for your sake," Sakura shot over her shoulder, though Mogor didn't even bother to acknowledge the threat as he quickly dashed back into the ship to carry out his orders, a space coffin being lowered from the front of the ship bathed in a dark pink light. It then slid downhill a ways, its movements masked by the storm which quickly covered it over in snow.

The two parties continued their trek for what seemed like ages, Romelle briefly stumbling herself, and finally they passed each other, Romelle and Bandor going steadily downward while Allura continued steadily up. By now, though, Sakura noted something was off.

"Did her suit's built in heater break?" she asked as she watched the approaching Princess. Spinner stared down at Allura for himself.

"She does seem to be rather covered in snow, doesn't she?" he replied. "Maybe the blizzard's just too much for the suit?"

"Then why aren't Romelle and Bandor just as covered? They don't have flight suits like the Voltron Force's," Sakura observed. "No, something's up..." Before she could say anything else, though, or attempt to alert Lotor to the issue, Lotor decided that Allura was now close enough.

"Now, robeast Killwrestler! Attack!" Lotor commanded, and the coffin emerged from the snow, the command ship's Infra Energy Beam casting upon it. The robeast emerged instantly to super large size. The blast of the emergence knocked the Polluxian royals backwards and onto the ground, Romelle letting out a shriek of surprise loud enough that Allura briefly turned to look back, before continuing her ascent.

Killwrestler was, to be fair, one of the more unpleasant looking robeasts. The creature was primarily brown with four large, red, oval-shaped protrusions on his thighs and shoulders and a fifth on his belly. His yellow eyes were framed by a circle of six large white horns around the top and sides of his face, the final two emerging from just below his eyes, and below that were two side-by-side leech-like mouths sporting dagger-like teeth. His forearms and lower legs were covered with white bone-like crests that resembled wrist and ankle gauntlets.

It roared in challenge, and the yellow, red, and green lions sprang forth to do battle, throwing themselves at Killwrestler. Not too surprisingly, though, Killwrestler swatted each of the three aside with little effort, but the lions were not deterred, rebounding almost immediately for another attack.

From behind the small, snow covered boulder where they watched, Bandor stood and turned to his sister.

"Romelle, get down to our transports without me," he told her. "I'm going back up."

"What?" she turned to him in surprise.

"Everyone's in danger, and I can't let Allura sacrifice herself for us!" Bandor said, a hard conviction in his voice. "More importantly, I can't let Lotor get away with everything he's done to us! I'm gonna kill him! Him and Haggar, if I can!" Romelle just stared at her brother carefully, then made quite possibly the dumbest decision of her life.

"Alright," she said, her face becoming just as firm. "I'll go with you. We'll get them all!"

Back up on the ridge, Lotor was getting almost giddy as Allura made her final approach, while Sakura's attention was split between concern about the person coming toward them, and whether or not Killwrestler would obey his orders correctly. Haggar remained calmly observant throughout.

"You've finally come to me, my proud Princess," Lotor crowed. "You don't know how much I relish this moment. Now, come closer and show me your beauty!" Allura, clearly shivering, stepped two paces closer, then stopped, opened the buckle on her belt to reveal a group of buttons, and pressed one quickly.

"Suit heater, reactivate," she said, in an alarmingly male voice. Sakura and Haggar immediately gripped their staffs tighter, raising them defensively, and Lotor's eyes widened. A moment later all the snow began melting off of the person before them, revealing someone, to Lotor's shock, that was decidedly not Princess Allura!

"I hate to spoil your moment, but you're gonna be very disappointed in the girl of your dreams," Keith said as the last of the snow fell away from him and he pulled his laser pistol out to point it at Lotor, who, along with Sakura, jumped backwards. "So, think anyone will trade themselves for you?!"

"Keith!" Lotor roared. "A contemptible trick!"

"Oh, like you didn't do the same with that robeast?!" Keith retorted. "Now I'm sending you straight to Hell, Lotor!" Keith started to pull the trigger, only for Cova to leap straight at him from the side, slamming into his arm and throwing his aim off. The weapon was knocked from his hand as he grunted in reaction to the blow. Lotor instantly capitalized on the moment by drawing his sword and swinging quickly at his enemy; Keith fell backwards, then flipped aside to avoid the blade's strikes. Keith dodged a few more strikes, and then found himself on his knees, his body suddenly frozen to the spot. A quick glance down revealed that an energy field had wrapped itself around him, and another glance toward the witches showed that the creator was Sakura, smiling proudly at her work.

"Sakura, don't do this!" he called to her, only to find the point of Lotor's blade in front of his face, claiming his full attention.

"Looks like even a cat will give itself for a Prince, huh, Keith?" Lotor smirked. "You'll be the only one going to Hell today. And Killwrestler will finish off the rest of Voltron!" But then, just before he could thrust the sword into Keith's head, a laser blast cut across him, knocking his sword from his hand, Lotor reflexively jumping back. The suddenness of the shot also startled Sakura, causing her to lose her concentration and turn away from Keith in the direction the shot came from, unconsciously dropping her spell in the process. Lotor, Haggar, and Keith also turned to see who had fired. The source of the shot was a surprise to all, with Keith feeling a pit open in his stomach.

Bandor stood just mere feet away from the two men, holding Keith's dropped laser pistol in his hands, aimed steadily toward Lotor. Romelle stood at his side with a dagger brandished in her hand, ready to make deadly use of it. Upon arriving back at the ship, they had jumped a guard, Romelle grabbing his dagger, and Bandor taking the soldier's sword. Romelle had then made quick work of the guard before they moved back to the main action, Bandor scooping up Keith's fallen pistol and using it to save his friend.

"Bandor! Romelle!" Keith cried. "What are you doing back here?!" In response, Bandor fired another shot at Lotor, who dodged back further, then tossed Keith his weapon back before drawing his borrowed sword, lifting it with both hands. Now feeling a little nervous, Sakura stepped back slightly toward Haggar. She felt her foot bump something, and glanced down to see Lotor's dropped sword. She quickly knelt down to scoop it up with her free hand.

"Get back to the Voltron Force!" Bandor said in as commanding a voice as he could muster, which Keith had to admit was surprisingly good, all things considered. "They need you to help with the robeast! We'll take of Lotor and Haggar!"

"Don't be foolish! These aren't enemies you can beat on your own!" Keith snapped at them. "Let the Voltron Force do it!"

"No way! They're gonna pay for what they did!" Bandor roared.

"We'll have revenge for Father and Avok, and everyone else!" Romelle agreed. Bandor then charged at Lotor directly, but the evil Prince merely sidestepped the blow.

"Like I'd ever be defeated by the likes of you! Never send a boy to do a man's job!" Lotor sneered. Bandor turned and went for another strike even as Keith leaped forward to stop him, but Haggar unleashed a magic blast that hit and temporarily incapacitated both of them. Romelle then lunged toward Lotor, then suddenly swerved at the last second.

"Too afraid to actually try and attack me, Romelle?" Lotor questioned.

"I'm not aiming for you yet!" she replied. Only then did Lotor notice her current trajectory was taking her straight to Sakura!

"Sakura!" he cried, causing Bandor, Keith and Haggar to turn in the young girl's direction.

"Sister, no! Not her!" Bandor cried. Too late, as Romelle had reached her intended target, the dagger moving for its mark. On sheer reflex Sakura snapped Lotor's sword upward to block it, but due to being in her off hand, and Sakura being utterly unprepared for the attack, it was a block Romelle was able to quickly undo, pulling back slightly then rotating her dagger around the sword to push it away before moving in for another strike. But then Spinner leaped into the air, opened his mouth, and released a ball of flame at Romelle, the Princess giving off a scream of surprise as she fell back from the younger witch.

Sadly, Romelle fell back just enough that Lotor was able to land a quick hand chop to the base of her neck, causing her to spin and letting him get another hit in on her chest. Romelle dropped, only to be caught by Lotor's waiting arm. Lotor scooped up the Princess in said arm, throwing her over his shoulder before turning away from the mess that everything had become. Whilst this was happening, Spinner turned and fired another fireball toward Keith and Bandor, forcing them to back away, unable to do anything but watch.

"Retreat!" Lotor ordered, and dashed into the ship, Haggar, Sakura, and their familiars right behind him, the hatchway slamming shut the moment they were inside.

"Romelle! No, not again!" Bandor screamed, trying to move forward, but Keith grabbed the boy Prince and held him back.

"There's nothing we can do now," Keith said. "Come on, we have to get back to the others!"

"ROMELLE!" Bandor screamed again as the command ship lifted off into the air and out of their reach.

It didn't take long for Keith and Bandor to reach the black lion, and after that even less for Keith to rejoin the others, reform Voltron, and reduce Killwrestler to nothing with the Blazing Sword. By then, though, Lotor's command ship had already broken atmo, and was well on its way back to Galra. All the Voltron Force could do then was try to comfort Bandor on the bitter draw of a battle that had just been fought.

Aboard the command ship, Lotor had returned to his seat on the bridge, Haggar and Sakura reclaiming theirs, and Mogor stood on the deck while the rest of the crew performed their jobs. Sakura had returned Lotor's sword to him in the hangar bay after he'd passed Romelle to a guard to be taken to the ship's brig for the trip back home. About the only one not upset about everything was Haggar. As they sped through space, Lotor was steaming, going over everything that had gone wrong that day, trying to work out exactly how he would report all this to Zarkon.

"Ah, so nice to be inside a nice, warm, heat controlled star ship," Spinner quipped as he floated near the door, all smiles. On the floor nearby him, Cova gave a small meow of agreement. At that, Lotor and Sakura gave them a heated glare, Spinner's smile falling away almost instantly.

"We'll just be. . .over here," he said, and dove for cover behind an operations station, Cova quickly joining him. Lotor and Sakura turned back to the view screen, their thoughts still dark, albeit for differing reasons.


Okay, done with episode 21, and what an annoying ep. it was. Aside of not really advancing the Pollux subplot at all, it also had three glaring holes I had to try and fill in. And all three were Toei's fault, existing in the original Japanese as well as the Voltron dub.

First, in the episode, Romelle and the three ladies who escape with her are in their cell one second, and the moment the scene changes they're setting a fire not far from the spaceport, distracting the guards and thus allowing Romelle and her new entourage to slip into the port, grab a ship, and take off. What happened in between? How'd they get out of the cell?! WTF, Toei! I did my best to fill the hole, but I'll let you decide if I actually did it sufficient justice.

Second, what happened to the other slave women? They're there when the ship is shot down onto the Hoth wannabe planet, but then just go "poof", and are never seen, heard of, nor spoken of again. Interestingly, LotornoMiko and I effectively came to the same conclusion on this one, namely killing them, though she did it immediately on screen.

And finally, where did Bandor and Romelle get those weapons they had when they got back to try and off Lotor? The gun I can excuse, as, as I set up above, it could easily be Keith's that they scooped up since it was clearly shown being knocked out of his hands by Cova. But the blades just appear out of nowhere! Seriously, Bandor had his sword out when he attacked Haggar on the downed ship, and she only grabbed him, so that should still be on said ship, and there's very little reason why either would have a dagger on their persons during the hostage exchange. Throwing in them jumping a guard was the only thing I could think of, but at least I gave them a reason to actually have bladed weapons at that point!

Another thing LotornoMiko and I had in common was our handling of the ending of this particular episode. In the actual episode, the command ship stays around until after the robeast is destroyed, at which point Voltron jumps after it, slashes it with his Blazing Sword, and it explodes with an escape ship blasting out a second later, and in Golion they just let it fly off... And the Voltron dub isn't much better, with Lotor grousing at them and Keith telling him they're gonna follow him all the way back to Pollux to make sure he returns Romelle... So, yeah, I totally adopted LotornoMiko's version of them being already well into space by the time the robeast was reduced to tiny bits. It just made SO much more sense in context.

And now a quick comment on Lotor's sword. Some hardcore fans may recall that Lotor's sword was kinda lightsaber like, yet I've said nothing to that effect. Well, that's because...in episodes 14 and 17 it...isn't a lightsaber. It's just a regular metal blade weapon. In episodes 15 and here it's a lightsaber, in this one done red, no doubt to make it visible against all the snow and the snowy white blizzard going on in the scene, but still. In episodes 16, 18, and 20 he never draws it, so I can't really say. But still, it just felt like I should wait a bit until his sword's been consistently Lightsaber-y before I actually comment on it in-story, is all.

Sigh...

Now I have to create an excuse for Romelle to go unmentioned, again, for a very long while since it's gonna be a full eighteen episodes before we finally get back to her and the Pollux story. Oh, well, at least now I get to do some evil flowers! See you next time!